COOP Budget Committee Meeting 4/23/2026

001Good evening. With the quorum present, I'd like to call the co-op budget committee to order at um 6:32 p.m. Uh tonight's meeting is a regular meeting uh of the committee which normally occurs on the fourth Thursday of each month. I'd like to introduce myself, Darlene Mann, and the members present this evening who include Tony Stenisy, Brian Rder, Rola Blanche, and Tom Enright. Um Dave Blind. Oh, and by phone, we have um Melanie Le participating. Melanie, at this time I'd like you to just um confirm that it's reasonably impractical for you to participate in person this evening, that you can hear the proceedings, and if just if you could just confirm um if anyone is present with you at this time. >> I confirm that I'm unable to get a ride. Um I broke my ankle

002and um so I'm taking it from home with my cat, Danny. Hopefully we don't put your little cat to sleep. So, um, >> hope you get better soon. >> Yes. Hope you're feeling better soon. >> Thank you. >> Um, Dave Blind and Tom Solon have excused absences for this evening. And I'd also like to welcome Lance Filmino, our business administrator. If you could all please join me in the pledge of allegiance. flag. >> I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all for all. >> Okay. >> So, at this time, I'm going to ask for any agenda adjustments. I am going to add um uh right after public input the acceptance of correspondence um

003to the um agenda. And at this point I'll appoint um are there any other adjustments? Oh, we're welcoming Tom Solon at 6:34. And at this point, are there any um other agenda adjustments? >> Okay. Um I would like to appoint as the meeting observer and um with the participation of Melanie on um by phone um any votes taken this evening have to be by roll call. So, at this point, which is typical for our April meeting after um the March um elections and uh district meeting, it's time for a reorganization of the board, which we where we elect a chair and vice chair. So, at this point, I'll take um nomination for chair. >> I'll nominate Darlene Man as chair. >> I second. >> Thanks, Brian. Thanks for appreciate that. Any other nominations this evening?

004Okay, seeing none, um all those in favor of elect of electing Darlene for um chair. >> Oh, it does have to roll. Thank you. Roll. Tony >> Brian, yes. >> Darlene, yes. Ro, >> yes. >> Tom, yes. >> Thank you. So, that's Melanie. Hi. Oh, Melanie. >> Thank you. Yeah. >> Okay. Great. So that's 1 2 3 4 5 6 zero. Thank you. Um and I'll take nominations for vice chair. >> I'll nominate Ry for V vice chair. >> Okay. Seconded by Tony. Any other nominations at this time? Seeing none, I'll take um the vote. Tony, >> I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I didn't hear. >> Oh, is for Raul for vice chair. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Tony. Yes, >> Brian. Yes, >> Darlene. Yes, Ro. >> Do I have to abain or anything? >>

005You you you can do whatever you want. >> I'll say yes. >> Okay, great. >> Tom, yes. Melanie. >> Melanie. Yes. >> Great. Thank you. That's 6. Congratulations, Ro. Thank you all again for your continued support. Um moving on to the approval of minutes. We have two sets of minutes um from one is from um 212 which was the meeting we had in the uh conference space on the second floor here. Um we talked about you know legislation and various items um in advance of the public hearing. So I'll take a motion to approve the minutes of February 12th. >> So moved >> from Raul seconded by Brian. Comments, questions, changes? Seeing none, I'll call the vote. Tony, >> yes. >> Brian, >> yes. >> Darlene is yes. >> Yes. >> Tom, >> yes. >>

006Melanie, >> yes. >> Great. 6. Thank you. And, uh, the February 19th joint session and public hearing minutes. Uh, if we could um move those to the floor from Tony, seconded by Ro. Comments, questions, changes? Seeing none, I'll call the vote. Tony, >> yes. >> Brian, >> um I don't think I was present for that. Was I? Or was I? >> You can still vote. >> I think you were at the public hearing. >> Uh All right. I think I was. I'll vote. Yes. >> That was with the school board. >> Yes. And we talked through like the petition articles. >> Yes. All right. Yep. >> Darlene is Yes. Ro. >> Yes. Tom. >> Tom Enright. Yes. Melanie. >> Yes. >> Great. 6. Awesome. Um seeing no public present we can move right through public

007input and move to acceptance of correspondence. So, um it's been a while, but uh the budget committee um did receive some correspondence um related to uh let's see, um a note from Christine Egan regarding um middle school softball uniforms. Um Mrs. Bushman was included as the CC on that um correspondence and addressed the concerns to the parent, but I would just like to accept that as correspondence. We'll add it to our minutes. And the second piece was um a letter from Caitlyn Baker with regard to um the uh discussion taking place at the school board with regard to changes at um and to the performing arts department. And as stated in the uh correspondency elimination of the band director position, Superintendent Bergskog uh responded to this parent. So we did not respond in any way

008as a budget committee, but I will um include this correspondence um as uh and attach it to our minutes. Okay. And there's my agenda. Wonderful. So, moving on to the general business portion of our um agenda. The first item is a review of the district meeting and some budget planning as we look toward um FY28. So, I'd like to um first I think I'd like to just go over where we landed and then I'll just ask for for input on how we think the process went, areas we think we could improve upon, and then as we look forward, any um any other items that um we'd like to focus our attention on. So, earlier this afternoon, I did share a a quick update um with everyone. And if you didn't have a chance to see

009it, it essentially I took the warrant summary from the annual report uh the district meeting presentation and just updated the number for the SAO budget because the adjusted budget passed and the original the full budget failed and made an adjustment to the total warrant um as written which dropped by um a few thousand to $33,49. 93,837 and that was instead of a 4.2% 2% increase, a 4.1% increase, just to note that. And from an estimated tax impact perspective, again, the amount was, I think, $9,000, a little over $9,000 um to the co-op split between the two districts. And for each district, the um estimated change in the tax impact is kind of um a rounding issue. and neither of the estimated tax rates changed as a result of the adjusted budget being approved. And similarly

010um on the total budget perspective, our estimates held because the swing in um the estimated impact was within rounding error on either side of the estimate. So um while the total budget was down, I think it was around $20,000 if I'm correct, Lance. >> Yes, just under. Right. Um the 9600 that was attributable to the co-op and the um amounts attributable to the other districts resulted in based on you know our estimated tax bases and whatnot. Um sorry let me get to that part of this. Yeah. um for Hollis in total across the Hollis school district and the co-op the tax rate would have swung by half a cent per thousand and for Brookline.7 cents per thousand. So not even a penny and a half a penny on the other side. So negligible and again

011as an estimate we'll see how things turn out once once unreserved fund balances and you know final revenues costs and valuations come into play in the fall. So, with all that being said, I'd love to have a discussion about how we think the process itself went and if there are areas for improvement or focus that um we'd like to consider as we go into the next cycle. Well, if you want me to kick it off, uh uh it it was a successful meeting except uh for one aspect where it was totally unsuccessful and that is uh having almost a seven-hour meeting. >> Um if we continue uh that way, um I don't think we'll have a district meeting much longer. Um I I think we can do better and have to do better on that

012on that one as that's the only aspect I'm I'm speaking about. Um, I had a conversation with uh a guy that uh I highly respect, Peter Webb, who's the Brooklyn moderator, and um asked had a lengthy discussion, but uh the summation that he gave me was um this is a quote, you can't let the crazies run the media. And I didn't that didn't hit me as when he said it. Um the more I thought about it, that was the exactly what happened in my opinion. Um we started off uh with an hour and a half discussion on rules. Uh wasn't entirely about rules, but we didn't get our first uh article on the table until um an hour and a half into the meeting. um he indicated uh that he doesn't talk about the rules.

013He said the rules have been the rules for years. Here they they've been published. If you have any questions, I'll I'll take them. Um but let's uh accept the rules and move on. Um now this isn't this isn't the preferred way to do it, but if if if we're going to go till 1:00 in the morning, we have to change something. So that's that's one place uh I think uh you know we could set a goal of uh getting our I'm just throwing stuff in the table and and I'm not s there this should be a wider discussion next year but but I'm really upset about it now. Um so uh not a a second possibility is saying that um ballot votes uh will only be for warrant articles. Um you know we had two

014ballot votes on rules uh that just consumed a huge amount of time before we got going in any business. So all I'm trying to point out is there are ways for us to improve. uh maybe not the preferred way to run the meeting, but in my opinion, we have to do something uh to shut the time period down. Um, and the the final possibility I'll I'll give that's uh come out of my head is uh that we agree as a community not to uh introduce any warrant articles after 11:00 um or a a time period like that. um and that after 11:00 we simply uh table the rest of the agenda and go home and if anybody's upset about that then uh this you know the school board or or whomever can entertain the idea

015of additional meeting some other time we'd have to you know uh adjourn the meeting uh so th those are I I have other ideas too but those are the ones that I'll just throw out there. Um, it's just totally unacceptable from my point of view that we run a 1:00 meeting. Not only for from my perspective, but from the way we're treating um our constituency and expecting uh parents to come to meetings and then stay for seven hours until 1:00 in the morning. Thank you. My piece is done. That's very interesting and I'm 100% in favor of doing anything and everything we can to control the time. >> I think a lot of the posturing was meant to drag out the meeting as make it as painful as possible >> and I agree that's unacceptable.

016So anything that can be done but the question really is this kind of discussion should take place with the moderator because the moderator is the one that's controlling the people. >> Oh I I totally agree with that but but this is this is the budget committee. I I I frankly was going to go to the school board and make this pitch, but they had their meeting uh early this year, early uh this month, and I didn't catch that. Um so this is uh the soap box that I have. >> What I what I will do since you brought up points about the moder that are largely controlled by the moderator, um I will take these points and share them with both the school board and our moderator. Yeah, I I feel I'm sharing it with

017Tom and Tom can do what he wants with it. >> Um and and definitely the time to uh it's it's the school board and the moderator that have the power or the most power to do something and and it would be nice if we were in the discussion, but yeah, we're not um I think the school board and the moderator have the ability to do something or nothing. >> Yeah, I agree. So, I would like to um weigh in and echo what Anthony said. Um it seems like it's purposeful to make this meeting long to say that we shouldn't have these meetings because they're too long. So, the same people who make it long say this is a con about the meeting because it's too long. So, I know there's probably not a lot we

018can do about that, but I do like the idea of coming up with creative solutions like the ballot votes um only for warrant articles or just finding other solutions, other ways to make it shorter. >> Okay. um >> warrant articles that have financial impact that we're saying >> like the rules aren't a warrant article. So not allow a ballot vote on a discussion about rules. >> Correct. Yeah. But but only voting on warrant articles that have financial impact. >> That's not legal. >> No, we have to vote on the warrant articles that are presented. I mean they >> well I think everything we presented from the school board and budget committee did have financial impact direct financial impact >> um >> but even if it didn't if it's on the warrant it has to be

019brought to the floor the qu there is the option of of tableabling or passing over >> but this idea of having a one-hour vote for every warrant article >> no the ones that have the one hour vote have one hour vote by RSA and thoseclude clude things like bond article >> financial impact. >> No, no specific one. The others may have to have a ballot vote if if requested by the right number, >> but they don't have to remain open for an hour. >> Well, the three of the petition articles that was one of the reason why the moderator >> by RSA. >> Yes. Because they were of financial impact and and they did have to remain open for an hour. I I personally am frustrated and I I respect individuals rights to, you know,

020put forward petitions and things like that, but I think for for me the frustration is that we hold monthly schoolboard and budget committee meetings. The public is welcome. The public can have impact. There there have been there was recent public input directed to the school board with regard to test scores. The school board responded. the there there's a way to have impact and have items brought to the the board be before a meeting before the annual meeting and to discuss the topics and put more publicly in a more public way the district may or may not the board members or budget committee members might might or might not support something doesn't prevent anyone from putting in a petition warrant article at at the due time but I just feel like We've we've entered this phase

021of you know where um there tries to be so much legislation you know has you're trying to have an impact as a legislative body by just submitting petition war article after petition war article after pet petition war article. Some of these we've seen for 10 years and you know the real way to affect change is to come to the meetings and engage and and you know at least you know everything's recorded there are minutes and at least understand what the boards are doing throughout the year and not think the only way to affect change is to do it by submitting 25 signatures you know a month before March meeting. One one last uh little piece that that also I think speaks to Tony and Melanie is uh the last six years there have been 25

022petition warrant articles uh presented by the same person uh all 25 have failed significantly. So, uh, arguing about, um, democratic rights, uh, doesn't, um, uh, doesn't land, uh, well with me. The democratic rights, I think, uh, apply more to our constituency and how long, uh, they should be expected to come to a meeting. >> The things that have changed, >> Could you speak up a little bit, Tony, just so that Melanie >> I'm sorry. The things that have changed was the amount of time that the speaker of to that warrant article gets it went from 5 minutes to 10 minutes and >> that's by legislation. >> That's legislation. >> Yes, that's true. >> Yeah. So, a few thoughts. Um, one is the discussion on the rules. I mean, there's nothing, you know, people can make

023changes to the rules at the start of the meeting. uh we haven't seen that in Brooklyn so much as we saw it in the in the co-op but you know um people can do that we can have those discussions there's nothing there's no particular way you know around those discussions I do think one thing that we might be able to explore to speak is when we do have these ballot votes the ones that don't last for an hour um or even the ones that do I think we could have more ballot boxes what if we had six ballot boxes instead of too. And what if when people registered, instead of just giving one ticket, what if you were given a set of tickets of different colors so that you don't have to go back and

024get a new ticket for each time and wait in line to get to the ballot box? That could speed things up considerably. Um, what was the other thing? Oh. Um, there's also one of the bills that's being tracked right now, um, would require that, and I haven't seen the details of it. I just saw this. I was just told about this on a training the other day. Um, would require the SB2 petition bills get placed higher up in the order than they are now. So, it gets put up somewhere with the budget and and dollar figures, things brought up earlier in the in the meeting. So, just so you're aware of that. There's lots of >> There are also bills that would require require votes on petition warrant articles. >> There's also a um piece

025of legislation that says 15% of the population um in an SB2 community needs to vote. Um so if you don't have the 15% threshold of your entire registered base, the district would get the budget that it has. Yeah. >> Um, so there are all kinds of different pieces of legislation that um >> there's there's >> things like that. >> There's legislation for SB2 districts that instead of having a default budget which is calculated, I'll instead use the exact same budget as the previous year >> despite whatever contracts you might have in place >> um that would u that would alter your expenses. And there's also one that would move the responsibility of the default budget to to budget committees. >> I think one thing that we're really learning here is that every year the legislature

026changes the rules. So for example, if one year you adopt SB2, what that means changes from year to year from it. So it becomes worse and worse and worse over time. So So what you agreed to in the beginning is not what you're going to end up with at the end. And that's true of not just SP2, but other things as well as we're discovering in Brooklyn because we adopted that provision where you put the tax impacts on the warrant articles um for it. And because of that, we're now having to have a special town meeting um to reinstate a bond that um is now in legal jeopardy because uh the legislature at the last minute, you know, a few months ago changed the law that says if you're going to have tax impacts on

027a bond, you have to have five years worth of tax impacts on it. We didn't know about that. So now >> so now the bond issue is invalidated and we have to go back and have a special town meeting to cure the bond issue for it >> more expenses involved in that just because of that >> at any time of the discussion of the bond did you did any part of the presentation talk about future year impacts at all >> I don't think so okay I thought I thought I don't know was presented >> there might have been but it needs to be on the warrant itself >> was the issue Yeah, >> it seems that uh if we have a synchronized contract and it's get going to get voted on every year, >> why

028bother? >> You know, >> because you know, >> standardized contracts aren't voted on every year. It's the non-sambered ones that >> No, but I I like to to Brian's point about the calculation of the default. If the legislation passes, it wouldn't matter if it were samberized or not. the default would be calculated in a different way that would >> not consider contracts. So, >> those are all the >> the pieces of information that um >> so it's almost like advocating for the ability to reset and and and ignore previous votes. >> Yes. >> You know, we're taking something that works roughly right >> and over time consequences to all these changes and all these uh >> uh suggestions and we're making it a lot worse. >> They're intentionally making the towns and the schools much

029more expensive. >> The people who are advocating for it are thinking it's better and and the >> the legislature that we have in conquered has a majority of people who think that way. So the question is who's the majority? The question is really who's in power? That's a different question from who's the majority. >> It's a different question, but there's somewhat of the perhaps the same answer. I I think that some people underestimate the true objectives of many people. Mhm. >> Um, I'll just let you know, Brian, that I asked the question at the U registration table when I was getting my card about could we get multiples. The answer I got was no, they are concerned about um fraud. That if people had all their ballots and they left, they could give them to

030other people to vote for them and they don't have to be at the meeting. that right or wrong. >> I could see that. >> Yeah. >> But we have observers watching one ballot. I mean, I suppose you could. >> Yeah. Somebody turns around the back of the line and puts in somebody else >> or goes through a different box and >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay. >> Or if they put two in instead of one. >> Yeah. >> Just I'm just It's a fair point. It's a fair point. >> Used to do that. Y >> used to we used to get a rainbow. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Wow. >> Well, I appreciate all the comments. If anyone thinks of anything later, um I will share um the information with the moderator and maybe, you know,

031we can have a a discussion at some point with him as well and he can maybe explain some of the >> address some of the concerns and issues with some of the ideas that we um >> we talked about tonight. >> I I do want to Can I just add something? >> Sure. >> Yeah. It's it's more about the process um in Brooklyn. If you are in line and somebody moves the question, then the people in line get to speak. Mhm. >> And that didn't happen or doesn't happen at the school meeting, which is kind of unfortunate because people have something to say >> when they get up there in line and if they, you know, if they feel like somebody's already said it, they can sit down, but at least >> they are heard.

032Yeah. >> So, that's just something a few people noticed. >> Yeah. I think that that was a change in rule this year. And I honest >> I don't think it was this year. It was I think we started think we've had that >> started last year. I don't did was that one of the votes I honestly just lost track of >> that was one of that was one of the discussions y >> with the moderator and the rules and part of it was to shorten the meeting. >> Yeah. Because the feeling was that if you to um move a question requires a twothirds vote, >> right? >> And if twothirds of the me of the meeting >> aren't interested in hearing it, >> does that um does a person's desire to speak override that? And

033it's it's a question of options, but it was it was a conscious decision that was made based on a variety of inputs, including a meeting like this. >> Yeah. >> Um prior to not not the most recent meeting, but the the meeting before 20 the meeting that occurred in 2025. >> Because really when you when you look at what we had as a true warrant, it was probably one of the simplest warrants the school board and budget committee have put forward. um no bonds, no, you know, a basically a continuing contract for support staff and and kind of housekeeping articles and things like that. So, it should have should have been a much quicker meeting. >> I just wanted to to go ahead to say again, thank you in particular, Darlene. I think the presentation

034that you made initially was s succinct and well um well presented. But perhaps more importantly during the rebuttal stages uh the information information that you presented in answer to the questions really did clarify items for people and had an impact on the understanding and the vote and I thank you for that. Well, I'm glad to hear that. >> That's the goal every year is that we present information for people who um you know come once a year, may have heard some information through a public hearing or reviewed the public hearing presentation, but in person hearing me explanation. My goal every year is to make something in that's you know complex and involves a lot of decision points along the way understandable to people who are not you know um just don't have the same background

035that we have and hoping that they understand it and can can make a decision and an informed decision about their vote for that evening. I one of the key things that you you now do is when a question is asked rather than give the explanation of the answer you give the answer yes or no does this mean that no it does not mean that here's why if you want to know but the answer is no that is not correct that is not true or yes that is true and here is why but the answer first and foremost is yes or no >> and that that helps because when we try to help people learn it, we often confuse them more >> or we lose them in the in the discussion. >> And the fact that

036you can make these statements is a testimony to the cred credibility >> that you and I think the budget committee as a whole has within the community at large. Let me say that I echo his comments and support of a tremendous show and performance you had in answering questions. And let me let me my my take away from the meeting was that that meeting in my opinion was hijacked and we didn't have ways to counter the hijacking process and that's why it took so long. Mhm. >> So, I like the suggestions you're making on legal ways to make the meeting shorter and maybe have it find a way to shortcut the potential hijacking of the meeting by people. >> Uh, I just wanted to say with respect to Drew, I I think Drew does an

037excellent job. So, I'm not complaining about uh Drew uh at all. So, I'd personally rather engage him in a conversation w with many people around so that he doesn't feel like the finger's being pointed at him because that's not the intention. It's >> trying to come up with an alternative to having our meeting hijacked >> and to empower him, >> right? >> Yeah. No, I mean Drew, he's got a tough job and uh nobody wants to do that and he he stands up and and does it. So the fact that I spoke with Peter Webb was not because I went around Drew. It's because I know Peter uh very well and he he's a moderator. He's a lawyer. So he gets that little piece ticked off. I think lawyers are fairly worthless generally, but um

038but Peter's Peter's not um I can say that since >> since he's retired. Yes. >> The privilege of saying that. >> Okay, >> great. Well, thank you all. I appreciate all the input. Um looking forward to um budget planning and kind of how our agendas roll through this, you know, next year and cycle. I shared with Lance that we typically use the um May and June June meetings to do a food service and maintenance facilities maintenance overview. So Lance I think is going to move forward with food service in May and um the facilities maintenance CIP discussion in June and that aligns to some of the work that the business office is doing with you know looking at capital projects and things like that. So, we'll continue with that. Um, a couple of other areas

039that, you know, for consideration is maybe on a a monthly basis. um looking at some of the information that's available on the DOE website with regard to um the I platform which has information about test scores, comparable financial data, um adequacy aid, cost for people, any of those items just so that you know we're aware of information that's available, how to access it, and more importantly if we're asked questions to direct people to those places so that they can um understand and have access to data that the state is actually providing. So I had that as an idea and I did want to circle back to um a conversation Tom and Wright that we started probably last summer because we are approaching um the uh negotiations for the professional contract in this next cycle. And

040so I wanted to bring that back around um bring the topic up again and talk about what items um we might want to consider. One of the things I thought of and this is also relates to one of the charts that gets presented at the annual meeting is the idea of comparable towns and what towns we truly think we should be comparing ourselves to. So the the communities that are included in the slide deck we've been we've been using for a long time and I every year I kind of look at the chart and go oh is this still the same set that of of communities we should be using but I ask myself that you know two days before the meeting and um it's too late to change anything. So towns that we currently

041um have been consistently using um are for different reasons. >> They're for um proximity to our community. They're uh towns that we consider um competitive from a student and um programming perspective as in addition to um other cooperative districts. So there there aren't any local cooperative districts that are only well that's not true. I was going to say only two two towns but I think so heaggan is >> well I'm on Vernon. So >> I don't know if they're are they a co-op or they um a tuition in district. >> No I think they're considered a co-op. I don't know. That's a good question to to answer. But the ones so so with all of that in mind the the the co-ops that I include on the cusper pupil chart are Exit which is a

042many many um community co-op Oyster River and Saggan and the other towns are Bedford, Milford, Nshawa and Windham. Um we could argue maybe Hudson deserves to be there because we do send students to the um CTE program. Um, and I don't know if there are other towns that from an attrition standpoint we see our teachers moving toward. I don't know if we've lost teachers to Marramac or other communities like that. Um, but I just kind of am putting that out there to see if people still think those are the best comparable communities or if we, you know, how much effort we should put into determining if they are. I think the criteria that we use to determine why a particular community should be in the chart is maybe what we need to discuss. Are there

043any other parameters or any other factors that we want to >> consider? >> Are you talking only about the are you only talking about the context of the contract or in the context of overall budgeting? It can be either and and they could they can be different. So I would probably say from a contract perspective, we would add in um Hollis and Brookline because it's part of the same SAU um to just compare where the like step tables are or other aspects of the contract. >> A lot of that is is also dictated by the union. They pick their ones and we pick ours and they often are picked for different reasons. True enough. >> One of the questions I would think about is if we're trying to compare to a co-op, I can understand

044that, but does it necessarily have to be a co-op if we're looking at the population of the school and some of the other dynamics being similar to Holl Brookline as a co-op. So, I I I don't know. I I would I probably in the past that it should be a co-op because it's like but that doesn't really hold water >> and some of the the co-ops aren't just middle school and high school some might be just high school some might be you know K to 12 >> so you know there are different definitions of a co-op and there are those communities that do tuition in and yeah there are different you know aspects there are different aortionment formulas there are all kinds of differences you know among that I think I I there were I

045think 32 co-ops in the state. So >> yeah, >> one other criteria that I was looking at here recently um in looking for comparisons um was um in a given school district in this case. Um other districts that have a similar ratio of residences to commercial enterprises in terms of where the property taxes go. that there's a percentage there of how much percentage is residential property versus commercial property and that can significantly impact a district's ability to pay the taxes for it. I once had a chart, I never used it, but it was, you know, >> what does, >> you know, if every community, even this list of communities were to raise $100,000 or a million dollars, what does that do to their tax rate? And it's that that amount is the impact of the

046tax rate is very different in NSHA than here, Bedford or >> Yeah. >> Well, and to I think to your point, uh, Bedford, uh, I used to think was a good comparison. I don't think it is anymore because they have like three times our tax base and most of it's commercial. >> So they have more money than they know what to do with. Uh so comparing >> and we know what to do with that money. >> Comparing our contracts with their contracts um I I don't think uh is helpful. Um >> well the reason the reason that places like that are used is they constitute a significant competitive market for our teachers. >> I understand that. But but the fact of the matter is I think it's a fact we can't compete with Bedford. >>

047Yeah. >> We can't. >> So trying to compete with them is a fool's errand. But the the purpose of the of the benchmarking is not strictly to be competitive as to just be aware and understand the landscape. >> But I think we need to take into we need to take into consideration several different factors. This is one of the factors we should take into consideration. Competitive is is is another. >> Um >> I mean if we're got to be multiple things that bring that anything wrong. >> Yeah. means we should get more commercial activity going. >> That is a >> on 101 in Brooklyn. >> So maybe one way to compare is ask Google why are people moving to Hollis or why are people moving to Bedford >> and you will see what the answers

048are. >> Yeah. Well anyway, >> yeah got the airport. um Tom, so on. Are you prepared to share the communities that you do use for comparison purposes right now or at some point? >> Um >> I'm looking at you talking about the school board in general when they're going through the process. >> Are you talking about in the context of the contract? >> Yes. um that's in the past been generated by the business office. >> Um Kelly Seely um created a spreadsheet that we have continued to use. There is um and again this is a this is different than saying who do we compare to. We collect data on a broad spectrum and we include try to include uh information that help us compare by town demographics by school um positioning I'll call it sizes

049the markets they serve and we include uh schools that are local from the standpoint of these are easy alternatives for our teachers. >> Yeah, >> we don't include Massachusetts because it requires different certification and it just adds a level of complexity that we can't can't absorb. Um the biggest challenge that we have is that most of the information is not complete in terms of total compensation. Um how they structure their reimbursements and things for health care and other things like that, the the time off, all of those things. Many of them have uh different structures for things like longevity bonuses and retirement uh incentives and these all play into it. But there's a list um I you may have it right there. How how many different schools are on it? There's probably 20 plus >>

050oh >> schools on it. >> We we used a dozen in our mostly recent round. Um and and part of that >> for was that for elementary >> um >> or was that for the co-op? >> They overlap for the most part. I think the last time co-op did it presentation looked like it used one two three >> not the presentation. I'm thinking the one that the one that we that we used the last contract negotiation. It was not it's not a published one. It was originally created, believe it or not, by the Ammer school district, and Kelly got it from the Amor school district, >> who is an anomaly because they um do not have a collective bargaining agreement >> and they have a really weirdly structured compensation plan, but they did and and

051I can dig it up, but the the short answer is yes, we can we can put all the schools that we've looked at over historically. >> But I don't think that's a substitute for uh discussion on who do we really want to benchmark against? >> Right. >> Have you decided who's going to negotiate? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Well, >> we can bring this up again. Tom Enright, we spoke um >> I did talk to the board about the request of having a a meeting and there was a great deal of discomfort with that. As much as anything from the optics of it looking like it was going to be a budget driven decision and >> technically they are not the >> No, that that was a bad idea of mine. >> Okay. But I think

052what it helps do for the budget committee is help help us understand even where the co-op stands >> in relation like your the school board is looking at all that data and from a negotiation perspective and making the decisions that it makes. But it's not data we look at um as a budget committee to say, you know, like where does our step table stand or do we want to look at the mins and maxes of average salaries and things like that just to give us a perspective of where the co-op stands >> because at the end of the day, we want to arrive at a reasonable recommendation. And one of the things that that people want on the board who are familiar with negotiation want would like people to understand is salary is probably the

053last thing we talk about because there are so many factors that come under the heading of working conditions that lead up to what is an acceptable uh salary table. And the working conditions include things like the amount of time that people have to be in the building, the time off policies, all sorts of things. Um, uh, the ability to have leave, the ability, for instance, of whether or not sick time, who sick time can be used for, is it only for the employee, is it for family, is it for extended family personal time versus that? I mean all of these things factor into it and uh vacation policy evaluation plans so much of it has to be addressed first in this last negotiations advisory and the discussions around advisory were a huge component that probably

054occupy 25 to 30% of the negotiation time. Um, and so we don't start out talking about what the compensation is. We all know going into it that we're going to get there and we all know there's budget impact, but for example, things such as uh policies about substitutes, about compensation for extracurricular activities, all these things, they have a pretty significant impact on the total cost of of operating school. They all get rolled into compensation. But it's not purely salary that that varies from year to year. So they just want to make sure that people understand that just looking at the salary tables and preparing salary tables really doesn't give you a good picture of all of things even from a financial standpoint. Has anyone ever talked about like the averaging the median median salary between

055several schools and the averages between several schools? Does that help at all? >> Um what we tend to do for instance when you're doing comparisons for instance at the co-op will often look at five years with a bachelor's and 10 years with a masters and just compare at those things. But even that has some difficulties because some um some school districts have tables that go all the way out to PhD and some only stop at a master's degree as far as their lanes that you can be in. Some have 20 some odd steps and some have less than 10 steps. So it's it's tough to do. Yes, we try to look at equivalent positions and we try to look at pos two two categories. Positions that impact the the majority of our of our staff

056and positions that are most likely to impact ability to hire. Okay. So I think um one of the things that we can do is I no I must have it somewhere um a copy of the current contract which I'm happy to share with everybody and we can kind of just continue the discussion um as we go. Maybe I can. >> It is on the website. If you go to the the business office area, there are um the all the contracts >> and the PL the New Hampshire PLB has them all posted for every community in every >> all contract >> collectively bargained organization is on the state website. So that's there as well, but I can send links and and find that for everybody. >> Okay. Um we also do the audit in August. Um

057Lance, we I think you were here last year when our auditor came. Oh, yeah. He came right after the audit and talked about the prior year's audit. All the audits. Um the most current, the most recent one isn't up yet, but I think there's at least 10 or even more years of history of audits posted on the website as well, just for everyone's um information. Okay. So, does anyone else have any other topics or things um for agenda items to consider? I mean, we're always taking this isn't the only time that we can talk about potential agenda items. I just wanted to bring it up in case there was anything on anyone's mind about um areas. We'll continue to update on legislation. And I did want to mention um something I brought up at uh

058the Hollis budget committee and I um sent this uh some information over to the Brookline Finance Committee and I wanted to kind of gauge the interest of having a joint budget and finance committee workshop. We did something like this um a very long time ago, probably at least 10 years ago. Uh, and we just talked about um I we had a big conversation on the New Hampshire retirement system and we just talked about, you know, uh, budgeting process and and things in general. So, an agenda to be decided, not anything that's too long, a couple of hours, but I thought an interesting time of year to do it might be as the school year ends because legislation will be finalized. And honestly, we could probably talk for a couple of hours about um what will

059have passed and what impact it will have um going forward into the upcoming budget cycle. So, I just wanted to see if there was any interest in doing something like that. And again it might be an opportunity to talk about you know an in an ind in-depth discussion about you know how the adequacy formula is developed or come to some common understanding of analyses presentation materials and things that will be put forward just so that we're you know aligned on the same page. I know a finance committee has a different um responsibility to the community as a budget committee, but I don't think it precludes anyone from just understanding, learning more and putting forward ideas. So, if a finance committee isn't doing a presentation, maybe they could be making recommendations to the select board that

060does the the presentations or something like that. >> Yeah, in Brooklyn, the finance committee has the option of doing their own presentation. Um, in recent years we kind of haven't because the finance committee and the select board have usually been on the same page and usually same with the finance committee and the school board. Uh, but in years past finance committee has done their own presentations. I will say that uh Brendan said that at least he is interested in doing that from the finance committee. He hasn't heard back from the other two members of the finance committee yet but um but I I think he's interested at least. >> Great. And we could also invite you know the business administrators or finance directors as well. I mean you obviously bring a wealth of knowledge understanding

061and you know >> what type of information is available can be shared should be sh you know all of those things and it just I think helps >> them understand the committee members as well. So um we'll >> go ahead. >> I didn't mean to cut you off. >> No, go ahead. That's fine. Well, one thing uh that I'm interested in um given the Hollis district's bond presentation this past year is um uh more uh roundt discussions about what uh capital projects are sitting out there. I I'm aware of what our selectmen for example uh are conjuring in their heads. Um but uh this this Hollis one uh is enormous and there should be a conversation about uh you know should we step aside and let that be the you know should should we get

062out of the way as opposed to being in the way uh for something like that? And if so how long should we get out of the way? >> Get out of the way for next year maybe. But that's your that's your window. I mean, I think there should be there should be conversation about that because that was >> um that $19 million bond was the biggest thing Hollis has ever seen. >> And I'm not sure that the Hollis School District even knew that >> or thought about that. But, you know, they got 31% approval, which is another, you know, that that's a a severe no. Um, I just think we ought to talk about that. And I don't mean to and obviously include Brookline in terms of what do you got coming along so that

063>> we have a big one, too. >> Yeah. So, we should if if we've got these I I don't think we've got any big projects, but we should know if it would be helpful and appropriate to kind of get out of the way for a year or a period of time, whatever to to give you a boost. >> Yeah. just so so in Brooklyn where we need u mult several million dollars we don't know exactly how much either to completely redo our town hall or to tear it down and build a new town hall that's the decision that we're looking at right now it's >> many millions of dollars and and we're we have you know we have abandoned the town hall right now there's structural issues there um we're setting up temporary um town

064offices in a in a business center um in Brookline and we're still working on that. Right now they're working out of community like rooms like this. >> Um so um that's a very that's a huge issue in Brooklyn right now. Shouldn't we have conversations where we're all at least aware of this stuff so that when I'm thinking about it um that that's a that's a factor whether or not we as a group agree I that might be the way I process >> and that could be something we talk about at the workshop maybe we >> that's what I was thinking >> and that can be expanded to maybe include the capital expenditure advisory committee understand more in depth about their process what they're putting together what their plan Yeah. And hear what they're saying because

065I I didn't really >> hear much about what they're saying. >> We do have representation on that. That was Tony. Um and uh Rob man was the >> well no I remember Tony's input but but I mean the the out the overall >> um picture piece >> and I would say one of the big plans that that um was something they really wanted to see was a 10-year view for the schools because they have a a clear 10-year view for the town of Hollis. Um, but the views for the schools are more like the five-year view. And so I think information was shared that said it, you know, they can move forward with 10-year views. Obviously, you can run bonds out and things like that. you can run our our bonds out for 10 years

066and see where they stand. But it became more an issue for some of those um smaller projects or um you know if if you're looking at an enrollment committee at the primary school um when does that become an issue with the co-op and things like that? But also, you know, looking at rolling stock of equipment at the for the town level, it's easy for them to push that out over a 10-year period, and they can see when things need to be replaced. And we don't have necessarily in schools the same um magnitude of inventory for things like that. So, like I said, it's easy to run our bonds out for 10 years. We obviously know what those amortizations are, but but there was I would I would say um I could conservatively say a level

067of frustration um that the school districts kind of weren't planning beyond the five years. And I think I think we did try to share the perspective that it it um so much drives the prioritization of items by looking at the budget itself. I mean, even looking at the co-op budget that got put put up for FY27, there were a lot of capital decisions that were made and things that were taken off the table that will come back for 28 and potentially for 29 as things get rep prioritized and shifted. So, I think maybe the questions were more like what's the value to going out 10 years because we're still seeing so much movement in the first five. Um but kind of you know just trying to balance those explanations and understandings I think you know

068and understanding that would be helpful. But he brings up a good point and that is if there are major >> Yeah. >> expenditures coming up. >> It's a good idea to look at the whole community uh not just us or them independently >> because they those big proposals will collide >> and we cannot afford to have them all be >> uh accomplish at the same time. Yeah. >> And if not part of that kind of workshop, we can invite that group to come and at least explain >> the information that they've gathered to date that was used in the in the >> just the big pieces. We don't a million bucks these days is nothing. >> It's the big Well, I mean, >> well, we you know, we we do the we two million at

069our dump just for the heck of it, but uh at our transfer station. Well, >> you're on the you're on the town Yes. >> budget committee also. Mhm. >> How much is better than guessing >> with regard to how many um residences will be created in the next 10 years? >> I would have to find out about that >> because >> you know one of it's a chicken and egg thing with uh the five years in the school. So much of that is an enrollment question. >> And the reason five years has been used in my my time frame is the level of confidence in the NASDAQ >> uh enrollment projections >> of a big variable is the assumptions of how many new homes or and other things. So what's the likelihood of a change?

070Because there's there's a certain assumption right or wrong that uh the number of children for the current um housing aotment is going to be relatively steady. It's there's some turnover as people age out, their kids drop off, but then they then some get turned over and new families come in. one way to calculate that if you want local data. >> But the big thing is the I don't know if there is a um a plan. You know, I I don't think a few years ago in Brooklyn people really thought that we were going to get, you know, 50 and and 100 resident um developments going into Brookline. And now we have I don't know what's the combined number for those the five new developments. And some of them are over 50 but but not all

071of them. >> Yeah. >> So >> I mean the big one right now is the >> over 50 quantity over 50. >> No but we >> age 50. Well the quantities are old units as well. >> Quantity I think in time. >> Okay. So the the big development there. I mean they're they're building the workforce housing part of that now. I forget exactly how many units that is. 30 some odd something like that. 30 or 40 whatnot. Those are under construction. and I expect them to be finished this year. Um there's another um 60 some odd units of of um older h housing for older persons back behind it and then there's at least um three other hold um housing for older persons developments that are in various stages >> um plus the normal development

072as well. Um, so >> so, so we're see we're seeing big additions and I don't know if if Paul has that, but >> if we had some insight to that that might increase at least the ability to hypothesize, >> okay, >> you know, last year and I'm not sure if this this particular statistic is accurate this time, but knowing how many building permits are out there, those 200 50 building permits in halls. Workforce housing was kind of defeated a few years ago because we just don't have the facility for workforce housing. Things like medical things that people need when they're living in that kind of environment. >> So that didn't quite work out. >> Careful. >> Yeah. >> Careful. It technically didn't work out in Brooklyn either until the lawsuit came around and a couple

073of million dollars later we now have workforce housing very and a very significant unprecedented development going on >> access to medical sidewalks where people can walk none of those things exist >> those aren't requirements >> for workforce housing >> they're not required but if you look at workforce housing wherever they are they have those kinds of facilities Not necessarily. >> Anyway, I think we're getting off topic now. >> Can I add something? >> Sure, Melanie. Go ahead. >> Yeah. Um, I'm wondering what you all think about having a group come in and give a a seminar like the the New Hampshire, let's see, >> fiscal policy institute. They have Yeah, they have some really good programs on understanding property taxes and education funding. Um, they just need a group to sponsor it. Um, there's also

074another group that works with with fair funding of education. And if our school boards and budget committees from both of our towns were to sponsor some of that uh something like that, I think that it would be really helpful for our residents to understand, you know, how how we get these property taxes, why are they so high? And the Fiscal Policy Institute is a nonpartisan group and they're just trying to give us the facts. So, it's something to think about and hopefully do. >> Melanie, wasn't there I think there was a presentation. Today's Thursday yesterday. >> Yes. Yes. >> Um that Yeah. >> Um I think and I think I can get everybody the link. I think they put the presentations um online. I was not able to >> Where was the presentation? >> It

075was sponsored by the Fiscal Policy Institute. And >> is that the thing you sent the link around to? >> Did I send the link about that? >> Yeah, you did. Okay. >> That it that it was going to happen, not a replay or anything. >> Yes. Oh, it was examining New Hampshire's property tax. Um >> examining New Hampshire's property tax. So, it is available on their website. They do post it after they um present it. So, we can and I think it said it was like part three of a series. I wasn't aware of the the other ones, but >> um >> what I was going to say earlier on that topic, and I'll be very brief, is >> uh I did a three-year look into this and uh registrations and uh the homeless population

076grew per year on average between 100 and 150 people if you look at uh over time. So that's the typical change in the voter list associated with holl and if you assume about 20% are underage so you could take say a maximum of 450 20% of that is what you're going to see in terms of a change in population that potentially could be going to uh the school going through the school system. So there is uh there may be some statistics if anybody wants to spend time to come up with a rough estimate. >> The last uh census the twoear census showed that about 22% of the population in under 18 years old >> 20% >> about 22% >> that's it. Does hallow have a growth ordinance? >> We used to. >> No, it not.

077>> Everything has to go through a committee. It gets approved. But I'm not sure. >> No. Well, Brookline had one when I moved in, disappeared. They reinstituted one, and then last time they voted not to institute. >> Yeah. I mean, there's there was a growth ordinance there for a while, went away. We do still require two acres per >> No, they can only issue two permits per development. >> Yeah, we had that for a few years there. That has gone away. It was um it was subject to various um u requirements. >> I mean Hollis definitely had that. I don't know where that stands. >> It used to be four or five a year per development. >> Yeah, >> it's changed. So >> just to add to that, the uh advisory committee to the select

078board >> has a view of all the entities and businesses in town and >> that work for the town like uh you know public works and >> uh different buildings >> all the departments and you can look at a view of each one of them including the schools. Then you can look at cumulatively for the next they want to go out 10 years but it's not it's maybe five years with most of the focus on the next three years and then the select board looks at it and says oh my word got all these other things coming in so they do have a view of that now since the advisory committee has been working on it last year and I think it helps them to plan things like bonds >> expenditures what to put off

079and what to move forward, those sorts of things. >> Okay, we can we can get more information on >> So, we're going to need two meetings a month apparently >> at this point. Yes. So, >> on these topics, >> I'm desperate to make sure we stay within the two hours as well. So, um the great ideas that were shared, great follow-up items to check into full of it, >> and that's the way we should be starting the the new year. So, I'd like to um in the interest of time and looking at what's left, I'd like to move move on to um the the last items, the next two items on the agenda, which are the financial update from our business administrator and then the schoolboard update. >> Sure. Uh first piece, a little bit

080of an update on the business office and staffing. Um some of you may have heard, Linda Sherwood submitted for her retirement. Her last day will be June 3rd. She's a director of business operations and she does a lot with co-op uh in particular. Um leaving big shoes to fill. She'll be moving to Nashville to be closer to family. So we're we're really happy for her, but we're really sad to see her go. We're trying to squeeze every bit of knowledge out of her that we can before for before that day. Um we do have the position posted as an assistant business administrator. depending on what applications look like and and what a uh hires potentially look likely might need to be some adjusting within the business office. Um seems historically kind of unlikely that you

081have somebody walk in with a lot of really specific experience. So there'll be some training involved. Um so we're currently fielding applications on that. Um so sad to see her go. So um but we are happy for her. She's been in the business office for 10 years and uh I think in the district for about 17 years she actually started as a par professional. So or at least within the SAU so >> little update from from the farmhouse >> um shared out uh revenue and expense report. I think I think next month's and following that will be the really telling ones just as we wrap up incumbren incumbrances as we head towards the end of the fiscal year. Uh if I just start at the the end and kind of work backwards. Right now projected

082fund balance is $745,716. Um in in general with expenses um underruns in almost every category. The only exception to that is a small overrun in uh vocational programming and that uh there was just more enrollment than we anticipated um when doing the budgeting. Big big underruns um in regular education. Um 323,000 in change. Um some hiring savings and vacancies. Also fewer lane changes. We budget based on um what staff anticipates will happen. sometimes uh they don't quite make it. Uh in addition to that, special ed savings. Um some out of district changes for student needs um resulted in some large savings there. Uh also with contracted services um and both of those um items kind of carry over into transportation. Some savings in transportation primarily due to special ed reasons. Um >> what drives the

083change in the SAU assessment in schoolboard budget >> for well we've got 100 over 100,000. >> Um that's >> is that just change in salaries? >> Uh primarily the contingency contingency fund not being used. >> Okay. >> Good question. >> Um and also benefits. Uh again, uh if we're saving in hiring, we save in benefits, uh taxes, and retirements um for vacancies. And you know, when we plan for new hires, we kind of pick a a middle tier candidate. And by chance, more came in with less experience or education. Um so big things driving um that large balance in expenses. revenues are slightly in excess of the budget, but nothing too dramatic. Overall, 176,000. It's kind of the the highlights of the revenue expense report. >> And the estimated retained B fund balance is right

084around where it is now. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Yep. >> So, continuing kind of at that same level. >> We'll use that same number as a placeholder right now. >> Yep. Yep. There are uh several pieces of legislation that address the retained fund balance as well. So, some of them um some of them are going to make it >> what can that be? >> Make it go away. Some of them u make it be voted on annually. All kinds of great stuff. So, >> if you can't get it done with the warrant, try changing the laws >> and lowering the threshold to a maximum of five, which we are not at as a district to I think a maximum of three. I think those were the three big highlights on 14th balance. Anyway, I

085digress. Um, any other questions for Lance? >> I think the only other piece, Tom, were you going to talk about kind of class size and some of the Okay. >> Um, I So, I did want to just mention the things that are upcoming. um kind of in the May June time frame. Do you talk about um I think you bring to the board you have a public hearing on what is the topic at this time of year. What is it? What is it? >> Well, spending spending from the from the fund balance as far as >> Yeah. No, not that. There was another one. Um anyway, but you do you usually um No, there's something that Oh, what is it? It'll come to me as soon as >> you've forgotten something. >> I know. Can

086you believe it? >> Um space you can think about. >> Was it spending from the maintenance trust or >> We do usually bring that up. Yeah. >> Yeah. At this time of year. I did remember it just wasn't crystal clear, Tom. So that'll come up and then yeah, you'll talk through encumbrances, potential projects and things like that. So, okay, great. Thank you. And we'll look to Tom Salon for a schoolboard update. Okay. Um, just real real quickly, uh, it's not specifically on here, but from the facility standpoint, uh, we're on schedule with what's been going on here at the middle school. Um, all of the purchases for the solar upgrades have been completed and the materials are on site which will uh meet the requirements for the rebates assuming the rebates don't get changed again.

087So, we're expecting that you can't apply for them until the work is complete. So, the goal is to get the solar install done on the high school this summer, which would allow us to apply for those rebates when that's complete. Um, one of the discussions taking place is what what we would do with the rebates because when it was originally discussed and we were looking in the context of a lease, we could prepay principal But with a bond you we cannot prepay principal and we've been also told that we cannot um pay off early. Um, so the question is, do we want to take that, assuming we get a a rebate, which is a chunk of money, do we want to take it and use it immediately to decrease a budget in a given year?

088Do we put it in what now exists as reasonable interestbearing savings vehicles and then parse out to decrease to offset the bond payments over the course of x number of years which is more along the lines of what we envisioned happening if we could have prepaid principal. So we're we're going to be looking at that. it it's premature to make a decision because we don't have the rebates yet, but we're already looking at how we can use that and that may well well be a a discussion in the upcoming budget season because it potentially could be money that is available in fiscal year 2018. >> I would encourage a conversation with the auditor as well. Yeah, they they I don't know who they've been talking with, but they've been they've been having that conversation. >>

089Great. >> Um the um we want to keep in context what we learned in the in in the district meetings and that is um for the first time in recent past the co-op budget passed by a very small margin. The SAU budget did not pass. The Brooklyn school budget did not pass and to the tune of $400,000 shy of what was proposed. Um in the in Hollis, a very large bond was shot down in Brooklyn. uh efforts to fund work on the on the um town hall uh for a number of reasons and some of them in my opinion very illegitimate. It didn't but the the net impact of of the impression is fiscal conservatism has definitely seemed to have grown. um add layer on to that the uh ongoing uncertainty about open enrollment uh

090in the state of New Hampshire and how it will be uh implemented beyond where it is now and how it would be funded uh makes it very risky for a school district to appear to be uh way over capacity. Now we don't feel our district is way over capacity but what we have um seen is that we do run small class sizes because of changes in choices in classes uh and it results in well we've you can't get rid I shouldn't say You can't we generally do not want to uh eliminate a period of a of a position because when you move a staff member from full-time to part-time for many staff members that's not a tenable change because they lose their eligibility for benefits. They their income drops. Um gone of the days when

091when I was a kids when they when teaching positions were thought of as extra income in a household. That ain't the case. Um the net result is we're taking a um a continuing look at class sizes and making a concerted effort to not run exceptionally small classes because number one there's efficiencies and costs involved with doing so. Number two, it leaves you vulnerable for some of the potential open enrollment situations to be forced by law to take in students without um some of the proposals would have the funding come in at about a third of our per pupil cost. So, we want to make sure that that we're using our classes efficiently towards that end. Um there are likely to be uh changes seen in the staffing that uh positions that are not um uh

092vacancies that we get because of retirements or or resignations are being looked closely at. Do they need to be filled? So we're we're seeing that um in the situation of a very public discussion about our music program. I want to be clear that the enrollment has been dropping in those classes dramatically in the last five years. I mean, you go from double digits to single digit enrollment in some of the classes. and we've made efforts to to allow uh staff members to pick up other coursework, but we're we've run into situation where the teachers just aren't certified to teach other things where they're available. The net result is we are not um eliminating any courses from our offerings. But if courses are underenrolled, we may not run them in a given in a given uh

093year. >> Will you explain what underenrolled means? Give me a number. >> Um it >> depends on the policy we're doing. >> Uh less than 10, sometimes less than five. See what happens is >> the students >> say say what they want to take but when the schedule actually comes out they can't always mesh and then in the first week they find out that they don't either want to be in it or it cause a conflict and and they pull out. We don't know all of the reasons around what's going on in in in the music program, but the net result is we just don't have the demand to keep two uh staff members occupied in that. We're not eliminating the position of band director, but the person who was the the band director is

094is um for lack of a better word was the vulnerable person in a reduction in force. And it's on uh we're not changing things programmatically, but we are consolidating staff um where we can't uh justify it based on the students choices of what classes they will be taking. So, for example, courses that we might in the past have run two competing electives at a smaller level in the same year, we may switch them off. One year you offer this one, the next year you offer the other one. Um and we're going to be looking at our policy on uh class size because the way that we have structured we have a maximum and we have a target and there's some ambiguity in there. We're concerned about the impact that that would have if an enrollment

095strategy um is forced upon us by open enrollment that says do you have capacity yes or no? Well, you have two different numbers. If we say we want this is where we want and this is what's best for our students, but we have a maximum number that would allow them to be larger than we want them to be. That could create a vulnerability. So, we really want to understand how we define it and what it's good for. At the same time, it's become evident through small class sizes that certain class classes do not work well when they're small, despite, you know, it's one thing to have one-on-one tutoring, but when you've got a class that relies on discussion and things like this, and you've got two kids absent because they're they're doing something, all of

096a sudden the functionality of that class drops dramatically. If you've got nine kids and you lose two, that's a lot different than when you have 21 and you lose two. So these are all the kind of considerations, but the decision that was made in the um in the music department was not a budgetary one. Our overall look at class sizes and things like that does have a budgetary component. >> Yeah. But that particular one was driven heavily by lack of expressed interest through selection by the students. >> And so the school board is going to have a further discussion about that topic at your May meeting. Is that correct? >> I don't know how much of a discussion there's going to be. Some of it may be um based on public appearance. I do believe

097there's going to be a presentation um by the administration talking about the overall the overarching issue of class size and and enrollment. I it's not directed specifically at the music thing. >> So, we're having that and we're having policy discussions. It was already introduced last month and we're having policy discussions on the class-size policy and like all uh policies discussions when possible there's usually there's at least three readings. So there'll be an initial presentation which will be first reading, second reading and then if possible third and adopt is is the normal sequence. The goal being that we have that completed in time to impact any um any decisions that need to be implemented for the next school year. had a question because I've heard a couple of things about students uh taking courses during the

098summer, >> a summer school course, let's say in calculus, so they can concentrate on it during the summer, only take one course that'll affect classes during a school year. So that's one aspect that we be seeing drops and things like that. And then online class. I see that there's a >> well the classes in the summer are you we we lump those together with an online class. It's something that we're not delivering. >> Okay. because I know that some kids are taking online classes different times and I can't say they're taking easier classes, but they're taking classes to free up time during the school year, maybe to take a more challenging class like chemistry and and can focus more on that if they get some of the easier stuff done maybe online. >> Often it's

099not easier, but it's to get a prerequisite out of the way often times too. I mean the online courses many of them are significant especially the VAX program they offer some some excellent courses for students who work well in that environment it's a ter terrific option >> exactly I I didn't want to imply that I knew all of the reasons except that if students are doing those sorts of things that means that there was a class empty of one student during the school year if they're doing an online or um taking something like calculus during the It's usually not a surprise though, Tony, because often times if they're doing that, they are doing it because they want to enroll in something in the fall. >> So the summertime aspect of it is usually planned and

100coordinated um within within the the the school. Uh the the bigger things that impact us are uh people who enter and leave the district during the summer and and that often can can be a swing of of 10 students. >> Are you seeing a big shift in the numbers of students that go to this um CTE programs? >> We're seeing a growth in it. It's worked out well. Uh the change in the CTE program from our our standpoint has been that Milford is no longer part of the group that we send to because uh we couldn't coordinate schedules with them. So we uh use primarily NSHA Hudson not sure if it's is it Conval? There's one other that has a has a program that's specific. The other thing that's been helpful is that um we

101couple of years ago uh purchased another van >> and we now have by consolidating and offer and having controlled transportation um they've made it a lot more convenient for the kids and the state actually uh mandates that if you're going to set up a program you have to coordinate schedules so that the students um from area schools miss no more than 10 classes a year uh in it and that has helped a lot that it's got the superintendent talking to one another uh I was just at a at a regional advisory committee two days ago and uh over over in Alvin and the enrollments are up the programs are becoming amazing Um there's a lot of options for dual enrollment, for certifications and college credit. Uh it's it's really um uh taken a step up

102and there's a concerted effort to to make it more accessible to our students, particularly ones who had not traditionally considered it, which is the kids who were who were collegebound. They viewed it as the old days like vocational tech. You've got engineering classes, you've got biomed classes, you've you've got um basically premed courses going on, computer science, all sorts of of activities going on. >> Yeah, the uh the prevet programs are phenomenal. Just >> add that because it's not just to learn about animals, it's prepping kids to apply to colleges >> prevet type of program. I think it's the only one in the state that's certified. >> It's excellent. >> Thanks, Tom. I appreciate I know we all appreciate all that information. I think the May meeting will be interesting as well to either listen

103in on or attend. Um I did want to just you mentioned open enrollment. Um there was some activity today. I don't know if you're aware. >> I heard that that something got voted down and something got tabled, but we don't know. >> Same thing got voted down and tabled >> state level. So the house voted >> bill >> um 101 that had had moved over to the house and gone through some amendment and which and that amendment include the funding arrangement um to equal anyone who was moving between schools to be um reimbursed by the state at the same value as a charter school student which is in around the net of about n $9,000. So that third of you know um that bill uh was voted down and there was a subsequent vote to

104table it. I don't know why it got voted down and then tabled. So the vote um was in the for the open enrollment bill itself was in the 160 range yes and the 180 range no. The vote to table was resoundingly yes to table it like over 300 to like 30 something. Um I believe it the tableling held through the close of the session today. I don't know what that means for the future. There is another bill that was a non-gerermanine amendment to like a health and human services bill that addresses open enrollment at the original funding level which is 80% of cost per pupil with the um parents paying the other 20%. That h is still out there. So, I don't know as a result of the tableing if it can still come off

105the table later, if it could be added as part of an omnibus or really how it moves from here. But that was what happened today. >> Yeah. So, um, so when when you've got a bill where there's a vote to pass it and that vote fails by a decent enough margin, um, they typically will either vote to defeat the bill if it's something that important or if it's something particularly sensitive electorally speaking. They may just table it as a way of killing it without directly voting against it. That's basically an acknowledgement they don't have the votes for it. But that doesn't mean that topic can't come back in some other form in some other bill. and maybe it will have the votes to pass if it's just done a little bit differently. Who knows? >>

106Um I'd say that thing is that that one is dead, but that doesn't mean the topic won't come back. >> If that second one goes through that was the one we had been planning on a lot. >> Yes. >> And that that is less a monetary issue as a capacity issue. Mhm. Mhm. >> And that's that's the one that triggered um some of the construction of the warrant articles that that were voted on in various districts this year. >> Yeah. If I could add to that, an article just came across my screen um about adding that as a non-German amendment to um the healthcare bill that you had referenced, >> Darling. >> So, yeah. And one of the quotes was that they were glad that that um it still has an opportunity to pass through

107this amendment. >> Look out. So, there'll be a lot happening over the next um six weeks or so >> uh to pay attention to. So, >> okay, great. Thanks, Tom. Does anyone else have any questions for Tom or any other items at this point? >> No, >> we've talked a lot about agenda building. >> Thank you, Tom. >> Um I did share one more just quick item. I did share the calendar with everybody um just in the hopes of everyone can kind of see things for the year. We'll continue to meet. >> Can I just make a comment? >> Yep. >> You you may uh hear rumblings. The because Memorial Day is so late and the professional staff contract requires that school not be started before Labor Day. um with the five snow days that

108get built into the calendar, it it runs late into June and some people are unhappy about that. >> Um so I'm trying to first for all students. Okay. So I was I did notice the late um date and I was using it more for scheduling of our meetings which will be four Thursdays. So we we have a fourth Thursday in uh we will not meet in July. We'll have a fourth Thursday in August, September, October um November we'll have to shift our meeting date and December because of the holidays as is typical. Um January we'll meet right in in advance of the um public hearing which will be sometime in probably the first half of February. We'll go through our March meeting dates. We will have another fourth Thursday in April of next year. Sometimes

109um the date falls uh typically over school vacation week but we will have a fourth Wednesday just like we have this year and similarly for May and June. So, um, we really only need to shift things for November and December. I just want to mention that. >> So, next month the 28th. >> Yes. Next month the 28th. Yes. >> So, if we're having some of this join work uh workshops, >> other districts, do you have any ideas to when it will? >> No, not yet. That's what I >> hopefully maybe in June. I I want to stay away from the summer. Um and since the you know fourth um Thursday of August is the 27th we get through you know we'll meet in in June hopefully have a workshop sometime in June and then be

110off for the summer essentially. >> Just so you know I'm going to be unavailable the 28th >> of May. I was thinking I was thinking the third because I school board's third. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Great. That's all I have to say for tonight. I'll look to unless anyone has anything else I'll look to Raul for a readout. >> I thought we had some great discussions on some interesting topics that are very pertinent and u I thought we had a good use of our time and everybody was pretty disciplined. >> Excellent. So, at this um point, I'll take a motion to adjourn at 8:15 p.m. >> So, moved >> from Brian, seconded by Melanie. >> Yes. >> Um Tony, >> I have to do a roll call. >> Yes. >> Uh Tony, yes. >> Brian,

111yes. >> Darlene, yes. >> Yes. >> Tom, yes. >> Melanie, yes. >> Great. Thank you. >> We don't count, but we vote yes, too. >> We appreciate that you vote yes. Tom Solan and Lance. Thank you, everyone. >> Thank you. They're