001All right. So, we'll call the order. Um, I'll just have the board introduce themselves. So, it's six o'clock. So, I'm Jennifer Scrapper. I'm chair of the SMS board. >> I'm Sophie Sal. I'm just on the SMS board. SMS. >> I'm Kathleen. I'm on the SMS board. I'm also on the board. >> Yeah, it's up. Great. Perfect. >> I'm director of finance for SA. >> Yeah, there's enough people here. Do we want to just introduce ourselves? Do you guys mind just saying your name? >> I think they want to know me. [laughter] >> They probably already do. >> Plus, >> Joel and Co. >> Your name? >> John Baker. What about >> Okay. Nancy Hunter. Arctic building. >> Okay. Well, we're glad to have all you guys here tonight. So, the way we're going to run
002this is we're going to do a presentation for the first um 30 minutes or so and then once that completes, then we'll do a Q&A for 30 minutes or so with the idea of getting out of here around 7 just because we know there's there's weather coming. Um, and I guess I just wanted to say before I turn it over to Sophie who's done, you know, all the work for tonight, that, um, that we're really, um, you know, this budget, obviously the board has looked at it, gone over it with school administrators many times, trying to make it as slim as possible. As Sophie's going to explain, there's factors coming to light this this year that um um that increase that, but the the administrator's budget is very slim. And uh you know, we were
003we were very supportive of that. Um so we'll just explain the factors that go into um into taxes for this year that are other than the administrative budget. So um without a further ado, I'll turn over Sophie. [snorts] >> Yeah. Thanks, Jennifer. Um, thank you guys for coming out tonight and um, actually, Kathleen, could you just make sure that I'm in the camera? >> Thanks. That would be great. Um, so yeah, tonight I'm going to go over a presentation about um, cool the taxes and what you can expect in your tax bill this fall for the SMS portion, which is about 40% of your bill. The other 40% is the CMS and EHS combined. Um, and then the other 10% is just the town in general. So, everything I'm talking about tonight is just the
004SMS portion, which again is about 40%. Um, I also just want to acknowledge, yeah, 12.3, that's a hefty raise, and I know that for a lot of folks in town, that's a big deal, and I totally understand that. Um, that's why I wanted to make sure that everybody knew all of the information about what was behind that and to increase transparency, organized this, and it will be available online for folks who weren't able to come tonight. But we really want to make sure that folks know what's coming and why. Um, so there's transparency and dialogue and everybody's on the same page. Um, so since we're on a tight um, time budget, I'm just going to dive right in. If you could keep questions to the end, that would be awesome. But if there's a burning
005clarifying question, um, feel free to just ask me, especially since we're such a small [clears throat] group. >> So, to kick it off, we're going to do, um, start with the kids because [clears throat] I think in budgets, it's really hard to make sure that we're focusing on the kids. And this is all really about kids in education, right? So, um, the admin team put this together for us, uh, which was really helpful to just hear from the kids themselves and, um, so we're just going to play this for a couple of minutes and then I'll dive into the details. And, um, I couldn't hook up the audio, so it's from my computer, so let me know if you can't hear it. I'm going to blast it as as high as I can. Hello everyone.
006I'm Kate Lucas, the principal of Strata Memorial School. Thank you for joining us today. Today you're going to be watching our video, our budget video about our proposed budget for FY27. In our video, we hope to explain our budgeting process, our warrant articles, and a little bit about how amazing SMS is. And I cannot think of a better way to do that than inviting these three amazing, intelligent, charismatic individuals to join me. >> Thank you, Miss Lucas. We are Emma, Bin, and Millie. We are the producers, hosts, creators of this podcast, SMS. Miss Lucas invited us to join her with this video. And here we are doing what we do every week and showing you a glance at how awesome SMS is. You'll hear from us, our classmates, a couple of our teachers, and one
007of our fabulous parents. We hope you enjoy our budget video. Miss Dalzar, you're a math specialist. What makes you most proud of the work being done at SMS? I am so proud of the collaborative culture here at SMS and the high expectations that we have around student [music] learning. We were able to show off all our hard work when we took the math statewide [music] assessment or the SAS last spring. We were 55% proficient in 2024 and we went to 75% proficient in 2025. >> That is great. Thank you. >> Thank you. I'm here [music] with Big Buddy Ben Lasher and little buddy Fred Schmidt. So guys, what is your favorite part about Big Buddy and Little Buddy? >> I like spending time with Ben and all the fun crafts. That's so fun. >> Fred
008is nice and I like doing activities with him. So ya, we know fourth grade just launched educational passages boat building project. What are you most excited about? Well, I am most excited about um about like fourth grade, like building the boat. But I'm most excited about um art because, you know, I'm creative. >> Yes. >> And I'm so excited about like bu like making the flag and about just like decorating the boat in general. Miss Merks, you've had two children attend SMS. Tell us why you love SMS. >> Thank you. Um, so we moved here just in time a week before my son started kindergarten. [music] And we specifically chose this area because of the good things we heard about the school. In my [music] experience, those things are true. At the school, they really
009see the individual. They focus on building friendships and building a good citizens, but also learning. My son is now at the middle school and everything that he's learned at SMS has transferred there. Um, been very pleased with how his education is going and where it continues to go from there. My daughter is still in third grade. We have a few more years [music] where we get to be here and enjoy the atmosphere is created. >> All right. Pretty cute, right? That's what it's about. That's why we're here. The kids, they're cute. We want to educate them. All right. Okay. So, for tonight, um here's our agenda. We're going to go over our board goals to kind of ground you in what the board has decided are our goals and what we care about. Then we're
010going to dive into the fiscal year 27. So that's next year, school year 2026 to 2027 proposed budget. I'm going to dive into health insurance, special education, New Hampshire state funding, and the renovation project. Um, then we're also going to talk about the Stratam Teachers Association proposed CBA, which stands for >> collective bargaining. I've said that so many times. Of course, I brain fart now. Collective bargaining. agreement and then we'll um have plenty of time for a Q&A. Um so our goals for the board, I'm not going to read everything, but um academic achievement is really important to us, communication and engagement. That's why we're all here tonight. Fiscal stewardship, student wellness, technology advocacy, and faculty recognition. So you'll see how those things translate into the budget. Um, as the teacher mentioned in the video,
011um, our state scores are or our scores are better than the state average. So, the, um, blue and green bar is the same. It just broke it up on this website between SMS and the S Stratam School District. So, it's the same, but you can compare it to the red bar, which is the New Hampshire state average for scores. And you can see that SMS is outperforming the state average in all three categories which are math at the top, reading, and then science. So, how do our goals translate into the proposed budget? Um, continued support for programming, curricula, materials, and staffing. Investing in our educators by negotiating a contract with the Stratum Teachers Association. conservative analysis of any new budget requests. Um, for example, there was a new teacher proposed and we honestly didn't even
012talk about it very much because we knew this just wasn't the year to have that discussion and reductions wherever possible given unexpected increases in health insurance premiums and special education costs. So the budget overall is kind of broken into two categories, two warrant articles. Number one is the operating budget. So that's are general and food service. And if you note, um, if you go all the way to the right, the change is actually only 3.3% for just general food service and the general fund. Um, and then the second line item is the bond. So that was approved last year. I'm going to talk about that a lot more in this presentation later, but um that adds 5.1%. So, and then the collective bargaining agreement is the other big chunk of that that I'll get to.
013But for warrant article number one, it's these two things combined. So, it's the general and food service, which is only a 3.3% which is really kind of just staying with inflation, and the bond. So this is kind of just a helpful pie for you to understand where the money is spent from our budget. Um so you can see the blue is the biggest chunk and that's salaries. That's what we spend the most money on. And then the orange is insurance. So health, dental, disability, and life insurance. Those are the benefits for our teachers. Um and then the yellow is FICA and retirement. And the bond is kind of the dark uh the lighter orange in the back. And all other is only 5% and that's the dark um blue triangle in the back. That's really
014what the board kind of has control over. We only really can have a say over about 5% of the budget and everything else is required. So, some key highlights of the operating budget. Um, the proposed increase is five hello um 500,9 uh $566. So, of that, health insurance premiums are most of that, right? So, health insurance spiked. I'm going to get into that a little bit more in a minute. Um, and special education increases were 1,800. Uh, sorry. 1,085 >> $185,000. >> That's the one. Um, and everything else uh was about $65,000 increased is so the total is 625,000. Um, that was before we met and decided to reduce the budget for um from 625K to about 519K. And the way we did that was there are um furniture replacements and some other items that
015could be shifted into um the bond budget. And since we're doing really well with a bond and um we're coming below budget, we were able to shift the any item that was that could be related to construction or to um you know furniture replacement or a renovation could be shifted into that bond budget for this year. So, we did that and that brought us down um about $100,000 for the operating budget. Um and then for the bond, the building renovation project and bond we was approved last March. Uh all individual warrant articles once approved are added to the operating budget in following years. So, in this case, bond payments for each fiscal year are added to the operating budget. And fiscal year 27 will be the first year where residents are responsible for the interest
016and principal. Um, which is why you see that big increase. Last year we only had to pay this past year we only had to pay for the interest which was about $300,000 and next year we have to pay both. So it's about 1.2 um million. So, health insurance premiums um comes at probably no surprise to anybody, but they're skyrocketing. And so, we don't have a ton of control over this. You know, there's what we owe um in the negotiated contracts. And um Molly, maybe you can speak to this a little bit, but I know that, you know, we're constantly trying to figure out um you know, which companies to do business with, how we can make this the most affordable to taxpayers as possible, and they're looked at frequently to make sure that we're getting
017the best deal. Okay. Special education costs. So the percentage of students identify identified as requiring special education services across the whole SAU has increased significantly um rising from 12% in 2016 to 20% in with projections reaching 22% by 2025. Um so this aligns with national trends um reflecting the increasing prevalence of behavioral, mental health and developmental disorders in children. According to the CDC, one in six children aged 2 to 8 years are diagnosed with such disorders. Um so you can see why, you know, in a school that has a really big impact on the budget. we're legally required to to provide those students with services for all the services they need and with the rise in them we don't have a lot of control over that were legally bound and responsible for those students. Um
018and then the other big thing is the last chunk is over the past five years the number of students requiring out of district placements has risen from 27 students to 36 students in the past two years. Um, and I'm gonna talk about that a little bit more. Um, so the other part of this is that New Hampshire adopted um, a House Bill 1513 in 2022 which increased the um, age limit for students with disabilities to receive special education services from 21 to 22 years old. So now we have to legally support them for an additional year and that's going to be a a tax increase. Um and then the average cost per special education student rose to $140,000 in 2024 driven by inflation and increasing student needs. There just aren't enough programs and aren't enough
019specialties so they can charge a premium and there's there's so much demand the supply can't keep up. This is um just to show you what our state considers an adequate education. Um going to go to the graph. So this is about how much the state reimbures stratum and this is the New Hampshire average. So we are spending more per on average per student. Um but this is the amount that tax the local tax payers have to make up. And [clears throat] then two years ago, a Rockingham County Superior judge ordered the state to increase its per student spending from roughly 4,000 to a minimum of 7,356, citing that even that would be insufficient. And the New Hampshire legislature has yet to increase adequacy at all, leaving the burden on local taxpayers. And this is significant
020for communities with limited commercial properties, especially um because they can help offset taxes. But we don't have a huge commercial um population in Stratum. All right, so let's move on to the building renovation. Um so last year we um during the district meeting we approved the $1.9 million um bond for the renovation. So the work was to update systems through the building [clears throat] and that work is ongoing. Um, the 20-year bond sale occurred in July of 2025 and the payments are going to decrease over time. So, this is a graph showing you this year is the biggest year. It's going to be um 1.12 million. Next year for fiscal year 2028 will be 1.09 million and then 1.03 million and then another 1.03 and then 892,000 and it's going to go down. So that's
021kind of the good news here is that we won't be on the hook for, you know, 1.12 million for all 20 years. It's going to go down. And a brief history of the building renovation project. Um the initial project started in 2019 precoid after facilities analysis was completed. The initial project was much larger. The first quote that we got back for what we wanted was $50 million. Um, and then after gathering considerable community input, um, we built a a building committee, um, and I was co-chair of that committee and we significantly reduced the scope of the project. Um, and we hired a new firm to move forward and we got that down to the 11.9 million. Um, so the new scope essentials are replacing a failing and in inefficient systems. We have new boilers, lighting,
022um, and the roof. And then, um, we needed to remove the modular, which is a temporary classroom space that they've been using, and it's like way past its lifetime. Um, we needed to update the health office and main office to meet safety codes and added new classroom spaces for reconfiguring and increased the size of the cafeteria. So the additional wings are not new classroom spaces. They're really classroom spaces that were taken away from the middle of the building which was um now going to be you know the new nurses office and um admin office space and then the modular classrooms. So by eliminating those we needed to replace them with new um classrooms but it's not new classroom space. Does that make sense? Okay. Um, and so the project is on schedule and below budget.
023Um, so yeah, it right now it's looking like we'll have about 1.5 million of contingency, which is awesome. Um, and if we have extra at the end, we're going to first look at um the windows because those really need to be replaced. A lot of them are starting to fail. So, we'll kind of look at that and then if everything is looking good and we don't need the rest of the money, some will get returned to taxpayers, but that's only after everything else has been addressed. Um, and the additions, uh, let's see, the the additions of the two wings and the cafeteria and an estimated 60% of the interior work of the lights and the ceilings will be completed by fall of 2026. Okay, so this was a collective bargaining agreement year. So in our
024case, it's every four years. Um, and that really gives us a predictable budget for the town and kind of stability for the school and teachers. It's nice to be able to predict four years ahead. So the increases are phased at 3 and 12% increase this year, then 3%, then 3%, and then 3 and 1.5% on the fourth year. Um and a big reason why we want to do that is to retain our educators. Um 80% of student success is tied to the quality of educators. So um you know Stratam is one of the best schools in the state and a big reason for that is because our teachers are really good. I've been in hiring meetings and the level that we expect out of all of the teachers that we're hiring is incredible. Like we're
025not settling for anybody who walks through the door. It's really like the cream of the crop in my opinion of the folks that come and stay with us at SMS. Um, so [sighs] and I don't want to take too long on this because we're running out of time. So, let me go to the next slide which has a little bit more information. Sorry. Okay. Um, so the cost of living adjustment, [snorts] the expiring contract had a 1.5% cost of living adjustment each year for the past four years, which is incredibly low. That's below inflation. And you can see how much below inflation it is. So from May of 2022, um, inflation was 8.6%. So that's, you know, if they're only getting 1.5 increase in their salary, but inflation is 8.6%, 6%. That's a big difference.
026And so they really haven't been paid as much as they need to be um to just keep up with inflation. So this is just kind of a bar graph showing the same thing. Um it was a steady the blue is 1.5% increase versus what inflation actually was. So this is the new negotiation. um 3.5, 33, and 3.5. So, one question that we get a lot is why are there so many administrators and so much staff at SMS and can't you just reduce the number of staff because that would make a big impact on the budget. Yes, it would. However, um we really haven't added that many more teachers. In fact, it's stayed pretty consistent. So from 2018 which is all the way on the left um uh sorry it's going oh going down. So from
0272018 to 2026 um you can see down at the bottom the change in the number of staff for that particular category and the total of all that I believe is neg5. So we really haven't added a lot of teachers in the past um eight years. Okay. So the first as I mentioned earlier the warrant article number one is the bond and the operating um just the the food and general services and then warrant article number two is the um stratam teachers CBA collective bargaining agreement. So um with that 3.5% that's $380,000 um which is 3.88 88% of the budget if that makes sense. So this is kind of a breakdown all together so you can see everything. Um so the general food and service change is 3.32%. The bond adds 5.1%. And the CBA adds
0283.88%. So um altogether is 12.3. Um there's a piraphph just showing you visually what the changes are. So the bond is definitely the majority of that 12.3%. And then inflation is in the red and then um the teachers union negotiation is in the yellow and then decrease in funding is the green. So, in addition to those three things, um the state decided to decrease the amount that they were going to pay us for adequacy um by $25,000 this year. So, that's the end of the presentation. Um be happy to take questions to myself, to Molly, who's our um director of finance, and anybody else from the board. >> Yes. >> What's the current enrollment at the school? >> About 500. And what was your five years ago? >> Um I think roughly the same, maybe
029give or take 15 students. Um when I I'm I'm actually an SMS alum myself and I know when I was a student it was a lot higher. I think it was around 700. Um so yep. >> Yeah. >> There are multiple um new builds coming through. I assume that there going to be more kids coming into the school as well. >> I really can't speak to that. Yeah. Of course they mix their like house. >> Okay. Because I see a around a lot of towns how they're complaining about there's not as many kids going into the schools anymore and I'm like but they're not kind of understanding that there are more developments coming into each town. >> Yeah. So we've we had an enrollment study done a couple of years ago to try and think
030through that and how to project, you know, especially with the um renovations. We wanted to make sure we were going to be renovating to the correct number. And there were five different scenarios and in all of the scenarios they were either kind of flat or slightly increasing. Um so that's what the enrollment study showed. In real time we're seeing enrollment slightly decline but just by like a couple of students a year. It's really not a huge decline. There are more options for education now than there used to be. So there are a lot of factors and from what we can tell kind of keeping it consistent and assuming that it's going to stay consistent is what we've gone with. >> Yeah, I got a couple questions. So for the general public, the inflation rate is
0312 and a half%. But the teacher's salary is going to three and a half. Think about that one here. This color here. And what is the contribution that the staff teachers are putting into their health insurance? >> So maybe one of you guys can I wasn't on the negotiation team, but can you guys speak to that? Do >> you know I I [clears throat] have a Yeah, if I can connect to the internet. Yeah, you can. There's a guest um library. >> Yeah, [clears throat] I think Young had said, but I somebody just said, well, I'm always looking that up and I believe it's at 85 and 90% are the two tiers >> for the health coverage and then there's a um deductible. So, I don't >> I think that's right. It's either a 10
032or a 15% >> deductible. That's my understanding. So I think the deductible the deductible is an addition to that percentage also. So I don't know exactly what >> the deductible >> when you guys answer just make sure you're nice and loud for the microphone please. >> Yeah. >> Um can I take another question while Molly's looking that up? Um let's go. Yeah. Can you bring up the uh screen for the uh quantity of teachers? >> Yeah. >> So the last the very bottom is showing the last year. Oh, that's the comparison from 26 to from 2018. >> From 2018. Yeah. >> So we have less teachers than I won. >> I think I added it up today. Um, this was a slide that our principal gave me. I believe it's neg5, but we can maybe
033somebody can pull out their calculator and double check that. >> Well, how many teachers were there in 2018 year? >> So, in 2018, there were four administrators, now there are three. There were 30 classroom teachers, now there are 29. six special educators. Now there's seven um related arts six six related services 8.6 to 10 specialists 1 to three prek 1 to2 ESP 42 to 35 um I don't know what inter does anybody know what that is um inter I I'm not sure but 7 to 9.8 8 technology 1 one health 2 1 custodial 4:2 support 4 and food service 7 to 6 school counselors 1.4 4:2 social worker 6:1 MTSS coordinator 0 to 1 and permanent subs 3 to zero >> so it's interventionist >> so >> oh interventionist thank you >> if you add
034up the number of people >> in a row >> yep >> some can you do that compare it to the number of people in this last year >> um I can't do that right now but you could you could do it or >> SMS >> I mean if you would like me sit here with a calculator. I'd be happy to. >> But my next question is going to be it sounds like it's approximately >> the same number. >> It's approximately the same number >> and yet and yet we've reduced the number of >> of people that we're trying to teach >> by 20ome%. >> So why is it that we need >> Great question. So that's >> why do we need this? >> So let me pull up the special special education slide again. >>
035Who was in special ed in that list? Um, >> so I mean the the the reason why we need um Sorry, just lost my train of thought. So the reason why education has changed and why there are fewer students but we need just as many services is because um of the national trends, right? There's increasing behavioral, mental health, and developmental disorders in kids, which just requires more attention and more individualized um programming for those students. >> Where are those special educ [snorts] >> right here? >> So, so we increase six to seven. >> Y >> is that a 12% increase? No. Um, maybe you didn't remember the rest of the presentation about the bond and the collective bargaining agreement being the main drivers. >> My son was at 12%. >> So there wasn't Are you
036saying there were 600 students? So let's just make sure 2018 >> now >> just a second we have >> Can you stand up Jen just so >> yeah let's just I want to just make sure that questioners get to ask their question and the answer is also good so you have a full answer and also I just want to preface this by saying we are volunteers for the school board we don't have all the absolute facts we're happy to do some research and talk about it we have a board meeting next week and report back at that time but um we just, you know, we're going to we're going to tell you if we don't have the facts right now, but let's let's just be respectful and question and answer. So, Kathleen, if you want
037to speak, >> I don't I don't have the exact number, but around 2018, I believe it was about 520 students in the building. I'd have to go back and look for an exact number. Um, but also we we don't tell like I think there's a misconception that we have control over certain things in the building and um we don't have control over how the teachers teach um how many kids are in the classroom. We're here as volunteers to help provide guidance on federal and state policies and as an oversight and as a liaison between the community and the school um and to help with that small portion of the budget to make sure that we're fiscally responsible. So that's that's why we're here and that's what we're trying to show you all these changes that
038are happening in the school and um why that's affecting the budget. I think what she said just sparked >> a question. >> Mhm. >> You, the school board, have no control over the amount of children in the classroom. >> No, that's for the administration to decide. And that's >> because how many children >> are in the classrooms on average today? >> 16 approximately. I would have loved to been teaching then [laughter] we had 23. >> But we always welcome volunteers to go into each of the classrooms. So if [laughter] you'd like to see what's going on in the classrooms at these at these times, >> we understand Listen, my >> killing us. [laughter] >> So listen, my my godmother is a teacher of 40 years and she had 30 kids in her classroom >> and
039we did great. >> Okay, but also but also um >> and we had special pets. >> Okay, let's not interrupt. So, but education is we are trying to communicate that education is different today and we are trying to make sure that it's an we are an open book and we want everybody to understand where these costs are coming from and we don't want it to be you know done in a back room and so that's why we're having these meetings because we want we feel it's our responsibility to make sure that the public is aware of what's happening >> and that's why Sophie made this lovely presentation >> and she did a great job Well, thank you. >> Really? >> So, >> it's my education at SMS. >> We can find exact numbers. We are
040happy to do so. I've been >> right and and from my point of view being very retired [laughter] >> and very controlled of our 2 and a half% increase for our social security. You know, we have to worry about petty pinching too. And that was my one question. I was the one was it 20 years ago now that I brought up about the teach I love all the teachers I worked there but you got to put in to the pie for for health insurance because they never did never did and now you're saying that only on the health insurance they're only putting in 10%. Or are they? >> So there's two different health plans. There's um AB15 and AV5. one's HMO, one's video. >> Um, and there's also different categories of employees. So, it's not
041only teachers, but it's teachers and administrators. And then there's, um, category A, which is full-time employees and paras and support staff. So um for the first grouping the teacher the district pays 90% for the teachers and administrators 80% for the paras or ESPs in category A 90% for support staff category 1 and 90% for support staff category two. >> Yeah. And then the other health insurance, it's 85% across the board it looks like. >> So the teachers or staff are basically contributing between 10 or maybe 15% toward the health insurance >> teachers and administrators. Yes. >> Yes. >> And parents would contribute more >> and other things negotiated as well down. So colas, you know, there was it was part of a pretty complicated negotiation. >> Yeah. >> Do we know how what that percentages
042through the average uh in New Hampshire or something like that? >> We do know. I don't want to speak to that, but um if you want to come to our board meeting, we can talk to the superintendent because we we did talk about that quite a bit during our negotiation as well. >> Okay. I I mean that would be >> Yeah, >> I would we we did a lot of research on that. Is that normal or whatever? Because I think when we keep talking about the teachers, we keep talking about what the pay is. >> Oh, >> and I think what I'm hearing >> there's a base pay and then there's everything else that they get. >> Yes. The everything else is going. >> Yeah. And and I I guess the question would be um
043and we say we have great teachers and I I don't deny that. Um and we kind of say they're high paid. >> Yeah. And I it's okay. But that we saying that percentage-wise, you know, we're picking up the big, you know, the public is picking up the biggest piece of their benefits. Um that to me could be a disconnect as to what is the challenge and the problem. >> Right. >> Okay. And what we should be looking [clears throat] at. >> Yeah. And obviously, as I'm sure you understand, right, teachers walked into this negotiations very fearful and wanting to protect those benefits. There were other things they were willing to give up that we did take. Um, but yet obviously healthcare is essentially, you know, essential >> because I was always I was always when
044I was engaged on the building, I was really concerned about the building falling apart. >> Yes. >> And we weren't addressing it. And finally, you know, that kind of kicked in. But >> okay >> um it it it looks like a standard you know budget and I I support you guys and everything is that but somehow I I also knew back then u I was supporting a lot of investment in computer software programs to uh and my understanding and I haven't seen any of the benefits of that where that point in time where we were able to classify the students uh who could use on their own certain programs and who didn't and it would be more uh teacher time one-on-one with the students who need that most. I don't know where those programs stand.
045>> Can I address that? >> Yeah, please. >> So, I I think a couple things. Um like two weeks ago, I went to a tech open night open house at SMS which was pretty great. All the kids were there in the library commons demonstrating various tech tools that they're using to further their education at SMS. I think maybe also what you're talking about is a multid-disciplinary um of support system of supports where teachers are using software um meetings, evaluations to really customize and hone um education of each individual student. So, this student is great at math, is struggling in writing, this one's great at reading. And um we've had presentations at the schoolboard, you can find them online. It is amazing. And at the beginning of that video where they started talking about test scores,
046that's really that multidisciplinary system of supports that's been set up for all those students. And so, um that was an investment the board made a couple years ago and we're really seeing just we're really seeing it pay off in in testing. Um, again a issue that's too god indicated to go in in two minutes, but if you look back at some board presentations, you'll see. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> So there that investment has been worth. >> Yeah. I'm just saying it's it's conceived like there'd be more and more time for the teachers to spend >> uh with the students who need more one-on-one >> than the opposite. So I was all support of buying and getting whatever software, you know, your modules back then >> to to do that. So I I just as general
047I would be thinking that a teacher would be spending maybe her you know whatever hours a week is but a larger percentage on the ones who needed um you know >> what also happens is um you know these classrooms are becoming complicated right these kids are dealing with a lot of stuff um and so you see a smaller number of students but the teacher having to give more individualized attention to certain behavior aviors. Um, and that's something, you know, we've talked about a lot on the board, but even though yes, the class size and yes, we have this MDSS happening, at the same time, the teachers have to respond to these various behaviors that are really challenging. And if you put 30 kids in a classroom, um, you know, your teacher is going to be
048on these special ed conferences and IEP meetings and all of that, you want you want a smaller class size so that your teacher can spend more time in the classroom. And that's where the MDSS comes in. That's where some of these software investments come in. Um, you know, there's no doubt these kids are facing more complicated problems right now. >> And and I guess that's what I would love to kind of see kind of a summary type of a thing versus just >> a number and change. >> Yeah. >> Okay. I was assuming that we went leaps with, you know, all the programs that we were buying. >> Yeah. young I don't when I was here last I don't know three four years ago and >> I think we would argue that we are coming
049up >> leaps >> so we need to >> yeah so we we have covered that in um a couple of our meetings we have to go back and >> we've had um multiple presentations from the administration and the staff and um going over the different how they changed their evaluation system how the curriculum has changed so if you go back and you look on the YouTube videos you can see all of that you can see how they changed the curriculum curriculum pacing, how they have utilized the MTSS coordinator, how they utilized um the software to keep track of students and where students need help, how they've done breakout groups to make meet students where they're at so that each student um gets the individual attention they need. So all of that is covered in our
050meetings. We would you can watch the whole litany of that. >> I I understand that. Okay. that local citizens are not going to dig into. >> So to Jennifer's point about the MTSS, so I think like what I heard was, hey, a teacher has more time to focus on a individual student, right? >> So a lot of the MTSS data is used to drive like specialty groups for like, hey, if a kid's struggling with math, they'll identify that through like one of the things I wrote down while you were talking was this I Ready assessment. So they do the state assessment once a year but they do this I ready assessment throughout the year to identify students that are falling behind. So one of the interventions is hey we got a group of five students
051that are having the same challenge so we have ESP or somebody that can address that. So it's not necessarily the classroom teacher saying well I have a lot more time now because of software but it's the software I you know this assessment identified this need and we can form a group to leverage you know multiple students that need that intervention and that's across like multiple disciplines not just math >> and and what I'm just saying is with the systems and things you put in place you it some of the systems generate productivity percentages >> you know the kids where they're at type of a Yeah. If you could take that and bring that into >> Yeah. >> Okay. the efficiency of >> the total >> teachers time. I would assume teachers are spending less time
052because these software programs >> uh as taking oneird >> we understand. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> But I don't see that. I always see a very >> minimal change in [snorts] >> I'm telling you it's been done. So we we I can send it your way too. >> You you know me. Okay. >> I know you like the numbers. Yeah. [laughter] >> Uh just to answer one question I believe you ask. You were wondering about the average health insurance input. >> No, I I just that's part of this negotiation. >> Yeah. >> We always hear that our teachers are well paid and we want to keep them there. This and that >> and I don't know how they are well paid. What's their salary versus other districts? >> Yeah. And then what percentage if you
053know if we're taking paying 90% of the percentage and you know somewhere else they're only paying 50%. >> So I can tell >> maybe that's what we should be looking at versus >> we did >> those contracts just just for everyone's knowledge they're all public online so it and so I get I'm pretty involved in I work in Marramac New Hampshire. >> Yep. >> I'm a firefighter there as well as here in TAP. I get involved in the union negotiations quite a bit and I also look at the other contracts throughout the town just so we can have something to compare to when we're doing our negotiations. Can't speak for the entire state, but I can say for Marramck itself, yes, 85% is their number as well. Uh I believe Nashville is the same. just
054the ones that I've looked at a little bit here and there, but I believe that is the average, especially for most CBAs in general, statewide, is you're generally going to see that 85 to 90 90% range >> for healthare costs, but our base pay for our teachers, >> we pay them well. So, [laughter] so Jennifer and I were involved with the CDA negotiations. So, I had a little bit of information on that. But I did want to speak to the fact that >> within SA16, this was all benchmarked against all the schools, not only in our district, but also within our geographic region because we had this discussion before where people said, well, this school that was, you know, some other place in New Hampshire, we really have to look at the area. And we,
055this wasn't done in a vacuum to say, hey, the Stratam teachers need to be paid the most. Let's throw this number at it. It was hey they came to us with this proposal and Jennifer I had to look at that from the fiscal responsibility and say well here's what we're seeing in the sea coast here's what we're seeing in the broader area in SAU so to the point about the benefits that is pretty standard for I understand I work in private industry and I don't get 90% on much health insurance so I understand um but somebody mentioned like you said like a 2.5% year-over-year for social security whatever right >> but part of the thing they were coming into this with was I don't know we don't we weren't on the board but somehow they
056had negotiated a 1 and a half% increase over four years and it was the exact time that the inflation was taking off right so we were trying to find a reasonable way to work on making up for like sometimes 7 6 5% losses over cost of living but also the healthcare just one more thing is sauide that's managed or not managed I don't know what to say but the superintendent mentioned in a recent meeting that there's a district-wide effort to look at that as well because obviously that's a huge component of the increase. >> Molly, um I just want to I was supposed to highlight um a point that Molly just made. >> Yeah, we say um so a lot of the costs that we see are the students are all not all located here
057at SMS. So we do have some students are in an out of district placement because students have to have the least restricted environment. So sometimes that makes sense for students, but also we are responsible for the special ed costs of charter school students. So even if a student chooses to go to a charter school, we have to pay for it. >> And so that we're either sending staff over there or paying their contracted service rate. So a lot of it some or some of it is outside of SMS as well. >> Yeah. >> Have a statement. I feel like the white elephant in the room is a bit that New Hampshire is not fun enough. Like I mean I understand why all of us are very frustrated and we don't want to pay so much
058in our property taxes but they literally have been found unconstitutional on how much they're paying per >> how little they're paying. >> And I wanted to ask you a question. How I mean how often are they decreasing funding? Because I know you said they're decreasing this year. So I'm curious how often they are in the last 10 years. They've done it every year. >> So I have a I have a graph I can show you. um in I believe 2010 they were paying approximately 1 billion towards um education costs and now they're down to 800 million. So they've decreased it by 200 million over the past 15 years. And so then we have to obviously as property owners we have to make up the difference to make sure that we are able to keep the
059lights on at the school. >> Yeah. And I feel like I get why everyone's so frustrated and why we're like trying to save money here, but I feel like this is not the area we need to be looking at. That personally >> the problem is too unfunded mandates, right? So we have to provide transportation for special ed. Transportation is exorbitantly expensive. >> Um and you're so limited. And so you know these unfunded mandates um are really also what's killing us from the school. >> And there's no cap on special education. So literally whatever the student needs no matter the cost >> and we like we don't have control over that in the board. >> Bill 126. >> So if you look out here there's some ridiculously large paper it the law said I had to
060post [clears throat] it on those pieces of paper and knowing that the printers here didn't support it. I had to drive to every town office, every school, and every library in the SAU to post these documents. And then I had to post it in the paper. And the paper alone was $1,000 per district. >> And so that is just the example of some of the stuff that's coming from the legislator legislature that they don't think about. And that was just one thing that was just passed this year. And that was $1,000 for stratum and then a,000 for the co-op, which you have a portion of the co-op, too. >> [clears throat] >> Yeah, >> couple quick questions. You just mentioned uh uh charter schools and and students that we have to provide special education outside.
061How many students is that this year? >> We're not al we're not privy to that information. >> Um they're not they're not allowed to tell us how many students. We only get the budget number. Is that right? >> So for special education, we do not know who receives special education services because it requires a diagnosis. So, it's HIPPA. >> We know how many. >> So, we know how many we could find out the number for you and find out um how many students are at charter schools, but we wouldn't be able to tell you who was receiving those. >> Are those two connected? >> Charter school. >> So, so what Molly is saying is that an additional cost for us is if a charter school takes our money because we have to the money follows
062the student to a public charter school. Right. >> Right. But it's not connected to the special item, is it? >> Only So only if the student is receiving special services. So if the student is receiving special services, >> you don't have to receive special services, go to chart school. Right. So >> but what Kathleen's saying is our adequacy is based off of for pupil. So if the student leaves SMS, they're not included in our for pupil adequacy, >> which is only like $3,000 or $4,000 anyways. >> But special education could be $140,000. >> So then they would take then they would come back to us for special education and then we would have to fund that special education. >> Okay. Um what charter schools are around here? >> So there's a bunch. >> Yeah, there's
063quite a few. There's um a couple in ex private schools. >> No, these are public charter schools. So all their information is public. Um there's a couple in exit. There's um one over in the Sandborn district. >> There's even which is online. >> There's one that's online. So the children don't have a building, they just do online [snorts] schools and that's considered a public charter in New Hampshire. >> And in addition, the SAU also pays I don't remember what the amount was, but when we were at the I'm on the co-op budget committee >> and there's an additional amount that's just paid to the Craig Bay charter school. >> Yeah, that's a totally separate budget. >> Yeah. No, but I understand separate budget, but I'm saying everybody always says, well, the my tax bill is
064this, right? I'm not saying that we control that, but I'm just saying as far as not only is the charter school getting the money from students that attend there, but there's also like a stipen paid from the SAU, just a blanket amount. So, that's not part of our budget, but it's when people say, "Oh, the charter school is, you know, private." They're still getting the money from our public school funds. And in case of that one, which is one I learned this year, I didn't know. I know it's not part of our budget, but I'm just saying in addition to the advocacy money and that sort of >> I'm sorry. And we're not paying anything for private schools, right? >> No, no, no. Not very many. >> Yeah. [snorts] >> Okay. I had an other
065question, but >> you go >> real quick if you can go back to the staffing. Okay. >> Just uh definition of of what circositions are the nomenclature. >> Okay. What is a uh uh where was it? What do you want people? So, admin, >> the big ones, the uh related services. What would that cover? >> So, that's going to be related to special education. >> That's special education. Okay. What's a ESB? >> It's a education support professional is a um or otherwise known as a pair professional. And those have regular ed and special ed like a teacher's aid. So, in I know in kindergarten and the lower level grades, there's a pair professional in the classroom with a teacher in most cases. Um but then certain students require maybe a one-on-one or two onone or
066um a group setting pair. Some district call professionals, some calls. >> And so that that increased seven >> sevenfold. Um but the class sizes are smaller. >> Still increased. >> ESPs went down. >> Yeah, they went from 42 to 35. >> Oh, I'm going the long way. >> Yeah. We're on the bottom. >> We're the top in 2020. >> So when um so for instance in the fifth grade uh last year they had two pair of professionals per two per pair of professionals per class because they had one pair of professional for five classes. Okay. >> And she or he just traveled in between the classes as needed. >> I see. >> Um but in the younger grades as Molly said there should be one in the classroom to help because um you know kindergarteners.
067Okay. And the other one was intervention is in. Yeah, that's intervention. And that >> those are that one did increase math specialist, speech specialist, reading, reading specialist, >> it's all special ed again. >> Oh, not special ed. Not specialist. >> So people that are specialized >> like some people that are specializing in reading or math. If you remember um the first lady they were they like oh in the video she's a math specialist. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Kids that may or may not qualify for an IEP which is a special education but they need a little extra >> but they're still needing some help. >> So one of the one of the things that we found in the testing was that if we could apply there was always this concern that if you were
068an IAP you were going to be you're going to be taken care of. You're going to get the resources that were needed. But if you were in the middle, if you were like on the bubble, one of these kids that just need a little bit of help, but you didn't qualify for an IEP. All those COVID years, we saw a real It's lagging. It's lagging indicator now because people are moving through that system. >> People who were prek are now graduating when when that was a big factor. But to really get those kids who were on the bubble back academically, we wanted to reinforce the amount of intervention that we could provide to those people who weren't being given special education >> plans. So that's why some of that went up. And then I I
069feel like we finally seen the fruits of that. Not that state testing is the beall endall of academic performance, but now we're seeing a return to those numbers, that proficiency that we had prior to the pandemic, and that took a long time to do. >> Okay, one final question. [clears throat] >> Is cell phones out of uh >> Oh, there's no and teachers. Um, we had a presentation from the administration. Even teachers, there's >> to set an example, there no cell phone usage in the school at all. And that's >> from [clears throat] bell to bell. No, they cannot use >> they nobody is allowed to use them. >> the watches. So they they um if they have a smartwatch, they have to put it into school mode and only use it as a watch
070during the school day. >> Good. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Um that average of 12% um uh increase in >> talking about the budget. Well, this that's my next question, but no, the 12% increase in uh students with an IEP or special needs. >> Uh that's at SAU. Is that um all of whatever SAU is? I I know I grew up in Sebrook, so SAU is there, but or is that stratum specific? >> Um so you're talking about this figure right here, that first figure. >> Um that's across the SAU. >> Do we know what stratum is? Um I think I remember hearing it was 18% at St. Does that ring a bell? >> I'm giving you a list. We we can get back to you. I don't want to say >> so I'll
071Yeah, if you leave me your information, I can get back to you. >> Okay. So your other slide that uh you were just showing, [clears throat] did that say $16 million for food? >> Oh. >> Um it's for all it's for food and general service. So that means like all regular [clears throat] teacher salaries like everything that's in the everything that's in a normal school budget. >> Yeah. It's just food service is broken out because it's a different fund. So [clears throat] legally we have to record it as a different fund because it's a credit program and if your food service fund turns in a positive position which it never does in any of the elementary schools it is not given back in the tax rate but it does not end in a positive question.
072Now the u the voting for these articles >> they can they are either voted up or down >> are they're not they're not can they be changed >> no >> during the voting >> they they can be yeah the the first article one not the bond but the general and food service portion which is kind of lumped together. >> Yes. [cough] They they can be changed by vote, but you the public doesn't have the right to say what change to make. They can just say a dollar amount, right, and vote on it. And then it's up to the school board and administration to figure out >> how to make those cuts. >> And the CBA also cannot be changed. So, it's either an up or down. >> The CBA is a yes or no. And
073if it's voted no, then the teachers remain at where they're at this year, next year. So, there would be no change in their salaries. Exactly. >> But they're on a three and a half, three three. >> Oh, that's every four years. >> That's a new one that needs to be voted on. >> So that's what's being voted on. >> Okay. >> So when a CPA class [cough and clears throat] agreement expires, >> regardless of what district, they stay exactly where they're at until a new one's voted in. >> Okay. >> But they still follow like the step track. >> No. Uh they'll track, but I don't think they'll step. I think they get stepped and caught up when the new one passes. I could be wrong on that, but um the tracking would take so
074what it means by step and track the teachers are on a grid and I think the grid's either 10 or 12 steps. So when you come in as a new teacher fresh out of college, you're on step one. >> Okay? >> And then you step so you're getting the increase of the step and the cola until you get to the top. Then you only get a cola. >> Um and then track moves across the grid. So it's like bachelor's, mast's, doctor. So if a teacher goes back to school and obtains their masters, they would track. >> Okay. Gotcha. >> All right. And I see it's 7 o'clock. >> One quick question. You mentioned uh the bond that we're looking at of 150,000 uh I mean a one and a half meion. >> So that's the
075line I move here. Oh, the contingency is asking about public. >> Oh, the contingency. Yeah. So, we're looking right now, you know, the project isn't complete, so there could be a surprise, but right now we're looking at about one and a half million under budget for the for the renovation. >> Okay. Now, my understanding is that bond schedule can't doesn't change no matter what. >> No, it's a fixed >> 20. That's all fixed. So when you're talking about >> maybe using that money someplace else >> you said furniture possibly or something like or windows. >> Yeah. >> How does that all happened? >> So at the for this year we took some of those items like the furniture um replacement and put those onto the um line item line items for the bond. Um >>
076they were originally on the line items. were originally on the operating budget >> and it was >> operating budget not the >> they were originally on the operating budget and it was a few items that were like replacement of furniture that new cafeteria tables that related to >> strictly related to the >> that's what I'm trying to >> painting for the renovation we were going to have to pay for those in the operating budget but when we got a report from our project manager they said at this time we have a 1 and a half million Guny fund. And so then the superintendent was able to help us go through and anything related to the renovation, we were able to take out of the operating budget for this year and shuffle it into that to
077decrease the operating budget. And then what Sophie is talking about with the windows is the windows have been failing for about 15 years slowly, >> right? And um they are not part of the renovation project at this time, but the building committee has asked the teacher the administration to make a priority list of a few things that are still failing like the windows. And if we have some money left over, we can replace some of those windows and not have to put it into the operating budget in the next year. >> So let me ask one final question. Are you sure that money can be moved? >> It can only be that's related to construction only when we were um you know talking about the bond with the public um you know we were careful
078to say if there is leftover money then it will be used for windows and other things. If some of you were there you heard that >> only construction. Yeah. >> Only construction. So it would not possibly go to reduce >> the bond. >> No, >> it can't be. The bond can't be reduced. >> Other items that we would have to ask you money for can go into that if it's for renovation >> and it's not going to be sent back to the taxpayers. >> No, >> it's going to be might at the very if there's leftover after we do, you know, everything else. >> Maybe, maybe not. You know, we don't know. But um we're going to have to pay for the windows to be replaced regardless. Right. So it's like which pocket you want
079it to come out of. >> Right. But >> do you think maybe in following years we could maybe have a little bit of a nest egg [clears throat] put in for maintenance? [laughter] >> We do. We have trust funds. >> That's what I thought we had. >> We have a trust fund for special education which could cover two. >> No, for the building. >> No. So we do I'm explaining what trust funds we have. We have three trust funds. So we have one for special education. So if we had two children move in that are high needs that would cover them for the school year. >> Okay. >> We have a maintenance trust fund. >> Okay. >> That we slowly add in money at the end of the school year if we have any extra
080money >> but we add in only like 10,000 a year. >> Ah see this is where you >> So we have about 250,000 right now >> in there >> in the maintenance. And then we have a technology trust fund >> and that covers every Was it five years? >> Well, unexpected technologies um especially I think related to like the the wireless access points expense every five years or so. So instead of putting in a budget one year and making the tax right >> they're they created that two twoish years ago to smooth that out. >> Okay, that's it. >> Yeah, nice presentation to make sure folks get home safely. So the recording and the slides will be on the SMS website. Um, so if you want to reference them in the future or tell people
081about it, um, that's where you can find it. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you everyone for coming out and