School Board Budget Work Session 10/16/2025

001School Board, Suzanne Carmichael, School Board, Andrew Folsam, School Board, Dos Malipo, School Board, Amy Doyle, Superintendent, Laura Taylor, Business Administrator, Manny Hibbert, Director of Student Services, Matt Stone, Director of Technology. Jim Mziki, director of facilities, Dr. Mr. Chris Kelly. >> I mean, I play a doctor on TV. >> Principal Brown from Harold Martin and Dr. Carrie Senote from Naple Street School. If we can stand for the pledge of allegiance soon. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Great. Okay, I'm going to just kick things off with like a two very quick comments and we're going to hand things over to Amy and Laura. Um as everyone knows uh this

002is literally day one of a almost exactly five month uh budget cycle that we have. So uh this will often feel like a sprint for all of us because I think that we really live these numbers and you guys live them certainly every day and we live them um on a different level every day with with taxpayers. But uh this is five months, right? So like we are here for the long haul to have a strategic discussion. um about what the district needs, what the district is requesting, how that fits within the context of Hopington in our tax base and what we are trying to do to support students, the academics and their development as children. Okay. Um this is our work session where we are going through the operations accounts uh staffing and benefits

003will be handled in a November meeting. >> Yep. >> Um and so what we have talked about is like please everyone ask questions. There's a lot of information in here. Laura will talk us through what she has been doing in her first quarter of being a VA to sort of bring her her take on things. Um, if everyone here does not have a answer right away, like we are going to ask all the questions, please come back to us next Tuesday whenever with with information, you know, like you guys don't need to know like where every single penny goes. I think the goal is just to try to make sure that we can be as informed as possible and I want people to feel free to ask questions. All right, with that, are we ready?

004>> We're ready. >> Let's go. So, I'll start us off. I want to start off by thanking you for giving us tonight to start to launch the FY27 budget. Um, I know that Laura and I are both new and we are transitioning to this new leadership position, the shared accountability, and we have spent a lot of time over the last few weeks developing the big sheets and thinking, meeting with the team. Um, and I also just want to recognize that we are working to figure out our own how we're going to collaborate, um, timelines and things and turning things over to you. So, I just want to thank you upfront for your patience as we get you what you need. We appreciate your feedback as we develop these documents. Uh, we wanted to do things

005just a little bit differently tonight. Um, so I am thankful to have the leadership team here. You all know how hard they work. Um, we went through the budget line by line this year. Every single cost, every single note. Um, partly for Laura and I to know the ins and outs at every level. Uh, but I think it enabled us to have some really great conversations. So, as Deli said, um, ask us our questions. Laura and I are going to provide an overview of what's in on the big sheets. Um, also looking at some budget drivers in each area. Um, but just we want to make sure that we have a chance to share our purpose and our guiding vision for what you have. So, this budget process for us, we spend a lot of

006time looking at not just the strategic plan, but also your board goals as well as the administrator's goals. Um, as I mentioned, we're going to outline the budget drivers, our process. You're going to see some things that are new on the big sheets, some things that are new in the process. Um, and as well as the engagement timeline, as said, this is sort of like the kickoff for tonight. We know that it's a marathon, not a sprint. And so as we go along again, let us know what's helpful for you. One of our goals was to strengthen transparency alignment, not just in um to the strategic goals, but also in best practices. Um I know that when I turn it over to Laura, she's going to give you a lot of reasons why things are

007living in a particular line related to function codes and object codes and budget lines, and this is why she's so good at her job. But there are going to be new things that you'll see in the documents. But we're committed to collaboration, transparency, and shared purpose throughout this process. When you go to the next slide, uh the budget development process tonight, we are on phase three. So phase one really starts at the building level. So teachers are thinking about what they would like in their budget. And those of you that have been educators, which are are most of us, this process really starts in September, and you're already thinking about next year, which can be a little tricky. Um, so as you go through and you may ask questions, we're basing a lot of that

008on what we know right now. Um, but we're professionals and we're using the data that we have, not just in past uh, budget lines, but also what we are anticipating for the future. So the teachers give their budgets to their principles. uh the principles and directors go through their requests, decide, you know, what is time what what's time for right now, what may need to move into the future, and then the administrators and directors send those budgets over to the SAU. And so on Wednesday, we had a pretty marathon leadership team session. Thank goodness for Jean and um Jean and who else gives us snacks? >> Yes. And Denise, they gave us a lot of snacks. We were in that conference room for 4 hours straight going through what we were going to bring tonight.

009So what you see is the beginning of phase three which is tonight. Um and then phase four is when we turn it over to all of you and you'll go through your own processes where you're doing your deliberations asking the question and then eventually it'll move to the budget committee. And that budget committee hearing is February 4th and that will set us up for the annual meeting on Saturday, March 14th. um our strategic priorities that are reflected in the budget um go directly from as I mentioned the strategic plan, the board goals and the administrator goals. So of course we're looking at curriculum instruction and assessment. Um we are a school so that's our primary responsibility is teaching and learning uh student wellness and safety, facilities maintenance and improvement and culture and communication. So you

010will see those uh throughout the budget. And I think at this point I'm going to turn it over to Laura because she's going to talk about some of that transparency built into the budget lines. Yes. Thank you. Um first off I I would like to just send a quick thank you to Amy for this process that we have had. We definitely have made it. It's been a marathon so far. We've met a lot. And thank you to our admin team and for all of your department heads and collaborators from your buildings so that we can put this together. Um, we did take a bit of a different process. It was wonderful to be here last year to work with Michelle, to work with Mike, and to see the the process of the SAU and how

011we build the budgets. You'll see certainly from the documents you have, they're a bit different than they were last year. Um, that is my that is my piece on on this to put into it. And it is a desire for more transparency in our budget lines. We've heard from community members. we've heard from staff members what's what does what is in this line right um what is in the budget and so I really looked at actuals from prior years what makes up that spending what's in those line items and we realized that some costs were being captured in different lines and so we put them where they belong in the in this year so you'll see a few new lines you'll see a testing line for the first time so that we can put as

012web and some of the curriculum pieces that are diag diagnostic pieces in testing lines where they actually belong versus just information access fees, right? I worked with facilities and we looked at we took a directive from the finance committee which was what is our contracted service for facilities versus what do we pay for in house and we realized with our current establishment of how we build the facilities operating budget we couldn't give you that detail very well. So Jim and I have worked really hard together to rebuild the operations for facilities to have contracted services and in-house services. And so that you're going to see some of the actuals aren't quite in the same lines because we're really using our repairs and we're using our maintenance agreements to show what we have to contract for

013versus supplies which are inhouse systems that we can actually do on our own with the current staff that we have. that will make it both um advantageous from a reporting standpoint as we come back to you as we see what it looks like but also from a management standpoint from the business office. In addition, we also have a revised setup on our big sheets this year and in the way that we built the operations budgets. We have new and we have recurring costs. These cover pages that you see have two different columns for this year. They have a requested base and they have a requested new. And f further down the line, I'll talk a bit about what recurring versus new costs are and how they're built, but it will detail really and highlight some

014of those pieces that are new this year that we are bringing forward for one reason or another. Um, and then one of the things that Amy and I have decided to do is that we have a spreadsheet that will be going and will capture all of the questions and answers tonight. Whether that may be questions we can answer right now or questions that we need to follow up on. We'll be able to outline those, who asked them, which department they're for, and we'll be able to come back to to you with knowledgeable, thorough answers if we can't answer them in completely tonight. And then lastly, uh, one of the things that the former BA used to do is that that she would roll the notes over every year. So these budget justifications that we put

015in, the notes you see tonight are brand new. We have put every single line in this budget. Nothing has carried over from prior year. So we really took a line by line approach with every department this time to look at not a zero cost, but really a justification for every line item that you're putting in in that column. What is it? Why do we need it? And we did that for every department. So in our meetings that we had with our department heads, we went through and said, you know, you're missing something from this line that was there, not there this year because the notes are gone. Do you not need it anymore? What was there before? And we really had those collaborative pieces. We have spent a lot of time on this budget and

016I'm very proud of what we've built here in the office. With that in mind, it's recurring versus new costs. So tonight you'll see in these budget sheets um recurring costs or requested base items include items that are required in order to keep our district status quo in order to keep it exactly as it is right now with the services we provide and with those items that are contractually obligated required by law fixed costs that does include the increases required to continue these these items. So if e finance for example which is our K through2 ERP our enterprise resource um program that has amazingly an 8% increase that is part of your requested base because we are required to continue that in order to keep us status quo to keep us going. New requests this year

017include services and placements that are required but not previously budgeted. That may be students that have moved into placements out of district placements this year. That may be students that are moving, you know, that have moved already. That may be students that are moving that we are guaranteed are moving. These are not anticipated. These are known placements that are happening. Items that are currently in use and not previously budgeted. These would be things like raptor, something that was implemented but is, you know, may have needs that are recurring, small needs, but supplies in order to keep the visitor management systems up and running. Things like that are going to be in your new column. Also, certainly new requests or items, pieces that have not been in the budget before, pieces we don't have, things like,

018you know, a new smartboard will be a new item for us to consider. And then lastly, school board or state driven items that we want to note or highlight that we've been asked to put in the budget that we've been asked to consider this year. Any questions on new versus recurring costs before we keep going? >> I love the new notes. >> Sorry, it's a crazy amount of work to do it all manually. It's the same. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> So, budget drivers for this year, we feel like there are really five primary budget drivers. These are rising costs, special education, curriculum, transportation, and facilities. The rising costs overarching, you'll see in the notes, we wanted to very clearly identify that we feel like for the most part, there's a 5% increase that

019we're going to be seeing from our vendors. That is both the mean average and the median that we are seeing with the people that we work with in the support costs that we have in the contracts that we see in the software that we use as a year-to-year basis. Um, one of the big things has been that we have traditionally done annual costs and annual renewals with these. One way to potentially cut costs in the future is to consider multi-year agreements with um non-appropriation clauses. that would give us a chance that often allows for a savings that traditionally was not considered in the past. That may be something we look forward to. So, I will just add as a side note, one of the things that this budget process allowed us to do is to

020figure out what is working and what can be improved. Where are items that maybe we can whether we can do it today or we can do it this year or even next year? Where can we improve on the service that we provide to students in Hington? special education budget driver. This is not a new one for us, right? The cost of special education continues to go up and we are managing the cost the best we can and the student needs the best we can. Um, we talked a lot about, you know, we'll go through personnel later and uh in a few weeks, but we did really talk about the costs and their associated needs in order to meet our students goals and their IEPs curriculum. Um, Superintendent Doyle is a fantastic curriculum director. She is

021just so impressive. And so we have learned very briefly. I've learned so much about teaching learning in the last three and a half months and increased needs in curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development in order to meet the needs of all of our students. In addition, we've obviously seen we have transportation challenges um in order to keep our seven drivers all the time. We also have transportation challenges when it comes to special education and when it comes to McKini Vinto which are our identified homeless students that that are in town and that go to school here. So we also in in doing this budget have identified some opportunities that we may have with our transportation and we'll talk about that. Lastly, facilities. Ongoing facilities maintenance and improvement projects that do not necessarily qualify as a

022minimum of $10,000 cost to fit into our capital improvement plan, RCIP, which has traditionally been funded primarily through the maintenance trust. These are projects that don't qualify for that and so we may need to have them in the general fund budget in order to keep our facilities up to date, which has been identified certainly as a goal from the school board. So what does it what do the numbers mean? Right? There is a copy of the operations accounts what we consider non- salary and benefits. There is these documents that the the school board has that the administrators have will be attached to the um agenda in and um once the budget site is up and running we will also have them available there for people at home to look at. We also have paper copies

023available here and we will have paper copies available at the SAU should someone want to come and pick them up. Uh the paper copies are 11 by 17 which makes it a lot easier to review some of these items. >> So what does that look like? That looks like right now for the operations portion which is about let's say 20 to 25% maximum of the Hopkin School District budget. We are asking for a $69,000 increase right now. I ask you as a board to listen to us tonight to collaboratively let's think about what we talk about and look at how it aligns with your goals, how it aligns with Amy's goals and once personnel budget comes in on the sixth. What does everything look at like, right? Rob was very clear that he wanted to

024see contracts, fixed costs, personnel budgeting all together before we really make a decision about where we think we can sustain. And so tonight, we're going through this operations as is tradition with Hopington. But I do want you to consider that that 609,000 is not necessarily the final number, right? This is the first night we're coming here. With that, let's start with the SAU. So, SAU budget drivers tonight, we are asking for a $95,000 increase in SAU. What What does that make up for? Well, we have a five we already have agreed with first student to extend the contract for another year. So, there is an overall student cost increase of 5% per bus per day in order for us to continue with first student next year. That also extends to our special education regular bus.

025That extends to our athletic buses. That extends to our field trip buses. We have 5% across the board there. It also extends to CRTC. So, our vocational schools, we run three buses to V to the CRTC program, and those are also going up 5%. And then lastly, I have put $30,000 in the budget. You will see it under a new line, which is called 2790, which is homeless. You'll see it in the SAU. It's one of the last lines. It is called Mckin Vinto. And that McKini Vento rule is a federal law that requires us to provide transportation for students that are unhomed that have for one reason or another had to leave their homes in Hopington, but it is in their best interest determination to stay here. And so we need to provide their

026transportation. We cost share it with whatever district they're living in. But this is a cost that needs to be in our budget in order for us to continue to get Title One funds. And in the past, it has not been in there. It is one of the corrective actions we've got from federal the federal government when they came and did our corrective action. And so we are putting that in. You'll see there are two different lines. There's $20,000 for a transportation by others line in the 513. That is if we contract privately with a a small group or with first student in order to move to transport those students. There's also a 580 line of $10,000 which is a travel line. It is a very common thing with Mckin Vinto to offer families mileage in

027or at the IRS rate in order to transport the children back and forth to school. And so we do differentiate between the cost of those and you'll see that in the budget. I just don't want there to be any confusion. It's all mileage. It's all transportation. It's just the different types of transportation that we offer. >> Amy, anything to add on Mcken Pinto? No, I would just say that it's common to offer uh the mileage to families because it's a real cost savings for the district. You know, when you have to send a bus to, you know, back and forth to Hillsboro, it's much cheaper to offer 60 cents a mile to whoever's driving. >> Y um and then the one of the other larger drivers, we've been talking a lot about food service. We

028talked a bit uh earlier this month about the fact that the food service program lost over $100,000. So you will see also it is a 5221 line. Um that is our function code. It is a increase in the food service transfer that we do to 125,000 from 100,000. As of right now it food service is still going to potentially this year have a loss even with the cost increase. We kind of knew that when we looked at what it was the actual loss and what we increased. I'm hoping that we can consider increasing again, but right now the way things stand, this program unfortunately may continue to lose some money. And so I just want to be conservative with that and talk about it a little bit more that we may need to increase that

029that number for next year now that she doesn't have a fund balance. Other things that are in the SA budget that are not massive drivers are certainly that 5% that we talked about. Software increases and um a very small increase in the supplies for the office. >> Dely, would you like to ask questions now or would you like to continue with all departments and then hold I think I think we should ask questions now. Is that okay? Otherwise, I think it'll be a tough Yeah. tough go. >> Okay. >> All right. Any questions? the just so you know the SA this um is supposed to go in line with the the direction of them in your packet. So the SAU is the first budget in the packet >> broad 30,000 foot overview question. So, first

030you just answered some of my questions about the transportation piece, which you know I calculated in here is a $62,000 up in in this part of the budget. But when we look at the overall past spending, so last year's budget and last year's act, and there was an operating surplus in the SAU of $68,000, and the increase in this year's budget was another $60,000. So between that operating surplus and the increase in what is this year's, how do you square that in terms of what we might need going forward? Two of the largest pieces of money that were left over in the SAU were related to transportation. So the first one is related to that for about half the year we ran six buses instead of seven. That's a savings of around $40,000. Um they

031do not charge us for that seventh bus if it doesn't run. And so that's a significant savings for us and that money went back. Um, one of the other pieces you'll see is that we have a fuel searchcharge agreement within our contract. So, if they if fuel for the buses, diesel fuel hits above a certain threshold, they bill us as a district for the cost of that above the threshold. We budget that every year for a student has been kind enough not to bill us for it at this point, but in the event that they do, because per the contract they can, that money is there. We were able to use that money to improve some of the buses last year a little bit, but not we did not use the whole amount that was

032budgeted. It was 50,000 in the budget for last year. Understanding those buses go many, many miles at a time. >> Does that help? >> So, you will also see this year I did jump a bit conservatively and I cut that gasoline line down $10,000. >> We, you know, you've seen in the past we haven't we haven't paid it. I did cut it to 40 feeling like if they do come back and it's 50 in total then we would have we would consider at that time what to do with it maybe potentially negotiate for a student and say this is what we have you know but we also have a little bit of that fuel search charge at the athletic alliance as you'll see and it's in the vocational alliance as well everybody that rides buses

033>> so I did mention to you Jonathan go >> just a super quick on the um the tuition line under it's like 2320 560 line. >> Mhm. >> What What is that? >> That is tuition um for the superintendent for her contract. >> I don't understand that. >> I'm getting my doctorate. >> Oh, okay. >> So, it's now I understand continuing. Yep. I have two classes that are in the budget. >> Just want to make sure I know what the line is. >> Thank you. >> How often how long is our contract with our student? Is it annual? Is it they signed on for three more years after this one? We're in year two of a five-year contract. >> Great. Um we do have there you know there are pieces in there if we feel

034that they are not meeting their contract requirements and their contracted you know agreement then we can consider going out to bid. We've talked about that a bit if they can't meet the the needs. Um I did speak with them today about looking outside the box a little bit where the reason that we continue to run six buses is we continue routinely have a driver that's ill ill and they don't have any subs. Um, I would like to look at pursuing a routing software for the buses that would allow us to potentially rebuild the routes and that would maybe even allow us to still um move down to six buses, understanding that we would have the same times as we potentially do now. Those bus routes have been in place for a very long time. The

035same ones most often they just do they pull a kid off, they put a kid back on. But with the fact that I would say 40% of parents drive their children or juniors and seniors drive themselves, we have about half the ridership I feel like in the district and maybe we could do something just to explore to see if we could save a bus. I'd like to I'd like to be um able to just explore that to see >> Yeah. Who built those roots? Did we build those? Hey Bill using Google maps which is what we realized when >> we were encountering some of the challenges earlier and that's why >> have software they just >> so the reason that there's those those >> well it's like that software has only been developed like routing

036software has only been actually >> commercially available >> to the general public for like the last five maybe seven years right >> it's not like this hasn't existed >> yeah they're not Y and they did say that if we bought it and paid them to learn it, they would do that. Um, but Laura really feels like she's done some demos, able to see some of the tools that are out there and one yep that we're exploring. >> Who else I wonder who else uses First Student? Like if if we were going to go that route, I don't think it's a bad idea at all. I don't know what the cost is, but if other districts use first student and would benefit from this, it might be a great thing to share. >> And that's actually

037what they said in our meeting today is um that they if if one district went to it, they would love to see it is it is Hopington, Hillsboro, Dearing, Andover, and Granthm that are all within this one hub of first student that we work with. And I could certainly call around and see if anyone else would be interested in also, you know, using the software. Yes. I just want to inject into the conversation before we talk about dropping a bus line. If you are going to I don't >> it is really hard when we go down a bus right now and I think that if you are going to think about stuff you have to look at what is it like when we have seven what does it look like when you have six? What

038does it look like when you have five? >> Yes. >> Because when a driver gets sick >> all hell breaks loose. >> Yes. >> So we just need to like plan for hell to break loose. >> And there's not a reduction in a bus line in this budget. No, there's no Yeah, there is no reduction in the budget, >> right? I just want to >> I still be interestedful about that about dropping a bus line, >> just having better routes. >> This is a a sidelike question to that came up last year. What is the law regarding where you need to pick up a student and drop off a student? >> Um, the law is that we are legally required to transport grades one through eight. Um, and we can pick up students. Legally, the

039minimum is 2 miles from the school or more. And the bus stop needs to be within a mile of their home. And it needs to be within like 800 feet of a turn so that people can see the bus there or 500 feet, I think, in order to be able to safely stop at the on the road. >> So, the practice of stopping eight times on Maple Street is not a legal practice. That's a >> that's a town >> Hinington practice. >> Yes. Yes. >> We get a lot of requests for you know doortodoor delivery. >> Yeah. And then you know that obviously every time that bus stops is adding minutes to that route. And I would imagine if it's stopping there are 45 kids and we're stopping 38 times. That's a lot of extra

040minutes in a route. >> Yes. I would also add as a parent of small children that depending on the age of the children who are coming off the bus, depending on their ability to walk a distance, it's a it's a consideration. >> And I would add as a >> parent, former parent of small children, they're capable of walking further than from their front door to the side. >> I agree. I totally agree. I totally agree. >> And I I think the rule is for Harold Martin students, they have to have an adult present in order to get off the bus. adult or older siblings off with middle school siblings >> until until they're Yeah. fourth grade. >> Yeah. Until fourth grade. We have had requests for them to get off on their own, but we

041as a district don't allow that. >> Can I ask a different question about the SAU budget and where things land? So, I was looking at Jim's budget in our conversation about the performance contract and where that money lived. So now that we've moved the 44,000 out of the CIP into the facilities budget, it's $173,000. >> Yeah. >> Well, it seems like that should be in the SAU side of the budget and not in the facilities side of the budget. Um, and I don't know why that decision was made when it was made, but the facilities department didn't say, "I want to go out and execute what is essentially a bond on this work and then have it live in their their budget." Um, so just as principal on the bonds lives in the SAU budget,

042why would we not put the performance contract in the SAU budget and take it out of the facilities budget? Um I'm not saying we can't for by the state the bond is treated differently and is actually a term of long-term debt whenas the municipal lease that is the performance bond the performance lease is not actually a form of debt and so the bond is listed by itself in the SAU because when we do the DOE25 at the end of the year it is a district-wide expense um and it does not get broken down it does not get reallocated. The performance B lease though does and so I allocate it by enrollment to every school and it is considered um very similar to the SAU copers um and those types of things. So it's not the

043same type of expense as a bond. I'm certainly happy to move it. It is a districtwide. It applies to all buildings. I move it for transparency into the SAU uh this year or next year, whichever you'd like to see. It just from a legal standpoint, it's treated differently. >> So, we've traditionally put it under a 735 line for equipment. >> I think it's just food for thought as we move forward as to where it's most appropriate. >> The 2620 line, which is under now, which is buildings, is traditionally facilities function code. And that is really the function code where it lives. So by default, it pulls into the facility's budget versus pulling into the SAU. I'd have to mainly move it over, but I could do that if you want me to. >> We'll put

044it in Amy's notes for something to come back. Okay. >> Yeah. So we'll add that as a request. Absolutely. Anything else on the SAOU? >> Great. Thanks. You're welcome. Special education special education budget drivers. Our special education request is Amy. It's not mine. In total, our difference for special education is $287,559. We are seeing that we had some students very unfortunately last year that passed away and so they are no longer in our budget. Um, we have new students who are now out of district placed and we actually have two new residential placements that are known right now and are actively in the process of either going or are in these facilities at this time. And so we have the reason they are in the new is not because they're not required by law, but

045just because they are not in the budget from prior. And so we want to outline that. We understand and we're trying to be clear that we have students that have are no longer in the budget and students that have been added in. And these are our students that are added in. In addition, we have one new out of district placement for a different student. And so that means that we have three new out of districts in this budget. In addition, we have a board certified behavior analyst um to conduct assessments, develop behavior intervention and skill acquisition programs, and train school staff. BCBAs are not covered by the HA agreement right now. So they have to be contracted. They are not somebody that we hire in house and so we contract them through Bill White or

046a similar agency and that is in the budget this year because we do find that um sorry >> it was before but it's an increase. >> It's an increase this year >> we operating for additional >> the year before. Um the special education budget as we know is confidential in terms of more specific details. Happy to move into non-public if there are very specific items. You do have your the board you note that they are marked as confidential. The public special education does not have notes. So the itemized notes in the public's version are gone >> to protect confidentiality. Mhm. >> We went over this last year, but if you could remind me about Medicaid reimbursements around outplacements for the tuition piece, for the transportation piece, and for the residential piece, how does that all?

047Is there Medicaid reimbursement? >> There there is for some things. Um >> things that are medically necessary, right? >> Medically necessary and instate. >> In what? >> In state. in state. >> So some of there like transportation we've all the transport transportation logs get submitted um for reimbursement as well. None of our other districts have monitors but if they did we submit for that too. Um we fill out all the documentation we can for any speech and language occupational therapy. If a student has a rehab assistant at their school we submit for those as well. >> Thank you. And for those students that we don't have Medicaid for, if they hit over the three and a half times the average cost per pupil, they are eligible for state um special education aid at 80%. >>

048So if we do have a student who's placed out of state, >> not happens. No, no, those are because so any student who's that doesn't attend a school in our state, I reach out to the DOE and that school and we do what we can to make them approved schools. Some already are. Okay. And we just need all the documentation to allow us to do that. So, as long as they're an approved school in state or out from a special education aid standpoint, which is different than Medicaid, then we can submit for all of those for special education aid as well. >> And we do. >> Okay. And and how much do you So so I'm looking at the 2001 line >> and I don't know >> 2001 line. >> So 10120109. >> Oh yeah.

0491,200 109. >> Okay. 1,200 109. >> Yep. >> Um I was trying to shorten it cuz I said 101 before everything. >> Um so on that 569 line. >> Yep. That's a 85% increase. So how much and and so is do we get Medicaid dollars back toward that or not? >> No, we get special education aid dollars >> for that question. >> Thank you. Sorry. >> So special education aid. So refresh me. >> So special education aid is where it's like if a student is at an approved school, we collect the invoices. Janette does a phenomenal job to make sure she's doing that monthly and we're tracking every expense we have. Um, with that, I'll call her a formula, I guess, is the best way to put it. So, with special education aid, anything over

050three and a half times the average student tuition. >> Okay. >> So, I think for us last year was like 79 something,000. >> That's three and a half or that's one. >> That's the three and a half pay that >> we have to pay $80,000 per student before the state jumps in at all. So then above that, whatever the amount is above that, we'll get 80% of that back. In most cases, if there's if a student's um if the billing for that student, the invoicing for that uh student is above a certain threshold, we'll get 100% of it back. But typically, we only plan for the 80 because that's when we can't get back. >> And so this is sort of a procedural question. So, if I want to know the $235,000 increase, how much

051of that, you'd have to know how many students and then that would be a non-public session to talk about that >> and we would also need to speak with the about the related services that the student gets because those are also eligible. So, we would add those in as well um when we calculate what we would get back in to the transport. I see a big number like that and I just want to know how much >> is on the town tax and how much is coming back to us. >> And remember it doesn't come back in the same fiscal year. That's the other piece. So anything for the 2627 school year, we will not get back until December of 2027, which is the FY28 school year. So we're right now we would be looking

052at revenue this year for stuff that occurred last year. Mhm. >> So you won't see that essentially in December of 26 in this within this budget. You won't see it until after. It's a year behind. >> Okay. Do we know at this point how the changes to Medicaid, Medicare and the um disassembly of uh you know the Department of Education specifically for special education is going to impact our students and any title grants or other reimbursements that we're going to get? It's a good question, Andrea. Um, we actually had a meeting today with someone related to how at least Medicaid bill building billing is going to change next year. I wouldn't say that it's advantageous for us. >> No. >> So, I wouldn't think so either. >> He gave us some really great advice. Uh,

053we are going to budget conservatively. That was the word he kept using. Yes. >> Uh, we've talked a lot about what might be covered. uh they are creating new systems uh to which as a researcher right now myself doesn't make a lot of sense. They're going to collect data through random sampling rather than actual documentation which is a strange >> not even a quantitative study. >> Apparently though this New Hampshire is one of the last to transition to this model. >> Yeah. He was talking about how there are actually two parts. there's what we're doing right now, but then this other random sampling. So, he advised us to budget conservatively. Um, as far as title grants and the dismantling of Department of Ed at the federal level, they have, you know, superintendents across the state

054are putting things into their budget and you'll see one here related to curriculum, professional development specifically. I I'm I can't imagine that title three will continue. We don't get title three funds. that's English language learners. But title two was already on the chopping box the last time because it's specific for teacher and staff administrator professional development which is not um a core value of the current administration. Um so we do we're not sure that that will continue. Title one they do think will continue at least on some level. So that is why it's so important to fill out the free reduced lunch and title four and title one go together. We already get the minimum allocation of title 4 just because we're so small, which is $10,000. We may get less of that. They may

055decide to reallocate within the state, but what we have been advised is that we're it's almost like a block grant at this point. They'll get a certain amount from the federal government and then they'll let us know if it's going to trickle down. So, I think we can anticipate title ones. Um, we've also gone through some changes here. You know, Maple Street is now a title one school, so we got more funding and we're working strategically to use that to our advantage. I think we should plan to not have as much in title two um and title four and certainly less Medicaid revenue coming back with this new model. Great. And then my other question re related is I know that one of the biggest issues we've had is that where we are located it's

056difficult to find a a school um or other um location that best meets our um special ed students needs. Um and I know some kids that students go for a variety of reasons and sometimes that's medical and sometimes um that's you know for for other reasons. Um, is there any concern that any of the um schools or other facilities where students are currently attending um are at risk of closing because of the impact of the Medicaid and Medicare cuts? >> It's a good question. As of right now, that's not part of any of the conversations that I had with you. >> Great. Okay. >> Doesn't mean anything, but sure. >> This is right now. >> Okay. Um that's not anything that we heard grumblings for or something to watch out for or anything like that.

057Again, not that we're not trying paying attention, it's just it's not >> the topic of conversation, >> right? >> We also know that can come quickly, right? We also know that operating budgets can get away from an organization and they try to stay open as long as they can. They went through that with Crochet Mountain a few years ago >> where they gave I think it was a two week notice, three week notice >> that. So, we're hoping that doesn't happen, but our our students are placed in facilities or schools that are well established and I think have funding. >> Great. Okay. Thank you. >> Just just to circle back to the Medicaid question that you you're just answering. So, my understanding is that a lot of people may be going off Medicaid because of

058sort of requirements to stay on it. That's going to be for adults, right? kids are going to qual like they're not going to have blood requirement or whatever >> but the parents have to decide that they want us to enable their student to be Medicaid eligible. It is up to the parent and we do have parents that say no. >> Yes. >> That say I want to pay out of pocket. >> No, they say you cannot. So you cannot bill for the services you provide our student. >> We have to have parents consent in order to bill Medicaid. We cannot bill without their permission. >> And there are some parents say no. And if they say no, we're still spending the money. We just don't get the money back. >> That's right. >> Can I

059ask you the Are you good on Medicaid? >> Not really, but I mean, yeah. >> Well, so in line item um budget unit 10002150131, I don't know a better way to do that. >> I don't want >> 2150. >> Yep. >> 131. Yeah. >> Yeah. see you can shorten it. >> Yeah, I know. Could it be any better? We seem it seems like we have been consistently over budget uh on that line and we have cut it significantly which seems we're going to be even more under budget to where we are. So for right now for students who are out of district and have speech services, this aligns with exactly what those are. So again, when we have students pass away, things like that, those are no longer in there. So these are the remaining

060students who get speech services at their out of district schools and this aligns completely with their what their IEP says, but I also leave room for if we have a progress meeting. So there's now there like stuff like that is in there. >> But this is all due to the shifts in what students are needing at the school. >> Okay, cool. >> You'll also see it's a good point, Deli. So if you look at our budget, we have 10 which is districtwide speech services. Yeah. And then we have 100 2150131 which is speech ESY which is extended school year. >> Yeah. >> We have to break out the cost of extended school year items versus school year items. And so in total we have it's a it's a great point just to point out. You're

061right. We um we have a a reduction here. We obviously spent a lot more. Um but that 57.40 plus the 950 would be our total speech for the year. >> Okay. >> Um and you if you take a look at this as well right now um 25 26 actual to date that you can see is because we are contracting with a speech pathologist because we cannot hire one through the AA. >> Okay. Great. Um can you also talk about the learning ally software which had a bill in 2425 and in the 26 27. >> Yes. Here >> um learning ally is a software program we discovered in December. Um that learning ally has been purchased year after year as a program to be used I think at maybe hero Martin. >> No it's used in

062multiple schools. >> Multiple schools. Um, but it was not part of this Cognos report and so we were missing that line item for for years and so now we are actually budgeting for it. It's the first year it's shown up on your Cognos reports which are what these are called. >> Great. Thank you. C can I just also ask because every year we talk about transportation costs and so on the >> 2722 109 we have transportation by others and then on the we have the special ed transportation. >> Yep. That's an increase of like 40 almost 446. And then this one is an increase of 33 33,05. >> It cost us between $400 and $500 a day per student to transport out of district >> per bus. >> And I Okay, I'm sorry. Numbers again.

063How much per day? >> Like between $4 and $500 per bus per day. So it's almost a four like a $400,000 increase between those two lines >> because we are Yeah, we because we are legally required to transfer those students to their schools. >> That's an increase of 400,000. >> So we've got two new, you know, two kids at new residential pl, you know, new placements and new out of district students that now are moving back and forth. >> Okay. >> I guess I flag it just because it's such a big chunk of change. >> Y >> and we Sorry. We do everything we can to like who can ride share, who can go at the safe like if you're going by that place, can you pick this one up and and take them with

064them? And sometimes it's not possible depending on start time for one, end time for another, things like that or just what each each student might need. Y um it also contributes, but we do everything we can to ride share. These are one of the things we're consistently fighting. We cannot use the mini bus for home to school, school to home because we do not have anybody that is school bus certified. Um, even though you do not need a CDL to drive the mini bus in order to do that very specific pickup at the at the home and drive them to school, we don't have anybody that is trained or rostered with the state to provide that service. So, we cannot use the mini bus to drive them from Courier Road to somewhere, you know, or

065from Maple Street to somewhere or from, you know, anywhere. We cannot do it. >> So, that's a different cert than what coaches get when they drive the mini bus. >> Yes. to school. That is um what's called a multi-use bus, which is only for co co-curricular activities. >> I get trained. >> Yes, you >> get trained. >> Been there special education very hard to continue to work on >> um curriculum. >> Anything else? We're good. All right team, our curriculum drivers uh the requests are up about 21%. I have we've captured the fly five curriculum consumables that was a program that was purchased for K to 6. Um that uh focuses on building student well-being and academic success. When you talk about implementing our course of a learner, um that is the tool and the

066curriculum and the materials that we would use to implement that K to 6, you'll also see a new request for district-wide diagnostic assessment tools um focusing on math and literacy. We have not decided on which tool. Um, of course we would need your support to fund those lines, but as we endeavor to improve our multi-tered system of support, a gap that we have right now that I've identified is we don't have a diagnostic tool. We used to give star many years ago. We moved away from that um probably right after or right before COVID and we use Ames as a progress monitoring tool and a screening tool, but Ames Webb is not a diagnostic assessment tool. So in an effort to really look at where students are and what they need, bringing in a diagnostic

067assessment tool like I Ready or Niwa or again STAR um would really be advantageous for our teachers branching minds. We again we've talked a lot about securing our multi-tier system of support. That's exactly what that tool is designed to do. It's my understanding the district has done some piloting through title 4 over the last two years. It's best practice once you've been taking something out of a grant for a few years. If you're using it as a pilot that if it is meeting your needs and it's something that you want to continue to use, uh you want to put it into your operating budget so that you are supplementing and not supplanting. Um we also as we went through our corrective action that was an area where they've given us um some opportunities for growth.

068Um and one of the ways that you supplement and not supplant is that you follow those procedures. We are putting in some requests for tier 2 materials. Again, that multi-tered system of support. We have made some gains in tier one. Um, of course, we have a lot of resources in tier three, which is special ed. We really have very limited resources in tier 2. And so, if you think about a a student and the support that they may need, you want to keep them out of tier three as long as you can. It's usually either between two and three times more expensive to educate a student once they get into special ed, whether it is uh contracted service or related services or special transportation. The longer you can keep them out of tier three, the

069better. Um so we want to do some investing in our tier 2 materials specifically related to literacy and math and those would be aligned to the core programs that we already have. And I mentioned this earlier, putting in some district funding uh for professional development. Right now we follow our collective bargaining agreement where teachers have a certain amount that is to be used for their own professional goals to meet their own IPDPS or we call it TP here. Um but whatever whatever they want to go to certainly has to go through the administrators. But if we want to bring in some professional development say related to amplify or improving math instruction we don't have any district funds to be able to do that. We have leveraged title two pretty routinely here like all districts do.

070Um but I just want to make sure that if that were to go away that we have some funding available. Um and it's been my experience that teachers enjoy um and really benefit from ongoing highquality professional development either from our our own local experts or from others in the field. >> Questions about curriculum? I do the so when I look at the um DW curriculum the 2212038. So this is where you have the fly five and the branching minds. So there's savings here because we no longer need books and dues for documents. And then I see um 16,000 almost $17,000 increase. Looks like branching minds and fly curriculum online component >> are conflated. Make that up. >> First page, second line. >> Oh, okay. Sorry. Um the branching minds that you're seeing in there is

071something that's been in title four for the last two years. Um, title four is one of those that is a federal grant program that once it won't let it live in there forever. So we keep bridge of minds which is a diagnostic tool. >> No data system branch of minds is a basically a technological platform to keep our data. So then when we're building so within and making decisions within our MTSS framework, we have the data all in one location. >> And the fly five looks like if you combine the consumables and the curriculum, those are like 10,000 a little over $10,000. Um I guess I'm just wondering about the ongoing costs of these. Yeah, they would be that ongoing >> like compared to like because it looks like the books we're doing away with

072the books, but that's like 2,200 bucks. So like how much more we're spending on this? Um, and I have a similar kind of a question when I look down at Amplify. I see a $1,500 increase, a $2,500 increase like how much the ongoing costs of these online educational programs are compared to, you know, textbooks. >> That it's a good question. In consumables, you will see that as a reoccurring cost. Um, so they can go up and, you know, be an increase just like our 5%. So consumables that go along with Fly Five, there are materials for the students. So if you think about there's probably a workbook, there are some, you know, some cards for them to interact with the content. Um, the online information access fees for Fly Five again will be a reoccurring

073cost that is for the classroom teacher um or any other of our interventionists that want to access that that platform. Um the amplifying costs that you see below are for the tier 2 uh boost which is what they use at Harold Martin. We are not using it here at Maple Street. So right now I would see that as a reoccurring cost um at to serve students at Harold. So I guess my overall comment is it seems like you know sort of tens of thousands of dollars every year as opposed to you know educating in a more traditional like the older way on on books. It seems like it's it's a >> oh I I I would actually say and I we really do need to buy some textbooks. There aren't any in this um but

074our first CIA meeting we were discussing how we have you know social studies textbooks that are very outdated. you know, they talk about Senator Barack Obama and don't have accurate geographic labels. So, that is important for us to unpack. Um, but I do think the Fly Five curriculum and Patricia Kerry can can jump in. It is a very traditional way of talking about um your self-regulation skills and the consumables are for the student. Um, they have, you know, cards and interactive materials. They don't send, if you think back, I'm I'm trying to think of, they used to have this program called Second Step. Um, and second step came with a big kit that was probably as big as this table. And when you opened it, there were books to read and things for the students.

075That's where the online piece for the teacher. There are books that come with that program. Um, but that the online portal >> Yeah. And I didn't mean to I'm I'm not commenting so much on the quality of the educational component. I'm not I'm not qualified to really do that. It's more the cost that I'm thinking about if it's kind of how licensing works. >> Yep. Right. It will it will be reoccurring. a large cost. >> It is something that helps me think about it um when I break it down as what is the cost per student. So this is available to all kids K through 8. So that's why I thought it was K through eight. >> It's K to six. I mean it is available seventh and eighth grade, but we're not using it

076at the middle high school. It's just K. >> Okay. Well, then my data is wrong, so I'm not going to say that. >> Okay. >> How much is it per student? >> Well, if it was K through eight, it's $25 per student per year. >> Okay. Um, if it is now K through six, that's different. >> It would be $3.40 per student. >> Right. But the comparison in my mind is like versus not paying a license or fee on textbooks and fix the textbooks. >> That's really what I'm thinking about. >> Absolutely. >> Certainly, it's going to be more. >> I don't know because I would also say again like for any of the amplified stuff where it's like kids learning foundational reading and writing, they have to write on something. say you would then

077rebuild that cost into a copy or contract. Like they're writing into the booklet and doing all the things that are in the booklet and if you don't do that then you're hosing out printables which is another cost would just be under a different line item. I don't know apples to apples but like you're printing stuff no matter what for kids who are learning how to write on a great >> really when you look at current um reading instruction and programs they're pretty much comprised of the online component the workbook and as Elsie said the writing especially in the younger grades where they're really using a funological approach I mean gone are the days unfortunately of the textbook where you write your name in the front and pass on to the next student the following year

078um it's just not the way reading instruction I M >> and and I think you're you not to speak for you Jonathan that is how they make money right that is the model um but I also have you know in my previous role we bought textbooks routinely every year we had a textbook replacement cycle that coincided with the curriculum review cycle so say for example if social studies were up we would have a social studies textbook purchase we got into the habit of buying a class set because we do have students that do better with a physical textbook. Um, and then we ended up with a reoccurring cost for information access fees for students that wanted to access that textbook online. Um, and it also provided teachers with ondemand and updated materials because as you

079know once you buy a textbook unless you we don't want to replace it every year or every couple of years when things change but the online version um can be changed pretty regularly. I was going to ask are we negotiating these contracts with you know the organizations and groups that are selling these like because they are negotiable in terms of price per pupil or access or right. >> Yeah. I mean I would say that you know when when we entered into the fly five contract I mean they gave they do give you a pilot period. Um they will give you some you know free things. Um but have we said to them, we're only going to give you $5 a student, $2 a student? >> No, we have not. >> That is not how um

080responsive classroom um the what is their what is their their name? >> Center for the Center for Responsive Schools. They are not cheap. I will just say that. But some in my experience some of these are negotiable in terms of like great we want this many subscriptions and this many you know teacher access and we can do it for this and if you can't do it there's three others with similar programming that can >> yeah I mean I would say fly specifically we chose that I and I wasn't here I know that that was something that you all talked about last year Fly 5 is aligned with responsive classroom and so the language is the same the structure is the same so in terms of picking a different curricul curriculum that would have different language

081may be confusing you know for the students so you want it to be >> of course I'm just saying you know there is a process we should try >> I will say in that respect we do get that with amplified so amplify we purchase the consumables and they they provide us the licenses at no cost and that was a negotiated item I think >> Patrica is going to >> I would say we did get a discount for fly five um they are charging us as one school instead of two schools okay um so instead of charging us for two separate schools they consider Street and Harold Martin as one school K to6 um which gives me different like they got rid of the site licenses and the shipping and a couple of the other pieces.

082So we weren't able to negotiate a better rate than originally and we do the same thing similar with pickup patrol. We didn't see >> and many of those in terms of high quality PD will come in and give free PD because we're paying in terms of that line chose Amplify the former curriculum director um did negotiate I I want to say it's a three-year contract we had with them where they took off some of the shipping fees similar type things. They came in they did the professional development the first year. Okay. Yeah. >> Drive a hard we did it with mystery science as well. We we spoke with them and and they gave us one school even though Harold Martin uses it as well, right? >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Which which

083makes sense, right? Most schools it would be K through six. It would be one building, >> right? >> And sometimes they do it per student, sometimes they do it per school. So if it's better >> and sometimes they give a better rate, which is a case if you have more students, you get a better rate. So I just consider us together, >> but we will definitely keep that in mind for other curriculum based items to see if we can negotiate some something with them. I I frankly didn't know that all curriculum places will do that. A lot of software places won't do it. >> Yeah. >> So that's a great idea to think about. Thank you. >> And it hasn't been my experience that all will do it, but you're right. There are some that

084want your business. >> I think as the market gets larger, >> true, >> they become I think that's a little more willing to talk about pricing. >> It definitely depends on the content. >> Yep. >> If you're trying to buy something, >> right? And I don't want you folks to think about changing every year. You know, that's not but scare them a little. I think >> I'll do my best. >> Question. >> Three questions. >> Okay. So the first one I think Laura this is probably a realignment stuff and maybe some of this is new like the ready online assessments the renewal as web some of the early bird in the current year's budget it's zero and in this year's you know there's a line. So is that because it's been realigned or because it's

085new? >> Um both. So that that's that 644 line that we we spoke about. If you look at the bottom of page one of the curriculum under 101 2212038 that 644 line is brand new this year. Uh that testing didn't exist. They used to be in 643. So the expenses for um a you know Ames Webb would be in that line and there's a little note that says Ames moved to 644. So you can see that that's that traditional Ames web piece that's actually in 644. I Ready is new um this year. >> Okay. And it might not be I ready. >> It might not be I ready. We're using that as a placeholder. But that that online assessment and instruction piece for 3420 is a new request this year. >> Okay. Um >> that

086one has not been implemented before in the district. >> Same page uh 3049, the districtwide instruction PD. So there's a note for $10,000 admin directed professional development. >> Yes. I think I'm pretty sure I know what the contractual APA stuff is, but I don't know what that >> Yeah, that was what I was just talking about that we don't have any money at the district level to pay for professional development. We typically have done that through title two. Um, and we really don't have any other ability to to pay for professional development. It's really for their HA and HS members through their contract, but we don't have any money that's at the >> So like if you were going to bring somebody in to do a day or that that kind of thing >> that

087would have had to come out of title two in the past or I mean I'm sure Michelle would have had access to some lines to be able to bring some things in, but there's no purposeful budget for it. >> Now that's designated. We found that the HA money that for you know that that $400 per person that's in there per the master agreement they now have act before there were pieces that we kind of had an agreement that the district could use a little bit and they could use a little bit but you know or most of it but now that there's that ability for them to get additional reimbursement at the end of the year in the new master agreement we can't really use that money anymore so we don't have the ability to

088do any admin directed PD that says like oh this workshop came up and we think it's really beneficial for you can't ask you to use your $400 cuz you didn't choose to go. So that's what this is is meant to align with. >> This goes back to the operating surplus for this particular department last year was $89,000. So I think in your question sheet um it would be interesting to see how much of that breaks out for PD not used versus underuse of other lines just to sort of like >> see if there's ways that the overall ask of 47,000 might be a little tighter ship than other places. on your interest. Can you say the last part again? >> So the ask of the increase here is 47,000. The operating surplus last year was

08989,000. So if you strip out PD not used, what would that be? And in what lines? And is that fair to say if it wasn't used in the past, do we still need it? Have those lines been reduced? Can it be ahead against the $47,000 increase? >> Sure. If it's contractually, we will definitely look at it. If it's contractually obligated, I'm stuck. Um, and I will tell you that Hess doesn't use a lot of their money and they get 8,000 a year. So that significantly typically Rome. >> That's why I'm curious. Is the $89,000 like $60,000 of PD that we have to budget for or is it 45,000 or is it you know what is that number? >> If you take a look at um 102213018, it's our third block on this first page. You'll

090see that Hess last year received $8,000 per contract and they used $568 out of that eight grand. They, you know, but the year before they used 2569 of that money. So, um then, you know, that is definitely something for us to look at. >> Yeah. And I think at different schools it seemed like there was less use at Harold Martin versus at the high school. It could be where people are in their careers. Yeah, >> that would be good. Thank you. >> Sure. >> Can I ask an insane question? I would assume given the amount of communication we hopefully do about the contracts that everyone knows what their PD dollars are and we just be like, "Yeah, professional development, sign up for stuff." >> Yep. >> Do the things. >> We did something new this

091year um where I put out essentially financial procedures for the year. And on the third page is exactly that. it is how do you you know use your PD money, how do you go to conferences and workshops? How do you do courses? And so we're really hoping that that will draw some attention. >> And can we like nudge the unions to be like, "Hey, it's October. Have you signed up for your PD? Hey, it's January." >> Mhm. >> Right. >> Sure. >> Great. >> It's there. We should people want to get >> meetings. >> Yeah. Great. It's all coming back. if people don't want to, but like if it's there and people want continuing education, they could use it. >> Yeah. Or not. Okay. Well, anything else? >> Great. Okay. Great. >> Next is technology.

092And we'll continue to go through um the department budget a little bit. Mr. Stone, if you want to come up. Um, our hope here is that Amy and I will try to uh go through the budgets as much as possible and our department heads are here for emotional support and to answer questions that that we certainly cannot and to add in where they feel is necessary. So, we'll do the technology budget drivers first. >> So, our our technology requests are up about $43,000. um that includes a network upgrade and we would use those funds to upgrade the classroom wireless that improves the bandwidth, strengthens network security, reducing downtime, supporting high density use during testing and online learning and ensure compatibility with those newer devices that we're hoping to replace uh the Chromebook replacement plan that

093we talked about earlier this fall. Uh Matt has put that into his budget allocating funds for Chromebook replacement to grade levels of about 150 student devices at a time. And then uh the final driver there is diligent community, the tool that the the board spearheaded a couple of years ago to increase transparency and communication at the SAU level. whether that's committees, schoolboard meetings, documents, policies. Um, that is a a pretty pricey tool and and you'll see it captured in the past and I'm sure Laura can talk more about it. There are actually two parts to diligent. There's the core program and then there's an add-on for some of the committee pieces. >> Where's the line for that, Amy? >> For diligent? >> Yeah, >> it is 100225 046 643. It's about halfway down on the

094first page. It's the big block. Um, total requested budget for access >> districtwide technology information access fees is 61,550. >> Did you find it? >> No, >> actually 643 information access. It's in the middle right here. >> It's this big block, but it's the top line. >> Okay. >> So, our just to go over it real quick. Our account codes are made up of five pieces. Um, and I think this is a a great time to just go over that real quick. So, we have a fund which is fund 10 as you see first. Then we have a location and it's one digit and it's goes zero through five and those are the our buildings themselves. So, anything you see that's zero is districtwide. And then you have a four-digit function code. Um, and that's

095what that budget unit title often refers to. So, this computer instruction. So, 2225 is computer instruction. And then lastly, we have a three-digit subject or a department code which gives us more detail to break down say if it is um you know custodial versus maintenance versus English versus science whatever it may be. And then lastly you have your account which for the operations goes between account 300 to99 and those are broken down um individually. So really we're grouping by budget unit which is those first 10 digits and then we break out by account and then notes are based on account and then we are grouping per budget unit. >> If we can just use the page and the last four digits and the little top part where it says budget unit. That would make my

096life a lot easier. >> It's going to be really hard for me because I think about it in the whole number but I will do my best. >> So it's a lot. >> Can we go back to the diligent? So what what is diligent costing us? >> 15,000. 15,000. >> So last year when we spoke about diligent, a new ask was 8,000. We realized we put it in for 8,000 and we were missing the um we are missing the committee add-on piece that that piece for board committee. >> Just that it's the committees plus the policy. Policy, >> right? >> Committees and policy. Yes. >> So they give us essentially one bucket for meetings which is the school board and then we pay for the additional ones which is the five additional board committees. So

097those are sort of broken out separately so it's easy to see which committee is meeting and when but there is there is cost for that >> and and while diligent is is >> very helpful >> good for EMC >> it's a significant cost >> so when I come to a board meeting I never use the diligent I always just go into the drive and pull up the folder and use that um I don't know how other people are using diligent But it hasn't been a $15,000 bonus for me in terms of >> what it is that we're doing. >> I know the advantage of spending money. >> I was it for that. I know it definitely streamlines the point of access for the public into it. Otherwise, it was like a multi-point system trying to

098figure out where all the things were based off of the Google Drive system. I definitely use it. I also use the Google folder for backup materials, but I use it a lot during meetings. Um, and I think it's also very helpful for minutes. um and keeping that live. But I hear your point. >> I'm just the user, not on the other >> and and for the agenda too, right? >> And for the agenda. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> It's definitely brought in as part of the board's focus on communication, especially around the >> board's goals, the strategic plan and policy. But if it's not meeting that need, we can certainly review. >> Yeah, I think there are parts of it that have worked. I think there are parts of it that have been less successful. >>

099Are there other platforms out there? is what the New Hampshire School Boards Association has pushed. I I went to a demo of it. It's it's similar. I mean, I think all of those tools you really need some PD, you know, to learn the ins and outs. And you certainly learn by doing, but I don't know. Did you go to the that demo about >> it's similar? >> Simly. >> What is it? >> S I M B L I. >> It's also not perfect. No. >> Yeah. I really enjoyed signing up for it. >> Yeah. Super great. really enjoyable. >> I'm just wondering if it's any cheaper. They're both kind of clunky. >> I think the cost is probably similar. I >> think on the front end diligent is definitely more user friendly. It's been simply

100which I've used now for years. Like I'm always like where the heck do you find policy >> for sure. >> Right. >> Yes. >> I wonder what they're saying >> like which drop down which one is ours in. There's that there's also that option of course to to cut back on the services we get if we wanted to but the policies is pretty helpful because it ties into everything else and it comes with the board committees right >> they are separate pieces we just built we budgeted them together here the that's right >> okay >> thank you >> sorry can you have one but not the other so if they decide to get rid of say the committee piece >> I believe so I don't know if it would change the bread lag I don't

101know if there's a discount we buy multiple modules, but I could certainly reach out to our camera and find out the cost >> because I I wonder if that might be where the savings is like if we have the core for the meetings, but we go back to the committees that are, you know, simply Google drives or or something. >> I believe that's possible. >> Have a question for Matt. Um, and first a comment as I look at this and I always look at that what we budgeted last year in the actuals. You're super tight. So, thank you for that. Appreciate it. Um, so most of the $33,000 is Chromebooks, >> correct? >> Um, what happens if we don't have that $33,000 in terms of how does that change our replacement cycle? >> So the

102essentially what I broke down to was two grade levels provides essentially we can cover eight grades with machines with a four-year life cycle. Or if we extend to five, then we can obviously do 10 years. What that would provide is a levelfunded financially responsible way of doing our 1:11 program in its current guys. >> So obviously we don't have to maintain that. You know we had discussed that at the previous level. Obviously in this budget I've chosen to keep it status quo. U you know could we do less? I mean, yes, obviously, um, we could go back to, you know, shared carts at the elementary level. There is a pretty significant friction to using them if you don't have ready access to them. Um, that's certainly something we found, you know, every time we've had

103a choice between do we have sign out technology or do we have technology in every classroom, we usage, you always have it because you don't have to plan for it. You don't have to say, oh, my partner class is already using them. I can't use them today. That sort of stuff. Uh but you know, I understand it's a significant cost and that's where we are. >> And you'll see from a budgeting standpoint, um the budget is broken down into 30,000 of new Chromebooks in the budget and 20,000 from what was in there for this fiscal year. >> Thank you. >> And Matt, we're one to one grades two and up. >> Correct. >> Yeah. So this I mean essentially provides a stable platform for maintaining the current program >> year-over-year. So that's we've kind of

104gotten over the hump of you know that big bubble in 2021. This would be level funding going forwards. >> Anything else on tech? >> I did put a draft of the technology capital projects. It's a little bit rough. Um, but that is in the board folder for this meeting. Uh, so that I really looked at mainly the networking projects. You'll see that our switches have largely been completed. Um, so I I sort of do three levels. Firewalls sort of connect us out to the world. Switches build our internal network and then wireless access points provide Wi-Fi in the classrooms. Um and really it's those Wi-Fi uh classroom access uh that is the next um we have a large number of devices that were purchased in 2017 and 2018 that are coming due to the end

105of life. Um we did buy 25 new wireless access points this year. So we've started that cycle. Um and then the the big networking pieces uh our vendors sort of give us an end of sale date for the equipment that we have and then their lifespan is five years beyond that. So, for instance, we bought switches in 2019 for the middle high school. Uh, their end of sale was actually just in May, so they will be supported until May of 2030. So, it's really an 11-year time span that they're supported. Um, we were lucky in that we were able to buy early in their life cycle and get the maximum amount of support. And then some of those pieces um the vendor has not set an end of sale date uh for most of our

106switches because they were purchased in the last three years. I'm expecting those to be supported you know into the mid 2030s I would think. So >> and then the other piece there is a firewall replacement. We have received information that there may be an possibility of getting a firewall for free through the cyber security and municipal grant program that the state has been operating for the past three years. So that would obviously be exciting because that would both save us some money and going along with that is supposed to be high quality professional development for our team about that. So I'm excited by that possibility but um I don't have any details or timeline or anything like that. So, um, but since our current equipment is supported until 2029, I'm hopeful that that will hit

107before replacement cycle time. So >> without creating a ton of work for you, um is it possible to create sort of a a grid where we can see by school how many Chromebooks, devices, whatever you want to call them. There are by school and what the difference in replacement schedule would be at current funding versus the additional 30,000. >> Absolutely. That would I think that would clarify it in terms of whether or not we can afford to do another 30,000 or whether we can live with current or if there's a number in between. >> Sure. >> This is very cool. I like the draft CIP. >> Yes. >> Helpful. >> Yep. But then if we're we always have to keep in mind too if we're going to phase out personal devices in classrooms, our hands

108are a little bit tied. >> Okay, thank you. Right, we're going to move on to facilities budget this year the request is up 110,361 of that 44,915 is the performance contract payment the municipal that we spoke about uh from when that was implemented there was an um discussion that three of the four payments per year would be from the general fund and one payment per year would be from the CIP or the maintenance trust. We have heard from the town CIP committee that they do not want recurring expenses within our CIP coming out of a maintenance trust and coming out of a capital improvement plan. And so the directive from both the town CIP and school CIP is to move it into the general fund. And so you see that in the new column as

109that is now being put into the general fund for the first time in the 26 27 year. of the other new expenses. A few things just to talk about. Jim and I have been working really on sustainability. So you'll see under 10 2620 335 and we talk about districtwide maintenance 643 there's a new ask of $3,400. This is um this is a a program called operations hero and it is what we use for facilities maintenance. It it handles work orders. It handles building bookings. It also does some inventory. But it one of the pieces that Operations Hero offers is an energy module that allows us to import our energy bills and it will track them for us and it will track our utility usage and it can show us actuals of what our utilities are

110doing. And so as we talk about what seammens, you know, that pro project did, it actually will show us the energy savings that we have and we are showing within the buildings. >> And so it is something that we would ask the board to consider. Um this is an automation port portion of it. It does include a one-time um a onetime implementation fee. So you'll see that $900 is just a onetime fee that is not recurring. That does not continue every year. That would be for us to implement it. And it retracts all utilities. So, all of our oils, propane, electricity, all of that. One of the other pieces that's up is utilities. Um, I just want to mention real quick that projected electricity supply increase that is in here right now is only projected.

111Jim and I are in the middle of negotiations with energy brokers for our electricity supply rates. We do feel as though those are going to come in lower than what we have here. We know that Eversource also has recently very significantly increased their delivery fees. We are not exempt from that. So we are seeing an increase in electricity delivery fees. The contract that we have currently for our supply is ending in December of 2025 and so we are looking at re-uping and we are talking with vendors and we shouldn't have that for you um before you know in order to modify this and the rates are coming in favorably. So that is subject to change and you'll see that here that little note we're currently working on it. Um, you'll also see what we talked

112about before that there's a difference in lines now between contracts and services and in-house and that some of the maintenance supplies and the are are up 5% as we essentially seeing as rising costs across the board for his contracts and for his in-house things. And then lastly, some of the pieces that are in here are grounds maintenance. They were cut significantly from the budget last year. And so Jim's trying to put them back in to see if we can recreate restart our grounds maintenance a little bit more. >> Do you have anything I missed? >> There's a whole bunch of other little ads, but I'm sure we can save those for questions. >> Do you want to talk about any other other ones to point out? Um >> um no not specifically but just to

113go back to the uh the uh utility thing. There's a pretty cool feature in that one too called uh performance dashboards and um I would love to start projecting you know quite often to our school community like how we're doing with our energy. Um, again, we're trying to really raise awareness and um in EMC and with the student body. And I think that again, more hands- on deck, more people seeing it can really sway our electricity usage overall to save even more money. So, that's that's what that's all about. >> I do want to point out a couple uh just one other two other things. There's in here earlier this um this month, we did a budget transfer for propane, right? So, we went from oil to propane. So, you'll see there's new propane lines

114in here now that and we removed those amounts from the oil lines. So, the oil lines are down and the propane lines are up for our expected use. And then the other thing is I wanted to just mention that Jim and I have come into a um we have settled a contract for the plet boiler. So, the plet boiler actually creates these things called thermal wrecks that are sellable on the open market. And so, the Hopkins and school districts now able to sell them and get a bit of a revenue back. And so we are getting a little bit of revenue back from the pellet boiler at the moment. So that will remain our primary source I think of heat. I just wanted to mention that it's on the revenue side, but it's still something

115that's good. >> Two two things that I noticed that the electricity increases I realize that we don't um totally know, but that's like almost like 45k. >> Yep. Exact. >> Yeah. I was just like roughing it out in my head. >> Y >> and then so I mean that's not an insignificant number when the total increase is 110 on the facility's budget. And then the other thing that I noticed is that the disposal fees are like over 4k um >> just are trash >> like to go back to you know recycling and all that stuff and and how expensive it is to just throw stuff out. That's a 4,000 plus or minus increase. >> Yeah. >> So, just two things that jumped out at me when I kind of looked through these costs and I'm

116sure these are only going to go up. >> Laura's absolutely right. Like again, $44,000 of electricity alone uh that we came in really hot. I mean, even a month ago, it was doom and gloom. You know, what uh the coalition is giving right now at like 13 cents. We were like, "Oh my goodness, it's probably going to go up." But when we started reaching out because our broad our electricity is up for bid anyway, Laura and I our faces dropped to the floor. We're like, "Oh my goodness, that's such a good rate." >> Y >> and so again, I I really see that we can >> we can drop that quite quite a bit as soon as we agree on a >> a broker. Right. And I'm sorry just not to belabor the point, but

117it also goes to the dollars and cents of conservation. You said it. >> The building maintenance agreements across all the buildings seems to be increased. Is that $18,000 total? Um, is that contracted or is that projected in terms of what those maintenance agreement increases? >> Believe they are projected. >> Um, some of them we have multi-year contracts for. So although those are are hard numbers, um with the bigger increases in there, we actually had some straggler maintenance contracts for like fire alarm or routine sprinkler in in another budget line. So we just brought all those into one >> along the utilities observation and this is part kudos part question on budgeting and on and that part is last year across again all the buildings there's $100,000 operating surplus in utilities. So we spent less than

118we projected. Um so I think in part that's you know the heat's turned off but is what part of that is maybe are we projecting too hot? Um, and I didn't break it down into its parts. I just did the broad category. >> I think we run I think you run conservative on utilities, right? We have no idea what the winter is going to come to. If the winter if we don't get above 25 degrees, you know, or 30°, then we are going to face significant heating challenges. Um, and so we budget for that to be careful of that. Uh, it could also be a warm winter. You're right. and we could hit underneath, right? Um Jim and I spoke about that a bit and we just while you are absolutely right and there's you

119know when this electricity goes down we feel like we might be able to work on that. If we cut it too far then we run the risk of not being able to heat the buildings and that's that you know that give and take we have to be very careful and mindful of. We also are only able to get while we can do electricity for a few years, propane, pellets, and oil are only annual costs. And so those so out of out of this only we can only really budget those six months out of the year, right? We know what those rates are now for six months, but not 12. Those could also increase or they could decrease based on market. The other observation for this and this is just a general when I you know

120looked at what was budgeted and what was spent I was like wow. Um but in that in this budget it also includes on the spending side all of the money that we spent out of fund balance that was not budgeted for. So when you look at it and you say Mr. Rziki went over by $322,000. did not go over by $322,000. That was money that we voted to appropriate for those things. It just ends up that way. Laura and I talked about this this morning. There's no other way to account for it. But we should make some notation somewhere >> for the public so that you know it's clear that >> we're not overspending. We are appropriating when it's appropriate. >> Um and it just shows up as a deficit. >> Great point. Thank you,

121Rob. >> Good point. One piece I do want to um I just thought about Rob regarding your last question. We looked at our utility budgets for this year and we did cut them a bit for this fiscal year that we're in now. So actuals from last year, we did actually cut the budgets a bit for this year. So we may see less of an under spend at the end of 2526. We reduced our our our numbers last budget for that. >> Thank you. in multiple spots. There's there are storage containers listed. >> We can I just ask about some of them say monthly, some of them it seems like an annual. >> Are we there's there's two there's a few sets. We have storage units at a couple of buildings, right, Jim? Just one. And

122then there's a separate piece of this where we have storage units that are built in because the George's Park renovation is occurring and the restrooms are being taken out, which is also where we store things. So, we have a temporary one-year storage unit in here in order to house that equipment that we keep at for George's Park for the high school athletics. >> But the other ones aren't rentals. >> They are. They are rentals. They are just um >> Is there an >> They are standard rentals that we use every that we keep every year. >> What is in them, Jim? I'm sorry I can't tell you that. >> No, no, no. I was just going to ask is it I understand the George Park one being like a temporary solution, but the other ones

123if we're keeping them yearly, it would it make sense to look at investing in purchasing a storage pod, even a used one as opposed to paying an annual. It's a I mean it's about two grand for a used storage pod versus a fee that we pay. >> Yeah. Phenomenal question. And I I just want to remind everybody two years ago we had like seven of them around the district and and they were like double the size in the high school parking lot. A lot of that was excess furniture, excess stuff. and we spent years getting rid of it or filtering out to different school districts and stuff like that. So now we're down to two >> and we own one. Um yes, to your point, um I don't want to buy them because they are

124>> impossible to get rid end of life and it's leaking. Uh but what's in there now? We we do have some excess furniture because we never know what curriculum is going to be if we have new kiddos or just things that are still usable that we could still use around the school, >> right? But if they're rentals, right, couldn't we just say you take these back, we're going to buy from a different company? >> Sure, we could. But my main goal is still to at least decrease another one. Okay. >> Um if and we have uh Bridget um in uh what do you call that? >> And drama. >> Yeah. And drama. Yeah. So playsets and extra stuff are in there right now. So uh I've been working with her about like where can we

125store this inside the building. So I I want to like get rid of them completely. But in the Rosiki plan also I I want to address the the uh garage the maintenance garage in the next couple years and maybe add on to that or make it a permanent structure so it is more permanent instead of a shed office. >> Where's our maintenance garage? I did not know we had Is that the middle high school? >> Yeah. >> Right by the greenhouse. >> We need to turn around the corner. >> You can see it. We just have driven by it forever. >> Yeah. >> It's by the the gate for the fairgrounds. It's a twocar garage. >> I guess I do this as I drive by. >> Take you a tour one day. Wild. >> Thank

126you. >> You will see um to your point, you'll see in the high school that there's a big rental for a storage unit at the high school which is for time capsules. Is that right? Is that correct? >> Oh, yeah. >> Yeah. You're looking at me like I have three heads. I think it's the time capsules. >> So, that one we we don't own either. We have to store items and it used to be brought us and now they charge us for it. >> Yes. Because it changed ownership. >> So it's not in a pod. It's in a storage unit in Warner, >> right? >> You know the time capsules. >> Oh, I know. I know the tradition. I I got just trying to like I love the tradition, but I don't love that we're

127paying an annual fee for that. I got a couple of totes. Let's figure this out. We yeah we we tried to negotiate in keeping it and but because they changed owners said no longer. >> All right. >> Uh can I uh can I is the shout out for the $0 in snow plowing is because the town does it >> correct? >> So thank you to the town as a heads up because that's >> absolutely >> if we and granted all comes out of taxpayer dollars but if we had to pay for plowing it is a bonker balls expense. So yeah. >> Could I add to that? Yes, please. >> Last year we started buying bulk salt from the DPW at such a more of a reduced rate. So instead of buying it >> from a

128Home Depot or whatever else. >> Great. >> DPW has been great. >> Yes. Thank you. DPW. >> Questions on facilities? >> Is there anything else Jim wanted to add? >> Do you want to add anything else? Jim, is there anything else you wanted to add? >> I'm really trying hard to bite my tongue because but I can talk forever on this. So, I'll gladly end there and um be welcome to any other questions you may have on the end. >> Thank you. >> I'll walk through the athletic budget and see how I do. Dan, um Dan's budget is just one page. I was having a hard time finding it because it's not stapled to anything. Um, as always, Dan has done a really great job coming in at only about $2,300 over last year. Um,

129those, um, increases are really related to supplies and officials and fees. The majority of of Dan's budget goes to directly to funding our sports. So, we've got four-year replacement cycle for uniforms and an increase of $2 per game per official. And remember, um, in order to play sports for the middle high school, uh, families pay a athletic fee which off helps offset the cost of this program. >> Is it competitive like what we're paying our reps and officials? >> Oh, so it's a set price by the NH. >> Okay. So price. The other part there is an increase. I mean, everything's getting more expensive. Uniforms fall. Well, I was thinking that wasn't enough considering the amount of gains you have going on at any time, but my best to keep the budget as close to

130flat as I could. >> Thank you. >> Anything I missed, Dan? I just want to also thank you. I mean, transportation for athletics is a real problem, and I just want to thank you for your patience. >> Every team, every student, every game you know, you're just so flexible all the time around it. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Dan has gone far enough to drive the mini bus on a few occasions. >> I lost my first mini bus game this year. >> I was undefeated and one of my teams lost and I had to drive there. So, that broke the street. >> Uh, can I We had talked at some point. I don't know if it would go under this, but about vans. >> Oh, well, we have been talking about that. We've

131got some information there. There's a new law related to student transportation. Um, we put it out to our attorney and she recently gave us a response. We are going to have to have a conversation about vans. Um, we right now have a practice of the approved driver's list which like we made that up that we can't, you know, I think that was like how we are responding to the fact that we don't have buses. Um, but our attorney has advised us that that largely needs to be discontinued. So, we definitely need to talk about a plan for that. There's a lot of rules around, you know, who can drive a bus and what's a bus and all of those pieces, but our approved drivers list, we have to talk about discontinuing that practice. >> Oh,

132boy. >> But in terms of purchasing bands or leasing bans, >> I don't know what line that would come out of. My guess is it's coming out of the vehicle line. >> Leasing or purchasing is not in the this operating budget. Um, if we were to purchase them specifically for athletics, uh, it would be and out of the general fund, it would be an equipment purchase. Um, but most likely we do have actually a vehicle line which is falls under technically under facilities. Um, and that's where they would go. >> Okay. >> Cuz I think >> and we would just use that. That's where the mini bus is is under facilities. >> Totally. Yeah. I just wasn't sure because I know they would be used predominantly for athletics and I wasn't sure which. >> Well,

133just going to slide in there for a second. because um in my new position as the career connected learning coordinator, I am driving the van all the time and I just ran and I think >> one of the things that I'm thinking about in terms of Hopington being a small shop and not being able to offer all of these experiences, right? if we're talking about getting kids internships or I just ran into I was at Pat Speak for the pipeline project which was a um career exploration event uh for careers in the ski industry and we're looking at lift mechanics and snowcap mechanics and mountain management and all of those things full-time careers for kids and there were about 15 Hopkins and high school students there um they were great there were mock interviews with

134industry it was totally worthwhile career exploration for kids. They would have fit in a van. >> They did fit in the van. There are 14 of them. They fit in the mini bus. One, the mini bus. >> Yeah, the mini bus. But like I have a van. I can drive the van. I can shle kids left and right. I don't have any special certification. I fill out a form. I take the keys and I'm able to offer those opportunities to my students. Um, so would it be used for athletics? Absolutely. Yep. But and I'm, you know, I'm not necessarily interested in spending more money, but I think the other al the other piece of this is it offers there's so many things that we could do for kids if there was a van or two

135kicking around where you could throw 15 in and say we have this opportunity and because a bus and I think it would save us money in the long term in terms of what we're spending on buses. Mhm. It would. We've talked about that. We We even have looked at how many, you know, what teams can fit on two vans and what would be possible for us to do that if we did get vans. We've t Yeah, we've we've had preliminary discussions already about all of that. And we really want think it might be the route to go. Um and so as we think further down the line, maybe that's about talking warrants and the vehicle trust, right? or maybe that's putting them in the general fund budget, but um we're just not on warrants yet,

136so we didn't have that piece. >> Okay. Sorry, I just >> No, it's it's really it is exactly that, right? The vehic is great if it's 14, but you have to have a DOT search or the DOT medical card and the training in order to be able to do it. So, not all all of our teachers can just jump in the mini bus and take a ride. Um but with with vans, they could. And the law says for mixeduse buses, if it's an employee of ours and it's leased or or owned by the district, then it's it's covered under state law. We cannot rent. >> Dan, just I don't want to put you on the spot, but are other are you when you go to all your events, are you seeing other schools buys? >>

137Yes. >> Um I don't know if they buy or if they leave, >> but they have they're they're bringing their athletes to those events and bands. >> Anyone local? I I drive by St. John's pretty Uh Brady St. Thomas the private schools winnow started doing um Clement has them >> believe a lot of a lot of high schools are moving to them. It's been a large discussion amongst the school groups that they're moving to that now because of shortage of bus drivers and for school activities because the school law says you can't. So, what we've run into just recently is we've had class advisors wanting to take their class officers to um visit venues for potential prompt. Uh and I I hated to do it, but they were going to do it like after school.

138I'm like, you can't take your car. >> Yep. >> Because I we were just at that and I'm like and I had actually communicated with the department of safety and I said, look, I have two scenarios I need to run by. The first one is the approved we have this approved driver's list. is can we do already know as Amy said legal says we can't do it would cover us as a school district but they wouldn't cover the driver necessarily the driver can still get if there was ever an accident um the only time that I would be able to use my vehicle to bring a student from home to school is if I was acting in the role of the true officer I can get away with that >> so like if there was

139a student in the morning that we've been having trouble get to school or on the very first day of school because we have really good connections with call us up and says, "I need to talk to Mr. Kelly. I missed my bus. Can someone come pick me up?" Me and a school counselor went pick them up and we can do that. And we would fall under truence off truency officer. >> As soon as I take my vehicle off school grounds with students in it to a school activity, I'm then considered a school bus driver >> in an unregistered vehicle as a school bus. >> Right. >> And that's where all the galleries fall into place. >> Okay. So it's >> it's something I think you know we've been talking about it now I think I've

140been talking about it with three superintendents >> so it's I think it's it's long overdue if from my two cents >> I just wanted Yeah I just wanted to we don't just know where it was in the budget we were going to do it. Yeah. >> Oh, thank you. >> But just before, so just to go back, Mandy, to what you were talking about, you're trying to get somebody. >> Are you going past here? Are you going past there? How does that square with what you were just saying? Like >> it's home to school, we can't use a van. >> Yeah. Home to school, you can't use a van. You still have to use a school bus. >> We can May I clarify? Mhm. >> If the van is school bus inspected and if the

141driver is school bus certified and on the state of New Hampshire roster, it can be used as a home to school van. Right now, our mini bus is actually um inspected as a school bus, but we don't have anybody registered to drive. >> There are barriers to that license as well. >> Yes. >> There are barriers. >> Yeah. >> First has offered to help us, but we don't have anybody to to do the training right now. too. We're not inspecting drivers. >> Sweet. >> Thanks. >> Like, move on. >> We're going to move into the school. >> It's trying to shape the level of detail we're having, you know, but it's all good information. It's great. Yep. >> So, we're moving into the schools now. Uh, starting off with the middle high school. And of

142course, Chris is here to answer any questions that you might have. Uh, professor up almost 10% around $30,000. The bulk of that is from an increase in sending our students to the conquered regional techn technology center. Um, and that is about almost $20,000 due to decreased state funding. So, as you've been following along, um, they've made some choices about their own budget and they've cut that and passed those costs along to us. Um, other things that you'll see as budget drivers for the middle high school budget, again, those general supplies going up about 5%. Um Chris was just at our last meeting and talked about the NEAS accreditation process. So there's some funds there for the on-site visit and that self-study process. Um it's also the year for the middle school career fair. That's also

143uh part of recent legislation that we're doing uh career explorations at all at all grade levels. But that's how Chris is working on that at the middle school. Um Apple assessment, I understand that was something that the CIA looked at. Uh we also did that in my former um district because that supports the seal of biiteracy for so for students that are are able to uh score on the Apple assessment and those proficient range um they're able to get that seal of biiteracy on their transcript which is exciting for them as they move on. And then finally some funds uh for the a smartboard replacement in the technology and engineering classroom. I'm not sure how old that device is at at this point. Um, but we're asking he's the teacher there is asking for a

144new board and as you can imagine, you know, that's the technology that changes the most. And so I'm not again I'm not sure how long he's had that board but has >> So that's a that's a brand new ask. It's not a replacement. >> Oh, okay. Sorry. >> So he doesn't have a board right now at all. He has a smart projector, >> but not a board. >> But the smart it's like a smart whiteboard TV on a stand that that uh >> I was watching the students use it last year. They're able to manipulate shapes on the screen. Um and when they utilize it for presentations and things along those lines, it's it's a useful very useful tool that you couldn't do that with a projector. >> Questions for Chris. is the dollar for

145the building project line. There's like $1 bucks. >> That would be me. >> Of course, >> you can build for a dollar. >> It's it's part of the municipal budget law. In order to spend from a line, you need to appropriate to the line and that works per function. So, there's a dollar in all the 4,000 functions in the event that that program happens. >> Thank you very much. I just have a >> I know you love when I talk like that. >> I do. Great >> telephone question on my page 22 in your number world 0050. >> Yep. >> Um so it's the line for admin cell phones, but last year it was budgeted for 5,000 and we spent 13,000. Was that the phone system thing that we did or >> phone goes under

146Matt, right? >> Yeah. >> I'm just trying to find my 2410. >> No, we did move the telephone system into the technology lines, but >> Oh, yes. We moved um that's the telephone system. So, you'll see the $840 that's in their budget for this year, Rob. Right. >> Um is the high school portion of two admin cell phones. We did move. Yes, we moved the first front the um first light uh telephone systems the it's not even first sight anywhere where is it communications it is okay >> um we moved them into into the tech budget >> okay >> so that's why there's an actual in prior years >> we moved it last year >> or this current fiscal year sorry >> thank you >> and that's a um trend along all the telephone Nice.

147>> Yeah. And if you look at uh I'm not going to do it right, but under the HHS guidance service, just to call this out for everyone, if you look at the delta on the testing services, it's literally just because that nth grade class is going to be the 10th grade class, and we're adding 30 children for the PSAT, which nets out to like thousands of dollars. So, we're going to follow them for additional testing costs for 10th grade and for 11th grade for the PSAT, >> right? and we're looking to expand that to 9th 10th the PSAT >> to collect some more >> longitudinal data on how our students are doing. Um >> so yeah, >> it's more assessment but I think we'll be able to collect some good data from that. >> Yeah.

148And just in case anyone was like why is it going up? It's just because the class is literally bigger. >> Yep. >> Yeah. >> Terrific questions. Really exciting. >> It's cool. Okay. All right. Thanks, Chris. >> You're welcome. >> Maple Street. Maple Street or like having to do it. >> Oh, Maple Street's the shining star coming in under budget this year. >> Maple Street gets the gold star. She is. >> We have a gold star. We do. Y >> um so general supplies though, as we look at her budget drivers, um general supplies again up about 5%. Um she has an increase in the music budget that reflects higher student participation. 60% of students doing some kind of music at Maple Street. That's significant. Um Ben Levergood has been working on his craft for a

149long time. So that interest continues to be strong. And also an increase in field trips. So you'll notice that there are, you know, rising costs related to uh transportation. So that is also included in the budget. But overall down about $6,000. What are the grade six supplies that are so much more expensive than all the other supplies? >> Um, well, they they have middle school standards. >> Yeah. Right. >> Right. So, science is 100% handy based. >> I I figured that >> Yeah, she has microscopes scales, things like that. >> That's great. >> Yeah, the next gen science standards really that's when they transition sixth grade. So, you're really looking at engineering, physical science, life science. um she does a lot of energy work. So >> they she's done she's done a lot of planning

150too with the middle school, >> right? >> Yeah, I remember that. >> They they work to align the curriculum. >> Yep. >> As students transition from six to seven. >> Okay. >> So they're starting to see students from Maple Street come up with I think stronger science skills. >> Yes. That will work with them. >> The collaboration and and the supplies that they have available to them here. >> That's great. And you can't get like the PhD plus for your tuition. >> There's no more class. >> There's no more school. Okay. >> Yeah. >> And she wept. No more classes. >> Certificate. >> That's great. Thank you. >> With a budget that's 12% down. Do you think Carrie's going to do all the budgets next year? No, but it's it's a it's good like tuitioning

151tuitioning out of your budget. Yeah. >> It's great. >> Oh, >> okay. >> And then last certainly not least is Harold Martin Harden. >> And Harold has a a nominal increase really around um general supplies. She's looking to provide some lock storage in the main office when that area was built. Um, lovingly it's called the fishbowl. There isn't a lot of storage under the cabinets. So, they've done some price out there to see what it would cost to bring in some block storage. And also some classroom requests for specific uh learning to include art, PE, music, reading, and ask question. Oh, wait. Do you have more? >> That's all. Great. I would just say the lock storage too is also um part of requirements for student activities >> which we have at all three schools

152>> and records retention as well. >> Yep. >> Actually, I'll go. Do other people want to go first? >> Okay. There. So, for the general supplies, um you can see sort of like class-wise stuff that's in there. Is that just because people are like catching up from where they were supply supplies wise rel supply supply-wise relative to other teachers or classrooms. >> Some of it is placement materials that I haven't done. So you'll see like a rolling whiteboard maps like >> that are pretty outdated. Um and then some of the other supplies go with amplify now that we're in our second year of doing amplify. Really enhancing some of those units and making them more engagement engage different grade levels. look for different pieces. >> Um, and then we try to do a pretty consistent

153um, like review of especially our playbased materials because as you can imagine, play-based materials in K through three get pretty banged up pretty quickly. Um, so looking at those pieces and those types of things as well. Great. I saw see that you put in the artist and residence. Are we hoping that we'll get this back? >> We're not sure. Um, we put that money aside for either that or this year for our kindergarten orientation. We had Mr. Aaron come and he did an artist residency with the incoming kindergarteners. um which was really adorable. They all created songs about the first day of school and they still sing the songs about the first day of school which is great. Um and that was kind of a fun way to start off kindergarten. So we put money

154aside for um for either of those two options. You'll also see that we put um money in for replacement dry race boards. Um Mr. Rosiki and I went through the classrooms and looked at some of our dry race boards. Some of them were really old and not erasing anymore. Um, we took one off last Friday and you could see in shock underneath it said 2010 I think. So, um, we signed our names a rope replacement 2025. So, whoever takes the next one down will know when we installed it. Um, but so they were pretty old and they're used consistently. So, they look really great in August and they stop erasing by September 3rd and then you've got a nice film. So, we tried to get a kind of replacement cycle going on for those just

155to get through um the ones that we need to. >> And also, as we roll out short throw projectors in some of those classrooms, they look really bad if the whiteboard isn't flat to the wall. Some of the older ones have >> bowed significantly and it's tough to get a flat image on a curved surface. We have several students with um vision needs as well. So making sure that we have cores that they can see from um seems to be a good use of our money. >> Anything else for Miss Brown Patrice? I also am really excited about this incoming new family literacyformational night. Thank you for putting that in there. That's great. >> There should be two. Both reading budgeted one and we budgeted a school one as well. So, as a reading team,

156we talked a lot about um trying to think or figure out what activities we could do with families at night. So, both they understand the >> um sound to text or speech to text way like philosophy of instruction that we've moved to and also um just fun ways to engage with their kids at home. >> That's great. Thank you. >> All right. So to recap, um the total requested operations budget is up 9.74% of the operations which is 69,955. This is our first run, first night, and we do feel like this budget sustains current programs. It meets the student needs for next year and that it addresses commitments in facilities and technology and in um curriculum and assessment as well and schoolboard goals. And so just to recap our next steps, personnel budget comes out

157November 6th. Um so there won't be a new budget on the 21st, which is next Tuesday. And then you'll discuss and administration and deliberations and then budget committee review. We do that presentation in January. And then the public hearing is in February on February 4th and then annual meeting is March 14th. And that is the end of our slideshow. And it's worth noting a couple things I think are important to clarify. This 9% increase is within the context of this $6.8 million piece of the budget. We are obviously at a 20 million plus budget. So like this is for that 6 millionish level, not that of the total budget will be >> 9% cuz we don't know yet. Correct. Because the bulk is staffing. Correct. >> The bulk of it is staffing. Absolutely. >> Okay.

158Does that make sense? >> Okay. the denominator is going to go up. All right. Any other final comments for the board? >> Yeah, sure. So, um, one of the things last year with Mike was, you know, we went through the years where there were tears. What are all the things and the board got involved in things you probably shouldn't have been involved with? And Mike was like, give me a number. Like, what do you what do I need to get? Um, and I think that given what we've seen tonight, you all might want to consider where you think things might be able to be trimmed, but I would highly recommend that that be done in terms of a number or a percentage and then let Amy, Laura, and these folks do their jobs and figure

159out the best way to make that happen rather than us trying to figure that out for them. >> I appreciate that, Rob. Thank you. >> Yes. Thank you. Thank you. >> Uh other couple other things also if people have other questions please send them to Rob or myself or Amy or Laura like but I think we want to try to like keep information coming a set of questions coming in in a consistent way so that if there is additional stuff you want answered for Tuesday or the following week you know keep rolling. I think the goal is to make sure we all have clarity on what we're trying to answer. Um we do have Thank you guys. This is a crazy amount of work and a ton of time and represents blood, sweat, and tears

160from everyone in this district and everyone at this table. So, thank you. We can't let you go quite yet because we do have a public comment period. So, if you would like to come up for public comment, three minutes name addressing everyone. Um, I find that session every year is very helpful and I appreciate all the department just delivering all this information. It's unfortunate that I feel it's unfortunate I'm the only one here listening to it um because there's a lot to gain from this people watch the recap. I did have one question. looking at on your big one page here. Um the second last comment says the total difference and fiscal year 26 is the 609 plus and then the request for new for 2759,000 approximately 15,000 difference and I'm just curious is is

161that stuff that was removed from the overall budget then from previous 50k difference there and you know you do a lot of highlights on what the drivers are but you did mention some things that came down >> you may go >> you are understanding it correctly Lauren um spe when we went over special ed we talked about how the the base is actually down a little bit because some students came out and so there's a $50,000 reduction in the base of special education and then there's an increase. So you're absolutely right that there that difference does not match the new column because we do have a reduction in the base. >> So it's not that primarily specialized. >> Yes. >> Okay. I guess that I guess if I looked up at the top and did

162the numbers there, it would show that somewhere. >> Yes. Yep. You have that uh 2099 when it was 23, you know, 2.3 and now then it was it's 2.1 now. So it's it's less there. Um, and as you go in through the individual line items, we have that increase column. And when it's in parenthesis, it means it's actually a decrease. So we have a couple lines that are that are decreasing as well. More than one. >> Oh, no. You highlighted one. I know they're correct. All right. Thank you very much, everybody. >> Thanks, Lauren. >> Thank you. >> All right, team. That's a wrap. It is before 8 o'clock. I did not think that this was like humanly possible. Thank you everyone for your time. Uh, do we think we need a motion to adjourn?

163A motion. >> Can I ask you one before you other business? Um, we do have a questions spreadsheet that we are handling and that we are tracking. Do you want us to put it in the schoolboard folder for you to put questions there or would you prefer to email them or call any one of us? >> Um, it's it's honestly up to you. I think it just depends on if you're good just checking it consistently and maybe if someone drops in a ton of questions, >> have a have them funnel through you. I just I'd have them still get funneled. >> Yeah, >> I think that way they're >> I don't think it would be helpful. We've set it up so that um the budget unit account number that Laura really cares about. If you

164could include that in your question, you know, that would help her decide if it's information access fees or testing or whatever it might be. >> Great. But I'll put that in the schoolboard folder just so that you can see what we're trying to capture. Great. >> This will be from a doc that >> go. Yeah, there's nothing. It's very simple. >> Okay. Okay. Yes. Uh, no, do not do that yet in case there's special ed stuff in there. Like I just want to make sure some like there should not be. But like I just really want to make sure though that if it goes >> But not yet. No, but if it goes into the board document, then it definitely does. We have to have a question. >> That's a really good point. >> Okay.

165No motion to adjurnn. So move. >> So move. >> Second. All right. All those in favor? Yes. I thank you everyone.