001Everyone, we'd like to call the meeting to order and welcome everyone. Mr. This meeting is being held in accordance with the schedule of meetings adopted at the organizational meeting held on January 6, 2025. Adequate notice of this regular meeting of the Kenn or the special meeting of the Kennorth Board of Education has been provided to the Home News Tribune. The Star Ledger, the local source on January 16th, 2025. A copy has been filed with the Kennorth Burough Clerk, posted in the board office, the Kennaworth Burough Hall, Brley, and Harding schools as is provided by the Open Public Meetings Act. Um, an additional notice was provided to the local source and advertised budget appeared in the April 17th, 22 five edition of the paper. Thank you, Mr. Gal. Can we please uh rise to have salute
002to the flag? 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. Mr. Galo, we please have roll call. Biner here. Crinkolei here. David Ferrara here. Habithina here. Lead here. Kenichi Zimmerman here. We have quorum. Thank you. Do you want me to do purpose or do you want me? Sure. Sure. Purpose of tonight's meeting is to present the 2025 2026 annual school district budget to the community, adopt the budget, and approve all regular agenda items. Okay. At this time, we are now going to open up the meeting to the public for You want to do that first? Yeah. Presentation first. You want to do it first? Okay. Do you So they have something to
003comment on. They can throw stuff at us. Okay. Right. Yes. Turn. Good evening everyone. Um I'm pleased to to be able to present the 25 uh 26 budget for your uh consideration this evening. Uh this evening marks the culmination of months of dedicated work as we finalize the Kennaworth district's 2526 annual school budget. In previous meetings, we carefully examined the complexities of our expenditure impacts of state aid fluctuations, particularly the challenges posed by the reduction and the inter in integration of construction projects associated with the 2022 referendum. We also navigated the technical aspects of the budget submission to the executive county superintendent while conducting a detailed analysis of our revenue streams and available resources. Tonight, in accordance with our statutory obligations, we formally present the 2025-26 budget to our community. This presentation will highlight uh
004key elements of the budget including uh its tax implications and addressing anticipated challenges we uh may be occurred u in shaping next year's financial uh plan. Our goal is to provide a clear and comprehensive overview of the budget structure and its uh broader impact. In addition to these public presentations and discussions, multiple committees and members of the administrative team have worked tirelessly behind the scenes um to bring this budget to fruition. I want to extend my sincere uh thanks to everyone involved in the process, especially Mr. Lead and the finance committee for their time, insight, and commitment. Before I turn it over to Mr. Davies. I want to uh take this moment to express my personal gratitude uh for his leadership's patience and steady hand during the past few uh challenging months. Uh he quickly
005recognize the urgency of our financial situation and I am confident that the district is on a promising path forward under his guidance. One sec. Yeah. Okay. Well, this evening we're going to be uh reviewing the budget goals, impact and school experience, uh the budget status, including revenues and expenditures, uh bank cap, revenues, tax levy, and debt service. Davis, good good evening everyone and and thank you Mr. Ganella. Um as you said, it has been a challenging few months. All right. This is my first year as superintendent and to face the kind of budget situation that we are in is not how one would picture one's first year as superintendent. It's been a tough few months. Um, and I just want to say thank you to the board for your support. Thank you to Mr. Gella
006for all of your hard work behind the scenes and also thank you to the teaching staff. Um, there's been a lot that we've had to navigate through and everyone has been doing so very professionally. um and have had patience as we try to move through a lot of decision- making and a lot of um tough decisions. So, thank you to the teaching staff for all of your support as well. Um as I had indicated back in March when we launched the initial uh presentations into the budget, I focused on these goals. I just want to reiterate these goals with you. Um we knew going into this we we had a lot of indicators that we were going to be losing state aid. Um, so we were anticipating that when we entered the budget process from
007the get-go. Um, but we wanted to maintain our focus on academic achievement and that is a priority for us. It's one of our district goals and we maintain that as a huge priority uh to to focus on academic uh achievement no matter what uh we're thrown with state aid. Um, we want to continue to program uh fund programming to meet the needs of diverse learners. Uh, that is essential as our diverse learning population grows. We are committed to maintaining our curricular, co-curricular, and athletic opportunities for students. We do not want to be in the in the process of cutting programs. Um, we despite the cuts, we are able to provide some new course offerings and career pathways specifically at David Brley. So, I'm excited for that. Uh, we're continuing to en enhance innovation by building
008our middle school innovation and STEM lab. Um, and all of this while upholding our fiduciary responsibilities to the community. And I'm proud of that. Um, I've worked a lot with the community these past few months and I can proudly say that we are respectful of what the taxpayers are doing to support our school system through the referendum, through the the regular budget and I appreciate the support and we um are responding in kind by being responsible to the community. Um, the impact there there is some significant impact. Um, and as I said at the beginning of my portion of this and Mr. Ganella reiterated it too. This has been challenging. There is an impact here. Um we've lost a lot of state aid. We've had a number of non-renewals due to budgetary concerns. That number
009totals nine staff members districtwide. That is a large number for a district our size. Um nine individuals uh will no longer be with us. And these are people who give of themselves to our students. And it is a sad statement that that is written up there that we've had to non-renew for budgetary reasons nine staff members. That does include one administrator. Um so we are reducing our administrative team. Uh and I wanted to make sure that we are in partnership with the the teachers that uh they're not just taking the hits. So are we as an administrative staff. So um that was an important component of our budget. But that is an impact as well. Um we're losing administration, we're losing teachers. Uh and that's tough. We did have a couple of retirements. Um so
010we have some attrition due to retirements. Um in some cases those are being filled u with folks from um inside. In some cases are not being filled. Uh so that that is a reality. We are going to be dealing with larger class sizes. Um there's not a way around that at this point given our fiscal situation. um we're able to maintain uh the class sizes that we believe in in our lower elementary school, but for the upper grades, the middle school and the high school there there will be an experience of of higher class numbers. Not excessively high. Um we're we're not, you know, going into 30s, but we're we're up in the upper 20s now. Um specifically at the high school level. Um also some middle school. Uh so that is an impact and
011it's something that we have to face as a district. It's something our teachers have to to struggle through. Um, we don't love that, but it's it's where we are. And then, of course, we're not cutting programs, but there are there is some shrinking, as I call it, of non required programs and services. Um, and that that's an unfortunate reality of where we are with our budget. Um, so that's some of the impact. Uh, on the plus side, the school experience does the budget process does do the following. We continue to fund um the materials and resources that our teachers need. We have a new math program coming on board. We're still continuing to focus on literacy innovation as I mentioned. Um we're proud of our ability to um provide full day prek at Harding. Uh
012and to do that um you know at no charge to the the taxpayers is through the grant that we're going to be applying for that you saw at our last meeting. Um we are we are increasing some course offerings and programming at Brley um at the middle school and high school levels. Uh that is exciting. Uh despite some some cuts in other areas. Uh we are able to keep all of our athletic and extracurricular programs intact. Uh we continue to do professional development and we as I said have found some efficiencies within the leadership team. So, there is um some negative impact to our budget, but these are ways that we are forging forward and we're making sure that we're producing and creating a top-notch school experience for our students. Um and uh again, a
013thank you to our our teaching staff and all of our educators for being on board with us on this one. I'm going to turn it back to Mr. Ganella now for some um further information about revenues and expenditures. Okay. Uh so uh challenges as previously discussed this year's budgetary uh challenges are significantly more complex than and difficult to overcome uh than they have been been in prior years. Uh I remain deeply concerned about uh the long-term impact of the restrictive uh budget cap uh particularly on the sustainability of our programs uh coupled with rising demands for extraordinary services, inflationary pressures and diminishing reserves. These constraints present significant challenges to maintaining the quality and breadth of the educational experience we are committed to providing. Uh this overviews uh overview highlights our expenditures and identifies specific budget
014areas most affected uh by the reduction of the equalization aid. Uh a particular note is the modest increase of just $27,47 in fund 11. Uh this represents a growth of only 0.08% in expenditures tied directly to our core mission uh underscoring the financial strain we face uh and sustaining highquality programming. Overall the budget uh has decreased by nearly 6% uh due to uh largely the requirements of uh generally accepted accounting principles or GAP which require us to adjust the current year's budget to account for outstanding purchase orders. Uh we continue to apply a zerobased budget approach aligning resources with district priorities. Uh the dramatic shift this year uh driven by significant aid losses have forced us to make tough decisions and allocate resources and staffing as Mr. Davies uh just stated where they are most
015urgently needed. So where do we stand today? Um the first chart uh presents a year-to-year comparison of the budget using unadjusted figures revealing the real impacts of the aid reductions. Uh the second chart adjusted for the prior year incumbrance aligns with the state's uh budget submission requirement and gap standards. Another way to look at expenditures is uh from a programmatic standpoint. This visual uh breakdown demonrates de demonstrates how uh funds are allocated across various programs offering a clear snapshot of how we prioritize our resources. Um this is going to be an adjustment year moving from this year from last year to this year to next year uh because of the uh middle school and the shift of resources going from six grades from Harding to Brley. Uh but you can see there that the Harding
016uh budget is represented by about 20% of the budget. Berley's 27% special ed 23% uh athletics is 2% uh undistributed programs is 13.3% and employee benefits and insurance is about 14 a little over 14%. So when you get into revenues uh ensuring a balanced budget is both imperative and legally mandated. Um unlike the federal government, unlike the state government, we have to uh provide a uh balanced budget. Uh this revenue overview highlights several areas including the significant reduction in equalization aid, uh the increase in the tax levy and the use of reserves. Uh the the board has completed uh uh its commitment to offsetting the cost of the referendum through capital reserve contributions of $2 million, an important factor uh in our financial planning. State aid. Um as Mr. Davies indicated, we did lose equalization
017aid. Uh despite reports of increased state aid, um we are in fact losing uh uh aid. Uh this disc discrepancy uh stems from how certain aid categories are defined. The department of education uh excluded stabilization aid from its calculations even though we relied on that funding this year. That was $634,000, a significant amount of our budget. The loss of that aid is real and substantial. Uh choice aid remains a critical piece of our budget. uh currently funding uh nearly $3 million or $18,620 per pupil. Its consistency is vital to sustaining our programs and services. The board should continue to lobby the legislature to expand legislature to expand that program including the sixth grade um uh could generate an additional uh $465,000 a year. There's a misconception out there that if we just eliminate Detroit kids,
018um, you know, basically what would happen is your tax levy would go up about $2.5 million. So, it's it's a significant amount. We continue to confront um the structural disconnect between the school funding reform act uh and the 2% tax levy cap. While the state calculates uh that our community can afford a greater local contribution, the tax levy cap prevents us from raising the necessary funds. The result, a significant reduction in equalization aid and no viable method to offset it. While the state has provided an opt op option uh to exceed the 2% uh levy cap under certain conditions this year, we ultimately determined uh that doing so would place too great a burden on the taxpayers. Still, we remain committed to pursuing all viable options for long-term stability. Use of bank cap. Uh bank
019cap allows uh the district to retain uh unused um taxing authority, but Kennaworth has generated very little bank cap in recent years. Without significant changes to the state aid distribution, we do not expect to generate more in the near future. It is essential to understand that bank cap is not actual money but just taxing authority. Uh these balances, the recapitulation of balances um governed by law play a vital role in budget planning. We're proposing to appropriate 1,81,416 from unassigned and restricted fund balance to provide uh direct tax relief and $1,100,000 from capital reserve to be uh fund uh referendum related uh projects. Those projects are uh directly associate associated with the bond interest proceeds that we've had that we've invested the bond proceeds. Uh so there's no uh tax impact on the community to do
020those projects. Use of reserves. Um our over reliance on reserves to offset the tax levy is not sustainable. Uh while it can provide temporary relief, it does distort long-term financial planning. um impacts future tax cap uh calculations and can jeopardize uh program stability. So it's very important that we manage our reserves uh properly. Unfortunately, we don't have much choice to to at first line to do so. Uh in an ideal world, we would be uh putting some of that money in a capital reserve or a maintenance reserve for future use, but right now uh we don't have that ability. Otherwise, we would have to cut an additional $1 million from our our programs and staffing. So, some these are some of the capital projects that we're proposing for that $1,100,000. Uh safety and security upgrades
021of $285,000, middle school and addition improvements of $410,000, site improvements of $45,000 for a total of $1,100,000. Uh calculating a tax levy is a pretty simple process once you have all the common denominators and those common denominators are the various sources of revenue. So once you come up with your various sources of revenue you take your total budget you deduct those various sources of revenue and whatever is left is what your tax levy is. Um, so in our particular case, our tax levy is set right now at $23,367,175. So what is the tax impact on the community? The current expense um increase reflects a 2.75% rise in the local um tax levy. debt service increase stems from a decrease in the capital reserve contributions over the uh from uh last year to this year or
022from this year to next year. Uh the levy does stabilize in FY27 uh once our reserve com commitment is fulfilled and I'll I'll go in a little more deeper detail uh later on. I have a slide that can show that uh to you as well. comparative data current expense ex excludes debt service. So um this slide highlights the complexity of interpret interpreting tax data. The tax levy has increased by 16.17% since 2020 while the tax rate has increased by 22.23% over that same period of time. This is due to the net valuation taxable decreasing by nearly 5% largely due to the merc property uh property revaluation. So you can see there the second column shows that our our our current expense tax levy has been pretty consistent in the twos. Um um uh but you
023can see the tax rate has been fluctuating uh as high as uh 8.3% um even though our tax rate our tax levy was only at 2% in 2025. And that has to do with the valuation of the community. And you could see how if you go over to the net valuation you could see how that in in 2025 that net valuation decreased by almost 6%. that had direct reflect on the tax rate which we as a school district have no control over. Okay. Um meanwhile uh equalized valuation and district income uh are key to state aid uh indicators have risen sharply by 61.31% and 32.75% contributing to our ongoing loss of equalization aid. So, those are the two two two figures that we're um we're concerned about. Um it's the good thing and it's the
024good and the bad of of the state aid formula. Um it's nice to know that the community's district income has raised risen by 32.75% since 2020 and the and the community's value of the community has risen by almost 61%. Uh however, uh it does have an impact on the state aid. So that's the challenge. Um debt service. Uh there's been much talk in the community regarding the impact of the referendum on the community and the overall tax bills. Uh so I thought we could uh take a moment to delve into that. Um we have two outstanding bonds. the 2016 refinancing of the 2009 uh $13.9 million referendum uh which was for infrastructure needs including roofs, windows at Brley doors uh upgrades to electrical and ventilation systems uh and that bond expires in 2029. Uh the
0252022 bond is for the most recent issue uh and projects associated with it. the the addition, the auditoriums, the um the athletic fields uh and so on and so forth that expires in 2048. Um so this slide illustrates how debt service and the state's contribution uh to our referendum projects. It's calculated based on the eligible project costs and the district's annual debt repayment schedule. As I mentioned earlier, I wanted to do a little forecasting of where we are going with the debt service tax levy. Um, starting with the 2023 24 year, the debt service uh tax levy was relatively low despite it being the first year of the 22 referendum cost uh were included in the budget. Uh that year the board contributed $1,525 uh,197 uh from the capital reserve to reduce the tax impact.
026Uh in 202425, the board contributed an additional $474,83 from capital reserve. So the increase that year was more severe and you could see the difference there. Um in next year's budget, however, having fulfilled that the promise of contributing $2 million, the reserve, the increase is less severe. Um but forecasting to 2627, you will note that the debt service tax levy will stabilize uh and we will not see a significant increase or decrease until FY30 uh when the 2016 bond expires. So there's a lot of talk in town about, you know, taxes going up. Um, this was all calculated and planned. This is what the community voted for. Uh, so it's um, you know, it's not like it came as a surprise to to us. Maybe if people were not um it is a complex topic.
027I'm not denying that, but um, it it is going according to schedule. So tonight's resolution on the agenda um adopts the 202526 school budget. Uh we have not generated any uh or used any bank cap. We are including a cap adjustment for health benefits, appropriating uh capital reserve for various projects and setting the tax level. A final note, um this budget year has presented significant challenges requiring tough decisions to preserve our programs. Uh the impact of S2 on our district and state aid has been thoroughly discussed. It is crucial that we impress upon our legislators the the gravity of the uh financial challenges we are confronting. Without acknowledgement of these concerns and without the ability to adjust the tax levy cap, many essential programs we value will inevitably be at risk. Is it not a
028question of if, but when. The state must pro uh must not penalize students and communities through drastic aid reductions until the school funding formula is properly reassessed and revised. Therefore, continued proactive engagement with leg lawmakers and stakeholders is paramount. Without it, we can expect further reductions in 2627 with no reserves available to soften the impact as we did this year. And this year was softened but could have been worse. Um, we must urgently engage our stakeholders in a serious transparent conversation about exceeding the 2% tax levy cap. Without this critical step, the district will face increasingly limited options, shrinking programs, rising class sizes, a decline in both educational quality and student support services. This budget reflects the difficult realities we face, but also the deep commitment to preserving the excellence of Kennaworth's schools. Even in
029the face of relentless uh uh financial pressure, we have taken every responsible measure to protect core programs and minimize the impact on students. But let's be clear, the effects of S2 and the continued loss of equalization aid have brought us to the tipping point. Without meaningful intervention throughout revised through revised funding formula or flexible tax levy laws, our ability to meet the community's expectations will continue to erode. We cannot keep absorbing these costs without real consequences. Programs will disappear. Class sizes will increase. Student support will suffer. And no one, especially not our children, should be made to pay the price of a for a broken funding system. It is time for our district and our community to rise raise their voices louder. The state must stop shifting the burden to local taxpayers and while stripping
030away critical funding. And together we must prepare for the difficult but necessary conversations ahead because without the or affforementioned fundamental shift uh in how we are allowed to fund our schools the choices we face next year and beyond won't be just difficult will be unacceptable. Uh Mr. Davies and I were discussing uh earlier today our presentations this evening and how he wanted to end on his portion on a positive note. So I haven't been very positive. So I will try to be positive now. Um we're still here. Our students are still coming to school every day. They're learning. They're growing and they're thriving. Through strong financial planning, strategic use of reserves, and a laser focus on student needs, we will continue to overcome the challenges in front of us. With our investment in the referendum
031projects, we are reshaping our facilities and learning environments, not just for today, but for generations to come. Despite the obstacles of our school, uh our schools remain a place of hope, of growth, and of opportunity. With your continued support and by raising our collective voices for fairness and flexibility, we will we will rise to meet the challenges. Our future remains bright. It has to be for our students. Thank you. Any questions? Yeah, Vince, you mentioned that proposal by the state to give us some tax reliefs or increase the tax levy. And I think, don't quote me on the numbers, but maybe you know them. I think we were going to get $180,000, but the tax levy, the taxes would have increased like 3.8 million. Yeah. In that exchange. So, just so people don't understand, we're
032just not walking away, right, from a right the difference was uh ridiculous to be honest with you. Yeah. And we also we also recognize we also recognize the fact that you know this is this year there there is an impact on the overall tax levy because of the referendum. Um so we didn't want to burden the taxpayers. In addition to that, uh, next year, something that we, if if that is an opportunity for us next year, that's something this board will need to seriously look into because we can't continue to just pass 2% uh, tax levy caps, uh, or tax levy increases. Um, just a couple more slides here. Um, one of your, um, resolutions tonight is to approve a two playgrounds for Harding School. Um the first one is for uh a structure for
033on 14th Street for uh ages two to five for be more for our preschoolers. Um you can see what that looks like right there. And the second one is Oh wait, where' the other one go? Did I lose it or did I got to shift them out of order? Let me see. Ah, here's the second one, which is an addition to our current uh playground uh along the softball field for 5 to 12 year olds. It's more of a um obstacle course challenge type of uh uh thing. So, that's that's uh one of the uh resolutions on this evening's agenda. Uh, another uh resolution on the this evening's agenda is to approve a proposal for SSP, our architects to um uh develop plans for Harding uh preK renovations. Uh, these two rooms are located on
034the second floor above our existing prek classrooms. Uh, and basically the um the footprint would be exactly the same uh as those. Uh, those are two classrooms I did in the '9s. I renovated those to increase our our our pre-k space uh back then uh to give uh bathrooms and wardrobes um to the students right there and they're they came out pretty good. So we figured, you know what, let's try to do that here and incorporate that as well. Okay. Vince, the two playgrounds were were state targeted money, correct? Correct. They we're not taking that. We're not using our money for that. We received additional state aid this year specifically for that. Yes. we couldn't do anything else with that money. Correct. So, I just, you know, want to make everybody clear that we're just
035not building two playgrounds or we're doing all this other, you know, losing teachers or whatever we're doing. So, I just wanted to make sure that's the entire surface of the existing playground will be resurfaced, which is needed. So, can I ask you one more thing? Yeah. I I don't know if you have the slide up to show that like the last 10 years of what the board has increased the taxes by. uh not 10 years, but uh I don't know if you had it up there yet. This one right here goes from 2020. You can see the second one current expense tax levy of 16.75% over that period of time. Okay. Yeah. So, but years before that we had zero we had a few we had zero two in there or one and two. So,
036the average is probably less than pretty close to 2% over the last 10 years of Yes. of keep trying to keep the taxes down. So, okay. Sorry. Thank you. Question. Yes. Um, I I think it's like you said, this is a complex topic and sometimes the community may not fully understand the gravity of it, but I think what our community certainly understands is is the programs that their children are included in. So, you mention um certain programs being at the greatest risk with budget constraints. Can you talk about which programs you were are most concerned about so that we can maybe as a community rally and I'll I'll defer to our boss on that. Okay. So, I mean an example um you know in mental health supports, right? We we've had um full-time position that
037we had to eliminate in mental health. Mental health is a significant issue. We want to make sure that all of our students are coming to school ready to learn and able to learn. Um, so in previous years, the board supported our investment in mental health and now we're having to pull back on that. Is it mental health an essential component of a school? Well, yes and no. It's it's not mandated by anything any policy. Um, so we're pulling back with personnel and programming in mental health. That's an example of one that is currently happening. moving forward in the future. I don't want to um project what it would be, but you know, we would be looking at what is barebones essentials that we have to do based on state code and state mandate. And we'd
038be looking at anything that's not mandatory um across grade levels. Um you know, for example, certain things are maybe mandatory at a high school level, but they're not mandatory at an elementary school level. So then you end up maybe cutting something at an elementary school that kids love and parents love and create programs, but we don't have to have them. Whereas in high school, maybe you have to have them because there's a graduation requirement attached to that. Um I don't want to, you know, scare people and say exactly what those could be, but that's an example of what we would be looking at in the future. Um, we we started to dip our toes into that this year, which is why I use the word shrinking, not eliminating, but if we have to go through
039the same process that we did this year in the future, we would be cutting. Um, yeah, thank you. And the reason I'm asking is not to put either of you on the spot. The reason I'm asking is because I think if that does happen, then as a community um of educators and parents and children, we need to also um start working with our with our burrow a little more closely and and maybe to help us fill those gaps so that our children don't lose those opportunities if they fit there. That's that's really I appreciate that. And I just want to say that we the the finance and facilities committee did meet with the mayor and the um the council rep. Um, so we've had some, you know, initial conversations about just this this topic and
040and I think we we need to all be in this together to your point. Um, yeah, for sure. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Um, I wanted to make a comment too to piggyback off what Dr. Concoli said. As parents and members of the public, you have to realize this is not isolated just for us. It affects every county and the state of New Jersey. So, we need everybody collectively to look at one who you're voting for locally and in your legislation for the state. Who are the state people representing us? And we need help from everyone to be supportive to maybe write letters or to look at who they're voting for and what those people stand for and what they're going to do to help us. So, there's a lot of good things about our
041community expanding, right? But if the state looks at it as your community is more valuable and you're making more money, we're going to get less money, right? And we have to pick between the two. So I think it's really important for everybody collectively to understand we can't have it both ways and we need everyone to really if they don't understand or have questions engage our board engage you um to try to understand and what they can do beyond us at the council level and at the state level and who you vote for does matter and what you're saying does matter because those people collectively are either going to help or hurt us. So it's got to just be you know more than just what we're doing locally and I think that's important to note for
042everyone. It's not just like a cut and we know it's continuously getting harder. So I think that's something important just to say. Everybody thinks it but we may not say it. But we think that that's really important. Primaries are coming up. You're going to have elections in November. Looking at who you're picking your state who's going to support us is really important. You know, we did besides the meeting with the mayor and council, we did meet with our state. We did. Yeah. They were and we put out and we said we mentioned that too. Yeah. We put letters to them. We asked about expanding choice. We asked about grants. So, we're being really proactive as a board. Um, but even beyond that, any opportunities are, you know, we have to keep pushing. You know, the
043issue is, you know, when you're state representative represents some of the biggest cities in the county with the most population, where does Kennaworth fall? You know, I think we did a good job getting some things and letting them hear us. But, um, you know, if all the votes are coming from Elizabeth and Roselle and wherever else they're representing, it's it's an issue, right? Yeah. I remember last year we got cut $1.4 million. I know all of us immediately complained to our state legislatores and they hurt us because they did restore about 45% of our state aid that we lost. But the votes come from Elizabeth and Hillside and but also what they did for the state aid this year and whether they're going to do it next year was they capped how much a town
044could lose and how much a town can gain. So like last year originally we lost 18%. So this year, assuming the state budget passes with the numbers they put out there, every school district is only going to lose 3%. On the other hand, every school district cannot get more than 6%. So that alleviate what happened to us last year, right? So whether that's going to continue, obviously more and more people talking about you got to change the state aid formula. I know Vince is always talking about that. So you know, good just to try to make a point. Suzanne's point, something that we can take a look at is um we pushed the kick the can down the road one more year, but a lot of districts, it came to reality this year. So we
045could take a look at what's going on around the state and those districts that had to make significant cuts to programs and we know there are quite a few districts that I mean serious cuts to programs and you'll be shocked to hear some of them and staffing way more than I think I think uh one school district actually sold a school building and uh in regards but in just piggy back off of you I mean our votes count just as just as much as those big cities. I know, but they have a million more votes that I understand. But they our vote should value just as much as theirs. I I agree. I think it does. I'm just putting reality check on it, too. No, I'm not I'm not I'm not trying to No, no,
046I understand. I'm just trying to discussion. Um but if I think right now, you know, we can us we can reach out to, you know, our our legislators, but if is if there's like a cheat sheet in terms of who we need to contact and give it to the parents. Yeah. Once they start getting a 100 phone calls a day like what's going on here then you know it it trickles down like look you know yeah I live in Kennallorth but I got I got cousins and family in and Cranford and other towns and stuff like that. You want our vote you're going to have to start you know making sure that we're we're equally being um supported here. Yeah. And the tax levy cap is kind of like you know the state says oh
047you can reach your cap past 2%. Oh great we can raise it to 30 but we still have to pay for it. So they're, you know, that's something that people we want to talk about, you know, more broadly. They're going to say, "Oh, well, we're going to cut your rate, but we're going to let you allow the tax levy cap to be increased." Okay, so you're just telling us we can, we're the people are still paying more to keep the programs going. And the reality is we know the funding formula is not really reflective of what our community is making. So for people that have two and three kids who have an average income, you know, you're you're spending so much money for your taxes. And so we all just we wanted to be clear
048to everyone. We know, right? And we're, you know, even our team, everybody's working really hard to figure out a resolution. Everybody's kind of in the same boat. So, we know it's tough and, you know, we'll keep working hard to try to find, you know, whatever we can do to make it easier. And and I'm sorry, I usually don't talk too much, but I do commend uh uh the staff and your team uh for bringing preK. Um I see online that you know there's there's talks like well while it's not a requirement but it always gives us a better leg up in terms of you know our getting our students uh in in the schools um getting them the knowledge you know prior to them actually getting into the programs that they actually you know that
049first year that actually starts to count. But um I can see it in my daughter, you know, and versus other kids from other other townships and uh cities like she's, you know, she's she's autistic. Um uh you guys know that. Um and but the the word in terms of language um and just functionality, she's already a leg up in terms of her counterparts in other townships. And I think that's that's awesome for our community. um when our students are started from the from day one getting the you know the progress that they need to be better members of this community. Thank you. Thank you. Good. Anybody else questions, comments? No. No. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. At this time, we would like to open up the meeting to the public for comment. Is there a
050motion to open up the meeting to the public? Second. Second. Second. Motion made by Mr. Biner, seconded by Mr. Hadina. All those in favor of opening the meeting to the public, please say I. I. Opposed. Eyes have it. Motions carry. Mr. Ganella. Public comment will now be accepted. The board of education sets the limit for the public to speak to the board meeting to 5 minutes per person unless prior permission has been granted by the board of education to extend time pursuant to KBOE bylaw 0167 for the record. When you approach the podium, please include your name and address prior to making your comments. Okay. At this time, would any public like to come up and make any comments? Okay. See, I close to the Thank you. Second motion made by Mr. Lowi, seconded by
051Mr. Biner. All those in favor of closing the meeting to the public, please say I. I. Opposed. Eyes have it. Motion carried. The meeting is now closed to the public. Mr. Ganella, are we prepared to vote on roll call resolution? Can I just take one? Sure. Of course. So, just instead of I just want to go because the committee put a lot of work in. I just want everybody to know that, you know, the committee reviews everything, analyzes everything, questions everything. We challenge everything. on for you know you know pop a lot of questions to to Mr. Davies and Mr. Ganella, you know, and all our weekly meetings, um, go over each line, each segment, each school, you know, trying to make sure that we're getting, you know, we took a oath to provide a
052proper education in a safe environment for for the students of Kennorth and that's for safe environment for the teachers also. It's a sometimes it's a big struggle of getting there and keeping the taxpayers in mind, which we always do and that's why we question a lot of items. That's why we go over line by line. I mean, we don't sometimes you get as much as books and pencils and everything else like why we buying chalk or something like that. That's how we get into this. So, I just don't want I just want everybody to know that we just don't approve everything. We start at a zero budget and we go on from there. And um it's a tough experience, but it's something that we needs to be done and I think we owe it to
053the taxpayers also. So, thank you. That's it. I just wanted to u make a note about resolution number four so that you know what that is. Um resolution number four it's basically you the board authorizing me to create and submit a chronic absenteeism corrective action plan to the county. U so we learned our of our absentee statistics when the state recently released its school performance reports. And if you've been following schools across the nation, you know that in the postcoavid era, um student attendance is an issue. Um at all schools across the nation, um Kennallorth is no different. Um our district rate of absenteeism is at 13.9%. Um this is below the state average and that's a good metric to be below state average on. Um so the state is actually higher than Kennallorth. uh
054meaning more students are more chronically absent than in Kennallorth, but still as a district we are above the 10% threshold that the state um thinks is is problematic. So because we're above that 10% we need to be on a corrective action plan. So I just wanted you to know what that is. So, you'll be seeing um I'll share with you the corrective action plan and the public will be hearing from me as superintendent as well as our building principles about efforts that we're going to be making in the future to ensure that our students are in the seats. We want our students to be in school. We want them to be present. It's important for them and their learning. The teachers want them to be present. So, you'll be seeing that. That's what resolution number
055four is about. And then last thing that I'll say is I just wanted to highlight um a couple things. Um Nelie Sully our student leazison is not here today but um at Harding last night we had a fantastic um Harding's Got Talent uh event. It was it was really fantastic and it was a kickoff to utilizing the new newly renovated auditorium. Uh there were 12 acts of fantastic skilled um Harding students were there and they just put on a great show for the public. It was a packed event and it was really nice. Uh special thanks to Miss Leslie Bedford who brainstormed, organized, facilitated, and even MCed the event. Uh it was really fantastic. And then just kicking off um you know, all of our arts events. Um the public will be getting this from
056me soon. Board members, you have one right here, but it's just a list of all the fantastic um arts events coming up in May basically at both schools, Harding and Brley. Um specifically this weekend is the High School Musical of Emma. Um, so they're rehearsing right now as we speak in the newly renovated Brley Auditorium. So, it's great to see the referendum and the fruits of all of the our labor and the fruits of of the town pay the town taxpayers coming to fruition through our student performances. And I just encourage everyone to attend. Board members, public uh please come out. Uh, our teachers work super hard, our students are skilled, and um it's going to be some great stuff this spring. So, thank you for that. Okay, Heath asked another question. Are we tracking
057tardiness, lateness of the students also? Because I see I drive up and down the boulevard and I see people like strolling into school like I don't know how if it's a big issue or not an issue. Well, it's an issue because we're on a corrective action plan. So, it's a big issue. Yeah, it is a big issue. Um so, you know, can we get something on that maybe for next meeting? I I don't know what I'm doing about statistics about Yeah, I I don't know if we need statistics, but yeah, something on it maybe what we're doing about it or whatever. Yeah. Part of the corrective action plan is creating committee of teachers and parents um and coming up with uh what do we do about these things and how do we make it and
058getting and I know when Kyle was the superintendent one of the administrators I don't know if he's here anymore spoke about teacher absenteeism I mean how's that going I don't know if that's better worse uh you know I think our trends as a district mirror the trends nationwide across all it's not just teachers I think it's I think in employment industries you're seeing a higher rates of absent. I see it all the time at work. So, I think we're no different than anywhere else. I'm good. Thank you. And we did change the attendance policy last year. I believe we voted on changing the So, maybe that's something we can present even to the newer board members about what that new attendance policy was. It won't pass that. Okay. Sorry. Thank you. Anybody else questions, comments?
059No. Okay. Thank you. We want you to roll for resolution. Yes. We have four resolutions on the agenda. Are do any of those need to be voted on separately? No. Okay. Resolutions one through four on the agenda. Mr. Biner, yes. Crank Holi, yes. Ferrara, yes. Perino, yes. Madi, yes. Panichi, yes. Motion carries unanimously. Okay. Thank you. At this time, Mr. Canal, do we have a need to go into close executive session? Uh, yes, we do. Okay. Can I please have a motion to go into close executive session? Second. Second. Motion made by Mr. Ferrer, seconded by Dr. Conoli. All those in favor of going into close session, please say I. I. Oppose. Eyes have it. Motions carry. Mr. Ganella. Uh yes. Um be resolved board of education. The board of education meet in private session
060from which the public shall be excluded to discuss the topic of student personnel matters personnel matters which private discussion is being held pursuant to section 7B and eight of the public meetings act. The matters under discussion will be uh disclosed to the public as soon as final decisions are made and voted upon. Biner yes kinkoli yes. Ferrara, yes. Hardina, yes. Badatti, yes. Finichi, yes. Okay, we are good. We will not be returning to take any action this evening. So, um, have a good night everyone. Thank you. You as well.