001They look all new. Are they new? No, they're they're like dressed. If we could reconvene our meeting to open session. The board has been in executive session since 6:00 to discuss three tenure recommendations, uh, two personnel matters, uh, and a legal matter. Will you please stand for the pledge of allegiance? 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. Introductions. Dave Hurst, Catherine Nat, Bob, Jody Monroe, Holly Denbal, Meredith Morardi, John Walston, Lauren Graasso, John Mc Phillips. And do we have any PIG or SUPA students here tonight? Welcome. Thanks for coming. Um, you guys need to stay until the meeting is over or 9:00, whichever one comes first. And before you leave, just
002make sure you come up and sign out. Looks like there's a sign out sheet on this side. There's one there and there's one over there. That way you get credit for being here. Uh, first up is our approval of minutes. It is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the minutes from the March 19th, 2025 regular board meeting. So moved. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? That carries. Three meeting reports. Uh first is our superintendence report. Sure. Thank you. Um on Monday we held our first ever community outreach day as part of our superintendent conference day. It was a great success bringing staff together to support projects and causes that benefit um our students, the town, and the broader community. Uh there are photos from the day
003available on our Facebook page for anyone interested in seeing the impactful work. And I would like to extend a sincere thank you to our staff, not only for their time and effort during the day, but also for the planning and organization that took place in advance to make it all possible. So, it's a great day and the weather cooperated thankfully. Uh, I'd like to recognize some of our students. Uh, we have three high school students who are enrolled in the CTE program at Cap Region Boseis and they'll be headed to Syracuse later this month for the New York State Skills USA competition. Johanna Radcliffe is in the cosmetology program. Ysef Alsamurai is a network technology student and Lolita Stark is a culinary arts student uh culinary arts and hospitality student and they will compete in
004the statewide tournament. Skills USA is a workforce development organization for students enrolled in career and technical education and we wish them the best of luck. Also, I'd like to congratulate six of our middle school students who have been awarded the 2025 Capitol Zone Sander Mley Middle School Leadership Award. They are Julia Paws, Claire Angel, Addison Rexford, Benfrick, Carter uh Martin, and Cameron Thomas. This award is presented to Capitol Region Middle School students by the New York State Association for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, and Dance for Achievement, and Leadership. So, congratulations to those students. And I also wanted to provide an update regarding our universal prek program. Uh we did put out an RFP and we received two um in two back that are interested in offering up UPK for next year. Uh we currently
005work with TSL and they had two programs this year. We're in the process of evaluating the proposals and we'll hopefully be able to increase this opportunity for more families next year. So, I'll be able to provide an update to the board at our next meeting also with information about the registration process for families. And that's what I have report. Any questions or comments for Jody? Uh, next is our board report. Um, I had two things. One, um, I am looking forward to seeing anything goes this weekend at the high school. Um, I think there are almost I think a hundred kids involved in it between the cast and the crew. Um, and I'm sure it will be quite spectacular. Um, and I was also made aware that there is an art show at the library
006um, in the month of April. Um, I believe it is art from K through 12 students. So, I just encourage board members to stop by and check it out if you have a chance. Um, anybody else have anything they wanted to you. I wanted to echo and, you know, thank Jod and the whole district for the day of service. I thought it was really cool. I've heard back from several people in the community that they really appreciated seeing teachers and staff at work on that stuff. So, nice job. Um, I want to make sure the community knew in particular the giving closet is up and running, right? Mhm. So, you know, if you need clothes, if you need school supplies, if you need deodorant, whatever you might need just to help you have your best
007day at school, you can now get that here with no charge, no stress, just ask any teacher, any staff member. It's available to you. Jody, do you know if they're taking ongoing donations to that? I believe they are. It's pretty well stocked currently, but I know that as the year goes on, they'll be taking collections similar to the backpack program. The other thing do you know um or how can folks participate in that or donate on an ongoing basis? There is a flyer on the school website that will tell you details. Great. Thank you. Yeah, we we have three students going to the state debate files this weekend which I know because I had to go spend a day judging it. Um and two of those are also going to national files in May. I
008want to give a particular shout out to the senior Molly Wadis who was a state champion and has really been inspiring to get other people in the program continued successful. So, thank you. Um, next are student reports. Do we have anybody here from high school student senate? Anybody from the middle school? Okay. Uh, so we'll move on to our presentation this evening. Um tonight we have our final um review um and decisions, our 2025 2026 budget presentation. Good evening all. This brings a close to the 2526 de uh budget development process. Uh we'll go over a quick summary of where we started and how we got to where we're at tonight along with some opportunities for the board to consider some resolutions later on in this evening's agenda. Ready to go to the next slide.
009This is a summary as of uh where we ended on March 19th, 2025. There have been no subsequent changes between our last meeting and this meeting. Uh we started at a baseline budget of $17.5 million in revenue and roughly $111.2 2 million in I'm sorry in expenditures and $111.2 million in revenue which started with an initial gap of roughly $6.3 million uh between expenditures and revenues. Over the course of uh various meetings, discussions internally with the board as well as with departments and division heads throughout the district. We made a number of additions and deletions to ultimately get to an adjusted baseline of on the expenditure side roughly $116.6 million and $115.8 million in the revenue bringing the new revised gap to roughly $820,000. That represents a current tax levy increase of 1.1% which is
010right at the maximum allowable tax levy increase uh under the New York state's property tax cap law. Couple of significant changes just I will highlight briefly when we first started the pro uh budget process the PSCG pilot was not included. Um, subsequent uh over the course of meetings, the district was advised that roughly $3.5 million in unanticipated pilot revenue would be made available uh to the district. We also in uh increased our state building aid by roughly $475,000 off of the most recent state aid run and that was tied to our recently closed out capital projects. On the expenditure side, uh various ins and outs depending on the program area. I can highlight that there were roughly 17 and a half FTE u reductions across the various program areas resulting in roughly a total of
011$1.4 million in uh reductions in both salary and fringe. Uh that split is roughly $928,000 on salary and roughly $480,000 on the fringe side. But in order to balance the budget, I am proposing for the board's consideration the use of roughly $715,000 in the district's undesated fund balance to bring things in line so that the um tax increase is no more than the $820,000 shown. This is a summary of the budget expenditures by type comparing not only the 2425 adopted budget, but where we started the budget back on February 26 and where we're at presently. Uh you can see that last year's budget was roughly $114 million. The adjusted budget before you this evening is 116.6 based on those various uh categories. a large decrease in debt service associated with a capital project. We had
012uh refinanced and took some strategic um decision- making on the allocation of debt associated with capital projects. A decent amount of increase on fringe benefits specifically tied to hospital medical insurance and pharmaceutical insurance coverage. We're anticipating an increase on the medical side of roughly 11.5 12% and on the pharmaceutical side roughly 19 to 20% which gets you a blended rate of about 14%. Um the other areas the salaries show an increase based on collective bargaining increases and our Bosei services and equipment supplies contractual are relatively flat. same information just presented a little bit differently by uh function area um and program area. Um not much more to say other than um there was a lot of hard work put in by department heads and district staff to bring you a budget of $16.6 million that
013minimized impact to local taxpayers. On the revenue side, uh the district is somewhat limited in terms of its available revenue streams or pots. The largest being um school property taxes. That $73.9 million reflects the $820,000 increase uh spoken about at earlier this evening. The pilot payments of 3.6 um include the addition of the PSCG pilot. Had it not been for the PSCG pilot coming uh onto the district budget, pilot payments would have only been $163,000. State aid at roughly $34.6 million. the that reflects a foundation aid increase of roughly $385,000 or a 2% increase uh which was the hold harmless provision uh included in Governor Hokll's 2526 executive budget. other revenue is relatively flat uh and somewhat limited. And in order to balance the budget, again, you see the allocation or the appropriation of $715,000
014in fund balance. A more definitive breakdown of state aid by function area. You'll see the foundation aid is increased to $19.6 million. when we had adopted the budget, um this time last year, um additional state aid had flowed after that, which is why it's roughly a $600,000 year-to-year increase as opposed to the $385,000 increase I just mentioned. Um slight increase in transportation aid um and building aid uh was increased as well by um a significant amount. I will say that um building aid was roughly around $3.8 million the prior year. The $5.8 million you see reflected in the 2526 budget is associated with the closeout of our 2021 capital project. All of our forms and approvals and submissions have been submitted and accepted uh to and by SED which has opened up the funding stream
015uh for building aid. we get roughly depending on the building uh 70ish% reimbursement for those capital costs. So overall budget the budget you see roughly a $1.2 million increase in state aid or 3.7%. I do want to note that the figures in the chart do not reflect the Bethlehem district's um Bethlehem Central School District's prek allocation of roughly $1.27 million. The district continues to struggle with inflation. I know I've mentioned this over the uh the past several meetings that over the past four years, inflation has compounded year-over-year for a total of a 21.2% increase. Under the tax cap law, the district can increase taxes no more than two uh 2% in terms of its inflation factor, which only compounds to an 8.2% increase. So any difference inflation had to be absorbed by the district through
016a number of ways. either maximizing existing or new revenue sources, minimizing expenditures, or finding new and strategic ways of doing more with less. That yellow shaded area in the graph really highlights the amount of year-to-year inflation that the district had to absorb internally. And in a lot of ways, we were able to do that with minimal impact to either operations or instructional programming. In 2526, the maximum allowable tax levy is roughly $73.9 million. I am proposing that the board levy exactly that amount, which results in a year-to-year increase of $820,000 or a 1.12% increase. But I do want to highlight the past two years between 2324 and 2425 the district could have taxed more than it actually did. So as an example in 2324 the tax levy increase could have been just over 3%. The
017approved tax levy increase was 2.3% which left $543,000 in unused taxing authority um on the books and in the pockets of residents and commercial entities in the district. The same thing for 2425 liable tax levy increase of 4.2%. The actual levy was three and a quarter leaving $634,000 in taxable authority for a total of $1.2 million over the course of those two years. The tax levy ultimately drives what is known as the tax rate and that's what homeowners and um businesses in the towns of Bethlehem and New Scotland may be more used to seeing. That tax rate is influenced by a number of factors outside of the district's direct control. They're influenced not only by the assessed value in and between the towns. It's also impacted by the changes in equalization rates and the district
018is somewhat limited in terms of forecasting not only the tax rates but the tax the changes in those tax rates given the layout of the real property tax calendar uh under state law. Equalization rates are made available um throughout the state uh usually around the tail end of February. The taxable status date, which is when any updates or changes or filing of exemptions must be made and submitted to any town assessor, is March 1st. The assessors then provide taxing jurisdictions with a preliminary assessment role on or about May 1st. The final assessment role isn't available until July 1st. So, for a true year-to-year impact, not only for um homeowners and and businesses throughout the the the towns of Bethlehem and New Scotland, that um impact not only the district, but the district impacts those two
019towns. I'm not really able to forecast those until usually about mid July. and we will have some subsequent meetings in the uh the summer months that I'll be able to provide a little bit more information and the board will actually adopt those tax rates. So, as of right now, the only database that I have available and the database of record is truly the 2024 assessment rule. So, for the town of Bethlehem last year, the equalization rate was 71%. The current equalization rate is 64%. which translates into um the final tax rate. You see, $227 for 2024, $2257 for 2025, result in a 1.35% tax rate increase for the town of Bethlehem. For New Scotland, same arithmetic actually results in a 1.6% tax rate decrease. And that's really tied because of the change in the equalization
020rates and the flip-flop between um the towns for those two years. All in all, it results in a an estimated based on the information I have today, a $30 increase per $100,000 of assessed value for the town of Bethlehem and a $37 decrease in the tax rate per 100 thou uh I'm sorry, decrease of $37 per $100,000 of assessed value for the town of New Scotland. When we get to the August meeting, I'll show us side by side. Even though you're seeing increases and decreases between the towns, I promise you that Bethlehem and New Scotland residents are paying the the right and correct amount of taxes and it's all equalized uh when the formula gets uh put together. The following is a listing of the district's um savings accounts for lack of a better word.
021It highlights not only the fund balance but various reserves. The district has discretion in the use and allocation of certain reserves but not all. We have $780,000 in a workers's comp reserve uh for employee benefits roughly $3.3 million to use to be used to offset um the value of the acrruels for employees. A taxert reserve of $500,000. a retirement reserve uh for our teachers and um non-instructional staff of roughly $6 million, a 22 capital reserve of roughly $14.3 million, debt service of 1.6, and our undesated fund balance of roughly 4 $4.6 million for a total of roughly $31.5 million in various savings uh accounts um for future planning for for the district. what I pay particular attention to the district's capital reserves. These are the uh dedicated savings accounts that the district funds to offset
022capital projects um for for the district. We had the 15 and 19 capital reserve uh with a funding limit of $10 million. We funded both those reserves up to those 10 um to those $10 million thresholds, but then subsequently used the funding uh for the 2021 capital project as well as the middle school auditorium project. The funding limit for those two reserves have been met. There's no additional funding in those reserves. The only existing funding reserve is the 2022 capital reserve. has a funding limit of $20 million. To date, at to date being June 30th, 2024, which was the close of our last fiscal year, there was roughly 17.2 million funded. The available funding, however, is roughly $14.3 million. It's a one-way valve on a capital reserve, meaning that you can only fund up to
023the $20 million. In this instance, if you take it out, you don't necessarily get to refund the amount you took out, which means that our funding limit currently available is only $2.7 million. I anticipate that as we close out our 2425 fiscal year, particularly because not only the 21 capital project, but the middle school auditorium project, um the costs were under budget, that those funds will roll back into those reserve dollars, limiting the flexibility I have to increase them further to accommodate that because I do anticipate that when we close out 2425, we will have some additional funding. I'm suggesting that the board consider adopting a resolution for the voters to consider the creation and establishment of a 2025 capital reserve totaling $30 million. That is not an authorization to spend. It is just simply
024we are planning ahead. We are establishing another savings account at the branch. We're going to uh look to fund that over the course of the next several budget cycles and closeouts so that when the next capital project um is developed and authorized by the voters, we have some savings account to use so we don't necessarily have to issue debt service. In terms of fund balance, under real property tax law, the district can have a fund balance that does not exceed 4% of its operating budget, which for June of 2025 will be roughly $4.7 million. I want to highlight that because when we get to to a later slide because that is really going to be used over the course of the next several budget years uh when we look at our our future forecasting. Okay.
025So actually Britney can you um jump to the to the expenditure side first please? All right. So on the uh appropriation side, the 2526 numbers that are reflected in the chart are the ones that I presented earlier this evening. Roughly $116.6 million in total appropriation broken up in the the major categories. Forecasting out for the next three years. I had to make some assumptions in terms of where costs uh would be in those years given what I know today. So, for salaries, I assumed roughly a 3% year-to-year increase given the uh current status of collective bargaining agreements, fringe benefits, which are somewhat tied to those salaries based on your social security and Medicare tax as well as TRS and ERS retirement rates. I I know that those numbers look high and that's really again associated
026with the hospital and medical insurance lines for both medical insurance and pharmaceutical coverage which are growing at a pace that far exceeds not only inflation but given some of the increases in pharmaceuticals in general are even outpacing the medical inflation index. supplies and purchase services roughly the the same given that we have some control over those debt services tied to the existing debt issuances that um the district has has issued. They do go down somewhat over the the course of of the next several years. Uh I did anticipate a slight increase in 2829 anticipating some future acquisitions of transportation vehicles in accordance with the vehicle replacement plan. Overall, you can see how the the appropriation stacks up year-over-year. Next slide, please. For those visually um that learn better visually, this is uh a comparison of
027the major cost centers. Again, salaries and fringe benefits make a line share of the district expenditures. U but you can see the slope up. You can roll back to the revenue, please. Now, one more. As mentioned earlier, the district is somewhat limited in terms of its available pots of funding to to offset um the the increases in appropriation. School taxes. I assumed that the uh taxes would increase no more than 2%. And in my forecasting based on what I know today, our ins and outs, I do not really see uh the district having the ability to increase much above that 2%. It may go up a fraction or two uh or down a fraction or two a percentage based on, you know, debt service calculations and uh possible future pilots, but a safe bet is
028under the tax cap law a 2% increase in property taxes. pilot payments. I'm anticipating that um there will be a continuation or a new pilot agreement with PSCG. There have PSCG is in conversations with the Bethleam IDA. Um I do not have any additional information at this uh point in time, but I do anticipate that sometime later in the fiscal year that we'll come into greater clarity. On the state aid side, roughly a 2% uh per year increase. That is arguably generous given um there could be pullbacks in state aid given some of the pressures at the state in general as it's um as the federal decreases in funding come into better clarity and um all other revenue again not a whole lot of flexibility there gets you a need to balance the budget with
029fund balance and reserves. The 7 that you see in 2526 is the $715,000 we discussed earlier. Again, that's a structural deficit in the budget. That structural deficit sort of compounds over the course of the next three years. Um for 2627 resulting in a $2.6 million use of fund balance. Again, once you get past that first year, things get a little shaky on your projections because things change uh very very quickly. What I want to highlight though is when you start taking the first three years of that fund balance total gets you pretty close to the total available fund balance the district has now. So there will have to be some strategic uh discussions and conversations over the course of the next um over this year and and future fiscal years. More importantly, I will be
030coming with the uh to the board with an update in terms of where we are on not only expenditure trends on a either a monthly or quarterly basis depending on what the the board's desire is as well as where we stand on certain revenue streams because I want to make sure that our 26 27 budget process is open, transparent, you understand where things um may need to be addressed. a lot of the the budget process uh from the business office, it's about 10% in the budget development and it's about 90% in the management and the budget as soon as it's adopted. So I do anticipate that um some challenging decisions will have to be made over the course of the fiscal year. The other point I do want to highlight just briefly is in order
031to get not only to a 1% tax levy increase with a minimal use of fund balance and reserves, I really had to squeeze the budget. I had to really maximize other revenue sources as limited as they may be and I really in in cooperation in conjunction with department heads and division heads what could we decrease on the expenditure side. That being said, I went both ways on both in opposite directions which put some pressure on the management side of the budget. If the Fed funds rate, for example, decreases by a certain percentage, that's going to put pressure on my revenue estimate for interest in earnings. If um utility costs come in higher because of tariffs or uh changes in in the pricing index, that's going to put pressure on some expenditures, which is means that
032the whole budget's really open for negotiation over the course of of the next couple of months to make sure that any area of expenditure and appropriation has its needs met that are in line with the revenue that we have received, that we anticipate receive, or conversely, the revenue that we will no longer longer receive for whatever reason. So, I just want to highlight that whatever the board adopts today is just the starting point for the 2526 fiscal year. I will do my best to provide as much information not only to the board but to the public in terms of where things stand as soon as I know it. Again, a visual image of where um revenue stacks up. The pink line is the additional 2% increase in taxes where the purple line represents the allocation
033of fund balance. John, I don't mean to interrupt, but could you just go back to the slide before? Can you just explain to me the the top says 25 26 26 27? I'm sorry. That's a um it's should be 27 28 and 20 uh 28 29. That's what I thought. I just wanted to make sure. No, I apologize that Okay. It's my oversight. We'll make that change. Next slide, please. Part of the 2526 budget includes a $100,000 appropriation in capital outlay. Over the past several budget cycles, operations and maintenance has been outfitting various buildings with door contact systems. These represent uh these provide a an additional security and hardening measure. Uh so folks from the outside cannot get into any door. That doors are not kept a jar. If a door is kept a jar,
034it does send a notification to the building to advise that door 7 on the east wing has been left a jar. Uh that notification is sent and then the door is promptly closed. for 2526. Uh the first elementary school that is being considered is Hammerrell Elementary. Uh particularly because of the number of doors in that particular building. Um we anticipate it'll be roughly $100,000 for that cost. We will plan over the next subsequent years um additional door contacting systems for all of the other remaining elementary schools. Um Hammergirl and Glenmont are the ones with the most doors just given they have similar layouts in terms of building design and construction. uh the other elementary schools. We may be able to combine those elementary schools in other years under one capital. Uh well, we can't do
035that per se, but we will address all of the the the elementary schools and capital outlay. Next slide, please. On to ballot propositions. The board of education will be considering three ballot propositions. Uh the first one tonight is the bus proposition which calls for the acquisition of three large diesel buses and three gasoline u powered buses not to an exceed amount of $814,770. That is the total purchase price of the buses based on the uh most recently confirmed quote from our bus um manufacturer. I do anticipate that state aid will reimburse those buses at roughly a 66% uh reimbursement rate over the course of five years. On the capital reserve, this is what we I had alluded to earlier uh for the creation of a 2025 uh capital reserve not to exceed $30 million with
036a term life of 10 years. Uh again, this is just the establishment and creation of a capital reserve that the district will be able to um to to fund. Any money that is actually deposited into the reserve by board action cannot be pulled out of those of that capital reserve absent voter approval. Overall on the ballot itself, what folks will see on May 20th are a number of ballot propositions. First and foremost, the district operating budget, which uh the board will review, consider uh later on this evening, the bus proposition 2025 capital reserve, the Bethlehem public library operating budget, which has been adopted by the library board of trustees, two district board of education seats, and two library board of trustee seats. On May 20th, for specifically for the um for the school district, there
037are two open board seats currently occupied by Robert Tent and John Walston for a three-year term expiring June 30th, 2028. Nominating positions were made available on February 20th and are due to the district clerk Britney Barrett no later than April 21st at 5:00 p.m. Each uh nominating petition must have at least a minimum of 61 signatures of residents within the school district. Our calendar is quickly coming to a close. We have three scheduled meetings left in terms of the budget process. May 7th is the public hearing on the proposed budget. May 14th is a meet the candidates night and May 20th uh from 7 to 9:00 p.m. is our annual district vote which will be held in the high school gym a presentation. Thank you, John. Um, and I just want to start by thanking
038you and your team and district leadership for all the hard work that you guys have put into putting this budget together. Um, I know it's not easy and especially this year when there has been there have been um a lot of things that we haven't known and have had to kind of be flexible um and work around. Uh, I just wanted to let you know that we appreciate that. Um, do people have questions? Uh, I'll echo that. Thanks. And and also to all the the school personnel, the department heads who I know came in here and did their best in a challenging time to really maximize the budget to keep the the tax impact, you know, as low as as as possible. Um, I wanted to talk ask a question about the the undesated fund
039balance. I think the the point the 700,000. Um, how does that get refilled? Every budget that we present is adopt um as adopted is balanced meaning expenditures meet revenue based on a number of anticipated needs. For example, instructional needs over the course of the year. Dollars do not necessarily get expended in certain lines. Other lines are expended more than we anticipated. Same thing with um for example uh our full-time equivalents. There may be vacancies. Someone leaves in the middle of the year. At the end of our closeout process, we look at what was originally budgeted both on expenditures and revenue and where did we fall with regard to both those categories. Were we over on expenditures? Were we under? Were we under or over on revenue? When it's when all that shakes out, any surplus
040funding at the end of the closeout period, um the business office presents to the board options. We may increase reserves to the extent that reserves can be increased in accordance with applicable either board policy or state rule and regulation. Anything else usually falls to fund balance, which is where you get to that $4.6 million figure, right? And that's that's a statutory maximum of under real property tax law. Yes. Okay. So, in previous years, have there been years where that was maxed out and we just we weren't able to put anything more into that into the the fund to be in compliance with statutory law? Yes. Now, I will say that there are districts throughout the state of New York that exceed that 4% threshold. It's frowned upon by the state controllers's office, but there may
041be reasonable um circumstances to do that. for example, you know that you have a one-time big expense, not in the current year, but in the future year, and you want to plan for that. I think where things get a little bit uncomfortable from an auditing perspective, if you're seeing 12, 15% fund balance dollars year-over-year without a designated purpose, there's a rational thought be like, well, you should be giving some some of those dollars back to to taxing entities. A 4% threshold though, I will say at 4.6 $.6 million on $170 million budget is not a lot of flexibility. I have one or two things that catch a cold over the course of the fiscal year. It's it's good to have, but it really doesn't provide for a large unforeseen expense or multiple years where you
042have a structural imbalance. And then so to a certain extent to the extent that the the board tonight votes about the um the capital reserve fund that is also a bucket that that re the the um the excess revenue going to a certain they're competing for those dollars. That's correct. The the one distinction though is once dollars go into a capital reserve in order to get them out a it has to be for a designated capital purpose which the voters have to approve. And usually part of that proposition is voters, do you approve using x amount of dollars out of this capital reserve to offset those costs? And the the undesated fund is more of a rainy day fund, which is what you're proposing that we That's correct. Now, I will highlight the $715,000 for
043the 2526 budget. A large portion of that, you may recall earlier in the year, the PSCG pilot had roughly a $611,000 additional pilot payment that not only PSCG was unaware of, but the district was unaware of as well because it had reached certain production capacities that it had not met over the course of the other 20 uh 19 or so years uh of the pilot agreement. So, that was unanticipated revenue that the district received in 2425. I'm suggesting taking all of that and really using it to offset uh the shortfall in funding for 2526. But that's a one time. It is a one time occurrence unless PSCG is off to the races and we get that again. But I can't forecast that. And I I'm not sure PSCG can forecast at this point either. And
044I know you mentioned this in the uh in terms of the state aid. I think it's 30 34,000 34 million. Okay. Um, do you have any projection? Do you have any sort of forecasting in terms of how much you think is going to be available going forward or you're not able to speak? I can when with the cave at all else being equal, right? And and the the concern that I have from from my position and you know, it's not that my glass is half full or half empty. I'm always waiting for someone to knock it over. But um the the concern I have is what the federal impact will be to not so much the district again to uh go back to to a few meetings ago. The district gets roughly $2.7 million in
045federal funding. But we don't know how the state I don't know how the state is leveraging its federal funding at the state conglomerate level that may negatively impact state aid calculations. I don't for 2526 but more so moving forward. Thank you. Question. Yeah. Um, a couple. So, if you want to interrupt me at any time, please do. Um, so I also want to extend my thanks to you and your team, to the district leadership, to all the department heads, um, for putting this together this year in uncertain circumstances. Budgeting is always, you know, there's an art and a science to it. Um, however, this year's art is particularly chaotic with the unknown impacts of uh a federal funding decisions and how that could impact the the district and how it is impacting the district already.
046Um, given the fact that we're already losing 35,000 this year in uh and the food service side, it's closer to about 135, excuse me, 135,000 in food service this year. um and the uncertainty around the EV um grants that we had a commitment letter. That's correct. Yeah. Um so we're already seeing the impacts of chaotic um budgeting at the federal level and it seems like that could continue. Um, so really grateful for your careful consideration and I also just want to as others have here recognize that there are impacts of making reductions like this to our staff. Um, you know, I'm grateful that we're not making any drastic changes if proposing any drastic changes. But even when we're making reductions, that has impacts on staffs and programs. and um and so I just want to
047um extend my gratitude to to everybody who's um who's helping to make sure that we're we're on a steady path here. Um, so one question that I've got as we try to navigate chaotic budgeting is that at the state level there's already speculation and discussion about well the state is looking to adopt a budget soon and if there is big federal fallout there's conversation around the potential need to come back and revisit potentially budget things. Do we have that same opportunity between in within a business year with our budget? Is there opportunity for revisiting if there are any major shifts um in any big way or how do we address that here? So, one of my roles and responsibility is to to the best way practical provide the board and the public sort of snapshots
048and status. Some of that's built into to the usual month-to-month um board agendas in terms of reporting and and transaction detail, but it may require a little bit more in terms of, you know, some brief presentations if the agenda accommodates to say, hey, this is where we thought we would be. This is where we're at. Or there's new information that's come to light either at the federal, state, or local level that impacts the budget either programmatically or financially that I would relay. I would come with recommendations and options for the board to consider to address those in a timely manner if they can truly be addressed. Um there may be an issue that the the size and scope is a little bit large that there may not be an immediate resolution or solution to. So
049I anticipate over the next over the course of the uh 25 26 fiscal years having a little bit more um presentation or dialogue with the board members and the public in terms of where we stand so we can address those challenges not only for 2526 but start planning for how do they translate into the 2627 budget process and what additional steps uh we may need to make. The one thing I do want to note is when we're talking about the reduction in positions for for 2526, I I've mentioned 17 and a half FTEEs. Those were all vacant positions. I I just want to for clarity purpose. Yeah, that makes sense. That uh those were additional positions that because of operational needs or or or limits andor instructional enrollment issues though the district could accommodate that
050without negatively impacting uh th those areas. Yeah, thank you very much. Um and as somebody, you know, who really feels like one of the best things we can do as a governing body is provide some predictability and some um understanding for taxpayers and uh district employees and programs of like how things are going. Again, I just want to, you know, I'm grateful for all the steps that you take to provide that predictability, including the updates you're talking about. So, thank you. Um, is there any update from the feds on the um, electric school bus commitments or have we heard anything further? Sorry, just to shift shift gears entirely. I I had a conversation with our bus provider on Friday of last week looking to see has there been any uh, additional um, discussions, movement. they
051um our bus provider has been in contact with not only their EPA contacts but with their lobbying firm and other bus providers being like hey there there's a distinction between in their minds and and frankly my mind as well those grant applications that were applied for re and awarded for which uh entities have an award letter versus applications that are in process or new pots of grant money that may have recently become available. So I think what they're they're trying to focus on the most tangible argument and benefit not only for for the bus manufacturer but for those entities that have committed to buses is hey what about the funding that we already have an award letter for. So but they haven't they they understand that their their arguments have have been made and received
052but I have not received any additional information in terms of the status of those awards. Cool. Thank you for Thank you for that update. Um, one of the questions that occurred to me this evening as we're talking about um, prek um, is that I remember from a couple when we were doing the district was doing the push for the um, kindergarten registration and it seemed as though there was a um, we weren't getting what we expected in registrations for kindergarten. Some of them we still haven't still a lot of outstanding that are on our projection list that we don't have enrolled. There's still a decent number. Some of this funding as I understand it would be per pupil allocation. That's all the UPK is peril. UPK is yes but also um sorry beyond UPK for
053um for district funding. Do we have stuff that's do we have funding that is state based that is per pupil allocation or part of the consideration and if we are not seeing the kindergarten registrations that we anticipated sure what impacts would that well if your enrollment declines and your state aid obviously is going to decline with that but that's been true we've been losing enrollment for a number of years now so yeah that would be true for the K registration If it doesn't, you know, come if all of the projected numbers don't come to fruition, then that's our enrollment and that's what we report on beds day in October. State for state aid purposes. Right. Right. Right. But that's still but we still carry all the other expenses that come with operating a district. Um
054so correct. Right. Okay. Sorry that just occurred to me. So I wanted to to ask about that. Um yeah, I think those are my questions. I really Oh, one last little one. The transfers line that you're talking about, what does that represent? So, it did you'll see a um significant increase from the baseline budget to what we're uh ultimately considering tonight. Uh usually it's roughly a $400,000 transfer line between the capital outlay and to our special education and food service lines. There's roughly a $ 1.1 million uh transfer line and that's associated with two additional additions that came um over the course of the past several meetings. First one is $475,000 to the capital reserve associated with the additional building aid that we received on the 21 uh capital project that we anticipated we were
055going to get most of that, but I I was a little I was conservative in terms of my estimate. All our documents have been submitted and accepted. I have a an award letter, for lack of a better term, from state ed saying this is your building aid on that project. So that $475,000 was not included in my original estimate, revised estimate, putting that directly since it's was that 475 was tied to the capital reserve dollars we used in the first instance. I'm just simply moving that back so we have funding available for for the next capital project. The other large component was given some of the changes in food service. As we alluded to earlier, uh we roughly had a a $40,000 uh transfer anticipated for the food service fund given the anticipated not only
056in cost increases in the food service fund, but the loss of the aid that we know about that um required an additional $200,000 subsidy from the general fund. So you'll see that reflected and that's why that transfer number is so large. Thank you. comparatively. Got it. Got it. Thank you so much. And um again I'm I'm very proud of this district generally. But I'm also just very proud that as you pointed out over the years we haven't, you know, taxed beyond what we've needed. We've you um Judy before you and the district leadership team has always really made a an effort to make sure that we are being prudent and incredibly responsible tax taxpayer dollars and I'm very proud of that as well. So thank you question. Um the first one really builds off Bob's
057point. I appreciate the rationale for creating a further capital fund. The budget is presented. there's not going to be anything to go into it for the next four or five years. Is that reasonable as it that yes based on the the budget as it is presented assuming those dollars are spent and all the revenue is received. So the um the flexibility of having the existing capital reserve is somewhat limited. After you take into consideration the uh close out of the 21 capital project, the middle school auditorium going to eat roughly um about 7 or $800,000 of the $1.7 million flexibility I have. 2425 is looking to be a positive year given the the pilot. I got to put the fund balance in only to take it out, right? So that that gets calculated in. Uh
058we do have uh some vacancies. Interest and earnings are coming in higher than than were budgeted. State aid is coming in higher than than was originally budgeted. So so there is some flexibility there. That being said, for 2526, it remains to be seen how many people, you know, enrollment may change. We may not need to fill vacancies uh as needed. There may be some mid-year departures there. There could be a number of things that happen. So, I do think it's prudent for the board to have that option available. If there's no funding to uh to to put in it, that's fine. You know, it's it's available should funding present itself. There's no requirement for the board to put money in. Uh it just provides some flexibility for the board uh in future years. No, I
059I totally get that. I just don't want to give the impression that we expect $30 million of surpluses to appear for No, no, no. No. That's I'll come back to that point in a second. um debt payments, ongoing debt. That's correct. Why not? Because as over the the largest uh the most recent uh fiscal year in close out 23 24 into 2425, we just um we issued not only bans for um our 21 capital project, but bonds and um for buses and the capital project in the same instance. as part of our strategic approach to minimize the loss of the PSG or the anticipated PSG pilot in 2526. Bans are onetime once. So that's why you see it was roughly $10.2 million going down to $9.2 million for 2526. The rest of the debt service
060is scheduled for the debt issuances that we have on the books over the course and life of those uh those payments. So they're they're really structured similarly to to a mortgage in terms of the payment. The distribution of the principal and interest on those are are somewhat different but the total is roughly the same. The the the positive cliff for the for the district in terms of debt services is around 2930 where we have several issuances that have reached their maturity and um would decrease debt services moving forward absent another issuance. That was my next question. Thanks. Last thing then really so you've been really clear which I I absolutely appreciate. You're proposing currently a budget that starts taking from our piggy bank right and that piggy bank can cover maybe three years of this
061but certainly no more and probably we get a little sketchy about that time. Um, at the same time, you're proposing a a tax levy increase of 1.12%. That's well under inflation. I understand that asking for a higher increase requires a 60% vote, but basically that's what I'm going to suggest, right? If we budgeted to cover the estimated expenditures, and I appreciate again that's been really tightly cut. It's a very small budget apparently. um you'd end up with a tax levy increase right around 2%. That to me seems like a more prudent thing to do, right? If you don't fund fully this year, not only are you taking out that piggy bank, but you're setting yourself up next year for that gap to be bigger so that any percent tax levy increase would have a smaller
062effect because your baseline's smaller. Your undesated fund balance you're allowed to have is smaller because your baseline's smaller. So there are compounding effects of trying to take out savings from a non non-renewable income stream. So I'm going to ask the board to consider that we actually change this budget proposal slightly and simply say look let's cover what the district has said we think we need to spend and ask voters to cover that expenditure. Thank you John. Is that something that you all contemplated? Is or I I thought I recall some discussion of what a proposal would be and what would be the best proposal for the board to consider. And so I kind of I wonder if someone could remind us of that conversation. I wasn't clear last meeting. That's totally No, no. It's it
063would be a good level setting reminder I think one way or the other. So, from my position, it's a little bit of a double-edged sword. I'm using the the tax cap formula to the number is the number based on the ins and outs that there's really not a a way to juice up the 1.1% on this year's tax cap. So, that that's what I worked towards. Um and to do that, you know, we we discussed internally with district leadership team, these are the vacant positions that based on current enrollment and class sizes and instructional programmatic interest. These are what we think we can do without in terms of the the vacancies that are available. I did go through line by line to the best extent possible decreasing other appropriation authorities where I I could meet
064not only to meet the one you know the um the tax cap but also the inflationary pressures I'm feeling elsewhere in the budget hospital medical insurance um uh the the salary increases so there's a lot of moving parts levers and gears here if the board would like or is considering a a tax levy increase greater than the 1.1%. That is certainly within the board's discretion to do. I have areas where I would maybe bolster because of things that may have again been maybe maximized a little bit too high in terms of revenue based on um the information I have today or conversely on the on the expenditure side. Um, again, a a 1% increase gets you roughly $730, $740,000 in additional flexibility um to that would eliminate the need for for fund balance at least
065for 2526. I think also just to add to that, when we realized we were getting the additional money from the PSEG pilot, that's that's 600 and some thousand more than what we anticipated. uh which is what to do 100,000 more really over 1.1 didn't make sense for 60% but that's really part of the reason why we we went with the 1.1 because we had that additional revenue that was unanticipated keep in mind this is this is also part in timing our budget process started in November right so we've been really having discussions and actually even go back further because we knew what pressures we were experiencing right a lot of this is a known owned, you know, where your your pain and pinch points are. You may not necessarily know how painful they are, but
066you knew the categories that that were coming. So, we've been having ongoing conversations in terms of we can we have flexibility here, not so much flexibility there. What steps can we take not only for 2425, but into the 2526 budget process to get us where we need to be. At the time, we were anticipating a much larger tax levy increase because of the loss of the pilot. may recall we were looking at 5.7 5.9%. Um, knowing that that amount was a a non-starter not only for the district but for for voters in general, we started pushing as hard as we could, not only on revenue estimates but on expenditure decreases to get us somewhere reasonable to your pointy year two maybe 2 and a half% increase. February 26, there was an official notification that, hey,
067a new pilot agreement is in place, or at least a one-year extension while a new pilot agreement is negotiated, which swung the calculation from our 5.7% where we're working for two to three all the way to one. It didn't necessarily change the tax levy need as much as it did just the calculation. So the gap between that 1% or two two and a half we work towards using fund balance to to the superintendent's point because we did have that one time one source funding and that's one of the things I'm trying to figure out managing managing the future years if we go making numbers up entirely if we go 2% this year and 3% next year it feels I think more consistent and less of a hard cell than going 1% this year and 6%
068next year Right. Even though you actually end up in the same place. That's right. You Well, you may not necessarily be able to go to 6% absent an override anyway. Uh just the way the the arithmetic works in the formula. Um absent the PSG, you could because of the loss of the pilot, right? You know, it it does provide that flexibility because pilot payments are treated tax like dollars changes, right? Um, so you could you the board could have had if the pilot wasn't in place, you could have proposed a 5.7% increase in the tax levy. Not necessarily that you would, but you could have and still only required the 50% plus one authorization to be in compliance. So just to make sure I'm sort of following what you were saying about the 613,000 that
069was unanticipated. Correct. So that's that un that funding was unanticipated. It's coming in essentially would go into the fund balance to come back out. Yep. Right. That's how that has to fun that. So then we just have that. Correct. There's just that $100,000. Correct. Yeah. Correct. To the superintendent's point, that's where you're looking at fractions of a percentage because we had we had made that strategic decision. Hey, this money's in it. Let let's use it to uh minimize, you know, the impact to taxpayers. Then you're looking at a, you know, a quarter of a percent of an override, which yeah, you probably wouldn't propose a budget with a 1.1%, right? So, so that was part of the So, there's a it's hard to sort of summarize, you know, the um the longitudinal basis of these
070conversations that we've been having since November. There's ins, there's outs, there's changes, things upset the Apple Card that you never saw coming. Um, so I know we're at we're at today, but there was a long path to get there with certain decision points made. You and I I completely understand where you're coming from. I think those are very valid points and I would just say that I'm I'm comfortable with the budget that's been presented in front of us um today. But just in terms of budgeting for next year and the year after um I think that because we are concerned about you know dipping into the fund balance and the fact that we can't continuously do this that we may um anticipate going over we depending on what the tax cap is next year. I
071know the formula is different every year, but um we may end up being in that situation where we are asking for a 60% override of that tax cap. And just um to keep us in the loop next year at the beginning of the budget process, know that we um are open to that possibility. Obviously, no one wants to do that, but none of us feel comfortable continuously going into this one balance knowing we probably only can do it for three years. So, I'm I'm very comfortable with this budget. I really do appreciate the work that you've taken to get us to this point. I know it was very hard. um just going forward next year, know that we, you know, are open to that possibility if we do have to go over the tax cap.
072Just kind of keep us um informed on that process as we Laura, did you have some thoughts? Yeah, just one question, John. Um looking at the state aid estimate slide, um the column all the way to the right is labeled 202526 executive proposal. Does that mean that those figures were included in the governor's budget proposal for the state? And as we all know, we do not have a state budget in place yet, as far as I know, unless something changed in the past few hours. But are those figures linked to formulaic calculations that are not necessarily impacted by the passage of a state budget? Yes and no. So found we'll take foundation um aid as an example. The state aid runs are based on changes or or the the database that all districts input data
073into at certain points in the year. For example, the executive budget is based on the November 15 database. Over the course of the budget process, districts are updating data or changing data based on either their closeouts or oh, I forgot to claim this. I overclaim this and they're making adjustments so that the numbers that I have presented are the most up-to-date numbers. Uh there may have been a state run relatively recently because of the April 1 deadline, but too late to to really maneuver because I do I don't anticipate huge swings. They're usually $15,000 here or increase decrease. It all pretty much rounds out unless you really made a mistake or forgot to to to claim something where you could see some swings. I will say that the information I have seen from the one
074house bills on both the assembly and the senate have mirrored the governor's budget. Uh, pretty much the only uh main difference I I've seen is the governor's budget assumed a 2% hold harmless clause, meaning that for your foundation aid, you were at least guaranteed a minimum of a 2% increase, which is the $385,000 for Bethlehem that I talked about earlier this evening. I forget if it was the Assembly or the Senate, they had changed at the 3%. Again, not a significant change, but most of what I have seen from the one house bills are are sort of in step um with the governor's budget, not only on state aid, but as well as the uh provision of state funding for free and reduced meals uh for for local school districts. There were some minor technical
075changes between the one house bills, but overall those have been from what I last saw from our member organizations lock step with the governor. That at least is a source of comfort, right? Yes. Um, other thoughts on um on Yuan's proposal, the budget in general? John? Yeah. I mean, I think I'm comfortable with what you proposed here. I mean, I think I'd rather not make a habit of every year trying to say we're going to go above. We're going to go above when right now there's that additional funding. it's a gentle amount to take out of that balance and next year if the economic climate is different and there's more significant situation then present that and then put that out to the town. But I feel like for now it's you've done a great job.
076It's very solid. Um and we've got again this additional funding coming in. So it's not we're not taking a ton from from that uh forformational purposes. School districts are held to a different application of the formula than your towns and municipalities. If there is leftover dollars that you do not use, they're they're gone from the school district side. On on the municipal side, districts can keep up to one and a half% of any it's called a carryover from one year to the next. So for the folks at home that may be somewhat familiar, I just want to make that distinction that, you know, we we showed a slide earlier in terms of the taxing authority that was not levied. If you were a town or village or even a fire district, you could actually take
077some of those dollars and roll it over along with the year-to-year increase and still be in compliance with uh with the tax uh tax gap. Again, I I'm not suggesting that we didn't need it at the time. The unfortunate angle from or or position from the school district is that we do need it somewhat now but those foot you know that it closed that close those doors moving forward. Okay. Um I am I'm also comfortable moving forward here. I do want to note though I think that I think you raises a really good point. I mean if we um by moving forward with this budget and and with the 1.1% to a certain extent barring other larger unforeseen changes we're putting ourselves on a path to a reduced budget next year as well. Right. We're
078starting from a smaller pot. So unless so to your point Meredith of like yes let's definitely talk about um let's talk about exceeding the cap if need be when we get there you know just to underline you's point if we want to maintain or grow because of the fact that salaries go up because of the fact that health care costs go up and everything else you know there's if we if we want growth we're looking at a much much bigger jump above the um above the cap. And again, one of the things that I've learned over the past several months is how much I value boring government that predictably lays out budgets. Um, and so there is a that is that that's a choice we're making there as well. Um I I would agree that
079I'm that I'm comfortable with the budget as it's been proposed. I think particularly since that um a good chunk of that uh $715,000 is this is essentially the $613,000 that we were not expecting coming from right um coming in. And I do think, you know, we are, as I think several of us have mentioned, we are in some uncertain times right now. Um, in terms of, you know, where things are are going financially. Um, and I think it uh we just giving us a a year and giving us some breathing room to sort of sort out where we are um is not a bad idea. Yeah. And I think one thing that we could consider too, John, your offer about whether it's monthly, quarterly, you know, if I don't know if we we certainly don't
080have to do this tonight, but want to set a request for updates or if we want to consider that in a coming meeting or that sort of thing and you know some input on what a reasonable update schedule might look like would be helpful for that. But just so that we are seeing yellow flags before they become red flags and so that when we start when we start this process that you actually start months earlier next year you know we're coming into it eyes open. I hear the sense of the room. I'll just comment you know the financial uncertainty and turbulence isn't going to be less a year from now. Um and the breathing room comment right by starting to withdraw from that piggyback money is funible. Sure the 600 grand coming in that could
081put you in a better spot for next year or you can spend it now. I'm sorry. By spending it now you actually give yourself less breathing room next year because you haven't got that extra cushion if you're leaving it. That's all. What would that money have come in? Would that have gone over the 4%. I I I well don't I I I would do my best to use the other reserves to to maintain the fund balance. I will tell you given what I'm seeing for for the outy years and this is an internal conversation for district leadership and ultimately for board consideration that that the 4% while it's statutoily required it may not be a feasible option. We may have to consider in order to weather the storm. Not only do we need the 4%,
082we need some extra to make sure that we can balance budgets moving forward, but also have enough for the unforeseen as well. But there's got to be something to fund that. I mean, there's no understood. Right. Right. I I guess I'm when I get to close out for 2425, if I have, you know, if we have $4 million now and I have a another $3 million in surplus, like where does the board want to see that allocate? And what's the Well, here's the uh what's the what's the penalty? was the downside of putting up above 4%. Don't tell me told you I get called to SEGL. So, uh, no, no, please visit me. Um, it's usually an audit finding by our auditors because it is statutoily required. But again, I'm telling you that there are
083there's there's more districts than not that do not adhere to the 4% threshold. I try to follow law, but you know, there may be operational circumstances and logistics and that warrant for future planning, right? It'd be hard for us to say, well, now we have to to t three years from now tax you at 10% because we honored this 4%, you know, ar arguably artificial threshold of of real property tax law. Like, you know, that's a hard narrative to make. So, you know, to the extent that the board I I will, you know, again, a lot of the funding that's available at your end is based on the management of of the budget as soon as it's adopted. So, if there's funding available, you know, I will present, hey, here's where you can put it.
084There are certain reserves that, you know, we may be capped at. There's certain ones that again, you need to be careful. You put it in, you can't get it out. So, um, Right. But I mean, that all assumes reserves. It does. It does. Fair enough. Thank you. Any additional questions or comments? Thank you very much. Thanks, uh, next on the agenda is our recognition of public comment on an agenda item. If we have any visitors who would like to address the board on an agenda item, now would be the time to come to the microphone. Item six, action items. A, finance action items. It is recommended by the superintendent the board of education approve the following finance action items one and two. So moved. Seconded discussion. Yeah, just thanks. Right. Most of this money is
085people giving us thousands of dollars to give scholarships. Yeah. Um, we should I'm going to read them out. Right. Michael Big Dog Medvki, Donald Rubiard, Robert Salamone, and James Coach Connelly. All given a thousand bucks to fund a scholarship. So, thank you guys. Uh, all in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? That carries? B. Professional personnel action items. It is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the following professional personnel action items one through three. So, move. Second. Uh, any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? That carries. C. Support personnel action items. It is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the following support staff action items one through four. So move. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? That carries. D.
086Other action items. It is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the following action items one and two. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Yeah. Um, one of these policies is student members of the board. I'm looking forward to having a student member of the board. There's language in there. They don't go to executive session or vote. Is that our policy or is that state policy? Uh, that's under state law. Okay. Thanks. Um, uh, all in favor? I I any opposed any abstensions? That carries. Uh E. The 2025 2026 budget resolution and propositions. It is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the following action items 1 through 4. So I never do this right. When do I formally move to modify our current budget or modify the the the
087proposal to modify one of the one of the levy amendments. Yeah. Um is there a which one are you talking about? So it's the school budget, right? So number three. Yeah. Okay. So the best thing to do would be to move um to separate those out order to separate out number three. Please do that. It is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the following action items one, two, and four. Second. Uh any discussion? All in favor? I I any opposed? Any abstensions? That carries. Then it is recommended by the superintendent that the board of education approve the following action item number three. So moved. Second. Um any discussion? Yeah, I'd like to move to modify that to increase the tax levy to fully meet the planned expenditures, which if my math
088is right, John did the exact math, is a tax le of about 2%, but basically cover the current funding gap. will be met by taking money from reserves. Um, so we have a motion to amend on the table. Do we have a second? Guess not. Okay. Motion to amend will not move forward. One second. Yep. Uh, so then we have our um motion to um adopt um item number three. Um all in favor? I. Any opposed? N. Any abstensions? That carries. Uh F, notice of 2025 annual election. It is recommended that the board of education approve the following action item uh number one regarding the 2025 notice of annual election. So moved. Second. Any discussion? All in favor? I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? That carries. Um, item seven, recognition of public comment on a non-aggenda
089item. If we have any visitors who would like to address the board on a non-aggenda item, now would be the time to come to the microphone. Item eight, future meetings and events. Um, our next regularly scheduled board meeting is on Wednesday, April 23rd. Note that that is one week later than it normally would be because of the spring break week. Um and that is going to be at Eagle Elementary School. Um anticipating executive session at 6 and reconvening to open session at 7 o'clock. And our meeting following that is on Wednesday, May 7th. Um and that will be back here at the high school. Uh again, I'm anticipating executive session at 6:00 and reconvening to open session at 7. Um and um Britney, if I could just ask if you could um send us a
090reminder um before our next meeting so that we all remember to go to EL Elementary School. Uh seeing no need to go back into executive session, could I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? So move. Second. All in favor? I meeting adjourned. Uh and our visiting pig and SA students, don't forget please to come up and sign out. Your look certainly was