001You know that. How are you? Yeah. No, I called Yeah, better. Hallelujah. I'm no Are we ready? Good evening everyone. Thank you all for coming. Um, we have some snacks up here if anyone is hungry. I heard they're back to making peanut butter chew, so you're welcome to to them if you'd like. Uh, we're going to call the meeting to order at 6 o'clock. If everyone can please stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America. to the stands nationy and justice for all. >> Great. Item 1.03 approval of revision of agenda. Be it resolved that the board of education of the Fateville Manley Central School District approves the agenda as presented. May I have a motion? Thank you, Jason. A second. Thanks, John. All
002in favor? Anybody opposed or abstain? Item 1.04, recognitions. So, we've got some folks from Enders Road here to start, I believe. Maybe. Dustin, are you here? Maybe maybe not. Okay. Well, we are nothing if not flexible around here. So, we are going to pivot and we have someone else very exciting to recognize this evening. Um, as I believe everyone is aware, uh, today is Dr. Ty's last board meeting um, as superintendent of Fateville Manlas. So, if you don't mind, I know you didn't want any party with balloons and and things, but we'd really like to say a few words uh if that's okay with you. And we brought a few guests. >> Thank you. Would you like to go first? >> Really? >> Hi, Doc. Well, I thought I'd do it on my phone like
003all of our students do, but I changed my mind. It's way too small. Bet you thought you were rid of me, right? It's nice to see all of you. Alrighty. I was really happy when Sarah called and invited me to speak tonight. Uh I worked with Dr. Ty for nine years on the board as a past president, also a board member as you know. So it's an honor and a privilege really for me to offer a brief tribute to our retiring superintendent. Um thank you Sarah again for inviting me. I need to start out by saying to you, Dr. Ty, that over the past decade, I've observed your unwavering commitment to educational excellence, to innovative thinking, and to a collaborative spirit. That commitment has elevated our schools to new heights. Your leadership has not only
004maintained our district's reputation as an outstanding, high-erforming district, but also fostered an environment where both students and staff have thrived. You came to us with deep and varied experience as well as a as first as a well-loved teacher of biology and chemistry in your home district of Webster, New York. From there, you moved to Skinny Atlas as an administrator and then assistant superintendent. And after 13 years, you took all of that experience to Marcellis where you served as superintendent there for nine years. During this time, you became chair of the Middle States Association Secondary Commission. This worldwide and prestigious organization begun in 1887. You didn't begin then, but the organization began then. Brought attention to the districts you served and added to your knowledge of current pedagogy and the standards established for quality education across
005the country. While still serving as chair and on the board of MSA, you joined us here at Faithville Manlas. We were the beneficiaries of all those years of experience. your two master's degrees, your PhD in science education and educational administration. That said, there are a couple of things I would like to remember that I hope some of you will recall as well. The first is your deep well of incredible idiosyncratic phrases. [laughter] In fact, I'm going to call them esoteric idio idiosyncr phrases because most of us had never heard some of your colorful turns of phrase. Often these would mystify us during a meeting, stopping us to process them, to process your possible meaning or even leave us all scratching our heads. I wish I had jotted down some of those so that I could
006repeat them tonight. I think I was too busy trying to decipher them. [laughter] Whether you were reminding us not to put the cart before the horse or sharing um pearls of homespun wisdom. They were homespun, weren't they? Grandma, maybe. I don't know where they came from, but I wish I had them. This somehow made sense. Your sayings became a memorable part of our boardroom culture and always kept us on our toes and occasionally in stitches. Another characteristic I always found both impressive and a little disconcerting. I called it your idetic memory. You have the most photographic memory of anybody I've ever met. Anything you've ever read or for that matter ever heard, you remember. It's in the vault. It's an amazing gift and I think it has um come in handy while navigating the superintendency.
007Seriously though, under your watchful eye and with our community support, our district has remained number one on every scale that is published. All of our elementary schools were recognized as blue ribbon schools. We're now proud members of the tri-state consortium, joining the highest performing districts in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, the only Central New York district, by the way. We have renovated Wellwood and the high school while maintaining all of our buildings. Again, we were fortunate that you came to us with valuable experience working with contractors and construction. That was a big help to us. As a board member, I have witnessed firsthand your dedication to our student success and your thoughtful approach to the challenges that we have faced, and they were many. And your ability to unite our community around a shared
008vision. Your steady hand, your integrity, and your compassion have left an indelible mark on our district and on all who have had the privilege to work with you. Thank you for your years of service not only here, but around the state, for your partnership, and for your legacy. As you retire, know that your impact will be felt for years to come. Perhaps some of your legendary se savings sayings will live on in district lore. David and I wish you and Stacy all the best in the years to come. Really enjoy the next chapter. You've earned it. Thank you for watching. I'm going to try to get through this without crying. For those of you who may not know me, I'm Sarah Gidley. I've been Dr. Ty's executive assistant since 2015. When Sarah asked me to
009say a few words in honor of his retirement, my first thought was, "Why me?" But then I realized that Dr. Ty has been quietly and gently preparing all of us, not only for his last day, but also to be the best version of ourselves. He has coached, encouraged, and listened to us in teams and individually over his decade at the home. His calm leadership, expert advice, and sense of humor led us through some truly excellent experiences and accomplishments. I know he would not want to take credit for our strategic plan, our annual report, or our awards from the Department of Education, and the school superintendent association. But it is thanks to his encouragement and support that our accomplishments shine. Whether it was through his sharing of experiences at Marcellus or Skinny Atlas, his baseball metaphors,
010or his always open door, Dr. Ty has shown us that he truly cares about FM and helping us define our own success. Not seeing you every day will take some getting used to, but at least we know you're off to enjoy what you've worked so hard for. Thank you for being a remarkable boss. Congratulations on your retirement. Um, I will tell you that I asked my eighth grader if he could come up with a dad joke because I know how much you appreciated them. He came up empty-handed. Um, [laughter] so I apologize. Um, from the very beginning, Dr. Ty has consistently emphasized his vision. The education is most effective when it connects students to what they find most interesting and is delivered in a style that is unique as they are. From champion professional development
011to bringing concepts and ideas regarding personalized learning pathways and supporting innovative instructional practices, he has reminded us that best practices in education need to continuously evolve in order to keep students at the center and see differences in learning styles as an asset. One of Dr. Ty's greatest strengths is that he has never stopped learning himself. From the very first time meeting Dr. TCE. He described his own educational journey and that of his entire family as one that is deeply committed to education and the pursuit of continuous learning. He has stayed curious in a field that is constantly changing. And in doing so, he gave everyone around him permission to grow, to try, to fail, and to try again. Leadership, especially in education, is rarely flashy. It's built in early mornings, especially those snow day calls.
012Long evenings. I'm sure you love spending your evenings with the board. Difficult decisions and quiet consistency. Thank you, Dr. Ty, for consistently showing up for this community, steady in times of uncertainty, thoughtful in moments of challenge, and always guided by what was best for students. to highlight just a few of these accomplishments over the past 10 years, some of which Darl has already highlighted. Um, Dr. Ty had the vision for FM to join and apply for and join the Tri-State Consortium, an alliance of high performing public school districts committed to systems thinking and collaborative inquiry as pathways towards continuous improvement. FM is the only upstate New York district in the group which provides us with amazing opportunities to learn from other do top districts in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey. Dr. Ty has also
013led FM's participation in the AASA, which is a school superintendent association. And our district was one of six school districts to be named a AASA learning 2025 lighthouse system based on our work in the focus area of community alignment. During T Dr. He's tenure. All three of our outstanding elementary schools received National Blue Ribbon School Awards. In the past 10 years, our district's facilities have been greatly improved at Enders Road, Wellwood, and now the high school to support the needs of our 21st century learners. And we all know that there's a lot more work to do. During Dr. TE's leadership, our district focused intensively on expanding and deepening our mental health supports for students and staff with ongoing work in this area by our mental health task force and DEI committees. Never one to take
014credit for ideas, Dr. Ty has quietly led the way on initiatives that have positioned FM to be at the forefront of student learning and well-being. Each one of these developments aligned with our strategic plan, which Dr. Tyson shured was updated and further developed each year as progress was made towards goals at the building and district level. So as you step into retirement, we know this is yet another opportunity for you to begin your next chapter in a lifelong journey of learning. Wherever that path leads, what whether it's new adventures, new audiences, or simply more time to reflect and enjoy, we're confident that the foundation you've helped build here at FM has set us up for a bright future. On behalf of this entire board, thank you for your vision, your integrity, and your belief in
015what education can be when we're willing to adapt and keep students at the center. Congratulations on a remarkable career and best wishes on the journey ahead. Thank you. >> [laughter] >> I mean, you can Thank you all very much. That was certainly appreciated. Oh, there's the [snorts] other card. Thank you. >> Okay. Uh Dustin, are you here? [laughter] >> Well, good luck after that. I'm sure it will be great. I'll give a little walk up music. Uh our new principal at Enders Road, and you did say we've made improvements at Enders Road among the many buildings. Uh we've done little things in all the buildings, but Enders Road suffered a uh water break today. So, we've sent notice home to the families. We're trying to get it repaired and up and running or else we'll
016be on remote instruction tomorrow because the water shut down to the entire building. There wouldn't be plumbing for uh restrooms and things like that. So, needless to say, Dustin just wasn't being late today. He was certainly is a good captain. You're not going down with the ship. So although there was plenty of water there uh in in the ship so the bill pumps are working but uh we certainly appreciate your efforts and we'll get an answer out to the families by >> before 9 by 9:00 we will have the good word. Thank you for that transition and it is tough to go after that. Certainly it it's going to be it's going to be a tough loss. I appreciate everything you've done for me um to date at this point, including tonight. But I'm going
017to shift gears tonight. Uh Enders Road, we are actually recognizing our office clerical staff tonight. Uh specifically, that's Kim Paratt and Allison Addison. So, here we go. So, [clears throat] tonight I have the distinct pleasure of recognizing two individuals who serve as the heart of the Enders Road front office. As I mentioned, Kim Paratt and Allison Addison. Kim and Allison have worked side by side at Enders for seven years now. In any workplace, sharing a close-knit space day in and day out for seven years is a long time. Some might even say it's a test of patience. But for these two, the few feet between their desks didn't create friction. They created synergy. It's truly special to watch how the two of them complement one another. They work in perfect tandem to support our students,
018our staff, and our families. They don't just manage tasks. They build genuine, authentic relationships that make everyone who walked through our Enders doors feel truly cared for. On a personal note, when I stepped into the role of principal on July 1st, Kim was an invaluable guide. As many of you may know, an elementary school in the summer is quite different, quite different from the typical instructional year. It's quiet, it's still, and often Kim and I were the only two in an empty, lonely building. I am so gratefully uh grateful, deeply, deeply grateful for the time uh that we had together uh and the time that she spent over the summer months just getting me up to speed. Uh she shared her deep institutional knowledge with patience and clarity, helping me navigate the systems and processes
019that keep Enders running. It was clear from day one I was stepping into a culture of excellence and I had a responsibility to uphold the high standards Kim and Allison had already established. If my transition into FM districts felt smooth, it's largely thankful and appreciate the two of them and their expertise expertise. That's why it was smooth. As many of you know, Kim recently entered a well-deserved retirement. I was thrilled to see Allison officially step into Kim's role officially last week. However, life has its own timing. Due to personal reasons, Allison needed to be out uh for the month of February. Just two days into her new position. Without second thought, Kim stepped back in, returning from retirement only one week after the official date uh to substitute for Allison. This gesture speaks volumes. It
020demonstrates a level of dedication, mutual respect, and commitment to our community. They wanted to ensure continuity for our school and they did it with grace. It's this selfless support that is exactly what makes Enders Road and the FM district such a special place to work and to learn. Thank you, Kim, and thank you, Allison. Kim, I know you're here. Can you come on down for a moment, please? >> [laughter] >> And now we will adjourn. Um, now we have presentations and reports. Um, so we're going to start with our transportation presentation. There we go. Uh, I'd like to introduce Chris Bojowski. Chris is from Transportation Advisory Services. Uh, it's something we've talked about for a little bit now and kind of, uh, going through a bunch of the details that, uh, that related to the
021school start time committee. uh Chris has got to find that there is a whole bunch of stuff to uh chew through to be able to come uh with with some some opportunities and uh potentially some solutions. So with that, I'm going to give you Chris and then uh there'll be probably time for a little bit of a Q&A after if everybody's good with that. Chris, take it away. >> Uh first off, thanks for having me out here tonight and I'll congratulations Dr. Ty on your retirement. Um one of one of our goals was to try to get this uh study done and this presentation done so Dr. T could be here uh for that. Um just quick uh overview on uh TAS. Um we are a third party and independent consulting firm. All we do
022is um uh perform consultations regarding student transportation. Uh any of our recommendations that we make are purely what we think is uh in the best interest of the district. Um just on a high level overview of the study um we were taking a look at the overall bell times and scheduling uh and the impact that that really has on the transportation um of all of the students to the the school. Um currently the district's using 48 buses that's serving uh both uh FM schools as well as out of district placements whether that's a Boseies private parochial um or McKini Vento students that are coming into the district. Um there are some belt time uh scheduling challenges. Uh uh we'll see kind of on the next slide here the the current times and we'll point out
023some very uh I think very uh interesting challenges for the your transportation team and those obstacles that they overcome on a daily basis. Um one of the things that we're trying to mitigate with some of our strategies is to kind of alleviate some of those uh really tight time windows that they're looking at. uh some of the we really took a look at two options. Option A was a what can we implement in the next uh kind of in our next cycle here um whether that's next school year or the following school year what's something that looks very similar to uh your your current system. Uh, option B really um takes a look at reshuffling your uh your bell times considerably. Um, and it may look a lot different uh than what you're used to
024currently. Um, again, our re [clears throat] excuse me, our recommendations is really starting with option A and then really moving to option B down the road. Uh, once everything can be a little bit smoother and ironed out and it's a little bit of a different change. So, we want to make sure that uh that's introduced to uh the community at a uh maybe at a slower rate here. Uh so, taking a look at our current bell times, uh the time that we have in the morning between your uh 5 through8 schools and your elementary schools, it's a um it's a or between the high school and the middle schools. It's a very tight time window. you're looking at just over uh 20 minutes here. Um that's not a lot of time to send a bus
025back out uh and then gather all your students and bring them in. Currently, your buses are arriving about 50 minutes before that bell time to make some of that happen. That's probably not in the best interest of your students getting to the high school 50 minutes before their instruction time starts. um it may decrease uh attendance on those uh those buses and we want to make sure that we're utilizing uh the capacity of the buses to the best of uh the our ability. Uh if we take a look in the afternoon, we face similar challenges. Uh dismissal at uh 208 uh with a 2:15 bus departure time, turning around 35 minutes to do many of your runs is really not feasible. um and to have good on time uh performance in the best of conditions.
026And we are in Syracuse, so we have lots of fun weather, especially around uh this time. Um the time between the uh middle school and the high or the elementary school start times, there is a decent amount of uh uh time between those and we do have some uh some flexibility there right now and that's not as big of the the biggest challenge that we have currently. Um, but we really want to try to work with our the two options that we have here and improving on time performance, making sure transportation's not already stretched, um, and making sure we can perform at the highest uh, possible uh, ability. Currently, um the current bus utilization, um we're at 48 buses in the elementary school, uh needing up to 39 in the morning, um for the elementary
027school and 36 in the afternoon. Um you're using a lot of buses for your in district school uh students. Um and your K through four structure and your uh 5 through8 and your uh 9 through 12 is slightly different than uh districts around the state. So there's some interesting challenges that kind of come up with that. Um right now that we mentioned uh the tier overlaps and inefficiency. Um a lot of buses can't really fulfill all three tiers that we're looking at. They have to uh just operate on two tiers or they have a really short run where they're not utilizing the full capacity of the vehicle. Um some of the afternoon constraints like we said um the short turnaround times that we mentioned on the previous slide. um and there's not really enough time
028for those buses to really fulfill those three tiers uh as efficiently as possible. Um so one of the options that we're looking at here is um and we call this option A. This is these bus times and arrival times, instructional times. Um these all kind of have very similar start times uh that you're kind of used to. Obviously there are some slight shifts um but there is a little bit of uh flexibility here. One of the things that we're doing here is in the morning we are call uh what's called a triple tiering. So one bus will service your uh high school students then your middle school students and then your elementary school students. Um but in the afternoon what we'll do is we'll take your high school students and your element and your middle
029school students and put those students on one run. Uh and then once they're able to finish that run, they'll able be able to get back and pick up all of your elementary school students. Um this um the the morning uh run and the morning tearing uh you'll be able to use pretty much the same routes that you currently have without any issues with um uh changing the runs very much at all. In the afternoon, um runs will be a little bit tighter as far as the number of students that ride the bus. Um, one of the things that you'll have to do, and the transportation team that I've worked with has been wonderful throughout this entire process, and I'm very uh confident in their ability to uh actually implement a lot of these changes. Um,
030that cannot be said throughout the state. Um, so you should be very proud of your current transportation team. Um, the afternoon runs, like I said, the middle school and the high school runs will have to be combined. Um but you can't combine uh the runs one to one necessarily because you do have some underutilized runs in the afternoon currently. So some of those underutilized runs um some of the uh runs that are scheduled heavier will have to kind of overflow to those other runs. Um some of the other factors that we take into account are your out of district uh placements. If you find a new uh placement for uh a special education student, um you'll have to make adjustments. If you get a new Mckin Vento student again adjustments, there's lots of moving pieces
031and and parts within a transportation uh department and it happens on almost a daily if not definitely a weekly basis. Um, one of the things uh that this option does as well is really helps uh increase your uh utilization of your buses as well. uh the capacity of your buses will be uh a little bit a little bit more full and more spread out so you don't have overcrowding on any one bus that can be really spread out over multiple buses. Um option B um there is a pretty significant uh difference. Um the the biggest change really is moving uh uh your elementary school start time in the beginning um and then your high school in the middle start uh middle time and um elementary or and middle school at the uh later time. Um
032this uh the start time would uh be fairly similar to the previous option but what it would do is we would have um two tiers in the morning and two tiers in the afternoon. Um, [clears throat] this would uh really allow you to um have those later start times for your old uh for your older students where we there's been lots of studies regarding uh students being able to uh have much better uh performance academically. Um um this would have a compressed tier schedule like it says here. Um really having those middle school and high school uh runs allin one is currently possible with your existing drivers. Um just would require more efficiency um and uh combining runs in a strategic way. Um this also would not require any additional drivers as of right now.
033Obviously changes in population could make some changes uh with that. If there are a dramatic increase in private parochial or out of district placements that could have some effect on the number of drivers you would need. But with your current drivers you could accomplish both of these uh options um without needing to hire additional staff. Um option B does reduce uh the crowding overlap compared to the current and and option A as well. Um and this really does improve uh I I I think this is this option is overall the better option but there are um a lot of kind of challenges that kind of come with it. Um your high school start time I'll go back a slide here. Um your high school is getting out uh a lot later than it currently is.
034So that interferes with things like athletic start times. Um uh we've done several of these studies in the past where elementary school students are getting home uh before their older siblings. So uh who's [snorts] watching those students? Those things do come up from time to time. And that's why we're saying that um option B, we call it our deferred change here. Um that's why we're saying that is so that the public can really understand this so the messaging can be clear and concise. Um, not saying that this shouldn't be uh this change shouldn't be done uh if you have a lot of community push back. There just needs to be a lot of community education and uh a awareness building why we're making these changes and it's not just kind of out of the blue.
035It's really for the best uh interest of the uh students. Um moving to some of the nontra nontransportation operational considerations. um when we were taking a look at um some options and uh the business office and transportation did a great job at coming up with a plethora of options and really narrowing it down to these two options. So there were a lot of things that were considered. um we really took a look at the uh New York State requirements and making sure that um all of the students are getting the appropriate amount of time in the classroom um K through six uh with the 900 hours and uh 7 through 12 with the 990 hours. So that was one of our uh constraints. Um section 3 athletics um like we said in that option B
036there is that later start time. So there would have to be some adjustments um and um some considerations to that if you do decide to move forward to uh that option. Um and like I mentioned a few times if there's any thirdparty lo uh location programs um Bosey's Mckin Vento out of place in the private parochial things like that. Um it would also impact any enrichment programs that you have um after school. uh if the those [snorts] uh programs start after school and the student the students aren't getting out until um later than they're current they currently are, it could um reduce the attendance at some of those. Um and and as well there some contractual issues. Um you have uh many different agreements uh with uh teachers, aids um within the transportation department contractual
037op um contract, excuse me, the contracts that you currently have will have to be considered when we're making these changes. So it's not something that uh we can really rush into. Um, that's why we really like option A first because it doesn't really impact those uh those obligations that you currently have as significantly as option B. Um, I will open it up to questions. Um, are there any questions for the board? >> So, Chris, thank you for for all of this. This is uh really well done. I I guess when we talk about the bus arrival time and and we'll just I guess we'll start with the high school. Um you know we say bus arrival time is 6:55. Not every bus is pulling up at 6:55, right? So have we talked about or what
038is the range of delivery time at the high school? Um there's a uh I would say probably like threequarters of the buses are arriving around then. I'll let Susan jump in and >> yes they are um >> it's about three quarters I think. Right. So, we're trying a week earlier in the year, we pulled back or we kind of organized uh drop off a little bit better and we instead of buses pulling up, dropping off and going, we're having everybody come in by 6:55, 7 o'clock, and then at 7:05, we're letting everybody go at one time. That way, all those students get off the sidewalk, those buses can, you know, close up their doors, turn their reds off, make sure the sideways or sidewalk is clear, and then pull away. And that actually more timely
039system than hit or miss, you know, everybody kind of pulling in, dropping off and going because you really got to make sure that your surroundings are clear before buses pull away. So, it's just a safer option to have everybody unload at one time. So, we asked them to fit that window between 6:55 and 7 o'clock for arrival. >> And you said it was about three quarters of them. >> It was at least three quarters. >> I believe there's a few that come in a little bit later. Yeah, >> those I think those are more special education buses. >> They're more Yes, there's some special education buses plus there's some other other buses that don't have to go to a middle school run. So, if they don't have to go to a middle school room, we
040we weren't going to, you know, kind of demand that their time be be quite as aggressive. And would it help Sue at all as we look at the high school from a facilities angle to redesign the parking lot over there or to create a different setup than what we have now? It would be beneficial for safety and just it would be more um cohesive and it it's generally the safest um way to drop off students in the most timely fashion is have everybody arrive within that five minute window just like we changed it to um you know we hit a certain time everybody goes in. I mean it's amazing. you think there's a lot of kids on the sidewalk at once, but they just I'm sure you know Pat has we've talked a lot about,
041you know, travel time within the building because the building's so large, but they really do move um within 3 to four minutes. They get off the sidewalk and then we can all pull out at once um and then get on that second run. So, um just having the space to kind of drop everybody off at once, it makes a big difference in organizing and um just, you know, making it we kind of have our hands around it in a organized way. [laughter] >> No, I I can understand that and appreciate that. And I think Craig, we've talked about this before in the past, too, that I think the wrership for the high school u keep me honest. Is it 35% of the students or approximately 30 are taking the buses in the morning? >> It
042goes downhill from elementary to middle to high school. So, we're seeing probably about 70 to 80% uh for the elementary 50% for middle and about 30 and I'm ballparking at 30%. So the what's interesting and we've talked about and you've heard me say it before if indeed we go to in the future option B we may see ridership increase and so that's why Chris and his team will do a great job because you can't add 30 to to 50 and on a lot of the runs and especially if the ridership increases we're going to be maxed out which I think is where you're headed. So it's it's a combination of that and then just you know really the well-being of the students right so the for the 30% of our students that are taking the
043buses in the morning if you're arriving at 7 I think the normal protocol is is that they have to go to the auditorium right and then they I think it's at 7:30 or 7:40 then they get dismissed to first period >> 7:45 >> right so it's just about th those groups of students students that take the bus are just impacted, right? They just have they have to come earlier and then they're um in the auditorium I think in the morning, right? Which is a nice study hall, but I I don't know that uh folks are are signing up for an unassigned study hall, but I just wanted to clarify. So, thank you. >> Thank you all. So, just quick, I probably should have let off a little bit more or you know, um, but in
044fairness, this is kind of what I did uh to this gentleman where we just kind of threw a whole bunch of data to them and said, "Here's all these different problems and can you go solve it for us?" Um we've had a lot of talks uh through school start time uh with Chris kind of coming out that the whole point was to try to give them as much data as we could and it was just kind of started you know from this the 645 problem to our parking lot problem to you know everything else to kind of then shifting to different options what we're going to go. So his piece was really just to kind of focus at least on the transportation. You can kind of see that how that's pointed out that it is
045something we've been kind of facing. And then from that side of it, it'll then kind of go over into the other areas from instruction to all the different things that he listed there uh to be picked up from that group and decide kind of what's best and how to go forward. Um so it was difficult, you know, given that kind of original data uh from that side of it and then trying to put together something that we've kind of already got in place and kind of come in halfway. Um, so I just wanted to add a little bit of context to it from that side of it and certainly allow you guys to keep going. >> I guess one [clears throat] question I had was um, you know, when you looked at the data is,
046you know, and Susan, maybe this is a question for you. I know often the traffic, especially around, for example, Eagle Hill and Enders Road gets absolutely bananas. Um, and so I'm just wondering how accurate the numbers are, if it's taking into account, you know, buses stuck in traffic waiting for other kids to be that are being dropped off and the overlaps with the different buildings if that was also factored in. Um, >> which numbers >> just like how long it actually takes the buses to do their routes. you're still if you think about um the the morning is worse with traffic than the afternoon. The afternoon we have a shorter window. Okay. >> So with that being said, there are there are some time that actually drivers have a chance in the morning to use
047a restroom and and do that between their middle school and their elementary school runs. Um and you know they they do need that sometimes. So they are trying to get out there and get on the road. I think the is where they don't have any of that time to really even have a mishap at a house, you know, where maybe a parent isn't home or something is, you know, they need to help a student, you know, facilitate a a situation or what have you. um that afternoon run there there's no time for playing um you know that we don't have time for traffic and and the the elementary schools are so gracious in the aspect that they are doing everything they can to find people to stay with the kids past contractual hours. So um
048they're kind of taking our buses in in the afternoon when they can get there. I would say in the morning though we do see that the traffic is quite um heavy and that that you know we can plan for the traffic and we still get caught in it. So um yeah that's tough. And to your point too about the high school right now when we drop them off at 7:05 all those buses can get out of there and hurry up and get on their middle school run so they can get there on time and then that kind of gives us that little room that we're talking about for between middle school and elementary. But if we were to try to do what we're doing right now at 7:05, if we were to try to do
049that closer to 7:30 and 7 the actual start time, there's no way that we could drop everybody and get out of the way because there's no traffic at 7:05. By 7:30, you know, trying to get back out on the turnpike. Right now, we have half the buses in the morning going out the front entrance or exit by on the turnpike and then the other half are going out the back um to uh to like kind of do the Wellwood area. So, we're taking the group and we're having half of it in the front uh loop and then the other half are kind of in the student parking lot and then they're, you know, they're kind of just facilitating that way. Um and we can, you know, there's still creative ways that we could have uh
050on a triple tier maybe have Wellwood uh pick up first and and then because they have the longer trip, pick up the high school first on that second on that two-tier. You can have Wallwood pick up first, move them out, and then have Eagle Hill come in, pick up, and I'm talking about at the high school so that your Wellwood buses are getting the high school kids first, moving on to Wellwood because it's a further distance, then have the Eagle Hill buses maybe pick up. So, I mean, there's things you can you can play with and do um when it comes to that parking lot, but the more that you the more you get closer to the actual pickup time, the harder it is. So, I answered like quite a few questions, I think, or
051added input into a few different areas right there. >> And I'll I'll jump in as well. Um right now in the afternoons, you have a very short time window to complete that first tier and get on to the second tier. Um what the options do is really allow for longer lead times so that if there are things uh like longer or longer uh travel times due to traffic, there's there's more uh there's more grace. >> Yes. >> More grace. Not not a lot of grace, but there is more grace for transportation for things like traffic or weather or >> anything >> any any mishaps. >> And we find them we find the mishaps. >> Hi. Um, so is this a plan change for the 26 27 school year or when are we looking to possibly
052do this? >> I'll let Dr. >> Option A or B. What do you >> either one? Well, if they so if we start with A because B might take longer because contractual issues. Are we looking to start option A next year? >> The idea is to start option A this coming year. >> So when would we start the community engagement piece for that then? >> U is we rolled that out in November in terms of keeping the same batting order. So we would just let folks know what the new times would be because one of Chris's goals as you know just wasn't keeping things as is. It was buying enough time for the triple and double runs and to make sure the buses could fulfill their obligations. So we would be informing staff as well
053as community of these times once they get solidified. So have we already started approaching a different bargaining unit about the contractual issues so we can work those >> contractual issues are the length of the school day the the work day as far as start and end times. We'll start with the administrative team working through that. So we may have to adjust the start time at the beginning so that we're not keeping folks beyond their contractual hours. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good questions. >> So and it's and it's really just the mentary. Am I reading that right? That is a change. >> Yeah. The shift the shift would go from uh two from 8:55 to 910. So it would be a 15minute shift for the elementary uh start times. >> Oh, and high
054school gets out a little later. >> Yeah, there would be some Yeah, it's they're very minor changes. Um that's why it's it is actually important in your contractual um next collective bargaining agreements is to make it um timebased not a length of time as opposed to uh specific times like contractual start time is 7:45 instead of doing that having it be a set amount of hours and minutes. Um it it tends to help just in case those items come up. >> High school day is a little bit longer because be moving to the new what we affectionately call 30 minute lunches but or basically 20 something 25 minute lunches plus passing >> so it's already >> at the end of the day it'll be yeah >> so it's really at the elementary level that folks
055would see the biggest still 15 minutes >> I think so I know when we were coming off the school start time committee myself included we were all a little worried that it was going to be approaching 4 o'lock and beyond And so I'm glad Chris and his team sharpened their pencil and got it down to the buses at 337 and you know the last one out of there at 350. >> So the only transportation um adjustment would be yes a little bit later in the morning and then in the afternoon we'd be doing a double tier instead of a triple tier. So, we'd be going to the high school, then those buses would move to the middle school, pick up, and then we do, you know, the whole district one time for that level, and
056then do the whole district for a second time for the elementary level instead of covering the district three times and running over their wheels a little hot. Give us a little more breathing room in between. But you'll remember too when I reported out in November, one of the things that we didn't want to jump into the deep end of the pool with option B, even though there were a number of folks in the room, parents included, that wanted to go with the research, is that we were still nashing our teeth in terms of the Boseies programs until there were more districts in the area. It's good to know others like Baldwin'sville and other districts are beginning to take a look at it. So the Bosey's day would have to change. Certainly Dr. Sugar has talked
057with his colleagues and it will impact intercolastic sports. So I think there's just a lot of boxes that need to be checked before we can move to option B or we're going to disenfranchise our Bosei students. Our students involved in their scholastic sports are probably going to feel torn. Do I do this? Do I do that? And have to choose. And I think at FM, we've prided ourselves on academics, the arts, and athletics. So, we want to have as many different options for the students as possible. So, to answer the big, you know, the big question, I think we move forward with option A, sort out the finer details, and then kind of hold off on option B until a community we're ready and until a central New York region is ready to attack a
058lot of those issues. It's probably also worth noting that at the state level in the governor's office, there's been talk, right, about making it a state mandate with start times. I think 8:30 would be the earliest for uh secondary. >> Yes. No elementary school before 8, no secondary school before 8:30, much like California. So, if we know that's potentially coming down the line, that's something to take into consideration as far as making any more drastic changes now because we may not have a choice or there may or other districts are doing may be less of a factor because we're all bound by the same state mandate. Right. >> Absolutely. And as a lot of the board members know, we've been studying this since before CO. And I mean, we have not rushed into this by
059any stretch of the imagination. And while we all agreed on the research, what we didn't agree on as a community is how best to solve it. I'm so thankful uh as the board knows that we've made the minor adjustments to the high school bell schedule to make sure that we're in compliance with state ed especially with the new cafeteria coming online. We were subject to an audit as a result of that which the board knows which we passed and I think you know I'm just very thankful that we've honored our obligations which I think uh Miss Pinsky was addressing. So, we've uh in terms of for state ed and then I think we'll be in a better position when that time comes and be ahead of a lot of other districts uh who haven't even
060begun to scratch the surface. >> [clears throat] >> Um quick quick question really quick in looking at the the times from the current uh to the to the option A proposed. Although the the start instructional start times and dismissal time change at the specifically the elementary level is um fairly insignificant. What [clears throat] what seems significant is the amount of time between when buses arrive and the instructional start. [clears throat] you know, it being only five minutes as opposed to I think 25 minutes currently and and the difference from dismissal from dismissal to bus departure time going from 25 minutes I think dropping down to a much lower. So I I is there some efficiency that's getting picked up there from when the buses arrive to being able to start school five minutes only five
061minutes after the buses arrive versus 25 minutes which is the the current model. >> Yeah. So [clears throat] the what I'll speak to here is um there is a lot more flexibility when it comes to uh the amount of time between the um uh the middle school run and that elementary school run. So in the current option there's a lot more flexibility if those buses are late um allowing them to get into the school. um where that bus arrival time could could be potentially problematic is five minutes to unload and get to a classroom potentially if the bus is late by a few minutes then yes you probably would have some problems but I I don't believe unloading to classrooms at the uh elementary level would be much more than five minutes even if some
062students need some extra encouragement to get to class >> so and I think we were I mean we still have a lot of time between the time we leave the middle school to the Um, I think we were also looking at how many hours, you know, in the building and the contractual times within the building. So, I think we were they're kind of looking there was a lot of numbers that were involved in, you know, um, the contractual times of people in the building, the staff, and then, you know, if they had enough hours during the day. So, all of those kinds of things were, but there's definitely enough room in there that we could um, we could adjust that if we needed to. Yeah, I I was going to say I think the other
063component that I think um and I'm sure Mr. Varga is still here, he could maybe comment on, but I think at the elementary level with the addition of the free breakfast, I know I think a lot of the teachers, you know, there were students in waiting in line and then they're bringing their breakfast into classrooms which was an added complexity with trying to get kids in and ready to start their day. So, I just think make, you know, factoring that in. I think it is a little bit more than five five minutes sometimes >> by the time they >> But like I said, if even if that was a misprint or just a typo or something, we there's plenty of room in there to make that adjustment. >> Yeah. >> It's why we don't have
064enough time that we can't >> we can't back up. >> So, you know, I know you did um present this in November, Dr. But I don't think we have like widely communicated it out to the community members and families yet. So is that planned shortly? >> Yeah, I think we have to move forward with it. We really didn't know what the damage was going to be, especially at the end of the day. So now that we have a little bit better picture, I think we can communicate that out. I mean I think it's good to have the option be ready so that you know to Sarah to your point if there is a mandate or something we have a plan B um and when we want to go down that route okay anybody else have
065any questions comments >> I do just I want to come back I'm so sorry just for my own understanding um I do want to come back to the the arrival time and instructional start time elementary school. So is that that 905 would be is that when we would anticipate the last bus would arrive and students would >> So right now from like the actual routes perspective um you have an hour and 15 minutes for those runs to be done. um from the bus arriving to the um 538 schools to getting to the elementary schools that is um a significantly uh more amount of time than the buses actually need. I believe there may be one bus on the elementary level that is approaching an hour. Um, so that 905 I think especially with the free
066and reduced lunch potential issue, I I I think that there's a decent amount of room to bring that uh bus arrival time a little bit um earlier. Um, I think one of the factors and uh considerations I think was mentioned previously is um the uh making sure you have the staff here to uh support the amount of students that are here. Um, you don't want to have all of your students here and your teacher's uh day doesn't start for five more minutes. Um, from an administrative standpoint, you want to make sure you're careful with kind of balancing the two, if that makes sense. >> Oh, sure. No, I just um as a parent of former elementary students, uh the idea of getting them from one place to another >> in five minutes uh with bags
067and lunches and all the things um >> seems daunting, but [laughter] that's why I wanted just to clarify that. >> So, in in some of these um elementary schools or three, there's three of them. used the three, but okay. Um, what I've seen is like the buses kind of pull up and then they start at a certain time to unload and then those ones move and then a couple move and they they are always moving and adjusting rather than everybody be there present and then unload. So, and that's happening at all of our buildings at the elementary level. what some schools do and Chris can probably talk about that more about statewide um you can you know they they will have maybe your arrive and and kids that um go to breakfast they are able
068to get off as soon as you arrive while we're waiting for the other kids to dismiss. So there's all sorts of different things you could do um as far as that you know there's no stigma to going to breakfast it's a matter of who wants breakfast who doesn't want breakfast or who can go to breakfast you know so those can go and be funneled into the cafeteria. I mean, there's there's so many things we can do to be creative or just organize it differently. Those students that aren't going to go to breakfast can stay on the bus and while the the rest of the classroom staff prepare and then at a certain time um the the rest of the children go in. You can't do that when you are just trying to rush from one
069building to the other. So you it's just there can be a more organized fashion and how we manage some of these things if we if we really put our minds to it. So it would be nice. >> So I guess sorry to add on to that but I guess I'm wondering if we're maybe still sharpening the pencil on the arrival time and you said that you have the most flexibility in the morning run right now. >> You do here also. I guess I'm I'm also just thinking about um parents who need to get to work in the morning and you know that's a half hour later that their kids are probably going to wait to catch the bus or whatnot that they can't leave for the day. So >> so then you have more people
070for dayare, >> right? So, if there's some extra wiggle room on that, maybe that would be advantageous to consider both for logistically getting the kids dropped off and inside and ready to go, but also to not be so as much of a gap for family members who are trying to balance all the all the things, >> especially at the elementary level where you don't just let them walk to the bus stop by themselves. Usually, So, just to kind of bring it to conclusion, um I think the mission was to try to, you know, get some outside help. Uh I didn't probably state this I think with Chris. I don't know how many districts you've worked with, but I think that's maybe hundreds. >> Yeah, it's and this type of study is becoming more and more
071prevalent. You're not the first district, but you are kind of on the more of the leading edge. This is we're seeing uh a lot throughout the state. So you guys are on the right track in my opinion. >> So the point was is you know I think we got the right group from that side of it. I knew there was a whole pile of variables. Uh Dr. Ty alluded to the fact uh we actually did receive an audit from state ed in regards to 180day. Uh some of the context you know we passed and everything which is fantastic. Uh some of the context and some of the questions they did ask about you know what are you doing ultimately you know with the cafeteria? How are things like that going to work? what are your
072bell schedules going to be? What are your periods and all that? So, we've kind of lined everything up. Uh we're good to go. We're set from that side of it. We knew we've already done some adjustments at the high school level. We talked about where you saw the 645. We've kind of adjusted that. Uh Jason's already alluded to the fact, you know, with parking lot and kind of what we currently have versus there's something going to be out there potentially maybe in the near future even next project would there be something realigned with a bus loop, parent drop off, etc., etc. And we know we can't uh basically have a situation where we have timing of students and parents kind of coming in and buses coming in. And that's kind of the point you got
073to where you have the gridlock. Uh so we we've kind of taken everything on top of it, you know, and I don't want to bring in electric buses or or new housing developments or apartment complexes because if that comes in, this goes back out the window and and here we go. Uh so this was kind of the data at the time and kind of the best you know that Chris uh and the folks can kind of help him with and I know that you're going to have more information and questions and on top of it uh this gentleman's going to be leaving and Dr. Pre come aboard and we'll have to get her up to speed and then work it out obviously with administration and uh the corresponding teachers groups to kind of find the
074time and and you know what makes sense for the district. So that was kind of the overall just the mission if I just kind of could put it in context. But we did have a lot of good come out of it and at least we've got a good starting point to kind of allow us to go forward. >> Y okay. Um so I guess Dr. when the final recommendation of times have those kind of j written down so we know how we're communicating past that along. >> Yeah, I would think uh probably within the next month uh you're also going to adopt the calendar. I have to share that I've shared it with the FMAA. I have to share it with the FMTA but customarily we adopt that uh in March. So I think it'll
075all come together in March. >> Okay, great. Um, moving on to several fiscal presentations. Um, who would like? >> Sure, I'll start. >> Okay. >> As they get ready. >> Yeah. Just so folks know, customarily when uh superintendent and there's a changing of the guard, often times the new superintendent uh will ask for an audit to be conducted, especially if they're walking into unforeseen circumstances and uh that's not the case here. Uh so in many ways doing this as a courtesy uh gives our new superintendent, Dr. Harvey a chance to look over the course of the past decade. Uh so you will hear from Brad and I at the end um in turn then we'll open it up for questions but we thought leading off would be Debs. Some of you may remember her as
076the assistant superintendent for administration at the OCM Boseis and uh she has retired and I know that uh she's been very helpful in having taking a look at our progress over the past decade. She's worked with all three business officials that we've had here whether it's been Mr. Vesby or Mr. Furlong and now Mr. Corbin. So, I think there's a history of success here. And so, having her take a look at how we have managed things. These numbers here are all off uh uh public documents in terms of our annual budget uh newsletters. So, nothing in here should be new, but it should be a nice retrospective of the last decade, how we've managed things to hopefully help Dr. Harvey as she goes forward with the governance team to manage things for the next decade.
077So without further ado, if I've stalled long enough, Miss Thank you. >> to add my congratulations having worked with you in two different district uh leadership positions. Um and would like to wish you all the best. uh much luck and and success in your retirement adventures. So, uh with that, um do you have the PowerPoint up because I'm not seeing it? >> I will get that for you right now. >> Okay, Sarah. Thank you. >> You are very welcome. >> And let me just while you're doing that, let me just thank the board for the opportunity to work with Fatville Manley. Uh as Dr. I said, "I've spent my entire professional career in the Central New York region and I very much appreciate uh the work that has uh has done. Um I think it's
078it's clear that the board and the district leaders have done an excellent job when uh being mindful of their fiscal parameters as as Craig laid out just a minute or two ago with the various leaders that you've had in that position. But I commend the board for taking a minute to step back and pause in your budget development uh process to take a look at where you've been recently, which I think will inform where you're going to be able to be uh going forward. So, I just wanted to start with the background slide um that you see there in front of you. Now, uh one of the things I look There will be a lot more detail in the written report that will be uh provided to you. But so these are just a few
079of the highlights. Uh the annual budget approvals in recent times have been strong. Uh generally 60% to 70% over the last 10 years. Although I will say that in in the more recent years it's been in the lower half of that range. uh your budgets have been either at or slightly below your property tax levy limit and the external audit reports that I reviewed I went back and reviewed five years worth of data and it's clear from those that the district has uh had some fiscal stewardship stewardship and prudent oversight. Um moving on um as as Dr. T mentioned I've worked in school business management for the better part of 34 years most recently at OC Boseies and as part of that I did quite a bit of mentoring with new business administrators and one
080of the things that I would inevitably say to them is that there if there if I had to pick one thing that would uh potentially get new business administrators in trouble and that would be the whole area of fund balance. Um and one of the pieces of fund balance which is why I lead with these is uh reserve funds. So just this is an overview. Um the district has done a very good job of establishing reserve funds and funding them. The reserve funds have a specific purpose. They are governed by statute. The statute is it spells out uh what they're to be used for, how you fun them, how you spend money out of them. And as you can see from this chart uh that the district has done a very good job of diversifying
081their reserve funds so that they are protected in a variety of areas. Um the most volatile one and this is pretty typical of districts that I've worked with will would be the capital reserve fund because logically as districts are doing uh capital project work that's the intent of this reserve fund is to help support the funding of the various capital projects that the district undertakes. Um I think just a reminder the last bullet on that slide is a reminder that these these funds are not for general operating expenses. your year-to-year expenses uh come out of the general fund budget and reserve funds should not be used for those. These are for uh exceptions if you will to expenses outside of those general operating expenses. Uh this this is just a a visual representation of uh
082the reserve funds that you just saw on the prior slide. I think you know it it does show how uh the funding has es and flows a bit throughout over over the years. Um the most volatile one as I said being the uh the top green bar which is your capital reserve fund and the one of the other piece too in fact the other pieces of that whole area of fund balance management uh is illustrated on this slide and I'd like to start with the column on the right, which is the unassigned fund balance. Um, lots of words that we like to wrap around uh these these monies in school districts, but the unassigned fund balance is essentially an emergency fund. Uh, money that the state allows you to set aside in the event that
083there is something unforeseen that occurs during the year. Um just like when you work with your budget at home, you hopefully have that emergency fund set aside. The state uh dictates that this should be set at a maximum of 4% of the following year's budget. And in fact, that is right where Manlas is. So, they've done a very good job of maintaining that emergency fund, that unassigned fund balance, but not exceeding what that statutory limit is. Um, the next thing that I do want to highlight on this slide, and this is going to be a theme you'll hear from me uh over the next couple of slides, is the use of assigned appropriated fund balance. So in essence what this is is this is the amount of money that is left over when you complete
084a fiscal year. So when you start the year we all know that a budget is your best estimate at the time. Again likening it to your home budget. um you are hopefully conservative in that so that when the year is done you've hopefully spent a bit less than what you budgeted for or projected to spend and on the revenue side that you have collected a bit more revenue than you projected or some combination and likely that's the case some combination of both of those two things. So when you get to the end of the year, that money that's left over can be one of the things that can be done with that money is it can be applied to the the subsequent year's budget to help uh help reduce I I guess if you will
085or help uh minimize the impact that's needed from the local property tax levy. So this is one that threw up a bit of a yellow flag to me as you look at that middle column where you for the first four years on the slide you've been with the with the exception of 2023 but you've been right around we'll call it a million dollars but then in 2025 that jumped up to over $2 million. one year in and of itself is not concerning to me, which is why I called it a yellow flag, but it is something that the district needs to be mindful of as it moves forward. Um, and as I what I've started doing as I work with districts is as we can move to the next slide on this one. Um, I
086I do a little bit of a budget projection scenario. And this is a very simplistic highlevel illustration. So I started with your 2526 current year budget and we made the following assumptions. We said all right let's assume that your expenditures or appropriations on your budget are going to increase by 5.7%. Which is the average of the five prior years of of actual uh budget expenditures. the increases. Um secondly, we're going to make the assumption that your tax levy is going to a to increase by 2.8% which that too is the average of the five prior years. As I think you you are very much aware that the state aid is flattening out a bit. We've had a few years of uh a little bit bigger increases than we've seen historically. And now it's the increases
087have tended to flatten out a bit. So I decided I'm using a 2% increase in state aid. 0% use of reserves does not mean that you're not using reserves. That is a 0% increase of in reserves. So from your current year, we'll see it on the next slide, but I think it's around a million dollars that you used out of your reserves. So I made the assumption for this for this uh projection that you're going to use about the same amount. And lastly uh I said well let's take the miscellaneous revenue and we will project a 1% increase on that. So moving to the next slide this is what the end result of those projections are. Um the first two columns the budget appropriations and budget revenues obviously have to match and they do here.
088Um the first line is your 2526 actual current uh budget year and the next line are those projection factors that we just talked about and the resulting uh four years after that using these same assumptions for four years will give you those numbers. The concerning number is that one that's in yellow. And you will see what happens because logically um the revenue streams are not keeping pace with the appropriation increases. So that there's only one place if those assumptions are are valid, there's only really one place left and that is to have money come from fund balance. Well, that's a sign those numbers in yellow are significantly more than what you have funded historically from the the uh assigned appropriated fund balance and obviously significantly more much more than your 25 26 the amount you
089use there. Um the other thing that happens that um with with budget development is as the budgets become, you know, going back to the idea that when you develop a budget, you hope to be conservative and have a little bit left over. Well, it's also true that as the times get more challenging, uh you want to maintain programs with your schools in your schools and you so you have to be a little bit um less conservative when you're developing budgets and things get tighter. You may budget slightly less on your appropriations and slightly more on your revenues. The end result of that is that you are not going to generate as much fund balance at the end of the year that you might choose to use to apply to the subsequent year's budget. So that
090is uh really compounds the whole situation. And the the the obvious I think is the bullet at the bottom is that if those scenario assumptions are somewhat close, this is not a sustainable model that would result in any kind of fiscal uh stability for the district going forward. So, um, I wanted to break that down a little bit further and we'll look at the budget revenues and then we'll move over onto the expenditure side. So, this is all, as Dr. Ty said, this is all right out of all of the public information. Uh, this is budget data uh, that's presented as part of your budget uh, information processes uh, each year. And just to highlight a few things there with the bullets at the bottom and and again all of this information will be in
091the written report that you can look at in detail. Um the state aid as as I already mentioned has plateaued in the last couple of years. The second column bottom of the second column um the property taxes if you go over to it would be the fifth column the percent of budget uh for property taxes. You are funding almost 10% less now than you property taxes are funding about 10% less now than they were 5 years ago. Um, and there is that notable increase as I've already mentioned in your use of appropriated fund balance to help balance the budgets. And you've also used a bit more reserves in the last couple of years than you have in prior years. Again, uh remembering that reserves do have specific purposes and the districts the district has had
092a reason for using them, but it's it is something that is a factor in the whole uh big picture, if you will. So, as part of that, I mentioned the property taxes um funding less than and the entire uh it's funding a smaller share of the uh district revenue. So I wanted to take a quick look at some of the property the factors that go into developing the property tax rate and this takes me back to my years of being a business administrator in the district before Boseies and one of the things we used to talk about there's really three factors that go into establishing the tax rate. uh each year. One are the assessments, property assessments. The second one is the equalization rates. Um and then third is the total property tax levy. And
093as you think about it, I think you'll quickly realize that the school district only controls one of those three things. It controls the total levy that you want to raise. So those other factors become very important in the consideration on the budget revenue side. So what the slide you have here in front of you just shows what I'm sure you're all very much aware of as residents of the district that the uh assessed property value over the last four years postco have uh jumped up pretty considerably uh three years of double digit increases the uh 25 26 year was under 10% but still almost 9% of an increase. So the assessments have increased over the past four years. Looking on to the next slide, uh I did take a quick look at your property tax
094levy. You, as I noted earlier, you have been at or below your property tax levy limit. That said, the last three years, the property uh the I'm sorry, not the property tax, but the uh levy increase has been three and four% each of those years. It's it's still less than uh the tax levy limit, but it it is interesting um to theorize that perhaps as I mentioned earlier where the approval uh passage rates of the budgets are closer to the 60% range than the 70% range over those last three years. So perhaps that is part of the reason why um the percentage of approval is is dropped slightly. Um okay let's slide on to the next one. Um looking a little bit at the expenditure. This is a very high level look at it but
095um a couple of things of note here. The percentage of your total budget that's this is the three-part budget piece here. the percentage of your total budget devoted to your program budget has declined slightly. Um it's by far the largest component of your budget as as you all know. Um so too has the administrative budget as a percentage of the total uh declined and the capital budget percentage has increased and that's not surprising. that's largely driven by your capital debt service payments or your your uh bond anticipation note payments and there it is reasonable to expect that there's going to be a bit more e eb and flow within that area due to that uh debt service payment. Um on the right column you'll see that the increase in the first three years there I'm
096sorry first four years um is going to be right around 6%. It waivers a little little bit around each side of 6% but we'll call it 6%. Last year, current year however uh it's about 4.6%. The average of those five years would be the 5.7% uh budget increase which is what I used in the projection this the uh scenario that I shared a few minutes ago. So we kind in the report that you'll see um one of the things that's expected is that I provide the district with uh some findings and recommendations. Um and and a lot of this really is uh around thinking about you're right in the in the throws of budget development right now. Um so it really is thinking about that moving forward. Uh using the historical data to inform what
097you're going to uh what you're going to need to do going forward. And if if you're going to align budgets, there's it simply becomes, you know, there's three pieces. Um you can reduce expenditures. Um you can increase revenue or you can do some combination of both of those things. Um that's very simple and and I'm sure uh understated, but it really comes down to that in one way, shape, or form. So with that, um, some recommendations that I would share with the district. Um, first to exhaust every opportunity you have to maximize state aid. I think it is key that uh, as Dr. Ty said, you've had three veteran uh, experienced quality uh, leaders in your business office. Um, but to just bring that back around to about that and be sure that you are
098maximizing that state aid. Uh the expense based aids as such as the ones listed there will um are ones that can fluctuate and and should be noted. Secondly, um try to that the district stabilize and eventually reduce its reliance on that appropriated fund balance to help support the annual spending plan. As you saw in that scenario in that yellow um it's not something that you can rely on every year and it will grow uh at a rate far greater than you're able to support. Third, it's recommended that the district maintain its reserve fund balances at the current level to the extent possible. Um as I said, the district has done an outstanding job of ensuring the fiscal stability of the district by establishing those reserve funs and them appropriately. Um, next slide. It is recommended
099that the district reduce the uh expenditures to control the annual budget increases. Um, this is this is my opinion that you really cannot rely solely on increasing the revenue streams to balance the budget. It's got to be a little bit of give and take between the expenditure side and the revenue side and finding where that balance is. It's this is something that I know on this next bullet that I'm really preaching to the choir because um knowing knowing the three gentlemen that Dr. mentioned uh as your business leaders, I know them all and I I know that this is something that they do, but I need to say it here is that um I would recommend that the district ensure that it has a multi-year fiscal plan. you may not be able to in one
100year uh get the get the district to the point that you would like it to be with the the appropriate ratio between the revenues and the expenditures. So, a multi-year plan is going to be critical in in helping guide the district through that process to ensure that you can um get to a sustainable model that will uh continue the district's long history of of fiscal security. And lastly, um this is one that you haven't, in my knowledge anyway, and I didn't find it. Um you have not done before, and that If you choose to propose a budget that exceeds the property tax levy limit, as you all know, um it would take 60% or more of your voters approving your budget. Um and if you choose to do that because especially because it's a new
101uh process for your district that you look for ways that may maybe things that you have not done before. Um, and and as good a job as you've done in the past, uh, you really need would need to try to engage what I refer to as the non voters, the people that simply don't vote. And as I looked at your participation numbers as far as the number of voters that you had, it frankly was all over the place um, in the last five or six years. You had the obviously the one year where the uh pandemic required that school districts use absentee ballots for everybody and those numbers were very high. So excluding that year, there's still quite a big swing in the number of people that participate in the process. But I think if
102you do uh use that strategy to try to exceed your property tax levy limit, which um Brad and and Dr. Cor Dr. Ty can uh are the ones that have have a way deeper knowledge of that than I. Um, I think it's going to be important to figure out how you're going to engage all of your voters um to ensure that you're successful in doing everything you can to ensure that you're successful in meeting that 60% threshold of um voter approval. So with that and and let me just also say I'm very grateful to the board and to the district leaders for allowing me to present remotely and uh I sincerely appreciate that. So with that um any if there are any questions I would be happy to try to try to answer them at
103this point. Um, so I I missed the last meeting where we went over the referendum possibilities, but um would you recommend that we get the multi-year fiscal plan in place before we move forward with any referend? >> Sarah, I'm not able to hear them clearly. >> Can you hear me now? >> Yeah. >> Okay. So my question was um there was there's discussion about a possible facilities referendum and my question is should we have the multi-year fiscal plan in place before we move forward with any fiscal refer I'm sorry facilities referendum >> um they certainly are they certainly are married uh for sure I I don't think you have to have the fis the multi-year fiscal plan in place, but what you're where you're headed with your facilities referendum should certainly uh be a piece
104of building that multi-year plan. >> Can I just Hey, Deb, it's Brad. Uh, thank you for that. That was fantastic. Um, just to talk a little bit because I was going to kind of chime in. This is really a weird situation. I've never done this. I don't know Deb in all your years of doing it if you've ever kind of piggybacked. You get to do a report and I get to go do with Dr. Ty a separate one and then we I guess compare notes at the end. Uh but thank you for that. Uh the actual multi-year you know uh projection from a a plan perspective is something I have uh Deb ironically I did it way back when uh in Tully in 2015 and kind of put that together. Uh and maybe if you
105want to speak to this a little bit just you know for Marissa's question and probably a few others that might be generated tonight. Um some of the variables uh basically in that is you're taking your revenues your expenditures and you're basically taking a lot of what debit kind of has done and applying data and then applying certain percentages to those and saying this is kind of what that's going to project out to in the future. So with that situation when you put that multi-year kind of forecast together it's going to be heavily skewed by whatever variables you apply to it. So for instance taxes you're going to apply like a telly I knew kind of where we averaged over my nine years there what was that kind of sweet spot if you will and you
106apply that percentage and that'll be your taxes expenses are going to grow as indicated on here I think that 5.7% or whatever the number was. So you've got to be very careful you've got to be very diligent. You got to be very comfortable whatever you're going to apply it because it's just math. You're going to put something out and if you don't have the correct information you're applying it against your three years or four years or however long you're going out with it, it's going to give you information that's just not going to be uh accurate for lack of a better term. And that was one of the discussions I had with the state controllers's office where we talked about in some years there had been certain things and Deb I think was actually back
107in the charter in those days when you had gap elimination adjustments, you had GA, you had additional revenue uh that had come in with federal funds, etc. Those were unknowns. You weren't sure what you're going to run into. So those are some of the variables. We've actually started putting the plan together to the point where Cheryl's helped me a lot with that and I think we're pretty close. But the direction I'm going to need from you guys is going to be those three, four years out. What variables am I applying with percentages to them? And I'm going to tell you they're going to be very straightforward, but we got to stick to them. And they're going to be the 3%s or the 2%s or the whatever they are. They're going to be everything from negotiations.
108They're going to be used to fund balance. And we're going to get into a whole bunch of that when we get to my presentation. So Deb, I didn't know. I just wanted to kind of add that maybe for Marissa's sake and clarification for the board. >> Yeah, thanks for that. You're exactly right. The the reason I use that illustration and you know I try to make it as realistic as I can but of course to your point it is artificial. A multi-year plan is is ever evolving. Um as as you make your midcourse corrections when your projections become realities you then you then update that plan and it's not a a static document. But um Now I lost. Oh, so the the purpose really of doing that scenario that I've started using when I've done
109this with other districts is really to heighten the awareness that you know that those funds that the district has been able in the past to use u of appropriated fund balance to help soften you know some of the the changes in the other areas are likely to not be there. uh to the extent that you would need them to be if nothing else changed. If you didn't reduce expenditures, if you didn't find new revenue streams or enhance the revenue streams that you have right now, that that's the point of that is just to show that that's something that it's it's simple to do when when the money is there without realizing the impact. If if nothing else changes, that's going to create a hole that the district will be exceedingly challenged to dig itself out
110of. >> Yeah, thank you, Deb, for the presentation. I think just to add a little color and something that you may or may not have been aware of, I look at your slide eight and we we talk about state aid versus property taxes u and miscellaneous revenue and appropriation and fund balance there. I I think a key thing to call out is that for our district, we uh finally got fully funded on the find uh foundation aid after many years of being short. Um, and what that means is, uh, is that when you look at years 2021 through, I believe it was 2024, is that right, Craig? In terms of when we finally got fully funded. So, we got incremental bumps in those years. Um, to get us where we needed to be that delayed,
111you know, I guess the conversation we're having today, right? So, today, when I look at your presentation, I Brad, you've got one coming up. We're kind of at that crossroads point, right? we're getting to that spot where we may need to make some tough decisions. Um, but really for folks that are are hearing or seeing the presentation tonight really understand that when we finally got fully funded with foundation aid that that gave us an additional three or four years um as a district to get to where we are now. So, I just wanted to call um that part that part out. Um >> yeah, you're you're exactly right. I appreciate the comment. spot. >> So, it's bought us it's bought us a little bit of time, but you know, our our our day is now
112kind of here. I guess we've got to start to look at this in a little bit more detail. So, again, thank you, De, for the presentation. Appreciate it. >> You're most welcome. >> Je, can I just add too, that's a good point uh Jason made. You know, some of the things that was interesting you're going to see with mine uh I go back 10 years um having been here and then you know seven not but at the same time you know still close with the people as Deb already indicated earlier who was my predecessors um it was interesting but I I kind of memory joged for uh different things so for instance kind of where we stand some of it you're going to have the federal funds that came in uh you know from when
113we went through co you're going to have a reduction in expenditures because you were going remote uh so Deb one of the things like I I probably did mention and maybe you'd want to talk to the board about and some of kind of what I talked to between audit and finance is kind of how we maybe compare if you will with some of the other districts because Deb does a lot of these or maybe not a lot but at least you know has done a significant number uh over her days in in regards to kind of how we're doing overall. The comment I guess where I'm specifically pointing to is I think other districts may have already kind of hit this point that we're kind of coming to a bit earlier where you've already kind
114of seen cuts, you've maybe seen reduction, you've seen dips into reserves and things of that nature. I think we kind of got delayed a bit maybe with you know the co time frame if there was any good coming out of that where it gave us a bit of reduction expenditures. It gave us some additional federal aid and we were actually able to kind of go by until we're kind of at this point. So I didn't know if you want to talk maybe in some of the other stuff that kind of you've been working through or seen. >> Yeah. Um I I I can kind of add to that a bit. Um I think you're you're right, Brad, that um many of the districts that I've worked with recently and in the last year or so.
115Um they are in in dire situations. Uh fable man is not at this moment. Which is why again I can't I can't say it strongly enough that I really commend the board and Dr. Ty and Brad for saying all right let's let's hit pause a minute. Let's think about where we've been. What does that tell us about where we need to go? And as as the point has been made, you know, your your state aid, okay, you're now fully funded. All right, that's going to it's going to flatten out a bit. And I think you're right because of the good fiscal management that you've had both at the administrative level and at the board level, um you have bought yourself some time to figure this out, but you really are at that crossroads of figuring
116this this out. And I think it is important to have these conversations now uh rather than just doing business the way you've always done it because there's any number of variables that we've all talked about here in the last 10 minutes or so um that are changing. So just forging ahead doing what you've always done if not next year will eventually lead to some real conernnation about about finances. Anybody else have any other questions? I don't know which way to look. Uh Deb, that was uh really a very thorough and wellresented overview. I really I really appreciate uh you taking the time to do it and present it in in a very easy to digest manner. Um so I think that's greatly appreciated. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Again, Deb, thank you. And also
117you will see in there not knowing whether Dr. Harvey would be with us in person or watching the live stream. Uh Deb also prepared the written document that you have in your backup information to be able to be shared with Dr. Barbie going forward. >> Yeah. Let me just also add Craig, late this afternoon, we caught one small edit that we need to make. It's it's really a a semantics thing in in a category. So, we will be providing the district with a revised version of that. probably tomorrow. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you very much again. I appreciated working with the district and uh hope to get a chance to do that again sometime. >> We hope you're able to survive the weather in Florida. >> I was I wasn't going to mention
118it. Brad, >> I know you had that glow. >> All right, guys. Thanks very much. And now you get to present. Thank you. >> Just like old times. Just like old times. Yeah, we'll try to be brief. I mean, basically, uh, my assignment was not only have the consultant uh somebody from the outside uh kind of take a look at our performance and hold a mirror up. But I also wanted the internal piece as well because certainly Brad will be working with Dr. Harvey going forward and uh Brad now will take us through and as he said uh over the last 10 years we won't do it in real time. We'll try to be as brief and succinct as possible, but I think it's important to take a look at some of the trends. There's
119been sound fiscal management here. I mean, we've had three different business officials put three different sets of eyes on the books. And what's made me happy here, and I haven't given my farewell speech, and I don't know if I will tonight, but the synergy of a lot of people looking at it through different lenses and thinking of things big picture. And that's where we've been. We've looked at things big picture. In the past, we got to look at things big picture going forward. For example, I won't speak to the aspirations of others, but superintendent who often leave districts, and you probably may have noticed, some in general Syracuse area, uh, as we talked at finance committee, will spend down the reserves. Tax levies plummet, tax rates go down, everybody's slapping each other on the back,
120times are good, and then the new superintendent comes in having to clean up the mess. That's why they do audits uh when new superintendents take over. That's not going to be the case here. We haven't spent down the reserves in part because we did look big picture. We've had to use them strategically as Debs pointed out whether it's capital reserves for capital projects whether it's tax certi reserves for challenges to assessments we have to have the money uh set aside so we've been very strategic in the use of that and I think just as we have looked big picture in the past we have to look big picture going forward and I think Deb's given us a great retrospective Brad will as well from an internal perspective, but I think both are holding a mirror
121up to our performance in terms of continuous improvement. So without further ado, Mr. Corbin. >> Thank you, Dr. Ty. So you're going to see a lot of similar information. Um I've kind of taken a little bit further, like I said, and kind of went back on more of a a 10-year look back and then tried to kind of put it together. Um you you know, we'll get a chance to go through it. certainly can ask questions. Um, and at the end, you'll kind of get to, you know, where we get to where ultimately, you know, some some options. Uh, so basically, kind of as it it's stated right on the slide in front of you here, uh, it's going to be some history in the beginning, where have we been, um, you know, where are
122we currently at, where we're headed, and then options. And that's kind of going to basically, like I said, it'll follow a little bit of depths, but it'll deviate a little bit, too. So, so again, I think all of you have seen this. This is a slide I've done time and time again, but it's probably good for folks because uh how is a budget put together and it's put together from the three components being the capital administrative and program. So the capital component I wanted to put together some of the items just so folks kind of got reacquainted with kind of what's involved from a debt service perspective. You're going to see their capital project debt, bonds, and then ban bus purchase debt, capital transfer, uh custodial maintenance department as part of that capital component with
123their salaries, wages and benefits, equipment, materials and supplies, etc. Administrative component, it's made up of district, which is part of uh board of education, conferences are in there, fees and dues, etc. Salaries and wages and benefits with superintendent, business official, and some clerical related. Uh there's materials and supplies, contractual services like auditors, legal or fiscal advisor and we also have Bosei services and there's a supervision piece or component as well with salaries, wages and benefits that involves admins, clerical etc. And again the the uh the ever evolving equipment, materials and supplies and contractual services program I apologize it's smaller but that's the biggest uh the most involved. So from a program component, uh this is where you'll see the benefits portion, ERS, TRS, the retirement system obligations, social security, workers comp, unemployment, insurance with their
124health, dental, and vision. Uh you'll see athletics, special ed instruction, and again the corresponding salaries, wages and benefits, teachers, TAs, subs, etc. coaches, materials and supplies, textbook instruction, instructional supplies, contractual services like Cyro and SRO's for instance, uh Bosei services there, innovation, some of the programs, innovation, t steam school, uh special ed with high need student services and then down in support area you'll see again those salaries, wages and benefits and some of the groups made up counselors, nurses, psychologist, family school leaison, librarians, IT, co-curricular stipens, etc. So, those are some of the breakouts. I just kind of wanted to uh paint the kind of paint the picture as I went through. So, where have we been? Uh the FM annual budget has increased every year. Uh I know Deb talked a little bit about
125that. Uh I'm going to go in and kind of show a little bit more there. Uh second bullet, FM program offerings and resources have increased over time. Uh we've seen mental health, we've seen Bosey's program increases, we've seen uh increases in SRO and Cyro usage, we've seen special ed programs, ENL programs, K4 literacy curriculum, athletic and co-curricular offerings have expanded and you've seen a lot of construction in this case specifically capital transfer. Uh there have been no cuts to programs or staffing. We have utilized attrition and added positions when we've needed. Tax levy has been at or below the tax cap each year and that kind of echoes what Deb talked about as well. and overall reserves have increased over time and that's again something that kind of Deb alluded to as well. So the
126budget on a 10-year trend you can kind of see in the early years in 1516 and 161 17 you're kind of around the one uh give or take and then you kind of float down you get down to the twos and threes and then the last kind of five years you get to that 5.8 up around the five to six% uh increases that were up there. Uh, and I'm going to talk a little bit about kind of what's driving that as we go through. [clears throat] I apologize this is small, but again, it's a whole pile of data. So, this is the three-part revenue breakout. Uh, similar deb kind of had that four-year piece or whatever it was. It's uh from the 1516 year, you can see state aid uh the increase and decrease from
127that column. And then you can see tax levy there in the middle and then the corresponding percentages there of increase decrease and then you can see other revenue over to the right. So it's interesting with state aid you can kind of and this is going to actually kind of piggy back some of what Jason was talking about earlier. You kind of follow it down there on that I guess the third column and you see that 21, the 14 and the 14 and those are areas where you talked about foundation aid kind of getting restored in that uptick. And as far as the overall aid uh tax levy you can kind of see it kind of follows that line of around the one nines 36 all the way down to like the 382 349 356 and
128the average you can kind of is important as well at the bottom where you can kind of see state aid that 7.1 what is it really made up of? It's probably those those three kind of years or four years, whatever that is. Three years, I guess, in in regards to that foundation aid increase. Tax level, you can kind of see it's really kind of hovered right around that 3% as you can see over the 10-year average. Other revenue is interesting because that's the one where you got different components in it. And I'll talk more about it, but as you can kind of see towards the bottom is where things start to get a little bit squirly where you get the 3.5, 29, 46, and the 65. And I'm going to talk specifically about kind of
129what's in that, what's driving them. So start with the tax levy. This is again 10 years. Those are kind of the amounts as I talked about and it kind of really gets you right around I think it was about 2.9 over 10 year average. You had a high water mark at 382 every year. Uh it's basically kind of been the way we've handled things here is that we've had a tax cap. We've been at or below the cap I believe for 10 years. You'll see some districts that probably went out there from Cass other I think Portland where they've went out for what they call supermajority votes. I'll talk a little bit about that as an option uh in the future, but for our cases, we've really stayed at or below that uh tax cap
130and those amounts have really been a high water mark of 3.8 reserves. So 10-year trend. Uh Deb had a slide on this. I thought this was interesting. So in 1516, you can kind of see you're at 12.8. Uh you got some you went up to 162 and you went back to 9.9. So your first instinct is like, oh my goodness, what went back down? You know, what happened? How'd we go down? This is where you kind of get into this point where kind of what I've done at least in my past 10 years in my previous district. You really want to use that surplus for what the intention is. So in this case, it was perfectly for what that uh was was used for being the Wellwood project where there was 9.4 million used out
131of that capital reserve that went into that project that was used to minimize taxpayer impact from when the project was done. So then you start at the 99, you start gathering some surplus, you get up in this case in 2021 to 17, high school project comes around, you've planned for it, you allocate 7.2 million out of the reserve, the reserve drops back down to 12 million and then again that money is used towards the capital project over overall to minimize taxpayer impact. So you start gathering it up and you're now sitting somewhere around 19. Good news, we're getting ready to start thinking about another project with preref work. So guess what? That number is probably going to drop again from that side of it with the intention, but we'll talk more about those as we
132go as well. So, where are we now? Uh, budget's projected to increase about 5.6%. Now, this is early. I'm about a month early and I've put this all together pretty quick, but we've done a pretty good job of gathering data. There can be some last minute things. There's going to be revenues that come in from the state level. There'll still be probably some last minute discussions in regards to uh any kind of ask requests. There'll be negotiation impact things of that nature. So, I always want to kind of start with that. So, budgets projected to increase 5.6%. Projected expenditures to exceed revenues, and this is a big number, 4.2 million. And this will tie into kind of what Deb was talking about earlier. Uh tax cap and tax levy projection is going to be a
133TBD. And I want to throw enrollment down there. Our current enrollment, 2526, I believe, is around 4.1 or 4 4,081 students. And our projected 2627 enrollment looks like it's going to drop somewhere around 100, maybe a little bit more. That might be a high water mark to 39.85. It might be more like 3950 or something like that. So we are going to drop some. So budget components. This is the slide you've seen. I want to show it kind of more in the graph. It kind of talks about I think reiterates to what Deb was talking about. Program being the biggest. You can kind of see there at the bottom at 88 million. Uh out of our overall budget represents about 72%. Capital up in the green is the next largest. Uh that's about 24 million
134or 19.3%. Administrative being the smallest at about 10.7 or 8.7%. I think kind of the context Dr. Ty has used in the past is you kind of want to see somewhere program sitting around that 70% mark. Capital maybe between 15 and 20 and administrative less than 10. And we still meet that criteria. I think we have uh throughout the the 10 years from that side of it. So this was the slide I don't normally show it in this way but this was worked out perfect. I think Jason asked earlier and I said this is a perfect time to kind of insert this. Normally I would have just given you admin program and capital. I would have given you the dollars. I would give you the percentages. Uh but he had asked a good question and
135this benefits piece ties in perfectly. So you can kind of see in 2526 the different components from admin program and capital and then you have to have the benefits portion of kind of you know what's involved from the district health vision dental etc. Overall it makes up 116 million. So in 2627 I'm projecting we're going up to about 123 million or 5.64%. So you can see in admin what the requests were what we had for salaries uh things of that nature were about 1% 1.09 to be exact at this point. program did a real good job from the building's perspective, principles and instruction requests and things of that nature where they're asking for about 1.49%. So again, that's pretty low. And then capital, there's the monster and you kind of got there from the 17.3
136to 20.7. That's a 20% increase. So what's going on? Projects winding up. Debt's coming on and that's going to be kind of what your increase was is how that works. And then the big one being benefits in this case. So we're projected to have a 10.5% increase in health insurance. That's kind of what that piece is. And there's other other pieces of benefits as well in there. So if you kind of basically took everything together and uh came up with kind of what that overall cost impact would be from a percentage perspective, it's about 6.8%. So one of the questions that Dan loved to ask, and I know he's not here tonight, is there certain things that are controllable and there are certain things that aren't controllable? Benefits is one. It's a set thing. You
137know, you have that as contractual obligations and rights. I'm going to talk further about that, but that 6.8% 8% is basically something that's fixed, lack of a better term if you will. So those are kind of the four components. They normally be three, but I want to segregate out benefits just to kind of show the impact that it has. This is a slide I kind of use if I talk about overall uh you know, if you have one page to kind of talk about everything that's one on in summary format and what it means, this is the slide I kind of use. So overall for expenditure uh these are increases year-over-year uh and kind of how that was made up. So salaries, so it includes negotiated and forecasted contracts. It represents about a $1.1 million
138increase. Health insurance and benefit costs. Again, that 10 and a half% rate increase from a health insurance perspective. That's 2.2 million. Gas and electric, I put that in. It's about 100,000, but that's something that we're seeing kind of with national grid cost increases. I think folks are probably seeing that at their own homes as well. And then debt service being the big one with the high school capital project and the roofing project uh that's coming to a conclusion and at this point the corresponding debt will come on and that represents about 3.2 million. So overall in dollars from impact from prior year to current year you're looking at approximately 6.6 million uh for an increase overall in expenditures. Mental health this is a slide we've kind of used I think every year since inception. Uh
139these things are still these things are all still in place and intact. Uh you can kind of see up at the top again uh some of the categories there of what we have from the family school leaison one at each school with six of them in total counselors 13 in the breakout by building psychologists again one at each building and district level and then some of the corresponding services uh with contact community services CNY mental health etc and then at the bottom the portion with Anadega County mental health services. So I kind of went through today and I costed it out and just wanted to make sure I grabbed everything. Uh, I think overall this represents about $4 million. Um, this is kind of where we're at. I think five million has been a number
140I've used in the past. It probably would have included another portion of of an additional thing I'll talk about later, but four million I think represents what this represents here from that side of it. It's probably been worth about every penny that we've had and we've had great fortune and it's just a situation where it's provided a whole bunch of of uh necessary services we've had here at the district. A lot of other districts haven't been able to for something to this effort. But at the same time, I also wanted to kind of identify it does have a corresponding dollar value. So that represents mental health revenue is the next slide. Again, it's that pie chart. I've kind of used this in the past. Uh from our standpoint, we're kind of a little different maybe
141in some districts in the fact that the tax levy represents the largest portion. It represents about 62%. State aid's our next largest portion at 32% and other revenue is our smallest at 5.7 and I'll break and I'll provide more info as I go through there. State aid in 2526 was about 34.8 million uh and 2627 is projected to go up 39.4 and I'm going to tell you a little bit about what kind of what's driving that and you can kind of see that down at the bottom to the right in the red. So first thing I'll talk about foundation aid. Uh Deb talked a little bit I think in some of her recommendations maximizing state aid. Foundation aid is really formula based aid. It's a formula driven uh it's a it's literally formula driven and
142that's it's derived by different components or variables that relate specifically to FM and it generates the corresponding dollar value of what you've earned. It was right sized. I think as Jason kind of alluded to earlier when Deb was talking that we're from between 21 and 24 that we basically had foundation that was right sized. You can kind of see as we plateaued out, as Dev kind of alluded to in her presentation, we're sitting an projected increase of about 461,000. The remaining portions of those aid with Bosey's high cost instructional materials aid, transportation and building aid are really what I would call spend based aid. As you spend, the more you spend to generate the more aid. Uh Bosey's aid, we're going to spend a little bit less projected somewhere around 50,000. Uh from an aid
143perspective, we'll get less this year or next year, I should say. High cost aids about 8,000 less materials aid, about 3,000. Transportation, we're spending more. Uh there's been more going on. That's going to generate a potential increase of about 196. And then building a being the big one. You saw the corresponding increase in the debt. Well, now you get to see the corresponding increase in the aid. So that building aid increase looks like it's going to be somewhere around $4 million from that side of it. Uh property taxes, you can kind of see here the tax levy was uh 75.1 million. the cap and the levy increase. I'm still working through and I'll be also kind of talking in the future about the 100k or the home assessment as we kind of figure out what
144that levy impact would be and then the corresponding uh projected cost using assessment increase in the prior equalization rate. So I'll talk about that in the future. Other revenue the smallest part of the revenue portion of the budget 6.6 million again this is something you've seen these are the corresponding uh items that are involved with other revenue. Uh the key here as you probably gotten used to it is probably your eyes shift down towards the bottom and it's really that use of reserves and assigned fund balance. And this is kind of where you probably remember what Deb was talking about and kind of what this was. Here's what I'm projecting for 2627 that she hasn't seen yet and she can't scold me. So 2526 you have use of reserves at 1.1 million. I'm projecting somewhere
145around 560,000 and 2627. It's a decrease of 554,000 or 555,000 overall. Uh the assigned fund balance though is the problem. Uh last year we assigned 2.3 million. This year we're probably going to end up assigning somewhere around 3.6 or 3.7 million. Overall on the right hand side for the net increase decrease of other revenue represents around 600,000. So as you can see with that bottom asterisk there, uh she word a little bit different. I actually like hers pretty good as far as like how she explained it. Uh for me it's basically how do you balance the budget? So you've got your corresponding expenditures when you add them all up. You have your corresponding revenues when you add all those up. What do you get to when you net it? And what's that difference? So that's
146the number we need that's going to end up end up balancing the budget. And I'll end up showing that as we go. So the budget overview again, it's that one slide to kind of talk about overall how we kind of got here. State aid, it's that 4.6 million overall increase. Again, $4 million in building aid coming in. at the conclusion of the construction property tax levy I'm projecting probably somewhere around 1.4 million give or take and another revenue 600,000 and that's that use of assigned fund balance that increased from last year from up to this year overall that's that same 6.6 6 million you saw in expenses to equal it out and that's the dollars that we'd be using. So next, where are we headed? Uh expenditures are exceeding annual revenues. Health insurance costs, I
147talked about that at 10 and a half%. I think the next three or four years after that, I actually happen to be uh one of the executives that sit on the executive board for the health insurance consortium and some of the information I've been privy to is kind of shown anywhere between nine and a half, nine and eight and a half percent increases over the next three years after the 10 and a half. So, it's not coming down. A lot of the GLP1 drugs, I think, are are kind of the main cause and what they're seeing for the increases. The concept is maybe some of those drugs that could be used would ideally uh put us in a situation that folks would be healthier in the future, but you're going to pay on the front
148end with some of those drug costs in the early years and then ideally maybe have less in the back end, but that's just not at a point where we can kind of know what that's going to look like. So that's literally driving it to the point where I think it might even be one and a half to two% increase itself just in that from a usage perspective. Other costs that are kind of going on construction needs as we've kind of seen that with some of the impact that can have and funded mandates are going to be coming up from electric buses and we know all about that. Program requirements special increases just overall higher prices. Those are some of the things we've been facing from an expenditure perspective. Student enrollment appear to be currently decreasing
149again those 100 students but there is potential to increase. Uh we got micron impact. You got new apartments and housing developments I believe that have been identified. So that's going to be something that'll be in flux. State aid is showing minimal increases for the foreseeable future. I think Deb kind of talked about that after kind of got quote unquote right size from foundation aid. at this point after everything else I don't see anything where the state is doing uh dramatically better or is it forecasting any kind of significant increase from an aid perspective and then uh the bottom kind of crux of the conversation being we're using more fund balance and reserves to balance the budget. So reserves and fund balance this is kind of to piggyback a little bit of what Deb had. I
150just put a four-year piece on here because it really does the job of kind of explaining it. So in 2324 for use of reserves or fund balance to balance the budget we used 319,000 2425 we went up to 2 million 2526 we went to 3.4 and in 2627 we're projecting somewhere around 4.2. This is the piece I think when Doug left one of her recommendations there that this was going to go down rather than upward. So I am not apparently following my direction from her of kind of keeping that down. And that'll lead me into kind of options as we get going. So you can help me resurrect that. And here we are. So Dr. Ty kind of talks about it and he doesn't probably use the exact same words I do, but basically there's
151three different ways to accomplish it. And you can kind of see there in the bold. The first one we can find other sources of revenue. One of the options, state aid. I again I don't see anything where there's any significant increase uh that's going to be out there. Foundation aid has been writed. I'm not aware of anything else happening from that aspect. Everything else spend based aid. The more you spend, the more you get back. And again, in some cases, you're not getting one for one. You're usually getting some kind of percentage. So, building aid, for instance, you spend a 100, you're going to get about 80 back, give or take. Grants, legislative aid. So, you really need to meet the funding criteria. There's limited availability with these. It takes more than to receive approval
152and funding. We've been fortunate. I think we've got, and I know Cheryl's back there behind, we've got somewhere around three different grants, I think, at this point. Uh, more political based, some of them Serpy, Senator etc. They've been kind enough from signs to uh some other things that we've received. We've got a actually have a bus lift coming in where I think we were given $250,000 from Senator Ryan. So, we've actually received quite a bit. But again, it's one of those where you're putting in the paperwork. You file it and then you wait for approval before you can spend on it. So, in some cases, you better know what exactly you want and at the same time be willing to wait whatever it is. That's one of the things we struggle with because there's a
153lot of things especially when you get into hardening the district or if there's some kind of core initiative you really like to put in place and you like to start it now. You really have to kind of time it out when you can get grant approval and at the same time then spend it and get it in. Next thing FM property taxes uh one the kind of the one right below it tax level at or below the tax cap that's our current process. We don't go above the cap. We don't go to supermajority. Whatever the cap has been we kind of kept at that. You can kind of remember that we get 3.82 I think was the high water mark and that was a high water mark over 10 years. I think overall if you
154average the 10 we were around 2.9. So one of the other options as Deb indicated that moved to a supermajority process. Uh I would have concern there uh that local assessments were I've got 50 to 60% I think she showed if you averaged everything she was probably closer to 40. I just had different individual ones kind of I've looked at individually from that side of it and I know some would probably say yes that's an accurate information. So, I don't know. I know we've been assessed pretty heavily over here. Uh, and I'm not really sure how to navigate that one other than kind of what we're currently doing. So, you get to the next option, cut expenses. So, annual budget request that actually started as I kind of indicated earlier. Uh, the principles, staff, etc.
155did a pretty good job this year. You kind of saw with that 1.49% uh increase overall and what their requests were. Uh it's actually started with every department reducing their budget requests. Next one, uh reduce staffing under programs. We just haven't cut staffing programs or resources. Uh the report cards that kind of go out kind of who we are from the blue ribbon, etc. We're doing a phenomenal job. I don't really know how to do that. I wouldn't even know what to tell you what to select from that side of it. Uh we do things and we do it very well. But at the same time, as kind of we're going through this presentation, the unfortunate thing is they all carry a price tag. So, that's kind of where that's at. The third one, use
156the reserves fund balance. That's the short-term solution. That's the one Deb, I think, identified where she kind of put the big beautiful blob of yellow through there. That's using that reserves to balance the budget. But this is not sustainable. So, if you think about reserves, I think the number uh roughly I had up here was around $19 million. The piece of it you got to kind of understand from this side of it was that $19 million is restricted and there's unrestricted reserves. Deb alluded to it, I believe, in the concept where you have certain things that can be used for certain reasons. So, for instance, I think in Deb's example, she talked about taxerts. I believe that's a portion of it where that's identified. We actually do a fantastic job with Lyn and Cheryl kind
157of going through and identifying what is our corresponding liability and do we have that set aside in there to offset it. That can also fluctuate. If we have something where we settle a tax hurt, you're going to have that go up or down by whatever that settlement became. capital. You've seen it right here. As we've talked about, 9.4 coming off, 7.2 being coming off. So, if you said to me, "Hey, Brad, can you tell me what our unrestricted reserves are currently?" I would tell you the number is probably somewhere around 13 million. What you would do then is say, "Okay, what does that mean?" And I would tell you that there's roughly about $4 million where that slide is. I guess it's back up here. I don't know where it is, but anyway, it's $4
158million is what we're going to appropriate this year. So, if you take the $13 million of unrestricted, you divide the $4 million into it, that's your number of years that basically you could use those reserves to not to basically get by. And that number is going to be somewhere around three plus years if your spending doesn't increase. It's just math. So, expenses have been there. There's a historical trend dev applied. Uh, like I said, I've already started putting to our fiscal plan for the, you know, for the future. But all of it, I've got to know whatever we're going to do here, what initiative we're going to follow, whether it's a supermajority uh tax vote or it's a cut in expenditures or whatever that is, I'm just going to put a percentage by it and
159say, "Okay, here's how long the reserves are going to last. I'm just going to it's just going to put out a number just like Deb's was." It isn't rocket science. It's just math. So, I know that was a lot. Uh the good news is kind of Deb already let off with a lot and I think you kind of absorbed that and to be honest I think you guys have already absorbed a ton of this because we talk about it. Um so I don't think there's probably anything very surprising but this is probably a time where you know you can talk a little about some questions. I just wanted to say this is the basically next to last slide and it's just kind of what's our next steps. Admin and capel presenting March 9th program and
160revenue will be March 23rd. The adoption will be April 21st. The hearing itself will be the 11th and then the vote the 19th. So again, that was a lot and uh like to open up for questions. >> So So Brad, I'll be daring. I I'll go first. Um I guess the one slide that that always pops out at me, right, is that especially the trend the last couple of years we've seen is that our budget is going up at a higher rate than inflation is. Is it a fair statement to say, because I believe that it is, but I I want you to um make sure I'm correct in saying this, is that what's really driven it over the last few years has been the increased expenditures and capital, which has also been offset by
161increased state aid that is restricted to building funding. Is that a fair statement? >> Yeah, that's that's a fair statement. I mean you can kind of see from that aspect of where you know o overall here here's your kind of state aid breakout uh you know with with what's been involved from it. I I think the biggest thing there that to drive that even further is as you do capital it's that concept it's you know basically you know you have a dollar that you're going to spend uh you're getting 80 cents back there's still 20 cents through that budget you know throughout whatever you're doing and I think for current stuff you had a $52 million high school project you had a $15.4 $4 million raing, excuse me, roofing safety and security project. Then you
162had cap transfer. So you've got about $70 million right there just in construction that give or take that you're kind of doing from that side of it. Problem you had and that's you know some of it was interesting because I did have a chance to reach out to uh to my mentor and predecessor back in the day with with Mike Bestby and kind of talk about uh how are you getting 1.29% increases in budget and 089 there and then I finally followed the trail to construction. like that's what was going on. Construction wasn't happening at that level. You had camp transfers, but you didn't have those big boy projects of the 50 million and you know, uh the Wellwood and the high school, etc. So, that was some of it from that side of it.
163You didn't have that corresponding debt. You didn't have that 20% that you were chasing. That was one of the reasons I think when we talked a bit, you said, "Can you go figure out what was going on?" And I think that was one of the things that I was able to unearth from that side of it. >> So I I guess right so the takeaway is or the point that I'm trying to get across is is that really the district has really tried to hold to stay really at the inflation rate. So I know that the numbers look inflated and people get u you know myself included you get excited when you see all of a sudden the the budget went from 88 million to 116. My goodness how did you get there? And what
164do you you know is this spending on a runaway path? And really it's not. It's really at the rate of inflation and the numbers are a little bit skewed because of all of the building and capital projects that we've had to do. Um but again that we also to your point get 80 cents on the dollar back from the state. Um so >> final cost >> pardon >> after final cost >> after final. So it comes in >> delayed. We have front the bill whether it's through the reserves or our 20% upfront. Contractors like to get paid for the bricks and mortar and structural steel as they're building it. They're funny that way. But then once the final cost reports are in, we'll generate the building in. And the other thing to remember, which I
165think is where you're trying to make a point, is the public, the community votes multiple times on a capital project. First they pull the le lever to authorize us to go out for it and then they do the subsequent budgets on whether the capital debt service as you pointed out impacts the operating budget. So people think well gee I voted for that capital project once. Well now you're telling us if you vote it down that it's going to impact the operating budget and then we may have to go to contingency and so forth. And so far I think the community has supported the projects going forward. >> Just to kind of reiterate that I know you know one of the easiest things that that you can probably say is well it'd be great to go
166back to the mic days and have that 1.29 or 089 and things of that nature. the problem and the folks that are on the facilities committee with you know with John, Jason and Dan know and people that have been on it in the past um get a hundred give or take $50 million worth of stuff that need to be done and it wasn't just choice things that you know it'd be nice to have um you can kind of you know from Dustin kind of getting here a little bit late and Dr. Ty alluding to what he was doing two pipe breaks today and there's another one that was frozen he's trying to basically get to the point where we don't have a thirdit Enders that been going on where we literally have a pipe watch
167for those who don't understand it. U they literally have been running the water the whole time doing everything right but it just simply got cold enough for long enough that so far two have burst and there could be a third on the way >> and we're open tomorrow. So, these are things, you know, from $9 million give or take we did this summer with roofing to where we had raining in there. And anybody that worked in any of those buildings will be real quick to explain to you or show you pictures of what it looked like. It's not really choices of the fact we'd love to have this. There's things that just they have a useful life. The useful life is up in a lot of cases. Um, that's the hard part with the facilities
168group is you get all this and then I go dump, you know, everything that's going on construction that we have for needs. So, some of this happened to where we actually had to deal with it and you folks were here in some way, shape or form where you actually already did have to deal with it and pick that up. So, I don't know how to just avoid doing construction, bring that back down and then we go put everything back into program or whatever that looks like because it's just not going to work. Otherwise, we just won't be able to have instruction some capacity with certain areas. There's still roofing that's got to be done. There's other infrastructure needs. >> Right. I guess to just piggy back off of that, right? So, buildings here in the
169district are not new, right? I think everybody knows that. It's just like olding owning an older home. Um, and to your point, you know, obviously we see by the chart, there were some years that we didn't do major capital projects. The bill is now coming due on these buildings. Um, you know, and as they talked about when they did the Willwood started with the Wellwood project and then went to the high school. Uh, Enders and Eagle Hill are up next in the queue. Um, and we don't have choices. I you know that, you know, to say that you're going to delay a capital project. We can't. We've gotten to the point where we've kicked the can down the road and now we can't. Um, you also have state mandates that are now in place um,
170you know, requiring that we keep temperatures in the buildings um to reasonable levels, which nobody is going to disagree with. U, but it costs money to retrofit the buildings for HVAC systems. Um, so this just unfortunately where the district is and where we're going to be headed. Um, you know, I think people talk about transparency. Well, very transparent. You know, we have another, you know, at least uh one, if not two major capital projects in the next 5 to 10 year window. And I think it's just a fair statement to say at this point. Um >> Brad, for um folks who are here tonight or watching this um that might be interested in sort of why our scenario might be different than other districts that are embarking on massive capital campaigns or not understanding the
171difference in revenue streams we have. Could you maybe take a moment to talk about the difference our reliance on say property tax revenue versus other districts that might have more of a commercial base. So we're just to help people sort of put that in context. >> Yes. Uh the short answer yes. The interesting part with us um is that reliance and kind of what that's made up of. And the first thing to to take it even a step further is kind of that pie chart. Uh my previous district it was vice versa. That blue covered a whole heck of a lot more. in that pie chart than than the green did. We you know I should say we uh you know the previous district had somewhere around 50 to 60% increase or excuse me reliance
172on state aid. Property taxes were much lower at that. So that was already one difference from many many other districts. I can't think of many that probably even have this in central New York to this level. We might be probably at the highest from reliance from that aspect of it. commercialized. You know, I think everybody knows around here we don't have as much as others from probably Weville, excuse me, Beville to my, you know, home district being West Jenny. There's much more that's there that's able to, you know, take on that that burden from that side of it. On top of it, you know, there is the big unknown that's kind of coming and people are kind of talking about from the micron impact. What's that going to look like? Is there going to be
173a pilot in place or even what's that going to be involved from that side of it? Uh, so it is very we are very different from that side of it. I think that's something that's probably you can see with the taxes of kind of where it's been over that 10 years is there hasn't been those increases that maybe they've had uh you know from that from that aspect. >> I don't know if there's anything you wanted to add on that one but I got it. >> Yeah, I think adding that component of the state aid is a big that's a big one that I don't think everybody realizes what the proportion is. So that's good. Thanks for asking question. Anybody have any other I think, you know, one of the things, and that's kind of
174where I prodded that a little bit. She's done this for quite a while, uh, a number of years. She's done, uh, business office efficiency studies. She's done that involve devs, sorry, uh, from superintendent searches to, you name it. So, she's done a whole bunch of stuff. She's looked at everything from square footage of buildings and if they're maximizing the appropriate number of staffing from that side, she's done it. Um, [snorts] one of the things I kind of want you to walk away from is We are in we've done a good job. We really have. There's a lot to be proud of here. And we're just at the point now where it's kind of like what is next. You know, I got an email today and and I was shocked because it's it's kind of what
175I would call a B-level school more in size, not not kind of grade-wise. Um and there were looking about opportunities of maybe how they could share a director of special ed in a curriculum. And I'm just like, I can't imagine they would take somebody like Amy and they're going to try to spread her across two different districts. I was going to ask her if she was open to it. We could save a little bit. We could build them. And I know she she doesn't have a lot going on. But that's at the level some of these, you know, schools are at where you got $60 million budget. You're considering sharing some of these director positions. And I'm just like, oh my god, I know how much, you know, she's doing here and I can't imagine
176this is where they're at. They're literally that's the request. That's what they're going through. You've seen you're going to see a lot more on cuts. Uh we've got to hear a little bit. We had a meeting with Assemblyman Derpy and some uh other districts that were kind of similar size groups to ours. They are all facing uh a little different things than we are and they're not as good. Um so I think everybody's kind of there in some way, shape or form. It's just a matter of what does their look like for us? appropriating at this case. You can see the number $4 million. We can't keep doing this. Something's got to give. I'm going to need direction. I can come through and I can do the multi-year plan, but I got to know what
177I'm going to go attach to it because then it's going to spit out the math. Are we cutting taxes? Are we cutting program? What does that look like? And then we can certainly make another plan because the next piece, as Jason alluded to, and I think Deb did as well, we're going to do a whole pilot construction. We got a school start time, you know, committee that's going to be looked at. what is that going to look like? We have building capacity issues. We have everything, you know, that still needs to be handled that it normally does around here and I don't know how to do it all. So, that's kind of where we're at. So I just had a a different question about um supermajority process which is probably an evil world and evil
178word in your world but I just want to understand a little bit about um kind of the calculated risk that districts will go out for that. Um do they ever just do it on one year to sort of try to do some level setting? Um, you know, Deb did mention our approval ratings now or our our um budget results from the vote. The votes are 60 to 70%. Obviously, it's different if you're going for a super majority with a a much higher percentage. I just want to understand that lever and if it's a real fact, it's a real option or it's really like a last ditch effort um last resort option. >> That's a good question, Rebecca. Um I'm glad you brought it up from the side of it. the actual percentages we're getting. I
179didn't think the numbers are really as high as she had, but I think she maybe took a smaller view of percentages. I would have thought it were probably closer to 60%. Um, with kind of our voter approval, I know other districts seem to have a higher voter approval percentage. So, it plays into it. If you have what I would call quote unquote, the term I use, vanilla budget, not a lot going on, you're going to have a, you know, a tax cap that's not too significant. You're going to come in with a levy that's under that ideally. You're not going to have any cuts. You're going to have building, you know, reserves and you're going to, you know, use that for future things. Uh, program initiatives, everything else makes sense. All that a vanilla budget
180and we're still only getting somewhere probably around 60% give or take. So, with us, I think it's a bigger wild card is probably where, you know, you're kind of prompting me from that side of it and kind of what that looks like. Uh, I think some districts, you know, and I'll talk and certainly Dr. is going to chime in. Uh Cass, for instance, I think they get to a point where it's just they've kind of exhausted what else they can do. Portland, those are the ones I've kind of seen as as quote unquote repeat offenders. I think they've Cass has went out maybe three times and they failed twice and they passed once. Uh I don't think they know what else to do. They've already made cuts. They've used reserves up to a certain level
181and they and you know, you see some of the numbers that they have. So they were kind of forced to I have to go to option, you know, this case whatever you want to call that and they've had to go to that or they don't have reserves. >> Correct. >> So in your mind is is that the last option we would go to of these options on your page 25 of the slide? I mean I just want to understand as we're trying to think about the direction to give you um what are real true options or you know it it sounds like that's what you're kind of saying. >> I think it I mean it wouldn't be something I would do with regularity. I mean, if there's a particular need, you might have to adjust
182that dial, but I just given people on fixed incomes, I just wouldn't make a habit of it. I just think there's a lot of folks that just can't afford the superiority of a budget. >> Yeah. And just to to clarify on that point and to make sure I understood from Deb's presentation as well. So when she says our budget's been passing 60 to 70 that that's percentage of voters who have voted versus the super majority 60% is all eligible voters. Correct. Is that what she was saying that you have to be able to tap into the non voters? The way I took it was that was our success or our approval percentage was we were kind of getting at that 60% give or take is kind of what had been we had it approved at.
183Um, okay. >> I want to talk a little bit more about Rebecca. So the key there kind of on this slide specifically uh we had a current process. We've been using the same current process for 10 years. Anytime you deviate that's a change and that would kind of rise into probably some folks what are you doing? The bigger thing to me is the assessments here. I don't think the district she's working with have had the assessment increases that we've had uh here. So that is one huge variable that you've kind of already got hit quote unquote. On top of it is Rebecca's point about kind of percentages of kind of where we at overall with success. I'm guessing we're probably closer to 60 than we are 70 uh from that side of it. I would
184say low 60s from that side. So, I don't think it's any guarantee. You're going to kind of get that supermajority percentage you're going to need. And on top of it, if you already have people questioning it with quote unquote a vanilla budget, and now you're going to go through with four years of increases with assessments increasing double digit percentages, I don't know if the voter fatigue might overtake that. So, what I would kind of back into there is really you're looking at that and saying what is something that maybe is an option, you know, to us. I don't think anything with state aid as an option that that's a that's something you know from a foundation aid it's fixed you know you can we can reach out to uh you know the state or or
185you know Albany or whatever and kind of go through and say here's certain things we think should be recognized and here's why we deserve this or why we deserve that and we all know kind of how that works from that side of it you know the process of uh those kinds of changes take quite a bit of time and it took forever for foundation a to be right sized from that side so if that's not the case then you get to legislative aid. So, but you can say, okay, oh, there's been grants, you know, here and there in the district. Someone said, "Oh, I found a grant for this and that." Well, I'm not a specified, you know, grant writer. You're going to need someone that's going to define it specifically to that, and then
186you're going to have to wait whatever period of time or those requirements are for the grant. I think we've done a good job, at least on the political side, where we've had potential allocations we've been able to utilize for some of the uh needs we've had here. But the taxes I think with the supermajority the assessments that percentage of vote I think you're asking for trouble probably on that one. So then you get to two other things you know basically to how to solve the problem if reserves and fund balance is basically at a situation where you're already there and you're just going to deplete it and you're in the end you're not going to be able to you're just going to wear it down. you won't be able to put it towards other projects
187and then you're going to have to go out and ideally impact taxpayers at that point because the next project you do if you don't have any capital reserve money to apply it to your taxes are going up there anyway. So you're going to introduce them from that side of it if you don't have any reserve to apply it. So now you get to number two that is the only thing I can see around here that you're going to have to do something. I don't know what area per se. Uh but I know, you know, it's kind of like as I would explain to anybody, it's making a salad and you're going to go put a whole bunch of ingredients in the middle of that table and what do you want in that salad? It's just
188we can't keep doing it the same way we've done it over that period of time. Not with the construction that we're using, not with the health insurance increases of 10 and a half%. Those numbers were 5%. Construction didn't really exist at that point. You didn't have the higher prices and costs that we kind of seeing out there as a district and we certainly didn't have other aspects that we kind of have now for mental health etc. and they're all great things but I just they all carry a dollar tag price tag I should say >> budget passed last year it was 63.3% and then the year before was 62%. And we're certainly hearing feedback from a lot of community members who are concerned about that. So, um, okay. Anybody have any additional questions for Brad
189or Dr. Ty? Sorry. So, in terms of looking at number two, is there like a timeline when do we need to provide you information? Like how is that process going to work? >> Good question. Um the good news there is it's something I think that at least you know from uh you know the principles and you know probably down through to the staff to some extent. Uh it has started you know this budget you can kind of see where I put the one slide up where it you know was an increase of somewhere around 1.09. 9 I think it was in in admin and 1.49 or whatever it was in program. So the first thing I would do is trying to try to figure out is there ways to you know basically trying to go
190through and just adjust without maybe eliminating. Uh that's kind of a first course of kind of taking a look at things. Um it's not going to last. You're going to get maybe a year out of that from that side of it. But it's anything to do where you're going to apply that deb kind of recommendation where you're going to have a long range plan. the more you have some kind of a fixed thing out there over a period of time, that's what's going to drive it. So, I'm telling you, after a year, I can go ask for another give or take to those guys, maybe 1% increase, zero, whatever dollar for dollar I can do. But anything that carries any kind of future value to it, it's going to stay at a at a significant
191price tag, it it's just going to, you know, apply the math, the percentage increase over time. So I guess from a time perspective I'm already applying somewhere around four million to this one. I don't know how the number would be any different if those numbers are going to all be roughly the same next year or probably even with percentages increases on them. So I'm now at a point where you're going to chew into reserves and fund balance. I already told you I can go three plus years give or take until we kind of erode that. So that's your window. I'm just wondering if I mean this is a year where we think a little bit differently about these annual budget requests and I'm not in the weeds on that and I'm not an accountant but
192I'm just wondering about thinking more like each department or the districtwide. We're thinking more creatively about how to problem solve. So it's not just what can we cut, but how can we pull resources and be more efficient and do more with stretch our dollars more than just cutting things. Um, and I don't have a good example of what that looks like, but I just I'm just wondering if there's other ways to try to look at, you know, the traditional process and maybe that's not a helpful recommendation, but >> yeah, I mean, that's something we've uh the mantra that I came in at and I give credit to Mike Bestby and the team that was in place that I inherited from Dr. Kaiser was reduce not eliminate. So it was exactly what you're saying, looking for
193creative ways to reduce but don't eliminate the programs that have made FM very successful and we're very proud of. So just tightening the belt. I think you know you're you're going to that's exactly kind of you know the road you know I anticipate going to some extent but then you're going to have other pieces of it that you're going to have to factor in from that aspect. um enrollment I showed you that trend with 100 I don't know beyond that I don't know with other things you know what I mean uh what does that mean you know do we look at certain things with attrition you know from that side of it what do we have as far as class sizing what's contractual requirements going to be and that's not going to be a real
194exciting topic probably you know for staffing from that side of it but those are the things it's just basically you know in my world anyway it's a math formula you're going to look at these different things and just here's what they There's certain things to cap transfer. There's a million dollars sitting there. I can take it out, but then I'm not going to be doing anything, you know, with a million dollars worth of construction around here to kind of eat at those $50 million projects that we're going to be doing. So, I can solve it for a little bit a year at a at a time kind of thing, but I'm not going to it's not going to last from that side of it. So, I have ideas at least with that. I'm probably going
195to start putting together some kind of plan of like where we can, you know, at at least pick different things, materials and supplies, equipment, etc. But then I'm going to really have to rely more probably on the program side with the principles, etc., and talk about kind of what is it that they see that maybe we could potentially utilize. >> She's enjoying it. >> Yeah. So Brad, I think one thing though I I would like to kind of go back and and relevel set and again I understand this is the first crack at the budget and it's still at a high level and you've got things that you're looking at yet. But I think it's fair to say that at least for this upcoming budget cycle, so for the next 12 months, that everything that
196we have right now can be budgeted and we can make it one more year before we have to start making some tougher decisions um without having to go out for a supermajority vote. Is that a a fair statement at this point? >> Yeah. So the budget itself, you know, kind of as I talked about here, I've built it already. Uh there is nothing in here. Um, excuse me. That's built already and it's a situation where everything that was kind of asked for they did a really nice job. As you can kind of see with the percentages, it's there. So, it meets expectations from that side of it. Problem though is kind of making you aware. It also includes $4 million of appropriating fund balance to get there. So, I wouldn't uh recommend that we exceed
197the tax rate, you know, anything beyond kind of that three mark. I wouldn't anticipate making any significant cuts from that side of it. I would appropriate kind of that four, but then for the future or as we kind of go through for developing the next budgets, that's the piece of where we're going to have to come up with some kind of creative solutions. So, as my kids like to tell me, it's a future me problem, right? So we can at least for one year um hold the status quo, but really over the next 12 months the really the board's takeaway in action is that we need to get more into the weeds and figure out a better plan or a different plan forward I guess in order to help balance things by November of 2728
198budget kind of thing year I should say next year you know in November we've got to have a plan because Boseies is going out uh with what our requests are going to be, you know, by the end of that kind of Decemberish range. Uh principles are already kind of are going out and they're starting to kind of figure out from staffing what the program needs are going to be and then we're going to gather it up and I'm already doing this and this is, you know, whatever it is, February, you know, and we're already kind of know what we're doing. That's going to take a little bit of time probably from that. So, you don't have a lot of time, but you do have this budget. I can get 26 27 in order and I
199think everybody will be fine with that. >> Yeah, we certainly can't wait till this time next year to be starting to look at data and formulate a plan. Anybody have anything additional at this point in time? Thank you both. U very helpful. >> Thank you. Okay. Um item 2.03, president's report. Um so I just wanted to make you guys all aware that um the community relations committee has been talking about um the concept of potential board sort of informal listening sessions. And that's something that um you know we had heard and and talked to with Dr. Harvey and it was something that we've kind of heard some feedback from community members um staff students everybody um that there was uh an interest perhaps in having an an opportunity to just sort of talk to the
200board members, not the full board, um about kind of things that are going well and things that are maybe um of challenge or questions that they might have so that we could uh just make a more concerted effort to be um talking to our stakeholders on a regular basis. So the community relations committee is kind of trying to put together a little bit of a framework around the parameters of what that would look like. Um and potentially if the full board is supportive of that, it would be maybe two to three board members attend a session at different um locations throughout the district on a various time schedule to be accessible for all different u members of the community. And really just no agenda, just an opportunity for folks to pop in and talk about
201something. We're not making decisions. Um it's really just a listening session. and then we would be able [clears throat] to provide a summary of the feedback um back to the superintendent and um share that out at future meetings to just make sure not with quotes about what anybody said or anything just more key themes that we're hearing. So that's just another opportunity as opposed to just sending out communitywide surveys, another opportunity to hear from folks directly about questions or concerns. um hopefully much more in the suggestions box uh rather than concerns per se. Um so wanted to just gauge if the full board thought that was something that they might be open to because of course it's another commitment. Um we'd need to have at least two or three members be willing to sign up
202to attend and want to make sure that if we're going to roll something like this out that we're able to see it through. Um, and it wouldn't necessarily have to be on a long-term forever basis, but we could try it for a couple of months and see um if we're getting any uh feedback or if folks are not interested in that and then we can always try something new. Um, so just wanted to see if anybody had any questions or initial thoughts. Like I said, we're trying to put together more uh details of a framework and we can share that, but I we didn't want to go too far unless uh most folks were on board with that. Lots of smiles and head nods. Okay. Does anybody have any concern, Jacob? >> I like it.
203>> Awesome. Good. Because we were hoping that the student board member would join us for the stu like when we were trying to focus on the students. Awesome. >> Well, whoever is the student board member at the time. >> Yeah. I mean, I won't be here like next year. I'm a senior. So, um yeah. I mean, I like this. Um if we could flush out more details about it as well as kind of have um specific times where um obviously selecting like getting students to come, you can't just have them all rampage in a room and surround you guys. I hope not. >> Sure. We could. [laughter] >> I mean, you guys you guys probably would appreciate um having people interested in school policy, but >> I I appreciate that you think that many students
204would be interested to come and speak with us. >> Oh, I [laughter] hope. But kind of uh yeah, as you said, more details will have to be fleshed out before anything really can be put and implemented. So, that's kind of all that I've put down. >> Great. Thank you. Does anybody have any questions or concerns as we just put some things together? Okay, fantastic. Thank you. That's all I have. Um, item 2.04, uh, superintendent report. >> Uh, my superintendent report is backup information in community. Uh, item one, capital project update construction work on the high school's 52 million capital improvement project is shifted to the second floor of house two. The construction work will continue through the spring and summer, including the refurbishment of classrooms in the main knuckle of the building. We'll also be
205milling and repaving Pride Lane from the student parking lot to the turnpike. Most of the remaining work should be completed this summer, and there should only be punch list items to address in the autumn months. The facilities committee is potentially targeting some proposed alternates which were originally put out to bid using the residual surplus funds from the different project and so we'd like to move forward with those in the near future seeing we appear to be ahead of schedule and under budget. UPK update as you're aware our UPK registration has commenced for this school year ahead. Messages have been posted on our electronic sign boards as well as dispatch through uh the community and to remind our families about the registration period which ends in the middle of March. Legislative lobbying is next. Mr. Corbin
206and I, as you heard earlier, met with Assemblyman Al Stury and a number of other local school district officials to discuss legislative priorities in the budget season ahead. Assemblyman Sterpy was receptive for the uh to the input and we also took time to thank him for the Sam's grant which was used for the purchase and installation of the four electronic signs on our campus. There's a fifth one coming to Pride Lane in the near future. At this time, I'd also like to remind the board of ed to register for the Central New York School Board's legislative forum which will feature an overview of the governor's executive budget from Dr. Rick Tims of the statewide school finance consortium. The meeting will be held at the OCM Boseis on Saturday, February 29 or 28th, and I will
207be in attendance. My last day at work. Immigration and Customs Enforcement reminder. We sent something out on Friday uh just to remind everyone. It's been about a year since we did uh a posting of this before that we're following Governor Hokll and the attorney general and commissioner Rose's guidance from state ed. Uh we will comply with the law going forward and we just ask families to make sure that the most recent contact information is available uh to school officials so we can call them in the event uh that anybody shows up on campus. Scholastic Art Awards. I'd like to congratulate all our student artists at the high school and both middle schools who earned gold key, silver key or honorable mention awards at the recent Scholastic Art Awards ceremony held at the SRC Arena at
208Anandaga Community College. We are proud of all of you as well as your teacher mentors and a shout out from our instructional specialist for the art department, uh, Katie Gabriel. So, Hornet Pride and then just closing in general, thank you to the board for your generous gifts and I certainly appreciate all the accolades. Uh, it certainly has been a pleasure and an honor and a privilege to serve the Fedville Manus School community over the years and I'm a proud I'm proud of all that we've accomplished together, not just as a governance team, but as staff and administrators. Sometimes you forget to say thank you and I just want to make sure that I say thank you and I will uh Capitol Region Boseies Nancy Cole did a nice article with the changing of the guard
209for the winter newsletter and uh we put a special uh thank you and goodbye into the FM matters electronic newsletter that'll go out before vacation. We'll make sure you all get a copy as well, but it has certainly been an honor and a privilege. Thank you very much. That ends my last report. Thank you, Dr. Ty. >> Does anyone have any questions related to any of the topics in this report? Okay. Um, all righty. Committee updates. So, legislative liaison. Sounds like you all might have a Saturday plan. >> As Dr. Ty mentioned, the OCMBOSI's legislative forum is going to take place on February 28th. I've signed up for it. Anyone can attend. They are asking that you submit questions ahead of time. So, you can go online to um actually see and Central New York
210School Board Association to register. Uh you should also have an invitation in your email and you can submit questions ahead of time. Um I did um want to ask the board to do a few advocacy pieces as we enter get further into budget season. Um and one being tier six reform. There's going to be a Everybody familiar with tier six reform? So, there's going to be a event March 8th in Albany. It's actually booked. Can't sign up for anymore. You have to be on a waiting list, but I thought it would be helpful and I'm going to ask that um my fellow Boseies districts do this as well if we were to pass a resolution. I'm advocating for the changes that um would help tier six um members um be on uh same l I'm
211sorry, the same level as tier 4. Um and that would include um how much they have to pay into um their retirement and retirement age and why this is a matter for the board. Um it's a retention issue. It's a recruitment issue. We want people to go into the field of teaching, but if they have to look at um paying for extremely long lengths of time towards their retirement or retirement at a much later age, they're more less likely to go into um teaching. So, um I could put together a resolution um for the board to consider um in regards to tier six, but I think that would be something helpful for us to do, questions, thoughts. So, I guess one of my questions is have we and maybe Brad has looked at that, but
212if we were to um support the tier six um change, what would the financial impact be to the district? I don't know if we know My One of the questions I Yeah, that's what he said. There wasn't any traction. I think in part because the waiver was in place for retirees to come back. But I think with to your point, it's an offset. You can either pay a retiree to come back or you can invest in the next generation. And I think they're going to have to do something with tier six to make education more approachable for a lot of these folks or they're just not going to go into it at the college level. >> Um, and Marissa, my other question was related to the legislative session. Um, you already said that you can
213submit uh your questions in advance. Um, are you do you have some thoughts about maybe certain topics that you think we should consider submitting a question or a potential item for? >> Um, I think that other than tier six, we should um also talk about the foundation aid minimum um supporting a 2% minimum. So asking questions about that. Um, electric buses is a hot topic there. Um, state funding for that. Um, we should also uh there's I don't think there going to be any federal representatives there that we can ask questions about the impact of dismantling of department of education um on school districts, but um I don't know if John Manion is going to be there or not or one of his aids. U but that's maybe something that we can do um in
214another form or just directly to those to those representatives. >> Thank you. >> Um and then OCM Boseies any update on that? >> Next OCM Bosey's meeting for me is tomorrow. I think I reported at the last meeting. I might have said I was going to the next um CTE meeting. Um I don't think I'd gone yet. We did have the last regional CTE meeting um we toured the new welding um um classrooms at Boseies um which is really incredible and they're looking for more students to come in to those programs um that group meets every three months um and then of course the legislative form that they're sponsoring. I did hear and maybe you know the timing um but our former board member Miss Daryl Wheeler told me that there she's been working for
215over a year to get a Boseies program for Vettes. Um >> yes, >> thank you for mentioning that. At our last um CTE meeting we discussed that and it's going to be the veterinarian on Bridge uh Bridge Street, that hospital. So that that should be up and running very soon and it's going to be incredible because the classroom is going to be right there at the site and um students will be able to have that hands-on experience and then get that um also the education. Um so they'll be taking all their regular classes there and then they're also the veterary tech classes there. >> Yeah, I thought that was really fantastic. >> She didn't retire. She just moved on to >> I wonder you know how many of our students might be interested in that.
216Well, there are so many different I mean I think that there's still a little bit of a stigma that people think one way about Boseis and what it offers and there are some incredible programs that Boseies can offer to students whether they're interested in going into a medical field whether they want to be in a mechanic. Um so I think it'll be really helpful for all our students to take a look at Boseies and see what it offers. Um I did have a question um about the steam school. We have stu we have students attending that. How many do we have, Doug? Ty. I was curious. >> We have two freshman right now that'll become sophomores and then we're opening up one again from Eagle Hill, one Wellwood, so we'll have four next year. >>
217Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. And Jacob, >> sorry. So on Thursday, um the um Asian students will be holding a panel. Uh so that's upcoming at after school. Um recently we had our at the school a our Black History Month assembly which was fantastic. Um as you may or may not know the pinkout games um due to one of the snowing on Friday had to be moved. So but we recently had that this last weekend this weekend. Um so that was nice. Um the DMs had their kickoff on Friday. Um fantastic DM movie. probably the best one I've seen in my four years in attendance. Uh we also had our winter semiformal which was a big success and the DMs got to visit the Eagle Hill and Wellwood um where they
218talked to talked about Camp Good Days and characteristics of a leader and promoted kindness to our middle schoolers. So yeah, a lot of spreading a lot of positivity. So bit of a bit of a change from thinking about budgets and also hopefully it lightens the mood. So yeah, beside the very cold temperatures outside, um we're a bit warmer on inside of the high school at least in terms of heating. Um but yeah, that is kind of sums up my report there. >> Thank you, Jacob. And I guess I would just make a plug for anyone who would like to make a donation to support Camp Good Days. Um all of the DMs and every I think there's lots of ways that you can um support that great cause. So, if you haven't already, I would
219just urge you to consider uh looking into that. Thank you. Um and we're going to do other uh committee updates when the weather is even warmer. Um April. Uh right, April. Uh okay. Public comments. Apologies for anyone. This has been a long one. Um, so we have Brenda Janicki. Yeah. And just as we're coming up, just as we'd like to make sure everybody is aware before we start. Um, so there's three minutes per person and we um, you know, don't permit anybody to reference any employees or student names and then um, it's not uh, we're not trying to be rude by not responding. We're just here to listen to public comment. So don't be surprised if we don't uh, respond directly. Thank you. Can you hear me? Okay. >> All right. Perfect. Um, good evening
220members of the board of education, district leaders, and members of our community. Thank you for the opportunity to speak about an issue that I feel like is long overdue, and that's the establishing of a girls varsity ice hockey team at Fyville Manlas. My name is Brenda and I'm the hockey mom of two daughters um, and a pretty large community, 15 of which were here, but I think we underestimated the amount of time for tonight. Uh, let me begin with one fact. There's not a single girls hockey team in all of the Syracuse area. I'm not talking WeGo or Clinton or Skinny Atlas. I'm talking in Syracuse, not one. This gap, this gap exists despite the sport's rapid growth nationwide. Girls hockey is expanding at every single level. Women's hockey is drawing national attention, investment, and
221record-breaking attendance. The pipeline is strong. The interest is strong and the opportunity is here now. What's missing is leadership. Here in section three, combined boys's varsity teams compete every single season. The infrastructure, ranks, and culture are all here. What's not here is an equitable varsity pathway for girls. I want to thank our athletic director for beginning conversations with a few surrounding districts. That outreach matters incredibly and more will be required. In the past week alone, dozens of additional families from districts well beyond the initial four have added their support and many of whom have been asking for this for years. The interest is broader and deeper than I had ever anticipated or initially understood. This is one of those moments where the saying applies. If you build it, they will come. The concerns raised, participation,
222finances, and ICE access are all entirely understandable. Each has a workable solution. Surrounding districts are willing to join a shared program. Co-artnership models and phased plans are already in use elsewhere. With coordinated scheduling and existing rink partnerships, ice time is achievable. So, the question is no longer feasibility. The question is who will lead and when. FM prides itself in academics, the arts, and athletics. Now we can lead in equity and opportunity as well. Our students are watching, watching us support our boy boys while turning a blind eye in a deaf year towards our girls. Who has the authority to act? The board sets the vision. The superintendent implements that vision and the athletic director oper operationalizes that vision. Opportunities disappear not because they are impossible but because nobody with the authority says yes this matters.
223If budget is a concern, I propose we begin with a pilot. My simple ask is let's support the new superintendent and AD in establishing a combined girls varsity hockey program with FM as the lead district beginning with a three-year pilot. The 2026 budget has yet to be approved as we all heard tonight. I am raising this now publicly and with echoing voices to see what can be done to pilot this for next year. Let's work together now to get this budgeted, planned, and operationalized, not simply explored this year and next year and the year after that. Let's not be the district that waits for permission. Let's be the district others follow. Thank you very much. And thank you to all the students I think that are back there who've sat for the last three hours.
224Uh thank you. And we I believe Amelia would you like to speak also? >> Awesome. Don't worry. >> You have some moral support coming as well. Hello, my name is Amelia Yoni. I am 11 years old and I and I'm a sixth grader at Wellwood Middle School. Thank you for letting me speak tonight. I love hockey. I've been playing it since I was in preschool and it's a huge part of my life. I played on all teams over and I've learned that hockey brings people together no matter where they're from. Right now, I play on two hockey teams. One is co-ed and one is a girls team. I have a lot of fun on both. I'm fast, I'm smart, I work hard, and I and I really love playing, but I'm not sure what I'll
225do when checking starts. I've already been checked a few times by other teams and is not good. Even though check-in is against the rules now, it still happens. Once I move past 12U, it won't be against the rules anymore. And that makes it harder and less safe for girls who want to keep playing. That's why I support Favre Alas creating a girls varsity ice hockey team. It is a very It is very normal in girls hockey for players to come from different towns and schools to make one strong team. That really happens all over New York State. So wouldn't it be it so this wouldn't be any different just fair. Girls deserve the same chance to play, grow, and compete in high school hockey teams. Creating a girls varsity team would give players like me
226a chance to belong in a future in the sport we love. Thank you for listening and supporting girls hockey. And congratulations for your retirement. You didn't have to run away so fast. Um, does girls h does girls hockey past U12 do they do checking with if it's all girls team or is that that's so it's ne never allowed as long as it's not just for boys. Okay, thank you for I was just curious. Thank you for coming. Um okay, uh Jawad and I apologize. Oh, okay. Uh Elizabeth, >> I'm Betsy Barker. My son Chris Johnson is actually a parent here in the FM district, but he couldn't be here tonight because he is actually coaching his youth hockey team. So, I'm here for him, but I'm also out of my own interest, too. 45 years
227ago, I was a coach here at FM for JV volleyball, JV field hockey. So, I've had an interest in women's sports and girls sports for a very long time, coaching at other high schools around this area and watching ice hockey for about 63 years now or more. I have two grandchildren who are FM students here at Eagle Hill. One an eighth grade grandson, one a seventh grade granddaughter. My grandson is very lucky because next year he'll be able to play on the FM ice hockey team. My granddaughter at the moment does not have that same opportunity. Right now there are four schools within about an hour that have girls ice hockey. Um Skinny Atlas, Clinton, uh Asiggo and Ithaca. Some of these schools do combine with other schools like CBA has a couple of other
228schools that can play. That opportunity for FM students doesn't exist. As these girls just said, a lot of them play. There are more girls here that play and the interest is very strong. There are two girls right now that play on your FM boys team. I know who they are because my grandson has played with them before. They're very fierce. They're very feisty girls. However, unfortunately, they are not the physical size of the boys that they're playing with, but more importantly, the boys that they're playing against. Most girls don't have checking. Okay? It might be initiated, but not yet. So, they are totally outsized by the boys that they're playing mostly against. One father wrote on a Facebook post, that's a father of one of the girls. I'm afraid for my daughter every time she
229steps on the ice. I think every parent here is going to be afraid if their daughter is going to start playing with boys on a checking level where they're outsized by 50 to 60 pounds. As they said, women's um hockey is growing. You've got 10 division one hockey girls programs and nine division three hockey programs here in New York State. Um, eight of those schools are within an hour of the Syra of Syracuse here. I think you'd be doing a great favor to the girls, not only at FM, but other schools around here that are not that cannot play for any other girls program if you were the leader in the this program. A lot of the boys schools now are cooperative types. CBA and JD, the Syracuse Cougars, there are about seven or eight
230schools that play for that team. And I think that it as you've seen on the chart before and I think that there are many parents that have put together um a a great way to have this happen. You can proportionally uh divide it over the number of schools that do and the players at that school. But I do think it's very important and I think it's kind of a disservice for any of the girls here that might have to go play on a boys team. We don't want them to get hurt. We want to be have be able to have them play with girls. So, thank you very much. Thank you very much. Um, and then, uh, Teresa. >> Okay. Thank you all for coming, for staying, and for sharing your feedback with us. We
231really appreciate it. Um, okay. Item 4.01, approval of minutes. Um, be it resolved that the board of education of the Fagetville Manly Central School District approves the minutes of January 12th for 2026 board meeting as presented. May I have a motion, please? Thank you, John. Second. Thank you, Sarah. All in favor? Anybody opposed or abstaining? Um we have two in here. >> That's okay. Um so that was for January 12th. That's okay. So um now we'll do the um February 2nd. So be it resolved that the board of education of the faithful Manley Central School District approves the minutes of the February 2nd, 2026 um board meeting as presented. I have a motion. Thank you Sarah and Jason. Uh, all in favor? Anybody abaining? Thank you, Marca. Okay. Um, item 4.02 for approval of source
232cooperation purchase. Um, Oh, there we go. Okay. Uh, be it resolved as follows. Board of Education accepts the recommendation of the district's architect hereby accepts the proposal and authorizes the president of the board, the superintendent of schools, or their design to enter into one or more contracts or issue purchase orders on behalf of the school district. Accepting the proposal with such modifications, additions, and revisions um other than a change to the scope of the work or the fees as may be approved by the superintendent of schools and legal counsel, which approved shall be conclusively shown by the execution thereof and take all necessary actions necessary or convenient to proceed under a contract contracts or purchase order or orders in conjunction with the project. May I have a motion? I'm sorry. Ma, thank you. A second.
233Thank you, Jason. Uh, any discussion? All in favor? Anybody opposed or obstain? All right. Now, we're going to proposed executive session. Um, be it resolved that the board of education of the Fagetville Mania Central School Districts answers into executive session for the purpose of discussing the employment of a particular person. That's all that was. Okay. May I have a motion? Thank you, Sarah. Sorry, Jason. All in favor? Anybody opposed to obstaining? Okay. And we will be returning. Okay. Are we ready? We're ready. Uh, item 6.01. Be it resolved that the board of education of Fateville Manley Central School District hereby acknowledges receipt of the internal audit report and corresponding corrective action plan. May I have a motion? Thank you, Sarah. And second for man. Any discussion? All in favor? Anybody opposed or abstain? Okay. Thank
234you. Uh ongoing business. Well, we've got a lot of ongoing business. Um so, we'll kind of skip skim through um on that front and I don't think there's any unless anybody wants to stop me, please do so. Um consent FYI >> is getting moved to the ninth. >> The clerks. Yeah. >> Yeah. You're welcome everyone. We moved one thing. [laughter] >> We could have been here for another hour. Um okay. Uh consent. We're all getting a little excited. Um, be it resolved that the board of education of the Fateville Manley Central School District hereby approves the consent agenda as presented. May I have a motion? Thank you, Sarah. And second, John. All in favor? Anybody opposed or abstaining? Okay. Thank you. Okay. And we're right back at it again. Um, okay. So the um executive
235session be it resolved that the board of education of the Fagetville Manla Central School District enters into executive session for the purpose of discussing collective negotiations and the employment and hiring of a particular person. I have a motion. Thank you Jason Rebecca. All in favor you go and thank you. We we will return. No we will not return. So all of you have a wonderful evening. [laughter] Good night.