001Good evening. Thank you for joining us tonight. I'd like to bring this meeting to start. Would somebody please move action 1.02 to approve the agenda? >> Move it. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I I opposed. Passes 700. In the event of an evacuation this evening, we need to move um leave the building. We have two points of exit in our room. You can go out without either one and move as far away from the building as possible. Would you please join me for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Evening for public forum, we have one community member signed up, Carrie Hatch. >>
002Good evening. Thanks for joining us. >> Hi. Um, good evening. My name is Carrie Hajj and I'm a teacher in the Fulton School District and I'm also working on my internship, my administrative internship. And I'm here tonight to formally invite the community as well as the board members to uh an exciting event taking place on Thursday, April 9th at 6:00 p.m. in the main gym at Greley High School. 87 of our Fulton Red Dragons in grades kindergarten through 12th will be honored at the 26th annual student recognition ceremony hosted by the Fulton Teachers Association. Um, it's a great opportunity to see and hear all the amazing things our students are doing as well as to connect with families. So, I just wanted to come here and formally invite you. I also put a handout at
003your spot. Um, but yeah, April 9th, Thursday, 6:00 p.m., 87 students. So, it's great. It's going to be a fun event. We're hoping for a big turnout and yeah, so we would love to see you guys there. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Action 1.06, approve March 10th's regular meeting minutes. Would somebody move that? >> Move it. >> Second. >> All those in favor? I >> I opposed abstaining. Passes 700. Action 1.07 to approve the March 10th budget workshop. >> Move it. >> All those in favor? >> I I opposed abstaining. Passes 700. Tonight is great. We're going to be joined by some of our students, but I see that on the 25th we also have another concert to kind of end out our music in our
004schools month. That's the junior high NGB orchestras tomorrow at the high school. On March 30th through the 3rd, you guys have spring break. So, it'll be great time for families to enjoy their kids home or going on vacation. And hopefully our staff and our administrators get a little bit of time to get some rest and relaxation as well that week. Uh, family funday, April 11th, is at 9:30 to 11:30 at the high school. Mrs. Henderson, can you just give just we really haven't talked about that that much and usually we kind of give a little shout out. So, >> Sure. Um, so our theme is unearthing your future. It's aligned with our Fton Public Libraries um summer um kickoff and it's also aligned with our community school theme. So, we're going to run with that.
005We had to adjust the date a few times to accommodate some different concerts and events. So, that was part of the delay and get that out. But we have been sending out save the dates and our parents square messages um that the principles have been delivering. We have planning meetings have been going on. Um Alex was working on the save the dates but about on Facebook but there was um a family emergency that person designing it you know just had some delay in that but they're on they're working on that now. Um I just asked him to send something out in the meantime. Um we have our community partners have already started. We have a lot of the tables already um getting established. Our department um chairs are getting involved as well and we're going
006to be reaching out to some of our students to do some tableling. >> Um we're hoping to have some physicals there. The sheriff's department is going to be there. We're going to do some safety child um ID cards. We'll have representatives from each of our departments as well with STEM and humanities. >> I'm sure we'll have a prek table signed up. Oh, yes. Okay. Registration. >> Okay. >> Raffles, bounce houses, the usual. >> Previously, >> we're going to have like a Duncan booth. Is that what I hear? Mr. Hendrickson's going in. >> No, not this year. We'll work on that for next year. >> You know, we could make a bundle. >> There's plenty in the audience today that would take me up on sit right next to you. >> Let's move on. >> Well,
007thank you so much for sharing that information about Family Funday with us. Uh, April 13th, we have a DCC meeting at the high school at 5:00. Another board meeting here. On the 14th as our regular board meeting, but on April 15th, we have our Bosey's annual meeting which is out in Mexico. If you're um thinking that you want to join out, just let Desire know that we're interested so she can RSVP for us. Um, then we will be jumping into our community budget forms. We have one on the 16th. Um, all county course. Oh, we're going on April 18th with that. And Bob's Got Talents is coming up as well on the 17th. Um, the 20th and the 21st is when we need to have our board candidates due. If anyone is interested in running
008for the board, uh, you can pick up your petitions with Mrs. Trude and the superintendent's office. Um, you need to make sure you can get some signatures and they need to be returned back to her by April 20th, 5:00. um health and safety meeting coming up. We have policy meetings coming up. Another community budget forum will be later in the month on the 23rd. Then we have our uh regular board meetings and uh on the 30th we'll be pulling for the education uh board of education names for the ballot. Our board uh is when are we doing that? is on May of our election. May 9th May 19th 19th I think it's the just want to make sure I had the right 10th day on there. Okay. So May 19th um the petitions are due
009on the 29th. The 20th is the first financial >> Okay. All right. Thank you for for that. Uh the 20th is for our first financial statements if you're running for the board and the 29th they need to be turned in for the petitions. All right. Any questions? Anybody have any they want to add? All right, with that we're going to turn it over to the superintendent because we have an exciting evening. >> We do. Yes. So, uh we're going to kick things things off tonight with um c by celebrating music in our schools month. So, um, we've we've really had a nice couple of weeks here where we've had elementary concerts, uh, high school, junior high combined concerts, as you mentioned, one more, uh, up this week. But, um, also with the, uh, musical Greece
010at at the high school. So, it's it's really been a great month of celebrating music in our schools. And as an added bonus, we have three groups that are with us this evening. So, we're going to walk across the hall, listen to them play for us for a little bit, and then we'll return back here to celebrate a different group of students. >> Sounds great. >> You're all welcome to join us down the hall, but listen to our students perform. to athletics. I know uh Mr. Owls is here with us this evening. He has a quite a few folks with him as well. We're going to highlight a couple of our teams as well as our entire winter sports program. So, I'm just going to turn things over to Mr. Ellis. >> Perfect. So, thank
011you for inviting me here tonight. And I did bring some of our uh some of our athletes. U we have a slideshow. We're going to go through some some of our uh accomplishments, our highlights of the season. Uh and then we're going to give a chance for our uh bowl girls bowling team, girls wrestling team to want to come up and speak and uh highlight some of the things I've done. So um we're going to start off with the winter sports scholar athlete teams. Um this year we had this season we've had six. It was girls bowling, girls indoor, swimming and diving, girls basketball, boys basketball, and boys wrestling. Uh we'll start off with our girls basketball team. Um Alli Greenville was named player of the year. Uh that was a first in program history.
012Also, Gianna Thurlo is first team. Uh Kinsey Schz was second team and Kelly Shaw made third team. All the honors pro basketball again. So they were state ranked uh they were state ranked team the entire season finishing 13th in the state uh rankings uh the 155 record is the best effort in correct history. Uh we organized a stroke awareness game as a community service opportunity. Uh any money raised through the donations went to the Galisano Hospital for stroke awareness. Uh we even had Otto the mascot from Syracuse Orange was here. Um, and high scores for the season were Ali Mainville with 280 points, uh, John Purllo with 261, and Kinsley shorts left in at 217. Uh, boys basketball, we had uh, three of our three of our athletes uh, three of our players made um,
013all league honors. We had uh, uh, Xavier Dodie uh, was first team all league. Uh we then had uh Kobe Drake second T-ball league and Wyatt Watson was also second team ball league. Uh they finished second in the league. Finished the season as honorable mention in New York State. Uh they were section three semi semifinalists for the third time in four years. High scorers were Xavier at 560 points. Uh that was 25.5 points per game. Why Watson was 407 points and Kobe Drake 330. Xavier Dodie was named class doubleA all tournament team for for the league leading scorer in the SEAC with 25.5 points per game. Uh indoor track we had high scores of Mason Kenny and Kellen Cen. Uh and then on the girls side Olivia Hendrickson and Jina Horton. Uh records broken were
014Olivia. uh in a long and the high jumps and Audrina in a 300 and triple jump and Olivia qualified for the states uh and went down to New York City uh for both long jump this year. So I mean so high scorers were Braden Leoo with 463 points and Cody Duran with 409. Uh records broken were the girls 400 free relay with Claire Murray, uh Mattie Ames, Finley Nye and Everly Nye. Uh we had statebound. So Logan Ames, he's actually a Hannibal swimmer. We combined with Hannibal. Um he's extremely fast swimmer. Uh he broke records in the 50 free and 100 free. Placed fifth in the 50 and 13th in the 100 at the state. Uh I am now going to call up um one of our wrestlers would like to uh do the wrestling
015slide. So I'm going to have to come on up here. Hi, I'm Evan. Okay. Um, so I want to do the boys wrestling. They're not here, but our Fton boys wrestling team was the SCAC Empire League champions. They were also uh third in the section. Um, Carter Allen qualified for the state tournament. He also ended up winning a match at this tournament, which is a huge accomplishment. Um, Colin Austin, he placed first in league. He placed first in at the uh Brett Dixon duels, the Coach K duels, the Phoenix DS, class A's, and qualified for states where he won two matches. He also achieved 150 for his career. >> Yeah. So, this is going to be our girls wrestling team. Uh phenomenal season. We did bring our girls wrestlers here, so they're going to >>
016Yes. Our F and girls wrestling team reached milestones this year. Uh we were first at the Dragon DS, the Homer Invite, the Phoenix scramble, and the Bill Anderson duels. These tournaments are not only tournamentments with teams from section 3, but they're also teams from all over from all the sections in New York. Um, we are also one of the biggest teams in the state, which means we have at least two girls at every single weight class. Some weight classes we do have more than just two. And then we also are first in the SCAC league. We've took first in the section 3 tournament where 11 of our girls placed and two of them first place or two of them two of them placed first. I'm sorry. Nadia Rose and Gracie Vazquez were those two girls.
017Um we qualified three of our um wrestlers for the state tournament and all three placed. The last time that's happened in Fulton was in 2004 which is a huge accomplishment. Our most pins was Izzy Salado. Our most wins was Gianna Allen. And we also have the so section 3 coach of the year Cam Mills. On this slide, we have Nadia Rose, Gianna Allen, and Gracie Al Vazquez. Here we have two of them with us, Nadia Rose and Diana Allen. Um, Nadia finished six at states, losing to the first seed second round, but managing to wrestle all the way back. She also wrestled three matches in just 80 minutes with little to no rest in between each match. Gianna Allen earned a fourth place finish, revenging a loss from sectionals. Giana was able to beat that
018returning state placer along with another returning state placer to secure her spot at fourth. While Graciel Vasquez, she's not here with us today, but she placed fifth at states. She went in unseated, lost first round, then proceeded to wrestle back, winning two matches back to back, then went on to win her placement match to secure fifth place. That's our girls wrestling. Um so on to our next slide. Uh we're going to have uh boys bowling. Uh they took third in the league. Max Cunningham qualified for the shootout which is state qualifier event. Uh boys high score was Max Cunningham at 202. Uh Logan Wilcox at 179 and Mitch Jacobs at 168. Um second team all SCAC was Max Cunningham. Now, the Rose Bowling had an extremely successful season. Um, they won I'm not going to
019steal all your thunder here, but they did win the uh the Saxon tournament. They did qualify for states and uh they bowled in states this year as a team. So, I invited the girls bowling here. Uh we have a couple girls that wanted to come up. Uh we have Morgan, Sheldon, and Karen Murphy. Wanted to say a few words about our state uh experiences. Hi, my name is Taran Murphy. I'm already and I'm just going to give a little bit of rundown of what we've accomplished this year. So, at the start of the year, we obviously have all of our regular tournament matches and we ended up undefeated in our league. Um, after that we rolled a fun Baker tournament to try and prepare us for sectionals. And we also were able to manage to
020win that one. Um, and we just really accomplished a lot as a team mentally and physically in that aspect that prepared us for sectionals. Uh, it was a long day when we did end up at sectionals, but after a little bit of a hard fight, we were able to pull through. Uh well going into states there is a individual qualifying as well and we sent six of our girls out of eight to this qualifying and it's basically what two day >> it's a two-day event >> where you both six games through one day I think it was and you get ranked in the top six move on to individual states I guess. So, we had three of our girls who gone out of sixth at length. Um, you placed ninth for the individual. I placed
02118th, I think. >> Okay. I guess I'm not saying, but we all fought very hard that day and I think we should all be very proud of that. But moving on to our team bowling, we went and stayed um and I think we led that morning. We led that morning to four. Okay, whatever. We We led the morning with three games and then we came back in the afternoon, struggled a little bit. We were making our spirits, just couldn't um strike as much as other teams, which was kind of a disadvantage, but it was all right. We still ended up third in the state, and I think that's our highest so far. We went fifth, fourth, and third so far for state ball time. So, >> we also have a young team. So, the two
022teams that were above us had, I think, at least three seniors each, and we had none. So, we're hoping to go take that title next year. But >> yeah, that was about it. >> Uh, here are some. Do you guys want to read the scores? You want me to grab it? So, high scores, we have Taran Murphy with 188, Lane Arnold with 188.3, um Logan Arnold at 185.4, and Morgan Sheldon coming in with 184.8. Uh the all SCAC with league first team Lane and Logan Arnold, Taran Murphy, Morgan Sheldon, and Alex Wilcox. all SEAC league. Second team was Kendra Phillips and Molly Smith. And our team, as I said, represented section three. They got the state tournament and took third overall. >> Awesome. >> So, this uh this is a this is a great slide.
023So, um I wanted to recognize three of our coaches made coach of the year or were named coach of the year. Um, so we had Coach TR, coach of the year for the SEAC Empire division in girls basketball. Uh, Coach Nikki, who's coach of the year for all of section 3 large schools co-ed division. Uh, and then coach Cam Mills, who's in the audience tonight, coach of the year for the section 3 girls wrestling. Any questions? Any questions? >> Just amazing what the students are doing. >> Thank you. >> That's great. Thanks for bringing student athletes. They they told me they had a lot of homework to do tonight. So we want to stick around, but they had >> totally. Thank you for joining. Thank you so much for coming in though. Great job. All
024mine. Thank you. Somehow Mrs. Hooper always knows how to clear a room. >> I also may lose my job as presentation driver. I apologize. There's an updated athletic presentation and I didn't show that one. So, we'll make sure that that's updated on the website, >> the most uh current and up to-ate one. >> No problem at all. So, yeah, last but definitely not least, uh after our two celebrations, we'll turn things over to Mrs. Cooper for our financials and then uh as well as a budget update. >> We're here for you, Mrs. Hooper. >> We'll start with the February financials um and then move into the budget update. Um so just a brief look back at the month of February. Again, first comparing um where we were at the end of February in 2425 to
025where we are in the current year. Again, very similar place in terms of our revenue and our expenditures. um similar to where we were last year. Uh as I move through the slides, I'm going to point out a major difference that I see from last year to this year in a good way. Uh last year we were at 59% both revenue and expenditures at the end of February. This year uh we were a little lower in our revenue at 57% expenditures were at 60%. Our cash flow was okay though. um you know just between uh different grant funds that we're able to also use to supplement our our general fund cash flow. You know we're in an okay place. February is always a little bit of a tight month in terms of cash flow. In
026March we get two major state aid payments. We've already received one. We get another one this week in terms of our big spring payment. So cash flow then kind of takes a um a positive turn again in March. So, we're still um in a solid place in terms of cash flow for this year. Then, when you look at the revenue breakdown, uh the different types of revenue that we've seen come in so far this year. Again, our local revenue is right where we it should be state revenue. I I just looked today because like I said, we get two big payments in March and that's about $10 million higher than it was at the end of February. So that makes sense in terms of state aid. Uh federal aid, that's our Medicaid. Um that was
027at 285,000. I looked at that again today and that's also gone up by about 100,000. So you know our revenue is also in good shape as we are moving you know towards the latter half of the fis or latter quarter really of the fiscal year. In terms of our expenditures, um, again, given where we are in the fiscal year, these percentages are fine. Um, you know, as I've said, each month, I I really hone in on that benefits line and where we are percentage-wise. Um, in terms of how much we've spent and where we fall within the fiscal year. and we we continue to remain in a much better place than we we did last year. When when I say that um you know although it looks similar to where we were in last fiscal
028year, what looks different to me and what I don't always show is um when I look at our financials, what I also see is a projection and an available balance in the budget. So at this point last year, you know, we had an $88 million budget and, you know, end of near the end of March, we had about $6.5 million of an available balance. So meaning between what we'd spent and what we'd encumbered or what we knew we were going to spend, what we had left available was 6.5 million. When I look at it, as of today, March 24th, 2026, our available balance is at 16 million. Now, part of that is we have that $3.8 million cushion of the reserves that we've allocated for this year. But think about that. Even if we took
029that out completely, we still have almost double the available balance that we had at this point in the year last year. So that just tells me that, you know, compared to the the way the budget was spending last year, the steps we've taken and what we're doing this year is has created just a much um healthier financial situation for us in terms of having from March to June to still get through and have, you know, with the reserves a $16 million available balance without still having a $12 million available balance. is compared to 6 12 million last year and we were looking, you know, at worrying about where we were going to end up and it just it it doesn't look that way this year. So that's that's a more positive >> and and that's
030really attributed to you asking people to think about their um allocated funds and to help the district through this difficult period. So, I want to thank you for the leadership >> um because it doesn't happen without conscious >> effort and and everyone else for um doing their part >> and for making some really difficult decisions last year and >> yeah, >> you know, but that's that's the kind of work that's going to get us back into a better financial situation again, you know, over time. It'll take time, but I'm hopeful. So questions about the uh February financials and thank you Mrs. >> Griffin I appreciate it. All right so moving on to Oops. budget update. I want to start there. So, being that we're at March 24th, um you know, we're getting close to the
031point where an ontime budget from the state would be April 1st. I mean, that's what we're we're hearing we can expect, but >> we'll see. That would be next week. So, um that would be great because, you know, the sooner we know for sure what the state's going to come out with um the better prepared we are to finalize our budget plans and um you know, keep moving forward. But we've come um pretty far along in the process and you know wanted to give a public update about where we stand with the budget at this point. Um you know we've had several board um budget workshops and we've been working with a a budget development team within the district as well. Um so we do have some updates to share. So, they're kind of broken
032up into um updates regarding revenue um and then revenue scenarios um an update regarding the tax levy and the impact the tax levy may have on community members, a discussion of the reduction of expenses which is going to be necessary and then just outlining the next steps in the process. So the revenue updates that we have to share at this point um involve adjustments to our Bosey's aid and expected Medicaid or federal aid which increase our total revenue slightly all assuming that um which we have planned that we are going to go to our tax cap. Um some advocacy efforts uh at the advice of Senator Ryan after we met with him. Mr. Lawrence has sent a letter to Governor Hokll outlining our challenges. We don't know that that will change anything that we haven't
033already heard. Um but what we are hearing is that not just us but all districts can likely expect a 2% increase in foundation aid which um is now reflected actually in the total revenue which I'll show you on the next slide. um we were expecting a 1% increase, but what we're hearing uh due to um I think advocacy throughout the state is that we'll likely see a 2% increase, which is what was the minimum increase last year. So, we are going to plan on that 2% increase at this point. We've heard it from enough sources that I think that um it's very likely that that's what we'll see. We received an email to uh this week from NISPA that community members can actually fill out and send to the governor or and legislators. Um in
034to to help to voice the opinion that the 2% needs to be the minimum um and the other it would help out if we all >> excuse me >> to the governor. Um, and just encourage any people that you know to also fill out. It's really easy. It's online >> and you can send it right right through uh the website. So, >> that sounds great. >> Just share the email with your friends and family. >> That's right. Um, you know, despite some changes in revenue, like I said, I'll share that on the next slide, next couple of slides, we do still face a significant budget gap that's going to require us to reduce expenditures in the 2627 budget. Um, I mentioned we do have a district budget team that's been meeting almost weekly up to
035this point, really working through the budget line by line to dig in and study the budget lines and make suggestions of areas of possible savings which we'll get to that as well in a couple of slides. So the first portion of the revenue that I wanted to share the updates um that I already mentioned a little bit uh regarding state aid. So from January to February to now really it has shifted a little bit. Um the first line being foundation aid I am reflecting a 2% increase from our foundation aid in 2526 to what we can expect in 2627 at this point. As I said, we've heard it enough times that I think we'll see 2% as opposed to 1%. Um, Bosey's aid, um, Boseies has done a nice job of really breaking down what
036our services are this year and, you know, what level of aid we can expect to receive due to those services going into 2627. So, I felt comfortable adjusting that number a little bit. Um once I looked at their sort of analysis of our our Bose services and their analysis of our aid going into next year and then those two things together going down to the bottom line um our total state aid in the general fund did increase about $729,500. So that's a that's a decent increase compared to where we were in January when the state aid runs first came out. Then our overall revenue scenarios. Um this includes a 2.85% increase to the overall tax levy which I'll talk about the tax levy in a little bit more detail on the next couple of slides.
037first just the overall revenue um in addition to the state aid which is sitting at just over 67.5 million. That would bring our our property tax revenue up to um 23.7 million which is an increase from 23.1 million this year. And that's an overall dollar increase of just over $660,000. We do have some pilots which are payments in lie of taxes that contribute to our revenue just under $380,000. We have various other sources of revenue that we realize each year whether it's um a refund we receive from Boseies, some rent we receive, um interest from our investments, various different things that a conservative estimate would be 1.35 million. I also increased our federal aid revenue. That's why that's in red. Uh we are kind of shifting the way we're going to bill Medicaid. Rather than
038doing it ourselves, we're going to go through OCM Boseies. They have an entire department that's dedicated to that. And you know, their initial thoughts are they can probably help us realize about another $100,000 in revenue there, which you know, it's not nothing. So, >> you know, every little bit helps us. >> There's state legislation going on right now, too, that would make more services available, too. So, it could be even more in the future. >> Yep. Um, and that's kind of changed and ebed and flowed through the years. So, that would be wonderful if some more stuff was eligible. Um, right along, I have planned on appropriating some reserves. So the second number appropriated reserves 550,000 that is including a little bit of what we have left in our retirement reserves ERS and TRS and
039about 250,000 from our ELAR reserve which is our employee benefits and acred liabilities. We're allowed to use that for um some of the retirement buyouts that we do each year. Then looking, you know, as we were talking about the financials and looking at projections, we're likely not going to need to use all of the reserves that we allocated this year. So some of that would then turn into fund balance. So, we're able to appropriate a little bit in fund balance in the amount of $532,491 in order to just bump that total revenue up to 94.5 million. um on our revenue side of the budget, which even at 94.5 million compared to our 2526 budget, you see that bullet point at the bottom, our 25 or 2526 budget is just under 94.2 million. So to go
040from that in 2526 to 94.5 million in 2627, that's a relatively flat budget increase, you know, less than 1%. So, um, you know, it's a a little bit of an increase, but not a whole lot. And that's really, um, due to, uh, not getting a whole lot of an increase in state aid. You know, overall, our foundation aid may increase by 2%. Our overall aid last year incre I think the increase was over 4% and we're not going to touch that this year. So we we just didn't get the the state revenue um to to help boost that total revenue number and you know we don't have um the ability to use as much in reserves as we did in the current year. So so it is going to be a relatively flat increase in
041the overall budget. Um, and with that budget number on the revenue side, $94.5 million, it it does still leave a gap of $5 million when we roll over the expense side of the 2627 budget. So, and I I'll get to that discussion in a little bit. I just want to talk a little bit more about the tax levy because I know that that is a question that a lot of people have when you know talking about what is what does the tax levy mean? How is that going to increase my taxes? So you know a common question when trying to assess the impact for taxpayers and uh is you know what's this going to do to my tax bill? And the transparent answer is that you know at this point in time the best we
042can do is give an estimate. So um keeping in mind that 2.85% is the amount that we're proposing to increase the overall tax levy which is distributed over all of the property in the district. The way that it's distributed depends on a lot of factors that are outside of our control. So tax rates, equalization rates, and property assessments are things that the school district doesn't control and and it's information that isn't updated until well after the budget vote. So when I'm giving an estimate of how it could impact a household, you know, it's using information that hasn't been updated for the upcoming year yet. And all of these things are determined by towns and cities and like I said, aren't finalized until later in the year. But um just thinking about the tax levy as
043opposed to individual tax bills, I was trying to find kind of a good analogy. And so one description I found, and I don't know if this is helpful or not, but so the school district kind of when determining the tax levy, so we're increasing the the tax levy, the overall amount by 2.85% 85% which was 23 million well increasing it to 23,796,426 is the proposed amount for 2627 um that we'll be putting out to vote. So we're deciding on how big the the overall pie needs to be in order to run the the district in addition to all of our other revenue sources. However, then the assessors in the state and the towns and cities decide how to kind of slice up that overall pie. So, you know, one person's slice could be bigger or
044smaller than than another person's. So, if someone's assessment goes up and um another home loses value or a local business closes, your slice might get bigger even that even though the the overall tax levy stayed the same. So, the best we can do is to give an estimate of how the tax levy increase may affect an individual household. So again, just keeping in mind that the the following information is an estimate and um it's also based on, you know, we have several different towns and cities, so it's based on an average tax rate. So depending on where you live, your tax rate can also be different. So, with all of those caveats, here is uh we're going to break it down both annually and monthly for people because, you know, some people like to look
045at what's my annual tax, how is it going to be affected, and then, you know, if you like to budget monthly, you might want to know how that could affect your monthly budget. So, the estimated impact of a 2.85% 85% increase on the tax levy for homes um with various assessments um is uh shown annually on this slide. So a home assessed at $100,000 could see uh as much as a $52.50 increase per year. A home assessed at $200,000 could see $127.50 per year increase. and a home assess at $300,000 could see $22.50 per year increase. Then if you wanted to break that down monthly, $100,000 home could see $4.38 per month. $200,000 home could see $1063 per month. A $300,000 home could see $16.88 per month. Again, just estimates, but hopefully to give it
046a little bit of a context for how it could impact the individual tax bill. >> Thank you for doing that. >> You're welcome. >> Yeah, I think that's um as I said when we were talking about revenue, there still was, uh a budget gap to be addressed. So in order to bring the budget into balance, you know, if our revenue is going to be 94 million, 94.5 million, uh we have to bring the expenses into balance with that number. So the question then is how do how can we reduce expenses? So when we first started the process and we rolled over the expense side of the budget, the budget gap was actually more than 5 million. It was 6.5 million. But throughout the process, um, the budget team really broke down the budget into sort
047of more digestible sections and looked at each section line by line. Talked about ways we could reduce expenses really in small ways. You know, asked a lot of questions, you know, what's in this line? Um, what does it mean? Is there any way we could decrease it? Would what would it mean if we decreased it? How would it affect our students? how would it affect our programs? And we went through that before even thinking about looking at positions. And through this process along with the improvements to revenue, I mean that certainly helped as well. The gap was reduced to 5 million. And then when you think about um you know reducing expenses through positions, we do know of several retirements and I think this has even increased since I did this slide um in talking
048to Mr. Kapani, we know of three teacher retirements, five teaching assistant retirements, which might be up to six now. >> Um, at the time there were three teachers aid retirements, which might have increased as well. >> We're at six. >> Okay, >> six teachers aids and I think we're still at five TA right now. But the point being that any retirements can lead to reductions through attrition, meaning um those are people that plan to leave anyway. So uh it's not someone losing their job, it's people retiring. Then any resignations that could occur that we don't know about yet could also lead to reductions through attrition. So we'll keep an eye on that as well. Those tend to happen a little bit later in the spring as time goes on. But um you know after looking
049at everything we possibly could there will still be the necessity to look at some other areas of um expense reduction and some of the other areas of reduction. So there are some general salary lines we looked at um the budget team pointed out um there were some lines of like um miscellaneous salary and they're like well what does that mean? and it's sort of paying for extra time, you know, working outside of the the workday. They're just like, "Okay, well, is there any way that we could look at that and and reduce the number?" And those lines, you know, and just kind of watch our spending and watch how much, you know, we're paying outside of the the workday. There were some other lines um that we were sort of like, what do those even
050mean? They haven't been spent in the last 3 years. So, you know, stuff like that. We just took a really good look at um you know, lines where we we were able to say, "Yeah, you know, those are definitely places that we could reduce and it doesn't seem like it would have a huge impact on, you know, students, programs, people." Um, so we looked at general salary lines like that that aren't attached to a position, but more like extra time. We looked at supplies, you know, are were we able to cut back on supply spending a little bit? Um any contractual services? Again, you know, some you can't get around. You know, we have to um you know, pay for certain services that you just have to have. Um but there were other lines where
051we could be like, well, you know, what is it and is there any way we could cut back a little bit? The same with Bosei services. We really have gone through Bosei services with a fine tooth comb and you know as much as um we want to keep every Boseie service we can if if we were able to you know step away at least for the time being to save some money then then we will. >> What would be an example of of Boseie service? Not that it has anything to do with any reduction or anything but what would be an example of a Boseie service that we provide? Um it it ranges I mean there >> like a couple of examples >> um a lot of technology um we do like a lot of
052subscriptions that we run through Boseies um again these aren't necessarily things we're reducing >> right like a what does that like a subscription for what >> so like um parent squareear >> okay okay >> those through both obviously we're not going to get rid of parent squareear but um >> is it like is school tool considered Okay. >> Yep. Um frontline parent square school tool. Um >> our curriculum responses as well are our um tier one programs. Common lit um CLA Eureka Math >> that is those are all programs that you guys use throughout the year for for one curriculum. >> Okay. >> So they're daily lessons. >> Okay. >> Second step. We do one thing that we are saving money on um we run our like our copy or printer leases through Boseies and
053those were up for renewal anyway and um Mr. Sherman was able to negotiate actually a reduction in that cost. So >> that happened to be an area that we didn't like purposely reduce but we just negotiated a better price. >> Yeah. Um, you know, all of our career and technical education goes through Boseies. Some of our special ed goes through Boseies. Um, >> like special ed and like what does that mean? Go through both. >> Some of our um special education programming that uh our students who don't go to in-house programming go to Boseis provided programming. So they leave Fulton for a program in another district. >> Okay. >> So those are some examples and there's many other services. >> Just a couple. Yeah. Just a >> Yeah. When we go through >> people more
054understand budget. It's pages of >> Yeah, I'm sure that it's like a ton but just like a couple of broad examples of Thank you. >> Yep. Um you know, we went through our extracurricular budget lines. We looked at professional developments and you know as I just mentioned the efficiency with software subscriptions and printing and copying and then finally you know we did look again at positions as much as we possibly can you know those any reductions will be made through retirements and resignations but um we're looking at reducing um from the Fulton teachers association 34 positions non-instructional positions would be 19 positions, one administrative position. And then whenever you reduce positions, um it also reduces some of the corresponding benefits, whether that's retirement, social security, or health benefits. And then again, I highlight these are
055still all potential. You know, we're still continuing to discuss and work through all possibilities to reduce expenses. Now, now with some of those, um, is it fair to say that there's a possibility that the offset that we would be looking for would be um maybe diminished because of unemployment benefits if they don't find jobs elsewhere. So, >> we can't necessarily plan on a full >> Yes. >> return >> of that position dollars back to the to our revenue side. >> Exactly. And when people retire, you know, they're they remain in our healthcare plan. So you don't get that reduction. >> Yeah, I think it's important that for the public that they understand it's not we don't that takes a while for to get to where >> it does >> you you want to see that
056um full reduction. >> Yep. >> Yeah, you're right. >> So you know with these ideas um again you know certainly reducing is nothing we want to do. um we will be able to bring the budget into balance. Um our next steps will be to again continue to discuss and finalize the reductions and notify anybody within the district who will be impacted. Then present a balanced three-part budget. We plan to hold community budget forums on April 16th and 23rd um for anyone in the community to attend. They'll be here at the education center and we also plan to stream them. So if people want to join via um uh online meeting that that will be available as well. >> What's your uh your date for the finalization letting people know? Our goal is to let our
057goal is to let people know since spring break comes so early this year, the second week after we return, we want to let everybody know whether they're a reduction or a dismissal or a move. That's our goal. So, we've kind of mapped it out as far as the timeline goes to make sure we can do that. But with moving parts, I I wouldn't want to guarantee it, but that's our goal. We plan to let know about that. In addition, you know, as we balance the budget, we'll be preparing the budget newsletter. Um, our public budget hearing is scheduled for Thursday, May 7th at 6 o'clock, >> uh, here at the Ed Center. That that's also streamed, right, Chris? >> Yes. And then the budget vote is on May 19th. Any questions? I have a question
058for Superintendent. >> Sure. We're we're making all of these changes. You I you've looked at dollars and cents, but for the benefit of everyone, could you just kind of give us the outline of uh because I know you look at impact on the teaching and learning and could we talk about that for a minute so that um everyone can appreciate that that was considered along with the dollars and cents. >> Absolutely. So, well, I I guess I'll begin with uh by saying really we we didn't have any good options throughout all of this. So, um taking a look at our our positions that we had to contemplate reducing, they're all valuable to us. They all play a major role. So, that it's made this process pretty difficult. Um we've even been meeting still today about
059um going back and forth on on some of our positions and where we are. Uh number one, yes, we're we're trying to stay as far away from our core program as possible and and having as much as little impact on our students as possible. Uh but again, I because we had some pretty substantial cuts last year, >> that makes it more difficult this year as as we move forward. So, um, we've been looking at things like how our our schedules are running at at each level. Um, the amount of students who are in classes, trying to maximize, um, our efficiencies there, and and that's something that we've definitely taken a very close look at. Um and you know there there are cases where um there are staff members that again while important they may not
060have as much interaction with students or in our core programming. So um having to take a look at those positions as well. So a lot of thought being put into this by by this team as well as um our whole administrative team. We we've gone through these lists several times with them as well. Um we've had a lot of discussions as Kate mentioned in our um budget team uh talking through just different ideas and really trying to brainstorm as much as we can um ideas that that again will have as as little impact as possible on our students and our programs. Um I think it's also important to note that we're trying not to and I know this is a question that comes up quite a bit in in the community. Um are you reducing
061or are you eliminating programs? So, we're we're trying not to fully eliminate any programs. Um, we're trying to we may have some reductions in places and and in programs, but we we're trying to make sure we aren't totally eliminating anything because again, we it's in place for a reason and we find value in that. >> And I and thank you for that. I just, you know, it's important. We always talk about the dollars and cents and we don't stop to talk about teaching and learning. And I know that that's a big part of the conversation for many of the folks sitting around to your team. >> Sure. >> I know that you're always looking at that and um we've asked you to do an impossible job. >> Um it's no one's going to be happy
062at the end of the day. Uh, but I want people to realize I think we should be happy with the notion that you are looking at what are what the opportunities are for our students and are we prepared to help them get to where we want them to be um and 10 years out as someone pointed out to me um not too long ago. So I I appreciate that. And we don't we just don't spend enough time talking about that side of it. It it isn't just dollars and cents to us. It is how many kids, right? >> And what do we need for staffing and resources to make the magic happen that the that the teaching can occur so the learning can take place? Can we um can it says that um you mentioned
063you don't the impact of teaching and learning and you want to stay far away from taking away from the core programs. What are considered the core programs? >> Um well I'd say any any program or or our classes that are a graduation requirement a requirement um for our students to take. Um, so in some cases we may be looking at elective offerings that um may not be required. Um, taking a a close look there. Um, some of our other supports that we have in place for students that may not be mandated. Um, looking at at any reductions that we might be able to make there, but again still support our students in a I guess close or similar way as we have been in the past. >> Okay. So basically we're looking to keep what
064um we need the students to have in order to graduate. >> Yes. And and trying our best >> and trying our best to keep everything running the way >> as close to as >> just so people like and I understood completely what the coreman. Okay. Thank you. And I think so that people understand too from you know what the board's been pushing and Doug has done a great job as superintendent is not only taking our feedback but really looking at this as restructuring. So, how can we provide the same services, the same quality of education in a different way that still meets the demands of our students? Because, you know, at the end of the day, the education, those resources, making sure you still get those things, but are there ways we can be more
065efficient and do it differently? And I, you know, whether it's looking at the data, seeing what it's doing better so we can focus more in those areas. I just want to say you've done a really good job focusing those down, Doug, and really digging deep into those things. >> Thank you. And I again I our our entire team has been uh working on this pretty much non-stop for the past few weeks and it's uh you know something that we're definitely taking seriously but also as you mentioned Tim taking a closer look at what we do and how we do it and and can we get creative in in how we're doing this and and again trying to not have a a negative impact on our students along the way. And it's it's kind of tonight
066we saw our programs that aren't necessarily those direct contact like what we're talking about our core programs or graduation requirements but keep our kids engaged in school. We celebrated music and athletics. Those are areas that we have to look at. But we also know that's why kids >> are here and happy with school too in a lot of cases. So we have to find a balance of those as well. That's an important part of this is you take those away >> and it dips a lot of other areas too. I agree for sure. And um also keeping in the back of our minds us as teachers, we just and administration in education period feeling just so overwhelmed already with what we have on our plates and really trying not to add even more on our
067educators and our teachers and our aids and everybody involved within our schools because of that reduction. and we're just like I feel like sometimes we feel I know I feel as a teacher it just keeps getting piled on and on and on. It's very overwhelming. So I know that you have been taking that into consideration as well. So people >> I also think though that speaks to why just we need to continue to advocate you know Jesse I know you mentioned earlier at the state level and um clearly everything that that Mrs. super highlighted as far as our our funding and and the formula. It is broken at the state level. Um it is really at time that we've talked about it for years now that this is a broken formula and they've been putting
068patches on it over time, but it's it's something that they really do need to take care of. Um you know, we're already thinking not only ahead to this budget, but then oh my gosh, what's it going to be like the following year? Um so you know we obviously have to get through this one but hopefully we'll we'll have some changes made at the state level um before we have to face what comes after that. So I I would strongly uh support anyone who wants to advocate at the state level and and you had mentioned that link. We can try to get that out to folks and u >> let's get that link out so that we can voice our our concern that there need the foundation. they're looking at the foundational aid >> um and
069how it's figured out and some key groups of our student population would be so much better impacted with the with better numbers >> and that's a really good way to look at it. It's like because everything is sports with me but you can control the controllables and we can't control at the state level what they are doing. However, what we can control is what we do to help further along what we need. We can't control what they do, but we can control how we help it. So, that will help. >> The link helps >> to easily voice our >> opinions. Okay. >> Thank you for bringing that up. For sure. >> We can put it for the rest of our budget stuff. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> That's it for tomorrow. All right. And our
070student representative is not with us tonight. So we're going to move on. Uh action 5.01 accept the financials. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. Passes 700. Action 5.02 to approve approve disposal of surplus property. >> Move it. Second. >> All those in favor? I opposed abstaining passes 700 action 5.03 03 to accept Brookfield renewable NA donation. Move it. >> Second. All those in favor? I >> I opposed abstaining. Passes 700. We we really thank you for that donation to our our our city and school synergy program. That that is very generous. Thank you. >> Our city and uh this our city and synergy program was uh given a special award recently. Correct. >> Correct. They actually received a couple of awards this past week from the New York State >> Parks
071and it's actually I think Wreck and Parks for some reason. It was backwards from what I thought it would be. Um yes. So they they received one for um on the media side for um the the work that's been going into advertising their program, but then also uh another award for just the work that they're doing in conjunction with our study. So it was very nice to see them honored. >> That's really exciting that we have a program like that that is combining the two and getting young students involved. >> Yes. I'm lucky about the community that supports us through this because we've had a lot of donations throughout the year and so the people keep supporting and that it's performing well and the kids are doing well. It is just great to see. >>
072Action 6.01 approved committee on special education. >> Move it. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. Abstaining passes 700. Action 6.02 02 to approve the 2627 instructional calendar. >> Move it. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I I opposed. Abstaining. Passes 700. Would one of my colleagues like to b thatch personnel 7.01 to 7.06. >> I move. >> Second. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Abstaining. Are we still doing accidental use? Passes 700. Are were you still doing the exit interviews for when we have people leaving resignations? Resignations. >> We haven't been doing it during the year. I believe we did so at the end of last year. >> We did do it at the end of last year. When they're resigning throughout the year, we don't do it.
073>> Um, no, but I typically put in the narrative the reason why. >> Okay. Yeah. >> But if you have any questions, I I probably >> you probably >> can answer totally. >> Thank you. >> Y questions. >> All right. Moves us to board forum. Mrs. Mrs. Griffin, would you like to start? >> Did you vote on that? >> Did you say me? >> I did. >> Yeah, we did. >> Did we Did we vote on the >> I want to share my question. >> And I said pass. >> I'd like to share my appreciation for all of the great entertainment tonight. It was nice to spend time with students. That's what brings us here are our young people in the community. So to our musicians, our girls basketball team, our boys basketball team, our
074indoor track, swimming, boys wrestling, girls wrestling, boys bowling, girls bowling, uh I extend my congratulations and I'm just thrilled for their accomplishments this year, all of them. They've done wonderful things. They should be very proud and they make the community feel very proud. I would like to thank uh again, I appreciate the donation from Brookfield. um anytime uh we see those kinds of uh um efforts on from our business folks, it's always appreciated and it does great things for our kids. Um so that's all I have this evening and thank you for your report. It was very extensive and I appreciate it. >> Mr. Dalon, >> uh I'm going to batch music. Thank you musicians and the entertainment. I'm going to batch athletes. Thank you for mentioning them all. Uh uh it's it's nice to
075see our students learning as well as doing well in the as well as they are in the sports. Uh Kate, thank you as always for what you put into the budget. Doug and your team, same as well. Um, Desiree, I know this time of year is always busy for you with the uh with votes and uh getting things out to candidates. So, I thank you and I think that's it. >> All right. Thank you, Miss Cleo. >> Yeah. um everything my colleagues have said to this point, all the extracurricular activities, whatever it may be, it just provides our students with the life skills, persevering through adversity, which in turn is just going to help them in the classroom and, you know, help develop them into successful graduates of Fulton. So, I appreciate everybody's time and
076effort and of course all the kids for coming out. Miss Hooper, thank you for um that addition because that's how my brain thinks and I know it's very simple for you, but it's not it's not very simple to break it down and to break it down so I understand it. I'm sure it's very simple for you, but I I'm sure >> yes, people like me definitely appreciate that. So, thank you for taking >> Miss Doll. I think everybody's covered it all. Um, I thank the team, okay, everybody for I just can't imagine the work and the time that you guys put into it. I appreciate that. I really do. And um the Brookfield donation and Carrie Hodgej with the outstanding students. Um Renee, thanks for the input on um family fun day and all the
077sports and the music, which I I just I love. I I think we've got we've got a great school. >> No, we do. We do. Mrs. Hamilton. >> Yes. >> I forgot one thing. I want to make sure the play the play was Yes. And congratulations to those. >> If you didn't get a chance to get out to see Grease, you missed a gem. That was a that was a wonderful production that they put together for us this year. So, yes. Uh, Mr. Connors, >> uh, I think one of the words that stood out when Robin was speaking was community. And I think it's one thing to look at the accomplishments, but I think it's another thing to look at how all the things everybody throughout the district is doing kind of represents us outside
078of here. When people look at Fulton and what they see and you're seeing the synergy, seeing the success in the pro, seeing those things, I think it really creates this picture of not only achieving but doing it in a way that really brings a lot of positive feedback to our community. And I think one of the things I was just at an appointment and it was a former student in the district and my dad having been a teacher was like, "Oh my goodness, do do you remember me?" I would, you know, I this was my story. This was everything. And for everyone out there, because it can be, you know, especially this time of year with everything going on, it can seem like a lot. It can seem overburdened. Just remembering that all those kids
079out there that you've made an impact and a difference in their life. It matters. They're out there doing things. They're contributing and they remember those little things. You know, it may have just been holding the door one day saying thank you and just remembering that what you do, what we do here matters to those kids. >> Well said, Mr. >> So, Ryan, >> well, thank you all for being present and I appreciate all of us having open discussions and um working together to to figure out how to be creative with some some tough calls. Um, I love seeing the students. It was definitely the highlight of every meeting though that that we always have is to see that. Um, and I I urge our community members to go and um write to the governor to
080to fully fund the foundational aid. Um, it is something that's being talked about from now until April 1st. And I think the more letters that our community writes, the better that our community could be served. Um, with foundational aid, we are one of the communities that does in the math forum of of how this uh foundational aid is figured out, we would very well be impacted. Um uh and I I urge everyone to to voice their opinion and let's get that link up so that >> they can make it easy. >> Yep. >> Well, you guys have pretty much said it all. I mean, we have an amazing district. It's great to see our kids. Um they're doing great things. Our our staff are doing wonderful things with our students, for our students. Mr. Connor,
081it was Paul said what you had just mentioned how our students later in life are out there doing great things because of what's going on here um in our district. And to the administration team, I mean, thank you for always taking all of our questions. I'm sure this time of year we're really throwing things at you all the time. I mean, I send things out to Kate like five minutes before meeting sometimes, but um you guys are are are helping us understand and not making it easier because it's not an easy process that we're going through, but making it easier for us to understand what it is that we need to be doing um through this budget. So, so thank you so much for all all of that. Um, I I did want to say,
082um, I was going to ask our student rep when she was here if she'd had an opportunity to speak anymore with the mayor on the sidewalk project. Um, I I know that you've had a meeting. I had a meeting with the mayor. Um, it would just be nice to kind of know where she stands on her end. So, >> last I knew, she had not been able to meet with him again. It is something that she's absolutely still interested in discussing. So, >> yes. >> Yeah. Yeah. It was uh we were driving over in the area today and just seeing some of the students that were it's not even snowing out right now and uh on Cedar Street was you know I I haven't been in that area during a dismissal or you know an
083arrival in a long time so so to see that was um it's pretty eye opening that something it would be nice to see something done for our students in this in the realm of safety. Absolutely. >> Um just I just wanted to know that uh the community know that we it's not something that we have forgotten um to continue to discuss. So um that that is definitely out there. Um that was that one. >> Just to kind of piggy back on that, >> there are some great grants that are available through um the Fulton Block Builders Association. They're celebrating their 10th anniversary. I've been a block leader um and there's a lot of community members. I think that if we were to partner with them, they might help us in that to to be able
084to kind of get creative with um some match funding. And I mean, they're they're funding projects up to $10,000. So, and our beautiful parks across the street was done by two organiz two two community groups that got together um to help >> to fund >> to fix those sidewalks over there, which look amazing. Yeah. So we really do need the city to be engaged in that though obviously with it not being our property >> very knowledgeable. >> Just another thing the thing is that it needs it needs groups throughout the entire city. >> So and through every ward and I'm more than >> I' I've looked at it. I know when >> when uh walk school day is like but >> we need a lot of community members to be involved in it. Um, and
085I think that it could be a very fun community event. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> That's that's a great idea. Something to look at. We could maybe bring that up with the >> Yes. Mayor >> as well. So So that is great. >> All right. Um, we will move on to our second public forum. If there's anyone who's interested in speaking. >> Okay, we're going to move into a brief executive session. Uh, we need to discuss a couple of things. We are going to do updates. Um this one right here. Okay. >> Yeah, both. >> Okay. We do have updates um on a couple of legal matters that we need to discuss. Uh and also personal matters regarding um staff members andor positions. So that's what we'll be moving into executive session for. We will thank
086you all for joining us and we will return shortly. >> Do we have to move I have to move it because >> I'll move it. >> Let me close that window. And now it's really warm in here. No, I'm just kidding. All right. So, who moved it? Tim. >> Thank you. I'll second. >> It takes a village. So, thank you so much. Uh, all those in favor? I oppose. Abstaining. Passes 700. Yep. >> All right. Does somebody move action 9.01 adjournment? Move it. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I opposed. Abstaining. Passes 700. Thank you everyone and have a great evening.