001on the screen here I have a bottom I think most of us have it the green at the bottom it says share screen and it says sharing is not turned on you can request sharing for this webinar right oh okay okay otherwise I have it here in PowerPoint I could probably open it too um I'm going to go back just same thing though even if we try and share it it will say we're not enabled well let's just wait and see what chrisy and Ed can work out it's okay if we take a minute we're still waiting for Matthew we are Live on YouTube it's said and uh chrisy we're just starting a school board uh session here so I'll call you back in a little bit okay no you called me this morning I
002was calling back did you just accidentally call me okay we we we'll visit later okay yeah we'll chat okay yeah bye all right bill you better mute those phone calls yes I am that's that's a board member from scapoose that was Mr Mr kessie himself we were talking we were talking basketball so it doesn't really pertain but okay now might where it says how do I pick up chrisy is there something special here I have the ability to share now it as soon as we're ready to go I'll wait until Matthew comes on yep um I think I'm gonna wait a couple more minutes guys for our chair to get to the meeting um can anyone text Matthew just to see if he's on his way can Tren you got it you want I will
003yeah thanks Bill why don't you text him and just make sure he's on his way oops uh I don't he's not in my phone I thought he was in my phone I just sent him a message and said almost on question okay great see if he answers I thought he was in my phone but we definitely would want to make sure um that you have him in your phone yes he should be but he hasn't answered yet hopefully he's working hard to get on oh he just saw my message that's a good sign that's a good sign well I think I have his phone number and not his name I didn't I I failed to do that appropriately at some point he's writing to me right now h a second maybe we could do just
004a basic uh introduction of what this meeting is because every year for budget meeting we have the same meeting 101 so maybe we could just tell the public what it is while we wait so we could start with pledge and then she could start on the introductory stuff but Matthew is going to want to know what we're saying because okay he he will be on in a few minutes he says um he says hold on he thought he thought the meeting was just tonight for some reason between me and Karen so he's he's coming on okay that what I don't know he must got mixed up on what work yes it's just Melody and I for a work session I know we could yeah we're special I know I could have bought you a spray
005too I oose so you guys say the pledge at an online meeting that's a work session yes we do okay then go ahead let's do it Trinity rise for the pledge I pledge allegiance ALG to the FL the United States of America to to the Republic for which it stands under God indivisible with liy and justice for all very good thank you hard to keep up on here so I think uh I'm going to go ahead and do the introduction for the meeting thank you all for coming to the work session of the board um this is an attempt to uh have the beginning of a conversation around the St Helen's budget I'm new to your district and new to your budget oops I'm new to your district and new to your process and uh
006chrisy also coming on board this year as well um we have both had some difficulty in in um understanding all of it and so we've invited some helpers to come and help us as you know uh Andre uh shellhouse and uh gayel and uh Jacobson have come on board alongside uh our CF of and helped us to begin to really dive into the budget um some of the budget presentation if you are used to having a uh winter um budget goal setting with the board and the superintendent and CFO this will be uh familiar I don't think it'll be exactly the same because this is not the same presentation that you usually get it's different and um also there is a Time built in uh Christy will lead the the presentation of course and there'll
007be a time for us to stop and really have conversation the board to have conversation about what your future goals are for your budget um we'll have some budget assumption information but some of it has Isn't known so that we are presenting to you everything that we know currently and there will be more information when we get our 2324 audit back in about a month so I think that that's a good introduction the um the purpose of the meeting is to become familiar with some of the numbers that we're going to be looking at for the 2526 budget season and um to entertain ideas and questions from the board about it so if that makes sense that's a pretty good introduction as to what we're doing I wish Matthew was on board so that he
008could hear that little introduction he has never done this before but we're we're needing to to move forward catch up he'll catch up take it away Christie thank you all appreciate the the time and look forward to the conversation so um just kind of talk about a little bit about um an introduction where we start um where we begin what what we look at as we begin to build the budget for the following year let's see we'll see if I can get there we go um so I I wanted to start most of you on the screen have been part of this process for a number of years so you know what a lot of these terms mean I wanted to just um start from scratch as I learn and as other people people in
009the community are learning so just kind of talking about some generic some general uh budget definitions as we go through and what we're talking about so you have an idea so um contingency are funds held for emergency use um it requires board resolution prior to use um up to 15% of that amount and then if a more than 15% of contingency is needed then a supplemental budget um is required an unappropriated ending fund balance um is to provide cash or working capital to begin the following fiscal year so um until we begin to get property taxes in November um it gives us some cash to work with and until that time um our board policy requires this to be 5% of the general fund budget um no expenditures can be made from that Fund in
010the current year except on an emergency basis um the state school fund formula is od's method of allocating Revenue to K through 12 school districts so um there's a formula if you've tried to look at it I tell you you can look at it a million times and still learn something new every time it ensures that every District receives the same amount per student and it's adjusted only for uncontrollable costs um uh on a basis the state school fund helps provide funding Equity around the state by adding additional funding for the students um and that's called waiting so we have weights we have our enrollment and then we have weights associated with certain um populations so our admr is our actual resident membership the number of students we actually have enrolled in school and then
011the admw which drives the state school fund um is the admr plus adjustments for additional cost to educate certain groups of students again that waiting so here's the waiting that our students um get so students in poverty have a 0.25 weight added um English language Learners 0.5 pregnant and parenting one um special education one however that is capped at 11% of our admr so um for us that is significant because we have significantly more than 11% of our population are special education students but we're only weighted for the first 11% and then 0.25 for foster care neglected or delinquent students any questions about that part so far seem pretty familiar heard this time or two I'm sure yeah I feel free to it's good anyway it's good to be reminded always a good good reminder
012um so our state school fund formula then is dependent on state aid plus local Revenue so we receive local Revenue in a means of property taxes uh could be Timber um there are other local options depending on where you where where you live different districts have different um local Revenue that combine then to um create that state school fund formula so it's a state plus local Revenue um the number of students plus the cost factors um times the base funding per student that the state determines each District's share of total funding depends solely on the base funding per student and their additional cost factors or waiting this is a balanced equation where admw and money per admw as determined by the state is always the result of our total funding if one factor on the
013left side of the equation changes the other Factor must compensate so if we get additional state revenue then uh if we get additional local Revenue excuse me then we lessen what we get from state revenue from the state so um we don't ever get more because we just happen to be in an area that gets more local Revenue um they equalize that out so that all districts in the state um are equalized as far as funding um general fund um which is mainly the focus that we'll have with this group and the board um is our fund 100 used for the general operating expenses of the district um it may be transferred to other funds by board resolution for restricted uses such as Debt Service property purchases and capital expenditures other funds may not be
014moved into the general fund revenues are from State intermediate and local sources in the general fund and our expenditures include non-discretionary or fixed expenses like salary benefits payroll expenses custodial Food Services if needed that's not always coming out of the general fund but that um can if need be um and then we have contracted Transportation those are all things that we you just we don't have a say in how much we spend it costs what it costs um and then and that's part of our budget and it also comprises 85 to 90% of our budget so it is a the significant portion of our general fund budget there are a few discretionary expenses expenses such as purchase services and supplies included in the general fund and again that um board policy requiring a 5% unappropriated
015ending fund balance for St ens I would think that that um Christine I'm not sure but the um 5% unappropriated ending fund balance on a a $43 million budget would be about 2.2 million so I just want to kind of keep that in my mind talking about general fund not talking about all funds um would you say that that would be something fairly correct yes yep you got it about actually I had started that calculation on my calculator before we got into the meeting and I hadn't quite finished so at 40 uh what' you say 42 million I think it's 43 yeah 43 2.15 so um yes right in there 2.1 to 2.2 great you guys I just wanted you to note on the minutes that Matthew just got on so he's with us all
016right thank you thanks the the reason for that is we used to borrow money to pay teacher salaries at the beginning of the school year and actually have to take out a loan and just for the public information and now by keeping an ending fund balance we can wait until November when we get our money and we don't have to borrow money to start school but that was always a every year taking out a loan paying interest and this this is kind of where that's our piggy bank that's also fluctuated too from the 3% to the 11% range since I've seen it h and that's why we set the policy because it was kind of holding around 7% and we felt that more of the fun should be used towards right thank you for that
017information I think one of the things also that the public doesn't always understand and I like to underline this every time we do this so you'll forgive me um is that 85 to 90% of what we pay our contracts and these are contracts that we have with teachers with trans portation with classified uh their bargained their benefits their health benefits and so they're not you know they're not money that gets to be U messed around with very much of the the general total of what we get in school districts so there's a very small amount of money that's discretionary expenses and as chrisy pointed out that's what pays for know paper and pens and purchase services that we have services that we purchase I just think it's worth underlining thank you for that Dr Gray
018yes ma'am could I also jump in and and mention Charter Schools as well that we also delegate out money that comes into the district to other students that are still within the district uh that might end up in charter schools or online that money still goes to them as well absolutely so we know that elementary students uh we give 80% of the ADM that follows them to the charter school that's within our our district and then uh whether it be an online school or or a not online school and then also 95% of the money goes to anyone in secondary Charters so that's a really good point a board member Smith that even though we we have a charter in our um District the Arthur Academy that money flows go through to the students and
019they are part of our state school fund just so everyone are they count in our ADM there are numbers our numbers include um Arthur Academy numbers any other questions or comments on that section on the kind of the inappropriate ending fund balance that we were talking about and ADM okay I'll go on to special Revenue funds so our fund 200 um has restricted special Revenue funds so these can um be comprised of federal state local grants other special sources such as donations or transfer some other funds um it's they are Mo mainly restricted use and can't be used for any purpose outside of what the grant identifies donations are a little bit can be a little bit different but um when we're talking grants they're very very restriced and are clearly identified on what we
020can spend those funds on um examples of special Revenue funds are federal title and special education grants Title One Ida we have a title two a title 4 a um and then we also have our Sia Grant and our high school Success Grant those are just a few examples of those Grant funds other restricted funds that we have our is our pers Debt Service fund so what we're obligated as an employer to pay uh on behalf of our employees as well as our contribution to The Purge fund then we have our general obligation bonds funds those again are um restricted we can only use those as identified in the bond and then Capital Construction funds or construction excise tax the construction excise tax tax must be spent on Capital construction projects and the construction excise
021tax that is probably particular to the area I would think because they're not all the same and like what I've noticed is like people pull permits and things like that and there's a construction excise tax on top of things um also going back to the Sia that restricted fund those dollars come to us out of the corporate activity tax uh so these are all very particular revenue streams and they have they're very particular expenditure stream as well chrisy talk to us a little bit about sometimes people misunderstanding What bond funds can be used for so bond funds can only be used for capital projects and those capital projects must have been identified in the bond when the bond was voted on so we can't we can't just decide ourselves to spend those bond funds on
022a project that we decide we want to unless that was clearly identified in the bond that the voters elected and voted on does that so things like lowering class size no I would assume that that's not something that a bond could be used for no operating expenses so not go on Bill the Capital Construction fund is what people here know as a system development charge so there's one for the street there's one for the sewer there's one for parks and there's one for education so even if you're not in the urban growth boundary of the city the county and other areas outlying have agreed to go ahead and incorporate that as well so when you get a building permit and you hit system development charges for whatever your building a store apartment or just your
023own home that's where the construction excise tax comes in but it's most folks here would know it as a system development charges but they're they're hearing thank you for that B please any other questions or comments on restricted funds okay so as we go into the 2526 budget season um there are a few things that you know we want we're making some assumptions as as we all know this is uh as many of us know this is the first year of a bium so we don't yet know what the state budget is uh that won't be determined um potentially until June they have until June 30th the state to adopt a budget um our initial estimates will be based on the governor's recommended budget of 11.36 billion current estimates um make that an increase of
024about two million to St Hillen School District but again that all could change this is all very preliminary right now we did get our first um 2526 State School fund estimate at the beginning of the month and it includes updated Statewide admw numbers um as of December 31st 2024 uh the state school fund is paid on the higher of this year's enrollment for my estimate for next year each January we have to submit an estimate of membership and revenue and um the state determines whether they use that estimate the higher of that estimate estimate or uh this year's enrollment uh when they put out our state school fund estimates for the the following year um our current estimate is using the 2425 admw of 3,280 as of 12 3124 Which is higher than my estimate
025for 2526 my estimate was a little bit lower than that so it's going with the higher um 3280 any questions on that we we seem to as we look at our enrollment um we seem to have some decreasing pattern uh just in looking at the enrollment over the last three years um we're going to talk about that a little bit in the next slide but um it looks like not in a big big way but it looks like St Helens has some clining enrollment thank you for that um uh so again we talked about January so and when I submitted um estimates of membership and revenue in January I estimated um an across theboard average of a 2% drop in enrollment and that's I'm just being conservative because our enrollment has dropped about 1.3% since
026September and it's kind of declining downward word from what I've seen um every month there was of course a big month in the fall and then um it does seem to be declining so I felt like 2% was a a conservative estimate of what that decline in enrollment would look like that's a cons that's a consistent Trend Nationwide by the way that's not just us it's it's school districts everywhere uh as people opt into others types of Education absolutely um our outgoing 12th grade class is 258 and our incoming or our current kindergarten is 2011 so that kind of gives you a little bit of a difference a losss of 57 students just not even looking at anything else uh looking at that graduation and incoming Kinders a loss of 57 students also weights may
027change if student demographics change so as that um es and flows and and the students come in and out of the district are demographics could change therefore affecting our weights and that's why we get multiple State School fund estimates throughout the year as we work through the budget season there's a link here if you're interested in um admw estimates and those are available for um all the districts in the state if um you have that interest and those listen online if you um need that information need a link don't hesitate to reach out to me I'm happy to provide that for you thank you Christie yeah that is public information um okay so budget estimates um we'll assume budgeting budgeted Staffing with vacancies as if fully staffed so in other words if we have folks
028a current vacant position we're budgeting for that position assuming that we'll be fully staffed next year um it does include a 4% Cola plus a step if eligible for all licensed classified confidential and administrators per those respective agreements um salaries have an increase um just preliminary look here um looking at last year's budget of salary and benefits to this year's budget currently again uh very very early but um looking like an increase of about 3.7 million that is significant um we are looking at about a 10% increase in our Pur rates this year uh States across the district or districts across the state um are all see significant changes a lot of them are seeing significant changes to the pur rates so we're not alone in that increase um many districts in the state are
029being affected by that but we have appr approximately 10% it's probably also no not worth noting that uh the school district is the biggest or largest employer in the county actually good point there's also conversation about the rate being reduced uh chrisy and I have been looking with Morgan Allen the uh one of the co-a leaders in in this area and he's uh even up to yesterday uh or Friday we texted with him and emailed with him and he said that uh because there was an overage of PE collection a significant overage that there is hope that um across the board there could be a reduction in the purs rate fingers crossed toes crossed eyes crossed um and so that could possibly help us out a little bit um but otherwise this is a significant
030increase to the budget do keep in mind that this um 3.7 does indic does assume the highest benefit level for all staff that's just where we start with our budget uh we know not all staff will have the highest level of benefit that they have available to them so that that number will drop a bit as we um fine-tune it but um another uh assumption is our contracted services for transportation we have an annual increase in our current contract with them of 6.3% so that will increase um 6.3% going into the to next year for an approximate increase of 141,000 I have a question about that and uh knowing that um both Christie and I are are new me newer than her um anybody remember what this 6.3% negotiated contract increase annually how that was
031negotiated that's a very large negotiated increase any thoughts about that that's okay I I was not on the team for that but [Music] um that that was over a year a year and a half of of bargaining and keeping with everybody else you know it's kind of kind keeping up with the Joneses thing so that we had that but um the comp competitive wage within the market from the valley bringing them out here so we'd have some good teachers that would want to come out and teach well this is for bus it is that's where it started and I wasn't on that team yeah just curious because that's a that and makes sense you you folks are making sense I'm just saying 6.3 per year I I blanch it you're 4% Cola for teachers so
032these are these are large percentage increases that are very expensive and so that's all that I'm it's not a judgment here or there it's an observation and um 6.3% on a transportation increases a lot of money just saying it took us from one of the very lowest uh within the state to the middle of the pack and now maybe within the top 10 on Transportation no in general with the increases yeah no I'm just talking about bus service okay that's all yeah I think you're talking about employment contracts yes which is great it's I don't have the history it's just I'm observing bigger numbers than I'm used to that's all keep going Christie that's it keep going doing a great job um another assumption is that we budgeted uh the 20 425 school year for
033an ending fund balance of 1.5 uh 1, 58794 uh that is significantly less not significantly it is less than the board required 5% my understanding is that was obviously negotiated by the board to um make that change for last year uh so just something that we need to think about as we're going into this budget season that um starting with a a much lower beginning fund balance um and there are some things that we maybe can do to ramp that up a little bit and we're working on that um I think probably the thing that concerns me the most going into this is is that that's a significant decrease from the ending fund balance in 2324 which was budgeted at 6.5 so that's pretty pretty different ending fund balance we've spent down a lot of
034that ending fund balance this fiscal year so we'll be I'll be looking closely at that um always keep in mind everything we talk about is estimates right now um and based on several assumptions that will change so the governor's budget could change you know the purs rates could change uh you know like I indicated benefits for staff that will definitely change it wouldn't be full for everyone so a lot of things will change as we go through this process I think one thing that's going to help us a lot Bard is going to be when um this week the uh 2324 audit goes in and so when we get the audit back and have a meeting with our Auditors to look at the previous year I think that we're going to be looking at that
035just opposed to the 2425 budget so we want want to look at the 2324 audit against the 2425 budget and try to take a look at where uh it went from an ending fund balance of 6.5 to 1.5 and being mindful of how we um are able to kind of get ourselves back up uh we would need another $700,000 in order to get to your 5% a requirement by policy and I'm not really sure how to get there so uh it's going to require some conversation once we get that audit back in April it's good timing because we'll be budgeting in April and meeting in May so some fast work needs to happen thank you Dr Gray uhuh any questions on assumptions okay we'll move on thank you just uh this is just a quick
036snip of where we're at right now with the 2425 budget so um currently on track to potentially if we uh to maybe have a little bit more than that 1.6 ending fund balance so we we could be turning upwards but we still have a few months to go so minute to look let's take a moment and look at this for my sake would you make it just a little bigger sure let's see what I can do if you can only if you can if you can um can we explain what the difference is between a 1,000 and a 2,000 absolutely great question um 1,000 are um instructional so teachers um instructional assistants that are actually in the middle of providing instruction for students so they're in the weeds working with students providing instruction 2000 is
037um support services so it could be supporting of staff could be supporting of students um Support Services could that includes uh Administration uh and other areas uh instructional coaches um those that are helping other staff for helping students but not providing the actual instruction would you also explain where the bond money is so the bond is in its own um bond fund it's not in the general fund so this is just general fund um it doesn't have anything to do with the bond can can we please note that I didn't get this page so we can maybe make me a copy later to go in yes yes because you got the old one that I had on my desk and I couldn't get this one to print sorry about that Melody that's okay that's right
038then we know which one I'm definitely get it to you for sure okay thanks so I want to go back again yeah there you go what other questions does the board have this is by far the most helpful document I've seen yet uh since my tenure here in the last five weeks uh Christie and her team have worked really hard to get us some of these um budget to actual documents so that we can start knowing how much money we have so this is you know a really important beginning of a conversation a couple of other things that I wanted to bring up while you're looking at this um and that is that I've kind of identified um in an overview four areas that I think that we could bring back Revenue to the district
039and of course we'll want to hear what the board's budget goals are first but just in keeping in mind in additional revenues that Christie and I have started to have some conversations about are fourfold and they are some ESD funds that we still have in our account with that agency uh of their uh flow through dollars that we have not asked for and there are some significant dollars there that we're going to be considering bringing back to the district um there's a couple of contracts that we currently have that I'm not really sure are benefiting the school district with regards to some purchase Services contracts that um I I'm really asking staff whether or not they are an effective use of dollars um in addition there are some Personnel changes that are being made and
040there um some of these Personnel changes can result in some savings to the district's general fund as we work our way through those and then also in looking again at some property developments and sales that we will be discussing at more uh length under executive session on Wednesday so I just kind of wanted to bring that up to the board when we're thinking about money that feeds the revenue stream some of these are annual and some of these are one-time monies so we have some negative unencumbered balances there and uh to me it looks you just brought it up as like Contract Services if those um if there's the the potential that at this point in the year rather than just let those run uh we would it be beneficial to maybe uh end uh
041some of those contracted Services if you're going to anyway that we end them this year instead of waiting for fall I don't know what you're talking about so or me but but if there are Contract Services we're not going to continue next year maybe it's time to say in fact we're not going to continue them uh after March uh and and so so I don't know I just I'm just asking if if then some of those unencumbered uh negative numbers or even positive numbers could be uh protected a little bit better uh between now and the end of the year I think uh that's a great idea one of the issues around that and chrisy you can correct me if I'm wrong um some of the contracts have a June 30 2025 ending and there's
042no way to end those early but I hear you if there's an opportunity for example and again I might be barking up the wrong tree because this ESD Works different than my last one but there are significant flowthrough dollars that ESD apportions to our agency that frankly we don't need to carry over we need them in the general fund and they are able to be used in the general fund and so Christie and I are having conversation with the ESD those are funds that can be requested now for this year and count as part of our Revenue where I would like to see some of those go uh is in our uh larger than 11% population of weighted students where where we're re where we've reached a cap well if we're capped and we have
043a greater population than 11% then potentially those ESD funds should be going there I'm assuming that will help balance that out well they actually become part of what's called your high cost disability yeah so uh uh the services that we buy through the ESD actually they're Pat they're just okay they're just a service that we need speech otpt um Psy psychology evaluation um they're not used to backfill any kind of loss under the 11% what is set up is a fund called high cost disability which adds a large uh Revenue to the school district if appropriated again it's a single pie but what's our piece of the pie and that's something that Lori and chrisy work on okay thank you for that's not in these numbers we haven't put that in yet but good point
044that high cost disability is huge to our district could you elaborate just since we're right there at the moment and I know you guys aren't HR but how are we doing with our Workforce shortage are we able to fill those positions right now or have those still been difficult uh from what I know we just had a meeting about that today we've had a pretty good fill rate at this point um there are times where we are using um kind of emergency certified instructional assistance that have bachelor's degrees to fill in when we need to um as far as any open positions I'm not aware of any at this time but I think that we may have difficulty in the fall okay thank you yes ma'am if I may ask really quick um I'm noticing
045on here that the the purchase Services the budget is considerably larger than the actuals and incumber together the [Music] a I can't hear you sorry that would be the mic here um better I'm looking at the purchase services and noticing that the budget that we had and the actuals and encumbered ended up giving us a positive balance of over a million what was the cause of that so it could be um ESS is one of our contracted Services which is our subservices and we actually don't encumber those expenses so when we get to the end of the year it would be um we could look at that a little bit closer and I'm happy to look into what we actually budgeted I don't have that off the top of my head Matthew but I'm H
046happy to look into exactly what we budgeted and then we could estimate out what we're expecting to pay ESS through the end of the year yeah I know it sounds strange in order to be able to focus on a large positive number rather than a large negative number but being able to end up figuring out like is this is this balanced correctly do we have um do we have something that we were anticipating getting in that's actually critical to the district that we didn't end up going through with you know whether or not there happened to be a project that we were in the middle of doing and then we had to terminate it because we couldn't fulfill things that's all that I just want to end up making sure about I don't I don't
047know of anything um in that in any of the things that you described Matthew so I I think the majority of that is probably through our ESS Services okay thank you very much you're welcome I personally am hoping it stays just like that and it doesn't budge what else do you want to ask questions about you may take this home also and then have all kinds of questions tomorrow feel free to text or email Christie absolutely we can move on okay so just uh just a quick reminder about our district strategic goals for 23 through 26 so Student Success every student is prepared through a variety of learning options to successfully transition to their next meaningful step preschool through high school and Beyond inclusive culture create an inclusive and positive culture that promotes a safe
048and connected learning environment for all high quality instruction identify and prioritize quality classroom instruction by investing in staff to reinforce student centered best practices so just kind of anchoring us back to those strategic plans uh so that as we move forward and talk budget and talk about prioritizing we anchoring on these strategic goals so as we go into a quick question I'm not I've got that page here sh there sorry you're good I was just saying that I don't have I'm not showing at least on my screen the page that you just this one should have been in there it wasn't changed the one you were reading off of just a minute ago this one the one I'm just still showing the budget assumptions general fund first glance and you were you were reading the
049distri Strategic goals one it's not how about for everyone else are you seeing this yeah yeah that looks like it doesn't like me it's okay okay h we'll keep going as we go into this next section I want to highlight I'm gonna I'm bringing up um what I found that you guys discussed last year in the planning in as part of your planning so these are the 2425 from what I could find they may have changed so we'll talk about that uh the 2425 budget priorities that were identified last year as you went into budget season and so I just kind of want to review those and then we'll talk about them and see like is this something you want to keep is this something that's still important um so let's go through them all
050and then I can go back to the beginning so um provide staff support to nurture a positive working environment and encourage collaboration utilize belonging and inclusive inclusivity lens in all decision-making processes to allocate budget resources that support marginalized students and promote belonging increase trans fers from the general fund and develop a deferred maintenance plan for future facility Improvement allocate resources to ensure that class sizes remain reasonable facilitating effective teaching and learning experiences for all students maintain a reserve fund to support the adoption of updated curriculum materials to align with evolving educational standards and be best practices evaluate the allocation of resources to the science Department to ensure alignment with educational goals and priorities allocate budget resources to support new and Innovative instructional models that cater to the diverse learning needs of all students including opportunities
051for student choice in their educational pathway address rolling equipment needs such as providing Chromebooks to support digital learning initiatives so this is a high level I also have details so um I'm going to let you give me your first thoughts on these high level and if we need to go into the details we can so thoughts first I would love to hear about things that we just went through and I can go back to the top um that we you guys talked about last year and maybe identified as not being priorities or expanding upon it or um changing it in some way shape or form some way shape or form any thoughts go down to the bottom of this one bill you're muted there um the science department at before we got our bonds we
052decided we were going to put money towards that then we thought the money would come out of the bond uh to buy equipment things that didn't last year they adopted new science materials and actually funded those things but it's a six-year plan their fiveyear whatever it is for the uh curriculum adoption cycle that they have and they were functionally bankrupt uh as far as equipment and supplies and this is actually from what I'm hearing Was a Very Good Year that that teachers have what they need to go on and so I think that I don't know that there's any additional funding beyond what is planned but um at least to maintain what you have now started and not just let it go deteriorate back to where it was because with the new activity centered Science
053Program uh there are significantly more supplies and materials needed because kids are actually engaged in their learning instead of doing uh worksheets so you're specifically speaking to science I I was specifically speaking to science in that one uh and there was a makeup thing that that I have brought up in the past with with the CTE program that a replacement of the uh fees that were at one point uh dropped for taking the class for required supplies and uh I think that there's been some discussion you may have already handled that but uh make sure that there's a priority in the uh CTE Department to have adequate supply for the kids uh to re to replace the fee based system that we had originally that that is when we Dro student body fees then we
054needed we need to make it up some areas we did some areas we did not some areas were never impacted by it so it's just something that we need to maintain where did the money for the fees come from since you dropped the fees where did where' the money come from they just didn't have they don't have the material or they went out and raised money grants uh getting donations every way to operate that they could uh but they don't have those supplies uh that they that they did have it wasn't a large fee but it was enough to at least you know buy glue and sandpaper and drill bits and things that you consume you know Lumber and and welding rods and gas and clay and Ceramics and things of that sort um they
055drop the fees and the teachers uh are teachers they you make do with what you have but it would be really nice to put those back and that's not a large sum of money for that addition thoughts maybe we could look at the other list the details uh and I just want to make sure that I'm not saying something that's actually on the next page let's go to them so um continued instructional support and enrichment activities provide additional professional development opportunities some of these are a little bit different there were some that overlapped in some so this one's a little bit we a little bit more than it was in the other slides um provide additional professional development opportunities for teaching staff to enhance instructional strategies and support teacher development support the expansion of Career
056and Technical education programs to provide diverse learning opportunities and then sorry about that um maintaining reasonable class sizes allocate resources to ensure that class sizes remain reasonable facilitating effective teaching and learning experiences for all students allocate resources to to hire additional instructional assistance to support students I'll keep going through all of these are like two more pages and then we'll um visit fostering District culture and Community commitment offer parent education opportunities to enhance family involvement in students education provide staff support to nurture a positive working environment and encourage collaboration promote healthy connectivity within the district community Through various initiatives and enrichment activities including opportunities for talent and gifted students utilizing a belonging and inclusivity lens in all decision-making processes to allocate budget resources that support marginalized students and promote belonging facility maintenance and and Improvement
057invest in maintaining all weather surfaces and explore opportunities to add fields to elementary schools to ensure safe and accessible outdoor spaces increase transfers from the general fund and develop deferred Main plans for future facility improvements allocate resources for the replacement and or repair of instructional and sound equipment to support effective teaching and learning environments alloc allocate resources for Paving the high school parking lot to enhance safety and accessibility for students and staff uh so promoting Innovative instructional models maintaining a reserve fund to support the adoption of updated curriculum materials to align with evolving educational standards and best practices evaluate the allocation of resources to the science department to ensure alignment with educational goals and priorities and allocate budget resources to support new and Innovative instructional models that cater to the diverse learning needs of all
058students including opportunities for student choice in their educational Pathways review and update the special educational instruction special education instru ction model to ensure that it meets the diverse needs of students with disabilities and promotes inclusive practices invest in technology allocate funding for it infrastructure to streamline parent notifications and provide a centralized events calendar address rolling equipment needs such as providing Chromebooks to support digital learning initiatives hopefully that was helpful Kelly yes of course do you mind if I jump in don't in okay um ones that I don't see on there um it's hard this like refreshes your memory from last year but I I know that we added to it slightly and the boosters had an ask that we keep in mind uh for a sports Fieldhouse um and that some of that might be
059within the uh Bond ability but also the sale of property but it's always been just a out there as a goal uh to make sure that we had that opportunity for one there needs to be some access for bathrooms maybe Ada capacity but it's um a long ways away the concessions is up into the top field and the parking so um just more things uh offering logistically an opportunity to be up there and they're calling it kind of a baseball or Sports Field House complex and they have matching money so hopefully we would be able to put something towards it and help and then um with the uh investment in different instructional models uh through covid it was something that I advocated for that we continue to do like different Pathways for children so that
060they could actually know what they're doing and and in high school be able to say hey this is what I'm interested in and and move down that pathway and have dual learning online and in person and I think that it it would be really beneficial to have a counseling member that staff member that's in the Counseling Center that would help them uh figure out that pathway so that they can still do the back and forth whether it's online or in through a CTE or in person in class especially with this current Administration um it it might be that we maybe there's vouchers in the fall or you know there could be something and we don't know what it is uh so if we can at least have it in our budget to have somebody that
061would uh keep children engaged and help them pick the pathway that is Meaningful to them then we'll keep students actually engaged thank you for that thank you one thing I think is really important to alert the board to is that your textbook fund is down to $424,000 there's a health adoption that's supposed to be adopted this year and they've been working on it all year evidently um we are down to the Nubs on any kind of instructional curriculum dollars um just so that you're aware um the money that came out of the instruction fund and out of the student services fund uh when we purchased our property um that's a million dollars that came out of those two services and that instruction um that we're down in our funding um and in in in along
062with that down to 1.5 million in ending fund balance which is almost a million dollars below your requirement so when we're talking about uh field houses and adding staff and adding materials and adding and adding I would tell you that this is not going to be your year for adding um this is going to be a year where I'm going to be looking at do I have to decrease um certain things that we're used to having in order to make this budget sustainable moving forward so with um I hate to be the bearer of bad Tidings but I'm going to not be a very good superintendent if I lead you down a different path and that's not going to work for you you're not going to want that are there other ways to do things
063yes I refuse to believe there aren't other ways to do things so I'm not saying no but I'm saying if you're looking at general fund or these restricted Grant funds that we have um they are going to be very difficult to come up with anything other than what you're already doing this year we have a significant if you look at that uh big graph where we have all of these negative numbers on licensed staff um part of that is because we're double paying people that are on Personnel leave and that isn't your fault but that is what's happening and so that's why you're seeing huge negative numbers in there because we have we have double people on our roles right now we are working through them properly efficiently legally and that will straighten itself out
064but currently that's not what's happening so again I at the risk of being you know the gigantic wet blanket I love the things that all of you are saying but this is not going to be the year we're adding anything to anything in the budget I don't know how I'm paying to replace computers I don't know how I'm going to pay to have a health adoption this year I'm going to probably have to get them to get a waiver and not adopt anything this year because I'm afraid of not having a healthy ending fund balance so I know that christe is shaking her head because this is the conversation that we're having this is a really good time for us to start talking about it now when you talk about Kelly's idea of the kind
065of career counselor I love that idea how do we have a Pathways person do we have current Personnel who are located at the high school whose tasks could be reallocated in a way that makes sense to us uh for the same cost but doing something that we feel needs to be done at the high school in a different way um that's all together possible in fact a good idea so this is really helping me to take what we've got and shifting it so that maybe it will meet the needs of the kids differently and I think we all understand that with these being themes and goals we know that things will be cut and things won't be reality that's why it's even good for us to refresh our memory so these EV been ongoing goals
066the whole time and keep them going because if you want a Fieldhouse and we've got to figure out how to do that school districts that have not very much money have figured out how to build one with their boosters and it's always with matching funds so I'd love to have that conversation more fleshed out in the future because I've heard that from Bill as well so that's another good thing that we can talk about keep these things on your list just with a realistic eye that right now we're we're in the low funds end of our personality here the the the for instance the elementary field that's going to stay a goal because we want to do that but we have yes yet to have the money for it and sometime there may be a
067way that we do that with parent groups wathon whatever get it started and then go to a company and ask for matching funds or whatever we can do there's many many ways but if you don't have a goal you'll never hit a Target so uh I we want to maintain these goals but I appreciate that your comment that is a very realistic thing the other thing is that maybe you could give without going too far into it just that that because of uh labor law and and and things we can't just uh you have to do things in a proper order you can't just say oh well I'm not paying double I I and and fire everybody this is we don't have the same freedoms that some government agencies seem to have not and so
068uh I I think that that that's important to share with folks that that uh we're bound to do things in a certain order and and as frustrating as is it's frustrating to us too we're not irresponsible we're not silly we're not dumb we just in fact we're really smart we're following exact legal advice that we get from very very smart people that are paid to give us that we are fettered and mired and for all the right reasons in our contract processes and in the law and we're going to follow them to every inth degree uh you know if you think following the law is expensive you ought to try what happens when you break it so we I I'm so glad bill because you're giving a context to anyone who's listening out there um
069there are things that have to follow in order on the curriculum adoption again I think bill has this history um but I I think we went I don't know it's just been the last five years that we've started adopting and we went maybe 15 or something without an adoption so did we yeah and so we've been just now catching up and that is expensive and this is our third or fourth area that we've actually had an adoption so that's really exciting and it sounds expensive um but it it is needed to to get us back to normal remember I remember finding a science book and I took it over to an administrator at the high school and he said he looked he said well this book's 25 years old we're not using that and I
070said well actually you are because I wrote this number on the end of the book that's my handwriting and and I'm well aware of when that book was purchased and I'm well aware of how long it's been in service and I'm sorry there's no cover on it but please put some cardboard there and give it to a kid that doesn't seriously so we've been there I we understand it it is I'm so happy to hear you and Kelly because Kelly is bringing up what has really been an issue in Oregon schools and that has been an absolute lack of funding for curriculum adoption and school districts go 15 20 25 years without having an adoption because they simply don't have the money and we don't do a good job of funding our schools uh not
071only that people play 65y Old tubas in their bands because there's no money for that curriculum and so I'm happy we have some dollars and the health adoption will probably be a six through 12 adoption largely with software so that is going to help us be able to do some adopting which you'll find out about at the board meetings because you have to you have to approve it but we probably will do some health adoption it just isn't going to be a full adoption and then we need to start putting onetime money back in that account so that we can come back with our also you need a replacement plan for your computers they're not going to last and so what is our replacement plan we need to think about that same with CTE how
072are you replacing art supplies and Construction Supplies boards get to have fees they get to impose student fees we try really hard not to but what about the high school Success Grant is there a possibility of using those funds to support the work that we're doing in uh Career Technical programs that begs a very good question don't let us forget that keep bringing it up so what else do people see Matthew and Trinity we haven't heard from you melody where's your voice um what's your thought about this uh the the rest of the board can attest that over the years I'm the budget meiser and um typically have a negative view on ending fund balance and spending money um I think any type of year I always look for constraints and where do we need
073to have our core values instilled and then from there you can go to any additional wants or hopes or dreams or whatever the case is um the the current trend for the economy and and for all of the other kind of economic factors don't seem favorable at the moment um and I think it's instructive uh from a historical lens uh relevant to those fees that we have made a a significant e effort to increase participation from students and from um our uh populations to be able to go and participate in any number of the many different programs that we offer and reduce barriers so that they can go and participate in those things so that's part of where the financial money goes when we're looking at what we're doing and how we're moving forward I
074think from my perspective um you know as we've got a a new building that's being renovated and and put together I think it's always really important to make sure that you put some money away to ensure that you can upkeep that building bonds are very hard to pass and the reality is is that another one's probably not coming anytime soon so when you're starting to look at the five and 10 years down the road it really is important to start looking at what do we need to do to maintain what we have um instead of even considering any ads um I think you know the instructional component there's two very good programs that we run with Avid and the RTI work that we're doing in the multi-tiered systems of support I think it's important that
075those are um aligned from top to bottom and it's necessary to support those to increase uh the ability for all students to participate in that particular area of Education um technology is one of those things I was not a fan of the Chromebooks and Chromebooks have a um short lifespan um I think as we look at where we're at now and kind of the realities of postco everybody went into Chromebooks during the co time frame and um you know that's another outlay that you have to do on a fairly regular adoption and those things are expensive and so a question of is it necessary to even go through this again in that same manner or do we need to reduce what we're doing in that area um potentially support either the online or the hybrid
076or something but not every student needs to have a Chromebook or we can find ways to support students so I think from my perspective this is my time where everything is kind of going down on the the funding um and tightening the belts and looking at where we need to just really priori strictly on students so what is the most bang for the buck on the student end and everything else gets set to the back burner while you're in the it if I can jump in with one more um add in there in that the high school had advocated to kind of move uh cell phones into another area and they wanted to start restricting them more I had brought up the need for parents to be able to email their students uh So currently
077email uh students that have a school district email they cannot email anybody outside of the district but if we could open it up through uh I don't know what they call it but more usage in the email account area they could email uh a selected person so maybe their parents and that way they wouldn't be pulling out their cell phone but they would be able to email a parent uh for that communication when needed and I know that has a little bit of a cost to it so if we could put that there it's something I've been really advocating for before we started lowering the use of cell phones if I may I end up working in it so I might have a little bit of insight into that it really all depends on whether
078or not the email addresses are set up to be behind a firewall or not and whether or not those particular firewall ports can end up being opened or not if it's controlled by a centralized firewall on our side then it is doable it is doable but still ends up requiring some time and effort in order to be able to make the those particular exceptions unless you design a group to be able to end up handling outside email addresses if the do you happen I'm assuming because we are using Chrome and we're using Google that we happen to be using their email services in general correct so if that's that that I don't know I just know that if you email somebody outside if you are a student and you email someone outside of the school
079district you cannot do it yeah it's almost yeah it's almost all S software and firewall that's going to be controlling that then and that can be doable depending on the circumstances and not for much cost just the labor that it takes in order to be able to end up making sure that those have been those particular groups have been created and yeah integrating our registration less emails to to be okay that that would be really great on the parent and especially even those that there's still students within the district that don't have a cell phone so opening up the capability so they're not all running to the office to make a phone call uh they could just email when they when they need to without pulling out their cell phone because I know that's really
080really been uh addressed by the teachers as a number one Behavior area yeah there's a new legislation I saw today um Banning cell phones from schools so be really interesting to see if Oregon is able to uh push that one through that would be in line with other states but kind of interesting to say the least I can't imagine policing that one and then uh we have uh big fat firewalls um where we don't want kids emailing people outside our system and it's we're pretty vehement about it so let me kind of look into that Kelly uh I've not heard that one before and so I've written that down and I'll have a talk with um Ed leader because he is our our fearless guy on uh with which with regards to you know the
081there's a a law you have to use to to protect kids online and part of that is uh email but we'll look at that I know it's inconvenient that's for sure thank you yes you know with Avid and RTI Trinity all of those are Grant funded so we're really really lucky um in the grants that we have for school Improvement that those between the um High School Success and the uh Sia and the um Avid grants we're really lucky to be able to align those programs and you're going to be able to see more of that um at our next work session in April we really want the board to you know review these things uh I love the way that you're keeping in front core values and I also love the way that you're
082keeping in front some of those things you're just not willing to give up on and I and I think that you just have to keep putting them on the list uh and see how many interesting ways we can figure out how to pay for things um deferred maintenance is a killer it is it's it's a killer for districts you just keep kicking the can down the road and of course Oregon uh never gives you enough money to take care of what you have but I agree with Trinity we have got to maintain what we are doing right now um that's I hope we designed that High School remodel with our maintenance in mind um and it looks like we have um because we're not adding custodians we don't have the money so I I think
083air analogy on deferred maintenance is not going to the dentist until you need a root canal perfect that is exactly right and what pain that costs you so definitely I I I need to get to know the budget even more than I have and I hope to be of use and of service uh christe has done a marvelous job on this presentation I am really really pleased with how she jumped into this and this will form the basis of the budget committee training that we will have uh when she has her budget committee meeting that doesn't mean the board has to be there even though they're part of the budget committee but just for the training it will be largely the presentation that you've seen um with some additions oh you better believe I'm going
084to be there me too speaking I learn something new every day speaking of budget committee um I told Dr Gray I wanted to do a little shout out to remind folks um that we do still have budget vacancies and we are accepting applications until noon on Wednesday and we will be interviewing applicants on Wednesday at the board meeting so please please please if you've thought about it at all please apply we would love to have you join our team be part of the process help us get through this budget season and help us do the right thing for kids yes CHR I did have some contact to me and they're interested in being on the budget committee but they are not uh able or feeling comfortable putting their uh job or their address or their
085phone number and different things so they can we clarify that we are uh redacting and not going to have personal information put out and shared uh through through others applications us more you tell us more I'm not understanding so when that when someone applies to be on the budget committee it asks like where they are employed or their current address uh their phone number and if those are put into our packet they would be public record so some do not want their personal information on our in our board packets uh to be discovered by s so I think that if we can clarify that and make sure that we're going to redact or not put them in our packet uh and maybe just cut down our our application so that it's a pertinent information of
086what they maybe have been doing and what kind of experience they have uh we might be more likely to have others apply if we ask them at the budget a committee interview on Wednesday night online for their name and address um that's to ascertain that they're actually in the district are you wanting us not to ask that question I think it's fine if we say are you located and living within the district I don't think we need to know that they're at one two three uh Avenue and and where they are what do you chy if I may ask here go ahead Chris um so are you are they thinking they don't want to fill out that complete application at all or they just don't want it as part of the board packet that goes
087out and becomes public information that has all of their information on it I don't see a problem at all redacting all the information except their name um when it comes to a board packet that that would be confidential information kept by the district um I I would have to confirm what information is required to submit to any County a agencies that may need to know who our budget committee is I'm not sure what required information we have to provide there so I can follow up on that Kelly uh thank you and if somebody has a specific question I'm happy to take a phone call or an email and um find out those answers and get back to them perfect thank you make sure that relle knows this yes Christie make sure that you get with
088relle because she's the one who puts out the information uh we will make a big fat boo boo if we don't tell relle about the reduction yes go ahead Melody Melody you're next okay I I was just gonna say thanks can you guys hear me okay yes on on the on that one part right there as I was say we've always just had kind of an a single application may make some changes to it that just that pertinent information that we do need as a districts on a whole separate piece of paper and what we get in the board meeting maybe just has their name on the top with their information but so that we can keep it separate you've still got what you need but it's not out here in our public meetings but
089I also wanted to tell you is that I'm listening to everybody on all the budget stuff and having been around as long as I have how many times I have also seen the budget do the dip um whether it's at a state or a federal level or locally um but but I do believe that um even though you know we all could be sitting better no matter which way we look at it I still believe that our SK school district has done an incredible job in this last five years from not only being organized and finally having that money be a lotted all the time for the book upgrades it hadn't happened four years but we' pulled off all of these budgets we've gotten brand new schools um we're almost done and with the high
090school hopefully and we've had so many additional costs that so of other school districts because of things happening since covid so I still believe that we have done an incredible job of being where we are today and um that I still think we at one point in the last year they even told us that we are the only School District that was in the black so we've got some work to do to keep us there but I still believe that it's totally possible and we've always been able to do it before so very good Matthew you had a comment well I was at one point looking at a couple of things uh the the in it structure I mean there's only so much that you can do in order to be able to repair Chromebooks
091in general but there are some things that you can do for being able to do basic maintenance that might not end up taking up that much time to be able to repair especially if you have like uh a Boneyard like we have similar to here that you pulling parts from when you end swap since these are all pretty much the same making model it's a lot easier to be able to to Plug and Play in that particular instance so I don't think I'd be worried too much about new equipment as part of that my question was do you ha do you happen to have anything or any process by which to be able to end up getting like donated computers because one of the things that I've been trying to do is to be able
092to end up getting refurbished systems to be able to end up giving out to various nonprofits like you know the libraries and the like and I didn't know whether or not you happen to have something similar to that already established or if not whether or not would be a good idea to pursue that as a potential option so it's the opposite with school districts Matthew we're the ones who donate we don't take donated computers okay they're they are more trouble than they worth I hate to speak for Ed but I don't know about in St Helens but in any District I have been in the last thing we want is a donated computer so I like where you're going with that it's very fiscal thinking but we have a Boneyard we fix up our computers
093we have techs that do that all day long okay um and we're the ones who have a um a replacement plan I don't know what the replacement plan is here I don't know what the tech plan is here I haven't seen it so you would be fun to get together with Ed and Allen and the other fella I forget his name and sit down and figure out what our five-year Tech plan is oh yeah I can totally help with that it's on a structured fee basis we charge the kids every registration no matter who you were wasn't a barrier he who did could it wasn't that much money was 15 bucks a year that's the money we use to replace our computers just saying also the buildings put in money 30 years ago we did
094have donated computers we that's that was the start of uh our first student run business was and then we started building new computers as opposed to the used ones and the old donated ones and we had deals with Intel where they would give us chips and things and and so those that was our first student run business actually so yes and also no uh because at some point um in that area student support is sometimes helpful and it was immensely helpful at that point but today um it would be a significant challenge you might have an intern that works with with the IT department or two interns that are capable but um we have long since move past that model okay thank you so much for the history that is so helpful for me I
095love I love the way the board thinks you're always looking at some way to make something happen for the kids and I just admire that and hearing the history of the ways in which you've been able to make things work in St Helens is truly inspirational it's uh doesn't happen everywhere thank you and and I was going to say when it comes to computers we had just been incredibly working hard to try to get all the students laptops and it maybe the only positive that came out of it but it was the biggest blessing is when Co hit because we all got and we could have just right we could have just spent all that money to have bought that just before that happened and we ended up getting them and so that was a
096that was a blessing on the whole another direction from it but it helped us to me be where we are today with the lap yeah who knew yeah I know who knew yeah so one last question I have for the board before maybe we kind of call it a night there's a lot of conversation in the work that Christie gave us on a diversity lens and I'm really curious what the work in the district has been in the creation of this diversity lens that was I think mentioned in two different places um what does that lens look like I haven't found it and I'm wondering where the board uh where the board's heart and mind is with regards to the development that doesn't cost any money that's a matter of work um where are you
097at with that so from my go ahead TR from my perspective it was just a value um when you're using the lens there's there's no tangible type of thing to do it it's who when you're talking about Equity who needs what and where and so when we were looking at those inclusive conversations um are there areas of students that need additional supports so when you're looking at um structuring your time or your schedule how do we make sure to try and make that Equitable um when you have students that are identified um through um essentially the multi-tiered support system so making sure that you're recognizing who needs those additional supports so that you can create a system to support them and then if they need additional um areas above and beyond your um student that's
098in the classroom what does that look like um we have a um fairly large population of English is a second language population so ensuring that you know when we're trying to put information out that we were including additional Pathways so that they could um be able to be a part of the information sources um so the the lens itself was a framework of decision making from the buildings and from the administration to ensure that as they were making decisions it was built around who needs what and how do we make sure they get it that was my concept of it yeah I would just elaborate just slightly in that uh it also comes off of covid and during that time we were all isolated so you have a lot of like a big push for
099belonging and uh getting just finding people to bring them within our circles and hold them sa in safe spaces so I think in putting that in to our budget it was just a holding that space for them and and the reminder there was a lot of uh meetings that took place on in the administrator circles to bring that into Focus I guess but I don't think that those have been happening in over a year either they haven't yeah very good though good history to know who else was going to make a comment about that I wondered was there someone else well in my particular case I'm just trying to be able to end of because I'm pretty new here so I'm still picking up some of this I happen I was looking at this in
100particular for the way that like the Virtual Academy worked and how Plymouth High School worked and how there there are not necessarily like while there's sometimes kind of a negative feeling that can sometimes end up coming across where it's like well you weren't good enough in order to go to the main high school so you have to go to such and such and it's like that's not how it really works there it's a it's much more diverse in how to be able to do instructions as part of one or the other or most of the time uh my wife for instance ends up working kind of a mix where there's an in-person and remote aspect to how she ends up teaching and that has a lot that flexibility has allowed her considerable um a considerable
101leeway in order to be able to actually find appropriate ways to be able to teach the kids that she that are under her care right we've Rewritten that I just wanted to mention real quick we've Rewritten the entrance criteria and the parent student School compacts just last week for Plymouth and for Virtual Academy so that it isn't that that's where you end up yeah um so you're spot on philosophically with what we're creating with regards to entrance criteria for Plymouth entrance criteria for Virtual Academy and also what's what are our expectations between the students the faculty and the parents we can share that with the board if you're interested but all those are going in their student handbooks so they're options they're not dumping grounds and so those principles were very clear in making that
102a real statement and we have been to as the board we were very intentional it was a option an alternative school for a long time but that's why it became a high school and that's why it has its own mascot because we really really wanted to make sure that they knew they belong there brilliant it's actually the just a brilliant way to go I love Plymouth High School um if I was a teacher that's where I would teach that would be I would setup shop there and I I would never leave that's just right up my alley I absolutely love that um the way that Trinity in particular for me language that diversity lens idea I would suggest to the board and you can take it or leave it that should be in a written
103statement that is something that can be put at the bottom of your um stationary or whatever it is because that articulation of the way that he articulated that if he well I guess it's recorded so we could actually write it down the way he articulated that should be written and codified at some point and the rest of the board words smth it wormith it but to me it's one thing to have a value in your head but when yall are gone and you won the lottery and you're off in Key West and we have other people here why can't you have that as a as a written statement by the board um as a diversity lens which you clearly call out in your budget um just give it a think I I love things that
104are written on paper because they really provide a solidarity for your thoughts um without trying to make it inflexible just give it a think I I just would love to see something codified somewhere uh for the district because it's a really good concept this is an area that I get a bit of pressure did I interrupt you again go ahead no keep going okay in the in the county level I if you look at our community and who who we represent uh some people don't always uh like a diversity or Equity lens so if we take everybody across the board uh one of the things that is noted that you have to do with some grants is the equity lens the yes you have to have that plan or you don't meet the standard to
105qualify for the grant period uh so a lot of that has been built into our our budget and into our area is within our school just to allow for us to qualify for Grants as well exactly but as well so it's a core value regardless of who disagrees with us we do want kids to get exactly what they need and that's called equity and not equality so yes they may not like it but it's actually our value that every child would get what they need individually and you're absolutely right Kelly without that you don't qualify for grants in Oregon you don't I did want to briefly kind of and just to let you know when you're talking about um winning the um Lottery you you've had a board here that we've been trying to win
106the lottery so we could add some more things into what we wanted to do at the schools not so we could leave so I should say touche you were saying Trinity yeah Trinity what were you saying I think to Kelly's point um people hear those terms and then they begin to I think think about what they mean um and for I think St hen's example when we talk about CTE classes that's an equity lens because we have students that really thrive in that environment and um struggle in other areas or just don't have the same priorities in those areas so we really prioritize multiple learning paths we recognize that while college is important we want people to be able to have trade skills and we want them to be able to move on and that's
107an conversation when we look at Athletics we want to make sure that we're um inviting as many people to participate and be able to um uh enjoy sports and so when we talk about the ability to play and there's a conversation of equity there so it doesn't always mean I think what the community can think it means and it is so important to recognize that every student has some level of equity built into them because they're each individually unique and they each have unique needs and so when we're talking about Equity it's about that child in front front of us and what they need well and if I may end up speaking from a personal standpoint when I ended up going through school from grade school up to the Middle School my family was dirt
108poor almost all of it and so I know that I ended up getting some extra things like reduced lunches free lunches that allowed me to still be able to end up learning in the school even if it ended up coming across a little bit as a oh man you know poor kid you know you're you're less than the rest of the kid at the same time it still worked I didn't have to end up worrying about where I was getting food for the day I didn't have to end up worrying about whether or not I I had a ride in order to be able to get home because there happened to be a bus that ended up going far enough that I could walk the rest of the way like I am a child that
109ended up taking advantage of that sort of thing and I would want it to be able to make sure that all the other children ended up having that opportunity as well it it's interesting Matthew that you brought that up and said oh me because the students said we want one large cafeteria where everybody eats because the rich kids eat in the Commons and the poor kids get free lunches in the cafeteria and that was part of the conversation and and so we do have a wonderful new Commons cafeteria at the high school and uh that was something that the students brought up and that the Architects and the and the board actually listened to uh in some of our Focus meetings but but there's a reason why that big commment is there and uh so
110anyway it's I I I I think you you brought it up and I just want to tell you that that was incorporated uh listening uh was important in the design of that excellent that's why the state is also uh all all children are eating free lunch right now and that is also on legisl legislation to continue to do that because it does provide an equity lens for those that can afford it they're not in the back of the line they're not um having to get phone calls for what they owe on their their bill or whatever but everybody can eat and nobody knows who has what and that's that is equity this is just such a heartening conversation I love this so I'm going to be bringing Senate Bill 732 to the board on Wednesday
111night which is the district Equity committee requirement by state of Oregon so we'll have a good conversation on Wednesday night we'll be developing our district Equity committee applications go out next Monday so I'll be um appraising the board of the um requirements around 7:32 and it's very much in line with what I hear you people saying and um I you know Melody I just have to go back to your comment about the lottery sorry that was a joke to say that you folks are not always gonna be there that's my back East way of saying it I want something I know you haven't checked enough I'm just saying I want something in writing if you'd want to because the work of Senate Bill 732 requires something very akin to what Kelly was talking about and
112I just want something as a legacy and that Legacy sometimes has to be uh written down in in writing and I I just would love it if the board would would want to put something in writing anything else for the good of the order you guys you're just in trouble though I was already writing my book okay since we're talking about Lottery uh we can we mention uh how easy it is for a board member or anybody to use funds for personal use would you want to talk about that for a moment uh you using what some of the accusations or or things that have been said were uh using that the board or individuals have used personal funds for or School funds for personal use and with it's just not possible it's not possible
113first of all y'all don't get a paycheck so I I don't know whose money you're talking about and everything that we spend has to be according to I'm seeing Christy shaking her head um the only time the board would ever be able to use taxpayer money is that the board has a budget and the board gets to go to osba in November and a lot of boards go almost all of them and so that money is appropriately used by Oregon statute and it's limited you have a limit on your daily food you have a limit on your hotel you cannot get a gift of over $50 per year and um most people don't take even a dollar and so no there is and you also indemnify yourself every year with your ethics Commission report that
114you have to do every single year as a board member where you solemnly swear where any of your own even personal money uh has gone into the district so you may not use your uh any District dollars for the board other than what's in the board's budget for the things the board has allowed to spend it on by Statute and that is watched like a hawk by your business department and you just brought it up I know that your taxes are due April 15 but so is your uh economic interest that's what it is Bill I said it wrong that's what it is it's that ethic commission it's called an SEI statement of economic interest and Matthew every year yeah you need to be aware that that's there and you're gonna look at it and
115think man this is a lot to fill out but do get some help with it it's quite easy and you can do it online but if you do it online print it so that you have a paper copy and keep it but um yes you have to do a statement of economic interest where your money comes from what property you own and so forth yeah 100% that's a very good point to bring up you're in a in a highly litigious area of work and also highly rule bound and we have very strict rules we go to governance sessions with the osba to teach us the things that we can do and not do but you have a superintendent business manager that are misers and they're not going to allow people to run around spending money
116that they shouldn't be spending and if anybody ever did that then they need to make a complaint to the board chair or superintendent and we will investigate but to run around and blatantly say that people are just spending District money is never been found correct in any experience I've ever had that that you will find more likely that board members are spending their money on District things always always I I will tell you that when I was on Planning Commission our our our local newspaper editor at the time uh forgot his SEI and it wasn't just a penalty it was a penalty per day and by the time he got the letter and then he got it filled in and they he said but but but and they said there is no there is no
117relief or complaint you just pay so penalty is per day uh for being late on the SEI it's it it's better to not file your taxes because it's it's the truth anyway so I can help you fill that out if anybody I've been doing them for years if anybody has a a question they can also go to Bill he's been doing them for years and you guys keep you need anything else for the good of the order that you can think of with regards to the budget lots more talk to come we have lots more talk to come this is just a kickoff event I want to thank Christy Woodard for putting together an excellent presentation tonight uh she did a marvelous job so snaps to you good job Christie she is really really um
118doing a wonderful job and we'll have more conversations so six o'clock on Wednesday is we we go into uh you will not be there Trinity we know that you're not going to be at the meeting but we go into regular session online we come off of regular session and go into executive session online when we're done with that at 630 we go back to regular session online and that's where we will be um for the rest of the evening Trinity question so um back to Christie's conversation about the um the applications um so every year during budget time I I make a uh request to whoever's out there whoever's listening to um put in for it but I did have a conversation recently with somebody who um had indicated that they couldn't quite decide whether
119they wanted to put in because they didn't have any budget experience and I really want to reinforce that it's almost better when you don't have budget experience because you the person that's going to have the questions that need to be answered for the general public you're the person that's going to really go through and understand exactly what those functions mean and exactly how the money is spent and so if you don't have any experience that may actually be a benefit in as much as you represent the community at large who may not understand things so don't let inexperience or a belief of inexperience experience prevent you from putting in um I would rather have way too many applications and have to make some selections than less and uh it's a very valuable level of service
120it's a really great way to learn and understand U governments and budgeting and funding and so um if you're even on the fence please put in I couldn't have said it better Trinity very very well said and I agree wholeheartedly and every time we think we're good at it they change it anyway so you know or add something new that you didn't even know you had to deal with you weren't muted but you we didn't hear what you said Dr Gray oh I was saying chair Douglas is there anything else that you would like to do before we gavel out no I think we can go ahead and this thank you thank you thank you very much everyone thank you night everybody good night good