001Uh this is Belinda Wallen, board secretary uh for Gettsburg Area School District. This evening um due to um a physical presence absence of the president and vice president, I'm calling the meeting to order. So, we are calling the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. And at this time, I'll take a motion from the floor to appoint a prom president to presside over the meeting. I move to appoint Tim Sigman as the prom president to presside tonight. Second. Motion and a second. Any nas or nays? Do I need to do a roll call? Just a vote. Just a vote. All in favor? I I nay. All right. Motion carries. Mr. Sigman, you could preside over the meeting this evening. Thank you. Thank you. Um, we'll just kick it off here. Uh, the purpose of this meeting
002is to conduct the business of the Gettysburg Area School District. Board director's meetings and committee meetings are open to the public, but are not public meetings. All school district residents who wish to make public comment should sign in prior to the start of the meeting and request to speak during the citizens participation. School district residents wishing to speak to the board shall um do so only during the citizen participation section of the meeting. The board will not tolerate public outburst or disruptions, nor will it tolerate uh the commitment uh comments made outside of the citizens participation portion of the meeting. Public comment is welcome and all issues will be referred to the appropriate board committee or administrator. Comments will be summarized in the official board minutes which will be available by contacting the business office.
003Please take a moment to slash your cell phones and electronic devices. Um, uh, Kenny and Mike are on phone. Um, Mr. Morris is not here today. Um, he's excused. Um, I guess pledge allegiance. Pledge allegiance to the United States United States of America to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Uh, notices and communications. We got Franklin Township. Yeah, Dr. Lappy. All right. So, Thanks. We're here to present tonight. Um, good evening everybody. And we'll let these guys introduce themselves when we get to that slide. But we're basically here to talk about and we're very excited about this is we took some time over the past school year to write a mission and vision statement. And it's been on my heart for quite a few
004years to um develop that. And um we started to do it before COVID and then well we all know what happens after that. So, we re we revisited it, rejoined, and we put together a team. Um, Vanessa, do you mind? Yeah, there you go. And you can see we've got multiple uh people from different grade levels, different departments, um our school secretary. Um yeah, and so these guys are here tonight. They're also listed up there, but I'll let them introduce themselves and then we'll take you through our process. I'm Tara Johnson. I'm a third grade teacher at Franklin. I'm Natalie Garmin. I'm a reading specialist. Gavin Hog, school counselor. Oh, look. Dr. Masser made our screen over there. That was all right. So, this is we'll we'll start a little bit u by telling you
005about our planning process. Um Tara's going to share a little bit about how we got started and then we'll just take you through. I don't know if you've ever like even seen other vision statements or mission statements everywhere, but there's not a there's not a common like uh protocol or um I guess pattern to them, which we found that out. We were kind of looking for like someone to say exactly how this should go. Um but anyway, I'll leave it. I'll let Tara speak next. So, when we started this process back before COVID, um we sent out something to staff. Dr. Dr. Lappy sent out a survey and we started with the prompt when I think of Franklin Township. The following one or two words or phrases comes to mind. So some of the examples
006you can see listed up there like a family, passion, allin, um positive thinking, teamwork, growth mindset, caring, kind. These are just a few of the things that people were saying um like our staff were saying about our culture and what we do on a daily basis together. So as we were forming our vision um we came up with some characterist characteristics just about what is a vision. So a vision has five characteristics. It attracts commitment and energizes people creates meaning in the worker's lives. Establishes a standard of excellence, bridges the presence to present to the future and transcends the status quo. And as you saw from the previous slide, it was a pretty good sized team that we had, but it was amazing how all of us became unified pretty quickly with where we wanted
007to take this. used a little help from AI even and looked at other examples of m vision statements from other organizations, not just schools but even uh like uh Apple and different organizations to kind of um learn about the process and what the end result could look like. Made many many drafts mainly to try to boil it down. We had lots of ideas that we really needed to make more succinct so that it could be a oneliner that would really stick out in staff and students minds and so that it really becomes a a memorable thing that we use to influence our day-to-day functioning. Yeah. So, um just to kind of echo what Gavin had said, we we really we huddled regularly and we would sit with it for a while. we'd come back and
008when you think about it, you reflect on it all the time. For those of us who drive a little further, we have a lot of time to think on it and come up with another idea. Then we looked up other places like Nike and Starbucks and there there's just in in your own organizations, you probably have them as well and there just so many different ones out there and we just were like, how do we really narrow this down? And so we took everything. Those are just a sample on the left-hand side of there was over a hundred we had over a hundred different words and phrases that came from our staff and kids and we kind of like it was almost like a word um you know like where that activity is where you
009have like several words I don't know what it's called but what is it called word cloud I knew Ann would know that so that's kind of like that was the overarching theme those words in there and um so again we just spent so much time and we'd come back and sometimes we would sit there in silence for, you know, 20 minutes and we would just look at it and remove words and put words in and take words out. And so anyway, then we came up with some final changes. And I said to these guys, when we present this to our team, they're going to be like, "That took six months." Because, you know, you come up with like a few sentences. And so it's a lot of heart um a lot of hard work and
010a lot of heart poured into this, but um so we're really excited about it and we we shared it with our family and our um our families and our kids and we presented at one of our staff huddles. So anyway, go ahead, Gavin. when you're up. I It's hard because I don't know what slide's coming next. So, mid year we had our Warrior Way celebration and we thought that would be a good time to kick this off and introduce it to the students. And we hear very often about the Warrior Way in our school and the students are hearing about it every day and then hearing it highlighted at the Warrior Way celebrations and we're like, okay, how can we connect the vision to the Warrior Way? Um because they're both important and they should
011be connected. And so we kind of took the idea of the word way and warrior way. And so well another way we can look at that is it's a path. We we walk the warrior way. And we want to stay on this path of being here, being involved, being committed, being kind. But paths lead somewhere. And where does this path lead? It leads to where we want to see the students and our staff ultimately be in the future. And that's our vision. And so that's kind of how we introduce the idea to the students that okay, here's the warrior way and how it leads us to the vision of where we see you guys um being and becoming in the future. I was like what's going next? Good. So ultimately we looked at our vision
012first and we actually took Gettysburg Area School District's mission and we used that as sort of our anchor to develop our mission as well. So you can see it here. Franklin Township Elementary School has a child- center positive culture where teamwork and kindness drive growth and excellence intentionally preparing for a future where every child is empowered to succeed and lead with confidence, resilience, and compassion. And you can see there there are bolded words and those were the words that we really took and drilled down to create our vision. Um we took the mission statement like off the wall in our school and we brought it into to where we were meeting to to try to align it to make sure that we're staying in line with like the overarching mission of our district. Yep. And
013from that it helped us to develop our our vision which is which then becomes our FT's promise empowering one another to grow lead and succeed with kindness and confidence. That was kind of like the end result of it. So here we just have a few testimonials just two slides that we just wanted to share just because our culture is so important to us and without culture really uh nothing else matters. I mean, you you I've always heard it said, you you fall in love with the culture, not the people, because the people will come and go. And so, we try to build and and that's kind of how it's been in our school. We we try to really build a place where parents want to send their kids, kids want to come, and teachers want
014to and staff want to show up for work. And I did a quick little um a little data run today by myself and I was like I wonder how many of us I was talking to Gavin about this drive more than 35 minutes and it's it's just about 40% of our team drives that far because we I I always say we have a get to job and we don't have to come we get to come and I I just think it it's a testament to these guys and our team. It's such a it's such an extraordinary culture. But so we just have a couple like two slides of just some testimonies from parents related services a presenter some kids Um, so we can read those if we Yeah. Okay. Um, so a parent said, "In
01528 years, eight counties of districts, two IUs, and two states, and I have never exper experienced a school culture like you guys have here at FTE. It's simply magical and something to be treasured. You all have an extraordinary thing going on here. I spend I spend time in a lot of different places traveling all over the globe and there's just something really unique about your school here. I instantly knew it. It cannot be explained. It's felt. And as a new family, we couldn't ask for more. My daughters are thriving at FTE. We've been to several schools and my kids have never had the sense of belonging they have found at FTE. And as parents, we have never felt like an important part of a school like we do here. They actually mean it when they
016say you mean you matter. Next one. Some students have said, "I love coming to school here. I miss school when I'm not here. I know I will be supported during my day. I feel safe here. I am loved here." And the grown-ups make sure we believe in ourselves and can do hard things while we learn. A substitute teacher said, "As a substitute, the people here make sure I know I am important, part of the team. I am seen here. I don't get this feeling anywhere else." A teacher said, "I drive pretty far to get to this place and spending my days at FTE make every single mile worth it." And finally, a parent has said, "Our family is so grateful for you and your team. Thank you for not only taking the best care of
017our kids, but also for holding your staff and each other to the highest standard of standards of excellence and accountability, always wanting to be better. So before we Thank you, Gavin. Before we begin this video, I Dr. Moy, I have to apologize because you didn't make the cut. I know. Here's what happened. It came about just just about kids, but I figured you'll have questions and that'll be your chance to say what you want to say. It wasn't anything you did wrong. It was a great video, but then it became we just wanted to put kids in it. So, I'm really sorry. She's letting you down. I just wanted you to know because I know you might be waiting for your part. All right. So, you can share what you wanted to say at the
018end. All right. Thanks for that. For example, if you like have a teacher that's teaching you how to tie a shoe. Um, so like they would like they would show you how to tie a shoe and then you keep practicing and practicing no matter what and not give up and then you finally get it and then you are with your life. Empowering IF empowering means to teach people on their own to be kind and be nice. What needs to grow is like to face challenges and like to learn from your mistakes. Like you accidentally get something wrong and stuff and like somebody helps you, you learn from that mistake. like see why we did. So one of the examples is our third grade work. We help them by helping them because some of their fifth
019graders us too and some more. We help we go down here and read with them and we both help them improve their being and learn new skills but it also helps us because we learn how to help people and be kind. It also helps our being as well. And uh Jamila what does it mean to be confident? It means to be kind to your friends and have a good feeling for yourself. All right, Chase, what do you think it means to be a leader? Show respect to other friends and help them help. And in other words, be kind and do your best. Nolan, how has Franklin Township Elementary helped you become a leader? Become a leader because they've taught me that if I I can become if I put my mind to something, I can
020make it come true and when it comes true, it can be reality. Kind of like chess club. It was a dream, but now it's reality. And that's what FP taught me to kind of put if I can put my mind to something, I can achieve it. Confidence is basically where you tell yourself, "Oh, I can do this. I am strong enough." In life, there is going to be some things where you're going to want to tell yourself you can't do it. But if you tell yourself you can, you can. Delila, how is your confidence grown? Working hard and trying to best throughout the school year. What does it mean to you to be a leader? To do the right thing even when somebody else isn't. What two or three words come to mind when you
021think about Franklin Township Elementary? Kind um cheerful, helpful, and safe. Believe me, Pam. Show respect. Include others. The teachers are nice and um they are helpful and generous. Give me one word to describe regular time. Anything else? Jalisa, how has your confidence been improving this year? My confidence have been improving because of my teachers and my friends. Caroline, what do you think of Franklin's house? What do you think? Having fun. Having fun doing what? How have you been a leader this school year? By sticking up with others. How does kindness help you grow a friendship? kindness helps us grow because if your friend is needs help on something, you can go over to them and help them. What about confidence? Confidence helps us because if you're trying a new thing and you're scared, you have
022to be confident to do it. So Abby, what would you tell a new student to Franklin Township Elementary about the culture of our school? Well, what I like about this school that the new student would like is that the teachers and staff always greet you with a smile. It makes you feel welcome. Also, that there are special opportunities like in gym, there are students staff and there are library helpers and art helpers to become a leader and the teachers will teach you stuff that you didn't know but will know because they teach you well. All this shows that everybody has a unique ability. FT is a family. Kindness, encouraging, loving, welcoming, fun, good friends, awesome teachers, great principal, safe, encouraging, respect, empowering, strength, engineering, how to be a lawyer. [Music] the end. So anyway, thanks
023everybody for for listening and watching. And I really want to thank these guys because each of them are moms and dads and they gave up their time tonight to be here with me to present to you guys. So anyway, thanks Tara, Gavin, and Natalie and thank you guys for watching. Thanks. Can be confirmed. Sure. Uh Dr. Lappy and team uh just uh No, sorry. Yeah, in case you maybe a question or so, but uh I I I do want to say and and I uh I think Shelley always appreciates it when I share this. Uh it truly is a utopian um society out there at Franklin Elementary School. Uh I I was just there uh last week and uh uh Mr. Hog um facilitated a a career day that was just wonderful and just interacting
024with the staff, the kids and the professionals that came in to share there. Again, it just uh you know proves what what I've always said. But when I what does what does the warrior way look like? And when I look at your mission and vision, uh it's more than a written document. It's a living, working document that I think you all uh deliver uh on a daily basis. You walk the walk and and I and I and I think we all appreciate that. Um team huddles. What What is a team huddle? Uh Dr. Lappy, we all get in, we put our hands down. Kidding. Um we we really just it's a meeting but we just I feel like when you're part of a team you huddle. So that's what we do. We get together and
025we whether it's these guys or we have our faculty huddles and actually the idea came from Gavin. I I copied from him. I heard him talking about it a couple years ago and he I was like I really like that and it made me realize like it it is a team and we huddle together and we do more than just meet. Do you have anything you want to add Gavin? How'd you come up with that? Yeah, I think kind of the origin story there's a huddle is usually brief and then we go out and we do what we need. So that my Yeah. All of what she said and we want to do more than just what we say. We're just the talking piece of it. Well, uh, good. Thanks. At McDaniel College, uh, recently
026I had a course with undergraduate students, uh, freshmen that were trying to decide majors and so on. And I I I gotta tell you, I was taken back about how fragile some of these 19 and 20 year olds uh really are. And any type of constructive criticism, e even though I I felt it was constructive criticism, uh how some of these young people just uh are very high anxious and uh kind of fall apart a little bit. And when I looked at part of your mission and vision up there, the word resiliency stood out to me. And I just think more and more uh we as adults, you all as professionals, uh anytime that you can share some of the things that you've overcome when you've gotten knocked down or you've made mistakes, how you've
027overcome those and uh you get back up when you when you're knocked down and so on. I I think we're missing that today somewhere. And I just more and more if our you know our our especially our teachers and so on and we as adults and parents uh and grandparents uh can relay those personal testimonies about some of the difficulties that we've had in our lives and how we bounce back and and I I hope the pendulum is swinging on that a little bit because we do seem to have a lot of high anxiety uh young people today not just young people a lot of people. And then the final thing that I would just like to say is that um the culture and climate that you all have uh produced out there and you're
028delivering on on a daily basis with your mission and vision does not happen by accident. Uh and Dr. Lappy, I I do believe that your leadership along with the rest of you and your leadership uh uh because of you all uh we can't take that for granted and you just got to keep working hard at that all the time. and I think you're doing a great job with that. Uh, and keep up the great work. Thank you. Thank you. I have something very quick just while we have you here and then I promise you can you can go. Um, yeah, I appreciated that um that presentation and I think in particular for me the slide um you know like teachers are always always hearing about we had a professional development day today. So people talked
029to us a lot about um the compelling why and you know all of the planning that goes into a normal year where you do have goals and vision and mission in mind. But I think the reason that I really like the way you guys are approaching that is the way you're making the learning known to the students in that process. So the slide of the path and that description caught me like I like that. I want to take that and borrow it. Um, but I I think that that's really going to be powerful for the kids too to make sure that they feel like they're a part of that um that vision as well. Um, and then of course just wanted while we had some actual teachers in the room in front of us to
030to thank you all and say uh happy teacher appreciation week as well. So to to everybody, not just the three of you, but um but your work is appreciated for sure. Thanks. I just wanted to add real quick. Sorry, making sure it was on. I um I'm also a parent at Franklin Township and it's real. The connections that our teachers are making out there are real. It's authentic. The leadership that Shelley brings every single day is real. Um, I actually moved my kids into our district because I saw what we were striving for at Gettysburg and um, I made sure that I put them in our school district whenever I started working in Franklin Township because I was so moved by the teachers in that school and the leadership there and um, I just thought
031it was amazing. So, um, and my kids are thriving and I just I love it there and I just I think that we're doing amazing things and the FTE promise is just, you know, our vision for the next chapter to come. So, thank you for everything you guys do, too. I think Bull is up after the slide with the kids. Yeah, I apologize. I'm not going to have a warm utopia feeling here. Um this evening representing um an update to the 2526 budget. Um before you this evening um are just real quick review on our preliminary if you could advance it please. On our preliminary review, we have our proposed final numbers listed here. You'll see the columns listed as a 0% 1% and a 1 and a.5% which is slightly down from a previous
032report of 2%. So our revenue of course we have uh 77,2051 which is a 5.2% 2% increase um with the concept of using some of PCERS 345,92 for a total revenue um or budget of 77,550 953 an overall 5.4% increase. If we go to our expense slide, um our expenses in summary, we have um salaries 27,369 and5 benefits of 20,46,542. Total salaries and benefits 47,415637 out of the 77 million um which is a 3.5% increase. Our object series code 300 6 million 400 87,000 500 we have 11.8 million um 600 which is our 3.5 700 is 171,000 800 3.3 million 900 is 5.8 5.982 um million. So just a quick quick summary here real quick. We have our total expenditures of 79,18637. So if we have our revenue minus our expenditures, we have a deficit
033of 1.6 million 1.635084. Um where our goal is to maintain a 6% fund balance. According to policy, that 6% fund balance of percent of expenditures would be 4,75162. Just in a quick summary, salaries and benefits exactly what it says. 300 object code is mostly IU services and other professional services the district um has throughout the um throughout all the buildings. Our 400 series code is um purchase of property services. 500 is a very large one which includes our charter schools, transportation, and any other tuition that occurs throughout the district. 600 supplies. This isn't just your classroom supplies. This is supplies for technology, laptops, cords, software. Um, all falls in that 600 category. Even though it says supplies, uh it it's a quite a cumbersome account that includes a wide range of supplies for the district,
034whether it be technology and or classroom supplies. Property and equipment of course is listed there. Um typically it's new andor replacement equipment. The 800 series um will have our interest and 900 is typically our debt. um in in this nutshell summary of that. Moving to the next slide, this is just a quick update as to where we started to where we're at. Um in terms of um the revenues with fund balance, excuse me, revenues without fund balance, we started at 75.5. We're at 77.205 with a proposal of a recommendation of 1.5. And again, the 1% is for the ACTI and.5% is recommended for everything else. Um, all the other expenditures throughout the district. The expenditures, of course, we started at 80 million. You can see we're down to 79.1. Um, the gap changed, of course,
035initially when we started out March 17th. uh we were um unreconciled which is the difference between revenues and expenditures 4.5 million and so for um the May 5th 1 and a.5% we're at 1.98 uh million and our concept would be to use fund balance to help fill that gap and yet we would still maintain a 6% fund balance of 4 million751162 at the bottom um in between there you can see what the total available funds would be is using fund balance as well as the pieces commitment. Um even if we were to stick with just 1% with ACTI, we would still be looking to fill a gap of $188,62. That's why the recommendation of 1 and a.5% is before you this evening. And again, this is the proposed final this evening that we're going to
036be looking for a vote later on in the meeting. um proposed final is required by act one and um there is a timeline that is um needs to be adhered to when you're going through your budgetary processes. Why I say that is this evening we're looking for a vote on the proposed budget. We are recommending 1.5%. That is not a final budget. That is a proposal in order to advertise it for the next 30 days before the board has the public budget hearing as well as the final vote set for June. Next slide. Here are the increases and decreases in a in a summary format that occurred throughout the budget process year to date. As you can see uh largest portion which I mentioned previous slide is our contractual salaries medical insurance and piecers rate
037has gone up. Our cyber charter still climbs. Transportation cost increase. Our technology software and supports are increasing in terms of cyber and supports of cyber uh not cyber school I mean cyber security uh in that aspect. And of course then our increases again is our ACTI bond future debt funding which is the second year 2% uh that we're requesting decreases in the budget. We had a decrease in our workman's comp rate. Um we were able to joint procure. We're part of a consortium. Uh we had a reduction in IU services as well as security services. The security services was the um event security that I spoke previously about at one of the other prior meetings. It's not elimination of event security. It is just retaining the current vendor rather than looking at another vendor where
038we had additional funds budgeted. So we reduce those reduction in purchase of property services more specific loan care and sewer reduction in supply um natural gas fuel oil and electricity. and of course a reduction in our 5-year capital funding plan um that was discussed. And so um our next slide here's just a quick review um the act one index that the district has had um since 17 excuse me 1819 school year we have been upwards of 2 and a half 2.4% from the beginning. um highest as it ever was so far in act one the environment um for 2425 and for 2526 you can see it's dropping back down to 4.8%. And again those are the increases that have occurred as well as what's proposed for the 2526 school year. So on an ayear average
039we've had increases of less than one uh increases when you're doing an average. Um and again the 2526 propose is the based on the proposed final budget of milling increase. Next slide. Tax impact. Well we know with the homestead farmstead numbers came in uh it was an increased appropriation by the state from the year before. With that being said the average market and assessed value in the district is 273,881. So, if you look at a 1.5% increase, um, which what we're recommending, it's $46.70 increase. This slide also shows what it would be for a 1% as well as the index, which we always share with the board as in the past. And this is just the impact of how to calculate what your taxes would be as an increase in using the market assessed values
040along the side. I believe this form is on our website. Um so then of course anyone can use the form to help calculate. However, the next slide will represent the homestead farmstead in relation to the average property. So for the average property or excuse me assessed value of 2738.91 tax again 4670 uh homestead farms increased over the prior year. So there would be a reduction an additional reduction on the tax bill of $29 and 26. Yeah. Sorry. This is up here now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. At the bottom. So actually the net effect um for a 1.5% increase is $1744 the year uh for taxes on one and a half%. Um next slide. Here's our timeline again as I mentioned. So this evening we're looking for a proposed final vote. Um it is not the final
041final budget as you can see. We need to take the action later in June. If for in the event that the the proposed budget does not pass this evening, we will need to set a special meeting in order to do action simply because uh I need 30 days between the window um for final budget. So if not this evening and it goes to the May 19th, there will need to be a special meeting in June to have action on the budget or you can change the meeting to May 12th to still be in the 30-day timeline to have June 16th, which are their options. I do not anticipate any other changes to expenditures at this point since the homestead farmstead numbers have come in. Um we have already taken into effect um in this budget
042process just so the board has an understanding we've already calculated in approximately 75% of the Amblebrook homes coming onto market according to uh the assessment office um annually Mr. Forom reaches out to to them to get an idea of how many permits were issued. um we take a look at how many per permits were issued and the timeline of those developments coming into play in order for the tax um roles to take effect as well as income to come in to help support the district's budget. So again, Amrook is 75% of 152 homes. Um and Hers Ridge is 75% of 20. We have the Cambridge crossing which are some town homes. Some other housing permits. We have um the expansion at the helicopter applicators in Straban Township. We have Lincoln links which is a new
043miniature golf course proposed. Of course, Audi, as you can see, the building is nearly finished. Um that should likely come on tax rolls July 1st. Uh a Wellspan is going through expansion. Pella is going through an expansion. as well as we also have some deductions for assessment reassessment evaluations on some fairly large uh properties. Um, and I don't necessarily want to outline those specifically because they are still within the courts, but we do have to plan accordingly. And overall, it's about a $100,000 change in revenue for those assessment appeals. So we do when we take a look at the budget and when I indicated that we have our received our homestead farmstead we've already factored in what those assessment changes potentially could be. So I don't necessarily envision any more money coming from the state
044or any more money just appearing from the local sources of revenue other than what's presented to you this evenings. Unless the board has and wants to have further discussion of cuts, then of course the expenditures can change. I'll just remind the board that if expenditure changes, the fund balance appropriation changes, but again um I would wait for direction from the board in order to do so moving forward. Um any questions? That's a lot of information before you. Um, and if there's anyone has any questions or needs any more additional information, I'd be happy to happy to try to respond and or get you those answers as promptly as possible. A very easy question. All of the things you just listed for reassessment you said are already factored in, including those reductions that are potential. Yes.
045Okay. Thank you. Yes, Belinda. I I appreciate the information you shared. Uh, the 8-year average of less than 1% uh is pretty impressive. I think I've always been a fan of small incremental increases rather than a a no increase for a year or two and then have to do a major hit. Uh did I understand you correctly? Uh uh in the past couple of years uh with the proposed preliminary final budget, uh typically we come in at a little bit less than on June 16th. Uh, now I I know you said that you looks like right now the numbers look like they're pretty hard and fast. Any chance that the 1.5 might turn into 1.3 1.0 or something? If it does direction by the board to cut expenditures. Okay. I don't envision any additional revenue
046coming our way. Okay. I I don't envision the state coming along and saying, "Oh, we're giving you additional funds because Gotcha." The only reason I mentioned that is that that seems to have been a past practice the last couple of years if I'm not if memory serves. Yes, correct. We tried to update this budget for the harden facts that we know of at this particular point in time. Right. Um anything can change between now and the end of the budget of course. Um but again and while we prepared this budget, there are some things that are coming along the way that we haven't necessarily accounted for either. So um we have in the budget a budgetary reserve and hopefully the anything that was missed during the budget planning processes for expenditures um can be utilized
047using that budgetary reserve for the unexpectedness. Right. Then also uh uh correct me if I'm wrong uh we are not adding any personnel or cutting any personnel on the professional or the support staff side. Does that That's correct. That's accurate. Gotcha. You said we were losing or we were going to be basically losing about $100,000 worth of revenue due to them assessment. So just for the public's information, so a 1% tax increase is equal to about what? Oh, yeah. Thank you for asking. Sorry. Um 1% tax increase equates to $377,536. Three, what' you say? 377,0007 536. Okay. And we're losing about a h 100,000. So we're losing about 100,000. Okay. And we got 1% for ACTI. So leaves us at half a percent. So yeah, if we had that 100,000 back, that would even be
048less. So Sure. Right. I don't envision it get coming our way. No, I don't I don't I I don't either. And and to answer Al's question, you know, if we want to come in under that.5 and I think board members need to bring themselves maybe in here and ask questions and try and get that down if there's any way to do it. Um, I know I've year after year have been in here trying to come up with ways that we can save and and cut money. And, you know, we were at 0%, you know, 23 24 uh we were at 1% 2425 simply because at ACTI and I just like the the public to understand, you know, we'd have ran 0% for two years in a row basically if we'd not been trying to support
049our ACTI, which which we do wholeheartedly need to do. Um, which I think that's a huge win for this district and says a lot for for the folks running this. So that's all I got. Yes. Sure. Go ahead. I apologize if I any coughing or lose my voice. Belinda, I have just two quick questions. One for clarification. the 1.5 that I listened this evening to your presentation, 1% of that is earmarked for ACTI. So what you're really saying is.5. Is that correct? That's correct. For.5 is considered for all the other operations of the district. All right. I apologize. Uh the other question I have for you is is that back several years ago on a motion that some of the board members may or may not been a part of, we looked at a uh
050balanced budget, zero revenue, zero expenditures, balancing out and and and I apologize if I haven't seen that, but I haven't seen it. So before I understand this is a proposed budget. It's not the budget. But prior to that, can the board see our expenditures and our revenue to date so that the board can make an intelligent decision to see where we're at? And I think you know what I'm saying. In other words, if our revenues are X and our expenditures are X, where's a shortfall or where's a windfall to that? Because we're going into this once again, unfortunately, at no fault of anybody in the district or the board blind. But that gives us a little bit of light if that makes sense. It does. And um Mr. Hassinger, we do have a budget to
051actual that is presented monthly. And while it is a month behind, it's so that we can present uh post all of our postings accordingly. So um we do have that and that is an accurate statement of the budget to actual that is running. So, the most recent one that was ran, which was just approved at the last meeting, um the revenue and expenditures are are coming out almost exactly where we think they were going to be. Um I don't anticipate any windfall of money. Again, we've kind of increased expenditures without necessarily um um the the so-called esser cliff basically. So, we were receiving all this revenue from the ESRE funds and we've increased a few of the expenditures uh along the way when the determination was made that we need to continue having the programs
052that we do that we paid for for ESSER dollars. But that is not something to say that hey we can just automatically eliminate because there is the need and um the need continues. So, I doubt very much if that is even an opportunity to even try to reduce the budget in terms of that. I appreciate it, Blan. And I apologize. It's difficult. Excuse me. I'm sorry. Uh difficult, especially when you're doing on the phone, but I I look forward to sitting down with you and Jason. Um, I just think it would be easier, at least on my sense, to see where we're at on our revenues and expenditures, not what we projected, where are we actually at, to see where we're moving forward. Um, and I do understand, and you clarified the 1% is the
053ACTI commitment for the future and the.5. So, thank you. Sure. Question. Yeah. So Belinda, you're talking about the aggregate financial forecast. Yes. That the last one was from February 20. The last one that we was at the last meeting, it's from February 28th. And if I was looking at this correctly, and if I'm not, let me know. But um it looked like our total revenue to to date as of February 28th was oh 1.55170 and we expenditures were negative 1.15938 832 which means if I'm reading this right we only have a we're only ahead by $395,000. Is that correct? That's correct. Okay. And then on the second sheet of this, we have on here the SR3 funds. We are not getting SR3 funds. No. For the for this. So that's correct. It's done. And that's
054Yeah, that was $2.9 million. Correct. So in So that's a lot of money to make up. Yes. So I will say that our district is very fortunate. Um we filed in all of our required documentation for ESSER. um and expensed all of our documentation through July to September. So, we were able to get in and receive all of our reimbursement payments from the federal government as a pass through, which for us was nearly $3.5 million. Some districts received an extension to to file their documentation, and it's uncertain whether or not they were going to be receiving those funds. Um so I feel very blessed to have a team that I do that we proceeded with and moving in the direction that uh we did with expensing and accounting for all those expenditures using that one-time
055money uh influx cuz it was quite a challenge if I look back and think what what that all did. $8.2 $2 million is hard thing to spend down within a short year period of time and to make sure you're not affecting programs to where it's going to come and go easily. So, um very pleased ESRE is done with us. Great question. Well, okay. So, one other question on this um aggregate forecast. The other purchase services is where we look like we're really behind 1.25 1 462. Is that transportation or can we attribute that more to cyber charter or it's both. Is there one more than the other or just I would say the cyber charter is more than the other. Okay. Any more questions? Thank you, Belinda. Thank you. Uh, citizens participation. I think we
056have a couple here. Al's going to take care of them for me. Thank you. Uh, good evening everyone. We we have two people that have uh requested to address the board. Uh, we'll start out with uh speaking of budget. Uh, Pat Furlow. Hello, my name is Flo and last year I addressed the board. Last year I addressed the board in reference to the tax increase you proposed of 1% and I really didn't expect you to come back so quickly with another tax increase of one and a half%. I really do expect you all to come back so quickly with the 1%. The act is a good idea, but building a new building is not a moneywise way to go. If you were to consolidate some classrooms and take a moment to explore how to better
057utilize the existing high school campus in a more coste effective way, you'd be able to solve two problems at the same time. Close uh what I was told a $3 million budget deficit and keep back on the same campus where the high school is located. savings of buying land, preparing structures, interface structures, building a building, acquiring permits, transporting students from one campus to the other. And I probably could go on. In Pennsylvania, the state requirement for high school studenttoteer ratio is generally 18 to1. And with a 13 to1 teacher to student ratio in the high school, I do do believe that a consolidation of class size and reduction workforce is not out of the question. Providing a quality education is the job of the superintendent and the board along with using efficiently the hard-earned tax
058dollars the homeowners of Gettysburg Area School District from the school with. Choosing to raise taxes every year is definitely the easy way out. It's also a sherking of your responsibility to do be good shepherds of the tax dollars we entrusted you with to voted you into office for. Also, it makes me wonder if the Amble community had never been developed, how you would uh deal with the 4 million plus dollars we contribute to the budget over the past four years. Thank you. Thank you, Pat. Next, we have Julieta Booze. Thank you. It's actually Bose. I don't argue with my father-in-law. Okay, no problem. Like I said, I just don't argue with my father-in-law. Okay. On April 24th, I sent a note uh an email to the school board and Dr. Parin regarding policy 815.4 use
059of generative artificial intelligent in education. I do appreciate what the school board is trying to do to get their arms around AI. In my email, I noted some concerns regarding possible impacts regarding the implementation of this policy. Miss Meyers did reach out to me this uh this afternoon to see if I received a message. I replied I if I received a response. I replied, "I had not and I would be speaking tonight and perhaps you will discuss my my concerns of the potential implications prior to your vote regarding the policy." My first comment was, I would recommend that in the second paragraph under purpose, add a notation that the policy also addresses the administrative environment in addition to the educational environment. You do cover both worlds. under the section called delegation of responsibility. One, will
060the staff be required to evaluate, authorize and disseminate generative AI tools? And if if not if so, what work would not be be would not be completed because of this change in focus? Will add additional staff be required to support the establishment of the artificial intelligence curriculum committee? If not, what existing committee work will not be addressed because of the new curriculum committee? Why aren't the department heads included under the other category as a topic specific evaluators? Um, four, policy states that the committee shall get training relative to responsibilities on this committee. However, is there a vetted approved training course available? I just don't know. Under the section called guidelines subtitled AI literacy, will there be an additional cost for the faculty and staff training and what training will this replace or is the expectation
061that the faculty and staff will work additional hours to complete the training for the students? Will the AI literacy be treated as an additional tool for their use? And if so, what will not be taught? For example, there's a section that lists critical analysis of content produced by generative AI. Will this be like a whole new class module? I do appreciate your consideration of working with this policy, but I have lived with the unintended consequences of policies and not understanding the work that went with that. So, I hope you will consider that when you look at the pol for your vote today. Thank you, Julieta. Thank you. Uh I was at the policy committee meeting where we discussed this and a lot of those good questions that you have were discussed and bantered back and
062forth during that time. So did I hear you correctly that uh with your email to the board you did not get a response at this point? No only from uh Missy as whether I would get one or not or if you guys would discuss that later. I I would ask Dr. Parn and Dr. Matser either they personally or a delegate of theirs if they would respond to that. So because I think we have the answers to those questions because again I was at that meeting where all those things were discussed. Thanks for coming tonight and thanks for your good questions. Thank you. Yes, we would have answers to anything that's currently in play. Uh we wouldn't be able to answer questions of things that might occur in the future. Thanks. All right. Thank you. Um,
063moving on to routine approvals. Um, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, and 5.4. Do you have a motion? So moved. Second. Any questions? All right, Kenny. Yes, Mike. Yes, Jeremy. Yes, Al. Yes, Alice. Yes, Michelle. Yes. And I vote yes. Items for board action. First, I'd just like to say real quick uh based from the uh HR agenda, we would just like to welcome uh Crystal Gman, who uh was just approved in that agenda to as a assistant principal at the high school. So, just like to say welcome to Crystal. She's not here tonight. Welcome. Uh items for board action. Um 6.1 approval of proposed final budget. Uh again this is just a proposed budget is not the final budget. Um brother do we want to put both these together or just you want to keep separated? Which
064one? Separate. Okay. Six more. Excuse me. Um uh so I have a motion. So moved. Second. Any questions? All right. Michelle, no. Alice, yes. Al, yes. Jeremy, yes. Mike, yes. Kenny, yes. And I vote yes. Uh 6.2, addendum for cooperative agreement for football. I believe this was to add cheerleading. Um, do you have a mo um so move second? Any questions? All right, Kenny. Sorry. Yes, Mike. Yes, Jeremy. Yes, Alice. Yes, Al. Yes. I think you did. I'm going to They're very similar names. It's okay. I almost do that, too. Michelle, yes. And I vote yes. Um 6.3 uh policy um 8:15. Sorry, I'm squinting now. I should have brought my glasses. Um 5.4 use of uh generative uh artificial intelligence in education. a motion. So moved. Second. Uh any questions? So just because um
065we did have people uh Juliet spoke about this tonight. So I I think of course I heard what Dr. Parin said about not being able to answer exact questions about things that haven't happened yet, but just maybe in to understand how policies can work. Um, I guess I just have a couple of quick questions. One being most of the policies that we put into place that are new like this come from a space of some Is that me? Oh goodness. Um, sorry, I'm getting very close to the microphone. Uh, come from a space of, you know, a need that has arisen in curriculum and in just general education right now. And I know this is a hot button topic. So I guess just to understand and for the public to understand most of these types
066of new new policies are drafted from and with alongside like the research of what those policies look like elsewhere is my understanding right so like we are not we are not the only people creating an AI policy particularly right now um and that that you know is more specifically our administrative team worked with a districtwide group of stakeholders including teachers to take a look at what that would look that um that what could happen with regards to their responsibility. Um to answer one of the questions that was asked, uh we wouldn't be we wouldn't need to hire any any new staff to to put that forward. Um it would just be work that already exists within the same the same group of folks. Uh the IU offers significant amount of training. Um and it's where
067a number of our folks have been trained. So I think that there's a there's a realization that this will be a a living document over the next you know 10 to 15 years that as things emerge there might need to be shifts in uh policy along with any guidelines that would need to be created within policy to allow them to occur. uh we jumped on board very quickly just based on what we were seeing in the landscape across our intermediate unit, the 25 districts that are represented. Uh Dr. Dalton um obviously looked at the draft through a legal lens and was comfortable with what was what was listed there. Um since our draft first appeared, I've actually been actually been approached by other districts to say, "Hey, that looks pretty good." Um, so, uh, so
068it's although it's although it'll be approved, you know, four years from now, they could be back making edits. Yeah, we we edit policies when we need to. Um, the other part of that being that I imagine some of that, you know, if somebody is a part of a committee and ongoing professional development exists in our district regardless. So, you know, should that need arise, I imagine the professional development would be tailored towards that with the time that teachers have for professional development. Absolutely. Okay, thank you. I appreciate that. Michelle, you have a question. How did you know? Um, do we have a lot of kids using AI already in the school? Yes, absolutely. And what are they using it for specifically? Do you know? And you want to give some examples or even Chris in
069the back? I mean, even just even when they're sending an email, like it's generating like what can you say for this email? Um, getting ideas for papers, um, artwork, there's a lot presentations. I mean, there's a lot of good uses and we're trying to help students navigate that landscape. Um what's important too is and a reason for policy is the protection of student data and um making sure we're following all the guidelines of SIPA, COPA, FURPA. I know that's a lot of uh acronyms. They're spelled out in the policy. Um that was one of the main reasons to move forward. And to give a little clarification too, um we started with the base of the PSBA model that was provided to us. the committee um that's been a two-year committee actually but really focused on
070the policy for this year um took that the guidance of our um edtech solicitor from the intermediate unit and then also um Dr. Dalton. So we had kind of a three-point angle to um triangulate what we could um to make it fit for for Gettysburg. Um in terms of uses um a lot of it a lot of the focus has been on teacher use to um do some things right now because we need to get things in place for security. Some tools are not allowed for under 18 years old. Some are only allowed for 13 to 18. So we have to be careful with those. But to the point of using um many of them are embedded in your everyday life now. and you are using them whether you know it or not. Uh we
071do delineate artificial intelligence from generative artificial intelligence. The artificial intelligence of your phone correcting a word for you. That is artificial intelligence. The generative artificial intelligence is when it's uh mimicking human action to create something new for example and that's when you can ask it to hey um write this paragraph for me or come up with something uh for new for me. um a piece uh that you haven't seen yet and we have worked on in the committee as well. It's mentioned in here is the district created scale of AI use from a zero none at all to a two integrated in different ways. And the um part of the training for next year will be making clear to students when it's okay or not okay to use those um for different parts of say
072a paper or a project and things like that. So the committee's been working on all of those pieces. Um, I'd say for your kiddos, uh, kids out there, most of them started using it right away within Snapchat because Snapchat added generative AI in it. And often, again, that's for children 13 and above, but parents can bypass that and allow and create an account for their child. So, you may have children younger than that using it, but that's a non non-school use. Um, we have tools that are built specifically for education for teachers and students where they're not collecting any personal and identifiable information, not violating FURPA or any other things. Um, and they might be using it for brainstorming, um, getting some ideas, um, images and things like that. But we're very careful um with
073what is used or not used due to the age limitations and requirements set through. So that's why we really need to get a policy in place to make sure we're following all of that. This does fall under 815 which is our responsible use policy and we have 8.1.2.3 and this is now the fourth one speaking to the everchanging world of technology. Um, so, uh, it's important that we add this one in here that and it ti It's also important to remember that it ties back to that responsible use policy. We purposefully use responsible use rather than acceptable. It's an important part of our jobs to help prepare kids for the future. And this is just another area. It is the number one skill now in the workforce. Uh, number one fastest growing skill needed. So,
074we need to tie this into everything that we're doing. And I will say we're a little bit ahead because we have Ambomb and they don't. That's that's the truth of the matter. Yeah. So, Mrs. Biggins, you said kids are using this maybe to write emails. Well, I mean, in general, when you use Google, it actually starts to say like what you may want to say next. So, we use Gmail as a platform at the high school and it just starts to kind Yeah, I I know what you're talking about because I have it on my computer at work as well, but I don't use it because I have a brain and I prefer to use my own brain and my own words. So, I guess my concern more is are we giving kids a crutch
075by letting them use AI like that as opposed to making them think on their own? I think it's it's teaching them to use a tool responsibly that they're not going to be able to avoid. It's coaching them. I think a lot of what I've noticed is it's responsible use of it. We're in another era. Um, I was in uh teaching when the computer lab came to be and that was all the rage and you had to pick your kids up and put them in a line and walk down the hallway and sign it up 3 months in advance. That makes me old. Yes. Um, so that was a tipping point. Then the next tipping point was when the internet came out and everyone said, "Well, they're just going to cheat and look everything up." We
076could even go back in history and go to the calculator. the same story was brought about. These are technical um evolutions, revolutions, and part of our role is to assess what's happening, how it's impacting society, um adults, the workforce, children, and um find responsible ways to use it and responsible ways to teach it. Um so that's that falls under all the things that we do. Um, and we've had a team that's really worked hard to um, make sure we have what's in place, best in place for Gettysburg. It is not a quick thing. It requires training from educator standpoint as well as our students. Um, just as we might need to help them learn to write, we need to add this to a skill area for them. Well, and and it's seeming like I mean
077it's a it's a proactive policy in many ways, which you're saying being ahead of the curve is important and it's not I I don't I often don't feel like any of our policies are there to replace things when it comes to technology, right? So, you know, learning how to use things responsibly is not necessarily saying and now that's all we're going to do, right? Um but yet you know technology is enhancing the way that we are learning and uh hopefully hopefully c kids can view it that way too and be educated to view it that way. I think just to add that cognitive you don't want that to happen. So I think being aware of this and learning about the tools has helped us put other things as links too where we have more discussions
078happening nontechnology discussions um doing things in writing more I found myself doing that in the classroom where it's you know okay let's put the computer aside and let's let's brainstorm without a computer um whereas we were doing a lot of brainstorming with computers before. So we're very aware we don't want we don't want cognitive atrophy to happen. We want kids to be thinking and thinking critically. It's also this all falls under the field of educational technology, instructional technology. It is a tool. Purpose first is always the key. We need to know what do we ultimately want kids to be able to do for a specific activity. And that's the mindset we enter first. Then we decide, does it make sense to do this in pairs and just talk it out? Does it make sense to
079write this? Does it make sense to go on the computer because we can maybe do something different that we couldn't do in person or just pen and paper? And so that's the whole field of educational technology is purpose first, then find the right tool to use it just like many of us have to do in our jobs every day. And now this is just another tool that's going to be available to your jobs and eventually these kids' jobs. So, will there be a maybe a list of the approved AI platforms that you'll use? Yes. So, we currently have a copa list for our online tools that we use. So, we will be creating a similar process for the um generative AI tools that are collecting personal identifiable information. Um that's an important piece, right? So
080if I'm not I have no information collected, but I type a word and it finds it for me. It's not collecting my personal identifiable information just by doing that. So we'll have the list of those just kind of like COPA which is for children under 13. Um so we are aware of those. It's the same it's sort of a a similar process. So that will be uh firmed up this summer so we can implement it in the fall. And will there be a way to I guess differentiate between a student who actually wrote the essay or whether AI wrote the essay? Is there a way to to do that now? So currently the AI detectors are not uh reliant. Uh the best AI detector right now is the actual teacher themselves. Um and by putting
081in this district created scale and I'll make sure you have a copy of this then too. And making sure teachers are upfront with students to make sure that they know when and when it is not appropriate to be using it. Then that will help with that process. I not trying to ask a whole lot of questions, but it's hard for me to be here Tuesdays at 4. So, um, and this all piggybacks on policy 8:15. Yeah. Yes. Which correct? Acceptable use policy. Right. And I think we all know that I still have issues with policy 815 because we talk about, you know, that goes back to the books that we can get online from fit and not all of those books are really appropriate. So I guess that's kind of my concern there as well.
082But this is just a piggyback on that. So this is the vote just on point 4. Yes. 3. Any more questions? So we'll move on. Um Tim, hold on. Just one more question. This is just this is just basically our baseline policy. This is going to change. It could change next month probably. I would think I would think sometime next year if they real if they see something that needs change. But I would see it change in the next couple months until they start working through some of the PD. We just had an update um couple weeks ago from our edtech uh consortium at the IU and I was a little you know hesitant like oh they could make maybe bring something up that would change things but there was nothing in there that changed
083like the way we had written the policy. There were some new things um developing that we just need to be aware of but nothing that made us want to change the policy. We do know that 815 in general and all of the sub numbers of that are all technology related. So they do get updated more often than other policies. I believe Jeff Williams and I will be meeting actually to revisit the other numbers uh this summer as well. Okay. All right. Anybody else question? All right. Um, Michelle, we're voting. I know it was long, but we're voting now. We're on the spot. There was a motion on the table. Uh, yes, but only because this is a baseline policy. Alice, yes. Al, yes. Jeremy, no. Mike, yes. County. Yes. And I vote yes. Uh board
084committee reports. Information. Sorry, I skipped to the bottom of the page. I already flipped. My bad. Uh 7.1. I I have a legislative one. Well, no, we're good. You'll get you'll get to it. Oh, I'm sorry. I jumped ahead. I'm sorry, Al. Um 7.1 Gettysburg school board vacancy. And you can speak to that, Jason. Yeah, sure. We had a board resignation. So, we'll be advertising for uh interested parties to serve on the board. Um and it's laid out in the agenda there kind of the process and uh folks can apply. The board will do interviews and then uh whoever is selected by the sitting board would kind of fill uh the board seat until reorganization in December. and then the uh the actual election process that is uh coming up um would actually fill it
085for the the two years that would be left on that seat following reor. So that's that's kind of where we are. Can I ask a quick question about that? Sure. Um just because I think it's important for the public too, but in terms of so the term itself has another two years like you just said and you just said that after Yeah. But I guess what I'm saying is this specific vacancy would be filled by somebody until the reorganization meeting after December. Um, and then you said that the election would fill the two-year spot. So is that being added on to to the general election? Like I don't know how much you know about that. Do you know what I mean? That's my understanding. Okay. So it would get added on after the primaries. Okay.
086Thank you. The elections office will take care of notifying the parties. So the parties can recommend and nominate for the position to fill the two years which will be on the November ballot. Thank you for filling in as office of elections for this evening. Appreciate it. Uh any more questions on that? Uh 7.2 administrative building renovations Barton Associates design proposal. You have any with that Josh or Yeah, I can give a I can give a brief overview on that. A little bit of context to this item. A few board meetings ago, excuse me, the board had decided um to approve um my department to go out and get um proposal from BART Associates. Um that's what's on the table for um discussion tonight. Uh basically in a nutshell um they proposed a design fee of
0876.5% um which will be based upon the construction cost or essentially the bids when we get them in. Um, and that would amount to about $265,000 um, in monies paid to Barton to perform design services as well as their subconsultants. And uh there's also a construction administration component uh to that which is essentially after the project's bid we award if we decide to award um then um the fee structure covers or fee amount covers um then seeing us through project closeout um which is the quote unquote construction administration. Uh again the overall budget is uh estimated to be about 4.6 million and the construction cost is about 4.1. Um, so that $500,000 is Barton's fee. Um, we have moving costs, commissioning costs, permit fees, um, other soft costs that are required. Um, just as part
088of any project. Um, so that's roughly where the numbers fall. Uh, and again, just to recap, the, uh, main component of the scope is, uh, HVAC renovation, similar to what we, uh, are currently going through at Lincoln. Uh we just finished at Gettys and a couple years ago we finished at at the high school. Uh there's also an IT component uh with some office space and uh some minor architectural upgrades uh basically necessary um as a result of the renovations as well as new lighting um and that's about it. We'll have some electrical upgrades associated um or necessary should I say with the uh the other upgrades that are being proposed. So again, it's just information uh basically getting it on the table and uh our intention is to have it on for action at
089the next board meeting so we can get a contract in place and get design going. Uh construction, we're hoping to get construction going next summer, not this coming summer, but next summer. Uh we'll just have to see what the bid environment is and how fast design moves and so forth if we do indeed get a design contract in place. Uh but again, our intention is to have it on for action next board meeting. All right. Thanks, Josh. Anybody got any questions about that? Can I just verify this is bond construction fund. So, this is already money that we already have to spend. Correct. We're not. That's correct. Okay. Cuz I don't want anybody to think we're going out and building something new. [Music] All right. Uh board committee reports. Al. Yeah. Thank Thank you. Uh
090our friends in Harrisburg are uh considering a uh legislative proposal uh by uh state rep. Joe Sesi. I'm hopeful that our local uh state reps, I'm calling out Dan Al and Torren Eker on this to do this in a bipartisan way uh to address uh some restructuring of cyber charter schools and the way that they are funded. Uh Belinda triggered me uh just a little while ago and it's uh talking about its impact on our personal budget here in Gettysburg. But what they're looking to do is to en enhance some financial transparency, curb spending unrelated to education and align funding more closely with the actual cost of online education. House Bill 1372 seeks to address long-standing concerns surrounding accountability, financial inefficiencies tied to cyber charter operations. Under this bill, a single statewide tuition rate of
091$8,000 for non-special education students would be established, reflecting a more accurate cost structure for online education. This mirrors a proposal included in Governor Josh Shapiro's recent budget address. Additionally, the legislation would implement a special education funding model for cyber charter schools, aligning with the three tier formula currently applied to a traditional public school districts. What's happening now is that uh these students that are moving into cyber charters that are in general education miraculously all of a sudden need an IEP after being uh tested by some of the cyber charters which pretty much doubles what our schools uh have to pay to the cyber charters. Uh, Saresi's proposal also includes provisions to cap cyber charter schools, unassigned fund balances to ensure taxpayer dollars are directed towards education. Restrictions would be placed on public spending for event
092sponsorships, advertising, and other non-educational activities. Furthermore, the legislation seeks to enhance accountability by expanding conflict of interest rules, ethic standards, and public reporting requirements. So, uh, once again, I I'm asking I'm calling out our local state reps to do this in a bipartisan way, and I'm somewhat cautiously optimistic, maybe this will move forward. So, I I'd really like for Dan Mau, Torer, and then once it gets into the Harrisburg Senate, Doug Mastriano to uh work with uh the the other members of of their caucus and so on to move this forward. Thank you, Tim. What's that House bill number again, Al? 13, House Bill 1372. And if anyone would uh feel have a little extra time to uh give a call and maybe encourage uh those people to support that, that would be great. And
093I I will I just want to clarify this. I I personally am not against school choice. I'm not against competition with our schools. I think we can compete very well. What I am against is being grossly overcharged for services. Now, do you know what that would potentially save our district here? I I don't, but I know someone who does [Laughter] because I think that would be important information for the public to know, especially in this time of budget when we're talking about we're getting really close and we're talking about half a half a percent and and so on and so forth. So, I think it's pretty significant. We're just talking cyers. We're not talking bricks and mortars. So, it's just cyers and we're about 3/4 of a million dollars. That's where we're at currently. Correct.
094So, by probably half that, Jeremy, what's that? Probably about half that. About half that. Mhm. Yes. So, roughly $350,000. Correct. Close to it. So, basically all but 1%. Yes, that's right. Okay. Yeah. Um, thanks Al. Um, program reports. No, just uh it was mentioned earlier, but just wanted to uh reiterate that uh we do we do teacher and staff appreciation week uh this week alto together. And uh wanted to say a special thanks to our uh food service staff um for getting in a little bit early and uh providing the breakfast at each one of the the sites for uh faculty and staff during this week. Uh they do a different building each day. And um Nick Malone and all of his uh department do an incredible job. It's better breakfast than you're going to
095get anywhere. But thanks thanks to them and thanks to everybody during this uh this week of appreciation. All right. Um as far as ACTI goes, um kind of status quo at the moment. Still waiting to hear if we got any leads on any land hopefully this month. Um they could possibly bring that to us. also a recommendation for an assistant principal um for the staff there at ACTI who is way over overworked and underst staffed. Um going back to what Al said, if something like that could get passed and we're looking at 1% there's our funding for ACTI. So we can look at that at a well a magnitude of through a magnitude of different lenses as far as what we could do with that money. But, uh, yeah, I think it's time something gets
096done. That's about all I got at the moment. Thanks, Jeremy. Um, I guess the next board meeting is May 19th, 7 o'clock here at the administration building. Um, anybody give me a motion we can adjourn. So moved. Second. Second. Thank you.