January 20, 2026, 7:00 PM - Work Session Meeting of the Board & Proposed Preliminary Budget

001Good evening. I would like to call the Mthakton School District Board of Directors January 20th, 2026 work session meeting to order. Please stand for the pledge. The public is hereby advised of audio and video recording of this meeting for the purposes of rebroadcasting. By the way of attendance, all board members are present. Ness's guest and scheduled speakers, Dr. Zerby. >> Thank you, Madam President. This evening we have a number of guests and scheduled speakers. First, I'd like to introduce Hank Miller from Gorman and Associates. Hank is here to provide the 2024 2022 annual financial audit. Uh Mr. Miller, >> good evening ladies and gentlemen. [clears throat] My name is Hank Miller. Uh I'm a partner at Gorman Associates here to present uh the single audit report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025. Uh

002let's see. Is this for the Oh, there we go. I got it. Yep. [clears throat] So, everyone should have received a a copy of our single audit report. Um, and then also there was a separate letter to the board uh for your review. Um, I'm just going to go over some brief highlights in the single audit report. We're not going to go through it in detail. I don't want to take up uh we'll be here all night if we do that. Um, but I just want to start off by saying uh what I mentioned to the finance committee. Um, your business office does a very good job of keeping the books. Uh the audit went very smoothly this year. We didn't run in into any issues. Anytime we asked for backup, ask for explanations, uh

003anything of that nature, reconciliations for various accounts. Uh they were very supportive, very quick to respond. So as far as the audit went, just happy to report it went smoothly. And I also just want to start off from the top and just say that for this year you guys did receive an unmodified opinion from us which means you had a clean audit. So there were no findings noted as far as the financial statements or as far as your federal awards testing. So uh as far as our report uh the independent auditors report um there is a paragraph in there it starts on page three where we give our opinion on the financial statements that are presented in the report. Uh we also highlight in there if you read that section uh we discuss certain things

004that we think are important that I want to mention to you just as far as what our responsibilities are on the audit of the financial statements. Um so I'll just quick excerpt. Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement whether due to fraud or error and to issue an auditor's report that includes our opinions. And then we also uh in the report we have supplementary information um and so we also give an opinion on that as well basically stating the same thing. [clears throat] So just some uh financial highlights. So this statement is pulled uh from a statement on page 27, the statement of revenues, expenditures, and changes in fund balance. This is just a summarized version of that financial statement. So here

005we're showing you the budget, the final budget in comparison to the actual results. This is for the general fund. And then [snorts] the last column there, we show a variance uh whether positive or negative. Um so there you can see total budget for revenue $134 million. Uh you came in with positive uh revenue of $134.5 million. Uh so positive variance of $400,000. Budgeted expenditures were at 132 million. Um your expenditures came in at just under 134 million uh with a variance of 1.4. uh you did end a year with no change in fund balance and so you have in the general fund an ending fund balance of $12,46,000 and [snorts] then here we just give a breakdown of your fund balance for the year end um or just go through the different categories you have

006non-spendable fund balance uh this is tied up in prepaid expenditures so this is just a timing thing uh as you know, if you pay something out before year end, but it applies to the following year, it's typically going to be reported as a prepaid expenditure. So, you have just about two $2.4 million in non-spendable fund balance. You have restricted fund balance. This is fund balance that is restricted by an outside third party. Typically, this could be uh donations uh for various purposes, scholarships, you guys. Uh so we have a breakdown there for the three different types of restrictions that we see with your fund balance. Most of it about $245,000 is from outside donations. And then you have assigned fund balance for capital projects of $113,000 and unassigned fund balance in the general fund of

0079.6 million. And that's your breakdown for total fund balance of the 12.4 million. Our next highlight uh here is a trend analysis that I like we just like to provide for the food service fund just showing you the last four years results within the food service fund. I know you guys had have some discussion going on uh in regards to the high school. Uh most of this information just for the June 30, 2025 year is pulled from page 23 of the audit report and then the rest of that information is just pulled from prior audit reports. Uh but in the food service fund, you ended the year with a uh a loss essentially of $50,000. That's a change in net position. in the bottom section there, we add back uh certain non-cash and non-recurring items

008to sort of smooth out the the results you would see in the food service fund. So, primarily this is uh here we're backing out capital contributions and transfers in and then also depreciation. Uh so if you look at that bottom line that gives you maybe a little bit truer sense of what's what your food service operations have looked like over the last four years. So you can see 20 based on our analysis for 2022 you ended the year with $392,000 in profit followed by $449,000 in 2023 and then you show a loss the last two years. And then here this is just another summary from the financial statements. This is pulled from page 91 uh in the supplementary information section. Uh this is just highlighting your capital projects funds. And then there was also a

009debt service fund reported for the 2425 fiscal year. The debt service fund is just uh there because of the refunding that occurred in that fiscal year. And so for the capital projects fund, you ended the year with a fund balance of $12.6 million. >> [clears throat] >> So again just in summary uh you know we issue reports on internal control over financial reporting a report on compliance and other matters and then we also give our opinion on the major federal programs. again there there was no issues or findings noted in the audit. So, and just finally uh for a single audit, again, this is a federal compliance audit. Uh since you expended over $750,000 in federal awards, we have to assess whether you're high risk or low risk. You guys are low risk. That means

010we don't have to test as much for federal compliance. This year we did, excuse me, look at the special education cluster or your IDA program. Uh, and that made up nearly 44% of all your federal awards and again no findings noted. And that's all I have. Thank you, Mr. Miller. Are there any questions from members of the board for Mr. Miller to my right in the audit? How about to my left? Oh, I'm sorry, Jim. Mr. Murky, >> I just wanted to thank you for the presentation and for the work that your firm put into the audit. Um, we appreciate it. Um, I think some of the information you presented, particularly the summary level, highlights some of the things we've been working on, particularly as far as the lunch program and special education. So, thank

011you. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions or comments? this uh matter will be found on the agenda under item 9Ee. Um and that actually will be modified uh just the title of that I'll say the 2425 annual fiscal audit and uh that'll be up for your consideration once uh and and if you approve that uh next week uh that uh the audit will then be posted to the district website as as per our practice. Any further questions on on the audit? Seeing none, Mr. Mr. Miller and Gorman Associates, thank you so much for uh your help in this matter. >> Thank you. >> Have a great evening. >> Next on the agenda, we have district imagery update. I asked Miss Scrobach to come forward. So this evening, I've asked Miss Scrobach, our district communications

012coordinator, to present the summary of information she collected regarding the use of Native American imagery in our schools. Before she begins, I want to be clear that our communications coordinator is not here as an expert historian or a cultural authority on Native American imagery, but I have asked her to gather publicly available information to help inform the board on the imagery action plan attached to motion 13F1 on the agenda. Miss Scrobeck and members of the board, you should have a copy of the paper presentation in front of you. >> Thank you, Dr. Zerby. So tonight, I'll be providing an overview of the research I conducted on the use of Native American mascots, imagery, and nicknames, sharing local and national perspectives, and outlining some of the steps our district has already taken in regards to Native

013American imagery. As Dr. Zerby noted, I am not a field expert in this field, and I am not speaking on behalf of any individual or group. I did not consult directly with any Native American tribes, organizations, or individuals. And all of this information is based on publicly available research. Oops. I would like to begin by going over some of the terms that are discussed in this research so we're all clear on the meanings. In this case, the mascot refers to a performative symbolic figure adopted by a school, team, or organization to represent its identity and spirit. This could be a physical or graphic depiction of a living thing. Imagery is the visual symbols, designs, or depictions such as logos, graphics, murals, or uniforms that represent or reference a group, culture, or identity. And nickname refers

014to the word or title used to identify a school's team or community, such as the Warriors. I would also like to note that this research focused on imagery depicting Native American people, such as the headdress. It it does not specifically address other imagery, such as arrows and feathers. It's [snorts] also important to note that there is no universal Native American perspective. Opinions do vary among tribes and individuals. There are two main viewpoints when it comes to the use of Native American imagery, mascots, and names. When examining opposition to Native American mascots, names, and imagery, the concern that is most often raised is that the mascots's name and imagery stem from a long-standing history of cultural eraser, misrepresentation. Many critics argue that mascots and imagery can be dehumanizing, reducing Native American peoples to symbols or caricatures

015rather than recognizing them as living diverse communities. There's also a significant body of research that looks at the psychological and educational impact of this imagery. Those study studies show potential harm not only to Native American students but to students of all backgrounds by reinforcing stereotypes and biased thinking. The most vocal organization opposing the use of Native American imagery is the National Congress of American Indians. They are the largest and oldest rep uh group representing tribal governments in the United States. In 2013, they passed a resolution urging the US Secretary of Education to encourage all schools to change Native American names, logos, and mascots. In addition, the US Civil Rights Commission on Civil Rights has called for the discontinuation of Native American imagery, stating that it quote normalizes the legacy of oppression perpetuated by trucks. In

016reviewing perspectives that support the use of mascots imagery and names, I did not find any large organized tribal groups that support unrestricted use, and that unrestricted use is key there. Instead, support is generally contingent on appropriate or conditional use. Some Native American tribes and individuals believe that schools can use their imagery and nicknames respectfully if the imagery, names, and mascots are carefully managed, paired with education, and guided by direct tribal involvement and consent. Such support is not universal and typically includes clear expectations for ongoing education and sustained relationships with the tribes involved. For example, a small number of tribes have granted limited approval for schools or universities to use their names or imagery. One frequently cited example is the seminal tribe of Florida. They have an agreement with Florida State University allowing the use of

017the seminal name, mascot, and imagery under specific conditions. These conditions include allowing tribal approval and oversight on FSU's branding and ensuring the real seinal history and people are depicted and that there is not a fictional or generalized depiction. There's also an educational component with this. FSU commits to educating students about the real history and contemporary life of seminal tribe in student orientation, academic programs, and campus events. The Native American Guardians Association is the most prominent organization that supports conditional and appropriate use. They argue that when correctly, nicknames and imagery can reflect Native American strength, tradition, and history, and that eliminating it entirely can be a form of cultural eraser. Their message is often summarized by the phrase educate not eradicate. It's also worth noting unlike the National Congress of American Indians that I just mentioned

018previously that the Native American Guardians Association is made up of individuals. Some of them have Native heritage and some are just allies. So they are not officially representing tribal governments. Since much of these instances of acceptable use involve agreement with local tribe, I thought it was important to look at the indigenous people here in this area. That's the Leninian Lape. Currently, the Lape Nation of Pennsylvania is not formally recognized by the state or federal government, although they are pursuing state recognition. There is however a state recognized Lape tribe in New Jersey, which opposes the use of Native American mascots, imagery, and names in schools. The Delaware Tribe of Indians, which is based in Oklahoma, is one of three federally recognized Lape tribes, and they still have deep connections to this area and a close working

019relationship with our Sinus College. And in 2022, that tribe passed a resolution opposing the use of all race-based Native American logos, mascots, and names, no matter the intent. Their resolution said in part that these names and images quote denigrates, degrades, and stereotypes American Indian or Native American people and their cultures. So, in looking at how school districts locally and nationally have handled the approach to Native American imagery, there is no singular path. Most schools that I've come across in my research that refer to themselves as the Warriors have kept their nickname as it's often perceived as non-specific to Native Americans. However, they usually modernize how it's represented, moving towards generic or non-human designs rather than any sort of cultural or ethnic portrayal. Most retired any culturally specific imagery such as the Native American headdress. Some

020schools have shifted their branded imagery to more generic symbolism for a warrior, such as helmets or swords. Others have chose to keep simply a word mark or letter mark of their district or school name. In a few cases, the schools adopted a new mascot that could be perceived as a warrior, such as a Spartan or a wolf or a knight. Mthactton actually embarked on a process to explore new mascot ideas in 2024, working with a group called Iris Creative. The solutions they ultimately delivered did not meet our expectations or standards. So, we decided to discontinue the work at that time. We have however taken a number of incremental steps to reduce the use of Native American imagery across the district, particularly at the high school level. The district removed banners in the gym that featured

021the headdress imagery, and the headdress that had been displayed on the gym floor was also removed. Additionally, all uses of the headdress were removed from the Manactton School District websites and social media, as well as athletic uniforms. To ensure consistency, the district communicated directly with athletic teams, clubs, the Pioneer Athletic Con conference, and the PIAA, asking for the use of our M logo in place of the headdress in athletics and all related materials. At the high school, additional branding and design work was just completed over winter break in the main entrance. This was to strengthen school spirit, and it included the removal of a Native American statue and a mural of a headdress from the lobby. The statue was replaced with a display for the high school's honor book and the mural was replaced with

022one of our M logos. And so on the screen you'll see our official logos for Mthactton School District and Mthactton High School. If the board votes to approve the imagery action plan attached to the agenda, we will be developing a style guide and branding kit for our administration and staff. This is to ensure consistent and accurate branding moving forward. I would plan to share that with our administration at the end of the month. That concludes my presentation. >> Thank you, Miss Groc. So, for members of the board, going forward, as shared here this evening and with the board's approval next week, the district will utilize the district approved imagery as shared here this evening and carry out the action plan as attached to the agenda. Are there any questions for uh Miss Scrobeck or myself

023uh to my right? Miss Achandanda, >> I just wanted to say thank you for this presentation. I think it's very well researched and put together. I like that multiple perspectives were represented in your presentation and I think the next steps are the most respectful way that we could move forward. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other questions or comments to my right? Seeing none to my left, Miss Purdue, >> I do also want to say thank you. I know that there's been quite um this has been a work in progress for quite a long time and it's nice to see um us moving forward. I do have a question in reference to um what you presented on the um official logos just because what am I seeing here? A total of um seven. And I'm

024just wondering because I think when we partnered with Iris um in reference to doing some of the work what they mentioned with us having when you Google methactin or anything there were many symbols that came up right and multiple um logos associated with it. So do we have any action going forward in a way that we can ensure that when we pull a methactin like what we see is that something that we think we'll go forward with or is it now these are what we'll adopt and we'll see in fact appear in different versions of this M >> I believe that's something we can move forward with narrowing down the different logos we have um sort of the way we've been doing it since I began here is the logos you see in the bottom

025right are more for the district. The ones up at the top with the big M are more for the high school. So in developing a branding kit and style guide for our district, I would agree. I'd like to kind of narrow that down and see if we can have more structure to it so that there is one consistent logo that's recognizable. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other questions? Um Miss Steel, >> thank you. I just wanted to echo a thank you and um I think the most powerful part of the presentation is um slide five where you bring the views of the tribes that are closest to um Mthactton and the um Lapi [clears throat] tribe that would represent the people who are here. So I just want to thank you so much for

026bringing that information to us. >> Are there any other questions? Miss Austin, >> thank you for this very informative. Um, and I just I was wondering about um I guess how we're going to view or if we're going to view um internal communications within the schools and um just that kind of thing like how is that going to be monitored if we move forward with this plan? Because I I know there's still some some of the old imagery the the the the action plan that's in place. If it if it has any uh uh direct impact on a classroom or other rooms, um we're going to be communicating that that this week uh to put those individuals on notice that that they're this is likely to be approved. Um, and then from that point forward,

027I think uh with Miss Scrobach's uh leadership, we'll narrow down the uh uh the district imagery going forward and uh be communicating that rather as as soon as we reasonably can. >> Any other questions, comments? Yes, Miss Graph. >> Yeah, thank you for this. It was this is really great. I think it was put together really well and it's very clear and easy to understand. So I appreciate that. Um I guess I have two questions. The first question is the item on the agenda is to authorize the administration to proceed with the imagery plan as attached. Do you have a timeline for the completion of the plan that you could share with us? I believe it was >> each item has a timeline uh with the exception of one item which is um the item

028associated with the uh wall in the gymnasium uh which has uh the photos of all the uh uh I'll call them uh PAA uh winning teams. >> So I guess my question is when do you anticipate completion of all the steps in the plan? That's what I'm asking. >> I think by the end of February. >> Okay. And then will you also be responsible then for I'm going to use the word policing the district and all of the publications within the district for imagery and logos that are not consistent and then sort of tracking those people down to make sure that they're compliant moving forward. I think that's going to be the work of our entire administration, not just one person, but certainly uh knowing that uh she's closest to all of this, certainly advise

029the the rest of us on a on a monthly basis if things uh come about that we need to address. >> Great. And then um my last question is when you were doing this research with other districts that have removed their imagery, did most districts later pick another mascot or did most districts like in this case with all of the items you're presenting to us today, there is no mascot. There's a there's logos and there's so I just my question is did most of them go forward and select a mascot at a later point or did most of them just stay with what they had with logo? >> I would say I looked at easily a dozen or more different schools that had the nickname warrior across the country. It was probably an even split

030between the number who selected a new mascot and those who just went with a word mark or letter mark like we have. Um, I would say of the ones that did the mascot, probably threearters at least went with a Spartan or a knight of some sort. That was across the board pretty much what was they went with, right? Okay. Thank you. >> Any other comments? Um, Mr. Murki. >> So, [clears throat and cough] Miss Purdue's comment. Well, first of all, thank you also for the presentation. And I thought this in the earlier presentation was very informative to the overall topic. Um, but Miss Purdue's comment made me think of something which is if you do a Google search and the images that come up. So we changed this but that's there's still going to be

031old images come up. Is there any you know like when because of the way the internet searches work in where they're stored. So, is there anything that we can do about that or it's just something that fades over time? >> I believe that's something that my predecessor looked into and made a good effort to try and remove some of that and a lot of that is tied to older publications that were also tied to our old website. Um, so even if you remove it, it still comes up sometimes in searches. Um, so it is something that will fade over time, but I can definitely continue to look into that and see if where those images are coming from and see if those sources are in any way in our control to remove. >> Thank you,

032Mr. Wyers. >> Yeah, thank you. I I just want to so to make sure those that are not looking at this plan, there's not any discussion about changing the name Warrior right now. Correct. Yes. So to just be clear that we get that out there. But Dr. Dr. Zerby, you did say something that was I was a little surprised about. You said the photos of the teams in and was that literally the photos because you know from my perspective you know I support moving forward but to the the winning teams if we have a headdress and a winning team photo from 1968. I don't understand if that is really a from an offensive [snorts] perspective something that So I'm just curious if that is literally what you're talking about or >> No, no, we're not

033talking about that. We're talking about the frame of the photos have a standard four headdresses on a corner and then the then the photo is actually embedded in in there. So it's it's something that materially can be uh swapped out without a lot of effort. We just don't have all those photos. So, we won't make those changes unless we can get the get a good uh duplication of those photos. I I don't want to I'm I'm not changing the photo. I just want to make sure that the the four corners um are are are addressed. >> Thank you for nothing to do with the individuals on on in the in the photo. >> Yes. Thank you for clarifying because it's could be misinterpreted in the audience, I think. >> Any other comments or questions? Seeing

034none, Mr. go back. Thank you very much for your assistance this evening. Uh next on the agenda, we have the food services. Uh we have Miss Stephie. Uh on the agenda, uh under item 9D. 9D reads, "Authorize the administration to proceed with returning the Mthakton High School to the National School Lunch Program effective the earliest appropriate date but not later than the start of the 2026 27 school year. This matter was discussed uh in the November uh finance committee meeting and again in the January uh finance committee meeting. Uh Miss Stephie is now presenting a summary of of uh both of those presentations for your consideration on the motion for next week. Miss Steffy. >> Thank you Dr. Zerby. Um I'm just going to as I advance slides I'm just going to say next slide

035so those of you that are following on paper will be able to follow along. Okay. uh high school food service program returning to the national school lunch program. [clears throat] Next slide. Beginning with the 2324 school year, Mthactton High School voluntarily went off the national school lunch program in order to expand offerings available to students, increase food service experience, and increase participation. Windy Hill Cafe opened providing students with an alternative to the traditional cafeteria setting allowing for alleart options in the morning and in between classes. Next slide. In the first year that the high school was off the national school lunch program, the food service operating statement reflected a loss of $25,187. Of this amount, $11,294 was attributable to meals served to free and reducedpric students and was covered through a budgeted transfer from the

036general fund. The remaining $13,893 was covered by Aramark under its contractual break even guarantee. The break even guarantee requires Aramark to reimburse the district for operating losses excluding the cost of feeding free and reduced price students. The district share of the loss is calculated by multiplying the number of free and reduced price meals served by the price per meal. In 2425, the second year off of the National School Lunch Program, the operating statement reflected a loss of 196,57. $18,733 of that loss was attributable to free and reduced price meals and was covered by a budgeted general fund transfer. The remaining $87,323 was covered by Aramark through the break even guarantee. For the 2526 school year, we are projecting a loss consistent with the two prior years. The estimated operating statement loss is just over $200,000

037with $111,333 attributable to free and reduced price meals and the remaining $89,721 projected to be covered by Aramark under the break even guarantee. Two primary factors are contributed to the portion of the loss covered by Aramark. Increased labor costs and food costs. The district's portion of the loss is driven by increased participation and in free and reduced price meals and higher meal prices. Increased participation raises costs without generating additional revenue. Additionally, as meal prices are increased to help offset the operating statement loss, the price per meal cost that Methactton must cover for free and reduced price students also increases. It is important to note that this portion of the loss is currently classified as an error loss only because a break even guarantee exists in the current contract. That guarantee will not remain indefinitely and

038once it expires, the loss becomes a district expense. Returning to the National School Lunch Program is projected to result in an operating statement profit of approximately $21,000. In addition, there would be no cost to the Missact general fund for feeding feeding free and reducedpric students. While on the National School Lunch Program, the district receives state and federal reimbursements for each meal served, and those subsidies fully cover the cost of meals provided to eligible students. Next slide. Returning the high school to participation in the National School Lunch Program will result in several operational and menu adjustments. Windy Hill Cafe will continue to operate and is expected to remain a popular option for students. Some product substitutions will be required to meet USDA guidelines, such as the use of sugar-free syrups. Cookies, a student favorite, will be

039offered, though portion sizes will be smaller. Pizza will remain unchanged, and French fries will continue to be available. All students will be eligible to receive a free breakfast. To encourage breakfast participation, students will be able to grab a breakfast sandwich and a piece of fruit while picking up their morning coffee. This approach supports both increased participation and improve student nutrition. USDA commodities, including whole grain products, will replace items made with white flour. Whole grain products have improved significantly in taste and quality in recent years as manufacturers have adapted to evolving USDA nutrition standards. The overall goal of returning to the national school lunch program is to provide healthy, nutritious meals that students will enjoy while also ensuring the long-term financial sustainability of the district's food service program. Next slide. Mthactton High School exited the National

040School Lunch Program to expand menu options, enhance the student dining experience, and boost overall participation. While participation rates and student feedback have reflected improvement, rising labor and food costs along with an increase in students qualifying for free and reduced price meals will make it unreasonable to assume the program will break even moving forward. Therefore, it is recommended that the high school returns to the National School Lunch Program at the earliest appropriate date, but no later than the start of the 2627 school year. That concludes my presentation. >> Thank you, Miss Stephie. Are there any comments or questions for Miss Stephie to my left? Miss Clary. >> Oh, thank you. Thank you, Miss Stephie. Um, how soon can we return to, if we choose to, can we return to the National School Lunch Program? we can

041return midyear. I have reached out to the state to get clarification on exactly um when that will be. I have not received an answer yet. There is um one person at the state level that responds to questions in regards to food service contracts. So, it does take a little bit of time, but I have reached out. So, I if I don't hear back by the end of the week, I'll reach out again. >> Okay. Do you have any estimate on uh if we did return and we were able to return midy year what our in how what our financial position would look like relative to the the lunch program? >> I have not done a calculation for that yet. >> Okay. Um, I'm looking at the performance slide and I was thinking while you were

042talking when you said that the the operating loss was over 200 201,000 um is that's due to the to an increase in the number of um free and reduced student participation. >> Correct. >> Okay. And how how much is that? Do you know how what percentage that has increased over last year? >> Um over the three-year period, it's increased 9%. I don't know the year to year, but over Yeah, 9%. >> Okay. And um you said that if we switch to the National School Lunch Program, >> we will be able to wipe that out and we should see we should be we should see a $21,000 profit roughly was the word you used. Would that be in year one? >> That would be next year. Correct. >> That would be next year. Okay. And then

043the other question I have isn't relative. relative to your presentation later, but the the 21,000 or the subsidiary, the um uh what's the right word? >> Subsidies. I was going to say subsidiaries. The subsidies >> that you talked about, have you um factored those into the budget presentation you're going to provide later tonight? >> So, that is um general fund budget. So, this is food service. So the the monies don't co-mingle, but I have factored in um being on the national school lunch program, the general fund would not have to make a contribution. So that is factored into into my presentation tonight. But the $21,000 um would be a profit in the food service program and that those monies don't >> coingle. Okay. Um I think that's all I have. Thank you. Okay. Any other

044comments or questions, Miss Alustin? I was just curious about whether the change coming off of the school lunch program if that did increase participation or how much it did increase participation overall with the additional offerings with the new menu. So I can say that in free um in free and reduced it was about 9% it was um less with paid students. I think it was about 1.8% increase in meals served. Okay. And do we know what we were projecting? Because I I know we we we implemented this program based on a projection that we were going to >> break even at least. Yeah. >> Break even. >> The presentations that I could find didn't specify a number, but it was projected that it was to break at least break even. >> Okay. Um, and then

045I guess I I do like the return to the um the free breakfast and I was wondering if there could be consideration to have stations around with students coming in, have ways for students to grab and go in various parts of the high school, they could just um if we could do something where it's just real easy to for the students to do that. They >> have that's something that they manager and I have been brainstorming about. >> Oh, great. Thank you. Any other questions about that? Miss Purdue, >> I just have a quick one in reference to the um you mentioned the break even uh guarantee with Aramac and then you said it's in our current contract, right? But you said there's a likelihood that that will go away. Can you expand on that

046a little bit more? >> Sure. When um Aramark originally bid on the contract, there was the thought process that that the um program would break even. So it's suffering a loss every year and that's not something that's financially stable for Aramark as well. >> Yeah. So my follow-up question is when will the contract with Aramac and and then I mean that's my first question I guess. >> So we do a renewal contract every year. So you'll see a contract um that will come before you most likely in May and that will be for next school year. And if I could add then we go out to bid every five years and the concern is if we continue with the um vendor operating loss it may prohibit us from receiving the uh number of uh bids

047when we go out through the bid process or receiving bids where there can be some guarantees. So that is a concern of ours. There's no there there's nothing that tells us that there won't be. But obviously uh all of our financials in this bid process are provided to the vendors. So they see exactly uh you know our ups and downs, our wins and losses and then they are able to bid appropriately on the the products competitively uh with all the same information. So they would know that there was a loss or they would know if there was a profit in any given year. did Aramac um give us because I I'm recalling when they did their presentation. Well, I don't know when we did the presentation to go to the national um to go off

048the national school lunch program. Did we get information on other schools that went off the national school lunch program and started? I know we we put in the Windy Hill Cafe and everything. Did we get information on I thought we had something on the loss versus you know revenues generated. It seemed like it was good and I'm guessing that's why we were able to get this break even guarantee in there. But I'm just wondering it didn't seem like we had any information where they didn't think we will be at a loss right or a big loss like this right >> prior to going off of the program. Yeah. I don't believe that that they believe that there would be a loss this significant. >> Yeah. And I know I mean times have changed. There's a

049lot more cost associated with supply, but I'm just wondering just because when you look at the numbers um and we talk about, you know, some of the contributing factors um I don't know if it's just it it's not just due to the increased participation, right? So, I'm just wondering like um what else we like possibly what else I mean seeing the numbers now and seeing that we we've been operating um and I think they gave us a good understanding of that um from Gorman and Associates with their audit report in reference to transfers we've had to make to kind of keep this program running. It seemed like a good way to go, but I'm just wondering what else we missed with um going off the program and now having to come back on a program

050again. >> From Aramark's perspective, the the contributing factors are mostly the increase in food costs that weren't expected. Um such a drastic increase. Increases always expected slightly. And then also they settled a pretty substantial labor contract. Um, so they weren't accounting for those costs either, the significant increases in the contract that they saw >> with going off the national school lunch program at the high school. Are we still expecting to run with the same staff as far as what we are doing now? Is there do this lead to now a reduction in staff or the same number of staff to support? Yeah, at this moment we're not projecting a reduction in staff, but that would be revisited after the first few weeks of school if that's necessary. >> Okay. And then our contract with them,

051you're saying, is most is coming up in May. >> We do a renewal contract every May. >> Contract in May. Okay. I'm just wondering what's the um the drawback with going and I think it was asked previously in reference to um moving off the program mid school year versus the end of the school year or you know with the start of the school year and then also having that contract coming up and I don't know if we I don't recall us discussing that at um finance but I'm just wondering >> um we discussed at finance that we could go off midyear year. Um but that was the extent of it. There wasn't any financial projection going off mid year or any any other detail really given other than um we were aware that we could

052do it and we were going to look into it a little bit further. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Miss Al >> just a quick question. Are there any um financial consequences to switching over midyear mid-contract >> or does the contract allow us to switch back and forth as we so choose? >> It allows us to switch back and forth. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah, I I um see that there's also um operating deficits in K to8 as well um from the information in the memo. So, I I guess I was wondering um how what the is that being addressed also or is that or how does that play into this plan here if it does or are there is there something else planned to address that? >> It it's not it doesn't play into what

053we're talking about tonight, but we are having discussions about how we can improve participation at the elementary level as well, the K to8 level. >> Okay. Okay. And that and that's meal participation. >> Correct. >> Okay. Verse because I because I noticed one of the other comments was that some students felt that some of the alle cart items were expensive. So I just want to make sure we're not planning to raise that too much to make that you know cost prohibitive for some students. >> Thank you. Any comments or questions to my right? Miss Mr. Murki. Um did we do any um I mean so so basically you're saying that the main drivers for not reaching a break even point were increased cost of operation um not not not as much part lack of participation

054or increase in uh free or reduced students like free or reduced that's those are minor contributing but the major contributor factor were increased operating costs Correct. >> Correct. I would not say it was um decreased participation. No. >> Right. Right. I mean you said earlier it was like 1.8% increase and >> and almost four and 7% >> um free and reduced. >> Yeah. Almost nine. >> But the the the question I was getting at is um did we do any kind of like what what level of participation paid participation would be required under the current operating condition? So cost structure to break even. Do we even know how far we are? Like >> because it sounds like participation like even with the elementary schools is also part of you know a partial problem maybe not

055as big of a problem but it is partial problem. So, we didn't look at um increased participation in terms of breaking even as much of taking their current participation and what would we h what would the um price of a lunch have to look like? And it was over a $2 increase for a price of um we'd have to increase lunch over $2 to break even. And um some of the student survey results were that some of the students felt the lunch price was already too high. So, we just don't feel like raising it um 2 to 250 would be reasonable. >> Do I'm sorry about this, but do we have a good feel for like the level of participation that we have at at each of the like high school, middle school, grade school?

056Like is it 50% of the students? >> What you know like do we have a feel for that? >> We do have a feel. I don't have it in front of me though. I'm sorry. We well we have a we we do monthly reports. So uh if if uh if there's an interest uh we can certainly as a chair of the finance committee we can bring something like that in terms of an overall >> so we can talk offline even where this discussion's gone. I I would I think that would be good to look at. >> We we can do that. I mean we are as as Miss Stephie is mentioning uh we are looking at the K8 uh level as well but again she's trying to separate these decisions are are just a little

057different. Um and and while we're talking about participation at the K8 level, we also have cost issues as well. >> Yeah. >> So we we we need to have, you know, a larger conversation with respects to all of that and we can certainly bring that to finance and then to the full board as as we see fit. >> Thank you. Yeah, I'd like that. Thank you, [clears throat] >> Mr. Wyers. >> Yeah. So since I uh was supportive of this over when we did this three years ago, I just and doing my own postmortem, I believe that we expected a 20 or 30% increase in volume. So a 1.8 is noise. So there was no in my opinion there was no volume increase, you know. So that increase of students buying um a more tasty

058lunch never really materialized. So that was a a portion of at least in the mindset that you know to me the 1.8 was it could go the other direction the but I think the partic the uh the amount of students eligible in the high school I don't know if the last number I have in my head is right but I think it was like 24%. So I believe that is a significant aspect because I just sort of lay it out there those dollars we were not getting federally re recovery from. So now we needed to cover those ourselves and now you have more students participating in that portion. So it's not only we didn't see the volume but the the volume that we would hope would be going down went up. Um and then you

059know I I remember a few years ago and it was probably right around the COVID a little bit after with the labor cost and there weren't enough people to serve the meals for a few months. So I do believe Aramark had to adjust to the marketplace and compete against Waw Wa and so forth to have enough people servers. So I I believe there was about four things that went the wrong way during this time. I I I I give the [laughter] we gave it the good old high school try. So we just need to redirect ourselves and back in I will support going back into the national school lunch program. >> Miss Graph. Yeah, thanks thanks for the presentation. I just had a couple questions. Um, I definitely want to hear more about the operating

060deficits at the K to8 level and I think I'd also like to hear a comparison with the lunch costs for other districts in the area. So, when we talk about we would have to increase ours to 250 to break even at the high school, well, how does that lunch cost compare? and then also for the elementary levels. Um I also think it would be really helpful when you get the information related to returning to the national school lunch program midyear if you could also provide us with the cost savings estimates for the remainder of the year also with the um subsidies we would expect to get. So, I I think I heard you say um when Miss Clearary asked the question that there would be a $21,000 profit on the National School Lunch Program next

061year, but that that profit or food service profit wouldn't go into the general fund. Is that accurate? >> That is accurate. So, but the deficit that the district has been paying, the $100,000 a year, is coming out of the general fund. >> Correct? >> So, I guess my question is, if we didn't have that deficit, we'd have $100,000 extra in the general fund next year. >> Correct. >> So, we wouldn't have to make that transfer. >> Correct. There there is no budgeted transfer to food service in the presentation I'll make tonight. And the $21,000 profit, we couldn't transfer that to something else. >> No, that has to stay in the food service program and that can be used um for the food service program to update equipment as needed, things of that nature. >> Okay.

062And then um related to the contract and switching midyear, can you just also verify if our contract requires a specific number of staff? So, if we were to go back to the National School Lunch Program for the remainder of the year and we could reduce staff at the high school, would we be contracted to not reduce staff for that period of time? Um, and then I, you know, following up with Mr. winters. I would like to see the change in participation at K to8 and at the high school over the last 5 years so that we can see before we implemented this and after we implemented this because I don't know if there's actually a trend of more students not buying school lunch like like statewide or if it's the offerings weren't substantially better so

063they didn't feel the need to we didn't get the uptick in interest or if it was a combination of things, right? Um, so I think that would be really helpful. And I guess the other question is, are you going to come back to finance with the financial information related to this decision? >> I I was sort of thinking we might get that information tonight >> in terms of for the current year, >> for the current year and for next year to actually see what the the cost differential is for the budget. So in the presentation you have the cost differential outlined in the budget presentation for next year. For this year she did not do the calculation. So we could do that prior to coming. Uh I maybe I can get that in the Friday

064memo so you guys can have that. >> Yeah. I mean and I know it's an estimate. That's I'm I'm trying to say it's an estimate and this would assume that we would be transferring say March one. >> Yeah. soon as I'm able to get a date of when we're able to transfer, I could have a pretty good estimate. Okay. So, it's all dependent on when I hear back from the state and then also having to have conversations with Aramark about utilizing the inventory that we have on hand. Um, those sort of things. But as soon as I have the information, I should be able to to provide a pretty good estimate. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other questions to my right? See none left. Uh, Miss Steel, >> thank you and thanks so much

065for this presentation. Um I and this is not necessarily for this presentation. I'm I I am in favor of moving back with all the data that has been shared and all the information. Um I I appreciate the good high school tribe we've said to echo um Mr. Winters. Um but I do support it. um just the conversation for the whenever we get that presentation information on the K to8 and just in general um we and I don't remember the specific dates but I know that the district moved to a different online pay program. when we moved to Pay School Central and I remember when we moved to Pay School Central, there was push back from members of the community, some of them, not all of them, um that uh voiced frustration with uh fees within

066the app and using um you know, only certain ways of not paying fees. And I'm I would be interested to see if there's any data or maybe not if that had an impact on people um just if that had an impact on people participating. Maybe it didn't, maybe it did. And maybe it did in the beginning, but then people were like, "Well, I'd rather send my kid and let them buy." So maybe then it it did at the beginning and then doesn't anymore. So I would just be interested to see if that data is there. So that's Thank you. >> Thank you. Seeing no other questions. Thank you, Miss Stephie. Uh you might stand at at stay at the podium. Uh next uh we have the 2026 2027 proposed preliminary budget. Uh this budget was

067uh presented to the finance committee uh last week. Uh the finance committee moved the presentation forward and the recommendation uh for the consideration of the board next week to approve the proposed preliminary budget as presented with a tax increase inclusive of the special education exception uh at 5.29%. Miss Stephy, >> thank you Dr. Zerby. Um again, I'll just say when I'm going to advance the slides that way those of you that are following on paper will be able to follow along. Next slide. First and foremost, the budget maintains our core academic programming, ensuring that classroom instruction and essential learning opportunities remain stable while we navigate financial pressures. We are also prioritizing improvements to supplemental support services and our MTSS framework, allowing us to better support students academically, behaviorally, and socially through early intervention and targeted

068assistance. A key instructional focus continues to be structured literacy development. This budget supports ongoing professional learning and program alignment to ensure literacy instruction is consistent, evidence-based, and effective across all grade levels. From an operational standpoint, the budget advances planning for the high school and a comprehensive master facilities plan, positioning the district to make informed strategic decisions about capital needs, enrollment trends, and future learning environments. The budget also reflects efforts towards right- sizing staff, aligning staffing levels with student needs and enrollment while maintaining program quality and operational efficiency. Finally, we are investing in improving special education program delivery with a focus on strengthening in district supports, enhancing service delivery models, and meeting student needs in the most appropriate and cost-effective manner. Next slide. The budget development process begins internally each September. During this phase, information is

069gathered at the building and department levels where staffing needs, operational requirements, and program priorities are reviewed. Both required expenditures and discretionary requests are calculated and compiled to form the foundation of the proposed budget. Salary and benefit expenditures, which represent the largest portion of the district's operating budget, are developed first. These costs are based on current staffing levels, contractual obligations, projected retirements, and anticipated changes for the upcoming fiscal year. Because personnel costs drive a significant share of overall expenditures, they serve as the initial anchor for the budget model. Once the act one index is published by the state, it is used as a key benchmark in developing the preliminary budget. The index provides guidance on allowable tax levy increases and establishes parameters within which the proposed budget must be constructed. Revenue projections are developed concurrently and

070refined as additional information becomes available. Estimates for state and federal funding, local tax revenues, and other income sources are adjusted throughout the process. As currentear financial trends emerge, and more accurate data is received. After projected expenditures and revenues are fully developed and aligned, all components are consolidated to determine the district's preliminary financial position. This results in an initial operating surplus or deficit which serves as the starting point for further analysis, discussion, and refinement of the proposed preliminary budget prior to formal presentation and adoption. As we began development of the preliminary budget, the district was facing an initial projected deficit of approximately $5.5 million above the act one index. The gap is driven by challenges on both the revenue and expenditure sides. On the revenue side, local revenue growth has remained largely stagnant, particularly in assessed

071property values, which limits natural growth in real estate tax revenue year-over-year. At the same time, ongoing taxpayer assessment appeals continue to chip away at the tax base, resulting in both immediate revenue losses and long-term impact on future collections. From a state perspective, limited increases in basic education and special education funding are projected and current trends in the state budget suggest that significant new revenue is very unlikely in future years. Additionally, act one index projections show a gradual decrease over the coming years, further constraining the district's ability to generate local tax revenue within allowable tax limits. Finally, some revenue sources remain variable and unpredictable, including interest, income, and earned income tax, which are influenced by broader economic conditions and cannot be relied upon for sustained growth. On the expenditure side of the budget, the district continues

072to face significant cost pressures, many of which are driven by external factors and mandated services rather than discretionary spending. We are seeing a general increase in the cost of goods, supplies, and contracted services. Special education continues to be a major driver of expenditures. There is an approximate $ 1.5 million increase in out of district placements, reflecting both higher placement costs and an increased number of students requiring specialized services that cannot be provided in district at this time. Energy costs are projected to increase by approximately $300,000. Personnel costs remain the district's largest expenditure. Additionally, the number of early intervention students requiring services has doubled, resulting in increased staffing and service costs to meet mandated requirements. Instructionally, the district has invested approximately $830,000 in Wilson reading, supporting our structured literacy initiatives and ensuring evidence-based intervention for students

073with identified needs. Debt service is projected to increase by approximately $2 million, reflecting prior capital investments and scheduled repayment obligations. Finally, health care costs are projected to increase by approximately 11%. Continuing a tread that significantly impacts the district's long-term financial outlook. Next slide. In response to the revenue and expenditure challenges outlined earlier, the district has taken a number of deliberate and targeted steps to reduce costs while prioritizing student services and instructional integrity. Staffing adjustments account for a significant portion of these reductions. The district has eliminated five MEA positions through attrition as well as recognizing savings from four additional MEA position costs associated with retirements that were refilled at a lower salary level. The reduction associated with the MEA changes total $691,000. Programmatic adjustments include a partial reduction to the REACH program. In health services and

074student supports, reductions include the elimination of one staff nerf position and the reduction of one unarmed security guard position. Both positions are vacant at this time. The district has also reduced reliance on external services by reducing thirdparty behavioral contracts, resulting in a net savings of almost $1 million. Building level substitute coverage will return to greater use of existing staff coverage models, reducing reliance on paid substitutes. Next slide. The district has also reviewed supplemental contra track costs, targeting efficiencies through closer alignment of assignments, hours, and actual program needs. In food service operations, the high school will return to participation in the national school lunch program, allowing the district to reduce general fund subsidies while continuing to provide access to nutritious meals for students. Departmental and building budgets are being held to 2425 spending levels. reinforcing spending

075discipline and ensuring that budget increases are driven only by demonstrated need. Costs associated with extended schoolyear services are also being closely reviewed and aligned with actual student enrollment and service requirements. Total to date, a little over $4.4 million in reductions have been identified. Reductions on the revenue side were result of decreased pieers and FICA subsidies as a result of the decreased salary costs. In addition, an earned income tax reduction based on the most recent projection provided by Burkheimer accounted for a $284,000 revenue loss. Accounting for reductions on both the expenditure and revenue side, the original deficit of 5.5 million has been reduced to $1.7 million. At last week's finance committee meeting, I reported a projected deficit of $1.4 million. Since that presentation, the deficit has increased due to the enrollment of three students who have

076moved into the district from outside of the district. Two of these students require out of district placements. One requires additional one-to-one support. The total additional cost associated with these three placements exceeds three exceeds $300,000. resulting in a corresponding increase to the projected deficit. Next slide. What this section provides a highle overview of the proposed budget by major object classification and highlights of the key drivers of change. This table shows the entirety of what I will discuss over the next few slides. Next slide. Salaries are budgeted to increase by 4.33% reflecting contractual salary increases across all bargaining units as well as act 93 personnel. Five MEA positions have been eliminated through attition attrition and four additional requirements have been accounted for. Eight additional special education behavioral support positions have been added. The increase in benefits is

077driven by higher peasers and FICA costs in addition to an 11% firstlook increase in medical insurance expenses. Purchase professional services are projected to increase by 11.4%. This increase is um largely attributable to rising thirdparty special education costs including a $500,000 increase in expenditures with the Montgomery County IU. The primary cost drivers within this category are special education behavioral supports which include one-to-one student supports such as registered behavior technicians, classroombased supports including board certified behavioral analysts and program support specialists, outsource related services such as psychologists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, and physical therapists. This budgeted figure also represents a decrease in the utilization of building subs. The decrease in purchased property service reflects departmental reductions within the facilities department, specifically the delayed implementation of certain preventative maintenance contracts. Next slide. The increase in other purchase services is

078primarily due to rising out of district special education placement costs. Currently, the district educates approximately 50 methan students outside of the districts, excluding charter school placements and students educated through the Montgomery County IU. The annual costs for each of these placements range from $30,000 to $300,000 per student depending on the level of placement and additional services required. The budgeted figures in this category all also represent contractual increases in third-party transportation services, including an increase in usage of third-party specialized transportation services. The decrease in supplies is a result of the district's six-year curriculum cycle. Year five of the cycle does not include a curriculum refresh in any of the five core subject areas. It is important to note that supply expenditures are expected to increase again in the 2728 budget cycle when curriculum updates resume. There

079is a modest reduction in equipment purchases and the $24,000 reduction in the debt service transfer than other category reflects the removal of the food service transfer that was included in the current year budget. The total $12.9 million expense in this category assumes new debt payments totaling $2 million associated with an anticipated $35 million borrow. Next slide. As noted earlier, purchased professional services are increasing by 11.74%. While the district anticipated a larger reduction in 2526 school year, only a portion of those anticipated savings were realized. Savings in the current year were achieved through the reduction of 20 RBT positions. However, anticipated reductions in other sport services did not materialize. Additionally, IU costs are projected to exceed budget by $600,000. The cost for Wilson services has increased significantly and will surpass budget. Due to a significantly higher

080number of incoming kindergarten students, the district has accounted for in the 2627 budget. one additional autistic support classroom as well as one additional emotional support classroom. Next slide. Incoming kindergarten special education trends. The following slide details incoming kindergarten students currently receiving individual services through the Montgomery County IU along with the associated costs. The column titled 2026 is the number of students currently receiving early intervention services that will be attending kindergarten in the spring. The district is not responsible for the $75,746,000 cost outlined. They are state funded. However, these numbers are provided to us as a budgeting tool to assist us in predicting costs for next year. Each student upon registering for kindergarten will be evaluated by methactin special education staff to determine whether services will continue. In most cases, services will remain in place and

081in some cases additional supports may be required. The key takeaways from this slide are the number of early intervention students requiring services has doubled over the past 5 years. the severity and complexity of student needs has increased. That trend is illustrated at the bottom of the chart, which shows students requiring placement in an IU or other specialized classroom, including one student attending an approved private school. This number has increased from zero in 2021 to nine in 2026, with one student identified as needing a personal care assistant. The volume and complexity of these needs necessitated the addition of one autistic support and one emotional support classroom, each requiring support such as personal care assistance, BCBAS, and behavioral intervention assistance at a total estimated cost of $500,000. Next slide. The next slide highlights increased special education tuition

082costs, including charter schools and out of district placements. The proposed budget exceeds prior year spending by nearly $1.5 million, reflecting approximately 50 outplaced students, 34 special education charter school students. Charter school tuition accounts for approximately $68,000 of over the $1 million increase. Next slide. The following slide compares budget expenditures by major program area. While increases across all these categories have already been discussed, the key takeaway is that special education costs have increased by nearly $4 million while regular education costs remain relatively flat. Next slide. Over time, special education costs have continued to rise at a significantly faster rate than state funding. Specifically, special education costs have increased at an average rate of 8.2% per year, reaching a budgeted cost of 23,898,30 in 2627. State subsidies have increased at an average rate of 1.67 per year,

083reaching 2,789,996 in 2627. Special education costs have increased $9.5 million since the 2122 school year, while state subsidies have increased $247,742. Next slide. Outside of special education, a substantial portion of the district budget supports debt service. There is no increase in debt service in the proposed budget. However, the 2627 proposed preliminary budget anticipates a $35 million borrowing to support high school projects and other initiatives outlined in the district's master facilities plan. Next slide. Act one. Act one of 2006 provides limits on a school district's ability to increase taxes from the previous year. Districts can be granted exceptions to the costs associated with existing debt, special education costs, and increase pension costs. Next slide. The approved 2627 act 1 index is 3.5%. A tax increase to the full act 1 index would result in an estimated

084$221 annual increase for a home assessed at the district's median value. A 3.5% tax increase would generate total local revenues of $111,611,86. When combined with approximately $29.7 million in state revenue and $49,644 in federal revenue, total projected revenues remain insufficient to fully offset projected expenditures. As a result, the district is facing a budgeted deficit of 1,771,60. The chart on the right hand of the slide illustrates that 2526 marked the first time in eight years that Mthactton increased taxes to the full act one index. In addition, the district utilized around $400,000 of the available $2 million special education exception. Next slide. Due to sustained year-over-year increases in special education costs and with the 2627 preliminary budget reflecting a projected shortfall of approximately 1.7 million, the district is proposing to file for the special education exception under

085act one while continuing efforts to reduce and refine the proposed budget. The act one index for 2627 is 3.5%. The district's allowable special education exception totals approximately $1.7 million, which will be detailed on the following slide. If the district were to implement a tax increase equal to the act one index plus the allowable special education exception, the potential tax increase would be 5.29%. At a 5.29% 29% increase. The estimated impact for a home assessed at the district's median value would be an increase of approximately $334. The graph on the right hand of the slide compares the act one index, the act one index with allowable special education exceptions and mthactton's year-over-year tax increase. As illustrated, Methactton was eligible for the special education exception in four of these years, yet did not fully utilize the authority,

086nor did the district raise taxes to the allowable index. Had the district increased taxes at the full act one index level over the past seven years, the total tax levy would be approximately 12.8 million higher than it is today. Next slide. [clears throat] Calculating the special education exception. Due to significant year-over-year increase in special education costs, Mthactton is eligible to apply for the special education exception under act one. It is important to understand the basis for this eligibility. In the 2324 school year, total special education expenditures were $25.3 million. After applying the $2.7 million special education subsidy, the district's net special education costs total 229 22,559,999. For the 2425 school year, special education expenditures increased to 28.8 million. After subtracting the special education subsidy received, the district's net special education costs increase to 25,98,164. This

087represents a year-over-year increase of $2,539,65 in net special education cost. To evaluate this increase against act one parameters, the year-over-year increase is compared to the amount that special education costs would have increased had they grown at the act one index rate. Applying the act one index, the allowable increase in special education costs would have been $789,568. Because the actual increase in net special education costs exceeded the acton index adjusted increase by approximately $1.7 million. Methactton qualifies for the special education exception in that amount. Next slide. Using the same methodology over a longer time frame, special education costs have increased approximately $7.5 million over the four-year period from 2122 to 2425. During this period, Mthactton was eligible for just over $5 million in special education exceptions. This means that special education costs exceeded act one index

088growth by approximately $5 million during that time. The revenue to cover these costs increase did not come from utilizing the special education exceptions. So costs continuously needed to be reduced in other areas. Next slide. Now that the act on index and allowable exceptions have been reviewed, I'll move on to the remainder of the proposed revenue budget. The proposed revenue budget totals 141,714,243 representing an overall increase of $2.86% or approximately $3.9 million compared to the prior year. The majority of this increase is attributable to real estate tax revenue. Implementing a 3.5% real estate tax increase would result in local revenues totaling 111 million611,86. State revenues remain relatively flat across most categories. The modest increase reflected in the proposed budget is primarily due to higher pasers and FICA subsidies which correspond directly to increased salaries expenditures. Federal

089revenues also remain largely consistent with the 2526 budget. While additional federal revenue may be received, any increases would be accompanied by corresponding expenditure increases. As a result, the net impact of federal revenue changes on the operating budget would be neutral. Next slide. Local revenues. Real estate taxes represent the largest portion portion of local revenue and are budgeted assuming a 3.5% increase. Earned income tax revenue is projected to decrease by $283,000. This projection aligns with current year trends as earned income tax collections are not expected to beat bud be to meet budgeted amounts for the current school year. Interest income is budgeted flat at $ 1.5 million. Due to stronger than anticipated interest rates, the district is currently exceeding budget in this category. Interest revenue will continue to be monitored and adjusted as updated projections become

090available. Interim and transfer taxes are projected to decline based on current trends and known residential construction activity. These estimates will continue to be refined as additional information and current year data becomes available. Delinquent real estate tax collections are budgeted at $1 million. This reflects a slight improvement in the overall real estate collection rate which has an adverse impact on delinquent collections. There are no anticipated changes to IDA funding. All other local revenues, including facility usage fees, activity fees, energy efficiency revenue, refunds to prior year expenditures, summer school tuition, and state receipts for juveniles incarcerated totals 1,287,642. Total local revenues 1,611,86. Next slide. The budgeted increase in retirement reimbursement is directly attributable to higher salary expenditures. There are no budgeted increase in the following major state revenue resources. Basic sub ed basic education subsidy, special education

091subsidy and property tax relief. The increase in the social security subsidy is also driven by increased salary expense. Both people transportation and non-public transportation subsidies are budgeted flat and will be adjusted as current year information becomes available. A modest increase is budgeted in plan con reimbursement and reflects actual revenues to be received. All other state revenues are budgeted in line with prior year levels. Next slide. Federal revenue summary. Federal revenues include budgeted amounts for title one, two, four, and medical access reimbursements. Title one funds are used to support classroom aids. Title two funds are dedicated to staff development initiatives. Title four funds support career readiness programming. Medical access revenue recorded in this category does not have a corresponding expenditure in the operating budget. Total federal revenue is budgeted at $49,644. Next slide. The summary slide

092recaps the information presented in this evening's presentation. The 2026-27 proposed preliminary budget includes total expenditures of 143,485,34 and budgeted revenues of 141,714,243 resulting in a proposed preliminary budget deficit of approximately $1.7 million. Next slide. As part of the ongoing budget development process, the district continues to carefully evaluate additional areas where efficiencies may be achieved while maintaining service quality and student safety. Transportation operations are being reviewed with a focus on route consolidation, taking into account enrollment patterns, ride times, and contractual requirements to ensure efficiency without compromising reliability or safety. In the area of technology, the district is reviewing end-user device cycles and deployment models with the goal of balancing instructional needs, replacement schedules, and long-term sustainability. Healthc care costs remain a significant budget driver, and the district is evaluating potential plan design changes aimed at controlling

093future cost growth while remaining competitive and supportive of employees. Finally, the district is monitoring potential retirements which may present opportunities for attritionbased savings through staffing realignment or restructuring depending on programmatic needs. These areas remain under active review and any recommended actions will be brought forward for discussion as part of the ongoing budget process. As we move forward in the budget development process, the district continues to face a challenging financial environment. Revenue growth remains largely flat while both predictable and emergent cost pressures, many of which are outside of the district's control, continue to increase. Together, these conditions create sustained pressure on the overall budget. The district has already implemented program adjustments and operational efficiencies and additional cost containment measures are actively being explored. While these efforts are meaningful, they are not sufficient on their own to

094fully offset the structural challenges facing the budget. Despite program modifications, staffing reductions, and budget adjustments, the district is projecting a remaining budget gap in excess of $1.7 million for the 2627 school year. Addressing this gap will require continued planning, careful evaluation of options, and strategic decision making by the board. Next slide. As presented to the finance committee last week and agreed upon by all committee members, it is recommended that the board consider approving the proposed preliminary budget inclusive of the full act one index with the special ed exception of 5.29%. The increase is necessary to allow the district to remain aligned with its established budget focus areas and to maintain the programs and services our community expects. For many years, the district did not increase taxes to the act one index. While this approach helped

095limit the tax burden in the short term, it has contributed to ongoing structural budget challenges. As a result, the district has repeatedly been placed in a position where reductions across multiple areas are required simply to balance the budget. This approach is not sustainable over the long term. This recommendation reflects a responsible long-term approach to fiscal stability rather than relying on short-term solutions that create greater challenges in fruitful years. Approval of the proposed preliminary budget utilizing the full act on index does not commit the board to adopting a final budget that includes the special education exception. It remains early in the budget development process and many factors particularly related to revenue and special education costs are subject to change. Approving the preliminary budget with the full exception provides administration with necessary time and flexibility to continue

096evaluating the budget and identifying opportunities for efficiencies before final budget adoption. Next slide. Should the board choose not to consider raising taxes to the act one induct with exceptions, administration has identified approximately $1.6 $6 million in additional budget reductions. These reductions include the following actions. Elimination of four long-term substitute positions. Elimination of all building substitute positions. Elimination of three additional positions and reduction of three unarmed police officer positions. It is important to note that these reductions will have a direct impact on our budget focus areas. Next slide. So what are the next steps? Next week at the board voting meeting, the board will either a authorize administration to make available for public inspection the proposed preliminary budget or adopt a resolution stating that mthactin will not raise taxes above the act one index. If option

097A is chosen, then we will need to advertise as outlined above and advertise for a special meeting to the work session on February 17th to approve the 2627 preliminary budget as presented on the PDE 2028 in the amount of $143,485,34 and authorize administration to apply for referendum exceptions in accordance with act on March 25th is the deadline for the Department of Education to issue ruling on our referendum exception should we seek one. On April 21st, we would hope to adopt the proposed preliminary budget and on May 26, adoption of final budget. That concludes my presentation. >> Thank you, Miss Stephie. And for members of the board this evening before we take questions I just want to reference uh item 9G on the agenda. How that is outlined uh the the motion is outlined as per

098the recommendation of the finance committee. Um it it will uh first take a vote on the authorization uh for the act one plus exception. If that does not pass, we would then move on to item two to approve the resolution uh as stated there on the agenda. So with that said, we'll take questions from members of the board to my right for Miss Stephie, Miss Chanda. >> Hello. Thanks for the presentation for on the on slide 27. I have a few questions. Um completely eliminating substitutes, what what would that look for teach look like for teachers? Uh >> Dr. Seni, could you speak on that? One of the ways in which we helped to solve the uh substitute shortage over the last several years was by hiring building substitutes who are committed on a daily

099basis to being in our various um school buildings throughout the district. Eliminating those will uh as was presented earlier require that we rely instead on our existing staff to fill the holes when those exist. We continue to try to fill day-to-day positions as best as possible, but we will need to utilize staff coverages to to close those gaps. >> So then that would potentially put more pressure on teachers. >> It would exacerbate the amount of time that they are are teaching in the classrooms. Yes. >> Okay. Um for the elimination of the three additional positions, do we have any idea what those positions would be? >> We do. And as a matter of personnel, we can share that with the board in an executive session. >> Okay. Um, for the unarmed police officers, do we

100have a demonstrated need for those officers? >> Yes, we do. The positions, those three positions, one is the uh crossing guard at the high school during the day shift and the other two would be the evening shifts at the high school and Arc Colola Sky View. >> Okay. And then I think that was it for now. [clears throat] Thank you. >> Any other questions or comments to Am I right, Miss Graph? >> Yeah, thanks for the presentation. I um I just wanted to check on something. On slide three, we say that on the expense side, there's a $2 million increase in debt service. But when I come back to slide 14, the debt service is the same as last year. >> Correct. So there is no budgeted increase in debt service. We had built capacity

101into the budget um for debt for the past couple of years, but there will be an actual $2 million payment next year associated with the $35 million borrowing. So when I look at slide 14, I see it it's titled debt service expense and the number is is essentially like flat. So I guess my question is what is the difference between that debt service that we reference in that graph and the debt service we reference on slide three? So, in the 2526 budget, there is $2 million worth of debt service for an anticipated payment that we will not be making. >> So, I guess maybe I should ask it this way. Does debt service require a $2 million additional payment in next year's budget or not? >> It does. >> So, I think you just told

102me that we would not be making that payment >> in the current year. Debt service remains flat this year to next year. Next year's including a $2 million payment. This year we had anticipated a $2 million payment associated with a larger borrowing. We did a $15 million borrowing. So that $2 million payment will not materialize this year. >> So on slide three, are we talking about current? When you say the expenses side of slide three, are you saying there's a $2 million increase in debt service from last year to this year? >> From this year to next year. >> Do you understand what I'm asking? >> I would have asked. >> Okay. Could you clarify it? Maybe >> bring it up. >> So, I'm still not following you. So, and I maybe maybe you can

103ask better than I can. I the way I was going to ask it is because I was going to point out the same thing >> is can you explain why we say that there's a $2 million increase in debt service for the year on I don't know what this is three >> and then several other times later in the presentation you show essentially debt service being flat for this year and next year. >> Correct. So, debt service is bud, but there's a $2 million payment budgeted in the current year that will not materialize. It was anticipated when the budget was built last year. There will be a $2 million payment this year, and we did not borrow according to that schedule, so to speak. So, that payment will not materialize this year. So, there'll be

104an actual increase in payment of $2 million, but budgeted debt service will stay the same. So if if I hear you correctly, slide 14, if we changed the budget column to 2526 actuals, it would show as $2 million less. >> Correct. >> Yeah. >> So it's a budgettobudget comparison. Maybe we could footnote that on that slide 14 just so that it's clear because this is like the second or third time I've sort of noted this in my head and not been clear on how it I get it now. I get what you're saying. Thank you for explain that. >> No, the the slides the slide's misleading. I don't think intentionally, but but we'll we'll >> right now. It is true that the budget had it in and we didn't end up we're not going to

105actually use it. So, it Yeah, I get it now. Okay, that's super helpful. Um, and then the other question I had is back here on the um alternative reductions. Um, [clears throat] what was the basis for coming up with these alternatives, these options, if you will? The basis was uh we had gone through all of the reductions that we felt we could do without impacting the budget focus areas and the the next uh level of reductions are the ones that are are located on the alternate. It'll be the next level. Originally, as you as Ms. Uh Stephie mentioned uh we were facing when we went into the finance committee a $ 1.4 million deficit and we were trying to meet that $1.4 million. We we came up with 1.5 but um since that time we

106had did you say three stu three students were were added to that to increase the cost now we're at 1.7. So we still have >> so we have to add to this list. >> We do have to add to the list. Yes. So, I guess my question maybe is could we consider or see potential other options? One option that comes to mind is what you just told us, I think, was that the $35 million borrowing for the high school is going to cause us to have to make a $2 million debt payment. So, I think what I heard, correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Merski is if we didn't borrow the $35 million, we wouldn't have a $2 million debt service increase, which means we would meet the budget. >> Is that accurate? >> That

107is accurate. But to stay with the borrowing schedule, you'd have to make it up later and wouldn't be able. I'm not suggesting that that is the answer. I'm just suggesting that it may be helpful to the board to see some additional scenarios maybe is the right word that would say okay if you don't want to make these kinds of cuts we could do these kinds of things right so you could sort of see what the differences what the options are I guess is is what I'm asking for and then you can make an informed decision about one thing versus another >> thanks I mean there are certain other things that we could throw on this that I I'm pretty certain you wouldn't want to do. But um we these are things that while we know

108they would impact the focus areas, we also know that these are things we could generally live with if we had to impact the service the those areas like the the least in our opinion the least impactful of the things that are impactful if that makes any sense. So, we're trying to weigh the we were trying to weigh these things into uh you know in terms of their impact. >> I hear that. But I guess I I think that when it comes to matters of the budget, if the board has to make decisions about how we want the district to function and those decisions might require us to make decisions that we don't like, but we choose because they're better than the alternatives. In other words, the board could decide, "We don't want to give up

109on certain programming, but we're willing to make other cuts somewhere else." And it may be a surprise to the administration, but those decisions still rest with the board. So, I would just encourage the administration to come forward with those ideas and let the board decide before we just make decisions in advance. So, that's all. >> Any other questions or comments to my right? Mr. Meski, >> I mean, just to restate it more or a little differently, you know, that voting for taking the exception would not prevent us or stop us for continuing to look for areas in the budget to find additional reductions to get closer to or to stay within the A1 index. That is the objective right in in this decision. We're not deciding to basically pass a budget that includes 5.29% tax

110increase. And there there will be other things that we look at between now and May when we pass a budget that you know take a try try to get closer to staying within our original objective which was staying within the Apple index. >> [clears throat] >> Uh that is that is correct. I mean just as Miss Stephie mentioned here this evening, we're continuing to monitor staffing. We continue to work on transportation potential transportation reductions as well as reductions in technology in terms of uh the cycle replenishment uh process. So there's a number of other things that that certainly working on obviously doing additional work on the ESY program where we have a we have a a general estimate of about $100,000 reduction. There may be room for for more there depending on how we develop

111that program. >> So there is there is some room on the flip side of that we are only sharing uh the first uh look for health care which is an 11% increase. um that could shift up or down depending on where you know how how our history has has gone with our usage uh among that program. Again u I I think generally speaking as Miss Stephie had mentioned uh we're talking about uh uh approving the proposed preliminary budget as as presented here only to provide the administration and the board more time uh to go through some of the options. as uh Miss Graph had pointed out, there may be other things beyond what we what we're sharing here as well as working on things that we've already talked about. >> I mean, but the problem

112is by not passing it, we lock ourselves in to essentially having to meet the act one index as a without going to referendum. So, so essentially we're forcing our hand in deciding what where we have to end up, right? and perhaps eliminating or forcing ourselves into decisions we don't want to make or would prefer not to make as far as cut reductions cut cuts in the budget cuts in the services we're providing. I I I think that your your your point's well taken. The that the challenge is um as I was trying to articulate just a brief second ago uh by giving ourselves more time um it does give us more uh look a more definitive look at what our options are and uh things can certainly materialize for the greater or or or not

113so so good. Um it may not necessarily that time may not necessarily resolve this completely. Uh but at least it gives us the opportunity to have the discussions. Uh we are planning as uh the board's well aware. We're going out into the public. We're having two public forums where we're presenting the budget. We're presenting you know the departmental uh pieces and and the structure and looking for input uh from the public. As well as we have finance committee meetings. we have uh you know monthly board meetings where we can continue to have these conversations and update the board on the progress that we're making if that that is the direction that we take. And while we have projected to have a May vote, we certainly could uh push that into a June vote as well

114if if if we needed some additional time. >> Any other comments to my right? Back to Miss Graph. >> Yeah. Can we um can we pull up slide 13? Uh I'm looking at the graph on slide 13 and the chart on slide 12. So on slide 12 we say that the proposed special education budget is 28 million and on the chart on 13 it's 238.98. I was just wondering if those two numbers if something's not included in the chart. Like the chart makes it look like it's the same budget as 20 526 which it could be but that's not what the slide 12 reflects. >> You're correct. >> So there's something that's not included in this graph. >> The same number was used twice. Yes. Shouldn't be shouldn't have been. >> So this this slide

115is incorrect. the same number. >> Last blue bar. >> Oh, so it should be 28 million. >> Yeah. Okay. [laughter] >> Sorry. >> No, I just was like, was there something that was in this chart that's not in that's not in this chart that was included in the table, so I thought maybe they were actually different. So, thank you. Sorry, >> Mr. Wyers. Yeah, I it's a little déja vu from last year a little bit, but um just want to point out the term proposed preliminary proposed preliminary just it's sort of redundant almost, right? So the idea that the the administration will continue to look for uh additional suggestions and bring them to the board also as additional information related to health certain uh healthcare certainly other ideas about the borrowing the timing of the

116borrowing or how the borrowing is laid out. There's assumptions that we can continue to talk about in finance related to about PA subsidy even though there hasn't been much of an increase in special ed subsidy. Maybe we can count on $50,000 of being an increase and take the chance that that doesn't come in or doesn't there's so much work that can be done over the next four or five months and I think the ask here is simple of giving more time. Um otherwise the choices that if you do not give enough time to get to whatever the number is you have blocked yourself out of going anywhere above the act one index. So that's really what the vote is that it's not a vote about four long-term sub positions or the complete elimination of the

117reach program. So just want to highlight that for the rest of the board. Uh >> questions to my left. Miss Purdue. >> Um, thank you Miss Stephie for the presentation and um, I think sitting of finance and then sitting here also and I I am aware of what um, this is requiring us and I am aware of the what what we have been the recommendation. It is it is a proposed preliminary. I think we've all for many of us that have sat here over the past couple of years, we're also aware, right, when we look at what is proposed um in reference to where we are currently based on the reductions that's already done, we also are aware of the deficit, right? And we know that we have to get that money from somewhere considering

118that um based on what is being proposed as the alternative and I think it goes to points that were raised earlier um the alternatives that are proposed don't give us many options right the alternatives that are currently proposed and I know there's more work to be done but the when you add it up to the based on the total identified um reductions still put us in a position that I feel like we're going to have to make certain cuts and to me I think it would be nice to have more alternative reductions proposed to the board. So in in a way if someone is not comfortable maybe completely eliminating building substitutes because of um you know maybe there's potential impact to when we say um when we look at our budget um focus there's potential

119impact to maintaining academic programming or whatever it is when we consider our budget focus I think we should have more things provided here and I know it's very early but I feel like I don't see a lot of that here. Um I look at our budget focus and I I guess I can ask the question maybe clarify the question on when we look at the budget focus when we have right sizing of staff as a budget focus. Can you clarify what that means and like who's included there just because I don't feel I feel like when we have right sizing our staff and we focus that on teacher and student um I think we say staffing levels with student needs um based on student needs is that also including administrative staff also like like who's

120under the umbrella >> all staffing >> so the whole administration >> administration support staff, professional staff. Correct. Okay. And and third party uh staff. >> Okay, that's fine. But um and then when I go to the um in reference to the current status, when we look at expenses, there are certain things that also stand out to me like I know it's just um 300k, but when we look at increasing energy cost, have we looked at anything in reference to what we can do there in reference um to that? is because if we're looking at everything, I think we should really as a as a district and as a board, we should have visibility to everything like what is on the table, what is not on the table so we can make the right decision going

121forward. I just feel like what is proposed here to me is not looking at everything. I don't know if you and if you don't have the answer to that that's fine but I just I just wanted to kind of ask that question or just um raise that concern just because and I I go back to way when you look at the reductions to date and you have the information on slide um slide number five all those reductions to date some of that is not done right some of there are things that we're looking to do so when we think about elimin eliminating the um I [clears throat] think we we have on here the removal of the food service transfer based on the board voting to support whether we remove the high school from the

122national school lunch program or not. It's not something that we voted on. Right? So to me the net reduction that we have today is not really it's not really I don't see that vision right because we still have reduction in ESY cost that we haven't really we don't have a solid plan around it'll still be nice to me when we look at the alternative reductions to have an a better understanding of the impact right what's the impact when you reduce fall LTS positions what's the impact when you reduce long-term substitutes and all that information I think is still not clear to the board. I know we'll have um more information, but I think that's something that maybe we need to be able to make this um support the recommendation. >> Understood. >> If I could

123just jump in, I think just to to clarify, the reductions to date are already built into the budget assuming that the board will follow those recommendations. Correct. >> The removal of the >> Yeah. the food to a different food service. So, those have already been baked in to the $1.7 million deficit or whatever the exact number is right now. Um, so I I certainly agree that we're not making any I think that I'll just say it this way. It's not just one number. Uh, Miss Stephie has to put in a preliminary budget to the PTE and explain generally, but that's she's she can't just put a plug number of 1.7. This is to identify what would be put into that budget and the impact it would have on pasers and so forth. It doesn't mean

124we're going to commit to any of that. It's just to be able to create that the the a balanced budget at 3.5%. Right? So >> it's just step one of the PD process, >> right? Yeah. >> And that's fine. And then can I just ask you for slide number 11, are you able to show just because you currently have the um special education um cost in reference to charter school tuition and out of district um displacement? Do you have the the difference like between what falls in what cost is associated with um out of district placement and then charter school cost? >> Charter schools a little over 2 million. So basically split in half. >> Split in half. Okay. Okay. That's it for now. Thank you. >> Other questions to my left? Miss Clary? Um,

125yeah. I just have a just >> Can I just go back? I'm sorry. I made a misstatement because, um, charter school tuition costs for regular education and special education would total around $2 million. Um, so it would not be half of $4.3 million, but I don't have the um exact number for the charter school tuition for special education students, but I will get that to you. >> Okay. Um, I'll be really brief. Um on it sounds like you're going to go back and fix a a typo here or there. Right. So another one I wanted to point out to you on slide 17. It references 1.4 million. I think you have to change that to 1.7. There may be more. So I don't know if you just want to do it probably be easier just

126do a search right for 1.4. But anyway um on that sticking with that same slide where my where were were where where my questions were. Um, >> oh, what slide? 17. >> 17. >> Okay. >> In the first line, plinary budget having a $1.4 million shortfall. >> Um, so on the left hand side, um, talking about the increased tax bill for a home assessed at the district median would equal $334. What is the district median used? the definition of it. >> Yeah. >> So, >> is it a like is it a number? >> If it's I think it's around $176,000, but if you took every property in the district and sorted them smallest to largest based on assessed value, it's the one right in the middle. So, half of your taxpayers will have an increase

127higher than that and half will have an increase lower. >> Okay. And you think that the the middle is 176,000? Is that what you said? I think it roughly. Yeah. >> And then the other question I had was your graph shows >> just to just to make sure assessed value of 177 value. So yes that probably like 550,000 something like that would be the >> Y >> that's an excellent point. Thank you. Um so the graph on the graph on the right that shows um that in well you mentioned that in four of the past I think you said in four four of the past seven years we would have been eligible to take the special ed exemption. >> Have we ever taken the special ed exemption in all ever that you know of? Not

128that I know of. And like as illustrated there, the district never raised taxes to the act one increase. So you wouldn't you would first have to raise taxes to the increase before you would take the exception. >> Okay. Um >> can I just on that note if I >> I believe in my first couple years I may have voted for uh act one plus. I think in in in 12 years it was at least once >> besides besides this last time of of the 400,000 correct >> but but going to the act one we've also had a no tax increase year in those years as well >> and I think m you can you can you know I think that the key point to this is not you know when did we do it it's

129it's the simple fact that uh I believe you're you're alluding to the fact that you know we've we've tradition efficiently budgeted by uh budgeted well knowing that the cost of goods and services and the cost of special education continued to rise and we were able to manage those things over time. On the flip side, when we when when we we're talking about the revenue on on like the second slide of this presentation, when she's talking about the state revenue being flat because of the new funding formula, we're all new money. While while there's a lot of new money being put into into regular or into uh uh public public education, is a loser in that particular uh realm. And we are of the school districts that were eligible not to have anything less than $50,000

130when in term in in previous years we were getting somewhere in the neighborhood of a million a million and a half. And so that that is now coming into play here on the back side. So we're no longer able to leverage the resources from the state funding, manage some of our internal resources to cover, you know, the the peaks and valleys associated with uh the special education cost and and the truth of the matter is the special education costs are rising faster than they ever have. So it's all of that combined with just creating this u you know challenge. So I'm sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to add to that. >> Uh, Miss Steel, >> thank you for this. Um, I I have a couple questions. Uh, my first question is, um, on slide

131three, when the board voted, it it has to do with the Wilson reading costs. When the board voted to support the contract, it was my understanding that it was not that significant in the budget that there was it like of what was already budgeted or what the cost would have been. It was not an additional $830,000 that that's what I was to understand that. So, I'm just trying to understand this. It's an incre $830,000 is an increase of around $500,000 over the current year budget for Wilson Reading Services >> in one year. >> Okay. I misunderstood. I don't know if I saw that $500,000 increase in one year in that understanding. Um so that's an interesting piece of information. Um, so when I look at the budget focus and the prioritization, I guess, and this

132doesn't necessarily have to be all, but I would wonder because this is a lot as always, right? But improving supplemental support services and MTSS, improving structure literacy development, and improving special ed program delivery, there's overlap in some of those. So I would really love to know in the coming planning how those complement each other and where the overlap can be leveraged when focusing and prioritizing because you can't fix everything that all at once right but there's leverage there of focus so that would be uh an interest that I would like to know more about in the future that would because all the literacy goes across the board. Um I also have a question on slide four um which is the current reduction in building substitutes and then there's the adjust the added adjustments that are

133optional. Were those building substitutes not being utilized or is there already higher levels of stress being experienced? They are currently being utilized but being titrated out in the near future >> but there's like there's no building substitutes sitting around on the day without a coverage to do right like there >> not generally it's a rare occasion when that happens. >> Yeah it's necessary and um as they are titrated out do you when do we use um I forget the company >> we utilize STS. Yeah, we that's why I couldn't teach services like it has letters. Um like do we expect will we use STS then to hope that there's someone available or no? >> We'll continue to utilize STS to try and get day-to-day subs but where we cannot fill those that will be teacher

134coverages. >> People teacher coverages. Yes. >> Do you expect that to go up? >> I like Yeah. Um, and that's I have massive concerns for that just because of the level of stress that that creates on an already short workday. Um, okay. So, I have those questions. I asked that question. Sorry, I just have to go through because I want to make sure that I um review all the questions that were there. Um ah one of the questions that I saw and this might just be something that perhaps we go that might be a further discussion maybe in ed committee or somewhere else but on slide 10 um the purchase professional services for kindergarten and I see that there's that high that high and there's a trend going higher especially for speech language and occupational

135therapy and I was just wondering if there is and this might be again a conversation for later. Um, but looking at root causes, right, and what the district can do to provide and build in supports that might not be too hard. Um, has there been discussion for what in the tier one curriculum for language support that all would probably benefit from would help students with language needs? And then also a further conversation because OT impacts handwriting. Do we have a handwriting curriculum? Do we have a scope and sequence through the uh primary years because that would probably benefit all but support others? And I we've never talked about it. So maybe just something to bring to ed committee at some point when there's available space and time. Yeah. Okay. Um, and I just I'm guessing

136that this is probably true, but on the slide that covers the charter skew cost that that does reflect the now cyber charter adjustment in costs, right? >> Correct. >> Yeah, that's what I figured. Um, and I just want to reiterate the uh request from Miss Purdue and Miss Graph that um going forward I would want to see more options on the table um on what is there. So, um I guess that that would be my overall request. I believe that that's all the questions that I had >> right now. So, um thank you. >> Any other questions? Uh Miss Austin, >> did you have another >> um Okay. I had a question um also about the building subs. Um, so if if we're going to rely on staff, is that how do how do we

137do that? Is that a supplemental contract or is that just part of part of the contract the exist existing? >> It's part of the existing contract. There is a provision for coverages and for payment for coverages for staff. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, >> I I just want to I just want to maybe Dr. Sugi, maybe you can give us a little bit of history on the on the development of building subs over because I would imagine I'm going to make I'm going to throw number four years ago, five years ago, we didn't have things called building subs. Is that correct? >> That's correct. So looking back to 2122 we did not have building subs or we had maybe a small handful and we were experiencing fill rates if you recall in the 60s and

13870% for our substitutes and sometimes lower. So one of the things the board tasked us with was figuring out how to solve that and the one of the primary means by which we solved that was by identifying building substitutes. So those are individuals who are contracted through STS to report to the specific buildings each day. They are utilized um sometimes they are utilized in advance when we already know that we have a lot of uh absences that are already building up. So they are worked into the mix. Sometimes they are um utilized within a day or two of the absence and then they're plugged in and then there are occasions where they're plugged in on the day of the absence. So we have been able to increase the fill rates of our subst or our

139absence needs by utilizing building substitutes uh in all of our school buildings. >> So I think we uh and correct me if I'm wrong, we had one year I think uh Dr. Regina and you were in charge of HR I think we had seven or eight uh building subs and today we're up to I believe 24. So uh it's it's it's certainly it doesn't come without a cost. Um and and the question is is it a dollar and cents that we you know need to deal with here or or the cost of the you know people mentioned added stress and other other things. Uh there's complexity obviously and and and filling those gaps as well. Um but certainly uh you know we've tried to when we had the resources available to us we felt that

140was the most appropriate thing to do. Um but you know in terms of when we don't have resources available to us these seem to be reasonable uh decisions uh that uh we could consider. So I I just didn't I didn't mean to interrupt you but if there's a couple questions on that I thought maybe it was helpful to give some history. >> No I I appreciate that. And so maybe on slide four could we could we just make a note um under reduction of building substitutes could we say from 24 to 12? So, just so we know what the starting point is. Just Yeah. Um Okay. And then I had a question about the um the kindergarten enrollment that you were you were noticing that there was some um purchase professional services for incoming kindergarten

141students. Do do we is the timeline that actually happens for kindergarten enrollment is that at all helpful to the budgeting process? Do we at all do we know like Do we have any clarity on on the needs actually coming into the district, the students with needs, or do we not really know that until September or August? No, I I believe it's it's traditionally end of March or April is when uh there's actually a transition um process between the IU and the special education supervisors and they go through all of the all of those uh students that are likely to transition in so that we know those uh you know the ch the issues and so we get more clarity at that point in time. The sheet that she's providing is something that the IU provides

142us on an annual basis to start giving us an idea so that when we're in the budgeting process as early as we are, we have at least some number to kind of pinpoint or at least know what's coming. >> Okay. So, there could be more clarity in March. It's my understanding, Miss Debbie, correct me if I'm wrong, u but it's it's this chart that actually drove the the development of two additional classes for special needs students. Is that correct? Correct. which added $500,000 to this budget. Is that is that accurate? >> Correct. >> Okay. And and it's possible that may materialize, may not materialize. We don't know until Okay. Um All right. >> But also to your point, there could be additional costs that materialize. >> I was going to say and this is what

143who we know is currently getting currently >> getting services from the IU and there could be other students incoming who are not getting services. Correct. as of right from okay um okay and when we were talking about the the overall the increased cost payments to the IU and that's just we're that's for actual services anticipated >> correct based on services um children are receiving this year >> okay thank you um okay and then I had a question about retirement so as I recall January is the month that we're we're We're encouraging um teachers or anyone to say that they're going to retire. It's January. Okay. So um I see on the presentation there's uh four MEA retirements to be replaced. I see I think five on the agenda. Is that so is that new information

144or is one of those not being replaced or >> not? >> One is not being replaced. I'm sorry. >> I'm matching up the retirements with what I see on the agenda. >> Oh, okay. >> Okay. >> One. Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. Um All right. And um Okay. and a a request on that graph with the charter school payments um the the special education support services cost with the that includes the um charter school and the out of placement. Could you separate that in colors on on that bar just so we can see the proportion >> I can >> of those two items please. Um, and then I had a question. I see it on the graph, but I just wanted to mention it out loud. What was the actual act one uh last year,

145the index? >> 4%. >> It was four flat. Okay. Um, and I'm looking at the act one on 17 the chart of the act one indices and I'm seeing so it was 4% last year and then the previous year it looked like it was what five >> a little bit above five >> just just above five. Um, okay. And then the previous year it was about four. So, and this year we're looking at three and a half is the act one. Okay. Because I I'm just trying to contextualize all of this and try to understand it because in my view we have managed year-over-year to withstand the increases of special ed within the act one index. But uh it it also was higher. The act one was higher. So, I'm just concerned, you know, with

146a lower act one index this year that we might not be able to meet our budget needs without considering at least some of the of the exception because we're not even matching with a three and a half. We're not even matching the revenue um we received last year with that 4% ceiling. Um so, that's how I'm kind of thinking of it right now. Um okay, that was all I had. Thank you. >> Are there any other questions to my left? Miss Steel. Yeah, I guess I was just wondering um because I didn't see this anywhere in here and forgive me if I'm wrong. Um in the budget, where are the special where are the the legal costs for the district? Where are they worked in in the preliminary budget? >> They're not outlined, but they

147are in the preliminary budget. Like you don't see them specifically in there. >> What major category are they under? purchase services or are they >> so that hold on >> purchase [clears throat] services. Yes. >> Okay. >> Purchase services. Yes. >> Why don't why are they not are they just lumped in there with other purchase services? >> So what are other purchase services then? >> I assumed it was different. >> Yeah. So the major categories would be legal. Um it would be our substitute services and then professional education um behavioral supports. >> Is there a reason why those aren't broken down broken out? Um, we don't tra traditionally break it out into subcategories. There's hundreds of them. Um, if there's specific ones that you'd like to see, I could work on breaking them out, but

148typically it's not done. >> I would just then maybe that would be another conversation of time. I would just wonder how the trend is for that. That would just be a question that I have. So we do present um a legal expenditure report at finance every month. >> Um so it would be included on the agenda. I >> think that >> yeah there's a supplemental schedule Katie that you can look at. It doesn't have year after year but it has this year and last year and then previous would have the last couple years we have had this schedule that shows right to know how much is going into general legal how much is going in assessments etc. [clears throat] >> I think the reason it's not highlighted here because there's not a significant change in

149the budgeting. >> We're not expecting it to go higher or low. I mean, yeah, there's there's no there's no like uh >> I we're actually under budget this year and and we're I don't know what she's budgeted, but Right. It's >> okay. I' I've seen some of those things before and I was just wondering more along the lines with this with that with the some of the specifics. I'll take a look at that. So, the special education analysis that she's put together, like put together and presented in the January meeting breaks out legal associated with special ed, which maybe I don't know if that's what you're trying to get at. It doesn't yet show historical, but it will, right? You know what I'm saying? It's it's just a picture of last year versus this year

150and we're but I agree with Paul that the the information is in the is in one of the finance reports in that that I think you're you're asking for any any other questions uh for Miss Stephie. Thank you Miss Stephy. So with the uh with next week we have three additional uh presentations uh the spirit of mthton school director recognition month and high school uh project update. We'll have the reports uh from our committees. Um we'll have uh the the board minutes public comment and then we're going to go into I'm going to get Mrs. Stephie ready because we're going to go into fiscal items next. Sorry. [laughter] >> Do you need another water? >> Your water, please. >> Okay. U fiscal items. Under fiscal items, we have 9A, list of bills. 9B, treasurer's report.

1519 C, budgetary transfers. Uh there are two budgetary transfers on the agenda this evening. one for a $300 transfer for Best Buddies and one is a $150 transfer within the teens accounts. Um 9D food service authorize the administration to proceed with returning the Mythacton High School to the National School Lunch Program effective the earliest appropriate date but not later than the start of the 2627 school year. 9E approve the 2425 annual financial audit and the single audit as prepared and presented by Gorman and Associates certified public accountants. Note this consider this is considered a clean audit with no findings. 9F approve the mileage reimbursement rate for travel from the previous IRS level of 70 cents per mile to the new IRS level of 72.5 cents per mile effective January 1, 2026. This is an increase

152of 2.2 and a half cents per mile. 9G either Authorize the administration to make available for public inspection the proposed preliminary budget which is required in order to allow the district to apply for the act one special exception with a tax increase of 5.29%. Or in the instance motion one does not pass, approve resolution 2601 indicating that Mthactton School District has opted not to raise taxes above the act one index of 3.5%. >> That concludes the fiscal items. >> Any questions to my left for Miss Stephie on the matters on the agenda? Seeing none to my right? None. Thank you, Miss Stephie. Then we go on to personal items. Dr. Sjini. Thank you and good evening. For your consideration this month, the personnel items are as follows. There are five resignations professional, all of which

153are resignations for retirement at the conclusion of the current school year. Margaret Bonder, instructional intervention specialist at Sky View. Constance McClucky, reading instructor at Arcola. Craig Caro, reading instructor at Arcola. Linda Bradley, elementary instructor at Woodland. And Jane Holmes, elementary instructor at Eagleville. We thank Peggy, Connie, Craig, Linda, and Jane for their decades of dynamic instruction and caring for the students of Mthactton. And the entire Mthactton family wishes them the very best in their retirement. There are two resignations classified. Paul Mueller, par professional at Arcola, and Judith Harris, par profofessional at Sky View, resignation for retirement. Also at the conclusion of the current school year, we thank Judy for her dedicated service to the Mthactton students across several buildings during her career with us and again the entire Mthactton family wishes her well in her

154retirement. There are two employments professional, both school psychologists, Stephanie Solomon and Megan Pashley. We look forward to welcoming Stephanie and Megan to the Mthactton family. There are three employments classified. Two power professionals, Kimberly Velocan and Chelsea Chelsea Hox, both at Eagleville and Rosemary Cyple, bus assistant. We look forward to welcoming Kimberly, Chelsea, and Rosemary to the Mthactton family. There is one change of status classified Daniel Lemur from HVAC facilities junior mechanic to master mechanic. We applaud Dan for all of the work that he undertook to become a master mechanic. There are five uncompensated leaves classified. All for the dates listed. Gage Farrell, monitoring assistant at Arc Colola. Jennifer Machorski, secretary to the assistant principles at the high school. Kelly Ruben Doll, head custodian at Arc Colola. Elise Daguardi, par profofessional at Warsester. And April Nin,

155recess assistant at Warsester. There's one sobatical leave for Nicholas Horvath, social studies instructor at the high school for the second semester of the current school year. supplemental contracts for a room movement, winter dance chaperon sponsors, coaches, the outdoor education program, and the pupil services department. The addition of Muhammad Ali to the classified substitute list as a custodial casual on call. We welcome Muhammad and one community education addition, Kayla Sterner for the position of swim lifeguard instructor. We thank Kayla for taking on this role. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Sugeni. Any questions for Dr. Sujini to my left to my right. Uh Mr. Msky >> sorry it's not a question I think um 10B the Paul Mueller I think I heard you say Arrowhead or not Arrowhead Arola. So I'm not sure if it's says

156ele Eagleville Elementary where he's where he's working. I just you may have missed >> correct. I may have missed that. Follow you. >> I just wanted to make sure what was correct in your notes or correct in here. >> Thank you. Any other comments questions for Dr. Serjini? Seeing none. Thank you, Dr. Sereni. Uh there are no items under curriculum and programs for your review this evening policy. Dr. Regina. >> Thank you, Dr. Zerby. Uh this item this evening we have two items under first read. Uh one is 718.1 therapy dogs. Um so therapy dogs uh obviously for those that don't know help reduce stress, lower blood pressure, decrease anxiety, improve self-esteem among many other things to help successful academic student achievement. Um these are not emotional support animals. These are not service animals. Those

157are different these are therapy therapy dogs. And so and I'd like to thank the policy committee along with Miss Graph for their efforts on bringing this forward. And I'd also like to thank Fred Wolf, the president of Comfort Carrying Canines, for his education of me on what needs to to take place in this policy. And he'll also be assisting us when we move on to our administrative regulations. So we know exactly what this looks like in our schools. Also, we have 8:30.1 data governance, storage, and security. I'd like to thank Miss Alustin for bringing this to our attention um from PSBA uh conference this fall. And [clears throat] this is a policy that is going to be required for annual review along with our title one policy and our bid quote uh changes that we

158make on 626 uh for finance and so this is required based on data collected maintained stored and managed by the district. All other items under second read there are no changes from last month. Thank you. >> Any questions to my right uh for Dr. Regina on policy? Miss Graph? Not a question, but I did want to just shout out our friends at Arrowhead for bringing forward the therapy dog program at Mthactton and raising the question so that we could get the policy in place and I certainly appreciate policy committee bringing it forward so quickly. So, thank you. >> Any other questions uh for Dr. Regina? Once twice. Thank you, Dr. Regina. Next on the agenda, we have matters under other. We have gifts and donations. approved the generous uh gift uh from community members for

159the backpack program in the amount of $542 as attached. The second one is approved a generous gift from State Farm and State Farm Companies Foundation on behalf of Angela Pushman to Woodland Elementary School in the amount of $835. There are no trips listed. Transportation to approve the following drivers as listed under North Monco Technical Career Center easement. Um, if there are any questions with this, I'll be glad to uh provide uh more detailed uh discussion on it. But there are three possibly four attachments to this particular item outlining the entire uh request uh for the uh easement uh for for on the North Monco Technical Career Center property that buts up against the uh newly constructed parking lot for North Penn uh in in their area. And basically what they're asking for is that easement

160to be provided so North Penn can plant trees in that easement and be responsible for taking care of those trees that separate the two parking lots. Um under item 13E board meeting dates. Uh if you recall back in December we approved dates through the end of February 2026. This should then uh uh get the dates for all the committee and board meetings on everyone's calendar if approved next week from March through December of 2026. Uh also uh on 13F1 is authorizing administration to proceed with the imagery plan as attached. 13D is the high school photography services agreement with Katie uh for photography services for high school, a one-year agreement. And then 13H is the 2026-27 school calendar. Any questions on matters under other? To my left, Miss Alustin. >> Thank you. I want to thank

161the donors to the backpack program and um also thank Angela Pushman for her donation to Woodland Elementary. I guess I was wondering is that earmarked for something? I mean, normally it will say if it's for a program or an item, it just says Woodland Elementary in general. >> I'll confirm. >> Thank you. Um, and then, uh, just to clarify on the North Monco Tech easement, um, because all the school districts own collectively the property at North Monco Tech, that that's why we're doing it this way. Normally decisions at North Monco are left up to the JOC. Um but we're doing it this way because each school district has a stake in the actual property. So because this is a property matter um there that's why we're voting on it this way. That's why you're being

162asked to vote on that. Um and that was all I had. Thank you. >> Any other questions to my left? Saying none to my right. Miss Graph. >> Uh yeah 13G. Uh, I know last year there were a lot of questions about Katie and the level of service we were receiving. I know I've I personally have received some feedback on the costs of the photographer at the high school and the availability of appointments at the high school rather than having to drive all the way to Horscham. I know Katie had given us asurances that that was not going to be a problem, but have we gotten feedback to confirm that and have we verified with our parents that yes, the fees are not excessive? Because I'm still getting feedback that it's very expensive um what

163you get for the high school photos. And um the other question I guess is are we approving a contract with Katie without considering other options because that's what this looks like to me. So I guess my I don't know if anybody knows if we've gotten a second a bid from anybody else or considered costs from anybody else. >> I don't believe that um we received quotes from or or solicited quotes from any other vendor. I know that uh to your to your initial comments uh even going back a year or is it two >> a year um there certainly were issues um we know that we had uh uh Dr. Uker, the high school principal, uh here to address those issues, also address those issues with the company is and address issues with um the

164uh home and school. Um I believe in the maybe a a few weeks ago in a memo, Dr. Uker kind of summarized uh the work that she did in order to come to a conclusion about uh proposing uh a new renewal contract with Katie and she does believe that um this is this is the the best uh option uh for for the district and its uh people. Uh uh but but but but the your comment about the cost uh that was some of the concern from the home and school um we did ask for cost comparisons. I don't know. I'm trying to recall. I don't know if I put that in the memo. Uh so I can I don't think I did. Uh so we can get you those cost comparisons. Uh but we didn't

165do u we didn't solicit other vendors that that I know. At least we could compare it to like the costs before we went with Katie or maybe from another district. Like I don't know. I just know there were a lot of >> she got she got some of that. I can I can provide that for the board and and I'm not sure why we didn't have that in there. >> Okay. Thanks. >> You just give me a second to write this down. So, I I'll pull up the cost comparisons and then uh pull up the narrative that she put together and make sure that's in the Friday memo for the board to be able to see. Um, and again, u I think it's important to know that uh we're in January. Um it's not hyper

166critical that this agreement gets approved this month if in fact the board would like us to do something different. Um but I know from the work that Dr. Ukar has done in order to develop this relationship even though it was a rocky one from the from the beginning. It's my understanding that it's a much stronger better uh communicative uh process than it was before. And I guess the only other thing I I will say is prior to going with Katie we were with um >> Live Touch and it's my understanding uh from Dr. Uker that life touch has now gotten out of the high school market uh with respects to doing this type of work. So that doesn't mean that doesn't mean we can't go with another provider. I believe there might be one or

167two in the in the greater area that that also do this work. Um but her experience uh with one of those vendors happens to be with PV where she her children had gone to school and said that the costs aren't that much different in terms of and service hasn't been all that much different but that's a personal you know uh review of that but let me get you that data and then we can uh you know you know work on that as a as a team. Any other questions on Katie or any I'm sorry. Go ahead, Miss Alustin. >> Yes. I I just um on Katie, I I guess I would just say I I think some of some of the Well, I do want to see a cost comparison, but some of the cost

168issues just could be a sticker shock that parents have when they go to pay for their senior portraits versus what they're used to paying for other photos. Well, that's exactly what m Miss you or Dr. Ukraine shared with me. >> It could be that um my our personal experience with Katie was we we went to Horscham um I thought it they were of the photographers were of mixed skill level and um and the pictures are the pictures are what I purchased. So, I mean, I I purchased the pictures. I I don't know. I I'm not I'm not I honestly personally wasn't thrilled with them. Um, and many I know aren't thrilled with them, so they don't I don't know. The feedback I have ask, how long were you at the location in Horscham? Was it

169over four hours? >> No. No. No. No. >> Was it over two hours? >> No. Okay. because the feedback I've gotten is and I will tell you when I was there a year ago, we were there for four and a half hours for an appointment that I thought was going to be 45 minutes. So, it was crazy. >> Yeah, we we were there for under an hour. But there there's something about I don't know how to describe it except that it seems the pictures I've seen from others too is no one looks quite right. Like [laughter] they just it's the lighting. It's the lighting. They look like 15%. >> This isn't when you throw a picture of yourself [laughter] in AI and it comes back like you >> like 15% fuller, >> right? If you

170look at our yearbook versus maybe like four years ago pictures in our yearbook, it just they just the kids just look better. They just look more natural. >> Yeah. >> There's something unnatural. >> There's something Yes, >> yes, I agree. >> Yes. So, I don't know how to put that in. comparison terms for anybody, but that's that's what I have tonight for that. And and I had one with Life Touch and one without. So, I do I have that point of reference as well. >> Yeah. I I I just want to be uh you know, transparent with with the board on this. You know, Dr. Uker had addressed matters from the very beginning uh which they were they were they were bad. I I would say they were really bad. four hour weights and things

171of that nature. Um, and then just even in even in the current year had met with the home and school on a couple matters and I think that the company has done a lot of things to fix some of those wrongs. They they've made personal uh connections with families. It called all of the ones that that we've gotten complaints on. So they they're working to correct I'll call them the u the challenges that you know you you're you're and others are facing. Um no one no one is happy with this the sticker shock and associated with that. Um but I but I can say that you know at least this uh relationship has improved. Is it perfect? No. >> I I will Yeah. I mean, I didn't have sticker shock cuz not my first rodeo,

172but I I do and I do think that when I went there, people were polite. I felt like they knew that we were coming. They were prepared for us to come. I do think that there needs to be maybe some something um about photographers's experience or have the pictures checked. Uh you know, we there were some poses where oh no, oh no, you didn't do this one in the meantime. It was kind of like that like like no one was exactly on the same page with experience um levels. So I don't know how to put that in a contract but um and and then there is just the quality is is just a little off in some way and I also don't know how to fix that not being a photographer but I it's off.

173[laughter] >> [laughter] [snorts] >> Okay, I'm going to get I'm going to get the information uh in the Friday memo and hopefully that will uh help you better understand where where we're at. Uh any other questions on items under other seeing none other Madam President I'm going to turn the meeting back over to you where it says dates for board members calendars. All right. At this point, I would just like to remind the board of the upcoming meetings with um as stated on the calendar and then I will open it up to old or new business. Miss, >> thanks. Um so just uh I came across something um while reading some um the inquire uh in the past week and the article that I was reading didn't necessarily focus on this. It was it it

174was published on January 13th, but seeing as we keep coming back to special education costs and special educ and you know two years in a row especially there's been a focus on it in the budget. Um it it was an article about central bucks which had a very different situation in central books but it did say in the article that central bucks will be having an audit done by I have to make sure I read it. It's done by the center for applied research and education improvement at the University of Minnesota. And so there are auditing from a professional lens and from a how we're structuring special education. It's the first program that I had heard or organization that I heard that did audits for special education. I don't know how one would go about

175it and I don't know which committee that would even be part of. So, that's kind of why I'm like, well, let's I'll just mention it now um just in case we wanted to discuss that as a board and maybe see if that would be helpful um for our district. So, I wanted to share that information >> just just for about 11 years ago, we did con conduct a special education audit which then uh led to some of uh changes back back then. So, um it's certainly something that we've done and certainly um the current status of things might be helpful. So, I may maybe that's maybe that's something for the education committee or we can take it up in any any other committees. >> Piggybacking off of that, uh I was wondering if it's and

176maybe this is another ed committee thing. Is it possible for us to reach out to other districts to see what they're doing with their special education programming, what their costs are, what their efficacy is, and >> yeah, I I >> I'm asking for benchmarking [laughter] >> and uh we are we we provided a a draft report of the benchmarking uh to members of the finance committee. Um, we got uh we have a couple other reports that we'd like to be able to provide. We're trying to get those things in your hands um for for the whole board because we we all do think that's important. At least provide us some directional discussion, but it won't be as it won't be as precise as as an audit would be. this graph, you know. Um, I'm sitting

177here trying to decide if I want to say this out loud or not, but I think I'm just going to say it out loud and we can decide what we want to do. Um, our finance committee has four members, but a lot of the topics we're discussing at finance, we're bringing in front of the board and having a second conversation so that the rest of the board members can be updated and and get the information. And you know, the other night we were at the finance committee and there were a number of board members in the audience and they don't get the opportunity to to talk and converse and get the information maybe that they need, but they're hearing the discussion at least. I just I just wonder if there's um a need during the

178time when we're dealing with the financial situation the district has of potentially moving the finance committee from a committee to a committee of the whole where the whole board is the finance committee. And we then could have conversations and discussions just like we do in committee with the whole board and everyone would be able to put input into that discussion at the committee level and then it wouldn't be um necessarily coming to you at the work session or maybe it would be because the committee meeting could be before the work session. I don't know. I I just want to raise the question as to whether there's merit with the amount of questions and especially considering that like Miss Stephie has to put information together for the committee and then we give feedback and then she

179revises that information brings it to the work session and then she gets additional feedback which then she has to try to accommodate. Maybe we could make that one step if the finance committee is a committee of the whole. All of the board weighs in during that committee discussion and I don't know if we have it like before another board meeting. So, we're all already here anyway. I don't know. I just want to throw it out there as a potential thing to consider and maybe it should go to Mr. Murki as the finance committee chair. So, >> can I just ask that um we have some discussion about that just because I was reading about that and I don't know if we have all the logistics in reference to how that may work. So maybe is

180that something that we can um look into further? But and I will also ask just when I think about the work of the committee, right? um you have the committee um for that purpose to have those conversations and do make the recommendations to bring together as a board as a whole. So I will um I think it may be something that we can discuss and if you want to consider um putting something together or us looking into that further we can look into it and just try to think about how to bring it to the um board as a whole. I just don't know. I I just don't know what you're proposing. I don't know if it's clear to me, but I have seen some other districts do some of the work as a committee

181as a whole. But I think there's some logistics that we need to consider and I will just check if there's any other um old or new business from the board. Okay. And then with that, I will move to courtesy of the floor and say the board of school directors will now provide opportunity for residents to make comment on matters that are or may come before the board. The board asks that you keep your comments to 3 minutes or less. The board of school directors may choose to respond to matters following conclusion of the comments or you can submit um questions via email to informations.org. Thank you. >> Good evening. Amy Smith, Warcester. I want to say thank you to the board for your consideration in moving Mthactton School District towards the elimination of the Native

182American mascot. Over the past six years, as conversations about its use took place in the community and at board meetings, I have witnessed and heard a range of opinions from it's our tradition and it's part of our identity to it feels gross to make a cartoon out of a group of people and demean their religion to it's disrespectful to the Lape people whose land this once was. To I don't even pay attention to the mascot. I couldn't care less. The truth is the Lape that resided in our part of the country right here where we stand have not given permission for their likeness to be used. Those federally recognized Lape tribes now reside in Oklahoma on reservations and they have residents at our Sinus College like was mentioned earlier. Over the past six years, I've

183been able to interact with tribal elders and leaders and they have expressed their sorrow, injury, and dismay that Methactton continues to use Native American imagery within the district. I'm glad to see the district moving towards a more respectful identity. I've also spoken to quite a few Methactton students of varying age levels about the mascot over the years and recently. And the first question they usually ask is why is it offensive? With an explanation that explains the psychological harm it causes to native children, which was also mentioned in the report this evening. how there is a difference between cultural expression in native peoples and cultural mockery and appropriation in a community without native representation and how reducing a culture and religion to characters doesn't honor but harm those kids understand. I challenge and encourage the school

184district to have these conversations with staff and students instead of making changes without taking the time to ensure that the methactin community understands why. Finally, there may be some who say that there isn't a representative Native American population here in Mthakton. So, as a community, we don't need to consider if our mascot is offensive. We we have teams that travel locally and with some regularity outside of the region to compete. Our mascot tells people something about who we are and who we strive to be. When the first representation of our district is a mockery of a group of people that we have no right to attempt to represent, it gives a message about our moral character that no one should be proud of. I hope that our district listens to the concerns of those who

185are not happy with these decisions and works with them to educate them on why these changes are the right thing to do. We have the tools we need as a community to do this and it's always the time to do what is right. And I think that the report that was given and the the research done by our communication our district communications director uh this evening was excellent and puts us on the right path. We just give her the opportunity to to do that. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Um seeing no other members, um may I have a motion to adjourn the meeting or maybe I can just check if there's any comments from the board. Okay. And can I have a motion to adjurnn? I saw Miss Pua, Miss um Chanda, and

186then Miss Graph. Perfect. Thank you. I thought maybe you guys had comments and I missed