001Good evening everyone. I'd like to call the work session on November 18, 2025 to order. Please stand for the pledge of Allegiance to The public is hereby advised of the audio and video recording of this meeting for purposes of rebroadcasting. Every board member is in attendance here. Miss Steel is just stepped away for the moment. So we are going to move on to recognition and guest speakers. Dr. Zerby. Thank you madam president. This evening we have a couple uh scheduled speakers. Uh it gives me great pleasure to uh welcome Brandon Rquet and James Lent. Uh Brandon is with the uh Warsester Fire Department and James is with the Lower Providence Fire Department. Uh they're here this evening to present the property tax credit for volunteer first responders. uh we would ask that uh we get
002the uh presentation up on the screen and not only are they uh serving to protect uh the citizens of Lower Providence and Warcessor Township, but they're also uh proud alumni of Mthakton School District. So, let's welcome uh Brandon and James. All right, good evening. Uh my name is Brandon Rquet. I'm the assistant chief of the Worchester Volunteer Fire Department. And with me I have Jim Lens who's the chief of the Lower Providence Fire Department. And tonight [clears throat] we're here to talk to you about potential property tax rebate for qualified volunteers that are serving the Mthakton School District community. So a quick what and why. So, what [clears throat] we're here to do tonight is talk about potentially following other school districts in providing property tax rebates for residents that live in Methactton School District
003and our qualified volunteer firefighters that meet a certain uh threshold for activity. And the why is really we're trying to create a substantial tax relief package to be able to retain our qualified first responders within our community by addressing retention issues often associated with cost of living barriers. And [clears throat] I'll get into some numbers specific to our departments about that in the next couple slides. But overall, in 1970, Pennsylvania had 300,000 volunteer firefighters. Today, that number is down to 38,000. Both our departments still remain in fairly good shape membership wise because we are aggressively recruiting and retaining through every avenue that we can and providing all the tools necessary to still enable our volunteers to be successful and active. But with a growing call volume in both municipalities, growing training requirements, um it's becoming
004increasingly difficult. And we feel that by increasing a tax relief package, um it could help in a number of ways. So, school districts around us that in McGomery County that are adopting similar proposals, North Penn, Springfield Township, and Hap Horscham are all looking at various programs or have passed programs for property tax credits for qualified first responders. I'm actually, this is slide five and slide six. I'm actually going to come back to or slide four and slide five. I'm going to come back to these um and and lead us right into the actual proposal and then we'll dive into the numbers um some of what the finance committee requested after our our meeting. So, I'm going to go right to the problem statement which kind of reiterates what I just talked about. Historically, both organizations
005face challenges when it comes to keeping volunteers long-term due to cost of living. Um, and both organizations really must find ways to bolster their active membership who are actually homeowners within the school district in order to limit personnel turnover. So, in both organizations, we have vibrant junior firefighter programs. We have folks maybe they they're out of college or they're in college and our tech school, they join the fire department. [clears throat] We spend a lot of time and money in training them up, but we struggle to retain those folks because they can't afford to actually live here. And that's really what we're trying to get to the bottom of is how can we make it more affordable for these folks that are putting in the time at the top of our levels of activity and
006enabling them to afford home ownership in and school district. So our proposal would be to provide qualifying first responders in both organizations with a tax rebate that follows a similar structure to a county program that was rolled out in 2024 and it's capped at $1,000. Again, we believe that this would make a sizable tax relief package paired together with ongoing county as well as EIT rebate programs for these homeowners or hopeful homeowners in the in the district. To give you some numbers about some of the trends we're trying to to address, um under the 2024 county program, 55 volunteers between both organizations qualified for the county property tax rebate. Of those 55, 16 of them actually are not residents of the school district. So they still remain active with both organizations, but they don't actually
007live in Mthon school district. And a big chunk of those are folks that started out in the community, probably were mythacton uh students. They started with one of these organizations and they continue to serve, but their capacity is quite limited given they weren't able to afford to live here. They moved outside the district. We're really thankful that they remain active with us, but emergencies, we need people there quickly. So, if you're responding from m municipality or two away, that definitely uh limits your impactfulness. Diving into the numbers a little further in 2024, out of 45 members in the WVFD who achieved active status as defined by the agency, just 23 of them are actually homeowners within the township. Looking at Lower Providence, out of the 20 members that achieved active status with that organization, just
008seven are homeowners within Lower Providence Township. Again, some data points that we just want to reemphasize. That's sort of the trend that we're hoping to um reverse. And we can talk about cost of the program um in a little bit. We have actually have a little bit more of a detailed slide to break that down. So, administration of how this would work. This was another outcome of our finance committee discussion. Um, so essentially each organization, if this were to be passed, would submit a list by the fire chief of who's qualifying for the rebate. So the chart that you're looking at right here shows current 2025 data to kind of give you a projection of where we could be headed. Uh the lower Providence numbers based on how they run their activity year are actually
009final um because they run a is it October to October. So their numbers are final whereas we're track ours just on a calendar year. Um so we're just giving projections of where our members sit currently. So how the program is as proposed is that we would have three tiers 1,000 750 and 250. Now you'll notice that in this proposal the percentages are different for Worchester and Lower Providence. Lower Providence as you can see runs more calls. So we wanted to try to make it fair uh and not try to hold both organizations to the same level. So that is why you'll see a little bit of a discrepancy there. I have also included just for awareness I had in Warsester two members that were within 5% of qualifying for the lowest bracket if it were
010passed. So overall, it's looking like it would be projected around 27,000 in tax rebates for volunteers in both organizations. So now I want to talk about the tax relief that the volunteers provide with Actton School District taxpayers annually. So right now both organizations receive about a combined million dollars from their respective municipalities. Uh Low Proidence is about 70% of that. Worsester about 30% of that. When we're looking at what's happening around us, uh, Upper Providence Township and McGomery Township, both townships are either exploring or have proceeded with hiring full-time around the clock paid firefighters. So, in Upper Providence Township, just to staff one fire engine with a crew 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, they're paying about $3 million. that does not include any operating or capital costs, gear, fire trucks, keeping the
011lights on at the station, um any of that. For McGomery Township, they're currently evaluating a proposal to hire 19 full-time firefighters costing approximately 4 million. So, now I'm going to go back and kind of talk about how we as organizations uh are structured to be able to provide these services uh and the manh hours that goes into it. So, I'm going to go to the volunteer hours at slide four. So [clears throat] right now as it projected from January 1st to November 1st between responding to incidents within the district as well as um our drill manh hours which is solely each organization has a weekly drill night that they attend to. We're about at 10,000 man hours between both organizations. I will say that that does not include folks going down to the fire academy
012to getting individual certifications which is 50 60 200 hours at a clip. Uh that does not include the immense administrative paperwork that we have to do on a daily basis. That does not include fundraising, fire prevention. So I without being certain I would be very um I would be very clear to say that that number you would probably take 50 to 75% higher and the actual manhour that it takes to provide volunteer fire and rescue services adequately to the two mun municipalities in the school district. I also provided some examples of folks that you might see in our organizations that are operating as volunteer first responders, whether as an apparatus driver, firefighter, or fire police officer, to try to give you an idea of how many hours it takes just to achieve that minimum level
013of certification. Next, I want to talk about our junior firefighters. Um, between both organizations, there are 16 junior firefighters that participate in the junior firefighter program. And I think that's why that's important. and we'll definitely touch on that at the end of the presentation is most of these are Mthakton students uh and there's a lot of benefits for our students through these programs. So I kind of wanted to paint a picture of how much time they're putting into their communities uh and what they're getting out of. So right now both about um both organizations their juniors are averaging about 33 training hours so far this year and then you can see the number of calls. The number of calls is a little trickier with the junior firefighters for a number of reasons. right now, Lower
014Providence had a lot of their junior firefighters graduate to full-time firefighter status. So, the seven that they do have are much younger and not really able to run calls right now. Um, I know I could speak for my nine. I have a lot of new juniors and then I have two juniors that are each probably close to 100 calls. So, it is a different uh range, but we're both organizations have thriving junior programs. And I think that's really the basis of um what we're going to come here today to talk about our value uh to the school district. Okay, I am now going to move to slide nine. So, obviously you guys get a lot of requests. You know, you have a fairly big budget to manage and you're thinking, okay, well, you know, why
015does this come down to the school district? Why is this not a municipality problem? Um, there's an immense benefit that thriving volunteer organizations, fire department organizations have to this school district outside of just providing adequate fire and rescue services. Um, we have a proven track record track record of providing a great extracurricular activity for mythton students. So, I graduated here in 2014. Uh, I started as a junior firefighter when I was a freshman. I can tell you that the five highest ranking officers in the Warsester Volunteer Fire Department, all Worm Actton students, all started as junior firefighters. I think that the school district does a great job with providing extracurriculars, clubs, athletics. Um, but for me, I didn't fit into any of those. I joined the fire department and I still got a great resume
016builder, learned a lot of skills, did a lot of networking that you would want to have the students gain in some of these uh clubs or activities that the school district has. Uh we have vibrant memberships in both departments that provide diverse professional backgrounds for students to network with. So one of the examples that I like to give and I gave to the finance committee was one of our junior firefighters that graduated last year. He was working at Mary me. One of our members runs a full-time HVAC company. He said, "Why don't you come work for me?" He started to work for him. He changes, he actually ended up changing his career path at the technical school. He took up HVAC, loved it. As soon as graduation, uh, as soon as he graduated, he already
017had a full-time job. Um, and he's hit the ground running. We have plenty of other examples where we have a lot of people in different um, corporate uh, tracks, whether you're in healthcare, um, or financials. Uh and we've had a lot of our junior firefighters students here at Mthacton that were able to take advantage of internship programs um because of that strong network that we're able to provide. Uh we're able to provide engaging community events and fire prevention demonstrations for mythactis school district students and their families. So um I know just this year Warsester and Lower Providence did fire prevention activities at Worcester Elementary in Arrowhead. Uh I know at Worchester we also partnered with Worchester home and school. So every year we host a trunk or treat uh with their home and school to
018get the school the students and their families to come out but we also capitalize on that and use it as a fire prevention event. So they go through a number of firerevention lessons. We give a number of handouts. Um and it's a great community event. Uh the last thing on this slide that I really want to talk about that's sort of new under the direction of uh Chief Lens's leadership this year is that we're excited that students in the tech program under the protective services uh program have an opportunity to now enroll in that program and graduate with their firefighter one certification, their EMT certification, and certificates that will enable them to apply for jobs if they choose at our emergency dispatch center at McGomery County. This is a huge shift from what they were
019originally able to achieve and this makes them great candidates as soon as they graduate for a various a number of jobs in in the uh emergency services career path um upon graduation. Um and so our value here is that really that program cannot succeed if they do not have strong volunteer fire departments that are backing up because ultimately we're the ones that have to sponsor them. um they're going to their class, but they need strong leadership to be able to walk them through the class. Um and I think any educator would appreciate that. You know, right now we have 17 junior firefighters. Takes a little bit of administration and handholding to get 17 uh high school students through activities like that. Um but you know with strong memberships in both organizations I feel very confident
020that this will actually be a gamecher um to kind of reverse the trend of our recruitment issues and really enable students to not only help their local communities but also get a stronghold in a actual well-paying career path. Finally, I'm just going to wrap up with the number of events um that we support. Um just you know for the ones that you might know this the ones that you don't know both departments are heavily engaged in a number of activities uh throughout the year that we support and again I I feel that we as we continue and we're able to maintain strong memberships with both departments we'll hopefully be able to also support a number of events like these where I think has an immense benefit to our students. So that's the presentation. Um Chief
021Lent and I are happy to take any questions. Brandon and James, thank you both very much for the presentation this evening. Um, members of the board, are there any comments or questions to my right? Mr. Wyers. Yeah, Dr. Herby, can you clarify um, you know, if if this is something that we would take forward to the full board for voting? Is that for next week or when would the the timing be on this? I think um, you know, the the board could determine how they want to have that have something like this enter uh, the consideration for a vote. Uh certainly um at at the very least you would want to approve this uh prior to final approval of the uh 20 uh 6 27 uh budget which might be somewhere closer to April or
022or May prior to that time frame. Uh but you you certainly could approve it at any time before that if if you so choose to. Um so I appreciate you did some from the finance committee. Uh, one quick question that you have the Hatboro Horam on slide three uh, matches whatever amount is provided to the county rebate. So that means if you have a $50 bill with Monco, you're getting $50 from Hero Harsham School District. Correct. That's correct. Okay. And then North Penn was straight up the school district and you have Springfield Township. Is that Springfield school district or Springfield Township? Do you know? It's Springfield School District. Okay. All right. Um, you know, I I would suggest uh to the board it's something to consider. Um, I spoke at the finance committee meeting and
023complete support for the fire company and going to look like an ogre with the questions that that I that I asked at the finance committee, but it's really comes down to the concept of this has been put on the school districts as not necessarily a school district problem. And I understand the individual taxpayer sees it as one tax bill coming from the school district or lower providence and or and uh one of the townships. Um but to me this is a a primarily a township thing. So it it is something I think we could consider. We do provide uh earned income uh up to $500 I believe which follows a program um for for residents that belong that are u paying earned income in in lower providence or warister as well. Um but it very
024early in the budget cycle and you know ideally uh we could fit that in if that's the will of the board. Um, but I would suggest not uh committing ourselves to this at this point and waiting until how the budget flushes out throughout the cycle would be my recommendation. Thank you, Mr. Winners. Any other comments or questions, Mr. Murky? So, have you taken this u request to the townships? Uh, the townships are aware that we are here, but we have not taken it to No, you misinterpret my question. Have you asked the a similar ask from the townships for tax relief to provide? So, um, we did not. And the reason for that is so in Worcester Township and I that's one of the examples I gave for the finance committee. I'm a resident. I
025pay $17 in property tax. So, um, it's just I don't think the juice would be worth the squeeze. Um, and obviously, you know, I acknowledge that Mr. Wter's comments about the municipality. Um, but just how that our tax structure works, that's what leads us here today. But you also haven't approached Lower Providence either. I let you answer the question. Thank you for your inquiry. Um, Lower Providence Township currently funds Lower Providence Fire Department in excess of about 3/4 of a million dollars a year. That money goes towards operations, capital investments, as well as incentives to the volunteers. And approximately right now, I think we're funded at about $440,000 a year towards incentives. And primarily what we're trying to accomplish is to do everything we can to incentivize our volunteers to remain active in our communities
026to reduce the potential burden it would have on our taxpayers. That would be quite honestly miraculous if we had to shift gears. Any other comments on that? I my initial hesitation is exactly what Paul expressed on is this the appropriate place to help subsidize the you know what subsidize the volunteer fire department. I don't I it's a very good presentation and I'm I don't think anyone questions the value that the both departments bring to the community. It's really if we want to uh try to subsidize through the school district's budget, but and we would be considering this for next fiscal year. Correct. That's this is not uh I'd be correct. It would be for the 26 27 uh budget year. Okay. Thank you. Any other comments to my right, Miss Graph? Yeah. Thanks so much
027um for the changes to the presentation. I think um I know we talked about it up at at the finance committee meeting and I hear the comments. I I do, but I also recognize that um it's really important that we keep volunteers and our volunteer firefighters and without them we will the taxpayers will have an additional burden. There's no question about that. I I get that it's not really a school district responsibility to fund those programs, but I'm not sure where else you guys can go. So, um I think the board needs to decide if when we're funding when we're going to tax our residents, are we taxing them to support the entire programs that are available to our our residents? and are we valuing the programming that that you're providing back to the district?
028And I think the list of information and things that you guys have been doing for us as a district was really helpful to me tonight. So, I want to just appreciate that you put that in writing for us. Um, and I guess the other the other question I have is you mentioned that there's other incentives that you provide to your volunteers. Can you tell us a little bit more about those incentives? Uh Lower Providence is a lot different than Worcester substantial they have substantially more um just because of the call volume. They need to have a little bit of a different delivery model than than we do. Um so at Worcester uh on top of the tax rebates in the county um we do have a small stipen program. Um but max you can make
029550 bucks a year. Um we also have programs to do mileage reimbursement because it's um through the IRS tax rate. So, it's not something that would cause them to be $1099. Um, we've set up programs through um T-Mobile actually offers uh first responders free cell phone service. So, we've set those programs up. So, we have, you know, we've cobbled together a couple different programs, but it's, you know, much different. Lower Providence. Thank you. So this calendar year, Lower Providence Fire Department's poised to handle approximately 850 responses, which is an uptick from last year remarkably. On top of that, in our own community, about 150 200 responses are outside of our community in the Warcessor Township and the surrounding communities. We provide multiple tiers of incentives. There's there's three different programs. One is a pay per
030call program, one is a um a come from home program, one is an instation program, and we also have gift incentive programs. Um and they're funded by the Lower Providence Fire Department as well as Lower Providence Township. So firefighters have opportunities to receive funds for they're dropping what they're doing and coming to the fire station for an emergency. They have receive incentive funds for committing themselves to be available from wherever they might be as long as they're within a short distance to the fire station. And we also have incentive programs that are a little bit more that um compensate them to be in the fire station for upwards of 12 to 24 hours at a time for immediate response, which is part of our delivery model change from where it used to be from a
031typical come from home volunteer fire company model because of the density and the traffic uh the the population and just generally how busy Lower Province Township is. We recognize those needs to change. So, while we have the funding in place to incentivize the firefighters that are in the station, what we're really pushing for is that second apparatus, that second group of people to make sure that first crew has backup and to cover second and third and fourth calls. I think on Saturday alone, we handled nine responses in Lower Providence Township with 100% volunteer response. Does that answer your question? It does. It does. Thank you very much. Thank you. Any questions to my right, Miss Kro? Uh thank you very much for this presentation. Um I agree with Miss Graph like I I think you
032know firefighters are a critical part for us to function as a community to be safe and the school district is a part of both those communities and um it's a little incentive for for as much as you do. The fact that you've got so much involvement with our students to help them develop and grow is phenomenal. And I think these community events that you do independently and come and and really become a group with all of us I think is just unique in itself. So I mean I do think that we should consider it because it is you know it I understand it's part of the budget but looking at January when you look at your initial budget and then take into consideration that in February. So, I'd be in favor on moving it to
033do a decision in February, but you know, I I would be for this. So, thank you for coming tonight. We appreciate all that you do for the community. Thank you, Miss Purdue. Same here. I just want to say thank you both for coming. I know you've come in the past to present to the board. Um, I think you guys always do a great job. I appreciate the programs that you do in our community and also involving our students. And I know I had a student that went through the program and gave him a lot to talk about when applying to colleges and writing those applications and showing um volunteer in the community and just showing how they're participating making their community better. So I appreciate it and I appreciate um the information provided in partnership
034with North Monco also just because or Marco I think just because many of our students um it gives them another opportunity a certificate program. I do agree and I appreciate um Mr. Winters for asking in reference to maybe more of a what's nest for the board in looking at it. I agree it's probably early in the budget season, but I think it's right on it's timely to have this initial proposal presented to the board um and something that we can consider when um the budget time comes whether um it's the will of the board to move forward. Um maybe we do a little bit work in looking at um the other districts just because I know based on the numbers you've provided it seemed like some are matching whatever the um county rebaited and some
035is set um by it. So maybe if there's something that we need to look at further as far as the amount requested but I yeah I can actually speak to that. It was a comment that we made in the finance committee. So, the way that we have the program laid out is a little different than these three school districts uh up here. All the school districts um are following the point system that the county rebate program follows. Um we are deciding not to follow that and make the regulations for our program a lot more stringent. Um the county program is great, but you have to keep in mind the county program has to accompany departments that are in Sheltonham all the way up to East Greenville. Um, so that is a big change of u
036how departments operate, their call volume, what type of activities they engage in. So the county program is fairly loose and I would say people definitely have to put the time in. Um, but it's fairly easy to get to that 100%. We're not intending it to to make it necessarily easy to to qualify to get 100% here. So again, we're um I just want to be clear, we can definitely dive in and get more information on the programs. Um but again they're following the county point system and the point system that we have laid out would be a lot more stringent. Okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Other questions to my left Miss J. I don't have any questions. I just want to say thank you for this presentation. Um speaking for myself, I
037think when I have called the fire department, I didn't think twice about are they going to show up? Is anyone even on call right now? Um, and growing up, my parents' neighbor is a Warcester volunteer. Currently, my neighbor is a lower province volunteer, and I know how much time they sacrifice and how much their family sacrifice. So, I really appreciate this, and I would be in favor of considering it moving forward. Thank you, Miss Steel. No real questions because a lot have been asked already. I just I also wanted to follow up and say thank you for your service to the community for the opportunities you provide our students. Um the Lower Province Fire Department had to come to my house two years ago and I wasn't there but I saw it all on my
038Ring camera and I believe Chief Lince you were one of them. Um and so thank you for that two years later. But um in all seriousness I I I do appreciate everything you do for our community and um I look forward to the conversation. And I know that the budget conversations just started, but I would absolutely be in favor when we do decide to discuss it further. So, thank you so much. Thank you, Miss Austin. Just I'll just sum up with a with another thank you. Um, and thank you for bringing this um this again with the more detailed information that we requested from the finance committee. And I guess it I guess what I'm hearing from the board, it sounds like we're looking at to keep this on as a discussion for once we
039um take a you know look at our budget in the future months. But I appreciate you coming in and for all you do for the community. Thank you. We appreciate the time. Are there any further comments? Uh Mr. winners to summarize the summary. Um, I suggest then we just wait uh and schedule this for and I don't know about February, Jen, but uh uh an April where we know where we're at the preliminary we're voting on the the final budget for the first time probably in April before the or May in April put a vote in and ask uh Miss Stephie to put in um 27,000 or something as an estimate at this point or whatever. whatever the you you guys recommend for the and show that in the budget process. Yeah, we as as
040part of the discussion at finance committee this month that we we did recommend that we would put it in the budget as a as as a start of the process for the proposed preliminary budget and therefore we can certainly you know pull that out at any time if the board so chooses to. Uh so if if if it is uh you know uh there's no objection uh to that um we will uh revisit the matter uh as part of the budgetary process uh beginning in January when we meet with the finance committee and uh use the finance committee as a guide to uh get us uh to a full board vote in the future if that's that's the will. Okay. Thank you very much gentlemen. Thank you so much for your service to our community
041and thank you for your presentation this evening. I'd just like to uh acknowledge and thank Dr. Zerby and staff for his his consideration, your consideration in the Mthan School Board for your consideration. And I'd also like to acknowledge the amazing partnership that's been built between the fire departments in the school district the last four or five years. It's been fantastic. We're looking forward to the future. Thank you very much. Thank you, Madam President. We have two other presentations here this evening. We have graduation requirements for the class of 2030. Dr. Gorla, our director of curriculum instruction and assessment, is here this evening to go over that. You should have a handout in your packet and we'll be presenting some information up on the screen. If I understand correctly, Dr. Gorla, this was presented uh previously
042at the education committee of the board. And please, thanks for having me this evening. I'm here to talk with you a little bit about proposed graduation requirements for the class of 2030 as Dr. are being indicated. We have talked about this at education committee. This is directly correlated to act 35 of 2023 which requires a half credit standalone course to be implemented in 2627 for personal finance or as we like to call it adulting at education committee. Um it is a graduation requirement. It cannot be integrated into a course like social studies or something else. It has to be personal finance. Um we are utilizing example D in the PTE toolkit for this for implementation. Um looking to have our personal finance course in grades available in grades 9, 10, 11 or 12 effective with
043the class of 2030. Um so students graduating before before this can also of course take advantage of this course. We are fortunate in Methactton we already have an existing course called advanced personal finance that is a half credit course. that is the course that we are using to meet the new standards for personal finance. So we are actively revising that course to ensure that it aligns with those standards. So you'll see the comparison within the chart gives the graduation requirements for the classes of 27 28 and 29 at 23 and a half credits and then the class of 2030 at 24.25. We looked at this and we added in personal finance as the standalone credit. But if you look at the requirements that exist right now, we have a 0.25 credit requirement in FCS, family
044consumer science/finance. So it was kind of a a bucket of of a spot for where students could choose. What we opted to do is we discussed this um in committee. We um I met with our department coordinators for counseling, for business services, our high school principal, and we looked at well let's look at our credits and our credit alignment. and we shifted and added a half a credit to arts and humanities which is actually where FCS falls. So FCS is under our arts and humanities. So we've shifted that into there. Um the majority of our courses in FCS are actually half credit courses. So that is where we are at. Um what we will be doing is developing a communication plan for this upon approval that will uh of course be involving our program planning
045guide but also extensive information for our eighth grade families so that as they start the course scheduling process they're aware of the expectations for their students as they um move through my actton high school. So and that concludes my information for the evening. Thank you Dr. Gorilla. Are there any questions uh for Dr. Gorilla uh to for members to my left? Miss Austin. Yeah, thank you. Just just to clarify, so this doesn't you're moving FCS, you're eliminating that as its standalone topic and just moving it under arts. It doesn't affect the amount or the kinds of FCS that we're No, the only course that we'll be modifying is the consumer finance course currently offered through FCS because that is a quarter credit class that would no longer fulfill the personal finance credit requirement. So because
046it has to be so that's morphing in that's being eliminated replaced with the one that does fulfill the requirement but the other FCS stud all those courses options thank you any other questions to my left seeing none to my right any questions miss graph yeah I just wanted to make sure I understood when I look at the chart at the bottom here personal finance which is equivalent to the FCS finance went from a quarter credit requirement to a half credit correct But then down at the bottom, arts and humanities went from a two to a 2.5. Yes, that that existing quarter credit, we shifted to a half credit and added it to arts and humanities. The bulk of our classes in FCS are half credit classes. The only quarter credit class that exists is consumer
047science. So, as we discussed in a community as as a group, we opted to increase arts and humanities to two and a half credits. And there are a number of options. If you look at your second on the reverse of this sheet, there's a number of departments that fit in arts and humanities that students will have the option to be able to build their credits from. So, just to make sure I understand, we moved what was FCS into arts and humanities and then added an additional 0.25 credit requirement and then made a new category of personal finance at half a credit. Correct. So I guess my question to you is is the FCS finance quarter credit a state requirement. It is not. So it's a district requirement that's been in place for a long time.
048[clears throat] So we kept it and then moving it from a half a quarter credit up to a half credit. That decision was because we looked at the courses that we offer and we wanted to ensure that we had offerings that matched. So that that was our thought process. And remind me again, how do volunteer hours work? There are there's and I don't have the PPG up in front of me, but students may earn credits for their volunteer hours as well. And do they go into electives or typically they're electives? Okay. I just didn't know if they could fall into the arts and humanities or if they were electives only. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions for Dr. Ger? Mr. Mki? simple one. So, so this is proposed to take effect for a graduating class
049of 2030. Yes. Right. I think it says that on the chart, but I wanted to clarify. Thanks. Yes. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other final questions for Dr. Dora? Seeing none, Dr. Thank you so much for your your time this evening as well as thank you uh for putting this all together for us. Next on the agenda, we have we have uh the projected tax impact as part of the uh the finance committee this month. Uh Miss Stephie, our director of business services, presented uh a tax impact based on the borrowing. Uh she's here this evening to share that same presentation uh with the with the board and uh you should have a copy of this handout in front of you. Miss Stephie. Thank you, Dr. Zerby. I would like to first start by providing
050some context around the tax impact of the 10-year borrowing scenario. The first slide, which was presented last month to the finance committee, shows the projected payments associated with a $180 million borrowing over 10 years. The second slide, also shared last month, is simply a closeup of the first 10 years. Both slides are included here to help frame the information on slide three. One point I'd like to highlight on this slide is that it's not uncommon to borrow funds without having a payment due in that same fiscal year. For example, in the current year's borrowing, no payment appears in this year's budget. Sometimes this is due to the timing of the borrowing. Other times, such as with the projected $25 million borrowing in October of third 2031, payments do not begin for two years. In that
051case, the delay is a result of debt wrapping. These charts illustrate what future debt payment could look like. Actual borrowing dates, amounts, and annual payments will change once the debt is issued. This third slide shows the projected tax impact of the borrowing plan. The median residential assessment in Mthactton is $176,920. A home assessed at that value would see a school real estate state tax bill of $6,541 for the 2627 school year, an increase of $221 over the current year. Assuming taxes are raised to the Aquin index of 3.5% of that $221 increase, $92 is attributable to higher debt service costs for 202728 with a projected act one index of 3.4%. The tax increase for that same homeowner would be $222. Although borrowing is projected during that year, there is no increase in debt service due
052to a combination of debt wrapping and older debt rolling off in 2028-29 with a projected increase of 3.2%. The expected tax increase is $216. Again, none of this increase is attributable to debt service as no new debt service is added that year. In 2930, the projected tax increase is $223 with $64 tied to an estimated $992,000 increase in debt service. In the following year, a $231 increase is projected, of which $58 relates to an $890,000 rise in debt service. Not shown on this slide is the information for the current year. Based on the median assessed value, the 2526 tax bill would have increased by $269 with $64 of that increase attributable to the increase in debt service. The chart below summarizes the information I've reviewed. The large number at the center represents the projected real
053estate tax bill. The smaller black number shows the total tax increase assuming increases to the tax one index act one index. The green figure represents the portion of that increase attributable specifically to higher debt service. That concludes the presentation. Thank you, Miss Stephy. Are there questions from members of the board? Uh to my right, Miss Graph. Thank you for this. Um I just had a question related to the assessed value. Um so can you just explain what the assessed value actually is because it's not actually the the price you would pay for a home. It's based on a tax. Correct. So what I use I'll explain what I use here which is the median assessed value. So if you were to take every residential property in Methactton school district and sort them high to low,
054the median is the number exactly in the middle and that's typically used rather than the average because the average would um it's more stable because when you're using an average you're going to have outliers that could really throw off that assessment amount. Um and then I think to answer your other question, the assessed value is the assessed value in the year 1996. Um, so typically a home with that assessed value, $176,000 is um, we use a multiplier of about three. So the home value is actually closer to $540,000. Okay. So essentially, if I had to sort of put this in non-financial expert terms, I would say for a house that runs approximately $540,000, they're paying taxes of 6541. Correct. And through the period that we're looking at, those taxes would climb to 7434. Correct. Okay.
055Thank you very much. You're welcome. Uh, Miss Clearary, um, not a question, but a comment. So, when when you do these presentations, it is these numbers on on the the graphs on slides two and three, even with my readers, I can't see them. So, I'm just going to request that you guys look at a way to make this bigger. Remove the graphics. I don't care what we do because the graphics don't matter. The numbers matter. I It was very hard for me to sort of follow along without because I couldn't see it. Understood. Yeah, Miss Clary, I think your point well taken. What we can do is certainly include the reports in in in its in its true format as an an appendix to these and that way you can reference those in the future.
056Thank you for that feedback. Any other comments from to my right, to my left, Miss Canro? I actually would like what Miss Graph said about the the 540,000 because if someone's seeing this, they might be like, "Oh my, they might not realize that." So, um, I would add that, but I do like this visual. So, it does give someone an awareness of what could be happening in these next few years for them. So, thank you. Any other questions or comments to my left? Seeing none, Mrs. Stephy, thank you so much for your presentation this evening. Um, Madame President, uh, that ends our guest and scheduled speakers for this evening. Uh, next week we have the Spirit of Mactton Awards with Warsister Elementary School and, uh, we have the Shrader group and ICS coming to provide,
057uh, a brief update on the schematic design. And then we certainly uh will have a recognition of of uh an outgoing board of school director. [laughter] But before I do that, if if I could have your permission to read an executive session announcement. Yeah. Uh there was an executive session of the board held uh virtually on November 10th for matters associated with the collective bargaining uh with the Methactton Education Association. and and then we will go into reports. Uh next week we will then go into um advisements and then we public comment um minutes and then we go into fiscal items. Miss Stephie. Sure. There are four fiscal items on the agenda um for your consideration. 9 A list of bills. 9B treasurer's report. 9 C budgetary transfers. and 9D Chester County Intermediate Unit Contract.
058Approve the contract with end terms with Chester County Intermediate Unit for reading specialist services beginning December 1, 2025 through June 30th, 2027 at a rate based on CCIU's collective bargaining agreement. Are there any questions from members of the board? Miss Steele, thank you. Um, I just wanted to ask if um, the administration could speak to um, a little bit more information about this this contract. Um, the way that I understand it, it has a direct relationship and impact to some of the board goals being MTSS and our work with schools cubed, which is related to the board goals. Um, so I just wanted to know if you could speak to how this aligns with our work with MTSS and um, the work with schools cubed. Yeah, thank thanks for the question, Miss Steel. So the
059item uh certainly is a critical item for approval for next week, but but the work on our MTSS process is ultimately what's going to dictate the level of interventions that we have in our district. And as you all know, we're working with Patty Montgomery with Schools Cubed and Keys to Literacy. And there's a number of areas of focus around literacy. And one of those areas naturally is to review the interventions, which is where Wilson falls into play. Um, fortunately, Patty is going to be joining us at ed committee in February, and she's going to be sharing with us some of our core literacy instruction, going over our intervention process and talking about um the literacy interventions that we have in place and those that we need to invest in in the future. So, that should
060all tie in really nicely with what we're looking at our MTSS goals. Thanks. Thank you. Are there any other questions? Uh, Miss Austin. Um, yes. I just was wondering the um I'm I'm fine with this. I just was wondering about the the overall financial impact to the district with this contract. Is this replacing other services that we're currently currently using or is this additional services that we're requesting? Yeah, it's it's going to be uh it's it's replacing services, but it's going to be at an additional cost. Um and do we know what that is, M Dr. Regina? I don't have the additional cost in front of me. Um, but I do know the ultimate cost of it compared to uh what the original was. So, I know the ultimate cost is going to be around
061$530,000 approximately um for to go into this contract with the CCIU. Yeah. Any other uh questions? Uh Miss Chand um we're so we're using schools cubed as a consultant. uh did they provide their [clears throat] input on this? They they did. And so I think probably the larger conversation is they recognize that many of these services we currently provide our students. But over time the idea is to look at the interventions that we could be bringing into the district that may either replace or continue to do Wilson and that determined on a case-byase basis. But but we do meet with Patty Montgomery on these issues. Uh specifically, she actually meets with meets with us twice a month to kind of go through some of the interventions and our core instruction along with our lab school
062work. So yes, they were consulted on this and they recognize that we have to go through at this next step before we start to do a deeper dive into our MTSS process. Okay. And then my other question, sorry I had to look it up. Um, House Bill 684 I think was passed, right? Yes, I think it was passed. Um, and that specifically talks about the science of reading. So, will this set us up for meeting those requirements when they come down? Yeah, it yes, it's all intertwined. Wilson is kind of, as we talked, the gold standard, right, in in terms of that, but it doesn't mean that it's always the intervention that you should be going with, which I think is the investigation in our MTSS process that's going to be so valuable over these
063next few months. Thank you. You're welcome, Mr. Purdue. I just have a question. Maybe I missed it. Um, do we have the contract with the amount provided already? We have the contracts attached to the the demotion. Um it does not list out the exact amounts because it's going to depend on the where the four individuals are placed on the Chester County Intermediate Unit's uh salary schedule, but we have an estimate as as Dr. Regina previously mentioned. And then in reference to the term um is is through June 2027. Can you just elaborate on the timeline? Certainly. So, one of the things that we naturally wanted to investigate and we were we were very forthcoming with the information as we were discussing this with the employees that are currently working with us with Wilson. Um, as
064we're going through the MTSS process, there could be a titration of services potentially in the future or still utilizing the same staff. And so, but we also recognize as the CCIU brings on new people, they need to have a commitment of some level. And so the initial request was three years and the district had negotiated that that down to a year and a half. So we're able to uh make some of those timely decisions a little bit more quickly if we need to. Thank you, Miss Kro. Just for summary though, the reason why we're going to that is because we had multiple vendors, right? How many would you did we talk about that summary? Just the why we're going to this and funneling into one I think is key for sure. It it is important.
065And so naturally um we have we have independent contractors that are working through this and and you essentially have m two options right your options are to employ individuals uh to be able to do that or outsource them and as you look to employ individuals if you are ever going to titrate services you don't want to ever have to furlow individuals and go through that process so it's very comfortable to be able to look at outsourcing as a potential if you need to um but I think that ultimately is why we had decide to go down this path um to be able to make those next steps. Miss Graph. Yeah. I I I guess so I guess my first question is this did not come to finance. So did it go through education committee? It
066did not. So maybe you can explain then to me why we're doing this. And I know that sounds like a really basic question, but like I just didn't get it. So, um, the services that we provide could not be stopped. Um, in terms of Wilson, we're currently providing them to approximately 80 students in the district. Um, it is embedded in many plans that we have in the district. And so, again, there were essentially two paths that we can explore. one is hiring the individuals or outsourcing work for for those specifically. And those are the two paths that we conduct as a district whenever we look at employment opportunities. And so that was kind of the decision point. We had to do one of those two matters. Wasn't necessarily an education item for that specific decision.
067The education item is really what Patty's going to be speaking to us about in February, which is if we're able to titrate off of the Wilson services potentially. Um, what are the other interventions that we should be investigating as part of our MTSS process? That's that's the critical discussion in MT of the MTSS process and with the interventions and why we're exploring that in February. Um, but that's that's kind of the the answer to the question on why it didn't come to committee. So, what's the increase in cost to the district? I do not have the increase in front of me. I only had the total the base number. Yeah. So, I guess what I'm what I'm trying to figure out is why is the cost increasing? Are we getting more services? Are we getting
068more reading specialists? Like, are we getting more hours of support? Like, what is it that's driving the cost? because it is an increased cost. It is. That is correct. But we don't really I don't really know why it's an increased cost. Yeah. It's it's the u employment through the CCIU that is increasing the cost as opposed to the independent contractors that currently existed. So we go through the CCIU. We no longer have these individuals as as independent contractors. So now we're locked in for an 18-month contract and it's costing the district more money. So I'm going to ask one more time because maybe I'm just not getting it, but what's the benefit to doing this through the CCIU versus independent contractors for less cost and whose contracts we can end pretty much whatever we agree
069to in the contract. In the uh in the Friday memo, I I outlined uh the rationale uh in two parts uh for this particular matter. I can share that in that um as Dr. Regina mentioned, if we brought them on uh as employees of the district, it would be it would be about $6,000 less than having them employed uh by the CCIU. As Dr. Regina previously also mentioned that the goal in working with Patty Montgomery and the schools cube folks is to leverage other resources as part of the MTSS process and in in place of Wilson in the future as part of an overall titration process. So, the value is while it's it's technically going to be a $6,000 increase for us to go to CCIU, the value is that in in 18 months, we
070wouldn't have to um we wouldn't have to uh typically what you would do with an employee is you would have you would have to furlow them from the organization and we would have we can we can avoid that process by contracting with the CCIU. But if they're contractors, they're not employees. If they're not employees, then we don't have to furlow them. So, are they contractors or not? Currently, currently, they're they're contractors. At this moment, the the recommendation on the table is to make them employees of the CCIU because otherwise, we would be making them an employee of the district. Okay. Um, I'm just going to ask that maybe we want to hold off on this decision because I'd like to potentially get a little bit more of the financial information and I don't know if
071maybe we could provide that in advance of next week's meeting. I think all the financial information was provided in the Friday memo and I'd be glad to share that with anybody and have that again or have a conversation with you on the matter. I I did see the information provided in the Friday memo and there were some gaps in that information that are still gaps to me that I'm not that are not clear as to how this differential is is helping the district. Um, and I would I would be more than I'd be more than happy to meet with you and and go through that with you if you'd like. Or I could have uh Dr. Regina do that. Yeah. Can I just ask a follow-up question just because maybe um I guess because it
072didn't go to ED committee and I I agree it makes sense that that it didn't come to ED committee just based on um the nature of it and the finance did not see it. Is there um as Miss Graph requested what is the impact to delaying this? And I'm assuming if there's no um there's no work session or um a meeting in um December delaying this till January timeline. What is the impact just because I know you have the timeline here to start in December. So what is the impact to um providing the requested information or clarification as requested in um waiting on this? I think it's important to understand uh that it is important for us to make this decision uh so that we can continue the services as as prescribed. Uh the risk
073of not doing this would mean that uh we could have students who have IEPs that require Wilson reading to not have the teachers in front of them and that that's our biggest concern and that then would return into a comped uh potent potential challenge. But I but I'm more than happy to uh gather whatever other information is needed. I want to make sure that members of the board are as informed as they possibly can be before rendering a decision. Um, I I would just ask that you ask me what it is that that you need, I'll be glad to meet with you. I'd be glad to provide that information in advance of of next Tuesday's meeting. If in fact there's still more information to be needed then at that time I would suggest that you
074know the board could choose to you know table the matter or to to put it onto another um you know you know push it out to a future determination and that's fine. I'm just asking just cuz maybe Miss Graph if you can just share what your concerns or the gaps are that um based on what was provided in the Friday memo um with Dr. Zerby just so maybe next week we can have um we can have the information provided well provided ahead ahead of time um before the next week's meeting to make sure we have agreement on this just because it's then you're aware of the impact that it have on our students. So yeah, I mean [clears throat] I understand the impact on students. I guess my my one question is does the when
075does the current contract that these contracted employees have end because are we saying it end? It's up. So how when did it end? That's why this date is critical. Um so currently right now this contract would have to go through for them to continue services. Okay. So I guess my question then is maybe I maybe I maybe my concern is really why are we getting this information um without the financial details coming through the finance committee in advance of the work session. So maybe that's my overarching concern. I don't I get that we have to continue services for our students and I would never want to stop those services just so we're clear. But I do have concerns about the board being given this information on Monday at 11:00 am and being expected to understand
076what's happening for Tuesday or Wednesday and Tuesday meeting and we're going to vote on this next week. I feel like there's a lot This just came up on Friday was the first time I saw it and I'm not sure that I I still really understand the details of what we're paying for. And you know, we're talking about decisions that are going to now be in place for 18 months. Is there an option for us to do a 12-month? Is there an option to do six months? I mean, these are all the questions I own professional knowledge with that one. And the other thing that I do want to echo off of um what Miss Graph has shared is I think that I am looking forward to the conversation in February. I think that there is
077a larger conversation of why we received this on in in a memo on Friday and we're turning around with some gaps in some conversation and it's you know up and we need to vote on it. And so um I think the conversation and ed committee that is going to be happening in February did I say Friday? I'm sorry. In February. Um I I think that that's starting to get that that is going to focus on some of the structures and systems hopefully to support the district in addressing some that created this. I I suspect so Miss Al. Thank you. I have two questions. One is maybe an easy clarifying one that um the teachers who are providing these services to our students will remain the teachers through the contract or are we are there different
078teachers coming on? They'll all be the same ones. The same ones. Okay. Thank you. That was one question. And then the other question is um given the I guess lack of a total in this contract, could we add if we have that number like a not to exceed for the contract amount? um just so we can have a sense of of the financial impact. I I it was sort of what I was trying to ask before and then Miss Purdue also hit on that a little bit, but is would it be possible to have a not to exceed um added to this motion? We can uh look at the estimates and and provide one. Any other questions on the matter? To my left, to my right? Seeing none. Thank you um Miss Stephie and then
079we'll move on to uh [clears throat] personnel items. Dr. Serjini. Good evening and thank you Dr. Zerby. The personnel items for consideration this month include the following. One employment classified Michelle Lee par professional at Arrowhead. We look forward to welcoming Michelle to the Methactton family. There are two unc uncompensated leaves professional Jennifer Tuscano kindergarten instructor at Arrowhead and Devon Thomas special education instructor at Warscester. both of the dates listed. Two uncompensated leaves classified. Jennifer Machorski, secretary to the assistant principles at the high school and Tanya Jones, power professional at Sky View. Both for the dates listed. There are supplemental contracts for course at Arc Colola and the curriculum instruction and assessment and pupil services departments. There are two additions to the classified substitute list. Benjamin Miller and Salvador Tteranova, both custodial casuals on call. We
080look forward to welcoming Ben and S. and one community education hireer, Ocean Yarn, lifeguard swim instructor. We thank Ocean for taking on this role. And that concludes my report. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Serjini. Are there any comments or questions for Dr. Sugini to my left? Seeing none to my right. Thank you, Dr. Serini. We'll move on to curriculum programs. Dr. Regina. Yeah, thank you, Dr. Zerby. Uh, just one item this evening for the graduation requirement as presented by Dr. Gorla and that is to approve the graduation requirements starting with the class of 2030 as presented. Thank you. Any questions uh for Dr. Rian on that? Miss Austin, just maybe this is obvious, but if it's starting with the class of 2030, is this then implemented next year to then offer up like for the
081four years for everybody for the current freshmen? Yes. Exactly. Thank you. Yep. And just I know Miss Gora presented a committee and talked about this, but I know there's a communication plan to go out. She may have mentioned it briefly, but um a communication plan to go out to um those students that will be impacted and their parents also, right? Yeah. Any other questions on the curriculum and programs? Seeing none, policy, Dr. Regina. Thank you, Dr. Thank you, Dr. Zerby. Um, for first reading, uh, really just general updates except for, uh, policy 202, which is out of cycle, which really is some legal updates to the notice and hearing process for the expulsion of non-resident students that had to be updated. Uh, for second reading, again, items that we discussed last month, no major changes,
082and then one intent to repeal, which is the state mandate waiverss policy 825. Thank you. Thank you. Any uh questions or comments for Dr. Regina on policy matters to my right. Seeing none to my left seeing none. Thank you Dr. Regina. Then on to other we have gifts and donations. We have approved a generous gift from the Vanise family charitable fund to support Mthactton High School field hockey in the amount of $4,000. Approve a generous gift from the Vanise Family Charitable Fund for the Mactton High School girls soccer team in the amount of $4,000. approve the gift from the Vanise uh family charitable fund to support the Mthactton girls track team in the amount of $4,000. And four, approve the generous gift of the Vanise uh charitable fund to support Maka High School girls lacrosse
083team in the amount of $4,000. Item five is to approve the generous gift from the Blackburn uh giving fund uh for I think that's supposed to be PBIS. We'll make that correction. uh at Eagleville in the amount of $200. Uh six is approve the generous gift uh from residents of Shannidel Community Supply Woodland Nurses Suite with identified student items in the amount of $390. Item seven, approve the generous gifts from residents of Shannidell Community to supply Eagleville nurses suite uh with identified uh student items in the amount of $390. 8 approved the generous gift of lower Providence Township uh of a 2014 Ford uh interceptor sedan to be utilized by the Mthakton School District's chief of police valued at $10,000. I'll just stop there for a second and see if uh uh Dr. Sugini wants
084to uh you know make any further comments on that one. Thank you, Dr. Zerby. With the addition of the chief of police position and also the increase in the number of armed officers in the district and the desire to have them be mobile, we recognized as part of this process that we would need to also purchase a vehicle. Lower Providence Township has offered to partner with us. If you recall uh during the presentations about the chief position, they had already offered to partner with us with the addition of a police radio for the chief of police to be able to communicate on the law enforcement band. the law uh lower Providence Township supervisors have gone a step further and uh taken a vote to donate a vehicle to be utilized by the chief of police.
085Lower Providence Township does have a cycle whereby they cycle out their uh police fleet and they have offered to donate a 2014 police interceptor that is decommissioned from the fleet but a fully functional law enforcement vehicle and uh that that will allow the chief of police to utilize a police vehicle with lights and sirens and be fully mobile. That eliminates the need for the district to purchase a vehicle. The only thing that we will have to do is uh pay for the transfer of the title and then also have the markings on the vehicle changed from Lower Providence Township to Mthactton School District. Thank you, Dr. Seni. Item nine, approve the generous gift of anonymous donor to support the high school students lunch balances in the amount of $100. And the last one is approve
086the generous gifts from former Skyview teacher Kathern Mann in honor of her parents Leo and Lorie Gladnik uh to the backpack program in the amount of $250. In terms of trips, uh we have approved the high school wrestling team to participate in the tournament from December 29th through 30th of 2025. Jim Thor and transportation is to approve uh the roster for the 25 26 year year if we add additional drivers which I don't see any listed there. So we will just remove that if we don't get any additional drivers. Um that ends uh the uh the agenda. I'll turn it back over to you. Madam President, did we have any questions? Mrs. Purdue, I just have a quick one on item nine. Um, in reference to the donation to support high school um, students lunch
087balances, um, when we get donations like that, how is it managed as far as like um, the decision on I guess what lunch account balance it supporting or how is it implemented? Just a clarification question. So [snorts] typically what we do with those donations is we have students throughout the year that go from a paid status to a free and reduced status and they may um a lot of those students often carry balances. So when we get donations like that the first thing that we do with them is we use them to clear the balances for the students that are on the free and reduced lunch program. Do parents have to put in a request for that or is that something that um is done automatically? We do it automatically. Okay. And then the parents
088are notified that. Okay. Correct. Thank you. Go ahead, Miss Graph. Yeah. I just wanted to follow up on item number eight. In the Friday memo, it was identified that this was a three-year-old vehicle. Is it really a 2014? It is a 2014 vehicle. It has 78,000 miles on it. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Uh yes, Miss Austin, I just want to comment on what a lot of wonderful gifts we have from the community to our school district and to thank these community members who have given these gifts to us. I do agree. It's great to see. Much appreciated. Any other comments or questions? All right. Seeing none, the next one is dates for board members and calendars. There are two more dates existing for November 25th, a regular board meeting, and then December 1st
089for the reorganization board meeting here at the high school. Anything for old business or new business. Right. Seeing none, we'll move to courtesy of the floor. The board of school directors will now provide an opportunity for residents to make comment on matters that are or may be before the board. The board asks that you keep your comments to three minutes or less. The board of school directors may choose to respond to matters following the conclusion of the comments and please submit questions via email to information.org. Jim Malik Warsester. Um, the 2025 US News and World Report rankings came in. Your [snorts] best school in the district is the high school at 76 as it sits. No renovation, nothing. Your worst school, Eagle or Arrowhead 861, brand new school. Can somebody explain that? The oldest school
090that you guys want to knock down when renovate is your best ranked school and the brand new school is the worst. Somebody needs to look at that. Um, I handed you the five-year budget projection from a year ago, and maybe somebody can explain to me what's going on. Because without the $und00 million borrowing, projected tax increases were 1.4% in 2526, 2.3, 1.2, 1.1. Guys raised taxes 5% last year, if I remember correctly. How's this How's this off by 3.6%. and the rest of them without the $100 million borrowing is you're down there 1%. Maybe somebody could take a look at that, analyze it, and let me know what you come up with. Um, and also important to note there is the uh projected tax increase on the borrowing alone for 278 was $150. You guys
091project zero. So, a lot of lot of stuff is not making sense. Um, as far as the um assessed value situation, you're acting like Methact or Lower Providence and Warcester are the same. They're not. The average assessed value in Warsester is 220,000. Whole different ballgame. So, what you need to do is analyze Warsester and analyze Lower Providence. Warscester were being overt taxed and we're putting in a more money than lower providence per household because of the value of the properties. So you can't just sit there and go a 176 oh it's good it's not good. Uh looking at Miss Stephy's presentation um you have projected annual real estate tax bill and then over that you have amount of increase attributable to increase in debt service. Well, if you look at your own numbers, your debt
092service in 2028 is going down to 5.5 million. The debt service in 29 is going to 4.9 million. That's a difference of four and $5 million that we're paying. We'd have to pay extra. That's on your sheet. But you're assuming that well, it's going to make it up to 9.8 and it's going to be the same. It's not the same. You're going from 4 million four five million to 5 million to9 million. That's a $4 and5 million increase. So very deceptive. Thank you very much. Good evening, John Andrews, Lower Providence. [clears throat] We might be getting winter early this year. Uh we had sleep this afternoon rather than the forecast rain. [clears throat] And speaking of forecasts, we have Miss Stephy's uh presentation that was given out at the finance committee meeting. the first chart
093that she showed. You can read that with a microscope rather than a magnifying glass as one or two of the directors already already pointed out. Whereas this an 80 80% enlargement uses all the paper and is readable. If anyone uh [clears throat] were to take a course in PowerPoint, they they'd learned that Microsoft intentions were that it result in a readable presentation. Of course, this is in color. and color really helps. [clears throat] And uh overall what Miss Stephie has given you is the maximum hit that you can have in the in in terms of uh meeting the uh annual act one index limit. And uh [clears throat] reality is something different. And uh for instance uh people who are aware that there's going to be five or six or 10 years of maximum taxes
094for homeowners in the district. Uh that's not good. [clears throat] It it uh it has no cushion for the school district and uh [clears throat] you need to look at the intended uh implementation and in that regard I think that uh continuing use of the existing school saves quite a quite a bit of money without hardship to the students. Uh also uh the plans call for a a new classroom wing whereas the uh enrollment projections for the next decade for methacton are flat. So I think that the number of new classrooms needs to be curtailed in a way that would allow add added classrooms uh in the future but uh saves money. I think spending 120 or 125 million, thank you very much, is not uh wise. And and one of these stuffy charts just
095to finish up uh shows borrowing of uh I think 125 million and and total cost including interest of uh I think 350 million. Thank you. Do we have any further comments or questions? Hi. Do I have a motion to adjourn? All right. I see I see Miss Alson and Miss Steel. Thank you. Have a good night, everyone.