001We'll call the meeting to order for Monday, February 23rd into the committee meeting. The pledge of allegiance, please. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Uh just for the audience, we have a 6:30 or 6:38 committee meeting followed by the voting meeting. The public comment will happen at the voting meeting, which is the 7:00 meeting. So we'll go through the committee meeting first in the agenda and then we adjourn go right into the voting meeting. >> We have a roll call, please, for the committee meeting. >> Mrs. Banny Shaw, >> here. >> Dr. Bary, >> here. >> Mrs. Bush >> here, >> Mrs. Cookerly >> here, >> Mrs. Rinstein >> here,
002>> Mr. Vancus >> here, >> Mrs. Vesnutski >> here, and Mr. Wood >> here. We had an executive session uh for personnel prior to the committee meeting that will be reconvened following the voting meeting and after the uh executive session following we will not have more public meeting. It will be over. Uh there'll be a motion to approve the voting minutes. the January meeting under budget finance and transportation we'll have the financial report the dispersements and there'll be motions related to those for January dispersements we had a total of 1,417,3821 and January payroll was 1,756,626.78. Um drivers will be approved. Uh Melissa Dots for the 2526 school year. Melissa Dots David and Christine Williams. There'll be advertisements going out under the committee meeting for building and grounds. We have three broken cafeteria tables to be
003sold. We got the bid in for the ban. We have a ban for uh municipal bids and they probably were will be closed within a week. There'll be a motion on regular voting meeting to advertise or unused pianos from the Psburg Elementary to be sold [clears throat] under uh we got 20 unusable outdated student desk and chairs at the high school. We have to dispose of curriculum and instruction. We're going to approve field trip requests for the 25 26 school year. We're going to out dispose of outdated psychology and speech and language assessments that are no longer valid. And under personnel, read the highlights of just the personnel. It should be the same. >> Okay. So, item number one, memor memorandum of understanding of retirement. Item number two, resignation of McKenna Britain, special education teacher
004for Philipsburg Elementary School. Item number three is the special education teaching position for Philipsburg Elementary School. There will be various professional requirements um seen on items four through number 13. Item number 14, hire Tori Rouie, 5.75 hour special education instructional assistant for Philipsburg Elementary School. Item number 15, transport number 16.5. Item number 17, Todd Weld, 5.0 hour, districtwide custodian for Mills Elementary School. Item number 18, resignation of Linda Walter, a custodian at Oila Mills Elementary School. Item number 19, the 5.0 hour districtwide custodial position at Oil Mills Elementary School. Item number 20, an unpaid day. 21 unpaid days. Item number two, unpaid day. The unpaid days go through item number 26. Item number 27. We said motion G. Personnel number 23 unpaid days. And then item number 29, arrangement day for travel. Item number 30,
005statement of charges for employee 26-1. >> Thank you. And uh for the public, there are agendas over on the counter if you need one. And they're all highlighted. [clears throat] >> Pull item 31. >> 31. We're going to pull item 31 under that and we go to student affairs. Mrs. Vneski, there will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve a payment between the Fulsburg Osilla Area School District and the Jan Marie Foundation to provide free therapeutic support for students at the Folksburg Oil Middle School during the 2526 school year as presented. There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve the tele services agreement between the Philipsburg area school district and the new direction solutions LLC doing home business as procure therapy with Tabitha [snorts] from February 25th 2026
006through May 26 of 26. There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve a client services agreement with New Director Solutions LLC doing business as ProCare Therapy for the purpose of extending medically necessary one-on-one student nursing services to March 31st, 2026. There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to post the following extracurricular positions for spring of 26 posting effective February 4th 26 as presented. There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve the following extracurricular positions for the 2526 school year pending clearances as presented. There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve the following position volunteers for the 2526 school year as presented. There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve the following extracurricular positions for the 26
00727th school year as presented. There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to post a head varsity volleyball coach position for the 26 27th school year. posting effective February 24th, 26. There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve a facility use agreement between Philspsburg Oil Area School District and PO Baseball as presented. There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve a facility use agreement between Hulksburg Oil Area School District and Theo J softball as presented. [cough] There will be a motion on the regular voting agenda for the bar city or I'm sorry for Folksburg Osilla Area School District to host the 26 Center County Music Education Association Band and Chorus Festival for middle school students in Center County on Wednesday, November 4th, 2026 and Thursday,
008November 5th, 2026. >> Thank you. Um, Mr. Wood. >> Hello. >> I think we were to hire a soccer position. Is that not going to be approved tonight? >> I think make a motion. >> I think when you had texted there, Linda, this is Dan, um, we were going to decide whether we were going to put it on for tonight or if we were going to bring it back in March. >> Okay. So we're going to bring it back in March >> unless the board would want to entertain. We have the the name to add >> which is the reason of a work session. So this this enables it to happen. >> You have >> you can add it as an amendment. Yeah. >> With the sunshine act, do you have to follow a process
009to amend an agenda to [snorts] have it? So there is a process that we would have to follow if the board wants to take action on it today. >> So we don't have to do that until the voting committee. Correct. >> Well, no. It will be said in this meeting. >> Her name's listed. >> Is all the background stuff been done? >> D is everything in line or >> it's in said number seven in the chart. >> Veronica was just sharing that with us. So >> item seven, extracurriculars. that. >> Okay. >> So, it was it was in fact added. Appreciate that, Linda, as far as bringing that up. It was added. >> Oh, okay. Okay. >> All right. Thank you. Good >> doctor. >> Technology. We don't have anything going on. [clears throat] >>
010Oh. And we have uh other items on the agenda would be uh the district calendar to be approved. Uh there'll be a motion for that for next year. There'll be a motion on the regular voting uh to accept Dr. Alexandra Bary as a treasure. >> Yeah, just treasurer. >> Just treasurer. I wasn't qualified. It was a little bit more than selling hogies. >> Has nothing to do with fixing fee. >> No. No. This is something that was well beyond any capabilities of someone outside of finance. There'll be a motion on the regular voting agenda to approve uh Tom Mark to take that treasury. So that's within line with uh school districts do in Pennsylvania. There'll be a motion on regular voting agenda to resend motion K number two where Pierre Bumary was going to be
011the school dentist and we'll have another motion. So we have dental agreement with Dr. Richard Lines starting September 22nd, 2025. It'll be a fiveyear contract. Is there any questions? Anything on the whole agenda? Anything to be discussed? Somebody's out here. I think they might want in. board have anything else? Anybody wants to discuss anything on the agenda? This will be the time the voting meeting will be more of a consent agenda. Okay. We'll adjourn the committee meeting. >> Motion. >> A motion to adjourn it. Second. There's a second. All in favor? >> I. >> And we will journ. And we'll pick up at 7:00 with the voting agenda. >> You can't start early. >> [music] >> for February 23rd. Uh, we're going to have a roll call, please. >> Mrs. Fanny Shaw, >> here. >>
012Dr. Bumary, >> here. >> Mrs. Bush, >> here. [clears throat] >> Mrs. Cookerley, >> here. Mrs. Rinstein >> here. >> Mr. Vanc >> here. Mrs. Musky here and Mr. Wood >> here. >> We had an executive session prior to the committee meeting. There'll be an additional executive session continued. It was for personnel. It will be continued after the voting meeting. we will not reconvene into an official meeting. So, at the end of the executive session, uh the meetings will break up for the night. There'll be no additional stuff going on. Um committee, we have a motion to approve the January 26 meeting, voting meeting, committee meeting, and we will do a consent agenda when we get to it. Before we get to it, we will have public comment for anybody who would like to speak.
013They have signed up. I have six people to speak. Uh I have four of them related to uh softball, two of them on uh buses. Uh if we could start with Veronica and we do have a three minute time limit so everybody has an opportunity. So Veronica, you have front and center. >> All right. Would you prefer that I stand up? What would you if you can come up so everybody can hear you or uh off to the side? >> Where do you >> Yeah, you're good. [laughter] You're good. We got you. >> We're standing in class here. >> I know, right? That would be nice. I'm Veronica Walker. I am a cousin to Coach Mike and I'm coming to you. I've sent uh some letters to some of you in support of him. So,
014I am going to read you something tonight. It's a little bit different than what I sent you. Dear schoolboard members, I am standing up tonight and I'm speaking out against these allegations. Not only is Coach Mike part of my family, but he's part of a bigger bigger family. That includes his softball teams. Family stands by each other. They lift each other up. They support each other and show no matter how tough things get, they will always have your back. Softball is more than winning and losing. It's about support. Lifting each other up, supporting each other, being together through the good and the bad. Sounds a lot like family, don't you think? When someone threatens a family, the family members grow tighter in their support. Coach Mike has a large and tight family. He has taught
015these girls resilience through tough innings, humility after big victories, and the importance of living of lifting each other up no matter their score. He shows patience during practices, a steady, calm, reassuring voice in the dugout when needed. He believes in the girls when they don't believe in them in themselves. He sees the potential that they have to be better and he builds their confidence when they are doubting themselves. This kind of leadership can't be measured on a scoreboard. There are many different acronyms for the word team. Tonight, I chose trust everyone, accountability, and motivating. What I don't say in this word is an eye. A team works together like a family. It isn't played by one person. It isn't one person that everyone comes out to see. [cough] It's a group of people like a
016family. To me, to me personally, I take these allegations against my cousin to be very disturbing and disgusting. I have known Coach Mike all of my life. This man has never shown anything but loving compassion to all he has met. He has had some rough times in his life, but he is an amazing role model to each individual here of how you can truly overcome the bad, rise up, do better, be better, and still show nothing but love to all. Coach Mike is a beautiful person, and he walks in humility and shows more kindness in one day than most humans do in a lifetime. What bothers me the most about this situation and these disgusting allegations is that based on a select few number of people, they are willing to go to such lengths to
017try and ruin someone for what? It makes me question what's wrong with the person or the persons that are making these allegations? Why are they insecure? Why do they hold so much animosity in their heart to be able to continue on? How can anyone be so so cruel? All I can say is they must not have Jesus in their heart because if they did, they would be showing love like Coach Mike does instead of hatred that is covering their hearts and clouding their eyes. Thank you, [laughter] [clears throat] >> Jennifer. >> Hi, my name is Jennifer and for those of you who don't know me, I'm Coach Mike's wife. First, I want to thank all of his supporters for showing up tonight. It means the world to us. I have a few things that I'd
018like to say in the three minutes that I have. First off, I hope the school board was presented with all the facts and all the unsubstantiated reports and finals. I would like to ask the school board to see through the lies and the false accusations that have been made against Coach her. I hope that you can see what the true purpose of all this was. It was a witch hunt and a smear campaign by a few players and their parents who were disgruntled because they did not get the playing time they all believe they deserved. They befriended a volunteer coach who was only in the program a few months and they all got together and decided to take coach Mike down. [clears throat] This truly is a case of slander and defamation of character. And
019unfortunately, this isn't the first time some of these people have tried to cause problems for other coaches also. Having [clears throat] said all that, the other point I would like to make is to the group of people who started all this. To those who tried to bring Coach Mike down, who tried to ruin his reputation, who tried to break him as a human being, not just a coach, you have not succeeded. And I know they're not here. And no matter the outcome of this meeting, you will still not have succeeded. You will never have a more dedicated, supportive coach than Mike Herrer. He coaches for all the right reasons. He isn't [snorts] just a coach, he is a mentor for which I know many players that were interviewed spoke very highly of him. Growing up,
020coach her did not have the best childhood or the best upbringing. In sports was his escape. His coaches were his mentors, his supporters, and at time his coaches were his family because that's all he had. This is why Mike coaches now. He wants to give back to youth and make a difference. Please do not allow a select few with their lives ruin that for the players who deserve Mike as their softball coach. Thank you again to everyone who came out to support him tonight and for the past four weeks of all the love and support you have shown Mike and I. Thank you. >> [applause] [snorts] >> Sorry, Kelly should make a matty place for Mike. We've had for the past 3 years, but I am positive that all allegations are false. There has never
021been any behavior displayed by Coach Mike that [clears throat] would ever signify justification for these false allegations. I am well aware of the jealousy involved in sports and how some parents think their children are all that. But when your child is old enough to play varsity but get put on the JV level because they do not have the skill set, work with your child. Encourage that child. Do not take it out on the coach. Do not ruin a man's life because of serious lies that have been spread. You can be assured that this man is innocent and deserves apologies from everyone that has slandered him and serious investigations should be done on his accusers. If the wrong decision is made to release Coach Mike, the man that has encouraged and inspired these girls, you not
022only destroy him, but you destroy the heart and the love of the game that these girls have strived for. Jealousy and false accusation should not be rewarded. Also, why is this all just now coming out? If such were to happen however long ago, why didn't we know? My daughter, who has at least at almost every practice, knows nothing about any of this, nor has she seen any of it take place. Keep Coach Mike or lose some of your best players. Thank you. Thank you, Madison. Hi, I'm Madison. Um, Coach Mike, he coached me through J softball all the way to high school. Um, to whom it may concern, I am writing to offer a full and strong my full and strong support of coach her in response to the recent concerns alleging that he has
023not been fair to all of the girls on the softball team. As someone who has played um played under his leadership, I feel compelled to speak on his character and coaching practices and to strongly advocate that he remain in his position as a softball coach. As a former player under his leadership, I can personally attest to the positive impact he has had not only on my athletic development, but also my character, confidence, and work ethic. During my time on the team, coach her cons consistently treated players with fairness and respect. His decisions regarding playing time, positions, and discipline were always based on effort, attitude, skill development, and what he believed was best for the team as a whole. He clearly communicated expectations and held every player accountable to the same standards. Coach her consistently demonstrated
024professionalism, integrity, and a genuine commitment to the well-being of every athlete. He pushed us to be our best both on and off of the field while maintaining a supportive and respectful environment. He emphasized discipline, teamwork, accountability, and sportsmanship, values that continue to benefit me long after my playing days. It is important to recognize that coaching often requires difficult decisions. However, making decisions that may not please everyone does not result in being unfair. From my experience, coach her has always acted with integrity and professionalism, putting the athletes and the program first. It is my sincere belief that removing coach her would be a loss to the program and the athletes that he serves. His passion for the sport, commitment to fairness, and ability to inspire players make him an invaluable asset. I respectfully ask that you
025take into consideration the positive experiences of many players who have benefited from his leadership. Coach her is committed to helping young athletes grow both on and off of the field and I believe he deserves a continued trust and support system. I respectfully urge you to consider the positive influence he has had on so many individuals and allow him to continue coaching. Thank you. >> THANK YOU. THE LAST two are Teresa on school buses. >> I'm Teresa Kria. I've been [snorts] driving school bus for 30 years. And the reason I became a school bus driver is because I could take my daughter along with me. And my plan was to quit after she got in school. But I liked it and I'm still doing it. [sighs] Couple weeks ago, we were notified that we were no
026longer allowed to take our kids. I now take my grandson. And I'm here to ask the superintendent to reconsider that because nobody even knows he's on the bus half the time. And there's many bus drivers that take their children or grandchildren and there's no problems. Fullington reviews our videos, I believe, every day. And if there would be a problem, they would they would take care of that. But there's no issues whatsoever. And I don't think it's fair. There's for one thing, we're short on bus drivers. And if if it's not reconsidered, then a lot of us are going to have to quit. And we care about our kids. They're just like our our kids, the children that we have riding our buses. And I just don't think it's fair. I believe if there was a
027problem with something, then it should have been handled. And I just don't think it's fair. >> Thank you. >> And Amber, >> I'm Amber Katrio. I drive bus for Fullington, too. I've drove for 35 years almost. Um I took my son the whole time he was in school. And I'm here to ask you to please try to reconsider. We've um we take our grandkids not not every day, once in a while. My grandson sits in the seat. He has never got out of the seat. He doesn't talk to me or anything. He's very well behaved. Um I know that all the other school districts, you can even Google it, you know, is a school bus driver allowed to take their kids. That's just something we've always done. And it's, you know, if there was a
028problem, it should have been addressed by the pro the person that the problem, you know, not not all of us. It's just something that it's a perk for driving bus. It's, you know, it says you we were told it could be a distraction. It's something you have to learn to do. There's times we could have 72 kids on the bus and you have to learn, you know, it's just I just really would appreciate you to reconsider and think about it. And that's all I really have to say. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Did I miss anybody? If we go back to the uh agenda, we have administrative report. >> Hello everyone. I'm the principal of the high school. My name is Linda Hockey for those of you who don't know me um school board.
029[clears throat] I have shared in the past about my group um called youth as researchers and I wanted to just give you an update on their status tonight. So this is a group of students who are also part of my social issues club. They've been working with Penn State outreach for the last six months, doing research through a program called Youth as Researchers. Through the process, they've designed and conducted surveys of their classmates to try and gather information about what the students in the school believe they need to thrive and what the community is lacking for students or for for people their age. This Friday at the high school, they're going to present their findings as well as a document documentary that they created to the student body as well as several um local business
030leaders. They're also going to present to their families in the community on March 14th at the Roland. I would also like to share that my academic decathlon team recently participated in the central region championships in Carlilele. They did very well. They finished as the overall fourth place small school. They finished number one in the region in the math department and they qualified for the state championships in March. Overall, the group received 13 medals. Some of those students were Kaitoma. She received a medal for the interview category. Dave Richie received three medals. Essay math and speech. Grace Henry interview and math. Stam Massa music and science. Connor Wallace math economics and science. Lucas Amy a [clears throat] medal in interview and Nick Matuicha an essay. >> Thank you. >> You come up so the camera can
031catch you. >> So at the PO middle school, Mr. Rishel has a stock market and current events class and we highlighted this uh about it in the journal but he has some pretty uh savvy young investors in his stock market class. We had a a team Logan Eklan and Jacobe Cassich. Uh they came in 10th out of 102 teams in Western Pennsylvania. So that's pretty impressive. Uh he did have six six teams actually make money in this. It's called the stock market game. So they they got some real world experience. We had our eighth grade winter dance. Lesie Sable was our new adviser. She did a great job being her first year doing it. And um hopefully most people saw Friday night. We were able to have family steam night here and that was high
032school students and some middle school students. But Mrs. Groves did a great job of organizing that. It was well attended. There's lots of photos out there on our district Facebook page. And I'll probably follow up next month just with some numbers for you how many people attended. And it was I thought it was a great great for the whole district. So I got to middle school. >> Good evening everybody. A few things going on at PE. Our student council has recently put together a a reading challenge for the month of February and March. Uh the classes that win books for their class so they can win a book library back for their classroom for that. Uh they also put together spirit days because next week is Readacross America week. I know between both elementary schools,
033there's a lot of activities going on. Um, so we have spirit days. We also have some high school students reading to our elementary students. I Dr. Poshnik, I believe, is going to be reading. Uh, possibly some former teachers. We also have some Penn State athletes. And, uh, we're able to get Lamar Arrington, who is former Penn State football great. He's going to be reading to both elementary schools on one of the days as well. uh between PE and OM, our fifth graders uh competed in a math 24 competition. I know many people probably remember that from being in elementary school. Our fifth grade teachers at both schools uh had their own competitions and they have four students representing each building that will compete on Wednesday in State College uh against other schools in our IU.
034Uh we next Thursday we have a WPSU PBS program that's going to have a family night at Philsburg Elementary that's open to the entire community. Um that'll be from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. And we recently had our donuts with dads. We had muffins with moms or female guardians. Uh in January we had donuts with dads or male guardians. We had over 250 dads or male guardians join. So that was over half of our school was able to attend. So it was a great event. >> Thank you. All >> [clears throat] >> right. Um, we've been really busy at Oola Mills Elementary. A lot of good things have been happening. I just wanted to update you all on a few. Um, in the fall, our fifth grade student representatives, uh, attended a training on anti-bullying. So,
035they did a presentation for the school on how to be an upstander. They did a phenomenal job. Um, I listed our students of the month there. um this month's theme was being helpful. So, those are the students that were most helpful. Um Justin touched on math 24. The students attending for Oola Mills Elementary are Levi Wood, Macy Johnson, Violet Patterson, McKenzie Valley, and Jameson Blake. Um one of those students will serve as alternate in case they are needed. Our fifth grade this past month toward the CCCTC. So, it was a great first experience to see some of the career pathways they can take once they get into high school. Um, at Oola Mills Elementary, just to put an emphasis on the importance of attendance, um, we started implementing a schoolwide challenge between the classrooms and
036the classroom with the best attendance percentage for the nine weeks gets a popcorn party delivered by me. Um, so the kids are enjoying it. And our last winner was K 100, Mrs. Mlen's kindergarten classroom. And if you know kindergarten students, that's a good thing because, you know, they're new to school with all those germs. So, it was really fun. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Braven. >> Hello, I'm Julie Braden, the director of student services. So, this month we've been working with our English learners. They're participating in their WEDA testing that is going on in all four buildings and that will determine their language profic proficiency for next year. Our K12 guidance plan is posted on the website for review until the end of the month. That is the framework for how our counseling department helps
037our students prepare for their future careers. It connects them with the CCC, educates them on different career paths, and it's using our new program, smart futures, which is um keeping everything digital. So all of the artifacts are there. And on the February inservice day, we had the IU come and prevent or present diverse learner training to help our teachers with differentiation in the classroom and personalized learning. and it was engaging and very informative. [snorts] >> Hi everyone. I'm Kelly Ree, athletic director and administrative specialist. Um I have some information on our uh winter sports roundout which we're finishing up here. I got to put these things on because once I start in a day using them I can cannot see. Sorry. Um, so our sideline cheer wrapped up another great season. Um, they come to
038our home events and support all of our uh, basketball teams and wrestling teams um, and do philanthropy events. The game day varsity recently competed competed down at Wildwood, New Jersey, taking first in the varsity division. And our competitive spirit varsity finished their season. They competed at nationals down in Orlando um, January 30th to February 1st. Um, and our middle school team just finished up their season this past Saturday at State College. Our boys varsity basketball team and JV team, we had a JV team this season, which is great. Uh, we started three freshman on our varsity team. Uh, it was a growing season of their 4-8 team. Uh, girls basketball was six and 16, but they did qualify for the first time since the 2018-19 season for uh, district playoffs. So, that was exciting um,
039for them. So, it's the most wins since 1819 season. Wrestling, uh, we still have five wrestlers, uh, and headed to regionals this weekend. So, that's exciting for PO to see, but um, the most dual meets one in a season history was this year at uh, PO. So, congratulations to Coach Fi and and our wrestling team. Um, but we've been ranked 21st in the state. We finished sixth at district individual ds, fourth at the team ds. Um, and we do have Hayden Copchek, Jacob Dugan, Caleb Hmel, Avery Gable, and Colton Chapman. Um, we wish them well at regionals this weekend. And we have girls. We had, um, they had a season record of one and four. They did finish in the top four Panther Holiday Classic. We have two girls ranked in the top 25 throughout
040the season. And we had two girls qualify this past weekend to go to regionals at Milton Saturday. Um, so congratulations to Daisy Glesner and Miran, Kendall Miran. So, good luck to them and coach Bob Wabadoo. Our unified botchi, uh, we're excited, had a great season. We hosted two teams this year. Um, but they're headed Wednesday at the Pens Valley, uh, to finish up the Southern Wilds divisional championship. Um, so both of our teams will be playing in that on Wednesday. And our swimmer had a PR at districts. We had one swimmer, Nicholas Matuicha. Um, you heard his name in, uh, he does academic attack on. Yep. So, he also swam and and qualified for districts. He PRD at Penn State on Saturday in the backstroke. So, that's exciting. Uh, junior high teams, our boys and
041girls basketball teams, uh, let's say they both had losing seasons, but I think there was a lot of growth there. Um, they had numbers and and they're continuing to improve. Uh, got to work on some skill development outside the season. Our wrestling team was 12 and four. Uh they got first at King of the Castle um and various other tournaments and soon end the season survey will be coming out for parents and coaches to complete and looking forward to spring sports starts March 2nd is the first official day. Uh our meet the Mounties will be March 10th, Tuesday, March 10th. So thank you. >> Thank you. Mr. Martin, >> you're up. >> Review the budget for 2627. The revenues right now [clears throat] 2627. So this meeting we're going to cover revenues. Next month meeting
042we're going to go over expenditures and all meetings we're going to have. As we look at um total revenues for 2425 our actual revenues were 38.8 million. We had budgeted 2526 38.9 and right now we're projecting to have 39.1 million about $200,000 more in projected revenue for 252.6. proposed uh revenue right now for 26 27 is 39.1 million is pretty much flat from where we're projecting to be 256. This is a rundown um since 2021 of our local, state and federal sources of revenue and the total amounts and as you can see we've highlighted in yellow um when we had larger amounts. So the federal amounts were high. Um when we were receiving assert dollars we received 1.5 million in 2021. 2122 was 3.8 2.5 and 2223 and then 2.1. And you can see now
043in the most recent years mostly what's coming through for our federal is just our title funds that come through and then we have some special education funds that we get through federal money. Um with the state sources again in those middle years um 22 23 to 24 25 we had larger increases in state funding and then locally in those same years we had increases in our earned income tax or real estate tax and also with our interest in income as interest rates are rising up. As you can see for the projected for 2526 and for um again those numbers are not really increasing much and pretty much staying flat at at that point. And I'm going to go through um when we get into future slides, I'll talk a little bit about the um the
044state budget that came out and how that impacts us and uh and some other things. Right here, you'll see um again, we talk about we're in multi-counties. So, we're in Center County and we're in Clarville County. And uh so, we set a military for both counties. Um there's currently 88 other school districts out of the 500 that are situated in two or more counties. And right now there's a public school code section 6721 that requires a basically a rebalance that happens um and this happens um after the end of the year when we set the mil real estate ma uh millage rates these get rebalanced um by the state and so if you look here basically what's happening is they're taking the the market value and basically kind of reassessing that information. So, right now,
045um, they're basically taking two-year-old kids market value calculations and basically taking that information and and recalculating our our miller rate. So, if you look at Center County, the last reassessment that was done at Center County was in 1995. In Clearfield County, it was in 1989. Right now, when we send out real estate tax bills, it's determined by the assessed value. So, whatever the assessed value is times the millage rate, that's what your uh tax bill is going to come in at. Again, what's happening right now is they're going and taking the market value. In other words, they're taking sales that happened. So, they're taking all the sales that happened in 2024 and they're taking that information and they're basically saying that in Center County, the market value, for instance, from 23 to 24 increased from
046312 million, 347 million. On the Clearfield side, it went from 290 to 306. And so if you can see the percentages there, if you again back in 2014 2015, it was about 52% in Center County, about 48% in Clearfield County. And that started to actually increase in Clearfield throughout the years in the market value in the beginning. And we got towards the end here. You can see now they're saying that more there's more market value on the Center County side of the Clearfield County side. And so what's happening again is the states coming in and rebalancing the military. If you look at last year, we set the millage rate for 24 63.07 in county, 70.93 in Clearfield area. When I went into the system right now, they've already rebalanced that 63.07 to 64.53. So, it's
047a 2.3% increase in center county without us doing anything starting off with. And again, if you look throughout the years, you can see where again in Clearfield, it got rebalanced quite a bit in the beginning. You can see the rebalancing happening there. The last several years, there was one year 23 24 again where there was a rebound in the center county side of 1.3%, but mostly it's been flat. So again, what's just happened recently um within this last week, there's new legislation being proposed to allow multis county school districts to eliminate this rebalancing system. In other words, it would allow us to be able to go in and actually set the military. If you as a board right now said we want the military to be this, we don't have the ability to be able
048to do that. We go in and say this is what we want to be able to collect in dollars and then it calculates that um military force. So, we would be again, we're not able to have uniformity. We're not able to say if we wanted to have Center County and Clear Folk go up by the same exact uh millage amounts, but we're not able to do that right now. So, we're just asking for that. Um, and again, there's been recommendations that, you know, any school districts county contact their legislators to support this proposed legislation. So again, if you look at the real estate assessed value district, what the bills are going out on, you can see that in center county over the last 10 years, we've had an increase of about 3.93. Some of that
049is the KOZ properties that we had up here that were that uh did not have to pay tax for the first 10 years when they were in there and they're coming on now. So you can see those increases in the last several years. On the Clearfield County side, there's been about 1.94%. But again, there's not a lot of growth in our area. we don't have a lot of new assessed value coming on. Um you look at areas like like a Belfon or State College, you see a lot of growth right now. You see a lot of new uh re retail places going in. You see new developments going in and so that increases the assessed value. This is looking back in time. So this is looking back at a real estate tax history from 2010
05011 through 202021. This is a 10-year history. Everything that you see highlighted there in yellow is a decrease in taxes. Our millage rate in center county 2011 was 52.97. At the end of 2021 it was 51.68 2.44% decrease and all those years that that was down that was that was u decreases in revenue. Same thing on the clearfield side. Some of this had to do again with the rebalancing that was going on. And it creates a lot of mental gymnastics to be able to try to figure those things out because again when they rebalance it and one goes up the other one goes down and so the board and other people would have to make decisions to be able to try to figure this out. So again if you look at total village and combined
051170.27 in 101 it was 170.22. If you look here this is what we actually collected in that 10-year period. 49 million in Center County, 43.7 million in Clearfield, 92.8 million. If we just would have been able to keep those millage rates flat for that full 10-year period, it would have been $2.3 million more we would have collected in that period. If we would have just done a 3/4 of a percent increase each year over time, and it would have been 7.5% in that 10 years, we would run them at $6 million more. If you look at the other school districts in Center County in that same 10-year period, they raised taxes 15.8% on average. You look at [snorts] Clear uh if you look at Clearfield County, it was around 8.5%. If you look at like
052Clearfield West Branch, all those other schools, it was around 8 to 10% in that time frame. And again, we went down. So again, that's [snorts] lost revenue that we lost out on. Flip to the state um subsidy that we received from the state. The state represents 65% of our total budget. Local is about 30% right now. Um the federal is 5%. The only thing that we have control over is the local side. On the state side, um the state budget came out from the governor this past uh in in February. And the basic ed subsidy, which was the main driver of what we used to receive most of our funding through in the past. If you look here again and you look in years um 22 23 23 24 we had larger increases about 5%
0537% increases which accounted to about $640,000. In 2223 about $950,000 in basic ed subsidy. Last year our basic ed subsidy increase was 136,000. This year's subsidy increase by the bud by the governor is $54,000 or less than half a%. special education um special education costs continue to keep increasing. Right now 25% of our enrollment um are identified as special ed students. We right now if you look again at what we were funded back in 2015 2016 we had about an increase of about $14,000 per year in in year 1617. And if you look down through these last several years, again, our biggest increases were in year 22 23 and 2122. We had a $71,000 increase, $123,000 increase. Again, this this past year was 59,000 and again this year was 62,000. So again, if I go
054back to to the prior slide, 54,000 for basic ed, 62,000 for special ed, that's a little over $100,000. When we start to get into the budget for next year or we start in next month's budget meeting when we start looking at expenditures just on the personnel side personnel increases between just salaries and benefits will be around 500 grand. Ready to learn block grant and this is where there was a new initiative by the state to basically address some issues through adequacy funding. And so this was additional funding that was um basically be able to help a situation in which basically a lot of schools they looked at what they were basically paying for each student [laughter] and everything and they basically determined they should have had more money coming in. So if you look at
055that amount there if you look at ours for 2425 that increase was 277,000 and we've been getting that each year. So you can see in that year was about a 79% increase, 44% increase in 2526 and then 2627 about 30.75%. So again 277 plus the 100 we're looking at about $375,000 increase from the state. If you look back at 2223, most of the increase in the state money was running through the basic education uh subsidy, $525 million of that 620 million. Now it's flown through advocacy. You see 530 million out of that total 630 million. So how does that impact everyone? Well that adequacy money that 530 million 45% of it are going to these top 10 schools that you see on here the remaining the top 100 schools are getting 425 million or 80%
056of this total attitude. The remaining 400 schools in Pennsylvania are receiving 100 million or 20% of that advocacy money. So how's that look for all of our schools around us? This was 2223 and the schools received 8.2 million. We received $766,000. You can look at Clearfield the neighborh 79,000. In 2627 the state budget for Bow Eagle 158 grand $550,000 decrease. Clearfield $435,000 decrease. Philsburg 372,000. You look at the total there the decrease of about 2.2 million. So again we start talking about the state budget and where all the money is going. Um we're seeing decreases on our end. Again this is just a breakdown of local, state, and federal revenues. Again, um [cough] the main thing that we have control over is the real estate tax [snorts] impact areas. State budget governor's proposal again for
057basic education, special education is 160 grand. It's the smallest increase since 2018. Go real estate tax collection and military index for 2627 is 5%. That's the max amount that um the mill rates can be increased. the anticipated reduction in interest rates in 2627 is going to um impact our interest income impact the state budget pass impacts we've only had one budget budget passed on time since 2122 [clears throat] so um that's really been the situation for us and again as far as the interest rates go and the interest income you know when I first got here I think we maybe had about $1,000 in interest income because of the rates we were able to generate almost 200 over $200,000 in interest income because of the rates Look at the future board dates here. Again, March
05823rd, we're going to review the proposed budget expenditures. April 27th, we're going to look at the proposed budget and we'll make it available for the public to expect. May 12th, we will give those an intent to approve the final budget on May 26th. May 26, adopt final budget, set tax levy, and then we'll implement homestead and farmstead exclusion. Homestead farmstead exclusion, we don't know what those amounts are going to be. It's been good the last several years. We've been able to um be able to take money and be able to reduce the um tax burden for uh the residents. So again, that amount has increased and everything. I think it's around 300 some odd dollars now $340. So we'll find out what that amount's going to be and then we'll go from there. But again,
059we'll set all those rates um at that point. >> Any questions? [snorts] >> When you had the slide, it be the real estate tax collected 2010, 2011 to 2020, 2021. >> Yep. >> Um when we had the decreases in the millage rates, how would those have how does one decrease the military? Is it a board decision at that point? Well, part of what was going on, like I said, was when they're rebalancing it and as a board, they're looking at that and going, "Okay, they went and rebalanced that and they increased it up and everything." And what happens at that point, if you even say you want the same exact dollar amount in real estate taxes, the other the other whatever um county that it is, it's going to go down irregardless because that one's
060gone up and everything. And so then a decision has to be made. So then again, if you want to not have that one go up by up that much, then you increase it down and it increases it down more. So that's part of what was going on. And again, it's the mental gymnastics of you don't have the ability to go in and change that millage rate. You go in and put the dollar amount in. We put in again the other variables are what how much what's the collection percentage that you're going to collect and what's your assessed value. So you can put those two things in. what other what other school districts can do that are single county can just go in and put the millage rate in. We have to put a dollar amount
061in and then it calculates that and that's where it gets challenging. But again, not being able to have that ability to just hold them steady or andor increase them and that's why there's this legislation in place because it makes it really difficult. >> Thank you. Y >> other questions for Mr. Martin tonight? I'm gonna segue into that. Um, so a couple things. Uh, as you see on the agenda tonight, we have a retirement incentive that the board authorized Mr. Martin and I to work with the unions to have them consider. Uh, we are happy to report back. Our our minimum threshold to make it happen was six individuals. We have 10 that are on the agenda tonight. Um, like I've said with our admin team, uh, getting to the 10 was probably the easy part
062of this whole equation. Not filling those 10 positions is where now the work is going to begin. Um, because in order for us to see savings in our deficit, that that was part of the conversation with the unions was that it's got to be positions that it's not just any position. It's got to be a position that we cannot fill. So, we've been having conversations myself with the admin team and the principles to sort of look at various options of how we're going to do that. Tonight, uh we do have pathways to be able to not fill those 10 positions. As I've shared with the board, in the last 12 months since we were in budgeting last year, I think our number of positions that we haven't filled is up to 19. So, it's not
063like um we're not doing our work here within the district to try and reduce um when we have uh resignations and retirements. And so, we do have that tonight. Um but the work's not done. We still have work to do on the long-term uh budget. When we look at our fund balance, it's 1.9 million coming out of last year's audit. And when we look to build next year's budget, uh, has the going from six to 10 individuals taken advantage of retirements that have helped? Yes. But when we look at long-term, as Mr. Martin said, the um, say the rollover of just increases for next year is looking at the 500,000. Uh, when we started, it was around 550 for the current budgeting process. When the governor laid out his budget, um, and that's most likely
064going to change. Rarely does any Republican or Democratic governor lay out a budget and it's the same in June. Um there'll be a lot of jockeying back and forth now, but uh our first round was I believe 394,000 is what we were slated um that we could apply towards that 550,000. So when you're looking at um our areas of increased revenue right now the state the the current um or the result of the lawsuit by uh various groups to adequately fund school districts especially rural school districts. right now we have PO has not uh benefited from that uh that legislation that took place in that court order and um so we have work to do on our end and continued work to do but I think it's also going to be a conversation in the
065in the next several months of what's a what's a tax increase look like um from that standpoint it's a good segue in I just want to report and say thank you to everyone who filled out the budget um and tax survey um if Memory serves re serves me right. In Clearfield and center counties, we have about uh combined about 8,000 individuals who are registered to vote. Um what our response rate out of the survey was was 432 and it it comes in right around 5%. So would uh in the end would you like more? Yes. But we did receive 432 responses uh for those individuals who took the time to fill out the survey and especially the last section which was an open-ended answer. I do want to say thank you uh for providing those
066responses and each board member sitting around the table tonight uh has received all 432 of those responses. So they have that information as we look to move forward. But uh we still have work to do and we'll have more information coming in the next month. Um I will say too we have reached out to um our teachers union and our support unit to and also would also be with our steel workers um to consider going with a different third party administrator of our healthcare um and so we've Mr. Martin and I have have visited all the schools and the school faculties uh there last week and basically uh trying to look at different options um to to go ahead and reduce expenditures within the district and one thing we said it's going to take every
067area and um so right now we're looking at all those areas and what we can do to to minimize expenditures and so um with that I just wanted to report uh those items out. Any questions for me? my report. Uh we have a consent agenda. We'll go through each bold face each bold face one and if you want to pull something give me the letter the number that you would like to pull. Uh C, budget finance. Uh I student affairs and K. Anything else listed under the agenda? We'll have a roll call vote uh for G30. G30 would be Extracurricular. Do you have that one? Could be my right. [cough] I I5. [snorts] I'm gonna pull I5 myself. Should we do the stuff first? >> We have a consent agenda to approve the agenda with
068the exception of scratching G31, pulling G30 and pulling I5. Motion. >> We have a motion. Can I have a second? >> Second. >> Motion and a second. We have a roll call vote, please. >> Mrs. Bainy Shaw, >> yes. >> Dr. Bulary, >> yes. >> Mrs. Bush, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cookerly, >> yes. >> Mrs. Rhinstein, >> yes. >> Mr. Banks, >> yes. >> Mrs. Vesnaskki, >> yes. >> Mr. Wood, >> yes. motion. >> So, we're going to pull G. I'm sorry. I for I5. >> A member, do you have that one? Can you read I5? >> Motion to approve the following extracurricular positions for the 2526 school year pending clearance. I have a motion to approve that. >> Motion and a second or second. A roll call vote, please. >> Dr. Bary, >> yes.
069>> Mrs. Bush, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cookerling, >> yes. >> Mrs. Rhinstein, >> yes. >> Mr. Venus, >> yes. >> Mrs. Vestneski, >> yes. >> Mr. Wood, >> abstain. >> And Mrs. Fanny Shaw, >> yes. Personnel [clears throat] we have G30 as >> motion by blank seconded by blank to authorize the issuance of a statement of charges against employee number 26-1. one extending an opportunity for hearing under section 514 of the public school code of 1949 as amended and further authorize the for president or secret secretary to sign and serve notice upon the employee of such an entitlement to a hearing. In doing so, the board believes there is sufficient evidence to support its belief that a statement of charge would be issued to afford notice to the employee and an opportunity for a hearing.
070We have a motion. Could I have a second? >> Second. Have >> a motion and a second. And we could have a roll call, please. >> Mrs. Bush, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cookerly, >> yes. >> Mrs. Rinstein, >> yes. >> Mr. Vancis, >> yes. >> Mrs. Vesnaskki, >> yes. >> Mr. Wood, >> yes. >> Mrs. Bainy Shaw, >> yes. >> And Dr. Mary. >> Yes. >> Motion carried. >> Is there anything else come before the order? >> A motion to adjourn. Motion second. >> Second. >> Motion to second. All in favor? >> I. >> We will be reconvening into an exact session and again it will not go back to the public. I thank you for coming.