001Good evening. Welcome to the March special budget work session of the Rose Tree Media School Board. Tonight's meeting is the first look at the proposed 2026 27 budget. We started this process of holding a special budget meeting a couple of years ago and it has allowed the board and administration to have meaningful conversations that tie the budget to the mission and strategic plan. The board's responsibility to the district is to approve a budget that meets both the needs of the students and our larger taxpaying community. There will be more conversations at upcoming work sessions as this budget evolves with more information and our conversation tonight. >> Dr. Nas Williams, uh thank you for being here this evening and to the board uh for attending again this special session as we've done the last few years.
002Um we have found this to be of value for us administratively um to have the discussion to hear the questions and to make sure as we believe we are that we're in line with the expectations from the board of school directors uh Dr. Scott and Miss Hogan um and their department has spent a great deal of time in the construction of the presentation and the collecting of the information which then comes from all the different departments Dr. Saladino Mr. Dockerty Mr. Mr. Harrison, Mr. Nolan, uh, all have pieces and then all the folks that work at the buildings, it it's a multifaceted process that honestly we begin in October of every year to start to build the budget for the following academic year. Uh, and for us that start is the July 1st. So, I'm
003excited to turn it over to Dr. Scott and Miss Hogan to get us going. Um, the remaining members of the cabinet are here. they'll be participating to provide uh some commentary and some explanation about what different pieces are. We are certainly open and expecting questions. Um if there are questions we can answer tonight, we shall. There are questions that we need to do a little bit more research, we shall do that as well uh and follow up. And as you said, Dr. Naps Williams, this is the first public look to go forward. There will be a number of different times and um the ladies will go through and talk about what that schedule looks like for us to have public discussion and for there to be continued input. So Dr. Scott and Miss Hogan, over
004to you. >> Thank you. Excuse me. So we start off with the budget timeline. The green boxes are the PTE required dates. the blue we try to correspond with our um calendar. So you'll see the PTE published the act one index in September. In December we adopted the resolution to not exceed the act one index and then filed the paperwork that was required for that. Today we're at the work session or the budget work session in April on the April 9th work session. We'll review what we went over tonight on the legislative meeting. On April 23rd, we would adopt the proposed final proposed final budget and um certify that we're using the PTE 2028, the state form. May 8th, we would make the proposed final budget available for public inspection. 10 days after that, we
005would offer notice that we would intend to adopt the final budget. 10 days later on May 28th, we would actually adopt the final budget >> and then Dr. Malash, you were going to speak on the um budget the board budget priorities. >> Thank you, Dr. Scott. You know, I hang on your every word so I want to make sure that there were no more from that page. So the board budget priorities uh so one of the things that that we've done over the last couple of years uh is to ask the board right I mean you are the governing body the legislative group um as we operate the school district about what is it as we look at our goals uh we look at what we're doing how would you identify and categorize the priorities
006so um through the through the use of a a Google form um putting information out there these were the four after We analyzed all the responses that we got from board members um to say that these are the priorities. Wellness and educational needs of students, preparing students for today's world, development of a new elementary progress report and focus on facilities and infrastructure. So again, some nuanced differences from where we've been over the last couple of years, but the overall thrust and focus remains relatively consistent with the expectations that the board has carried uh and with thus fulfilling um what we need to get done uh to make sure we provide a quality education for the students in our community. Good evening everyone. So my uh role in tonight's presentation is to talk about the proposed
007new staffing positions that are included in the proposed budget uh that we're going to be discussing tonight. Uh there are a the equivalent of six full-time positions included in the proposed budget. The first is an additional elementary classroom teacher at Rose Tree Elementary School. Uh this is because of increased enrollment at Rose Tree for next year. They are up uh anticipated to be up about 20 students. Uh and when we look at the ability to shuffle teachers around from one grade to the next, uh there really is no ability to do that um and to continue to achieve uh appropriate class sizes. So this would be the addition of an additional fifth grade teacher at Roere Elementary School. Uh so that class size was in an appropriate range. The next three positions are the addition
008of school counselor positions. So at media and Glenwood, we currently have one and a half counselors in each of those two elementary schools. Uh there is uh one individual that spends half of his time at media and half of his time at Glenwood. Uh we are proposing to increase the level of counseling services in those two buildings by an additional half so that they would each have two full-time counselors and proposing to increase the counseling staff at Indian Lane currently at one to two at Glenwood. Much of this is attributable attributable to the sheer size of the building. They have well over a hundred more students than any of the other elementary schools and in order to appropriately meet the needs of the overall school population. Uh one and a half is not quite enough
009for what we need. Uh and so that's why we're proposing the additional half there at Indian Lane and at Media. Those two elementary schools house specialized programs uh in the district. And so there are some additional behavioral needs, mental health needs, uh that right now we're seeing the positive benefits of having some additional counseling support at media. Um and so we are proposing the increase uh at the those two schools so that they're each would have two full-time counselors and again with the specialized programs we believe that uh it's what is needed in order to best serve the students and the staff in those buildings. >> How many councils do you have at uh the middle and high school level? So, three at Springton Lake and five at the high school. >> We have four
010four counselors who are working with the students and then we have one college and career counselor at the high school as well for a total of five counselors. The next position that you see is an additional business education teacher at Penrest High School. Uh during the 2627 school year, we are going to be required to implement a new personal finance literacy course that is required uh for graduation in Pennsylvania. Next year will be the first year that that course requirement is in place for students graduating. And so the additional business teacher is going to allow us to be able to provide that course. Right now with our existing staffing and the additional courses that those teachers are already teaching, there would not be any room in the schedule for uh the existing business teachers that
011we have. So that is that additional uh class. At Franklin Lake Middle School, we are proposing the addition of a gifted support teacher. Uh, in the elementary level, we currently have two gifted support teachers. At Penrest High School, we have one. At Springton Lake Middle School, we actually do not have any gifted support teacher. Uh, the case management responsibilities for students with GIEPS is something that is shared among several of our regular education teachers. it's a small portion of their schedule. The number of students that we have with GIEPS as well as the level of need to differentiate instruction um and wanting to be sure that we are providing the best possible program for the students. We've simply reached a point where we don't feel like the current model is sustainable moving forward. And so
012we are proposing the addition of that gifted support teacher for strength and lake. And then the final position is the addition of a certified school nurse at Media Elementary School. Currently, we have certified school nurses at Penrest and Springton Lake and three of the four elementary schools. At Media Elementary School, we do have a nurse on staff. Uh it is a position that we call a health room nurse. It is not a uh an individual that is a certified school nurse having a teaching certificate in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. And so we are proposing this for a couple of reasons. Number one, an equity issue to be able to have an equitable distribution across all of the elementary schools with a certified school nurse. But the other thing, and we're going to be talking about
013this tonight, and you're going to hear about this uh as well in our upcoming work session when I talk about substitutes. Um we are having some tremendous challenges when nurses are out and when there is additional nursing support that is needed either for an activity, a field trip, um additional coverage in the buildings. the current level of nursing support that we have, it's proving to be very challenging. Um, we use several contracted agencies to get substitute nurses and even with having multiple agencies that we can tap to fill those positions, um, we have a tremendously difficult time. Um, and that's on top of the costs that we pay from the different agencies that we're using. So, for a variety of reasons, we are proposing the addition of a certified school nurse. Uh, and then we
014would take the person who is currently the health room nurse and have that person take on a district-wide role where they would be able to support in all of the schools, thereby decreasing our need to depend upon agency staffing to fill vacancies as they exist. So, in total, those are the equivalent of six full-time positions. Um, that is our current need, and I'm pleased to say that it is a decreased need as compared to the number of positions that were in the budget last year. >> Sorry, Dr. S. I just had a question. Put that down. I want to just make sure I'm clear about the certified school nurse difference. So, a certified school nurse, they have the nursing credentials in addition to the teaching credentials for Pennsylvania. And what I think I understood, and
015please correct me if I'm wrong, that all the elementary schools have already a certified nurse except for media, which has you called it the health room nurse, and that is a person who is has the nursing credentials, but does not have the teaching credentials. Is that all correct? >> That is a great summary. All of that is completely correct. I don't know that I need to add anything on to that. >> Okay. And so that's why we're looking for this and then we'll have the other person kind of be a floater for there's additional needs. Thank you. I just want to make sure I understood that. >> And your last point, Dr. S, was uh down from last year is the request for new positions. The total number, is that what you're saying? Not >>
016the the total number of positions in the proposed budget is a lot less than this time last year. Although I was not at the table this time last year, I I do know that there was a lot more hiring that took place uh because of additional positions that were needed at the time. Um I'm pleased to say that the need is less. >> Okay. Thanks. So some of the pos um the positions that you see um under our goal one for academics Dr. Saladino has already spoken about right. So, we do have the need for an additional classroom teacher at the elementary level. Um, our business teacher, we're excited about that course. It is a required course though, so we do have to fill that. Um, the gifted education teacher that falls under both um
017curriculum instruction and student services. We currently have 130 um students at Springton Lake Middle School with GIEPS and we support them. um the case load max according to the state is 65. So it takes several people to manage um that number and so we definitely have a need to support um the number of students coming in but also just what their program looks like in particular math reading and science. So that is our focus. Um we're excited to continue our professional development in structured literacy. We had 20 teachers that are in the middle of letters training. We're increasing that opportunity for teachers. We will continue into year two with both amplify CKLA and ELA to continue for our teachers K8 um as well as at the high school supporting our students in in that. So
018that really is the bulk of our curriculum and instruction budget. >> Good evening everyone. Um, next up we have relevant, personalized, and flexible learning opportunities. So, in this category right now, we're going to continue improvement of curriculum documents. So, we're in the process of creating our curriculum documents in a digital format and using Rubicon Atlas, which is the database to house these documents. It's a huge undertaking. um and and Christa and her team have um already started that process and we'll continue that and that will be ongoing and also um our print and digital resources for both Eureka and our ELA programming um are a continue need right all of our books now textbooks all all come with obviously digital um resources that support so that will be ongoing um in terms of technology we
019don't have necessarily new equipment we're purchasing I mean we are upgrading updating our our sixth grade and nth grade Chromebooks like we always do and um you know we do have a couple projects this year of upgrading the sound in Indian lanes cafetum and um media elementary I believe also with the auditorium so those things are happening but these are um two of the biggest projects that are that we are undertaking right now >> and then when we look at at the strategic goals of of three and four Dr. you know, really summarized the the justification for the certified school nurse and the school counselors very well. Just a couple bullet points that I also want to highlight for the board and for the community with regard to the certified school nurse. While we also
020provide the services within our six schools, we're also required through school code to provide nursing services to the uh four Catholic and private schools that are within our boundaries as well. So our nurses are using a substitutes to then go to cover the private schools and working a rotation out which really puts a strain on on the nursing staff if one of them has a sick day, has a personal day. So we really actually in actuality have less than one nurse per building that we are providing nursing services to. The way we've been able to do that historically and then just through this year is as Dr. Dr. Saladino said we use those nursing agencies. That's been at a cost to us of about $59,000 per year, which again, I don't know that that $59,000
021would go to zero, but it's going to be able to go to substantially less so that we'll be able to to provide that coverage. >> I'm really I'm really sorry. I might need to slow that down from my brain. We pay for the nurses for uh private schools. >> So, the nurses are not there every single day. They are there on a rotating basis. But yes, the Catholic schools and then benchmark and the Walton school in are within our district and we have to provide nursing services for that as well. >> But our nurses go there. >> Our nurses go there. >> So make it better. >> No, I know. >> And the subs come to us. Yes. >> Yeah. >> All right. Well, so before we get into the sources of revenue, I just
022wanted to hold on. It looked like there was going to be one more question, but and then just as far as school counselors go, uh I'm coming up on my one-year anniversary and the board has always been extraordinarily supportive of if in special education we need something, you have been very supportive of getting us exactly what we need to support our students. With our multi-tered systems of support or MTSS, though, the school counselors play a critical role in that work to be able to intervene quickly and early on. And sometimes with a tier one or a tier 2 intervention, we're able to say, "Hey, a student doesn't necessarily need to go further and need to get more costly services through special education." Having those additional counselors will be a huge critical piece to being able
023to make sure that MTSS team is able to respond socially and with social, emotional, behavioral needs that our students are exhibiting. Intervene quickly, work with families and teachers collaboratively. If the intervention is working, fantastic. then we're able to say we're good. And if not, then we go ahead and we look and we maybe look for other options as well. Now I'm not Dr. Scott. So this slide talks about our sources of revenue. Our local revenue sources include our real estate taxes, which is the big portion, tuitions, investments, and idea is a pass through through the IU. We have state revenue sources such as our subsidies, our federal revenues, our titles one, two, four, and access funds. And then our fund balance that makes up the difference between our revenues and expenses. >> Sorry for going
024back for just a second and I know we've talked about in the past, but I'm always a little fuzzy on it. Our tuitions, can you just explain a little bit of how we we actually get revenue from tuitions? So because Owen is in our district, we have to pay Owen and then we bill the districts that have students there and that's the money we receive back. >> And if I'm understanding that correctly, it's not like we are making money, we are being reimbursed. So it's more or less a wash, right? So even though that's listed as revenue sources, we should keep that in mind that we are not we're not gaining from that experience. Correct. Correct. Okay. We have two passroughs have tuitions and IDA. Do we ever have tuitions for people paying to come
025to this school for some other reason? >> I know other public school districts do. So we do not. >> Okay. So, this slide shows um with a 3.5% projected increase in real estate taxes, what our local revenue would be, our projected state and federal revenue to give us a total of $132,357,452. The governor presented his budget on February 3rd, included a $50 million increase in basic ed and a $50 million increase in special education funding. the district's um share of those increases are listed, but we did not budget these increases in this budget that you see because the governor hasn't passed his budget yet. >> Well, and also we don't expect really that that's the money that's going to be final, right? I mean, that has to go through the Senate and it's a big
026process. So, yeah. And correct me if I'm wrong, the state still has not come up with any permanent solution to when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declared the real estate taxing system as a um an unfair source of of uh funding for schools that it ensured that poor districts remained um with lesser educations. So the governor is still just doing bandaids to poor districts by giving money away. They're not act they don't they've not come up with a system that does meet the constitutionality of the state of Pennsylvania. >> Correct. >> This slide just shows a picture of the revenue we just talked about showing that a huge piece of the pie is our local taxes and it compares last year's budget to this year's budget. And maybe for those who have poor eyesight, that little
027tiny, is it green? Maybe sliver. Yeah, thank you. The federal government, right? So, um they're they're viferous, but they're not the most generous. So, um what we have is uh the state some but local. So, lobby. Thank you. This slide shows our assessments. Um, you can see they're broken down by type and most of the piece of the pie is our residential properties. And then you can see the total of our properties and the assessment. >> I'm so sorry to keep interrupting. What does exempt refer to? Like what kinds of groups should we know for that? properties that aren't taxed. So like churches and veterans. Here's a comparison of our 10-year assessed value and our millage rate and then our actual real estate tax revenue. Just to be crystal clear in case anyone is less
028familiar with this, right, we had nothing whatsoever to do with that gigantic increase for the assessment. >> Yes, that was the county reassessment. >> Yes. >> A corresponding decrease in millage rate. This slide depicts what the act one index has been and what Rose Tree Media School District raised taxes as. I know I've commented this on this before, but um 25 and um 2025 was a really big year if you compare what the act one index was versus what inflation was versus what we raised taxes. And act one does not include um the consumer price index. It only includes the cost of education services. And so when you look at the act one index of 5.3, inflation that year was about 8%. And I just want to say to all of my colleagues on this
029board in the district that um I appreciate that we have been very good stewards of our taxpayer dollars and trying to be fiscally conservative in terms of tax increases whenever possible. So, we'll talk about some of our challenges. So, charter school tuition. Charter schools don't charge their students tuition. They receive the majority of their funding from the home district. Um, we also have special education, our Pasers retirement costs, transportation, and our contractual obligations. Now there have been some adjustments with charters schools right but the online ones in terms of the money we have to pay them. >> Yes. So, when the legislation started, I believe it was they were going to change cyber to like a flat $8,000, but in actuality, I think what happened was they reduced it by $8,000. So, there's a slight
030change in the cyber, but our charter school costs are still higher. >> Yes. What's the average um charter school tuition for a student without um special education services? What is it for student with special education services? And what percentage of our cyber charter students have been diagnosed as needing special education services? >> Uh so currently uh it's approximately $15,000 for a general education student, approximately $45,000 for a student with an IEP. Uh currently we have 40 students who attend a cyber charter school. Uh 52% of them are in general education. 48% are uh in special education and uh the total cost to the district uh for this year will be uh just over $1 million. It's $1 million7,000 that we are paying in change uh for those 40 students. 1 million uh $7,0316% >> of
031our student body here um needs an or has an IEP with special services. >> We're at about 16% of our students. >> 16 versus >> 16 for our whole district. Okay. >> Uh have an IEP. Correct. Was that charter schools or all all I mean cyber charter or all charter >> for uh the numbers that I just provided are are students that reside in our district who are going to a cyber charter school? >> Cyber charter. >> Correct. Yes. >> Have a quick question. Are these students the 48% of students who are in charter or cyber charter schools who have an IEP are they leaving our district with an IEP? Are these students that we knew to have an IEP before they left? I can tell you within the last year, we've had very few
032students that have left. Um, our team has been very good at figuring out a way to creatively meet our students needs within the district. Whether that is partnering with other local school districts, working within our our RTM cyber, figuring out a blended model, um using some tutoring services, uh we've gotten very creative because, you know, ultimately those services that we're providing come at a cost, but they come at a cost that is far less than $45,000. And um I mean, bragging a little bit again with the support of the board, I feel like we do it better than the cyber charter schools. So to put out some of those expenditures that we're able to do with a tutor or um with our ed mentoum and a coach is is you know in the students best
033interest. >> My question is more are they are they >> receiving an assessment or a diagnosis after they decide to leave? It's a good qu I can I can dig into that a little bit further, but I would I would say more are qualifying once they have left us than they are uh getting an IEP here and then choosing to go to a cyber charter school. That has not been my experience in the years since I've been here. >> And we do currently have seven district students in RTM cyber. just always surprised that a cyber charter school can deliver high quality >> special education services. >> I would agree. >> Are we doing anything to try to get any of those kids back in district? Are we able to do anything? >> It's a very
034good question right now. Uh I mean the first step this year has really been to make sure that other students are not leaving. Dr. Orin is working with Dr. rant and that's something that we're going to then look at. The vast majority of our students currently in the cyber charter school more than 90% are at the secondary level. I think that's going to pose a challenge for us to be trying to bring back sophomores, juniors, seniors. We're going to try um but really one of the groups that we would want to target are our el the elementary and middle school students who are currently in that cyber charter. see if we're able to convince them to even if they come back for high school, then that's four years that that the students are with us.
035We'll certainly be doing some reach out to to the older students as well um to see if if we're able to meet their needs, but that is that that is a goal of ours moving into the next year. It's a good question. >> Do we know why the majority of the students elect um to take cyber school over um regular school or even the Rose Media um cyber schooling? I mean, I knew some kids who were on Broadway and therefore they chose cyber charter school, but what is the is that the majority of kids? Like who who who is it that really prefers a cyber charter education? >> I would want to dig in and get specific data from our families. I can say from my general experience, it's it's flexibility with time and space
036um that students are looking for. That's a great example of, you know, maybe a student who is, uh, you know, involved in some type of extracurricular that allows them to be able to do their work at 8:00 at night as opposed to 8:00 in the morning. Um, someu, uh, students with school avoidance or having a difficulty crossing the threshold, having some flexibility with time and space is very helpful uh, for them to be able to still access their education. uh specific to Roster Media. I would want to dig into to that data and see. I can tell I can tell you the students that have not left to go to a cyber charter. It's been a blend of each of those things that we've been able to then work as a team collaboratively with the
037family. What kinds of supports do they have in the community and and figure out a flexible schedule for that student so that they're staying within our district? >> I just have one more question. when they do opt to go to a cyber school, are we still responsible for certain services for those students where then we're no longer >> correct? Once a child goes to the cyber charter, they are the responsibility of the cyber charter school and not the district. >> So, um personally, I know that um sometimes students are just overwhelmed by the fast pace of being in person. Um, also students who are very creative don't really have the time to that creativity when they have, you know, the regular structure of school. >> Thank you. >> Some really valid reasons for why um
038a cyber program would be helpful. We've had so many problems and with um so many students all of a sudden joining cyber and the high rates of of uh tuition especially for um newly diagnosed IEP needs. So >> I believe you said there's there's 40 students, right? >> Correct. >> How has that number evolved um over the last few years? Like what what was it five years ago? >> It's a good question. I would have to dig into it, Dr. Fox, to you know, Dr. Scott, do you know that or Heather? Go ahead. Oh, I'm sorry. I thought I I apologize. I thought >> that was me because the question was asked what was like five years ago and of course we had COVID, right? So, it's really hard to go back so far. I
039know that from my recollection being on the board is that that was something when we started looking at okay coming back to get some parents who were more concerned and for a lot of good reasons, right, to do it. Um, but it's been to your point like several years. It'd be interesting to see how is this going in general >> gauge not only because of co just because of the pop the popularity and the advertising that they do to attract more students. So like I don't I don't think there's a fair you know our district I mean our team no but but I'm not talking about like the cyber I'm saying like how many in our particular thing is sort of harder because we started that right with COVID. So um >> that we would
040be able to get the numbers though because we would just work with our enrollment office to be able to look through it. And one of the things that when you know um we try to look at a 2019 number but then also look postcoid as well you know to account for that postcoid kind of change. right there there was a a higher interest in cyber charters say 2020 2021 um and then it it seems to have leveled off a little bit but we can certainly get that through our enrollment office. >> This is a going I'm so sorry going slightly different track here. I've always torn and thank you so much for like putting everything out in the bullets and whatnot. very helpful when I see contractual obligations as being a challenge. Like it is
041a challenge. I recognize that makes a um a budget, you know, it's part of our budget. But I think with so many different organizations like what we do, it's in the people business. We need to have people, right? We that's what we do. We need to have teachers, educators, all those things. So I guess what I'm just saying is whenever we look at this so many other organizations if you were to look at that size of the pie it would be disconcerting but we're not make as they say making widgets or doing charities like that would make sense for having so much of that be part of our actual mission and need is to include those salaries and to remain competitive and to make sure that we're a desirable organization. It's the same thing too
042with transportation, right? I mean, you know, it is, of course, as you say, a challenge, but it's also something we have to do so that students can get to where they need to go. So, I always feel a little bit trouble putting those two things in with, let's say, charter school tuition, which is a different type of challenge in my mind and one that perhaps um just deserves, you know, like judging by the conversation we've been having, a different level of conversation. Um, but the contractual obligations, I hope anyone who's listening knows that the reason is, you know, our teachers, our educators, all of the staff members provide a valuable service and deserve compensation for it. So, it's a um important challenge to embrace and not necessarily to hide from. >> I think too another
043point to the point that you just made and I think this was evidenced by uh the retirement that we approved earlier tonight. One of the things about Ro Media is people who come to work here come to work here and they stay here and they stay here for a very long time. and obviously over time their salary increases. Um we do not see a lot of turnover. We also are fortunate that we have a highly skilled teaching staff where they continue to add to their uh professional credentials. Um even in terms of some of the folks that we hired this past year, um a lot of people that already had a master's degree, some even more than one master's degree. So with that, with having a staff that is very experienced that they come and
044they stay and they grow their skills over time, there is a cost associated with that. >> I think I think the point very well taken. I mean, obviously we're in the education business. We have to pay the educators and and keeping great people is a great investment of our resources. From a financial standpoint, we are we have the challenge of the act one index that we don't want to go above and we have our commitments over time that we've made in previous years that limit our I don't want to say disposable income but our but yeah our discretionary income our flexibility. So when you look at uh a number that's over about 3/4 of our total budget, then that's just less flexibility that we have to make further necessary investments. Uh and that's I think
045that's really the point. It's not so much of a, you know, we've got to overcome this and not pay our teachers. It's it's we've got to find a way to do all the things that need to be done for the kids um within a restricted bit of money. Can I get a clarification on the transportation? Um, the transportation for students who attend charter school, that's the same as any private school, correct? That it's got to be within a certain mileage range, 10 miles or something like that. >> Correct. We're um we're not obligated to transfer outside of the 10 miles. Okay. So this graph depicts some of our major um cost drivers. They're actual figures. You can see the green pension line going to the sky. Um also special education is orange at the bottom
046and then yellow is healthcare and blue is debt service. Sorry, but what lessons should we glean from that hension line going to the sky? If for example, you are a resident and you saw this, what should be your takeaway? How long has people stayed in the district, right? 30 something years. >> As salaries increase, we have more pension costs. >> Yeah. So just echoing what Dr. Saladino just said, as people stay in the district longer, their salaries continue to increase. Even though that line is going like straight, not straight up, but like really going up. There is a decrease in the pieces rate for the 2627 school year, but because of the increase in salaries, you don't really see it. And then I guess because while we're looking at this that doesn't take into consideration
047the fact that we don't have to pay as much in retraining if people are staying longer there's always a cost associated when people leave coming back retraining them on boarding them all of that so we're hoping that you know that will be part of it >> right I mean like that's something that's not part of there but those are one of those in intangibles that's hard to like calculate. >> Yes. >> Nope. Sorry, >> the special education lines the lowest of the four, but um between 23 and 24, it seemed to have gone up more than anything else in the recent past. Is is there some explanation for that particular? >> Well, uh Mr. Dennis, when we look at our numbers in our pen data, our our uh total students who are receiving services have
048have gone up in the district as our enrollment has risen. So is our number. Um when we look at educational disability categories, the one area where there is a significant difference uh in the in the not just total number but also percentage is autism. and what we know about students who have autism. There is oftentimes um a complexity with that disability that's going to bring in maybe a speech and language teacher, an occupational therapist, maybe behavior support. So there's a higher cost associated with educating our students with autism. >> The thing with peasers, >> if you look and if you go back to like 2008, the number was almost zero. And there was something about the state not funding pieers appropriately correctly and we had to make up for a lot of shortfall. Excuse me.
049Is that still the issue with a lot of this is that sorry we're having to contribute so much more. >> So I would have to go back and check like which year but there were there were years like right around what 16 like the 14 15 16 where it went up that was to make up and then it was supposed to reach its highest peak and then start toline >> level off and then decline but I guess the decline is coming a little slower than the increase did but yes so it was back in I can't remember what year that was but it was definitely the years of the underfunding of the or system >> and I assume increased life expectancy also has a big factor in this. >> I'm not laughing at you Joe
050fighting insurance behind you. >> Oh, what you are saying is valuable. >> Yeah. Sorry. >> But increased life expectancy has to be part of it. So increased medical costs. >> Yes. Okay. U we have a anything else from the board about this slide. So we have something from the the community. Yes. And just as a reminder about me having to repeat the question. There's a question about the state having changed the pension model. when did that go into effect and how many of Ros Media's employees are impacted by that change? >> So the change was July 1st, 2011 and that's when it changed from defined benefit to defined contribution. Um, off the top, I have no idea how many people, but it's anyone who was hired after 2011 is on that new plan, I believe,
051unless they could I'm not sure if they could be grandfathered in, but >> it's anyone who was hired after July of 2011. They're in a different class at the increase in cost because that goes back 15 years, that change. So I would think that there are quite a few higher reefs of this district who fall into that new pension model of a defined contribution. There's just a comment about uh the number of employees who may fall into that new model um of the pension after 2011 and how that might impact the the line upward. they are required to pay a higher amount into the pension themselves, but the district on the employer share, the district pays the same employer share for all of the employees regardless of when they were hired. >> Thank you, Dr.
052I mean, we're going to move on. All right. Thank you. >> This slide shows our expenses. You can see the piraphph and then they're all listed below. They're broken out by object. Um for expense totaling $137,417,219. So this shows our proposed budget with a 3.5% tax increase. You can see revenues come in shorter than expenses and the difference is the use of fund balance. This is our first look worst case scenario. Okay. So, so last year was a we also we ended up approving a 3.5% increase, but then the increase was less in the end. Um, and I assume we didn't need to go into the fund balance last year either. Is that right? Or or was it or was it less than it was originally proposed? You can see the use of fund balance
053in the 2425 column. We did use fund balance. >> Okay. >> But most of it was because of a transfer to capital projects or capital reserve. >> Gotcha. >> So the 4.3 million 4.4 million roughly in 2425 the majority of that was moved to capital projects. >> Yes. If you look in the bottom line of use of other funds um we actually transferred 9 million Where's the nine >> or all the way at the bottom where you see the >> other uses of funds >> as opposed to like the normal which looks around 9 million. So that number has, excuse me, that number includes the 9 million, I think it was 9,450 that was transferred to capital reserve for our capital projects. Um, Dr. Scott and Heather, uh, could you please talk a little bit
054more about maybe where we are in the process at this point and those additional numbers you're expecting to have come in and solidify and maybe this five will not be a five. You want me to wait till I get to that slide or do you want me to jump ahead? >> Sorry, it's coming. I promise. >> Everyone was stopped talking and so I was just wasn't sure if it was shock or Too many numbers. I don't know. >> Yeah, >> this slide just shows that um expenditures are higher than revenue and what makes up the difference is the projected use in fund balance. Um, this depicts the millillage impact using assessed value of 298,460. You can see the additional real estate to the taxpayer would be $164. Um, the median assessed value, which is a
055home value in our district, um, at the median would be $212 to the taxpayer. And then a higher assessed value of 498430 would be $273 to the taxpayer. This is just saying that most of our revenue is generated at the local level. You a lot of it comes from taxes. Um we talk again about our salaries and benefits making up 73% of our expenditures. Pasers continues to rise even though it had a slight decrease this year from 34 to 33.59 next year. And then the important slide. So we should get our second look of medical rates. I'm not sure if they'll come exactly on March 11th, but they should be soon. Um prescription renewal rates are expected in April. We should get our DCIU and DCCC updated contracts and agreements. The staff will continue to
056analyze our expenditures. Professional staff retirements are due by March 15th. So then what happens if a higher paid teacher gets to retire, we budget at a lower level and then hopefully we'll have some updated assessment numbers so that we can come back and review the budget with you all on April 9th and then adopt the proposed final budget on April 23rd and our final budget on May 28th. And as we've done in the past, any reviews that we do from this point on, we we show on a chart what has changed. So you'll see on the April 9th what has changed from this one. Hopefully the medical and the prescription rates will decrease. >> Um Dr. Saladino, I know we've had a few retirements. Um do you have a I guess a general idea? Are
057you expecting many more? >> So at this point I would not envision many more. Uh I am anticipating that we may have a couple more. Um we have not factored in some of the retirements that we have already approved. So in total we expect that the retirements will contribute to a savings. Um and we will present that to you once those final numbers are in. And again, not that people can't declare after March 15th, but there um you know, the contract does call for March 15th as the notification date for our teachers. Any other questions? >> I just want to first thank everybody for the questions that have come so far. Uh there can certainly be more. Also again want to thank Dr. Scott and Miss Hogan and the administrative team. Um just in the
058preparation, you know, 12 weeks from now, a little over 12 weeks from now is is when the final budget will be adopted, right? That last Thursday in May. Um and there will be a lot of shifting and a lot of adjustment. You will continue to receive updates. We will do that publicly uh as well to come forward. But this is an ongoing iterative process uh as this is developed. Um the team has been as crystal clear as they can possibly be about what it is, what what the real part of it is. Um we think it's important that you know what that reality is. You know, what we are facing and and and how we are moving forward with that to maintain the quality of the education that's here. Um, Susan, you you talked before
059this is a human profession, right? It's about the human beings that are here. The fact that people come here and stay here, it's better for our children. It's better for the community. It's better for the district overall. We are built around people. It's teachers in classrooms, it's educational assistants, it's custodians, it's bus drivers, it's administrators, but it is built around the people who are here. And when you invest in the people, you get better quality in terms of what goes on on a daily basis. It does make a difference. The most important things and Mr. Dockerty has been leading professional development with staff over the last couple of years, you know, and looking at John Hattie and the visible learning work. We know that the relationships that exist are the most important things to benefit
060the children that are here, right? So, the people are the most important part of of what's here in the Rose Media School District. >> Is there anything else? Any other questions from the board? just have one more question. Um, and I'm sure that you have a more educated guess than I do, otherwise I will Google it. But what is the inflation rate? I'm just trying to compare when I'm looking at like this proposed versus past years. Sometimes it can be kind of just to compare apples to apples. How much of a gain are we actually looking at? Um, does that make sense? >> Yes. But yeah, we don't have the information on the on that. We could work on it. >> Yeah. I'm just curious when I'm, you know, and I you've got so much
061going on, but it's just something when I'm looking back and I recognize that, you know, even when you look back 10 years, there can be a difference in just how much all that is and are we are we comparing fairly? That's all. >> Okay. >> We have something from the community. were 25.6 and the district increase the accent index was 4% and the district increase in taxes for 25.6 is 1.62% if that indeed happened. I didn't think >> there's a question about the act one index for 2025 2026 it was 4% and the district's act one increase was 1.62% 60 62% and there's a question about that. Is that accurate? >> So yes, that is accurate. At the time where we presented the budget, we were proposing a 3% increase. But in the end, when
062we got to the end and what the district was, excuse me, what the board was willing to assume in fund balance usage, we had the 1.62% 62%. So we did not increase it by 3% last year. >> Yes, ma'am. Yes. And I say I really appreciate your question, Miss Sabatini, and and it's something that I w wanted to speak to was it's I think it's really important that we're as clear and public as possible as this number changes. Right now, the proposal is 3.5%. There's a lot of unknowns that are going to be known more before the end of the budget process. Last year, it sounds like we got to the end of the board budget process, approved a number, and then it changed again. And I I think it's really important that as a
063board and uh with and to the community, we have a a way of communicating about this that's that's clearer um as it's happening. and and and why it's happening because I mean I think it's great news that we were able to raise you know reduce the increase um and maybe next time it it won't be great news but still I think we need to set the precedent of making sure that we're really communicating about this in real time as it's happening in as you know as a uh accessible a way as possible. Any other questions, comments? >> Can you scroll down a little bit to the bottom where it says other uses of Nope. Nope, that chart, but yeah. Um, other uses of funds. Does that include capital projects? No, it's debt service and transfers
064because it would be, you know, we have our, you know, we talked about we only have 27% of our budget is discretionary and that line at $19 million in last year's um school. that that's by far the biggest nut on there and other uses isn't very descriptive to people. It would be helpful to have that kind of broken out in the big chunks of what it is and same with other objects. >> It's PTE going to say we follow PTE and that's what they >> I get that. Can we >> we can explain it so that people understand what it is including us sitting around the table because I'm sure I ask that same question every year >> and so you know >> Yeah. So in the the eights and the nines is what we
065call them. So the 800 series the other objects is the because I always flip-flop them >> interest on debt service. the 900 is the principle of debt service and any of the transfers I believe too. So, yeah, and I know we pulled this chart down from from some software system somewhere, but even just saying cutting and pasting it to an Excel and putting a couple extra lines in there that explain what it actually is would be helpful because other objects and other purchase services and other uses of funds is almost all of our discretionary money and it's all just listed as other. Okay, >> maybe we could get a handout or a cheat sheet so we would know because that's already tiny. I don't see nothing else smashed up in there. >> Those those three
066things that are listed as other is $29 million. >> Yes. >> Or hand out because it's already small. Yeah, I was going to say we could do a handout to go with it because I don't think we want to put >> but I agree there. >> Sure. >> A slide with notes to >> add a slide. Sure. Sure. >> All right. Any more questions or we done >> say thank you to Dr. Scott and Hogan and her team as always. this process has been just every year just gets, you know, sort of like easier and better and so thank you for Thank you for that. >> Do you think you're right, it gets easier and better and we actually ask less questions every year. >> All right, it looks like that concludes our special March
067budget. No, no, I'm I'm I'm winding up. >> To anybody who's listening, please write all your state legislator legis legislators on getting a different way of funding our schools in the state of Pennsylvania because not all states rely on local real estate taxes to fund their schools. Did >> you just turn it off? >> The majority in fact do not. And so we are in an uh one of the original states of America and we do things the oldfashioned way. It would be really great if we weren't burdening our retirees and they were able to stay in their homes without feeling the burden of such incredible taxes and, you know, find another way just like a lot of other states have done. >> All right, and that concludes our March special budget session. Um, have
068a good night.