WCS Board Work Session 2026-02-12

001Well, welcome to to our work session. We'll call the meeting to order. Um, just wanted to uh to make a quick note on the agenda. Um, I don't know if anybody I don't know if we told Rachel. >> Uh, no. Okay. it won't it won't impact too much. But um we decided to move the um the budget down to the last item of the agenda so that when we're finished talking uh talking numbers, we can we can all leave. Um so uh I don't think that'll I don't think anybody it's hard it's hard to get re-engaged in in anything else after we talk about the budget for for seven hours, right? Is that is that about right, Rachel? >> Um okay. Well, so um that out of the or out of the way. Um second

002items consent agenda. Um does anybody have any comments or questions on the minutes or the fee request recommended? >> Mr. Chair, not quite related. Just uh wanted to make sure everyone knew Dr. Reeves is listening in um um on the on the phone. She's not able to physically be here. >> Sorry about that. >> Nope. Sounds good. Um so item three, superintendent report. >> All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you board members. Uh you see in my superintendent report, we've got those three items. Uh Jay touched on one already, screen time committee update and textbook adoption update. And we've been going through that process, keeping you keeping you uh aware of the progress of both of those processes, the screen time committee and the textbook adoption update. Prior to that, I do want

003to give you an update on um on the pilot we're working on with cell phone containers. I mentioned last month that we were working on a pilot at a at some of our high schools. Um, and we're going to do some monitoring of of a couple of middle schools with a little bit of extra intensity. Um, we're starting that on February 17th. So, I just wanted to give you all a heads up. That's this coming Monday. Uh, and Dr. Webb, I may miss some of the details. So just just again so you all are aware, Independence High School uh is doing a control group and an experimental group 5050 with uh 50% of their students having those Faraday pouches uh that open with Velcro and they're going to gather some data uh based on on

004the number of student referrals for each of those groups and then get some feedback from students, parents, and teachers about the progress of that. Uh, also at Nolanville High School, we are going to have uh, every student keep their phones in their backpacks. Uh, rather than some teachers do the shoe the shoe racks, etc. Every student in Nolanville is going to keep them in their backpacks. Uh and likewise, we're going to gather data on that com compare the student referrals uh and and get feedback from parents, students, and teachers on that. At Fair View and Paige, if I'm not mistaken, Dr. Web, we are going to do the reverse. Uh we are going to have every student drop their phones at the entrance to the classroom uh on some rack and do the same thing,

005gather data there. at middle schools, we have asked uh to as part of this pilot, let's see, if I'm not mistaken, Dr. Webb, two of our middle schools, Paige and Brentwood Middle School, we have asked them to place a a 100% absolute focus of their teachers on every time they notice a student have their cell phone out, record it, so we can gather some good, clean data on how many uh how many of those events happen. Uh what we do know right now is there might be that first offense even if it is you know not quite an offense where a teacher notices something and says put it away and it might not get recorded. We're making sure that we have a re recording of that so we can gather some some accurate data on

006how much those cell phones are visible during the school day at those at those middle schools without that variable of what if somebody noticed it and just quickly said put it away. We're going to do that for one quarter. That quarter is going to be the second half of the third quarter and the first half of the fourth. So it's a nine-week period in in surrounding basically basically surrounding those two edges of the quarter. Spring break is basically in the middle of that window. Uh and then we'll have those last four and a half, five weeks of school uh to evaluate that related to the board policy addition that you all asked for for next year, which is uh addressing um the appropriate storage of cell phones. That may again, you may hear some things.

007I know I've already heard a couple of couple of comments from folks saying, "Oh, I heard we're going to, you know, discipline's changing on that." These are experimental uh locations with with some pilots. Dr. Dr. Anything you want to add to that? >> Thank you, Mr. Golden. The only thing that I would add is that that same documentation of every occurrence has taken place in every one of the pilot schools. So, one of the things that we've talked about is that a teacher may warn a student, put that away, Lee, you know, class is going on and not actually make an office referral, but correct the student and move on with class. We're asking for every every instance that a classroom teacher or an administrator sees a student with their phone in the classroom, in

008the hallway, in the bathroom, wherever they happen to be to record it every single time. So, we're recording that on a form that teachers can have with them on their laptops. They can have it on their phones that's easy to um access when they're walking between classes. And the intention, as Mr. Golden said, isn't to discipline every single one of those. It's to ensure that we're documenting and we truly know how many occurrences are happening, especially with the three methods of where phones are secured in the backpack in the Faraday or in the um shoe pouch in front of the room. So, at the end, as Mr. Golden said, we'll have all that data to disagregate and present to you. Miss um Miss Maf, Dr. Maf uh who you guys have heard has uh helped

009us with the research before. She's going to um help us and uh disagregate the data and present to you. And then we're also going to send the qualitative feedback form uh to parents, students, and teachers so that we can have that aspect of just how it went uh and their general feeling about student engagement uh in in class as well that we can share with you at the end. >> All right. Any Yes, ma'am. >> Um so when you talked about having cell phones and backpacks, are you are they off? Are they silenced? What what are what direction are we giving the kids? >> Thank you for that. The intention is that they're off and not accessed except during lunch uh which is under the high school policy. >> So they shouldn't be making any

010>> That's right. If they make noise that if they make noise, that will be one of the reports. >> Okay. Thanks. >> All right. With that, Mr. Chair, uh um Dr. Allen, uh if your team would give us a little bit of update on the screen time committee and just a little bit FYI related to that. Uh um well, I will leave it to you all. So Andy, >> thank you, Mr. Golden. Good evening, board members. Um, as we've been doing, we are bringing you an update on the work of our WCS screen time and technology use committee. I'm going to begin again by bragging on the incredible people that show up at 4:00 in the afternoon and stay even past six o'clock to have these conversations that are really robust and actually require a

011lot of attention and focus which is really difficult to do after driving traffic and getting there and and they do it. They're engaged in the work and they're committed. So I I want to start off always by by thanking them uh for for the commitment to the work. Um, last month I reported to you that the work of the committee in January was to begin drafting what we are calling a WCS guidance document, technology use guidance document. And so the work of that committee was really to review all of the research that we read, all of the information that we have learned, all that we've engaged in tons of learning. and we've provided the committee lots of learning around topics and questions that they had. So, we reviewed that and then started to um in

012grade band groups uh begin drafting what the topics were that were really important for the committee to reflect in a document such as um a technology um guidance that's going to serve um as a as a means to train our teachers, as a means to um to to use technology in the most appropriate way in the classrooms across all grade bands, right? from kindergarten through through 12th grade. So it was really really difficult work because there were so many topics we wanted to discuss, so many robust conversations around the room that were recorded. So the work after that, after we gathered all of that, uh, from the last time we met to now, um, Andy and, um, and and her department gathered all that information and then took all the topics that were identified um,

013through that work and created what we call areas of focus and then created a matrix by gradeband. So let me show you what that looks like. It looks like that. So that's what we brought back. Think of this document as kind of like a scratch sheet of paper where you put all your work down. So this isn't going to be our guidance. This is our working document where we're recording what is important to the committee in terms of defining what that guidance looks like. So this is one example. for example, monitoring student access compliant with federal and state laws and our AUG were all mentioned in those documents. So we took those topics and then created a larger area of focus which in this case is safety, privacy and operational procedures. So we started gathering

014those topics and putting them under if you would a big umbrella. So we have now four big umbrellas that are making up or big four big areas of focus. that are going to create that are going to be part of creating this technology use guidance document. So our opportunities I'm going to hit this back. What we did well let me go back here. What we did was we recognize that there are areas that were not like directly um identified or or discussed in some of the grade bands. So you can see how there are some blocks there um that are blank. And so we asked our committee this month to look at anywhere where there was a blank space and consider if they wanted to add their thoughts, their statements, their beliefs about that particular

015topic so that it becomes part of the guidance document. So the committee engaged by um discussing those blank areas and then creating language around that for their particular grade band. As you can imagine, there are some things, some some of the topics that when the committee members talk about them, they're exactly the same. An example of that is monitoring. We have very very similar language from K to 12, right? So there there's an expectation that student use is monitored just like that. We definitely are going to be compliant with federal and state laws and we want that codified in this document. And so there are going to be some things that are some topics that really look the same from K to2. And of course there's some topics that are going to be very different

016from K to 12. And so the work of the committee is to really define what those differences are. So they become part of our guidance document. So the opportunities we had this particular meeting which just took place Tuesday was to was to create like fill in those areas that were not defined yet. Now, we intended to share out our thinking whole group, but we didn't get there because again, the the conversation is robust. We have lots of people asking great questions and we're having great debate and discussions which take a long time. So, as you can imagine, our timeline is a little bit off. Nothing to be concerned about because really this document is going to be so important and it's going to drive what we do and how we use technology, the frequency with

017which we use technology, the intention of technology. so many pieces that are just so important for um our teachers, our students, our community. So, we want to make sure we don't rush this process. The idea is that we're going to create this is the draft sample. So, remember I told you this is kind of like our work our workspace. This is what it's going to look like as a final product. So, this is an example of what the document the the the actual guidance document will look like. So it'll have an area of focus at the top. Um and then it's going to have the principle. So what is it that we are committing to? What is it that we're saying about training and support in this case? And then there's going to be some

018key expectations for teachers, for students, for families. And underneath that, we're going to have what it looks like in practice, which is actually my favorite part of the document because it really gets into the practicality of it. So we can have expectations, we can have great principles, but what does that look like in the classroom? What does it look like in the students hands, and the teachers hands? So we're most excited about that part. And I think um the the committee when they look at the draft next month is probably going to really appreciate that. So I want to talk a little bit about also like this is one format and it's going to be where um the the the real meat of the guidance is. We also want to create some variations in formatting.

019So we want to create some some graphics um around it. Maybe even some some videos, some podcast to share with our community so that we're looking at it in different ways because this is this document here is going to be really heavy reading to digest. So we also want to have some samples that are easy to put in front of different stakeholders to to really evaluate and and reflect on. So we do plan to have different formats. Of course, this format being the most important because it's where we codify um our guidance um in writing. Um the work for March 17th, so for next month, is going to be to bring forth a a draft. And it says final draft on there because that was our original timeline. It's not going to be the final

020draft, but it's going to be a draft including all the information that was provided to us in the meeting this month on Tuesday. So, we will provide a draft and then we'll have more robust conversations on what is missing, what do you think about this, give us feedback on the format, um is there anything that was left off, is there anything that has changed? Because now you're seeing the work across all grade bands. Is there something that's coming up that that your group didn't think of? So, we have time for more feedback and then hopefully bring back the final draft in April, have more discussions on that, and then begin the work of family resources. So, we definitely plan to go into May because we're a solid month behind on the timeline due to the

021work of of the guidance document, the creation of that guidance document. Um, yep, I think that's the last slide. So, I want to I just I want to thank um Tanya Hipma and Melissa Wyatt. They you know they're on the committee and I also just wanted to give them an opportunity if they wanted to add anything related to the work of this month's um committee work. >> Yeah. Yeah. I'd like to take um a few moments just to say something. I didn't um speak last month, so I thought it would be a good way to catch up. Um again, I want to thank the subcommittee for all the work that you've done. um they've been working on this since before May of last year and there's been a lot of uh good information that they've

022been sharing about how technology um um how we how we use it in our district and the the safety procedures as well as how we select apps and the the vetting process for that kind of thing. Um so the first thing I just want to just to share with the uh board is what I'm hearing from the community and um from parents of preschoolers and elementary school those parents that they are really um they are not really interested in technology in K through fifth grade and they they're very it's a very strong feeling for at least the ones that have shared that with me. And then when it comes to the sixth through eighth graders, um their biggest concern that I've heard from some of those parents are safety and security of of the devices.

023Um they also aren't in fa they don't like the smaller screens that are from the Chromebooks and then um the scrolling up and down to read passages. So, I think they're they're referencing that they would rather um continue to see more things uh like reading materials on um from from the books from curriculum books and literature and things like that. Um, in our group for the sixth through eighth graders, we were talking and discussing apps. And I would like um I hope the school board isn't uh totally aware of this because I I've learned a lot about um when we select apps and Andy um she spent a great deal of time sharing with the larger group about um the vetting process for apps and the whole procedure and how that all works. And so

024that was very interesting um information and very important. But there's there's two different kinds of um apps that are basically provided. And if you have a student who um uh needs assistance because they they think differently, right? And so they're not able to to grasp concepts in the way maybe the the majority of students. So they need an IEP and um so when they are using an app um it has to meet certain efficacy requirements and an efficacy means that there's proven uh results that the students learning continues or the skills and there's continued growth through that um as as as is needed all in all IEP evaluations. But then the other apps that we use even though we go through this process that Andy this vetting process that Andy had shared with the group

025um when they if if it's if the apps are coming from curriculum that we've purchased or if it's coming um just through um apps that teachers have requested they don't have that same and correct me if I'm mistaken here uh they don't have that same um requirement that um they they prove efficacy. And so in our group, one of the scenarios was um one of the principles was sharing how our our prior uh superintendent uh Mooney had um was reviewing a math app and he realized that oh this math app is not um is not performing for our students so let's get rid of it. And so another comment from someone in the group was well then we the students become guinea pigs and and so it's and that and that's a little concerning. I

026mean I because we we do all this work you know to make sure we choose the best apps but still there's no guarantee that it it improves learning. Um and so that's something as a board we need to consider. And one of the recommendations from our group was that the apps are reviewed like every 3 years to make sure that learning is taking place and so that they that we kind of give it its efficacy and saying that these are uh proven apps that we like. Um and then the other part is um a teacher was mentioning how um how this natural progression from like heavy use of technology in our district and how it's moving more I think to a balanced approach and it wasn't surprising to me because I think we have great

027teachers here and they are observing that when students are using uh real physical books and when they're using paper and pencil and being able to express themselves that there's better um retention, better um critical thinking um you know and working on the attention span uh when using when you're going back to these basics. Um but then then she still even so she made that remark she also said but I still think we need balance and I says well why do we need balance? I mean if if it's proving that these back to basics is is working you know why and then the conversation went to um the different learning styles and so you know you have kesthetic learners and a audio and visual learners and you know that type of so that would they were

028kind of I think including that balance component in there and um and then so someone else was mentioning how um um what was I going to say um oh and she says well we need that because we need to engage the kids. So these apps are engaging for students. Well obviously that's kind of you know technology is very distracting. It's it's it's built that way to engage kids and to get them you know uh that kind of that attraction to them. And I says well and and then and then it's like well why why why does that component need to be there? And then then it was said that well because kids have short attention spans in middle school. And I paused and to myself I'm thinking well this is this is my uh observation

029of this is that the use of technology. So, so what they want to you to do is take technology to fix something that is caused as a result of technology and overuse of technology in a school system or especially like using it overly at home. And so these kids because they're using technology so much is up to you know seven depending on their age you know seven to 10 hours a day or whatever it is you know that they are increasingly you're seeing students with lower attention spans and that and that's concerning because students um are are not developing um you know critical they're they're getting yeah they're they have they don't have the capacity to sit still, to think critically, to think deeply, write things out because of these apps. So, we need to

030be very very uh intentional about how we're going to be using technology moving forward. Um, and so that's kind of um what I wanted to share about our little pow-wow that we had. So, thank you Can we go back to that first slide on monitoring? Thank you. Grades three through five have different monitoring at all times by teachers. Okay. Is that because of the the mandatory testing in grades three, four? You know, the reading and the math? >> I can speak to that if that's helpful. Go ahead. Um right now, so I sorry. So this is we're we're in discussions by gradeband. So this is just Andy, please jump in. This is just what is coming out of each group. And so then next month all the groups will share. So this is not this

031is a draft. >> This is You're welcome. So um yeah, there is not a difference in monitoring but it's just that the grades are thinking about it differently right now. The grade bands >> and Miss Y to that point that K2 example that Dr. Driggers mentioned that is an expectation that the that the K2 group identified as something important. >> Right. Yes. So it will be consistent. So >> okay. >> Anybody else have any questions? >> Okay. >> All right. With that, thank you all. Uh textbook adoption update. Uh Jen Sauer is going to present. And just as an aside, I I mentioned Andy, and that was actually Jenny Lopez who uh who spoke just in case anybody missed that. Uh as uh as Miss Ser's getting ready, one one thing that I think's been

032really good about this process is as small as this adoption process is from a numbers perspective, it is giving um many of us and I know many of you have come and looked at some of those some of those uh meetings observed. It's giving you a firm grasp of the detail of of of the process. Uh so especially so that when the next process comes the much more much uh much more involved process with social studies textbooks you will already have that basic understanding of what we go through. So Jen, >> thank you Mr. Golden. So I want to kind of talk you all through here's what we've done in the textbook adoption process since the last time we were together and then what are the pieces that are upcoming. So if you remember our

033last work session was actually January 15th. So we talked about this was coming up the very next day. So on January 16th, this is the meeting where we pulled all of the textbook committee representatives, both teachers, parents, and community members for a full day here at the PD center to meet with the textbook publishers who had materials up for adoption. So we had all of the teachers come out of the building for the day. We had the vast majority of our parents and community members who gave up the entire day to spend with us on the textbook committee. Some people naturally because of other obligations were in and out just a little bit but we really had very high engagement on that day in meeting with those publishers. That's really the opportunity of the for

034the committee to dig in deeply to the people who are most knowledgeable about that resource. Um we did have I think we spoke about this the last time the CTE adoption is very narrow this year. I think there are three teachers in the district who are not part of the textbook committee but are also teaching courses that are up for adoption. They were also invited to be here that day. Um we met with each publisher for approximately 50 minutes. The teachers had time to debrief with each other and then all that information was brought back to the additional teachers in the building who taught the courses. We're also in the process of hosting all of our public reviews here at the PD Center. So, we had six dates initially uh identified and publicized to the

035community. Two of those dates did fall during the ice storm and so we ended up having to cancel those, but we've added two additional dates to make up for that opportunity as much as we could. We've advertised those on our website and we've sent them out through our communications department to our community on our various social media platforms. We've also put up at the public reviews that we've hosted that were already on the list. Just a notification to let people know that we had added in those additional two dates. We also have digital access available on our website for anybody in the community to be able to get to at any time. We do have a process to collect public comments through that public review. We have paper forms that are here at the PD

036center available for people to pick up. There's also a digital form. It's exactly the same questions. It's just in digital form that's linked on our website. It's also available in that QR code for anybody who comes to the public reviews here but are interested in filling it out on uh that electronic form instead. We have made that public comment form folder available to the textbook committee members and also to everyone on the board. As of today, we don't have any public comments, but if we get any, we'll make sure that we get those put into the folder and we'll make sure that the committee and you all get notified that they're there. >> And Miss I'm going to pipe in just a bit. Absolutely. We have had visitors dur during our public meetings. We just

037haven't had any of these forms submitted. Correct. So there have been some discussions and some questions answered during those public those public times just didn't lead to anything in writing. >> That's correct. I did have one reviewer who was here who asked about uh how long was the form going to be open. So I shared and I'll share with you all. We always collect comments from the public. So there's really a never time that we would say hey the public comment period is over. Instead, what I shared with her is here are some dates that you might want to have in mind if you're thinking about who do I want those comments to be able to get ahead of. If you wanted to get ahead of the textbook committee meeting, here's our next meeting date.

038If you want it to be ahead of the board meeting, here's when the next board meeting is going to be. So, that's kind of the way we shared that. Is there a cuto off? There's not, but I also think it's important for people to know like, hey, depending on which audience you're hoping to be able to get in front of, here are the dates to keep in mind. All right. So, the next thing that teachers are doing, so teachers are encouraged to review materials in print at their sitebased review. So, remember we've sent out paper copies to our various campuses. They're available in January and February. Teachers also have digital access that is available to anybody at all times. And then tomorrow is actually our district-wide PD day. PD day. Our health and PE and

039lifetime wellness teachers. There's probably about 80 of them total. They'll also be spending that day tomorrow reviewing materials and the publishers will be here to answer questions for them as well. Starting tomorrow, the teacher recommendation form opens. It stays open for approximately a week. So, it opens tomorrow. It'll close on February 19th. That's the opportunity for teachers to submit both their recommendation and their reasoning for that recommendation. I'm going to show you what that form looks like on the next slide. So, I'll come back to that in just a moment. Once we gather all that information from the teachers, we'll consolidate it. We provide to the committee members. Teachers receive the consolidated information from teachers of their building as well as the full district information. And then parents and community members on the committee represent

040the entire community. So, they don't get school-based data, they get that full district-wide data. And then our textbook adoption committee is going to meet on February 24th. That's when they'll review all of that data and then make their final recommendation to you as the board. This is what that electronic form that the teachers are going to fill out looks like. It's really short. So, the first one is just which school do you represent? It is capturing teachers by name. So when they click on it, it's going to capture their email address automatically. It's going to ask which selection. So this is the looks like this is the high school form. So these are the four options that are available for the high school lifetime wellness course. So they're just going to click which one. And

041then you'll see that final question which is addressing the change to the board policy that was put into place this year. We'd like a way to capture from teachers. What was the instructional focus of the material that you're selecting and recommending that led you to this is the material that I'm recommending over all of the ones that I reviewed? So, we've put just some kind of questions. This could include criteria like alignment to state standards, content that is accurate, current, and free of bias, incorporation of robust student focused research-based instructional strategies, teacher support materials like teacher guides for pacing and instruction and opportunities for differentiation and support. All of that is going to be consolidated. That'll be provided to the textbook committee. And then that's also going to be provided to you as the board.

042So, what will happen is that textbook committee is going to meet on February 24th. Once they meet, they cast their selection. I'm going to consolidate all of that information and I'm going to send it to you all basically as soon as I can get it ready. We know that spring break is coming up in there and so we want you to have the chance to look at that before the work session. So, the work session is March 19th. I'll have that to you before spring break. I don't want to commit to a day and then have something happen, but I'm going to get it together as soon as I can. But definitely before spring break, you'll have time to review that before that board work session, which is March 19th, and then the vote that

043happens on March 23rd. >> Okay. Questions? >> If I may add one one one piece related to that, you mentioned that that >> all but three of the teachers uh >> for CTE >> of the for CTE are on the committee. Yes. and and those other three teachers were invited. Yes. If I'm not mistaken, between health and CT, we probably have 75 to 80 total teachers. >> Probably about that. >> In that range, >> we probably have 800 or more social studies teachers. >> Correct. >> So that piece that you all experienced seeing that many, you know, teachers involved where it's almost everybody is it's a practical impossibility for those dialogues to happen. So those that committee is going to be just that bit more important at the social studies level uh because there's so

044many social studies teachers. >> Sorry. >> Oh, you're fine. Um so when you send that information to us on their decision? Yes. >> Would you would you include what they have now? >> Yes, I can do that. >> So yes, so we can know if it's a change or if they want the same. >> Yeah, that's a great point. Um, >> thank you >> for I'm hesitating to say 100%. I know for all of the middle school and all of the high school health PE lifetime wellness, every resource up for adoption is brand new. So for all of them, it's going to be a new resource no matter what. I think one or two of the CTE courses does have something up for adoption that they're using now. I'll make sure that I include all

045of that information for you. So, I have a quick question because you mentioned about social studies because we know that one's going to be huge and at the last meeting I shared how I had met with the uh Dr. Cash from Bradley County and they actually don't adopt till June. Uh what might we need to do if we wanted to delay that adoption to give some more time instead of the about it's really only about six week turnaround by the time because you know we don't get them till right before. Thank the recommendation the final till right before Thanksgiving then you can't do anything in December and then so I was just wondering if like would we need to do something to >> as a group or how how's that handled? >> Thank you for

046that. It would it would take a motion of some sort. We do intend to bring to you the recommendations from the teachers. If you all came to the conclusion that it was needed, it would in essence be a motion to defer or something along those lines would achieve that. um at at at this stage we'll have another discussion as a team once the teachers have gone through their process and and have a discussion about the value in that for us. I will tell you at this stage looking at it we we believe based on our detailed discussions that getting a selection in time to to do the do the professional development before the school year started etc is more valuable than waiting. Um but we will have another discussion about that. Actually to that point,

047this final slide that I have for you is what is all of the processes that we go through after that final selection is made. So if we do have the final recommendation in March, what will happen is there's a few what I would consider like uh administrative tasks that we go through. So we do submit that this is our official adoption. We publish that on our WCS website. But I think the piece instructionally that starts to become um important for eventual implementation with teachers in the classroom is that we order our instructional materials as soon as we can after the selection. So we usually try and get that done in April and then we start creating training and implementation plans which involves a lot of heavy communication with publishers to get those dates arranged on

048their calendars and on our calendars, publicizing those to teachers so that they know when it is that they need to be available for training. And then the other really important piece that happens is that after we know what the adopted material is, our specialists meet with small groups of teachers to create our scope and sequence. The scope and sequence is the document that aligns here are our instructional standards with where are those standards taught and located in the instructional materials. We have a commitment to making that scope and sequence available to teachers before the last day of school because one of the important work that the teachers do over the summer is create pacing guides for the following school year. So if we don't have our scope and sequence ready for teachers by that final

049day of school, they're not able to meet and do that pacing work over the summer to be ready for students to come back that first day of school. And then the final piece there where I kind of already mentioned, but the timeline of that is when do we do that training for teachers? So, usually what happens is we do training throughout the summer and then we follow up on that first districtwide day back so that teachers feel prepared to start teaching with our new materials and our new standards that first day that students are back in the building. So, another question I have, the social studies standards, the new social studies standards are already available on the Tennessee website. Are we not working on scope and sequence documents? Now, one of the things that we

050do is we wait until we've chosen an instructional resource. And here's really I think one of the big reasons for that is that what we found is that an instructional resource will generally uh sequence standards in a way that the publishers have said hey we've designed this resource so that from beginning to end it's building student instruction in an intentional way. So the state standards are here are the standards that need to be taught. it's possible to mix them up in order. And so what we found is that if we wait until we have the instructional material that can be a cohesive conversation that we're spacing out the standards in a way that they're following the sequence set up by the publisher so that really we're getting that full intent of what the publisher intended

051from those materials. I guess I just have a philosophical disagreement with that because I as a teacher would always have my curriculum mapped and then I would bring in the textbook and the resources to where I want them. Um, and I think that would be good leg work to do ahead of time even for the teachers to know kind of like which book is best aligned to the scope and sequence. Like if we already had that document before they get the recommendations in November, that would be a a guide to help select like a textbook, which textbook is more closely aligned to what the teachers think is a good progression for teaching the standards cuz I mean, yeah, sometimes textbooks will flip concepts and it's like, why are you teaching that? Like the kids need

052this before they need that. And I wouldn't always follow the textbook. I mean, but that's just me. So, just something to consider of moving up uh some of the scope and sequence work, especially again for social studies because I know that that's going to be a much heavier lift than the CTE. >> Thank you for that. We'll make sure our specialists have that discussion. >> Yeah, I I agree with Margie. I think just from someone who's spent years in the classroom, it it really is once you know your standards and your curriculum, some textbooks will be more attractive than others because I think that's a a fair point. So, I just wanted to echo what you said. Okay. The final thing I have to share is just again a reminder, here are all of the

053committee meetings that we have. There's really only that one left. It's February 24th. We'll be right back here starting at 4:30. Um, we'll likely wrap up within an hour. So, that time frame is 4:30 to 6, but uh I would say likely we'll be done within an hour. I just wanted to make sure that you knew that if you were intending to be able to come for all a part of that. Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Jen. And Mr. Chair, absent the uh draft budget, I have one more item. I wanted to make sure I officially welcome Corey Mason as our director of communications executive. You you all know him, but this is he's he's deep into his first official month. And I know you all got those those weather notices as

054well during the ice storm. So, that worked out perfect. Carol closed it out that weekend and Corey came right behind her two days later. So, Corey, welcome. All right, Jason, you want to move on to new business? >> There is no board chair report, by the way. >> Oh, okay. Actually, operations report if I may. >> Yes, thank you. >> Brian King. >> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, first thing is, um, I know Mr. Golden sent out an email uh after the commission meeting on Monday night. So, the two renovations for Grassland Hillsboro passed. Uh the athletic field lights uh did not pass on Monday night. So, we're going to revisit um some maybe some different ways to do that. But based on that passing, uh the for the grass on Hillsboro, the bids open

055uh on February 6 and we'll begin construction. Uh Eric from the money last year has already done a lot of the design work and engineering. So uh we'll start this summer. It's a three-year project for both schools uh to completely finish and that'll start this summer. And Brian, the you mentioned the summer. I just want to emphasize that those two schools will be under some substantial construction, replacing flooring, replacing ceiling, replacing door, ceiling tiles, door hardware. Uh they're they're they're going to be doing a lot in those buildings these next two or three summers. >> Yes, sir. Three. Yes, sir. >> Uh and then this is just uh information. Um the we haven't met since we uh we did voted on the open zone schools. Um and that opened on February 4th and since then

056we already have 973 applications. Uh this this includes open zone employees siblings and uh continuing in feeder pattern. and our zoning staff, they have to go through every one of those uh individually to make sure uh they meet our board policy uh before we move forward. And I believe the closing date is April 15th. >> And Brian, I'm giving an estimate. This isn't quite exactly right, but this year we have somewhere around 2500 total students who are attending a school open zone. >> Yes, sir. >> So, we usually see a flurry at the beginning of this window and a flurry at the end with some trickling in in between. >> Yes, sir. And that's my report unless you have any questions. >> Last time we did open zoning, how many families were denied? Do we

057know that? >> Um, so so I'm trying to remember. Allison may have the exact number. Um, uh, >> we can get that. There were four schools, I believe, that that were actually >> Independence, Franklin, Ravenwood, and Springst had lotteryies. had a lottery which >> I think I know Spring Station resolved 100%. >> So I believe it was just the three >> the the three high schools. We'll get you those exact numbers. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Oh, that's my operations report. Um new business uh approval of family tuition rate for 2627. Uh you all see in the packet a memo from Rachel Farmer uh related to uh our analysis of how we calculate the tuition rate. I want to give you a caveat. This tuition rate is the local share of of

058what it takes to uh educate our students on a per pupil basis. So we are we will be asking for your approval of this tuition rate. I did want to make sure you knew that we are not open zone to individuals who live outside of the county. So the use of this tuition rate is quite limited. Uh it includes the board policy which allows uh students who who are finishing a school year but have moved to finish the school year. For example, somebody moves in the first semester, they are under board policy allowed to finish that school year. They would pay the second semester's tuition. Uh likewise, somebody who's moving into the district, if there's a non-contingent contract showing that they will be moving into the district during a particular school year, they will pay

059that tuition upfront. And then if they move in during that time, they are actually reimbursed for that tuition based on their actually living in the county. Those are the two basic um uses of this tuition rate. So it's not really a revenue source for us to speak of. It's just a very limited uh limited use. The key for me is uh comparing that work to our per pupil expenditure that the state shares. And this emphasizes that about twothirds of our pup per pupil expenditure comes from local. And that's substantially different from many of our uh many many other districts across the state. Let's have a quick question. Rachel, I know I know this 9797 this is it includes all that money down at the bottom that's the capital appropriation and and the debt service but

060um if you if you added in the the state portion I guess I'm just trying to figure I'm I'm used to the roughly 1300 $13,000 per student like what what would that total I don't have an exact number, but it's going to be I would guess about 12,800 somewhere in there. >> But but that would be because the because with with all this this debt service and capital is like $2,000 a student, right? >> It is. And part part of the per pupil expenditure actually does take into account. >> Oh, it actually I know that I knew that calculation. So, all right. So this so that calculation because and I know you're you're always hesitant to just take operating budget divided by number of students because that's not really the way that that number is

061calculated. So when we see that that 13,500ish number thrown out is that includes some >> there's some of that there's a federal component to it. There's a cafeteria component to it there. There are different pieces that come into that number. So this really I mean so this number from a total local share is really is two3 closer to >> it is and our revenue we when we talk about budget we always know 66% is coming local and federal um within the GP budget is less 1% or less and so that is pretty an accurate depiction. >> Thanks. And just for y'all's information, we had um for this year 216 employees that did benefit um as well from being able to use our our tuition. >> And that's a reference in the last line of this

062memo. Our employees, it's $2,000 for the first year and then we have an SOP that reduces that over the course of >> five years. So, as though a a a teacher or a staff member full-time who's been here after been here five years, they do not pay a tuition rate for for coming. >> And just to clarify, that's that's a family rate, not a not a per student rate. >> That is correct. >> Any other questions on family tuition? >> All right. >> So, I'm just going to question. So, you did mention like we've never taken out of county. Have we ever thought about leveraging our online school to try to get parents to pay tuition and maybe create and then make that like a like if we did that a per pupil? I mean

063I'm just throwing it out there. I don't know if anyone's ever discussed that or >> uh we have discussed that. Um but I it may be worth us having another discussion. What we know is uh based on the numbers we receive from the state generally for every student who comes in it increases our expense because twothirds of our budget is from from county. So it might be worth us doing an analysis with our online school, >> right? >> Uh because those numbers those numbers might be different. >> Yeah. uh be because of this the because of the staffing >> because I know u some counties are actually taking some of our kids in elementary because they're allowing them to be out of county for the online school. So, >> and Union County has an online

064school that's kind of the longest standing one. Their state rate, their state receipts are substantially higher than ours. It's been a few years since I looked at it, but it was apparent to me why they were doing it because that state rate, their state receipts are higher than ours. online, you know, >> online school once you get it going. I mean, it could be a revenue generating >> tool for a district may be something to investigate. >> If we look at that in isolation, that might be worth looking at. Um, the state does have some numbers where they break it out school by school and it it might be worth comparing that. >> But we're not we're not able to charge people to come out of county, right? Like >> our board policy does not

065allow it. I'm just asking if we just if I mean we've never taken out of county students before. So that's correct. If we if we did take out a student out of county students would be would be we be able to charge them a tuition. >> Yes, the state law does allow it. There are some that there are some counties that do that. >> What's that? No. Right. No. >> Agreed. No, I just I just didn't know the I just didn't know the law on on offering those out of out of county students. >> Well, >> microphone. >> I mean, >> and to be fair, we couldn't make a profit. We could charge the cost, but to be clear, we couldn't profit from out of county. >> In other words, we could charge this calculated

066cost. Right. Right. >> Yeah. Well, I mean, the the state would I mean, we we'd get our $3 a student that we get from the state and then we could charge the difference, right? And then >> Yeah, that would be right. Just just for clarity sake, and I've seen this in other counties again, those that have a higher state, they receipts uh and then they traditionally would charge that county difference so that they would get the the per pupil expenditure. And Dan, I think that's what you're talking about. That's in essence a cap. >> It is correct. >> Wouldn't Wouldn't this Well, this is a this is a family, right? We'd have to do um we'd have to do it some some other way. But I mean this is this is essentially I mean because

067we we wouldn't we could take our per our our total per people expenditure and charge that to the to the student minus what the state gives us essentially. >> Yes. Yes. >> So but we do but that's that's kind of the way we're doing it here. This is this is we're doing it per student, but we're saying if you have five kids, then you're only paying this family, right? All right. Um, thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, next item, approval of school fees for 2627. Uh, you have in your packet a memo from Dr. Oyer, uh, with a recommended elementary fee and then a memo from ECC and Dr. Webb with recommendations for extracurricular only secondary fees. Uh these numbers and these requests are exactly the same as last year. You may recall that last year

068uh uh the board talked in pretty good detail about uh curricular fees which are which are a misnomer. And so we went through the process of of uh of not including board approved fees but instead opening the door for students uh for schools to to uh do fundraisers related to that. So we have the same exact recommendation for this year. Certainly open to any questions that you may have. >> All right, Mr. Chair, uh we are going we are back to the superintendent report and our last item on the agenda, which is the budget. So Rachel is the one listed on the agenda to speak to that. I did want to preface it, Rachel. I know you're going to say the same thing probably, but I'm just going to I'm just going to make sure.

069This is our preliminary look at it. Rachel will give some detail related to it. Um, what I would like you all to be thinking about is there's a lot of detail in this and you will come up with some questions over the next month and we invite you as those come up, let us know uh so that Rachel, her staff can process on it or I can or whoever might be the relevant person. So, uh, don't feel like that this presentation is it because we're going to revisit it, uh, actually two more two more meetings, next month's work session and then next month's voting meeting. This will not appear on this month's agenda for the voting meeting. Uh, because it's it's just not scheduled for a vote. Uh, with that, Rachel, >> thank you very

070much. You're going to have stamps all over that draft and I need to stress that again and again. Mr. Golden has said it. Um, this is a draft. This is a working draft that is going to change a good bit between now and next month. So, as we go through, y'all have heard this. Your your old hats at it now. You kind of know what's going on this time. Um, because you've seen it, but there are some people that haven't and haven't heard. So, when I say things, I'm just trying to repeat to make sure everybody um is on the same page and understands. So, again, this is a draft. We um on February 2nd met with the budget committee for the commission and the mayor gave his recommendations for uh budget guidelines and included

071in that was a 4% raise. Um and at the time Mr. Golden did make it clear that we do not have adequate funding within our current resources to cover that. Um, traditionally we have been in working with we work with the county and agree upon whatever those raises may be for both their employees and ours. And so, um, I think we've made it clear, but we're going to say that, you're going to hear that again and again, is that we know going into this that we do not have those that revenue available to cover that raise. And we'll get to the costs and things um, as we go. I do also want to tell you I sat through a presentation this week where somebody read every slide to me. It's hard when somebody reads slides

072to you and we're not going to do that. I need y'all to talk, ask me questions, just jump in as we go. Um the main thing there's not a whole lot of change, substantive change from last year other than we've added the IC. That is our one new initiative, the innovation center. And so there will be additional costs in the budget related to everything from personnel to utilities um related to that particular building. That is the big um new item. And then raises and roll the roles which again I'm going to get to that. So in your board packet, first time y'all are seeing this budget packet for tonight. You haven't seen it before. So you're going into it totally cold and understand that. We're going to hit each one of those main sections just

073a little bit in each one because again fluid document. First off on enrollment, our current and when I say current, this was last week's enrollment um K12 is 40,597 students. What we're projecting at the end of the first month is 40,533 students. So again, you're seeing um a small decrease about 60 student decrease is what we're projecting at the moment. um actual end of first month compared that little blurb at the bottom compared to um our projected end of the first month was greater but those were projected numbers. The bold numbers on the top right left are our actual last week's enrollment versus what's projected. So sometimes you'll hear people give different numbers of what we're going down. It's different things in the first month as opposed to um the actual where we are right

074now. So, we're actually projecting a 210 of a percent, is that right? 210 of a percent reduction. >> Not a lot. >> Um, based on uh the our current enrollment, our our seniors metriculating out and projected kindergarteners coming in. >> Yes, ma'am. >> So, we do this every year and I I never circle back like how did the projection from last year go? How did that translate to this year? Was it pretty spot-on? >> It was a little bit lower. It was a little bit lower. Um but I'll get you the actual >> Okay. Okay. Yeah, that's fine. I was just curious. >> Okay. So, in that packet um as you go through and you look at enrollment, you'll see it broken down by um the individual schools and by grade bands. And again, Miss

075Nunley works really hard trying to look at individual areas, individual schools to see the developments that are coming in to try to make those projections. And so um that number will be the number we may use moving going forward just because we have to pick one and um not continue to change with it. Um so that's the enrollment number projection that we will be using. Um that one won't change. Any questions on enrollment before we get into personnel. Okay, cool. So um our staffing standards that are also in your binder have not there no changes to it from last year. There may still be a few little tweaks. Nothing. Again, we're not changing anything. Great. It's more clean up just to make it easier to read um and to follow. And so, uh we probably

076will have a little bit of edits on those. But what you have in the binder is going to be the exact same as we had for 2526. I'm having a hard time. I keep thinking of this year. I'm talking about this year's budget because I've been working on it since September. This year is 2627 for me. So 2526 staffing standard and 2627 should mirror each other closely. Um the PCR is that position control report that gives the detail of all the positions at all the schools. What's in this packet tonight is just the summary page. And again this one is changing constantly. One of those things is that open enrollment as students enroll um in different schools. As we see um that activity happening or as we see a particular trend, it looks like a

077school is further down in enrollment. Um those numbers will change. So I've just given you the summary to give you an idea of positions that we have we kind of have um estimates on things but don't have any exact because principles haven't seen their PCRs either. We don't want to put that information out there and scare them when we know that it's not accurate at the moment. >> So, in the aggregate, Rachel, we're actually um projecting for this budget a net reduction in staffing of 12.7 positions. >> We are and keeping in mind there are some positions that we are adding. Again, the innovation center, we're adding uh four and a half positions for it. Because of staffing standards, we did have a couple of schools that will gain an assistant principal, for instance. And

078so there are some additions but not not really um large ones for this year. >> Any question on that? Yes, ma'am. >> Is that 12.7 reduction is that all teachers or is there >> No, it's cumulative. Um it it teachers I want to think was maybe I'd have to go back and pull it. Six um 26 is what was on the PCR. Um but again that's going to change. I I expect that number to go down. Um not not a further reduction but maybe add back to once we have enrollment established. >> Okay. Thanks. >> But if you go through again when you're looking at that position control report, it'll give you by major category um and then lists out each position. You see what we currently have and what we're expected to have and

079you can see which pockets are going up and down. And we did have some needs. we needed um bus attendance for example um there is a demand for it so we do have two added um on the PCR for that >> PCR our position control report I love talking in acronyms starts on page 10 11 and 12 when you get your full budget document it'll have all the detail behind it of where these numbers come from but um I just like I said didn't want to give you all that information when it's not accurate um and didn't want to scare any of our sweet principles and think that they've maybe are up and down and didn't and weren't aware. We're working. Okay. Okay. So, we're not going to talk a whole lot about revenue. Y'all

080heard this last year. Um we don't know a whole lot at this point. Most of my information on revenue is going to come in end of February, March, and April. And so all I've done um is used basic projections that we've used before. Sales tax, we're looking at a 3% increase. Um property tax, a 1% increase, which gives us a little bit in revenue. Tissa is one of the things that we're hoping we'll have information the last week of February. Um last year we knew what the base what was talk of what the base was going to be. And when I say base, the number of the dollar sign associated with each student that does get reduced down, but we don't have that number. I've requested it and I I don't have it yet. So,

081I'm hoping in the end of February, we'll have an idea on it and then we can talk about Tissa. We can talk all about Tissa all you want to. Um, but right now it would just be it's basically I'll use the exact same formula. kept everything the same except for our actual enrollment and it went down just a little bit but that may may go up as well. >> So Rachel to put a little bit of detail on TISA if I'm not mistaken in the current year's budget compared to the previous year's budget uh the state budget included a 3% increase in the base. Is that right? >> It went from 7,000 to 7,295 >> 7,295. Um and we don't get that amount. we get a fraction of of that amount. Uh >> last when

082in using last year's number for this year's using last year's formulas um and on the $7,295 if you just took total money we would receive if everything was the same and divided it by our students we get about $4,400. >> So last year they there was a cost of living increase of 3% placed to TISA. We don't know that information yet. So you have not included it correct. >> Correct. We know that the governor's budget that he put out and stated was that there was additional funding for TISA um that would be in the budget but we don't actually have the allocations to which which group there's difference. You have the base, the weights, the outcomes, all the things. So that was one that we'll have to wait and see what's coming. Again, not spending

083a lot of time on revenue just because um too many unknowns at the moment. So, when we look at expenses and you're going through your packet, um there are different columns. You've got your original budgeted expense and I guess I could get you on the same page with me. If you start page 15 is where the revenues start, but then 16 is where your actual expenses for GP starts. We'll have actual from last year and last year when we're referring to it in this budget is 2425. Current year is 2526. The year we're in 2627 is the budget we're working on. So our original 2526 budget was 562 million. That's what the board and the commission approved. Um when you're looking at revised um that revised column, this is just a summary of how we

084got from 562 to 581. And as you see, a lot of it is grant money. We don't budget for grant money because it's never guaranteed. Um we don't budget for the revenue or the expenses. And so when you're looking how did we get here, those are the things that um contributed grants. If we had carryover donations from the prior year, the state, if just to remind y'all, did give them the teachers a $2,000 onetime bonus. That's that $7 million there. We bought buses for three million. So just when you're looking at that column, that's a reminder of why there's a difference between the original approved and then the revised. >> And again, Rachel, you touched on it, but just in general, many of these grants are restricted. >> They are. >> So the innovative schools

085model grant, that 10 million, that largest number, that's what we use to build the innovation hub, innovation center. Okay. So, I've already said it. Um, part of this is that the innovation center is coming with a cost. Operational, not personnel, but operational is right around $76,000. Again, we're estimating. We don't know exactly until that building is up and running what utilities are going to be, what the average utilities are going to be, or we don't know exactly what um janitorial is going to cost. And so we've done some estimates and so that is related to salary I mean supplies and materials and those types of things is about $76,000 on top of that. Um and it was in your memo about $600,000 of new salaries related to the IC. So total added cost in this

086year's budget is about 1.3 million for the innovation center. Textbook adoption for this coming year um compared to this current year is about 7.5 million more. And so those are our two big ticket um changes. Without those two increases, operations in total would have gone down by 4.8%. Technology went down. many of our departments were able to go through um and evaluate, make some harder decisions and make some cuts as we were trying to do our best to be stewards of stewards of the money. Um and so again, those two items um are going to be the main operational expenses difference. >> So when we budget for textbooks, we budget in the year before those textbooks are are used. So, in this year's budget, we budgeted for those CT and health textbooks. Um, next, so

087we we're planning on including in next year's budget social studies. Rachel mentioned in that slide 7.5 million above the previous year. So, we actually estimate the social studies textbook purchases will be um 9 million plus. >> Right. >> Correct. >> When >> Oh, there's a question. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Oh, that's okay. I was just curious about the um operation budget for the EIC. Do you think it'll be comparable to the innovation um >> the I the IC the EIC part of the issue I shouldn't say issue. One of the situations with the EIC building is it also is used, it's not a standalone, it's also used with Franklin High School and so some of their utilities, well the utilities are actually booked under Franklin and so we don't have a true comparative because

088that the IC will be a standalone. Um but I mean this the space itself I think it would probably would be comparable but it's it will be a little bit different. So, we have budgeted 76,000 for the operational side uh for the for the innovation center for all those new college and career tech programs that we introduced to you um the couple last month. Yeah, I already lost track. Some of that money is startup money because you're going to buy some buy some items that that may not have to be repurchased. Um if I'm not mistaken, Rachel, I think we're somewhere around $300,000 for some startup materials. And also, do we have access to that previous slide >> to this? You're going to get this whole PowerPoint. Okay. >> Um, tonight. >> All right. Thank

089you. >> So, the question I had is um are the textbooks >> is that this 76100? I was just trying to figure out where it's added on this on page 14. >> They are on page the detail is on page 16 about twothirds of the way down. Uh, under 7110 regular instruction >> 542 542988. Um, right in that. >> All right, say it slower. >> Okay, so on page 16. Okay, >> about twothirds of the way down >> right around 54 to um I'm sorry, 544 935 is your textbooks. Elementary and then you'll see high school >> and then middle school. Then we've got instructional kits and then middle school. from the 935 down to the 938. >> But like on the page 14, like you don't see a $7 million increase. That's what was

090confusing me. That's why I didn't know where the textbooks were. >> They're in 71100. Huh. They're in the major category of 71100, which is regular instruction. So let's go back and do that. I'm glad you asked that question. So, if you're looking at page 16 at the very top um underneath general purpose because we're in the general purpose fund, you see 71100 regular instruction when you're >> correct. And so, when you're looking back on page 14, that's a summary of every one of these major categories. The major category detail are on these back sheets, but that summary page will have everything um totaled up for that major category. So in this case at regular instruction the budget went from 240 to 240 million to 251 million and textbooks are included in that number. Rachel if

091you would give a little bit of explanation on those four columns. Um of course we got we've got 2425 actual. Can you give a description of the difference between the current year original budget and the current year revised budget? >> Yes sir. um the current year original. I'll go back these slides a little bit. No, let me go back one. So, the current year original, um that 562 number that you're going to see at the top of that column, not looking at revenue, we're looking at expenses. The all of the information that is on this slide below that gets you to the 581. And my number is different now. No, it's not 51. 581. Well, I may have to go back and look at this. That'll get you to your revised budget. Um, so again,

092it's all the grant money. It's the carryover. It's the things that we've pulled out of fund balance. That is the revised budget. That's the current budget we're working with. That's column 2526, current year revised. >> And I don't know if this will work for you all, but when I process through this, I focus on the original budget com um the current year original budget compared to the to the proposal. That feels to me more like apples to apples. >> It is. And when you look at your expenditures, when you're looking starting on page 15, that percentage change, the percentage change is from the 2627 proposed and the 2526 original. That's the difference between those two columns because we are comparing what the original budget was versus um what we're asking for this time. Because again,

093most of these items that you have that have adjusted it are going to be items that will come back and revise again that we just don't budget for because they're grants or their donations. >> Rachel. >> Yes, sir. Can you So when we when when we're proposing that our census goes down by 391 students, um I get that the only thing that really changes off the top is the state revenue for those students goes away, but then our cost after those students leave is really a function of the staffing standard. standards, >> correct? >> Um, and how the P how when when the PCR is applied to that. So, give us a like how how it flows through using the PCR. How how many how many fewer positions based on that would would it would

094that ultimately be because it's not it's not as simple as like >> it's not that simple because you're also looking I mean if you think about 300 students over 50 schools that's six students in a school and if you've got K through five that's six great I mean that's one student could be one student a grade that's not going to change that's not going to change your personnel that's not going to change the amount of copy paper that you're allotted that's not going to change those types of items. And so really where you see the change is if it is in a pocket at a particular school. Um and you'll see it through the staffing standard. We also allocate we have certain allocations. So the sitebased allocations are based on your student population. Um which

095we'll talk about in a minute. Something I just said copy paper that's that is based on your student population. But again, one student isn't going to make that much difference. And so that's why it is super important that we get that part right um when we're staffing. Um do you have anything else, Miss Hall that you want to say? >> The only thing I'll add is we really do have to go by it kind of on a granular level because we do have each little like grade band has different um teacher student ratios. The other thing that can affect when we're looking at such um um such small numbers and groups is the open enrollment. So depending on how open enrollment goes and it hasn't closed yet, that might affect it a little bit. Now,

096we will go back and if we can see if there's a way where we can see um a significant we can make a significant adjustment whether that be we're grouping um even tra mileage say for a teacher they'll map it out and you try to get it as close to provide the services we'll always try to find ways um to be the most efficient but again a handful of students across a school is not going to make a significant impact >> but from a from a budget standpoint, is it is it advantageous to to like Donna Donna said, you know, when we're looking at our current current year, this past this past year's um student number was slightly lower than what we had projected. Um from a budget standpoint, is it better to shoot low?

097Um because we're because we'll ultimately if we shoot low and then we get a we we we obviously won't because you're not going to approve the position unless the students are there to get it anyway, >> right? And that's you know >> I'm just trying to I'm trying to figure out how to get how to how to get the budget >> a combination of both I would say. Um because there there are some things where if we are bidding out for instance and you get a better deal based off of a certain number, we might go with a higher number. Um just might but again there are times when the um again particularly I think I've already said it three times. I'm not trying to repeat myself. when you get into the actual um hiring,

098we may have a position that is budgeted for, but we're never going to hire it unless we actually need it. And so any of those positions that are there that don't get hired, they go back into fund balance. We also will look at positions and say, "Okay, we may have um let's take bus drivers. We would love to hire more bus drivers. We don't have them. So, have we reduced a budget to say there's no point in tying this up in a budget? If we need them and we can actually hire them, we'll come back to you and say, everybody in here knows that's a need. We can come back and say, can we pay for this out of fund balance? And and traditionally, you guys have been always been able um and willing to

099do that. And so, it is a combination of both. >> You're going to send me on a rabbit trail related to bus drivers. Mr. Galborth, you and I had this discussion. No matter what, no matter how many bus drivers we have, we still must run all those routes. And so we're staffed better than we have been in prior years, but if we don't have enough subs, another driver runs those routes. So the reality is we consume the time either way. So even if we had some open positions in bus drivers, we still consume the funding because somebody's filling that route in. over time. >> There is some overtime. Uh bus drivers um days are and weeks are typically not a full 40 hours unless they're running a a field trip, etc., but there is some

100overtime for that. If the only thing a bus driver was running was their morning and afternoon routes, five days a week, they might not hit 40 hours uh because their their their full day is not that, but add in some of those other things. So, there is some overtime. higher. >> That's right. It could be. It could be when you're right when you factor in uh athletic trips, band trips, um field trips for some of those drivers, it could it could be higher. Okay. So, um the original budget for 2526, the year we're in now, was the 562. So for proposing for 2627 the changes in these two numbers can be attributed to an operational increase of 4.2 million again textbooks are 7 million 7.5 million and we added the IC piece to it. So

101operationally um we did make cuts in other areas. The experience role on the charts that is when a teacher moves up from one year to two years of experience from three to four classified moves on the pay chart every five years um up to 16 years there is a bump in pay. That experience role costs 4.1 million for this year. And then a 4% raise as the mayor um instructed is 12.6 million. So, these are our big buckets. We did we've made reductions in payroll to payroll lines totaling 4.2 million um so far. And again, that may fluctuate. That may go back um up or it may go down. We'll see. So, the budget you have before you right now, the budget request would be $579 million. And Rachel, if I may, that 579 is

102is it you can see the numbers there related to the increase compared to last year. That's the expense side. You introduced the revenue side earlier and you didn't spend much time on it because we still don't know and are not optimistic. Um, do you have >> it's about 8 million in the budget right now, the difference from last year to what I've got this year so far. But again, that number is going to change. And so we we we aren't projecting we have the funding yet for this 4%, but I want to make sure I mention something publicly. We do at this point intend to include it in our budget based on county government's parameters. We do have a responsibility to speak with WCA leadership um through our PEKA process, professional educators um collaborative conferencing

103act. Uh and so we don't have any specific plans related to where that money goes because we do have that responsibility uh to talk to our teacher leaders. And when I say where that money goes, I want to emphasize this. We don't project we're going to have this money at this point. It's going to take some help from county government if this is to happen. >> So I want to say one more thing. Reductions in payroll. So far we're at 4.2 million. Notwithstanding the textbooks, we also reduced operations uh by $3 million. So cuts have been made. We are looking and we're going to continue to see where we can, but we have already made $7 million worth of cuts um based off of last year's numbers to this year and what we're requesting. I

104had the request also from um a board member to give a little bit of historical information and so I have dug in but I don't want to give you inaccurate or in uh not complete information but some just a point that has stuck out with me in what I'm doing. If you Googled right now cumulative inflation for the last since 2020 forward um my guess I've seen everywhere from 22 to like 30% probably 25 is a better rule of thumb and so when you look at our overall operate I mean overall expenditure budget we've gone up 30%. That's operations and in people and so we're not we're not off the mark. we're we're following in line with what inflation has pushed. Um, so just keep that in mind too because it it seems like a

105very large number when you look at the budget and it is it's a huge number but that's what has happened over the last seven years um is is that increase when you're looking at the packet again um this is the summary page. I think that was on 14. At the bottom of each one of these, you're going to see this little box to the left that basically will give you projected revenue. It's telling you what our estimated fund balance is. And this was as of the 12th. So that tells me what all my resources are. Then I have to look at the expenses I'm asking for. We are required to keep that 3% at the end of the year to have a 3% fund balance. And so I have to pull that money um and

106make sure I've got it covered. And that gives me my total expenditures plus that 3%. So if I brought it today, which I'm not bringing it today, it says drafted because it is a draft. Um our gap would be $39 million, which is a huge number. And everybody goes, "Okay, last year when we sat here, we were at 31 million." Um and so how did we get there? Why is it different than last year? Uh a few things have happened. Um one being I want to go back and remind everybody what fund balance is. fund balance is your savings account. And so how do you get money in your savings account? Revenues are more than expenses. What you have left over you put in. So if we budgeted expenses last year and we didn't spend

107it, that money goes back into fund balance. Um and we have done this for for years. The county likes for us to use our fund balance. Why? Because that means that they don't have to do a property tax increase, which is fair. um if we have the resources they would like for us to use the resources we have before they go to that route. Last year with the budget was the first time before that with property tax we've always budgeted 92%. Meaning this is what we project for property tax but we're going to only budget 92% of that number. Um they normally collect 96 98% but we're going to say 92%. And by doing that then I'm going to make more money than I budgeted which gives me some savings to put back in fund

108balance. Last year they said go ahead and budget 94%. So that was a one-time bump for us that gave us more revenue to close the gap, but then that reduces that amount of money that we had to put back into savings. So it reduces our fund balance for this year. So that's kind that was about $5 million. So the difference in last year and this year's fund balance one, everybody knows when you spend your savings, if you don't if you're not getting money back in there, it goes away. It's not the revenue and expenses. So, I'm going to, if I may, Rachel, speak to that in in different terms. When we presented our budget to county government last year, one of the ways they funded the the pay raise that was consistent with most county

109employees last year was by changing how they projected revenue. It did not change actual revenue. It changed how they projected it. That's a one-year one-time fix because when fund balance shows up for the next year, that money's gone. And that's what's that's part of what's contributing to this year's fund balance redu this year's gap. >> Great. >> If I may, I'm looking at board of education. >> You want you want to talk about No, I just explain it. >> Yes. So within the major category of board of education when you get into the details um there's going to be $12 million uh that is for the raises they all go into one line so there are multiple um expenses that are related to the board of education that is not these are not are y'all

110would love to have the as a salary I'm sure to divide between the 12 of you but that is but that is right that is not what that is. So the reason we do that is as you go through the document you see every for every person every salary that goes in there is social security Medicare there's retirement um there's medical insurance dental insurance life insurance so it's all those accounts in every category so instead of trying to keep coming back and forth and entering it in and taking it out we put it in one lump sum and then um if we need to reduce it or if we need to increase it we can do it in one lump sum we bring it back to you once it's all approved and let you. >>

111So, we're about getting $1 million this year. >> That's correct. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> And of course, you you focused on board. I focused on office of superintendent. Um and uh and in in that example, every everyone has its own story. In the office of superintendent, it includes reception uh staff, it includes our zoning department, etc. So, when you hit a particular one, you have a question, we'll be able to answer that because some of it's not obvious on its face. >> Correct. And so I tried to make little notes um for me that things that stood out. I'm going to remind y'all again. You may go through here and you go a 100% increase. Well, if it went from $100 to $200, I didn't give you a note out there as to why

112it went up $100. So there is some materiality revolved involved with that. But if it was significant where I questioned what's going on here, you'll see a little note out beside there. Um, again, you're repetitively you'll see on each category that has teachers involved. It'll say a onetime bonus. We are not budgeting a one-time bonus. That was for last year. So, when you're looking why is it different um than what it is this year, it's it was because of that from the state. Or it'll say we didn't we don't budget grant funds because you'll see it in a column and then we don't have anything budgeted this year. It'll be in the revised budget but not in the original. So, it's little writing, folks, and what printed out. So, get your readers and and try

113to figure see if you can read. And if not, call me and I'll tell you what it says. Um, again, you've got that detail. We're going to be working on that. We every time we go through it, we see something that we we're questioning. And when I say we, Vicky Robbins is my assistant direct finance director, and she and I um work closely getting this done. We've been working on this since September. September, which is crazy, and we still got a ways to go. Um, so just know, and I say we because it's this whole group of people have been working on it and do try to do a good job of of really listening and focusing on what we need, needs versus wants. Um, general purpose, I'm sure y'all are going to have some

114questions as you have time to look. Uh, there's going to be another one 71400. Normally that student body education programs get some questions uh because that's where we put money into one line. We divide it out to the principles to all the schools and they get to determine then what they spend that money on within a few a few lines. And so you'll see it in one and then it like goes away. Looks like nobody got anything. Did we take it? It's just because we don't allocate it ourselves. They'll allocate it throughout the year. Rachel, do you have do you have that do you have the slide that kind of breaks out the big the big um things that are that are contributing to the difference this year? >> So, let's go back to that.

115This is the big difference right here is just that operation increase. It says 4.2. 7 and a half of that is is textbooks. 706 was for the IC. again experience role our if we did a 4% raise and then we did reduce that's it those are the big those really are the big differences from last year to this year >> so can you because I I guess I'm not I'm not clear on on the on the savings that you're netting in um to that 4.2 two million like what are what because I think that like I want to I'd like to I'd like to see those broken out because I think it's important because we're starting we're starting out with a $7.5 million ad and um and and then but we're netting down to well

11677 7.5 million plus the $700,000 >> um >> and there were some I would say yes um you'd have to go through every my underneath fiscal services, for instance, janitorial falls in it. And so, um, we our contract increases each year. So, you may see a bump in there. Our insurance, building content insurance, um, and, um, >> liability insurance has gone up. So, you'll see an increase in that. We have departments, maybe it's 26 departments, twothirds of everybody either were flat or came down. Um and so yes, I can give you some more detail on that. >> Yeah, I just I mean was it are we are we reducing how how much payroll itself >> how much of it was staffing where we eliminated unfilled positions? >> Unfilled positions is going to be probably half

117of that about half the other parts where we um use whenever we're estimating each year. We don't know what the actual retirement rates are going to be. Um they normally don't come until April or May when we're already past that. And so we were able to go in and make some actual adjustments um to that social security Medicare. We're going to always looking to see who has pre-tax deductions and can adjust social security and Medicare. So when we see based off of the payroll that's been run so far this year that there's a reduction and we can see that it's a trend, then we'll go ahead and make those adjustments. And so some of that is in that, too. So, I guess I just want to I want to make sure as we're as we're

118talking about because I know on your on your cover page the the um the guidance was hey include a 4% reduction but also reduce operations by 5%. And from my perspective, like I'd rather us I'd rather us start with the revised budget um from a from a from a I mean that'll that I mean if we use the revised budget as the starting place um in terms of reducing costs like we're all I mean it it puts us puts us closer because right right now it shows that we're going up from like >> Yeah. If you're looking at revised, we're actually going down. >> We're going down. And so, uh, and that's net of the that's that's net of the of the cost increase. There's just a way to look at it to say, hey,

119we are we are reducing. I mean, so because we're going to because we're hit with we're increasing. So, if we because from my perspective, if we start at the start at the revised budget and come down on all the all the reductions, like that's all we can do. we can't help the fact that we're on a on a textbook cycle that has to increase and we've got the role that that's part of that 12 million that has to increase. Um and granted the EIC or the IC is something that we committed to two years ago when we when we took the money. Um, so I I think we need we need to be able to we need to be able to show >> the percent the the reductions that we're making and not and not

120net them if it if at all possible. I think so. >> So, Mr. Gal Galbirth under that that it sounds like what you're saying is it um create something that shows the increases over which we had no control the decreases that we did have control over so that there's a comparison that shows the net >> right >> um and Rachel I suppose probably we ought to pick some materiality as well because some of those lines went down to your example $100 >> they did we were $25 and $20 and all the way through. Yeah. So, >> hey, I from from my perspective, >> take them take I mean put have those as backup to say these are all this is everything that makes up this big line there. There's staffing and then there's probably other

121operating. But at the end of the day, if we're if we're talking about reducing our um our overall budget, our overall staffing cost or overall operating cost by 5% and 80% of it is staffing. Um, I mean, we're we're making we're making a little a little bump a little dent in it by by with removing these unfilled positions, but I mean that's a it's the but everything else. I mean, there's just not a whole lot a lot of our operating costs are actually going up by by unforeseen I mean by the just the nature of the cycle. So, >> because of inflation, right? >> Some of it's inflation, but some of it's just textbooks like we don't >> That's right. Um, I you you actually prompted another another thing I wanted to mention to you

122all. Uh, you heard Rachel mention that Mayor Anderson uh put in his parameters for his departments a 5% reduction in operations. Our work predates him mentioning that on Monday to his departments. Uh we looked at it along the lines of going drilling down on each one. What are your needs? And that's the that's the result. And we actually looked at last year's expenditures. What what did you really spend? We worked through all those details. Uh and that led to the example that Rachel gave you of blank number of departments being flat or or reducing. Uh so we just I wanted to make sure I was clear that that parameter he gave was for his departments. Um and their their practice has historically been fund the schools with a pay raise the way they fund county

123government. Um, so I felt like it was important you for you to know. We haven't looked at it per se of we're cutting everybody by 5%. But our net result was a substantial cut. The next section will be related to the central cafeteria fund. Um, as you go through it, revenues and expenses. This is your summary sheet. They have a fund balance. They do not have a gap. Um and in the packet will show also their proposed this will be when I say they this will be the same for central cafeteria and extended school which are both independent um independently funded and meaning they take in their revenue and expenses and it's not paid for with tax dollars. So there was no gap for central cafeteria. Again the fees are going to be listed in

124there. They have not increased since 201819 I believe. Extended school program is the uh next self-funded group and there were just a few modifications mostly to late registrations on their fees but again they also have fund balance that they can adequately um fund theirs. Last in the packet itself is our annual capital requests. And we get lots of confusion between five-year capital, annual capital, and operations um as to whether or not we're asking for the same things over and over, and we are not. Annual capital um are those items that we basically know we're going to have come up. These are going to be things that happen throughout the year, whether it be um a HVAC unit goes out. Five-year capital, we can say we pretty much know we're probably got one that's 20 years

125old. It's coming time. Annual capital, those things that come up happens just like your house, things happen. We've got 52 schools and there's a lot of things happening. Um, also included in that, as you can see, are um some of our computers. >> Tongue and cheek, our virtual schools HVAC is fine. >> It's perfectly fine. It works great. >> Um, but overall, we're going down in our request for this year. Last year, the commission did fully fund our request at 14 the 14 million. Um, what's in yellow is what we're requesting for 2627. The reason it's broken down, as a reminder, general um covers our high schools 9 through 12. Rural covers our schools K8 because we split them because of uh Franklin Special District. They are K8. And so the funding has to when

126they issue bonds has to be um broken out. So that's why you see it broken out. So, if I may just just because this is a question we get sometimes because Franklin Special exists, anytime the county does a bond for what they call a rural project, which is a K8 project, Franklin Special gets a commensurate amount of bond money. Um, so if I'm not mistaken, Ra, it varies a little bit based on a percentage, but it's it's based on the their enrollment versus ours. So, usually it's somewhere around six and a half, 7%, something like that. >> That's right. And we won't get that number. the state gives us um the allocation. It's the our average daily attendance rate between the two and we get it April or May. And so our budgets changes a

127little bit whenever we do get that as well. Our allocations for property tax um also plays into >> and that's one of the few funding items that's based on average daily attendance, not based on enrollment. Right. >> So we actually report our our student attendance electronically. you have all of the detail in the packet um that you can go through and see all the projects that are listed out if you want to see which schools um the the letters and if you're not sure what the letters mean um any of us can tell you but uh if you see FVES that's Fairview Elementary School so just think through um but again any of us can tell you what those schools are if if you're not sure but that would let you know where the things

128are planned or where we think some of the things are planned as you have questions about that again um Mr. King can answer those questions mostly because this falls underneath him. Um, and he has worked with his people very very closely. >> And I will tell you over the years with the county commission, it's varied from year to year what they ask of us related to comparing annual capital versus our five-year capital plan. There has been a time where I think maybe transportation items were were were in there. Uh generally speaking, county government has been good to fund those annual capital expenses, recognizing that you need to do those regular maintenance items. Uh sometimes they'll just fund a portion of it and we'll come the next year and we'll kick the can. Roofing projects sometimes

129get a lot of that at them, right? You'll you'll patch up and cross your fingers until, you know, for another year. It's it's that kind of thing. Um but traditionally county government has asked us to more recently include this in with their with their um with their evaluation of their budget and ours on an annual basis so that they can have everything they're looking at all at once. >> Somebody did ask me too what other capital outlay is. That is for all of the furniture that may be throughout the whole district. So when a desk breaks, when chairs break, or when we have a new classroom, um any of that would come out of other capital. >> Rachel, from a what's what's on the cycle for um for Chromebook purchase this year? >> This year,

130uh Mr. You're going with K one and two are scheduled for this year with K and one being one to two. So it' be half the number of students. What's in the budget right now is one one for second grade. That's in the budget at this moment. Okay. And you may remember we intentionally delayed that a year from from our original schedule um in part to give the uh screen time committee time to evaluate it >> and then and then then the following year what would that what what will that look like? >> The following year will be we'll start over. It'll be middle school >> which would be a full like as opposed to this assuming that let's just say say that that we have the same number of students. Yes. >> It would

131be three full grades getting >> Yes. getting one to one >> and then the following year be high school. Then the following year would be three through five. The following year it's a four year >> a fouryear cycle. So the four So we're on the we're on the lowest of the Yes sir. >> of the four year. >> Yes sir. >> Okay. >> Does anybody have any questions about anything? Um again it's all in your packet. you're gonna have when you do have questions, email, call um and I will gladly answer whatever I can. If it's something that's going to fall underneath somebody else that they may have more detail about, I'll do that. We do have one more slide um that we want a request came of let's talk about technology and what it

132looked has historically cost and that was a loaded question when we really got into it because of what I said. We have five-year capital, we have annual capital, we have GP. So to go back and each commission has been a little bit different of where they want the funds for, you know, put it in five-year capital, put it in annual capital, put it that needs to be in GP. So um, Mr. McNise, who is our IT director, spent a lot of time trying to go back, uh, to make sure that we had it all covered. We knew the total amounts, but the request was to break it down um into some categories. And so that's what you'll see on this slide. We did go back to forward. Um and I'm pro I will call on

133Mr. King uh to correct me when I misspe, but older being to the right was 12 million. 25 26 was 29. And you immediately go, "Oh my goodness, we have doubled on technology." But pay attention to that third line that was the security. Um $9 million of that has been tied into our key fobbing uh projects for all of our indoor doors, which was huge. Do you want to >> And if I'm not mistaken, that was paid out of capital as well. That's how well that's how the commission funded it. >> That was out of five-year capital, >> right? >> I'm not going to go through this line by line. I am going to give you just a little context. Uh just briefly the personnel uh that increase is basically just raises. We have added

134one employee in the IT department and that was for our two additional schools. Um the next one's just general price increase adding schools. Um Miss Farmer mentioned the security that has really gone up. If you look at year one, if you go to the next line, that one you uh to put context in this, if you look at 20 21, we spent 1.2. Last year, we've spent 6.7. That number does not steadily go up though. That is refresh uh of our laptops. And as you can see in 2324 because we were cutting budget, we actually skipped a year of refresh. We had to do it this year because of Windows 11. So that number really spiked this year, but next year that number is going to drop back down. >> And Brian, that that row

135is actually faculty and staff. Is that correct? >> Yes, sir. That is faculty and staff laptops for Yes, sir. Thank you for mentioning that. So that is not a line that consistently goes up. It's not like a straight line up. It's going to fluctuate based on what models we have to replace. Last year or the year that we in just happened to be a really big year compounded by Windows 11, compounded by the fact 23 24 we didn't replace any. Uh and the last line you'll see is Chromebooks. Um, and I know there's been some question about budget uh implications, especially with K K1. If we eliminated Chromebooks uh in K1 completely, uh that would save roughly about uh 1.3 million every four years. But I'd be glad to answer any question specific questions if

136you have them. And this is going to be attached to your slide deck too that Lydia is posting. Um I I I have one question unrelated to this. We I I know we had a board member uh question ask for for this detail for everything that is technology related including personnel. Did we also have a board member request um related to our PCR some longitudinal information related to that? >> Some historical data and again I've gotten into it and now I'm all excited because it's so much fun but I want to do it and I want to do it right. I didn't want to have on once I had it together, I was like, "Oh, I need to add another column for this because that would help and that would make sense." And so hopefully

137next week I'll be emailing y'all. Um it'll just give me a little a couple more days to be able to to flesh that out and give you what I feel like would be a better product than trying to give something to you tonight. >> I have a quick question. Um so at the top of this it says technology general purpose annual capital fiveyear capital. So do how do we differentiate what bucket it's coming from in this chart? >> Yeah, >> this chart doesn't. >> Okay, >> this chart does not. Uh, as she mentioned earlier, Tim had to go, Mr. McNise had to go back and dig through records because one year, you know, it would be based on our budget in the county commission. We might have started with Chromebooks in general, but to reduce

138our GP or GP budget, they may have asked us to push it to annual capital or five-year capital. It may have been a combination of both. There was a lot of digging to find where that money came from um for each line. >> Okay. Thank you. So something I have is um I know some businesses do like refresh cycles of 25% 25% 25% so that the the technology budget doesn't fluctuate as much between one year or another and with a district this large I mean I know you want to buy it by grade bands but have we ever looked at potentially only replacing like 25% or um like the devices that are broken cuz I mean I think my son got a new one but his was still fine the old one he had you

139know and I just wonder if we've looked into that and if we do buy let's say we buy devices for 68 like what does happen to the devices that are still functioning well do we surplus them or like what happens to that but it might like I said it would help reduce so it's not so up and Um, so >> correct. Well, the Chromebooks typically are better uh as far as not going up and down now that we're in it. The reason those numbers are so different at the beginning, and I didn't get into this, is when we first started with Chromebooks, we were actually on a lease. So, some of that low numbers like the two 2.9 million, that was a lease number. Then you get into the 7 million where it's some lease,

140some purchase because the state wouldn't let us lease anymore. So it spiked that year. So the Chromebook number is pretty flat. Now I'll say this, the Chromebooks that we have now are way past four years. We put them on a four-year cycle because that's pretty much the recommended standard for Chromebooks. But if they're in good shape and we can get another year out of them, we absolutely will do that. We're not going to replace good working Chromebooks, but for our plan and industry standard, that's what we do. And we do the same thing with laptops for our teachers, which is again why we stretched it in that 23 24 year. We just skipped a year of replacing uh certain models. >> And then Brian, when you make the purchase, you actually might purchase fewer units

141based on your evaluation of which ones were. >> Yes, sir. So, we do take that into consideration. >> Dr. Johnson, you mentioned your son's example. Another thing I know from my experience with the work that you all do is sometimes there there's software issues, you know, w with with updates that can impact that as well. >> Correct. Yes, sir. >> Maybe not. That's probably not as quite as often as the hardware issues. >> It happened. It happened this year with Windows 11. That was a that was a biggie for us. Well, and Brian, if if I may, with you also you also keep a fair number of of surplus for replacements and repairs and all that kind of stuff, right? So, when you everything that was physically viable, >> and that's kind of what we've

142done over the years, >> that's what's kept us from buying them in that four-year cycle. When we replace the middle school, we would take the ones that were working really well, that weren't beat up, that didn't have broken, and we'd use that for the elementaryaries to be replacements to kind of continue it that way. So, we we always look at stuff like that. Any way we can save money, but again, for the purpose of budget, we put it on a four-year cycle. That's my report. >> And that's all I have. Again, I cannot ask you enough. If you have a question, ask it. Um because odds are if you're questioning it, somebody else is too. So, do not hesitate um to call or email. >> I'm going to give one caveat to that. Um when

143you drill into the detail uh that starts on page 14 or so and goes for about 30 pages, um Rachel made sure to include those notes. that's a good driver for you uh to to to see substantial changes. >> The only other thing I do want to say is the county normally within that book I can give you an idea of when the budget and education committee meetings are going to be or when they think we're going to vote on the budget. They're still trying to get that finalized um as to the where they're going to meet and the times. And so uh Jamie's hoping to get that to me tomorrow and I'll go ahead and let y'all know those dates when I know them so you can have them. But then they'll be in

144your budget packet for next month as well. >> They have an expectation from the controller to pass a budget by the end of June. Um but Bobby, if I'm not mistaken, there are failsafe mechanisms in place in case the county doesn't do that. >> That is correct. If a budget is not adopted by July 1, what happens is we just continue the budget that we had the previous year. So whatever the budget was for July of last year, it'll be the budget for this July. Um and that's really the reason why the comprollers come down and said we need to start doing it before July 1. Um if the county commission does not approve the budget by uh July 31st, then what happens is that um if there is a discrepancy between the school budget

145and the county commission um operating budget, whatever the budget committee recommended is the one that gets adopted by law automatically. So if that would happen, say the school budget comes back at 580, the budget committee passes one that says 560. The 560 is the one that's going to be applicable by law if we cannot come to an agreement. >> So our so we have the power of convincing. We don't have the power of requiring because we don't hold the purse strings. >> We do. >> That's an oversimplification, but that's >> we do have to have our budget to the county commission by April 1st. last year the first meeting which between the education and budget committee happened um the last week of March and so that as soon as we could get it passed they

146were ready to go and they've already asked me when our March board meeting is going to be so my assumption is they're looking at the end of March as well to hear their first goound with them >> so if I may board members as um so be thinking about so any questions that you have for for Rachel if you could preferably um email Rachel and Jason alone. So they they'll they'll process that. And I know the tendency is well if I email everybody it might I was like just just email J email Jason and Rachel. Um Rachel will come back and she'll provide the answer to everybody. Um and that'll and then and she'll do that as real time as she she'll do it in line. So, she'll see your question, everybody will see your

147question, and then her answer. And she's great about that. And then that'll that'll be a time where once people see those, then it might it might spur more questions. And Rachel loves those rather than waiting till the till the last minute. But also, um, if you have anyformational requests in terms of, hey, what would it what does it look like if we, you know, how much how much do we spend on this? if we're going to have to start if we're going to have to start thinking about ways to reduce costs, like let's get those out. Like, that's not a great that's not a great time to have that discussion um the night of the work session, right? And and Rachel does great on her feet, but but she also she much she much prefers

148to uh to go do go do research and she does great research, she and her team. So, um so let's give them the courtesy of of that. um feel free to have conversations with um with Jason directly in terms of the um the things that that that they have as a team have thought about that um that probably is is best talked about at on at this point on a on an individual level between between board members and and Jason. Um, you know, there's we're talking about reducing expenses and so there's only so many expenses you can talk talk about um that don't start involving real people. Um, and I and I say this in light of um what um what Bobby just said, you know, I mean, there's a there's a real possibility that

149commission's not going to come up with the money. Um and um and we've got to figure out a way to uh to make it make it work. So um so we're going to have we're we're likely going to have to make some some tough decisions and um so I mean we just got to be we need to be prepared. So every everything's going to have to be be on the table. But so any any any questions that we all have, let's get them let's get them out over to uh you know out in the open with Jason and Rachel so that they can put the put pen to paper paper and kind of give us the numbers on what what that stuff's going to look like. >> Thank you. >> So we'll vote on the

150budget in March. >> That's correct. >> To send to them. >> That's correct. We have a responsibility to get our proposed budget to the county commission before April 1st. So we will we are asking for a vote at the March meeting. >> Gotcha. Gotcha. >> Okay. We >> hold on. >> Oh, darn it. >> Before we leave, I feel bad. We haven't met since the ice storm. And I just want to give a special thanks to some departments and and this is not an exhaustive list by any means. Uh but our maintenance crew, the time that they put in in tough conditions to make sure kids could get in the school, transportation, making sure the the mechanics, drivers, making sure the buses were running after being out in the cold and ice for over a

151week. Our food service department had to make adjustments >> to the menu because our food trucks couldn't get there. Safety department. uh all the sack. Yeah, there's a ton. We could go down the line. Payroll had people working out of the hotel to make sure because they didn't have electricity to make sure we got paid. And I just want to it was fantastic. Like it's amazing um how prepared they were and it was just like, okay, this is what we're going to do. We're going to take care of it. Everybody had a plan and it was executed. It was really, really good. And I didn't want to get out of here without saying. >> Brian, thank you for that. Brian's a feeler. I'm a thinker. Thank you so much for mentioning that. And I and

152I I want to add one. I I I I want to I want to add one more. The volunteer work at those two warming shelters at Franklin High School and Fairview High School was incredible. I know I know some of you all visited. Uh it was about a hundred volunteers to make that work. the vast majority of those volunteers were school people uh who just stepped up and uh it's it's it's it's what ought to happen in a community like this. I spoke to it at the commission meeting when I presented to him. Uh so I'm sorry I missed it here. Thank you, Brian. >> All right.