001hearing. Um we're going to go ahead and get started um and turn it over to Dr. Battle to begin. Thank you. Thank you so much. Um board member Dr. Bertha Na McKini. Um we appreciate you opening us up. In just a moment, I'm going to turn it over to our chief financial officer, um Jorge Robles, who is going to provide um a brief update um around um where we are with the budget process. We have a little bit of awkward timing this year from the time um the mayor um did conduct his um state of u metro address um in the filing of his ordinance to our u u board meeting. And so um um Chief Robless is going to give us an update around u what we know um to date um and some
002of the um complex decisions um we'll have to um make and bringing a draft um budget back um to the board. As a reminder, just to level set us um with regards um to this budget cycle um again in partnership this board with the board and with the mayor um we are excited about um the investments that continue to um flow our way with regards to improving outcomes for our young people here um inside of um the school district. Um but as a kind of backdrop and reminder for everyone in level setting um when we um adopted when this board adopted the B budget priorities for the school year um we were not asking for anything new. Um and so again that will kind of surface in some of the difficult decisions um that we'll
003have to make particularly as we think about um our continuity of operations budget um as well as the continuing um strategies and priorities that were in our ESSER bridge um alongside our strategic compensation um approach and our security investments. And so, um, I just wanted to provide, um, that kind of level setting as we move, um, into this. And we've got some other moving parts, um, that are out of our control with regards to, um, some new state laws and, um, formulas that had not been determined in our last, um, budget, um, and finance committee meeting. So, I will turn it over to Chief um, Robas to walk us through um, this brief update as we continue to work on um, our proposed budget recommendation. Chief Robless. Thank you, Dr. Battle. Can you all hear
004me? Okay. Yes. Well, good afternoon. Um, by the chair Naba McKini, board chair player, and board members, Dr. Battle, um, I will provide an update uh, on the FY26 budget development um, after the mayor's state of the U. Metro address on May 1st. And, um, as Dr. battle um shared with you um just now, but also on her um director's update on last Friday. Um the um we have been working really hard since May 1st to actually try to get to a proposed budget that actually um takes into account the mayor's ordinance uh proposed ordinance, but time is short. Um and there are really uh some uh important and difficult decisions to be made in order to make sure that we are allocating funds according to the priorities that this board has set out. Um
005so as Dr. Battle references, I'm going to provide updates on the key aspects of of what what's on the uh budget ordinance uh from the mayor along with um some other pieces of information. But I wanted to start reminding us on the priorities that this board set out and this is what has guided how we have um aligned the funding needs um and how those have been identified and that this will continue to guide um the work now that we understand what the mayor has allocated to metro uh to MMPas. Um so um a lot of work is underway recognizing and and and observing using these priorities as as a guidance. So um one of the things that is an update from um when we last met um I know that um you did have
006a a a brief um update on one of the um Dr. Battle's update on this is around TISA funding. uh in the last April update on the TISA funding um the capacity factor uh which is used to calculate the allocation how much the state allocates uh uh for education versus what in this case Davidson County allocates for education uh that capacity factor increased from 18.21% uh to 18.67% 67%. And um all other things uh remaining the same uh that change in the fiscal capacity factor uh is projected to have an impact of a $10 million approximately reduction on the funding that we will receive from the state on FY26. So that is something that um you know came in uh in late April um that we now need to take into account and this is
007separate from all the other adjustments that are made in the TISA formula that happened after the fact such as you know how much money how much revenue is taken uh from the top to distribute for uh vouchers or for um state authorized charters. So um regarding the mayor's ordinance for uh fiscal year 26 um I saw you all there and uh so we all heard uh what the mayor communicated and in his proposed uh budget for FY26 uh it is um it includes a 13% % increase in revenue from uh M MNS to support the board approved priorities. Um as as a as Dr. Battle referenced, this is an important invest in investment that that we're grateful for. Um in um his um address in the ordinance has been filed. Uh the city is also
008increasing the budget for the Metro Health Department uh to pay for nurses at every school. Uh this is something that um we as administration and and this board has been advocating for. So we're uh really thrilled to see that change happen uh in this upcoming budget cycle. Additionally, uh Metro government has set aside approximately $30 million towards fund balance uh restoration and sustainability that are required to meet the fund balance policies uh that the city has. Um so uh even with the great news on this important investment uh we still have a lot of work to do as Suckler Battle referenced and uh difficult decisions that need to be made in order to ensure that we do have the continuity of services for our operating budget that have we have identified um the um priority
009to move essve investments to the our operating fund. um the important investments on competitive employee compensation and also to meet the um priority around the um school safety. In terms of timelines, um what comes next is that on May 22nd, we will be um joining the Metro Council board hearing uh to have that discussion and uh later in June is when we would expect for Metro City Council to finally approve their budget um to then for us to come back to you and um present a um a final budget for your consideration. ation and approval and that is what I had to share as an update for today. So if there are any questions I will take those now. Thank you Dr. Battle and Chief Robles for your um update. I'm going to open the
010floor to any [Music] questions. All right. So, board member Young, what are we going to present on May 22nd to the council's budget committee? Um, right now they will um definitely see the presentation that the board has already um received and approved in our last um budget cycle. And then um I'm going to work closely with um um budget and finance chair Dr. Bina McKenna on um engagement with board members between now and then uh with any updates if we get to a place where we have an actual proposed um budget. So whatever council sees this board will see in advance of that budget um and committee meeting. Okay. I guess it just see it seems odd to me for us to go before the council to ask for approval of a budget that we've
011not approved. Mhm. Um I I guess I don't I don't I don't know. this just I I I really struggle with that because part of when it goes to council is we want to make sure that we can advocate and and and our partners can advocate for, you know, maybe specific dollar amounts for specific things that we want to make or maybe there's things that are important to council, but it I I don't I don't I don't know what we're doing here. Um I'm I'm so board member Young, let me let me interject here. Um the meeting that we have on the 22nd is not to ask council for approval. It's just a presentation that we are doing to answer any questions. Our final approval for our budget is in June and then that is
012the budget that we present to council to ask them to approve. Respectfully, Madam Chair, I'm well aware of how it works over there. Um, and I guess I would want to make sure that we feel well verssed in what it is our budget is before we go and ask our funding body for what is to be I'm assuming 1.3 1.4. I don't even know our topline number. And so it's hard for me to advocate for for that if if I don't I don't know what I'm advocating for. I'm kind of at a loss. I don't um there's there Yeah. Um Huh. Okay. Thank you. Um board member Fain um in regards to the Sorry. In regards to programming with the ESRE funds that we're going to add into the budget, are we have we made
013a decision on what exact programming that is or we waiting to see what our final budget is before we decide what those programs will look like? So, we've already put together um the previous board presentation that include the uh board approved strategies for this upcoming budget. It included um all of our esser bridge investments. We laid those out so there's no confusion about what's in there. That included um u one of the things we talked about were the nurses in every schools. It included our advocacy centers. It included um our scholars portfolio. It included community achieves. Um, so all of those key strategies have remained consistent. We're at a point right now where given the investment we have, which is 13% $138 million, which I've communicated previously of determining because that doesn't cover everything, right?
014Given those uh budget priorities, what things we're actually going to cut. Um, so we're doing a deep dive right now around how we can sustain some of our key strategies and priorities within the budget that we have received. These are very difficult decisions because we're not asking for anything new. There's nothing aspirational um about our current budget. So everything you've seen is what we're considering right now, what will make the final proposed budget um to to the board. Um so that's those same items are the items that are um considered as far as it's a bridge are concerned. Okay. So I know about those I and I didn't see I guess my question is concerning like our advocacy like the peace centers and things of that nature. Are we are that is that a part
015of that's a part of the it's a bridge. That's correct. So some of um the majority of the advocacy centers the majority of them are already in our operating budget. We received um an investment um a year ago um to move those from ESSER over to operational. We have a few more advocacy centers and our restorative practice assistance um to be specific of what what exists at the secondary level that are not in our operating budget that we need to move from ESSER into operating. And um if you remember that number um correctly, it's somewhere between 66 and 76 million. Right? So when you just think about that portion of the 13% being leveraged, that doesn't leave a lot for the continuity um of our operations, strategic investment and um implementation of our safety and
016security measures. Thank you, Dr. Battle. I was asking specifically about that because parents as well as our community partners are invested in that because they've seen the positive outcome of course of the restorative practice and the peace center advocacy. So I just wanted to make sure that we were taking that with us. Absolutely. And our goal, we're trying to do our very best of capturing as many of those key investments in the final budget, but this is this is not a perfect fit. Um, so we're trying to think about how we can optimize what we have and still maintain those key programs and services um across all of our schools. And these are very difficult decisions that we have to make. Um we've we've made some adjustments in the past with regards to um as
017one example our promising scholars. We've reduced um previously um the number of promising scholar sites we have. This is feedback we receive from our families that they really appreciate um having the promise and scholars um experience for their for their scholars. And we know the benefits um that we're also seeing in avoiding some of the summer slide u with our students. But we're at a point now where are we going to have to reduce more sites as we move forward um as well. So nothing outside of what's already been proposed is going to be in this budget. Now we're just trying to make it all fit given the investment we received. Absolutely. Thank you, Dr. Battle. Board member Blop. So I I think I'm like a little bit I'm I'm probably a little confused in
018in the same manner as um Borma Young, but I think just from like I I understand like mostly like okay, we have these general things that we're asking for. I'm struggling a little bit with like overall the overall number idea to just try and get my head around what is and what isn't because if we're talking about difficult decisions, I think it's just a matter of like trying to narrow that to what kinds of decisions you all are working with and then what that means for us. So on February 25th, the presentation had 1.25 25 billion in terms of uh this current year's operating budget and then the Esser bridge 77 million and then within this presentation I see that and you mentioned Dr. Battle that the 13% increase is like around $130 million and
019then we have a 10% or a $10 million decrease in TISA. I think I'm just trying to capture like is there an overall amount that we know that we either are increasing or decreasing by. What I think I'm capturing is that there's an overall increase in the amount of dollars we will have. However, because of inflation and various other things, that means we have sort of a a decrease in what we might be able to do over what we thought we wanted to be able to do. Am I am I capturing that correctly? And is there a succinct way to say it? Yeah, that's correct. I think we're also you're you're you're we're also having to work through the investment from our operating budget which is diff which is different but plays a role into
020how we're funded by the state. Right? So when you're thinking about the the um fiscal capacity again we just learned of what the fiscal capacity uh number was which is going to be a 10 million approximately $10 million um decrease. We also are having to contemplate the new law um where we're not going to serve as the pass through for the LEA. So, we're having to subtract that from our overall budget. There are lots of moving pieces right now um that have not been a part of the formula in the past and we're we're working on a short amount of time trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. So, that's that's why you're feeling that way. That's why we're feeling that way right now. Can I try an analogy and see if
021this makes sense? Okay. So like if my family budget is round numbers $50,000 and then my and then I get a new job and now my family budget is 56,000 but also my tax rate just went up for some reason and so that's impacting like the amount of money. So actually I'm getting $56,000 which is more than $50,000 but the functional tax rate has gone up and therefore actually my income is really lower for whatever set of reasons. It's like that kind of stuff. Yeah. And then if that 56,000 is made up of two different jobs you're working to equate equate to 56,000 and one of them is doing something a little bit different than other like just add that into that scenario. That's Yeah. And and so that I like I think I I
022think I broadly get that and and and and yet I do understand also then the the sort of like general sense of discomfort of like okay at what point do we see something that says okay we we actually now we know we have this amount of money overall. We know we have these obligations and we're going to make these kinds of changes. We'll go to and and where does the where does going to the council sort of fit into that? Does that does that all make sense as like a question? It it does, but I what I can um confirm is as far as the mayor's ordinance is concerned, it's a $138 million prop investment. Well, proposal because council still has to do um 135, I'm sorry, 135 uh million. We we know that we've
023got some other moving pieces from our state funding um given some new laws, given the fiscal capacity. But when you think about our overall budget amount, right, all all those numbers come together. Yeah. So it is complex and complicated and I will tell you the um hours we have spent trying to get to the proposed budget today. It is it is there's a lot of tension there and making all the right informed decisions around what we're going to and I just want to be real what we're going to cut in order to make the budget work. Yeah. And I think the question is just so at what point would we be able to see something? The question I have which is I think probably similar to the question that uh board member Young was asking
024like at what point will we see like 50 now 56 tax rate is and then therefore therefore what we're going to spend our money on at what point does that that's the June conversation. So you'll approve a final budget after the council has considered their budget. Okay. It is our goal to bring a draft a proposed budget back to you well in advance of of that date. We typically try to hit that mark before the council meeting, but because of the way I mean like think about it, graduations are this week. So like things are just kind of flowing a little earlier um than normal um with regards to amount of time we got the number to when the board meeting actually happened. So, our goal was to try to get to that point today,
025but we didn't have enough time to actually get there. Um, but you will see it well in advance of an approved budget in June. We'll get that to you as soon as possible. Yeah. Um, so that you will have that to um discuss um to contemplate and then ultimately um approve. And so sometime in the next several weeks, we'll see some version of what laid out. Okay. The approved budget doesn't happen until late June, 1st of June. And that'll have we're considering cutting this for this purpose and we're actually seeing increases here for these reasons and all that kind. Absolutely. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, board member block, board member Tyler. Um, yes. So, my first question has already been asked about what's the plan for what's going to be presented on May 22nd to
026city council. I had a followup with that that said, "Do we need to plan for a special called meeting before then or is that something you're just going to want to do one-on-one?" So, I'll be working closely with um um board member nomin uh what the plan is. If that's a special call meeting, if that's one, whatever we need, uh we will um make it happen. Yeah, I think I think it's important for us to have these kinds of discussions before the council meeting so that we're not kind of on our heels as far as how we decide. And I understand that you're working with what you got. But at the same time, this is one of the very few things that we actually have some influence and control over as a board and setting
027the budget is one of our prescribed duties. And so making difficult decisions like that, we would like to share that burden with you. So let's do it. What we're communicating today is all the updated information we have received and what we're factoring in to this proposed budget we're going to bring back to the board. Um so we will we will accommodate that however we see fit. Um so that the board has that um opportunity. We also all know that the date has moved around a little bit with regards to the council meeting. So like all of those things play into where we are today so that we could give you our best thinking. Um what we're not going to do is bring you a proposed budget when we've not put forth our best thinking in
028order for the budget to work and advance the goals of this district. Um that would not be responsible um of us to do. And so that's why we're not doing that today, but that we will do um at a time and on a day that is most convenient um to our board members so you have the time to have the discussions um that are most needed um around one of your largest responsibilities, most critical responsibility, which is to approve a budget. Yeah. Um, I just don't want us to miss the opportunity to ask for something specific because they didn't know to include it. And so, we have to be at a point where we know what we're asking for. So we know if we need to be mounting some sort of campaign to our council
029members and asking our con constituents to to back us up on that and before they vote on it because otherwise we're stuck with what they give us and we're just going to have to make do. And that to me feels like like I said we'd kind of be on our heels and and I don't want to I understand that we are under a lot of pressure and I understand that we have not been given every piece of the puzzle in a timely manner. from multiple areas and that is not your fault and that is not Chief Oasis's fault. That is just a condition of what we're dealing with. However, I do think it is extremely important and it behooves us to do our job properly to know what we're asking for before the meeting happens.
030Absolutely. And so we're doing our part to equip you with that information so that you have it to advocate for. Um and we're not at that point yet to be able to do that. Um, so we will be getting that information back to this board for you to consider. It was impossible to have all of that determined before today. And I'm just going to be transparent and frank about it. It was impossible. Although we have spent almost every hour that was at our disposal to try to get to this point um today. But we will get that to the board for you to consider, for you to know which things um are not quite fitting into the budget we have. But we also have a responsibility to try to optimize what we do have to
031the best of our ability in the event there's no adjustment on the back end. Yeah. Um board members I also want to interject and say I've been in discussion with Dr. battle related to the budget. Questions came earlier, touched base with her um even while on a field trip. Um and we just got information at the last minute that threw us in a upheaval. And these are last minute things that we have never had to deal with before. One of those being how the state the state's new law related to their removal of funds prior to us getting it. Usually we are a pass through and so we can calculate that. We don't know what that looks like and what it will be calculated on top of the new law related to vouchers. We don't
032know what the capacity of that will be. So we have a lot of unknowns and so I'm going to ask that we I'll continue to work with Dr. Battle to get this information out. But we also have to give grace under the circumstances that we just did not have the information for our team to make a timely decision and determination of where we are today. I hear your concerns related to us having it prior to the metro council meeting, but we also have to allow our team to do their job um and they have been working diligently to do so. they were just unable to present a budget um today at this board meeting and we were aware of that um and you were notified about that prior to this meeting and so I asked
033for it and we're told we didn't get it. Yeah, that's why we were notified before. What do you mean? Um because we asked for the line item and we were told, "Oh, we're not going to get it." And then that's when things changed. Um, I think we also I don't want to be seen as being obtuse or confrontational because that's not my intent. But our job is to go over the budget. And so if I didn't ask these questions, I and I'm not saying this to try to not give grace. I just need to make sure that I'm able to say it in a public forum. so that it's on the record that we have these questions and they were addressed publicly. It's not to be confrontational. It is to do my job as a
034board member. Can I just hold on? I'm I'm going to stop there and say I I hear your concerns. We are working to address those concerns. We will work to get that information prior to the time so that you can advocate in an appropriate manner. Mhm. Um and and we will go from there. So, I'm going to take it to board member Taylor. I have one more question that's not about that. That's something else. So, you had mentioned that there will be a $10 million um reduction because of TISA and I don't know. I guess I need to ask you and then you can kick it if you need to. Um so, but also Tissa's base is increasing by 3%. Is that 10 million less than last year including the 3% increase on the base
035or is like how does that work? So Tissa by way of our fiscal capacity which is the overall so I'll let um chief rob explain that and then okay thanks yes for Taylor great question. So yeah that that estimate is based on the new per people funding. So the fiscal capacity what it does is like if you go through all of the formula then that multiplier essentially after the amounts per pupil and all the unique learning needs are calculated over that amount then that factor essentially says well this is how much um is you know the the the local government is responsible for how much the state uh so when that factor increases then it shrinks essentially what we're getting from the state. Okay. I just didn't know since their base was increasing if just
036straight number-wise it might be a little bit closer than we had hoped. But thank you for explaining that. Appreciate it. All right. Those are my questions. Thank you, board member Taylor. I didn't know Dr. B, did you have something else you were going to say? I didn't. No, I was just going to address timeline. I mean, the goal initially was to bring a draft budget here today. um at the first point of us realizing that we were not going to get to that, we communicated with everyone around our agenda for today's meeting. That was all. Thank you. Yeah. No, I appreciate that. Um my question, I I did have the same question about the TISA funding. Um and so thank you for that answer. My next question is in regards to um the line on
037I guess slide four where it talks about MNS will receive a 13% increase. That's just an increase from the metro portion of our budget. Is that correct? Or is that the overall increase? That is that is the second when you compare uh that's an increase over last year's total allocation that is on the mayor's ordinance from F4 fiscal year 25. And that total amount that is in the ordinance there is a estimated amount that is what we will receive from the state. Um so it is essentially an increase over the overall amount um that includes essentially the portion that that we we will receive from revenue from the state. Okay. All right. Um and then the second question I have is um just in regards to cola and what that looks like as far as
038our responsibility uh to match with the city um requests for their employees as well. So um I'm going to address one portion of this and I'll kick it um to Jorge. Um that is also u one of the things we are working through. Um you all in just a few minutes are going to discuss the resolution um as well. And so we're just trying to think about for all of our staff um how do we leverage the funds that we have um um at our disposal to be most strategic to support and really uplift um the value of every um employee that serves in MNS. So that's one thing. So we got a another moving piece I'm going to enter into this conversation which the board will take up momentarily and at the board meeting
039um later. Um but also um Jorge do you want to talk about what um we think may be happening at the metro government level? Um yes, for member Taylor, what um we understand was considered to the budget, even though um I've not seen explicit language around it is uh two components to compensation adjustment on on uh for city metro employees um on nonMPS and one is the result of their new pay plan that was introduced that factors in um a change on the the number of steps equivalent of steps and a change on the midpoint. point um which is estimated at about the 2% increase is the result of that which would be sort of the equivalent of our step increases plus a 1% across the board which is the equivalent of a cola that's
040my understanding is what's considered in the current ordinance of of uh the mayor for non amends employees so I guess The followup question to that is what is our responsibility as far as um efforts to match what the city is doing for the metro employee our MNS employees. There is not a requirement there. We have um historically with the exception of one budget cycle um walked hand in hand um as far as what we were um doing around compensation cola particularly um for Metro government employees and and our employees. Um I have had enough conversations with board members to understand the strategic compensation is a priority of ours. Again, we're trying to make a lot of things work right here. um given what we have learned from Metro government, but also it being one of
041our four priorities um as as a district. So, um we've tried to match um doesn't there's nothing that says we can't exceed. Um we would like to do that if um the funds allow us to um if we have the time to work towards a budget that allows us to do that. Thank you, Board Member Elrod. Thank you so much. Um, I guess my first request is when we have our meeting before we meet with the council to go over the possible uh take-home pay from the uh analogy we got. Um, I know within that we're going to have a hopefully some type of um infographic, some type of something, a one pager like we've had in the past. Yes. Thank you. Of here's what we're trying to get done. what that means we are
042not able to do but I also request that within that we have some specifics um historically sometimes we talk broadly about school-based budgeting and particularly those individual school initiatives and how they choose to spend their own money because that's how we are organized through school-based budgeting. However, within our council members, that is commonly a discussion that they have from within their own constituent base or from talking to individual principles or what have you. And they will have individual concerns. For example, I am already hearing about supposedly some cuts to individual music programmings. So, I know that those are sometimes a concern. So when we have those discussions and we have that just in preparation of whatever that meeting might be whether that is true or not um if we can have some specifics so what
043are the larger school bud school-based budget things that we might be losing that would be helpful so that we can combat that combat that in our advocacy um pre and post and during that yeah council meeting. So, um, to your point, um, once we bring it back, you'll get everything as you've received in the past. Um, we'll include the one pager like we've done in the past to be explicit. We've kind of laid that out via our PowerPoint presentation um, already. So, that's simple to do. What we will not have though um given the SBB conversation because school communities and teams actually make those decisions based upon um meeting the unique needs of the students um who are there. There's lots of factors that that go into that that doesn't always equate to the decisions
044we're making for our district-wide budget. So just setting expectation we it won't be that granular um because school teams actually make um those respective decisions. What you will will hear is if there are district strategies that we're um leveraging, particularly those that show up in some form of fashion across every school, nurses, safety ambassadors, community achieves, things of that nature, you will hear specifics um around that because those are being funded at the district level as opposed to the studentbased budgeting level. Yeah, I understand that we don't get to um decide unless we are on that team, the community team that make those decisions um for schoolbased, but I know that there are some concerned constituents based upon those conversations. And I think that's because for the most part, for the past several years, luckily,
045we have not had a difficult budget season. Um and so it's kind of a first for not just a lot of our constituents. Um but it's also a first for uh frankly this board. Um I think maybe besides myself maybe Freda. Um and so it is difficult to make these harder decisions. Um and it requires an overcommunication and so for on that I also request that we just have more board discussions as much as we can of course within the purview of sunshine laws but I know that like this was communicated. Uh I I read my director's reports. Um we of course have our agendas. Um but there is a requirement on us as an board and also from board leadership of making sure that we are aware of some of the larger things and
046what the expectations are or are not um because I knew that we were not going to get some of this information that we were desiring to have um because I had read about it but it's there still needs to be more touch. I so what the only thing I'm clarifying here is those might not always be budget decisions. Correct. Right. They might be based on the unique needs and talents demand from the school level. And so we don't want to confuse those two um conversations. So I I hear what you're saying, but they might not always be budget related, if that makes sense. You can only have you might be able to offer um strings and because of the demand you might not offer band because of the demand. It might not be you know
047it's not always budget related. You might offer French because you have a cert certificated teacher versus Spanish where you don't have a certificate teacher. So it's not necessarily always driven by budget. And so I'm just calling out that we will always have those conversations. We actually did have that conversation um with the respective um um um leader of that um district um grounded in of course our our priorities as um um as a district. So when it comes to our ESA bridge conversation, our continuity of operations, our strategic investments, our safety and security measures, all those things, um, we have and will continue to bring before the board so that you're informed about the things that we were doing that we might not be able to do anymore or where you might see some kind
048of molding the program in a way that will match the investment needed. Yeah, I think it's just important that we there's going to be more touch from our constituent base. Um, there's going to be more touch from our principles, from our own communities, and then of course from the council, and then from us to the council because we're going to be asking for more than we've usually asked. Um, and so that'll require more touch to us as well. Yes, ma'am. And if I can is it okay if I say one other thing? Um, because the the forecast for the budget investment is very positive, right? Like we we've actually not received this level of investment in any years past. So I don't want us to get confused by that. What makes this one difficult are
049all the moving pieces that are all happening at the same time, including that our original budget did not include anything new or aspirational. So we were we were budgeting towards continuing to leverage key programs and priority area areas from years past. So, this is what makes this one a little more difficult, but the investment that came by way of the mayor is very significant um to our organization in being able to do that. We might be um the first and only district who's been able to maintain key strategies that we'll leverage during esser and that is to be celebrated um in so many different ways including the fact that we've moved a few things in years past. So, I just want to make sure that while we are trying to move as quickly as possible
050into the budget documents and the discussions needed um that the fact that we can even have this discussion around what we're continuing um is is very positive and is a strong indication around um the support we have um through the mayor's office. So, just wanted to share that. Thank you, board member player. Um I just want to give some context as a former budget chair. Um when I became budget chair 2020 um we changed the process of how we do the budgeting aspect. Um and I understand the need and the concern for the members to see a line item budget. Um and that will be given in time. When we have traditionally done this process, we have done the um budget proposal, budget oversight. when we've gone to the council we usually have given the
051continuity of I would say maintenance of operations continuity of operations always get the maintenance of effort and continuity of uh company operation um overview budget allocations as part of the council and saying this is what we have done this is what we have accomplished this is the foundation to understanding our budget these are what we're doing and these are what we're trying goals are we trying to achieve that's what we usually do at the budget um hearing in front of council. Um, we have not always given them a line out of budget at that time because a lot of times we're still finalizing from the state. Previous budgets, I know one year we had a $8 million deficit that the that that we did not get from the state that we were expecting and then
052last minute they were saying, "Oh, we're not going to get that $8 million allocation." So, we had to adjust. And so usually by the first week of June is when we do our true advocacy to the council about what exactly we need because by that time the end of May ideally in a perfect world we want it before then we have gotten the final numbers from the state and we know what the true picture looks like of our allocations to make sure this is what we're advocating for. This is what we need. This is what we got from the state. This is what we didn't receive from the state. This is the changes and amendments that the state has. So, it's a frustrating position to be in um from particularly while we're waiting for the
053finalization of the state because the state's not efficient as we need given where we are especially at the end of the fiscal year and preparing into the current fiscal year. But there will be time um at the end of especially during the first week of June where we'll be able to advocate for what we need and exactly what that looks like. But the budget hearing is really more to set a foundation of this is what we did last year with the current budget. this is where we're going, this is what we're continuing, this is what not we're continuing, and this is how we're looking forward to um to the coming year. So, it's really just an information level setting aspect um of the process. So, I just want to just make sure we just clarify
054what does a process look like, what it will, but we'll still have those conversations. will still have plenty of time to have a line on budget, have several means to talk about what that looks like and how to how to make the decisions we need to make as a board to present a proper budget and make decisions um that we need for the budget. So I just want to give that historical context and and with that historical context we are kind of in alignment right now with where we are with the information that we have that we usually present that we typically present over the last 3 four years to prior to the council meeting. I've got them in my bag in the last several years. We haven't approved them, but we've had them to
055look at. You have the line items to look at. We've started conversations, but we've not approved it before. Yes, agreed. But we've had that at our disposal earlier. Right. So, Gotcha. All right. So, what we will do is um I will continue to work with Dr. battle to see um for us to to continue working on that budget um so that we can get the necessary um items that you are needing um to be able to advocate properly um for this budget. Uh should we have a a special called meeting uh that meeting has to be notified within 48 hours prior to that meeting. So please keep in mind I will continue to communicate with uh you all as it relates to that. Uh we will try to host one uh prior to the 22nd.
056The 22nd. Yeah. Prior to the 22nd, but keep in mind we will also be working in between graduations. So please be flexible during those times um to be able to schedule um and attend this specially called meeting. Um, again, a 48 hour notice has to be done and I'm asking board members to have flexibility in that time because we will be working within graduation times um to make this work uh for all board members. All right. Um, do we have any other questions or comments? All right. We will Thank you, Chief Robles and Dr. Battle. We will conclude our budget finance committee hearing. Announcements.