001and we will hand it off to Dr. Battle to get us started. All right. Thank you, um, chair. Um, at this time, our chief financial officer, um, Jorge Robles will walk us through, um, our budget presentation. Just as a reminder, um, the initial presentation to the board um, came in March. We've had our community engagement um, session since then. And so, Jorge is going to remind us um, again what's a part of um, this proposed FY26 budget. Um, following that, um, we'll take a look at our nutrition services fund budget as well as our federal, uh, programs budget, which is now strategic investments under our strategic investments department. So, Chief Robles, I'll let you take it away. Thank you, Dr. Battle. Um, finance committee chair bikini, chair player, members of the board, pleasure to be
002with you again. And as Dr. Battle referenced, we'll do a refresher of what we had already discussed uh back in March. um so that you are up to speed again um as you vote on it on um on the regular board meeting consent. Um as we know the why for the budget and the resources that we're asking for next year is the results that our students are achieving because of the resources that we're putting forward at our schools and that's really what drives um the uh the way that we are um prioritizing resources. So um love to spend all the time uh re uh calling the celebrations but in the interest of time uh I'm going to move forward um on all the great accomplishment and this is a work that you know is we're
003grateful for the support of this board uh that's got us here in terms of uh the resources available as well as the city and the community as a whole and supporting what uh what we do um and our teachers and school leaders uh for everything that they do every day for our students. Um the priorities that you said for this year are what guided uh the the construction of this proposed budget. Can you pull the mic up a little bit? So can you hear me now? Yeah. All right. I'm going to lean in a little bit. Um so the the four priorities that you set out for this year is what guided that we discussed last time uh which is to preserve continuity of operations. uh make sure that we continue to invest in the
004strategic and the strategic investments. Uh this is specifically this for this year FY26 to move those um investments in NSER to the continuity of operations, our strategic employment compensation and the new priority around comprehensive safety and um security planning and there we go. So as I shared with you last time um we um bucketed the investment for discussion among those four priorities and uh first on the continuity of operations. The big investments are one to um help us uh offset inflationary and contractual rate increases. Um as we discussed last time uh we have a growing population of multilingual learners and uh exceptional students who need the resources and there's um um um you know budget to actually be responsive in that space. The um classroom associate strategy being fully implemented. uh something that we're excited
005about which is moving the textbook adoption uh to the continuity of operations we discussed last time as a critical need. Um what we are also excited that it we can we continue to do as a priority is to include the step increase for our employees in the operating the continuity of operations. Um so that's included here and then there's a number of additional small um projects and programs in this case excuse me about half of it is um the adjustment to SBB um that corresponds to the increase that happened on the per pupil amount at the state level as a bridge. These are the um strategies that we have been funding now for um two to three years um that have been critical in helping us achieve uh the outcomes at um that we have
006discussed in the past. Um so again not going to go through it but um these are critical investments that we feel are important for us to continue to invest in fund uh for FY26 and the strategic employee compensation. As we discussed last time there has been a lot of work over the years on investing on um our educators making sure that we're able to recruit and retain the best that there is. and um and we are essentially uh continue to making making that a priority for FY26 and as a reference is what um the cost of a 1.6% percent col is and as I said the step increase is already included in the operating uh fund so that would be um part of our continuity of operations as we have done in previous years and
007the last priority is around safety and security as we discussed last time the focus has been on implementation around high schools the rest of the uh amounts here are um for reference on um the costs associated with implementation across those other ad levels. And we did discuss aspirational budget last time. Um nothing has really changed in terms of the revenue um outlook. Um and we await May 1st when the mayor is going to actually communicate what the funding is for next year. And I'm going to actually skip federal programs. We're going to talk about in detail around this. So next critical date uh for um the budget process is on May 1st when the mayor communicates his budget and then ultimately all this will be um finalized uh at the end of June when metro
008council votes on that budget. So let's talk about the um proposed fiscal year 26 federal programs and grants budget. Um this is a little bit of an isore if you're looking just at the slide. So we printed it out. Um but uh what is included here are both um the federal grants that we uh receive. Um some of the big ones are obviously title one, title two, IDA. Um that uh right now uh the uh these are projected amounts based on uh what TDOE has indicated uh the level of funding will be. that level of funding has been right now set at the same level as this year for next year. So that's what you see here um uh captured and we also have the um the state grants which um essentially we don't anticipate
009much variation from this year. Um there are some carryover amounts from prior grants that are reflected as well, but um essentially of the 143 million that we're expecting to receive, about um 40 million uh 43 million are state grants and the other 100 as we discussed in the past are federal grants that um that we should be receiving. Um and the main difference from this year FY25 to FOY26 is that the sunsetting of SR3 which essentially had another $37 million that we leveraged this year that are not going to be there for next year on child nutrition. Um again another um slide filled of with information. Um obviously here on the uh uh left is all the revenue um items uh for anticipated for next year uh that we budgeted and on the right side
010are all the expenses. Uh the total expected budget is uh a little bit over $68 million. Um that's an increase of approximately $6 million. uh that increase is mainly driven by the fact that the team expects to serve more meals um which is a great thing. Um and so there is there are cost associated with purchasing more food, more equipment um and supplies u to fulfill that. And there is a uh an expectation to um get to um build a reserve of about 1 million which is something that we want to intentionally do year-over-year that you know as we plan the expenses and the revenues that you can build that reserve for incidentals you know things there's wear tear and equipment and and different things that we need to um replace. So that is a
011um very fast um refresher of all the information that we had discussed in March and I'll pause now for any questions that you might have. Thank uh thank you so much. Um I am going to open it up to questions, but before we get to that, I have one quick question for you. Um, I know we're only three months into the new administration and the talk around the Department of Education and federal funding. Do we anticipate any loss in federal funding that we've indicated here that we may have to look at for the next upcoming school year? At this point, at this point, we don't. So, um, the the big amounts from the federal level are the formula grants. those are appropriated by statute, you know, set by Congress right now. Um there isn't uh
012any indication that that should change. I think that the um what's still left to be seen is is what um actions the US Department of Ed might take around feeling that we're not like you know that they're not fulfilling requirements um on some of the things but the funding is we expect the same. Thank you board member Tyler. Um, huh. Oh, we're good. Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry. Uh, yes. So, are we in discussions with anybody else um in the event that uh funding for food in particular gets slashed? Is there any do we have partners that we've been reaching out to? Are we creating backup plans is my my thought because I was asked thinking the same lines. Um, obviously we don't know what's going to happen at this point, but I think that we
013need to be aware that there could be an immediate loss of a substantial chunk of money, especially not just for food, but also for title 2, title three um, funding and and those are a significant chunk of this budget. And so, are we making backup plans? So the the if I understand your question, do we have contingency plans in case those events I mean that um we're always um scenario planning. Um obviously if we were to find ourselves in the situation there wouldn't be easy uh path forwards but you know we obviously evaluate different potential scenarios but like I said at this point at least for FY26 those funds have been appropriated um by Congress. So, um the expectation is and what I've heard is consistent with other states that that that will be available.
014So, and if I can add um um to that, if the board recalls two operating budgets ago, um no cost meals for our students um were approved as a part of our operating budget. So um you know while things are happening um so there could I mean it would have to be a domino effect of federal funding um in addition to state funding in addition to what could happen um locally. There's lots of talks about potential recession. Like a combination of those things happening could have ultimately an impact on our budget. But we're um fortunate that our school board um has approved um no cost meals as a part of our operating budget. Um outside of that, the the the only kind of challenges is there's significant um changes with the C u program that
015um does allow us to offer um reduced um costs based upon students who are eligible. If we start to see changes with regards to that formula um and how that's funded, it could ultimately, but right now um it appears based upon the way that um we leverage our operating dollars to cover no cost meals um we should be able to pending some catastrophic event taking place and and fortunately CB is is you're awarded for four years the classification. So it would have to be you know a complete overhaul if if that were to happen. Um and then just looking at the budget itself, if we're looking at the um safety and security measures, when we're looking at the numbers next to the high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools, is that um a continuation of
016the funds only and not including the new funds that we just put in for the high school or does that include the new funds that we So, um currently we leveraged um non-recurring funds um by way of a grant that was approved um a year or so ago. um by council to begin the initial implementation in high schools. However, what you see there is a recurring cost um year um over year. As a reminder, when we think about that, the equipment, the up um um keeping that equipment up to speed, the software that's needed, all the operating costs um are still um needing to be a part of our operating budget to maintain those systems year-over-year. So, that does include that. That was my question. Okay. Just want to make sure that that was inclusive.
017Yes. of that and then also the school-based uh school determined needs that 12 million um where we're talking about the esser bridge um I just want to I think this is correct but I just want to double check that is above and beyond their basic needs like as far as like we know we have x number of teachers we know we have so that 12 million would be above and beyond that for something else. Yes and no. So we look at this portfolio of funds as strategic investments as a whole although the funding source might be different. So they have their studentbased budgeting um weight, they have their title funds um and then they also have their bridge spiral funds. All of that is driven um by our um student unique learning needs um um
018particularly um economically disadvantaged um weights um for um the ESSE bridge. And so while the source um may be different, they look at it as one portfolio of um investments to make sure that they're meeting all of their basic needs and additional layer supports within the school. Okay. All right. Thank you. You're welcome. Board member Elrod. Thank you. I have um several questions. I'm going to start with the nutritional budget if I may. So my first question, I guess my first thing is a statement. Um, just to piggyback on what Dr. Battle said, we are lucky to be the only school system in the state that provides no cost lunches. And I know that it's something that us as a board have highly prioritized and so I know it's something that we want to make
019sure that we're protecting. Um my understanding when looking at hunger-free schools and campaigns that have happened across the nation is that a lot of times allocart sales and adult paid meals as we have it listed sometimes help supplement that cost. Um so I'm just paying more attention to it this year than I might usually and I feel like you said something when we were doing that transition into the nutritional budget about allocart meals chief rob and I missed it. So did you make a like is it is that a typical amount of alle cart money or is that I thought you said it was more than we anticipated. It might have been my accent. I did not speak to to alakart specifically. My apologies. My apologies. Then I missed what you said in that transition.
020So um so what what I did say about next year's child nutrition budget is that um they increase from this year to the next. Yes, it's about $6 million. U the vast majority of that increase is driven by serving additional meals, a higher volume of meals being served overall like kids meals. Okay. So that means that the team needs to budget for more food, more supplies, more equipment to um to provide those meals. Got it. Okay. Thank you for the clarification. I apologize. Um, then I I just want to make sure I understand what the top line is, the USDA meal reimbursements, breakfast and lunch, because it's our our largest reimbursement. Is that from is that the C amount or is that a different amount of money there? So, the it is it is the
021reimbursement um that we get, you know, when when you claim the meals. Um, and because you're we're part of the C, then you get a specific rate for that program. Okay. So, it's a combination really or it is only C. It is right now all schools are CP, right? So, it's all it's all CP. That's what I thought. Okay. Thank you for that clarification. I just wanted to make sure that I understood it correctly. Um, my next question is about the um budget presentation. Uh, is there any change from this presentation from March 25th? Is there anything I need to call them? Okay, the thing that I noticed is still in here from the 25th is that the pension certificated and support pension is TBD and certificated and support health insurance is still TBD. I
022apologize, but can you remind us of when we think that those things might be decided upon? I know some of that is out of our control, but do we have a timeline that we're waiting on that? I think we're pretty close to having that um determined. Some of that um well, most of it is not in our control, actually under our purview. Um so once we um are able to um confirm um we'll get those added to to the budget, but we're right on the cusp of being able to provide that information. In some cases, the the the rate increases have been approved and but then we have to calculate with an updated employee file and making sure that we have the most updated projection for next year. so that we bring all that back
023together once we understand the revenue piece as well. Okay. Okay. Um lastly, I just wanted to give a compliment. I noticed I I sent to a constituent. They were asking a bunch of budget questions and I appreciated that the presentation from March 25th was already on our website. Um and so I was able to send that to her and she's already replied back with a bunch more questions for me. So I love that. I appreciated that it was there and that we are transparent with this information since budget is always a popular conversation and um thanks board member Young. Thank you. Um so let me start by asking for a little grace as I try and wrap my head around the budget process from this side of town. Uh I I guess I'm a little
024thrown because when we received our agendas uh the other day, it said that we would be approving a budget request tonight and that the budget would be provided to us. And so I'm I see the nutrition budget, but I don't see an operational budget. And I guess even and understand not every number is known at this point, but do we have at least that topline number of kind of where we're at? Because I know we're kind of and if you want to fill in the gaps, I think you know where I'm going with this. Absolutely. So um several years ago, we kind of reinvision and reinvisioned um our operational budget process. Um part of that was because quite frankly there was this question out there of like what does it mean to be fully funded?
025And I mean just so many um kind of abstract questions and ideas um out there around what does it take to actually invest in our school district so that our young people um have what they deserve and our educators um have the supports um that they need. And so by way of that we started building out um this aspirational um budgeting tool I guess um to really communicate what those investments um entail. It empowers and gives um the mayor and then by way of the council an opportunity to see exactly u what those investments are because what's behind this um is alignment to our focus outcomes um alignment to our strategic plan um and our theories of action of what these investments will do to move um the needle forward um on behalf um of
026our students. We had somewhat of an antiquated process um in the past where my team would spend 60 90 days just like trading numbers on the whatifs. Um and so this gives us an opportunity to share this um presentation with the mayor, share this presentation with council, us to actually get a firm investment number and then um demonstrate how those investments will help us um accelerate the needle given the focus outcomes that we have. um for our school district. So, it has been really efficient. It has created a lot of transparency around u where we are and where we're um trying to go. to the board at this point in time in the year um um has have approved the budget presentation as our budget to communicate our aspirations and our goals. Um and then
027we'll come back and revise it and put that to the actual budget document um like the examples you've called out um after um the mayor has um um u conducted his state of metro and um the council has taken up their budget. So you will get a finalized budget document uh once we get receive those investments. Thank you. And so I guess uh is there so are we giving a number though at least to the to the mayor for his placeholder for for May one or or and then because I guess we send this over and this isn't a number and I'm still I'm not I'm missing there's a dot I'm not quite connected. I'm sorry Dr. Battle. That's okay. No, this is this is great. Um so what we've tried to do is um
028be really clear um in communicating and putting this plan together based upon the priorities um of the school board. So you'll see those four buckets. Um under each bucket you'll see key investments um there. We have really encouraged everyone not to just take that number and add it up because depending on how we invest in those particular strategies, one could outweigh um the other. Right. Right. So when it comes to continuity of um um operations versus what might be in in the aspirational um budget and so um you see um the key investments under each category um again we don't total it um because we want to be clear um with the mayor metro council and the community at large based upon the investments we can fund. Here's what you can expect in overall um
029improvement. So, we we actually um advise against trying to add that number because that gives us an opportunity um to be clear about which investments are actually landing in the final and approved budget. I know it's a bit um different, but a few years ago, part of our challenge um was um our ability to really communicate um our key strategies and then being able to communicate that return on investment on behalf of the city um given the work happening in the organization. Thank you. And I I acknowledge that maybe not all of my my colleagues up here will agree with this sentiment, but um when that number comes back, I guess my only fear is I don't want the the mayor and council to feel that they get to pick and choose how we get
030to spend our money. Okay? because we are elected officials in our own right and they write the check and we get to decide how to spend it. And so if for whatever reason, and I I I don't have a crystal ball. I don't know what the talks are on on that side of town at the courthouse, but if for whatever reason we feel like the money they've allocated towards a cola, for example, is not what we feel is appropriate, I hope we don't feel obligated to do what they do. I think we have an obligation to take care of our employees and it's their obligation to take care of their employees. And so I I I I just want to stress that um I and also want to point out that our employees were shorted
031a couple years ago and we um we still owe them for that. And so if that means that maybe some of the priorities that council thinks or the mayor thinks they would like to fund that they think is great in our budget, I think it's time that if we didn't feel that that money was there, we have a tough conversation about our priorities and make sure that our employees compensation is brought to the front. Um if it means Yeah. So wanted to get that out there and that and that's not directed to you as much as it is to that's more of a political thing than a management thing. Absolutely. And what you'll see um in this budget is our priorities. Right. Right. And so everything that we're communicating through these documents are our priorities.
032Correct. Um if they're not, then that's not what we're advocating um for. But it it does help just as a communication tool. Um because when you're talking about um whether it be employee compensation, we've had that conversation. I share that sentiment. Um when you think about the investments in um community achieves or advocacy center centers or restorative practice assistance, we also need to be really clear that a lack of investment keeps us from really implementing key um programming, services, supports um for our children and the compensation, strategic compensation that's needed for our employees. So um agreed. Um but what you see in this presentation are our priorities and our priorities alone. We have been in a space before where there have been attempts to fund things that were outside um of this and again I
033appreciate the partnership um with with the board um on recommunicating that and investing in the places um that we feel most appropriate um for our organization. So thank you for sharing your feedback. Can I respond that to board member player? And as a former board chair, I also remind remind the public and to member Young that budget chair. Budget chair, sorry. Yeah, budget chair. Whoops. Uh, Floy and SWIP. Not trying to be former. Not trying to be former. Um, that there's also still a maintenance of effort. um and that we the the current budget is the baseline um that we do and we can't go beyond that. We can't go below that. And so everything that we're presenting now um is also increasing what we're doing. But also be mindful of the base starts from
034this fiscal year budget and we go from there to move on and to do that. And to echo Dr. battles sentiment. I think it's also really really important as you said we determine how we allocate the funds and resources but as other um organizations and entities come and advocate in front council um for things in the educational realm that we clearly state what our priority are our priorities are and not what outside entities think it should be or could be and dis and dis and misdirect those funds instead of what we should do. Any other questions? Board member Blap. Not to be too like reductive on this, but just to reiterate, our priorities as we have them here are contin of operations, which means that base amount of our last year's funding plus inflation or
035whatever. Sorry, that's so technical. Uh, Chief, yeah. And then these continuing strategic investments which is ESSER ESSER bridge continuing to fund that then employee compensation which we also feel strongly about and also the comprehensive safety and security planning. So that's like our base what we're asking for is all that stuff. Okay. I'm just double checking reiterating. Yeah. Okay. Thanks. Anyone else? Nope. All right. Thank you, Mr. Rob, Chief Roles. We appreciate it. And Dr. Battle, um, if we have no other questions, we will go ahead and conclude this meeting. Thank you. Meeting is not concluded. I apologize. Just kidding. Um,