Brenham ISD Board Meeting 1-20-2026 Regular Board Meeting

001Good evening everyone. It is six o'clock p.m. The board of trustees of the Brennham Independent School District and is now convened. I wish to extend a well work well work warm welcome to everyone present. In collaboration with our families and community, Brennham ISD is committed to providing an exceptional education for all students in a safe environment. As the Brennham ISD board of trustees, we are here to provide local citizen governance and oversight. The management and day-to-day operations of the district are the responsibility of the superintendent. This is a public meeting of the board of trustees. Schoolboard meetings are open to all who wish to attend and hear their matters discussed. Audience participation is limited to the public comment portion of the meeting. These proceedings are recorded and I respectfully ask you please refrain from talking

002while others are speaking. Thank you for taking the time this evening to join us for your interest in the Brenham Independent School District. Uh at this time, Archer Archer will lead us in the pledge of allegiance and the invitation will be given by Jared Krennic. Okay, we're going to go straight into special recognition. If I could get Mr. OG up here. >> We don't let him up here very often, but like I need this really. Okay, Mr. President member of the school board, Miss Gillantine, is truly an honor to stand before you this evening to introduce our January pair professional of the month, teacher of the month, and student of the month. These individuals represent the very best of Alton Elementary School. We're going to start with our par profofessional of the month, who was

003Miss Tamika Kelly. Miss Kelly is one of the first people our students see when they arrive each morning, and she makes that moment count. She greets him with a big joyful good morning with music playing and even occasionally a mini dance party. We debated whether or not when I said this to have the music playing as she was going. She she was tempted to do it. So, uh she Miss Kelly does an outstanding job supporting students while holding them accountable to high expectations. She consistently goes above and beyond to ensure student success and her positive energy, care, and dedication make a difference every single day. We are incredibly grateful for Miss Kelly and the joy and the support she brings to our campus each day. Our par profofessional of the month, Miss Kelly. Okay, I'll

004make sure to picture. All right. Our teacher of the month is Miss Rachel Church. Miss Rachel Church happens to be our MTSS coordinator on the campus and our reading interventionist. Miss Church has done an outstanding job supporting both both students and teachers this school year. She is extremely knowledgeable and always willing to jump in whenever uh she wherever she's needed. She plays a vital role in our MTSS process and is consistently available to support colleagues with questions or concerns. She exemplifies humility, efficiency, and a strong work ethic in everything that she does. Miss Church regularly goes above and beyond to support her students and co-workers, often stepping in without hesitation and without seeking recognition. Her willingness to learn and grow professionally in her new role paired with her positive attitude and dedication make her a

005valuable member of Alton Elementary School. Our teacher of the month, Miss Rachel Church, are you ready? >> No, she's not stand right there. Here. All right. Our student of the month who's going to be a future teacher at Alton Elementary. Hopefully, I'll still be principal there. So right probably is Miss L first grader Miss Loretta Long. Loretta is a motivated and respectful student who consistently demonstrates a strong desire to learn. She approaches her schoolwork with a positive attitude, takes pride in doing her best, and accepts responsibility for her actions. Loretta listens carefully to directions, participates in class discussions, and is willing to share her amazing ideas. She shows kindness and cooperation toward both her classmates and adults, making her a positive influence in and out of the classroom. Loretta's consistent effort, respectful behavior, and eagerness

006to learn make her a wonderful role model and a truly a joy to teach. Our our student of the month and maybe future teacher of the month at Altona, Miss Loretta Long. You're going to go around There we go. No. Yeah. No, I am. I am. We have one more presentation for Alton Elementary School. You've been uh last probably five schoolboard meetings, Miss Pulk, our librarian, has come up and talked about laws and procedures with the library. I thought it would be really nice if she talked something well not it's positive but something a little bit different of the things that she does to help instill the joy of reading on our campus. So Miss Poke our Alton Elementary School librarian >> I was not prepared like him. You had a big long piece of

007paper. I have a sticky note. >> Okay that's because we don't have paper in the library. >> We have no budget. >> No just kidding. Um, okay. So, I guess I'm back here again for another hearing later, but we're going to do the fun stuff first. Um, so my job, I could not do my job without some of the programs that I have at our campus. So, one of our first programs I want to talk about is our adult volunteers. We are, we call them the PALS. So, if y'all want to come up, y'all get to come up. I can't. So, you have to help me all the time. So, come on. Come join the fun. You always join the fun in the library with me. Um, we uh have shirts this year and we

008kind of came up with PALS to stand for positive adults in the library with students. Um, because they help me check books in and out. They help me manage the library. They read with kids. They help corral them. Um, and so I could not do half the things that I do if I did not have this amazing support system of my volunteers that come into our campus. I am truly blessed to have all of y'all. y'all can just stand to the side because we'll take a picture with all of y'all. Um, and then my next group, um, this is my second year to do library ambassadors at our campus. Um, it's a group of kids that fill out a job application. Um, because I tell them, you know, just like when you're out in the

009real world, you're going to have to basically fill out an application and tell us why you're the best person for the job. Um, and so I had several students, I think there's like 27 of them that filled out the application this year that were hired. Um, so if my library ambassadors want to come stand behind me, um, we have some that were our morning only ambassadors. So I had some of my little babies that are here uh, that were here at 7:15 this morning to work with me in the library. Um, and then we have our afternoon group which is on Thursday after school till about 4:15. Um they come in, we talk about um what we can do to promote reading and books in our library. And what else? Look, they've got badges because

010they have to be official to be able to get in. >> It's okay. I know who you are. I'll let you in. It's a pass this time. Does anybody want to say anything about what we do or what's your favorite part about library ambassadors? >> You have to come like up here. You're going to be shy now. What's your What's the favorite part about Because you're getting up early and you're staying late. What's the best part? It's not a test. You're not going to get a grade. It's okay. Was it just because it's fun? You like reading? >> I like reading. >> What else, Brley? >> You said you were going to say something. >> What? >> Now you're all shy. You want to say something? Come on. >> Get up there. >> Okay. Well,

011then say it loud. Say it loud. What did I say? >> My favorite part is that when I get to help you with ideas to like make the library. >> Awesome. So, did y'all hear that? >> Yeah. That's the best part. They come up with the the great ideas of what they want to do because I'm I can come up with stuff, but it doesn't matter if they're not going to be have buy in. So, it's all about them. And then some of you are my lunch bunch group, aren't you? So um so we have a group of students third and fourth grade. They come in during their lunchtime. Um we talk about books and reading. Um today Anybody there today? Who was there today? Nobody today. >> Yeah. Uh today what did we do

012today? We talked about our favorite what? >> Um our favorite type of books like mysteries. >> Yeah. So we talked about our favorite genres and then I started reading a story and then eventually we'll they'll get a book of their own and they'll read it and then we'll come back and just have like a book discussion about it. And second grade just started last week a board game club. So they're coming in during their recess time and we are trying board games. So um we talked about our norms last week and like what our rules are and how we're going to behave and they were very excited. So it should be interesting this Wednesday um tomorrow when they come in to start doing the actual games. So um that's kind of what we do extra

013in the library besides checking out books all the time and trying to get kids to to come in and just read and relax in our in our space. All right. You want to come up here? Okay. Uh, next I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Gillantine. >> Yes. So, next on our agenda is the board recognition and appreciation. Uh, we do this once a year. It was a fantastic school year uh calendar year for Brennham this past year. um that could not have been done without this board. Um really just a record year, a pivoting year. Uh we passed a $39 million bond with no tax rate increase, the first bond to pass since 2012. Earned the voter approval of a Vader, generating almost 2.5 million in annual local revenue to reinvest in our

014staff and operational needs. Uh, this board delivered one of the most competitive compensation packages in the region, including an average 13% raise for teachers, 6 to 8% raises for all other staff, meaningful improvements uh in our classes uh in the way of extra positions. They restored a balanced budget in both fiscal year 2425 and 2526 with projected surpluses that will help rebuild uh the general fund balance, put some money back in the fund balance and uh have plans to do that again this year. So, what a big year. I think the community knows that. Um appreciate the the media for reflecting that. Um, but this is just a great opportunity for us, for me, for the campuses, for the principles, the students to to say thank you for uh for your leadership, your vision for

015this district. They're also plugged into this community. I'm also very invested and uh I feel very fortunate to have such a vest invested uh board. So, thank you. Brooke, do you want to come up? Good evening. Happy Board appreciation month. Um so a few things. Um as you guys know, you are an ambassador for each campus uh within the district. So you'll have a custom gift from each of your campuses that they put together um as a thank you. Uh from the district, what you all have in front of you um is a challenger coin. So as you know, this is our 150th anniversary year, the first school district in the state of Texas. Um, I don't know if you've ever gone through production of a challenger coin or commemorative coin. It's pretty uh labor

016intensive. So, in doing this, I only had a hundred minted. So, uh, as y'all know, I have an art background. So, when you do a limited edition of something, you give a a certificate of authenticity so that you know what edition that you have. Obviously, number one got saved for the district. Um, and number two for something else, but number three, four, and on, y'all have the first numbers in the addition. Um, for anybody listening who's interested in still snagging one of these, these are in our BISD stores. So, when you purchase one, you do get one of these letters of authenticity. Um, and if y'all look at it, the seal that's actually pressed into your letter of authenticity, um, is the original seal that we were given by the state 150 years ago. Um,

017we still have it in the office. So, thank you, Miss Debbie, for hand pressing 100 certificates. So, then in addition, uh, the campuses of, of course, they'd like to all give you personal five minute video dedications. We tried to limit them for board meeting purposes tonight for a few seconds each so we could put together one clip. Um, but I'm sure on their social media you might see a little bit more. Um, and Britney's going to cue that for you now. >> Start over. >> THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING OUR SCHOOL. >> Thank you for supporting us. Thank you for coming to our Christmas program. >> We love you, Miss. >> Thank you, Dad. >> Thank you. >> That's fun. Thank you, Mr. Critic. >> Thank you, Mr. >> Thank you for everything you do for

018us, Dad. >> Thank you, Mr. Critic. >> Am I live right now? Oh, this is for you, Mr. Critic. Hey, thanks for all you do for Britam High School. We really do appreciate you. >> Happy boarding month. >> Your favorite. >> Uh, I just want to say we love you. Thank you for everything that you do for us. And tell your mom you deserve a milkshake today. >> Hey Archer, I just want to say thank you so much for always coming to the ECLC, visiting us, and supporting our community and our teachers. So we appreciate everything that you Heat. Heat. That wasn't fair. >> I I can honestly say that everybody on this board does not do anything we do for any type of recognition. although we do appreciate it and we're very humbled by

019the words from the the students and the staff and the community, but when it comes down to it, we're we're all up here because we want to make a difference. And so, thank you for everything that y'all have done for us this month. But just know, man, we're just trying to do the best we can for the district and and for the kids. So, just thank y'all. I'm I hope I'm speaking for behalf of the entire board here. Also, I can't believe you got my 16-year-old on camera, so I'm just Okay, we did not have anybody sign up for public comment, so we're going to move straight into the next thing, which uh we're going to consider a possible approval of a donation from Center Church and uh our commun communication and community engagement. Brook

020Tran will present. >> Hello. So, um you'll see my board dock in your board book. Um so, Center Church is a local church. Um Kyle Ogle is the pastor. Um their church reached out to us last semester about a donation um for $3,1422 monetary donation and then they also uh did educational and Lego toys as a donation for the campus in the total value of $540. Um they pick different elementaryaries or local schools each year and this is the year that they chose Burnham Elementary. Um and they plan to deliver this personally to the campus but they could not be here tonight. So um if you will please consider accepting this donation. >> Can I just say something else before we move forward? What I love about it is they kind of had a real

021360 approach on this. And I think it's really pretty amazing how they uh even raised the money by helping local families be able to afford Christmas gifts for all their kids. And I think it's a beautiful representation of how our faith communities come around and support. Well, and I I thought I saw Kyle come in uh in the back. So, uh appreciate you guys and I know I know your wife helped spearhead a lot of that. I didn't know you made it. And uh we're just really grateful for you guys and uh and you know and the thing is they don't want the notoriety but I'll tell you this you know uh in eternities can be seen but I just I love that a lot of our kids are blessed not just then but also

022now too. So anyways thank you so much center church you guys are awesome. >> Hey look who's here. Oops. >> I would like to make a motion to accept a donation from Center Church on the amount of $3,6822 and monetary and inind donations to Brennham Elementary School as presented. >> I second that. >> Okay. Hey, Archer. Archer has made a motion seconded by Bonnie Brickmemire to accept a $3,6822 in monetary and inind donation from Center Church of Brennham Elementary School as presented. All in favor? >> All opposed? >> Motion carries. Again, just another fantastic thing for Brennham. I just cannot thank everybody church. Just how much we y'all give back to the students and us is just it it truly is a a blessing to be a part of this community. So, thank you so

023much. >> Yes, >> that's great. >> You got to be there. No, he wants you to be there. >> Thank you so much. Right next right in the Hey buddy, thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> This this community just never ceases to stop giving. It's amazing. Uh next, uh we will have a public hearing on possible purchase of library books. Uh head library. Not sure what this is about, but we'll figure we'll see. I'm back. Um okay, so we are thinking of of course obviously I'm coming before you to get approval um of some books for purchase. Uh we're hoping that once we get used to doing this procedure and this process that we can streamline it for next year so I'm not you're not seeing my every single month up here uh

024taking up your precious time. Um so um we basically I've gone through and the list that was posted there have been no public comments for the 30 days that it was posted. So now it is um up to y'all to go through the list and to approve it for purchase through the the libraries. Um the list has like 125 items on it. Most of them are um new releases, so they're new to the district. Our other additions to series that we already have and so there's new titles that are coming out. Um I'm sure y'all are aware that we lost one of our um teachers on our campus and so a lot of the books on this list are uh Christmas books because that was her favorite holiday. So those are going to be put

025on the shelf in her honor. >> Um so I don't know if y'all have any questions. Again, it's I've gone through and I've looked at the um information. I've read the reviews. I've made sure that it's followed our selection criteria that's part of the district policy. Um following Senate Bill 13, so everything should be in compliance. Um so I'm just waiting to for y'all's decision, I guess, at this point. >> Go ahead. I >> you follow the same procedure that you always do that we always ask you about making sure are any of the books in this current list also part of the previous list or is this a completely new set of books? >> Completely new set of books. So every list that y'all have gotten is new books that are coming out or

026it's a new one in the series or yeah they're not being covered again. So like they're put into a list that is shared with all the librarians under um the software that we use. uh title wave, which kind of ties in with our destiny that we use for our catalog. And so once y'all approve the list, I share it out as a district list. So every librarian has access. They can just go straight into that list and plug it into a cart to make a purchase because those books have been approved by you. Now, if the book is already in our catalog, of course, we don't have to get approval because it was prior to September 1st before the law went into effect. So, as long as that same ISBN is in our district already,

027then we don't have to do this process. But if we want, say, like an ebook of a book that we already have in the district, we do have to put it on a list for y'all to approve just because of the way the law has been written. >> I just have one more question. So, obviously, we've gotten a lot of you this year because of the new law. is well I know it's it's fantastic because I love that the community hears what you what the effort you put into the books that actually go into our library. So it's it's really good transparency for us. But is this typically how many times a year you buy books or is this is this a different type of year or is this what we've kind of been what's

028been previous years or is this is this more or less I guess kind of you get where I'm asking? >> Okay. So, being this this is a new process, before we would just make our list on our individual campuses and purchase when you had funds available. Um, me trying to think in advance of what's coming. Like, I know that this favorite book is coming out in a couple of months. I want to go ahead and get it on the list to be approved so that when we do have funds on each campus, then we can purchase it. So, like I as going forward, like after we kind of get all the kinks out and we figure out how this is really going to be working, I'm hoping next year we can do like one big

029one at the beginning of the year, one in the middle of the year, and one at the end of the year. Um, but right now, it's just me trying to streamline the process with getting books in from the other librarians in time for me to do this process. Um because like two weeks ago I spent like six hours at a dance convention while my girls were dancing going through the list that's going up for February. Um besides hours before like on campus and and that. So I'm hoping to get it streamlined and that way y'all aren't overwhelmed with like say 500 titles in one one list as we're just starting out. But going forward hopefully next year yeah you'll only see me like maybe three times. Well, we appreciate the time you take because it

030does mean a lot to us and and I know it's a new process and and you're learning, but thank you for saying that you're this is this is the beginning and you have a process and you have a plan. So that again transparency for the community. It's not just this is what we're doing. We're not doing anything different. We're trying to make it better every time. So really appreciate the time and effort and sorry you had to do that at a dance thing, but >> it was fine. >> I was going to piggyback on what Jerry was saying again. Thank you for the time and effort you're putting into this. Um, and thanks for introducing some of your helpers and and the and the PALS group. That's fantastic. And then the students that are obviously

031bringing new ideas into the library uh at Alton. So that's that's all great things. Um, that being said, I'll go ahead and make a motion to approve the purchase of library books as presented. >> I'll second. >> Okay. Justin Collie has made a motion motion seconded by Kelvin Raven to approve the purchase of library books as presented. All in favor? >> I. >> All opposed? Motion carries. Thank you again so much for all your hard work. >> Thank you all so much. >> Okay, next we have the uh superintendent's monthly update. >> Well, good evening again. Um let me start by saying uh as as I pointed out during the board recognition, uh what a great calendar year um this was for Brennham ISD. Um, so I want to touch on that a little bit

032or follow up a little bit. Um, for those listeners out there, uh, the requests for qualifications for both program management services and architectural and engineering professional services were posted prior to our break and closed at 2:00 on Friday. So, we have received all those RFQS. U, it was a great turnout for Brennham. Uh next steps include reviewing those submissions, those RFQS, and uh we will begin uh interviewing early February and make a recommendation to the board at the February 17th meeting uh as our plan. So, um, also please know again as I stated earlier, you know, what a what a a great year in the way of of passing both a bond and Vader. Uh, the Vader will uh help not only put money back in the bank, which needs to happen. Uh, it will

033also help uh with adding some some vital positions back. So, uh we have already posted uh some elementary teaching pools. Um, currently they're they're classified as a uh kindergarten pool, uh, first or second grade teacher and a third or fourth grade teacher. So, we'll continue working with our um, elementary principles as we get a little closer to spring and and can review those applicants. Of course, we'll be working with our secondary principles as we get into uh spring and class counts, um electives, what students are interested in, that sort of thing is what drives uh the junior high and the high school scheduling. So, um that's just kind of a followup of uh of my statement earlier and um and what's next for Brenamistd. Let me say real quick, too, while I have the mic.

034Um I know there's some concerns about weather. Uh, I was involved in a um superintendent uh text today from surrounding superintendent. So, we're all watching it. I just want to say again while I have the mic that um it's a big big decision uh that I take very seriously that I work with the surrounding superintendents, emergency management, my team. Uh we we we put a lot into that decision. Uh really look at things from every angle. You know, it's not just about putting a a 16 uh 16-year-old driver on the street. It's also about um if we don't come to school, the number of kids that that are in at home in uh some pretty difficult situations that uh you know, maybe they don't eat like they would. You know, maybe they don't have a

035warm safe place to be. So, I know you may think, oh, well, it's an easy decision. If there's any risk, just keep that um that young driver off the road. Uh the the other risk the other side of that coin is the number of elementary students that uh stay home and are subjected to uh some some unfortunate things. You know, we have we have data that that shows that that that that can happen. You know, that uh that some of these kiddos, and I'm talking about kiddos across the state of Texas, have some pretty difficult homes out there. And we are uh that chance for them, that safe place for them. um we are that that big opportunity that they hope to have one day. Um we are those warm meals that they look forward

036to. So um that's got to be a part of the consideration, but uh just know that we're watching and uh we will do our best to um let you know what that decision is just as early as we can. We know you have to make plans for that. Just know it's possible. Uh Sunday looks like it could be pretty messy. Uh Monday morning is supposed to be um very very cold. So, just know that it's possible that we could be talking about a delayed start or cancellation. Um, I don't know. I can't I don't have a crystal ball, but uh we're watching and you should have a plan B just in case. That's my uh superintendent update. >> Yeah, newest weather says 65% chance of snow on Monday. So, constantly changing. Okay. Next we have

037uh board member board member reports and comments. Um either side want to start volunteers. >> No I had the opportunity to uh to see the surprise that the teachers got that uh what they received for Christmas and that was you can't explain that. You can't describe it. That was outstanding. So I'm very thankful to be a part of that. That's all I have. Yeah, I said the same thing last meeting. Um, but the feedback that I continue to get from the staff and even the community on what we were able to do has been fantastic. Plus, I got to go to meet the spring Cubs the other day. Um, had a couple kids in it. Fantastic. Great turnout, lots of enthusiasm. Cheerleaders uh performance for their competition looks really good. You know, band's always solid

038as uh usual. And then um if y'all need me for the next couple weeks, I'll be buried in uh Burnham High School soccer. So, just let me know if y'all need to score. Checking it on my phone right now. First district game tonight in College Station. So, let's go Cubs. >> Girls are at home. >> Oh, yeah. Girls are at home. That's right. Sorry, I got to remember that. But yes, girls have been doing good. Actually, they just won first place in a tournament. So, and then the boys won uh varsity won second place. JB won third place in the Bay City tournament over New Year. So, uh the Cubs boys and girls soccer has been doing a great job this year. So yeah, if you have a chance, go watch the varsity girls at

039the high school stadium. >> There you go. We're off to a good start. It really has been a great start after a really good fall and we're expecting big things again in the spring. Uh I too went to to see who was going to be on the Cubs and the Cubetses teams for the spring. uh lots of enthusiasm, lots of kids, and so it's great to know that we have children that are so talented in so many different directions, and uh quite a few of them are also playing uh football and b basketball, but also in the springtime, you got some other other events as well. So, it's all great and and we're happy to see kids have that kind of enthusiasm. I hope we all can keep that enthusiasm through the entire spring. As

040as far as that, that's about it, but we know there's a lot of things going on and those of us on the board, we have to keep up on with our training. We've had we we have been Debbie's told us we got to get that training in. So, for those of us who don't have all of our training in yet, let's not forget it. All right, that's it. >> Obviously, there's a lot of things coming up on in uh sports. get the highlight just because it's the most visible. But, you know, as as you go through your days and see things on social media, think about all the fundraisers going on right now for all the other programs. So, FFA and Agg and and the cheer team just came back from state. Um, you know,

041there's every every day I think I see another fundraiser. So, grab that grab that meal ticket and free, you know, easy dinner uh to support all these programs that are going on. So, uh keep that in mind. Obviously, baseball softball season's coming up. Everyone should be excited about that. Go check out the soccer teams. Uh if you can hear in the distance there's whistles. The boys basketball is playing College Station here right now. So uh after this meeting is over hopefully some people can can pop in there and and support boys basketball here um here this evening. So um one other thing the the band did hold a uh kind of a pre uh pre2026 concert. Uh so it was they brought some of the eighth graders over uh to play with the current 9th

042and and 10th and 11th graders. So they had almost 200 students on the stage uh kind of that put together four songs. It was a quick 20-minute concert, but it was it was cool and uh to see kind of what the future of the the Brennham Burnham Cup band looks like. So, uh that happened a couple weeks ago and uh just looking forward to all the the big things happening. But keep in mind, yeah, sports does get the highlights. Uh but let's keep all those other programs going on. There's a lot of FFA activities going on. We've got uh some major shows coming up for the kids that show animals um that's not necessarily specifically school related, but these kids also do a lot of uh competitions uh with FFA and the A program. So,

043keep those guys in mind. I think they've got a big chili uh chili fundraiser coming up soon. So, grab those tickets and support all the all the different clubs. So, thank you. >> Um I was able to attend today over at um Brennham Junior High uh the seventh grade preview and uh you know with eyes wide open and walking through there and that was just mine. Never mind my daughter's uh thinking about your kid going into junior high. I I love the fact the intentionality of how our schools work and thankful for all the hard work where our kids are able to go through and their first experiences and on the first day of school by the time they get there they've had a lot of different touches and a lot of intentionality and uh

044kind of see what they can be a part of extracurricular but also what it's going to look like. Uh but I will say this, uh our students that were there representing the junior high, upbeat, encouraging, positive, uh welcoming, uh was just a real good representative, uh representation of our school and we see that a lot of different places and uh really really grateful for that that uh that's happening in our community as our older students reached out to our younger students really in a mentorship and kind of showing them the way. Um, and also just want to make sure that we recognize that our uh our Special Olympics bowling team went up to College Station and uh competed against 700 other athletes and uh we had I believe we had seven uh that either placed

045or medalled uh seven or eight placed or meddled and so incredibly proud of that team getting out there making it happen and uh so it's just good to see all of our kids out there representing us well. you know, we're going to send them into the world and they're going to do some great stuff and because of the activities that we've mentioned already, I think they're going to be well prepped and well ready to go out and do some really neat. So, it's good to be bren. >> I didn't really have anything other than I was going to say it is fundraiser season, but uh he >> uh he stole my thunder, but yes, it's fundraiser season. So, make sure I'll echo uh what Justin said. buy your meal ticket, buy your whatever cookies, cakes,

046tickets, it's all out there. So, uh support so uh they can get the new whatever it is that they need cuz every group has something they need whether it's a uniform or uh tickets for for a trip they're going to or whatever. So, yeah, fundraiser season. That was all I was going to say. That's it. >> Awesome. Thank you. I I love how tied in we are as a group. It's I mean it's everything we it's it's personal whenever we talk about the things we've done and with everybody that has kids in the district and just everything that we do. It's it's I I love hearing our comments. Okay, next I'm very excited about this um presentation of the Brennham ISD's literacy framework. Chief academic officer Sarah Boowhart and her team will present the framework

047to us. >> Okay. Good evening. So we have quite a representation tonight. So if you are speaking please join me. Um so if you can follow along in the board book and then also you have a green folder with a cubpaw. Inside your green folder with a cub paw. >> So so so leading and learning. So um inside your green folder with a cubpaw you will find the final draft of our literacy framework. And so um we're gathering tonight to share our journey. And I actually was this morning texting with Christy and Amanda like 6:00 am. And we went back to May, was it 2024? May 2024. And we took a group of about 12 of us um to Huntsville to begin to dive into researchbased instructional strategies and how to support literacy. And from

048there all the way to what we have presented for you today which is a framework that was crafted and written by um a group of teachers and stakeholders and educators in this district. We will launch into how we approach literacy um from this day forward based upon that framework. So we have others with us. The first slide is it on? Oh okay. So if you this is the committee that has gathered um not all are present tonight but if you were in the audience and you were part of the committee would you please stand. So I know I see Christy Heny, Melissa Bunker, Julian Christy Veron, lots of people that joined us. Um but these were representatives that came throughout our six-month journey and really crafting our framework. And then I'm going to just if

049you look in the board book you'll see it really creates a guiding north star for our district as we move forward in planning into our implementation phase. We built a shared understanding of what highly effective instructional strategies look like in literacy and every classroom every day every educator in order to support that. And so the educators that have gathered are going to share their journey and their story. And I gave them each a little talking point, but I said,"I really want you to speak from your heart about your journey with us through literacy." And then Kim Graham from Mo Casey, who also partnered with Brennham through the lasso grant, is going to also speak to her as an expert in the room, who travels the state and supports districts across the state about her work

050with Brennham as well. So, I'm going to hand it over to Christie. >> Thank you. All right. Good evening. Um, I serve as the elementary curriculum coordinator and like Sarah said, we started this work in May of 2024 and then as that school year went on in the spring of 2025, um, we convened an early literacy coalition and that coalition had a clear purpose and it was to better understand how our youngest learners were experiencing literacy instruction and to determine what was working, what wasn't working, and why did that matter. And so this coalition had K to4 um classroom teachers, instructional coaches, campus leaders, district leaders, and we worked collaboratively across all three campuses. Um we also included our prek, our ECLC campus. Um we met often and it functioned really as like a learning

051community. And so when we were together, we studied the data. We um looked at student outcomes. We found trends in data across our grade levels. And we learned research together. We grounded our conversations in evidence-based literacy practices and most importantly we reflected honestly on those practices. We talked about our strengths and our inconsistencies and through this work we reached an important realization. Um there was no lack of effort. Oh, where did I go? >> Am I good? Okay. um our educators were working incredibly hard on behalf of our students, but those expectations weren't consistently shared and literacy practices varied way too widely from classroom to classroom and campus to campus. And so this helped us clearly see that it was clarity, not commitment, that was the missing piece. And so this process demonstrates several important

052things as we examine our final product here tonight. So it shows that we engaged in a thoughtful diagnosis rather than jumping to solutions. Um it highlights strong teacher leadership and professional ownership of the work and it confirms that early warning signs in literacy were recognized and acted upon through collaborative informed action. This early literacy coalition laid the foundation for the focused literacy work that you're about to hear about. Um, and it also continues today and it ensures that our youngest learners receive consistent high quality instruction that they deserve. All right. And now I'm gonna invite Amanda. Let me keep the clicker. >> Yes. >> I don't like to do slideshows. I'm Amanda Dismukes. I'm the secondary curriculum coordinator. Um, math is most definitely my skill and my craft. Um, and so I was very challenged

053uh with this literacy framework. Um, however, why do we need it and how do we need it? We started with a very um small literacy coalition within the district and this grant allowed us to make it K12 instead of K3. Why can't literacy stop? Just because we learn how to read in kinder through third doesn't mean we can stop there and never keep going. Um, texts are going to get harder, questions are going to get harder, and people deserve to learn every year of their life. Um, it's not a oneanddone and it's most definitely a growth mindset. The framework that you're looking at is not to be used as a checklist, although I really love a good checklist. Um, but it is it is for the clarity that Christy just mentioned. It gives the expectations

054to all stakeholders involved, whether it's students, teachers, campus admin, district admin, or the families and community members. Um, it makes it across all grade levels. Oh, look, I cracked a good joke. Jared Krennic. Oh, I'm so sorry. Um, it also allowed us to bring in people from multi multiple content areas. So, you didn't just have ELR teachers within the crowd, but there were math teachers, there were science teachers, there were social studies teachers. Um, we all have a piece and a part in literacy. It doesn't just happen in an English language arts classroom. It happens in a science, a social studies, and even a math classroom. you cannot read those little word problems and uh comprehend them or solve them if you cannot read. So then it also provides this shared language for us in

055the clarity to know these are the words we're going to use. This is the common vocabulary. This is what's really going to keep us aligned and drive it home for everybody. Um and then districtwide, the more stakeholders you have involved, the more people you have, the more sustained it's going to going to stay. So, just a good reminder here is that it's not a feel-good initiative, y'all. It is a growth mindset initiative. And then I am going to put a little blurb in here that thank you for the books that Alton uh decided to have donated the Christmas books. I know that Molly is smiling from up above and that is very special to my brother and my nephews. Thank you. >> Who's next? >> I had to follow that. So I am speaking on

056part of the administrators on the campuses. Uh I have said this before in front of the school board. Fundamental purpose of a school is learning. It is uh and I think there is no um higher calling than what we have as educators is developing our young uh children into as the vision says if you look at the vision confident proficient independent readers. I love what Mr. Dismuk says. Reading does not stop after third grade. But I want you to think about the things that we do at an elementary level from kindergarten. When they're coming in at kindergarten, there's a lot of those kids that do not. I tell my teachers every day, we see miracles because they come to us in kindergarten not knowing how to read and they're leaving at fourth grade. Hopefully, the

057majority reading at proficient above grade level or not. This framework helps. I think a lot of things it what I see down from the vision is that you have three elementaryaries feel feeding into the middle school. We have common language here. Uh if the fundamental purpose of a school is learning that's not only learning for the students, it's learning for the teachers. So as an administrator I have to do my part. Number one, if we're going to focus on reading, what does that look like? Am I providing feedback for the teachers? This gives me a framework to look at to make sure that we are doing the right things. Am I when I'm making the master schedule, am I making sure that I put the blocks in there? If teachers are struggling, then am I

058providing the the coaching uh the professional development to develop that? If we have the plan here, I think as an administrator is our job to put it into action. It's the plan is there. Let's get into action. And to see that this is starting all the way from our lower levels to the ones who are soon going to be walking across the stage at Cub Stadium to graduate, I think is phenomenal. And so there's a as um I think someone said more there's clarity there's a collaboration and there's clarity and I think that is going to pay uh big dividends as we move forward with this >> good evening. My name is Gracie Phillips and I am a special education teacher at Alton Elementary School. Whoa. I've been fortunate to serve as part of both

059the Early Literacy Coalition and the Strong Found Foundations Planning Committee. This work began because we wanted better for our students. It grew out of shared classroom experiences across the district and a deep belief that every child who walks through the doors of our schools deserves the very best education that we can provide. If literacy is the sun at the center of our students success, then it is our shared responsibility to make sure everything in our system orbits it. As a coalition, we studied literacy research together. We learned how the brain processes spoken and written language. We examined our students data honestly and reflected on our own instructional practices. That process challenged our assumptions. It sharpened our focus and ultimately it brought us together around a shared understanding of what effective literacy instruction must look like.

060What we created is more than a document. It's a system with clear aligned pillars, explicit foundational skills, daily access to meaningful and complex text, knowledge built across subjects, and reading, writing, and speaking grounded in evidence. When those pieces work together, our students shine. The exemplary exemplary rating from TEA affirms the strength of the framework. But what matters most is what it protects. Clarity for teachers, consistency for students, and a stronger future built through literacy. Thank you for supporting this work. >> Good evening to you all. My name is Dana Pineda. I am a bilingual classroom teacher and a member of the committee that helped create the Brennham ISD literacy uh literacy framework. Tonight I want to share what this framework means for the classroom practice as we move into implementation. This work represents an important

061shift in how we the teachers will plan instruction. Planning is becoming more intentional and focused. Using the principles from science of reading, we will begin by clearly identifying what students must learn, the exact skills they need, and how we will know if they've learned them. The framework also reshapes how we approach reading, writing, and discussion. Reading instruction is no longer left to chance. Britamisd teachers are learning to use highquality instructional materials to explicitly teach foundational skills, language, and comprehension for all students, including multilingual learners. Writing is being positioned as a daily tool for thinking and showing comprehension, not just an occasional assignment. And discussion, which is my favorite, is becoming more intentional and structured. So every student has opportunities to build language, understanding and confidence. Most importantly, this framework matters because it brings clarity. As

062we all have said, it gives us Brennham ISD teachers a shared vision of what strong literacy instruction looks like across classrooms, campuses, and grade levels. As we begin implementation, the goal is not perfection, but growth. This framework supports teachers as learners and helps ensure students experience consistent highquality literacy instruction year after year. The takeaway I want to leave with you is this. Britamisd teachers are learning how to teach literacy more intentionally. This framework gives us the tools, alignment, and support to do that well for the benefit of every student to become confident readers, writers, and thinkers. Thank you. Hello, my name is Liz Stark and I'm a teacher at the English or I'm an English teacher at the high school and I would just like to say ditto to everything that they said. Um because

063going second to last, it feels like Yes. Yes, it feels like all the good stuff gets taken, but that's what that's what we're doing is good stuff. Um, because of this grant and because of uh the leadership with uh our our team um all the way up to people like Sarah and Amanda and Christie. Um but then all the way to the teachers who are part of the work as well coming in and um and being such an integral part of it. Um, I I really want to echo what Amanda said about how literacy um is at the heart of all learning. That it's not just something that we do in the English classroom while my students are with me for, you know, they're with me for 45 minutes and they go down to um

064Miss Marcus for calculus for 45 minutes. It like literacy is is part of that as well. Um, and so I'm very encouraged to see the district take such care to make sure that this is work that is prioritized so that our students can be the successful lifelong learners that we they hope we hope they be. Um, and as a graduate of Brennham High School who had teachers who instilled love of reading, read reading and learning um, in me way back when, I'm just uh, encouraged to be part of this work. Now hopefully helping kids see through all their teachers, all their classes that that's um, a life-changing skill to be um, a a fluent reader in all those ways. So, thank you Good evening. I'm going to um agree this is good stuff, Liz. It's

065really good stuff. I'm Kim Graham and I am a consultant with Mo Casey, the team that supported Brennham ISD in this work. We're an approved provider for Strong Foundations. It was our privilege to begin this work with your leadership team back in June. Back in June. And we began our work together as the leadership team first selecting a committee. And it was very important to the leadership team to make sure there was very uh large representation representation from all campuses, multiple content areas, specialized instruction and just diverse roles. So they selected a very large committee. I think there were a total of 30 people on the committee. So outstanding voice. It was very important to the leadership team to make sure that everyone was included in this process and could embrace the final product. So

066we began with the committee with shared learning and our first times together were in training research-based instructional strategies based on the way the brain works and the way students learn. So we began there and I knew the very first day we were in training with the committee that we were going to end up with an exemplary instructional framework. How did I know that? The rich conversations, the deep questioning, the reflection, the application that they were already thinking about how do we take this back to our classrooms. So there was exceptionalism already with the committee on those training days. And so we were looking very forward to what was to come. We began a roadmap where we planned out how are we going to get to this final product. We knew we needed to have our

067leadership drafting but we also wanted the input of the committee. So we met multiple times with the committee and they definitely had a voice. They did lots of revisions, lots of reflective thinking and were just dynamic in this process. So we thank all of them and celebrate all of their work. After the road map, we then created the instructional framework again with all the help of the leadership, the committee, lots of voices and then we submitted and it was due by December 12th and we were early on delivery of the product but uh I do want to share with you that um TEA scores these and they give us feedback on them. proud to say that TEA scored at 21 of 21 points. Every single area was exemplary and our coach told us we will

068be using this as a model in the future. So congratulations. I also really want to point out that um every instructional framework across the state of Texas has a vision, belief statement, and stakeholder actions. Yours is unique in that your leadership team and committee felt like there's two really important pieces that we want to add. So they're unique to Brennham ISD. No one else has these in their instructional framework. It is the commitment statements. They're beautiful, well-written and heartfelt. Very much passion of your leaders and your committee. Also, um you will notice there's a monitoring piece there because we recognize how important accountability is and how important progress monitoring of our students is as well. So, those are unique to Brennham ISD. Um this work is important in any district that we visit, any district

069that we work with. It's very important. I want to share with you that it's personal to me. I was born in Brennham. My grandfather was a longtime Washington County uh commissioner. I reside here in Brennham. My daughter is Jillian, junior high principal. And I have two beautiful children at Krowy Elementary, Aubrey and Graham. So, the work to me is also personal. Um I I feel like it's such a privilege to be here with you this evening. I want you to know that the process mattered, the product mattered and definitely the people that collaborated to create this matter as well as the people that it will impact our students. So I would like just to I I want to share the vision because this is a compelling call to action in Brennham ISD. Our vision is

070to build a community of confident, proficient, and independent readers, writers, and communicators. Through systematic, and rigorous literacy instruction grounded in research-based practices, all learners will be empowered with the skills and knowledge to pursue excellence by leading and contributing in the world of endless possibilities. Definitely a compelling call to action. Um, I just want to say it's been a privilege to work with Brennan ISD. You have an outstanding group of leaders. Um, I I I say let's give them all a round of applause. They're amazing. Thank you, Miss Graham. It was such a privilege to learn beside Mo Casey and Miss Graham. And then there was Cindy, too. And one day they came in and I'd written all this stuff with the committee and she's like, "Sarah, we're going to work on alignment today and we're

071going to cuddle." And it was so powerful because then I was able to see like I was able to see alignment which was important. So thank you for all of your coaching and your support of Brennham. You know I think what you see here and and it was so important to hear from the teachers voices um and that committee that we listed all of their names because it really is owned by the Burnham ISD educators. Um what you see in that framework is the what right? So now the next step is how. So, how do we empower and equip every educator in Burnham ISD for every classroom every day to know how to to deliver and how to provide that level of instruction and that's the next part of the journey that we go on

072is this implementation piece. Um, but we're equipped and empowered and ready and believe strongly in this work. Um it's a life mission for us and so we're excited about it and just really um want to thank Mo Casey for their partnership and then certainly want to thank every educator that participated. So we're excited to share it with you. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Is that it? >> I'd like to apologize first for my coughing fit. You would think at 44 years old I knew how to chew a peppermint. So that's on that's on me. Um I I am I was so ecstatic to see this come through. Um because we have been tasked with this community to to find a better way to educate our kids and to to align everybody and and I hope if

073nothing comes out of this meeting that this is on a banner across 36 and 290 and everything else about the strides we're making and the things that we're doing and and we heard you and and we're doing it and Clay's been working hard with his staff and Sarah and everybody and this entire district and every teacher and every parah and everybody. body and it's just so I can't I don't I don't have enough positive words to say about how excited I am about this because it shows that we listened and it shows that this is where we want to be and this is step one and so I could not be prouder of this committee. Thank you for your hard work. 21 to 21 exemplary. I mean I don't know how you can get any

074better. So amazing work guys. Thank you'all for everything. Thank you for listening. Thank you for digging in. Thank you for believing in the dream that we all have about how great BISTC can be. And I just can't see enough positive things. So just thank you all so much. >> Thank you so much for first I this just gives me goosebumps. This is something that is so important and sometimes as a parent we don't realize that we just want our children to learn how to read right and be able to do math. But this pulls everything together. It helps everyone to know that it's not about third grade. We don't have to worry about how to read anymore because we already do. It's it's something that's a life lesson there. and all of you working together

075from all the different languages, the the different subjects, the different campuses, you pulled it all together. That's great. I mean, and Mo Casey, my gosh, they they are famous, too. Uh they've been around a while. So, uh we are so proud of you all. We know that you're going to great go to great lengths to get all of these kids where they need to be, but this is something for the whole community. I mean, this this is great. and we do appreciate you. And those test scores are going to come up, but we've got a lot of work to do in order to do that. But y'all are on the y'all are right there on the top. Thank you so much, Sarah. And >> it was them. It was the team. It was >> I

076love listening to y'all talk because when y'all talk around the what you're working on, uh it it's a whole different language, but it's wonderful to know. You know, you know, everybody thinks it's easy to teach, right? Um, but y'all have done a fabulous job. Thank you so much. >> So, I apologize if I don't put together a coherent thought because when I saw this item on the agenda, I said to myself, and I thought about not saying this because I didn't know how it would go over. I'm coming to this board meeting for one agenda item only. And then once that one agenda item is done, I can leave because this is basically why we're here. Mr. OG said it perfectly, the chief job of schools is learning and teaching to grow our future of

077our community. And we as a board get so few opportunities to be intimately involved in the actual learning that goes on and we just see scores on a screen and we don't really understand why they are what they are. We kind of do because we're smart folks and we do research and we find out but we really don't know. And so when I got a call from Mr. Hafner, I would say probably two and a half years ago, he told me, he said, "Archer, I have this really awesome person that I want to recruit to come join our team at Brennham." And I said, "Tell me about this person." And then he said, "Well, she is solution tree. She is P PCL's. She is all that stuff." And then we had a conversation and then

078she got hired and then she started building her team and her team is so amazing and you guys are doing such great work that this is the stuff that matters. This is the stuff we have to be able to read. We have to be able to read be because reading is the foundation of everything else we do. If we can't read, we're not going anywhere. I'm almost in tears about this because I'm so excited because we as a board don't get to see this work and it's happening. We had to get people in the boat and then we had to make sure we're going in the right direction and then we had to make a plan to go in the right direction and then we had to take the right steps and it's just finally

079happening and I'm so thrilled, so excited about it and I'm sorry for losing myself a little bit but this is why I go in the board. This is why I wanted to be here because I wanted to influence learning. That's what it's about for me. Influency learning and this does that. So, thank you so much. I'm so thrilled about this. Thank you very much. I I won't match that passion, but my sincerity hopefully. I love it, man. It's you're exactly right and it's it's why we all came on and I love the the passion for it and I and hopefully as a teacher you and educators you're encouraged by that because that's what we all stand for. I just want to say this. Thank you so much for going beyond just the consonants and the

080vowels and the phonics all the way to the critical thinking and the intentionality because every kid doesn't learn to read by third grade. There's challenges that certain kids has as we all know. And so if at eighth grade that clicks great because everything's in place for that. Thank you for being so intentional and not just checking a box and uh doing something that I I think is going to be a keystone moment for our school district for a very long time. And uh we start hosting people when they're like how did you do this and like let us show you. So this is this is the part of the uh uh the resurgence of Brennham ISD our education and I can't wait which our goal is you know again to be that um that shining

081star in the educational uh uh you know universe here in Texas and I think we're on our way. So I love it. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it. >> Well, y'all have the support of the board, so get out. Let's go. >> We can't wait to see it. >> I love it. Okay. Next, uh, Chief Financial Officer Dale Stlair and our district financial adviser, Steve Perry, uh, will present a financial update. Gentlemen, >> yes, our financial adviser, Stephen Perry, is here to give us an update uh, on our finances in relation to the bond sale that's upcoming uh, in the very near future. So, I'll go and turn that over to him and then I'll be back to do my regular report after that. >> Thanks, Darl. >> Thank you. Uh, Mr. President, board members, Mr. Gillantine.

082U, we're getting close to bond sale time, so I thought I would come and give you an update on what the status of that that process is. There's been a lot going on in the last few months since you passed your election. Uh, so the plan right now is for me to be back here in roughly a month with a completed bond sale. Uh but wanted to give you a sense for for what that looks like. So if we could go to the next page. U this is something that obviously I'm keeping an eye on is is what's happening with interest rates. This matters to uh your debt service payments. So my job as your financial adviser is to make sure those are as low as possible within the the things that I can control.

083Uh so just an idea of where rates are. Um you know long-term rates are they're they're good. Um, you know, this last summer they spiked a little bit. They're back down. Uh, thankfully we're within a month of of the time that we plan to sell. So, uh, don't expect a whole lot more volatility between now and then. You know, anything can happen, but um, we are within the, uh, the range that we established, the the sort of budget that we set for the interest rate on the bonds that we're going to sell. So, you'll see here in a couple pages, we still fully expect to be within the no tax rate increase promise that we've made. on the next page uh where we are in the process. We have applied for and received conditional approval

084for the PSF guarantee which is critical because that's your AAA rating on the bonds. Investors then see that your bonds are guaranteed by the state. They're AAA. Um you know, one of the next steps that we'll go through is is to establish the district's underlying credit rating. You have one already from Moody's Investor Service, but we'll talk to him here in a couple weeks and and get all that put into place. Uh we've been putting the official statement together which is your perspectus. So all that's been circulated, got comments from your bond attorneys. Uh and then the critical part of this is is uh you know my job as your financial adviser again is is to negotiate the interest rates on your behalf. So uh we put together a team. It's a team that uh

085you've worked with before. They underwrote your last bond issue. Uh these folks are all you know top two or three uh underwriters in the state, top uh you know five in the nation. So, it's a group that I'm comfortable that uh whenever it comes down to it that we'll be able to get on market interest rates. Uh so, I'll come back to you and I'll show you how all that's worked out. Um by bringing you data points, I'll show you how you priced comparable to other school districts pricing bonds. So, you'll be able to see it's my job and I I do get questioned on this by my firm and regulators to make sure that you got good uh bond pricing and good interest rates. Uh so like I said, I'll be back to you

086February 17th and then we'll close on that financing roughly 30 days later. You'll have money in the bank uh a March 17th is currently the plan and you'll get all $39 million. I'll show you here in a second. There are some other sources uses of funds, but the objective is to make sure that you have the full $39 million to complete your construction projects. So, uh, because we're selling right now, closing in March, you know, payment cycles are February 15th, a August 15th. You'll have an August 15, 2026 interest payment, but we will set aside some of the bond proceeds to make that payment. Call it capitalizing interest. It's a very common practice. Uh, but um, we'll we'll show you how that works here in a second. And then you give yourselves the ability, this

087is again another standard feature, to prepay these bonds in 10 years. So, if you get out to 10 years, uh you want to refinance, interest rates are lower, we've got the ability to do that in 10 years. On the next page, u small print here, my apologies for that. I have a little trouble seeing it myself, but um so just based on where your uh your tax base uh modest growth in the tax base, your bond payments, uh state aid that you receive uh for hold harmless because of the different adjustments in the homestead exemption, and then projected payments on roughly $38.2 million worth of bonds. That $38.2 $2 million nets you $39 million and I'll show you how. But uh the interest rate right now as I ran it last time about 4.62% and

088I was budgeting 5%. So uh we do that to be conservative. And if you look all the way to the right, one of the most important things uh your INS tax rate this year is 8 cents and it stays at 8 cents. And then uh after roughly your outstanding bonds from uh previous bond issues pay off in 2042, it drops down a little bit. on the next page uh to show you the sources and uses of funds. So all the money that we raise is it's airtight. We have to prove up to the attorney general that we raised a certain amount of money and that it went to specified allowable purposes. So $ 38.2 million will sell it at more than 100 cents on the dollar. We call that selling at a premium. Uh it

089gives you $39 million for construction. Pays that interest payment. We pay the underwriters. That's a I think should be a conservative estimate, but it'll be in that ballpark. Uh these are market rates that we pay to everybody. Uh you're not paying any more than any other school districts. I make sure of that on your behalf. Again, I have a fiduciary responsibility to make sure that you're getting a good deal. Uh and then cost of issuance that pays myself, your bond attorneys, rating agencies, uh and after that you have roughly uh you know $500 a year fee uh to pay for a paying agent, but everything gets paid at closing. On the next page, I have a breakdown of the cost of issuance. Again, myself, financial adviser, Norton Rose Fulbright, your bond attorneys. Uh we pay

090a fee to the attorney general. uh and then some other small fees and then we pay Moody's the rating agency to rate your bonds. So yeah, this is uh these are all fairly standard processes. Um so certainly glad to to answer questions. Uh I didn't want to come back to you and on February 15 17th and hit you cold with this. So certainly open to questions, comments. >> So uh one quick question on on the so when the money is available March 17th, uh we passed some resolutions in the past to kind of repay for um deductibles and things that we have already paid for. So do we have do we and this may be a Darl question. Do we have amount of money do do we know what that lump sum is that would

091go back into the general fund? Has that been calculated yet at this point? And >> no, it has not been calculated to the penny yet. Uh, but we >> is there a rough estimate or something that like Yeah, it doesn't have to be exact, but I mean, do we have a rough and and I'm I don't want to put you on the spot, but can we report that in the next board meeting? That way we we can that way we have a general idea and that way the public's aware, hey, yes, we did pass this $39 million bond. Um we did have some expenses in the in the spring of last year uh in relation to some you know the insurance claims and things that went on at at several campuses. Um we still have

092you know roofs that we need to put on some schools permanent roofs we need to put on some schools that will be deductibles that are associated with that. So, just trying to make sure we gather all that data and be as again as transparent as possible um of the use of the funds because I I don't want somebody to say, "Well, you guys got $39 million and immediately a million bucks went into your general fund." Like, I just it's we've been discussing this. I just want to be as transparent and open and um and you know I want I want everyone to be aware of the process and that that resolution was passed back in May august August. August. That resol was back in August. Sorry, my months. Yeah, it's been Yeah, the resol, you

093know, we passed a resolution August. I just want to make sure that everyone is aware of that full circle and and the reason why that resolution was passed um with the understanding that some lump sum of money from this bond was going to go back into the general fund. >> Right. The only number that I can tell you straight out of my head without looking is the roughly $117,000 that was our part to pay outside of the insurance payment that we received from TASBY for the hell damage that's been done so far for all the repairs that were done during the summer. Uh basically our part was about $17,000 on what's already been done. So that and then anything else that's come along which nothing jumps out at me just trying to think right now.

094Uh there's probably been a couple of things we can go back and reclassify uh once we sit down and take a good long look at it. Uh but it should be at least that much. Maybe, you know, maybe another $50 to $100,000. I might just off the top of my head say. >> Okay, perfect. Yeah. Again, I just trying to make sure that because we pass a resolution, I want to make sure it's I mean, I don't don't want to lose it off of our radar. I want to make sure that that does happen. And I obviously I have full trust and faith in you guys um to make sure that happens. Just want to again make sure it's on the record. We've we've talked about it and discussed it as well. >> Yeah. Uh

095Justin and I touched base about this the other day, too. Um yeah, we've met Justin, uh Daryl and I and and Scott, uh Christie, uh we've met quite a few times about this subject. So, uh we've got uh Scott's got a small running list of things that uh we feel like could qualify. So, um, I didn't give you a heads up that he was going to ask that, but I knew you could kind of ballpark uh answer the question. So, >> thank you. >> On the day of closing, whenever funds are all transferred, we will have a line item, and it's it's a standard line item in all my closing documents uh that says reimbursement to general fund. So, and that reimbursement resolution that you passed is good for 18 months. So, even let's say

096you have a couple hundred thousand at closing that you want to reimburse, if you think of something after the fact, the door's not closed. You can still, if you've got bond proceeds sitting aside, if something else comes up that you remember, you can still reimburse after we close, but but we do like to close it all up on the day of closing. Um, probably two questions, but I know for sure one here. Uh, I know you said the first payment was due in August, so it's not a lot of time, but uh, is that this on the next slide here, the outstanding payment, that's the 2 million uh 12,823. Is that what that is? There's actually a payment and because we're capitalizing it, it's in the fis it's in this fiscal year. >> So it

097would be another payment that's up. So let's say that we didn't capitalize that. You would add another $800,000 to the next fiscal year, which would take us over our 8 cent projection and that's why we capitalized that payment. So uh in essence, it's just not there because it's been capitalized and provided for. So I could have had >> another line above this basically. Got it. Okay. I could have had a payment there and then next to it I would have said capitalize so it nets out to zero. >> Makes sense. Um so my my other question is outside of that payment and outside of our reimbursement the uh the 38 roughly million dollars and change that's going to be deposit 39 million. We'll just round it up. Um once that goes in and this may

098be a twoerson question but don't get up unless you have to. um once it's deposited and we have the tax class funds, we have all the other funds that they put it in, uh I'm assuming it's going to be allowed to gain interest. I know the interest rates aren't >> terrible, but they're not great. Whatever, right? >> Um is there a rule on the amount of interest we're allowed to collect and a time frame on how we have to spend it versus interest we're allowed to get? Sure. Can you shed some light on the interest rate and how that works with it sitting in the bank for a little bit? >> Yes. No, very good question. So, uh that issue is uh we call it arbitrage. So, uh because you're expecting right now to earn

0994.6 or I'm sorry, your interest rate is going to be about 4.6%. Text pool right now is you know at its highest about 3.8%. So, you have to have an expectation you're going to spend all 30 all $39 million within the first three years. um we're not expecting there to be arbitrage because the rate that you're going to earn on your investments is less than the rate that it cost you to borrow. So that was not the case just a few years ago and we were very vigilant and you still need to be vigilant about you know tracking how much interest you've earned. But right now, because it cost you more to borrow than you can invest, it's you need to track it, but it's not a concern about having to rebate any of that

100to the IRS. Because the IRS expectation is, let's say that short-term interest rates on your earnings were 5%. They would want everything above 4.62% between 4.62 and five to come back to them. >> Right. Yeah. That they call that arbitrage. Um, so right now it should not be a concern, but you know, if we see for whatever reason short-term rates go up, if you get a new Fed governor that starts hiking Fed funds, then we'll be on top of that to make sure that there are not rebate issues. >> Does anybody else have any more questions or can we move on to the financial update with Mr. >> Sinclair? Thank you so much. We appreciate you being here. >> Thank you all. Have a good night. >> Yes, sir. Thank you. >> Look forward to

101good news next month. All right, Darl, please proceed. >> All right, good evening officially. Uh we do have our usual uh information here for budget versus actual investment reports and tax collection data. Uh you'll see here that our total revenues so far this year pushing 40 million. This is as of the end of December pushing 40 million out of our budgeted 66 million. So we've already collected about 60% of our revenue for the year overall. And our expenses right now are combined expenses between the general fund, food service fund, and debt service fund are just about 18 million out of about 66 million. So we're running at about 27% of our total uh expected expenses for the year. Uh obviously I've mentioned before we are taking the balance of the money that we don't need

102right now and putting that into our pool investments uh where we are earning a little bit better interest. Uh and as Steve just said, they're still running at about 3.8 to 3.9%. Uh so as he said, definitely below the 4.6 six that we plan to to uh have to spend on on the bond uh sale that we're going to have coming up. But uh I just had investment training today actually my annual investment retain u investment training and it was pointed out that the expectation is only very minor reductions for the foreseeable future in the interest rate and uh probably at the at worst case scenario uh flattening out somewhere just north of 3% that would be a while not like in the next month or two but in the long term over the course

103of the rest of the here. So hopefully no less than 3%. Hopefully we'll keep it up, you know, keep it up a bit higher, three and a half% or so for a while so that we can earn some interest. Uh and yes, I actually have thought about checking, haven't done it yet, but checking to make sure that we do have uh a text pool andor text class, Texas class account set up. I believe we do already have a construction account in both those pools set up so that once we have our bond sale, we'll have a place to put the money uh very quickly. probably have it actually wired there directly, I would imagine, and then we'll move it back into our local accounts as we need to to start making payments. So, yes, it'll

104be handled pretty much like we handle our excess revenue uh at different times of the year. We'll keep it in the highest earning accounts, obviously, so we can make as much as we can off of that. And next, we have our investment reports. Again, you can see there that the rates are staying pretty close to 4%. It's about a percent and a half less than it was last month. So, again, not a huge drop. Nothing dramatic. Uh it's been just ever so slightly dropping over the last, you know, 6 months or so. Uh we were closer to 4.6 or seven, I believe, about six or eight months ago. So we have dropped noticeable amount but it is staying fairly steady now and hoping it won't drop too much more in the near future. And finally

105our tax collection report we were sitting at about 13% in current collections at the end of November. We're now up to about 61%. So again as we as we expect uh December and starts in November December and even currently in January we have a lot of tax collections coming in uh which again allows us to take some of that excess money we don't need in the immediate future and move it to our investment accounts. So things are being collected as we would expect at this point in the year. Any questions about any of that information? >> Thank you as always. We appreciate the update. Thank you for taking the time to do it every every month for us. >> You're welcome. No problem. >> Okay. Since you're up here, would you like to go over

106the approval of additional purchasing co-ops? >> Yes. Our next item there, I um been talking to my staff trying to get a a firm handle on what we have available to us and what maybe what some additional needs are. Although we do have quite a few co-ops that we belong Let me let me back up a little bit. So just kind of overall overview here, a purchasing cooperative is simply a group of vendors that have uh completed bid paperwork that have done the the necessary submissions to a an entity that runs the cooperative. Basically, they do for us what we could do for ourselves individually if we had a whole team of people that could be sending out setting up RFPs and RFQS. uh RFPs all the time and setting up bids and then gathering

107that information, reviewing it, adopting and putting these these vendors on our official list. Uh we rely heavily on our our purchasing cooperatives that we're members of as long as we join a cooperative. Then we have access to all the vendors that are already members of that cooperative. So, it just gives us a lot more bang for our buck and our time to be able to access these these other vendors at in most cases reduced prices. Uh, it's not always a guarantee that you're going to get a reduced price because you went to a vendor who's on a co-op versus just going to the vendor directly, but most of the time we do get reduced pricing. So, it saves us money, it saves us time, and it gives us access to a lot of other vendors.

108Uh one thing to note also as far as compliance is concerned uh just recently the law did change this last uh session to where now we have the availability to spend up to $100,000 in the aggregate for an entire fiscal year on certain commodity items and the items we kind of have to define what our commodities are. We are doing that now with commodity codes. So for example we have commodity code for office supplies. We have a commodity code for athletic supplies. We actually have it broken down a little bit more than that, but uh we do have defined commodity codes that we're applying to our POS now, so we can track our expenses so we can know how much we're spending uh on these different commodities. And as long as we stay under the

109$100,000 mark for the year, then we can basically buy from the vendors, whichever vendors we choose. The problem is if you start approaching that $100,000 mark before the fiscal year is over or if you exceed it, then you either need to be buying from vendors who are on a cooperative where all the bid documentation's been collected and and documented that we have access to or you have to do the bidding yourself. And so they're again saving us time because we have access to these vendors and saving us issues with being compliant with our expenses. And as you might well gather on a $66 million budget, there's going to be some commodities that we're going to break that $100,000 threshold. It was only $50,000 until this last legislative session. It's been at $50,000 for about 10

110or 12 years. So they just doubled it, which is helpful. But there are still some, you know, issues. We could run into problems if we are not buying our products from vendors who are who have gone through the bidding process, the competitive bidding process. So again, this just give us adding these additional three uh cooperatives that I've requesting here. The central Texas purchasing alliance, the uh purchasing solutions alliance, and the source cooperatives. By adding those, we get access to additional vendors. There will be some overlap. There's a lot of overlap on the different cooperatives that are out there. So, I'm not saying that we're going to have a whole new set of vendors we don't have access to at all. There is overlap, but we do gain several new ones that we don't currently have

111on different cooperatives. And I've had my staff check on this to make sure it's, you know, actually worth our while to do this. And and I think it will be. So basically that's the whole pitch if you want to say that uh of why we should uh join these three additional cooperatives and give us some more flexibility and help keep us in compliance with a uh streamlined approach to cost and time and money. >> Okay. In the um the budgetary considerations I want to make sure I'm reading this right. This is at an expense of $150 and the other for the Central Texas Purchase Alliance and the other two alliances are cooperatives are free to join. >> Yes. And all right, >> there are some cooperatives that charge a lot of them are free. A

112lot of them charge a fee to the vendors so that the members, the districts or local governments, and it's not just school districts, it's local governments, counties, cities, um, so that we don't have to pay a fee. So, >> okay. Well, I mean, at at $150 expense, I think it it's a no-brainer for us. So, >> per year. Yeah. >> Per year. I understand. >> Pretty inexpensive. I I hope that the cooperatives drive competition to have a return of greater than $150. So yeah, on on that note, I will approve I would like to make a motion to approve the additional purchasing co-ops as presented. >> I'll say >> Okay, Justin Collies made a motion seconded by Kelvin Raven to approve the additional purchasing co-ops as presented. All in favor? >> All opposed? Motion carries.

113By far the cheapest thing we've ever bought. Thank you. >> Okay. Next, we have the consent agenda. We can pull any items or approve the entire agenda as presented. >> I would like to make a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. >> I'll second that. >> Archer Archer has made a motion seconded by Bonnie Brickmire to approve the consent agenda as presented. All in favor? I >> all opposed. Motion carries. Uh, next we have monthly reports for information purposes which leads us to executive session. An exe executive session will be held for the purpose authorized by the Texas Open Meetings Acts, Texas Government Code section 551.071, consultation with attorney and 551.07 for personnel matters. The board of trustees went into an executive session at 7:37 p.m. According to the Texas Open Meetings Act,

114Texas Government Code Chapters 551071, consultation with attorney 55074 and personnel matters. All final votes, actions, or decisions will be taken in open meetings. Thank you. Why you that Uh the board uh reconvene an open meeting at 8:31 p.m. Um what is the will of the board? like to make a motion to extend the superintendent contract one year through March 30th, 2029. >> A second. >> A motion has been made by Kyle Hafner to extend the superintendent's contract by one year through March 30th of 2029. All in favor? >> I. >> All opposed? Motion carries. Congratulations, Clay. Thank you for all your hard work, sir. >> It is with no more business before the board at 8:31. We are adjourned. Thank you all for coming and thank you for being here.