001The board of trustees of the Harris County Department of Education is now convened in a regular board meeting on Wednesday, December 17th, 2025 in room 401 at 6300 Irvington Boulevard, Houston, Texas at 10:04 p.m. We wish to extend a warm welcome to everyone present at this meeting of the board of trustees. As trustees, we are here to set goals, listen to reports from the superintendent, approve budgets, contracts, personnel appointments, and set policy for the district. It is not the role of the board to make day-to-day operational decisions. The management and day-to-day operations of the department are the responsibility of the superintendent. We have policies and procedures in place to resolve concerns and issues. This is a public meeting of the board of trustees, not a meeting of the public. Prior to this meeting, board members
002received information related to items on today's agenda. Agenda items will not necessarily be held in the order listed on the notice. The meeting is open to all who wish to attend and hear the matters discussed. During the course of this meeting, the board may determine that a closed session is necessary. In that event, the board will meet in close session to consider matters duly posted for this meeting as permitted by section 551.071 to 551.084, inclusive of the Texas government code. I respectfully ask that you please refrain from talking while others are speaking and that cell phones are turned off or in silent mode. Thank you for thank you for taking time today to join us and for your interest in the Harris County Department of Education. Welcome everyone. Uh welcome to our guests. We have
003guests here today. Uh my family is here and so I'd like to rec uh take a privilege the privilege of recognizing them. Uh my husband Dr. Ankalino Hosa is here [applause] and and my son Ankalino Hosa Jr. is here [applause] and then my other son Gavin couldn't make it today. Um but I want to welcome them here and uh just grateful they are the ones that support me and give me space to be here and do all the things I love to do here for the department. Um, so thank you. And I want to recognize um my sons who just wrapped up their semester at the University of Houston. Um, I've got two baby chemical engineers. Uh, Angel Jr. is a is a junior at at UFH and then Gavin is a freshman. We've got
004mostly A's, some B's, and and one very hard fought and one C plus. I'm super proud of. So, [applause] okay. So we will move on to invocation uh with Dr. Cheney school climate of and culture specialist center for safe and secure schools. >> Good afternoon. Can we bow our heads? Heavenly Father, we come before you with grateful hearts seeking your wisdom and guidance. As our leaders in this board gathers to make decisions that impact our students, staff, and the entire community, we ask that you direct our hearts and minds toward what is just. compassionate and beneficial for all all. Lord, help us to keep a spirit of service and humility, always remembering those who are most in need. Remove any distractions or motives that do not serve the greater good, and fill us with clarity,
005unity, and purpose. Give our leaders wisdom and wise counsel when they are called to make tough decisions, reminding us that the people we serve are most important. As we approach the December break and prepare for the year ahead, we pray for your protection over every student, educator, family, and constituent. May peace, safety, and joy surround our schools and homes. Guide us to lead with integrity and love so that every decision reflects your grace and care. We ask this in your holy name. Amen. >> Amen. And next for the pledge of allegiance, we have Janie Boston Gibson, project coordinator, special initiatives case for kids. >> Good afternoon. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice
006for all. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas. One state under God, one and indivisible. Thank you. [clears throat] Okay. The next item on agenda is the open forum which will be held in accordance with the Texas government code section 55 section 5510007 and HCDE board policy BED local pursuant to policy BEED local. At meetings of the board, individuals who desire to speak to the board must have completed a participation request card available at the boardroom at least 10 minutes at prior to the board meeting. We received one request card from individuals who will speak. Per HCDE board policy, each individual will have no more than five minutes to speak. The board secretary will track each speaker's time. When your time has expired, please stop talking and return to your seat. In
007accordance with board policy, be advised that complaints and concerns for which other resolution channels are provided shall be directed through those channels. If I as president officer determine that an individual has not attempted to solve a matter administratively, the individual be will be directed to the appropriate policy to seek resolution before bringing the matter to the board at a subsequent meeting. Further, please note that the board will not tolerate dis disruption of the meeting by members of the audience. If after at least one warning from me as presiding officer, any person who continues to disrupt the meeting by his or her words or actions will request I will request assistant from law enforcement officials to have the person removed from the meeting. When I call your time, please identify your affiliation, make a presentation not
008to exceed 5 minutes and identify the remedy sought. Identify the remedy sought if any. And with that, uh I will call our speaker Anthony Motton. How you doing, madam? Um, I'm here to just uh well, let me begin by saying hello board. Let me greet you guys as well. It's good to see each of you. Madam President, I hope that my disposition the last time we met was not too rough. Uh, but you have to understand what I've been managing for the past couple of years. I'm sure you've heard on those drives. um you know the the Keystone Cop type uh things that were done and said to be honest with you I'm a little surprised that Mr. Park and Mr. Cobbert are still sitting here today after the information that you heard on those
009drives. So I'm here today as I said to either um we pence, you know, pay my penance to what I've been said that I've done or for someone to say that I haven't done it because I'm standing flatfooted to say that I've never done anything to a child. Never. [snorts] So I'm here to pay judgment. So what say you madam president? [snorts] So this is the tactic. We're going to sit and wait for the five minutes to expire and then just have me leave. This is the tactic. No one here has anything to say about what you heard on those drives. No one here has anything to say about that. Character. Character matters. Right. So, silence says it all. Miss Sarah, how you doing? This what we doing? >> This what we doing? >> Yes.
010I would just I would just say that per applicable law, the board is restricted um in how it may respond um because this matter is not on the agenda. Uh the board is only allowed to deliberate items that are on the specifically listed as an agenda item um per applicable law and as outlined in policy B legal and local >> can all right >> you can only provide specific factual information or recitation of existing policy. Um, I'm advising the board as your legal counsel um to comply with applicable law. >> It's time to pay, bro. I'm coming. >> So, hopefully someone here can My time is up. >> Okay. Thank y'all. Have a good day. I'll be back next board meeting and we'll try it again. Okay. Hopefully y'all can place me on the board
011agenda. Madam President, thank you. Have a good day. Now please don't >> Moving on to reports and presentations. >> Uh so we have public hearing on the annual financial management reports for fiscal year 2025. >> [laughter] >> You know, this is his last board meeting, so [laughter] he wanted to make sure everybody was standing here as long as possible. [laughter] >> Yeah, please. >> This is correct. Yes. Uh this is the annual financial management report as required by Texas Education Agency. Again, we're not uh given a rating, but we adapt the indicators to HCD. And so that's what you're going to see uh in this presentation. Um and this was the result of the Senate 76 legislature that ensures that entities will be held accountable for quality financial management practices, disclosing of local financial decisions
012and encourage to manage financial resources better. Again, this started back in 2001 in the 77th legislature and it's under chapter 109 uh of the Texas Administrative Code. So the financial disclosures that are required is the current contract for the superintendent, reimbursements uh for mileage, lodging and other um u expenses, compensation of fees received by the superintendent, any gifts received of $250 or more by or declared by the board of members, any business transactions between a board member um to to be disclosed. So there are 20 indicators uh included in the first we adapt 16 of those of which 15 of those were met. Uh the first one is the uh caffer timely presented uh 2025 and 2024 and that will be you will receive the uh financial report up on a timely manner. Um today
013uh unmodified opinion uh again for both years issued an unmodified opinion for the department uh was the department in compliance with payment terms of all debt agreements and yes we were in compliance in both years. Did the department make timely payments to TRS DWC and the IRS and other governmental agencies? Again the indicator was met for for both years. Uh indicator number five, uh total unrestricted net position balance uh greater than zero. Again, this is the one that we don't meet because of the pension that the state of Texas requires us to book for the department. And so that's the the only one that we don't uh we don't meet because we're not a standalone entity. We're part of the TRS system. Financial indicator number six, the average change in fund balance over the last
014three years less than 25%. Again we met the actual change was not a deficit but in in it was an increase of 14%. The number of days of cash on hand current of investments and general fund we're at 172 uh very steady from last year at 176. Uh financial indicator number eight was the current assets to current liability liabilities ratio. Uh again we're uh strong at seven. We had uh uh six uh last year. Most organizations are at one or two. We're at seven as you can compare to to other entities. Financial indicator number nine, the general fund revenues equal or exceed expenditures including excluding facility acquisitions. And uh we were at uh 4.3 this year. Last year we were at 5 million. So we met those those requirements. Was the average uh department's average
015less than 10% variance when comparing to budget? Our variance was 3% and so we're within the 10% variance. Was the ratio of long-term liabilities to total assets for the department sufficient to support long-term solveny? Again, we're at 63%. Last year, we're at 62%. So, that's a very healthy ratio. Indicator number 12, the correlation of future debt requirements and the assessed property value. We're at the average at 1.87, 87 which is very low. That means that we're not overly uh issuing debt uh based on the on the value that is assessed in the um in the organization or in the in the in the county. Indicator number 13 is not applicable. Indicator number 14 is not applicable because we don't have students. Number 15 again we don't have students uh uh in the traditional sense that
016they're uh part of the ADA. Number 16, uh, PIMS. We don't submit PEIs to TEA, so it's not applicable. 17, um, were there any disclosure of material weaknesses and internal controls? Again, this was met. We did not have any disclosure for both years. And then number eight, did the external auditor indicate was free of instance of material non-compliance or grants contract laws for related state and federal funds? Again, the indicator was met. We did not identifiy any instances that were not identified in the U audit for 25 or 20 24 indicator number 19. Did we um department post the required financial information on the website? Yes, all the indicator was met. In fact, uh the department has five transparency stars that all our information is posted on the website. Number 20. Did the board members
017discuss the property values at a board meeting within the 120 days before the budget was adopted? Yes, it was discussed priorly prior adopted on July the 30th. And so that that indicator was met. Uh that's the information uh for the the uh department. What questions do you have? >> Any questions from the board? >> Thank you, Dr. >> [clears throat] >> All right, we will move on. UM AH [applause] [applause] Thank you, Dr. Musa. >> All right, we will move on to employee of the month, Dr. Sylvester. >> President Henosa, board of trustees, Superintendent Colbert. Good afternoon. Today we honor Miss Cecilia Para, Head Start Family Services Coordinator, as our December 2025 employee of the month. [applause] [cheering] Cecilia's commitment to Head Start families is unwavering. She not only supports families with resources and dedicates
018personal time to help others, she is a fierce advocate in the community, helping families take advantage of all the benefits Head Start offers. What sets Siccilia apart is not just her work ethic, but the compassion and generosity she brings to every interaction. Jasmine Emo, family services manager, wrote in her nomination, "She leads with empathy, listens intently to the concerns of families, and helps guide them toward stability and hope during times of uncertainty." Cecilia also spends time actively mentoring her colleagues and childcare partnership directors, demonstrating an extraordinary ability to connect, uplift, and lead others. Her work is based on her knowledge, drive, and heart for others. Her presence is a consistent source of positivity, comfort, and encouragement to the entire Head Start team, from students to staff to families. Our comm teams created a short video
019about Cecilia and her work with Head Start team. >> [music] >> My name is Cecilia Para and I'm a family services coordinator. Like I get to work with [music] family services providers, see what questions they need to ask, get to know the families, get to know the stories of each of our families to be able to provide better services to them. Cecilia is a wealth of knowledge. She really has a heart for the families [music] and not just the families, but the staff that she helps to supervise and mentor. So, she goes beyond the paperwork and beyond what Head Start requires of us to do. She's grown tremendously [music] in her role here at Head Start. [music] Cecilia is our kind of like our mother in the in the team. She's the mediator. She's the
020one who will say, [music] "Well, look at it this way, or how about this?" So, she's that neutral mediator person and she'll allow others who wouldn't normally have a lens [music] to look at it a different way. >> With our family services providers, their [music] win is my win. Being able to mentor them and feels good to know that you are impacting the community by impacting the family services [music] providers and the work that they do. My mom is a single parent. She has um a condition called NF. But despite that, like she did teach me [music] the importance and the value of hard work through all the hardships that she came through, overcome them, and still be able to send me to college, be able to give back to the community. and someone doesn't
021know Cecilia and if I can explain her to them, I [music] would say if you want someone to fight for you and who's compassionate and who will listen to you and who has all the resources in the world, then go [music] to Cecilia. She's your person. You know, I do what I do because I enjoy it. I love it. ACD aligns with my both professional [music] and personal values. The children that we're working with are going to be the ones taking care of me when I'm old age. So, I want to make sure that they're they're well equipped. [laughter] Cecilia deserves to be employee [music] of the month at Harris County Department of Education because for me as her supervisor, I'm the one who knows all the work that she puts in. A lot of
022people don't know and she really she deserves it. >> I'm pleased to introduce to you Mrs. Cedum, our December 2025 employee of the month. [applause] Good job. Congratulations. [applause] >> [applause] >> Okay, we'll move on to the superintendent monthly report. >> Thank you, President Henos. So, just a couple things to report. Last year I had last week I had the opportunity to attend two car giveaways by Gate Bates Collision to our needy family with our head start program. I really want to give a shout out to Bates Collision for 27 years. Vanita, am I right? 50 cars this family has given away. And as I said during those giveaways, folks, it's not the cars. They've impacted 50 families and just such a profound thing when we can have private entities collaborate with public entities to
023help people. And there's just no better way to start your holiday than to see a parent with a needy child get a vehicle and they get free insurance for a year, a gas card for a year, which they did not lend me any of that. I tried, you know, I tried to get in on that. That's not happening. But the car is filled with gifts and the kid gets a bike or a tricycle. It's just it's powerful. And so it's truly a great example of people caring about the people in our society and having an impact in society even though they from the private sector. So I just really want to thank Bates Collision and Head Start. It's the best way to start our our holiday every single year. Uh the other thing I would
024like to say finally, we are heading into our holidays and um we just came from a Christmas celebration on the fifth floor and told the staff how much I appreciate them. This time I want to tell my trustees how much I appreciate you. You know, I've been in this profession for a long time, over 30 years. I I'm not where a mess was at yet. You know, I'm not ready to walk out. But this is folks, I am fortunate. And I have seven exceptional bosses who care about every single person in this room and they care about this organization and they support me as the leader of this organization and help me evolve and grow. And I just want to tell y'all personally, I I want to thank each of y'all for making my life
025better and I love coming here and I appreciate your support and I hope we have a happy holiday. With that, that's all I have. [applause] on to the annual division update. We're going to talk about safe uh center for safe and secure schools. Okay. Is this thing on? Okay. Good afternoon, PR. I'm a little short, so I got to set up. Good afternoon, President Inahosa, board of trustees, Mr. Colbert, general counsel, and our HCD leadership team. My name is Leslie Ethridge and I will be reporting on the 2425 school year for the Center for Safe and Secure Schools. Before I begin, I would first like to introduce my amazing team. When I announce your name, please stand. Jeremy Foster, Janice Oalabi, Robert Marquez, Michelle Calhoun, Dr. Tiffany Cheney, and last but certainly not least, Gil
026Guyiona. [applause] Thank you team. You can be seated. >> Yes, we are varsity, [laughter] hence the sweaters. >> Gil, [clears throat] our mission is to equip schools with integrated safety solutions and mental health support to foster prevention, preparedness, and effective responses. Last year, the Center for Safe and Secure Schools, also known as CS3, celebrated 25 years of excellence. For over two decades, CS3 has been driven by teamwork and defined by impact. We have partnered with schools to deliver comprehensive safety solutions that foster secure and thriving learning environments. Although efforts needed to keep schools safe are constantly evolving, one thing remains the same. Partnerships. In addition to our lost the page, the center for safe and secure schools is a leader in school safety. Our largest partnership is through our membership. Last year we had 23
027ISD members, 19 in county and four out of county. Our district members are part of our emergency operations board. We host quarterly meetings for the board and during these meetings, districts have the opportunity to discuss the numerous challenges they face. This insightful information is one of the many tools the center utilizes to tailor our services to meet the needs of the districts. It also helps us stay grounded in learning. In addition to our HCD web page, we have several media platforms in which we provide information on safety. our monthly safety and wellness tips, our monthly podcasts, and our quarterly newsletters. Our two newest media platforms are Facebook and Instagram. CS3 has four major goals. Our first goal is to expand our visibility on a local, state, and national level. Last year, the center presented at
028eight conferences, six instate and two out of state. Our second goal is to deliver comprehensive trainings that emphasize best practices for emotional and physical safety. We developed a menu of services based on a series framework safety, education, readiness, innovation, and effective solutions. These trainings are designed to promote the best practices as well as compliance with TEA mandated requirements. Our services include a host of topics. The data shows that 52% of our training topics are related to emergency management and 48% of our training topics are related to climate and culture. This was this was create we created this balance of services to help us provide a holistic approach to safety because studies have shown that physical safety is equally important as mental health which falls under the climate and culture topics. The top services and trainings
029we provide are behavioral threat assessments, which is an evidence-based approach to assessing and responding to potential risks. The center received a grant which allows us to assist several to assist and train several ISDs how to operationalize and their mandated behavioral threat assessments. Excuse me, my mouth is dry. She got some water. Reunification, a process to safely uranite students with their families. Oh, aren't you a gentleman? Thank you. Reunification, a process to safely reunite students with their families during critical situations. Safety audits, which is a review of a district's emergency operation plans to implement best practices to ensure compliance with school safety with Texas School Safety Center mandates. emergency management, which helps districts update and implement effective emergency operation plans, also known as EOPS, using core emergency management principles. Excuse me. Youth mental health first aid,
030which teaches and empowers staff to recognize how and to respond to common youth mental health issues. and our leadership academy which equips leaders with foundational knowledge in school safety, emergency preparedness and climate and culture. The center for safe and secure secure schools have provided 25 strong years of important and effective services. Last year the data showed that we served over 14,000 incount educators and over 142,000 indirect students. Aldine, Alleaf, and Cypress Fairbanks were the districts where our service delivery numbers were the highest last year. After each service we provide, we asked participants to complete client satisfactions complete a client satisfaction survey. Last year's survey revealed a 98.4% overall satisfaction rate rating from both internal and external clients. Good job team. Our third goal is to support our internal stakeholders as well. Although the majority of
031our presentations are conducted for our external partners, we also provide training for our internal partners. Annually, we host an emergency preparedness workshop training for all employees. And I hope to see everybody next year. This workshop provides participants with the knowledge needed for emergency situations and the tools to respond to create a safe environment. We also assist our schools division with the development and implementation of their safety and security plans. Earlier this year, we informed that all of our schools will now be subjected to random audits by the first and only school audited as of yet and they had no findings. So, congratulations to them. Our fourth goal is to strengthen our client relationships to deepen our footprint as leaders in safety. We have collaborated with subject matter experts to deliver the best services possible. I
032love you guys are significant contributors to the standard response protocols and the reunification trainings. These are concepts to improve for improving all hazard readiness and coordination. Our partnerships with the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security allows us to receive alerts in reference to national information or threats that possibly affect our our local schools. Our other partnerships include Mental Health America, Harris County Fire Marshall, Harris County Juvenile Probation, Harris County Emergency Management, Texas Department of Family Services, and Operation Lifesaver, which deals with rail safety. Last year, we also partnered with Texas Southern University. We hosted a safety summit bringing together educators, law enforcement, school operations staff, and community members to strengthen and secure learning environments. The agenda featured the latest trends in school safety, emergency preparedness, mental health initiatives, and a and collaborative strategies for
033community engagement. Participants also attended specialized sessions on critical topics such as emergency response planning and mental health support. We also hosted a school counselor symposium. The symposium was designed to provide professional development and recognition for our counselors who often carry the weight and challenges of others while managing their own. The event offered practical strategies and resources to enhance their effectiveness and well-being. It also serves as a platform to celebrate their invaluable contributions to the student success and school safety. And we just have a quick clip. >> [music] >> place and I'm always learning about people. This is my first event with the Harris County Department of Education. You guys have done an amazing job. This is something that all of our counselors need to go to. Today was just a day to like highlight and
034celebrate counselors and just acknowledge what we as counselors do [music] on a dayto-day. So, we were able to get our buckets filled. So, that was actually so amazing. 212 people registered to attend the 2025 symposium. The event was such a success, it was expanded into the Let's Talk Mental Health online series, which I think you guys have a flyer for, which also has been a great success. Our next symposium is scheduled for June 2026, and currently we have 129 people registered to attend. Lastly, we partnered with Alleaf ISD to conduct a reunification exercise, Operation Get Ready, Stay Ready. This was a three-phase exercise that builds capacity for planning, training, and executing family reunification. The first phase was an overview of the reunification process. The second phase included a tabletop presentation and discussion. And the third
035phase, an actual pres exercise will take place in June of 2026. >> Place started lockown. >> The campuses know you do have options. >> [music] >> when it started. [music] >> I think today was great. I think it gave a leaf ISD an opportunity to [music] examine their emergency operation plans to see what works, what doesn't work, and evaluate where the gaps are. So the event that there is an emergency, they will be better prepared. >> Very, very important. I think the partnership between 85SD and Harris County Department of Ed safe and secure schools is critical. [music] Um sometimes you need that thought partner, right? Sometimes when you're so close to the work, you don't see the things that you're missing. And [music] so having that external partnership come on in um to partner with
036us to say, have you thought about that? What about this? Right? So pushing and stretching us in our thinking today has been critical. >> Sure. That that traffic is it's flowing. We'll be able to have clients motivated to do that. We need to have >> if something ever happens, we want our students to be safe, but we also want our parents to [music] understand what we're doing and how it goes and making sure that they know that we're working in the best interest for their kids. >> We've had so many partnerships with all the ISDs throughout [music] Harris County. We're able to look at a wide array of different plans and [music] think about, are there different hazards? Because every school district is different. Some may have more trains. Some may have more bayus and
037things like that in their area. And oftentimes they don't think about those [music] emergencies that can occur because of those things. >> You're 03 46. >> ACD is helping us stay ready. So we don't have to [music] get ready. So I think that I would encourage every ISD to actually uh not just think about their plan or put their plan on paper uh but go through activities [music] like the tabletop where you get a chance to actually walk through the execution of the plan. What happens with ISTDs a lot of times is the support that we need to try to get ourselves organized. We don't [music] always have it. Sometimes you can't even afford it. So the fact that you all provide it uh at a low cost uh and with a high level expertise
038is important. The center is committed to advancing comprehensive strategies that promote safe, supported, supportive, and resilient learning environments. Our work ensures that every student and educator can thrive in an environment designed for safety, well-being, and and academic success. There's no eye in team, but there is one in impact, and that's what we own. My team doesn't just meet expectations. We set the standard for safety and security with results that speak louder than words. Thank you to my to the marketing team, comm's team, REI, and grants division for always helping us to succeed. This concludes my report for the Center for Safe and Secure Schools. I hope everyone has a safe and blessed holidays. Dr. A, who else am I going to fight with from now on? I'm going to miss you. Thank you for your
039time. What questions do you have for me? >> I just like to say, you know, most people don't know this, but our safe and secure schools was actually created by the superintendents in Harris County after Coline. Um, that's been a while ago and our society has changed really drastically in that time. We just saw evidence of why we need programs like that this weekend. We've seen it at the college campuses. We've seen them in other countries, Australia. And you know, our our division does a very very good job. Think about it. She spent quite a bit of time talking about how we're getting into the mental and emotional aspects of this, which is critical. And I think it's an oversight that people aren't seeing. And I love it that we're in that space and bringing
040counselors together to try to be proactive instead of just reactive. Um, this division is on the cutting edge. Um, our our school districts count on us to not only do audits, but to be honest with them. uh TEA is out there who will just I was speaking to a superintendent two weeks ago and literally TEA showed up at one of his campuses to do an audit and so we had to stop our meeting because the phone was going off the hook and they were kind of panicking and I was like you know we have a division that can help you with this. [laughter] So I just want to thank you for your leadership. I want to thank your team. They are sharp. Um earlier in the year I was out visiting a school district and
041y'all had been there I think two or three months prior to me and the superintendent was really gushing about how good of a job y'all did with that school district. And so then he turns me over and introduces me to the school resource officer because we're touring the high school. And the school resource officer said unprompted, "Man, your division was just out here. They did a fantastic job." And so then the principal comes over to introduce me to him and I'm just talking unprompted. The principal says, "Man, your division was just out here. They did an incredible job." I'm like, "Man, you're going to have to make me drive directly over there and tell them how good they done." So, thank y'all for your professionalism. Thank you for staying on point. You know, parents want
042us to educate their kids, but more than that, they want to know their kids are safe. You know, there's many safe environments. the safe learning environments, but we also need to have safe physical [snorts] environments, and y'all help us with that. So, keep up the great work. Thank you. [applause] >> All right, our next division update is case for kids. Where did our presentation go? There it is. Sorry about that. All right. So this is my 24th year here at Harris County Department of Education. [applause] I started here even before Dr. But with his departure. It's me and you, Venita. We are We are the old school. Carlos. >> All right. All right. I don't know if Eduardo counts. He came, he left, he came back. [laughter] So I am so glad to be here
043to present today. Uh case for kids is also a space that tries to keep kids safe, right? Our parents work and schools get out at three. We need safe spaces with enriching activities that keeps kids interests, keeps them learning, and helps working families. So we served 16,841 students last year, over a thousand adults through our professional development as well as the parents of the youth in our programs and worked with that through districts and community partners. Trusty Cantu is not here to see my beautiful map, but this is our map of the programs across the county. So, normally I do a presentation full of videos and pictures talking about the services we provide, but today I am going to tell a different story about our budget. So this year started with a federal hold in
044funds and our head start division, you know, the parents came out and they were the first to get released pretty quickly, but they let adult dead and after school sweat it out a little longer. So we had to wait and it was a very stressful time. Our school districts were worried our we were trying to figure out how to communicate with our families that their programs would not open up if this hole did not get released. But we were grateful to work for such a great agency that was behind us. And we knew that we were protected during this time frame through the work of Mr. Colbert and the board. But we went entered a year in a very difficult modality. We had to still come in and serve those kids and get that up
045and running the second it got released and we did that. But one of the strengths in our programs has always been the diversity of funding streams. As you can see here, we manage a lot of different money. Our budget last year was nine almost $10 million. TEA is a funding source through our 21st century programs. You guys provide a tax base, what we call our HD partnership that grants out to elementary programs. We have debate and ecobot competitions that you support. We also have the leadership academy, but we also leverage funds through our education foundation and in work with our grants department. And with this, we are able to secure funds from places like the Houston Endowment and other foundations. We also administer funds on the behalf of the city and the county as grant
046stewards and administrators as experts in the field. All this funding comes together and one of the key funding partners, the largest funding partner that can make case operate is the Houston Galveston area Council Fund, which is this $1.9 million in the top left green corner. We did not get that contract this year. Our budget this year is $7.9 million. We also used uh we had some other smaller funds that did not come through. But due to the federal changes, the state made changes. So in this case the ripple of the conservative nature of things that are happening at the federal level and the mantra coming down to the state. The state did redirect funds that tied the hands of the Houston Galveistston area council and their ability and did not and restricted the ability of
047them to contract us with that fund. The ripple effect of that is that we have had to eliminate one of our services divisions. So our quality service division which provides professional development provided 65 training sessions this year workshops symposia for the field of outer schooltime professionals. We had services in collaboration with four afterchool initiative partners. Harris County libraries, the precinct one, boys and girls clubs from Houston and Bzoro County. Our smart zone served 70 sites by providing highend curricula and materials that they could check out. We also provided in collaboration with United Way coaching to an outtolearn afterchool network. This division has currently been dismantled. Our Houston out of school time conference which trustee Kantu this year presented at and in former years we also had trustee duhan last year. This conference is uh part
048of that HGAC portfolio. As such you see now I introduce my team. I had to tell you the financials first because this beautiful picture of my folks is a reduction in 10 feet people. So right now I would like my remaining folks to stand up. I have a two I am the senior director. I have two assistant directors, two project managers, four administrative assistants, 17 coordinators and two clerks. [applause] And if everybody can sit. Is Kitra here today? Stand up. Kitra the Kitra is the manager over the quality services division and she has recently sold her house and is moving where? >> Kurville. So unfor so while we have lost folks we are in such a blessed place our people were quality and were hired by school districts and we're and are now working in
049the field next to us instead of with us and so we are uh also we see our manager was able to transition her husband was very happy [laughter] I hear he's been asking for this for a minute so uh so while It was a hardship. Uh we have weathered this storm and maintained morale, but people have new jobs and have been reassigned. And so we're not sure how long this will last. As you see, the other piece of this funds the HVAC fund and the loss of the contract provides match to my other funding stream. So the orange portion of these budgets is repres is the loss of HGAT contributions. So our 21st century funds that come through the TEA see a reduction. Our partnership project sees a reduction. Our youth program event sees a
050reduction and as well as our city connections. And so all of our programs have been um are coming into cuts as well. And we have tightened the belt so that we can continue to serve. We are not seeing a reduction in our youth served this year. So even though we have reduced our PD portfolio, our youth served numbers will remain. So we do that because the partnership project this is your tax base. It's supporting 964 students across these 17 programs. Our 21st century cycle 12 is 886 students. It is in the third year of five. If the federal government ever passes the next budget, uh we have 21st century cycle 11. This is serving 1,474 students, but it is in our final year. So as of August, this grant will be over. But we have
051a solution. So the Texas education has already agency has already released their grant and we are applying for cycle 13 and we are in the process working with our grants department to write this proposal and we started writing it even before it got released because I am an aggressive grant writer and I'm turn all my competitive energies on when it comes time to grant writing. Right guys? >> Yes. Otherwise I'm not very competitive. >> Um So we manage our city connections funding from the city, right? They they come out of their annual budget. This year is the first year you guys in last month mended the budget because it is only $550,000 that they make available, but they go into their own pockets and went over and last year went to 700,000 and this year
052they're going almost all the way up to a million. So this is increasing in interest from the city council members. So, we're very excited about that. Our county connections is also in its last year. So, this was ESSER money. This is part of the CARES Act. So, this was 1 1.4 million supporting over 7,000 students last year. And so, this summer will be the final award year for that. As such, here we go. Not as fun of a presentation as I usually give, but here's the graph. last year's almost 10 million, a 20% reduction this year, and we're not going to go down to this 56. I'm going to tell you right now, that's not happening. We're going to win our cycle 13. >> Yes. And we are [applause] currently working with our education foundation
053to get other donors for our other event work, etc. But if we are unsuccessful, that would be a 50% reduction. So the biggest ripple is in our numbers of kids served after county connections is gone. You will see a 40 at least a 44% reduction in numbers. That's over 7,000 students, which is the big blue portion of our number serve. So again, that's federal money coming through the county. If the county commissioners do not put us into their routine budget, this portion will go down. But to be on a positive note, you guys are invested in our Allear Earth Ecobot Challenge and we have been working with our foundation and our grants department and have received some new grants in this space. So we will continue to grow the Allear Ecobot Robotics Challenge. Same thing
054with debate. We have been so successful in our debate, we're going to go into hosting virtual tournaments regional and then maybe across the state with feebased so that we can start developing earned income based on our reputation at making it to nationals and winning national tournaments. We are also looking at our kids day entrepreneurship and healthy living opportunities and our green heart stem challenge. These are all places we are seeking funds and bring in other corporate partners and foundations as well as our all our expo college and career expo. And we were working right now on a grant with Joyce which we wrote in seven days. We're almost finished, right, Joyce? Almost almost close. We're going to finish it before we leave for break. Uh to try to help support the uh college and career
055readiness work. So again, here's a lot of our new requests. Uh we also received an Omni award to help with college and career readiness. But the trends are federal funds are changing. Workforce and college and career readiness is our space to emerge and grow. We are microcredentiing our out of school time staff again trying to start a feebased program in that professional development space. uh world school as I mentioned and then [clears throat] looking at public and private partnerships so that we can expand our our portfolio and we do this because what happens between home and school matters questions. >> So to clarify there has not been a reduction in the demand. No reduction in demand, >> only a reduction in the supply of services here. >> Correct. >> Okay. Um I look forward to
056hearing what the organization is doing to support the additional amount that we are not going to be able to support through these different grants. [snorts] >> And Mr. Colbert has asked me for a proposal, an investment to help. What would it mean to stabilize case in a way that we could continue? As you see, we have such a diverse portfolio of funding. We have the power to stand on this tax base and yield more revenue. So, we are working on that and will be part of our presentation for next year's budget plan. >> I would just like to reiterate to me that after school programs are of utmost importance in my mind. that is going to keep kids safe, busy, learning in a way that no other program can after school. So, thank you for
057your continued support and I look forward to supporting you in any way I can. >> Yeah. Are there any more programs in Jeopardy that we should know about beforehand? like uh I mean >> so we are we're doing a in January we're releasing a fiscal scan and we're finding out how the other funds how the health of the other organizations that partner with us are and if there's been any ripple effect of other reduction in funds and so that fiscal scan will go out in January and we should have it back and process probably around February or March >> and is there any other type of collaboration with the area council commissioner's court that we need to try to say that we support these programs. That would be helpful. Okay. >> I'm providing you a
058list of all the funded partners from last summer from the county by precinct. And so these are the folks that are recommunicating with your the city council members to to share uh the impact of the federal fund and the importance of how to keep it and if they can move into their budget. So these are the So if you have any friends or alliances in this list, uh just know that they are the folks that will be um we will be working with in communication with the count uh the county commissioners. >> Superintendent, >> you know, it's been interesting this year. Um we have several very large federal programs and you know we've gone from uh a standpoint of pushing our senior directors to grow these programs to within a matter of days being on
059our heels to defend them. And you know we know that they're fortunate that they're part of our family the greater organization of Harris County Department of Ed where many are not. And so we've built several contingency plans to try to maintain what we have, but there's only so long that we can be able to do that while still being dialed in to what's happening at the national level. Um case is, you know, one of our things that is able, it's like the multi- the multi-use tool. It could do everything. It could it's a screwdriver, it's a wrench, you know, it's a knife, it's pliers. It's able to do anything. is direct support that goes out to our young ones. And even though the values for that service may not be uh demonstrated at the national
060level, it's certainly felt by this organization. And so I applaud your staff for their diligence and support and and waiting for things to get better and also hanging in there and also continue to to advocate for young people. But we have to become more inventive in finding funding that's not tied to politics and that your program is not the only one. Uh because it's, you know, it increases your blood pressure, you know, when people get elected and unelected and then the eb and flow of support versus cancellation goes back and forth. And so I just want you to know that I appreciate your leadership. I certainly appreciate every one of your staff members. Um, and I think they know that we're working diligently. We just had a meeting this week. Uh, and y'all will be
061meeting with Miss Miss Lingua later on this week to try to formalize and find out what's going on. I will say this publicly, part of our challenge is people that we consider partners who are suffering through some of the same things we are. >> The communication doesn't flow as free as we would like it to be. >> That's fair. And it's difficult that when you have a partner and you have to guess what they're thinking or what's going on when we could collaborate and try to build a strategy together. And so we're hoping to accelerate that transparency because we're ready to collaborate and do some things to ultimately protect the division that we care so much about. >> So thank you to you and certainly thank you to your staff. Y'all are fantastic. We appreciate
062to all of y'all >> and I am in it to win it and all like I am all excited and we're gonna have an amazing connection. >> I can hear it. I can hear the excitement. >> And at the end we have gifts for you at the end. So don't leave without we'll have them at your chairs when you come out of the executive session. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Okay. Okay. Item F on the agenda is to consider approval of the 202425 annual fiscal audit. The fund balance categories and amounts as presented in the report and in the attached resolution for committed fund balance. The audit was conducted by Whitley Pen. [sighs] >> Thank you. All right. Good afternoon, Madame President, board. Mr. Colbert, I'm very happy to be here to present the fiscal
063year 2025 audit results. And as excited as I am to be here to present it, I know Dr. Meco and his staff are more excited to have this done before the break and have a free um they get to enjoy their break. So, we'll go into our presentation and if you have any questions, I'll be have happy to answer those. So, the purpose of our audit when we come out and do that is to issue an opinion. There are three types of opinions that we can give. One would be an unmodified or a clean opinion which is the highest level of assurance you can give. A qualification which would be a modification due to scope limitation or departure from gap or a disclaimer of an opinion. The audit process we come out earlier in the
064year. Um it consists of planning risk assessment. We look at the internal controls uh gain an understanding identify those key controls and test those controls and then we come back out towards the end of the year and we do or after the end of the fiscal year and we do our substantive testing in order to issue an opinion and a report um as of today for uh December 17th 2025. So again, the internal controls that we come out and we look at and test. We look at your revenues, we test those transactions. We look at non-payroll transactions. So we test invoices, the controls and the processes over those. We test your payroll transactions. We look at the human uh the re controls and human resources. We look at information technology. We test controls over procurement.
065And we do the federal um specific tests over your federal programs. our substantive procedures that we do when we come back at the end of the year. Um we perform analytic procedures. We look at the differences year-over-year. We dig into those transactions as needed. Um we do predictive tests based on what we expect to happen and then dig into those and get a little bit more information um to support that. We test transactions. We test material transactions. We look at invoices. We look at cash receipts. um and we test those and trace those into the statements to make sure that their balances um are what they should be. And then we confirm balances as well. We confirm cash and investments. We confirm debt and any payments we can um confirm through the state of Texas
066or TEA. And then again, we look at thirdparty reports, the TEA payment reports and comprollers reports. And so our results after completing our processes throughout the year um our audit was performed in accordance with generally accepted um auditing standards as well as generally accepted government auditing standards because of the federal um our unmodified opinion as we said it's the highest level of assurance we can give on the financial statements. There were no significant deficiencies and no material weaknesses over internal control and no findings related to compliance. our opinion on the federal programs. Um again, it's uh com the compliance um audit in accordance with the office of management and budget compliance supplement. You had total federal awards of 34 million. We tested uh your major federal programs of about 8.7 million which was about 26%.
067Um as a you are a low-risisk audit and we're required um to per to only test 20%. If you're a high-risisk audit that that your your risk level was raised, we would have to test 40%. So, we tested the major federal programs. Um 8.7 million included child and adult care food program, your adult education basic grant, and then your child care and development uh fund or CC uh DF cluster. We have an unmodified opinion over each major federal program and no internal control findings related to those major programs. If we take a look at your summary, your governmentwide uh financial statements. So those statements include all the assets, all the liabilities of the department. You had total assets and deferred outflows of 28.9 million. You had capital assets making up part of that balance of
068about 127.3 million and then your cash and cash equivalents of 52 million. You had total liabilities and deferred inflows of 149.2 million. That's made up of your bonds payable 61.8 million and then your net pension uh liability of 25.2 and your net OP liability of 19.9 for your total net position of 59.7. The net pension liability and OPED liability, you should note those are not um liabilities that the department will have to pay out, but they're the district's um proportional share of the TRS um pension and OPED plans. Looking at your general fund activity, you have beginning fund balance of 34 34.6 million. Your actual revenues of 64.7 million were almost equal to your actual expenditures of 64.7 million. You were under budget in actual revenues by 4 million as well as under in your
069expenditures um of 6.8 million. So your net change in fund balance for the year was only about $20,000 before your other financing sources or your transfers in. So your transfers in uh from choice partner and transfers out to the other funds netted to 2.6 million bringing your fund balance up to 37.2 million at the end of uh fiscal year 25. If you take a look at your general fund revenue, this is comparing 24 to 25. And then you can see where your your buckets of of revenue what they're made up of. You have property taxes that make up 31 million this year. your tuition and fees at 24.2. And then you have other which includes your federal revenues, investment earnings, um, and state on behalf payments, 64.8 million for 2025 and 61.6 million in 2024.
070And then you can see your general fund expenditures as well, comparing between years and see the largest um the the largest uh categories where your money is spent. Your special schools and services make up 16.7 million. The school-based therapy services at 14.4. Your departmentwide budget at 10.3 this year. Technology and support at 4.7. Your records manage management make up 2.5. And then your other are 16.1. And again, your 25 expenditures of 64.7 are up by about 3 million from 61.6 in 24. If we take a look at your fund balance, um, we want to, if you look at the different categories that you have, you have total fund balance and your general fund of 37.2. That's made up of your non-spendable fund balance of about $240,000. This is your prepaid inventory amounts. And then you
071have your committed fund balance, which is committed by resolution of about $2.3 million. And then your remaining um buckets are assigned fund balance of 10.4 4 and your unassigned fund balance of 24.3. So your total assigned and unassigned fund balance are about $34.7 million or 195 days of expenditures or 54%. The minimum you would want to have is 30 days or 8% and then the recommended per TEA, these are tea guidelines would be 90 days or 25%. And the reason that you want to have that um amount in your fund balance is to cover the federal programs that have to have the expenditures first before they can request reimbursement. And then again, also as your property tax payments start coming in um later in the year, December and January, you need to have that fund
072balance to cover expenditures until those funds come in. And then just taking a look at your fund balance over the last five years, if you look back, you can see in 2020, you kind of dipped into the fund balance a little bit to do um capital projects, kind of spent that down, and then over the five years, you've had that fund balance increase again um up to the level that you see it um at the end of 25. So you have fund balance of 35 million and 25 with your expenditures around 65 million. And then any questions that you have over the the program or anything Mr. Colbert wants to point out? >> No comments, questions from the board. >> Absolutely. Before Mr. Colbert. >> Oh yes. Yes. I'm >> Yes, >> madam trustee. >>
073Absolutely. >> The president. Appreciate that. Uh thank you Laura. Outstanding job as usual. And uh Selena, thank you so much. Have great confidence in the level of care that Whitley Pen provides. uh having served as a audit liaison uh but right before I retired as director of accounting and business services for all dean I understand their process um and this is really a testament to the collective greatness although of course you know Dr. policies and procedures, but staff is following those policies and procedures. That's one of the things that of course when they come out and do their substantive testing that they check for and so outstanding job the entire organization, Mr. Co, but I wanted to certainly echo that too and and I mentioned Dr. Meco, what you've put in place with your team
074uh is really um a foundation that will that will last beyond you, which is great uh to have and we'll we'll see that. Of course, not that we're looking forward to you leaving, but we'll see the testament of your uh of your greatness and I've shared that with you as well. So again, thank you Laura, thank you Selena for providing an excellent uh audit and Dr. Meco and your staff. Thank you. >> Superintendent. Oh no. Come back up to the mic. [laughter] I'm not done yet. >> Oh, I didn't know either. >> No, no, no. Not going to be that easy. You know, Selena got you up here by yourself right now. So when we were in the back, which y'all don't know, we had an audit committee meeting before this meeting and during that
075meeting um it was something was mentioned in that meeting unprompted. And um it kind of took me it took me a back. It took me by surprise. And so I would ask Laura if we could have Selena come up and and and and tell tell everybody what you said in the back. Now, now remember, hold on before you go. I got to set this up. I didn't say anything. I was just sitting there and preparing to take notes and stuff like that. And out of nowhere, what did you say? >> No. If we were to use an analogy, an athletic analogy, and we take our clients, not We have many great clients, many great ones. >> Many great clients. >> And we were to assign athletic teams levels, right? You've got your freshman team, your
076JV teams. You all would be your varsity, right? >> Hold on. Hold on. What was it that you said the last part? >> We're on the varsity team. >> They said we're varsity. [laughter] >> Varsity. >> Unprompted, >> right? >> They said we're varsity. That's what they said. They start No, we were all state. [laughter] >> But but in in all seriousness, you know, Laura mentioned that you all you are a lowrisk and so that allows us to reduce our testing. Uh but it it's again to a testament to the controls set in place. We do circulate your your publicly available controls manual which then was written by Sarah and Dr. Amesa. Then our other clients ask well we would like to hire Sarah or we'd like to hire Dr. Amesa to implement those procedures
077in ours. Yes, it's over,200 pages, but you know, they they pick and choose on what they like, but uh those controls are are very tight and they're followed and so even though even if we find transactions, we do find transactions that are out of compliance, but then we find Dr. Ames and his team had already found it and measures were taken. So even though we pick those in the samples, the controls are working for detective and and preventative controls. They take away all the surprise for us when we do the testing because he's already he's already found it and fixed it. So, >> well, thank you ladies for all that you do. [applause] >> Item G on the agenda, any report of board committees? I don't think we have some action. >> Oh, okay. Yes.
078All right. So, approve. Uh, do I have a motion? >> Yes. >> So, moved by Trusty McGee sec and seconded by Trusty Davis. Any discussion? Right. All in favor? Motion passes. 5-0. All right. So, item G. I don't think we have any reports from board committees. >> Absolutely. Can you hear me? >> Sorry, I don't normally do this, but because my husband doesn't have uh we're not able to talk, he's deployed, but I know he's watching, and so I just want to say hi and hope to talk to you soon. So, sorry. [laughter] Well, thank you husband for for your support in everything that she does here. Okay. So, we'll move on to item H. Other board other reports from board members concerning attendance or participation in any board or HCD related event. Seeing none,
079we'll move on to the monthly financial reports. Dr. These are the financial highlights as of November 30, 2025. All our information is posted on our website. Um and uh these are the 14 major points uh for the month of November. Uh we haven't received a lot of tax revenue this month because they're still in process of sending the the uh statements and u you know people receiving and when they receive it they don't go right automatically go to the tax office. So we'll probably get that until January when you start seeing some some revenue. Uh our next debt service payment is February 2026. uh general fund revenues are 19% expenditures are 23% uh 35 million in equity as of November or fund balance uh 27,913 in donations. Our values holding steady at 688 billion and
080choice uh doing well with benefit variance as of November of 2.4 4 million and the foundation having an equity as of November of 446,000. Our um November report for the small business, we're at 20%. Uh Urbington project is still at 99% and we're basically now waiting just for the retainage uh to close out phase one projects. And uh we were able to reduce the arbitrage payment to 93,041. Uh we had started at 19 180. uh we adjusted a couple things for 100,000 and so now we're at 93,000. We will make the payment to the IRS. Again, this is interest that we received above and beyond. And I want to take a little bit of time to introduce uh the accountants that make a lot of these things possible. Um I'm very proud of them. Um
081so I'm going to ask them to come up because I like to introduce them because you don't generally get to see who works on a lot of the uh a lot of the detail. So, um, with my accountants, please stand up and I would like to have them. Uh, Julia, Ana, Stacy, Lette, Gracia, um, uh, who's missing, Marcia, Jorge, U, Brenda, Dr. Johnson. Uh, they're the ones that, uh, put together a lot of this information. and uh n eight of them like to uh little brag about them. They were eight of them were my former students. Um and so I'm going to leave them in your care, you know, cuz they're very special. So, thank you guys. [applause] Uh we received a triple crown from GFway, a mention at the audit committee and we're receiving
082hopefully tomorrow, Mr. Goldberg uh notice for TASBO. Um I know Mr. Dr. May knows about TASBO uh the two uh awards from purchasing and financial management. Um those uh they get notified on the last day of December. So you probably will receive that notice and you'll get to celebrate a little bit uh next month. >> I'm sorry, Dr. Romea. Um I don't feel like you gave enough gravity to how amazing that triple crown award is. Could you explain it to me a little bit please? >> Well uh a lot of uh uh organizations uh the government finance officers association uh has three certificates of achievement the budget that you submit the annual audit that you approved and also the popular annual financial report. When an organization receives the award, they call it the triple crown.
083And not every organization receives that. They may get one, they may get two, but there's a shorter list that gets all three of them. And we're one of them, you know, nationwide. Um, and so we've been doing that now for a good decade u doing that every year. Um, and so we're very uh um proud of that. And the people that you you saw, you know, they were part of that, you know, they're really the the backbone, the uh infrastructure for the organization and they're going to be here. You know, we have a um pick on a little bit for my rookie. Uh Lisette, would you stand up? She's my my rookie. She's the the one that graduated about a year ago. She's the future. They're all going to be the future down the road.
084[applause] So, I look forward to them uh doing great things at the department or in a school district because they're going to be ready and hopefully uh our turnover rate is very high only because they're ready for the next level. They get ready to go to be a manager to be a a senior accountant, a CFO or something else. Uh and so they, you know, don't be surprised that all these CFOs down the road are going to be in some of the districts in the in the in the county. So, uh I'm very proud of them and uh I think uh you know they're this is their work product. Thank you. Um the uh balance sheet uh total assets 39.9, liabilities 3.3 and equity of 37.7. uh the um balance as of November uh we
085have a negative 519,186 in terms of how much we use from fund balance and the reason for that is because we don't get the revenues from taxes until January and so we're basically using the fund balance for this first two or three months. Here's indicators that uh when we started uh presenting to you, we created these indicators uh for the organization. Not a lot of districts do this, but uh this is a comparison to see kind of where you're at. Unassigned fund balance, we're at 152% versus 173 at this point in time. And a lot of these numbers are going to be preliminary because they are only the f the first uh three months of the year. Working capital very strong at 37 million versus 29 million. That's something that a lot of companies wish
086that they had in their in their balance sheet. had a strong 37 million in cash to meet your expenditures unassigned fund balance ratio 64% versus 93% at the for the first month debt to income ratio again those are when you have the the payments on debt service February and August those are the payment dates so we haven't made a payment so far so that's why you see at zero this is our debt uh we have 82 million in debt and tax revenue venue to total revenue. Again, right now, we haven't collected any taxes for the new year, so it's at zero. The indirect cost ratio is at 2.6 versus 4.8 from from last year. Uh again, that's going to change as time goes by. Uh fee for service ratio, we're at a strong 46% versus
08723% last year. If you recall in the last uh couple years, we had a um a decline in some of the revenue contracts. And here we're now strong at 144% is rebounding the the special schools and and therapies I use. That's what you're going to see for the later part of the year. We only had one budget uh activity for the last month uh for Duroch 93,000. Um in our inflows revenues we're at 19% overall 17% in in terms of all the funds. Our outflows or expenditures were at 24% overall. Um, and then our donations report, we're at 66,295.47 primarily. Uh, you have a lot of Head Start donations that were made received this this month. Um, also for some of the schools as well. Again, this is another indicator to track between now and
088the end of the year how the 688 um billion is going to hold. We're at actually at 684 billion. So, we only have four billion to go to be uh completely certified. And so, you have another uh six to seven months before before this gets planned out. And we think that it's going to be a little um pretty much on the on target between now and the end of the year. Um again, our collections, uh this is our current collection for the year because we don't have the the revenue from the taxes yet. And you start seeing this in the month of January. You'll start going to seeing about 20 million or so collected in January. And then our HCAT and our tax office fees 64,000. This is uh we have to pay for assess
089of the property $64,000 but we budgeted to 70 and 632 for the collection of the of the tax. Again uh please do not uh be uh alarmed about this 0% because it is normal as of November again January that you will see that that that uh increase our dispersements we had two 391 dispersement totaling 22 2,237,059 790 transactions totaling 193,330 Six transfers 2,377,686 for a total of 4.8 million in terms of of the uh dispersement and everything is posted on our web page as part of our transparency plan. Uh the uh the segment division we have education success uh needing tax benefit of 569,000 records management 3.3 million um and uh therapy services 2,ion42 uh schools 4 million 4,200,000 and then choice um um again it's on target to exceed last year's but right now
090at 2.4 4 million excess uh additional transfer to to general fund. Uh we have a budget amendments for the month of November. Uh the foundation uh 446,611. Um the detail is included in you know from tools for teachers and partners in education. Um and um we have now the small business report uh from procurement services. Again, we continue with a small business uh program for construction. Um, and for this month, as of November, we have a total of a small business 632,000 or a ratio of 20% of the total qualified businesses because we take out government and utilities that don't qualify for for the business and then basically we apply the ratio. In terms of our uh public facilities corporation, we have u 363,000 in the PFC and the um maintenance nodes, 855,000 from the
0912020 um uh series. The um the amounts that are in retainage is 305,000 in the PFC and then the maintenance node we have 89,000 for a retainage payable for projects that need to be closed out. Uh this is the arbitrage calculation that we're going to send to the IRS. This is a snapshot of the report that we're going to send to them. U the bottom line is my signature and all the details that we have to send. But basically it's $86,000 for the 2020 series and $6,171 for the lease revenue bonds at the 2020 series. uh we were able to capture as much of the uh general fund expenditures for the lease revenue bonds but the maintenance notes because we focus on the lease revenue bonds a lot of that um we had to uh
092uh basically had some excess interest that uh we needed to use and so we basically paid them back to to the IRS. So that's what we're going to be sending back. Uh for the maintenance notes for the 2024, uh we have uh 10.1 million. Out of that, we have some retainage and then the the rest is still some projects that are you're going to see them toward the end of the year that they're going to come to you for for approval. Again, the retainage in Durotch for this building is 341,000. Um and mostly all of our our our um projects again they're completed from the 2020 series. The 24 series uh uh most of them are committed 7.9 million. Um there are a few projects that are going to be come to you here in
093the in the spring and those are listed the 2020 projects that are that will be coming to you for for approval uh through procurement uh or otherwise. the Urban renovation. Um we have uh uh remaining uh funds here are 2,60,000. Um again a lot of those are committed um that uh in retainage and also uh um projects that are that need to be completed for for the building. uh last month you approved the budget planning calendar and so uh in January that the department will start the the budgeting process and uh February the 20th is when the divisions will receive the budget instructions manual so they can start preparing their budget for the new year. Um and then of course in June you're going to have your workshops and also July as well. So this
094is planned for for the next year as well. That's the report as of November. What questions do you have? No. Okay. Then let me go to the investment report. [clears throat] [snorts] Um again, all that information is posted on our website. Our our investment policy is certified by the Treasures Organization of Texas. And this month, uh, the Fed, um, decided to also reduce another 25 basis points to three and a half to 3.75. And that's going to put a pressure on our interest earnings. Uh, so we're going to be a little more aggressive down the road to extend a little bit of the maturity to capture some of that yield. [snorts] Uh, but basically, these are the rates. So, as you can see, the the the the yields a little bit inverted. you get more
095if you leave the money early on versus go longer. Um, and so that's the uh the challenge that uh you know, do you uh do that and you get an extra $483 or do you extend out for for a year or keep it in cash? And so that's the the trade-off that that you will have. [sighs] Um again, the Feds uh you know, the focus is on price stability or employment. Um, and what I want to get to is this basically where you're going to see the yield curve kind of change in patterns as this number continues to go down here. It's going to kind of slope to to the right. Um, and so the longer you are, the more that you're going to be uh um paying for for interest. Um, so our portfolio,
096we're at 47.2 million, 104,000 public facilities corporation, a total of 47.4. Um and uh the majority all of our in we utilize all four pools Lonear, Chase, Texas class, Texas Star, Texas pool all of them are utilized so that we can diversify our our our portfolio and and also uh we have a little bit on Bank of Texas which is a PFC uh when we make our payments for for the bonds. Um the comparison in terms of the investment from a year ago is 1.1 million less or two 2% and u actually minus 3% overall from one year to the next. Our funds are basically overnight and so we're earning at a higher rate than going out say 60 or uh 120 days. So we've earning 4 point 465,000 for the first quarter. So if
097you don't multiply that times four, potentially we're going to get about 1.7 million in in interest earnings for the year. And we budgeted, I believe, only about a million. So you're along the way to to get there. The PFC is only two 2,811 left over for interest. So we earning 3.95. The average benchmark is 3.86. And though these are the rates that you start seeing that the that the rates are continuing to go down. Uh but this is on the on the lower end. Uh not so much on the higher end. The higher end is uh it's a little bit larger than that. So but you got to extend longer than than what we can for for the for the local government. So this is uh even though the rates are 385 to 408, we
098can actually get to 4 and a quarter um you know 398 uh 4% depending on when we place the investment. That's the report for investments. Uh what questions do you have? >> Um so I'm going to let the board ask some questions, but before I do, I just want to take a moment to wish you well. Thank you. >> And um just to say thank you for everything that you've done here. One of the neatest perks of doing the work that we do is we get to meet the coolest people. And if you're lucky, you get to work with them. Um so it has been an honor and a privilege to be a small part of what you do here. So thank you for the work that you've done and the legacy that you leave
099um in the people that you've trained. So >> thank you. Appreciate that. >> Thank you so much. >> Can I say something? Um, yes. Yes, Trusty Davis. Go ahead. I don't like emotions, but let me just say that I just got in the groove of this and to to hear that you're you're leaving is is very um it it's a lot of people don't know elected officials are learning in their roles and what you have done is taken time not only to just inform us but you've educated us and that's important because we are governing, right? And um without your help and even though we'll go back about some things, it's because I didn't know >> and you are truly an example of of educational leadership. And so I just want to tell you, thank
100you. Your team, thank you. I look forward to seeing the future of whomever uh the superintendent who you know, whatever he does. But I just have to tell you, thank you for all you do. >> Thank you so much. >> [applause] >> I I would like to reiterate all of that, Dr. Romea. Um, however, I do have a question. >> What do you plan on doing with all of your time now, sir? >> Um, well, I'm uh I'm going to be helping districts. So, that's what I will be doing various capacities. >> They will be blessed to have you. Thank you so much. >> You've been wonderful. Thank you, >> Trusty McGee. >> Well, I thought I'd save some of this for tomorrow, but I'm pretty sure I'll be able to make it tomorrow, but
101um [clears throat] echo I love emotions actually. So, uh no, but Dr. Mes, it it's been said. Um it's interesting. I was just having a flashback because I thought about Sarah and Selena being here today and our initial iPass uh session. I had a chance to speak as the as one of the speakers after them. Um, and that's real that's probably my crowning achievement speaking with you and u Selena and and I the topic was lead like a super lead like a superhero. It was a time in which we were wearing masks and right after that so I said well since we have to wear them why don't we lead like a superhero and I referred to you as a superman uh leader and that's the type of leader you are u you've you provided
102you you said you're going to help school districts you already have been helping school districts and we're so grateful for that I benefited from that uh when I was at Aldine Spring Branch HISD places I've been and uh you provided uh that assistance for us you've uh so you've led with competence we could always count on you. Uh you've led with character. I didn't have to worry about it being a slow news day. And uh you've led with commitment and so you've been a C leader, which in school school district C's not C is kind of average, but in your case, uh it stands for something different. So really do I applaud you for uh your tremendous uh leadership that you've given to us all. >> Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Thank you. >> [applause]
103>> One more. Dr. Osca, one more. >> You're [laughter] not You can't You're not off the hook yet. >> Yeah, of course. >> That was it. >> Yeah, I too will uh have [clears throat] to chime in. I will also try to make it tomorrow to to help celebrate uh your service. Um what is it? 34 years. >> 38 years. Wow. uh 18 here and uh uh um 12 at the uh Laredo ISD and eight at the city of Laredo. Wow, that's a [snorts] heck of an accomplishment and a heck of a career. And um you are the uh the top of of your game, top of of the of your um of your industry, you know, PhD, CPA, that you know, you don't see that too often, especially um with folks with uh lots
104of uh vowels in their name like me and you. So, um, I have to I have to say on behalf of the Latino community here in Harris County, you have represented us well >> and we're proud of you. Thank you for your service, sir. >> Thank you. I appreciate >> on behalf of a grateful Harris County. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Any anyone else? We're good. [clears throat] >> All right. And so with that, we will move into the consensus action items. Um, is there are there any items anyone would like to pull? Keep in mind that if you'd like to discuss something, we can discuss it during discussion if for all the action items. Okay, seeing none, um do I have a motion to pass the consensus action items?
105A motion by Trusty Duh Han, seconded by Trusty Davis. Any discussion? Yes, please. >> Okay. I would like um just a short explanation of five D5. D5. The D5 is consider ratification of the memorandum of understanding between Easter Seals Greater Houston Early Childhood Intervention and Head Start. Easter Seals is a wonderful organization and I just want a little bit of a clarification on this Bonita. [snorts] >> Good afternoon. Uh we work with E uh Easter Seals's ECI program. >> Um for our young students who come to us who may have some developmental concerns, um we refer them to ECI for the specific services that they can provide to help get children developmentally on track. Also ECI refers to us students to enroll in the Head Start program. >> So it's just a multicolaborative effort. [snorts]
106That's really cool. I didn't know about it at all that we were collaborating with Easter Seals, but I have seen their organization do great things for a lot of people and so I just wanted to make sure that that's expanded upon a little bit. So, thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Any further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor passing the consensus items. Motion passes 70. We'll move on to non-consensus items. Item 71, consider approval of resolution regarding Texas Government Code section 552.0031, designation of non-B businessiness days related to Texas Public Information Act for calendar year 2026. Do I have a motion? >> Motion by Trusty Gthu. >> Seconded by Trusty McGee. Any discussion? All in favor? Motion passes 70. Action. Action item number 72. consider approval of a contract with Vistra Energy to lock in
107most favorable rates for electricity for HCDE beginning December 2025 and to delegate authority to the superintendent and his designate to negotiate. Just one quick um revision um to this agenda item. Uh, President Henosa, it is with Vistra V I S A Corp DBA TXU Energy Energy Retail. [clears throat] >> Just a slight revision to the name there. >> Okay. >> So, >> all right. Moved by uh motion by Trusty McGee. >> Seconded by Trusty Joshy. Any discussion? >> Trusty Josh. All right. All in favor? Motion passes 70. Item 73, consider approval of service agreements for information technology services and CDWG for the period of 2126 through 13127 in the amount of 292,000. >> Uh moved by Trusty GU second. >> Seconded by Trusty Davis. Any discussion? All in favor? Motion passes 70. Action 74, consider
108ratification of amendment number two to the services agreement between Head Start and Childcare Careers LLC in the amount of 120,000 and to extend the contract dates for the period of 98 2025 through 1231 20226. Do I have a motion? >> Motion by Trusty Ku, seconded by Trusty McGee. Any discussion? All in favor? Motion passes 70. Action 75, consider approval of the Harris County Department of Education Head Start early Head Start student selection criteria for the 2026 2027 school year. Have a motion. >> Motion by Trustee Ku. >> Seconded by Trusty Davis. Any discussion? >> Just want to know if there's any >> trust. >> Just miss Peacock if if you can uh let us know if there's any changes to these. between last school year and this school year, there are no changes. >> Any
109further discussion? Seeing none, all in favor? Motion passes. 70. All right. Item 76, consider rescending approval of project delivery contract delivery method of construction manager at risk for the 6500 Westview HVAC and roof renovation project previously approved on August 12th, 2025 meeting and approval project delivery/contract delivery method of job ordering contract for the 605 Westview HVAC and roof renov renovation project. >> Moved by Trusty Ku. >> Seconded by Trusty Davis. Any discussion? >> Trust explanation. Okay. Yes. >> Good afternoon trustees, President Henos, and Mr. Colbert. So, um, explanation is warranted. We're simply changing the the project delivery method. So, instead of the Semar that you guys approved back in August, we're changing it to a jock is is the only difference. Um so we needed to resend that approval from August and get approval now
110to proceed with a jock contract that is to provide a better value to HCDE in delivering this project. >> And the differentiation in that is that they are going to now be doing the labor. >> It was they were always going to be doing the labor. It's just a different type of contract. So >> okay >> just procurement >> it's a different different procurement method just a different management method. And so we will we will get provide a better delivery method for um I'm sorry, not a better delivery method um a better cost savings method for Harris County Department of Education. >> They're trying to get a better price. >> Better price. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Do we have to go out for bid or any bid requirements? >> Choice. Oh, choice. Okay. Sorry.
111>> Yep. They're choice partners. >> Choice. We're good. >> Any other questions? >> Just u Yes, sir. under Seymar they assume more risk and that's why they prefer the other method so that that's why they're giving us a discount basically the donation >> pardon me >> say that again I'm sorry >> the semar arrangement they assume more risk >> contractor right >> that is correct >> yeah so that's why we're getting a discount because they're not taking on that they're doing a job order contract >> well we are I conferred with um Sarah Lingua on this and because they that we have all the the general contractor contracts through choice partners. They will be assuming a certain amount of risk as as not exactly like a semar but they will be assuming a certain amount
112of risk. Okay. >> Thank you. >> Any further discussion? Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. All in favor? All right. Motion passes 70. With that, we will move into executive session under the Texas Government Code pursuant to any and all purposes permitted by sections 551.001 [clears throat] through 551.084, including but not limited to 551.071 and 551.074. And we move to executive session at 249 p.m. Take those