001Good afternoon everyone. >> Good afternoon. The board of trustees of the Harris County Department of Education is now convened in a regular board meeting on Wednesday, November 19th, 2025 in room 401 at 6300 Irvington Boulevard, Texas at 10:01 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
002to this meeting, board members received information related to items on today's agenda. Agenda items will not necessarily be handled in the order listed on the notice. The meeting is open to all who wish to attend and hear matters discussed. During the course of this meeting, the board may determine that a close 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 taking time today to join us and for your interest in the Harris County Department of Education. So we will start out with invocation. Dr.
003Akua Oang, our research manager for research and evaluation institutes. >> Good afternoon everyone. I would like to focus today's invocation on the story of Alfred Nobel, the man after whom the Nobel Prize is awarded. In 1888, Alfred Nobel read an obituary about his own death. The obituary was entitled, "The merchant of death is dead." The French newsletters had mistaken his late brother's death for his own death. In the obituary, Alfred was described as this terrible human being that had taken the lives of countless people by producing dynamant. Faced with this harsh truth, Alfred decided if life has given me another chance, I would like to dedicate my resources and my legacy for the support of knowledge, peace, and the betterment of humanity. So, as we all know today, the Nobel Prize, let us pray. Lord,
004thank you for today. As we reflect on the transformation of Alfred Nobel, I pray that each one of us will be reminded that we can use our gift and talent for the service of our students and their families. Whenever we are confronted with our past, help us to understand that our past is a place where our reflections can be turned into our redemption. Let our past remind us that we are instrument for the good of those around us. And if you have given us an the opportunity of life, I pray that today's board meeting is greater than any board meeting we've ever had. Amen. >> Thank you, Dr. Oang. Next, we will have the pledge of allegiance, Angelica Delejon, who is our adult education program manager. Let us pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag
005of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Let us pledge honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas. One state under God, one and indivisible. Thank you. We begin today with open forum and we do have a speaker Anthony Mottz. >> Welcome. >> Thank you. >> My name is Anthony Molton, Dr. Anthony Molton. I am the founding uh principal of Foris Academy. I'm here today because I need your help. I'm here uh because I need my name cleared. I was watching television the other day and this Epstein trash came on television and my aie looked at me and said, "You need to clear your name." I cannot have my 80-year-old Annie associating me with this kind
006of nonsense. You understand what I'm saying? So, when I was removed, Jonathan Parker, coward of the month, said that I had exposed myself to kids. So, either one, two things are true. I'm either innocent or I'm involved in the cover up including Mr. James Cobbert, Jonathan Parker, and Natasha Truitt. I am supposedly to have exposed myself, pull my penis out, right, Jonathan? And sitting on the desk, exposed myself to kids, had sex with kids, touched kids, and had sex with staff. So with that, how you doing, Mr. Dick? That's why I left. Here are the conversations I had with Jonathan and the conversations I had with Mr. Cobbert and Nasha. You will see clearly that during the during the inter or the investigation, Mr. Parker said that he did not check the cameras one. And
007so what I'm asking for is for you guys to open an investigation to the sexual misconduct of the principal of Foris Academy while I was here. I need for you to take a look at that and clear my name. And there's an easy way to do that. You can ask Joe. Joe brought some kids, brought a guy to my campus who uh work with my kids and uh an after school program. He should be able to tell you if there's any infarious things going on within my school. You should be able to talk to Curtis. I established a program to where kids were coming from the recovery school into records and um you know when folks are fired you know the streets are hot right kids are talking so you can ask Curtis if any
008child has said anything negative about me or you can ask Dr. N who sits right there asked him if anybody said anything negative about me. So you see what that threshold is. I'm saying negative. I'm not even saying inappropriate sexually. I'm just saying negative. Then you can ask the sitting principal what the people said when I left. If there's any truth to any of these allegations that forced me to resign because I was shamed to stand here before you and hear these things said about me. But my aunt caring about me is more important than my pride. Okay, Mr. Cobberg. So, you already know how it go. So, um I expect one of two things to happen. Either clear my name or I'll be back the next board meeting is what? December 17th. I'll be
009back then. I would expect to have my name cleared or arrested cuz one of two things have happened. I'm either innocent or I'm involved in a sexual cover up involving kids. Okay, board. Okay. Please clear my name again. My name is Dr. Anthony Molton. Where's the attorney? How How you doing? I hadn't seen you in a while, sir. Here it is. I'm going to leave this in your custody. Y'all please take a look at that and get back with me again. Sexual allegations against the founding principal of Foris Academy. Forced to leave based on these lies perpetrated by Jonathan that co. Thank y'all so much. Have a great day. All right. So, we will move on to reports and presentations. And we start with employee of the month, Dr. Sylvester. Right. President Henosa, board of
010trustees, Mr. Colbert. Today, we honor Miss Claudia Flores, a custodian at ABS West, as our November employee of the month. Even though Miss Flores isn't a member of the instructional staff at ABS West, she is a critical part of the greater support team for students. Principal Jata Hutton said she is a key factor in providing a positive learning environment on campus through consistent and exceptional customer service. We all value the same thing and that's the key. Mr. Hutton said her dedication to her job and the students the school serves are evident in her daily actions. Miss Flores is known to support students throughout the day, often redirecting them in the hallways by encouraging them to assist her in various duties. This helps students refocus their energy in a positive way, enhancing the learning environment for
011everyone at the school. She built relationships with kids. Mr. Hutton said, "Miss Flores loves what she does and she understands that at the forefront of that are students. She is very multi-dimensional." Our comm's team created a short video about Miss Flores and her work at ABS West. Hey, good morning. Every morning at ABS West, custodian Claudia Flores makes sure every hallway and classroom look their best. Her hard work and attention to detail keeps the school bright, spotless, and welcoming. We have a lot of traffic in at ABS West. I serve 25 school districts on campus and no day is the same. I mean, it's different from the next to the next to the next. It didn't take me long, honestly, to see that she's very good at what she does. Miss Flores is here early
012morning if she has to be. She's here throughout the evening and later into the night just to make sure that when we come back the next day, when we leave this place, it's one that's welcoming, it's clean, and it's a safe space for our students and our special learners. >> So, what why don't you learn? She's really embedded into the school community. Just not will keep it clean, but just being um someone the kids are familiar with. They respond well to her and she's able to, you know, integrate herself that way. >> Go right here. Lift it up. >> I like to talk with the student that some like me and right here is different. You have to be more patient with the students and you has to understand every single problem from them. >>
013Come on, take it to Gladia. There you go. thought has a sense of humor. She's very quiet. She comes across as very soft spoken, but she has a sense of humor. So, uh, she said, "Hey, hey, I have a problem." And, and when she said it, she's laughing. I said, "Okay, is it really a problem or you being funny?" She said, "No, it's a problem." And so, I walk in and the classroom, the kids had took taken coloring pencils and had a little art session. So, it was in a matter of 30 to 45 minutes. And she said, "Come see what I did." When I went back, she and uh Elsa had taken care of the whole book. You know, when you walk in this building, you may see us smelling good, glowing, looking good,
014sparkling. Her initiative and her drive and the energy she brings to um just making sure that she does a first class job. >> Don't matter what kind of job you have, you have to do your best every day. And that's what I try to do. I know I'm I'm doing my best. >> You want to recognize what they do. We want people to feel appreciated for what they do and and so I want to be able to do that, you know, on this stage to say, "Hey, Claudia, we appreciate you. We're glad Miss Flores is a part of ABS West." I'm pleased to introduce to you Miss Claudia Flores, November 2025 employee of the month. Congratulations, All right, next is super superintendent monthly report. Dr. Mr. Colbert, >> thank you. Uh, couple of things to
015update the board on. We've have a lot of activity over the past few days. Last week on Friday, we had our first golf tournament for the education foundation at Topgolf. um during that event which was fantastic and I say it was fantastic you'll understand why here in a second um but we had 124 people RSVP we had 104 participants uh 18 sponsors 17 teams and total we made a total profit of $30,000 in one day so let's give a hand for THAT now I must tell you there was only one team that could win this entire competition. Only one. There were many teams there, but there was only there could only be one that would be champion. Did you know the name of that team was called Varsity? Yeah, you could probably imagine who was
016on it. Uh I'm proud to announce that uh HCD was able to win the team trophy. Um which was a fantastic trophy that was put together by some students at Stafford ISD or Stafford MCD. Did I say that right? MCD Municipal School District. Um so that was excellent. Also last week I had an opportunity to speak to a new program that we have. We're doing uh uh an leadership academy for our head start that's called Rising Stars uh leadership academy and I had an opportunity to be one of the guest speakers of that to talk about leadership with several of the applicants or the participants with that academy and we're going to be using this academy to try to foster new leadership on our um Head Start campuses and it's got a lot of momentum.
017I also had a chance to do a leadership presentation at Hayes ISD where I did a presentation on leadership ethos to about uh 55 participants out there. Um we have if you look at your desk we've got cards for you. We've got several events coming up. We have two holiday receptions. The first will be December 10th and that will be at NPO and also one December 17th which will be here. Um so please, you know, mark your calendars for that. We also have the board recognition reception which will be in January when we come back from Christmas break. And this is where we take an opportunity to thank y'all for your um all the time that you volunteer for HCDE. You will find that you have another uh lapel pin uh that was created by
018Dr. Amequa and his team. You know, he has blind luck. He just happen to have a super cool looking pen. It looks like a little sheriff spin, but it's really nice and it looks like it's bronze, but he's real proud of that. Uh, so have that. Now, final thing I will say is that we have our holidays coming up and pretty soon here we'll all have a chance to take some time off and be with our family. I would just encourage everybody to as you're doing that to please be safe and take care of yourselves. And I hope everybody has a happy holiday. With that, that's all I have. >> Thank you, Superintendent Colbert. We will move on to the research and evaluation institute. They are here for the annual division update. Okay. Good afternoon.
019Can you all hear me? >> Good afternoon, President Henosa, Board of Trustees, Superintendent Colbert, and General Counsel. Thank you all for having me today. I am Yolanda Purle, the director of research and evaluation, and I am here to give our annual update. I would like to start off by introducing my team. If you would please stand. YES. This is a group of dedicated professionals whose diverse skills and collaboration drive outstanding results. When I say your name, please give us a wave. Dr. Aku Bang, Rosemary Pacheco, Lita Holmes, Tracy Joerger, >> Jonathan Kandakar, Dr. Jesus Campos, and Ana Usmani. Thank you all for your hard work. So, who are we and why do we exist? We are REI and we are a support division that empower empowers ACDE and other educational entities to make informed decisions
020by delivering high quality relevant data and insights. And we do this through five main deliverables. We have our annual reports, our data dashboards, data sharing events, program evaluations, and of course research. and I'll take you on a journey through each one of those. I'll start with our annual reports. We have our accountability reports that captures how divisions measure their service delivery outcomes. I'm sorry, their service delivery goals, outcome goals, and financial effectiveness. We work with 20 divisions to um track this data throughout the year, and at the end of the year, we give them a report to determine how well they did throughout the year. We also capture the annual service delivery numbers. We capture this monthly and then at the end of the year we work with 16 external divisions to come up with
021the number of the individuals served from our organization. Just last year we serve over 200,000 individuals. This includes 191,000 students, 26,000 educators and over 4,000 support clients. We also get other reports requests. We also get other reports. I'm sorry. Let me start over. We also do other reports upon request and we do this in a timely manner. One of our big initiatives was to release our data dashboards and these dashboards provide data insights to divisions in real time. We started this initiative back in 2122 right out of COVID and since then we have grown the number of dashboards that we are creating for not only our our sales but our divisions and even HCDE in 24 we produced a number of 27 dashboards. We moved up to 28 in 2025. But with only three months
022in 2026, we have already produced 25 dashboards. And there's a reason for that. We are trying to move away from paper reports with our surveys to a more digitized visualization with the dashboards. This gives divisions access to their data instantly in real time and they're able to make decisions accordingly. So we expect that number to grow by the end of 2026 school year. We also host data sharing events. This is where we meet with our divisions to help them go through their data. Again, we're moving away from the papers so they mainly get their data within a dashboard on their laptops. They can also look on their phones and we help them decipher that data, go through that data by hosting data days or data share events. We also go out and share our expertise
023within the community. We have been invited to present at various professional development um opportunities and within these uh presentations we might share them share how to track data effectively and how to do research effectively. The past year we produced we did around four different professional development presentations. A big one for us is program evaluations. These are when we collect the quantitative and qualitative data and we put that again we assess access assess the outcomes and put that in a report and we provide recommendations based on what we're seeing within those reports. Some big heavy hitters that use our program evaluation services are Head Start, Case for Kids, Center for Educator Success Certificate Teacher Certification Program, and our very own civic engagement program, your voice matters. I will also say that we also provide surveys to
024different divisions based on any event they have and we also provide that feedback for them as well. And last but not least is our research. We conduct research based on the recent trends within education. For example, this past year we did AI in education, some t teacher certification trends, and we looked at benefits of afterchool programs. The research team was even invited out to the Southwest Educational Research Association meeting to share some of their findings with other educational researchers. We are also working on a 5-year community assessment update for our three of our Head Start grantees within the area. That includes Avon, Baker Ripley, and ACDE. And what we do is we assess the community that these Head Starts are serving. We gather that information and give that back to the organization so they can
025adjust their services accordingly. So some of the trends that we're noticing because we're push doing a big push of these dashboards. We are getting requests from divisions to do more dashboards to turn their surveys and data into real time insight so they don't have to wait on us for paper reports. They can automatically go in and look at their data. We also want to help divisions leverage their internal data. So the data they already have, we want to help them use that to highlight the great things that they're doing um within their divisions. And then last but not least, original research studies. We just this year we were um approved through our IRB, our institutional review board to do our first original research under me, and that is the teachers perceptions of a well-rounded early
026childhood experience. We're excited about that because we're going out and interviewing and doing surveys with early childhood teachers within the county. And hopefully out of that we'll get some feedback that we can share with the county and especially our divisions here. And with that, what questions do you have? >> I just like to say and compliment you and your division for how good of a job y'all done. You know, one of the things that our research department does is they they can also respond and deliver to any request that's made of them. And for a while now, I've been really wanting like a heat map of all the student performance in the entire county where I can just look at a map and it can populate math scores and English scores and science scores and
027then even trim that down to uh specific campuses and what have you just so we could better identify how we might be able to support our ISDs. Um, our team has done a phenomenal job of learning how to master dashboards. And I don't know if you've seen what that looks like. I'm I think we've had a couple examples, but it's almost like you can craft and mold any kind of dashboard to help you filter and populate data. This stuff's extremely important for us because accountability is changing at a lightning speed. School districts are searching and seeking solutions and we need to make decisions that are data driven, not based on assumptions or op opinions or just feelings. And so that is the section of Harris County Department of Ed that does that for us that
028objectifies things that we may suspect. So I appreciate your leadership and your team and I've seen y'all's growth and I I wish to continue seeing it and I'll come up with some more tasks for y'all. >> Okay. >> Thank you. trusted you. Oh, >> hi. >> Thank you for your presentation. It's very informative. Um, I'm really interested in hearing about the results of the research that you mentioned you're going to be putting on. Can you tell me >> um off the top of your head anything about the scope and parameters? Is this countywide? Are we honing? >> Yes, we're reaching out to um all of the ISDs within Harris County. We've reached out to uh some of the charter schools as well and even some of the private early childhood. So, it's it's countywide. It
029is. >> And specific grades? >> We are doing prek to second grade. >> Okay. Mhm. >> I'm very interested in seeing. Okay. Thank you so much. >> Yes. >> I'll talk loud. Um so like the cutting edge type of stuff with uh data is um using Python. Do we utilize Python? What platforms do we utilize with Python? >> Yes. So, even I remember you mentioning a little about R and Python last year. So, we actually looked into it this year. Um, we have a few of our teammates actually using Python and R with this, but we also have SPSS and then Qualrix. It has a system that does data analysis as well. So, yes, thank you for your tips from last year. >> Now, even there's even it's got sharper. So, >> where they're at
030now is Google Collab. That's a Python platform. >> Okay. >> And that's kind of the the big one is Google Collab. So I would look at that. You don't have to upload all the libraries as much. It's a easier platform that just kind of connects. >> Okay. >> Uh the other thing is you can utilize AI and coding and all that. >> The best one to utilize is Claude, but you'd get it through chat GPT and Grock. So you'd want to utilize your AI platforms to assist you in coding on the uh Python or R, but I think Python's where it's going and Google Collab is where it's at. So cheers. >> We'll look into that as well. Thank you. >> Right. Thank you. Thank you. Our next annual division update is from adult education.
031Good afternoon, uh, President Hosa, board members, um, Mr. Colbert and Council Langua. My name is Eduardo Honold. the senior director for adult education and it is my pleasure to give you the overview for the adult education division. But first, I would like to introduce amazing members of the adult education team. Please stand up and be recognized. I'd like to uh first recognize the management team which provides the leadership uh for the division in providing educational services to adults in the uh Harris County and Liberty counties. Um we have 160 employees. So I'm not going to go through the entire list, but I do want to recognize some of the key positions that we have in terms of implementing a student centered curriculum providing professional development and wraparound services for our students. But I also want
032to recognize the heart and soul of our division which are the teachers and support staff that work directly with the teachers with the students and who are working with them on a day-to-day basis and making a direct impact on our students lives. Um let me start out with um our enrollment. Uh this year was the first year that we have um we've been working with a as a direct grantee from the Texas Workforce Commission. Uh in the past for the past 10 years, we were a provider for a consortium of programs in the Houston area. So um going out on our own, this was um there was some doubts as to whether we could do it, but we had no doubts. Uh we knew that the adult education division was ready for the challenge and
033in its first year as a grantee we served 6,669 students. That's a thousand more than we served in our previous year under the consortium. And uh we're very excited about uh our ability to st know stand up to the challenge of being a a new grantee. Um in um this year in the first four months of um our of this program year as you can see uh we are experiencing some challenges. We um had a late start in our federal funding, a delay in our federal funding. And we've also had some challenges in terms of our uh eligibility for our students we that are required now to have citizenship and immigration status u in order to be allowed to participate in the program. But we're still expecting to serve at the end of the year
034approximately 5,700 students. what we do, we offer a variety of services in the adult education division, um, ranging from ESL classes to GD prep classes to vocational certification classes for adults. Traditionally, over 60% of these services were have been for English language learners for ESL classes. This year we expect a reduction in those uh the number of those of students that are being served through those ESL classes, but we're planning to increase our enrollment for GED and vocational classes. And um we expect to serve 1,800 GD students and 780 vocational students, an increase from the previous year. We continue to rely on a strong network of partners from school districts to colleges to churches to nonprofit organizations who provide us with the space to have our classes in the community. But we're also taking full
035advantage of our new adult education learning center which served 1300 students last year alone and hosted over 50 events for HCD HCD in the community. HCD continues to rely on um online classes which accounted for over 40% of our students. 60% of our students have participated in face-to-face classes um but 40% do it through uh online classes, but we're also taking full advantage of um technology and distance learning. And um up to 23% of the hours of of us that our students participate in are gathered or garnered through self-guided distance learning. So where distance learning is providing students the opportunity to extend their learning but also to improve their digital learning skills and become digital citizens as well. But at the end of the day, uh it all comes down to performance. And um last
036year we exceeded expectations uh from the state of Texas and from the Texas Workforce Commission with 47% of our students achieving a measurable skill gain. So basically a gain either by obtaining a GED, making progress towards a vocational certification or making a gain on a state test. Um that exceeded the state standard of the state target of 39% by 8 percentage points and it exceeded last year's the the previous year's performance. This year we expect 50% of our students to make some kind of measurable skill gain in progress towards their education educational goals. One of the ways we're going to do that is by improving our GD attainment. You've seen here is our progression in GDs over the years. Last year 2425 we reached our record of 279 GED graduates for the year. Uh that's
037an increase of 104 students compared to the previous year. This year we're aiming for 300. The other part of our strategy performance strategy is to continue to bolster our workforce certification program. Here you see some of the certification programs that we have that we currently have and it is our plan to continue expanding those to this year to 750 vocational students and we hope that the vast majority of them will be obtaining their certifications and moving on to employment uh by the end of the year. So to uh to summarize um we exceeded all of our TWWC enrollment and performance targets for the program year 2425. We increase our GD graduates by 104 to 279. We had 441 students achieve vocational progress towards their vocational certifications. and we had 140 students participate in signing day
038events that um uh were employers 17 employer partners offered them jobs um as a result of their completing their training. So we're very excited about these um results and we expect that we will continue to improve this year in u providing those uh gains and those that performance for our students. Some of the trends that we see are in in the future is basic some of and some of the challenges uh we continue to see a trend towards increased vocational training. Um it's incre vocational training uh is increasingly seen in the community here in the Houston area but across the country as a way out of poverty as a way out of of limited economic circumstances. And uh that's why we continue to plan to increase our vocational offerings and the number of vocational students
039that we serve. Um we're focusing on the areas that where the jobs are basically healthcare and the trades and uh we're expecting that um these um jobs are the ones that are going to be hopefully less affected by AI and by the impact of AI. We do have some uncertainty still in federal funding. Hopefully the federal government will make up its mind as to what's going to happen to adult education in the next year and um we are coping with the changes in eligibility and immigration uh requirements um and uh we're beginning to take advantage of some of the um benefits that AI can provide for our students in terms of lesson planning, in terms of personalizing education for our students. And we continue to emphasize digital learning, career navigation, and wraparound services for all
040of our students to improve their gains and to continue moving forward with their education and their um life goals. That's the end of my report. Are there any questions? >> Can you can you tell me what documents are required to prove uh US citizen status? >> Absolutely. Um, the easiest document for students to provide is a a real Texas ID. In other words, either a driver's license or a uh uh or or just an ID. Um, as long as they can provide that, that is typically the easiest way. If they don't have that, then there's a whole list of other documents that they can provide, including a birth certificate, a passport, um or uh specific immigration documents that um that indicate that they are here legally and that they have a permanent status, immigration status.
041>> Okay. And have you found that there have been any barriers? So like if somebody doesn't have a car, they don't drive, they take the bus, so they don't have a real ID. Have you found that that actually going to go request a birth certificate or a passport has been a significant barrier for the students? >> We have not found that um people who do not have a real ID typically do have a birth certificate then we can use that or uh if they have an immigration status and they have the specific paperwork for their immigration status they can use that as well. So that has not been a significant barrier. Thank you, Superintendent Colbert or Dr. >> Yes. Thank you, Madam President. Uh, members of the board, Langu, thank you, Dr. Great presentation. Um,
042do continue to do a great job in providing adult education services. I was going to ask quickly along those same lines, did something change? Were is there a new federal are there new federal requirements? Was there an executive order that impacted our ability to provide services? >> Yes. Uh, absolutely. Beginning uh July 10th, there was a a new interpretation of a federal law that the personal responsibility act of 1993, but the federal government provided a new interpretation of the law. And the law basically treat now treats adult education as a benefit pretty much like you would treat uh know SNAP or some of the other benefit economic benefits that the people can can receive. >> Superintendent >> I would just like to say first of all a great presentation and I appreciate your leadership and
043your entire staff. Um adult ed has gone through some things. Um, I just find it ironic really when we thought we were on, you know, hitting an arc and opening up a building, how much we would need to defend it. And so, it's a program that is absolutely essential uh to helping people be productive citizens to our society. Um, it is what we as public educators are all about and it's worth fighting for. And so in having said that, there's some things we don't control, but what we do control is how we support one another and us trying to be savvy and smart and navigate the things that we care about to protect them. And so Harris County Department of Ed is in the pro process, the cusp of doing that. And it's not easy.
044Fortunately, we have good leadership, we have good people, and we do great things for people. We have a genuine purpose and a mission and for that reason we're righteous and so we're going to stick with that. Um but we don't know what's around the corner. Um we need to be prepared for whatever. And I can also say that there have been a many adult ed programs throughout the state if not the country who aren't a part of something greater like Harris County Department of Ed who didn't survive the pause. And so when the funding got put on pause, you fell back on your brother and Harris County Department was there to hold you up until they got unpaused. And so, you know, just know I want you to know that. I want your people to
045know that that it's something that myself and this board absolutely values. and we're gonna do everything in our power to not only protect our program, but to continue to help the citizens of this county be productive citizens to our society regardless of what happens. And I don't know what that looks like. I'm only articulating my values and efforts. So with that, I appreciate you, SIR. >> Thank you. Do we have any reports from board members concerning attendance or participation in a board or HCD related event? Nothing. And any board committee uh reports? Seeing none, we will move on to the monthly financial reports with Dr. Musqua. >> Okay. He said it's okay. >> That's what you told him. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. Clear the room. These are the financial highlights as
046um October 31st presented in November 19. All our information is posted on our website. Um and uh uh this is the summary highlights for the month of October. Um taxes are still uh being um statements being mailed out. So we only had $682 in revenue this month. Our next payment is on February for our debt service payment. Revenues are at 10% and expenditures are 19 in the general fund, 35 um 35 million in equity or fund balance. uh 14 um 14,46426 in donations for the month of October and values continue uh we're projected 688 billion uh choice um the benefit variance is at 1.8 8 million for for this month and foundation equity is at 2 33,000. The uh small business report we're at uh 31% for the month of October. Um Urban is at
04799% and we're just pending the close out of one uh project uh so that all the 2020 would be um completed. And uh we have an arbitrage payment. If you remember, we talked about interest when we uh um um earn more interest than than we actually paying out. So, our payment will be 101,000. We were able to reduce it from 281,000 and so this is a minimal payment which is interest that we just basically made over the period. Um we did uh have the uh Pinnacle award and we have the two uh statues there here for for HCD. This is the second time that we received that. So, this was for the Coolwood Head Start program. >> Yes, it'll be uh and since then we received the ASBO award and the GFO award. Um and
048we submitted for two that we should receive those in December uh from TASBO. So, it was for purchasing and then financial management. So, we'll we'll wait for those for for the month of December. Uh the uh balance sheet we're at are 39 million in um in assets, 1.9 million in liabilities and 36 million in equity. And our projected fund balance um for the first month as of October 36.2 2 million of which we have81,980 because for the month of September, October, November and part of December we use the fund balance to operate because we don't have the taxes that are coming in uh in terms of our indicators and keep in mind this is only the second month. So uh the numbers are going to look a little bit uh funny because it's not all
049the data is only two months out of the out of the year. The uh percentage of unfund uh uh unassigned balance is 247 versus 274 last year. Uh working capital strong at 37 million. Uh we were at 30 million last year. Uh and on assigned fund balance we're at 64 versus 88 last year at the same time. Debt to income ratio because we don't make a payment this month uh until February it's at zero right now. And this is our debt uh total combined debt. Uh we have um debt service of 80 82.2 million uh for the department. Current revenue again this is uh just because we have not received any of the tax uh receipts. Uh so we'll start getting those in the month of December. In direct cost ratio we're at 0.2 uh
050versus 4.1 that were a year ago. So we're we're in the process of getting and submitting some of the draw down so that we can start getting some of that indirect cost. our fee for service uh ratio uh has gone up to uh 51% now to from 15. Again, we continue to get uh uh additional uh revenues and uh contracts. So, our growth has uh turned around with a with a lot of the our special schools and other other divisions. So, that you you're going to see that a a rebound year for for the department of a um budget amendments. Uh last uh month we had one for durate change order um and uh we don't have any amendments for this month. Uh inflows we have again I mentioned 10% and outflows we have 19%
051in terms of our expenses and our donations were uh 14,4426. um most of them were for choice uh a lot of the uh vendors activity that they had and also head start as well and our values again holding at 688 billions where we started so this is just the second month so we'll see uh how we uh we progress dur throughout the throughout the fiscal year uh again we have not received any of our revenues this month so we'll start seeing that in the month of December so we can you can start seeing a lot of activity here in collection which actually will be we report January uh for the month of December. So in December you still probably won't see much there until the month of December uh January. Uh same last year uh
0520% collection because we haven't again the um the the statements were just uh sent out. our dispersement $4 million for for the month, 324 transactions, 790 uh PC card and six transfers uh processed and then uh the first month uh we have uh var variance of educator success at 360,000 uh records management 237,000 school-based therapy 1,ion58 and schools of 1,825 on the positive side. And then uh choice partners the benefit variance is 1,877,000 for the first two months uh cumulative from uh since an inception here for the fiscal year. Uh no budget amendments for the month. Um um equity in the in the um in the foundation is 233,000. Um and uh in the PFC um we still have the business uh small business uh for construction report of which uh we have the information
053we have uh 31% uh which is a small business divided by the total business again 31% uh uh for for the month of cumulative from September 1 to October 31st. In terms of our construction, um we have a total of CIP uh balances of 1,430,000. The majority is um the u maintenance notes. The PFC is pretty much already uh extinguished and you'll see the majority in the the maintenance notes and we have some uh retainers that uh on the Walker retainers that is still pending to to be paid. Um, and then as I mentioned, we have a calculation 101,819 that we will have to make prior to January. That's when it's due. Uh, so we will acrew it at the end of December. Uh, but this number was 281,000. We were able to to reduce
054that down to only 101,000. So again, this is revenue that we had projected and we had reserved in the our fund balance for for this likelihood. uh again the maintenance notes will be now the next so uh 5 years from now uh in 2009 that's when you'll have to do the calculation and uh be able to uh review whether there'll be an arbitrage that needs to be done in 2009 >> I'm sorry 29 I'm going backwards here 2029 yes thank you all right we'll fix that yes there we go yeah five Here's uh again it's every 5 years that you have to do the the calculation. Uh again we have Duroch 341 in retainage and uh we have our maintenance notes that that are available in the maintenance notes. So going forward a lot of
055these schedules are going to be because the 2020 is pretty much uh finished. So you're only going to see the 2024 projects being uh reported to you because that's the only uh bond issue that that is left over. Uh one item that is on the agenda for later on is the the uh budget planning for the fiscal year 2627. >> Um and so that is included in your in your uh uh in your agenda uh for approval. And so that kind of begins the next we're finishing up 2526 and now beginning transition to 26 27. And that's the report for the month of October. What questions do you have? Okay. Then the next uh one is the investments. Uh again the Federal Reserve did uh make a change 25 basis points down on the the
056Fed funds. Um and so now the target is between three 3 and a/4 and 4%. We project that that number is going to go to three and a half here by by next month. And so that's that's the projection so far. So this is the yield curve. As you can start seeing this number will continue to go down and so they'll the the the the um the yield curve become a little more steep uh on the the latter on the latter years. Um but uh let me get to the this one. So that's where you're going to see where the fed funds are going to end up somewhere around 3% here for the next two years. Um, as I go through that, our our uh investments uh as of August 31st are 47.1 million. Uh,
057still only 104,000 in uh public facilities corporation. And then uh we have all our monies in Lonear, Chase, Texas Class, Texas Star, and TechU. As we start getting our tax money, they're all going to go into Techstar. And so you'll start seeing this number go up um over time. uh especially the month of December and January, you'll see that number go up. Um this is the PFC 104,000 uh on the Bank of Texas. And then u difference from a year ago, 3.3 million or 7% difference from last year. Um and now all our funds are overnight at this point in time and we're making uh 326,000 for the first two months. Uh we're in um um projection that we're going to end up little over a million um I'm sorry 300,000 3.6 uh in terms
058of interest uh receive for for for the year. um PFC 252 and so we're earning about 4.1 on our investments and so as you can see here the the progression of the interest rates as they start started coming down and you'll see continuing to come down here probably around three to three and a half uh percent here in the uh the next uh two months. That's the investment report. any questions that you may have. >> Thank you. >> Okay, moving on to consensus action items. Does anybody have any items that they would like to pull? Okay, so seeing none, do I have a motion for moved by Trusty McGee, seconded by Trusty Dick. Any discussion? All right. All in favor to approve the action items, the consensus action items. Motion passes 5-0. For our non-consensus
059items, we start with 71. Consider approval of the proposed annual budget calendar for fiscal year 2026 and 27. Do I have a motion? Motion by trusty McGee. Seconded by Trusty Dick. Any discussion? Trusty McGee. >> I did. Thank you, Madam President. Just uh ensuring that there is a place on the calendar for budget for the board priorities for the board to identify its priorities. >> Go ahead. Yes. >> We're planning actually to have like a retreat in January, February to discuss that. We'll have like a special call board meeting or something where we're doing that. I've already spoken to Jessica to get that on the calendar. >> Any other questions? Okay. Do you have a motion? I'm wait. >> Yeah. Do a motion. >> Oh, we already did the motion. Okay. All in favor? Motion
060passes. Five 50 5-0. Okay. Second. 72. Consider approval for new FTE special school certified teacher position. Do I have a motion? Motion by trusty Dick. Seconded by Trusty Silky. And do we have any discussion? No discussion. All in favor? Motion passes. 5-0 73. Consider ratification of amendment number two for services agreement between the center of educator success and consilian professional services to increase the amount from 44,214,872 for the existing period of 0912025 through 08312026. Do I have a motion? Motion by Trusty Silki, seconded by Trusty Dick. Any discussion? All in favor? Motion passes. 5-0 74. Consider approval of submission of governance, leadership, and oversight capacity certification requirements. Do I have a motion? Motion by Trusty Dick, seconded by Trusty McGee. Any discussion? All in favor? Motion passes 5-0 75. Consider approval of submission of certification
061of compliance with health and safety requirements. Do I have a motion? Uh motion by trusty Silky, seconded by Trusty Dick. Any discussion? All in favor? Motion passes. 5-0. 76. Consider approval of annual renewal affiliation agreement between Harris County Department of Education and Head Start and Arizona College of Nursing. Do I have a motion? >> Motion by Trusty McGee, seconded by Trusty Dick. Any discussion? Um I what is this? I'd like to know what it is. I'm curious. >> Guess it's an affiliation agreement for nurses. >> Yes. To allow nurses to come in um when they store their classes and the nurses are doing their training to come for them to be able to come to the Head Start centers and the nurses work with the kids in the classroom. >> That's great. All right. Um
062All right. All in favor? Motion passes. 50. And with that, we'll move to executive session under the Texas Government Code pursuant to any and all purposes permitted by sections 551.001 through 551.084, including but not limited to 551.071 and 551.074. And we move to executive session at 201. >> It's We're back. It is 2:45 p.m. Um, we're back from executive session. Do we have a motion? Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman. Um, I move to delegate authority to the superintendent and his designate to negotiate a possible real property purchase as discussed in closed session, but not including executing any purchase and sale agreement. >> Thank you, Trusty McGee. Do we have a second? Second by trustee Silky. Do we have any discussion? Seeing no discussion, let's put it for a vote. Uh unanimous vote. Okay. Uh no, it's
063not a motion to so you >> I'm okay. I just I'm just waiting waiting for people to be done with talking so I can I can talk. I'm being respectful. So, does any other board member have any anything they'd like to discuss in future board meetings? None. Okay. Um, do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> Okay. So, moved by Trusty Duhan. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Okay. Let's put it for second. Um, let's put it for a vote. All in favor? We are adjourned at 2:46 p.m.