001Mr. Maddox, can you hear me? >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. It is 5:30 p.m. on Monday, November the 3rd. I call this special meeting of the Kings London Independent School District to order. We'll have roll call. Joe Mirez >> here. >> Brian Kufall >> here. >> Martin Chapa >> here. David Garcia >> here. >> Jacob Perez here. Delma Selenas >> here. and Joseph Reese here. Let the record show that there is a quorum of board members present and and that this meeting has been posted in accordance with the government code chapter 551, State of Texas Open Meetings Act. We move now to a moment of silence in the loving memory of KISSD student Caitlyn Bal. We pause for a moment of silence to honor her life. Our hearts and prayers are with her family during
002this time of sorrow. We now have the pledge of allegiance followed by the Texas pledge. >> I pledge algiance 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 for all. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to the Texas. One state under God, one indivisible. >> This meeting will be livereamed or video streamed. Um, we move now on to item four, public participation. Do we have anyone who wishes to address the board? >> No sir. >> Okay. Moving on to item number five, communications and from administration item A, superintendent update, Dr. L. Martinez. >> Good evening, board president and board members and members of the public. Just a quick reminder that we have election tomorrow um from 7:00
003a.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the designated locations. Please go out and vote. In our district, we have a bait on the ballot and so we are going to be monitoring the results of the election as well. Uh just a reminder to everyone as well that we have six weeks total before first semester ends. Three weeks before Thanksgiving, we go out for one week and we come back three weeks before the holidays. So we are focusing on continuing to provide strong instruction to the students in every classrooms and again our prayers go for uh the loss of our students in the care academy. That is all. Thank you. >> Thank you Dr. Martinez. We move on now to uh item B uh energy efficiency report. Dr. Peter Pittz can be found on page number three. I
004don't need for this. >> Thank you, President Ree, Dr. Martinez, members of the board. We spend quite a bit of money in utilities every year, over a million dollars, of which 800,000 is electricity cost. And we have identified several different ways that we can save money. We are uh working with legal to go out for bids. These are the different methods that can be used to um to save energy. First of all, you can do equipment replacement. We're talking new more energy efficient air conditioners. Second of all, lowering the humidity. When you lower the humidity, humidity, it doesn't take as much energy energy to cool it. So by getting more efficient thermostats and more efficient um uh make removing of the energy removing of the uh moisture uh in the evening hours we can also
005decrease electricity cost. Um there's also a the more energy you use during peak time the more expensive it is. And so uh then there's also things that we can do with lighting as well too. Um re retrofitting getting more efficient lighting. So there are there are many different ways to save electricity and the district is considering going out for proposals and working again with legal to craft it in such a way so that the different methods can be brought to the board that you might want to consider that can cut into that $800,000 a year in electricity costs. The amount that we pay is very small. We're paying around 4.1 cents per kilowatt hour. We have we have a rate locked in till 2033. We we signed when the rates were low and right now
006uh we we don't pay a lot per kilowatt hour, but that is only part of the uh cost, the rate per kilowatt hour. There there are fees um as well that depend on um the maximum capacity that you reach within a quarter. So there are different ways that we can uh attack this issue. Now the funding can really be handled two ways. If we need um money for let's say new equipment, we can either take out with many vendors, they carry the note for the new equipment and you pay them off every year. Uh it's called a maintenance uh maintenance tax note. It's on the operation side. It's not on the debt side. So it's not like going out for a bond election for new facilities. So that's one way that we can do it
007where again they guarantee that the savings will cover the uh the amount of the note and usually you pay it off out of over about fiveyear period. The other way is that we go out for our own funding. We get a a note on the uh operation side, the maintenance and operation side. This is probably the best option if we can get a a lower interest rate because then we will be able to take advantage of the savings. How much can the savings be? Realistically, about a quarter. So, you see that $800,000 there. We could save $200,000 of that a year. We will not know until we get the proposals. And usually once you get proposals, then they have to go look at your facilities. So, it's a process where they do an audit and
008then they bring to the board. This is what we've identified that we can do and this is the savings that that um that the district can expect and this is how much it will cost the district to do that and how long it will take to pay it off. So I I just kind of wanted at the beginning of this process bring this to you and see what type of questions you have before we we go out for proposals and then again once the proposals come in before we do anything we would bring something back to you. >> I have a question. >> Yes sir. >> Who is in charge of energy? Do we have any individual that, you know, kind of monitors what the schools are are using or the or the buildings as
009far as, you know, like you said, the thermostats being at a certain temperature. The reason I'm asking that is, and I know we're cutting positions, but back in the day, we had an individual here at KD that that's all he took care of was making sure that everybody all the buildings were in compliance as far as thermostats and, you know, equipment or whatever it may be. Is there someone that's >> currently that that falls under support services and and that would in in the future if the the board chooses to move forward that would fall under the executive director of support programs. >> Thank you. what Jake is talking about. When we had that energy person here, he pretty much paid his salary with savings and I was going to every facility, checking everything, uh,
010letting everybody know around the Christmas holidays, things like that, clean your your stuff out because I'm unplugging stuff stuff, you know, he would go to every facility. Uh my next my question though is is when these people come in to audit, are they going to give you or let you know what they're going to be looking at as far as facilities, you know, like leaking windows? Are they going to be checking for leaks with pressure uh around doors and things like that? You know, >> I I'm not sure at this point of the process. When when I spoke with legal and we talked about all these different types of proposals, he suggested that we make it general and and some could some proposals when we bring it to you could be that. Some might be
011just uh specifically new equipment. Um uh but uh right now we're we don't know what's out there and until we we put something out there and then bring it back to you, we'll be able to have more of those questions answered at that time. But but as you can see, it's it's a huge amount of money that we spend every year, and it's one that that we believe we can s save anywhere from 150 to $200,000 a year. But but again, it requires it requires investment at the beginning, but uh those can be structured so that it's no additional cost. So it just might be the first couple of years of savings are used to pay for the equipment. But but again, uh we don't necessarily know what type of proposals are out there. I
012I've heard several different ones. Um but until I bring them to you, um uh then then we'll be able to ask those questions and see exactly what they're going to do. >> So what's the process? I'm sorry. So what's going to be the process, Dr. Pittz? Are they going to present a presentation to you to the board? Well, first first we're going to submit a a submit a request for proposals and then we're going to bring all the proposals to you and they could be many different varieties before before they even go out and start doing an audit at the facilities. We will bring all the proposals to the board. >> One last question. In your experience with a 4 day a 4 day week 10hour does that save >> on energy? it it it
013saved a little bit of energy. The the problem is that if you are on those days also cleaning the facility and still need to have the air conditioner on, you're not going to save on those days. So really to make more use of it, what you would have to do is you'd have to have all of the maintenance and custodians working at one or two of the facilities so you can shut the air off on all the other facilities during that day. >> Thank you. >> I I think Dr. We need to look at there's companies out there that will upfront the cost. >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. Of what needs to be done, retrofit whatever campus needs to be retrofitted or and our HVAC system. As much as we spend all this money on
014them, I they're they're used up there and and we're just uh filtering money into a into a process that is not becoming efficient for us. So that's that's one thing we I would really want you you to look at. Yes, sir. Please. >> We we you're right, Mr. um Garcia. We do have aging [clears throat] infrastructure and it is very costly to replace. And you are right that we we just finished two years ago paying off one of those. It's called a lease, a lease of equipment until you pay it off. We just finished a 15-year energy lease. Um, so you have to pay pay that off every year, but but again, the savings you can you can um more than recoup the savings that you're going to get with the new equipment. And then
015also, as you pointed out, we do not have to spend as much cost on repairing new units. >> I don't know if it's possible, but I can ask legal a question if there's a way that maybe a couple of the board members, Mr. president can be involved in that in that process. Do you know what we're we're looking for? >> Uh yes sir, Mr. President, members of the board of trustees, we can include you to the extent that we can workshop this extensively both before and after to make sure that the proposals capture what you all are looking for as a board and the the scope, the size. And then we can uh have live presentations of of the picks with rubrics that y'all help design at those workshops that the administration then utilizes and
016can bring those potential vendors in for for presentations for your selection as well. So we can certainly uh keep the board included in this process at the board level. So Nick, could we uh actually create a like an advisory board or something where you have or subcommittees where I know they've talked about it in conferences where you have people assigned to say help look at this stuff you know two to three board long as it's not a quorum two to three board members that can go out and you know uh see exactly or make suggestions. Is that possible? >> Yes sir. Absolutely. Committees are utilized like that all the time. This would be a great one for a facilities committee and I think that uh here at Kingsville we we tend to underutilize the the
017board member committees available to us. So yes sir, we can certainly do that. >> Very good. Any other questions? >> Thank you Dr. Pittz. >> You're welcome. Moving on to item number six, new business. Discussion and possible action regarding the uh transition of HM King High uh school from Early College High School to a Pathways and Technology Early College High School or PEK. Miss uh Jennifer Flowers can be found on page four. >> Good evening, Board President Ruiz, Dr. Martinez, members of the board. Um, HMK King High School currently operates as an early college high school to better align with the state's college, career, and military military readiness school model and its outcomebased measures, sorry, of access, achievement, and attainment. The district proposes transitioning to a pathways in technology early college high school. The PEK
018model builds upon the ECHS framework by embedding career aligned pathways, industry certifications, and work-based learning. This approach offers students the opportunity to graduate with a high school diploma, earn workforce credentials, and have the opportunity to complete an associate degree while strengthening partnerships with colleges and local industry. It is re it is the recommendation of the administration that the board of trustees approve the transition of HM King High School from an early college high school model to a pathways in technology early college high school model beginning in the 2026 2027 school year. >> Do we have any discussion from the board? Do I have a motion to accept the recommendation of administration to uh from [clears throat] an early college high school to a PEK high school? So moved. Motion made by Brian Kufall. >> Second
019made by Martin Chapa. All those in favor say I. I. >> Any oppose? >> Motion carries 70. Thank you, Miss. >> Thank you. Uh we move on to item uh B discussion possible action regarding the lasso grant uh teacher and principal stipens. Uh Dr. Peter Pittz. >> Thank you, Mr. Ree. The lasso grant is one of the grants that we were awarded for mathematics and the four schools that are involved with that are the three elementary schools and also the middle school. The grant is very specific as far as what the allowable expenditures are. Half of the grant has to be used for our partner that we work with. uh in in this case it is uh uh Carnegie and they come out and they support teachers and uh instructional personnel in the classrooms. We
020also as part of this grant are allowed to give stipens to those that are involved in implementing the uh curriculum. So this does not have a cost to the general fund. uh these employees would be working after school hours on on the curriculum and uh I will call Miss Flowers up to give a little bit more description of what they are going to be doing during this process. So some of our uh stipen expectations for our teachers would be to um stay after school for internalization sessions where they collaborate with their grade level peers. Uh work on internalizing those lessons and preparing for the upcoming week. Um one of the other expectations would be to provide tutoring once a week whether before school or after school. Um, basically the after hours commitment we are asking
021is roughly three hours a week from uh, you know, November through the end of May. Uh, so that's about 70 hours that we're asking these teachers to work outside of the regular workday. Um, we will have our K through2 teachers uh, collaborate with their peers on campus and then we will have our three through five teachers uh, rotate campuses so that they can collaborate. So on each of our elementary campuses, there's only one third grade math teacher, one fourth grade, one fifth grade. So this would give them that opportunity to uh work with their peers and then collaborate so that they can internalize these lessons. I would think since it is a grant that there'll be agendas and signin sheets for the training part and and and the workshop part with the teachers, but also
022with the kids coming in for tutoring. Will they be signing in also? >> Yes. And we do have some pretty specific stipen expectations. Um I believe you guys will be going over um in close session tonight. >> Thank you. >> Yes sir. >> So there are two parts to the stipen. One is for actually doing the work after school and then uh the other part of it is tied to student growth and and there is a rubric for it. Now, um I know that on the um on the handout that the board got uh it says $3,000 for a stipen, they were able to build up to 3500 in there if the teachers meet the metrics for student improvement. Again, this is all grant-f funed money and also the the principles will be required to
023be at these afterchool meetings as well too and the stipen would be uh for them as well too. So I'm I'm going to table this uh uh item 6B so that we can go into close session to find out some specifics on how much you know there's going to their teachers going to get or the principles are going to get paid or teachers going to get paid and also for what variation. So uh I think it's important that we hear specifics before we make a decision. sort of on the table that and then um moving on to item 6 C. That's another one that I've been approved by a few board members to take back to close session to just get some clarity on exactly what what what it means, you know, before we actually
024make a decision. So item six B and C will be tabled uh until after executive set executive session. We now move on to item 6D, discussion and possible action regarding the uh ESC 100 cares uh plan. Miss Flowers, >> it should be me and >> I'm sorry. Item six. Okay, >> I'm going to give a little background and then we have a representative from ESC 100 today that is going to talk a little bit about the CARES plan. So we uh are moving to a levelfunded plan of a a plan that we are not held responsible for the claims that we know how much to budget each year. The cost comes in two different areas. One of them is the uh cost for the premiums and the premiums the employees pay a part and the
025district pays a part and the other part of it is the CARES program. Uh again um we um during contract negotiations uh we were informed of the CARES program we were not necessarily informed of the cost of the program or that it was a requirement for being part of the um uh being part of the ESC 100 program. Um in in all fairness uh it was uh there was one line in the proposal that um that did talk about the cost for the cures program but uh with all the questions that we asked about this program this this never came out. Um and when we were negotiating the contract that's when all the questions came out about this. So, we we found out about this and we wanted to bring it to the board because
026it is an additional cost. And um the I I'm going to first um bring up uh Carrie from ESC 100 to talk a little bit about the program and then we'll talk a little bit about the cost involved for the program. >> Good evening. Uh my name is Carrie Malik. I I am uh director of marketing for ESC. Um thank you for letting me talk a little bit about this. But uh so the plan is really a a typical health plan. It's going to be a lot similar to what you have now. The only feature that is not part of your plan now is a car's program. And basically what we use that for is to manage claims. And by managing claims we're able to keep the cost down. And you've got a a premium
027now in place that's going to be, you know, determined every year. and and set. So, not unlike a cell phone program where you're you're kind of a little bit open-ended, this is not open-ended. It's it's a direct cost. And so, the CARES program basically helps out uh people with large claims. It moves them into a a different plan for them and it allows us to manage the cost. That's kind of a a basic part of it. Uh and as terms of the cost of of it, it does cost a little more to put people in there. So, we just don't know at this moment how many people are actually going to be in it. We've just made some estimations. And I believe when I calculated out it came out to be about another$110 or $15,000
028in annual cost. Uh but then that cost is is pretty much guaranteed as well. So, it's not it's not an open-ended cost. It we know for each person how much it's gonna that goes into CARES, how much it's going to cost you. So, that's a a defined cost. And if you have questions about how that works, um the whole the whole point of it is to manage claim costs so that uh we can keep rates low and benefits pretty much kind of like we have them now. >> So >> explain to them what uh what would consider someone that would be involved in the car's plan. You know what would be an example? So an example is you you actually have to qualify for it and you qualify for it by basically having claims that
029are we know that are going to be large. So if you have somebody who has an ongoing illness and they're spending they're in the hospital on a multiple basis we generally would then transfer that person into CARES. So the the benefit is that person's going to have a 100red$200 $300,000 claim. we transfer that complete risk to someone else and they take all of that risk and we're out of it, but we we there's a charge for that. Uh it's kind of like a stop-loss or or whatever you want to call it, but it's a cost that then covers everything on there, you're completely out of the risk and it it saves the plan money. And so by taking those large claims out, it saves the plan. the old 8020 rule. Have you ever heard the
030old 8020 rule that 20% of the people cost 80% of the money and and that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to manage that 20%. We successfully managed 20% for a lot of school districts. It's become very popular now. And I think it's going to be a great way for us to manage costs here at Kingsville. >> Okay. What was the basic premium amount that was approved? [clears throat] >> It was around 2.7 million for the total cost for uh this particular proposal. And even though um Carrie did mention that >> okay uh that uh expected cost could be in the range of hundred something thousand. uh we pushed for a cap because currently the the the issue I had and I work with legal on this was that what if they moved every
031single employee to the car's plan because I was worried about that and I wanted something in the contract. So because potentially for every single employee depending on what plan they are already on it's between 10,000 and 15,000 additional costs to the district for every employee that goes on the plan. It's great for the employees because the employees don't pay any premium. They don't pay any co-pays, but it is a cost to the district. So, when I asked for that, ESC 100 came back with a cap of 26 individuals is the most that that we were able to do that. So, we're talking worst possible situation. If we had 26 on there and all of them were in the worst possible plan, we're talking upwards of $350,000 would be the maximum exposure of the district. Expected
032exposure, I I expect it to be more in the $200 to $230,000 range for for the employees that are on the CARES plan. Right now, we have looked at identifying individuals that might qualify and we're looking at approximately 12 that we are going to uh interview and see if they do qualify. The the baseline is $35,000 of of claims within the calendar year. and the ones that uh that they have identified as possibly qualifying were ones that in the previous year spent 35,000. But that doesn't mean that their issue could be solved moving into the new year. Um that's the whole reason for the interview. And then there's a possibility of uh new employees coming onto the plan in the middle of the year. If if they get u a a high claim uh illness,
033they can come on in the middle of the year. Um we are again um uh we are trying to make sure that we do not have exposure over the 26 individuals and that is being written into the contract and what's also being written in the contract is if it's over 20 individuals it's brought back to the board before we add any more onto the plan. >> All right K you you said that by your estimation it was going to be about a 100,000. How many employees did you see? Because >> that that was based on 13 employees. Okay. >> Um we just really don't know until we get to talk to them. >> So >> we have a district that's about so Greenville ISD is one of our clients. They have about five or six
034hundred people. We've only have uh eight people on it right now. >> Yeah. But this isn't linear or I mean you can't really compare district to district. Listen, this is this is health care and and it's it's you can't say this company of 500 and this company of 500 and this company of 500 are going to have matching. They're not. >> That's true. >> Dr. Pittz, what have we been paying for stop gap stop gap? At at one time we paid up to 600,000, but as we increased the um individual stop-loss threshold, we increased it from 75,000 then incrementally per year all the way up to 225,000. Then we were paying $400,000 in stop-loss uh just recently last year. and the individuals that are identified and and on this this program, the rest of their
035coverage is comparable to all the other employees. In other words, you got an employee that signs up for plan A and plan A covers X, Y, and Z and the mother of plan A gets thrown into CARES. Does the rest of the family still have plan A? >> No, we put we put everybody in a car's program. All of their premiums are covered and all their deductibles and out-of- pockets are covered. >> Doctors are still the same. There's no there's no people >> we try to match them up perfectly. Yeah. >> Okay. So, it's it's not 100% certain, but yes. >> Do you know who the underlying carrier for the CARES is? >> Yes, it's uh Gerber Life. >> Okay. Um when will we know? I mean, we've got a disparagy just I mean a
036a a range here from 100,000 to 350,000. When when are we going to know what the actual dollar amount is? Well, if we get to interview them this week, at the end of this week. >> Okay. >> And the plan was to enroll people this week and part of next week, I believe. I can't recall the schedule exactly, but we did have some people. We wanted to start interviewing people tomorrow and Wednesday, uh, for for the CARES. And we had the names and everything and and we were just going to set them aside and and interview them. >> And I'm not suggesting any kind of bait and switch or anything, but this is kind of a big deal. How come we're just not hearing about it? >> I I'm not pretty to that. I just
037resubmitted the proposal and it was it's part of the proposal. >> We just discovered it about a week ago, Brian, when we asked about the actual cost because we did talk to him about the CARES program in debt and like uh Dr. Pit said there was one little sentence in the contract about the cost and the cost goes from an employee only cost to family cost. Am I correct on that Terry? >> Well, some of them are already family costs. So, it just >> So, some that are already family, they're going to stay as family cost. So, they're going to move them. So, if they get involved in the CARES program, they're going to go from a if they're self-employed, they're going to charge us a a family rate for that self-employed person. That's a
038charge on the CARES. And we're pretty excited about because we even mentioned it about the CARES during the workshop. And then when we got down to uh the bottom line about the cost about the cares, that's when uh unfortunately Ben we who we spoke to all along didn't mention the cost but Peter who is the guy in charge of the design of the plan when we spoke to him he said there is a cost and so as soon as we found out that's when we came to you all to let you know that instead of 700,000 in savings, it might be 600. >> And and that was going to be my question to Dr. Pittz. The the disparity between our chosen carrier ESC and the next carrier was about 700,000. >> Yeah. >> 768,000. Okay.
039>> Yeah. So, so we'll save 600,000. Do we have any other discussion or questions? >> Times three, Brian, because we got them for three years at that cost. So >> that that's correct. We were able to get a >> Okay. But is this cares cost an annual cost that is locked in for the three years also? >> Yes, it is >> because of if right start with 13 and go to 25. >> Oh, no. No. So the price is based on the number of employees per person, but the the cost per person per month will be fixed for those three years because it will be basically be the amount of the family plan. So that will not go up. >> That's the key here is that we're on a a fixed premium program for three
040years. Unlike the uh self-funded, you know, we it was it varied depending on how much in claims we had each year. >> And is there any special requirement as to why this cost has to be borne 100% by the district? >> We tried negotiating that with them and the best we're probably going to get a get is a cap. And uh he said, "Look, we you know, they pretty much said, and I agree, they gave us a $700,000 savings and premium. >> You couldn't really create a sub." >> Well, I'm Well, let me finish with with the projected claims that we gave him because I'm sure he included the CARES premium in there, too. So, >> uh you're right, Mr. Esel. when we when we questioned them, they said that that is built into the
041cost. That's why they were able to offer us such low premiums because they offer this as a hedge against the employees that have higher claims. So again, it's it's unfortunate that at the time we negotiated in good faith, the person that submitted the proposal uh is the person that we were talking to. Apparently, that wasn't the person that that knew everything about the finance. And and when we questioned about this, they they said no cost to the employee. At no time did they say that the district was going to >> was going to bear the cost of that and that it was going to be the employee and family plan. But they said that that's how they're able to offer such low premiums for the district bec because they have managed care for for this
042other uh other program. >> Yeah. So they they they calculated the premium with the CARES premium. >> Okay. Thank you. So, [clears throat] um, so I guess like I I guess the bottom line is instead of the 700,000 in savings, the projected like 600,000 in savings and that's going to I mean, we're going to have to bring it to y'all for approval to get that uh CARES expense included so that way we can if you want because I mean you don't have to if you don't want to. We can stay with that too. You know what I mean? >> But I mean it's a We're still going to save $600,000 even with the CARES program if we get the 15 people on CARES. >> Let me let me see if I can summarize this >>
043to go with ESC 100. We have to go with CARES. >> Yes, sir. >> We have to. >> Yes. >> Now, what's being brought to us tonight is that we approve the CARES plan, >> but we've already approved the ESC and so and I get that. I get that this is addition. So, but we don't know what that addition is. So, aren't we premature tonight? Aren't we Shouldn't we just wait until we know what the dollar amount is? >> Well, if if we wait any further, then we see it's we have to do go through open enrollment first. And open enrollment is timesensitive. >> I I got all that. But let's say let's let me paint this picture. Let's say that we approve it tonight, but then let's say it comes back and instead of
044being 100 or 200 that it's 350,000 extra. You bring it back to the board. What can we do then? >> At that point, we're running out of time because our options are limited. Either we pay that cost or we go back to ETNA, which will be an additional cost past that. So, the bottom line is if we approve tonight, it's regardless of what the cost comes back. Pretty much >> up to the cap. Up to the cap. >> Yeah. The good thing is we're going to have a cap. Uh that's that's the bottom line. That'll be our >> 26 employees, >> right? >> Yes. Here. 26 employees is the cap. >> But the dollar amount is per employee. >> The dollar amount is per employee, right? But but there is >> comes back at 20
045grand of an employee. >> Oh no, it can't be 20 grand per employee if so the district currently contributes about $400 for employee only and employee and children plans already. So the cost of the carers is is 1,647. So if every single person that was on there um was uh employee only, it would be 1247. uh times uh 12 times the number of months. So So we're talking a little bit under 15,000 worst case scenario for each and every one of them. That's the worst. But if they are already on employee and spouse and employee and family plan, the district is already contributing a little over $800 to each of those plans already. So the >> that would go directly to this expense. >> Right. Right. So in other words, it the the more people
046that are already employee and family and employee and spouse, then it's going to be less than that. So we're talking half that cost for those employees. >> Well, let me ask you this. If it's on cares, then what is the employee paying at all? >> The employee is paying nothing. >> So if I'm an employee, I want to be as bad as I can. >> Do you do you want to answer that, Gary? Well, it's not always that simple. No, >> I mean, your claims are your claims. If you get sick, you're going to have large claims. >> Why can't the employee at least pay what they would be paying for whatever? >> You can do that. There's nothing to stop you from doing that. >> Plan if they weren't put into cares. >> But
047then the incentive for them to go on cares goes way down. When they're getting all paid, they all sign up. Everybody gets on that plan because they don't have to pay anything for it. But now you're talking about now charging them a premium for that. And you know, it just makes it less likely that that person would want to get on CARES. They would stay where you're at and then that just that that means you pay the claims. >> Do you have anybody that has zero care? >> I don't understand. >> Any companies that you any entities that you represent that would have zero in the care? >> Yes, we we have some smaller ones that are not going to have people in it necessarily. Uh but generally we'll get one or two persons that
048goes into CARES almost every year. Even with a group that's only like you know 40 or 50 people we'll have one or two people on. >> So if I'm an employee I want to file as many claims as I possibly can so that I get free healthare. >> No it you I mean you it is what it is. I mean you're going to be sick. You're going to pay whatever the bill charges are and that's really it. You can't go and get extra stuff done. the plan only pays for certain things generally when you get sick and some wellness stuff. So, it's kind of difficult to try to do that. >> All right. >> It's like your cancer cases. >> I got it. But let's suppose that there was a traumatic injury a year ago
049that a family did have a large submission of claims, but it's a oneot deal. A one-year deal and the next year they've got normal claims. >> You go back on the plan. >> Yeah. back. You're going to get free hair health care for a year, >> that traumatic period of time >> and then you're going back >> then you go back on the planing that >> it's it's automatic. I mean, you just we drop you out of the plan at the end of that period of time >> and so you get to go back to the regular plan like everybody else. And we have people that that's happened to you. >> Okay. >> So then those premiums could potentially go down if people come off the They will eventually they do come off. Not all
050of them. Some of them leave the district. Some of them retire or they pass away. So there's a lot of different things that create what ends up happening. But we've done this long enough to we know where we know how to manage it. And we can control the cost through that program. And we're pretty good at figuring out who's going to go on and who's going to come off and when they come off. >> And that that determination of of going on cares could be made based on one person of say a five family unit. >> That's right. >> Yes. Absolutely. >> So that if it's a child, they could age out. If it's a if it's a parent, there could be a >> they could go on another plan with somebody else. So they
051leave it, you know, a lot of things can happen. >> Okay. >> So, so in other words, they're not hooked into it all the as all their career once they're in uh cares. As soon as their care is over, then they switch back to their regular regular plan. >> They come in and out all the time on our on cares. >> So, and and part of this fee charged to us is for their enrollment, their claims management. >> Yes. >> All right. And so there's there's no other involvement by the district whatsoever. >> No. Once they're on carriage, y'all are out of it. We manage it from there. >> The only part we're in is paying the pre extra premium from employee and spouse or from employee only to the family charge. That's what the
052that's our charge that they'll charge us if we have someone go on to the car's program who has cancer or a terminal or you know some major >> is that determination made during the enrollment period >> during the interview process. >> Okay. So I mean you don't have people necessarily unless they're new to the district or something in middle of the year there's no effect. It should it's it's pretty much January. >> We're going to catch 80%. You know, the 8020 rule comes back into play. We're going to catch 80% of all the big claims in the initial enrollment. The other 20% will come out during the year or a new employee. >> And is that a hard pretty much a hard hard cost at at 35,000 in claims or is that just an estimate
053of >> that's our that's our baseline to get started talking to somebody? >> Yeah. But generally we don't even once we know what the diagnosis is we can we get involved fairly early on >> and so it's really good for the employees when we explain this to them. the boys love it >> and and and so you know I mean unfortunat we take the responsibility but during that time of need it's pretty hard for them to come up with the money that they need to pay for their co-pays and co- insurance and all [clears throat] that stuff. So, I'm just giving you the other side of the coin that it's really good for the employees. And yes, we're taking it on for a projected 100,000, but again, we had a savings of 700,000. So, we're
054for the next three years. So, I just, you know, we're in a good position at least, you know, >> okay, >> better than we were before. >> But we've got when take cares out of it for a second. we've got this company that we're gonna have plan A, B, and C. I don't know, maybe more, but let's say plan A, B, and C. >> And the employee comes in and chooses plan A because of deductible and co-pay. And then it's determined that they really need to go into to CARES. So, y'all sell them into care. But how does that deductible and co-pay I mean yeah they're getting free but what are their deductibles? What are their co-pays? Are they in line with that original plan A or are they hugely out of out of >>
055there's no deductible or co-ay anything. >> Okay. >> The underlying plans are are fairly similar but it could be a Blue Cross plan. It could be we just don't know who will take it. Okay. So the the employee only I'm I'm sorry the district contribution has already been calculated into that 2.7 million that is brought to the board. The only thing that was not included in that is the employee contribution. The employee contribution is what the district is on the hook for for everybody that's moved to the car's plan. And and again, the employee contribution was uh $800 and change for anybody that was already on the family plan or employee and spouse. And it was uh it was higher. It was around $1,24040 if they were on employee only plan. So, those are the
056ones, but but again, looking at the at the people that were identified that um we're going to interview this week, a lot of them are already on the employee uh and family plan. So, um we had already planned on contributing 800 some odd dollars to their premiums anyway of the 1647. We should be able to by the end of the week give the board an update on so far who qualified for the plan and how much money uh that will cost for the CARES program. >> But you're saying we're capped at what their premium would have been. >> Yes. >> For 26 people. >> Yes. For 26 people. I got you, man. >> So, so that hedges where the worst possible situation, $350,000 if every single one was on employee only, which which that isn't
057the case. Um uh so, and if we went all the way up to 26 people and we have written in there as well that if it goes to 20 people that it is brought to the board uh to for discussion um if it gets to the 20 person threshold. So if the if the person chooses not to go on CARES, then they would stay in the regular program, but that's going to have a detrimental effect potentially on our premiums going forward. >> It could. Yes. >> Gotcha. >> And on the employee. >> Yeah. The employee the employee has to pay the out of pocket and the co-pay and all that, which is why they never take it. They always go to program. >> And it would not affect our premiums for three years. >> We
058have a threeear rate. My next question that's locked in for three years. >> Yes, sir. The rates are we have that uh written into the contract, >> right? Okay. >> Le leg legal has looked at it to make sure that our financial interest is protected and that our exposure is capped. Uh so, did you want to say anything about that, Mr. Manx? >> I think you've covered it all. Um, whenever we discovered it, we we went back and forth several times on the contract. I've I've been through it several times. Dr. Pitz has been through it several times and uh we were able to isolate that to 26 individuals. It's very black and white language, no questions asked. And um with that required notification at the 20 mark. So, we wanted not only a hard
059cap of 26, but we also wanted, you know, a soft cap where it triggered a notice requirement to the board. And they gave us both of those. So, we're good to go from a legal perspective. >> All right. So, um do I hear a motion to accept the action regarding ESC 100 cares plan? >> So, move. >> Motion made by David Garcia. I'll second by Brian Kufo. All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Motion carry 70. We now move on to item uh 6E discussion and possible action regarding health insurance terminal liability option with Etna. Dr. Pittz. >> Thank you, Mr. Ruiz. So, we've discussed this before. um we need protection for our runout claim. So that would be somebody that was let's say that near the end of December they had an
060illness or injury and uh their um claim was not processed until afterwards. or let's say that um they continued receiving care for that particular injury and they went over their individual stop loss to cover us going over the individual stop-loss amount as well too. Um for Etna the estimated cost is 112,000. Uh it I believe December 3rd is the actual cuto off date. The actual cost depends on how many people are on that plan. uh December 1st of 2025 will be the actual cost, but the the estimate right now, if we included the people that are on our plan right now for runout for is $112,000. >> Oh, and gentlemen, I think that that's pretty cheap. 112. So, uh because we're going to have to pay the claims anyway because we're self-funded. So I mean
061that's a pretty good projection at 112. >> All right. So that would cover all claims. >> Okay. So no, that doesn't cover all claims. We that will cover claims >> that will cover claims that uh put us over the individual stop-loss. We still are responsible for the claims um from the previous year, but that gives us a stop-loss protection and they continue to administer those claims. So, it covers those two things, the the uh the increase above the individual stop-loss and administering all the claims um for those employees. But again, if there's a claim that is under that individual stop-loss, we're still self-funded. That's a still a self-funded plan. We are still responsible for that claim. >> All right. We've been self-funded, which means we've been carrying reserves for specific health insurance. >> Yes, sir.
062>> What What is the current and or projected balance of those reserves as of the end of this policy? >> $219,000. >> Totally. >> So, there's not a lot, but that health insurance fund balance that can be used toward the premiums as we go into we're not we're not going to waste that those funds. No, but there there is not a lot there. We have been we have been funding the plan um by uh by premiums that the district pays. We take out of every paycheck but then we still are responsible for the claims. So we have had to put in extra money from our fund balance and it is it has gone down significantly. So there's there's not much left there. But the advantage of this, except for the CARES program, we know how
063much to budget. And at least with the CARES, we have a maximum expenditure of $350,000. Probably a more likely scenario, maybe half of that. Uh but uh at least we have a cap where we know the maximum that we're going to pay and which is still significantly less than what we have been paying recently. >> And of course, these are just estimates. So it doesn't necessarily mean that we're going to pay this out. It could be a lot better if we don't have >> Oh yes, absolutely. Absolutely. If we have less employees on the CARES plan, I I just wanted to come up with a cap and they came up with a high cap that's way more than either of us think that it's going to be. But but they wanted to they wanted to
064hedge their bets just like we're hedging our bets as well, too. Any other questions from the board? Discussion. Okay. Hearing none, uh, is there a motion to accept the administration's recommendation regarding the, uh, health insurance terminal liability option with ETNA? So, moved. Motion made by Jake Pettis. >> I'll second. >> Second by Delma Selenas. All those in favor say I. I. >> Any oppose? Motion carries. 70. We now move on to item 6 F, discussion and possible action regarding the 2627 Clayber County Appraisal District Board resolution. Dr. Pitts. >> Thank you, Mr. Ruiz. So, there are a total of 5,000 votes that are cast for the appraisal district board nominees. So, we control 1,627. We can either apply them all to one candidate or we can spread them out amongst candidates. Again, this person will
065be serving a two-year term that will start January 1, 2026 and then December 31, 2027. I will take any questions. >> Dr. Pitz, how many do we need to get in? I think we had already made two nominations. That correct? I can clarify this if you'll allow me. >> Yes, sir. >> There are five candidates, five positions. So, you one vote gets anybody. >> I would say that as long as each candidate gets at least one vote that each of them are going to be on there. If a candidate gets no votes, I maybe you can clarify that for us, Mr. Maddox. What would happen in that scenario? Actually, I can because by the bylaws of the appraisal district, >> um what would happen in that situation is that you would have a board of
066four that would appoint a fifth, which would be that fifth person. [laughter] >> But regardless, we still do have to proportion our 1,627 votes. Are we proposing numbers? >> Yes, sir. Yes, sir. >> Could we divide that number by five? >> We we we could if you wish to give it to all the um candidates. There would be two votes left over that would need to go somewhere. >> Okay. So split them equally and give the other two votes to Mr. Kufall. Um okay. >> So So do I have a do I hear a motion to accept the uh so action? Okay. Clear county appraisal district resolution and which would be dividing the votes equally uh and giving the remainder two votes to Brian Kufall. So there was motion was made by Martin Chapa, second
067by Delma Selinz. All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Motion carries 70. Mo now move on to item 6G. Discussion and possible action regarding Senate Bill 546 3 seat belt requirement. Dr. P. >> Thank you. So there is a new Senate bill that is requiring threepoint seat belts in buses dramatically increases the safety. Um there is a significant cost for it. So boards are asked to do one of two things. They are asked to either number one say that we have funds and and allocate those funds or number two to say that we don't have funds for that and then we have been told that there will be a tea grant that we can pay for that costs for um that um allows us to defay that cost to to get the seat
068belts paid for. So um estimated cost is $570,000. You see the buses there, which ones already have seat belts, um which ones don't have any seat belts and which ones just have lap belts and the estimated cost. Um we are required to submit this by the end of the year and the board is required to to vote to make a it's called a budget limitation determination. Um whether we have money in the budget to do that or not. Um, our administration's recommendation is that the budget limitation determination is that we don't have money in there for that so that we can apply for the grant. Uh, we do have a few years to um, I believe it's 2029 that we have to become compliant, but we do need to make this budget determination limitation this
069year. Almost definitely with the fund balance going down and us probably falling below the requirement. I think you know funds are you know our budgets limited. So I I think we should go after the grant if we can. >> Quick question. When you say compliant Dr. Fitz are you meaning that all buses need to have a three-point harness? >> Yes sir. By by 2029 >> I'd like to we start looking at purchasing new buses. to make sure that in the cost Dr. Pence is those seat belts are already >> So one thing I want to point out is if you look at the um if you look at the vehicle fleet that you see there the new buses already have the three-point harnesses in there. So like look at the 2023 buses they have the
070three-point harness the 2026 bus has a threepoint harness and and further down the 2023 bus has the three-point harness. The blue represent our special education buses and the yellow represent our uh regular education buses. But but yes, now those are becoming standard and I assume that only buses that we buy moving forward will already have the threepoint uh harnesses for seat belts. Yes, sir. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> So So the grant that we're we're applying would be applying for is to equip our existing fleet with those threepoint seat belts. >> Yes, sir. We haven't we haven't been given any any um details on the grant yet. Right now, everybody is just making the budget limitation determination. Then we're sending all the information to TEA of what we would need to equip it.
071And then after that, they're using that to build the grant. Again, we've got a a couple more years to become compliant, but right now the thing in front of us is just to make that budget limitation determination. Is that the 1992 Bluebird an in town vehicle only >> or is it running at all? >> Uh that is in in town vehicle. Yes. But it it still runs, believe it or not, pretty well. [laughter] >> 92 was a great year, sir. Know that produc a lot of great people [laughter] here. That's what I'm here to. Okay. So is uh is there any more questions or all right uh hearing none is there a motion to accept the recommendation of administration regarding Senate Bill 546 3.3C bill requirement with the inclusion of the budget limitation. >> So
072we want a budget limitation determination that we are not able to within our current budget afford these upgrades. So is there a motion to move? Motion made by Jake Pettis. >> Second by [clears throat] Joe Mirez. All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Motion carry 70. The board uh move on to item seven, close session. The board will now enter into close session in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code 551. 071 and 551. 074 to deliberate and consider the following. Um item A, deliberate uh regarding the employment of contracted personnel, director of school improvement. Uh item uh B consider and deliberate regarding the employment of contracted personnel executive director programs. Uh and item C consultation with legal service regarding the legal matters. No action will be taken until we
073return to open session. We [clears throat] are entering close session at 6:34 Yeah. Okay, sir. We're returning to open session where we can discuss and take possible action on the following items. Uh we are returning to open session at 8:08 p.m. Um item 8, discussion of possible action regarding the employment of contracted administrator director of school improvement. Is there a motion to accept the administration's recommendation? So move motion made by Jake Pettis. I'll second by Brian Kufall. All those in favor say I. I. >> Any oppose? Motion carries. 70. Uh item 8B, discussion of possible action regarding the employment of contracted administrator, executive director of support programs. Is there a motion to accept the administration's recommendation of this employee? So moved. Motion made by Jake Pettis. >> Second by Joe Mes. All those in favor
074say I. I. Any oppose? >> No. Motion passes 61. Um I believe there's no legal matters uh to discuss. Nick, >> Mr. President, we need those other two items. >> Okay, that's very good. Thank you so much. I'm I'm hooked on the cow name already, so apologize for that. Uh, going back to item 6B, discussion, possible action regarding the lasso grant teacher and principal stipens. Is there a motion to approve the recommendation made by administration? >> Mr. President, I move that we accept the recommendation to approve the lasso grant teacher principal stipens with the criteria outlined to us by the superintendent. >> Is there a second? >> Second made by David Garcia. All those in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Motion passes 70. Uh, also moving on to item 6 C, discussion and possible
075action regarding the supplemental pay for professional employees. Uh, is there a motion to accept recommendation made by administration? So moved. >> Made by Jake Perez. >> There a second. >> Second by Joe Mirez. All those in favor say I. I. >> Any oppose? Motion carries 70. There being no further uh action, um do I hear a motion to adjourn? >> Motion made by Joe Mirez. Second made by David Garcia. All those in favor say I. I. The meeting is adjourned at 8:11 p.m.