La Porte ISD Board Meeting 5/12/2026

001It is 7:01 p.m. The board of trustees of the Leaport Independent School District is now convened. I wish to extend a warm welcome to everyone who's present. Every student success is our number one priority. As a Leaport ISD board of trustees, we are hon we are here to set goals, adopt policy, approve budgets, contracts, personnel appointments, and communicate the district's vision and success to the community. It is not the role of the board to make day-to-day operational decisions. The management and day-to-day operations of the district are the responsibility of the superintendent. This is a public meeting of the board of trustees, not a meeting of the public. Schoolboard meetings are open to all who wish to attend and hear the matters discussed. Audience participation is limited to the patron presentation portion of the meeting. Board

002members may not respond to the public comment section. These proceedings may be recorded and I respectfully ask that you please refrain from talking while others are speaking. Thank you for your taking the time this evening to join us and for your interest in the Leaport Independent School District. At this time, we will please stand for the presentation of colors led by the Leaport High School ROC. >> Joining us tonight on American flag are Cadet Lieutenant Masten, Texas Flag Cadet Corporal Reetta, American Rifle Command Sergeant Major Garcia, and Texas Rifle Private First Class Williams. colors 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 aliance to the Texas one state under

003God one and indivisible. Is that colors order colors center face time march? for March. >> Thank you again to the members of our JOTC. If you will please remain standing for tonight's invocation led by Trusty Deian Thompson. Please bow your head. Lord, as we come to you today, we are grateful for the many opportunities and successes that we've shared this school year. We are so proud of our students accomplishments and grateful for the dedication of all of our staff members, both teachers and support staff who contribute so much to our school community each day. As we move forward with graduation quickly approaching, may we all be thankful and reflect on each student's journey. As a board, may we continue to lead with wisdom, courage, and strength. May our discussions be thoughtful and our decisions made

004with care. For all these things, we pray in your son's name. Amen. >> Amen. >> You may be seated. Thank you. Turn now to item seven, board recognitions. >> Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. First in our recognitions is actually a performance by College Park Elementary Honor Choir under the direction of Miss Rachel Sam. Okay, good evening. We are uh from College Park Elementary. So, just recently we had an amazing day. We had a a district elementary honor choir and they met all day and then had a performance and it was wonderful. So these are our students from College Park Elementary who auditioned and were um able to be a part of the district honor choir. So one of the pieces that we performed for you uh we're going to do an arrangement of it. It

005is called Bombella. It is um a South African stick passing game. So the words are bombella westa which is the sound of the train. Mama wenzani what is mother doing? Um aa batuana she is waking the children. So please enjoy bomba. Oh, forever. Forever forever. Zana mama No matter. One, two, We love melan. We're going to grab a picture. >> Good job. >> Parents, as they're gathering for a photo, um just a reminder that the performers are going to go out this door over here. We ask the parents go with them. It'll circle around and it'll help us avoid a bottleneck. Thank you. >> And then back or you guys making honor. >> Yeah. That's awesome. Good job. Good job. something different. Ladies and gentlemen, this evening we take a moment to recognize and celebrate

006the incredible students who participate in Special Olympics. Through their dedication, perseverance, and teamwork, these athletes represent the very best of our school community. Their commitment to growth both on and off the field reminds us of the importance of respect, opportunity, and support for every student. We are proud to honor their achievements and the inspiration they bring to our schools every day. From Leaport High School, Troy Hoges Brags. Please come forward. Ariana Padrazza, Aaliyah Ortiz, Ethan Eversbeard, Ryan Common, you can stay here. and Gabriel Cervantes. >> Now honoring our 18 plus students. >> Russian Dyer, >> Christian Tibido, Calvin Morris Pacheco, >> Caleb Robertson, Anthony Rodriguez Lopez and Nicholas Wells Valerio. And finally, good job, >> Miss Adrienne Wilts, Leaport High School behavior support teacher and Special Olympics head coach. I'll hop in the photo. Sure.

007Come on, Jeff. >> All right. >> Look at the camera. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Now we turn our attention to a special moment honoring the winners of this year's Silven Beach Parade. Each entry brought something unique to the route. Color, energy, craftsmanship, and a deep appreciation for what makes this community special. From beautifully designed floats to spirited marching groups and standout performances, the level of effort and imagination on display was truly exceptional. As we recognize the winners, we also recognize everyone who participated. Your dedication is what keeps this tradition alive and growing every year. These awards are not just about placement, but about celebrating excellence, enthusiasm, and the shared pride of being part of something larger than ourselves. Best themed entry. Let's give it up for Jenny Reid

008Elementary School. most original and I think I think I know who y'all are. C2C Sports >> Way to go. >> Awesome. >> That's awesome. >> Best showmanship, >> the Leaport HIGH SCHOOL BAND. DR. MATT Burke accepting on behalf of the band. >> And finally, the judg's overall favorite, Beayshore Elementary School. I think an honorable honorable mention needs to go to Leaport Junior High for having how many floats you have 30 floats in the Turn around. Turn around. Great job. >> Thank y'all for coming. >> Leaport High School's JOTC archery team is doing great things this year. And here to recognize our star archers is Dr. Dr. Michelle Baker, our CTE coordinator. >> All right. So, our Army JRTC archery team qualified for and competed in the state archery tournament in San Antonio back in March.

009Um, that competition was open to all qualifying JRTC and nonJRTC archery programs in the state of Texas. Our army national sorry our army ger to see state archery team placed 21st out of 80 at the state level. >> And once all 50 state um competed a list of the top 80 JRTC archery teams from all services around the country were invited to compete in the national JRTC archery tournament in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. >> Out of the 80 JTC archery teams invited, our program ranks 15th overall. >> Wow. and second in the state. >> So unlike the state competition which allows up to 24 archers, which we have 19 on our state team, um the national competition is comprised of the top eight archers from each team based on their state tournament performance. And our

010national archery tournament team will leave this Thursday to go to Missouri to qualify or to um try and win our JRTC. What's the award called? Captain E >> if they win nationals >> to beat the Gerald Archery >> Archery National Championship. Awesome. >> So, they leave Thursday and they'll be competing Friday and Saturday. >> So, um the following cadets are here to get recognized for their accomplishments. Um I'm going to say their names and then if they're going on to to national, I will let you know that as well. So, the first one is Mahina Chespro. She also qualified for national. Um, Isaac Del also qualified for the national team. Everardo Garcia, Cole Hart, who's also on the national team, Emily Masten, >> Taylor Pew, >> Kylie, Rea, Jeremy Summer who is also on the

011national team and Jacob Wilson. And then I would be remiss if I did not also introduce their instructor, Captain Hector Chavaria here. Pretend like you really >> don't come Hi. >> Hold on. parent. >> Thank you. >> Good luck, y'all. >> So exciting. Thank you. >> We recently celebrated the entrepreneurial spirit amongst a number of young entrepreneurs across Leaport ISD. And here to recognize our entrepreneurs of the year and awesome community volunteers is partners and education coordinator, Miss Terry Cook. Tonight we are excited to recognize our top award winners from the Young Entrepreneur Expo this year. This is a project of the Leaport Beayshore Chamber of Commerce with Leaport ISD. And I'd like to extend a thank you to Jeff Martin who also serves as president of the chamber for his leadership and commitment to

012this project. Jeff and Frank Nance brought this project which started out as Lemonade Day to the district 5 years ago and to date several hundred Leaport ISD students have had the chance to learn about developing their own businesses and showcasing them in a public setting. Students had the opportunity to submit their business plans for consideration as entrepreneur of the year. Because of the quality of this year's submissions, four runners up were also selected. And we'd like to recognize, I know we have some of them here tonight, Khloe Cunningham from Heritage Elementary, Presley Jent from Jenny Reed Elementary. Come on up, Presley. precious. Adeline Rodriguez from Leaport Elementary >> and Emma Stakes from Rudo Elementary. And I'd also like to introduce this year's entrepreneur of the year for the second consecutive year who was also crowned

013young Miss Pasadena Strawberry Festival this weekend. Danica Windendell for >> Congratulations. >> Awesome. >> Congratulations. Good job. Trust me. >> Congratulations. >> Good job. Good job. Good job. There you go. >> Okay, I'm going to go ahead and introduce the mentors if I could. >> Uh these students and many others who participated in the expo benefited from the guidance of mentors from chamber member businesses and we are so grateful for their mentorship. Many of these men and women have mentored the past several if not all years of the program. So, first we'd like to thank Jenny Allen from Sweet Pea Coffee Company, who was a Jenny Breed man. Jessica Sinaga from Randy Casey State Farm who worked with Bashore Elementary. Our own Melissa Crutcher from Texas Stress who worked with Rudo Elementary. Amanda de Alejandro

014from Community First ER who worked with Lomax Elementary. Jesse Gonzalez from Beacon Federal Credit Union who worked with Heritage Elementary. Jesse had a commitment and he was going to try to make it. I'm sorry he couldn't be here. Alicia Green from South Region Driving School. She worked with her Ford here. Frank Nance, Frank Nance State Farm who worked at Jimmy Reubel. Megan Weaver from the Leort Bayore Chamber of Commerce. She was with College Park. And Ria Zurker Thornton with Beacon Federal Credit Union who worked with Heritage Elementary and I I think she was detained as well. So, let's all >> Okay. Um, and then we have several who weren't uh able to be here tonight. Preston Bearden from Bio City Industrial Contractors, Thomas Green from South Region Driving School, Jeremy Hauling from Evergreen Industrial Services,

015Brandon Lun Lunsford from Garden of Eden, Carol Spruel from 316 Realy, and Angie Thatcher from Air Products. Thank you to all of y'all. Hey, before you take a picture, before I take a picture because she's way too humble, uh Frank and I need full-time babysitters and so we got not one but two, Adam and Terry are really the ones that make this happen through the district. The partnership the chamber has in the district's amazing and we we get too much credit on the chamber side of it. Terry and Adam did a phenomenal job of help guiding this process, coordinated everything. So, you guys better can get this picture, too. And thank you for They never had their >> Yeah, they're always taking the picture. >> Good job. Thank you. Well done. That >> one more.

016One more. One more. >> We are excited to introduce our aspiring leaders to our board of trustees and our community. The goal of the aspiring leadership academy is to inspire, support, and grow future campus and district leaders. With more about this wonderful program and its participants is Miss Angela Garzitor, executive director of teaching, learning, and leadership. Good evening. We are so proud of our aspiring leaders. This is actually our fifth cohort of aspiring leaders and want to thank Dr. Jackson for this vision for us to have this aspiring leadership academy. Um we are just very very proud of this group. They've worked very hard on some uh collaborative projects. Um they've showcased some things on campus. They've really helped to support the campus goals and really we want to honor the fact that they are

017um initiating growth but also we are really looking to build our leadership pipeline here in the district for future campus and district leadership and just growing for themselves as leaders. So we just want to thank them and we look forward to continuing to mentor them and for them to continue growing in their roles. So if as I call your name please come up. We would love to recognize you tonight. And we have from Rudo Elementary, Christina Cardinus from Baker Sixth Grade Campus. CHRISTINA DAVIDSON from Leaport Junior High. Eddie Montalville from Baker Sixth Grade Campus. We have Mr. Dylan Relle. Yes. from Leaport Junior High. Alyssa Ruffin >> from Lommax Elementary. We have Nicole Tomkins. Yes, sir. >> We do have three of our aspiring leaders who were not able to join us because of campus

018commitments that they had. Mr. Mr. William Hoffman from Leaport Junior High. He's the orchestra director and he had an orchestra concert tonight. We have Miss Erica Spedia who had a family commitment and we have Miss Key Jenkins from Heritage Elementary and she is actually starting her doctoral program through Baylor University. So, she was doing that tonight. YES. Thank you uh for our to our aspiring leaders for all of your great work. We look forward to seeing all that you'll accomplish. Come on. >> Can I just say also some of these aspiring leaders brought their family tonight. If you're a family member of aspire, will you stand up because I know Awesome. Good luck with everything. I All right, we'll move to uh item eight, public comments. The board will now hear those who wish to

019make comments and who have completed and returned the public comment participation request. This session will be conducted in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act and board policy. Complaints and concerns for which other resolution channels are provided shall be directed through those channels. Mr. Vice President, do we have any that wish to speak this evening? >> We have none. >> Hearing none, we will turn to item nine, our administrative reports. A, superintendent student advisory. >> Good evening board. Superintendent Jackson. Tonight, we are proud to introduce members of the superintendent's legacy leaders student advisory council, a leadership initiative that elevates student voice and develops future leaders within Leaport ISD. Representing Leaport High School and the Academy of Viola Dewalt High School. These students were selected by their principles and counselors as outstanding cap campus representatives. And

020throughout the year, they meet with Superintendent Dr. Jackson to provide feedback, discuss educational experiences, and gain insight into leadership and civic engagement. The success of this group is also due in large part to the support of Deputy Superintendent Dr. Bobby Martinez and Miss Candace Oliver, administrative assistant to the superintendent. Tonight, students are honored to share their perspectives with the board of trustees. Let me get this on the screen and it's all yours. Good evening members of the board of trustees and superintendent Dr. Jackson. My name is Bella Stokeley and this evening we will be talking to you about the superintendent's legacy leaders student advisory council. You'll see photos from our experiences on the monitor. As a member of the superintendent's legacy leaders council, I've experienced firsthand how this program is designi designed to develop leadership

021in students early on. Through structured activities, collaboration, and real world decision-making opportunities, I'm not just participating. I'm growing as a leader. I've learned how to communicate more effectively, think critically, and carry myself with confidence in professional settings. These are skills I know will stay with me far beyond the classroom and help me lead my school and community. Good evening, board of trustees. My name is Thomas Green and I'm a happy representative of this. Um, my name is Thomas Green. One of the most impactful parts of this program has been the focus on building a collegegoing culture. When we visited the Texas A&M Presidential Library and Museum, it was more than just a field trip. It helped me connect history, leadership, and higher education in meaningful ways. That experience allowed me to picture myself on the

022college campus and see that higher education is truly within my reach. Hello, my name is Mallerie Black. As a member of the superintendent's legacy leaders advisory council last year, I had the opportunity to visit the state capital with the council where I saw lawmakers debating new legislation. It wasn't just something to observe. It felt like a front row seat to democracy in action. I was able to see how decisions are made, how ideas are challenged, and how policies take shape. That experience showed me that government isn't distant or unreachable and that my voice can play a role in creating a change. Good evening, board. My name is Venicius Low and being a part of the Legacy Leader Council has shown me the importance of student voice. I've had a chance to share what I've seen

023in my high school from academics to school values, but more importantly, I've seen my input is genuinely valued. More important, Oh, this is grippy. No, but this but this has allowed me to be more engaged, more invested, and more connected to my school. Ignore the hiccup. >> Hello board. My name is Joe Cornet, and through this program, I feel like I'm being prepared not just to graduate, but to contribute meaningfully to society. By developing leadership skills, exploring higher education, engaging in civic experiences, and having my voice heard, I'm gaining a stronger sense of responsibility and confidence. I'm leaving this experience committed to making a positive impact in my community. >> Hello, my name is Garner Cox. Another meaningful part of my experience in the Superintendent Legacy Leaders Council has been the membership and relationship I've

024built along the way. Through this program, I have had the opportunity to connect with district leaders, educators, and peers who challenge and support me. These relationships have helped me grow not only as a student, but as a person. Having mentors who listen, guide, and believe in my potential has made a lasting impact on my confidence and direction. It's shown me the importance of surrounding myself with people who inspire growth and leadership. Thank you for your continued support of programs like this that empower students like me to lead and succeed. And thank you, Dr. Jackson, for the wonderful experience. Do y'all have any questions? Outstanding job. >> I don't think so. >> Fantastic job. >> Call me on a bad day. >> No, you're good. to every >> day. Can you see Karen? Let me go

025this way. There we go. There you go. I need a stool. Congratulations, guys. >> Proud of you guys. >> Enjoy that. Good job. Mr. President, that will conclude the superintendent's report for tonight. >> I uh I want to go on record. I've said this before, but I'm going to go on record one more time that at least as my year as president, I appreciate that Dr. Jackson chose to take these students to Texas&M >> and not and not that other college down the down the road. So, I appreciate that sincerely. And again, you guys did a phenomenal job. I you couldn't have paid me enough money ever to get up and speak in public as a high school student. These these kids are phenomenal in so many ways. I know I don't shut up now,

026but there was a day when that wasn't the case. Russell. All right. >> My sister threatened me if I asked any questions. I'll be in big trouble. Yeah. >> All right. We'll turn to Budget and Finance Report. All right. Good evening, Dr. Jackson, President Martin, board of trustees. Um, that was a phenomenal presentation and it's hard hard to follow, especially with with my information that I'm going to share with you. But, um, it is what it is. So, please smile at me as much as you smile at them. Um, they they deserve a whole lot more though. Um, so tonight we are going to discuss, uh, the following topics. Funding overview. This is something that I kind of go through with y'all every year because we have new people listening and it's just always a

027good refresher. Uh then we'll also talk about where we are estimated to uh possibly end up at fiscal year 2026 which will end June 30th. So we've got a month and a half left plus the after effects of cleaning up the the fiscal year going through the audit. So um but I have an idea of maybe where we'll end uh historical financial information for LPISD. Uh so it's like current and then the previous five years. So you can kind of see what our cyclical uh change has been, what the next steps will be for the district and for the board and then any questions that y'all might have. So I'm sure this looks familiar. This is our fiscal year budget uh timeline. And so what this is showing, there's three colors here because we are

028working in three different fiscal years all within one fiscal year. So um you know we start the budget planning in in January for this upcoming year. We actually get our final tea uh for the previous year in March. Um with that just I' I've shared with y'all it it brought they just now did the final it so it actually didn't come in March. It came in April and with that they gave us hey another bill for a million dollars for the recapture. So, um, we made that payment yesterday. In April, we receive our our estimated property valuations, which we did receive, and I'll talk about that later. We will have our May budget workshop on May 26. And in June, I will come to you and ask and present the fiscal year 2027 budget and

029ask um that you adopt that budget. Uh, after y'all adopt it, then we actually receive the certified valuations. Um and we then in August we will receive our MCR which are is our maximum compression compression rate um from TEA. Uh and then finally in September the current year that we're in in 2026 in September they'll give us a near final of that and then in March we'll get the actual final. So there is a lot of settle that occurs um in fiscal budgeting for every school district. So how are districts funded? This is our cup, our cup picture. And so the more students you have, the bigger your cup is, which means the more students you have, the more state funding you get and the more property taxes you get to uh keep. But it's

030not just your students, it's also attendance of the students that are enrolled here because all school districts in Texas are paid based on attendance, not on based on enrollment. even though we have to project and fund on that every child will actually show up as as they are enrolled with the school district. So because we are such a property wealthy district uh the more property taxes we have the less state funding we get. So other districts are different because of what their demographics are. Um financial demographics, not student demographics, but um you know if since we are such a property wealthy district, we get to keep more tax revenue if we have more kids, but that means we get less state funding. So it kind of is a an opposite effect for us. So talking

031of re recapture. So again when the the glass stays the same size. So meaning our kids our enrollment stays the same but we our property tax revenue goes up and the more that we keep this the state says you can only have so much. So anything that comes out of that mason jar is going back to the state. And so since 1995, which uh was when recapture began, so 31 years ago, we have paid $812 million to the state in recapture. So just the so I wanted to to provide this with you. I provided 2025 fiscal year 2025's uh information because that year is final and it's audited and it's you know I I that's a good and it's the most recent completed year. Um so in 2025 we had $123 million of expenses and

032I have two lists of these are fixed costs and then these are variable costs. So a fixed cost is something that it is what it is. We we have done everything we've can we can to bring these costs down, but we still have to pay payroll. We still have to pay recapture. We still have to pay our property insurance, our utilities, um our security officers. So all of those are things that we really can't we've done everything we can to squeeze every dime we can out of that. Um so that's 96% of those $123 million. So really the variable costs are on the other side and that makes up 4% of what our costs are. Um, and so as you go down, you can see the contracted services, supplies, miscellaneous revenue, or sorry, revenue, not

033miscellaneous re miscellaneous expenses. And so I gave you a list to the side to kind of explain what when I say contracted services, who am I talking about? I'm talking about paying Sanj for our dual our ACE program and our dual credit, paying G JJ said, thank you, Billy, for all of the things that we have to do. I mean, we're, you know, again, we're trying to cost save as much as we possibly can. Um, but we still have to pay a courier. We still have to pay our lawyers and we've we've gone out to bid. We've done everything we we know that we can do to get the best deal. Um, and then you have supplies and then miscellaneous also. So, um, I just wanted to kind of show you so that to the

034to the board because I deal with this every day, you know, with these numbers, but, um, hopefully this will give you a better idea of what our our true movement is and and what we can and can't um, find funding for. Okay. >> So, the TU Yeah, absolutely. The TUR payment is a contract that we have with the city of Leaport. And so that TUR is for tax permit uh reinvestment zone. Yes. So what that is is we have a contract with them and I believe our contract is done in 2030. Um but off the top depending on how it's it's based on many different things, but it mainly it's how much tax revenue did we bring in and how many students we have. Um and then they have a calcul city of Leaport has

035a calculation and they say okay off the top you're getting all these this tax revenue on on the M side. So based on that we're going to take that amount and you now have to pay that to us to the city and the city is going to hold that into a fund that they have and then they give us a small portion back. And so the agreement, and I'm I'm I can give you a copy of the agreement, but I I'm not going to be able to tell you word for word exactly what it what it says. But the purpose of it is the city and the the uh district are able to you use it for um uh land things with the land. So like we did the auxiliary field, we did, you know,

036drainage for the stadium. We we used it for that. >> Is it true? Like so the way they kind of explained it a little bit to me and I didn't get off in the in real detail but is it a a tax advantage to us or something that they they said we're not having to pay recapture but can you explain that? >> It is because it's not a part of the recapture. It's off the top. Okay. >> So it is advantageous for the district to be a part of this >> as long as we take advantage of it. >> It's it right. It's it's something that that and that's why we the district has done it uh for for many years and like I said it ends in 2030 and we are open to having

037it otherwise. >> Right. So it that's exactly right. is not part of recapture. So that is funds that we get to keep in our district. >> Got the advantageous part. >> Is there is it a is there a way to max it out per se? >> Again, it's only based on it's based on how much tax revenue. So it changes every year. So this formula is what we paid last year. I'm actually waiting for this week. Sometime this week, the city of Leaport let me know that they'll be sitting me the re the So I don't even know what the amount is until they tell me. >> I didn't know if our agreement I didn't know if we Okay. I didn't know if we changed our if if we all whenever in 2030 came up

038if we changed our agreement if we could say we'd like to contribute more detail. >> That is something we could definitely look into. Again, that's that's going to be something that we will have to talk to our our legal representatives to >> but we could only tap into that based on need, >> right? >> It can't just be for anything. It has to be to prove that there is a need for this. >> There's a board that oversees that >> and the city. Yes. >> Yes. >> Yeah. We do have a Deian's our representative. So way understand I think there's seven uh represent reps from the the city of Leort. We have one from Harris County and one on the ISD. And so if it goes before that board then I believe this has to

039be approved by city council. >> I think so. >> But it it has to be um a project that positively impacts and benefits the citizens. So, it could, you know, we've done um all kinds of drainage things, improvements right now are going on to with some of the county money that we um encumbered off to the side to work on Silven Beach Pier. Um improvements to the wave pool are happening right now. Different parks throughout the city. Um a lot of a lot of drainage issues to try to help, >> you know, like the drainage thing that you see going on. Um if you go down Fairmont for I can't think of the name of that subdivision that used to always Yes. >> Yeah. >> So um there's some Turkers money there. It it's and

040it helps a city not have all the burden of a project. >> Right. >> But it just has to be approved by the board as an expenditure and then it goes to city council for final approval. >> Any other questions on this? Okay. >> Thank you. So our 2026 tax revenue uh tax rate is you know dollar610641 and part of that is your maintenance operations and part of it is your interest in seeking. So the 08220 which is the maintenance operation that is everything to pay for everything that's on this slide right here. Okay the interest and syncing that is debt bond payments only that is the only thing we can pay for. So the great thing about that and that's at 62 2619. The great thing about that is that is not subject to

041recapture. That is our money to pay back our our loans for the bonds that the community has passed. >> And again, I just since that slide's up. >> Yes, sir. >> Just >> anything that's in that bond is a capital expense that does not have to come out of M that we couldn't afford. If we had to buy buses, for example, that did not get included with the bond. Correct. We'd have to find a way in the ML budget >> to get it out of here >> facilitate with that 4% that remaining. Correct. Right. We had five buses with 4% expense is something else on there. Correct. >> That that is correct. >> Thank you. >> Yes. Yes. Thank you. So district comparison these are um districts that are neighboring to us and Leaport ISD

042has the third lowest tax rate. Um as you can see here for Galo Park has the highest and Clear Creek has the lowest. So, we're the third. >> When did CCISD jump down? Did they just lower their tax rate? >> Um, they I I can find out for you, but I don't know off the top of my head. >> Right. I mean, >> last year we were the second lowest. >> Yeah. Okay. That's my thought. >> They could have do they could have done a swap or something. I'm not sure. >> Okay. >> And again, it that that M rate, remember, is based it's it's built off the MCR, which is how many kids you have, >> you know? So it everyone is declining and so all of everyone's MTR say everyone most districts >>

043just two weeks ago >> MCR which builds your M tax rate is lowering. >> So for fiscal year 2026 this is what I've estimated based on um you know our expenditures as of to date and then extrapolated out. So again they're not final. We won't really have them final until after the the audit. I I feel pretty good about this. And so we had uh adopted a budget of a deficit of 8.2. Then we did an amendment and it stayed right around eight uh a deficit of eight. And but I'm thinking the deficit would be closer to four. And the reason for that is because House Bill 2 and 89th legislative session, House Bill 2 is providing more funding for the district. And so um with and which is helpful and it it's you know

044with our TRA our teacher retention a lotment that we've discussed with you we're getting funding for that we're getting funding for SPED we're getting funding for different things and so um and also just the biggest difference is going to be the expenses. So we have tried tremendously this year to >> to cut the expenses as much as we possibly can. I mean we are looking at every single thing. Um, we look at the subs, we look at, you know, and we're having conversations with the campuses and and it's it's just it's a normal conversation in the district. >> Being very fiscally conservative with Yes, sir. >> Can I is it fair for me to say is it accurate for me to say that, you know, some of those fixed costs, insurance, for example, just like

045we are as homeowners, it's a fixed cost in my budget. I know I have to pay my insurance. We're not getting additional services or care. We're paying more for the premium. That's correct. Expense has gone up at no benefit to us. It wasn't like we went out and and added things to to drive up cost the the facilitator the the company has done so right >> and I think that >> well really the just the the uh the environment like that that that >> you know the to that point is there's so many other things along your expenditure list that have been affected the same way just like everybody fuel yes insurance utilities >> things that go you know rise at a individual level also rise at the district level and and >> yes there's

046nowhere to go >> right >> there's nowhere to go so any I just >> yes >> well let's not harp on insurance too much >> property insurance um so you know 150day fund balance that's what we've always kind of discussed what I've shared with you is is a fiscally responsible balance to have in our budget uh in our fund balance because we're a July 1 start and we don't start getting tax revenue. So we have to kind of use the fund and money in our fund balance to to tide us over until we start getting tax revenue in the December January time frame which is about 150 days. So that's 56 million. So right now with my estimations we are at 53 million um which is 142 days. So we're close but we're not quite

047there. >> Will that affect our >> It will not because it will not because that's based on 90 days. Oh >> yeah. So 150 for July start, you know, districts like to be 150 because of that lag. >> Yeah. >> But 90 days is for the districts that are start September 1st because they only need their fund balance to kind of >> fold them over for a couple three months. Yes, ma'am. >> 90%. >> No. >> Um that are September 1st. >> A smaller school. more than a pound. >> There's there I don't know the number, but I I know that most are moving from September to uh July. It's just it's easier for budgeting because you're starting a school year brand new with a brand new budget versus starting a school year with ending

048one budget and starting a new one. Um I'm very thankful I've gone through that change and so I'm really thankful that Leaport had already done it before I came here because it is it is a difficult process. it will not because the first is based on a 90 days. >> So now we get into the historical tax uh rate for Leaport ISD. So since 2022 our our total tax rate has decreased by 20 cents almost 21 cents our enrollment and average daily attendance. So there's a lot of information on this this slide. So please bear with me as I I walk through it. So um as you can see the the orange column is your fall enrollment enrollment. So that is what ps we have to tell them and and that we call the snapshot

049day. It's it's usually this past year was Halloween. Um so it's who how many kids are enrolled as and then and it's a good mark for all districts to compare each other to. So that 6923 that is up here right now that's not ours today. that says what it was in fall in the fall. Um the refined ADA that's your average daily attendance. So what they do is they take all the attendance throughout the entire year and do a calculation and say okay so where how many kids are you really going to get funding for? How many actually showed up? Um so you know ours right now uh is estimated to be 6366. We're almost at the end of the school year. That's through the last dis six weeks that we have. Um so our

050um attendance rate is 94%. And if you try to do that calculation, it's not going to match because we're two different numbers. Um, so but as you can see our our attendance has increased slightly over which is great because 1% of the attendance increase is $900,000 in funding for us at the end of the year because it's not you know it's it's they calculate it all. So every I say that to mean every single day of attendance matters not just fiscally but of course for the students um learning and for their well-being. And you know, I think parents get frustrated saying, you know, school wants your kid there because they're not getting their money. They don't understand. We're playing by the rules that the state set for us. >> Correct. >> We're not trying to

051be the bad guy. >> It's just we have to play by the rules that the state, you know, we have to play by the state law. So, it's like, call your legislator. I don't know what to tell. What the what the again the the public doesn't understand is that it costs the same amount in my utilities to have a classroom of 25 kids or 12 kids. And it but the funding that I'm getting support from the state is not the same. It's going to be based on the 12 and not the 25. And that's what >> that is a that is a diabolical flaw in the public education funding system bar none. until they fix that. >> They can fix so many problems by funding on enrollment and not on average daily attendance. And that

052is that is the kryptonite. That is the thing that undermines what so many boards like ours are trying to figure it out because you're you're shooting at a moving target that you can't control every day. It's not fair. You're you're you're being evaluated and we're being judged based on our effectiveness on a fixed budget and it's not a fixed budget. >> Right. >> Yeah. That that's Thank you for saying that. Um the other point that I wanted to bring up is uh from the beginning sorry from the last day of school in of last year versus now we've lost 137 students and the port ISD has. So that's 1.8 million of funding of just if we did it just by enrollment. Of course that's attendance not included but that's that's what it costs. >> Yeah.

053>> You tell what I get upset about. >> Get back on the box. So, $1.8 million decrease in funding, but again, we set a budget at the onset of this year in August that funded for 137. >> Correct. Correct. >> You're we're not going to lay off staff. We're not going to close classrooms or campuses or reduce bus routes or anything else. We're still on the hook for those 137 kids even though they have elected or whatever reason are no longer with us. Correct. >> But we're on the on the That's like someone you're going out to use a restaurant analogy. You go to a restaurant, 20 of your friends go out and all of a sudden the bill comes and 19 give up and leave and I'm on the on the hook for the

054bill. That's exactly what happens. And people need to understand why enrollment and and the average daily attendant has to be fixed. >> You elected Daniel spokesperson. >> Okay. I appreciate it. I I agree with everything you're saying. >> Um our next slide is about our property valuations. So what you're seeing here is obviously it's a steady increase. Now these numbers are not the actual property um the certified property valuation. This is the certified property valuation less any exemptions because this is the amount that our uh M tax rate is going to be based on. Um because it's not what the certified value is. You have to take out all the exemptions. The homestead exemption just went from 100 to 140. There's business exemptions. There's u military exemptions, farm exe all kind types of exemptions. So,

055we have about $500 million worth of exemptions, close to six actually, that is taken off the top. And then here's the amount that we're going to pay. You're going to get your tax uh on. >> No, they they don't. But they are they that's another source of revenue for us that is going to dry up here within the next five years. Yes, ma'am. >> Thanks for bringing that. on the uh it's if I'm reading this correctly, it's about a 20 I don't know 20 213 million increase from 24 to 25 24 25 26. >> Yes, sir. >> Not I'm putting you on spot, but how much of that terms of a tax revenue that comes in do we get to see? I obviously that they increase our recapture, right? But like how much revenue additional

056I think that's part of the other problem, too. People like, oh, we we're such a taxi rich district and they see that that that valuation goes up. >> Yeah. >> Shoots up in the last 10 years. we get. How much do we actually get to keep? >> So, let's just say, and I I don't have the numbers in front of me, so I'm not going to lie, but I'm just going to give you an example. Let's say if that equated to $10 million, we get to keep five because our student or our enrollment is is not if it was higher, we'd get to keep more. >> But pretty much we're we're giving um half of what we would get back. That is a very simplified answer because there are so many the different tiers of

057the tax rate. There's so many pieces of the formula. Um but we did just receive our preliminary 2027 property valuations and it it is again before any of these exemptions have come out is 15.4 billion which last year was 15.2. So that's you know it is an increase. Uh and most of that increase is in the um industrial site not the homestead side. >> It will. Yes. >> Well still it still be a net gain for us right? Like so we'll pay we'll pay more to capture but we're going to we're also going to >> we will we will get some depending on again we have 12 pennies this year. Next year we won't have 12 pennies. >> So we we're going to have more. Yeah. So let's kind of walk over the next step.

058So uh May 26 I will be meeting with you and going over the budget. Uh any kind we've already had the compensation workshop. So, we'll um kind of build the budget around some of those things and then I will present that to you to give you an idea of of where we are. And June 23rd is when our next board meeting is. So, that's we will have a public hearing to discuss the budget and the tax rate. You will not be adopting a tax rate at that time. That happens in the fall, but I would just the board will be asked to adopt the budget. Um July 1st the school year starts and in then July we'll get actually get we got the precertified values. In July we'll get the actual certified values. Um and

059then in August we'll actually get the MCR amount to see what can we even build our tax rate on. That is all I have. Is there any questions I can answer for you? >> Yeah. >> I have a uh thank you for the report. I just have I guess a request um >> for the next when we talk about the budget is it possible to get because >> we all agree unanimously that we hate recapture and and you know we can scream all we want and doesn't seem like any Austin really listens to that. Um I do believe that we are in a unique situation here in Port Texas that we have the ability to go out and uh we have some very generous plant not just industry a lot of different uh business partners

060that would give back to the school district. Right. I know this year was the first year with a new stadium that a lot of people a lot of them kind of contributed and uh some small some big ways to the signage and stuff. Can you give us a report uh at that next meeting or the when we talk about budget on how much I guess revenue we had come in for that? I know that's just that's one small bucket. I think that's something we can increase. >> Um yes and that was um part of your your board uh your weekly board update. There was the we have a stadium fund and in that was the the revenue that we've received for um the advertisement revenue. >> I will send that to you but it's it

061is there. Yes sir. >> Is there anything else I can help you with? >> Thank you very much. >> All right. We'll turn to item C. Teachers incentive aotment. Okay. I don't see a folder. >> Do you know how I get to the I don't see an icon for the folder. >> Should be here. It's my first time using the new >> Which one is Okay. >> Do you know how to full screen? >> No. Go right over here. Okay. And then it works exactly the same way. Okay. Okay. All right. Good evening, uh, President Martin, board of trustees, and Dr. Jackson. I'm pleased to come to you this evening to share on behalf of our teacher incentive aotment team, uh, an update on just kind of where we're at with our teacher incentive aotment

062initiative with Leaport ISD. So, just to kind of refresh all of our memories on on what TIA is, um TIA was created um through House Bill 3 back in 2019 to really be able to um to do quite a few things for teachers. um looking at the landscape of education and and and the tea, looking at how they can increase teacher retention, how they can incentivize teaching and and just build the performance level of teachers and their effectiveness. And so uh the teacher incentive aotment was was created and funded by the state to reward excellence in teaching uh to retain top talent uh to where we incentivize that to keep teachers in to keep our best teachers in uh in our school in our classrooms with students. Uh it's a it's a recruiting tool to

063uh to not only for our high needs areas but for really any of our classrooms and then just to professionalize teaching. um that that word that that really is is good for us to hear just, you know, sometimes education gets a bad rap for all kinds of different reasons. And so just helping teachers to see that what they're doing matters and to to basically in essence put put their put the state's money where its mouth is. Uh to say we're going to recognize and acknowledge teachers for their hard work. So, uh, took us a couple of years to get get going on that process and to make sure that we started that process off effectively and and and correctly. So, um, we are we are now involved in that um, as you as you saw

064yesterday morning with our breakfast and we'll we'll talk a little bit more about that in a few minutes. uh just to kind of review a couple of uh the the the main reasons how or the main uh areas in which a teacher can earn a designation through TIA. Uh the first thing is instructional effectiveness and that is the teacher's practice in the classroom with instruction. And so that process is measured by test which is our teacher appraisal system. That's what every teacher in our district is appraised by. And so that evaluation process that the principal or the AP goes in and measures using that test rubric. And then the second piece to that is the student growth measure. So we don't we don't just want to know are you a great teacher and do you

065have great instructional strategies, but what is the effect on the student learning which is really it's why we're here. It's why teachers are in the classroom with students. So how can we show growth from the beginning of the year to the end of the year? um as measured by whatever assessment uh is is is denoted. And then with those two measures uh fundings funding for designations is created. And so there are right now there are three designations that are uh applied for for teachers that they can receive and earn. Um there's a fourth one uh which is the acknowledge level that is going to be implemented at during this data collection year that would be awarded next year. So there they're actually going to be another level that teachers can uh attain for uh for

066a designation and funding levels are it it's not just an across the board you know if you get this level you get this much money. It's all based on not even just your district it's based on campus. Um, and there's a funding map on the uh TIA website through TEA that you can click any anywhere in the state on any school and you can see what their funding levels are and those change based on the demographics of the school. Um, demographics of a campus change and fluctuate from year to year. Um, and so all of that is kind of analyzed by the state and it it looks at where are our highest needs campuses and those funds are applied at a higher rate naturally because uh it it it can be more challenging to get

067kid kids to those higher levels. Okay, so just to kind of walk through our timeline of where where we started and where we are now. Um, like I said, it was it was initiated in 2019, but Leaport took our first steps in our planning in the 2023 school year. So, we've been in the planning and worked through the stages for about three years now. Um, started with our initial committee kind of designing and looking at what other districts are doing, working with some of our region partners to know, you know, how do we even go about this work? Um and then in April 24 we were ready to uh seek approval for our first designation system through our application and and so forth. Uh and with that um our first system was approved. Um and

068in 2425 that was our initial implementation and data collection for our first cohort of teachers which is who we celebrated yesterday. October 25. Uh this past fall, we had our first the the data that was collected last year was uh presented in our submission. And uh so TEA did all of their their work with all of our uh data submission. Uh and in April of 2026, our first teacher designations were confirmed. And that was very very exciting to get that information back. And then of course uh yesterday we we had our celebration for them. And then in the fall of 2026, our first teacher designations will be awarded and they will actually receive their payout in August. So very excited for them to receive receive their money. Okay. So who did we celebrate yesterday? We

069uh well to start off with in cohort one which was our data collection from last school year, we started off with our first cohort and and I'll I'll I'll review that information with you in a moment, but our first cohort uh of eligible teachers was was 89. We had 89, excuse me, 89 teachers across the district who were elig eligible teaching category. Now, for whatever reason, you know, the year goes on and at the end of the school year in October when we uh sat down and looked at our our teacher list and all of our data, not all of those 89 teachers were here. Some of them retired, maybe they res resigned and moved on somewhere else. Um or maybe they took a different position in the district. maybe they went from teacher to

070an assistant principal or some other position that doesn't qualify for uh a teacher of record position. So we had about 10 teachers who that affected and so uh out of those around 79 teachers we had 29 earn distinctions. So that was very very good start for us. We were very encouraged um not only that that these teachers and their student growth was where it needed to be to earn a designation but also that our system validated with our data and uh because what the state wants to see is a correlation between a teacher's performance on their test evaluation and their student growth. So we want to see a positive correlation between that. We we you know if a teacher is performing very very high on their uh test evaluation but their student growth is low

071that wouldn't that wouldn't make sense or if a student's uh or if a teacher's evaluation was you know poor performing or very low uh low marks on their on their t test but their student growth was high well that would be a not a good correlation either. So we want to see that those two things are are working together and and that's what happened with with these 29 teachers. So you you you've seen already for and and many of you were there yesterday to see this firsthand. Um but you can just see from the pictures that uh it was a wonderful celebration to recognize these teachers for their for their efforts and and really mostly for their student growth which is which is what we want to see. So just by the numbers uh when

072we celebrated our teachers yesterday we had uh 12 at the uh entry point level which is recognized. Now when we add our fourth category acknowledge that will come before recognized. So that'll be um it'll be a little bit easier for for teachers to reach that next year. Uh we had 16 at the exemplary level and one teacher from Leort Junior High at our mastery level. So we're very excited about that. And then all total uh with all of those payouts and again remember depending on the designation and depending on the campus it could be you know slightly different based on what that looks like but all total we had a payout or we will have a payout of $210,230. So, I think that deserves a little We're very very excited, very very excited for these

073teachers and um for what that means and and just Whoops, I went ahead a little too far. >> Will the acknowledged section receive some s some sort of financial award as well? >> Yes. And the state will set forth what those funds are. Uh >> the teachers that were awarded yesterday know the amount that they received. >> They're they are going to receive a letter this week um that's going to have their final payout number uh uh listed there on that. So they're going to receive that. Just I I know they're ready. I know they're they're ready to to receive that and they're ready to to to get that. Um what I was going to share also is is that um not only does their designation uh get em embossed onto their certificate so you

074know anyone who sees their certificate will see that they are a TIA recognized or master teacher but they're also uh the payout that they receive is paid out for 5 years and that money comes to us from the state. That's not money that's generated through the district. it comes through the state. And so they get that payout, excuse me, for five years. And then let's say they were a an exemplary teacher this year and they perform better, their students perform better next year, they have the opportunity to move up to master. They can go up in level. Once they do that, their five years, thank you. Their five years starts over. So let's say they were a recognized teacher for three years and then they moved up to exemplary, they would just add another five

075years. So it's it's life-changing for our teachers and and it's encouraging that they you know want to continue to uh to to improve their craft. think the state will pay us out and wait. >> Uhhuh. >> If somebody says that district not to be named part of they try to recruit our exemplary teacher, master teacher and we paid it out. We haven't hypothetical that word. >> So they're they're once they receive that allotment then they'll they will continue to receive that allotment. the the funds would then transfer over to that district. So just like if >> he's asking you that we would pay it first while waiting on the state. >> I'm sorry I missed that part. >> That that's a great question. >> Yes, we have to pay it first. U and then the

076district the we will get settle up money later on. But if that teacher leaves and we have uh we still get the funding for it because they were on our roster. So we will get settled up for that amount that we paid out. >> So we're paying them one year. We are paying them one year at a time in one lump sum and uh every August for five years. >> If those individuals are in year three and they become an assistant principal, they lose the next two years of >> tournament, >> right? >> Yeah. There's there's a lot of factors and a lot of questions and whatifs that, you know, have been generated and we've been collecting those questions and uh we have an FAQ that you know kind of answers some of those questions,

077but we're we're all learning in this process too still. So we have some great region partners that we work with. Um and of course we we have uh the state TIA group that we we work with as well. So uh lot lots of questions that come up and scenarios. Um and we try to answer those the best we can. All right. So the next thing that we're going to just review is our eligibility categories just so that you're kind of familiar with how this process works. Um and I apologize but the slide is already already um advanced but uh for an el for for our eligible categories there has to be three uh kind of qualifying uh actions for those they have to have the same observation which is test that's not a problem that's

078all that's all we use so that would apply for any teacher um the the group has to have the same growth measure so for instance star that was our first cohort of teachers We we only use STAR uh performance data so that it was across the board for all um of those those students. And then it has to have the same pre-est and post- test. So for star we use the previous year star and this year's star. So how did you do last year? Did you make at least a year's growth? And what did that growth look like um you know for for each student? And so that what you're seeing right now that is our category A and that is the category that we celebrated yesterday. So last year we data cap uh collected

079in the fall we validated and confirmed that data in the spring of 2026 our awards are are are are uh announced and then in August 26 is the payout. So every cohort or every category has its own timeline of of uh collection validation recognition and payout. Okay. So this group that um that we've got right here, you can see it's that data capture for 2425 and it's those star tested grades and EOCC uh for end of course for high school. Okay. So now just just by looking at this chart you see that this year it's a little bit more complex. Okay. And so every every time we add a group every time we add a category we have to present an application to the state it has to be reviewed and either approved or denied

080and then it comes back to us for implementation. So we just don't decide in a in a in a in a room you know hey I I think we're going to include this group this year or I think we're going to include that group. There's a lot of method behind it because we have to think about, you know, tests is fine because we're all using tests, but the student growth measure is what is critical to to be thinking about because now we've got several assessments going at one time. Not only do we have STAR, but we now have uh assessments like MAP, Amira, uh locally developed assessments that we're using for a pre-EST and then STAR as a post- test. And so we we've got quite a few things going on that we're working very

081diligently as a team to keep up with. So each of these categories is is separate. Now we're all collecting data at the same time. The data just looks different for each of those assessments. And so right now we're in data collection for this this these groups B, C, D, and E. Um, and then in the fall and October, we will submit that data. Um, wait for them to validate and uh return our results. This time next year, we'll be hopefully uh celebrating many, many more teachers. Not only that first cohort that we celebrated yesterday, remember, they're still it's recursive. They're still um have a potential to earn more. They still have a potential to potential to earn a higher designation. And there could be new teachers in those positions that are just joining us. And

082um then of course we have these teachers who this group right here um that that you see on this chart, all of these categories, it's around 300 teachers. So we had 89 eligible last year. Now this year we have around 300. So it's a much larger group. Um and so we wanted to make sure we do our due diligence to understand that we can we have the capacity to do that. And then for the 26 26 27 school year uh this is our uh proposed expansion. We have um submitted our application to tea. Remember every time we have a new category we have to apply uh with our uh application through tea. we have to wait for it to be reviewed and approved and then we can, you know, formalize that with um with our

083staff. And so for uh our application that we've submitted, we're um proposing that campus interventionists be included in the process. Um >> that's a great question. It's get it depends. It depends because a campus interventionist may work primarily with third, fourth, and fifth grade or they may primarily work with reading or, you know, it just varies depending on the campus. And so they will have a roster of students that they're assigned to. Uh, and then we will look at that roster of students and we will determine which assessment will benefit them the most. Does that make sense? Um, and so >> where they are and how Right. And and there's some parameters like there has to be so so many students in a student group uh to be eligible and so forth. And so we

084will look at those individually to make sure that uh that the the students that they're working with, you know, have that pre-EST, that post- test um for their eligible groups. So we'll continue we'll continue the cycle. Um >> I would say, you know, it's important that our our interventionists know that them not being an initial cohort be a little discouraging to those are more of your season features. >> Absolutely. >> Just have some faith and be patient because obviously >> if this goes through and gets approved you know you will be incentivized to >> you know the intentions are good but obviously there's going to be an adjustment period. So I would just urge anybody listening interventions and have that discouragement there are there's some things going I know that you're not being ignored and

085no one's been ignored in this point. It's just it's a complicated arguous process to to get through stuff >> and we you know we have lots of conversations. We wish we could have just included every teacher from the get-go, but it's important because, and you may have heard this, um, many districts have started the TIA process and their systems did not validate. And so that's that's crushing, uh, you know, to and deflating to teachers like, oh, we we went through that whole data capture and then like nothing nothing happened. And so we did not want that to happen in Leaport ISD. So we were very careful, started small, build, build build, build build. Um and and we feel very confident within our first cohort that um that that everything, you know, worked as well as

086it as as it was expected to. And you know, this year will be even more important that we that we make sure we've gone through all those steps. Lots of meetings, lots of data, lots of checking, double-checking, triple-checking, and everything to make sure that our teachers are very well represented. And then just some last steps um as we continue this process of refinement. I've already talked about a couple of these things um but just refining our data processes and our communication with teachers and and with the district on uh making sure they know exactly what what to expect, when to expect things. Um our goal always is to increase the number of designations and and expand our designation systems. We want as many teachers as possible to earn distinctions or designations and earn extra money.

087Like that is super important to us. It is it is our number one goal. And so to do that, we we've got to do our job with our uh campus leaders and our teachers on making sure that they're uh they're educated on the process. and that for that with our campus leaders is through our test calibrations. Um, everyone's different and everyone has a different lens of looking at classroom instruction and and that's fine, but we want to make sure it's all anchored in that rubric and that we're all working together. We're talking, we're walking classrooms, we're seeing that in the same way and so that we're all fair and consistent across the board with our evaluations. Um the other piece to that is we have new leaders on campuses every year and so we we

088don't want to just assume that they know oh well I I know how to do an evaluation or uh you know maybe maybe they've never evaluated before. So, we want to make sure we we revisit that often and regularly throughout the year. And then just strengthening the support for our teachers with professional development to, you know, we're we're we want them to be the very best teachers they can for their students so that their students can grow. And if we're not providing uh excellent professional learning and uh tools and strategies for them, you know, that that won't happen. So it it takes all the things moving together to uh to make sure that as many teachers get a designation as possible. So that is all I have for you for your update and again just

089these pictures are you know say it all for these teachers. It's just it was so rewarding to see that yesterday. Any questions for me? >> No, we just say thank you on behalf of the board for all the hard work. All the many like can't imagine the manh hours and the all the time that was put into this. We thank you guys. I know this is only just the beginning to Danny's point and so we look forward and we pray that uh the majority of our teachers in the future in the near future uh will be a bigger part of this. So we thank you guys sincerely. >> Yes sir. Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. I will turn to item 10. My least favorite thing to do. Um it is the uh board

090officers report. Uh trustes continue education hours report. I have to read this so please bear with me. Uh under state board of education rule, completing the required board member continuing education in the eighth training in the eight training areas outlined by the SBOE for each year of service is a basic obligation expectation of any sitting board member. As board president, I'm required to announce the name of each member who a has completed the required continuing education, b has exceeded the required continuing education, and c is deficient in meeting the required continuing education. The requirements for training are measured as of the first anniversary of the date of the trustes election or appointment or two-year anniversary of his or her previous training as applicable. All members still have time remaining to complete any required training by

091the respective election anniversary date to the extent applicable applicable to each board member. I will announce the completion or deficiency as required training as well as those board members who have scheduled trainings to be completed on time. All right. Topic one, legislative. Uh, Melissa Crutcher completed, Danny Hanks completed, Jeff Martin completed, Mason Paris incomplete, Russell Shopppee incomplete, Deianne Thompson incomplete, and Karen Willerhaul incomplete. I will say this on on behalf of all four of these trustees, they are scheduled to do it uh coming up in June and there's a little bit of a misapp on the legislative side this year. So, I don't fault them at all for that. So, uh, topic number one, eval also topic one, evaluating improving student outcomes. Melissa Crutcher complete. Danny Hanks complete. Jeff Martin complete. Mason Paris complete. Russell

092Shppy complete. Deian Thompson complete. Karen Wheel Hall complete. So all trustees are in compliance. So uh topic two hours team building. Melissa Crutcher completed. Danny Hanks completed. Jeff Martin completed. Mason Paris completed. Russell Shppy completed. Deian Thompson completed and Karen will hall completed. So again all trustees are in compliance. Thank you guys for that. And last but not least, the following are the number of training hours earned by each trustee under topic three board development. Melissa Crutcher 18 hours, Danny Hanks 10.5, Jeff Martin 20. And these are addition to the the required hours guys. So make clear on that. Uh Jeff Martin 20, Mason Paris 14, Russell Shoppy 8, Deian Thompson 20, and Karen will harden Willow Hall, excuse me, 20. So okay, we have made it through that. So congratulations. I'll say this for

093anybody that might be listening. Uh I appreciate the board. the board takes this very seriously. The the the trainings we go to, uh we come back excited and probably too much so sometimes for Dr. Jackson, we want to incorporate everything we hear and see. But um >> I'll also say that Jeff Martin and I sat in a room for eight hours thinking that we were going to get eight hours worth of credit and we found out that this year they changed it and they weren't going to give credit for that conference that we went to. So >> that was a waste of eight. It wasn't a waste, but >> I thought we were going to get something out of that. Yeah, >> it was actually All right, guys. We'll move to uh item 11, consent

094agenda. A, determine and approve any consent agenda item agenda items. B, approve board meeting minutes. One, regular board meeting minutes, April 14th, 2026. Two, special board workshop meeting minutes, April 28, 2026. C, receive principal reports. One, early childhood center. Two, Bashro Elementary. Three, College Park Elementary. Four, Heritage Elementary. Five, Jenny Reed Elementary. Six, Leaport Elementary. Seven, Leo A. Rudo Elementary. Eight, Lomax Elementary. Nine, James H. Baker Sixth Grade Campus. 10, Leaport Junior High. 11, Lomax Junior High. 12, Leaport High School. 13, Biola Dewalt High School. D, receive financial reports for March 2026. E, receive quarterly investment report. F, receive human resources report. G, notice of employment of professional staff. H, approve budget amendment. I, approve certification of provision of instructional materials for 2026 2027. J. Approved disposal of instructional materials removed from classrooms and libraries.

095Can't talk today. I'm sorry. K. Approved interlocal agreement with the city of Leaport for school resource officers SRO services. L. Approved memorandum of understanding for the juvenile justice alternative education program JJ AE. M. Approved memorandum of understanding with the Texas Texas Tech University. >> Amen. Just kid. I love Texas Tech. N. Approved purchase of carpet for Basher Elementary. O, approved purchase of carpet for DeWalt ele DeWalt High School. P. Approved purchase of carpet for Heritage Elementary. Q. Approved purchase of carpet for Leaport Junior High. R. Approved purchase of furniture for Leaport Junior High School. S. Approved purchase of carpet for Leaport High School BU. T. Approved purchase of furniture for Leaport High School BU. U approved purchase of furniture for Leaport High School offices. V. Approved purchase of network switches for Zudo. W approved purchase

096of a three-year time clock plus software subscription. X approved proposal for supplemental professional development consultants and related services and materials. Y approved resale of tax foreclosure property described as lot 7 and 8 block 62 bayfront edition HCAD account number 0061-520 and Z delegate authority for utilities procurement. Mr. Mr. Vice President, will you please read back the items as presented? >> I will. Uh, A B C D E F G H I J K L N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z. I seek a motion. >> We have a motion and a second. Motion by Trusty Hanks, a second by Trusty Shopee. Uh, call for the vote. carries unanimously. All right, turn to item M. >> Um, I just think we I think we've been working on this for a long

097time, but I think it would behoove us to talk about this so that the public understands what we're doing. microphone, >> how we're going to do it and what all that entails. I mean, it's a new venture for us, so I think people need to understand the options that are out there. So, we um we are still in process to determine how if we are going to launch a full-blown virtual um academy of of any kind, any virtual learning. What we're doing right now is is putting in place or asking that we put in place anou with Texas Tech to start that process. What we're learning is that it's an expensive endeavor and if it's not going to bring children to this to the district that we don't know if it's a cost-effective option. And

098so our plans right now are to continue exploring what this could look like but allowing us the vehicle to to to deliver virtual learning if if we decide that that's something we want to embark on. >> And I'm sure we have but can you tell me some of the other programs that you looked at and why we decided on this one? Texas Tech University has their own virtual academy already in place. Virtual coursework, crosswalk to all of the Texas curriculum. They So, it's all very well organized in that regard. >> It's a one-stop shop and been a long time. >> Exactly. And so for us, it's if we don't have the infrastructure to deliver our own curriculum on on a virtual platform like that, we just we just we're just too small to to rewrite

099all of our curriculum to deliver on an online platform. So So thisou gives us the opportunity if we choose to venture down a virtual option for kids um a platform to do it. >> And this would be for what ages >> it we don't know. This is just to allow us the opportunity to to have this resource at our at our disposal as we continue to develop what this could look like. Okay. And the approximate cost is $3500 per student. >> Correct. And what is our water currently? Okay. Okay, that's all I have. >> I guess only question on that is like when you looked at other programs, is that costwise pretty is it comparable to other? >> It is. It's based on course. Most of the other programs and I don't and I can

100get you some more details on what that looks like. But most of the other courses pay by the course. So it's, you know, each enrolled course is so much. With this particular, it does allow us a discount and it allows us virtual um coaching um tutoring um for the first year of theou should we choose to go down this virtual path. And I don't know that I don't know that we will. I don't know that we won't. It's just with the new um opportunities that we have to deliver virtual or hybrid instruction. Um you know, we want this to be something that is going to be beneficial to our children and beneficial to our district. We don't want it to be an added expense. Um, and we just we're still exploring what >> exactly and

101we and we're still exploring what that could look like, what the need is. Um, what we're hearing from some of our other districts that have launched full-blown new virtual programs is it's not enrolling students new to the district. What it's doing is it's flipping students. So, what we want to be able to do Exactly. And we're not Exactly. So, what we want to do is have a have the ability to contract with Texas Tech should we decide that there are there are students out there that would not enroll with us if we wouldn't have a virtual opportunity and we could provide a virtual opportunity or something along those lines is kind of the thinking right now. Would that program allow students just for example, I know Texas Tech over the years has provided, you know,

102state certified um class options. So, if we've got students, for example, that want to take AP Physics 2, we don't offer it because we don't have enough kids to take it. >> Correct. >> Would that's and would that be something that would enable our kiddos to take some things that they wouldn't normally be able to take? >> Absolutely. And it would allow students if they if they needed to take a course and it's not offered or if the course is offered and it conflicts with something else, this would allow them or they wanted to they wanted to take some advanced courses that we don't offer as you mentioned. So, lots of flexible options. It gives us the opportunity to explore that. >> Okay. That would be >> absolutely >> we need to >> Yes. >>

103Just as an option just to get this in place so that if we decide that we want to offer virtual learning that we have a resource to be able to do that with. We we will we can choose to do nothing with this or we can choose to expand this. I think as we continue to explore and learn about what kids or families might want who might be new to our district, this gives us the vehicle to deliver a different way of instruction for them as we as we learn about our needs. >> And I don't think this is your question, but we we're not committing any funding to it until we decide that we want to do that. >> It's not a contract. >> Correct. for any more questions, comments? If not, I seek

104a uh a motion for item M, approve memorandum of understanding with Texas Tech University. >> A motion and a second. >> Second. >> Call for the vote. It work. Okay. Uh I believe the next item, Mr. Vice President, is item X. Approve proposal for supplemental professional development consultants and related services and materials. Miss Thompson. >> Yes. I pulled this because one of the things we hear >> Yes. from teachers quite often um is PD is not targeted as to what they need. I'm trying to find some right words to say that. Um, so I want to know >> what is our process in choosing these topics or these companies that provide the topics that we make sure that people are getting the PD that they need >> that will be effective for them in the

105classroom, not just >> they're sitting through a class just to sit through a class. >> Yeah, very good question. So we advertise and if people want to um submit information, that's one of this this process. I'll start with that and they can submit information and then we go through a rigorous process of of a rubric rating and I think you all have that rubric and um cost effectiveness if they've been in Texas um if we've done business with them before if it's relevant to the curriculum lots of different components and Linley Marlor helps coordinate it and it's it's a great process and um so those are those are ones we we rate that that just self select to um come to that but what we are doing there is just saying that we believe that

106these out of all the people who applied for that particular um time frame that they they could indeed if if we think that we might need their service, they could qualify for our um district. That's not to say we're going to do business with them, but it could be that they qualify. We sometimes um just to continue we sometimes um have other companies like for example we talked about the service provider through the lift grant great minds we we put them into the category as well because we knew that we were going to be um doing professional development with them for the blue bonnet adoption. Um there are some that you don't see on that list that have um had services before and have already been approved and so they're ongoing. And then also if

107they're a member of a co-op, and I think I'm saying that right, uh, Miss McDow, if they're a member of the co-op already, um, that that cooperation through different districts, then they wouldn't be on that list either, but they're um pieces that we may use um for professional development. Now, what we what we do on a regular basis is conduct surveys with our teachers. Um, sometimes it's immediately after a training. It could be at the beginning of the year, the end of the year, like what what type of professional development do you believe? We also look at our strategic goals um of the district and we really try to make sure that we are um providing professional development to help teachers be successful to carry out those. We look at our our data um that

108comes in, not just STAR data, but data from our teachers, but as well as all of the assessments that Miss Jackson kind of mentioned earlier. We look at our our district and campus initiatives um that we're working towards and make sure that we are providing that professional development for um to target that and so that teachers feel successful um implementing those those programs. So that's really kind of the process that we utilize uh to um prioritize our professional development and we certainly want teacher voice in that as well. >> Essentially what this is what we call a push. >> Yes. >> You issue an RFP and you get responses and now you have the opportunity. >> That's right. >> Yes. Very good way to summarize that. Yes. Yes ma'am. >> Okay. You're welcome. Absolutely. >>

109Any more questions, comments? If not, I seek a motion uh for item X, approve proposal for supplemental professional development, consultants, and related services and materials. >> Second. >> Motion by Trusty Thompson and a second by Trusty Crutcher. Call for the vote. >> Motion carries. Thank you. All right, we will turn to item 12. Um, right. Action and discussion items. A, consider and approve PortSD distinguished alumni policy revision and update. Uh, Mr. President, I would like to request that we table item A until the next board meeting. >> Okay. Does that need to require a motion or >> Okay. >> We will table that item until um our next board meeting or the workshop perhaps. Okay. Yeah, we'll Okay. Thank you, sir. Uh B, consider and adopt a resolution number 2026-05 for compliance with Senate Bill

110546. I believe before we discuss that, we do have a presentation. Dr. Martinez. >> Good evening, President Martin. Uh Dr. Jackson, trustees. Uh so I'm being joined by our newly named transportation director, uh Miss Samantha Pew. We're going to just uh share some quick information with you about um Senate Bill 546. Let me get that pulled up. Okay. So, Senate Bill 546 came out of the 89th legislative session. So, just uh recently um this is something that's happening across every school district in the state of Texas. They are having similar presentations to the board of trustees about SP 546. So, we're just going to share some of the um information with you guys um and then you will consider a resolution to adopt um uh to to meet the requirements set forth by SB546. So,

111um basically this amends Texas Transportation Code section 547.71 which requires school buses to be outfitted with certain equipment. Um that school that certain equipment is threepoint seat belts, right? So, um all of our school buses are required to have three-point seat belts. There was an exception that if the bus was built before 2017, then it that did not necessarily have to happen, right? So that was the the exception. So the Senate Bill 546 amends that part of the transportation code where it says that all of our school buses are going to have to have threepoint seat belts by September 1st of 2029. So, um, the requirement for seat belts does not apply to a bus if the board determines that the district's budget does not permit the district to purchase a bus that is equipped

112with the required seat belts or for uh for which the warranty would become void if the bus were equipped to comply with the law. Two really doesn't apply because uh most warranties for buses are 5 years at the 30,000 mi, very similar to a car. So, if you're talking about buses pre207, that's not even on the table there. So, there's just a little bit about that. Um, we were required to present to you all um of the following information. The number of buses operated by um or contracted for use by the district. Ours are, you know, we're operated, we we own those. um the number that are not equipped with seat belts, the number that are equipped with two-point seat belts, the number that are equipped with three-point seat belts, and the estimated cost to

113retrofit um all of these buses with the three-point seat belts. And so we have to report this information to the state um by May 29th, 2026. We have to report it in Sentinel. Part of this is just report gathering um so that you know there could be a scenario where the state gives us additional funding to retrofit our buses. you know, we have talked about some of the history of of state giving some of those funds and so we're not optimistic that that can happen, but uh we are hopeful that we are getting the data to them and they can make that determination. Um so Miss Pew is going to talk a little bit about our current transportation fleet. >> Good evening board, Dr. Jackson. Um so currently Leaport ISD has um 69 buses. That's

114combination of full-size buses and midsize buses. out of those 69 buses, 14 of those are not in compliance with the um the SB546. Um so we would have seven midsize buses, seven uh full-size buses that we would need to bring into compliance. Um at this time, we do not have any buses um that are fully equipped with two-point seat belts. Um, however, we do have some of our midsize buses that we use to transport special needs kiddos that um, we may um, install a two-point seat belt on um, you know, if their IEP says that they are required to have that. Um, and so our total number of buses that we have with three-point seat belts is 55 currently. >> So that's that information. Um, and the cost to retrofit those 14 buses. So, we

115did get a quote from a reputable vendor on the estimate cost to retrofit. So, for a full size with 24 seats, you're looking at 37,000 um per bus. For midsize, it's 28,000 per bus. So, when you add those two together, we're looking at a total of 458,16330 uh to retrofit those 14 buses to be in compliance um with the um amended transportation code. >> Dr. Can I ask this? It's probably a dumb question. >> Sure. >> Agie, >> if it's half the this amount of seats for a midsize compared to full size, why is it not closer to half? I know probably why it's not exactly, but why is it not closer to like the half is 187 per per bus? >> You know, just like with everything, uh it's the labor and materials to

116come out and and do the work. So, I wish they would discount us for um you know the fewer number of of seats, but there are it's the price to get them out here to get the buses to them, the shipping cost, and so all those things um you know factor into that. So, it wouldn't just be like half of that amount. >> Am I correct in assuming that this again whatever we decide we decide to do this that comes out of bond it could potentially come out of the bond budget? So, uh, this money, if if we chose to use bond funds for that, um, that could be a payment, right? That that could be something that we consider. Um, what I'm going to show you here in a second, if if I can

117I can always go back to this slide, but let me move. So, this is our current fleet replacement schedule. So, we are um to be in compliance by September 1st, 2029, we have 14 buses, right? So within the next 3 years, we do have plans so that the remaining buses will be replaced with a new bus so that um our current fleet or our fleet at that time would be in compliance. So that we wouldn't necessarily have to spend the 500,000 now because by September 1st, 2029, our fleet would be in full compliance with SB546. If you were to if we were to retrofit these buses, um any amount of them, would could that potentially extend the shelf life of said bus? >> Not necessarily. So, no. The the retrofit just is adding a seat

118belt. No, I mean that that's all we're talking about with here is just adding this a seat belt to an older bus. >> My other question is I know you guys did a phenomenal job and M congrats on your position first of all. um >> on getting the grant last time for those I guess the midsize buses, right? Is this is there again I'm just trying to >> get as many variables as I can on this. >> Is a potential like is there grant money that's possible for something like this that we could potentially apply for? >> Yeah. So so we do think the state that's the intent of of doing the report collecting is that to get information from us so that they can uh develop a grant where some of those funds could

119be applied here. we were able to use a a grant previously to purchase buses, which I think allowed us to be um able to uh be in com, you know, to be in a good position to to be in compliance with SB546 u by September 1st, 2029 because if had we not secured some of those grants, we might not be in as good a place. And we're always going to be continue to uh we're continue to look for grants and funding opportunities for new fleets. So, you know, best case would be prior to se the start of that 28 29 school year. Like we're already in compliance or we're near in compliance with all of our fleet. >> Right now, what's in >> a full bus? A new bus >> about 170 >> 170 size.

120>> Yeah. Not half. It's It's definitely what you're looking >> So >> yeah, per >> Yeah. How many bids did we get on this or did we just go to one reputable? >> So, yeah, we use uh Thomas Built. Um they're they're you know, there's industry standard when it comes to and we have a good relationship with Thomas Build. They've supplied us our buses. Um, and again, this is something that they've been doing for every school district in the state of Texas that is uh having to get the cost to retrofit. Um, >> yeah. >> Right. It it's going to take some time. >> Well, and the legislation changed right from from the 88 to the 89th session. So, it it wasn't a requirement then. It was just, you know, the the exception was the

121pre207. Now that changed with the 89th session. So now we have to um you know that doesn't matter. They have to be um in compliance by 2029. >> I'm glad that we have a great relationship with Thomas. But to me there has to be another >> option to get another bid from someone else on the work. I mean even I don't there has to be some sort of competit competitive bid process here. They can't just dominate the they can't obviously they can but >> to me there has to be at least one or two other carriers who can do a sufficient job at this. We know it's going to be an extensive amount, right, as far as the the cost to retrofit the buses. And so, um, again, we we were for presentation, you know,

122we wanted to make sure we've we've had this quote actually for a while. And so, we've talked to them many times about, um, you know, should we choose to retrofit our buses, we'd go back and we'd look at additional quotes, but we were just trying to get the estimate on what that cost replacement would be because, um, and to look at that in comparison with the with our replacement replacement schedule. I'm fine with passing the resolution contingent that we get. >> Sure. >> Because you're looking I was trying to >> So if you're looking at $2 million on this replacement half million dollars in new buses or half a million dollars that you're going to lose in three years, >> it's like why now? >> It doesn't make sense. >> And this would have been

123our replacement schedule had no law approach to that. And again, I I I respect everybody's opinion on this. I know it's a we talked several at Nauseium tonight about not having funds and state does us no disservice with with funding, >> but I I I would willing to bet that there's not a single person in this room right now that has a child or grandchild or a friend that has a kid that if something were to happen, they find out that they're on one of the 14 buses that doesn't have a seat belt. I couldn't live with that. I I couldn't live with that as a board member, even if it wasn't my kid. >> So, we are in 2026. I don't understand that that that I'm on a bus that still doesn't have seat

124belts. So that's problem number one for me and two like I think that if we can like you know there's been numerous times on this board since I've been a board member even before that with our 2014 bond there this most recent bond where I believe up until maybe last year a year and a half ago we were still spending money from 14 is for things like we returf the softball field we returf the the baseball field from extra money. So I know in those bonds I don't I can't tell you the numbers you guys know way better than I do. I know there is buffer in that bond for stuff like this. And so if I if if we can again I know it's I'm not saying I'm not marginalizing the cost, right? I

125know it's an expense, but if there's a chance we can get grants is that if this can be paid by bond money of which we have spent on fields and other stuff that is seasonal is used by a small percentage of students. This is used by a much larger student population on a daily basis. And so if something were to ever to happen and this board says, "Well, you know, you know, we're it's okay because our plan is in 2029, they're all going to be retrofitted with seat belts, that's three years from now." To me, I just can't like get on board with that. And that's just my personal stance on it. I just I can't look anybody in the face. If something were to happen on one of these babies and we said, "Well,

126that's on a bus with no seat belts." So before I get to that though, is there is there a way like out of those 69 buses, how many of those are actually in daily use? Do we have any that kind of sit on the shelf as like a backup or is that something like these nonseat belt buses can be like kind of is that a possibility that we don't use them as >> the large majority of this list we do not use daily. >> Okay. So that's a big big factor for me. So >> yeah, and and again I I would say just from the we're not alone in in this, you know, across the state. As I've been looking at other districts and other presentations and just, you know, seeing the the conversation, hearing

127the conversation, um everyone is we're we're in a pretty good uh spot in regards to our fleet replacement. Um, in the vast majority of districts that I've seen, um, I haven't come across, um, really even in the area, not one that I can think of that has not, um, you know, passed this resolution, made this determination due to the financial constraints. Um, and so that that's just where we are. It does also buy us some time as far as 2029 that that's and so people are hoping that there's going to be more grant opportunities. U but the reality is that is that there hasn't been. Um but we are certainly willing to to do whatever it takes to to make sure we get there prior to September 1st of 2029 >> which is what SB46

128that's what >> correct by that date. Yes. >> Well the law says that you have to present it to us. Does this count you guys presented to us before the May end of May? >> Correct. We present the information to you guys. Yes. >> Is it something we can say like okay like so you mentioned that the majority of those buses uh without seat belts are not being used. Can we get like a firm number on that? And I'm saying let's just say there's four that are being used. I don't know what that number is. >> So retrofit the four is a much different number than retrofitting the 14, right? Like so again if we have this money I I promise guys I'm not >> crazy on this one. We have money in that bond

129from when that the I don't know what the technical term is like the contingent fee like they they put stuff aside something goes wrong and we said we came under budget on several items right so something on safety to me is like it's it's such a better way to spend money I can justify that all day every day of the week >> but if they retrofit those four and don't retrofit the other two they're not being used >> and they have to be used >> and then you're going to use them without seat belts I mean >> there's a place that you want >> but I think not doing but just not doing it and they say as they pay out. 3 years is a long time, guys. >> I agree with you. I don't

130think it's a safe I I agree with the the the sentiment on the safety part. Absolutely. And I think we put our money where our mouth is. We've we're investing in the safety of our of our kids. I agree. You don't want these but also to your point in terms of which part of this fleet I think that is a major point of of consideration. You know, how much of this fleet if I go put you know again half million dollars for one year and two of those buses were used that doesn't make any sense. It's not that's not fiscally responsible and that's not being disrespectful to kids or dismissing the you know what I'm saying. I I think that's an important number. I think we need to know what percent of these buses are

131used and like you said if you got two high use buses Yeah. then I think that's a no-brainer. We need to >> Well, that's my >> So, and then also we have to know what the timeline is as to when they could actually make that happen. Yeah. >> Because you know, so where are we at in that? I just would like to probably >> 2031. >> So, one of the Oh, sorry. >> No, no. is if we if we're replacing these five and we know that we can um pull it off on those five and not use those five for the time being. I mean again worst case scenario but we're not putting students on it but we're having to transport something whatever. Um those five that we're replacing but we need to bump something

132else up and they can't get us in. You know that's a that's a different scenario for me. Like I'd like to know what that timeline looks like for the retrofit or the Yeah. Retrofit fit and >> how that compares to the replacement. >> Yeah. We're going to have the same thing we do with the security film for example. The whole state all of a sudden has to do this. >> You know, it's who how long it's going to take to get it done because >> Yeah. No, I I think that's fair. We can certainly get additional quotes but then get some of the the lead times on on these items. As we look at the resolution though, also you know number three says that the board directs the superintendent to develop a phase fiscally responsible

133replacement and a retrofit plan. So the the resolution if we vote for it still allows us to say yeah >> hey let's go ahead you know let's let's have a plan to go ahead and retrofit. It doesn't exclude the opportunity to retrofit. Correct. >> It doesn't. It's just saying that the current budget uh which which we have here um the district does not permit the purchase of compliant buses for retrofitting of those non-compliant buses at this time. And so but that's not saying before September 1st, 2029 that we can we can be >> in in part three it says we can do retrofit. So it's >> it's not like we're just saying today no we're not going to retrofit. >> Correct. And that again the the requirement date is 2029, right? It's not like next

134school year that that we're out of compliance if we um have >> and we're getting five this fall. >> Well, for for next school year, right, that there's a lead time on on getting the buses. So once the fiscal year, >> you know, turns over that that we would start looking at securing those additional buses and hopefully again grant opportunities would would come up as well. But that that's the current replacement schedule plan. >> So these five could come any time during that >> during next school year. Correct. We're not planning to start the school year with five new buses. You know, one thing I want to um applaud the foresight of boards prior and current administration prior and current that we have been on an aggressive replacement plan for our buses so that they

135are safer because um a lot of my friends throughout the state that are having to go through this, >> their numbers are insane. >> Correct. Millions. because they have not been on an aggressive replacement schedule. So, I'm glad we don't have 28 buses to do or whatever. Um, >> and big props to the 20 grant buses that, you know, Absolutely. So, that was a huge help with that as well. >> Absolutely. So, >> and so we anticipate again with reporting, we're reporting it in in Sentinel and and we're hoping that they see the data and everyone's sharing that information and it's large amounts that they're going to um put some dollars behind this um and give that to schools. And so, if that's the case, then we can certainly fasttrack retrofit or the purchase of

136of new buses. Even if we've got some money from the state to pay for it, if there's only one or two vendors that are doing this, it could be a year before even get to it. >> Correct. >> If I mean this correct, we have just in the the line item for the bond and I I could be reading this incorrect, but it says we our remaining budget is $3.2 million and I assume the majority of that is to buy some of these these buses, right? >> But also I know there's contingent of the money in here as well. So again, I I I'm not one I'm never going to advocate waste money, but I don't think this is a waste of money if if it can it's I know this and this is not

137a port only thing. Nobody wants to see this in the news for anything, especially if like we're not taking care of kids safety and I I would like to know in future and I'm putting you on the spot now, but like of these 14 buses, what what what campuses are they going to? As a parent, I want to know that like is my kid going to ride the bus gonna have a seat belt and little Johnny down the street's not because that's that's not going to be a great like >> thing for me to to discuss in the future, right? So, >> I just think I mean I'm all for like you say we have a plan we can do this but I waiting three years now that I've learned this I'm I'm going to

138be a staunch advocate that we try to expedite that timeline. >> So none of the buses on the list are on a route every day. They are sub buses or used for sporting events. None of them actually >> are the kids sports coach drivers on a bus. Are they actually using the seat belts when they're on a bus? Who releases the kids using the seat belts? >> So we strongly encourages them every day. >> I mean, we got them for them. We're spend all this money. They better use them. >> They're highly encouraged to use their seat belts daily. >> I don't coach that drives us. What do you think? >> Well, we got we got seat belts. They're not They're not wearing them. They got football gear on. They're having a hard time putting

139all that stuff on. I mean, I It's a >> Yeah. >> So, it's it's part of our our checklist of of drivers when they go through >> that they have to wear it if you get pulled over. I mean, kind of like in a regular car. Is there a law for all of that? Because >> Well, it's it's required that they have it that we have >> required that we tell them to put it on. >> Okay. >> And that's that's Yeah. We we don't have sorry we don't have to adopt anything tonight or we have to >> you do have to adopt. >> Okay. >> But it's recommended that you >> recommended that we >> so as I understand it we adopt the resolution >> resolution later >> but if we adopt it tonight

140like it you guys can theory can can expedite this process or we can still retrofit but there's no like guarantee of that. Yeah. If it's not adopted tonight, what happens? >> I don't know. Um, this is another law. >> This is a compliance. This is the compliance statute and you have to report the information by the end of the month, right? Correct. >> So, just to make sure >> you would be out of compliance with that reporting requirement that >> Okay. But >> that's what that's the point. That's what they public record that Yeah. We don't care about safe. That's what it that's what it's for to make sure us that we it's >> that's all it's about. >> Y >> but like I said in the resolution it doesn't exclude us being able to

141retrofit. >> I mean we could still do it. >> We're going to have to have a bond. We're going to have to have a budget amendment at some point that comes back to ask us for this cost and that's another discussion. Right now it's just hey what does the state want to report us that we don't care about? >> That's what I'm saying. Okay. So we so we say we want to go through with it and then we get the information and it says and we >> can give >> and yeah so we >> right this is not this is not saying we are going to do this or we're not going to do that. >> So what is it saying? It's saying that I'm not funny about like >> Yeah, you guys have reviewed

142the inventory, the projections, the multi-year capital replacement requirements. Um, and that currently it's not financially feasible for us to pull 500,000 to retrofit. So, what he's saying at this moment in time, >> right, today it's not saying never. It's saying at this moment, >> but that's correct. I'm not trying to make the point. But to Jeff's point, >> we have the money. We >> say let's take it out of the general fund if it's that important, right? Is that where you're going? >> Well, in the summer would give us lead time to do things. >> Yeah. >> I mean, I don't know how fast what, but I mean it does give us the opportunity. >> So maybe I'm I'm not hearing this, but I'm understand we say yes. We adopt the resolution that gives the

143district authority that yes, we value safety. Yes, we need to retrofit these buses. And then you have to go do your diligence, get the bids, and come back and say this is what it's going to cost. Then we take action on that item for them to to actually do it. >> Right. >> I thought it was the opposite. Like they don't want to retrofit the buses. >> We don't. >> Well, we have plan to get new buses, >> right? So, they're not wanting to retrofit them. They're wanting to like wait for three years. and maybe get more information and get more of these questions answered and vote on it at the um workshop on >> 26. >> On the 26th, we have to >> Yeah, that gives us time to report by the 29th. >>

144Before the 29th or Yeah. >> And guys, I I do I really I 90% of the time or more I'm going to go >> Yeah. >> But I just this one more >> if something happens I can't justify this to to my wife. I can't look at her like y sorry I sat there voted >> for us to wait 3 years to get that bus out of service and and our son died in a car accident we find out how long >> yeah we'll get you lead time we all of the questions that you guys brought up tonight we will get answered absolutely >> the language is what's confusing because in no way am I am I saying that I am saying right now I want to value kids I want to protect them it's

145the language >> and it's just saying we don't have it in the budget now not saying that we can't put it in the budget >> with bond money or whatever >> when they do their diligence that's that's how I see I mean, it says that we develop a fiscally responsible replacement and/or retrofit plan to provide updates to the board as part of budget planning, >> which is next month, >> which is >> but we're saying right now that we we are action we'll try to have something for the board on the 26th. >> Yeah, we'll do our we'll get we'll get more. So board, can I get a motion to table this uh item B? Consider adopt a resolution number 2026.05 for client Senate bill 546 until what day is it? May 206. >> May

14626. >> So moved. >> Have a motion. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Does that give y'all enough time? >> I don't think we need to vote on that. >> Yeah, we certainly >> we'll make it happen. >> Vote. All right, >> we don't need a vote. >> Oh, it all right. So I call for the vote. All right. >> Oh, we're just voting the table. >> This the table. >> Okay. And I apologize, guys. I just I appreciate you guys giving us some more information on this. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Thank y'all. >> All right. Uh item 13, action on close session items, of which we have none. Closing comments of the board. A, attendance of recent district and community events. B, announcement of upcoming district and community events. And C,

147outstanding performance by district staff and students. I believe Mrs. Hall I just wanted >> I just want to congratulate on everybody on a a wonderful school year. I think Leaport just outdid itself this year. We've had so many major accomplishments, our students, our staff, and so and all of our administrators that I'm very very proud. It is a great day to be a Bulldog >> and so I hope uh you only have a couple of weeks left. You can do this. So have a great summer. Um, I want to compliment uh the College Park choir because I didn't think someone could come in and top uh what we saw from Leaport Elementary. And then we had sticks tonight that I thought were interesting. So, I loved that. I thought they did a great job. Um,

148I loved hearing from the students themselves um from your student advisory group. Um, I know when you implemented that, I know when you when we hired you, we wanted you to implement that because we wanted to grow our students into leaders as well. So, um, I'm just pleased with the outcome of that and how well spoken they were. Um, so, you know, if you're listening at home, you should feel good about the future of the world when you hear those kind of students. Um, there's too many activities going on in the last couple of months to list and say where we were, where we're going, but I've enjoyed every single one of them that we have been to. And um, kudos to all of you for having made it through testing season. Uh, praise the

149Lord and pass the biscuits that we're almost to um, graduation and which is uh, the best day to be a bulldog. And um, uh, I guess that's it. I'll try to roll through these. Thank you to the advisory council for coming. I really appreciated that. Great job there. Uh, congrats to Russell on his re-election and Danny and I had a pretty easy run. Uh, but so I'm happy to serve with the two of you. I want to give a shout out to the Rotary Club of Leaport again. Um, $8,000 each to the teachers of the year for elementary and secondary. Um, something remarkable that no other school district does. I'm very proud to be a part of the Rotary Club as is many of these uh folks on this board uh that work hard to

150be able to produce that money. So, I'm very grateful for that and congratulations to those teachers. I hope that you're going to do something fun with it. Um with that, I also want to thank the parade participants and all the schools that participated in the parade. And I also want to thank you for communicating to the parents not to drop their children off and let them wander through the parking lot. Uh, I only had one parent do it and I can assure you that that parent won't be voting for me at my next re-election after our our conversation, but uh, the parade went very well. Coach Mack, uh, great job to your school as well. Special shout out there. I mean, that was a ton of floats. It was awesome. >> And biggest parade Sil

151Beach has seen in the last 15 years. >> My bad. >> I think I'm loud enough. Anyway, um just want to apologize that uh I can't be at a lot of the things that all these people can be at and everything because I work the same schedule as you guys. But in about 2 years from this date, uh that last year of my three years, uh I'm going to be around a lot. Uh because I'm going to retire and I'm going to enjoy being around these guys, around you guys. Uh but understand that I see what's going on. I know what's going on. Facebook gives me a lot. Adam Holland gives me a lot through the Facebook and all that. And these guys tell me a lot, but uh I'm there with y'all. Uh it's

152a busy time of the year and uh I mean I spent the whole day out at Pirates Bay today sitting on uh watching kids uh just have a good time and uh it's just it's a lot. It's a whole whole lot. But I hope I pray for a good ending of the year and uh everything's safe and God bless y'all. >> You're here muscle. Um, I just want to commend everybody involved in getting the uh the Legacy Dash back after 28 years. Um, you know, we were I made a comment and a bunch of people start chiming in and I do remember participating as a College Park Cougar um coming here. >> Yeah. >> And uh it was it was an incredible event. It was exciting to really start to see those young kids really

153start to have that pride and that competitive spirit, but also you can see that camaraderie. It was great just to see uh Bulldog Stadium again with another great event. Uh kudos to everybody again on a successful year. I think we continue to move the mark and you know they always say that growth does not take place in comfort. So uh I know it can be uncomfortable at times but you weather the storm. You endured. You made it to the finish line. And I hope you enjoy the fruits of your labor here the next couple of weeks and see these kids grow and they move on to the next grade level that you get a restful welldeserved uh summertime break. Um yeah, come back at it for uh next round. >> Um everything that they have

154said and uh just want to congratulate our TIA cohort one again for um for getting through that first round and and being being the you know the leaders and I guess in our pack on all this and lots of great things to come and I and I'm so grateful for that opportunity for all of them. Um, and uh, I hope that more opportunities like that come up for our teachers and um, that they are valued as much as they should be. Um, and I'm just going to say uh, quote my my nine-year-old Molly uh, this week she this week she was pulled aside and talked with her counselor and she said, "I'm just done. I'm done." And I know y'all all feel that and all of the students and the teachers and the, you know,

155administrative staff, everybody feels it's the end of the year and we're done, but we got a little bit left. And I hope that you enjoy that little bit left and know how much um we appreciate the hard work that you've put into all of it. And um that last day feels just like a breath of fresh air and um you truly get to enjoy it. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. ologize anything. >> Thank you to everyone here. Thank you board. Thank principles and directors attendance all of you and parents for what you do. >> And I I'll be quick. Uh I do want to again congratulate said thank you again for your service, your willingness to serve back on this board, Russell, Danny, Mason, everybody else here. But congratulations gentlemen on another three

156years. Uh feels like 50, but uh we appreciate you guys doing it. Um, also he's not I know he's not listening to this, but I will say I send out uh get well wishes to officer Larky and his broken leg. Um, he's probably at home enjoy. No, I'm just kidding. He's he's a great I'm sorry that he broke his leg and we hope that he has a quick and complete recovery. Um, >> tell him it's a crazy story. Tell him >> um Yeah, that also too. So, uh Danny mentioned the uh the track meet. So, that's something I got to do as a kid and it was my one of my favorite things. And so my fifth grader got to experience that and I'm just so excited that that got to come back. I believe

157they said it after 28 years of of not doing it. Um the only thing with my son is that he won the uh the long jump. And so he he thought he was going to get some kind of trophy or you know interview or something. But I So the chamber will uh I'll say this. If we do it again next year, the chamber will gladly uh furnish the medals or trophies, whatever you guys want to do uh for those kids if that's something we want to do. >> Um and then lastly, so uh coming. >> Oh, they are coming. >> Yeah. >> Oh, even >> great. That's going to go to his head. I I was going to do it cuz he wasn't going to get one next year. He'll be in Baker. So, >>

158the medals would be >> But we'll still So, next year, >> honestly though, the uh the chamber again, I told some of my board members about it. We gladly we will gl on record. We'll gladly help uh kick in the money to pay for those next time. Um and then also too, I want to say thank you to Dr. Jackson, the team. So, uh, I have kids that play in the the City flag football league and it's amazing that they get to utilize, uh, that auxiliary field. And not only that, but also, uh, we had an agreement to let them use the, uh, the junior high for their basketball league, too. And so, that has been a game changer. I don't speak for the city, but I'm telling you, like, uh, they they have been

159very happy and, uh, blessed. And so, I hope that we can continue that partnership in the future. So uh with that being said, we are now adjourned at