001I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to the Texas. One state under God, one and indivisible. Holly, I assume you don't have any requests for public participation. No student recognition. All right. First agenda item is a discussion and possible approval of gold star contract amendment. Yeah. So I believe you guys have seen the in the packet. Um not much to to share on that. We don't have a whole lot of options at this point without a bus yard or mechanic or uh think that we could to operate our own uh but uh the CPI indicated on the contract was 3 and a half%. Currently, as
002we'll go through the the budget uh update, we don't have that built in. I think there's ways for us to mitigate the cost in the uh in the fleet that we have currently and getting some of rid of those buses and some of our maintenance costs going down that we could absorb some of that. We're still playing with that. The monthly billing and for this this month was a little bit higher than than we anticipated. So, we're going to play that out a little bit longer before we actually add that money into the into the uh budget for next year. But, uh, right now it's going to be a wash from one year to the next, but we're still determining whether or not we actually need the additional three and a half% reflected in the
003budget, which equates to about $28,000 if we reach to amend the expense. But, uh, I suggest we take the gold store gold star uh, renewal as presented. All right. This one um is for possible approval. Any questions? >> I move we approve the gold star contract as presented. >> Okay, >> just to jump on that, our contract with them is over in July of 2029. uh it is a year-over-year situation. So, we want to get serious about taking transportation on in-house ourselves, providing that infrastructure for the district to actually do it themselves. We have we have a couple years to to to get lined out for that. >> Okay, motion has been entertained. Got it first. Second. Any discussion? All those in favor? All those opposed? passes. How many we got today? >> Five. >>
004Next is presentation, discussion, and possible action regarding Senate Bill and required reporting. >> Yeah, this real quick. Uh, this is mandated by the state of Texas for us to provide you guys some information regarding our uh our bus fleet and how close we are to having three point harnesses on each bus. Uh so for us to be eligible for any grant opportunities that the state is willing to perhaps release in the next legislative session, they have to jump through some hoops to to make sure that we're eligible for that. That report that I'm giving you today will then be submitted uh by May 26 for us to be potentially eligible or to create an exception so that we may not have to meet the deadline of September 1st, 2029 for uh three-point harnesses. Currently, we
005have 13 buses that satisfy the requirement for uh three-point harnesses. Uh we have eight current buses that don't require that uh or that don't uh have the three-point harnesses. Uh I mentioned earlier in uh the Gold Star the the the Goldstar renewal that we're trying to get off some buses to to mitigate some maintenance costs. We've already gotten off of four. We can get off of two more. So, even though we have eight buses that don't currently have three-point harnesses, we're planning on potentially getting off of two more buses. So, we would outfit six buses if we needed to to retrofit. That would give us 19 total. Of the eight that we have, because we haven't gotten off of those two buses uh yet, of the eight that we have, the the cost to retrofit
006those buses, those eight buses, is $294,766. Uh if we were remove those two buses that we're considering auctioning off, that would take the cost down to about $225,000 to to retrofit those those buses that we have. Uh the rub is that those buses are going for about $5,000 a piece. Uh so the eight buses that we have, if we were to get off of those, uh it would generate at best $40,000 of of revenue for us for those eight buses. You're kidding. Wait, you're saying one bus is going for 5,000? >> Yeah. >> In auction. >> At auction. Yeah. >> If we're lucky. Yeah. The last one. Uh it's it's pretty pretty low. >> Is it just our buses or in general? >> It's in general. All buses. I mean, the amount of mileage that
007they have on them, it makes them pretty about two. >> Yeah. Yeah. We're uh we've got off of two buses. Uh few months ago, both of those buses were together was 4,500. Off another two a couple weeks ago, it was 4,200. These buses have few fewer miles than those buses had. So, at best, we're looking at 5,000, but uh that's best case scenario. >> Uh each each retrofit cost about $35,000 per bus, and each bus's value is about $5,000. So, it's putting a lot of bells and whistles on the bus that uh whose value doesn't match the retrofit. So, that's when you're kind of upside upside down on those. Next slide. So, then you're in a situation where number one, reality is we don't have uh a quarter of a million dollars to retrofit those
008buses. And number two, we'll never see the return on that investment because those buses will age out uh before we can actually utilize that that uh expense. So, what do we need? We need six buses. Uh, if we put the $225,000 into those buses, uh, the shelf life of the that bus is still those are 2011 buses and each bus lasts anywhere between 12 and 15 years. So, we're beyond its life expectancy anyways. So, we'll never see that. So, you're looking at potentially buying six buses uh before long buses, 72 passenger buses, one sped bus, and one short bus or 54 passenger bus because of the turnarounds that it needs to get through in the neighborhoods that that it it drives on. And that would be about a million dollars uh for those six buses
009uh that that we would need if we chose not to retrofit, which would be the plan. Secondly, we bought two buses in 2019 and three buses in 2021. Those five buses there that I've just talked about are three-point harness buses, but the shelf life's about 15 years. Uh, so we also need to consider those five buses that we'd potentially be getting off of in the next seven or eight years. So, school districts are mandated to have three-point harnesses on their buses by September 1st, 2029. That's what the plan is for from TEA for schools to try tried to match. Uh, next slide. Oh, uh, the district can claim an exception if the funds aren't available or like the retrofitting is not feasible or we we can't meet that requirement. So you can kind of uh
010submit it for an exception. And that's kind of what we're we're setting the groundwork to do that if we need to uh later on. So conclusion, we'll need six buses by September 1st, 2029. That's going to cost us about a million dollars and that will allow us to be compliant with uh US bill 740 or 546. we are most likely trying to pursue an exemption or funding for those six additional buses. But then I think it's also important to note that uh we'll need two additional buses by 2031 and then three additional buses by 2034 so that the those five buses eventually will age out. So, you're looking at a million dollars by 2029 and then another million dollars or so by 2034 and and bus fleet uh revamps. So, that is your report that
011we were uh obligated to provide you in regards to three-point harnesses on our buses. Any questions? >> How much funding we get for this mandate? >> $135,000. We got how much >> you our transportation aotment is $135,000. Our our contract for transportation is $800,000 and fuel is budgeted currently at $75,000 but current state of fuel it's closer to $150,000 a year. So the aotment essentially covers the fuel cost only. >> Are there instead of having the capital out you know pay cash for the buses are there leasing? >> Yes in 2011 I think Matt did that uh where we leased to own those 10 buses and that served its purpose. Uh the downside of that is 11 buses age out all at the same time. So you get in a position where you're looking to
012revamp your fleet. You're revamping not two buses or three buses but 11 or 10 at the same time. But that is an option for sure. >> I was just thinking I mean if we were to do it the way you outlined it, it's two here, four here, three here. May maybe that's a I don't remember the operational I mean how much savings it was to do it but >> yeah I have to go back I wasn't doing this at that time but I I do know that that that that created a bit of a burden on the back end of that lease to own and that okay these buses have now aged out we we own 10 that are all the same age all the same mileage we don't get anything in return essentially so
013you have to do it all over again or I mean in a perfect world if we were sitting on a surplus every year. We would budget a bus or two every year, but uh that's just not the world we live in currently. >> Okay. >> No, it's 2029. You have to respond to them three years in advance. >> Um interesting. >> Yeah. So, I'll I'll file this report with the board minutes uh on May 26th, and that allows us to be in the pool of whatever eligible funds that they want or inevitably agree to to share with school districts in the next legislative session. >> Motion language is in the packet that there too. Yes. I move that the board of trustees acknowledge receipt of the Senate Bill 546 required report including current fleet status
014and retrofit cost estimates determine that the district does not have does not currently have sufficient funds to retrofit all buses to threepoint seat belts and authorize administration to submit the required reporting to the Texas Education Agency. >> Do I have a second? >> A second. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? All those opposed. Motion carries. 5. >> Next, we have discussion and possible approval of IQS contract amendment. >> Yeah, it's me again. Uh IQs have been great partners with us since coming on board. Uh very sensitive to our uh finances. uh and so they have chosen not to honor a CPI increase for school year 2627. So our contract will remain exactly the same as it was in 2526. >> Wow. >> Good. Is that typical or is >> No, it's not. Uh contractually
015it's 2% every year. But uh they like our business like theirs and they've been a pretty solid partner with us. Okay, I'll now entertain a motion. >> I move we approve the IQS contract amendment as presented with no no change in the >> Right. No change. I'll second that. Any discussion? All those in favor? >> All those opposed? Motion carries. 5. Next item is approval of TE certification for 2627. >> That's not me. >> That's not say you are both. >> Um as items six and seven are interrelated. I'd like to address both of them now. That's okay. Uh the math adoption as well as T certification. >> Yes. We'll just have to we'll need to do two motions. >> Yes. >> Go ahead. Uh so instructional materials it's time um for our yearly TEIK
016certification um with this TEIK certification. I'd also like to introduce our new math adoption um that is being recommended tonight as well. So what's new for 26 and 27 for the T certification? This year we had the opportunity to review new math instructional materials for implementation next year. Our licenses with our previous previously adopted materials for math are expiring and that was envision math for elementary and big ideas math for secondary. This year, um, our adoption process might look a little bit different than it has in the past for you as board members because with the House Bill 1605 that passed in the 88th, uh, Texas legislature in 2023, the process changed a slightly. Uh the goal of that legislation was to ensure that districts across the state have access to instructional materials that are
017fully aligned to the TESS grounded in research-based instructional practices and supportive of strong student outcomes. With that came the MRUP process IM. We never have enough acronyms in education. So here we go with some more. Um so under house bill6005 as well uh there is a new formal review process called IMRA the instructional materials review and approval process is it it it is quite rigorous and it doesn't follow the same cycles as proclamations in the past um new materials can be added through the EMR process on a yearly basis we were potentially able to to adopt new math materials last year but the new EMRA process, only a couple of um of instructional materials for math met their standards. Again, more rigorous standards. Um because our our um our adoptions for Envision and Big continued
018throughout this year, we determined that this year would be our year to dig into um available options that meet these requirements. school teaches alignment, research-based instructional design, support for diverse learners, teacher usability and implementation support, accuracy and suitability alignment to the ELPS, the English language proficiency standards were applicable. Uh the full reports for all of the IMRA approved instructional materials are available to the public online. Um a little bit about funding as well. Um, as we talk about adopting new instructional materials, um, the question is where does that money come from? Well, it's not in Jason's budget necessarily. It is allocated through TEA in an aotment. Um, so there is like a a book depository where we can directly work from TEA materials or request a dispersement. Um so the funding is also dependent upon
019um there there are different amounts awarded based on the quality of the materials according to TEA or um guidelines that they set. um we get a bienium uh of an aotment every two years and and so on that top line that 2,700 2,000 276,000 amount is uh what we have for this year and next to purchase materials. Um, there's also a new additional $40 aotment for materials on the HQIM list that follow that uh met the rigorous process of IMRA. Um, if we don't use wallet uh the materials from uh the HQIN list, we lose out on that money. And because House Bill6005 was approved in uh 2023, we have some acred money, $40 a year for those students. a couple of years back. Otherwise, it would would not be that amount. So, that's about
020three times um the amount that we have in the instructional materials entitlement. Um again, aotment we are free to use as we choose. Entitlement is only accessible to us if we adopt materials on the HQIM list, which we are proposing tonight. Um, we could also have um access to about $34,000 should a district choose Blue Bonnet resources. So, they are incentivizing using Blue Bonnet. >> So, cumively we have $500,000 for this. >> Yes. Um the new HQIM $40 aotment is something that we've never had access to before and again that has acrewed for a couple of years because because the legislation passed and and and no HQIM materials were available until last year and it was a very limited list. Um but we can guarantee having access to that on a yearly basis. Uh and
021that amount is $40 per student. If we don't use that this year, does it still continue to carry over and build? Yes. >> Um so just to share a little bit about where we were with the process and how this worked for us. Um TEA released an updated list of highquality instructional materials in November of this year. We've been patiently awaiting to see what would make the list. Um last year there were only like a handful literally of of um math instructional materials that met the standard. This year November came and the list was added to but again it's not an extensive list if you um if you look and see what we had access to which helped narrow down the process. Honestly, sometimes we have too many options. Um the options presented on the
022HQIM list by the state board of education um have met a rigorous um standard. Uh so we felt very confident in even though it was a small list having high quality instructional materials available. So um teachers attended um about 20 teachers and three suburbans. It was a great day. Uh math teachers talking about math so much fun. Uh we went together to region 13 to the instructional material showcase where vendors were set up, where sample samples were available. This was the teachers first ability to dip their toes and to see what resources were available. So full-on vendor presentation so that they could be walked through the uh components of each of the materials up for adoption. So they took home lots of heavy or took back to school lots of heavy bags full of resources
023as well as access to digital platforms. Um so about a month later gave them a month to process and and reflect. Uh I asked which vendors they would like to um hear more from. Um each the secondary and elementary campuses each chose a couple. um brought those vendors back in to do Q&As's to um dig a little bit deeper. A lot of our questions surround were surrounding differentiation like what what how does this product meet the needs needs of our diverse learners. Other questions were um directed towards um types of assessments and feedback from assessments that feedback loop um that was important for our teachers in the process as well. Um, so we left March 13th with a lot of our questions answered, but teachers didn't feel like they would be able to make a
024recommendation um along with their principles by our April board meeting, which was what I'd hoped. Um, I wanted to give them as much time as possible to make make a solid recommendation. So we are here today because their recommendations and principal um confirmation of those recommendations came to me by April 30th. Um and we are here to approve those today the recommendations from our teacher committees as well as then that will be a new item on our TE certification this year from our math adoption. So hence needing to kind of tie these two together um for the ordering of the process. Do you all have any questions about HQIM or the process before I proceed? >> I'm just Well, I guess you're now you're going to present the options, right? >> Okay. Uh before we
025do, I just want to make sure are we talking about approving loop on it tonight? >> No. >> Thank you. >> You're not. So, the committee recommendation uh our committee recommendations are as follows. Uh, Amplify Desmos was the recommendation for K through 5 math classrooms starting next year. Um, just to give you a ballpark of what what this costs um take is taken out of our a lotment in our entitlement. Um, a three-year license is about $122,000. um which includes teacher resources, digital student licenses, the yearly replenishment of con uh consumables. Um we have centers kits and manipulate manipulative kits for each and every elementary classroom which increases the price. If you're like why is elementary more than math? Well, there's a lot more stuff and and a a lot more volume of teachers teaching
026the content. Um, so Amplified Desmos was the recommendation for from our uh K through5 campuses and McGra Hill Texas Math was the recommendation from the committees for our secondary math classrooms. Um, we quoted a three-year license um that is $82,000 includes teacher resources, digital licenses, personalized learning support platforms, consumables and classroom sets of books. We are considering just even we are considering not going full in on a three-year just adopting that for one year um or secondary math as we've been having some discussions about um what offerings could change in secondary if we go down certain routes um for like early college or or or that. So, I think the one-year code is safer for the secondary in case um we do choose a different option for some of our programming in the future. >>
027And I'm just going to add a little note on that. And the nice thing about this new process is back in the days of the proclamation, you adopted for years and then you were stuck. whether or not you loved it, you hated it, if it was great, the teaks changed, but you're still having this product that's not meeting those teaks. So, the nice thing about the EMR process is that you could, not that you necessarily want to, but you can revisit on an annual basis because they're going to continue to review and potentially provide more options for the high-quality instructional materials. So that would be just one more reason especially on the secondary side the changes that we've got coming but also due to the limited list that exists right now and there's no no
028real value to signing on board for years when you can revisit it annually. >> Yeah. >> One question I had is that so this is high quality instructional material. Um, do they have empirical do they have data that supports showing student outcomes are better on this versus what we're currently what are they using to say this is high quality instruction? If you if we go back there were the criteria go back back that there is a rubric in aa there you go that there is a process these materials are newly released so there's not going to be historic student performance data based on the current products that are being um a become available to us. Um however um the the the EMR reports listed um linked there. Um and Paulie, if you'll just click on
029one um just to kind of show you a little bit about how this process worked. Um if you will go down, select the drop down, choose first grade for example. Um click on click on amplify desmos math that is what we are adopting and if you scroll you can see the quality review process is very transparent. Um the criteria that um an instructional material must meet in order to achieve um or to be selected for the list um is extensive as you click under 3.1. Go ahead. You're just You were offline. Uh under the green bar, any of the green bars, uh you can click and find specific um review information for each and every one of these um evaluation components. Um we feel very strongly that that um anything that has made this list
030based on the rigor of the process to be approved um vets them. That's the preliminary vetting. And I'll tell you like our elementary and and second air campuses like based on this based based on the the um the Emer review that they they um they took a look at based on looking at sidebyside comparisons of how each of the products addressed some of our highest needs. Uh they feel very confident um for a lot of reasons. Not only we have the vetting at the state level, right? Um then we have the um campus level kind of digging deeper and and making sure it aligns to our campus and district goals. Um I feel confident in the um the proposed adoptions for the upcoming year. Um teacher buyin and usability for for these resources um was
031also um a factor. If you look at the EMR process, um we know that the the work of teachers is becoming more and more difficult. Um some of the products that we've found less success with in the past um are not uh have not been as user friendly um have been very difficult to navigate in terms of the day-to-day. So um I think that answers your question. Yeah, I was just curious um if you can answer centers kit. You said centers are manipulative. What I think centers is that when they're working in groups or >> so um in an elementary classroom >> uh sorry part of the um the instructional um cycle in math or or any any um any content usually does involve time where students are are you know grouped at like maybe
032a math table while doing a studentled um activity to dig deeper into math. Um many times in the elementary level they are kind of game based right to to create that productive struggle and the enjoyment of math while a teacher might be pulling a small group um to uh effectively manage that time. So that would be what a center is. >> Okay. >> Um it's a kit ready to go. Um, again, this is a huge bonus for our teachers who um rather than spending all of their time compiling and putting things together, it's ready to go and it is aligned to what is happening in the classroom. And then manipulative kits are um hands-on math um cubes, different money, right? Things that students actually use to um process the math physically, hands-on. Thank you. One
033of the biggest changes um David to your question also is Tina showed that had you go back and show that list of the things the wording full teaks alignment that's a huge change in the in the old adoption system when they gave you a list that you could choose to adopt from um that met approval they did not have to meet all the tees so you were potentially adopting a curriculum that you're stuck with for years knowing going into it it actually didn't meet 100% of the curriculum. This process they had to meet 100% of the TEACS in order to make the list. So that does help with the quality of the instructional materials. >> Okay, Holly. Um back to where we were. I do have I did provide the board some overviews just so
034that you could get a little glimpse of um what the resources offer. um this this may be less helpful to you. It may be more confusing, but I just wanted to make sure that you had access to um some of the highlights of the products that we are specifically adopting. Again, each of these, one of the um things that that our teachers are are excited about and our administrators are um more aligned assessments um and assessments from unit assessments to in the- moment small formative assessments and they each have um a a data tracking system. So the assessment is is um it's a dashboard basically for them to look at and um see how their students are performing, where we might need to circle back um and how they might challenge uh some of our
035learners who are already getting the information. So, and this is technically item seven rather than six, but um at this point I would propose these instructional materials for the math adoption does most amplify for K through 5 and um McGraill for 6 or 6 through 12. Uh, so to be before we go, any questions? Thank you, Tina. >> So, you're asking for approval for the math instructional line seven instead of six. Is that correct? >> Yes. >> And I'll entertain a motion. >> I move we accept them the math instructional materials adoption as presented. Second. I have a first and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor? All those opposed? Passes 50. And then I'll need a motion for approval of TE certification for 2627. >> I move to approve the TE certification 2627
036as presented. >> Do I have a second? How's that? >> First and second. Any discussion? >> I'm I'm going to ask it cuz what specifically are we approving here? Sir, what is the certification? >> So, this yearly batique certification, Holly, I think I have a slide. Um, this is a process required by the state of Texas that allows us to access those allocated and entitled funds. Each year we have to certify that we have instructional materials that meet 100% of the TESS. Um the only new adoption that we had was math instructional materials, hence the switching of the agenda items to make sure that we we um had those approved before the TE certification. Um this also um we do provide a survey that includes information such as what assessment platforms we use for our
037district. Um and I wanted to add that the only difference from last year's T certification to this is the change in the math adoption as well as um last year we did include educoria for um assessments and math growth. This year we also checked the boxes for TAR um Texas formative assessment resource which we will be utilizing for unit and um and for for more of the unit based assessments that are aligned to the TE. So that will be new. It's free to us and we have not been utilizing that in the past. And I'd also like to add MAP GRO is still listed as an assessment that we will be using, but over the summer when STAR results come in, we will be re-evaluating. Do we want to assess K through 12 or are
038we just going to limit it to the elementary levels who find it more u maluable and successful? So those are the only changes. Um and so the action is required um by the board again and your approval of the TE certification document then allows me to go in and enter in the survey information into TEA. Um when that's processed, our funds are released. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions, points of discussion? >> Did we already get a person? >> We did. Yeah, Michelle. Seconded by Ridge. >> Uh, all those in favor? All those opposed? 50. Next is budget update, Mr. >> Yeah. Uh, we'll we'll combine two fiscal years. Uh, real quickly, we'll touch on where we are in 2526. Uh if you remember last year when we set the budget we
039said that our uh ADA will be 1730. Uh that's that's next year stuff but I can I can talk through this one. Uh I we had set a budget on 1840 in the enrollment 94%. Which equates to 17348. Uh currently we're sitting at 1729.53. Uh and our attendance rate is 94.13. So we've pretty much hit our marks pretty pretty close which is pretty awesome to see. Uh we are still trending to be in a deficit budget in school year 2526. We adopted a deficit budget I believe 345,000. We are going to be less than that. Uh right now it's trending to be around 200,000. that still allows us to have 103 103 days in our uh fund balance operating. So in terms of our financial integrity rating, those still remain superior 10 points on those
040sorts of values. So fiscally uh we're we're still in very strong position even though we may still come in at a deficit in school year 2526. Uh uh currently we have outstanding locally and local tax collections of about $500,000 that we hope to collect in the next 4 months. And uh we're still waiting on state payments of nearly $900,000 which again will come come through hopefully in the next four months and that would hit our mark and projected revenue. So if if those marks come to fruition, like I said, we'd be somewhere around the $200,000 deficit budget. So we've outperformed our our budget or we're trending to outperform the budget that we adopted uh last August, school year 2627. Uh Holl's presented that to you there. Uh nothing huge huge to share here. Some of
041the highlights were that uh we're projecting our enrollment of 1860 and at 94% as Dr. current illustrated last month. If we can increase our attendance percentage one point, that equates to a reduction on our recapture payment minimally of $120,000. So, if we can hit 95%, our recapture goes down at at minimum 120 grand. So, that's a big push for us. Uh we're we're property values have decreased in Logab Vista ISD. Uh so we're actually operating on $150,000 less money than we had last year in terms of our golden pennies. Uh so that's not great. And then also interest rates continue to to fall or projected to fall, which is another $100,000 that we're recognizing. And uh we've discussed in previous board meetings that our insurance premiums haven't uh reflected some new employees who have taken
042our insurance. uh got some news last week that our insurance premium went up another $40. So, we've reflected on our preliminary budget to to take that cost on so employees still don't see a reduction in their pay based on insurance premiums and then also cover those new employees that have not been previously covered. So that equates to about $210,000 in of additional expense and uh additional expense in in our payroll. Uh uh you can see some some interesting notes there. Our property and casualty insurance, we're seeing a little bit of a reduction in in that are uh what we're seeing in that market is that there's more people starting to bid on property and casualty insurance. we've been pretty hampered by some some pretty historic rate increases in that in that world, but now more
043people are coming to market. So, we're starting to see a reduction in that and hopefully that trend continues. And then we have about another 60 grand added to our technology supply budget to make sure that we bolster everything that we need to make sure that we're a secure and um solid technology program. But as presented right now we have a deficit of about $415,000 which is less than 2%. If that budget hits its mark exactly, because our operating costs continue to go down with recapture falling, we would have 120 days in our fund balance, uh, even if we realize the $400,000 deficit at the end of school year 2627. Dr. Curran, is technology something that can fit on your plate to I mean, I we've talked about this a long time. We've adopted iPads 15
044years ago. It's an expensive technology solution. I think there are alternatives out there that might give us some operational funding. I mean, is that something that we can talk about or put on agenda to at least I mean, you live in that world, but >> yes, I'm going to suggest that we actually do have this on our June agenda. Um and we've done we've had a lot of in-house discussion um looking at our technology, looking the age of our technology, trying to figure out a plan for specifically when it comes to our devices. For example, um we've had conversations about iPads versus Chromebooks, um pros and cons. Um we've had Rusty, he's been working on trying to get um different quotes to see the cost differences. Um overall it appears from what we have at
045this point in time that making a shift to Chromebooks um we may not have the funds right now to make that leap across the board but beginning that shift will actually decrease um that's less expensive um to to purchase also less expensive to operate. Um we did boost the budget a little bit here. cushioned um to address some of our technology needs. But if your question is is it sufficient? Do we have needs beyond where we've cushioned? 100%. Um but we're working on a plan to try to address what you know what's doable this year and trying to create like a a multi-year plan to try to get us there. Um outside of you know it's kind of like the the bus situation that that Jason mentioned earlier. you're talking about some big dollar items.
046So, um, we're either talking about a really long-term plan or some some creative solution to try to really get it done and replace it sooner rather than later. >> Well, I mean, I don't think that I mean, I think we're reinvisioning the way we use technology in the classroom, which I think is probably a really good thing. And that's I think just the stuff you read on you know read is saying that that's that's good that there's more instructional you know actual instruction going on in the classroom instead of relying on technology >> but it's not going anywhere. I mean, I think it's something that we've got to address. And I remember years and years ago, the question was, hey, we're going to spend $26,000 a year on technology. And it's just like, well, that
047doesn't address anything because there's infrastructure, there's instructional, there's software, security. I mean, there's all these components um that we need to look at and try to figure out. So, I'm I'm all in favor of having starting the conversation in June. And I know it's not going to be something we can address probably in this budget, but we've got to get online for 2728 so that we can >> try to put something in place. >> Yes, agreed. Um and I think we can start making some of those shifts now. uh you know if that's a shift that we want to do some of the conversation we've had without going too deep in it today is um we could you know like right now we there we need to replace basically a cohort a whole grade level
048of devices um and we could do that with iPads because that's what we currently have but if our intent is to switch Chromebooks why why invest in another set of iPads we could take that same amount and invest it and go ahead and get our first group until we can start, you know, kind of chipping away at it. But you did bring up an excellent point of um it's not just about the devices, but it's then what are we doing with them when we have them to make sure that we're utilizing that technology to maximize the impact in the classroom. >> Okay. Yeah, you made a great point and I'm going to discuss a little bit with Mindy, but with regards to all those things you just said, infrastructure, security, management, all aspects of what
049Rusty has to do as well as how it propagates into our classrooms and how we utilize that incorporate. It's typically 3 to 5 years. When you do a refresh, you come in and understand what does the market look like, what do we need now, make sure that we stay ahead. Unfortunately, schools can't do that. Very costly. But I agree, now is the time to be able to figure that out. >> Yeah. >> And and to your point too, like once you have that plan, you're really talking about to keep that going as we're looking at recycling probably two grade levels of devices annually to be able to keep that going. >> Jason, anything else? >> No, that's it. I mean, I I I would quickly point out that in an effort to try to get
050closer to balanced in school year 2526, we did look at our technology budget and trim budget and trim some things out of there. This is essentially putting back what we had trimmed a year before. So, this this is just reallocating the funds that were there two years ago, putting it back so that we could build it the correct way. >> Was that the Did I miss that in the packet? >> No, that is brand new. I'm sorry. I can share that with you. Yeah, that I'd appreciate if we had that. So, okay. >> And Jason, you were going to share a piece of information. I think you had been asked for >> Oh, negative. Uh, a board member had reached out uh in regards to what our negative uh balances in our food service department
051are. These are balances where kids charge meals even though they don't have money for them. We are required to provide a meal for that child regardless of if it's a sun butter sandwich or if it's the meal that's being served through the line. It's the same cost to the school district. Last year, our negative balance was somewhere around the $4,000 range. Uh this year, we're seeing a tremendous growth in that arena. Uh currently, it's about $18,000 of negative food balances. Uh 3,000 of which are from agree and reduced children or or their families and 15,000 is coming from uh our paid students. So, we've done quite a a bunch of work to try to to run those balances down. We're continuing to do that, but since that information was shared with one board member, I
052thought it was prudent to make sure that everybody was aware of that of that number. >> Any thoughts on why? >> I don't know why. I don't know why. Uh I mean, I I don't know why. >> State of the economy one of those. I mean, we budget three grand every year to support those negative balances. Uh, and we've landed on that mark relatively pretty closely in years past. Not sure what's going on this in this particular year, but it's like better label. The paid students are are the ones that are are are really hitting it hard. So by practice, student goes into a negative balance, they're offered, we're going to feed him obviously, but are we feeding him? Like if if I'm my kid's supposed to pay >> and he comes in, there's no
053money in his account and he's not told me or I'm not paying attention. Is he getting what he wants to eat? He's not buy eating alikart, is he? >> No, there's no alakart sales with that. That's is it's what's in the line. So he's getting in the line instead of getting the peanut butter sandwich. >> We had dealt with this a couple of years ago where the the sun butter sandwiches were the highest selling alle cart item that there was that the the kids would prefer the sun butter sandwich often times versus the than what's in the line. And it doesn't cost the district any differently either way. So >> Either way we're paying the same. Uh, and 3 or 4 years ago, we capped that balance at $20. So, if the student had $150
054negative balance, they were only going to pay $20. And the 130 was on the district's tab. We thought that this is a quote unquote paid family. Why are we paying the $130? So, we removed the negative balance threshold. Didn't have an issue with it last year. It's this year that we're seeing some some strange numbers with them. So, families have been reached out probably 30 times, 35 times. Not getting not getting a whole lot. Now, as students transition out of this grade level and come back to pick up their iPad or pick up their report card or like we we can temporarily hold that to try to settle that up, but legally we can't hold it close. We can't hold the schedule. >> So, you're no longer saying cuz I remember my kid going, "Hey,
055they told me my my balances." So, if we're not telling them anymore that they're telling >> So, when they're in the line and they say, "I get you go, you don't have any money." >> Yeah. You don't have you got negative $50 in your balance right now. You need to get money. >> And it's my understanding they also received notifications. >> Yeah, I get an email. For whatever reason, one of my automatic renewals stopped and my kid did fall negative and I got an email. >> Yeah, we have reports of who was notified when and then we also have a secondary report of a staff members actually reaching out. So, not only does the system generate a it's generic email but we also have report when somebody on staff is has notified a person and
056>> nine times out of 10 it goes north >> just people taking advantage >> wow justformational >> thank you anything else Jason >> all right did everyone get time to read the consent agenda Yes. Yes. Entertain a motion. I move we approve the consent agenda. I'll second it. >> Another first and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor? All those opposed? 5. We'll go to superintendence report. >> All right. So, the first thing I wanted to talk to you guys about is to look at future meeting dates into the new academic year. Um, we need to get those set up. So, um, going to run through the dates that fall on the second Monday. Um, everything looks pretty good. We have a second Monday in July is July 13th. Move to August. We have
057August 10th. September 14th. It's going to be October that we hit a little uh issue where the 12th would be the second Monday, but that is um a student staff holiday. So, if we'd like to move that, um I'm not sure how we've handled that in the past, but um I think we've done a couple of things. Moved it to a different day of that same week or we could also look at moving it to the following Monday if we prefer to keep it on Mondays. So, really that October is probably what we want to take a look at. Um making that adjustment. What have we done in the past? >> We've done a variety of things. cuz we've moved it a week or we've done it like on the Thursday or something of that
058week. >> Correct. >> Cuz we try to pick a day that least impacted by but man I don't think any of us have middle school. I don't know. You got middle school? What did you do? >> So >> I did you. >> Yeah. Sorry. >> I think it's having a discussion when Sarah and Kevin are here as well just to make sure that we're online. But yeah, >> I think that one's far enough advance we can probably push that off. >> Yeah. And if Mondays seem to be kind of historically what's worked out, then I would suggest versus trying to figure out a different day of the week, we would just move it to the following Monday for now and then we can make an adjustment. But that would allow us to go ahead and
059try to set those dates up into um our public facing calendar so that people have those. >> Um so we'll we'll look at the 19th um and we can revisit that uh if that seems to be an issue. Okay. Um, and then we move along to we have November 9th, December 14th, January 11th, February 8th, March 8th, April 12th. >> Uh, March 8 is my birthday. Can't be here. >> Uh, in honor of your birthday. Um, so March 8th, April 12th, May 10th, and then June 14th of 27th. So we will get those dates put up um onto our public facing calendar. Okay. Um, >> can I So, just planning ahead the 9th of November, there'll be there'll be the election on when is the election day? This the 3rd. So, if there was an
060election, I'm just trying to think if that's going to be really close to be able to certify the results. Mhm. >> So, I didn't know if we would consider just doing that in between the meetings and then waiting till December if that's something we want to consider. So, I don't know what we did this last year. Do we just move? >> It's just early. It's just it's an early the 9th is early. >> So, but anyway, I'm fine with that. >> Okay. And that could be another situation where if we want to do something different to have a little bit more time to certify the results and try to get that done in November, we can look at that. >> Is anybody's seat up this year? I know >> Brian's was >> some it will
061be too. Yeah. >> Oh, that's right. I see. >> So, who you paired with? Who's he paired with? >> Remember, >> do you have that point? >> Is it I want to win again super quick. >> It is >> Mr. Richley and Ron Cer. >> It is you. >> Not us against each other again. >> Both made it up. >> Okay. Um so the next thing I have is just to do a quick little update on the teacher incentive aotment. So we did a recognition. Um we were able to recognize some teachers this week. This is our first group ever to designate. there were 10 teachers that we were able to designate. Um and our in our plan our um we kind of stairstepped a plan. We had a transition. So this first round um
062of teachers that we were able to designate did not include every single teacher having that opportunity. So it looked like star tested teachers of uh where grade levels existed they that they have a star progress measure which means it's not every star teacher. excludes third grade, it starts with fourth grade. Um they have to have a progress measure. So it's math and reading. Um we in year two, so currently as uh we are collecting data this year, we expanded the system to allow for um grade levels that were map testing as well. So all the reading, language arts, and math teachers. So now we've been able to provide a way for um elementary some elementary teachers to be able to earn. Um and moving into next year, we have uh put we've applied for an
063expansion that would allow us now to have a way for every single teacher, no matter what you teach, to be eligible to earn a designation. It's not an automatic thing just because now we have a plan. They still have to be um producing those student outcomes. um you know we have to be able to observe and see uh that in action in the classroom to be able to qualify. But just to kind of give give you an example of what this monetarily means for those teachers, we are looking at an allotment given to the district of $93,276 across um those newly designated teachers in additional compensation. Um, so as we move into the following year, what what's really valuable about this is as we talk about our strained budget, um, and how we're really trying
064to stretch our dollars, but yet we still have this deficit budget, we really want to create ways where our teachers can still earn additional money. And so this teacher incentive aotment opportunity is pretty huge because it's does not take away from the budget we already have in existence. This is actually creates additional money flowing into the district to turn around and then compensate teachers with. So this is the best way that we can come up with to provide a path for teachers to earn um large raises without when our budget is so strained. So um we were very excited. We posted some pictures on social media um kind of sharing the news with that. But we're really looking forward to um a future where we're getting to designate a large group every year and and
065really building a strong system. >> That's awesome. >> Yep. Fantastic. >> Um as we move into this next year, what's nice too uh this year we we designated some teachers as recognized um exemplary and master level. So those are the three levels that exist currently for designations, but there is a new level coming into this next year. It's going to be called acknowledged. And so now we it created another category that expanded um the ability to designate uh an even broader range of teachers as well. So that should also be able to help um designate more. So >> all right, >> thank you. >> Um I think that that's the last thing that I have for you. >> I was looking at the clock. I was hoping for 659. >> Uh anything else before we
066adjourn close session? All right, it is 7:00. Take five minutes.