001To the Mesquite. Independent school Board district, To order. Let the record show that a quorum of the board members is present this meeting and have been duly called at the notice of this meeting has been posted in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act. With that, Good morning, everybody. Great to see you this morning. For some of you that are retired, and don't get up this early. Okay. You're always up. Great to be here. We have a couple of things to discuss today, so it's going to be very interesting. First item on the agenda is the audience portion. We're going to open it up for anybody that wants to speak on any of the items on the agenda. And we don't have anyone right. Okay. Being there none. We'll go for the, next item is
002the consent agenda. We have a couple of items there. Board members, does anybody want to pull any item on the consent agenda? You pull the handbook. I just want to ask a question. I know it's just a report, but .. Let's go. So if it's a report, do we even need to pull it? Okay. Because. Because it is in the agenda. And that you do need to pull it. So go ahead. Are we good to go? Yeah, we're good to go. No, I was just a question about, backpack policy. And I know that Mr. Morris has the answers. Can you can you just kind of go through the policy of the clear backpacks as regards to athletes? You know, why? That some of them don't carry clear backpacks? And what's the procedure for those students
003when they enter the building? Because when you're a parent dropping off or students that aren't aware, you see students entering the front doors of the building that don't have clear backpacks. And sometimes I get questions as to how what's going on with that. So can you walk through that real quick? For sure. So a couple things when we, work through developing this policy, there are a couple of places that we identified as maybe not being able to have a clear backpack. You've got athletics, you've got band, you've got instrument cases, things like that. And so we work through protocols with all those, schools last year. There are several of our schools what a lot of them do - Vanston actually set the foundation for this. They were doing this prior to even requiring clear backpacks.
004We have these big, long laundry carts and a lot of our athletics. It's what kids throw their laundry in, and they tote those to the washing machines and they wash them overnight. Things of that nature. They pull laundry carts up to the front office. So kids come in the front doors. They go put their backpacks, their non clear backpacks in the laundry carts, and a coach will take it to the field house or to the locker room. In that case, at our high schools, since our field houses are not connected to the building, oftentimes that's what their protocol is. Go straight to the field house. You leave your backpack there. So unfortunately, you might see some students come in with an unclear backpack, but they're not allowed to walk throughout the building with that backpack.
005And so there's processes set up to where they turn those in in the front office. And a coach comes and picks those up and takes them to the locker room. After one school gets going. Perfect. And that's because I'm assuming a lot of those athletes personal items, a lot of them have to shower or change clothes or things like that. There's that, there's that that there's all the shoes and the cleats and the and the gloves and all the things that really can't be handled inside of one of our clear backpacks. Yeah. Thank you for that. Yes, sir. Okay. Any other questions? Yeah. I do have one question. I have one question. When were these the handbook and the code of conduct be available to the parents and the students? So today y'all are approving
006the code of conduct. If y’all do that. And so once that's done, what the next step that we'll have is we'll have it translated into Spanish. And then I'll send it over to Miss Smith and Communications to get it uploaded online. And so it's on the Code of Conduct and Handbook page on our website. So you think they'll have it by the end of the week, or the code? I would like to say that. I got to see how we fast we can get it translated. Because I think there's a lot of parents anxious. They want to see the details. Sure. Some of the changes that are being made. Yep. Okay. Sounds good. Mr. President, I move to approve the Student Code of Conduct. There's a couple of things significant wise that the that parents
007really want to know about is dress code probably. We've put quite a bit of information out over the summer. Just to tell a quick story. We convened a committee last spring. We had several meetings in the spring. It consisted of parent students. There were campus personnel, teachers, campus administration, district administration, and several board members that were part of this process that we looked at standardized dress. We kind of evaluated what, maybe what had, you know, fashion changes over the course of time. What what had kind of the ship had sailed. And we looked at those things, had some good discussion. What how much to safety come into play? How much does identifying kids and being able to identify kids, and why is that important? We walked through a lot of that stuff. We, everybody on
008that committee was able to make recommendations to the dress code. Through those recommendations, we had some conversation about what would we like to move forward with and make recommendations. And ultimately, the biggest change was adding jeans to the dress code. Students can still wear the same colors, khaki slacks that we've always done, but we've added jeans, no rips or tears that that was a conversation. Do we allow that? Then it became, well then, how high can the rips or tears be and how big and how little? And so instead of putting that on campus administration to try to, to deal with, it was just jeans, plain jeans. And, we added that and then we took off. - there was a stipulation there where a principal could choose to have a spirit day to wear it.
009Kids could wear, you know, a Horn T-shirt or a North Mesquite T-shirt to school. We took that out and basically allowed, if you're wearing a feeder pattern or your campus T-shirt, a college or a university T-shirt, or a military T-shirt, you can wear that any day of the week. And we took that out of the principal's hands to have to designate those days. Yes, sir. A lot of flexibility there. Very good. Okay with that. We have a motion on the table, a motion by Mr. Everett, second by Miss Hornsby to approve the student handbook, as discussed. Well, the consent agenda. I have both of them. Any any any other questions? Being there none, all those in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Same sign. Ayes I have it. Motion carries. Okay. Next we're
010going to Personnel. There's one item there. Compensation plan. Yes. Mr. President. Mr.. Reed will lead the presentation. And, and the questions, if you have any idea. Take it away, Mr. Reed. Yes, sir. Thank you. Good morning. I have the opportunity to just reiterate that, I get a chance to to present the 25-26 Compensation Plan. My name is TJ Reed I'm an Executive Director in Personnel Services. The theme of the presentation is really going to be covering the compensation plan. If you do have any questions or any clarifiers, please feel free to ask. I want to be as clear and concise as possible, and give you that opportunity. And if I can't answer it, I'll give you that opportunity. I'll give you the answer at a later time. Or one of my colleagues can help out.
011So ultimately, it's been it's been widely noted that the state has added revenue, to public schools. It's just passed in HB two, our projected revenue and Mesquite ISD, when you look at it, is 18.4 million. The keyword is projected. That's based on enrollment in different concepts that are vastly moving. And ultimately, when you go down to the mandated of that, the way that they articulated it is we get the revenue, and then they've essentially earmarked where we need to spend some of that money. Some of the the mandated compensation is a big part of that, at $10.8 million dollars, that is geared towards three, 3 to 4 year teacher experience, raises at $2,500, 5+ years of experience with $5,000. We will go into more detail of that and what those definitions truly are throughout the
012presentation. In addition to that, support staff raises, is all lumped into that 10.8 million. The remaining 7.6 is also, designated to certain areas in our district, to allow us to support different programs, different departments. And you'll see what that looks like on the next slide. This slide really gives you an opportunity to to identify where this money is going. And within as we look at this slide, I want to make sure and say, I know we all feel the same as and we appreciate the increase of the 18.4 revenue and the revenue that's been increased by the state. However, it does, as much as it does make an impact, it does present some, some challenges. Logistically, for us, when we go through and start looking at where the money needs to go, and where it's
013been earmarked to go. So starting with that, I would say teacher support compensation is 10.8 million. You see that it's making up the majority of that. Within that is support compensation. It's 1.2 million. We roughly have 2700 employees in that in that category. If we take that 1.2 million and spread it around our our 2700 employees, that would equate to a 1% raise, roughly, $440 on an average of a $50,000 salary. You'll hear us see that. You'll see that a little bit more detail there, but it just kind of gives you the idea that we're receiving money. However, it's not necessarily enough to cover some of the need and be equitable across our district. Other allotment cost is 4 million that can be associated in a lot of basic needs, and include including transportation, utilities,
014really think day to day operations for running this district. Any type of of payroll taxes, benefits, increase in insurance costs, sped evaluations at 1.6. If you've been following education, which I know we all have, and our educators understand that's been historically underfunded is special education. We do appreciate the 1.6 million that's been added to our projected revenue. Especially in evaluations. However, it does leave us in a significant underfunded status. The increase to a basic allotment, there was an increase of $55. To the basic allotment for the first time in roughly five plus years. That is generating that $700,000 revenue piece there. And then school safety, another key area, that we all know we need to focus on in the state has given us mandates on, and we were appreciative of that. However, it's also we
015can utilize that. But it's also still a historically underfunded area. Overall big picture when you look at this, this is the state of where we are. And understanding where our money and our revenue actually goes. The pie chart identifies that 81st, 86% of our revenue goes to payroll cost. Our budget total, of revenue is 448 million. Our total expenditures is 465. That equates to a $17 million deficit that we're operating in for the 25-26 year. The other expenditures make up 14%. And that's a big picture, high level overview. When you look at what the projected revenue is, it is a benefit. However, with it being earmarked, it still leaves us in a situation where we're still operating in a deficit. And ultimately as what we're going to go through in the next few slides will
016we'll identify what the raises are and where that goes to, whether it's state funded or district funded. Before I get there, there's another slide that I'll highlight, but I do want to say, it is a credit to our district that and to the board that even though we're operating within a deficit, we are managing our money, in a financial and a fiscally conservative way to where we can still operate in an equitable, equitable manner to provide our staff and our district the resources it needs. Specifically, 86% of our payroll. We have to remain competitive. And we understand that. And I know you understand that. We I want to just say I appreciate that. And it'll be highlighted throughout the next couple of slides. So where this where this money goes. You have two sides of
017this slide that I want you to pay attention to. Ultimately on the the right hand side, who gets HB2 funded raises. The state was very specific, in where that, that, that revenue goes. Essentially it's, it's a roughly 9.6 million, total to, I believe, when you look at it, 10.8, but where it's supposed to go and it's identified very clearly is it's for teachers who teach 50% of the instructional day. On average, they have to teach 50% of the instructional day to qualify for this raise. The additional levers they put in is there's a different levels. 3 to 4 years of credible years of experience is $2,500. Credible years of experience just to articulate what that is. That means they have to serve in a teaching capacity or serving educational capacity at an accredited institution in
018the state of Texas or in the United States has to be accredited, and they have to provide a service record. So they have to work 90 more days of a year to receive credit for that year. So any teachers that meet that category of 3 to 4 credible years of service will receive a $2,500 raise. Five plus years of creditable years of service will receive a $5,000 raise. And noted at the bottom is HB2 did not provide funding for teachers with 1 to 2 years of experience on the left hand side. And what we have listed in gold is what we are, suggesting to fund and identified in our compensation plan. HB2 did not fund this. This is something that we are allotting our funds towards. Starting certified teacher salary of $62,300 and then certified
019teachers with 1 or 2 years of creditable service to receive an increase of $1,300. That 1300 mark comes from a market, a market, basically midpoint that is identified by our competitive districts. And looking at that, it's essentially an average of what the median salary is of our competitive districts for our teachers. Other other increases that are when we look at this and I've allotted to as I anchor back. This is also district funded. Yes. There was 1.2 earmarked to to identify support staff. And that shows up in the in some what in some capacity in that 3% increase. But as I stated before, it wasn't enough. It would be less than a 1% raise, on average for a $50,000 salary. So the district what we're suggesting fund is a 3% increase based on the midpoint
020of each pay grade. Everybody listed on this. From principals, assistant principals, auxiliary support. Clerical and technical support, information tech and instructional support. There are all pay grades for those individuals. And ultimately where those raises will come from is the midpoint of their pay grades. And ultimately each one of those are identified in their separate pay grades. For the outliers would be principals and assistant principals who fall in the admin pay grade. However, we understand the support and the impact they have on our campuses. So 3% is suggested there. 2% increase based on the midpoint for pay grade for the others in the blue category. That's clearly articulated as any and other any and other professional administrative staff, including central administration, noted that wasn't included in the support staff. The state mandated that support staff is
021not identified administration or central administration. So this is our suggestion that our district funds this with 2% to remain competitive and to support our 86% of our payroll and support our employees as they support our students. This slide honestly, is is what I alluded to that articulates what we've done and what you've approved in the past years. For Mesquite ISD. It shows our dedication to our employees providing a competitive salary, and really trying to recruit and retain the most impactful employees for our students. Things that stand out to me and just kind of identifying a few areas here, anything and gold is going to be increased by the is funded by HB2, which you can see in 25-26. Anything else that's that is identified in white. Or the background color as white has been funded
022by Mesquite ISD. When you look at that, it spans from 21 to 26. So over the last five years. One thing that stands out to me, I'll I'll point out two things. And a doctor here. Do you have anything else, please? Do you see a starting teaching salary? Start out at 56 1 in 21-22. That has risen to 62,300. It's over $6,000 raised to remain competitive, to recruit the best teachers to our district. Another another reason that we are showcasing that we want the best teachers and we're and we're trying to recruit the best teachers. The other thing that I see that stands out to me is that it's a consistent increase. Every year we look at a minimum of 2% that's been applied from 21 all the way to 25-26. The only outlier there
023is, you look at 2324. It's when we approved our VATRE and we had extra funds to apply, and there was some notable increases there. When you look at a 7% increase, a 6% increase, the minimum salary, the minimum hourly pay increasing again from 13 to 15. So ultimately there's a lot of information here, but I do feel confident that it highlights our dedication to paying our employees fairly and remaining competitive in the district and our our surrounding districts. So the big question, I mean, it's being laid out there. If you're watching on other teachers, watch anybody other employees watching and yourself as well, will staff receive these compensation? When will they receive this compensation increase? So when you look at it's in two different areas. So to be as clear and concise as possible, teachers
024and professionals with a start date after July 1st, the keyword as after July 1st their first paycheck is August 27th. They will they will. That will include this increase. So any increase that applies to their position, it will be included on their first paycheck in August. All other staff. There's a few levels there. Will receive a paycheck on August 29th or 27th, depending on if they are semi week or semi annual or semi weekly pay, biweekly pay, those types of things. Auxiliary. We have administrators in that at 226. We have different levels of pay there. Ultimately what will happen is that essentially that means they've received a paycheck or paychecks before we've made this increase. So they will receive that increase on their paycheck on the 27th and 29th. And they will also receive a
025one time retro payment that will basically recoup what they missed out on. On the recent paychecks. So this last slide is just really just highlighting everything that we spoke to. I'd like to leave this up here. And it's something that we will put out, but it identifies different different the different increases, and articulates in a way that this is what our staff will see is what they'll see on social media. This is what we'll highlight. And it has the key components there as well. So you have the information. What questions do you have for me? TJ, great report, sir. I do have a question because I've heard this and I know you probably heard it as others. I would just want to make sure we're clear. I think that the around the state what I've
026heard from some of them and other members having to do with the teachers, three plus years, you know, the $2,500 for three and four years of critical service and $5,000 for five plus when they if this year and the state's going to continuously fund this that was there. Yes, sir. Pardon. SB2. Correct. That's that's what I'm hearing as well. So the second piece of that question would be when you move from 4 to 5 years credible service. Some teachers thought that they were going to get another $5,000. I understand that should be just $2,500 to get them to that $5,000. Is that correct? Yes, sir. That is that's our interpretation. Dr. Rivera, want to add to that? Well, every time, every time you go to the creditable HB2 thresholds, which is the three four, once
027you reach that three and once you tip over that five, those increases will be triggered and funded by the state based on those creditable years that they have listed in the HB2 bill. As the law has been passed, and I do I do agree that, you know, in that $2,500 speaks to what we've heard, it is the increase from $2,500 to $5,000. Right? So I believe that that that is our interpretation. And that's I feel confident about that. So they get another $2,500 and that ... That's correct. Mr. Bingham. When when you if you are on a 3 to 4. So let's just say I was I finished my year at Beasley Elementary last year with four years. I came back on my fifth year. This is my fifth year. As soon as I complete
028this year I will go to five years creditable teacher experience. So when I return back, let's say I can't predict the future. Let's say Mesquite ISD does not do a compensation increase for the 26-27, but I tipped over. I have five years. When I come back on my sixth, I get an additional $2,500 because I crossed over the five year mark. Yes, and that's everything I understand. But if I don't want anybody to think they're going to get $5,000, no, they get the difference between the previous threshold and the second threshold. I just want to get that clearly out to everybody. Yes, sir. I think that's good clarity. One of the questions. Yeah. Couple. Go ahead. I'll let you go first. Just what is our hourly rate.? Is it $15. Yes. Yes it is at
02915. Yeah. That's what I needed to know. So how did you draw the short straw? You don't have to answer that. So I'm just to clarify for what Doctor Rivera said. If I just finished my first year teaching in MISD that I'm getting a $1,300 raise, is that correct? All right, so there's levels to that. So but that's based off of what we did last year as far as where you are at the midpoint. Yes sir. So ultimately the $1,300 comes from the market midpoint. The way the market midpoint is identified is as an example, if they take our five most competitive districts that were compared to, let's say and I don't know those - let's say it's Richardson Plano size was different. And TASB does an intense study and identify the the median or
030the average salaries of those teachers in those districts? Essentially, you know, if you do the math there, it's it's roughly $66,000. So they take 2% of that. And that's our that's our market midpoint. That's where that $1,300 comes from. When you look at that, why that questions level a little bit. And it's something that I will articulate is the key word is certified. If we go back to the slide it's 1 to 2 years certified of credible years of chance for a certified teacher is $1,300. That's the market midpoint. There are teachers that will be that are in our district. We roughly have 152 currently. It's projected that doesn't include we're still hiring and moving through that process that are not certified. And they have experience from 0 to 2 years. The decision was to
031freeze the salary of of uncertified teachers from 0 to 2 years. And ultimately that's been made on several reasons. The the suggestion is not the suggestion moving forward in 26-27, the state has, basically it will be a mandate that we have to have a different level of compensation for our certified and uncertified teachers. And that that's what drove that decision, speaking to that directly, if there are 0 to 2 years and they’re uncertified, if their salary, their salary remains frozen as either what we offered this summer or what they worked, for last year, as soon as they pass that content test and become certified, they then are eligible for that certified salary. And I know I've had conversation with some of you about this, but when we read the the letter of the law, they
032had to be a differentiation between certifying and uncertified even at the zero mark. So we and so we had to make that change. But yes, to reiterate what Mr. Reed said, uncertified, professionals to remain in the classroom as teachers, their salary would be frozen until they achieve that certification level required. Yes, sir. So. If I'm just clarifying again, because I just want to make sure I'm wrapping my mind because I know they have the questions out there that are watching. Yes, sir. Yeah. When I've finished my third year, it's when I'm eligible for the $2,500, when I've completed three years. Yes, yes. And then the other one is once you've completed five. Yeah. So if I'm starting my sixth year in the district, that's when the $5,000 kicks. Yes, sir. That's great. That's how many
033years is it completing that five plus years of credible years of experience? Yes, sir. Okay, now, just for clarification, on, on on these the 2% to 3%, where do the librarians, counselors and nurses fall into that? Oh, it's just for clarity. Yes, sir. It's a very good question. Last year we moved our our pay grades. We moved librarians, counselors and other subset of employees, including nurses, into a professional pay grade. So when we refer to those individuals in our district, and it aligns with a lot of a majority of the state as well, they're considered professionals. So where they fall in is in that professional pay range of 2%. Okay. There are the non hourly professional staff. Yes, sir. Okay. Distinction Mr. Rose the support because you have in the 3% column has the graphic
034will depict the instructional support. I believe. And correct me if I'm wrong TJ that's CIS, SST, IC’s correct in the profession. So instructional support and I appreciate you allow me to to to speak to that instructional support. When you look at our pay grade that is our paraprofessionals. So when you look at what you're referring to instructional support is paraprofessionals information tech and staff support. And think of those those essentially underneath assistant principals in the goal. Those are our nonexempt employees. They each have their own pay grade when used at the individuals you're speaking to. So you think about CIS which is basically we have a Testing Coordinator and Campus Intervention Specialist. We also have another good example is our Student Success Teachers. These are individuals that are paid from the teacher pay grade, but
035they don't meet that definition of the 50% of teaching in front of students. So when the state define that 50% number, I made it very clear that's who get it. Who's getting that pay raise. It did alleviate or remove, the opportunity for some of our, our. So I would call them they are they are paid on the teacher pay grade. However they are not front facing in the classroom and teaching 50% of the time. Those are those are some good examples. So that would go to 2%. Yes sir. So where that is in the 2%, essentially what it is since they're paid on the teacher pay grade, it's not a full it's not a 2% one over. It is the it's part of the market midpoint. So they would receive that $1,300 market midpoint, because
036of the payment. And then where they fall on the teacher pay grade, go back a couple slides. There was one where you had a piggy bank at the bottom, but there sorry, I'm not controlling, but I can you I don't know who is, but let's see what it's like the second or third slide. Okay. Yes, sir. Yes. They go back. The deficit is what you're referring to. People are claiming I'm going to keep my hands off. All right. We'll just go back to the other slide there. But there we. So yeah, this is not necessarily a question but a comment for those that I hope are watching is if you see the pie chart when it comes to our total budget, that our priority as a board is always to compensate our people. So when
037budget gets hard, if you look at that, 14% is really the only place we have available to trim the budget. Is that correct, Mr. Prado? That's kind of where we when we're talking about budget cuts. And a lot of the folks on campuses have already been notified this year, but they're losing money in their budget. It's coming out of that 14%. So you can understand there's not a lot of room for us to find money that we don't need to spend. And if you see the little piggy bank at the bottom when you talk about the deficit budget, and this is the second year in a row that we're having to pass a deficit budget, that means that we're having to dip into our savings account to get things done for the year. And that
038includes raises because the state, even though they're touting that they're funding education, is not giving us the local control to spend that money where we need to spend it. Therefore, going forward, we've asked and this is something we've talked about as a board, is we don't intend to do another deficit budget going forward. Yes, sir. So there's only so much in that 14% that we can cut. I'm not trying to be the Debbie Downer or the preacher of bad news, but there's not a lot of hikes. But we we've given a pay raise every year that I can remember. And that's getting harder and harder to do with the funding we're getting from the state. Yes, sir. We've only got so much room to cut. I'm just kind of giving you a little bit of
039a forewarning. To those that are listening is we're trying our hardest. Our first priority is compensation. Every year. I don't know what that means going forward. And I'll let the math teachers get together and do the math on that. But we can't continue to pull money out of savings to fund our operations and our budget, which also includes payroll and wages. Nobody's going to lose money going forward, but it's harder and harder and harder to find out where to get the money to do this. The insurance prices keep changing everybody. It's getting harder and harder for everybody. Just I want folks to keep that in mind as they plan their personal budgets, as they plan their budgets for their classrooms, is we've got to find a way to save money. And the more you can
040save, the better chance we have of continuing to provide compensation increases for our folks. So that's just kind of a little soapbox. But, Mr. Rose, since you brought that up, I was going to talk about two. But I'm going to add to that that deficit of 17 million, it really 26-27 is going to be 20 million, if I remember correctly, Mr. Prado, the state in its wisdom, moved our, golden pennies into the basic allotment, which netted us only $700,000 this year, which we should have actually ended up with 1.9 million or something like that. But next year we lose $3 million because of that formula. That means that our deficit will actually be $20 million going forward and trying to balance that in 26-27, as Mr. Rose talked about, is something we've all talked about,
041something we have to do because the fund balance is already below what's required and what's per our policy. And you just can't keep taking from a savings account. But it also has an impact and will have an impact eventually on our bond rates, which cost us more money in interest. So we just need to start preparing. And you're not a Debbie Downer, it's just something we have to to do. And I think every district across the state, with the exception of a few, are having to do the same thing. We just can't continue to take from that deficit. And as far as I know, everything will be on the table as Mr. Rose pointed out, 14%, if you cut that out, we just don't have any operations. Everybody's going to have to do everything else
042themselves, and I don't know what we'll do as far as electricity and all that. If we tried to get all that out, which I know we can't do. But anyways, we got to look at 20 million versus 17 now. Okay. Everything else got everybody getting something. I know it's as much as they got in the past and now it's not what they expected. But everybody's getting something. We're going to tighten our belts if we're going to continue to do this. One thing can I add. Yeah. I would love to add, you know, obviously not. I know we touched on when they're going to see these raises and what paycheck it hits on. But the other thing that will, be made very clear to them is we'll be sending out electronic salary sheets every for every
043employee. That's where they'll see what the bottom line is for them, and how it impacts them, obviously in hopes of if this being approved today, you know, we're looking at anywhere between a to a 2 to 3 week turnaround. For that, I don't know. We're trying to aim before that last that final paycheck and not trying. We will beat that. And try to get them out in a timely manner where we can answer questions or deal with any issues as they arise. So for trustees, one of the things that can you can you go to the slide where the, historical, historical, historical raises, whoever controlling the, the slide deck, I gotcha. Yeah. So I want to pause here because if you're listening and trustees, you know this because we've had I've had several conversations with
044some of you. If you if you were tuned in to, Texas ISD school districts in the summer, a lot of districts put out their compensation plans early. I kept getting messages with Mesquite, where you're at, what are you doing? We took a lot of time and effort to review this, the 21-22 all the way to 25-26. What's been given, what's been adjusted. Now, a lot of times when you go to 23, 24, that was the year that we kind of hunker down out of, like, what did people receive? Because if you look at the current one, other than HB2 thresholds, we had no control over that. Everybody is 1% away from each other. And one of the things that I've learned as as superintendent, is that it doesn't matter what percentage it is, people are
045going to tell you it's too low. What we did, the 23-24 I know it's not on the screen, but the teacher starting salary from 57 to 61 is an 8% raise. Teachers received an 8% raise. And it brought us up to the 90th percentile. You know, our Dallas County area. That is pretty significant. Why at the time in 23-24, we're having a severe teacher shortage. And we wanted to address our shortage by mirroring our compensation plan to the needs of the district at the time. Did we know that in 25-26 the legislature was going to do House Bill 2? No, because they haven't done anything significant since 2019 now that that is there. So if you're not a teacher and you're listening, yes, the two or the 3% is just 1% away. It's not a
046big difference between those two, but it was a big difference in teachers. It's not because the district doesn't value those positions is because the legislature's allotted that money to be specifically earmarked for those professionals at those years of experience, and is not a local decision. I want to make that distinction. But if you continue on with this, we've only between if you look at 21, 2.5%, 22, 3%, I already talked about 23-24 and 24-25 2%. Even in a year that it is obvious by the piggy bank slide that Mr. Rose alluded to and and described very thoroughly because he I was going to talk about that, but he did it very well and Mr. Seward did as well. We only received and I'm not going to tell you to go back to that slide in
047the basic allotment, which is the most discretionary fund districts have $700,000 for Mesquite ISD for this year. And Mr. Seward talked about it's going to be a negative next year, because the year that we passed in 22-23, that golden penny yield, that means that there was going to be an increase every year, not to keep up with inflation, but just an increase was taken away from there and put into the goal, into the basic allotment. And so that is the most discretionary fund that we have to allot whatever we want. All the other allotment is about to where the safety special ed he went over them. I'm not going to go over them all over again. So it's not about devaluing any position. I want to be clear everyone has value. It's about looking for
048the financial well-being of the organization moving forward and making the best prudent fiscal decision that we can. That is why it took us this long to come all the way to July 31st, and the teachers coming back today to make a decision on what is best for the organization that honors each of the positions, but historically makes adjustment. That's why assistant principals and principals are at 3% rate, because they were always at the low rate traditionally for the last five years. And I felt like I have to say that because, people usually attach that percentage to what people think their value is in the organization, and that is not true. Mr.. Seward, I know your you have your hand on the bottom, but I just wanted to clarify. You've talked about a lot of things,
049but yes, sir, I know that we're getting, moneys targeted certain groups by the legislature on HB2 and on 10.8 million of this of our money. We're going to get go strictly that teachers. We just talked about. There was an additional support amount of 1.2 million, which comes out to what, $12 million plus a little bit under the ABC allotment for TRS and other benefits. So in effect, if I remember right, with benefits and salary increases, including the teachers, we're looking at, $15.9 million, is that correct? That's correct. So we are having to come up with out of our fund balance to make sure we give some decent raises to everybody. Another 3 million plus dollars to, to accomplish that goal. Yeah, I think that's a it's a it's a good articulation of when we talk
050about what's Mesquite ISD funded where that fund is coming from, you know, where that money is actually not only it's going to support that, but it's also coming from our our savings and our and our balance there that we've got to protect. And you understand too, is that if in two years, when the legislature meets again, if they just copy and paste this exact same bill, the extreme bind it puts us in, because now we have classroom teachers that are funded at a higher level than campus administrators. And it just it just completely flips over the chart. And we've got to you got folks, you know, vacating those offices to go back to classroom to make more money. So we got to figure out the state's got to do better. But that's up in state.
051Yes, sir. Well, we've we've already talked about I think Mr. Prado is confirmed that he intends to bring us a balanced budget next year. And I don't see any way a balanced budget can be brought forward without cutting positions in this district. When we made several trips to Austin, Dr. Feinglass, Robert and I, we had a meeting with Brad Buckley, who was the public education chair that came up with this funding increase. And if they had just increased us $1,000 per student on the basic allotment, we would have gotten approximately $38 million and we would have a balanced budget. This year we had a meeting with him, but he didn't show up. One of his aides was there, and she really wasn't interested in discussing anything with us. But I was going to make the
052point that Chairman Buckley, you were a trustee in a Central Texas school district. You know what we're up against. And I wanted to give him a little piece of my mind, but I was unable to do that. But, this this appears to be where the legislature wants to be. The heroes for public school teachers in the state of Texas. And next year, it's liable to backfire on them because of the cutting that's going to have to be done throughout public school districts in the state. Board with that. Mr. Reed. Great report, sir. Thank you for Dr. Rivera for coming back to that circle. Raises, in Mesquite. One of the things, I will say is if you look at this slide, you could see how there's ups and downs. There's hills, there's valleys. We always try
053to make sure we take care of the different categories that we have to, fund. So there is light at the end of the tunnel. I think we've been very conscious about making sure we take care of our own. With that again. Thank you, Mr. Reed. And for your comments and your explanation, I know, sir, I just wanted to say that, you know, for the public or whoever's watching, I hope what you gain from this and this discussion that we're having, it's really important that you vote. Okay. This is a legislative issue that we have to take care of. And it and they they don't they looked at our funds and you know, our per pupil expenditure. They didn't help us. That's every day that we spend money, not just teacher raises but so be aware.
054It's good for teachers because we really need that for teachers. But we need help at the district level. Also not to cut not to cut, make major cuts. I mean, we want the best district there is and what we have for the district, but you don't have the money to pay the people to do it. It's not going to happen. So please be aware. If you're in the public, please be aware. Watch out. Because public education has taken a hit this year. I'd like to make one more comment and I'm going to ask Dr. Rivera if he'll make some comments about this. You know, this year, Gilbert and his staff and other department heads, as well as yourself and the board, from the previous year's budget, we went from a $29 million deficit down to
055about 24. So you accomplished that without impacting the classroom. Can you explain how we accomplished some of that? Absolutely. So we started taking a look at our efficiencies in terms of what positions do we have. And I asked my executive team to when they had a vacancy that they thought and I think was it three? I said either deletion, either reclassification or a combination of duties. And we did at the tune of how many positions in central office, 13 at the tune of 13 positions this year in central office. Mr. Prado also instituted a 10% cut on some of the departmental budgets. And so we thought long and hard about the expenditures, even though we had approved the budget by the trustees. And we said, no, we don't. Our goal was not to reach that
05628. And we did add a 4 million, all just in central office and department. Those cuts were all, one of the one of the directives I gave my staff is we do not want the campuses in the kids to suffer or miss any opportunities as we prepare for a lean year. And they just that everybody tighten up their belt. And, I know Mr., Mr. Morris probably took the brunt of it at first because he had the first vacancy, but we put our heads together and work together as a team, and we were able to cut those and make a significant cut to go into what Mr.. Mr.. Rose went into simple math. Right. Mr.. Rose? Two consecutive deficit years. That tells you and I've had we've had conversations as a team of eight next year
057is going to be different. And so we will look at efficiencies. We will look at what things do we need for our students. We will continue to educate Mesquite ISD students at the best of our abilities, while at the same time becoming more efficient and ensuring that we have the right amount of staff to address the educational needs of our kids. And so it's going to be a tough planning year. But we have, a process in place to do so. And we're going to engage community members. We're going to engage staff members, parents and even students in this process because I want everyone to understand that when we get to the budget approval process in 2026, I can't believe I'm using those that date. But yes, when we get to June and we approve a
058budget, I want everyone to understand how we got there and it's going to be a very transparent process. And thank you for giving me the opportunity to front load that, because today we are presenting a budget amendment later on to include the changes included in Mr. Reed's presentation. But next year and throughout the entire entirety of this year, we will be having a planning process and bringing the community abreast of where we are very transparently as we approve that budget. I will say, as one board member been through this many times, but it is nerve wracking on my part to sit here and have to think about what I'm going to have to do down the road as far as, the budget, where we're going to have to make some changes. It's not going to
059make everybody happy. It's not going to make us happy. But it's something we have to do as a board, because part of our job is to make sure that we are good stewards of our taxpayers dollars, and that we put the money where it's needed. As you talked about the resources to do the best we can for all the needs of our students. So this doesn't come easily to us. We we fret over it. We have been fretting over it. And it's going to be a tough year for us. And this is one of the headwinds. We said there's many headwinds and challenges for our district and for education, public education going forward for the next three years. And with that, I think we got some great officers currently to help us through those headwinds,
060which is what we've needed. As we do move forward. And if there's anything we can do to help educate or, explain to folks those issues, I think that that's our job to do. So also, not just, Doctor Rivera and other staff members, but thank you guys for what you're doing to to make this work as much as possible. Thank you for those words, Mr. Seward. The truth is, we've been talking about this for a long time, and it finally got here where we're going to have to straighten our belts and do some, some drastic moves. I do want to say this all happened during the past president. This presidency is going to be different. It's all my fault. We're going to try to fix that. Leadership matters. Now, I wanted to give you a challenge.
061I wanted to give you a challenge. Mr. President. We're supporting. We're working together. Very well. Was intended, and I, we could do this in two languages, so it's it's very practical. No. Thank you. Board. Really. Thank you for all your comments and everything that you have said today. This is very important that we put that out. And, and it reflects the hard work that you and your team with Dr. Rivera have, have done. So thank you again. With that, we're going to go to the next item on the agenda under administration, which is to approve policy FNCE F-N-C-E local regarding the use of telecommunications communication devices during the school day. I can't wait for the FNCE policy. We've had a FNCE policy. This is actually just an update to our our FNCE local. But I'm
062just going to provide a brief report. There's a couple of slides that I'm going to share with you all on policy FNCE. So House Bill 1481 of this most recent, legislative session was passed requiring boards to adopt, implement and ensure the district complies with a policy that prohibits students from using communications devices. You can see the exact language in the bill on this slide. Previous legislation stated that students could only use them for instructional purposes, but House Bill 1481 has, completely prohibited that. There's really no flexibility or discretion for campuses or for a district to prohibit them in certain times during the day. So now it's basically from the first bill to the last bill. The further it further defines what is a personal communication device, because if you look out in the in the
063social media world or online, you hear this called the cell phone bill or the cell phone ban. It's not just cell phones. And they outlined several things there that are listed in the bill, as what is a personal communication device. The one thing that is excluded is any electronic device. So it's like our Chromebooks that we provide students sometimes we provide iPads, things of that nature. Those are not part of the definition of a personal communication device. And then there's also stipulation in the law that students that require a cell phone or another communication device for their IEP and special ed, or their 504. I think about people that check blood sugar with their phone on a regular basis. Those things, if they're written in their IEP or their 504, would be allowed on the
064campus. Districts may choose the what the bill says. You can choose from two different options. You the board can prohibit it altogether. Students have to leave their phones at home, their their telecommunication communication devices at home, or that we can provide some mechanism or method that they they store them away. And so what we have, we are recommending to you all is that the language in our regulation around FNCE Reg is going to be that the students store their personal communication devices in their backpack or in their lockers during the school day. And so that's our recommendation. I, we juggled whether or not we should just tell them they have to stay at home. But we felt like in this day and age, a lot of times, parents like to know when the kids leave
065school that a lot of times kids go from school to work. And to say that they can't have those devices that are essentially required, especially for everyday life outside of the outside of the school building, would have been difficult. So our our recommendation is to have them stored away during the school day. Ultimately, this is a it's a big lift. It's a big change. It's a it's a shock to a 16 year old system, to a 14 year old system, depending on who is. So relying on this, I understand what the legislature was trying to do, and it or wanting to do with this, and it's to refocus students on on what they're in school for. And unfortunately, we've, you know, spiraled in, in electronic use and things of that nature that kids can sometimes
066be, swayed away from their instruction to those devices. So I know the purpose behind it. They don't give us much flexibility in how to how to handle it. And so, it is what it is. And that's what the update is to FNCE local. Any questions on it? Is there any, What happens if I call my phone after a while. So it's the same that it's been if you if you're using your phone for in the past for non instructional purposes, then the teacher the what the policy said is the teacher or staff member should confiscate the phone. We are still working on determining what consequences will look like going forward. In the past it was confiscate the phone. Students got it back at the end of the day. On the second offense, the parent had
067to come get it. On the third offense, you had to pay a $15 administrative fee to get the phone back. That's what it's been in the past. We've heard different rumblings on administrative fees and whether or not those are going to be allowed. I can tell you that neighboring districts, I've seen anything from the first offense was 1 to 3 days in ISS and the second offense 3 to 5 days in ISS, a third offense ten days in ISS and fourth offense, DAP. I will go out on a limb and say that that's not the direction that we're going with this, but there has to be some sort of of consequence. There has to be some sort of reminder that we can't use these things as well. TEA is going to give us some guidance
068around, some recommended, consequences, some recommended changes that we can implement on August 7th. And once that comes will solidify those pieces. But yes, if a student uses their phone throughout the school day, at any point, a staff member should, confiscate that phone, and then we'll go through the process of how the student and then parent would get that back. Mr. Morris, I've seen other districts are that they have these collection bags. Where they just take the phone away. Knowing why I don't eat Blue Bell ice cream is if it's not in my freezer. Right. So if it's in my locker where I can grab it during the day, I mean, I'm, I know, I don't know how we're going to police that. I mean, we're going to have people looking in the hallways during class
069changes and, I mean, and it's it seems like it would be simpler just to take them away from them. But I guess the the start of the day would be severely impacted with that. But I just don't see it. Having them in their lockers is just going to be like Blue Bell in my freezer. Right? I was going to make a Blue Bell joke for you, Gary, but I'm going to leave it alone. You're right. It makes it we don't have mind about. So. Well, Well, that's true to your point. We're piggybacking. Piggybacking off of, Yeah. $17 million deficit and those pouches. We've we've looked at them. There's a couple of districts that have tried those. Yeah. There's also ways that kids have navigated around the, their use and, secondary devices and things like that.
070So there is not one perfect solution for this. Honestly. There is a, you know, a policing issue that we're going to we're going to have and I think that it's going to require consistency. Communication, it's going to require parent support on top of classroom teachers holding every student to the same standard. Whether I'm in Mr. So-and-so's classroom is so-and-so's class. Everybody has the same standard and expectation and and ultimately, I've seen this. I've actually gone to a district that had started this policy, and there, I'm sure, growing pains early, but when we visited it, you could not see them. They didn't have them out, they weren't using them. And so it's a process. It's not going to be easy. I said earlier is a big lift and it's it's going to be that well, I'm
071all for this. I mean, every report I've seen from other districts, it's it raises the level of, educational experiences and discipline issues in the house. So I'm I'm glad we're able to do it. We were talking about it before, and the legislature took it away from us, but, I just. I understand how. Yeah. I do have a question. One of the things I see, because kids, kids watch adults, I would hope that our educators in the classroom and the buildings are modeling, this, that they're not sitting in the classroom. If they have the kids doing this test, that they're sitting there on their phone. Because I think that that sends the wrong message as a district, as an individual adult to those kids. That's okay for me to violate and do those things. When I'm
072saying, you can't do that, then is there anything that we can do about that as far as education or training, or is that just an expectation on my part? Sure. And I think personnel would back me up on this on our, essentially our guidelines for our staff. Well, this bill doesn't specifically address staff. It has nothing to do with staff. Our expectations. Yes. That teachers are instructing students during the class time. They should not be on their their, their devices unless they're using it for instructional purposes themselves. But yeah, that that has been our expectation. That's not going to change. But I think some communication to to staff about that and about this policy for students and how modeling would be beneficial for at least to some of Mr. Bingham's concerns. You model that then
073kids can tend to fall in line themselves. Yeah. Is there gonna be any type of a a flexibilities or something in writing or just maybe a presentation of the student if you need. If you have something come up where you need to get ahold of your parents during the school day, is there going to be a procedure for that? Sure. Go to the clinic or go to the office or. Absolutely. And and we even we talked to principals a few weeks ago about procedures for when parents need to get hold of kids, and knowing that parents won't be able to call their kids or text their kids, and ideally, they won't be getting those messages. And so making sure that we've got good procedures like we did 15 years ago, when a parent calls and
074needs to get a message to kids that we're doing, that we're expediting those things that we can keep that communication up to date. But 100%, if a student needs to get ahold of a parent, there's processes and procedures. There's even phones in classrooms that if it's something that a teacher feels like they can allow it, they could allow those things and make those contacts back. And we knew what the numbers were. Think I look in your phone? I saw it on your face. I knew it was about to be said. Yeah, it's true, but. They can look it up on Skyward. Let's cut. How many more comments? Oh, Mr. Everett, I move to approve policy FNCE local. Third. It was Mr. Bingham, second. Yeah. There was a motion by Mr. Everett. A second by Mr.
075Bingham to approve the FNCE local. Any other questions or discussion? Just a comment that we have to pass this. This isn't necessarily a choice on our part. This is something the state mandates. So it pretty much point your finger somewhere else. Not a yeah, Austin like we all do Have all those in favor please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Same sign. Ayes have it , motion carries. Next we're going to move this but I to do that in the correct to approved 2025 2026 budget. Mr. Prado, I guess is coming this way. Please note that, report from Mr. Reed is going to be reflected in these approvals we're doing today. Mr. Prado. Good morning, President Carbo, Board of trustees. Nice morning. Thursday morning. Before you, you have, a couple of amendments, associated with, what
076we've been discussing is a report earlier today. Mr. Thomas Reed did an excellent, phenomenal job. I think I'm going to recruit him over to the finance side. Somehow. But, so I'm going to, first of all, the food and Child Nutrition Services budget, that's that's the second one on your documents. That's increasing expenses by $330,000. That's to reflect the projected, salary increases. So I'm going to just skip most of that and focus on the general operating budget amendment. But I did want to let you know that, the Food and Child Nutrition Services, is kicking in their portion related to the increases by $330,000. So that's the Second Amendment on on your packet, the First Amendment. I want to walk you through, how we got to where we're at, today. And so I don't have a slide
077deck, I think, the slides that you saw earlier kind of depicted exactly what I'll be touching on today. So originally we approved a, budget, without all the things that we discussed today related to the additional revenue of 18.4 million coming from the state. An increase in expenses of above, 15.9, for payroll purposes, associated with HB2 originally. Again, it was a budget deficit of 19.3 million. That's what we approved back in June. And so what does HB2 do to us? But before I do that, I did want to comment on the current past year where we adopted a budget deficit of $29 million. And as, Mr. Seward mentioned, it will be hopefully around $24 million because we instituted some stopgaps. Right? We leverage some things along the year, such as postponing, replacing some of the computers
078and things of that nature, not hiring, when vacancies came on board or slowing our hiring. Being very, very critical on the expenses that we were making. So that contributed to instead of $29 million, getting down to hopefully around 24, $23 million budget deficit. There's a lot of work still to be done on that. And hopefully in November, you'll get the end results when we complete the audit. So again, just to kind of give you a historical perspective in terms of the deficits. So now we're dealing with a $19.3 million where you adopted in June. And what you're being proposed to consider today is a $17.2 million, budget deficit. But when you compared the deficit from the 19 million that you approved in June, compared to the 29 million that happened last year, there were several
079decreases, several things that we did as an administration to, cut expenses by over $10 million. Right. We had increases of about 5.7 that we had to make, but we also cut about $16.7 million on the expense side included what Mr. Ross said, you know, supplies and materials, eliminating 13 positions, eliminating a lot of things that we needed to do and kind of, to try to get the deficit further down. So that's how we got to the 19.3 million. Now, with this amendment, we are considering $18.4 million worth of revenue increases to our budget. With that, we're also increasing $15.9 million for payroll. So essentially, our budget deficit goes from 19.3 to $17.2 million. So that is what you're considering today is to approve an amendment with the new revenue from HB two and also including
080the compensation plan that was just presented to you, earlier today to the tune of $15.9 million. And I won't go into the details because the details were well expressed as to how we got there earlier today. So that's what you're considering today? Ultimately what I did was I mentioned, and I love the collaboration that has happened today from the board, from the administration, from the superintendent. It is a relief to really know that everyone is plugged in to the current situation of the district financially, and that is extremely important because we're all kind of going the same way, right? Everybody has a path that we're following and we know where we need to go. We know that we cannot continue in the path that we've been in the last two years. It's impossible. We can't
081afford to. So with that said, it is critically important that as we move forward, as the superintendent has mentioned, as cabinet, it is our commitment to bring you a balanced budget for 26-27 and that's going to take a lot of work to cut 20 to $25 million worth of expenses, where we know that he has to touch the three critical areas that we know drive our expenses, programs which drive people, which drive payroll, the three P’s right. And those are the things that we're going to critically look at moving forward. It is important for us to prioritize what the district is going to be defined in terms of what we offer moving forward. And so with that, I just wanted to say thank you for for the lively conversation and very truthful conversation when it
082comes to this, the, the, the position of the financial position of the district and what the state has done or hasn't done and where we're at. But the only thing we have is our local control of how we can manage this. And so again, I'll end with that and I'll entertain any questions related to that. Mr. Bingham, I just want to make kind of reiterate what this product was saying. This isn't a difficult season for us, but I just want you to know, from my perspective, I think I speak for the mortgage, how much we appreciate all that y'all are doing to help us manage all this and get where we need to be. I have incredible appreciation and confidence in this administrative team to work together with the board to do what needs to
083be done. We are united on, all this. You're not going to, I'd be real surprised if we don't just stay united and all this, because that's the way this board works, in lockstep with the administration. But I want to thank all the department heads and all the assistant sup’s and Dr. Rivera, this is, I have an incredible confidence, and we'll do what needs to be done. In the best possible way for what's good for our kids. But it's a difficult season. But thank I'm glad for the team. We got. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bingham. I was going to say same thing about the staff and thanking them, but I wanted to. I know that I, Mr. Reed and yourself, given a lot of information, some great information. You cover a lot of things I
084was going to comment on, and some of us have commented on that. But I want to make sure everybody's clear in the audience that's listening online. You know, House Bill 2, basically by the legislature. The compromise bill is taking away some of our local control in many areas. They're trying to target funds that we have to do certain things when we don't have flex flexibility in other areas. And part of that was their intent was teachers. Some support staff amount and nothing for administrators and others. So under House Bill 2, we've already covered the shifting of the golden pennies, which is a penalty to us and probably some other districts. We talked about the amount of money that has to go to, payroll. We also talked about the basic, or the allotment for basic cost
085or they call it the ABC, which really is $4.4 million, which is to cover transportation, hiring retired teachers to cover the benefits for that payroll, as well as payroll taxes, TRS contributions, utilities and insurance cost. There's no way, Mr. Prado, that any of that is going to cover all those costs, correct? Absolutely not. Is it also true that we still face $16.4 million shortfall in special education, special education funding, and a $4.4 million gap in mandated safety and security resources that are still underfunded by the state. And that's correct. And we already talked about the the budget from 29 to 24 and the current and I and I know when I looked at our initial budget of, deficit budget in June of 19 million, with the money, the discretionary that came in without any additional
086increases of payroll outside what was dictated, we would have been down to $11.7 million deficit. Is that correct? If we had not, implemented any of the, local, and we decided as a board and as a district, we're going to take care of our teachers and take some of that out of our fund balance. Absolutely. Yes, sir. And we've all agreed here that as we look at this and to protect our fund balance going forward in bond programs and bond sales and, taxes, that we're all on board, the top priority for this board and for this district going forward after this year is to balance the budget. That is correct. We currently have a 22%, balance, of our fund balance. Requirement from the board. And that's going to be really, really tough to meet moving forward.
087As a matter of fact, it's going to become tougher as we move forward to even keep, the two months, of, fund balance to support our district. So it is I mean, it's extremely important that that that that becomes obviously a focus point because in the event that we can't afford to meet payroll. Right, we would have to go out and borrow, money to, to keep us afloat. And that cost, you know, there's an interest cost to that. So again, we don't want to get to that point. That's why it's extremely important for us to have a, a, a good fund balance policy, as the board has seen and done. And so we want to make sure that, we strive to meet that policy as close as we can for a lot of reasons. I just
088mentioned to, to keep us afloat when the money's not there, when the, when the state brings in and when we collect our taxes, but also for a lot of other important aspects, such as our debt, and when we issue new debt. And so, again, you know, we're, we're rated extremely well right now. I can tell you that that's going to be the case in next year or the following year. So. Yes, sir. Well, again, I'll what Gary comments he made about staff and you and everybody else. I did all that. You guys have done an outstanding job. I know you've been extremely busy this summer. You may not have had any time off, but, not yet. I'm not sure Dr. Rivera is going to let you take any time off right now, but, I do
089appreciate the amount of work that all of you are doing on this. It takes a lot, takes a lot of people to, to to generate of numbers out of what we've gotten. So appreciate that very much. Thank you very much. And thank you. Thank you for allowing us to, you know, as a, as an administration of the superintendent will say this as well. But to gather, that type of team where, you have the experience and where you have the, the knowledge, and when you have someone like Kimberlyee Chappell that's been in the business for 25 years and is giving us, a lot of systems and a lot of things straight, and then you have the the young individuals, like, Mr. Naylor here, you know, learning and really, I mean, they're the ones that are ultimately
090are going to be up here, doing the job. And so, it's great to, to kind of see this come together, from a cabinet members as well. And so thank you for allowing us allowing, specifically the finance team to, to gather and have that kind of, team. It's, it's great to, to know that your support that Mr. President, I move to approve the budget amendments, for 2025, 26 second. Thank you. There's a motion by Mr. Seward, a second by Mr. Rose to approve the amended, budget for 25-26. Is there any more? Are there any more comments? Being there none, all those in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Opposed same sign Ayes have it. Motion carries. Thank you very much for the explanation. Thank you. Next we're going to action number two to consider all
091matters incidental and related to declaring expectation to reimburse expenditure with proceeds of further debt, including the adoption of a resolution pertaining thereto to Prato. Yes. So, this a resolution? We have a project, that's on our way. That's almost complete, actually, over at Gentry Elementary School, which we started a couple of years ago. The way we were going to fund that project was, any remaining 2018 bond funds, that will carry us as much as it would. And then, the board had set aside, prior to when I got here, about $12 million for construction, services. And so when, the project for gentry, which we needed to expand based on the growth that's happening in the South, came about, the total cost was going to be about $13.7 million. And as beautiful if you haven't been there, it's
092the project has really taken its own form. And and it's really, really nice. And our kids are going to be, very happy with the outcome. Anyways, from that, we're the resolution is asking, for $5 million potential of, giving back into that $12 million that we had set aside from fund balance. So leveraging some of that. So it looks like, from the bond 2025, it will be approximately $5 million that would fund the general project. From the fund balance, approximately 7 million and about 2 million from the 2018 bond. We're still finalizing the 2018 bond. So it will shift a little bit, but not too much. But that's what the resolution is asking us to reimburse us for that. Gentry, the gentry project. So I. There's, motion by Mister Bingham, second by Mr. Rose, to take
093action on all matters related in declaring expectation to reimburse expenditures with proceeds of further debt, including the adoption of a resolution pertaining thereto. Are there any more questions or comments? All those in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Opposed same sign. Ayes have it motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Prado. Okay, that was the last item we had in the agenda and the. Any other comments or questions? Been there. No. Hold on. Real quick. Good. We brought up food service in the report a while ago. Just confirming breakfast and lunch is still free for all students. Is that correct? And then, everything I was going to say is, I know this is the first day back for teachers. I want to welcome everybody back. And I know we've talked about a lot of exciting and
094gloomy things today, but we just want you to know that we're your biggest fans and we want you to have an exciting and a tremendous school year and ready to get to work and play well, said Mr. Rose. With that, thank you very much for being here this morning, and we're adjourned.