June Board Meeting

001number seven, Caitlyn Laauo. Uh, number nine, who was an intricral part of the team, could not be here tonight, Laney Brown. Number 10, Amaya Lock. Number 12, Lillian Davis. Number 13, Jaden Sadler. Number 14, Cameron Carter. Number 18, Addie Galore. And and number 21, Taylor Casten. Oh, Harper Hos. Sorry, where's Harper? Number eight, Harper Hos. Sorry, Harper. [Applause] Uh, coaches Jordan Williams, head coach, assisted by Rachel Williams, Taylor Ellis, and with us tonight, Marissa Martinez. Athletic trainers, managers, and staticians were Ashlin Strap, Jaylen Ghart, Chad McHune, Chinwin Lee, and our statician, Jason Kramer. This marks Midway's third state softball title. uh previous championships in 1998 and 2010 and follows follows a runner-up finish in 2024. This team's coaches and leadership propelled the Panthers to a 31-3 record culminating in a dominant 9-1 win over Clear

002Springs in the state championship game on May 31st at Red and Charlie Mcomes Field in Austin. Uh if you bear with me, a couple of superlatives on the year. Sophomore Pton Phillip, pitcher, was named championship game MVP after striking out 11 and delivering some timely hits. Yep. Uh, Lillian Davis, Amaya Lock, Laney Brown, Cali Alvarado, and Harper Hos were named to the all tournament team. In addition, Cameron Carter, Payton Phillip, Jaden Saddler were named to the 24-25 Texas Girls Coaches Association, all state team. And a very prestigious honor, Pton Phillip was named MVP of the Texas High School Coaches Association's Super Elite Team. Jaden Sadler was also named to that super elite team as well. Congratulations, Coach Williams, coaches, players, and please join me one last time in celebrating your state champion, Panther S. Don't

003go far. Don't go far. So proud to take a chance forever. Well done. So proud. Wish I could have gone to that game. All right. Next. Uh what one thing I would like to say before we This is the There's been 10 times that a high school has won both baseball and softball. That has happened. Three happened this year coincidentally, but Midway will be ever for known as the first one to do it in the largest classification in 6A. 6A division one. So great accomplishment. All right. So, now we'd like to honor the Midway High School Panther baseball team for capturing the 2025 Class 6A Division 1 State Baseball Championship. We are we're proud to recognize an incredible group of student athletes and coaches who brought home one of the highest honors in Texas high

004school sports. Uh here's your championship team. I'll introduce you one by one. So number one, TJ Woodson. Number two, David Lidle. Number three, Tyler Scythe. Number four could not be here tonight, Charlie Steen. Number five, Colt Holmes. Number six could not be here, Jackson Goldstritch. Number seven, Hayden Merritt. Number nine, Brody Pototts. Number 10, Garrett Weth could not be here tonight. Number 11, Brady Quinn. Number 12, Max Mate, Mr. Hidden Ball himself. Number 13, Jeromestead. [Applause] Number 14, Andrew Fawsome. Not in attendance tonight. Number 15, Case Hog. Number 16, Kyle Buck. Number 17, Holden White. Not present tonight, number 19, Aiden Ringale. And not present tonight, number 20, Lincoln Fischer. Number 21, Sebastian Joyce. Number 18, Kenya Martin. [Applause] Hang on. Number 20, 21, Sebastian Joyce. Number 22, Hudson Pierce. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Catching up.

005[Applause] Number 23, Michael Slovak. [Applause] not here tonight. Number 24, Reed Deathro. Number 26, Ethan Posey. And number 28, Ethan Swope. Led by their coaches. It's coming. Led by their coaches, Eddie Cornblum, head coach. Ben Basin, assistant coach. Patrick Matthysse, Chase Crier, and Ramon Reed. Uh support staff includes uh the played obviously a critical role in this championship. One Isaac Foley [Applause] and our athletic trainers Chad Mchune and Chinwin Lee. The Panthers finished the season with an impressive 33 and8 record capped by a 6-2 victory over Tascita on June 7th, 2025 at Dell Diamond and Round Rock to secure state title. Uh, this championship run featured multiple standout performances, including several in the final win. Championship MVP honors went to junior Brody Pototts, who delivered four and two/3 scoreless innings in relief, notching four strikeouts

006and improving to 9 and0 on the season. Named to the all tournament team, Jackson Goldstrich, Drew Mstead, TJ Woodson, and Canyon Martin. Some postseason superlatives. TJ Woodson was also named first team all state shorts stop. David Lidle was named third team all state second baseman and coach Cornblum was named super syntax baseball coach of the year. In light of this phenomenal achievement, Mlennon County and the city of Waco have both prepared proclamations in recognition of these two teams. Uh, first, Mlennon County, County Commissioner Jim Smith, if you'd like to come up here. Mic is yours, sir. It's quite an honor for me to represent Mlennon County in recognizing this outstanding performance by both these young ladies and these young men. Uh, I would first like to, uh, quickly recognize my wife, Susan, who is a

007proud Midway Panther graduate herself. I will not tell you the year, but there were 62 in her graduating class. Okay. A proclamation of the Mlennon County Commissioner's Court recognizing and congratulating the 2025 Midway Panther state champion baseball team. Whereas on se on Saturday, June the 7th, 2025, the Midway varsity baseball team defeated the humble Adiscosa Eagles 6-2 at the UIL Class 6A division 1 state championship held in Austin, Texas, winning the state championship title. And whereas the 2025 Midway varsity baseball team with a record of 33 and8 became the first Midway baseball team to receive the class 6A level championship title and their second state championship in school history. And whereas the Mlennon County Commissioners Court would like to publicly recognize and congratulate the players, students, faculty, parents, and fans for this great achievement. The

008court applauds the coaching staff for their time and talents put forth in bringing out the best of the best in preparing this championship team. TJ Woodson, David Lidle, Tyler Scythe, Charlie Steen, Colt Holmes, Jackson Goldstrich, Hayden Merritt, Daniel Zho. I'm trying folks. Uh, Brody Pototts, Garrett Wethorne, Brady Quinn, Max Mateton, Drew Olmstead, Andrew Fawsome, Case Hog, Kyle Buck, Holden White, Canyon Martin, Aiden Rangel, Lincoln Fisher, Sebastian Joyce, Hudson Pierce, Michael Slovak, Reed Deathro, Colt Russell, Ethan Swopee, Aiden Lock, Jimmy White, head coach Eddie Cornburn, Cornblum, assistant coaches Ben Basin, Patrick Matthysse, Chase Crier, and Ramon Reed, athletic trainers Chad McHune, and Chinwin Lee, team manager Isaac Foley, athletic director Brad Shelton, High School Principal Allison Smith, and Superintendent Dr. Chris Allen. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that the Mlin County Commissioner's Court officially recognizes and

009congratulates the 2025 Midway Varsity State Champion baseball team for their exemplary performance. And be it further proclaimed that a copy of this proclamation be made a permanent part of the minutes of the commissioner's court. Witness our hand and seal the 17th day of June 2025. This will be recorded in our minutes or has been recorded in our minutes and will live in perpetuity. Congratulations. [Applause] [Laughter] Oh, a picture. Oh, they deserve it. [Music] There you go. [Music] Okay, y'all. Look at me. If I can't see your face, then you're not going to be on camera. So, a little bit coach and is it over here on this side? And then switch. [Applause] [Music] I appreciate that. Thank you. All right, everybody right here. Look at me. Everybody [Music] Are they done? I don't I thought

010Brad I want your help. Okay. You want to move them off? No. Well, let's do the the city one. Yep. Did you take it? Yep. Ready? He's got him right here. Yeah. Okay, then let's do softball next. Yes. Okay. Hey, man. All right. You want to just bring them in front? Yeah. Okay. You got your Are you wearing your fish slippers tonight? Oh, man. Walk in front. Hey, you're smart. You're a good guy. Coach Corn Bloom, can you get your team to go that way? Line up your boys. Line them up that way. Uhuh. Yeah, they do. Yeah. So, I'm gonna put them over there. rain it in. [Music] Okay. Okay. Yes. We'd like to now present a proclamation to the state champion uh state championship girls softball team. a proclamation of the Mlennon County

011Commissioner's Court recognizing and congratulating the 2025 Midway Varsity State Champion softball team. Whereas on on Saturday, May the 31st, 2025, the Midway Panther varsity softball team defeated the League City Clear Springs Chargers at the UIL Class 6A Division 1 state championship held in Austin, Texas, winning the state championship title. And whereas with a nine to one victory over the Chargers, the Panthers for the third time in school history conquered their way through playoffs, capturing their first state title since two uh 2010. And whereas the 2025 Midway varsity softball team showing an impressive season on the high school field finished with a season record of 32-3. And whereas the Mlennon County Commissioners Court is thrilled to celebrate the remarkable effort and dedication of the 2025 Midway varsity softball team, we proudly recognize this incredible team for

012their outstanding achievements. Natalyia Hernandez, Katie Moore, Cali Alvarado, Payton Phillip, Railen Dear, Tiarara Ramos, Caitlyn Lowe, Harper Hos, Laney Brown, Amaya Lockach, Lillian Davis, Jaden Sadler, Cameron Carter, Addie Glor, and Taylor Casten. Whereas, in addition to honoring the players, the Mlennon County Commissioner's Court would like to recognize head coach Jordan Williams, assistant coaches Taylor Ellis, Rachel Williams, Martisa Martinez, statistician Jason Kramer, athletic trainers Chad Mchune and Chenwin Lee, team managers Ashlin Lstrap and Jaylen Ghart, athletic director Brad Shelton, high school principal Allison Smith, and superintendent Dr. Chris Allen. And and now therefore be it proclaimed that the Mlennon County Commissioner's Court officially recognizes and congratulates the 2025 Midway Varsity State Champion softball team for their exemplary performance. And be it further proclaimed that a copy of this proclamation be made a permanent part of the

013minutes of the commissioner's court witness our hand and seal this 17th day of June, 2025. Congratulations. [Applause] Last time I was high school. It's true. It's true. You're a good luck choice. Well, for softball, maybe. Maybe. 1 2 3 for both softball and baseball. Ask baseball to come back up and join behind the girls. Well, I want to see this. [Music] didn't win. No, the boys getting up at the state tournament. That was the first thing you had to do is show up and take a picture. Good. All right. At this time, I'd like to introduce Mr. Rick Tolles, school board trustee for Midway ISD, uh, representing the city of Waco. I I don't actually represent the city of Waco, but I am going to read their proclamation because my friend Jim Holmes is not

014here today. Uh, I I also want to brag real quick on the rest of my uh my board of trustee members. I think it's appropriate uh to look back and go and the one the one little way we may have helped you guys was three years ago we voted to put turf in on both softball and baseball. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A little short maybe. Maybe. Okay. I, Jim Holmes, by virtue of the authority invested in me as mayor of city of Waco, Texas, do hereby proclaim June 17, 2025 as Midway High School softball and Midway High School baseball state championship day. Uh, in the city of Waco, we urge all citizens to join the city council, the city staff, and me, Jim Holmes, who's not really me, but Jim Holmes, in recognizing and honoring the

015Midway High School Panther softball team and the Midway High School Panthers baseball team for their outstanding achievements of winning state. Um, both championships were the culmination of years of hard work and determination. The success of both teams is not only a reflection of their athleticism, but also their commitment to excellence. The discipline, sportsmanship, and integrity of the players both on and off the field are a testament to the values of Midway Independent School District. The city of Waco celebrates these championships, and we look forward to the continued success of Midway High School and its outstanding student athletes. In testimony whereof, witness my hand the seal of the city of Waco this 17th day of June, 2025. All right, Mayor Holmes. [Applause] Good job. Do they need the actual proclamation from them? We'll post it. I'll

016post it in. Thank you. Yeah, good except for everybody. We have a little matter of budget to get through. It's minor detail. Minor detail. Good job, mayor. Uh I have one thing off script. Uh Mr. told us alluded to this or said it out loud, but uh we appreciate your leadership, not only the school board, but district administration. So, we have a small gift uh that David Lidle and Jaden Sather would like to give y'all. Look at this. [Applause] Look at this. That's great. Yeah, we do. Awesome. Thank y'all. Thank y'all. We appreciate it. That's awesome. Yes. Is this your third? Boys soccer, too. Yeah, absolutely. That would have been five. Boy soccer was five. No, no, 2002. 2002. Uh, that that's the end of our recognition. The rest of the meeting is equally as

017exciting. No offense to no offense to the facility study committee folks. That's those are hard acts to follow, right? Um but we do have a board decision to make that's not on the agenda tonight. We'll defer and that's going to be where do we hang that, right? Cuz that was to this is our space. So yeah, it should be in here. We we just need to we need to look and see where it' be a good spot for it. Seriously, cuz I was I was just getting ready to set. Yeah, I know. exactly who to ask. All right, that's what we'll do. That is great. Referred to it at some point in the proceedings that Miss Vic and I had the privilege of being with him and Dr. Allen and Allison Smith and I don't

018think I've ever seen Chris Allen smile that big or yell that loud. We were jumping and screaming and it was it was an incredible win, incredible moment. Um, and we needed that this spring and we're very grateful. I wish I could have been at the girls game. Yeah, state championships. They're hard to beat. Um, so other agenda items, we have information items, which is our proposed board meeting calendar for the coming basically school year, right? Uh, and then we've got the cell phone legislation. A copy of that full bill is in your board packet. We can talk about it tonight if y'all want. on the agenda, but suffice it to say, we as a board are mandated to adopt a policy pursuant to that. It's going to require some significant discussion that we'll defer to

019a later date unless somebody's got something in particular they feel like we need to take up tonight because it's going to require a lot of uh thought. um a lot of thought and and uh we're going to need to have something from the administration as a recommendation for what our board policy ought to look like on that. So, if no questions on either of those, we'll then move on to our presentation discussion items, which opening with Mr. Brooks, our monthly finance report, and the 2526 cloudy crystal ball that we're going to call a budget. That's right. Yes, sir. Good evening, members of the board. Uh, this month's financial report uh does start on page 10 of the board packet. Um, and I won't I won't be really touching on anything in there. I'll be focusing

020on the budget for next year, but if you do have questions on the financial report, uh, feel free to ask. Uh so budget update for fiscal year 26. Uh we do have um a budget bill that was signed by the governor um house bill 2 on June the 4th. Um so since our last meeting, a lot a lot has changed. Um so just to kind of give um little background kind of how we ended up here. The the House had their version of the budget bill and the the Senate had their version. Uh the House um most of their uh funding was put in the basic aotment. Um and the basic aotment is really the the engine which drives the you know school finance system. If you increase the basic aotment um then it increases

021um all the weighted uh funding areas for the student subops and um and all those things. In the Senate version most of their funding was tied up in the um salary uh teacher salary aotment. Uh so they what they landed on was somewhat of a compromise um in uh in House Bill 2. So, there's a significant uh portion of the $ 8.5 billion um new uh budget bill for school funding that is in the salary a lotment, but also they came up with a few other allocations to give, uh school districts a little little more discretion how to spend those funds. Um so, um I'm going to go over a few of those provisions and the the key elements of House Bill 2. Um just kind of a bird's eye view and then also kind

022of look at how that plays out into the district's um adopted budget for next year. Uh so as I mentioned the uh basic aotment um the house version had about a $300 increase the basic aotment um and the senate's uh version had $55 increase in biscotment. That's what they settled on. Um and this amount cost the state $800 million. Um and the way they are funding that is actually um uh they're freezing the golden penny yield. So the golden penny yield um increases our tier 2 funding every year based on um the uh statewide district wealth per watada. So the 96 percentile um of the most wealthiest districts in the state um uh all other districts are are guaranteed to be able to get um the amount of money they they can per penny per

023watt for each golden penny. So um that number that yield per golden penny increased every year as the um state's wealth increased every year. Uh but now they're freezing that amount. Um and so now the only way that the um golden penny um tier 2 aotment will increase is if our water increases. They're freezing uh the per watt amount and that $800 million they're putting into the basic aotment. That's where they get the $55 increase to the basic aotment. It costs $800 million. Um so in the future any um increase that would have gone to that golden penny yield will be folded back into the basic aotment. um for Midway ISD. Um that increase is $600,000. Uh next, this is a new aotment um that House Bill 2 um created is called the allotment for

024basic costs. Um and the cost of the state for this one is 1.2 billion. Um and it is a lotment to pay for costs associated with things like transportation, utilities, employee health insurance, retirement, property and casualty insurance. Um and it is determined based on $106 per student enrolled. So, we'll look at our fall PEM snapshot. Um, whatever our enrollment is, uh, at that point, we'll multiply that $106. Um, and for us, based on last fall's uh, PEM snapshot number, that's 935,000 um, dollars for the district that can be spent in these areas. And this and the state will determine some sort of monitoring or compliance um, just to ensure that we are spending these aotments um, in accordance to how they were um, intended. Uh, next we have the teacher attention aotment. So of the

0258.5 billion in the in the entire budget bill um 4.2 um is dedicated to the teacher retention aotment. Um the a lotment refers to the existing law definition of classroom teacher in Texas education code 5.001 to determine who's eligible uh for this allotment. Um it defines a teacher as an educator employed by school district and teaches not less than an average of four hours each day. Okay. Now, there's um still a little bit of interpretation um on this and who exactly it includes. Um so, we're, you know, keeping an eye on that and just kind of making sure that um we understand who all is eligible um for this allotment. Um and here's a breakdown of um how much uh uh teachers get. So, for districts with enrollment of 5,000 or less, um teachers with

026three to four years experience get $4,000. Five or more years experience get 8,000. Um districts with enrollment of 5,000 and one or more which midway is included. Uh teachers with 34 years experience get 2500 and five or more years of experience get 5,000. Uh next is a new allotment is to support staff retention aotment. So in the initial Senate bill um they only um included funding for for the teacher salary increase right and so that covers um about 600 of our employees are eligible for that aotment. uh which leaves another 600 or so um without any um funding to um to contribute toward their raises. And so in response to this, this is kind of the compromise at camp with the support support staff retention aotment. Uh we get $45 per regular program aotment. So

027kind of um a scaled down version of our ADA. And for us, uh it's about $315,000 that we'll get um from this aotment. Um it cost the state 500 million. Um, and it can be used uh for uh raises for non-administrative staff. Um, basically anybody not eligible for the um teacher retention aotment. Uh, but just to give you an idea for for us uh $315,000, it doesn't even cover 1% raise uh for uh the employees that fall into this category. So, we still have to supplement that uh quite a bit if we want to um try to give um substantial raises to those employee groups. special education. Uh this is one that's still um uh still a little fuzzy. Uh the first year of the bienium um we uh we will get $1,000 for every

028sped evaluation and that's $300,000 a district will receive to help um defay the cost of sped evaluations throughout the year. Um there's also anywhere between 250 million to 850 million um dedicated to the changes in the sped funding model. Um so they're moving from um uh from instructional setting to an intensity of servicesbased model. There's going to be eight tiers of intensity of service and funding weights are tied to each of those. We don't know what those are yet. Um so uh in fiscal year 27 um we will get additional funding for that. Um but like I said, there's a kind of a wide range of how that could fall. Um so we'll be waiting to hear more information on that. Uh the school safety a lotment that was already in place under current law.

029Um but they're essentially doubling the amount of that aotment. So the uh student multiplier is going from $10 to $20, the per campus multiplier from 15,000 to 33,000. Um and it does actually move this aotment um to a different subchapter of the school finance system. Um and so it does not generate or help um increase WADA. So it actually decreases our tier 2 funding a little bit. So there's a bit bit of an offset. Even though we are getting a higher school safety aotment, we're losing a little bit in our tier 2 funding because of the way they wrote the new law. So, here overall is the impact to Midway ISD. Each of those um elements I just went over, you can see the total increase um increased revenue uh because of this uh House

030Bill 2 is 4.2 million. Uh 2.1 million there is to that teacher uh retention aotment. And so uh whoever qualifies for that uh the state will give us that funding and we'll pass that on um to those teachers accordingly. Um and this finally this slide is um shows our proposed budget for fiscal year 26 and later in the meeting we'll have a public hearing to to adopt this general fund budget. It's a deficit of 3.4 million. Um there is uh still like I said a lot to kind of interpret um understand on how House Bill 2 is going to play out and um different funding models and exactly what that looks like for us. Um so this is somewhat of a a worst case scenario 3.4 deficit. We do hope uh we'll look better as

031the year progresses and we find out more info on House Bill 2. Um any questions? Questions from the board? comments from the board. Are we is there's not another portion of the presentation where we talk about the the other salary increase components or anything, right? It's just a time to ask that question. So, it's out in conversation there and Dr. Can there are three more slide there a couple more talk about compensation. Okay. I just didn't see it on mine. So, sorry. I'll expand a little bit on the um compensation portion of uh what Mr. Brooks just presented here. Really honing in on the bullet pointed items at the bottom of this uh slide on um employee compensation and some details about that. Some explanations on um the teacher retention aotment. Again, some of this

032we're still learning. We've got a webinar we'll be in on Monday to learn a little bit more uh about interpretations here. But what we do understand, u, Mr. Brooks explained that the, uh, teacher retention aotment will be about, uh, $2.1 million for Midway ISD. The way that that will be dispersed will depend heavily, um, or completely on how our teachers are coded in our October snapshot, PE's fall submission. Um, and so the state will look and identify teachers who are coded in what we call an 087 code. uh and teachers who for at least four hours each day provide academic instruction to students. Teachers who meet that definition will qualify for this teacher retention aotment uh component. And the teachers who have completed one and two years uh of teaching in the state of Texas

033do not qualify for any type of retention aotment. Here I do have them on this slide um so that I can make notation for us to talk about those on the next slide. But the teachers who will qualify for the teacher retention aotment are teachers who have completed three years or more of teaching in the state of Texas. And that breakdown is there at bullet point number um two and three there at the bottom of the slide. Anyone that's completed three to four years uh in the state um will be able to look at their current salary and where they are on our current teacher pay plan and add $2,500 which will be about a 5% increase on their salary. Um, anyone in Midway ISTD that's completed five years or more will be able to

034consider their current pay plus 5,000 which for our teachers here uh that that equates to 7 to 10% depending on what step in the teacher pay scale that they are on. So that 2.1 million is sort of a pass through amount that will provide this teacher retention allotment to teachers with three or more years of completed uh experience. So keep in mind those teachers with one to two years completed experience, they will fall into this group um of staff. So all other staff plus those teachers with one to two years completed experience looking at a 2% um GPI on uh their their salary midpoints or pay range midpoints plus some additional adjustments. So, we work with TASBY each year to look at every employee in the district, what pay grade that they're on, what pay

035plan they're on, and determine a calculation here. So, what we're recommending for uh adoption tonight is a 2% um pay increase for all other staff not included in this teacher retention allotment amount for three years or more experience. That will be about $1.3 million. Um and related to health benefits. So, uh, historically, Midway has been able to, um, increase contribution toward what we call an employeeonly or a zero, um, dollar pay plan for, uh, employees in our health benefits category. Um, this year, our health benefits in that basic plan have increased $63 a month, which is the largest increase we've seen in quite a number of years for our employees. Um, we uh are recommending that you consider an additional contribution on top of what we currently offer. We you currently contribute uh $446 uh

036toward that $0 plan. We will no longer be able to have the 0 plan. Uh if you take on this recommendation, but with the $33 increase, we are able to to add a little bit to that that large increase that we're seeing. um it would cost an additional $400,000 to be able to offer that and extend that to our employees. What that means is that employees who have experienced in the past a Z uh pay plan option um if if we uh extend to them $30 a month um that they would need to pay and and we offset that with an additional increase of $33, it would mean $360 plan for them u out of their pocket each year. So the 2% GPI um increase for those employees can hopefully help to offset that where

037employees aren't feeling um a regression in their salary there. So pending adoption tonight with the budget and this component of a compensation plan. We will be developing communication plans to go out to our employees over the next couple of weeks trying to detail all of this out, explain to our employees what this means for them individually. um and prepare how to answer their questions and uh explain how all of this impacts um them and we'll work on that with our communications department and help and guidance from TASBY. Any questions that I can answer? Yeah. Are the uh are the states the state's contribution to the teacher raises is that permanent or is that something that's going to have to come up every bianium that they have to approve? How how's that being funded? You may

038be able to articulate that much more clearly than me. So it's permanent. It's permanent. They would have to take action. Gotcha. Okay. Is the state increasing helping pay for the teacher retirement portion that we have to give with this new raise? Not exactly. Um the increases that Mr. Brooks talked about through those other um I'm going to back up here, Mr. Brooks. through the uh basic aotment. The um allotment for basic costs uh is intended to offset that. But when you look at Midway's specific impact, our basic aotment increase of $55 in the allotment for basic costs, um the increase in contribution to the TRS benefits cost that we're going to incur with this increase in pay will eat up a large chunk of that. It'll it'll eat up most of the basic. So it

039cost us about 400,000 additional. So that basic a lotment that the extra money we're getting is going to be eaten up by the extra expenses we incur with the teacher raise. That's correct. Brilliant. Yeah, but it's the largest funding increase ever for public ed, Rick. You know that. Yeah. Eight and a half billion. Other questions? I know that in our conversation earlier uh in the workshop that you said this is a it's kind of thought of as a worst case scenario, right? That some of this is still Yes. figuring out like you said like what what exactly is classified as a teacher or not and what is how are some of these things going to shake out. So we feel we feel like this is the this is the reddest the number will get so

040to speak. Um, it might might get somewhat less red as we go along. Yes, sir. And and I want to be we talked about this, but just purposes clarity. Worst case scenario being the 3.5 basically $3.5 million hit to fund balance. We expect that to come down. Yeah. More I mean obvious it tends to every year. Yeah. But more than magic and we we end up with a million or so that we didn't think we had but more than that even potentially. Um I mean I don't I want to be very not making not holding you. I understand there's so much about this that we don't know that what we've tried to do is give the board the opportunity to adopt a budget and um see a number that that they know what the outer

041limit of what the negative impact of fund balance would be and then be pleased when the number comes in less than that. Sure. Sure. Well, and obviously looking at the the actual budget expenditures, personnel is by far the largest thing there. So we know that the people we have are what make Midway what it is. So we we clearly want to do what we can to keep them around. Uh so yeah, I was hoping at this time I could pass on something from a colleague who's on the school board in Mayor ISD just to give us a snapshot of where we are in Texas right now. Breaking news, red exclamation points. Today I'm filled with immense pride as our team of eight, our dedicated board and superintendent accomplished something truly extraordinary. We passed a balanced

042budget in a time when funding deficits and minimal increases from the last latest legislative session made this feel like an uphill battle. Our focused and united board proved that together that we can overcome any odds. I think I know we come together and overcome a lot of odds as well. The fact that people are celebrating passing a balanced budget is an indication of how many districts in Texas are going to probably end up in the red because of our current financial climate and the funding formulas that we're looking at. So, thank you for letting me share that editorial comment. Other questions, comment, or discussion? All right, we have the public hearing later on on the agenda along with action on actually adopting a budget. In the meantime, Jordan Barry, chair of the facility study committee.

043Let me just open by saying those people are to be tremendously thanked by this board and the community for hours and hours at the meetings and study outside the meetings. Uh, I was at every one of those meetings, exeicio only, and I can just tell you the amount of information that those folks were presented over that time and all of the learning that went into being able to intelligently bring forward a recommendation is tremendous. Jordan, thank you. Certificates made for them, too. Yeah. Yeah. It's it it was a heavy lift. Awesome. Well, thank you. Uh, good evening members of the board and Dr. Allen. My name is Jordan Barry and I'm the chief credit officer at American Bank. As the father of three current Midway students and the husband to a 17-year Midway employee, I

044have a deep appreciation for Midway ISD. For the past four years, I've also been blessed to serve on the board of the Midway ISD Education Foundation and currently serve as president. Over the past 17 years, with my family involvement and my role on the education foundation, I've developed a deep desire to help Midway continue to grow and thrive, I was blessed and honored to be able to serve as chair of the facility study committee and play a small part in helping shape the future of Midway ISD. I'm excited to see many of our committee members here tonight in attendance. Tonight, I'm joined by fellow presenters Brian Bundy, Dave Dickinson, Ashley Rodriguez, and Ahmad Washington. Ahmad is going to start us off tonight by telling you more about this committee. Hello ladies and gentlemen of the

045board. Uh good evening everybody in the audience. Uh as he said my name is Ahmad Washington and the the thing that drove me to be a part of this was both personal and passion. Personal in the sense I have two kids that have gone through Midway ISD school district. My daughter just graduated this year. She won homecoming queen. She want me to announce that just just in case. So y'all tell her y'all tell her I did that. Um and so and and uh she's graduating, going off to college, play volleyball. So we were intricately a part of athletic experiences. My son just finished his freshman year uh choir and uh and doing track and so fine arts. And so we've been involved in Midway District for years, me and my wife. And so it's been

046an awesome experience. Um, you know, and of course being a part of any district, it comes with both its challenges and its blessings. And those things have shaped our family and shaped our kids. And it is because the of those reasons that that I'm here. That's my why. That's why I joined this committee was to um it was just a passion and a deep care for students and the future of this district. Um, and a commitment to contributing meaningfully to something that's bigger than myself. uh just my personal uh calling and and passion for the Lord just just just caused me to be a part of things like this. Um and just a passion for ensuring that there is equity and excellence across all campuses within Midway ISD. Um why this work matters. Um we're

047not just talking about schools. We're talking about students. We're talking about families. We're talking about their futures and our future as a community. um decisions about facilities directly of impact student learning uh experiences, environments, teacher morale and retention as well as uh community growth and long-term sustainability for uh this area. These buildings serve generations. We're talking about tens of thousands of lives affected over decades and over time. Uh as mentioned uh before um as we see this first slide over 500 communive hours of collaborative work and study where we review democra demographic projections enrollment tren t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t trends

048and uh capacity challenges that are being faced by the district, current campus conditions, future needs, district finances, and long-term planning uh tools. We prioritized needs based upon data, feasibility, and student impact. We conducted campus tours. Uh we seen real life firsthand conditions of the schools that are part of our district. And those things affected us deeply and we had deep respectful conversations even though we did not agree on everything. Um little bit about uh just uh we have our charge up there. uh you guys can read that upon your leisure but those things undergur how we moved and how we interacted with one another as we served in this committee. There were 49 members uh represented in this committee and some of those committee members are here. If you are please stand briefly so you

049can be acknowledged. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. all grade levels, all feeder patterns, parents, non-parents, uh community members, business owners, uh past and present and future MISD families were represented, stakeholders uh abroad. Um the average attendance for those meetings was 33 uh in attendance per meeting. Those meeting were both in personal and virtual um which made participation accessible. Uh what this means is that um the committee was diverse. Diverse in experience, diverse in wealth of knowledge, diverse in uh both culture, uh all the things that are necessary when you're making a decision that's going to impact an entire community. Um this group right here, this is the name of everybody that was in attendance um uh that were participating and I just want to appreciate them uh as well. Um this was a collaborative decision uh making

050that took place. It was based on facts and not assumptions. We honored different voices, backgrounds and lived experiences. Every idea was put through the lens of is this what's best for the kids. Does this uh meet the needs of the whole district, not just one campus or one neighborhood. Balanced big picture vision and practical realities was how we approached this thing. We didn't just think like parents. We thought like neighbors. We thought like mentors. We thought like stewards of something very valuable and very important. Facilities affect economic growth, workforce development, property values, quality of life for all residents, whether they have kids in the school or not. Our commitment was to make recommendations that uplifted everyone. This process was thoughtful. It was heart-driven. It was also a process that was a heart driven heart-driven process

051for the community. Um, and it was done with care, with evidence, with facts, uh, as well as with vision. Thank you for your leadership and your willingness to listen. We trust that these recommendations will help you steward Midway ISD in the future to make it stronger, smarter, and more uni unified as a community. Up next is my guy Brian. Thank Hi, good evening. My name is Brian Bundy and I'm here tonight as a father of three boys who have all been through Midway. Our journey at Midway started over 20 years ago when we had a child start at South Bossy over in the PPCD program. Have had kids go through Spiegelville Elementary, Woodway Elementary, River Valley, Midway Middle, and then the high school. And I can just say that our experience at Midway has been

052just excellent over these last 20 plus years uh as a parent and as just a dad who's seen his kids be involved in all sorts of activities from fine arts to athletics uh to just robotics, water polo, anything we've probably been around it. And so we are so thankful uh to have been part of Midway to be part of this community to be part of the school. So thankful for the teachers and administrators. And so it's a joy and an honor to be part of this committee. So, what I'm talking about tonight basically is going to be our community, our enrollment. And as you guys know, uh, we've seen a lot of growth in the Midway School District over the last few years. And that's what I'm going to talk about is there's more coming.

053And so, uh, this is here a chart or a map of our district. And you can see that, uh, it's rather large district. We serve over 8,800 students currently. And our district is also over 86 square miles. And so, we have seen a lot of growth over the last few years. And here this is reflecting that we're seeing more coming. Uh right now we have 22 active subdivisions that are coming uh right now with 440 lots that are underway. And then also we have 10 future subdivisions uh that are coming as well. And from what we can tell from the past, for every house that's built, that's about half a student per household. So just imagine for every two homes that are being built, that's going to be a student that we can expect to

054attend a midway school. That's also not to mention the fact that we're going to have a lot of multif family that's coming along as well. So we have 256 units that are currently under construction. Another 1,800 units that are being planned currently and that yields a little different. It's about 0.2 students per unit. So but again every five units we can expect a student to enroll. So we know that growth is continuing to come. I forgot to mention I'm a real estate agent also here in the area. So very much tied to what's going on with community growth and how good schools uh affect good communities and and good subdivisions and all that. So uh something that I definitely keep an eye on and Midway's been the recipient of a lot of growth over the

055last few years. So what we did is not just study our our facilities but just how they're used. And the thing that I'm going to highlight that we'll see on this next chart here is not just the capacity but the in utilization but what is the functional capacity what's the practical capacity of each school. And so in here you'll see on this next chart here that five of our eight elementary schools are already at a 90% functional capacity. And so um what you'll see here though in the fall of 2028 is that we are going to cumulatively through our elementary schools be at accumulation of over 90% functional capacity. And the good news is even in 2033 just a few years short years later we're going to be over our capacity. And so the thing

056that like I've said over the last 20 years being part of this uh school district and the community here that's been such a joy to see is we've had such great leadership through the years uh past boards and administrations and the current one as well is that we've always been what I've noticed is looking forward to not be reactive to problems and situations that are coming but proactive. And so the the reason we're going over this right now is just just show that more growth is coming and we don't want to fall behind the eight eightball. So really time is of the essence and it's an urgent matter to be thinking ahead and to be talking about that. So as the rest of the committee uh shares the presentation I would urge you guys to

057keep that in mind that these numbers here especially that in the fall of 202028 and in the fall of 2033 we will be falling behind the eightball if we don't take action. You'll notice uh that Midway High School is already kind of at that 90% functional capacity, but um with the way that the the enrollment numbers kind of level out and just through the utilization of of different capacities, the high school can can can make it function at a better rate. You're going to hear recommendations on specific programs that are vitally needed right now for student uh life and the the the quality of life for students and teachers at the high school within certain programs. But for the most part, we were focusing mostly on these numbers here that you'll you've seen highlighted for

058the elementary school. So again, thank you for your time. Thank you for your leadership. And I'm going to hand it off to Dave. The clicker is yours. Oh, I'm sorry, Ashley. Wrong person. I did that twice. All right. Good evening. My name is Ashley Rodriguez and I'm honored to speak with you tonight as a representative of the facility study committee. When I was invited to join this committee, I didn't hesitate to say yes. This district has has been a place where my kids go to school and it's also well where we have built our lives. I'm a proud parent to four children and Midway has been a part of our story for a long time. My oldest two children attended Woodway and Huitt Elementary and continued through the middle school, graduating at the high school.

059My third child is a rising 10th grader, and my youngest son attends Park Hill Elementary, the newest school in our district. We've cheered at athletic events, celebrated milestones in our fine arts programs, and I currently serve as the PTA president at Park Hill. This district has shaped my kids' lives and mine, too. And I want every student to have the same opportunity my children have had. So when I joined this committee, I I did it because I deeply care about the learning environments that we're providing, not just for my own kids, but for every student at Midway ISD. This work is about giving our teachers and students the spaces they need to thrive safely, comfortably, and confidently. In addition to looking at capacity needs, we studied the quality of our facility conditions. What we found

060was alarming. There are major discrepancies between the conditions and students educational experience in a school as old as Spring Valley built in the 80s in Park Hill, which opened in 2022. As you can see in these committee meeting photos, from lighting to AV to furniture and flooring, literally from top to bottom, older C campuses like Spiegelville that was built in the 50s are facing critical infrastructure like roofs, HVAC, plumbing and flooring, as well as major factors affecting the in educational environment like lighting, technology, air quality, and furniture. As someone someone whose children have attended Woodway Elementary, Huitt Elementary, the Midway Middle School, Midway High School, I thought I had a good sense of what our campuses uh looked like and how they felt. But visiting South Bossi truly shocked me. I had never been inside

061before and I wasn't prepared for how outdated and worn out that campus felt. It was a wake-up call. Here's a look at capital improvements needed in the next five years by campus. Each campus has a facility condition index or FCI score, which is a rating system of how much the value of the facility is to construct versus the estimated cost for end of life replacements. Facility audits conducted by Alpha Facility Solutions revealed that some campuses currently score as poor as 23% on the facility condition index, meaning the cost to replace failing systems is rising quickly compared to the facility's worth. And over the next 5 years, some are projected to deteriorate to as low as 37%. Here's a look at how that breaks down by category and cost. I want to point out that a

062large portion of these projected expenses aren't for improvements. They're just to catch up on deferred maintenance. These are systems that have already reached or passed their expected lifespans. To be clear, Midway's operations team has done an exceptional job of stretching these systems for as long as possible, replacing parts, repairing what they can, but we reached a point where matching or patching up just isn't enough. It's not going to work. We need to start investing in long-term sustainable solutions. In addition to critical construction infrastructure, operational systems like technology and program spaces have significant needs. We live in a world now where technology is not only a learning tool but a safety system. We have critical needs to maintain normal operations and this includes our door locks, visitor screening, safety lock, safety lighting, security cameras, data protection,

063internet filters, and communication systems. Our society changes. Our student population has grown. Programs have been added and technology has evolved. We have we have needs ranging from security and lighting at the stadium and pack and other event facilities to needs to updated spaces for literal elbow room. Modern plumbing accessibility such as shown in these photos of the high school locker rooms and training spaces. This work has been a labor of love and we've looked at every angle, walked the halls and dug into the data. And what we're bringing to you tonight is more than a bond proposal. It's a reflection of what our students, teachers, and community deserve. Thank you. I now have Dave Dickinson. Good evening, board. Uh, I know I think almost every one of you sitting up there, so, but I'm going

064to, uh, tell you a little bit about me anyway. Uh, I was on Midway Education Foundation for 18 years. I just rolled off this past January. uh volunteered at Midway High School, coaching their mock trial team for eight years, have two great Midway graduates. Uh and now I am I think I'm on this committee because I'm one of the older people. Kids are gone. Uh and they wanted some some old folks looking in. I'm here because I'm still committed. I think Midway is a top-notch and we should continue to be top-notch school district. It's best for everybody and we're here to help the kids. So, what I'm here to talk to you about is money, the financing side of things, something that you guys have had to go through and I'm preaching to the choir.

065I understand this, but I'm also talking to other folks as we give this presentation. We've got our two buckets of financing, the M and the INS. And really what we are tax tasked to do is first off understand the the tax rates how they interplay what you can put in each bucket and what you can't put in each bucket and then use that as we prepared our proposals for the bond in a way that we could help alleviate the school district in in ways that you could take money out of the M bucket and put it in the INS bucket so you could then free up additional funds for teachers for students for the educational purpose which you guys are trying to do. First off, uh we also want to compliment your your school board

066and all the past school boards. Not many people can say and I know part of it is compression, but a lot of it and most of it as far as tax rate reduction has gone because of how the uh boards have handled our finances. Our last bond where we were able to pay things off well in advance, save $25 million. So, we've actually seen his residents a 38 cent tax decrease uh over the last 20 years. That's something that uh we're all we're all proud of, but we also know you guys got to have more tools to help. So, that's why we're also here today. So, challenges. We just heard about the public financing. We know legislature does what the legislature does. We don't always understand, don't always agree, but we have to deal with

067that. you guys are tasked with funding a school's district and trying not to get it in the red. Uh we know that isn't always possible. That's another reason why we're here with the bond package to try to help that. Part of the facilities, as you've heard, we've got aging facilities. We've got things that really got to be addressed. We want to be forward looking. And one of the things we all know is and and Brad Offford certainly knows this is the longer you wait, the more everything's going to cost construction-wise. So if we can look at things that will benefit us in the years coming, but do it at a more current cost, we can get more bang for our buck and we can do more for the school district. I'm using my cheat sheet

068because I go off uh and they told me to stay on task. So the committee we looked at and and you know the challenge in the budget efficiency and one of the things that we all know um that is the older facilities cost more to run cost more to operate are less efficient and that we end up uh using more dollars for few fewer students. So what part of what we learned is Spigel Elementary for instance cost almost $2,000 per student more per year to operate. So that's something that we factored in as we were considering which direction committee was going to recommend. So the challenges, timing factors, you know, we studied how timing affects decisions, uh cost between uh the needs for space, the optimal space, deferred maintenance, how far can you go, what

069do you really need, construction timing, and then really the increase and and all that tempered with we got to be consistent across all the campuses. So, we took all those factors you've heard about and we identified three priorities. Ahmad is going to tell you how we came about that, but I'm going to tell you what those three priorities are real quickly. The first is we got to make space for growth. You you heard Brian talk about the anticipated growth. You you heard Brian talk about u the fact that we're already at functional capacity. we're having to uh max capacity in a lot of grade levels at classes or at campuses and so therefore we have to turn students away or redirect students. Uh so that was part of it. Uh we have to figure out

070ways to expand campuses, new construction, uh reconstituting things in an efficient way so those campuses can become more efficiently utilized. And then we just got to catch up on some of these campuses because we haven't been able to invest in those campuses for years. Second thing, second priority is ensuring quality of the facilities and that as as you heard taking the South Bosskis and uh some of these other campuses that are 40 years old and and making them functional, making them efficient and making it where the students want to learn and being consistent and uh efficient and fair across the board. So that was and now I'm going to turn it back over to Ahmad. So Ahmad can tell you how we determined these top three priorities when we went forward. Thank you. Um let

071me say this. Um and I just want to acknowledge the fact that uh prioritizing um these very important things was one of was was complex but it was meaningful. Uh and it was some it was some real work. it was taking the ways that uh we were educated over the first three sessions some things I didn't know anything about language and M and all that good stuff and so like give me a crash course in three three sessions and then taking that through discussion through dialogue with our with our committee members and coming to a place where we could make um decisions that were again uh both heartfelt but also logical also full of facts. Um every project had merit that we considered. Our task was to weigh what to do now and what to

072plan for later. This was not about what was nice or what was going to look good. This was about what was necessary for students and this district's future. As um we went through the course of these experiences over the uh last few months, um our understanding evolved. Uh there were three focused meetings that we uh ended on in uh four, five, and six. And just to tell you a little bit about those meetings. Meeting four uh was our initial reactions uh to the project list of needs and our honest gut level responses based upon uh our personal experiences and our community the lens to which we looked at the community. Um meeting number five uh we defined priority areas and we asked to what extent does this does this project impact the goals that we

073had set early on in the earlier meetings. and meeting six faced we faced real decisions and had to choose between strong options based upon the impact on students and their learning, the urgency of the need and then the cost and the feasibility of what was being considered from options to recommendations. We uh sorted projects into three categories. recommend now, recommend now if affordable, and consider for future planning. What emerged from the process was recommendation packages that reflect student centered thinking, strategic use of resources, and community responsibility. The result was 96% consensus among committee members. Powerful proof of a shared purpose. I can't get 50% to decide on what we going to eat at the house. and and we we this was this meant everybody was locked in. I don't know what sacrifices people made to

074be there to have those conversations getting off work. Don't know what their family lives like, but they showed up present and very intentional about the conversations and the things that we processed during that time. My bad. Um just some final thoughts. We didn't just decide in a vacuum. We listened to the broader community. Um, we invited input on prioritization strategies, proposed solutions, and funding preferences. What the community told us was their top priorities were safety and security, equity of experience across campuses and upgrading and modernizing aging facilities. And there was strong support for proactive planning, not just reactive and problem solving once the problem got out of hand, but being proactive in our approach. The process wasn't easy, but it was necessary. We balanced our heart and our heads, our emotions, our logic, and our

075responsibility. We were bringing what we're bringing to you today is not a wish list. It has been well considered. It is a unified vision for Midway ISD's future. Our message is clear. Let's act now. not only for today's students, but for tomorrow's students, tomorrow's families, and tomorrow's community that are a part of Midway ISD. Here you go, Jordan. All right. So, it is the facility study committee's recommendation that the school board consider calling a bond election for approximately $175.3 million to be on the November 4th, 2025 ballot with a zero tax rate increase. After studying the needs, financial implications, growth projections, and more, the committee prioritized projects as Ma alluded to. After detailed deliberations, we also made adjustments to the scope and cost of some projects to balance expenses for a well-rounded package that addresses

076two main areas, including infrastructure needs and student experience. Primary and a lot of these things kind of intermingle. They're both infrastructure needs and student experience. But primary uh infrastructure improvements or in infrastructure needs include elementary growth construction for elementary growth, campus utilization updates for better use of current space, significant capital improvements to address things like HVAC, plumbing, roofing that y'all heard about earlier, as well as technology including data center infrastructure, a disaster recovery site, classroom and student technology, as well as campus networking. and as well as operations needing new buses and equipment for student experience. That also included things in fine arts, including technology, security, classroom equipment, elementary stage and audiovisisual improvements, high school theater and river valley middle stage improvements as well as renovations to the performing arts center. On athletics, we also recommend

077technology, security, uh, gym and locker room updates at the high school, as well as repairs, equipment, and lighting across athletic facilities. Here's a look at the enrollment numbers and how they would be affected at the elementary campuses. We are recommending a new replacement campus for Spiegelville Elementary to be built on a different property that is built to open with 500 students with core space of 750 students that could be expanded for in the future. We are also recommending additions at Spring Valley Elementary that would allow for another 250 students. We also listened to our committee and our community survey guidance to improve and enhance the functional capacity at multiple campuses in utilization improvements at four schools right there. To summarize these impacts, these would happen or these projects would happen at the following campuses. Spiegelville,

078Spring Valley, South Bossi, Woodway, Huitt, Castleman Creek, and Midway High School. This is a map showing land that the district already owns for a replacement Spiegelville Elementary to better serve the Highway 84 corridor housing growth. Notably, this location will have water and sewer services that the current location does not have. It should be noted that the current Spiegelville Elementary location cannot be expanded due to limited utility and septic services. Moving to capital uh improvements at nearly every campus would receive significant funding for infrastructure improvements as well as improvements to learning environments. Significantly outdated and dysfunctional furniture at campuses over 25 year old would be replaced. Every single campus would benefit from items including safety and technology infrastructure, classroom technology, fine art equipment, buses. As well as Ahmad said, this bond package reaches every corner of

079the district to meet the committee's prioritized targets. This includes items including but not limited to distributing capacity across the district. It addresses growth along Highway 84 in Spiegelville, but it also addresses growth by Park Hill and Hwitt. It catches up on an undersized Midway High School uh gym and locker rooms. Uh it should be noted that our two middle schools have three gyms while our high school has not added a third gym since opening it and expanding by nearly 800 students. This also allows for be better utilization of current square footage. It significantly lowers concerning concerning facility conditions and on the flip side prevents further deterioration. It's a significant improvement in safety and technology. It also protects the annual budget from big ticket items like pipe burst. We haven't had one of those before. Server

080failures. And most importantly, it prioritizes the budget for student needs over major equipment purchases. Oh, sorry. The committee is recommending li limiting this package to a zero tax rate increase. As a reminder, voters will see required language on the ballot about a property tax increase, which refers to the approximately $175 million being invested for these projects. However, as presented, taxpayers will not see a tax rate increase due to this bond. As you have heard earlier from the other presenters, we have to act now to open up a campus in the fall of 2028, starting with your consideration of this proposal this summer. The next election is November 4th. Should it pass, it would take the next two to three years to design and construct school spaces. During that same time period, work would also need

081to continue at the district level to plan for attendance zone changes, staffing changes, and enduring yet another legislative session that could affect school funding. Could Yeah. Yeah. As mentioned, this committee heard and considered nearly $300 million of needs and desired projects for Midway, but not everything can or should be done now. Long range planning for the district is recommended to take everything that was not included in this package and studying when and if these items need to be addressed. Those items include capital improvements beyond three years, secondary growth plan, addressing projects that we did not prioritize in our recommendation, including transportation, additional space, and specialized facilities, as well as other needs that we don't even know about yet. attach above in your screen is a couple of comments u from some of the committee members

082and I just want to say on behalf of this committee it has been an absolute honor and joy to serve uh the students of Midway ISTD and y'all can read those at your discretion. In closing, we would like to emphasize that as a community, we can choose to use INS funding to ensure our schools can meet the expectations and priorities that we have come to value from Midway ISD. This is a form of local control and parent choice that we have. We are here to represent the voice of our community. Here to make the recommendation that we maintain, grow, and equip our schools properly. Here to recommend utilization of bond funds so you can all deal with annual funding challenges. And here to recommend a bright future for the students and staff of Midway ISD.

083Thank you so much for your time and we are happy to answer any questions. Thank you, Jordan. Floor is open folks. Can we just give them a round of applause? Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Before we get into that, let me just remind the board as y'all have heard some of us were there if not on the board otherwise participating. The board had significant time spent before we called the last bond election. this one. I there's a lot to digest here. Obviously, this is a presentation item tonight. Y'all know we've got a special called meeting and not one but two more regular meetings before it would actually be on the agenda at our August 12th regular meeting, second Tuesday of the month as opposed to third for potential action by the board. So, I'm not

084saying that to discourage questions tonight, but just just keep in mind tonight's just the first step for the board, just like the committee had that first meeting. Yes, sir. So, questions, comments, discussion. Do we have somewhere in this packet of information the items that you you said you considered $300 million worth worth of projects that those that did not make it on the final list? Did we have that available? Yes, we can get all those. We have all that documented. Yeah. and and just I know I'm looking at Emily, all of the materials that the committee had for all of the meetings are all available online. So if you want to do a deep dive into what the committee saw, it's all there. And and not only is it all there for us, but the

085transparency for the public is really important. I mean, anybody that wants to look and see all of the things that Jordan talked about, Namad talked about, Dave, everybody, it's all there. So, yeah. And it's funny because that's what I was going to point out is that the, you know, the two things that struck me about having watched you guys from afar go through this process because we've we've been hearing a little bit, you know, as things have gone along. Um uh number one is just the transparency and I think that's that's tremendous that you know that the district conducted this process in this way so that um you know really everyone in the community that that wants to step up and you know they weren't on the committee but they kind of want to be

086involved. They want to learn more. It's all there. Um and so that's you know we're we're all happy to answer questions from community. I'm sure you guys are too, but honestly, the information is there. And so, um, that's that has been tremendous to see that as it as it's gone. And and really the second thing that I wanted to say for me is going into this process in the back of my mind, um, I'm thinking, boy, a lot of this is going to be about the timing for a second high school. And I'm really grateful for the depth of work that you guys did and the data that you've delved into to really figure out, hey, that's not really the number one question to to ask right now, right? And so it's not even a

087question of what do we do? It's that's not even the question yet. You know, that the question is how do we fix the facilities we have so that they're the quality they need to be. What do we what do we do today and in the next three to five years to make sure we're positioned to continue to grow. So that um the the fact that I know it was in the back of everyone's mind probably in that committee, right? Absolutely. Because I I looked at the list and I could tell you what where people probably thought about that, but the fact that it wasn't really even part of this this process in the end, I think is tremendous. So that uh you have helped focus us on what matters right now. So thank you for

088doing that. Oh, absolutely. Oh, go ahead. I I was just going to ask uh as as you guys talk to the committee, I mean, what do you think are going to be the objections that we're going to hear from the public? Uh great question. Um I would say on the community survey, some of the athletic stuff didn't kind of, you know, hit as well, but the survey was different from a typical bond survey, too. It was more of a general ideas, not a specific projects. So, the community may have been thinking of something completely different when they were filling out the survey than what we're talking about. Um, you know, the gym and the locker rooms are significantly outdated at the high school. Uh, and leaking water. I got to tour it. Billy did as

089well with me. Uh, Principal Smith, she's still here. Uh, she gave us I was too, Jordan. Oh, I'm like you leave. Sorry, Jonathan. Jonathan was there too. I'm so I'm so sorry. Um, but that was eyeopening to me to see water just running constantly and then thinking of hearing conversations about M funds and how that's impacting and I'm just going that's M funds running out the door. Um, so that that was one thing that I think from the community piece might be a little struggle but I think phrasing it and showing what it really is. It's not, you know, a Allen High School football or, you know, stadium. It It's really needed for growth and plus having two three gyms at the middle schools and the high school only having two. I think that was

090eye opening as well. Well, you know, from a historical perspective, some of y'all may recall in the 2019 bond that we called, the locker room issue was something that was a a high priority on that list. But as you know and we know we have this list of projects and this many resources and so having been through that a couple of times I remember saying it back then I feel like we're having to cut the baby's arms and legs off to fit the cradle. So I appreciate the hard work it is as Ahmad referred to of choosing not to do some things that's not taken lightly because those things are important too but at the end of the day we have to make it work with what we have. And I appreciate u just the

091the deliberation that has to go into that because it's not easy. No, it wasn't. And I was just going to she mentioned the historical perspective. We can use that if we if we do decide to go forward with this because the locker rooms, the gyms, the soccer fields, buses, a lot of those things were on the last committee looking for our last bond package and they were put aside because they were decided we couldn't do them at that time. So, if we can remind the community of that these are not new issues. We've had these for quite a while. They've been deferred. I like the fact that y'all brought those back and and putting some focus on it because that was something we wanted to do back then. But I reiterate what they all said.

092Thank you all. I know it's hard. It's a lot. It's confusing. It's overwhelming and you want to do the best for the students and the staff and our community and um that's what we all try to do. So, thank you all for helping us point in the right direction. So, thank you. Thank you. Yeah. And and I appreciate the fact that you mentioned and I and Jod mentioned this as well is that the M versus INS aspect of things is that I mean people that were here saw that we're you know that Wesley presented a budget you know with a deficit of $3.5 million. I mean that's all M stuff. And so if we have to spend our M on fixing all this capital stuff that's that's just going to make that number bigger. And

093so to recognize that to be able to to issue a bond and take that money and spend it through a bond, which coincidentally won't increase the tax rate at all, is going to really alleviate the pressure on the M side because if a pipe bursts, I mean, we don't have a bond to pay for that, right, at the moment. So, we're going to have to pay that at M. And so I thought it was just really really good forward thinking of the of the committee and just everybody involved to to have that in the back of the mind because you know we are under you know a pretty significant pressure on the M side because of the the let down of the legislature for lack of a better way of saying it. So I mean

094I think it's fantastic and I really echo what everybody else said and just really appreciate all the effort that all you guys put into it. So Dr. Alan, could you refresh our memory about some of the facility issues that we had as we tried to open the last school year? I I recall there were there were a couple of things that we had to deal with. Oh gosh, y'all going to have to tell me remember, but like at one point, and I can't remember why I was talking about Oh, is when we're talking about facility study at one point, we had the power out at Huitt. We had a completely rerun power to Huitt, all three phases. We lost all the power MMS because of a blown transformer. We lost every transformer at Spookville Elementary.

095We had a water man pipe break at Spiggleville the first day of school a year ago which caused us to not have school that day there. We had a water man waterline break at the high school in the spring. Um South Bosski we did four HBAC units at at South Bossi in the last year. We also did the high school's Hbacks too a couple years significant Renault Hback at the high school. We it's just been kind of we've just kind of been one thing after the other here for a little while. I seem to recall we had a pipe burst at South Bossi and they had to delay school opening first day of school for Yes, ma'am. I mean, so when you talk about quality of life and student services, it's a it's it's in

096real time and we've had we've been we can use our resources and our staff a lot more purposefully than not chasing around fixing things and not being able to open school for the day. Well, I know I don't need to belabor the point, but Ken and I talk about this all the time. Our maintenance department's a repair department, which means they're not actually getting to get to do the maintenance, which puts you behind in terms of maintaining the long-term quality of the equipment over time, and you get in this doom loop. And we and u I think what the committee has recommended is that the the board authorize an opportunity to go get some resources to get out of that and get get back into a place where everything is back up to current and

097then we can be back into maintenance mode. preventative maintenance instead of reactive repair. I don't know if we can project this, but you ask us for for questions going forward, and I would love to if if there's any way we can see some projections at all of of what this would relieve on our M side, this the potential savings that we could look at realizing if we do these things. Yes, ma'am. We can do that because that will close that $3.5 million gap if we're not spending money on things that we can fix with this bond. Actually, the situation's worse than that. Uh we don't have money budgeted to solve these problems, right? At all. Right. So, if if we don't do this to inf issues, it's not about making the 3.5 go down. It's

098about it's going to escalate in the opposite direction. Right. Well, and and I would just have to disagree with you, Dr. Allen, and Mr. Green because ultimately the deficit that we budget can't continue to escalate because the fund balance can't sustain. Correct. We're going to we're going to have to spend money on those things to be able to open and have school and we're going to not spend money in other areas because we don't have it. That's what's going to happen. Right. I stand corrected. I applied disagreement. When you're right, you're right, sir. Well, Colin, I think you made the point that this is the most pessimistic version of the budget that we're looking at only if nothing breaks. Well, that's right. Right. That's true. I also said I wouldn't hold Dr. Allen to that

099specifically. Um I I just think this is great. I really appreciate this and I know that we have, like you said, some opportunities later this summer to really delve into this and I imagine we'll have questions and about specifics on this, but uh I I think this is a great this is a tremendous effort. So yeah, I have one question that's more kind of light-hearted, I guess, but on the proposal of everything that uh the committee sort of recommends, what was the one thing that was overwhelmingly I know 96% like Mod said, you know, uh approves putting it towards the board, but what was there one thing that like everybody was like, "Yes, absolutely. That's 100% what we need to do." Is it Is there anything that jumps out that it and security? Those were

100the top ones. Okay. And it was 100%. Okay. Correct. Yeah. Okay. That's a good question cuz I I wouldn't have thought that. Yeah. Other comments? I just say thank you because y'all have been educated in school finance which most of our community don't don't know and if they do know they don't understand. So, it would be very helpful to have y'all go forward with whatever we do. We're going to send some people to you so you can still do. But well, and and I know Jordan's had had an opportunity to come in front of us before, but for the rest of you, well, I guess Dave has too, but Ahmad and and Ashley, standing in front of the board is a little intimidating and I don't we hear a lot of presentations and that this

101was so wellcraftrafted and articulate and thorough and you know, most people would rather what is it the funeral? I'd rather be in the casket than give the eulogy. Um, so I appreciate just you getting up here and being so articulate and passionate and and very informative. That's that's a high bar to clear. And you passed it, you know, state championship level. So I don't know that much, but thank you. Future board members, maybe. Future board members. Future board members. Okay. Yeah, you heard it. He said it. I'm going to make one brief observation and then if nobody else has anything, we'll move on to our uh other presentations on athletics and fine arts. And historically, when the midway board is called bond elections, they've really been almost kind of single purpose, you know, to to

102address needed growth, that sort of thing. A and just for a an item, right? uh certainly 2019. One of the things that makes this one so unique and I think the opportunity so pressing is this is this is a lot like a multi-tool because this thing has the potential to serve so many very very important functions moving money from the M side to the INS side addressing those long-term maintenance and facility needs addressing the equity across the campus as well as addressing the growth and that's that's just huge and and we need the continued support of the committee to carry that message to the community. So, thank y'all. Thank you. Anybody else? All right. If not, uh Brad, you're back up again. Let's see you top what you just did. Yeah, I was going to

103say, yeah, I'll do my best. Miss Win told me I had 10 minutes, so I'm going to go through as fast as I can. But those that have been here like the last 10 years, 10 minutes, I've never made it 10 minutes, so I'm going to do my very best. So, I'm just going to jump in. Stop me if you have any questions. Um, this year we won 13 district championships. Uh, it would be easier to to recite the ones that we didn't win to be honest. Uh, I don't mean that boastfully. I mean, it's just the reality of it. We we we've done very well in our district. We have three runner-up trophies. Uh, girls cross country. Uh, boys golf won second place. That's only because our first team, boys first team won first

104place. Uh, and then football won sec was second place as well. So, uh, I'm not going to read all these to you sake of time, but I I'll just say this is the first year with Coach Gillespie, uh, running our football program, serving as our campus coordinator. Uh, he came last spring about, you know, he's been here about 13 months or so. Uh, I don't know how good we'll be next year, but man, I'm really thrilled that we have him here. Uh, his leadership, the quality of character and man that he is, and and on top of that, he's hired really good assistant coaches that are also teachers. Uh, people that we'll be really proud to have around our kids. Uh, and I'm really excited about the future. Like I said, I don't know how

105many games we'll win next year. Uh, but but he's doing a really, really good job. Uh, you know, cross country's done well. Coach Cap does an amazing job. Coach Porter volleyball's done very well again. Uh, Aquadan does both of these. Dan Marlin water polo and swim for us. Another, you know, really good year. 27 kids to regionals. Uh, one one breaking news from the other day from the UIL. We've had water polo for we've had water polo here for many, many years. ser uh participate as a club and then we participate in UIL as a pilot program. They've removed the pilot. So water polo is here uh for the foreseeable future. So we're excited about that and add some valid not any more of a validity next necessarily, but it's here. It's no longer a

106pilot program. So we're excited about that. Uh honestly, girls basketball had a little bit of a down year going getting third place. Uh played a really tough team that that played in the state championship game in the first round. Uh played them really tough the first half. Uh they kind of kind of got away from us a little bit in the second half. We were leading in the first quarter uh and and real close by halftime. Uh boys basketball, you may have heard we we've had a coaching change there. Uh much appreciation to coach McGate. He's come he came into a program and really real revitalized the culture uh pumping character and mentorship into that program. Uh but moving forward, we got coach Samon and man, I'm telling you, he's hit the ground running. Uh

107he's a great great man. A lot of integrity, man of faith, and I'm really excited. There's a lot of genuine enthusiasm around that program right now with camp numbers and skill work and really excited to see what what that's going to bring to us. So, um, soccer, uh, two great years again, district championships again. It is the third consecutive district championship for coach Barry Entos and that in that program and then back-to-back soccer championships on the boys side for coach Kaylor and that group. And they graduated a tremendous amount of talent uh, in their senior class last year. So, winning it again this year was pretty exciting and a lot of fun to see. Those kids really worked hard. Uh, girls golf, uh, Payton Carter's pictured here. Uh, she was one shot away from from

108making the state tournament in the 6A level out of regionals. Uh, she's a junior, so we she's got another shot at it fortunately, but she's a great young golfer, team one district, competed very well at regionals. Boys golf, again, district champions, runners up as well. Track, uh, we've had a a track athlete qualify for, uh, state in a sprint, which hasn't happened here in a long, long time. uh you you know being around this area for a while, football, basketball, track are really competitive uh not only in central Texas, but going through region two with Duncanville and Cedar Hill and I20 corridor even out in East Texas. Really, really talented athletes through that area. And so for us, winning second in in track, I was really proud of that on the girls side. Boys competed

109really well. Our young groups did really well, but getting Katon out as a sophomore uh in 200 at at state was really pretty cool for him. So, uh, tennis, the 23rd straight district championship for them. Uh, made it to the regional semi-finals. Beat got beaten by, uh, uh, the Woodlands or College Park out of the Woodlands. Uh, and then in the spring, you know, they have the two seasons. They have the fall season and the spring season. Spring season's individual. We got six out of the 10 spots going to regionals, won four out of the five, just your championships there. Then obviously baseball and softball. One one thing I would add about baseball and softball going through the playoffs. You know, we're 6A division one state championship, which is the biggest classification. We have 2,600

110kids, you know, 26 plus. The teams that we played on average had about 44 45 a huge. I mean, at least double our size. Conro, for example, for baseball, softball, they have 5,500 kids in that high school. So, wow. Even, you know, winning the any state championship is great, but winning in division one against those kind of mammoth student bodies is really, really something to be proud of. Uh these are our state qualifiers from the year. Obviously baseball and softball again. Uh powerlifting, Andrew Bonner, Tren Ingram, cross country had Caleb Macccarver qualify. That's Katon in the middle. Uh Bella Ginch powerlifting from the girls side. And then uh on swim, Ben Block, he actually qualified in two events, the 50 and the 100. Uh which is really really cool. So uh good year, great representation

111at the state level. Uh this is one that that I show every year that I'm really proud of. Our goal is to have about a third of the student population participate in athletics at the high school. This is just high school numbers. So we had about 909 which is a little little higher. We've done some things throughout the year adding a team to volleyball, adding a team to boys basketball. Uh we will be adding wrestling bless you as a UIL sport next year. Uh they participated as a club the last two years and moving forward they'll be a UIL sport. So that that'll increase this number a little bit. Our super syntax you see those all state that all state's not accurate because we added a few softball and baseball kids tonight. uh that just

112came out this week. So that that number doesn't reflect that. And then our passing rate, you know, I'm a big believer, we talked about a lot, Dr. Allen and I talked about a lot how valuable athletic is in getting kids to come to school and motivating them and holding them accountable. Our passing rate is 96.2. That means they're we have 96.2 kids are passing each six weeks. And that's not just during their season. Like it's easy to have a high passing rate during football season or basketball season. But holding those kids accountable and those programs accountable when it's off season uh is something we're really proud of. So this is not just 96% during their season. This is all year long in every program. So that is something we're very very proud of. Um signing

113day uh if you look close on the in the top right picture uh girl wearing that commerce shot shirt. Uh that's a ma's daughter the homecoming queen. So, uh, 25 students from across a variety of sports from track, uh, volleyball, football, baseball, softball, had 25 signed letter of intent to play at the next level, which is obviously something we're very proud of and glad those kids get to got to achieve that dream and and keep working towards having success at the next level. Isn't that a big what what kind of a jump does that represent from the last previous school year? You know, it's it's pretty close. We've had as many as 29. We've had as low as 20. Okay. uh in the last couple years. So, it's right around average for us, give or

114take one or two. So, but it's it feels like it's the trend is up. We had Yeah. I mean, I think I think last year we had 27. So, it's it's right there. So, but over the last five or six years, absolutely. That's what I'm thinking about. Thank you. Uh community service, we ask all of our programs to perform some sort of community service. Personally, I I I try to get them to do things that have a little sweat equity in them. Uh can can drives, things like clothing drives are great, very very needed. Uh we want to expose our kids to some some some other avenues out there and you have a little sweat equity when they're starting doing community projects. So we do a variety of things. Each program kind of gets it

115aside, but we've got pictured here, you know, nursing homes, we've got little kid camps, we did a a buddy program in baseball this year, uh little league camp, uh fuzzy fuzzy friends with tennis, uh cleanups, late cleanups, HOT cleanups, getting ready for those seasons at the HOT soccer field. So uh you know service is absolutely one of our core values and and this is how one of the ways we bring that into their lives. So um I tell some people sometimes in athletics it's like running a small business sometimes a small corporation. Uh this is the booster club revenue from this year. We brought in 521 with a net profit of 300 and we were able to award over 21,000 in scholarships. Uh this was our board la this past year. We'll have one change

116moving forward. James Satderfield is rolling off and Sean Carter who happens to be the the father of the golfer Pton Carter uh will will take over as president moving forward next year. So they work incredibly hard oversee a lot of things. If you you've gotten shirts or media guides, concession stand items that that is all run through the booster club. So they are a tremendous help not only providing resources but just making things go. Uh Hall of Fame class this year. I always throw this in there. We we inducted the 2008 4A state champion uh relay team. Uh very very exciting night for those kids. Had a lot of fun seeing those guys. I've been here long enough now that all of these kids are people that that that we had come through here. So

117it's it's getting a little different vantage point for me. It's kind of exciting to see those kids come back. Uh hosted events. So these are non midway events. We hosted 27 sold 11,000 tickets brought in 85 grand. that there are two major events that are not included in this number uh in Ronmath but uh which is tap state ma uh track and then our regional track I mean those are huge events for us uh and for the city uh I mean there's our thousands at taps track there'll be 10,000 people at Panther Stadium that are staying multiple days so hotels eeries restaurants Huitt drive all benefits from those things uh regional track is huge uh the way we finance we rent that stadium instead of running those tickets through ours uh so we we categorize

118the income become a little bit different. So it's not reflected in here. But uh th those events are huge tasks for us to to undertake. Uh now these are our home events. You know you have 178 school days thereabout something like that. We had 174 events multiple events on on day on days. We sold 50,000 tickets 500,000 revenue and that 500,000 that's a lot of $4 and $2 tickets you know coming through the door. Uh, and then once something we started a couple years ago, talking to Wesley, we created a student pass and a parent pass. I think it's great for our community. It helps bring people to other events. Uh, so, you know, 20 or $40, you get a get a pass, they can come to anything with the exception of varsity football because

119we have to know that gate. We have to have an accurate gate count to pay officials out of varsity football, but everything else that that gets them into. And I think that's a a good benefit to our community and and students just trying to generate more support. Come out and watch our kids participate. Uh, these are actually 2000, sorry, that's a typo. It's 2024 numbers. Uh, we're still in the midst of summer camps and strength and conditioning right now, so I don't have accurate numbers. So, I pulled last year's and then next year I'll I'll include the 25 camp, but we had 14,400 kids participate in sport camp. That's kids from pre-K, first grade on up through 9th grade, incoming ninth graders. And then strength and conditioning is for seven, incoming 7th through 12th graders.

120So there are multiple days in June where we have camps and strength and conditioning that we'll have a thousand kids running around uh the high school, the MAC, our playing fields. And then when we get to July, that's our strength and conditioning only. So we'll have 500 kids. That's boys and girls uh coming to workout every day Monday through Thursday. So um I talked about this a little bit last year. We were putting this in in action. This is the or Midway Youth Sports Association. Uh really proud of the work this group did. Uh you see down in the red we started flag started with flag football. We had 195 students Midway students playing flag football at at Rice Field on the weekends. Uh Kevin Summers over oversaw that. But we have a board that's

121dedicated to football. We have a board dedicated to basketball and then our executive board uh ran that. And then we had 473 basketball students including 147 girls uh play basketball at the middle school on Saturdays. So that's something that we continue to look at figure out ways to become more efficient. Uh, but we try to keep that cost as low as possible. It's a 501 organization, so we're not trying to make money. There's no salaries associated. We're trying to provide opportunities to play ball at the lowest cost possible to this community. And these are for Midway kids. So, it's not uh people up and down I35 coming to participate. This is truly for Midway students. So, um, man, that's that's it. That had to have been under 10 minutes, Mr. Thank you, Brad. Write that

122down. just uh that that's any any questions from the board. I want to add something anecdotally for those who may not know. Um Michelle Pullen, yes, who served a fair amount of time leading our quarterback club, graduated four high school students who all played football, including Cash Pull, our starting quarterback from this past season. She and her husband, as I believe, served on the facility study committee with you guys. and and that level of engagement just really excites me about that's she's got that's a lot of time that she and and her family have given to the school. And yeah, if you're not sure who Michelle is, she was the one that was working her tail off it every Friday night while the kid was playing quarterback. I mean, she she was definitely committed to

123the booster club and quarterback club and making the best sure we had the best experiences for those kids. Yeah. Very grateful for happy to say Cash seems is recovering well. Recovering well and excited to see him play at UMHB next year. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So, so had a heck of a season until he got hurt. Yeah. But he's come the testimony he has and the attitude he's taken is a testament to him and to his family um for raising a fine young man. So, great family. All right. Thanks, Brad. Thank you. Good job. You might need those. Daryl Fine Arts. Good evening. I was told I had to be done by 9:00, so I will do it. Thank you. Good night. No, not at all. Uh, I appreciate this opportunity to speak to everybody. I

124do have some fun things to share. There's a lengthy PDF in your packet, uh, talking about all of the nitty-gritty details. I'm just going to hit the high points uh so that we can and am I going to push the wrong button? There we go. Um quick glance. We continue to provide incredible fine arts education across the board. Uh we our art students I've added dance and guard as one package now that our dance program is growing and our color guard program is growing uh as well as theater and it continues to grow as we'll talk about that here as we get towards the end. We've had some exceptional achievements. Your packet has the full list, the big rundown. Um but these are the ones that we're the most proud of. uh some ACDA choir

125members, 16 TMEA allstate members, uh UIL WEAC play region finalist, uh outstanding TSSC is Texas State Solo and Ensemble Contest that happens over Memorial Weekend. And so we've we've celebrated art, band, choir, orchestra, theater, uh the whole gamut across this year. Darl, can you remind us because I remember the recognition at that board meeting. Um, our all state musicians, what what kind of record that set for Midway in the state? It's the highest that Midway's had. Uh, and then this past February. I want to say that we were number three or four in numbers of all state kids. We're certainly the most choir kids, but there are some programs that have 17 or so band kids. Keep in mind, we have 8,800 students and we're that's we're in the running with that for that rec,

126you know, that recognition with districts that have 90 to 100,000 kids. Exactly. That's the same thing when we compare like like athletics and in that state championship. um when we're comparing Midway to Katy ISD or that's what I was thinking or uh you know th those ISDs and not just high schools it's it's pretty phenomenal. We are blessed to have great facilities. We're blessed to have great staff that work in those facilities and take care of our kids. We've run nearly 200 performances, multiple many many more re uh rehearsals, preparations. We've hosted just about everything. Uh or we continue to host just about everything including when I play, band, choir, UIL, uh all region, Waco, youth symphony, band auditions, you name it, we're we're hosting it at Midway. The biggest reason behind that is our

127staff. Our staff are hospitable. We're kind. We treat everybody with respect. Then there's the location in our facilities. But UIL, and I'm speaking for UIL and TMEA, they want to come to Midway because of the people that are here more so than the fact that it's close to I35. We also still utilize our pack and high school theater, but pack mainly for elementary programs, grades three, four, and five. Uh we moved Castleman Creek over for the first time for their fifth grade follies, and we had about 700 attend uh parents. So you can just imagine 700 people over at Councilman's Cafeteria. So, when it becomes to the point that, you know, we're going to have to either tell people they can't attend or close it down, we're trying to find ways to squeeze them in

128to the pack. Uh, if we could get a 9-day week and a 36-hour day, we could do K through, but we just we just we're already taxed pretty hard. We still rent our facilities out. We don't rent it out as much. Uh we still have some major dance recital that come in and take care of us. Uh Joy, School of Dance, Baylor, uh Expressions just down the road, things like that. We host uh some competitions that are not our students. 3A area one act play. Uh every once in a while we host taps. Just depends on the calendar. Our kids come first and we will not rent the space out if there's something midway going on. Um, we also will look at when a group comes in if they will utilize Midway students. Um, and

129so that's been very beneficial when we have somebody come in and say, "Yeah, we'll let the choir sing on our concert." Okay, great. You know, we'll bring you in. We still continue to uh use our streaming services and record everything. We're blessed with that. The use of Esther funds got it started and then we just keep going. Frozen Jr. was a hit and a half. I had no idea it would be that big of a of a show and have that great of a turnout. We met all of our goals uh educationally. We met all our goals with with finances. We actually made a little bit of money that we spread out amongst our groups. The things that I'm most proud of and and Dr. Allen was actually there for one of these We had

130the opportunity to perform Frozen Jr. for first and second graders. Oh. And so we we just bit the bullet and bust them all over. And the principles were on board and we bust everybody over and we did a performance for those kids who were screaming best day ever as they have staff that want to work together. Uh, in your packet is the list of everybody that was involved in a quote unquote junior production. We uh we lost some great folks to retirement. I do like to mention that the the Rices have moved on and Mike Devport who you know been teaching for forever only 10 12 years in Midway but you know 30 some odd at other places. Um, and so they'll be missed, but they uh they leave a legacy that we're going to

131fill without any problem. I think we've these are who we've moved into positions. Caleb Over Street is a head high school. Kayla Torp from Midway Middle over to associate. Drew Jackson, who is a younger teacher who taught at Spiegelville. Uh Terrence Guerrero is going to take over for Dr. Benson. Megan Gekckl is going to move over from River Valley to Midway Middle School. Lynn's daughter. Okay. Yep. Yep. Good job. And Christopher our is a new hireer uh who comes to us. He's a Baylor grad. Uh but we're really excited about having him. So the future is is going to be great. Uh we've got whole lots of different blood and I won't say young or old, but it's just different. Um the important thing for us as a team is we're ever forward. It might

132change, you might turn a little left or a little right, but we're always going forward. As we grow with our dance, especially in our band programs, we are still pushing for the artistic achievement that we've always had and will continue to have with our changes in staff. Excuse me, my throat is going crazy. With our changes in staff, we will continue to push and do the best that we can in those achievements. Our programs are growing and we know that when programs grow, we're going to run into financial obstacles. I am very thankful that we have a supportive board, supportive administration, and a staff that understands that if if if the money was there, we would hand it to you. We're not holding anything back. We're not lying. We're not. It's so transparent and our

133folks all understand that and we're all going to work together to make everything work for the betterment of our kiddos. And that's the short version. I am a little over uh 9:00, but I'll be happy to answer any questions at this time. Questions for Darl, but you're under 10 minutes. Are we going to do a junior production every year or is that just a oneoff? Um, alternate years. alternate years. We do not have a title for next year's high school. Okay. Um the junior production and and the thing I'm I'm proud of so many things, but when we do a middle school junior, it's two middle schools working together. That's right. Oh, wow. It's not just one. Uh it's it's the theater and the choir departments from both schools. It's the kids working together. It's

134not a River Valley cast and a Midway Middle School cast. They are mixed. Uh, and so how great is that? Because they're going to the same school the next year in high school anyway. So why not get to know each other now? They do that with choir and theater to in general. We just kind of push that along. Love it. Love it. This this isn't a question, but we've heard from both fine arts and athletics tonight, and amongst other groups, they are the two biggest contributors to our placement in the Lonear Cup. Oh. And we found out very recently because they had to finalize the numbers from the state baseball and softball and all that, but we we're we're 12 in the state. Oh, I see. In 6A division, and y'all remind me, they don't

135break that down ones and twos and all that. So, of all the 6A schools in the state, we we'd be ranked number 12. So, do what? 247. All right. So, first, it's a shame that we took that off the superintendent, isn't it? I think that was that was my problem for wanting to take that off. I want us to be top five, so I'm okay. It gives us some time, but we're we're getting there. Yeah, that's great. Oh, okay. One of the things I'll say and as a question, but also just a comment both on fine arts and athletics is as we've heard from facility study, I know there's there's elements in there designed to sort of help deal with growth and deal with, hey, you know, we've been here, we've had excellence, how do

136we keep having excellence there? So, are we I guess it's partially a question, but also as we dig into this this summer, um just making sure that you guys feel like we're in a good place with with those conversations with facility study and things, everything from, you know, lighting and gyms to how many souafones do we need to own or what I mean, whatever it is, right? Yes. Very much so. the the discussion of something as simple as instead of keeping uniforms under the budget, we move it over to the bond. That's huge. That's a $500,000. Uh you marching band uniforms, choir uniforms, all of those things are expensive and and if they can be paid out of a different bucket, that certainly helps us when I go to him and say, "Hey, I need

137a little" and that kind of thing. Well, and I and I know specifically the growth you've seen in dance and in band has been just tremendous. So, and those are not cheap programs. No, they're not. And and we will continue to not we we just don't want to go out and say if you want to be on our program, you need to pay this much money. Yeah. We don't want to do that. To piggyback on that, I I think it's timely that we had both of these presentations after the facility study committee. And that's something y'all can help communicate with the community that when we're talking about things that sound rather boring like HVAC and roofing, when we can move those costs out of the M budget, it helps us to protect these programs, maintain

138the level of excellence, and make room for growth. Right. So, it all works together and this is what we are working towards is to continue to be able to do things like this. I'm going to answer what you just said when you said protecting programs. That's something that this board has historically done and I thank you. Well, there are there are school districts that have had to make hard choices where these are the kind of things that they have to cut because there's nowhere left. And so what we're considering here when I say protection that's that's I'm very passionate about that. And briefly following Pam's comment, protecting the programs, Daryl's point is just so critical here because what these programs ultimately are about are the students, but it's because of the people in the programs.

139And y'all all saw from Wesley's number how much money we spend on people. and and we ought to be spending that much money on people, but it's the people that we've got to be able to pay for out of the M budget because despite what a lot of people think, we can't pay people with bond money. You had something to say. Yeah, y'all covered that, right? You can't use it. Again, I don't I don't want to be a dead horse, but I I I'm from time to time asked why why like Chris, other districts balance budgets. It seems like we spend money like where's the fat on the bone thing. Darl, you said something and you said it fast, but the number of school districts in the state of Texas where for kids to participate

140in dance, for kids to participate in choir, for kids, they are paying exorbitant I know of Austin schools, you're paying 12, $1,500 for your kid to be in marching band. And to this point, we've been able to avoid that. And I have to say that that way because we got some serious budget concerns. But like this is part of what we do. This is part of the reason this is part of the reason you can't use a cookie cutter approach to funding across the entire state of Texas when you're making these decisions is because local communities value things differently. And it's important to us that every single one of our kids have access to these programs and we're not cutting kids out because of what their mom and dad do for a living. Right. Exactly.

141Yep. Anybody else? Thank you, Darl. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, consent agenda. We have minutes from our May special call board meeting, our regular board meeting, uh our proposed new club for girls in STEM, uh the budget amendment that's in the board packet, and a renewal on our depository contract. Does any board member wish to remove any item from the consent agenda? If not, I'll entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. So move. Motion by Miss Vic. Second. Second by Mr. Tullus. All in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed. That motion carries unanimously. Uh we will uh Wesley just go ahead and open the public hearing. No need for further uh comments or discussion. Uh by law, we are required to conduct a public hearing on the proposed budget for

1422526. We'll open the public hearing. I see lots of members of the public that the podium is yours. If you want to come address the board, we'd be delighted to hear from you. Particularly if what you want to do is cuss the legislature. Take as much time as you need. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't see that coming. Yeah. Well, okay. Maybe you don't want to do that in public, but uh but it is your first amendment right to do so. It is. Absolutely. It is. Absolutely. You don't you don't have one in this context. That's what I said. It's just not my right to be the public has that right. Uh not seeing any member of the public coming forward. We will close the public hearing. Wesley, do you need to talk to us anymore about

143the budget or can we simply entertain a mo motion? As page said on your packets, you have three budgets the boards believe we're required to adopt. So that holds up for adopt so we can continue operating. There you go. Uh, everybody understand what's at issue here? As Wesley said, we have the three budgets. Um, can we do them separately or can we do them as one motion? We can do them as one motion. Yeah. So, do I have a motion to approve the budgets as presented, recommended by the administration? So, move. Motion by Mr. Alford. Second. Second by Mr. Green. Any further discussion? All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? That motion also carries unanimously. Dr. Allen, could you refresh our memory on what percentage of our budget we spend on our people? While

144salaries is roughly 80 about 85%. Yeah, this year is a little over fiscal year 26. A little over 85%. And that remaining 15% has to do what? Everything. everything else. Contract services, utilities, insurance, buses, putting diesel in the buses, pay for the buses, everything else. Insurance. Yeah. Maybe the best agenda item we have on any of our meetings, appoint the delegate, an alternate for the TAZ. Are we planning ahead? Slide away from the D. I went last year. You you love that. Yeah. Do do we have anybody that wants to volunteer to go? See what what did I do it? Three I did it three years ago. Jonathan did it two years ago. It's actually a really neat experience. It's just it just takes an afternoon. I'd like to nominate Pam. See see the second

145you said it was really neat experience. Here we go. She probably attacked people at the Do we have any further nominations? Oh, I I'll go. She agree to serve if I like them. That's the question. But I want someone to buy me lunch. Okay. Done. Not on the school. Not on the school dollar. Not on the school dollar. We're all getting a wallet now. It's worth our Yeah, we absolutely we will do that. I will I will volunteer to serve as alternate. How about that? But I'm gonna get mine back because I'm gonna be approaching y'all to ask you about something that's coming up in the fall. So just she's plotting. She's plotting. Can I say that here? It's No, no. Hurry, vote. Uh, we actually have to take action on this as I understand

146it. Casby's rules. So, um, I'm going to take that as a motion by Mr. Tullis to appoint Miss Watts as the delegate and Mr. Wit as the alternate. Is there a second to that motion? Second. Second by Miss Vic. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? That motion carries unanimously. Personnel, I'm looking. Okay. And we don't need to go into close session. Oh. Oh, good answer. That's a really good answer. Particularly since it's the summer. Yeah. You want a short night? Superintendent's communications. I will be brief. I promise I'm looking at the clock but I cannot help I cannot help I cannot help that in a night where we've spent so much money talking about budgets and bonds but um just take a moment to remind not not that anybody needs to be reminded

147but y'all this is the water and the soil and the nutrient that we root grow and develop student success in it's money but it's not about the money right and I know we know that but in the name of cussing Austin Like it's just important to me that in every one of these conversations we always kind of come back to grounding in that mission statement that we start with, right? Like there's all the stuff that we talk about that has all this sort of business sounding terminology to it. But somewhere there's a kiddo walking around. Hopefully not. I pray to God he's in bed. But somewhere there's a kiddo. He's going to be starting his first day of school in August. And and ready or not, here they come. So, we might as well be

148ready, right? So, I appreciate the board's leadership and helping us deal with the the business side of all this so that we can pour all of our hearts and souls into the children, which is my second comment. This is our last board meeting to be graced with the presence of one Jennifer Allison. I know he was still back there. And when she and I came in together, the notion of talking about putting kids first um was not really questioned. I mean, we had to define what that meant and work on some things, but it wasn't even a conversation point. We said, "We're going to put the kids first in every conversation." And for a little while, we did and then you left and I left and we came back and we did it again together

149for a year. Uh, and it's it's frustrating the degree to which trying to fight for that kid's first perspective. It's become much more of an uphill battle. But, um, best wishes to you and your family as you relocate to Denver and um, prepare your home for visitors. But thanks for your time. Yeah, for warmed. Forearmmed. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Anything else, folks? For the good of the cause. Thank you again to the committee folks. Appreciate all y'all's time and effort. Um, we couldn't do what we do without community support. Amen. Truly. Well, I just remember years years ago very very briefly when we were still in the old admin building having a board meeting where there was a discussion among the board members about whether or not what the board members was were hearing was

150an accurate gauge on where the community really was on anything. And I think that's why it's so important to have the kind of committee work so that we're not relying on us when we might be sadly mistaken because what we're hearing is not reflective of the community and happily we don't have to worry about that now. So thank you. All right. Well done. All right. Well said as always.