05/04/2026 Special Called Board Meeting

001Test, test, test. Test, mic, test. And test this mic here and over there. >> There appears to be uh school supplies in this room. Lot of school supplies in here. Uh I can assure you there's no school supplies here. Um I beg to differ, sir. I am in this room with a lot of school supplies. Strangely, there are also umbrellas and some sort of lap comfy desk thing for like when you're laying down. And there's also >> Mhm. >> Uh, good evening everybody. Welcome to the special called meeting of the San Marcos CISD Board of Trustees. Tonight is Monday, May 4th at 6:00. Um, we have a quorum. We have all board members here in person. Thanks everybody for being here and we're going to just jump right into this so we can keep things

002moving and hopefully not be here too late tonight. Um, you know, it's the end of the school year and there's 25,000 things going on every minute, so we appreciate you all. Um, public forum, we have one person signed up to speak tonight. Uh, Ms. Nicole Yonker, please. Uh, Nicole Yonker, uh, Mendez librarian and interventionist and speaking on behalf of San Marcos Educators Association. Good evening, President Halsey, Board of Trustees, Dr. Sanders. As we all know, public education in our state is critically underfunded now more than ever before. The $55 per student basic allotment has not seen an increase since 2019. With inflation at an all-time high, it's understood that we must be fiscally responsible and tighten up the budget where we can. In times like this, our budget must align with our values. Putting students

003first means taking care of the teachers who serve them. First and foremost, SMCISD must become competitive with the surrounding districts in terms of compensation. At the special called board meeting on April 6th, 1%, 1.5%, and 2% pay increases were discussed. In order for your staff and teachers to feel an increase, San Marcos educators would like to push for the 2%. While this does not cover a full cost of living increase, it's the minimum needed to keep our district in competition with other districts that our teachers could easily commute to. According to public information received from the district, 300 employees left at the end of the 2024-2025 school year. This represents a whopping 23% of the total number of employees. The cost of employee turnover is high and those funds would be better utilized elsewhere. Keeping

004the longevity stipend is another important piece of this puzzle. Our district desperately needs its veteran teachers, which already represent too small a portion of the overall staff. Additionally, we must address pay for our ESPs. House Bill 2 left non-teaching staff behind. Employees who are not classroom teachers received an unsatisfactory $476. For hourly employees, such as paraprofessionals and auxiliary workers, this represented just cents on the dollar. All SMCISD staff should be able to live with dignity and one job should be enough. This is why we seek a $1.50 per hour wage increase for all hourly employees. I understand these are big asks. Solutions are hard to come by, but consideration of budget cuts in other areas such as consultant and vendor contracts, discretionary spending, underused software and technology programs, transportation, extracurricular activity expenses, along with improvements

005in energy and efficiency would be worth investigating. Now is the time to get creative. Our budget reveals our values, and we're asking you to value kids and teachers first. Thank you so much for your consideration and all that you do for our community. Thank you. The next item is an update from communications, although I don't know that we have a presentation. The item is a consideration of possible action to rescind the previously approved school calendar and to approve a new 2026-2027 school calendar. Trustee Cain, did you want to take this one? Sure. Um I asked to put this back on the agenda for this week um since we had the opportunity of being able to vote at our uh agenda prep meeting this month. Um I know I'm not alone in having received some concerns

006from folks about uh rapid change in the number of professional development days that is going to happen if we continue with the calendar which we approved on the April board meeting. Um I've heard concerns about the length of time between what is, I assume, Good Friday all the way to the end of the school year and not having any days off in that time, especially during testing season. Um I know that there was some concern expressed here about what's happening in those professional development days, and I am willing to talk about that at a future time when we're looking at our calendar for 2027-28, but when we're in this crunch time right now, I think it's important with all the other changes that are happening, with all the concerns about finances and everything like that,

007for our our staff to know that they do have those professional development days built in. Um and also the the start date, we would be changing the start date, which I know is a little bit challenging this late in the game, and um it would pretty much match what we started on this year. It's actually a day later than we started this year. So, I think it's worth reconsidering and then putting talking about the academic calendar on our agendas starting in August and September of this year, so that we can consider, while we're able to, moving the end date of school, so we don't have to keep pushing earlier and earlier into August to make these extra 6 days happen. But, I do have a question for Mr. Fernandez. When do we book Strahan? For

008graduation? >> Yes. >> Uh as soon as the calendar is approved, we we book it. The great thing though is we have a great partnership with Texas State. Uh so, we're first priority in their books, but I also want to pair us back to them and give them a date as quick as possible. Absolutely. So, my understanding, even though we haven't booked it 2027, we need to keep our graduation date the same, but if we were looking at the calendar early in the fall and wanted to change graduation for 2028, then we have that flexibility. We're not committing years in advance. Absolutely. Okay. That's all I have to say. Any other questions, conversation? I >> Ms. Lopez? Um I agree with the trustee Cain. There was a lot of conversation that was had over the

009last few days and I feel like um the community didn't feel heard. Even though not a ton of people responded, those that did don't feel like their voices were heard. And I I do agree that we need to go ahead and look at having the little bit of time built in across the year versus at the front of the year. And so I agree with Trustee Cain on this one. And since we're talking about Straight Hand, if we're first priority, can we get back to the evenings? I think that everyone would like to go back to the evening graduation. That's just a little side note. Thank you. Yes, sir, Donald. Uh thank you, President Halsey. I know we've kind of gone back and forth on this, and I've heard different commentary regarding both calendars. And

010has And as we've gone through this process, I think one thing that was revealed that wasn't teased out during the survey was the number of breaks between standardized testing in the spring, which moving forward what was information after the fact that was like super helpful and helped me kind of wrap my head around the needs of our teaching staff and campuses. However, conversely, as we now have these professional development days staggered throughout the year, as a policy maker and as like the oversight [music] authority of the district, I would be very interested in seeing what professional development is planned for each campus [music] as it's happening. So, I'm going to be curious as we move forward next academic year as a professional development day is coming up, what Crockett Elementary is doing or what San

011Marcos High School is [music] doing. And if I were to visit that campus on that day, what I would be finding those teachers doing in their classrooms at specific times. So, [music] as we potentially consider changing this calendar to provide that professional development throughout the academic year, I'm very interested in knowing what that looks like moving forward on those specific days. >> [snorts] >> Absolutely, we can definitely do that. I think over the last 3 years when we moved to professional learning throughout the year, our our academic team has done a great job They have a master schedule at the very beginning of the year for everything paced out throughout the year. So we can definitely share that with all the board members. Wonderful and and in that same vein I I want to be

012honest and say like if we're trying to give teachers a break, just say that, right? Like I am not opposed to after several weeks of testing or them preparing students for testing like hey, teachers, students, we need a break. Let's let's talk about that and not call it professional development. I know, you know, Dr. Cardona has called them mental health days or whatever that looks like, right? So I just want to be transparent and honest of what that is and what our teachers need at that specific time of the year versus we know everybody needs a break. We're going to say it's a professional development Friday, but we're going to let teachers use it as like a a makeup catch-up day cuz if that's what they need, then I want that to be transparent in

013what [music] we're providing them versus maybe one principal knows that their campus needs a makeup catch-up day versus another one that has PD all day and and I just want to be consistent in how we offer that to staff as well. >> [snorts] >> Mr. McLaughlin. Yes. Um I think the way this happened is concerning. Like I I think a lot of us heard a lot of trustees heard from parents prior to our our former meeting, don't move the start of school uh you know, keep it at August 19th. And then I think that's why the vote went the way it did. And then after we voted and did something, a lot of trustees heard from staff and now they want to wheel around and do the opposite. And I don't know that either approach

014from either the parents or the staff is representative of anything broader in the district. You know, four people can email you and you can it can feel overwhelming, but it's four people. Um one way or the other. And so, I don't like the idea of this board agendizing something, we all consider it, we make a vote, and then some people complain, and then we reverse skate right away. I mean, that's what city council does. I want to be more measured and responsive over the long haul. So, I think it sets a bad precedent to immediately reverse. But, I have an alternate solution. Um both of these are bad. Starting August 13th is bad for families, and starting August 19th and then having no PD is bad for staff. And the only reason we have these

015two bad choices is because we want that additional money from the state. So, since that additional money from the state brings with it either damage to our faculty or damage to our families, let's not take it. Once we take it, we'll feel like we always have to take it. But, we've never had that extra 400k ever, ever, ever, and we found a way to balance our budget. So, I just think it's bad for bad for the families or bad for the staff to choose either of these. So, I would like and I voted against them both wanting to stay with the original calendar, and I would re-urge my colleagues to consider that as option three. So, I did bring it back to the agenda. I understand your concerns. I wanted to be able to have

016a a more robust conversation where everybody felt like they were participating. Um I That said, I am still in favor of the option that we voted for, and for some of the reasons are that I am concerned um about whether or not we are implementing the professional development days uh with fidelity across the district as a whole. Um I would love to believe that we are. I just haven't seen necessarily that, so maybe I I just need more information to understand how that works. But, I do feel, and we touched on this a little bit last week, that there are differences between what elementary school teachers need um and what high school teachers need for professional development especially as we move into next year when the start testing dates are going to change, right? So,

017I'm not sure that we've completely accounted for that. I would be absolutely supportive of principals coming up with individual plans and saying this team over here at the high school or this team over here at the elementary school needs these days to do whatever with the start test or to review the data to be able to implement it and we need to then look at being able to provide them that time off during the year with substitutes or something. But, just doing it as a blanket, I'm not sure. I think that parents share Mr. McLoughlin's feelings that parents that I heard from generally felt like it was another random Friday off. And kids were often left unsupervised. Kids were um 8 hours more screen time a week. Um And so, that was I think frustrating

018when we were all a little frustrated with kids screen time. I also think if we're talking about the summer slide which is real, I know, that we need to be getting a year-round option going now, immediately. And I think we need to seriously think about going further into June and running [music] summer school further into July. I think that that's true. So, so I'm still in favor of the later start date. I had not considered Mr. McLoughlin's idea of scrapping the state money. I did see though that and I have a question to me I'm not sure maybe Ms. Machitotsky is the right person to answer this. I'm not sure who it is because I just saw today the summer school email came out and it laid some the three different options that we have

019for summer school and I didn't have time to click on the link, but it said, "You don't have to pay for this." And so that made me think just over the top Do students have to pay for some summer school? And if so, what? Cuz that's not something I knew. So, I can address that. Last year, we did have at the high school, there were certain courses that students did pay. What courses? And why? Yes, please. I'm sorry. Good evening. Um we actually utilized a $20 deposit um so that we could have effective summer school where students showed up, and it was very successful. Um we probably had close to 90% attendance rate, where in previous years, the attendance rate was below 50%. That's super. I just I And we gave money back if they

020didn't have any absences, and if they passed their class, they got their money back. Awesome. That's great. >> Thanks. So, yeah, let's keep going. Um I thank you, Mr. McLaughlin, for the secret third option that none of us were thinking about before that. I do have a question since we're talking about the budget tonight, is that money already accounted for in the budgets that we've had presented? Uh Denise will go over that, but that money is a part of the budget for next [music] year. Yes, ma'am. And then just just to address, you know, one thing was the budget, right? The whole reason for moving forward with this was to try to get additional funds. Board task us with trying to balance a budget, so that was [music] that's part one. Uh part two, if

021you didn't notice over the last two or three years, we've changed the process of the academic calendar. We used to go out and go out for a vote where people vote on option one and option two. And what we found was what Mr. McLaughlin pointed out, 50% of our our community wanted one calendar, 50% wanted another. And so we we away with the voting option cuz it was a split. Teachers want certain things, families want certain things. And so, [music] what we've done the last 2 years is send a draft of one, ask for feedback, and then we adjust the calendar on obviously a lot of input from our principals. They live the work day in and day out. They give us good input, and that's how the calendar is created. Um so, just I

022wanted to to talk a little bit about that if how it's always split. And [music] the reason why we don't always go to the community to vote on something is because we're just going to get a split vote. So, we take the professionals, the day-to-day workers input, and that's that's how we come up with the drafts. Ms. Cantu. I want to say that I when we began the conversation about [music] extra money, I'm not one for turning down any extra money for our district. I think that we're needy at this point, and if that means increasing our days, I'm all [music] for it. I really feel like it's not going to hurt our students a few more days. [music] Now, the the question about the professional development all at once or later on, I think

023that's something that is a difficult choice because you're going to have your professional development based on how our STAR scores come out. I'm sure that that's you take it through and see what kind of help the students need, and I'm sure that the whoever is working on the training for our teachers is going to have to wait till the scores come in, which they can't do until after May. So, I think the decision needs to be made that we continue with this extra money program. [music] I mean, why turn down free money if it's just a matter of a few days. But as far as the training, I'm sure that our principals will analyze results from STAR testing and come up with [music] a great professional plan for them, whether it's all in bulk or

024whether it's spread out. But giving them a day uh mental health day throughout the year, I don't have a problem with that. That's my opinion as one trustee. I agree and I mean I agree with I think Mr. Hernandez Houston's team. If we need to talk about more PTO, let's talk about more PTO. I know that during this year we did let out a day early before Thanksgiving because Dr. Cardona felt like staff and students and faculty all needed a day, right? [music] Um Mr. Hernandez Houston Uh thank you, President Halsey. I just want to say also, yes, the additional $400,000 is like a factor in how I consider future budgets and future calendars, but I think fundamentally the additional days for instruction is what I guess ultimately motivates me or moves me to lean

025in that direction, right? I think given the population that we serve, the students and and the needs that they have, I wish we could give them two, three, four, five more weeks in the classroom with a teacher and I wish I could pay that teacher commensurate with what they're now being asked to do in in additional work, right? And so I know we can go like round and round and talk about the philosophies of teacher pay and calendars and how much time they need instruction, but I don't know what we're going to do with option one or option two or if there's going to be a vote tonight, but if there is, I hope this is the last one with this calendar. That's where Please. So just to add a comment as relates to the

026professional development calendar, one of the things that we do after the board has approved the academic calendar for the year, we work closely with the District Educational Improvement Council [music] to come up with what professional development will look like for for the school year. So we have some consistent practices that are common across all schools, elementary, middle, and high school. So, for example, we implement the research-based instructional strategies, which is to be used in every classroom in the district, no matter what content we're speaking of. So, every teacher will be trained in that particular process. What typically happens on a PL day, teachers will start off, for example, you'll have all fourth grade teachers together, all third grade teachers are together, and they're at a common site, whether that's the high school, middle school, what

027have you. So, half of the day they are spent in a like PLC with peers who teach common content or grade level. At the conclusion of that morning session, they are released and they go back to their campuses where there will be individualized professional learning based on the data that typically arises from their district common assessments. So, during that time the principal will lead a session in which they are going to disaggregate the data, they're going to come up with their plan for um remediation or enrichment, depending on how the scores look. So, that is how that second half of the day is used. So, while it will vary from campus to campus in terms of how it's delivered, the expectation is the same across the district as far as what's happening. So, of course

028it will look different at the high school level for a chemistry course versus a third grade math um math classroom. But, that's how we implement our priorities based on uh district priorities, and so that we don't have um each campus deciding [music] what they're going to do, and so the PD looks completely different across the board. Didn't we approve a new math program? Yes, in the last uh meeting, uh you all approved the Blue Bonnet math adoption, and so that will also be a big part of our professional learning for for this coming year. >> [clears throat] >> Mr. Mosey. One more try on my maybe position of one down here. We shouldn't take the 400,000. I think it's dangerous to have a poverty mindset as a district. That the reason we're in a budget

029crunch is because we're zero growth or negative growth. The reason that's despite our town growing really fast, parents are choosing other options. They're choosing private options. They're choosing charter options. They're choosing neighboring school districts. And one thing they're going to consider is the environment, whether it fits with what their family wants. So, us making decisions that oh, we'd like to get an extra 400k, but we're going to make something that our potential families want to go to less is just going to continue to cause flat or negative student growth because they have other options. And we can't just say well, we'll have our kids here all the time because some of our kids need to extra instruction because what we really want is a return to something we had in the 1900s, which was kind

030of a broad-based balanced demographic in our school district. And what we what we've tilted towards is a higher uh percentage of poor and economically disadvantaged kids, a higher percentage of kids that uh require special education services because we're losing our mobile affluent families. And and having a schedule they like less just causes more mobility and we continue on what's a downward spiral because the state doesn't care about kids that require additional additional services or economically disadvantaged. The state's setting policy for suburban districts that have affluence where kids want to attend. And so, we're going to continue to get with budget crunches. And if our response is oh, the state's waving you know, a modest amount of money at us if we'll make it more miserable for everybody, we can't always choose the money. Thanks. Yeah.

031All right. So, I agree with most of that, but what I'm going to say is that because the state is putting us in this position, we have no choice in a lot of these matters. And yes, a calendar might affect a family choosing to remain in our district or not. Our academics are what's really pushing them. And in order to maintain our academics or actually increase our academic scores and increase our academic output, we need to make sure that our teachers are receiving the proper PD and that they feel supported and that they have the time and to to mentally decompress sometimes. And I understand that that may not look fantastic to each of us in that the way that it's structured right now, but it's something we have to work towards. So, I agree

032with you to a certain degree to a certain degree, but I also look at the fact that we we don't really have a whole lot of choices when it comes to money, no matter what it sounds like. So, I look at both sides of that. And yes, the calendar may be a deterrent to some, but our academics are ultimately going to be the the major deterrent to most. So, look at it both way both ways. All right. Yeah, I think I'll make a motion to rescind the the calendar that we approved in April. We'll see where it goes. President Halsey I'll second for the purposes of discussion. Okay. Any questions? Any discussion? Ms. Halsey, for just can I get staff clarification on my start date, school end date, when spring break is, Thanksgiving, hope hoping

033that this is the last time I have to vote on this calendar. Just so that we all understand when and where all of these things are happening. So, option one, which was approved in April, the start date is August 19th. In comparison to option two, the start date is August 13th. So, again, option one August 19th, that's a Wednesday. Option two is a Thursday prior to the 19th, the 13th, August 13th. Spring break is the same on both calendars, Thanksgiving break the same on both calendars. That's the main difference is the start date and then the professional learning. So, on the professional learning in option one, there is none throughout the school year other than the before school starts. That's the only professional learning that's taking place. And Mr. Patton, this one second. So, Dr.

034Sanders, in that scenario, can you explain to me what professional development would look like if we front-loaded everything into that first week and a half before school started? So, we would have a number of things that we would have to do. First, we would have to typically at the beginning of the year, we're going to go through every policy procedure that all of our teachers and administrators need to know. In addition to that, we would also be working on making sure that all of our especially this coming year with the adoption of Bluebonnet, that all of our teachers felt prepared to be able to implement that. And doing so, just to say what we wouldn't have, when we typically give our district common assessments, we provide time for teachers to be able to spend time

035working with their administrators to go through that data. So, that wouldn't be possible if we didn't have those days throughout the year. So, those first couple of days, we also do keep in mind we have to provide our teachers with a work day. And we also have meet the teacher events that also are going to occur. So, while it might appear that they have all of these days for professional learning, there are also some required things such as teacher work day and meet the teacher that we also have to give them time in order to prepare for. So, it's So, while it shows all these days, those days are already taken from for other things as well. Thank you. And then in in the scenario that option two, where we have the professional development truncated

036throughout the year, explain to me how that is different and with Blue Bonnet and all the other things, how a PD in in the spring looks different than if we just were do it in the fall. So, some of it would be we are working with Region 13 as a service provider and they will be actually coming into the district to support the work that our teachers and administrators are doing. So, they'll come at different points throughout the year. And part of the idea of working with them is they can customize our professional development based on our data. So, if we're noticing when we're visiting classrooms that some of our teachers are struggling with one particular area, we can get with Region 13 and they're going to be able to for our next PL PL

037day, they're going to be able to differentiate what it looked [music] like when they pull our teachers. If we don't have the that throughout the year, everything is going to be front-loaded and and it's going to be pre-packaged at the beginning of the year versus it being customized throughout the year. So, that would be the one of the big differences as it especially as it relates to Blue Bonnet, which is going to be a heavy lift for us this year. Okay. Thank you. So, on this motion So, on this motion voting to rescind would mean that we would go to option two. No, it's simply removing the one that we voted on. We voted on one. Yeah, so we're just taking away the calendar entirely and then we'll have to do a second vote on

038what we're doing. >> just to to change it, okay. I just want to make sure. So, just clarify for me though, wouldn't we be able to have Region 13 come in and work with the teams that needed it during the school year and by providing substitutes for those teams and pulling those teams out into professional development. I mean, it doesn't need to be universally blanketed that way. That's what I don't. So, it is much more challenging to provide those substitutes during the year. Um I'll just tell you what we're doing Reading Academy. We struggle [music] with how to have so many teachers pulled at one time and have adequate coverage in the classrooms. So, it's doable, but it is a heavy it's a big challenge in order to make that happen. And depending on this

039year numbers, we may not be able to get enough substitutes in a given day to be able to accomplish that. I mean, not to be devil's advocate here, but I feel like even option two, if there's only five days All right. Not sorry. The option one with the more PD or no. I'm sorry. Back to the option two with the more PD at the front with the five days there, that seems like one day is meet the teacher, one day is all the training resources that need to be understood for the district, one day is teacher set up classroom, and two days for learning the brand new math curriculum. I mean, I I I just don't feel like either of these are particularly sufficient in that way. The motion on the floor is just to

040rescind the previously Yes. So, any other comments? So, all in favor of the motion to rescind, please raise your hand. All opposed. That motion carries five to two. Is there another motion? I'll make a motion to return to the previously approved calendar prior to us agreeing to additional school days. It may fail for a lack of second, but if I can briefly advocate for my position, I think the way we do PD is wrong anyway. Like I think a bunching up days is rather ineffective, and I think taking the very few days you give the teachers throughout the year and and putting like a let's all meet in the cafeteria and go over some pre-canned stuff doesn't connect either. To me, it would be a lot better if we built in more more planning time

041in their every week schedule >> [music] >> and time where they could collaborate with their colleagues as they go. And then the district could push in the PD during that conference period or whatever it be through video or other more innovative ways. Um I know that's not in [music] this calendar vote, but since we were talking about professional development, I wanted to say. Thanks. I will second Mr. McLaughlin's motion. Mr. Arondo. So, for the purposes of discussion, I guess what I'm hoping is somebody on payroll, ideally, not me, that's for sure, is like taking all of these anecdotal remarks [music] and notes about PD and calendar and and timing and and what works and what doesn't work and what's good for the affluent families and what's good for the kids who struggle and all the

042things that we just said and like we put that in the Crock-Pot pressure cooker for next year when we talk about this calendar. So, like hopefully I don't have to go through this again. Um but I think it's like all important and it's all good, right? Like I say it kind of flippantly and as a joke, but I don't think this is for naught because again, when I first started doing this, it was very cut and dry. You pick a calendar. Yeah, it went out to a vote. It was always like 55-45. Teachers wanted a longer Thanksgiving or somebody wanted a longer Christmas break, and then we would just decide, right? But now we're deciding to like balance a budget for additional days, address at-risk students, try to accommodate teachers who haven't gotten a pay

043raise in 2 years. And so like I get that this is a more difficult process because of like all of these proxy wars that we're fighting now when it comes to the budget and and student achievement. So like I said, I don't know where this vote's going to go, but next year if we can kind of exercise this a little bit sooner, I think that'd be great for everybody as I vote on this calendar now for a fourth and maybe a fifth time. So And [snorts] and I understand everything you pointed out and I think community feedback is important with a lot of things, but with this particular academic calendar, you know, we put a lot of trust in the principals. You know, they know their campuses well, they know our district well, they know

044curriculum, they know the staff well. And I think that's something I'm I'm asking the board to consider, right? Is let's listen to our principals, let's listen to staff, and you know, they're the ones living it every single day and so get getting their advice and getting their input is important to us. Again, community community input's important, but with this particular academic structure of our of our calendar, I think the greatest impact is listening to the staff members who who live it out every single day. And so I I we do take notes. We want we want to be understanding of everything we've heard tonight, but if on the other side of that, if we can listen to the structure that has been created, everything is purposeful, you know, and everything was decided for a reason.

045It wasn't just random day off here, random day off there. There is a reason and a rhyme behind that reason with every single day that was put put forward. So just wanted to share that thought. I think it'd be good if we had an elementary and a secondary principal If we have an elementary and a secondary principal speak up and give us a their opinion right now. I I would like to hear from them. Who wants to walk that back? >> even Give us Give us your opinion. And while she's coming up, I do want to So, on the what we're voting on at this moment is a calendar we already voted on, which did have input from all of you, right? >> Yes, but this did not I know, but it's not the extra

046days, so we're also talking about losing 400,000. So, just listening to what Andrew said right now, also and listening to what you all said, um I'm hearing that weekly PD is important, and we do have weekly PD every week in our PLCs. [music] So, we go through the data, we dig into it, we do all of those things. What we're referring to is these days that we've used this year to really move the campuses a lot, and that has been after every DCA that we've taken. Um and we found that that has been the biggest impact for our campuses. Not only did they have half a day to to disaggregate that data, but they also had PD over Amplify and Eureka. So, it was really um beneficial to our campus. Um I can speak for

047my colleagues as well. I know that we all had the same format, so thank you to the office of academics. Same format to showcase our data and make instructional adjustments. And so, that's what I think my team is really advocating for is to have that again. Um because we're hoping that our data is going to reflect the impact that that has. Questions? So, you're saying to have PD throughout the year? >> Yes, ma'am. Okay. Is there a secondary principal that wants to share? And principals, if you want to also clarify the difference between like traditional PD and then digging through your data as well on those days. Yes. Um I I would just second um I would What I want to say is um we have recurring cycles of PD and and some of them

048embedded is absolutely what's needed. But we also cannot do some heavy lifting and some real learning and um interacting with new content or new instructional strategies. Um in our case secondary is going to be blown out in a 45-minute period. Um so we must have times where there is additional maybe a 4-hour chunk of time where you can work through multiple units that are coming up. You cannot do that in a 45-minute period. And so um I think it's important for us to have both if it's at all possible. The other thing to consider is that when all the PD is done all together, there's you have capacity limits, right? Even adults, I mean, kids have trouble with um direct instruction for short amounts of time, but so do adults, right? And there's only so

049much retention you can have. And so if you don't have built-in PD during the school year, um you don't get to retain and practice in real time. And so we have found that the use of half whether it's a half day like Dr. Sanders um shared earlier or a full day is so much more beneficial for our teachers because they take that for the planning. And then they also get to have real time um PD with their colleagues and adjustments real time in the weekly uh professional collaborative time that they have as well. So secondary is in favor of having embedded PD days as well during the calendar. Thank you. Other questions? Good morning, everyone. Go ahead. Um I just I'm going to say that I hate the idea that we went through all of

050this work to create new calendars. I hate the idea of putting leaving any money on the table, but I think when we're talking about balancing the needs of the community, we had a calendar that already did that. And so I'm heading toward saying yes to this. Jesus Christ. Um okay, so just to clarify what we're voting on, this would enact the original calendar sans the six four days, whatever four days, six days, and the 400,000. So if this were to pass we would need to keep in mind that $400,000 reduction as we move into the budget workshop, correct? Is that right? Correct? Correct? >> Whose motion was it? Mr. McLaughlin's and I seconded it. I mean, there is There is another thing here that we have not talked about. We have the whole first full

051week of June um next year where we don't start summer school typically until I think the second week in June, right? So there's a whole another four days after Memorial Day that So in the past we typically have [clears throat] The reason why we have not necessarily gone that late into June is So we're in the process now of, you know, having our STAR assessments and we'll have our results back, right? And so what we've what we've could run into is we're still on the clock in terms of funding and students who have completed their STAR assessment and they don't need to necessarily be there for more instruction we could face a situation where they're not going to be apt to return to school after Memorial Day. We know that a lot of our families

052go on vacation on Memorial Day and so bringing them back off Memorial Day might might be a greater challenge than we anticipate. Especially if kids, you [music] know, they they've been successful all year and they're they're not one of the students who probably will be attending summer school. So that's something just you know, that we do consider as to why we don't extend on the back end versus the front end [music] of the school year. But we do I mean there are lots of school districts that go into the first week in June. It's not saying we're going to the 28th of June. And also I believe that when my kids started in this district we did go into June. I think this has been something that [music] has changed over the years. Mr. McLaughlin.

053I just want to clarify one thing that Mr. Arredondo said. From my understanding we would not receive the $400,000 in the budget cycle we're entering. [music] Instead we had to qualify with the additional school days in order to receive that money in the 27-28 school year. Can we I get some clarification? I think it was Mr. Fernandez that said that. That's accurate. Okay. So we restate the motion. I move that we adopt the calendar we adopted before the prior rescission vote which was option three, the calendar originally presented by the administration which had built-in days but did not have the additional school days. So the start and end date were August 19th and May 28th just as these just as the option one calendar is but it had the PD days throughout the year. Any

054other questions? Seeing none, all in favor please raise your hand. All opposed. That motion carries 4-3. Just for clarification we're going back to the originally approved calendar back in January with no additional school day. No, it had the addition. Oh, yeah, but no additional school days. I'm sorry. Yes, that's accurate, Mr. Thank you. I thought you were talking about the PD. I was getting getting my head jumbled. Thank you. >> No additional school days this year, so no money for the following year. All right. Anybody has future questions about that, please direct them to Mr. Fernandez. I'm kidding. Um I appreciate everybody. I appreciate the board having this conversation. Um and hopefully I think Ms. Cain has a good idea that we try to start the process even earlier next year so that we can

055And I know that we we are in this position because we didn't know about the money and we had to make a an adjustment and we're all looking for dollars. I get that. All right. Next up, operations. So I was hoping we would start school on September 15th so I could finish Mendez in the high school, but that's [laughter] not Uh good evening, Board of Trustees. I wanted to take this opportunity to provide a little bit more detail and summarize what we have shared thus far regarding the 2023 uh supplemental bond uh projects. As I mentioned last meeting, I think when I we look at the when we look at the district, we're in a good spot capacity-wise, we're in a good spot equity-wise, especially across our middle schools. Uh we've done a lot for

056fine arts, we've done a lot for athletics. Um and [music] although some principals here might disagree, I think our campuses are in really good shape. We had a couple of water leaks this week that we're dealing with, but overall we're in good shape. So uh we feel or I feel the use of the supplemental funds um um are needed and and on the projects that I've identified. If anything, it's going to take some pressure off the budget discussions that we've been having if we're able to to get [music] these approved. Um the other important thing to note is all the projects that we have approved fall in line with the proposition back in uh May of '23 that we that the community passed. So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to walk you

057through some of the financials on how we arrive at the 14.8 million, which is the the number that I'm tracking. Um now, cost change, obviously, um there's a lot of factors that go into cost each month. We have a good idea on our projects and where we're going to be, but there's miscellaneous, there's FF&E um stuff that we buy throughout throughout the process that impacts it. But, as you can see, back when I started tracking it in October of uh '25, we're about the $15 million range. So, that's sort of the number that I've been using and it's remained consistent. I look at this every month, but um I drive into the details every other month when I'm looking at this. So, that's right there that um slide right there is showing you our tax

058pool account uh as of March of '26. The $91 million is what we have to spend. Those projects that are listed there are the amounts on the balance to finish, the estimated balance to finish for uh for those projects. And then, of course, as we talked about before, we're tracking arbitrage of about 4.7 million. At the end of the fiscal year, we'll have the firm come back and give us an updated arbitrage number, but in our discussions with them, that's that's the number um that we're that we're tracking. So, how did we arrive at at that 14.8? So, uh we've obviously last summer we finished the elementary renovations project. That was the work that we did at Hernandez. That's a lot of the uh uh the stuff that we did at Bonham with the loop,

059the the parent drive-through pickup line at De Zavala, the parking lot expansion. Um, so we came in there that project just over a million dollars. I'm estimating Mendez to save about 3.7 million for what was budgeted. And then the interest that was generated through March of 26 is $15 million. And that's back when we got funded uh, for the 2023 bond in July of 20 three. Uh, so that brings us to a total of 19.9 uh, less the arbitrage that we talked about. So we're looking at a total savings less the arbitrage of 15.1 million. And like I said, that number is going to change because we also have contingency built into these projects that if we don't use contingency, if we don't need it during the construction project, we get that credit back from

060the contractors. So these are the list of projects that we we presented. Uh, the only addition that I have on here is uh, project number 21, which is the Bonham CDC relocation. And that number uh, is to uh, that $90,000. That's a that's a pretty uh, aggressive estimate that I I put because I'm still getting chasing numbers. Uh, but that's to establish a smaller playground. That's to establish and and and do a little bit of site work in that playground. >> [music] >> And then also uh, the installation of a canopy on the backside so that our parents can don't have to walk through uh, through weather issues. Um, but the buses are still there. All the HVAC that we've talked about at DZ, at Bowie, and the high school, the PIP on the playgrounds,

061the Bowie site work, and um, the balance you can see there. So I did want to uh, last meeting there was a a comment about uh, potential um, purchasing buses with with storage, right? So, this right here is a snapshot of that. So, the buses the 20 buses uh we check back with the vendors, their pricing has not changed. So, we're at 3.4 million without the added storage. Uh the numbers on the bottom right rep rep represent [music] if we took uh seven of the uh 77-passenger buses and two of the um 84-passenger buses for a total of nine, if we equip those with additional storage, uh that brings our total to 3.5 million for for those same 20 buses. And then the last slide I'll share with you is just our HVAC. This is

062just a recap. Uh that short uh that slide right there just shows you the amount of money that we've spent on parts, supplies, and labor on those three campuses over the last couple of years. Um so, I guess what I'll end this cuz I know there's an action item that you all are going to vote on is it uh we don't have to say that okay, we're going to we're going to approve all all the high priority ones. Um you can call them out by number. Uh I will tell you that the the most important things for us right now are the buses, uh the bottom CDC relocation, and the Bowie site work in terms of time and the playgrounds also in terms of timing. [music] We think we can get that accomplished over this

063summer. Uh all the HVAC work will probably have to be done over the summer months and it's probably [music] too late in the game to get um pricing, to get designs, to be able to do those campuses this summer. But the the buses obviously we can put that order in. The lead time is anywhere from 9 to 10 months. And then the playgrounds we think we can get it [music] done over the summer. Uh the bottom relocation we can get that done and then the Bowie site work is going to be touchy, but um we're going to try to get that done as well. Mr. Arondo. Uh I think I have a motion. I move that the Board of Trustees approve the high priority projects listed in the 2023 supplemental bond projects, including budget buses,

064HVAC replacements, playground improvements, technology software, and site work in an amount not to exceed $13,081,147, and authorize the superintendent or designee to proceed with implementation. I'll second. Seconded. Mr. McLaughlin. I have a question. Um Mr. Sandoval, project 10, technology software, can you can you help me out with what that is? >> [clears throat] >> Sure, absolutely. Um so, most of that would go towards uh it would go towards uh data center projects and our backup data center project. Um we would do we would be replacing uh storage uh for our uh server virtualization farm. We'd also replace the compute component. Um and then there's also uh backup uh battery stuff in there as well. So, things that things that keep the uh network closets going. Uh say in the event of a power outage, they

065don't keep it on forever, but they keep it on temporarily. And so, uh we would have That would take up the majority of it. And then we might have some odds and ends here and there that we could probably elaborate on at a later time. So, do you envision or does the district envision that if this $500,000 is approved, that it you know, it goes in an account that you spend or you're going to hire a single vendor and pay them $500,000 to do the things you discussed? Uh no, it would very likely be broken up. Uh it wouldn't be just one vendor. Okay, thanks. I'd like to ask my colleagues to consider adding some of the um multi-functional buses to the roster. I've heard from folks, including parents and others, that uh the buses

066situation that we have now, we have kids who carry their costumes in their laps when they go to contest. They carry their equipment, their instruments, and things, and the buses are crowded, and we have the opportunity we do a good job of encouraging kids to get involved in things, and I think that if we could supply a few more maybe not all of them, but a few more of the buses that have that multi-functional capacity, I think it would be appreciated. [music] Mr. Sandoval, if we added 100,000 to that, that would give us a few of those, correct, but not the total you put in there? So, I think the uh the document showed nine additional buses, and it would increase the cost of about 22,000 over the 3.5 that we have allocated. There's 3.4

067on your chart though, and then there's 3.5 here. Well, I have Well, yeah, cuz I didn't know based on the delay if the if the uh if the price of the bus was going to increase. >> Okay. That's why I said 3.5. Okay, thank you. So, just just to clarify, what would the number need to be then in the original motion? Five 25,000 more? How [music] much for buses? To get you your multi-functional buses. 50. Okay. Can the general generic understanding of my modified now motion is to add 50,000 to that. I don't want [snorts] to do the math. Does that make sense? Yes. Okay. I guess ChatGPT could All right, any other questions, comments? On favor of the motion, please raise your hand. Opposed, none. That motion carries. Thank you very much, Mr. Sandoval.

068Next up, agenda prep for the next meeting. I'd like to put calendar discussion and action on there. >> [laughter] >> Sorry, no. >> [laughter] >> That can't come back until August. Um Dr. Sanders. Yes, I'm sorry. All right, for the regularly scheduled meeting on May 18th, 2026, um we will have um item five, which is the issue certificate of election to candidates elected on May 2nd, 2026, election to serve on the Board of Trustees. Item six, file statement officer by elected candidates to serve on the Board of Trustees. Item seven, administer oath of office to elected candidates on May 2nd, [music] 2026, election to serve on the Board of Trustees. Item eight, Superintendent's report. We will have a number of students um for that evening. We have about 20 students um who have done some

069amazing things, so we want to celebrate them. Item nine, reports information items. A, Board of Trustees mental health awareness month. I believe that's a proclamation to be read. Item B, under academics, San Marcos High School Youth Task Force Red Senior Recognition. C, operations, child nutrition child nutrition summer feeding overview. Item 10, approval of a consent agenda items. Letter A, approval of minutes of first regularly scheduled meeting board meeting on April 20th, 2026 and special board meeting on May 4th, 2026. B, consider approval of the 2026-2027 grading guidelines. C, submission of quarterly investment and financial report. D, consider approval of budget amendments. Yes, I'm there. Mr. Sanders. Sorry. Um on the item 10 B, are those modified from the 25-26 [music] grading guidelines? There are There are some changes. Uh they're not major, but one of

070the things that we presented last year, we were waiting on the state The state was trying to um come up with a plan for how they were going to um create commonality across across the state. And at this point, we have not received notification as to what that's going to look like. So, we had [music] a task force that was set up last year to start looking at the grading policy. So, we're going to bring um We do have some information that we can share, and it's a couple of minor um language uh tweaks here and there. Okay. And President Halsey, if we could just move that to 11 B as the second item and take it out of consent, I would appreciate it. Mhm. Dr. Sanders, uh we do not have any board amendments

071this month, so we can pull that off. Budget amendment, sorry. Okay. Item 11, items for action, Board of Trustees. Consider electing a TASB delegate and an alternate delegate to represent the district at the TASB delegate assembly. B, academics, uh discussion and approval of the optional flexible school day program application for the two-year at San Marcos High School and San Marcos Excel Academy. And C, human resources, consideration and possible action of compensation for the 26-27 school year. D, operations, consider and possible action to accept the 2023 [music] bond middle school additions and renovations project. To consider and possible action to accept the 2023 bond district marquee project. E, finance, number one, consider approval of June 15th, 2026 for a public hearing on the tax rate and budget for the 26-27 school year. Closed session as authorized

072by section 551-074 and 551-075 of the [music] Texas government code. A, deliberation regarding safety and security including safety personnel systems, intruder audit reports, infrastructure and or devices. Open session, the board will reconvene from closed session to take action if necessary on item discussed in closed session followed by adjournment. I have two items. I'd like to add one during the superintendent's report, I'd like to request that we ask the Taffy team from the high school who is qualified for the national competition to present to the board their ethical dilemmas uh presentation which I understand is a few minutes long and then we'll be going to just the I'm not sure if the nationals are in DC or where they are after that. Um Portland, okay. Um And I would also like to an item for closed

073session where the board will consider the applicants for the position of the open uh seat on the board and I would like to ask my colleagues if they would like to have the district schedule anybody who has applied by that time an interview with us during that time or we just want to meet with ourselves because we need [music] to I think at this point we might be have one applicant. Okay, so we need to have an item added where the board considers closed session. Mhm. Anybody else? All right. Thank you. Let's go into the budget workshop. Okay, good evening Board of Trustees. Denise Garcia, Chief Financial Officer. Tonight we have a presentation for you for our budget workshop. We're first going to start with Mr. Jeremy. He's going to talk about our student devices

074and what our options are for getting those devices for this coming [music] year. Good evening Board of Trustees and Dr. Sanders. Let's see. All right, so last meeting or the meeting before I believe we talked a little bit about the immediate device need that we need mostly the biggest driver being for testing. We have a large amount of devices at San Marcos High School that are about to go end of support with regards to state testing software. We also have new classrooms that we need to stock with what is it classroom sets of devices and we also have a very large amount of iPads that are also no longer going to be supported for district district testing platforms. And then we also have our typical device wear and tear that we purchase yearly. And so

075what we're looking at is to avoid dipping further into fund balance, we're looking at financing the amount the total amount of devices over the next 3 years. Our current operational budget for devices is $500,000 a year. And so we're looking at an estimate an estimated total finance of $1.7 million at 5.6 1 interest for 3 years. And then our estimated annual payment would be around 600,000 a year. Payments can be customized. So what we would do is very likely we would structure it to where we would pay the first year would be the budgeted amount of 500,000 a year and then look at what we would do supplementally for the next 2 years. What this option does here is it it represents financing for the immediate student device need and also covers 3 years of

076estimated wear and tear. So whenever for instance a device is broken, a device is too old, or things happen to it and we need to retire it, we have replacements on the shelf. So there's an amount of that that we do yearly. Option 2 is a little bit closer to the 500,000 a year. And so what this option does, we would only assume 1.5 million. And so that would [music] create a bit of a a shortage for devices and then we would have to hope that we could supplement with other funds somewhere else. But the the estimated annual payment gets us a lot closer to our 500,000 a year. And so once again we can customize payments, you know, 500,000 for the first year and then we can change that you know, on the following

0772 years whether it be a little bit more or even more the final year, you know, either way. This gives us the opportunity to purchase the devices immediately so we can get started on preparation and getting them out to the schools. We can get the carts outfitted, you know, that all that kind of good stuff that comes with the with the receiving the devices. And so, we are dealing with a very very large amount of devices. Um let's see. Uh oh, any questions so far? My apologies. Yes, President Olsen. Go ahead. Can you go back to the first slide? Absolutely. Can you explain why we don't have more kids at the high school? We're just reallocating them into I guess different classrooms would result in us needing to spend $136,000 on on Chromebooks. I mean,

078same same number of kids. Can we just like instead of 20 being on a cart, like go to 19 and then use that one and put it on the cart for the new rooms since there's no more children? Uh the assumption here here is that the classroom would be stocked with 30 devices per classroom and then with the cart. So, there might be some room in there to, you know, move some stuff around to get that going. And so, that's a good suggestion. Um my assumption was just, "Hey, we're getting new classrooms. You know, we should put the amount of of devices that we put in each room into those classrooms." >> Can you help me understand how it works? I I know I have a high schooler. She has a Chromebook that's usually at

079home. Um I She takes it with her to class. Is there an additional Chromebook that's a classroom set that doesn't leave the campus or do the 30 on the cart all leave the campus? Uh no, so the way it works is typically this is actually fairly recent. Um each classroom has a classroom set of hovering around 30. You know, it could be more or less depending on the size of the classroom. You know, we do it with the amount of devices that we have. Um and those stay in the classroom. There are special programs where some devices are checked out to students. For instance, um uh the AP kids and the uh early college high school kids, they'll have a device checked out to them that [music] they continue to have uh with them for

080after school use. Thanks for the answers. Sure, you're welcome. Would you like me to proceed? Do you have any more questions on that? All right, sure. All right. Uh and oh, and the last time we had this discussion, there was a question about, you know, potentially selling the old devices back. Um we put together uh an estimate of what we could possibly get for that, and it could be, depending on the condition, near $100,000. Uh 98,000. And so, it just depends on condition. I know the 3189s and 3190s that you see on the bottom are in much rougher shape, given that they are from uh 2018 and 2019. So, we would it's it's a little bit hopeful, but we could still recoup something there. And this is just a a reminder that in the near

081future, we will have to consider purchasing devices for uh our teaching staff. The last time we did a large purchase for those uh for our teaching staff was in 2021. And so, these are just a a couple of numbers just to lay, you know, let them kind of [music] uh percolate in your mind um that we would have to address it within the next couple of years. And so, those were just a few slides this time. I was trying to be brief cuz I know that uh we have a lot to talk about tonight. Was there any additional questions on devices? Turn on my mic. I don't have additional right now, but I would just like stay at the ready cuz I might Sure. pull it from the [laughter] bullpen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank

082you. >> have Go ahead. Um what is the teacher device Are we talking about smart boards and the >> computers they have and everything? Yeah, we're talking about specifically about their teacher-issued laptop is what we're talking about. Thank you. So, now we're going to go into your in estimates. I know I've brought you some estimates prior. These are some more final numbers. We've gotten our payroll accruals um completed. We've added those in. Um if you look here, we're looking at our compensation to end at about 76.6. [music] Last year we were at 78. So we have gone down in our compensation. Our other operating expenditures, we also have gone down from the previous year. We're at 18.6 and we're now at 18.2. And again, these are estimates. Um so we are looking to end the

083year of expenditures of about 94.9. Now, where the difference comes in is your revenue here. Last year we came in at 94.4. This year we're estimating to end at 89.6. So that is where we're getting a deficit of about 5.2 million to end this current [music] school year. The number other finance resources that's coming in is that's the number we talked about about the TASB insurance that we got. We can't [music] put that in as revenue or operating money because that is already that's just already going to be used for the repairs to TASB. But we have to put it on our balance sheet. So [music] the effect to fund balance will be the difference between the 5 million and [music] the 3.6. So our difference to fund balances about a million a million something

084that would change our fund balance ending this school year. Um I also wanted to show you again um we gave you a copy of this the last time where it showed in March where they where TEA is going back and forth and giving us our um uh I'm sorry. Giving us entitlement numbers. As you can see at the beginning of the year we had an entitlement estimate of about 19 million and now we're down to 13.6 million. So that's a difference of a 2.7 million [music] uh difference. And that's where you see that in the previous slide the 89 that's already deducted from there. So [music] our revenue will show as 89. Uh and then moving forward is our proposed budget and this is what was sent to you guys uh during the week. Um

085so our proposed balanced budget would entail those items on the right there. Um that would bring down our compensation to 74.7, our operating expenditures to 17.3 for a total of 92 million uh for our expenditures. [music] And then as we're looking at our templates from Mo Casey, from Region 13, we're looking to have revenue come in at 92.4 next year. So if you take that expenditures out you're at a surplus of 303. Now we do have the Etsy program [music] uh included in here so we take that out then we'll be a little in the negative um there. So that was the proposal and I know everybody was able to um I hope everybody was able to look at the budget calculator, play with that a little bit, move numbers around. Um we can talk

086about that. Um you was also asked to show our cash flow. This is the last uh 3 years. Um and just kind of notice on here uh anything in yellow is our lowest cash balance for the year. And then your um green is the highest cash balance [music] that we've had during those years. And then anything um in purple is under our 3 months. So, last uh 24 25 we did dip uh below that uh 3 months [music] um fund balance at 18. Um and this year we were right at the cusp, but we weren't under our 3 year uh 3 [music] months operating for this year. Can you remind us again why our revenues are down? I'm sorry. Can you remind us of why our revenues are down? Uh our revenues are down. It's

087going to be based on your ADA. It's going to be based on your enrollment. So, um I mean, basically that's why our revenues uh are down. Um also our [music] tax exemp- tax homestead exemptions also that have been applied. So, then why are we confident that we're going to go back up next year? So, with the new some of the new house bills that are giving us a little bit more money on certain weights. Um and then again, everything is based on estimates. So, we're using preliminary values right now. We'll get our certified values in July. So, this could change. So, we have to come back [music] and and let you know what those numbers are once we get the certified values. Right now, we're using [music] preliminary values. Mr. Adona. So, I I have

088questions in regards to like the budget calculator. Are we going to get to like play with that tonight as we go through this process? >> Sure. Okay. Yeah, we can pull that up. So, just to understand, so I'm going to request like two of those things be plugged in right now just to start off this conversation. [music] But to just to make sure that I'm going in the right direction. In your proposed budget, what we're saying in this white box is what you all have proposed. So, that includes the aquatics manager, the DZ special education ACL teacher, remove longevity pay insurance cap, etc. So, that is saying in this budget those things are true. That gives us a surplus of 303,000, correct? Okay. So, in that hypothetical without moving anything from your proposed, [music] can

089I see 2% general pay increase for staff in all categories? And this is more for like as they queue that up, Stephanie, I was in here when the longevity item was passed. I have feelings about it, obviously, and I think this is like personifies where if we don't build it into the pay scales, it is something we can [music] like defund in the future, right? If this was already like baked into a teacher's pay, it'd be a lot more difficult for me to say, "Hey, you're an 8-year teacher. I'm going to take away $4,500 from you, right?" But since it's longevity pay, it lives outside of your pay scale, here we are. Um [snorts] can you explain to me or is there like a breakdown so that I can understand like what that dollar amount

090impact would be for staff if we remove longevity pay? Like I have a 8-year teacher who has longevity pay, they are now losing X thousands of dollars a year, and then I'm going to give them a 2% general pay increase. Like where does that XY cross? I'm assuming it doesn't replace what they're losing in a longevity pay. I'm just trying to understand that for the purposes of this conversation, right? And then I have a second question as Stephanie does that. When we first started covering insurance, I remember, and it could have changed, it probably hasn't gotten better, but it was we were covering the monthly cost for an employee to have health care individually, but then there was some like grotesque out-of-pocket deductible that they needed to [music] meet through the insurance program, like $2,500

091or something. Is that still the case [music] with insurance? Is it still like this unattainable thing to even see health care cuz you're still paying out of pocket or what does that look like currently? Uh yes, my understanding and HR can chime in if they need to. Um we still have a a deductible um that's got to be met um at that uh 44, I believe, is the dollar amount um for an employee only that we at this point cover completely. Um employee children, employee family, uh those those values vary. Um and and so on the guide I just gave you kind of a sample with just the employee only just so you could see the difference in But what is what is the employee only deductible? So I have strep throat or I need

092special specialty work done, what am I [music] paying out of my debit card until I hit like my insurance actually covers medical expenses? And I I promise I'm going somewhere with this. Okay. The Do you want me Yeah, sure. Yeah, he wants to talk. >> [snorts] >> So the um good evening. Claudia Peterson here with HR. Um the deductibles are going to vary based on the plan that you're enrolled in. So with the primary plan, um that deductible usually falls within 1,500. That's going to be your employee only. As you add family to that, then there's a family total deductible. Uh your highest deductible is going to be your um high deductible plan. Um and that, I believe, goes up to 2,000. So, to answer your question, yes, there are deductibles, there's co-insurance, you're paying

093a office visit, you're paying the deductible along with the amount of out-of-pocket expenses that you incur. So, typically, in-network's going to be like an 80/20 percent plan. So, in other words, the insurance company will pay 80% you're responsible for 20%. Um, once you meet those out-of-pocket expenses, then thereafter is when, uh, your benefits will pay at 100%. So, the other question that I had, and this was, I think, presented [music] at convocation 3 years ago, that like one of those My Emergency Room showed up, they did like a little song and dance saying, "If you come to us, we're only going to bill what insurance bills, and like everything else is going to be free." Did that materialize the way that it was proposed to us or presented to us? Is that still a thing?

094What does that look like? So, it, um, it it's no longer a thing. The, um, I think, what was it? Um, Med Clinic or I I forgot the name of it. It's now been bought out by Ally. Um, so, that's a different, um, organization that has taken it over. Um, I will tell you the discounted rate or price that they were charging or not charging to our employees did impact the, um, high amount of claims that um, TRS did assume. And so, through that, that did impact, [music] um, some of the, um, claims that were being paid out as a result of that. What do you What do you mean by that? So, in other words, if an employee went in for a certain, you know, I don't know, triage, whether if it was non-emergency,

095then at the back end, the facility would bill TRS for a different type of service. And so, on the end on the flip side of it, it was still impacting the total amount of um claims that were being paid out. So, what that ends up happening is it'll impact the premium rates. Um and of course, this is all through throughout the whole region. So, it's not just San Marcos CISD, they're going to look at all the school districts within our region, Region 13, to do those price comparisons. [music] Okay. Thank you. You're good. You're good, yeah. Are y'all ready to go? Yes. To answer your longevity question, the board did approve it in 23-24, and it was supporting and recognizing the continued service [music] of teachers beyond that 5-year mark. So, on the lowest number,

096it's 141, and then it goes all the way up to 3105 as an additional amount. I'm sorry, can you clarify this one Say that again. >> um it's like a step schedule. So, it starts off at 141, then year six, 143, year seven, 144, year eight, 290, nine is 438, year 10, 500. >> And is that in hundreds of dollars, or or what is that? That's hundreds of dollars. So, that one-time amount spread out through 12 checks. Okay. What is the total, I guess, then, for like an employee? And you can just give me a range, you don't have to give me specifics. But at year five, we were giving longevity pay in the amount of that year. >> times 12, or Just one time. A hundred forty-one dollars. Spread out. But divided by 12.

097Okay. So, it incentivizes >> that Yeah, that's It incentivizes >> That's some real good PR. Yeah, it incentivizes someone who's here, you know, more than 10 years, more than 13 years. >> to the tune of $141, correct? Okay. So, would my 2% general pay increase cut I guess it would cover the $141 they're losing. I would hope it would cover the $141. I don't have your the last slide from April. >> up, right? Like it's it go it's not $141 like across the board. There's like Well, it's 2% of midpoint, which is midpoint of like 50,000, so kind of So, it would well cover the longevity Yes, sir. pay thing, okay. >> end of the longevity. Well, what is the high end of longevity then? She said 3,100. Do we know how many teachers fall

098into the high end longevity pay? That isn't in my Wolf Blitzer screen. >> tell you, but Why don't we need to like bogart this? I guess to to telegraph to my colleagues here after 10 years doing this song and dance, I am now entertaining walking back health care coverage, the ISD covering the full premium, and moving that into take home pay. I think now given the budgetary constraints that I have to navigate if an employee wants to take that pay as cash in a paycheck, they can. If they want to pay their premium, they can do that, too, but it's up to them now, right? Like I think historically we've been paying that premium over and over and over again, and I think that's been great, and I'm been proud to do that. But now

099I have to pick, right? I have to pick do employees take it home? Do we put it in insurance or not? Similarly, going 2 3 years without a general pay increase, I don't think it's sustainable for like morale and teacher retention, right? So, I guess what I'm trying to say to my colleagues is I'm willing to like look everywhere to try and find a general pay increase. I don't know if we're going to get to four votes on anything, but that's where I am as someone who held the line on insurance. I'm willing to walk that back to now put it into a general pay increase. Can Can we provide you with some additional information? So, [clears throat] our health insurance is going up 8%. So, we just learned that on Friday. >> [music] >>

100Um so, instead of it being 484 for our basic [music] plan, it's now jumping up to 521. So, all of that into consideration, if [music] we there's a a tile on there that says capping it at 350, but we want you all to know the just basic plan is jumping up to 521. [music] By basic, do you just mean employees? Yes. And And when we say Sorry. Sorry. Approximately how many people do we have on it? Does everybody just take it? Uh we have 500 Excuse me. We have 547 employees that um are enrolled in the primary plan, which currently the district pays 100% of that premium at $484. And with a 7.6% increase, it now is 521. So, we're looking about it if we cap it at 484, where we're at now, then employees

101would be again paying $37 as a difference. You're suggesting to cap it at 350. So, what if we didn't cap it? What if we paid the full 521? What would that full year cost be? We don't have the 521 in the budget calculator because We didn't have that information. But it's 37 times. So the There's got to be a former math teacher in the room. 1.1 [laughter] The difference between the 350 and the full is 1.1 million. So if we paid it all, it's 3 million. Because of the 1.6 savings. I didn't work it that way, but yes. And so just to understand though, there is a state minimum that we have to pay on insurance premium, right? Like there's a floor that we could go down to, which is 225. So everything above 225

102has been us comp trying to compensate employees in some form or fashion. And I know Dr. Cardona and staff have presented it before, but that has been millions and millions, if not like tens of millions of dollars over the last several years that could have been compensation, could have been take home pay, but we chose and I'm still supportive of that philosophy up until this point when I'm backed into a corner that it was to cover insurance premiums for half of the district staff, right? So just to bring you what we just got on Friday, so that's why um these numbers aren't in that tile. We just got an update of 521 for the TRS plan. And if you can see all the way on the right is what that increase [music] would do. If

103everyone stayed on the same plan, then it would increase [music] um the district's contribution. Do you know the deductible that they have to meet to go with with the 521 increase? Will there be a change in their deductible that has to be paid? No. The deductible didn't change. No, not the deductible. Just the premiums each month would be changing. Okay, so right now what are their deductibles? Like they have to meet so much before [music] it comes out of their own pocket, right? So right now >> 25 25s 80/20, yes. 80/20 before co-insurance kicks in. And the deductible. So with the budget calculator that you have currently, if we were to take the administration's recommendation, which for the purposes of like my hypothetical right now, is [clears throat] up on there, is already calculated, but

104then a 2% general pay increase and what else did I ask for? I guess we still remove longevity pay. Um what is what is our budget at? 1. 1.4 million. Yes. 1.4. And that's with everything stays the same, just the 2% general pay increase for all staff. Correct. And we remove the AC program. We remove the AC, we do remove the AC since that wouldn't apply anymore. Then we add the 2% that would put us in a uh negative 1.4 million. President Olsen? That's the summer That's the AC summer funding, right? I'm sorry? The AC is the summer funding. >> Yeah, yes, yes, the additional school year. But I thought that wasn't supposed to go in until the next year. It would be calculated in our balance [music] sheet because it's a 26/27 calendar. We

105wouldn't receive the cash flow in until the following year. So it would have been like a a back payment, we would have gotten that money after the fact. Okay. President Olsen? Yes, go ahead. Um can we see what it would be look look like if you took [music] that aquatics manager and sent it to Mars. Because I was told that the pool was going to be revenue neutral or we might make money. So, can we just put a manager or maintenance of the pool in the athletics? Because they're going to see the gate receipt and they're going to see that other revenue and I'm not. Um For the pool. So, that saves 80 grand. Look at that. Ta-da. So, that would be without the aquatics manager. Okay. >> All right, y'all. That's all I got.

106Good luck. I mean, I feel like we have to finance the devices in order for the students to take the test that we get the district grade on. So, I don't really see that as an optional expense here. But, we can keep it at 500 for this year based on the options that we have. Right. So, we don't have to factor that into 2020. >> to make a decision on the financing? So, the financing, um wait. Since we are able to make a um like a $500,000 payment this year, that's already included in there. So, we don't have to worry about it this year. Next year, we would add the additional We don't make a decision on which of the options No. Mr. Arredondo. Uh thank you, President Halsey. I brought this up at our

107guest our last budget workshop or agenda preparation where in Mr. McGough's example, their student has a Chromebook, but then in some scenario, it's also used for testing. Is there an option of where we do a smaller less robust roll out for like student devices, but we have campus-based devices for the purposes of testing. And the only reason why I bring that up is as well maintained as the student devices are, I'm assuming there is a like it's three weeks out Miguel, bring your Chromebook to school because testing is happening in a month and we need to make sure that the Chromebook that you say is working fine is actually working fine and you're going to be testing on it, right? So can we just like eliminate that and just say like hey, we have computers

108for testing at the school that aren't student devices for everyday classroom instruction. I'm trying to think of how to >> just like too I'm trying to think of how to appropriately answer your question. And so we we the way it works currently, and maybe this will help shed some light. Um we currently stock each classroom with a classroom set of Chromebooks, right? So devices don't typically go home unless it's a very special program, right? And so if those devices have their, you know, multiple purposes, you know, the two that, you know, they're most prevalent to talk [music] about are testing and then of course, you know, your uh curriculum activities, you know, and those might those might include alternate forms of testing, right? That aren't just state testing. [music] And so um did that help

109at all with some clarity? Um A little bit, I guess. >> trouble understanding. I still live in the world of where like we had a one-to-one initiative and every kid had a Chromebook or every kid had an iPad and they were doing some like robust thing when they got home and a kid could get their homework on Blackboard or whatever that looked like. Is that not the case anymore if like a kid at the high school's Chromebook is in the classroom set at home? For the most part, the the devices do stay at at the school. There are, like I said, special programs and then if a student needs something, then they can work out with [music] the campus if they need something to take home. So the whole like kids take their devices home

110and this thing [music] is happening I'm doing my homework on it. It's not everyone's experience. That's not a thing. Okay. That's some students' experience. Okay. That's right. Yes, some students. So, I have a question. Earlier this week or last week, I sent in a a request a request for some information regarding some cost savings that had occurred due to some people leaving the district. Um it's a substantial amount of money. Um obviously it's not a cure-all, but it is a good chunk of money. Is that money reflected in this in these numbers already? I know it's it I know it's tentatively allocated. So, I want to make sure that's in our safe in our savings here. So, what what So, we were the transportation director left. Oh, yes. The CDC coordinator left. Uh the executive

111director of tech left. And then we had the um executive director of academic services that left, but I believe he was last. Right. Those those are those are not Yeah, they're not None of that is is it reflected here. Right. Okay, so that's a substantial chunk of [music] money. I'd like to see what that looks like, I guess, in some of these how it might impact our health >> They're they're they're already factored in. They're already >> in. Yes, yes, ma'am. They're not they're not in the Okay. Those positions are not funded in this scenario. Right. So, but so that savings is reflected here. >> reflected here. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. Go ahead. Can I ask a question on the sped IAs? Do we know can I have a breakdown of how many

112of those we currently have at the elementary and secondary levels? And then you're proposing the eight additional. We we do. I um I have it on the guide and I don't know if Dr. Teague, if you would want to share information, but let me pull that information up for you. And then kind of a companion question, how many of those secondary IAs are in coaching positions? Um and and then how does our rate It seems like this is just my macro view from driving around and walking around. We have like a hundred. Like do Does it How does that compare to other districts? So, typically good evening board and Dr. [laughter] Sanders, you put me on the spot here. But, um typically it's a staffing ratio and in our district to be transparent do not

113have necessarily a board adopted staffing ratio as it relates to instructional [music] assistance. So, what we typically do is um from our specialized programming is looking at the IEP and the amount of services that is needed to actually integrate the IEP or to implement the IEP on the campus. We take that and we scale that by [music] a number and then the amount of time that is needed to implement that IEP. To be totally transparent, the needs are a little bit higher. We're seeing greater [music] needs on our campus. We're also seeing an increase in students in those specialized program. Hence, the increase in the serve supports for compliance and safety for our students. So, I don't necessarily I don't have a breakdown right now. I can pull it up as relates to the total

114number of IAs by secondary and elementary. But, the additional six additional eight >> eight, I'm sorry. >> Where are those going to be? So, one is for Bowie. Uh-huh. Um two is for Crockett. One is for DC. One is for Hernandez. One is for Mendez and one is for >> Two. Two is for Rodriguez. So, they're all elementary these eight. >> Yes, [music] sir. Okay, that The rest of the information you can get me after this. Yes, sir. Um so that I can understand how it works kind of a broad more broadly, but I appreciate the answer. Thanks. Okay. Thank you. So, I'd like to advocate that we um if we're going to cut the insurance, which I'm very hesitant to do so that we keep the longevity pay. [music] Um I think especially since

115we don't yet have the um incentive allotment pay increases available till the following year, that we keep the longevity pay. Um I also wondering, Mr. Arredondo, if your 2% general pay increase is was also intended to apply to hourly or and if not, we need to put into a particular number for hourly increase. So, just to clarify, I'm not keen on getting rid of the insurance, [music] right? Like if there's If there's like a If there's three other people up here who want to walk that plank with me and keep funding it and going to deficit, I'm cool with that. >> we're we're We're asking us to do more with less. We're asking teachers and everybody else to do more with less and it's super unfortunate. But yes, my 2% general pay increase was for

116all staff. So, So, what does that mean in terms of hourly staff? Do we have a sense? Yes, ma'am. That is for all staff throughout the district and we've just factored it in at the midpoint. Knowing that we had gotten away from the 2% because sometimes it's like [music] unequal, right? I would much rather go with like a dollar amount, but that's not on my Wolf Blitzer [music] screen tonight, so I can't do that. But when we get go into May, if there is a conversation of doing a dollar general pay increase for hourly employees or whatever that amount is, I would be supportive of [music] that because I do think when we get into percentages for hourly employees, it's kind of a scam, quite I'd like to see the dollar amounts at a dollar

117and a dollar fifty. >> [snorts] >> Well, on that point, I mean, I I think if we were going to adjust the staffing levels to something reasonable instead of being overstaffed in almost every hourly position, then we could afford to do more in the way of salary, but we keep adjusting the rate the base rate for the hourly but but [music] we still overstaff every position like custodial and food service compared to our peers. Um so I I think if we could right-size our staffing levels, we'd be able to afford to give the type of raises y'all want, but right now, you know, they're having to do 85% of the work of those serving in peer positions in other districts because we're overstaffed. Mr. Donald. Uh thank you, President Halsey. So, I agree with Mr.

118McLaughlin in theory based off of the like TASB staffing studies we've received, right? I question and I don't know if this is something that like Stephanie or staff can elaborate on. When we compare like hourly employee staffing to like districts, like when I look at facilities employees or custodians, are we calculating like square footage of what they have to maintain or is it it's a district of 80 200 kids and they have 110 food service workers, so we should have 110 or is it they serve 18,000 meals a day, so there it's actually based off of square footage and meal served. So, we are overstaffed when you compare like-minded districts. So, in our last staffing not on hourly employees, we reduced our custodial service at one point and we also um shifting some of our

119child nutrition employees as needed. So, in that area, we are staffed at Last year, we did a lot of shifting in hourly positions that we could throughout the district. Our recommendation for special ed is hourly employees, but it also is reflected like up to 20% of the increased student need that were identified this year and you that we worked out for how to substitute this year. Continuing that those same students and same student needs, so we are asking for those to increase to be our hourly. Right. Other questions? So, just to clarify, Ms. Halsey, so at our May meeting, we're going to see a 2% general [music] pay increase for teachers, administrative professionals, essentially everybody that's not hourly, right? And then hypothetical dollar or dollar 50 increases for hourly employees. Yes. Okay. Yeah. And you

120had requested that longevity pay stay. I am going to request that, yes. Okay. I'm I'm supportive of that just to see what that dollar amount is. I will say though, I guess I don't know how Is that insurance thing is just really like my school. Um We should just share it. >> I don't I mean, we have the general pay increases for the one one and a half, two that it is including hourly, so that's what's in [music] front of you. Um perhaps something to um also consider is by hourly pay grade what a dollar, a dollar 50 does do um because [music] we do have staff members who do work almost entirely the whole year. Um and just for y'all to have what that flat rate does to an hourly employee and the message,

121what your the full payout for that position is, your increasing teacher salary this amount, but then um what an hourly increase of a flat amount might do over such days, it might end up being more than you're giving your teachers. And so, being able to give you all of that information and if that's what you want to do, then you'll have all of that in front of you, but just so you know the value that you're placing and where you put priorities over your teachings. And I'd like to understand that also for the May meeting or in advance, the last staffing level survey information you have cuz the last one I saw was what I was going off when I said we were overstaffed in food service and maintenance. Um so, that would be helpful

122for me to understand as well because [music] I still think if this board is inclined to do like flat pay rate increases for staff and increase those disproportionately to teachers, we should at least eliminate some positions [music] so it doesn't hit our budget quite as hard cuz we're not a jobs program, we're an educational institution. Mr. Donahue. Uh thank you. So, I this is giving you all more work to do and I apologize for that, but I I think the concern that I have and I go back to like my first year on the board is there were some of us who like pushed for this like 4, 5, 6% general pay increase and like yeah, four is more than, you know, four is more than three and six is more than five, but when

123they like penciled out to an hourly custodian, it was like 13 cents more an hour because their midpoint was just so catastrophically [music] low, right? So, if I can understand like what a 2% or 3% general pay increase is or if I'm obsessed with giving a dollar more to our hourly employees, like what is that in a percentage then, right? And if that is 10% for the hourly employee at the at the bottom of the pay scale, tell me that that means that my like welder that I have on staff is going to be making $15,000 more at a 10% midpoint increase, right? So, I can understand what that looks like. I guess for me it's just understanding what a general pay increase looks like for hourly employees and trying to wrap my head around

124that. Yes, I understand. And I think years past we gave you a breakdown of each um step schedule or midpoint and gave you what that increase would look like so that you have all of that information and if you do make a dollar, what is that equal? Well, in the in the past, one year, a long time ago, six years ago maybe, we did a percent general increase and then we increased our minimum by more than the percent increase to bring those up on the bottom without creating that distortion that she's talking about. Um so, we could do something on on the fly like that in May. I just like to know what this 2% general pay increase represents in terms of a starting salary for teachers and where that puts us based on what

125we information we have about where surrounding districts are. I know we might not have everything. All right, any other questions? >> I just Go ahead. As we talk about this in May, what I want everyone to be cognizant of is like we're not walking back stipends. If you have a master's degree or PhD, it's not like all the money in the world, but we're maintaining those. Can we just have that information like up on the chalkboard for the purposes of that conversation? Cuz comparing to like our neighbors, they're doing a whole other thing because they're in in the in the similar jam, but far worse. Um just to understand like, hey, we're we're trying here, right? Like I'm balancing a lot of teacups on sticks. >> [clears throat] >> Um, in addition to that, like

126Mr. McLaughlin said, I guess I would be interested in or supportive of understanding what like a 2% general pay increase for staff looks like, but we like raise the minimum hourly wages for those employees from where they are currently versus me giving everybody $2 an hour or whatever that looks like. On this base fund on the base fund balance, that's using the calculations that you've already included here. And and figuring that that's what we've got. Uh, yes, ma'am. Cuz the the gap is a million three, right? Right. And so we're looking at 29 left in in our fund balance. And what's the amount we have to keep? Uh, currently it's 26. >> 26. Getting a little close. Mhm. So we really have to push for ADA next year. Every day. All right, any other questions,

127comments? If not, is there a motion to adjourn? So moved. Second. Motion made by Mr. Hernandez, seconded by Ms. Cain. All in favor? Thanks so much, everybody. We'll see you soon.