001Test, test. test. T test Jamie, can you hear me? I can't hear with me. >> Okay. Mic check one two. Mic check one two. Can this hit me up? >> Yeah. Test one, two. Test test test one, two. Okay, one second. Did it sound fine? >> Functions about Hello Zoom participant. Can you hear me? Hello Zoom participant. If you can hear me, please uh say something into your microphone. Hello Zoom participant. Can you hear me? Yes. >> Oh, very good. I just wanted to check. Thank you. Hello Zoom participant. Can you hear me? Okay. >> Yes. Very good. Thank you. yard away. >> All right, everybody. Let's go ahead. Um, welcome to this meeting March 3rd, 2026. It is a special code meeting with the Sanra Christy ISD board of trustees. This is a meeting
002held in the public on a meeting of the public. You're invited to observe and listen as the board conducts its business during the public forum portion of the meeting. You are welcome to address the board per our published guidelines. All items that will be discussed and voted on this evening have been posted as required by law. In compliance with the state government code on open meetings act, this proceeding is being recorded and will become part of the summeric permanent legal record. In accordance with state law and district policy, disruptive conduct must be avoided so as not to interfere with the meeting. The board shall not tolerate disruption by any members of the public. This statement serves as the first warning from the presenting officer to the public and if an individual decides to disrupt the
003meeting, assistance from law enforcement officials will be requested. Thank you for joining us this evening and thank you for supporting San Marcus CISD. I am calling this meeting to order at 6:00 uh and declaring that we have a quorum with six board members in person. I don't believe we have anybody signed up for public forum this evening. Um, and I'm going to request unless the board um has any um objection that we go ahead and move up item five, discussion and possible action approving an order cancelling single member trustee elections and declaring the unos candidates elected to office um as our first item because we have Mr. crews on Zoom and so that we can do that. >> So you need a motion. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> No. No. I to state I think
004we should do it in public. I'm just saying we should move that item up first. >> Okay. >> Miss Hally, I'll make a motion that we approve the order cancelling the elections for single member districts one and three in declaring the unosed candidates elected to office. >> Motion made. Is there a second? >> Can you can you repeat? Uh yes, it was a motion to approve an order cancelling single member district trustee elections for district one and three and then declaring the candidates unopposed elected to office. >> You seconding, didn't we do that last week, >> Miss Lopez? >> No, we were waiting >> for the one and two, right? >> I thought we >> Okay. Um, so Mr. Cruz, I know you sent the board a memo. Can you just outline again what actions
005we're required to take, what our options are, etc. of you have anyone Heat. Heat. There is no You call me. You know that person call for an election. Heat. Heat. to me and I see the May of 202 remaining in office. >> Thank you. I have a question. Um if knowing that the seat will be vacant in May, um if the board decides to appoint somebody to that position, can we start that process now or do we have to wait until the seat has actually been canvased and officially declared vacant? >> Okay. Thank you. Any other questions, Mr. Uh, thank you, President Hollyy. Mr. Cruz, I know you referenced that there is a possibility of a special election to be called on like the November general election date. If we were to appoint somebody um
006sooner rather than later, let's say, you know, middle of May, if we start this process now, as Miss Halty referenced, can they run in that November election to then be elected to the the full unexpired term or can anyone or I know you specifically mentioned May. Could a November election suffice the remainder of the term if they were elected to that position in November or is it statutoily related to that May general election? election in May of But if they did run in November, if that's when we called the election, they would fill the remainder of the term if elected. Correct. >> Correct. Correct. Thank you. So is there we are asking the election for all three seats. >> So Miss Holy, just to explain my motion, I'm comfortable cancing the elections for one and
007three and I'm fine cancing the election for two. I was just hoping as like a board we would understand what that process looked like after cancelling for district 2. Right. So, I'll do one, two, and three tonight if we discuss appointment, special election, special election in November, special election in May of 2027. I just kind of want to have an understanding of tonight. So, as we do that, we have like a public facing message to the community, whatever that drives out to be at the end of this evening. So, that's the only reason why I did one and three, but I'm happy to go back and to two as well. Um, so can we make that determination tonight? Are we appropriately agenda is to do that or we need to do that at the regular
008March meeting cuz our agenda item is for cancelling September elections and then we have the close session. I just want to make sure before we get into this that we actually can do it. Miss or can we at least like establish like a general understanding maybe like I'm cool with that too. I'm just trying to figure out like where my colleagues are as far as >> Sure. >> a direct appointment, special election, special election November, May, etc. >> Yeah, that's fine. I just want to make sure that that if we need to vote on something that we can actually vote on it, but I think we can probably discuss it under this item. Um, Mr. Cruz looks like he's looking up the answer. Heat. Heat. all your respect which is your special. >> Okay. Um
009then I'm happy to offer my initial thoughts on that. Um which I think that this is a new situation certainly for me. Um, but my feeling would be that we would uh it would be I would feel like be a good idea if we opened up an application process um sooner than later. Uh maybe if we can get it onto the March agenda to open it up, have the application pro process open for several weeks. Um I think we would need to look at criteria. Um, and I think really the criteria is what is set out by the state. Um, in terms of who can and can't be on a school board. Um, ask for applications, set up a meeting for the board to uh, review the applications and take it to a vote. That
010would be to me the most fair and democratic process. Um, I also think it would be most fair to that person to let them serve a full term so that they would be on the next um, election in May. So, those are my thoughts, >> Miss Holy Miss. >> Um, I I agree with you. Um, I guess I'm not indifferent to either having them run for the seat in November or May. If we have the opportunity for them to run in November, I think that they should. Um, but I'm interested in a in a public facing process, accepting applications, reviewing them. I think anyone who wants to serve up here should go through some type of process to serve. So, you know, >> other thoughts? >> So, tonight we're just canceling it and we're going
011to wait to put it on the mic. >> Mr. Cruz. Sure. I have a question for the local council. >> Go ahead. M >> M Mr. Cruz, does the appointed if the school board chooses to appoint someone for district 2. Um does that person must that person reside in district 2? That's the question and the answer is yes. That person must reside in district two. Okay. Miss Kante, did you have a question? >> I had asked that question earlier and I think you and I had talked about that earlier in the day that they had to recite in that district. So when we look at accepting applications, I think we need to make sure that we publicize that they have to be from that single member district. Um, I guess on the question in November
012or May, I think there's a good argument to be made for moving schoolboard elections to May, but I mean to November, but that's not really the question here. like we're in May now and as long as we're in May now, I think the cadence of us having election in May. I mean, I could be talked out of this, but my initial impression would be having an election in May would make the most sense. Um, to me, >> since we have Mr. Cruz on the on the video, I have a question for him. In the past, we had discussed uh May elections versus November elections. Was there something in the lule agreement that we have to keep them in May? Do you remember? In the days the organization has been very quiet with the schools I
013don't think that that would be an issue whatsoever. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> As far as the November May thing, I just again I'm not burning this thing down for November or May. Um, but seeing as how we are very much likely going to appoint someone for like a full year because we know the vacancy we'll probably discuss this in March. We'll probably have enough time in April and May to do this application interview process. Like they are effectively going to serve a full year. I would just assume that like having somebody elected by the people sooner rather than later would be beneficial, but I'm cool with waiting until next May. All right. Unless there are other questions, then I think that what we should do >> I'll modify my amendment to
014include one, two, and or modify my motion to be canceling the elections for one, two, and three and declaring >> all three cancelled. Do you have a second? Okay. Then I think that um before we vote then we should ask administration to um research the appointment process and the way other districts conduct it and to bring us in at our regular March meeting um dates and a process and a recommendation for how we uh make that appointment by the May meeting. >> Okay. I see you. >> Terrific. Thank you. All right. That any other questions? All in favor? Oh, sorry. Mr. Dr. Fern needs to read something we do this. I get to insert myself into this certification of the unosed candidates for other political subdivisions, not county. Do I have to read it in
015Spanish? No. Okay. Presiding officer of governing body as the authority responsible for having the official ballot prepared. I hereby certify that the following candidates are unopposed for election to office for the election schedule to be held on May 2nd, 2026. List office and names of candidates. Trustee single member district 1. Jessica Kaine, single member district 2. None. Trustee single member district 3. Sandra Sulva Lopez. >> All in favor, please raise your hand. Opposed. That motion carries. 6. Uh the next item is the agenda preparation for the regular March 23rd meeting. Dr. >> Yes, please. Thank you very much, Mr. Cruz. >> Thank you. >> All right, Madam President, members of the board, good evening. Uh for the March 23rd, 26 board regular schedule board meeting, we will have student recognitions under the superintendent report. Item
016six, reports and information items. A, academics team academic team will be presenting the taper district annual report. Item seven of consent agenda items approval of minutes for regular of special board meeting on February 12th, 2026. Regular board meeting on February 23rd, 2026, and special board meeting on March 2nd, 2026. Item B, consider approval of budget amendments. >> We currently have one and that's just recognizing some revenue from TASBY for some insurance money that we got. So, we'll be recognizing that money into our fund balance. >> And that's for the hail damage. >> Yes, sir. >> Item eight, items for action. A academics one consideration and possible action to accept changes to the slack challenge form. Item 8B operations. We have a placeholder. It's for an easements. >> Yes, we're going to have an easement for
017the goodn night pond as part of the 2023 bond construction. It's a water quality access easement. Item C, procurement. One, consideration and possible action regarding the approval of awarded contracts for safety and security services. Uh C2, consideration and possible action regarding the approval of awarded contracts for kitchen repair services. Item D, finance uh one, consider approval authorizing the tax resale property held in trust suite number 20-2544. >> We'll need to add an item then E for appointing the process for appointing somebody to the board. >> Item E, school board. Hold on before we go >> to E. What is D1 >> line? Is it line barter reached out to us about a property? It's one of those. We haven't dealt with this property in about 7 years. Uh a property that Yeah. the for sale.
018I guess >> it was on foreclosure and then it didn't get sold. So now they want to sell it so they can get it back on the tax roll. So, the reason that the board has to approve it is because we like kind of own property around here, it's not particularly ours, but we have to give approval to sell it, but because it's under the tax amount, we have to give approval. >> Is there a way that you could include on the agenda the address? >> Yes, sir. Yeah, there'll be a packet of that information. >> No, I mean, not in the packet. In the agenda. >> Oh, yes. >> Thank you. >> All right. Item nine, close session as authorized by Texas Government Code section 551.071, 551.074, and 551.076. A consultation with legal counsel
019regarding JDR minor by and through his parents and next friends David Rowley and Rachel Rally and JMR minor buy and through his parents and next friends David Rally and Rachel Rowley versus San Marcus CISD CA number 1 25- CV-01545-RP in the US District Court for the Western District of Texas Austin subdivision. We will have the TASBY attorneys presenting to you all um some information in close session. Item B, deliberation regarding safety and security including safety personnel systems, intruder audit reports, infrastructure and/or devices. Currently, we don't have anything yet. Uh but we are in the process of interviewing for school marshals. Item 10, the board will reconvene in open session to take action if necessary on items discussed in close session. Item eight, discussion, possible action regarding settlement demand in the matter of David Rally and
020Rachel Rally and JMR minor buy and through his parents and Nick's friends David Rally and Rachel Rally v. San Marcus CISD CA number 125-CV-01545-RP in the US District Court for the Western District of Texas Austin Division and Madame President that is all we have currently for the agenda. >> Do any trustees have anything to add? Seeing none, we will move back into item four, the budget workshop, beginning with human resources update. All right, good evening. Um, I'll be presenting along with uh Claudia Peterson um on the HR update and then we'll transition to the other departments. Um, so today I'll be providing an overview of our district staffing process, including how we plan, allocate, recruit, and monitor our workforce to ensure every classroom is staffed with a highly qualified educator. Our goal is to give
021the board a high level understanding of our systems and strategies in place, the current um staffing landscape, and priorities moving forward. Sorry. Um, so our purpose and outcomes staffing is one of our most important responsibilities in our school district because people are our greatest investment um and have the greatest impact on student outcomes. Our focus um and a few of our primary out our focus on a few primary outcomes is ensuring every student has access to a qualified teacher, aligning staffing decisions with enrollment and program needs and maintaining financial responsibility and sustainability. Tonight's presentation is intended to provide transparency into the process while keeping the focus at a strategic level. Um, so some of our guiding principles, as you can see on our diagram, our staffing decisions are grounded in a set of principles that
022help ensure consistency and fairness across the district. First, we prioritize student centered decisions, meeting staffing is aligned with our student needs. Second, we focus on equity across campuses to ensure our resources are equally distributed and appropriately. Third, we maintain financial stewardship, recognizing that staffing represents the largest portion of our budget. We also ensure compliance with state requirements and approach staffing in a strategic workforce planning process rather than a reactive hiring process. I'm going to now transition to Miss Peterson. So, here is the annual um staffing cycle that follows a structured process to prepare for each u new school year. During the fall, class rosters are reviewed with campus leaders to account for enrollment. That's going to be based on demographic changes that may affect school zoning. Um and then adjustments are made in order to
023balance those class sizes. In the winter, we look at snapshot data um which is collected and then we develop our enrollment projections um and forecast staffing vacancies for the upcoming year. During the spring, we begin having those staffing allocation meetings with our principles and our department directors. Staff must meet the March 6 certification deadline. Then after spring break, we open up the transfer window for teachers to apply for a campus transfer. Once that closes, our HR department begins posting vacancies. And then the first week of May, we begin issuing out teacher contracts. And then the last phase here in the summer is HR will begin our process for new hires and then we prepare for the new school year by conducting um weekly orientation sessions. So as you will see here, this cycle ensures accurate
024enrollment planning, strategic staffing decisions and smooth onboarding for the upcoming academic year. We um now transition to what those allocation meetings consist of. So at the end of February, we're meeting with special program allocations that um is with HR. Then we meet with um the dual language director specifically and then our sped director. Beginning of March, we as a leadership team, HR, finance, we review those allocations and those numbers together. And then second week of May, we meet with our principles and then we go over all those projections and staffing allocations. So now we'll go into a little bit more detailed here on the factors that are involved on how we determine these allocations. Um, so it's really through a structured process to ensure that the campuses are appropriately staffed while we remain compliant and
025financially responsible. So here is how our HRE um department supports this process. We use projected student enrollment numbers to estimate how many teachers and support staff will be needed. These projections form the foundation for determining overall staffing levels at each campus. We then ensure allocations comply with state laws and mandates that are required for teacherto student ratios, certification requirements, and program compliance standards. Based on our district goals and state guidelines, HR then calculates the number of classroom teachers required to meet those class size targets. This ensures that we are we have an equitable distribution of students that are manageable for our instructional environments. HR also accounts for required staffing and specialized programs, specialized programs such as these, which is our special education, bilingual, ESL, and then our career and technical education. And then we also
026look at any other federally or state mandate mandated programs. These programs often have additional compliance requirements that directly impact staffing formulas. We then collaborate with our campus leadership to align staffing allocation which includes our master schedules, course offerings, and then our instructional models. Scheduling needs can influence the number and type of positions that are allocated. Finally, all staffing decisions must align with our district budget. Therefore, we work closely with the finance department to ensure allocations are sustainable and within funding limits while still meeting student and program needs. In summary, HR serves as the bridge between um student enrollment, legal requirements, instructional priorities, and financial constraints. By analyzing these factors together, we ensure campuses are staffed strategically, equitably, and in compliance with regulations, ultimately supporting student success. I'll transition now to back to Miss Moz. All
027right. Um, so as we look at staffing, we understand that there are several different um influences and challenges in education. And so these are a few that we face um while staffing which um may look like the statewide um teacher shortages in critical certification areas. Um also looking at a competitive uh labor market certification pipelines um and those uh limitations along with substitute availability. Our enrollment um has fluctuated here and there and then our mid-year turnover um in teachers. Those all create some complexities. And while these are challenging, they're not just challenging for our district alone. Um, and so it does require us to have very intentional planning and innovative solutions, which our response to these challenges is we've implemented several proactive strategies like our partnerships with the universities through our teacher residency program. And
028thank you to our board members and staff who were able to attend our tour. um that was giving insight and highlighting um some of our rockstar teachers that are mentoring our future teachers. Um we have some targeted efforts and retention strategies that are focused on supporting our staff um and success like our um longevity pay that we have focused on um maintaining those fiveyear plus teachers. We also are continuously refining our staffing models and our workforce supports um through items like our OI or organizational health index, making sure that we're serving our campuses and seeing what's working um and how to sustain that culture. Um so these efforts um position our district to remain competitive and help in our workforce environment. >> I have a question before you go on to the next slide. >>
029Sure. Uh, how many positions have become vacant during the school year in a classroom teacher? >> Um, to date, I believe three. >> Three across all campuses. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Mhm. Um, so how we monitor this? Um, we maintain systems to um maintain uh potential risks and ensure compliance. This includes certification compliance, class size requirements, vacancy tracking, um, substitute fill rates, and retention indicators. Regular monitoring allows us to address concerns early and minimize disruptions to students and campuses. So, in summary, um, before we shift over, um, it's a year-long process for our staffing. So, we're consistently monitoring every week what our vacancies look like, forecasting if we have campuses saying, "Okay, we foresee a retirement that's going to happen at the end of the year. We know that's a hard to
030fill position. We need to get that posted immediately." Um, and then making sure it's aligned to our student needs. Um, we actually, like Miss Peterson said, we meet with our directors. We met with our dual language and special ed last week and we plan to meet um and we have those on our calendar with campus principles for this upcoming week to then collaborate and talk about um the staffing for next school year. So I will now shift it over to our CFO. Um okay so we're going to do a brief overview on our special ed funding. Um here you'll see we get uh we have two buckets. We have state funding and federal funding. So our state funding comes from an aotment. Again it's based on weights for our students. So the different um areas
031of instruction. You get different weights for these students. So that is how the aotment comes in. Um, we also received this this year a new allotment and it's the FIE which is the full individual and initial evaluation allotment. So that's going to bring in additional money into the district. And then at the bottom there we have federal funding which right now we receive funding from um IDEA B formula and from ID uh B preschool. Um for our federal funding we get about $1.9 million. And as you can see, we spend it all. So all of the money is spent. We spend 1.6 on compensation and then contracted services about 245,000. So every single dollar from our federal fund is used. Uh next you'll be a look at our special education expenditures. If you look at
032the top part, that is our budget, our expenditures for special ed. Again, you can see our compensation is the largest amount. That's 13 million. uh we have contracted services in the amount of 1.2 and then we have supplies and travel which is 71 and 44 for a total budget of about 14.5 million and on that summary of finance our allocated revenue was 11.2 so the district is contributing about $3.2 million to fund our special ed students to Mr. Uh in our last meeting uh it was the question was posed about our contracts and what kind of contracted services that um the district uh works with. So we just we wanted to provide a quick glance here. These are our special ed contracted service providers. Um and we kind of just have them listed yeartodate. Um
033this would be about twothirds of the cost of of um of what we would normally pay throughout the year. So we just kind of wanted to provide that information. and um it was requested. Uh we know that we do currently have a lot of service um providers, contracted service providers and it's just um I think it's a factor of the current needs of of our district and u not having these individuals that we have in house. >> So yeah, >> good evening. Good evening, President Hley, trustees and Dr. Gdona. I'm going to talk about just some key takeaways of what we're seeing in the district as it relates to special education. Um right now the district similar to other districts we're having challenges to fill hard to fill positions and those are primarily our related
034service providers. Um right now under pick 23 for special education we have 13 vacancies. two are instructional one teacher one IA but then we the remainder are our OT's um our occupational therapists our speech language pathologists our physical therapists our diags our school sites those are hard to fill positions so what we're doing to ensure continuity services and ensure that our students are not receiving any gaps to services we are contracting with providers to ensure coverage for those services we're also seeing an increase in students as well as in intensity. What we're seeing right now roughly um we have roughly right now 21.7% of our students overall receiving special education service. That's an increase of 2% from the year previous of 19% and 2% increase from the year prior um at 17%. Not only are
035we seeing an increase in student population, but as well as in needs as defined by more structure setting um high needs as it relates to academics as well as functional and behavioral. We're seeing and we can draw in that data and see those students um based on their instructional setting. Right now we have roughly 11% of those students receiving services in that setting compared to 9% the year prior. So we have an increase in student needs as well as relates to our personnel impact as HR discussed. We have started projections. We are pulling projections and forecasting for next year. However, it is fluid process because of our committee decisions. So that might change when it comes to May. But we're doing our best based on current data and our committee decisions to make those projections
036as accurate as possible. Thank you. So we showed you this um slide on our on our February uh budget workshop and uh so we are entering the month of March. Uh during this time as HR mentioned we have the conversations with our departments and we are um moving into conversations with campuses regarding um budget allocations and getting feedback from principles. Um we've also are at a point where um we look at preliminary funding um just tracking our title and state comp and and uh the information we've been getting back from um from TEA and our region center um that there's not going to be much of a change in the amount of funding and that we do expect the funding from a lot of our ESSA uh to continue to come through as well as
037IDAB and the other um federal funds that that we receive. Um so we'll be looking at those to try and project out and and then we are also going to be uh hoping to get some feedback from principles on on their needs and concerns. Um as we move into to April um for this next month is where we really want to um present um these next steps. Uh we we want to have a a compensation um consideration in our next budget workshop and be able to get some feedback from the board. Uh we'd like to review uh current staffing and operating costs with you so that we can um kind of look at a menu items of the different things that we are are currently using or have um in the district and maybe what
038some things that we want to continue to move forward with as well as any um potential uh increase or changes in in salary compensation. Um so that would be our budget proposal and our staffing proposal. Um now we also get our our updated revenue projections. That's going to be in late April. So, we won't have those values um to to have a more precise uh projection of our revenue. However, we will still u we've been tracking it throughout the year. So, I I think we're on pace and and we shouldn't be far off from what we are using now and what we'll see when we get our preliminary um certified values. >> All right. Thank you. >> Questions from the board? Mr. McGlin, >> I appreciate the like summary of what staff is doing. Um,
039but I feel like now we're into March and I haven't seen numbers like even at the projected stage of revenue and expenses. And I if we don't see numbers before May, it's very difficult for the board to shape the budget into the board's collective and the district's priorities. Um, so I would like to see these updates transition from here's what we're doing to here's questions we need answered. Um, because I don't feel this is as interactive as maybe I would consider a workshop should be. Um, this is more like a presentation, which is good. I like the presentation, but uh, if it comes to us in May, there's not a lot we can do to to shape it. So, we can send you the information we previously provided that kind of has what we think
040the number of the three spreadsheets >> which has the numbers, but I don't know if you're looking for anything more specific. um >> presentation we had last last month >> presentation we >> had last month had some numbers attached to it with some kind of flexibility in terms of ADA changing and some of the things that we were still waiting to see if it was going to come through. I I know I didn't have I don't have it with me but I know that we started getting >> the re the revenue that we presented last uh I believe. Yeah. Um I mean we don't have any changes to that because we don't have any other updated information like Mr. Alvarez said we'll get our preliminaries uh values in April, but that won't be till late
041April. But we can certainly use those numbers that >> I've seen revenue numbers, >> but I haven't seen any missed it >> expend >> spending numbers. And so I hear in isolation that we've had um a sped percentage jump 4% in 2 years. And I know that has a dollar impact, but it's not I I can't tell you what it is because I haven't received that. And the majority of that is compensation. And that is the meeting that we just had last week. And so now we're going to meet with all the all the principles and all the campuses to go over all those allocations. So we will have that information >> and our plan is um we do collaborate with our principles and we say this is what we're projecting based on enrollment. So
042if no salary changes happened and our year rolls over, then this is with our allocations and what they're being paid now what our uh compensation will look like which then will be shown with our revenue. So once we share this is our projections for staffing roll over the new year Denise's team can then say this is how much it's going to cost us with the current salaries. >> So do you think that even though we won't have the updated revenue projections at the next uh at the next agenda prep meeting that we can at least put those two sets of numbers together knowing that they might change a little bit when we get the >> Yes. Mr. on it. >> Thank you, Miss Hoy. I I guess I understand the macro process. When we talk
043about like needing to wait for revenue projections, I would just operate under the assumption that we are like planning for a deficit budget, right? Like hopefully it's not the case, but I would assume that we're all working under the assumption that we're not going to have enough money to pay for all of the things. So you were still going to present us a deficit budget when this thing comes out in May, right? So with that assumption being understood, >> is there any when you say like, well, we're waiting for like revenue projections to talk to campus principles to do like >> a little more updated number, but >> and yeah, I hear that, but again, it's not like we're basing allocations on, well, like, well, Crockett, stay within your budget because it's probably going to
044be over regardless. And same thing for like every campus, right? So I agree with Mr. Mclofflin. I understand that there's like a process and this exchange of numbers and data, but I don't think it's based on projected revenue because we know the projected revenue is not going to be enough. Right. >> Correct. And usually we give all of our campus and departments their allocations and it's right before spring break. So, they will be getting theirs and then we'll be reviewing that and that's when we're going to put everything together to show you what those expenditures are uh with a estimated revenue and then we'll change that revenue in uh late April, May when we actually get the numbers. So, that'll be put together. And then my like second question just based on like my own
045curiosity is when it comes to like classroom teachers. So like core subject areas. I'm assuming that is just kind of like a calculation, right? I mean you have 400 kids. They're in certain grade levels. You divide them. You level the classes. This is how many classroom teachers I need, right? Okay. So separate from that, what like flexibility is there with like campus leadership? Like I guess for an instance, we got an email from a community member saying they want like another fine arts teacher at Miller, right? Okay, great. Once upon a time, yeah, sure. You you got it, right? Four of us vote on it. Here's the money. But now, I guess what I'm trying to understand is does like the principal at a campus get to say like instead of an art teacher, I
046want a theater teacher or instead of a wood shop teacher at a junior high, I want somebody to do X, Y, and Z. And I would be interested in like understanding those decisions and seeing what that looks like because I'm I'm just curious, right? So again, it was it was I guess suggested to me like not to reply to the parent, let it go through the process, but I guess I'm unfamiliar with like what that process looks like as far as campus leadership. like who gets to decide like a fine arts FTE is more or less important than somebody else, right? I guess that's what I'm trying to wrap my head around. >> So, we do look at um master schedule determine how many um sections are going to be offered, how many teachers are
047going to need to teach. So, you um it's a formula, right? um how many um classes students are going to be going to, how many teachers are or how many class periods are teachers going to be teaching cuz they have a conference period. Um and then for um our secondary campuses, they do have a PLC for um tested areas. So they may not all teach um seven classes. They may teach six because they're a tested area and they have more planning periods. Um so we do all of that. we determine how many sections are going to be offered um and then that determines how many teachers based on student numbers will be allocated. Then what we'll be meeting next week with principles is okay after your course selections with our academics team which the counselors
048at the secondary level get the course tallies and they say okay so many students want and miss Cantune knows she was a counselor so many students are um wanting to be in PE or wanting to be in band or wanting to be in art in theater and then that determines what the need and the principal will u make a suggestion and say Look, I have a lot of students this coming year who really want to be in theater. Um, while I don't have that many students wanting to be in art, my recommendation is going to be, you know, we make these staffing changes. So it's all student centered but we also have to look at the data provided by our academics team and then our principal um has a seat at that table to say
049this is what my campus is needing and our academics finance and HR are there to say you know yep we can do that or um based on your data this is what we're seeing. So it's a collaborative approach >> and when does when does that happen in the timeline? >> This coming week. So you'll know like I'll know if that parent's request went through the process and got fulfilled by next week. So I could ask you like hey >> are we getting the new position next week? >> We will publish to principles and then at that time after spring break they will meet with their departments because we want our principles to have that communication. Not you know we wouldn't communicate that to campuses. It would come from the principal. um they would share that
050back out with their teams. >> Mr. Mo, >> I want to follow that stream just for a little bit so I understand like information control. So So that the the query we got from the parent was was super specific like is 223 kids want to be in theater. How would someone know that? >> The teacher emailed the parents. >> Yeah. So the teachers know like what the kids selection numbers are or >> my understanding from uh the counseling team and the principles. Um that sixth grade rolling up into seventh grade and seventh grade rolling up to 8th grade was not yet determined. Um the guidance that I got from the director of counseling that process is still happening. So we will know likely by the end of the week what course tallies look like. Um
051so I'm not really sure accuracy yet that that's been shared with campuses um quite yet. >> So when you decide if you decide if the principal decides I'm going to have one theater teacher >> um then you just don't honor some of those requests because they're ranked selections, right? So if you had 223 that wanted to be in theater, you had room for 150, then we just have 150, right? We don't just overload the classes. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> Thanks. >> And so, sorry. So, just to go back to the 263 specific number. So, that was just like based on current the grade before numbers, right? That's where that parent got that or that was from the teacher specifically knowing this is how many people have filled out the course selection form and I
052know that and I'm going to start politicking and lobbying electeds. >> Likely. Um, to be honest, I did not go in and I mean that's at the campus level right now. So, I've not gone in to investigate where is your source, how did you get that number? I'm sure I will ask that during our staffing meetings like where did this number come from? How many do you have projections? But at this point, the data from academics isn't yet published for our eyes yet. We will get it by end of week >> for sure. and I appreciate that information and I'm obviously understanding and accepting of the process and obviously I would assume that every course director facilitator wants you know if they're overloaded with selections to be staffed at what they think is ideal. I
053know me and Miss Kin too can probably talk about like what we think counselors should be staffed at based on like national suggestions. We just don't live in that world anymore unfortunately. Right. So, as we communicate these decisions out in a public-f facing way, I mean, again, I remember when we voted to put art facilitators and GT facilitators and parent liaison and and all of the things at every campus, and that was a fun time to be on this school board, I will admit, but obviously I'm just like not there anymore. So, I appreciate this information, understanding more of the process that y'all go through with staff. Um, in that same vein though, if there are 250 kids that want to be in an athletic period or 150 kids who want to be in an
054art class at a campus, I do not want that to be decided by you all quite frankly at a campus level when it comes to like a budgetary standpoint. Like, if I can overstaff art because a bunch of kids want to be in art right now at Crockett, like I would like to have that conversation as a board member, right? And if I have to like tussle up here to solve that issue, I would much rather do that than say like 300 kids who want to be in athletics can't be in athletics because we only have so many coaches, right? So, I do want to be somewhat a part of that process knowing that y'all are doing an intentional and like deliberative exercise at a campus and and district level. So, thank you, >> Mr.
055McGloin. >> A question on that fine arts, the middle schools in and secondary schools. Do we do we fund any of those positions through stipens to teachers in other subjects like we do in sports or do we only have fine arts teachers where that's the subject they teach? >> Correct. Um unlike some of our other extracurricular um classes, our fine arts are just in their fine arts um sections. Um whereas other teachers might be coaching math or coaching football and teaching math. Um and so um that works a little bit different as far as their sections. Our fine arts are only in their sections. Um at the high school level, they may be helping out um build their um pipeline and going down to middles. Um so you may see that um you have high
056school teachers going and helping out as well at middle schools. Is that the same or do you know is that the same way it's managed at neighboring districts? Because it's a lot less expensive for us to fund a position through a stipend uh than it is for us to fund a full-time position that only does that. >> Correct. Um when we do our stipen surveys, that's uh traditionally what we see. >> Okay. Thank you. I guess I would um ask that when we resume this conversation in April with the numbers that we have, I would like to see um a projection with a balanced budget. And then I'd like to see um detail on if we're going to have a deficit budget, what that will cover and what that be like to Mr. McCloud's point
057or Mr. on this point about um if we are going to um assume additional costs for overages, which I'm not opposed to, but I just want to know exactly what it is like what we're covering and what we need to spend a deficit for to to have or not to have. >> Say something. >> I think as a board member, we have to leave some decisions to our administrators in terms of working with master schedule, distribution of staff. I think that that the principles and administrators know better as to where the needs are. I like that we have so much of an interest in what's being offered, but I think my role and I've always thought that we have certain limitations in terms of what we can say because building a master schedule takes time.
058Then the counselors have to put it together to make the schedule and then the schedule should be based on what we can afford. Now that is our decision deciding what we can afford and what how much in debt we want to go into or how much of a deficit we want to have for our school district. But I think that we almost have to depend on our high school principles and our two middle school principles in terms of what their needs are. But I know that in back in my day that we did master schedule in January, we ran schedules, the first draft of schedules by March. So when the kids left in March, we had a stack of them run already. And by March, you have a good indication as to how many teachers
059you're going to need for the different departments. And so I think it's a it's a really tricky subject to work on and for us to make this finite decisions about how many art classes are going to be offered. I don't I don't see that as my role. Yes, Mr. Mclofflin. >> Oh, I wasn't interrupting you. I was just getting in line. I I I >> You wanted to be next. >> I wanted to be next, but I don't want to interrupt you. Are you completely done? That's those are my thoughts because I've been there and done that and I know that it's a tough decision for our principles as to these are our needs in terms of teachers. Now, when you present our budget to us, you can you can tell us this is what
060they're asking for and then it's our job to decide if we're willing to go into a bigger deficit by adding more staff or raises. And th those are big decisions and I think that that's where the board is very important. I mean that's one of our important roles deciding the budget and how much of a deficit do we want to carry into the following year. So I pray every day that we have a lot of attendance that our attendance is 95 or better because that creates money for us and that helps the current year not have such a big deficit cuz I that's what I understood from all the presentation even though as a counselor you don't deal with the overall budget but you know that you got to have money to pay your people
061and I it was interesting to me today from the special ed presentation all the specialists we need and how they have to be contracted and that those specialists are costly. Special special ed is a high cost area. I've always thought of that and I never worked in special ed but I think it was it's scary to not have the the people or the personnel that are qualified to help our students with special needs. And now I'll be quiet. Mr. Wson. >> Okay. I agree with most everything Miss Cantu said. I'm going to make a budget information request and nobody gasps. I'm not saying I want to do this. I'd like to know what the budgetary savings would be from converting Bonum to a kindergarten center, removing kindergarteners from the elementary campuses, and closing Travis just
062for the next budget workshop. I don't want to do it, but if it's $8 million, I'd just like to know. See, are you saying to eliminate prek? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um, and then I would like to get an update on the additional money that the state owes us and where we're at with that because I think last time we talked it was about $4 million that TA still has yet to pay us and we last we heard we were maybe hoping to get it in October, but I at the April meeting I'd like to get new information on that. >> It's 2.8 8 for this year and 4.3 for next year that is being held up. >> And I do I do want to say something about the master schedule. I think Mr. Mclofflin
063was probably alluding to this when academics, HR, and finance are meeting with the principles. There could be leeway in sixth grade with certifications. you know, at sixth grade, a reading K6 certification can do like an intro fine arts, you know, so I know they do have those conversations. Um, and we moved like orchestra, he helps out, they help out down at the middle school. But that is an area where you could look at if somebody has an open and they're reading teacher and I don't know they love theater, they could they could pick up a section. >> Any other questions, Miss Kane? I also want to echo that I don't want to micromanage each individual decision if um as stuff is coming. I think kind of tagging on to President Hald's idea of balanced versus
064uh what the deficit might look like. I would like to see this is kind of our wish list of staff if we if we're going into this deficit. These are the most important positions based on all of these conversations. Um and then I just had a question about the figuring out enrollment. It makes sense to me. We have kids in third grade this year. They're going into fourth grade. Okay. But we don't know how many preschoolers and kindergarteners especially. How do y'all I know there's demographics. How do you come up with the projected number of kindergarteners for next year? >> Mhm. So yes, we roll up every um grade level, but then kindergarten we duplicate. Um and then those that um so kindergarten right now we duplicate um and it's the same number for next
065year on our projections. And then um we have a student transfer window that just closed. And so our academics team um shared that data um on who is maybe saying I'd like to go to this campus. So then we ensure that those numbers are accounted for and then bonum wherever they're zoned our academics team provides us their zoned area and we like put a placeholder for those students. Um and so it's typically worked um every single year. Um, now if a whole community um decides to move to another zoned area, which did happen this year, then those are things that we may not know until August um when they're doing registration and we have to make some internal shifts um once the information's provided. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I just wanted to circle back
066on the whole like uh budgeon me over the head with like the whole micromanaging rhetoric. I guess I want to be clear. I'm not asking to like weigh in on every FTE decision at a campus, but if for whatever reason a campus does make the decision, hey, this course that used to be popular just isn't anymore and we're getting rid of it, as like an FYI, it'd be great to know as a part of the budget process because I can guarantee someone's going to catch me at HB and ask and then I'm going to be like, well, I don't know. Oh, I was trying not to micromanage, so go talk to the principal. And I really don't like to give that response to parents and students and community members. Right? So, if after those decisions
067are made, after y'all decided, after campus based decisions have gone through the process, an FYI would just be great and would empower me as a policy maker to kind of like block people as they like come at me at HB. So, thank you. Any other questions, comments? All right. Thank you very much. Um then I would be remiss if I did not um congratulate Trustee Via Pondo and wish her a happy birthday. Today was declared by the mayor of San Marcus to be Margie V. Vapondo Day. We are grateful for your dedicated service to the district for these many years. We appreciate you and we look forward to having you with us for the next few months. So, you're not allowed to rush off, but >> and thank you to the Miachi who showed up
068as a surprise at city hall this morning. Um, it was wonderful. So, >> all right. Is there a motion to adjurnn? >> Second. All in favor? Thank you everybody.