001Welcome back. Happy new year. Um I'd like to welcome everybody to this January 5th, 2026 regular special special meeting of the San CD board of trustees. Um we are have all trustees present and so we have quorum. We have nobody here to address the board in public forum. So, we'll move directly into the agenda preparation for our regular January 20th meeting. Dr. Corona. >> All right. Madame President, members of the board, happy new year and welcome back everybody. Hope everybody got some rest and relaxation. I sure know I did. Um, just a couple things. I'll start with item five, superintendent report. We will have some student recognitions, I'm sure, uh or attendance um awards, but we do have some students I'm sure we're going to want to recognize from [music] some fall semester uh recognitions.
002Item six, reports and information items. A board of trustees, we'll have a resolution for y'all for National Human Trafficking Prevention Month that we'll have um item 6B academics. Dr. Sanders and academics team will have a quarterly academic update and our campuses will be presenting. No, they won't. Just from y'all. All right. Item C, operations. Mr. Sandival will have a transportation update. Well, Mr. Shields will have a transportation update. Item seven, seven, approval of consent agenda items. We have item A, approval of minutes of the regular schedule board meeting on December 5th, 2025. and special board meeting on January 5th, 2026. Item 7B, consider approval of awarded contracts for special education and related services. This is a yearly I think this is a yearly thing we bring to you all. Uh item 7 C, consider approval
003of budget amendments. Okay, currently we have none. Item eight, items for action A, elections. A1, consider an order calling an election to be held May 2nd, 2026 for the purpose of electing three trustees. We have 8B, communications one, consider approval of the 2025 2020 6 2026 2027 school year. I was like, "Wait, we're not going backwards." Um, item 8 C operations one, consider approval of the purchase of 10 buses from Longhorn Bus Sales, Rush Bus Sales, and Thomas Bus, Texas for 1.8 million through the use of 2023 supplemental bond funds, and authorizes superintendent or his design to execute the contract. Mr. Understandable, you want to talk a little bit about this? >> Sure. Um, so we are in need and I don't want to take away from Mr. Shield's presentation, which he'll deliver at the
004regular board meeting, but Senate Bill requires the um buses to have the three-point lap belt. And we have about 30 buses that we need to um replace or to purchase that will will meet this. And we have a plan to purchase these buses over the next three years, four years. But part of that is using the 2023 bond funds to purchase the initial 10 that we're looking to to do. And like I said, he's got more information for that. Uh Denise is going to talk about it here shortly in the budget um workshop as well. But that's what this action item is is all about. Item 8 D, safety. Item D1, consideration and approval of a resolution to declare a good cause exception for House Bill 3, armed security officer requirements. And um so this
005came out of our audit. Walker, I don't know if you want to kind of talk more about this. Um because we have school resource officers in the elementary schools, we have to so one of the House Bill 3 requirements is that we have a uh armed peace officer. So someone who is certified through the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, whether that be local police department uh agreement or ISD police department at each campus. uh as we have SMPPD school resource officers at our secondaries and school marshals at our elementaryaries, we don't meet that requirement. However, we are able to file a good cause exemption which also includes that in response to not being able to provide those TCOL officers. We do provide school marshals who meet the requirement of having an armed security guard at
006each campus. Um, we did this originally whenever we created the Marshall program and we found through our assessment that uh we're just due to [music] submit it again. >> Item D2, consideration and possible action of a resolution for hazard mitigation action plan for future eligibility for FEMA mitigation project grant funding. This actually started back in 2021. and I'd sent a letter of support to when the county was looking to access some federal funds and so they've reached out to us again that they [music] need for the board to support that or Hayes County cannot apply for FEMA funds is how I understand it. Come on up. >> Oh, I was just going to say uh Trustee Lopez was asking if we could turn up the volume. >> Oh, >> she said she's having difficulties hearing.
007[music] I guess >> Thank you. M [clears throat] yeah. So, for the county to be eligible for future uh FEMA hazard mitigation action plan funds, um they are asking that all county county agencies including [music] uh school districts which are housed within the agency uh basically give a resolution that says we do agree with this and that if there were a natural disaster which required recovery funding beyond what insurance in the district can provide that SMCISD would like to be included in uh you know receiving labor and [music] additional financial support to recover. Item 9, close session as authorized by Texas Government Code section 551.071, 551.072, 551.076, and 551.087 9A discussion regarding midyear evaluation contract of superintendent. Item 9B dis deliberation regarding safety, security, including safety, personnel systems, intruder audit reports, infrastructure, andor devices. >>
008Item 10, the board will reconvene in open session to take action if necessary on items discussed in close session. >> Not present. That's all I have. >> Does anybody have anything that they want to add? Mr. Mclofflin, >> this would probably be Well, Mr. Superintendent, I don't I don't want to presume this would be Mr. % of all, but I'd like to understand what we do to screen workers, construction workers at the high school, cuz the new renovation is very wrapped up in the facility. I mean, the kids, my I dropped my daughter off today and she walked past a couple of the hardworking gentlemen in their pickup trucks and you know, as a parent, I'd like to know that I could be assured that they didn't have a active warrant or a history of
009sexual abuse or something like that. So, I'm sure that our general contractor does something, but some sort offormational presentation would help me. >> Anybody else? Mr. Arondo. >> Uh, thank you, President Hollyy. I I guess I had two questions, comments. One is I know that our deadline for appointees to the board advisory council is January 9th. Can my colleagues remind me what we are [music] tasking them to do? I mean I think we we sort of had a [clears throat] list of to be determined but one of the first items is the uh the ways in the way that we are complying with the state's requirement for us to engage parental advocacy groups or a group and the first item on that list was you know in terms of the meeting this very meeting like
010are we in compliance by having this meeting at noon. >> Okay. Um, so that was the first order of business, I think. But then we'd also talked about using the same group to discuss the naming of various facilities, including this one. Um, I think it was sort of that catch-all committee, wasn't it? >> Okay. And I just wanted to make sure that that was the case cuz as I've tried to recruit folks, they're like, "What am I going to do?" And I'm like, "Well, it could be anything." And they're hesitant to embark on that without uh parameters, but I know that we had discussed that it might be >> I think those are the two first two orders of business and I think that that will take at this point since we're not going to
011be convening the committee until sometime at least this month that would seem like it would take the bulk of the semester >> and so that is has nothing to do with like the proposed calendar for the next academic school year or anything like that. that is still a separate >> do they need to be the same >> process or no >> or who is that I guess in relation to this new advisory committee so I can understand how these groups are working in tandem >> so last year with the academic calendar what we did was we worked with our campus principles created a proposed calendar and then took it to DEIC just for review they don't have to approve it we just wanted to get their opinion we sent it out to the community parents
012families teachers and staff for their opinion as well. Then brought that back to the board. >> So is that and I guess my question to my colleagues is is are we going to stick with that process as is or I know last year there was some back and forth and we approved a calendar and then walk the calendar back and so I was just curious. I wanted to talk about it now before I forget and we're in the middle of a calendar. >> Yeah. I mean, I don't know how other people feel, but I feel like the calendar process is working as well as it ever has. I mean, it's always a little there's always, you know, something Texas State changes at spring break or some things that we can't account for, right? But I
013feel like we've backed it up far enough. We've solicited input that anybody who wants to participate has an avenue to be heard, right? So, I'm not sure like it seems like it'll never be perfect, but we've gotten it about as good as it can get. But that's my feeling. Clen, >> the person who naming business January 9th committee can work for the school district, but we prefer they not work for the school district. >> This committee does not have restrictions imposed on this by the state. This is our own ad hoc committee that we are appointing. So it's it's basically like the shack but without without that particular agenda and without the restrictions. So yes, anybody. So it could be apparent that >> because it's purely a board advisory committee that we are appointing to
014try to give us some external advice on various issues [music] that we deal with. >> Other questions? Uh the only other comment I have is I would ask that uh President Hollyy keep the agenda preparation portion of this meeting open pending the conclusion of the budget workshop. Since I don't know what's going to be presented, there very well could be an agenda item that I want to follow up on. >> That makes sense. >> After it's done. >> Cool. Thank you, >> M. McLaren. informationally since I see that under 9A we're going to discuss the contract and then potentially take action. Um Miss Hollyy I wasn't here when that I guess most recent iteration was signed. If you could email me a copy that would be helpful in my preparation >> of the contract. >>
015Yes. Um I think Dr. Cardona everybody needs to receive a copy of the contract. Everybody also needs to get a I know that we've got it somewhere in our email boxes, but if everybody could get a new version of your three-year plan in preparation of that review, too. Um, and your current set of goals. So, those three documents. >> Okay, [clears throat] I'll resend the ones I sent. >> Yeah, I know we have them buried, but it would just be easier. Thank you. Um, and then I want to go back actually to the uh academic update. I'm not sure what that is envisioned, what what you're planning there, but you know, in the past couple of years, we've been doing comprehensive ELA review and a comprehensive math review at this point in the year based
016on and I know we finished up at the high school first semester before the holiday, which was great. So, those grades should be coming soon. So in that meeting you will receive the ELA sorry excuse me the ELA the math from the second I think we finished those back in December. So you'll get those results along with attendance and behavioral discipline uh data. So it'll be a comprehensive look at all the things that we say are key performance indicators. So, academics, behavior, and the attendance will be comprised [music] as part of that presentation. >> Okay. And that's K12. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Um, >> I have a question. >> Yeah. Sandra, >> can you all hear me? Sorry. Um, so I guess with all of that since all those numbers are going to be
017coming in and it's very hard for me to hear, so forgive me if I've got my grades wrong, but um, I would like to have some sort of update. I know we discussed it back in August when we, you know, brought in the new principles at Buouie and at Mendes. Want to kind of see where things are there, make sure that we have, you know, good numbers coming coming in. um that there's no regression that we're having to deal with because of the switch out and just kind of make sure that all the um necessary, you know, supports are in place for those principles as we move into the new semester. >> And we'll actually have a meeting this afternoon with the Buoy improvement team. Uh there are several the members of the district improvement
018team who presented to you all back in August or September. We'll be meeting with them later this afternoon so that we can recap what's happened in the first semester so that we can bring you that information also within the academic update presentation part. >> Okay. And I want to make sure that um because it's going to be a lot of data that we're looking at that that presentation in complete is in our board book. >> We'll have it Wednesday. We'll be turning that into Yes, >> Mr. Mofflin. Um, on that academic update, one other thing I would like, um, when I hear at HB that there's like 42 kids in a third grade [music] class, and I know that's not true. Um, it would be helpful if we got that. We used to get and
019maybe we still did that census that said like it had all the classes and the numbers. >> Yes, that would be fantastic. >> Yeah, we used to send them the spreadsheet that had campus. >> Thank you. >> We just block out the teacher names. >> [snorts] >> All right. Anything else? Mr. Aridondo. >> Thank you. President Holy, is there a document somewhere that lays out the redistricting process that we're going through right now? Like there is no document. You asked us for a presentation, which is what we did, and then >> you give us the direction after that. And so we there's no further presentation other than to look for options to increase attendance at Travis. So we're going to bring that to you all. Some of the things we've been talking to the principles
020about potentially involving like year round schooling maybe at one of the schools. See if the community will want that as an option to drive up attendance and reshift. But there's no plan plan. Like once you gave us you're not interested, we stopped. >> So are we still going out to survey the community or no? >> No, we will not be moving forward with reszoning based on the feedback from the last board meeting. >> President Holy? >> Yeah. >> Uh just because of the article in the daily record, is there a way that we can communicate that outwardly? Because obviously the perception is we're embarking on this redistricting process. if you were to read the newspaper. So, I don't know if we can communicate that that's not happening. >> Absolutely. Cool. >> All right. Then if
021there's nothing else, we can go into the budget workshop. >> Miss Hoy. >> Yes. >> Before we go into the budget workshop, um is it okay if we take like a five-minute break? One, so I can use the men's room, TMI, but two, so I can get like a hard copy of whatever presentation staff is about to give. >> Sure. >> Okay, cool. Thank you. We'll recommend in five minutes. calling you for five and he needs to pack what he wants to bring Hi Sandra. Can you hear me? Sandra. Mic check one two. Mic check one two. Is it any better? Can you hear? Okay. Mic check one two. Mic check one two. Mic. Mic. Mic check. >> Hi. Yes, I can hear you. There we go. Check mic check >> there. I can hear
022you better. >> Can you hear me? >> Yes. All right, let's reconvene and move into the budget workshop. >> Miss Garcia, please take it away. >> Hi everybody. Okay. So, today we're going to have a budget overview. Um, I want you to know that these are high-level early estimates um that we are projecting today. Uh, these are not final numbers. Um we are going to continue to refine and define these numbers as we get um estimate as we get more actual uh expenditures and revenue uh projections um from both milk Casey from TEA as uh team submissions are submitted we will get better information um I wanted to start off with some uh this slide shows how I'm sorry this is best practice targets uh for a healthy uh school district budget. Um usually compensation
023should be between 80 and 85% of our budgets. Uh other operating uh expenses uh anywhere between 10 to 15%. And then our savings balance should be anywhere between 3 to 5%. These are just benchmarks. These are not mandates or anything, but it helps to make some decision making when we're working on our budgets. Um, this slide here, uh, shows how Sam Marcus has compared to those targets over the past four years. You can see, uh, years where we were aligned closely with the best practice targets and years where factors pushed us outside those targets. Um the one that really shows out is 2324 where um we were in that ne negative7 million when we came in at the end of the year. That was really uh a bad year. Uh but we are making gains
024in 2425. You can see that we are trying to balance that back. Uh the next slide uh provides uh actual dollar figures that make up those percentages uh that we just showed on the previous slide as well as on the top of this slide. So if we look at 2223 uh the district uh revenue was you unusually high. We we were at 91 million compared to the prior year at 82. Some of the factors there was the increase of 19% in our property values that year. Property values skyrocketed. Uh we also received grant funding from ESSER. Um which also helped us to safeguard some of our general fund money. [music] So that revenue was higher. uh ESRE funding allowed us to support operations and staffing at a level that was not sustainable long-term in the
025general fund as we can see in the in the next year. Um expenditures in both compensation and other operational expense uh expenses also increase due to higher health insurance cost. Um addition of longevity stipens, salary increases, increase in property insurance um and other and general inflation. Uh in 2324 our revenue declined. So we went from 91 million to 80 million. And this was due to some recapture um where the state kept about $6 million of our [music] funding. So we got it in 23 22 23 but then they took it away in 23 24 at the same time compensation increased because esser funded esser funding ended and we absorbed a lot of positions that we had um added during the esser um period. Um then in 2425 we were able to pass our Vader which
026increased our um golden pennies to the 8 cents. So we added 2 cents which helped with uh additional revenue coming in. [snorts] Um we also did a lot of cost-saving measures that year which we in we uh implemented a hiring freeze. We attritioned a lot of positions. We had some tra um travel restrictions um that we implemented during that year to try to bring the costs down which helped us in that year in a $3 million versus I believe that year we had um approved a budget of 15 million. Oops. Okay. So this slide shows our early projections. So if you notice that last arrow column for 2526. So this is early projections. I looked at what our compensation our salaries are right now based on contracts that we have in place in the system
027right now. Um this doesn't include any vacancies. Um this includes a estimate of overtime extra duty. Um, so again, these are just really uh early estimates. So with this estimate, we're looking to end the year in about a million dollar deficit if if these estimates hold true. >> Does that include the money we're still trying to get? >> No. >> So if we do get that, we'll be at a million above. >> Correct. Uh the next slide uh shows a very early projection for our 2627 budget plan. So this slide our goal is to return to budgeted target ranges and be and begin re uh rebuilding fund balance. So, in this scenario here, I'm showing a 1% um into our fund balance, like that would that would net about $96,000. Uh but as as you
028can see, if you look at 2526 and 2627, [music] it's really going to depend where we end in 2526. Looking at these estimates right now, we looking at we're needing to cut another additional about $3 million. It could be from compensation, it could be from other uh expenditures. Um, if you notice there, I have an addition to our other expenditures. And the reason that I have that there is is in the next slide, these are just a few things that we need to keep into consideration as we move into the next fiscal year. Um, we do have two new facilities coming on board. We have the uh Mendes Elementary, which although it's going to be swapped out with an existing facility, there probably will be some additional cost. It's it should be manageable, but there
029there may be more cost. We have the Nadiatorum that's also coming into play um which is going to uh add additional utility maintenance, staffing and operational expenses that we haven't seen. However, we do have things in place that we've been talking about of how we're going to offset some of those cost as well. And then what Mr. Sandaval talked about earlier and I put Senate Bill 2, I'm sorry, that is 546. Um but we do have some buses that we need to uh be in compliance with the threepoint uh harness systems. So there are some options that we can do to um get in compliance and that is using bond supplemental bond funds that um Mr. Sandival talked about. Um, also we talking about using general funds like putting that back into our budget, a
030cycle of every year five buses, which would take about $500,000 every uh budget cycle to replace five buses every year. And then also we can talk about maintenance tax notes if we wanted to um look at that. We haven't done any maintenance tax notes in since I've been here, but it's m basically a loan. We go ask for the bank for a loan and then we pay those notes [music] back. Uh we wouldn't use our INS money. It would be our maintenance and operations funds to use those um funds. And it would be a monthly payment that we [music] would pay back every month to pay those uh notes back. Um, with the maintenance tax notes as well though too, in the future if we went for another bond, you could roll those notes into
031the bond and then not have to pay those uh monthly tax. You [music] could roll it into the bond. Um, so that is just like a really big overview on where we are right now. Uh, like I said, uh, we will get more information um, as we get our property tax values. We'll get our preliminaries in April. Um we're working right now on staff counts on student um enrollment and what that looks like for staffing. So all of that together are going to change these figures, but I wanted to just present something to you guys today [music] so you can kind of see where we're at. Thank you. I know there are other questions. I have two real quick off the top. Um so the revenue projection, the revenue going down, is that based [music]
032on enrollment and property values both going down? So at this moment yes uh we are working with Mo Casey and the summary of finance templates you go in and you add all this information in and right now that is what it's showing and also that is based on current property values. So like I said once we get the preliminaries and the certifies those are going to change >> and so again to echo Miss Kane's question that does not represent the money that the state still owes us. >> Correct. It does not. And we did get um word from Mo Casey on the Thursday before we left that they are working on that still. Um they're hoping to have that resolved by February. So >> by February we should have some more definite answer. >> Then
033my second question is about the handling of the pass through money for teacher raises. [music] So last year the legislature you know obviously put through the $5,000 for teachers 5 [music] years and up etc. And how is that going to happen? Like what happens next year? Do we get the same money or is that like we're funding it or what happens here? >> So what they did is they used a specific report that we have from PES to kind of upload us or upfront us with funds that we had identified as teachers in an 087 role. So they gave that to us. Now in our PE submission now we are making sure that we have everybody that we actually paid the 5,000 or the 25,000 and we will get that in a settle up so
034that that funding is going to come to us. >> It will come from the state. Okay. So we're not trying to make up that on top of >> No. Okay. >> No. >> Mr. McGin, you got a question? >> I I presume President Hollyy that since this is a sort of highle look at the budget, we'll just kind of round go around the horn, but I have a few things if I may. All right. Um, so thank you for the presentation. Um, at least as an individual trustee. I know these are hard things to jump off of, but I mean I I I'm not interested in increasing the fund balance and in 2627. I mean I think there's a time to do that when we have and we did. We had excess revenues 8 years
035ago, 7 years ago, 6 years ago. We built up a significant sun fund balance and thank goodness we did cuz it saved us when we got in a rainy day. It's still raining next year [music] and we can't I I don't care about increasing the fund balance if it means we're going to have to cut another 900,000 out of compensation or something, you know. So, [music] I I think something as a target that was neutral would be completely acceptable to me and that 96,000 could go out among hopefully that compensation category. Um and and just I wasn't on the board for the last budget process, but that huge reduction in compensation was painful. So projecting one that is larger, you know, the drop in compensation from uh 2425 to 2526 looks like it was about
0362.8 8 million and then from your estimated ending to target is about 3.5 million. So that's twice the pain and I'm I'm not I'm not that interested in that. I mean I would rather find that in other operating expenses and don't see why necessarily they should go up. Um when we look at the list like I'm hoping that natiatorum um is revenue neutral moving forward. the district spent a fortune on it and we were told there would be all this stuff there'd be these lessons there would be competitions those should generate revenue that can hopefully pay to keep the lights on. I as an individual trustee am not looking at losing more money on an annual basis on that nitorium. So I don't know if we have to budget for it separately or what we
037need to do but that revenue needs to cover those expenses in my view. And then on on the buses, can we not install a threepoint a threepoint seat belt on an existing bus? >> We can. The the manufacturers of the bus are not wanting to do that >> because because of the flooring that's you'd have to upgrade the flooring as well to support the bus. So that so Denise uh Denise had 43 buses. There are some buses that we we will be able to retrofit, but a majority of them, which are the 30, we will not be able to. >> I would like to retrofit a bus if it still has a useful lifespan. And I I don't think a bus manufacturer would want me to do that cuz they'd love to sell me another
038bus. Um, but I don't know, another look at something creative there. Um, it doesn't really seem that complicated. I've seen aftermarket seat belts installed on a car and this is the same process and when I was in a school bus there were not even any belts and and I'm still here to talk about it. So, um I mean obviously we have to meet the requirement but I don't think we have to do it at the expense of replacing a bus that still has like a 10 years of a useful lifespan and is there a deadline on when that has to be accomplished? >> 2027. So, still got a little bit of time to figure something out. >> And and like I said, I don't want to take a lot from from Mr. Shield's presentation, but
039it he's got it laid out. He shared with me this morning his initial pass, and it it'll provide you all the information that you need, but we are looking at different options for them. >> Okay, that's >> And then we also have to think about the timeline of how long it takes to get the buses. It's it's taken what about 8 >> anywhere from 8 to 10 months to once we put a purchase order in to actually have the bus delivered. I mean, I don't mind the idea of using excess bond money to to replace the 10 that are most difficult to retrofit. I mean, I think that's if you think there's going to be 30, I know there's probably at least 10, but on that other 20, I would like to find another solution.
040>> Let's go down the line, Mr. Ardondo. >> Uh, thank you, President Hollyy. In the revenue projections, I think President Hollyy referenced it. What enrollment number and attendance number are we using for these projections? >> Students, >> yeah, >> um I think on data is about 82. >> Yeah, I I want to say it's about 80 81. >> And what are we at right now currently? >> I think 8192 is >> 8192. >> So we're saying that like enrollment is going to stay flat. We're not going to lose any or gain anybody, >> right? And that is I guess can you explain why like I guess we could project >> I mean yeah I can go like I said this is just a projection so we can go back curious philosophy and see like what
041what what some of those percentages have looked like through the years and make a you know a judgment call like maybe we're going to get [music] 1% I don't know and then you know we can make changes to these projections but we just use what we what we had in the system >> for sure. And I guess I have no subject matter expertise on this. I was really just genuinely curious. Obviously, there's a lot of uh >> rhetoric out there about private schools and charters and vouchers and homeschool and so like I don't know are those is that going to materialize and we're going to lose 150 kids? >> We hope not. >> I hope not. Right. Right. I'll light a candle. >> We just we just don't know. >> Yeah. So, I guess I
042would want to circle back on that and I guess as we do this individually, um, not like I need to talk about like a worst case scenario, right? Like we lose >> right >> 2% of our kids or 1% of enrollment. I don't know what that looks like, but >> that'd be in like interesting for me to consider and be prepared for if I have to make some pretty drastic votes at the tail end of the budget process. Uh second to that, what is the attendance percentage that we're using to project this revenue? >> Um I honestly do you know what that's >> um I couldn't tell you the exact number when we run our um which are called our attendance projections. We do them every six weeks after we get the updated data. And
043uh we we run that into a whole um document that Mo Casey has provide as well as region uh 13 and that um is what provides us kind of the expected dollar amount that we have. Um there are a ton of factors as um we mentioned with the um values and everything but but we we have been staying on track as to whenever we get a new um ADA. So from the second six weeks we have that data and we I've kind of provided [music] the data. We'll do it again here for the third and so forth. So, it will be a constantly moving numbers so that we can hopefully [music] as we get closer to the end of the year have a really good accurate amount. I appreciate that information when as we continue
044to have these budget meetings, we'll bring those numbers to you of what we have >> and and again, I'm no subject matter expert. I do not have any suggestions on what percentage to use for this formula. I only bring like anecdotal experience [music] of what I've seen happen here at least locally before. Um, one I'd be curious if we can find out what that number is or what that percentage range is in that formula and calculation. And the reason I say that is several years ago when the school district was in a similar financial predicament, it was the administration, former administration's philosophy to say we're going to always have like 98% attendance, right? And that is a lofty goal for the entire school district to maintain. And in addition to that, [clears throat] as a
045cost-saving measure, facilities and maintenance lessen the frequency of campus cleanings. and we had a flu season and it [music] went rampant, right? So like attendance was in the 80s. So >> right, >> projecting high attendance and then cost-saving measures when it comes to like facility >> cleanings and hygiene things >> obviously made the situation even worse. So I say that just to keep that in mind as we have these conversations, as we talk about cost-saving measures. I mean, I get my flu shot. I don't know how many of our students and and parents get their flu shot. So again, all of these things are we're trying to balance a lot of teacups, right? Um so in addition to that, I do have a question for Mr. Sandaval just as like a refresher. When we say
046supplemental bond funds, what does that mean? Like I think I know what it means. I remember voting on like a supplemental bond program for $17. So I just want to make sure I'm I >> So obviously the the when we got funded for the 2023 bond or for any bond that money generates interest and we um set aside for arbitrage, right? So we're going to we we by law we can only use so much of that interest we have to pay it back, right? We could just can't sit on our money and and [music] draw the interest. So we set aside but [clears throat] as these projects move further along and and this year or this bond was different than 2017 bond that we did a lot of guaranteed uh maximum price. We did the
047the um construction manager at risk instead of the just the hard bid, right? Just the competitive seal proposal. So we knew what our our cost of each project was even before before it started, right? So, we did come in under on the elementary school project of about a million dollars. So, we put that into the supplemental. The interest that we've generated um some other projects that are coming in under, that's what builds our supplemental up, right? The other thing is we budgeted for Mendes. If y'all recall, Mendes, we were talking about a K through8 campus and we decided to stay with the K through five. So we have about another five or 6 million into that Mendes project or in that Mendes budget I should say that is going to be part of supplemental. Thank
048you. And and that's what I was under the impression it was. It's like leftover bond money and interest. And the reason why I'm curious is do we have a projection of what that total supplemental bond amount could potentially >> I throw it out there but it it it's tracking even setting aside money for arbitrage. it's tracked in anywhere from 10 to 11 million. And um alongside of that, I have a list of supplemental projects, right? Like we did in 2017 when we were beneficial of of almost 8 million and we came back to the board and said, "Hey, here are the things that we need in the district. Here are our recommendations. Tell us what you want to do." And we got a lot accomplished. So I I figure that the same pattern will follow
049for the 2023 bond. But right now, in answer to your question, it's tracking 10 to 11 million. >> Thank you so much, Mr. Sandaval. And the reason why I bring that up for my colleagues to chew on is when we had supplemental bond funds the last go around. I mean, it was it was fun to spend that money. We put some of it to the child development center. We did a lot of things that were like u like icing on the cake, right? It wasn't mission critical, but it's nice to have. And I guess for me, just at first glance of this proposal, you know, I would much rather reserve as much of those supplemental dollars for this like bus thing than putting $500,000 out of general fund every year for buses, right? Like if
050I can free up general fund to give raises to staff, that's like where I would want to put that money. So again, as we workshop this and talk about supplemental bond funds and what to do with those things, like I'm sure there are some mission critical items that we need to address, coolers, chillers, AC's, whatever. And I want to see those things, but at the same time, like I think one time we put like water fountains at Old Mendes at the playground with supplemental bond funds, right? Like again, nice to have and needed to be done, but like now instead of those kinds of things, need to buy buses with seat belts, right? If we buy buses with seat belts. Um, so that was on supplemental bond fund balance. I want to agree with uh
051Trusty Mclofflin. Um, like HCISD has a smaller fund balance than us and I don't know how they're not in trouble yet with the state, right? So, I say that not because I want to do the same thing, >> right? >> But if I'm not growing the fund balance and if it's getting a little bit smaller every year, I can I can still sleep okay at night without depleting it, right? Um, I just can't imagine a world living in a world where I can justify like, hey, we didn't give you raises last year, administrators or, you know, professional staff, uh, pair of professionals, but we grew the fund balance by a million dollars, right? Like, there's just no way I could do that. Um, so as we talk about those forecasts and projections, that's kind of
052where I am. And I think that's what I got for now. President Holy, >> I'm just going to echo that as well. And looking at the percent of revenue target ranges, I'd much rather us be closer to that 85 on compensation than be filling up our fund balance. Also, I have to get back to work. Nobody's done anything. That's why I'm leaving. [laughter] me. Do I get to go? >> Yes, please. M Miss Lopez, I can't see you. Please don't. >> All right. So, thank you for the presentation. It's it's good to to get these numbers again. Um I guess my I echo the sentiments of my colleagues and I don't think it's good practice to to bolster our savings while we're not compensating our teachers and staff. But within that, I'd also like to
053know what we're still doing to keep uh spending at a minimum. I know at last meeting we discussed travel and there seemed to be a little bit of confusion. I left confused on whether or not teachers are being allowed to travel out of state for um necessary training or if they're being allowed to travel at all for necessary training. So, I'd like to see what is still being put in place or being held in place that we implemented um last spring to kind of keep costs down. What are we still doing? How is that looking? Um are there any other measures that we can kind of put in place to help um lessen this blow that we hopefully do not have to absorb? >> Correct. So um um in regards to travel, we do have
054a restricted travel policy right now uh where we are not paying for overnight stay for staff unless they are going with students. So if it is a travel that involves students, we are paying for that uh for them to stay overnight. Um we are also paying for any staff to go to their registration costs. So if they find something on virtual or if they can find something close in Austin that you can drive up there for the day and come back, we are paying for registration. And then there are limited circum circumstances where we are paying for staff to uh stay overnight if it's going to impact our students in any way uh be penalized from certain um programs uh what have you and those come to uh the cabinet and for decision making on
055those particular ones. >> Okay. And then as far as other um restrictions like we did last year, um HR is working really well at looking at positions as some are exiting whether we really do need to uh fill or not fill. [music] So um that is being looked at closely uh to try to help uh cost on the uh compensation side. >> Very good. >> Thank you, Miss Lopez. Miss Ku, >> I just have two comments. Um on the new buses that are that were going to go on at this meeting um this there 10 buses are any of them coming this season? >> Yes. All the new any buses that we purchase new will be outfitted with the um the threepoint [music] harness that's um needed. Well, that was my secondly when Secondly, I'm
056I was kind of concerned that we had spent 21,000 on that sale, the possible sale of Centro. It seemed like a lot of money to have spent. I don't know what the other board members feel. That's just my own opinion that we spent a lot of money for something that didn't happen. >> Oh, is that the legal expenses? Yeah, it was a lot of money. >> That is a lot of money that could have gone into academics or somewhere else. So, I just wanted to make that statement since we're working on budget. That's it. Miss Hower. >> So, I think >> I'm sorry, I have a question real quick. Go ahead. >> Is there any way to project the cost of that type of endeavor? Because that I agree with with um Miss Ker there.
057is excessive to just dabble in the possibility of sale um and then to take the public backlash that we did online due to some you know conversations that were happening on Facebook. Um what is there any way to kind of have an estimate of what that's going to cost us before we do anything like that again especially in this type of budget situation that we find ourselves in. We can send you the Walsh Gigos and Juan Cruz LLC, but we can send you all their hourly rates for all their attorneys. So, if a board member wants a policy discussion or something to happen, you can pretty much it'll show, you know, what an email costs, what a text costs, what a one minute conversation costs, and then you can kind of look. And in this
058case, this was working strictly with Walsh Gyos, who we already have a retainer on for some construction issues. Um, but we we can certainly send you their cost per hour. >> Mondo. >> Uh, thank you, President Hollyy. I agree with my colleagues in like the shared frustration of the not sale of the LBJ property, but I would I guess want us to all reflect on the fact that the back and forth that we went through was because in my impression an offer was never made on the property from the city or the county. There was a lot of conversations about possibilities, whatifs, the amount of money they might have to buy it, but it was just this constant back and forth, and that was not something that the superintendent or his staff were supposed to
059do. So, we farmed that out to legal counsel. And again, like in public session, I have yet to have seen an actual offer from the city or the county to buy that property, let alone the hypothetical dollar amount wasn't even close to what it's valued. So, I say that because I don't think it was the administration's fault. I don't think it was legal counsel's fault. I don't think it was the sport's fault. I think if there's any thing to reflect on, it's my personal naive of maybe we can work together to to sell this property to the city and the county when no dollar amount was ever offered over like a six-month process. So I just say that because again I don't think it's Walsh Gayos or the administration or this board. It was we
060got we got taken for a ride and then we got kicked in the teeth for it. I'm just going to say on that issue that I think that the board in making the many many difficult decisions that we had to make last spring during this process had to take account of every possible dollar, right? And so that was the the idea that we were putting everything on the table that we were looking at every expense. And so that was the the spirit in which we uh looked at the market for that property. And I think that's true. I think the other thing that we need to clarify for the record is that the board did not approach any other entity and ask them to help us or bail us out. So I just want to
061be clear about that. But I think otherwise we should move on um and talk about the next step in the budget process which I'm going to miss. Fondo >> I have uh in reference to Centro I am founder of Centro and I would like to have in detail whatever Sandra's question was whatever it was. >> Okay. Thank you. President Hall, you have something in Wisconsin. So, >> um, since I know a little bit something about how attorney bills happen. I mean, we didn't hire, so we they did that in house. Like, you could have hired a commercial real estate broker and they would have taken a percent of the sale, which, you know, maybe 6% of what we thought was a three what you thought was a $3 million property would have been 180k, right?
062So, so the district attempted to do it in house and then we had people working outside of their core competencies [music] and so we had to have legal counsel and we're not a big enough school district to have like a general counsel that we can send these type of things to. So, we have to farm it out. So, that's just the to me that is the static of the effort and we it would have been a blip in a $3 million sale. 20K would have been like, man, we got we got that done for less than 1%. Um, but when the market for the property was so much less than what was anticipated, we had to wheel out of it and now we've got to eat the cost. But I I don't see any fault
063around. >> Okay. So, the next steps on this, um, I think Yes, Mr. Ardondo. >> Sorry. >> Thank you, President Holy. I just have one question for staff and forgive my ignorance. When we passed the Vader, did we max out our ability to do that again? >> Uh, for golden uh for your golden pennies. Yes. >> So, will you explain the other pennies to me? >> So, there are copper pennies um which you also receive e you also receive uh extra funding. However, they can be subject to recapture. So, you may not be able to keep all the funding that you get with those additional uh pennies. So thank you. When we were at risk of recapture in previous years, that was prior to like the billion dollar decrease in like valuation, >> correct? >>
064Projection, right? >> So are we still like teetering on the brink of recapture? >> We didn't we weren't in recapture last year. Um I don't foresee that we're going to be in a recapture state just because of the values of how much the uh exemptions have gone up to 140 from we started at what 40 and now it's up to 140 for exemptions. Um so I [music] don't foresee that we're going to be in a recapture state uh in the next couple of years. It just depends on your property values how much they go up in all of the development uh that's going to come. >> For sure. And I I guess I ask because again like we spent a year talking about like a billion dollar loss of property valuation projection, right? Like and
065>> it was my understanding that that billion dollars was a big factor in the we're on our way to recapture narrative, right? And obviously I don't think anyone here saw that coming because we were prepared for it to go the other way. So when we say that like copper pennies are at risk of being eligible [clears throat] for recapture when we're not close to recapture >> then it's a possibility >> if we go back to the copper penny conversation and remove the recapture part. What capacity do we have of copper pennies and what would that look like if we went to the voters again? So, so we could go back to the voters. I believe the copper pennies is six is additional six that you can go out, but you would probably do two or
066three at a time. You wouldn't do all of them. Uh, but it is a voter approved. And then we'd also have to be sure that we're in the timeline. Um, I'll have to go back and check because there are times uh that you'll have to submit that in um before you can actually go out to the voters for that. So, as a trustees request for additional information, I I don't know if anyone has it off the top of their head. I don't. Um, like what is a penny in our property tax rate? What does that generate? >> Um, I'm not [music] going to tell you because I don't want to lie to you. I don't I'm not sure what that is, but I can get that information. >> Yeah, I would be curious in that.
067And once you have that number, please send it to me so I can like >> Okay. >> Burn it in my gray matter. uh moving forward because again like I want to have that conversation as we talk about every possibility and you know I I'm [music] not saying that we go ask the voters to raise their tax rate 6 cents but >> right >> I mean the city was ready to raise theirs so >> uh I would be curious to see what that looks like what that revenue projection looks like and I agree with you know there's different ways to do that 1 cent 2 cents four six whatever >> um but if I could get those calculations and understand them and [music] understand the statutory timeline of calling that election either in May or
068November. That would be super helpful for me as I take like a global look at this thing would be >> sure. All right, I think we need to wrap up but um so I think we need that as soon as possible because there will be timelines attached to it. But I think the next thing that we need to put on the calendar is uh I was s going to suggest that we have our next budget workshop at the agenda prep in February. So I think there's some follow-ups from this meeting that we need to address then. And primarily I'm hearing that there's consensus on the board that we would rather uh put our money into compensation rather than into the uh the surplus fund balance. Um, so assuming that we did that, that would bring
069that deficit number that's being projected down almost a million, right? Or 900,000. Um, but I don't have a clear sense of what that 2600 or 2.6 million or $2.7 million in savings looks like, right? I don't think that there's an appetite on this board for making I might be wrong, but I don't think there's an appetite for making additional cuts to teachers and staff, right? Um, so does that mean that we don't do raises? Does it mean like I don't want to increase class sizes? So I'd like to hear a plan from the administration at the next meeting about what that looks like and and also a calendar. >> Okay. >> That includes where we need to be when we need to be there to get to May or June. >> Okay. >> Does that
070make sense to everybody? >> Yes. M >> we all support our staff and our >> Mando. >> Uh thank you, President Hollyy. So I know the timeline when we approve raises was all flumxed because of the state dollars and neighboring districts were trying to pass faders to give raises to staff. Do we have the data of where we are in the market for teachers? like do we know comparatively to HCISD kale and new bronul so I'd be very interested in seeing that just for this year to see where we are I'm assuming >> we're not anywhere near close to some of our neighbors in a bad way um >> we are doing a compensation review right now and I'm hopeful that we'll have it by February if it aligns with y'all's schedule um then possibly
071have TASBY present um the market analysis of where we're at for our compensation plan if they're done [music] by the February date. >> Okay. >> All right. Without further ado, is there a motion to adjurnn? >> Move to second. >> Motion made. Seconded. All in favor, please raise your hand. Thank you all very much.