May Board Meeting

001Okay. Uh this time I'd like to welcome uh Mrs. Faras to welcome our visitors and guests. >> Hi. Good evening everyone. Thank you for joining us uh this afternoon, this evening uh for both our workshop and and later on um our regular board meeting. It's great to see everybody. I know that last night was graduation. Um I got to watch a little bit of it uh at my house and what from what I looked like it looked like it went off great. uh the kids looked happy and it's so exciting to see um the next chapter um for them and for them moving forward. So, and and and the wonderful things that we do here in our school district. So, thank you everybody uh for being here and those of y'all online. Um and we

002look forward to a great summer and I know that it's the end of the school year. So, yay. And happy Memorial Day to everybody uh this past weekend. So, thanks for being here. >> Great. Thank you very much, uh Mrs. Faras. Uh please note that this meeting is being held and has been posted in accordance with government code chapter 551 state of Texas open meetings act and today we do not have any public comment so we'll jump right into our presentation which is information on the 2026 2027 budget workshop number one superintendent >> good evening board of trustees staff and parents welcome to our first budget workshop Mr. Kales will begin by providing an overview of the current budget status and outlining the process that will be followed throughout the budget development cycle so we

003have Mr. Mr. Kales with the presentation. >> Good evening, Mr. Kales. Welcome. >> Good evening, board president, Mr. Hernandez, superintendent Mr. Midas, members of the board. This is budget workshop number one. Um, before I get started here, number one is always the hardest because you want to get a bunch of things in, go over a bunch of little things, um, so it's more broad. Um, but also get some, uh, feedback and some information uh, from the board kind of what direction they want us to go. So, I want to cover just some general topics also due to like 30 minutes of time. Um, we don't have everything in here that we know we'd want to have in in a in a if we had a longer meeting. Um, one one thing that is missing is

004um I remember Miss Salazar has asked for um a list of construction projects and the dollar amounts that is not in here. Um, I I would ask the board if that may be like a separate budget workshop where we go over those items and not not include a whole lot of other details if it's a 30-minute issue. That way, we're not taking too much time. Um, so we'll bring that back at a at at another date. And I think due to time that probably needs to go in there by itself. Um, if we're going to have a 30-minute meeting. Um the also thing the other thing to mention is that th this year um going into the school year is really really different from last year's budget due to the fact that last year we

005had a a legislative session major funding changes um in many many different areas. We are not seeing that this year. The one area that we will see in funding changes will be um special ed. Special ed will have a change in their calculations. We do not have the details of how that's actually going to work. We know there will be a tier eight levels of funding. Uh Dr. Selenas will work on that this summer. Get all that information in there and then we'll see um what the special ed funding. We don't expect that significant of change. The the change would will be $250 million increase to every school district in the state of Texas. So we will get a piece of that $250 million that's going across all schools across the state and that's including

006charter schools and and regular ISD. So, um, we don't expect significant changes coming from that funding amount. Um, topics going over kind of just some general budget overview, which I just did right now. Some key dates for the board, tax rate history, bond capacity, demographic study, pay schedules, fund balance information, and step to the next questions here. Um, the first thing up here is just some headlines of of what what's happening throughout the state. And I think I think everybody has seen these headlines. Um, Crystal City having500 $100 and that's it. Justin looking at reducing 500 positions. Um, Houston ISD with their central office alone is 300. Now granted they're large but but still significant amount of money. Um, Harlandale looking to cut San Antonio Austin. Um, if if we're seeing this across the state,

007rural schools, large schools, small schools, um, we're we're in the same we talked about it before. we're in the same place most of these other districts are. We're facing the same uh funding structure that doesn't adequately fund what we need to do on a daily basis. Um there are some exceptions to that rule. Um if if there if you're one of those schools, you know what your exception is. There's something really different about your situation. We're not seeing that. We're seeing something um extremely similar to what um what what what the rest of the school districts are seeing. One thing in here that that I wanted to point out on uh Scyfare is where they have the wording on their um voter approved tax rate election. They they use the word vader there and that's

008what that means. But the the their wording is we need to u go for it all because we need we need to get out of this mess. So, um just a heads up on the um if if this district would want would want to do that, that could be its own separate meeting also. But but we would be eligible for an additional five pennies for approximately $2 million. Um if if this is something we need to do, we would have a meeting to discuss this in depth, especially with the amount of deadlines and all the legal things that we would actually need to comply with. Um, so I I have some dates in there in here somewhere else. Right now, this year we had a $73.5 million budget. Uh, we had a balanced budget of

009revenue and expenditures at 73.5. To get there, we we absorbed some positions. We're act proactive in reducing the current year expenditures and then we use federal funds to in as many areas we possibly could. Going back to those headlines, things that we're still seeing, um, right now approximately 40 students less than what we anticipated. Um, and it's actually 80 because I have a demographic study. I'll show you where we're at. But there's a significant loss from from the amount of students that that we're seeing just like other districts are. Um, we originally, if you remember when we did the 4%, we actually expected a deficit budget at that point in time. Also, um SHRs has continued to be a struggle for school districts and we continue to lose funding from that side. Uh and then

010of course there was a um local tax law that changed and got adjusted where we lost approximately half a million dollars in local tax funding to add to everything else. Reducing us down to next year's estimates right now approximately $72 million. Um it's a $ 1.5 million reduction. uh not as extreme as some of the others, but we're a smaller district, so percentage- wise, we're probably very similar to what everybody else is seeing. In order to get there, once again, same strategy to absorb as many open positions, uh be proactive um on reducing the current year expenditures and see how much federal federal can help us. Although this year our planning amounts on the federal side are actually less than last year's planning amounts. Meaning the beginning number we've been given from the federal um

011f federal grants is actually uh down from what we what we started with. So I made copies for everybody going into this. The voter approved tax rate once again to use the word vader. U very similar exactly like a TR. TR just sounds better. I'm not sure why TR sounds better than Vader, but they like to change the acronyms. Um, August 7th, the last day to publish a notice to have a meeting to do that, which is early. Of course, August 17th would be the deadline to order the the November election, and we would have to have a budget ready by August 20th if that proposed for everybody at that point in time. if if we're going to call for the November election in the 17th. We probably actually need to be finished by the

01217th though to actually have everything ready for the board to make that decision and see what the numbers are. So, um we would finish before the 20th on the legal deadline in order to do that. Um those are just some dates that I wanted to make sure you had if this is something um the board wants to discuss further. Same thing with the bond election. Same date, August 17th is the deadline to call the bond election. And of course, the election day this year is November 3rd. So, if we wanted to have a November 3rd bond election, um we would need to call that by August 17th. Tax rate, um we we continue to see um compression. I'm going to move to the next slide kind of quickly here. That same information, two different two

013different graphs. Um the top line is the maintenance and operation tax rate and we've seen that continue to compress since 1819. And that that was when House Bill 3 came out in 2019 and that's what actually created the compression for school districts and their tax rate. And we can see the tax rate continue to drop at that point in time. The INS tax rate has continued to stay very similar or the same. The last four years we've done 3289 3288. leaving that line the same with no tax compression. That that is the reason when we met with the bond committee, we've been able to explain by leaving that and not reducing that one as values have grown, we've been able to um defeat some debt early, but we've always said that that doesn't need to

014be kept that high. But if the board wanted to pass a bond, that is the reason you could issue approximately the $40 million um without having to increase the tax rate because we have not reduced it through the years. Um this last year we adopted a resolution when we adopted the budget so we could continue to keep it at the same rate and we could continue to pay off debt early. Last year we were able to pay off approximately $5 million. Of course, that was just principal and then there was millions of dollars of interest tied to that. This year, we don't expect to have that much to be able to defeat, but we still left it the same. Um, just in case, once again, if we were to call for a bond election, you

015would not need to increase the tax rate. Up to $40 million of debt you could issue. Here's where we talked about having the students change on us a little bit. The capacity of the buildings stayed exactly the same. 6764. Enrollment when we finished last year, 6074. Moving on to the next page there to see where we finished 26. We uh reduced 35 students to 6764. Um that that's that's what we've seen. So we've seen a decrease in students and and the same capacity in our buildings. I want to share that information with everybody. That that's by the way not an actual ADA number, but we will we will actually calculate the idea that we're paying off. But of course, if you lose students and you keep the same participation, you continue to lose your additional

016funding from the from the state. Um bond capacity, we talked about earlier leaving that. Maybe it might be out of place. I'm not sure. Slide might be out of place. Um no change for issuing a bond 39 345. These numbers were generated by the financial advisors at Hilltop. Um and in in defense of their numbers, these can change at any time as interest rates change, as values change, as as as there many changes. So these are very very preliminary estimates at this point in time. Um one penny would be 42 million. As you can see that two pennies would allow the district to pursue 46 million in bond capacity. Um three pennies gives $50 million. And we have also in the bond committee, we've looked at reducing 5 cents and and that would allow the

017district to still issue 21.2 million if we reduced the INS tax rate by 5 cents. The reason that number is looked at is because the maintenance and operation has the ability we talked about earlier. If you were to look at the voter approved tax rate election, the voter approved to roll back taxes. If you were to look at that, we have the possibility of asking for five more pennies to generate the 2 million on the M side. So that that would be a way to actually leave the total tax rate exactly the same, but reduce one tax rate and increase the other. Some information on the demographic study. This is where the 40 students came from. This was the last demographic study we had. I think he presented virtually to the to the board um

018last year uh the year before the lowest increase from 24 to 25 was supposed to move us from 6,89 to 6127. We saw earlier numbers that was not our enrollment. The highest numbers are in red. That means they they predicted we could have possibly moved with the highest estimates from 6,27 students to 6,386 students. We we are all surprised by the lack of this movement. Just to let everybody know, we thought with the amount of growth that we had in the housing population that we would see these additional students. Um we actually are surprised like everybody else to see our our our enrollment down this year. But this was a demographic study that we actually have. We've looked at it. We've reviewed it. If anybody wants additional copies of or information on that last one,

019let me know. So, due to the information that I've shared with you so far right now, working on the budget, we do not plan on increasing any salaries. There is no additional state funding coming for anything else. There there's no there's no if we're already facing deficit situations. Um it it'd be very difficult to to ask you to increase some reoccurring costs right now knowing that there's no additional funds funds coming. Um they're not coming for us and they're not coming for probably anybody else right now. This is just the financial structure that we actually have at this time. Um, one question we would have for the board asking for some guidance would be is if we are still looking at doing a step increase on salaries on those tied to a schedule or actually

020holding everybody's salaries exactly the same. So, um, that that's where we're at right now in the budget process. So, I don't know if there's any feedback now or you all want to think about that or add that to budget workshop number two, but we we would um that that would be one of the questions that we would we would consider right now. Um either keeping everything exactly the same. I believe we have teachers and transportation. I'm going to put Mary Bell on the spot, so I'm apologize to her now, but is that right? >> So, we have transportation and human resources that are actually tied to a step schedule. Those are the only employees we have. and we can we can get dollar amounts of what that would cost for you to be able to

021make that help help make that decision. All right, we're getting closer to the end here. Fund balance. Um we finished the 25 um 2425 school year with uh 25,28848. I need to share this with the board because of where where we're actually at and what our current estimates actually are right now. We we we wouldn't be surprised to see very similar numbers of a million dollar decrease in our general fund balance um due to as we mentioned earlier the lack of funding, the lack of shards, the students decrease um the changes to local practicals. We would not be surprised to see approximately $1 million of revenue, total revenue, not actually coming in to the 73 million, which would force us into the same deficit, giving us closing out the year at 24 24 million. Our

022health insurance fund sits in a separate fund, but the general fund is still responsible to that fund. And and right now, we owe them $6.8 million. We we have a current estimate right now of approximately $3 million deficit of how much more we expect to see the decrease in in or loss in the health insurance fund. So we we at this point in time expect $3 million deficit to the health insurance fund increasing that deficit to 9.8 million approximately $10 million. That number needs to be absorbed by the general fund. So even though our audits and we report a 24 $25 million fund balance, the the real fund balance is $14.3 million. The reason that is so important and we need to be careful is we spend a little over $6 million a month. That's

023what our average spend is. Sometimes a little bit more than six million. So getting close to 12 million. That's $2 million. That mean that's two months at $12 million. We're getting very very close to just having two months of fund balance inside or inside our reserves. And I need to make sure I explain to the board where where we're at with that fund balance issue. So that's that's that right now would be an estimate of where we would close out to 2526. Once again, the number would look larger in the general fund, but we actually owe that money and we would I mean we we could at some point in time actually be required to transfer the full amount at any point in time. So, and and once again um we've moved to a payment

024class two which remind that that forced us to only go four months without estate payment. Um I don't remember the months but somewhere around October, November, December and January we start now What the state expects is our tax statements go out in October. People start making their their local property taxes payments to the district and of course we start receiving that money. Um but we're we're at the mercy of everything else working out really really well because we once again we have approximately two months worth of uh worth of money in in reality of how much cash we actually have. One thing we talked to the board about was working on a strategy for $250 to $500,000 to transfer out to that deficit. Even at that amount, as you see, for $10 million, it would

025take take a while to get get that actually paid off. But but that's kind of what the strategy we have. One one of the ways this strategy would would be implemented is um in January at at the January board meeting um the the motion was to um move the district contribution from 440 to 350 per employee. That that was board action which means that that's the way things stand right now. That has to happen. that that's that's that's that was board action and that's that's that's where we're at with the whole thing. If if if we actually continue with that, which right now we are, that's $62 per month increase in health insurance for the employees over 12 months. That's $744 a year per person. And I'm apologize to Mary Bell again while I'm verify

026my numbers. We have we have about 730 on health insurance. that good number approximately 730 round number that are participating in the health insurance fund. So 744 times 730 people is approximately $543,000. So this this board action would contribute to the strategy of absorbing that $10 million deficit. So, >> does that include the in addition to the 500,000 you're proposing on the prior slide or is that is this the 500,000? >> This would this would generate that this this would help complete that strategy. This would generate it. There's not another 500,000 at this point in time. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. Here we are getting towards the end on bud challenge budget budget challenges of where we're at. We still continue to see the loss of charge revenue. Um ADA, we continue to see

027um ADA going loss of state funding um due to loss in students in the ADA. Of course, we this year we we continue to see a loss of even a a local tax um approximately half a million dollars. Um things we have going on, cost of curriculum programs we have, um we right now are trying to fit in some extracurricular programs. I think it's a middle school that has softball and baseball. We're trying to add um some more programs to the budget. um operational costs and challenges become we just have the increased day-to-day cost. We don't have to keep talking about fuel and all the other things that are going up right now, but we just have simple day-to-day costs. Whether it's our copier contracts, whether it's fuel, whether it's whatever's going on, we do

028continue to see just an increase in cost like everything and everybody else. Um, and of course what that does is that that kind of drives some deferred maintenance issues as we kind of make um salary work and and and pay the things that are part of the reoccurring cost that the district actually has. We always call salary a reoccurring cost, but we have utilities in there. We have fuel. We have um many many that are not listed on the payroll side that are still everyday year-to-year reoccurring costs that we do expect and we know we have have to pay every year. Okay. So, any any guidance, any thoughts, any comments? I'll um open it up for any questions or comments, and then I'll I'll chime in as well. >> You want me to go last?

029>> You can go first. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr. Cares, for this report. Um, so there's lots of things that I want to cover. So, let's go back to the slide where it says school district finances in the headlines. >> Add a couple of those. You can let me know when I get to the correct one. Which which store are we looking for? >> Right there where we're going to talk about the raider. >> Yes, ma'am. So with that being said, I didn't hear you mention about if we would have would if we would do that and generate the additional funding, how that would affect our taxpayers of the district >> that that would incre that that would increase their taxes. Um I don't have an average cost homestead cost. We can actually get the

030average cost of a home and then generate that amount. But it would increase their taxes up to 5 cents. The district has the board has the ability to adopt up to five more additional pennies. So it it would affect the five pennies. One thing that has been discussed with the bond committee would be is if we actually dropped the bond the DNS rate 5 cents and actually at that point in time have have a zero effect. >> And by having the zero effect it would it would drop the bond to the 21 million. >> Yes ma'am. with no effect to our community and the tax increase. >> That that is correct. Yes. >> But the wording on the the wording on the voting piece of it would be an increase. >> Yes, ma'am. The voting

031would the wording will always >> want to be clear to the community. >> Yes. We would still continue to see an increase no matter no matter what we do, >> even if we drop it. >> And that generates $2 million a year for life. >> Yes. Approximately $2 million. Last time I calculated was approximately $2 million. Okay. So, I just wanted to throw that out there. So, then let's move to the next slide. And on here, you have a strategic use of federal funds to offset general fund expenditures. Have we not been utilizing all of the general fund or all of the federal funds? >> We we we actually we implemented that for the 24 526 the current year we end. So, we we have Yes. There's very little roll forward in those grants right

032now. Yes, ma'am. Were we leaving money on the table? >> Very little to none. We we have we have um we we we have used them as as much as possible. We've continued. A matter of fact, we about to when we when we got the carryover, um we we we did Chromebooks this year and that's where the Chromebook money came from. we got as much as we could out of the grant that had rolled forward that year to actually cover and get more stuff more Chromebooks for the kids at that point in time. Um so so we we really have continue I can get the balances of what we expect to actually have left. I can add that to the budget workshop item. It should be a very simple chart of what we anticipate to

033have left in the grants. >> Okay. And if if you're saying that the funds are going to be less, then how are we going to be strategic about pulling the federal funds for the year? Well, we left that on there for this year just to kind of keep absorbing as many positions as we can. And also, if there's something in a federal, so for example, we could we could um if we absorb a federal position, we could use that money to either absorb another federal position or use that money somewhere else. But but but yes, you're 100% accurate in saying you don't have any more additional funds, but you still have to figure out how to use whatever you have federal side to help as many absorb as much of the cost on the general

034fund as possible. >> Okay. And then let's go to pay schedules. So, it it looks as if because of where we're at with the fund balance period, it looks as if we we're not going to have a choice but to sit still as far as not giving any any increases until we know what the state at the top is going to do because we don't know if there's any money for teachers. We don't know if there's any money for anybody else for that matter. So I would hate to have to give pink slips to employees to not have a job. We all understand that things are more expensive and living costs are higher and you know and then we're we've made the adjustment with the medical to help the district as well with the priority

035of the of the medical insurance and we've given ample notice from from January to August for everybody to adjust to that. Um, so just my two cents, it looks like we're going to have to sit still at least for a year and then come back and re-evaluate come next year. That's just my opinion. I'm just looking at the numbers. >> So in in regards to that, um, again, my opinion and I I would um respectfully ask uh Mr. Gales and Mr. us to before before I have an opinion on that that I see the numbers right that you put together the numbers and you bring them to this board to to make a make a a joint decision right and and like that we can all see what the financial impact is because right now

036based on what I'm reading one sentence I can't tell if it's a 1 million impact or 20 million impact and let's put the numbers to together on what that would be for various proposals right >> are are we going to want to guide them either either hold salaries or with the step increase and how many get the step increase because what I don't want to do is I don't want to segregate staff. >> Agreed. >> I don't want to say this this group gets that and that group gets that. >> That I agree with. I think it's all it's all or nothing in my opinion. Again, I'm one vote, >> but I think uh if we can get the the options, right, and then bring it to this board to to consider and then what

037the financial impact is because honestly um the health insurance fund and we've had this conversation in the past, right? But $9.8 million is a lot of money, right? And so to put us at risk, I don't know, I call it days cash on hand, but you call it monthly re monthly cash flow, right? Is you said two months, right? But I know the requirement is one and a half months. Is that >> Three months. >> So um >> about 17 million. >> Okay. So So we're we're on paper we're not at risk, but we're at risk, right? >> Um Yes, sir. And because if that if the 9.8 gets caught at any moment, then we're we're we're at risk. And so we got to be cognizant of that as well. But but just to be

038transparent with the community and what the impact would be, I would like to see the numbers right on on if we were to propose something and and you know each of us here is one vote, right? It takes a majority to pass something. Uh and so like that it gets it gets discussed, it gets shared with the community and and and for our staff as well, right? That they understand why these difficult decisions are being made. And I'm I'm glad that you led with the with the headlines, right? because uh we we don't want to be in those headlines, right? And and we want to be able to be good stewards of of the finances and we've had to make some very tough decisions this year, but um just like to be very transparent. >>

039Yes, sir. And so when you when you say the numbers um ju just to be clear, you're talking about like what what a um raise would look like verse no raise or what what numbers would you specifically? >> I I would see all of it, right? No raise, a raise, and if it's a raise, you know, various iterations, right? whether it's 1% 2% 3% just give me some options to look at to consider right um and and compare to to what a cost of living adjustment would be okay >> can we even do the one that I know we had looked at one last time where they get an incentive >> you know you know one time a year or a couple times a year just just the different scenarios that we can at least

040look at that um would would be fair to everyone. >> Yeah. >> I think I think to to go in line with what you're what you're talking about, my my first year here when we closed out, we added $3 million to fund balance. Once we were finished, we audited. We knew what our financial impact had been that year. So, we said, "Okay, out of out of last year's um additional funds, we want to pay that out in December, January." And that that's what we did at that point in time. So, um, some something similar could easily happen this year when we actually close out the year and see where the deficits actually fall in the health insurance fund and in the general fund and then seeing a one time in in December like we did

041last time. >> Yeah. >> Yes, I'm on board with that. So, and so I think we're just speaking for myself looking for options, right? And and just leave leave everything on the table and then let's have those difficult conversations. >> Yes, sir. >> Thank you. Sorry, interrupt you. Senator, please continue. >> No, no. Um, glad you did because, you know, we're just seeing this and I was going to say and there's going to be more questions as as we start really reviewing this and thinking about it and then going going out and looking at different things. Um, there's going to be more questions. Absolutely. >> Any anything else? Anybody else have any additional comments or thoughts? So >> I just have and I don't know if we had discussed this in the bond committee meeting

042but going back to the demographic study um I'm kind of concerned about it because I know that the last one there were a lot of neighborhoods that weren't updated or added on there. So is there any plans to do a update because this could also affect not only our attendance but you know the money that comes in the district from the ADA. You mean you mean do an additional demographic study? An updated one? I didn't understand the question. >> If we have plans to update our demographic study. >> Okay. Um >> because these numbers I really don't think are accurate with all the I mean there were so many new neighborhoods since we did the last one. So I just wonder where we're at with that. >> There wasn't plans probably just due to the

043cost, but we can definitely like bring the cost to you and see if we want to update it with it. we can use the same company to update and see if there's a um a way of them updating the information. I do think a lot of that information does come from it. I I hadn't opened it in in a while, but getting ready for this meeting is why I opened the demographic study. And of course, they have all the housing growth that we've continued to see. Um the other thing that I did not mention was kind of the uh big sign on the uh other school that they're kind of putting up here too where we're going to see um would would could possibly drive the numbers. I mean, I already said enough negative things

044to get thrown out of here today, so I didn't want to have to go there. But, um, >> we need to look at that. We need >> Yes, ma'am. I mean, it's it's something that we can't ignore like like as far as our council, even say if the housing are going up and the demographic study sees that there. Um, that that's still something that we take into consideration when we're when we're looking at what's actually happening to our funding. >> You need to add, I was going to bring it up here in a second. Anyway, so um, but I guess what might make sense is is in regards to the demographic study. I know there was some concerns last time that maybe some subdivisions weren't included. So maybe before we decide to bring bring the

045cost, but before we vote on that cost, um maybe to do a comparison of what subdivisions were included and which ones are lacking and then present those numbers and then we can have a conversation about what what's potentially missing and then make an informed decision on whether we should go for for an additional demographic study or not because um I I know they're they're costly. uh in regards to to competition. Um I do know we we have the proposed um capacity and and the what we perceive the student enrollment, but I don't know if there's a way for us to determine what we we project maybe the impact would be in terms of competition of of losses that we might suffer and then what the financial impact would be to that because I don't think

046that's baked into this, right? And I do think it it's it's there's going to be some impact there, right? And so if we can bake that into it because uh I I would hate to vote on a budget that we think it's going to happen but we haven't baked that in and then we we we have to make some cuts later on down the road. >> Yes sir. Along with the um and I apologize for not having these numbers but also the um m do you remember the um the vouchers that they they we received the information of how many students in our area actually did apply and receive vouchers. We don't know how many of those kids were already in private school. So, some of those kids could have already been in private school,

047but but I don't know if we actually have that information. >> It was 79 and we have 21 that are already >> 50. There's 50 that have qualified for voucher. We don't know if they'll use them or not. I mean, we can't but that's already another number to to consider. So, and and and I know in regards to competition, I have brought up in in the past, but um looking from from Comm's perspective, um you know, what what are we doing to to inform the community of everything that we have to offer here within Southside, right? And to to continue to push for that enrollment as well. So, just ought to reiterate that as well. >> Okay. Any other questions or comments? So, okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. This time I'll make a motion

048to adjurnn. Do I have a second? >> I'll second. >> A second. All in favor say I. >> I. I. >> Time is now 608 p.m. And we are adjourned for this budget workshop number one. Thank you Mr. Lamedes and Mr. Carales for that information. Yes. Okay. Uh, thank you everyone for your patience as as we went a little over on that budget workshop, but I think it's very very critical discussion that we needed to have. So, I appreciate everyone's patience and welcome everyone to this regular called schoolboard meeting of the Southside Independent School District for Wednesday, May 27th. Please let the record show that there is a corn present. Jesse Rand is present. Mrs. Olivarez, >> present. >> Mrs. Sarles >> here. >> Mrs. Faras, >> present. >> Mrs. Salazar >> here. >> Mrs.

049Silva >> here. >> Thank you. The time is now 6:10 p.m. on Wednesday, May 27th, 2026. As president, I just call this regular meeting of the Southside Independent School District Board of Trustees to order. At this time, I would like to once again welcome Mrs. Vas to welcome our visitors and guests. >> Hi, good evening to those who just came in as we were doing our last budget workshop. Um, uh, welcome. Uh, hope everybody had a great school year. Um, I know that last night, uh, as I had mentioned earlier, was graduation and it looked like everybody, um, was it it went off really well and and on to the next chapter. So, we're excited to see the next school year roll around, but also excited for the summer. I'm sure everybody's ready for the

050start. So, welcome everybody. Uh, for those are here and those online, thank you for joining us tonight. Oh, yes, the mission and vision statement. Southside ISD seeks to be the choice when it comes to providing a quality public education by upholding the highest standards of our core values. Our vision Southside ISD will lead educational excellence by providing innovative programs. >> Thank you, Mrs. Faras. Please note, please note that this meeting is being held and has been posted in accordance with government code chapter 551, State of Texas Open Meetings Act. If during the course of this meeting the board should determine that a closer executive meeting or session of the local board is required then such closer executive meeting or session can be held as authorized by the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code 551.

051This time we can all please stand for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. And today uh we do not have any public comments. So we'll move on to our consent agenda. Please note that the following items make up the consent agenda which consists of routine and non-controversial matters that will be approved with a single vote unless a board member requests a separate discussion on a specific item. Trustees have had the opportunity to review all supporting documents related to these items prior to this meeting. At this time are there any trustees that would like to have further discussion on any consent agenda items or do I have a motion

052for approval? >> I'll make a motion to approve um consent items A through F. Thank you. Mrs. uh Olivarees makes the motion to have a second. >> I'll second. >> Mrs. Faria seconds. Mr. Solivarees. >> Yes. >> Mrs. San Robles. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Faras. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Salazar. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Silva. >> Yes. >> I just Yes. Motion carries. This time we'll move on to uh presentations. Uh first presentation is the UIL State Championship and Ning in editorial writing. Superintendent. Good evening, board of trustees, staff, and community members. Our UIO academic team had an outstanding year earning the district championship and advancing to the regional competition. We're especially proud to recognize one student who excelled at every level of the competitions and became the first UIL academic state champion in editorial writing

053in our district's history. We are ext extremely proud of an and coach Martinez and what they've accomplished. At this time we have Mr. Mater and coach Donna Martinez here to provide present. >> Good evening. Welcome. >> Good evening board president, superintendent, board of trustees. It's my pleasure to introduce Miss Martinez to talk about their journey to winning our first UIL state competition. Good evening and first and foremost I would like to thank you for giving us this opportunity to celebrate this incredible moment. It is um as um Mr. Castillo pointed out it is historical and it is amazing and I just want to go back to the moment when I found out that she had placed first. Um we she competed at one o'clock on Saturday and um on Monday rather on the 18th and

054we were uh sent off the UT campus and everybody all the participants are waiting for their own events to go into verification after 1:00. Verification is four o'clock. That's where the coaches go in look at her editorial and we verify that she is in fact the writer. And um when you find out, you're not supposed to tell the participant that they have placed. The award ceremony is at 700 p.m. If you can imagine driving back from Austin and all that, we're thinking, "Oh my god, uh I terrible traffic or and places and we're okay with that." And um we couldn't tell her what she plays, but uh we kept that secret from 4:00 to 7:00 when the ceremony uh came around and they screamed out her name and Southside and that association with Southside being

055at the top of our um UIL academics was pretty amazing feeling and we have been feeling success for a long time at the district level. We are threetime district champs in journalism. So that's a given. And in region uh when we advanced she got second and second in district and then first in in state but this is what it says about an and about our team. It says that yes she got second but it wasn't enough. And she continued to ask what else can I do? and she worked really hard and I am so proud of her and this moment and being a part of all this. Thank you. >> OH, this is us practicing and and going back and forth. And this is the team and this is our district champ. We did place

056ninth of 23 schools at region and uh with her overall champ um 15 points. We were fourth in state of 17 teams. And I think that's a statistic that doesn't get advertised a lot, but in state you're talking about 1 A, 2, A, 3, A, six of the all all of everyone. And so it's the overall journalism uh score. And so Southside was fourth in state team overall. And so that is what we see at verification and her name Southside at the top. That's amazing. SO thank you. You want to take a picture? >> This is your We're good. >> Okay. >> I'm gonna move you over just a smidge, Mr. Mr. There we go. One, two, and three. >> Thank you. All right, congratulations again. Great job. Okay, moving on to our next item,

057which is a presentation on the attendance award. Superintendent >> board president, to recognize the campuses with the highest attendance for the month of April, we have our PES director, Miss Sanchez. Good evening everyone. Good evening board president, board of trustees, superintendent Ramidas, and Southside community. This evening we're recognizing the final attendance winner for the school school year of 2526. And no surprise here, congratulations to the L team at Loya. They not only won, but they dominated the monthly attendance competition for the year. As the kids say, they swept and left no crumbs. Uh, thank you, Principal Blackman and staff. This was no small feat. >> CONGRATULATIONS. >> And our elementary winner is Pierce Elementary with a 94% or 93.9. Congratulations, Principal Gonzalez, AND YOUR STAFF. I WILL HAVE MR. Castillo accept it on her behalf.

058Um, the elementary campuses were very tight race. It was it it was by tenths. It was a 93.9, 93.8, 93.7, 90. It was really, really tight for the elementary. So, we're really proud of everyone. Congratulations. >> All right. >> Great job. Okay, moving on to our next presentation which is recognition of the 2025 2026 Southside ISD retirees. Mr. Superintendent, >> Mr. Board President, today we recognize our outstanding staff members who have dedicated many years of service to Southside and to the education profession. We are extremely grateful for their commitment, hard work, and the positive impact that they have made on our students, staff, and community throughout the years. At this time, we have Miss Flores with a presentation. >> Welcome, Miss Flores. >> Good evening, President Ednandez, Mr. Ramirez, board of trustees. This evening, we

059gather to honor a remarkable group of educators and support staff members who are completing their journey with Southside ISD. From guiding students in the classrooms to ensuring safe transportation, clean facilities, and nutritious meals, each retiree leaves behind a profound legacy. We thank them for their unwavering commitment to shaping the minds of and hearts of our future generations. And to help with the presentation, I have Christina, Miss Christina Lopez. >> Good evening, Miss Lopez. Welcome. >> Good evening. Good evening, board. and to all the community that has joined us today. Especially, we'd like to uh wish a very very warm welcome to all of our retirees that joined us tonight and their families. Thank you for allowing us to show you this small token of our appreciation for all of your service that that you have

060provided to the students and community of Southside ISD. our 2526 retirey recognition recognition tribute. Miss Janet Flory, she served our district as a dyslexia teacher at Gallardo Elementary School. Her years of service are from 2016 through 2026. Can we can we have you stay stay up here? >> Miss Katarina Urado Miss Ut served our district as a technology lab aid at Freedom Elementary School. Her years of service from 1998 to 2026. And we'd also like to add that all of her years of service were with our district, >> Miss Hasty. Miss Von Hasty. She served our district as an art facilitator at Freedom Elementary 2005 to 2026. Miss Maria Inohosa. Messinoa served our district as an elementary dual language teacher at Freedom Elementary from 2021 to 2026. Miss Alysa Deja Compos a counselor at Heritage

061Elementary School from 2012 to 2026 are her years of service. We have Miss Esmeralda Casedo Guerrero, an elementary dual language teacher at Heritage Elementary from 2022 to 2025. Miss Tamara File, a life skills teacher at Heritage Elementary. Her years of service from 2023 to 2025. We have Miss Diana Falto, an art facilitator at Heritage Elementary School. Miss Falto served from 2003 until 2026. All her years of service, by the way, were with the district. Miss Belinda Hasso. Miss Hassel was an elementary teacher at Heritage. She was here from 1997 to 2026. We have Miss Rebecca Lowry, a choir teacher at Loya Middle School. Her years of service 2023 to 2026. Miss Kathy Pacina, principal secretary at Matthew Middle School. She served from 2001 to 2026. 25 years all all with the district. Miss Margarita Ramos.

062Miss Ramos. She's a dual language teacher at Manaka Early Childhood Center, serving from 2012 to 2026, Miss Deborah Deos Gonzalez, Miss Deos Gonzalez, an elementary dual language teacher at Pierce Elementary School, serving from 2021 to 2026. Miss Norma Tea serving as receptionist at Pierce Elementary School. Miss Deva served from 1991 to 2026. All of Mr. Heva's years of service took place here at the district. Coach Shawn Dalbert, a PE teacher and coach at South at Southside High School, serving from 2015 to 2025. >> Mr. Lores Vera, >> Miss Petta, serving as special education aid at the high school from 1996 to 2026. 30 years of service, all with the district. Mr. Jimmy Aldape. Mr. Adalpe served as counselor at Southside High School. He served from 2015 to 2026. Miss Robin Her, a special education teacher

063at Southside High School, serving from 2019 to 2026. Miss Susanna Deafuente Miss Dela Fuentes served our district as technology lab aid in her latest role at Southside High School. Miss Deluentes served from 2006 to 2026. Miss Anna Bamante Miss Bamante served as mariachi teacher at Southside High School from 1983 to 2026. Her 43 years of service were all at Southside ISD. Miss Diane Garza. Miss Garza served as receptionist at Southside High School. Her service years from 2016 to 2026. Miss Nora Monivis, Secretary of Special uh Director Secretary of Special Programs. Her years of service from 2018 to 2025. Miss Rosie Moreno served as uh an occupational therapist assistant. her years of service from 2019 to 2026. Mr. Javier Garcia Mr. Garcia served our district as a general maintenance plumber in our maintenance department. He served

064from 2001 to 2025. All 30 years of his service were at Southside ISD, all with our district. Miss Maria Olivarees. Miss Olivarees served as bus driver in our transportation department. Her years of service from 2007 to 2025. Mr. Roberto Garcia, our warehouse specialist in the purchasing department. his years of service from 2014 to 2025. Miss Korina Valadez, Miss Valadez served as head baker in our catering department in child nutrition. her years of service from 2002 to 2026. Miss Marita Chapa. Miss Champa served as our child nutrition assistant director within our child nutrition department from 1993 to 2025. And all 29 years of her service were with our district. We can get a picture. >> Yes, ma'am. Before we take the picture, we we have a video for them. >> Send it. Yes. We're gonna set

065up a quick video for for everyone to to watch and then we'll take a picture right after. So stand by for a minute. It's a real nice video. celebrate another incredible year at Southside ISD. We pause to honor a very special group of individuals, our retirees. For years, they have dedicated their hearts, their time, and their passion to serving our students, staff, and community. Their impact reaches far beyond classrooms, offices, cafeterias, buses, and hallways. They helped shape futures, inspired generations, and created a legacy that will forever be part of Southside. Because of their dedication, countless students found encouragement, families found support, and our district became stronger, kinder, and more united. Today, we celebrate not only their years of service, but the lives they changed along the way. While this chapter may be coming to a

066close, their influence will continue to live on in every student they inspired and every colleague they mentored. To our southside retirees, thank you for your unwavering commitment, your sacrifice, and your love for this district. You will always be a part of the Cardinal family. Congratulations on your retirement, and may this next journey bring you joy, peace, and endless new memories. Once a Cardinal, always a Cardinal. Everyone over three steps. Congratulations to all our retirees. Wish you all the very best. Congratulations. Okay, as folks transition, we'll get started and go to a presentation on the possibility of starting a cosmetology program at Southside High School. Superintendent, >> Mr. Board President administration explored the possibility of establishing a cosmetology program at the high school to expand career and technical education opportunities for our students. At this time

067we have Mr. Mater, Mr. Veron uh to provide the presentation. >> Good evening again guys. >> Welcome. >> Uh so we did kind of look into our our the possibility of a starting cosmetology program here at Southside. We started with the student interest survey. Uh so we we went mainly with our incoming freshmen. So, eighth grade, current eighth graders, or actually not current, we just ended school. Uh, incoming freshmen, our current ninth graders, and our 10th graders to see where they would where they would uh be interested in. And you can see within cosmetology, uh, it came in third, um, welding and then health science and then cosmetology at 13%. So then we we went in further into looking what those options might look for for and I'm going to let Mr. Feron and I

068will be going back and forth. So, uh, for, um, like why cosmetology at Southside ISD? Uh, there's always that high student interest in hands-on career pathways, and cosmetology is one of them. Uh, as demonstrated in our, uh, interest survey, um, there's a strong workforce demand in beauty and wellness industries. Uh, that's based on, uh, local, uh, labor data. We uh uh this also can expand our uh career and technical education opportunities, our our CT pathways. Uh it supports entrepreneurship, small business ownership. Uh it creates also more uh CCMR opportunities through IBC's through industry based certifications. Um at the same time, it benefits students in many different ways. uh piggybacking on those uh IBC's there's different IVCs that the students can can earn uh from the cosmetology operator to barbering uh there there's different uh opportunities

069for them they get real world employability skills uh we have uh the potential uh to perhaps even starting a studentrun salon experience uh similar to what other districts have set up. Uh there's uh uh multiple different career pathways in cosmetology any anywhere from uh aestheticians to barbers uh and uh salon owners or operators. Uh this also engages those students that need that hands-on uh experience. Okay. Now, um as far as the regional success models, uh uh cosmetology has had uh a relative success uh locally uh and regionally uh and it has a high passing rate for those industry based certifications. Right now uh uh some districts are seeing uh around 92% for example uh in in their IBC attainment. So it's it's an IVC that is is very very easy for students to to attain.

070Um so has a very very high passing rate. Um uh the the programs uh are producing uh workforce ready graduates. Uh they're also uh um they're job ready when when they get out like they're able to to go work at a salon. uh in some cases they may even want to start uh opening their own uh business uh and the cosmetology program can be used to increase our CCMR uh percentages also. So there's that possible. >> So when we kind of looked at what that what that would look like at the high school, we went uh one of the models we looked at was about the converting of portable and with Mr. Federon doing some research uh going around he came we came up with the the price of 160 to 195,000 uh that would

071be for um 16 uh hair hair washing stations uh and four nail tech stations and then four hair dryers. So that's the model that we were we were looking at. That being said, the equipment could run anywhere will run anywhere from 50,000 to a h 100,000 um depending on the um really the quality of what you're getting and how long the leg longevity of that is. And that this program can kind of be launched in a phase. So if we want to start with smaller and then move as we get bigger, we could add on to that. So the estimated added uh CT funding uh is uh roughly around 170,000 annually. Uh if we consider the uh per student and this is the extra that that student would make uh for being enrolled in uh

072in a hands-on CT course uh something like cosmetology is about $1,523 per student. Uh we're talking about one teacher, seven class periods. uh about 16 students uh per section. If we go with that option about uh the 16 uh stations, uh there's always that 25 uh student cap uh by TDLR uh that that puts our caps, but we can always start with 16 and build up. Uh we uh conservatively would expect uh a two maybe three-year program recovery and maybe about five years for it to be completely uh to completely pay itself. So the next steps, the recommend next steps would be consult a architect that's experienced with the state cosmetology requirements because they're very particular in what you have to have especially with the electrical and the ventilation and and then uh we would

073develop a a phased implementation plan to see how how we could build this program. So what now what we are seeking now is guidance on on what you would like our next steps to be. And that's our presentation and we'll if we have any questions please Does anybody have any questions or concerns? >> I do. >> Mr. Mater. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Um, do we not have room in the CTE building for this class? >> No, ma'am. We don't. And within the CTE building, there's the even when we looked and Federon can can Mr. Federon can talk about this that we to re to go back in and renovate is more expensive than to in a building because it's foundations you have to do. And Mr. on you want to kind of include in the

074mic. >> So, so we uh uh we did have our maintenance uh department uh with uh several uh of our people go in there and see what was feasible. Uh there is as Mr. Miller said first of all is there's not really a lot of room like all the the rooms are being used right now in CTE. Uh but even if we were try to uh we looked into one room in specific uh it would be very very difficult and very very costly a lot more costly than theund uh 195 I think 160 to 195 that we were uh being quoted before just to retrofit that particular uh classroom because of the changes in plumbing uh and exhaust uh and electrical. I think the electrical is is perhaps like the uh the more the the

075biggest expense. Uh also uh that particular classroom would be uh uh smaller than what we would need for for for the program. >> Are you talking about the the one because I know when that building was built, we looked at a room that was on the corner on the bottom on the corner to the left hand side that was supposed to be for a cosmetology room. Is that on the on the 300s or the 700s? Do you remember? >> Is it with the where the >> It's as you walk is this as you walk in the door there's a room right to the left >> on the left hand side. >> No, the culinary room was on the other side. They're using that as >> the bastro that they're you may be talking about the

076beastro >> beastro. We we could we could have if if the board would like we when we get the architect they could go in and look at that as well to to kind of give a comparison. Okay. and we re if we could use that renovate that room to to include the cosmetology. >> Well, I'm just saying that at at that time that it was built that was already in the specs to to be used for a cosmetology coming. So, I didn't know if it was still like that or if that it had changed over the years. >> It we it's never been used like that since I've been there. It's been, but we could look into see maybe we didn't I didn't know that till right now. So maybe we could go back and

077look and see if those fixtures or anything had already been put in place >> because I know there was a dre in the floor and some other things in in that room to facilitate that program, >> but I don't we never got off the ground with the program itself. >> So I don't know what what actually is in that building at the moment, but I'm just asking. >> Yes. And and I'm not sure if the drain is still there, if it is a law enforcement class. I don't know if y'all seen the law enforcement class and if y'all recall a drain being there, but we can go and check now. And what they're referring to that the issues on the room that they saw, the engineer said that any breakage to the foundation can cause

078issues with the foundation for the entire building without taking that into consideration. But looking at a co what the cost would be, it'd be a little bit over a million dollars to renovate that that classroom, which wouldn't make sense. and and the the possibility of later some construction with the addition of classrooms in the in the high school, it would be more cost-effective to do that project at that time. For something to be immediate, similar to the report that they're giving, that's exactly what Southwest did. They used a portable and they started the program with the portable. The portable being the most cost effective, which is close to $200,000. So that that's what they're presenting. However, this is what Southwest reported and this is what the engineer gave estimates. Uh but if the board would

079like us to look at it further, then we would bring an engineer go to that classroom that that you're mentioning, Miss Alasar, and see if it's already set or what would the expense be and we can come back to the board and report that um and uh if if of course the board is interested in us moving forward and looking into it. Now, the idea is that we don't know what like in in the example that was given with the uh the portable that maybe it's manageable where it could be done during the summer and then possibly start the program in the fall or if the board would like to take it a little bit slower and hold up on it, get a better picture of it and possibly start it until the spring or

080until uh the following school year. Well, I was just asking. So, I I don't want to mis mislead anybody into doing the extra work for the extra cost. That's not what I'm asking for, but I just wanted you to know that there was some something in place. So, you know, just to kind of check that and verify it with us. We don't have to go out and do that. >> Okay. >> And we'll look and check to see if which room there if there's a drain there and if it's still operable. >> Any other questions? >> Just a comment. I think this is great. we're having this program um you know being brought into our our school. Anything that we can do to especially hands-on um I think that's great that we're offering. >> Great.

081Thank you chairman. >> Moving on to information on the campus district climate survey. Superintendent. >> Mr. Board President Region 13 conducted a climate survey of our student, staff, and community members regarding programs, communication, and other aspects of the district. We have Miss Flores with a presentation. >> Welcome again, Miss Flores. >> Hello again. So, as Mr. Amita said um we had region 13 conduct the create and conduct the survey using Paul Qualrix secure platform designated to deidentify participant data. Um the the survey was open for approximately four weeks and it was open to all staff, families, community members and students grades 6 through 12. The areas that were targeted during the survey were academic performance, communication, data use, family engagement, instruction, high quality resources, leadership, clear vision, uh staff well-being, staff opportunities for growth and

082retention, student emotional and physical well-being, teacher support, and overall environment. On the staff responses, we had a total of 613 employees respond, which was 64%. And the breakdown was elementary staff members were 273, middle school staff were 128, high school staff 129, and district level employees were 83 that participated. On the student side, we had a total of 22 2,24 students participate, which was also 64%. On the community side, we had a total of 447 community members participate. So, on the combined results, um these are combined results for all staff, students, and community members. They're ranked between one through five. Five being the strongly disagree and I'm sorry, one being strongly disagree and five being strongly agree. And overall, we received favorable results from uh respondents ranging from 3.75 with staff, 3.95, 3.59 with students

083and 3.86 from community and family. On the next slide, we also saw high confidence levels in the areas of math, science, and reading from staff, students, and community alike. Um, technology is where we were where everyone agreed that we had room for improvement. And I'm sorry, the the graphs are are kind of small, but I think you have a copy of them, right? >> Um, so the next slide reflects uh we agree student achievement is the top priority for all all that participated from staff, students, and community. And when it comes to overall academic performance, those who responded with agree or strongly agree make up 65% across the board and feel that classes are appropriate and challenging and that our students are prepared for the next grade level. On the student achievement side, approximately 55%

084um say that there are systems in place to provide additional support to students in need of behavior or emotional support. When it comes to the emotional support and physical well-being, a high percentage of students feel physically safe in the school and the district and also feel supported by staff that they are able to that they are being set up for success. And this is a continuation of a continuation reflecting that our students are gaining the skills to problem solve and resolve conflicts. In the area of family engagement, 68% of our community feel they are treated with respect by our district staff and also agree that district the district provides opportunities for families to provide input. When it comes to communication, our community definitely agrees that the district provides families with information about accessing community services

085and resources. We have they also say we have a multiple effective communication delivery systems in place and it continues to show that communication across the district is consistent and accurate. This is an an area where overall strength was an overall strength for the district. Sorry. On the topic of leadership and clear vision for the district's future, 57% of our staff feel supported and encouraged by campus and district leadership and also agree that there is a clear vision in place for the future of the district. As it pertains to data use, 60% of our students feel that the teachers make sure they understand the lessons and are aware of their performances. Overall, we want to ensure that our students and families feel welcome at their schools and at the district and to help promote daily attendance

086by students and staff alike. So next steps in the strategic planning the district administration will review results with campus administration to identify areas of strength as well as opportunities for improvement. Campus staff will will uh create committees to meet with campus administration to discuss concerns and collaborate to identify solutions. Parent campus committees will also be established to discuss parent concerns and identify ways to address them. District administration will continue meeting with student leaders to discuss and address any concerns, suggestions, or ideas that they may have regarding their campus experiences. District administration will also meet with campus administrators monthly to discuss concerns of staff, parents and students and the students and find ways to address their concerns. And we also plan to continue the climate survey to be conducted annually to monitor progress, evaluate growth, and

087address any concerns in a timely manner. >> Thank you, Miss Flores. Any questions or comments? >> Okay. Um, couple things on the information we got from through the email. Um, I did notice that we only got staff comments and I was wondering why we never received comments from our community and from our students. >> We can request them from region 13. We just provided what was provided to us. So, we can request it from region 13. We All the information that was gathered was gathered by them and then they disseminated the information to us. So we can request that. >> Okay. Um the other thing I was concerned about and you know there is some a lot of positive in there but um the social emotional issues I saw a lot of um concern about

088that not just with the staff but my main concern was the students. So how are we going to be addressing that? So uh I mean we have a clinic here that we refer the students whenever they have issues. We have counselors who are assisting our students. I think it's just making uh staff and parents aware of those services that are available to them. It might be in some cases that they're not aware of the services. So it's a matter of communicating and doing a better job of having that communication with the staff and our parents >> and of course our students. >> Right. How about our staff? I mean, it seems like the staff, we have a lot of staff members. They're under, you know, a lot of stress. How are we um addressing that?

089I I just found a lot of the comments what I found consistent in there where they were, you know, having issues. So, so in in the discussions I've had with uh principles that whenever a staff member has any issues, the principles are very well informed of the issues that they're having, not only at work but at home as well. >> And they always offer an opportunity for them to come and sit down in the office, discuss the issues, if there's anything that we can provide some assistance or make re uh refer them to any services that they may need. uh administration is very good to point that out and and and inform us and again the communication that maybe or building better relationships with staff where they feel more comfortable of going to the office

090and talking about these issues >> but the the the issues that I'm aware of it's always been campus administration who has brought it to my attention and they've discussed ways that they've tried to assist the staff member. Another thing that we do have in place is of course if they do come to us, we will always send them to the clinic that's here and available. The other part is if they have the attentive program, there is an employee assistance program that's tied to that. So, we definitely recommend them to utilize that. And the attentive program is super easy to use. You create your profile, download it. Everything is is done directly between them and the employee. So, I think they have up to five counseling sessions per year that they have access to. >> Any

091other questions? >> U just maybe a maybe not so much a question, but maybe a a comment. As a um as a community member, a parent, um I I've received the climate survey and um I I I realized we went through a third party, which I think is great. And I think this was a great first step in and and and and kind of getting the feel of it. Uh if there's any feedback that I would give to maybe going back to them is that that survey was long. It was very long. It was like 10 pages. And so, you know, in this day and age when we are just wanting to like do something quick, um I it it got really long and it got really um there were some things that I felt

092like were kind of redundant in there. Um or kind of it I was like, well, why didn't I just answer something like that? Like it just it it Yeah. So, I'm wondering if maybe that's why we didn't have more of a response from parents is because it it was a long survey and like I would start it and then I'd get the reminder to try to finish it like because so I there was great communication as far as as what I think there could be better about pushing it but if there's any feedback that I would go back and tell them >> is to maybe they got to narrow those questions down um to to hone in on certain certain things but maybe make it one, two, no more than five pages. I thought 10

093was a little too much. So that would just be my only if you could, you know, pass along the feedback. And then I was my only other I think if there was a question I had is I noticed we used region 13, not region 20. Was that because >> the cost? >> Gotcha. Okay. See, that's why I kind of figured it had either that they didn't provide it or >> it was honestly region 20 was double the price. >> Wow. Okay, that's good to know. Okay. Well, thank you. >> No, so back to what she was saying. Um, there were some people that had provided me and showed me what they were doing on the survey. It was very overwhelming. uh what what I was hearing and what I was seeing was a lot of

094the questions didn't apply to some of the people that took the tests. So that kind of concerns me about some of the the results that come out of here because how is a maintenance person know what's happening in the classroom or you know the teaching part. I just think that maybe we, you know, look into maybe getting a committee together, uh, uh, you know, and, uh, come up with questions that apply for just that certain area for maintenance, for your nonprofessionals, for your teachers, administrators, and address questions that are related to our district. If that makes sense. instead of this long list with all these things that don't apply to them because I do know a lot of what I heard and concerns was I'm not going to fill it out because I'm not a

095teacher and that's some of the questions that were on there. So maybe just something to look to. We're going to continue doing this which I think is great but I do agree with Katie it needs to be narrowed down to maybe 10 20 questions that are the most important and applies for just their area. That's just my input on that. >> So if I may. >> So and and I'm not sure uh each person would put down what role they they are and I'm not sure if the survey uh if they put like to say maintenance that they are taking to the section of maintenance or that they go through the questions and then they ask that it's not applicable >> since they're not in that role. >> Uh but I I didn't go and

096and put down if I was a maintenance worker, that sort of thing. But we can definitely reach out to them and let them know. Is there a way that in case they put that they're a maintenance worker that they're directed just to the those type of questions and not the the entire survey. >> Right. And in fairness, I mean, I had different people that came to me about it, but you know, I don't know what it I just saw what they printed out and it's just like they'd give me a short little thing look, you know, has this and that. I don't know what the steps were. Like you said, did you have to put on there you were a teacher and then it would take you to that. So, I'm in the same situation

097as you. I don't know. I'm just kind of voicing the concerns of what I heard back on your side. >> I know. The the flip side to that though is if it's very department or campus specific, then the employee may not be as willing to take the survey. >> Yeah. But that's not what what I'm I'm saying. What I'm saying if all the teachers they have to survey, all the maintenance people, they have nothing to do with the campuses. I think she means maybe getting more generalized questions that aren't specific to certain roles. Um, and actually like focusing on the climate, not inside of the classroom, but overall a general climate study. >> And I I know that might have been region >> related to that. So, >> we'll reach out to Miss >> I

098had a question regarding clarity. Um I know that some parents when it comes to mental health um it's new to them and are the parent are do the parents also get to I know they get to sit in the sessions but do they also get additional like resources and material to to learn how to navigate through those situations >> because I know that was part of the climate findings >> to answer your question is yes. Uh they they uh they have uh partial care and then they have like family. So they can have one-on-one on students, they can have uh one with student groups or they can have one with a family. And so what they uh the folks over at the clarity, they they assess the whole situation. And so if they see that

099they need more uh like brochures or more information or more education on on how to deal with a certain situation, they will they will step in and try to provide it. >> Okay. Awesome. And then as far as the survey, um I'd love to see like some goal setting. I know that uh it was mentioned in the presentation that this would be annual. Um, so I'd love to see some goal setting on um maybe trying to to help like the burnout situation or help some some of the feelings. I know tomorrow we're having an appreciation day for the staff um but everybody feels appreciation differently. So maybe seeing like what way do they like to receive appreciation and feedback and um that type of learning. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? So, um I

100I'll just add uh in regards to surveys in general, right? Um is this is this a standard survey that other districts use as well or was it built just for our district? >> I going to say it's a standard one. >> Okay. If it is a standard one, I I'd like if you can ask a question about, you know, where where did we fall as a district? um you know um if we're you know first first quartile or desile whatever where we fell there right so we can see true cuz I mean the number looks good right we were above average and that I mean for for most people above average that means good but I don't know if that means good based on what other if we're compare ourselves to other districts >> if

101they're if we're if we're the the bottom of the above average then that's probably not good right so I'd like to see if we can do that and And in terms of um I say that because if we are compared to other districts then changing the questions can be almost impossible because then you're not comparing apples to apples right and you start to modify the questions and you don't have that comparison. So so you it's some give and take and if we want to give that up then then that's okay then then at that point we would probably just get you know our own custom survey but are we going to get what we need or what we want? So, that would be a decision for the board, I guess, and and staff to decide.

102But, um, I'd like to know that. And then the only other thing that really stood out to me was in regards to student behavior expectations, right? That students rated that they really didn't know what their expectations was. So, just encourage staff and teachers to kind of follow up with students, right, to see what uh how we can better inform them, right, to ensure they know exactly what's expected of them. I I was surprised by that. I would have thought, you know, students know what what's expected of them and and in terms of their behavior. Um, but maybe, you know, that's why we're doing this, right? To get feedback and feedback's a gift, right? So, we should just take that and improve on it to to do that. >> So, thank you. Any other comments or

103questions, right? >> Thank you very much. >> Okay, moving on to uh next time, which is information on the bond committee progress. So just for for everyone that may be watching and the committee or the community uh and folks here here in the room uh so some some time ago um we formed the bond committee and it consisted of uh various trustees providing um uh committee members to to participate in this committee uh or community members I'm sorry to participate in the committee and then uh trustees are also able to attend and along with staff in in this meetings and there's been several meetings that have been had and there'll be more more meetings that that are coming up as well. But um had asked um some some of my colleagues on the board to

104to as as they choose to to provide updates on how the progress has been happening with that. Um, but I think as as you may have seen earlier today in regards to the first budget workshop and in conversations if you've watched these meetings over the last gosh six months, uh I think it it's no surprise that that uh we've had a lot of conversation in regards to a bond and and the potential need for a bond and and if you're staff here that's in this room today, I think uh each one of y'all probably has a need for for something right within within the school and uh whether whether it's it's it's facilities or equipment or or something for you to do your job better uh to take care of our kids. So, uh that

105that's the genesis of that and we're hoping to be able to have a conversation. At the end of the day, this board will decide whether a bond is needed, but I think um consensus is is leaning towards the but um I know that u Mr. Angles had had some thoughts in regards to the bond committees, but I'll open it up to any other trustees as well uh that might have some comments, but let you kick it off. >> Good evening, everyone. Um a few months back the superintendent conducted a needs assessment along with his staff to recognize the issues on school campuses. Uh based on the information the bond committee was created as Mr. Edandez says include members of the board the superintendent and uh some of his staff and the ISD southside ISD community.

106The bond committee has had several meetings to discuss how uh issues on the assessment can be accomplished. Committee members have visited district schools to determine what the most important issues are and these meetings have been productive. So based on the information on on the assessment and visitation to the schools, the bond committee has determined that a bond is needed to complete the necessary work on our campuses. Um we will continue to hold um future meetings. We have come to a point where we have talked about how to fund uh how to to get all these projects completed. And uh we looked at Vader and then we looked at uh some of the other uh means of of the financing to complete this. And so we have our meeting in the next uh month or so

107I think. And so we will come back again and give you all more information on what we have decided on and how we plan to proceed on getting uh all the necessary work done on our campuses. And so if you have any any more in-depth questions, please feel free to call Mr. Damidus and he will answer them for you. So you all have a good evening. >> Thank you Robert. So I I'll just add that you know the the committees um has met uh for some time and and um the the need um you know has has been shared based on the different visits but more more conversation needs to happen and as I mentioned you know before we we proceed whether we're going to do the bond or not um it has to come

108to the to this uh this uh group of trustees to to make the decision on whether we're going to proceed with the bond or not. So, um, we'll we'll definitely listen to the input of the committee and and I think I thank everyone for for participating uh and then we'll evaluate everything and make the decision as a as a group of trustees as well. But, uh, I'll open up for any additional comments or questions anybody might have. >> Um, I'll make a comment. Sure. So to piggy back off of Miss Angar Robas, I want to say that at the last meeting, we decided that we needed an architect and we needed to really start putting the pencil to the paper on the projects and the amount and um having some dialogue of where we're going

109and and what we're doing. So I know that an RFP was going to come for um for an architect to help with that. the process of a bond is very um unique. And so I invite the community out to come and sit and watch this process. Um because at at at the point where we get into the voting, we will be needing them to support the direction in which the district has to go. and understand that we we are only looking at things that we absolutely need to put in there in order to create a better environment for our students and staff and our community. And we're the hub here. So, whatever we do benefits our community. And of course, we want to be good servants as as well to make sure that we are

110paying attention to the price and the projects that we put in to the bond package itself. So, and it's kind of looking like November, this November. So, we'll see if we can make that. >> So, I know we have um based on what Mr. Gales present, I think mid August is our deadline, right, to make that decision. So, I think um you know, over the next u couple months, we'll have some additional dialogue and and then um make a make a determination. and and I I do know um based on conversations that that we've had um as a board in in in the past as well, right? You know, we've talked about the the architects and them being a um a tool, right, that that we would need to to do this. Um so but

111I also think we we if if um my colleagues um entertain the bond and and we decide as a group to move forward then we also need to apply the lessons learned from the last bond right and and determine what what we need to do in terms of of comms and and the the community meetings and engaging the the community as a whole and get the the feedback to be able to get the support. I understand. Um the one that always gets me is this this uh no no tax increase, but you got to say you're doing a tax increase, right? And and um being able to to explain that in in simple terms so that the community doesn't feel like we're we're being untruthful because it's just state legislature, right? It's the one that

112dictates that we have to state it that way. But um need need to have some some good information that's shared and and just to be very transparent with everybody. um and and in in in ways that that is is uh easy to to understand because um be perfectly honest as when you read it it's not very easy to understand. So any other comments or questions, thoughts? Thank you. Okay. Uh moving on to review of financial statements for April 2026. Superintendent. >> Mr. Board President, for the review of the finances April, we have Mr. Kales. >> Welcome again, Mr. Kales. >> Good evening again. Um um this this um we're at the end of April. One of the things I want to share with the board is is um he's scrolling right there. So we're we're

113good right there. Thank you. Um inside this uh report is where we have the budget on the revenue and then you have actuals and you have balance expenditures have a different different column because they have encumbrances. That's money we expect to spend. Um what I want to remind the board is we have a $73.5 million budget on revenue and expenditures. We should right now we we expect to be able to finish with the expenditure side within those $73.5 million. Like right now where we're at, we anticipate being able to finish um without spending. So we are within budget. There's a couple of different ways to look at this though. The problem is if you look at the balanced budget of $73.5 million, we we we have a really good idea due to budgeting 40 additional

114students and and so we're 80 negative students on what we actually started on the budget because we actually were down approximately 40. Of course, we saw some money from the um tax we talked about earlier that m that decrease also. So, so what we're doing is is is trying to estimate as close as we can on the expenditures or the revenues, I'm sorry, the revenues and saying look, we're gonna only get like 73 72. We know this number is going to come in lower. So, so we're trying to hold a line so we don't actually spend the full 73.5 million knowing that revenue is not actually coming in. Um, we could bring a budget amendment to the board and say, "Okay, it's not going to be 735. It will be 73 or 725." um $1

115million is is approximately 1.3% of the $73 million. We haven't brought them I mean in full disclosure we've mentioned that the revenue is going to be very very difficult to reach. So we don't actually we're not we're not misleading the board by telling by not telling you we we know that revenue is not going to come in. We won't we don't expect to see that number that high. We do hope to get as close as we can to it, but due danges throughout the year, we know it's going to be a very difficult number to reach, which once again, what we're trying to do is not actually spend the full $73 million. So, the revenue expenditures are close to as as as possible when we get to. So, that that's an update on the general

116fund of where we're at right now. Um we we received $50 million in revenue or and we've spent $48 million up to date and we're trying to once again um generate as much revenue as we can and and hold the line with expenditures to keep from from losing any additional funds. Um going on to the food service account, child nutrition, we have um $7.9 million of revenue, $6.4 million of expenditures. Um I think you have um quite a few projects actually coming through. So that that's once again targeted on purpose to continue spending some of that fund balance down on the child nutrition side. And uh moving on to the actual um debt service budget, we can see right now that we've actually generated 8.7 million of revenue. So when you look at the actual

117there, we budgeted eight. We have approximately $8.7 million of revenue. Um, we paid 1.9 million. That's what's been expended or paid out of the bond on the expenditure side. And we have a balance to pay approximately $6 million left to pay. So, um, we still anticipate having some money left over at that point in time and bringing a resolution um, to the board to defeat or pay off some of that additional debt as soon as possible. >> That's the update on the finances this month. >> Any questions for Mr. Kitis? >> Thank you. Okay, thank you sir. >> Okay, moving on to uh new business. Uh first item is discussing consider approval of executing an agreement with Tari Inc. doing business as Jeans Restaurant Supply for the purchase of commercial cafeteria ovens at ASUS Loya

118and Matthew Middle Schools in the amount of 222,995. Superintendent. >> Mr. Mr. Board President, administration is requesting the purchase of new cafeteria ovens as the current equipment has exceeded its life cycle. We have Mr. Dan Garz Ramirez with a presentation. >> Good evening. Welcome. >> Good evening. >> Thank you. Good evening, board president Mr. Hernandez, superintendent Mr. Ramirez, uh members of the board and community and staff. The purchasing department advertised their request for proposal. We received six responses and uh they were individually scored and uh we're recommending approval of executing agreement with Tari Inc. doing business as Jeans Restaurant Supply for the purchase of commercial cafeteria ovens at ASUS Loya and Matthew Middle Schools in the total amount of $222,995 as requested by the child nutrition department service. Uh Jeans Restaurant Supply will provide a

119turnkey solution of replacing all these uh equipment at and taking the old ones to the warehouse for auction. Uh the existing equipment at Aces, Loy, and Matthew are approximately 14 years old and are scheduled for replacement. And I have Mrs. Ramidas present for additional information. >> Good evening. Do you all have any questions for me? >> Any questions? >> You always spend money so well. in in the in the right way. So, thank you for for that. That's my only comment. I appreciate you keeping everything up to to uh better than better standards. I know it takes a lot of effort and and you've done a very good job putting all that together. So, thank you. Keep it up. Uh any other comments >> and this helps her audit as well. >> All right. Um

120no, no other questions. Um do I have a motion? >> I'll make a motion to approve the execution of an agreement with TAR, Inc. EBA jeans restaurant supply for the purchase of a commercial cafeteria ovens at ASUS Loya and Matthew Middle Schools in the amount of $222,995. >> Salazar with the motion. Do I have a second? >> I'll second. Mrs. Faras second. Mr. Olivarez. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Robles. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Faras. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Monales Garcia. >> Yes. >> Mazar. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Silva. >> Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Uh moving on to discuss and consider approval to execute an agreement with Reliance Air and refrigeration for the purchase of commercial kitchen reaching coolers and warmers at Freedom and Pierce Elementary Schools and walk-in coolers and freezers for Gallardo Elementary and

121Matthew Middle School in the amount of 280,8817. Superintendent, >> Mr. Board President, administration requesting the purchase of reachin coolers, walk-in coolers, and warmers along with some coolers as part of the scheduled equipment replacement plan. We have Mr. Garzen M. Ramirez with a presentation like >> again the purchase department advertised a request for proposal uh for the commercial kitchen reachin coolers and warmers. Four proposals were received and individually scored and we're recommending uh executing a contract with uh Reliance Air and Refrigeration in the amount of $280,881.17. And again, Reliance Air would remove all the existing equipment and replace it and taking the old equipment to the warehouse for auction. Uh the existing equipment is approximately 29 years old uh at Freedom and approximately 37 years old at Pierce Elementary. And Gallo Gallardo Elementary equipment is approximately

12226 years old and Matthew Middle School equipment is approximately 24 years old. And again, Mrs. Ramdus is here for additional information. >> Any questions? I do have one question. So, in I know we we've over the years replaced a lot of equipment. Is there still quite a bit that need that's like the in the 20 plus years old? >> This is about the end of it. Um I believe we only have uh reaching warmers and reaching coolers at Mati that need to be replaced. Um and that will be coming next year. But uh other than that um cafeterias um kitchens are set and they all have new new equipment. >> Great. Thank you. Okay. Uh, do I have a motion? >> I make a motion to approve the execution of an agreement with Reliance Air

123and Refrigeration for the purchase of commercial kitchen reachin coolers and warmers at Freedom and Pierce elementary schools and walk-in coolers and freezers at Gardo Elementary and Matthew Middle School in the amount of 280,881 17 cents. >> Thank you. Mrs. Morales Garcia makes the motion. Do I have a second? >> Second. Mrs. Oliv second. Mrs. Olivarees. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Sanger. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Faras. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Morales Garcia. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Salazar. >> I'll abstain. >> Mrs. Silva. >> Yes. >> And I just motion carries. Okay. Moving on to item three. discuss and consider approving authorization to issue purchase orders with curriculum associates by board 748-24 in the amount of 219,274 discover uh ed tips 220802 in the amount of $7730 Renaissance Mayion in the amount of $92,32240 Serious Education Solutions by

124board 748-24 in the amount of 5 $55,510 and Sharon Well, CTPA221022 RFP in the amount of $87,12 in the combined total amount of $531,87144. Superintendent. >> Mr. Board President, administration is requesting the renewal of our yearly curriculum. The same curriculum that we've used for the last 5 years is being recommended. We have Mr. Castillo with a presentation along with Mr. Garza. >> Welcome, Mr. Castillo. >> Have Mr. Garza too. Thank you. >> Good evening. uh school board members, President Hernandez, Superintendent Ramirez, and community guests. Tonight, we are reviewing our proposed program renewals for the upcoming 2627 school year. The main takeaway from this presentation is good news for the district. If you look at the bottom line of the slide, you will see three main numbers. We are maintaining our essential learning programs while actually

125reducing our overall spending by just over $27,000 compared to last year. First, we are looking at to renew our partnership with curriculum associates. They provide our I Ready and think up tools. Uh these um uh I Ready uh is used by teachers for their tier 2 star intervention in reading, math and science in grades first through 8th grade. Over 90% of the teachers say that these resources are excellent for daily teaching and the longitudinal data provides us with growth with the growth of each student uh over time as a result of intervention and all RLA science and math instruction. This will also be an instrumental tool for the TIA data collection as a digital assessment tool for pre and post tests. Uh second is discovery ed. Discovery Ed uh is our main tier one science

126program for elementary and middle school grades kinder through 8th grade. Both teachers and students are using this more than ever and it holds a solid 75% to 83% approval rating by the teachers. We saw consistent use of discovery ed at all levels with increased usage compared to prior school years. Third, we want to renew our Mayion by Renaissance. This is a massive digital library uh that our school principles strongly support. So what makes special is that it follows students home. So our data shows usage outside of school hours which helps our students practice reading comprehension on their own time. It is also a core part of our district uh uh of how our district participates with a great SA reading challenge keeping our students excited about books year round. grade level C anywhere from 28

127to 40% of completion of books through the use of the digital library. Fourth, we are recommending serious education solutions. Uh this core supplemental program for elementary, middle school, and some high school courses uh provides an extra boost for all of our students taking a STAR test. The data here uh is incredibly strong. When students use Sirius, their uh test scores test scores go up. So the usage of Sirius is highly aligned with student outcomes on STAR. Because of this, 85% of our third grade through fifth grade teachers say it has a massive positive impact on student learning. And our secondary secondary teachers strongly back using their online digital prep books with an 83% approval rating. And then finally, we have Sharon Wells Math. This is the absolute backbone of our math tier one instruction from

128grades second all the way up to algebra 1. This scripted program has 100% usage rate across the district, meaning every single targeted classroom is actively utilizing it. With satisfaction ratings between 85% to 90% from our elementary and secondary school educators, it remains a vital tool for our math success. By approving these renewals, we ensure our students and teachers keep the exact same highquality learning tools they rely on while simultaneously acting as a responsible stewards of district resources. Based on our preliminary TEPASS and EOCC scores, we have seen gains and we aim to remain consistent by continuing to provide our teachers and students the necessary instructional materials and support. Again, we are seeking uh approval for the purchase of these items and I'm open for any questions if you have any. >> Any questions for Mr.

129Castillo? >> So, I noticed the first and the second that um the the prices went down on the costs from the previous year, but I noticed the Renaissance, the series, and the Sharon will wells went up and especially the Sharon Wells. Um is there any possibility that like maybe in the future that those are going to go down or is that just like everything else the cost is going up? >> You're correct ma'am because of inflationary cost we actually cut back and scaled back on PD because as Mr. Ramirez has says has said or stated that we've been using these materials for 5 years. So our coordinators, our teachers, our principles, our uh campus leadership know how to use it, are familiar with these materials. So we depend on them to provide that turnaround training.

130Uh uh and so that's why we're able to cut some uh some costs. So uh we do these uh surveys with our teachers on instructional materials at the end of each semester or at the end of the year. And um we were able to cut some things back that the teacher says, "Well, we really don't use it that much like in Discovery Ed." And that's why we were able to cut uh you know $17,000 from discovery ed. So um depends on on on on what we're looking at but those uh I mean if if in comparison to the other one uh the other two the first two uh yes there it is a slight increase but that's mostly mostly through uh uh you know inflationary costs. >> So the Sharon Wells is the big one.

131U why such a big increase from last year and and just to let you know I'm not against this. I'm just curious of how the pricing work why, you know, such a difference. >> Yeah. I mean, and it it's it's a very good materials and and the price of their went up a little bit. Uh but um it's because of them. Uh we have campuses that had a 17 point increase from last year. So, it is a scripted uh curriculum and uh it is favored a lot by the teachers. >> Yes, sir. So, and it could be that they try to keep up to date to what the standards are and the teaks that need to be taught and to align it to the STAR and to the end of course exam. So, they're constantly

132revamping. What you saw last year will not be the same curriculum that you see this year. So that's part of the expense and then two is that they are consultants that come to the district and they provide training which we have uh said that we will stay away from that but to pay those salaries it kicks into the curriculum itself as well. Uh so because of that you see that increase now you see that decrease in the other two but it's because they cut some of the services and because of that they they've gone down. >> No I'm okay with that. Just curious the difference. Any other questions miss? >> So, Mr. Mayor, you you touched on what I was going to ask because I was going to ask about the Sharon Wells being um

133accelerated with every year they are accelerating the software itself to keep up with with what's being asked of us by the state. Correct. >> Yes. We've always uh thought that they have somebody inside there at TEA that tells them you know this thing is coming up because it's very aligned to the test and what what comes out is what they have as their practices as their practice exams how they go about it to get to that point. It's very aligned to the state testing. >> Okay. >> Any other comments or questions? >> Thank you, sir. >> Thank you. Okay. Do I have a motion? I make a motion to approve and authorize issuing purchase orders in a combined amount not to exceed 531,871 with 44 cents. >> Thank you. Mrs. Morales Garcia makes the motion.

134Do I have a second? >> I'll second. I'm sorry. Second. >> Mr. Olivare seconds. Mrs. Solivarees. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Sangles? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Faras? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Morales Garcia? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Salazar? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Silva. >> Yes. >> Just anonymous. Yes. Motion carries. >> Moving on. Discuss and consider approval of the waiver of penalties and interest applied to tax account number 801000206-0120 for the 2025 tax year as recommended by the Bay County Tax Assessor Collector Alberti and demonstrating the supporting documents. Superintendent. >> Mr. Mr. Board President, there was an error made by the Bayer County Appraisal District that request uses to wave penalty and interest on a case inadvertently found to be delinquent. We have Mr. Kales with a presentation. >> Good evening again. Um, this has only happened

135I think I'm midway through my third year. It's happened twice. Bear County Appraisal District will ask for a waiver due to a actual mistake that they actually made. happens very rarely if you think about how many properties they actually have to work with. I mean, there's probably 600,000 homes and businesses and oil and gas and everything they have to re-evaluate. Um, somebody had a misspelling of the word yellow. The invoice was going to the wrong the bill was going to the wrong place. Um, there's a couple of different issues with it inside the story, but they're asking for a waiver of 37984. >> Unless there's more questions. >> Any questions for for this Males? Okay, no questions. Thank you, sir. >> This time, do I have a motion? >> I'll make a motion to approve

136the waiver of penalties and interest applied to the tax account number 801-0000-206-120 for the 2025 tax year. >> M Salar makes the motion. Mrs. Silva seconds. Mr. Olivarez, >> yes. >> Mrs. Angles, >> yes. >> Mrs. Faras, >> yes. >> Mrs. Morales Garcia, >> yes. >> Mr. Salazar, >> yes. Mr. Silva, >> yes. >> Just yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Okay. Moving on to discuss and consider nominations for the task board of directors region 20 position A. For for this one, I do not uh do I have a nomination for a TASBY board of directors region 20 position A? >> I'd like to make a motion to nominate Mrs. is Marbel Anger Robas for the TASBY board of directors region 20 position A. Okay, we have a motion to nominate uh Mrs. Angro and think

137before that I need to ask Mr. Angles if she'll accept the nomination. Correct? >> Yes, sir. >> Will you accept the nomination? >> Yes. >> Thank you. Okay. Um motion uh stands. Uh so I have the motion by Mrs. Salazar and I have a second by Mrs. Silva and roll call. Miss Solivarees. >> Yes. >> Mrs. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Faras. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Morales Garcia. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Salazar. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Silva. >> Yes. >> I just Yes. Thank you for your willingness and congratulations. Uh motion carries. Okay. Uh moving on to next item which is discuss and consider approval of the quarterly board self- evaluation. Feels like we just did this but we're going to do it again. Okay. Um in your packets you should have um the quarterly evaluation.

138Uh thank you Miss Luan for for all the work in putting this together. Uh your packet you'll see the participant manual. Uh and on the top Miss Lann was kind enough to uh highlight what the prior evaluation score was. Uh so you'll see that there. And we'll we'll go ahead and start with vision and goals. Uh number one, the port has adopted student outcomes goals. Uh in the prior February evaluation, we were a meets focus. uh which is all board members and the superintendent agree that the student outcome goals or challenge the organization require adult behavior change are influencable influencible by the superintendent and are the superintendent's first priority for resource allocation. Uh the board relied on a root cause analysis comprehensive student needs assessment or similar researchbased tool to inform the identification and pri

139priorization of all student outcome goals. To move to masters or 15 points, we would need to also have committed the vision and student outcome goals to memory. Know the current status of each student outcome goal and agree there's broad community ownership of the board's vision and student outcome goals through involvement and communication with students, staff and community members. Any thoughts on uh either um changing from the meat's focus of 12 to other um scoring methods. >> Okay. >> I did stay at 12. >> Yeah, I I thought that >> we haven't really made any progress. >> Yeah, I I agree. Um the challenge is you know is going to be the I I agree with Miss Monales Garcia but but the the vision is student outcome goes to memory. I think that's that's something uh

140speaking for myself anyways right >> um and and so that's something to work on and then u know knowing each student outcome goals as well. So >> uh are we in agreement that we'll stay at a 12? Yes. >> Okay. >> Yes. We're good to say that >> we'll stay at 12. M. Okay. Moving on to vision and goals two. The board has adopted a goal progress measure GPMS aligned to each student outcome goal. Uh the last uh quarterly review we were at a master's focus. All emerg and super superintendent agree there's broad community ownership of the GPM through involvement and communication with student staffs and community members. >> Any dialogue there? >> Good. Staying the same. >> Yeah, >> okay. We'll stay at 15. Mr. Okay. Um next item uh visioning goes three. The

141board has adopted constraints. Uh the last uh quarterly review where meets focus which is the board has adopted one to five boards of constraints. The board where appropriate relied on a root cause analysis comprehensive student needs assessment or similar research tool. All board members and the superintendent agree that the constraints will challenge the organization to focus on the vision and uphold community values. Uh to move to masters, the board in collaboration with the superintendent has adopted one or more theories of action to drive overall strategic direction and all board members and superintendent agree there's broad community ownership with the constraints through involvement and communication with students, staff and community members. I think the last time we had a conversation of this, I think we were okay with the first checkbox, but there was some additional

142dialogue in regards to the section second checkbox for the master's focus. Um, any conversation in regards to that. >> So there's a number there yet. Not for the second part. >> So I'm hearing contestants on staying at 9. Is that okay, Miss Morales? Yes. Okay. We will stay at nine, Miss Luan. Okay, moving on to vision and goals number four. The board has adopted superintendent constraint progress measures. Uh we were at the master's focus last time where all board members and superintendent agree there's proximity ownership of the superintendent CPMs through involvement and communication with student staff and community members. Any discussion on that or stay the same or change? >> I think we stay the same. >> Stay the same. >> Okay. Stay the same, Miss Len. Uh and then um next item um in

143regards to progress and accountability, the board invest at least half of its time to improving student outcomes. Uh we were at approaches focus. Um Mr. L, I don't know we have timings. >> Um when I calculated it today, we have February, March, and April minutes board meetings. The problem that we had in those is we had two of those three meetings were very long. because session items that we had to discuss. >> So if you calculate it on the total minutes that we spent for the whole meeting, it's only 9%. >> Okay. >> If you calculated on the amount of time that we spent that was not with those session items, we're up to 27%. technically I don't know we can move up because we did have to discuss those session items and they ran

144a long time and brought >> I didn't know they was counted against >> but close meeting so and that really didn't have anything to do about I mean that's not public I kind of see this as being in public >> versus closed that's just my perception of it because we're not going to do anything in close with students unless it's a safety. >> Plus, I would have said the entire board meeting just >> it does say public. But >> well, and so public is open. >> Okay. So I guess uh first comment we're almost seek agreement on is are we saying that we're defining a public meeting as being here in the public? >> Is that the consensus there? >> Yes, sir. >> Yeah. >> Okay. If that's the case, what's the result? >> 27%.

145>> So to 12. >> Okay. Are we in agreement as a group to move to 12? >> I can 12. Miss Joanne. Okay. Uh moving on to progress and accountability too. The board evaluates but does not interfere with progress towards improving student outcomes. Uh we were at master's focus and so we'll see we stay there at the board unanimously approved the quarterly tracker. I believe that was the case last time has not modified outcome goals GPMs and constraints. CPS or targets during the cycle. We have not not done that since his uh since the superintendent evaluation and consider superintendent performance as indistinguishable from system performance by evaluating the superintendent only on on only results and progress for student outcome goals and constraints using information monitoring reports according to the monitoring can monitoring calendar. We have

146done that as well. So I think we stay at a five. We in agreement there. >> Okay. Uh we're at a five there, Miss Luen. Uh next item, uh system and process. The port operates in a way that allows the superintendent to accomplish division. We were at master's focus. The board authorized public meetings in the last quarterly did not exceed an average of three meetings per month, an average of two hours per meeting, and an average of three other topics per meeting. Board members received the final materials to be voted on at least seven calendar days before the public meeting. No, it is to the board's Friday schedule meeting agenda in the three days prior to or during the meeting unless a state of emergency was declared. Miss Luan on the board authorized public meetings

147number two an average of two hours per meeting that that impacted this last evaluation. >> Yes, because we had three meetings from January I mean February, March and April um for a total of and >> what what was the average for those three meetings? >> What was the average? >> Two of them were four four hours long and one of them was 30 minutes. >> So 48 >> almost four hours for two of them for each of the >> I remember that. >> So for I guess 8.5 hours divided by three is what? 2.6. >> So once we master it, shouldn't it stay mastered? Why would we why would we go back >> if it if the criteria if you're not meeting the criteria >> because it's based on the quarter? >> Okay. >> Am

148I right? >> Yes. >> That's the way I understood it. >> We've gone backwards >> because we've gone backwards on other ones >> in the past. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Uh so I think we go back on this one to 12. 12. >> Um because we would still be above the 3hour average. We're at 2.6 hours. Is that right? >> Are we in agreement there? >> Yes. >> All right. So, we're going down to 12 on that one, Miss Joanne. >> Okay. Moving on to advocacy and engagement. The board promotes the vision. So last review we were at approaches which the board provided time during the regular schedule board meeting to authorize meeting to recognize the accomp accomplishments of its students and staff regarding progress on student outcomes. Hosted a committee meeting to discuss progress

149or student outcome goals within the feeder pattern with low performing campuses during the previous 12-month period. to move up. Uh we would display and keep updated the the status of targets of Auster Nakam goals and DPMs permanently and probably in the boardroom which we're doing and has later co at least one training on law governance for his community during the previous six-month period. >> We have not done law governance training. >> So we'll need to work on that one. So >> So we're still at a three. Are we in agreement there? >> Yes. Okay. Okay. Um, moving on to synergy and teamwork. The board works collaboratively with the superintendent to lead toward the vision. We were at a master's focus where all board members in the sup superintendent have completed the loan government's workshop. Agree

150that all board members have adhered to all adopted board constraints during the previous three months and agree that no board members has given operation advisor instruction to staff members during the previous three months. And so I'll just uh ask as I do every quarterly review uh each of the my colleagues uh so Miss Morales Garcia that you've agre u agreed to the board constraints and then the super the superintendent constraints >> salazar >> yes okay and same for me as well so I I think we stay at a masters. Are we in agreement there? >> Yes. >> Okay. Missales Garcia. >> Yes. Miss Hunger. Yes. >> Good. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, so we're there. Um, >> a total of 83. >> 83. >> Thank you, Miss Luan. So, we did go up three or

151five points. So, yay team. We're at a we're at a B now. So a total of 80 83. So >> any additional questions or comments before we move on >> m on on u systems and processes that means if we have emergency meetings for some reason then this knocks us back down to >> it will And we have to have an emergency, but it has to be through a declared state of emergency. It could be an offcycle meeting that that wasn't won't count, right? It just has to be like an emergency due to some tragic event or big issue. Any other questions, Miss? >> No. No. >> Okay. >> Anybody else? Okay. Thank you everyone. Appreciate it. Great job. Okay. Um, at this time I will go. >> Yes. >> I'm going to >> Yeah,

152no worries. Uh, at this time I I will go ahead and make a motion to approve the quarterly board self- evaluation. Do I have a second? >> A second. >> Mrs. Salazar. Uh, second. Mrs. Olivarez. >> Yes. >> Miss Robles. >> Yes. >> Mr. Vas. >> Yes. >> Mr. Morales Garcia. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Salazar. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Silva. >> Yes. >> And this motion carries. Uh at this time we'll adjourn to a close meeting in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code 551.071 and 551.04 to consider the following pursuant to Texas Government Code section 551.074 discussion regarding board member duties, roles, and responsibilities. Item B, consultation with legal council pursu pursuant to Texas government code 551.071 071 regarding legal issues related to RFP 26-004 for the high school athletic track

153re resurfacing project including proposals receive proposed contract terms alternates warranty obligations and related matters. The time is now 7:57 p.m. and we are journ take five minute break. Okay, good evening everyone. Uh we are returning now to open meeting and there will not be any board action taken tonight. So the time is now 8:55 p.m. and we're back out of close session. At this time I'll make a motion to adjurnn. Do I have a second? >> I have a second. Miss Odiva seconds. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Thank you everyone.