001I'd like to welcome everybody here. This is our budget hearing for Granite School District. It is Tuesday, June 17th at 6:02 p.m. And we're going to begin by indicating who who's here. We have Clark on line so we'll begin with him. Clark Nelson, Julie Jackson, Kim Chandler, Burges, Chris Win, Todd Harvard, Ben Worley, Nicole McDermott. We're going to excuse Karen Winder. She had a um a prior commitment and was unable to get out of that. So, uh, we will miss her, but we appreciate clerk being online. Um, we're going to go ahead and turn the time over to Brian who's in the hot seat, Brian Ipsson and Todd Hover for our budget presentation. Thank you, President McDermott. Thank you, board, for a opportunity to to quickly um go through this coming year's budget and just
002some of the highlights of that budget. Um, we appreciate the opportunity. Okay. What we're going to talk about today is the the funds of the district that are included in the budget proposal for this coming fiscal year. Um where you can find the budget, what some of the priorities were that were included in that proposed budget. Um we'll get into property tax rates and the proposed increases in those property tax rates. And then finally the the recommended board motions for for this evening. Um so every year we produce an annual budget book. Um and this budget book this year we we've started including artwork from students on the on the front cover and that's what's on the the cover of this. It kind of adds a little bit of entertainment value to the budget book
003when you're when you're going through to to read it. It seems funner if there's a cool picture on the front cover. Are you saying it's not entertaining in and of itself? Yeah, or at least one parent will look at it besides us. Um, the budget book has a balanced budget for all the funds for which you all as the board have legal responsibility and authority. So that includes the general fund, maintenance and operations in the general fund. Um, the district activity fund which is school fees, donations, fundraisers, the pass through tax fund. These are taxes levied for redevelopment and for charter schools specifically. Um the the GEF fund which is our granted education foundation 501c3 um nonprofit entity. The capital outlay fund which is for construction renovation and maintenance of schools and other district buildings.
004Uh debt service which covers our bond payments. And then school lunch for our breakfast and lunch programs in our schools. And every year this budget book contains two different pieces to it. One is a a revised or final budget for the fiscal year that's just ending. So for this 2425 school year, a revised budget um and then a tentative or proposed budget for the coming school year, the 2526 school year. Um the same process on a high level is followed to establish a budget for each fund. So um the beginning piece is knowing what we have estimating our available revenues and the resources that are available to cover our obligations and our expenditures. Um this is through through information from the legislative session from property taxes from federal funds. There are many different sources that
005fund the expenditures of the district. And then we get into estimating the expenditures and the things that are going to be required to run the school district for the coming year. Um, and we we kind of call this the plan spending process where we're compiling data and getting input from across the district, from different district departments and schools and and all of the people that are in the know about what is needed out there. um can can put in their plan spending requests. And um specifically, if there is a request for new resources or new programs or something new that isn't in the budget in the current year, um there's a budget request form where that that department or that person can can explain how their their request fits in with district strategic priorities and
006and the vision of the of the school district and the board. Um, finally, the big goal from the whole project is to balance the budget and ensure that we're not spending money we don't have. Um, so expenditures should not exceed available resources. Sound budgeting principle, right? That that applies across the board. Um, that adopted budget once it's approved in a budget hearing is in place for the next year and um can be amended throughout the year by the board by board action. Um, but typically we have one formal adjustment of that budget, which is the the one that happens in June of the following year. Um, where can you get to the budget? On our main granite schools.org website, there is a bulletin out there that has information about this hearing tonight along with all
007of the the proposed budget um PDF document and other information um that interested patrons can get to out on our website. How long is that available? like on on our homepage, do we know? Um, that's a good question. It will be available for for at least a couple of weeks out there. Um, the budget document itself will stay available on the budget development web page throughout the the fiscal year. Um, but for at least a couple weeks that will be available on the the front page. So, it's on the main page and then we convert it after this hearing and the the budget is approved formally. Then we start advertising the truth and taxation. Yeah. So, which will then bring the budget back onto the front page again. Okay. Um summary of of all funds
008you can see the general fund and capital outlay are the bulk of what we are doing as far as plan proposed budget for next school year. Um, pretty much all salaries and benefits with the exception of food service employees are included in the general fund and that's the bulk of what happens of that 725 million in the general fund. And then capital outlay. The big pieces there are our ongoing construction projects at Skyline and Cyprus. Other renovations and rebuilds um are part of that 105 million in capital outlay. Then we get into budget priorities for the the coming school year. And as I mentioned, these have all been aimed at at aligning with a strategic priority of the district. So when we're considering how we're going to spend our money in the new year, we're
009trying to fit it into the academic social skills and dispositions, talent development areas. Um there are also some some costs that are identified which maybe fit into multiple of those areas. Um, so some of those operational costs can include things that probably overlap into into all of those areas along with compensation adjustments for employees and and different things in in that area. But overall um that $39 million number is um including each of those pieces. Um and and you can kind of see the pie chart that that shows that split between the various areas of again these are these are requests for either new programs or new new costs that were not something that was happening in in fiscal year 25. Um we'll get into the details of what each of these things are. The
010priorities um in the academic area include adjustments to class sizes in grades K through two. So in our funding formula for those grades um helping to reduce class sizes in our elementary schools. Um software for English English learners from the Lost State grant college access support for high school students. And then in the social skills and dispositions, we have safe safe school light staffing. Um that's run through our prevention and student placement department. Um and replacement of of a lost state gang prevention grant that um went away at the end of the 2425 school year. Um on the in the talent development area, elementary prep time for teachers. So this includes providing hourly support to give elementary school teachers um time to prepare each week. Um that hourly employee would would essentially take their class
011during a small portion of the day and allow them time for for prep. Um instructional coach support at each school. So this is um if we go back here, the 38 FTE in the talent development area is is related to those um instructional coaches and providing additional coaching and supports for our educators in our in our schools. Um in the operations area, Brock Bank Junior High reopening and associated operational costs of of that reopening. Um administrative supports in schools. So, this has been a big push to try to get um at least a half an FTE in each elementary school in our district. Um so that every school has an extra assistant principal or some kind of additional administrative support to help with behavioral issues, to help with um all of the things a principal
012does in a in a school. Um school safety requirements. There have been a couple of bills passed in the last few legislative sessions to um impose additional requirements on the district as far as uh safety in schools. The biggest one was the school guardians that are required now in every school um in our district. And so that's a big a big commitment and a big chunk of money to to provide those guardians and the other supports that are needed to comply with with laws. um school fees. There are certain school fees that are going away that can't be charged in our secondary schools uh beginning next school year. And so this is providing for a a replacement of that funding to our secondary schools so that they can continue to provide the programs that were
013funded with those those fees previously. Um and then custodial support in our newly opened schools. Um, for example, at Cypress, there will be additional square footage that doesn't exist on the current Cypress High campus that will necessitate additional custodial support in that new building. And that's that's the case as we as we rebuild schools and have new openings. Uh, that creates that additional need for custodial support. And then last is the the compensation piece. Um, as far as things that have been negotiated with with the Granite Education Association and other employee groups, um, we we have built into the budget um, funding of employee steps and lane advancements on the salary schedule in addition to a 1.75% COLA for all employee groups across the board. Um, a piece that factors into this as well is
014the changes that were made in the legislative session to um remove the professional staff program that used to fund us based on our the experience level of our educators. Um, and we no longer are receiving money through that program and instead are receiving kind of something that allocates more on a strictly WPU basis, which means we lose $2.2 $22 million is the bottom line there with the change that they've made um to that funding formula. And then finally, um another legislative requirement was that we offer parental and postpartum leave to our employees that's at least as um on the same level as the state benefit. Um and that's required at the beginning of this coming fiscal year. And so that that piece has all also been included in the budget and the substitute costs and
015other things that will will result from offering that benefit to employees. So, when we when we put this all together and look at balancing the budget in the general fund, um we've got approximately 13.7 million in WPU value increase funding, additional revenues. Um we have some savings from from risk management premiums for our insurance um that didn't end up being as high as we had anticipated in a previous budget cycle. Um, we have a little bit of money from property tax new growth. And to clarify, this is this is funding from new properties in the school district. So, not not on existing properties because we we essentially are given the same revenue as the prior year. Um, but we do receive new growth on new properties that come online in the district. Um, other MSP
016changes of 1.2 million. This is mostly in the uh state at risk program that we we anticipate getting some additional funds there in fiscal year 26. Um some savings from from budget adjustments and and FTE adjustments at the district and then also the closure of two elementary schools um at Orchard and Redwood in fiscal year 26. Um it's 2.1 2.2 2 million. Um, and then another 500,000. Todd, you're going to have to remind me. So, these are uh we did receive a bit of a grant for our preschool program. So, we had applied and didn't receive the full amount because we were asking for 1.5 million. We received 500,000, but this is a good good signal. We get in at the ground level and as more monies come through the state, we can anticipate more
017funding flowing through. But this is that piece. I didn't mean to forget the preschool funding. I I knew that. Um so ultimately where this gets us when we consider some available one-time fund balances that are available and state one-time revenues to cover the school fee loss um of about 6 million. It leaves us with a approximate $13.2 $2 million hole to fill in the general fund budget um in order to to balance things and get us to where we're we're we're paying for each of these priorities and different things we've talked about. Um so we'll get into what that means on on the property tax side in just a second. Um on the capital side, I mentioned already the Cypress Brian. Oh yeah, I just a couple of questions that I know my community is
018going to want me to ask. Should I wait till the end or ask them as we go? I just not sure unless they're about a specific slide. Let's let's specifically. Yeah, we if I can speak. Go ahead. We we'd hoped to go through the presentation uh actually walk through the public hearing which this is about and then allow questions from the board before any motions are made if that's okay. Um the the schedule for school rebuilds and remodels includes the Cypress and and Skyline High projects that are ongoing or nearing completion actually. Um along with with remodels or rebuilds at West Karns, Calvin Smith, uh Taylor'sville High. That's that's improvements and select portions of that beginning in the summer of 2026. But there's there's multiple pieces to that project. Um Moss Elementary and Plymouth Elementary.
019So there there are a number of scheduled projects that are on the docket for the next couple of years um that are that are built into the the priorities and and budget in the capital fund. um along with Rockbank Jr. and Magna Elementary reopening in or Rockbank Junior reopening and Magna Elementary um kind of reopening as a as a steam school in in fiscal year 26. Um and then finally, we just have our ongoing school building maintenance and repairs and and deferred maintenance that goes along with that on a number of our buildings that have um things that need to happen that have not occurred yet. just due to funding constraints. And so, we're always working and chipping away at at those ongoing maintenance and repairs in our buildings. So, let's get down to what
020this means for property tax rates on on the proposed budget. Um, I've tried to put this together to color code it a little bit and help make sense out of it. I know that there's multiple pieces to this and that it can get confusing for anyone looking at this or or trying to understand it. So we'll go through each piece of this um separately but try to be quick about it and and get through this quickly. So on a high level um the certified rate each year is intended to bring in the same revenue as what the school district received in the year previous um with the addition of that new growth that we talked about before. And so the certified rate column here is what the the Salt Lake County auditor gives us and
021tells us, okay, if you levy this rate, you you can do that and the revenue that that brings in is not considered a tax increase. Any adjustment we make above and beyond the certified rate is then considered to be a tax increase um for their purposes and the and the state tax commission. Um so the state basic levy is the levy that we are required to to have as part of participation in the minimum school program for the state. So we have to levy this tax at the amount the state tells us to do that at um based on state statute based on what the legislature does their action. We we levy the rate that's required of us for the state basic levy. This is still an estimate at this point. We don't know what
022that rate is for sure. Um, this is the rate that gets us to a revenue target that's similar to last year on the voted local levy. This rate has actually come down as a result of that certified tax rate process. Um, and is and is bringing in the revenues that that the certified rate would bring in. Um, we've highlighted the board local and charter school levies together here in pink to show how those two work in relation to each other. So essentially, Granite has an obligation to levy a a tax that supports the charter schools in our area. Um there's there's a formula that the state um puts out and and sends numbers out that that shows essentially number of charter school students in our district boundaries that are attending charter schools. Um, and there's
023a portion of the local revenues that we receive as a district that we have to contribute in to paying for those charter schools on a state level. And so that's the purpose of the charter school levy that is broken out separately, but in in reality it's part of that board local levy, meaning they certify a rate and then the charter school levy is peeled off of that and we just have to we lose the the money that that that costs for for the overall piece of the charter schools, whatever that number is, that's coming off the top of the board local levy revenues that are generated. And so in fiscal year 26, that number actually increased by 1.4 million. So it was somewhere just below six million in fiscal year 25 and it's gone up
024to 7.4 million in fiscal year 26. And what that means is that we actually have a $1.4 million hole right off the bat in our board local levy that has to be filled in order to get just back to the same number that we had in fiscal year 25. Um and that's just just the way that that is set up that when when that number increases we we stand to lose revenue. Um the big drivers of that increase this year are one changes in the way that the state is determining which charter school students are in our school district boundaries. So they've done some geocaching and some other methods to determine or pinpoint more accurately from their side what they believe to be the district of residents students from Granite that are attending charter schools.
025And so that number has changed a bit and has has increased that contribution that Granite's required to make through the charter school levy. Um, in addition, our local revenues have increased recently um with the changes to um both our capital local levy to rebuild schools. Um that has increased over the last few years. And then if you recall two years ago, we had the the $4 an hour increase for our ESP employees. And as we raise taxes there to do that, that actually increases the calculation and and it follows from there that our charter school levy revenue target is going to increase. Um so we'll get into the next slide that will show exactly what the impact of that is um broken out of this rate adjustment that's showing on the board local levy piece.
026There's there's a piece that goes essentially to the charter school levy and another piece that's actually truly funding the 13.1 million that we saw on a previous slide. On the capital local side, we have um our regular capital. We've kind of always broken this out into two pieces. one that's the regular ongoing maintenance um of our school buildings and then the school rebuilds or pay as you go piece of funding all of the the construction projects that are planned on the GST future website. Um, so this is actually um funding the revenue target that we had here of getting us to the the place that we wanted to get to on on a dollar standpoint. But in reality, if you recall from previous years, we had this rate frozen between the debt service and the
027capital for school rebuilds. We're actually allowing that to come down some from that frozen rate, but still get us to the same revenue target that we had we had budgeted for um originally. And that's just because property values have increased by about 5.2% when we were we were planning on conservatively a a 2% increase in property values this year. Um so that rate is lower than what it would have been if we had kept that frozen in in the proposed budget. the the adjustment for the regular capital is just simply trying to bring in uh it's around a million dollars of additional revenue to start chipping away at that ongoing deferred maintenance on our on our buildings. So that's the fund that we've been that's been sitting stale for the last 20 some odd years
028and obviously costs for maintenance have increased dramatically in that period of time. Yes, correct. So each of these increases, those adjustments, we've tried to color code them and keep them so you can see from the previous slide to this one which rate it is or which levy it is we're talking about. We'll start with the board local. Um on the operations side, there's a an increase of about 6.25% or we also have this on a average home basis of a $565,000 home which is the average value in the district. what that would look like for a property taxpayer with with that home. Um, so that's about 67860 for an average home and brings in that 13.2 million that we saw in the previous slide that to to balance our general fund budget. Um, deferred maintenance
029is another $5.91 or 47% and brings in that million, just under a million in additional revenues for deferred maintenance. On the school rebuilds, it's just over 1% or 1337 for an average home, bringing in about $2.2 million. And again, that's consistent with that revenue target that we had previously when we were when we were estimating growth at 2%. And then finally, so if we total up the the district piece, the stuff that the district's actually going to see of this increase, we're at about $98 for an average property taxpayer, um, or a 7.78% increase. Um, and then we we have this piece that's recovering that lost revenue from the the charter levy, which adds an additional $8.39 or gets us just over 106 in total. Again, that piece is not new revenue coming to the
030district, but essentially just recovery of revenue that was going to go away through the charter levy. So with that, that's that's the explanation of the property tax rates and and what the proposal is to do with those property tax rates. Recommended motions tonight would be to approve that final revised budget for fiscal year 25. Adopt the the budget for the new year along with setting a preliminary tax rate at 0.006164, 006164, which is um what we just looked at in that previous slide, and schedule a truth and taxation hearing to be held on August 5th for the purpose of discussing these property tax increases that we've we've just talked about. So, with that, I'll I'll pass it back to you, President McDerman. Thank you. Thank you. Um we're going to go ahead and move to
031the public comment portion of our meeting. And again, remind anybody who's here, if you'd like to sign up, there's still time. Um, but we're going to go ahead and invite Amy to come up first. Amy Warren. Uh, please make sure you state your name clearly in the microphone. We'll give you three to five minutes and you are welcome to address the board. My name is Amy Warren. Um, and I just wanted to say thank you for working so hard on this. I know there was some hard decisions to make and the state legislature kind of put us all in a sticky situation and no one ever likes to raise taxes. We'd much rather lower their taxes, but I appreciate making that hard decision to do what's right for our kids. And I really appreciate how
032hard you all have worked and that you all are going to, I'm assuming, approve this. If you don't, well, I would encourage you to approve the budget. Um, and just thank you for making those hard decisions. the FTE changes in the lower grades. I can I'm already seeing the benefits of knowing what that's looking like at our own at my own local school and we just really appreciate the hard work of making sure you pay all of our teachers well and all take care of our schools and do all of the other many things that the legislature is asking us to do. So, thank you. Thank you, Amy. Have one more. Right. We're gonna invite Michelle Jones to come on up. Make sure you state your name for the record. Michelle Jones, GA President. I
033just want to reiterate what Amy was just saying of what a sticky position the legislature has put you all in. Um, I think that the public really needs to know that that a lot of this tax increase has nothing to do with your poor planning except for they've made it so that you couldn't know all the changes that were going to be happening and done to you rather than with you. So, thank you for always working so hard for our students and having such a clear eye on what's most important, which is supporting our students. And um I would also encourage you to pass this budget. Thank you. Thank you, Michelle. All right, with no other um people who are signed up and wanting to comment, we're going to go ahead and close the public
034portion of this, the public comment portion of this, and we'll go ahead and turn the time over to our board members for questions. Um Julie, why don't you take five minutes and you can in five minutes, and we can always come back to you if you need. Um for our budget uh that was the talent development budget it said that we were putting in money for extra ad admin for a.5 assistant principal. So does that mean that this coming year every school should expect a half of a principal at least assistant principal. They will have at least a half of administrative support. where we have created a new position called dean of students. Um the idea is that we think there's a finite number of interns that we should have interns intern assistant principles and
035if we exceed that there's just ramifications that are hurtful to the school and the district. So we wanted to create a position that isn't as expensive as an assistant principal. So we've created the uh dean of students position which can do all administrative duties except for supervise teachers meaning they can't do evaluations of teachers but they can do all the other administrative tests IEPs uh behaviors a lot of other factors. So this will be the first year in Granite School District history that every school will have additional administrative support and we're very grateful. Okay. Um the next question is that um on in the operations budget, you've got around 2 million plus of money that's coming from budgetary savings and school closures. And I know my community is going to be saying, "Well, how much
036of that is coming from school closures? Can you speak to that?" About $1.3 million is coming directly from the school closures. And so that's from two schools closing, correct? Correct. Okay. Um uh the property taxes capital local. So this the capital the local section of the capital uh you were showing me are around 59 million and I just wanted to make sure that my expectation is clear that is not going to any current projects. Is that right? That is how much we have in our budget for future projects. Will you make sure I've got my expectations right? Yeah. So the 58.6 million on this screen is what you're referring to. Yeah, that's what I'm referring to. So So that is funding for the pay as you go model of continuing to rebuild and and renovate
037schools. And a portion of that could potentially be used to close out the Cypress and Skyline projects, but the bulk of that from fiscal year 26 is going towards future projects after those two are completed. Right? So there's there's a piece of it to finish those out, but like the Cypress project, we're we're nearing nearing the the tail end of that. And so a good chunk of what's in this 50 58 million is going towards future projects that are programmed and scheduled. So what and if we're I think I remember that we're um increasing this around 2 million. Yes. Uh this year, I mean, so it will still be a while before we can add a new project. Um, I mean, we could add rem remodels, but not a new rebuild for a few years,
038right? I know we already talked about this. I I just want to Yeah. Okay. That So, this is the funding source that gets us through this schedule. Okay. Okay. That that's good to connect that. And then um also is do we invest that money? So every every dollar that the district is holding on to with the exception of a piece that's used to fund ongoing operational needs that are, you know, we're going to pay payroll this week and so we need money in in our checking account in order to do that. Everything else is invested in the in the PTIF in the public treasures investment fund and earns earns a return as it's invested in there. And those dollars flow back into the capital fund. It's all based on the number of dollars from each
039fund and that money flows back into the fund that generated it. I can't believe it's never occurred to me to ask that. Well, you do recall earlier on in the session there were some legislative questions about the well that I think enormous fund balances on my mind. Those are those funds that we're talking about, the ones that are legally required to be retained in savings and other funds that are um already uh being placed encumbered is the the technical term uh while we're waiting for those projects to launch. And we're going to obviously be as conservative with that funds, those funds, and try to earn some money off of them while we're waiting for those projects to go through or while we're retaining th those funds as required by law. I think the public should
040expect nothing less of us. That is what is called responsible, you know, financial planning, right? Um, my last question is that, so I just want to make sure I understand the timeline and I know that this is set by statute or state statute, but we approve the budget tonight. Um, but then we don't approve the tax rate until August. So there's a chance that we'll approve a budget and then we could always choose not to approve the tax rate and then we would in that case have to adjust the budget because we can do that anytime. Am I correct on that? Correct. So, so the timeline that we're under is June 22nd. You have to preliminarily adopt the certified rates or the tax rates that you'll uh impose. So, that's why we're meeting today. We
041have a June 22nd deadline. Technically, the budget has to be adopted by June 30. It doesn't make sense for us to hold two different meetings. So, we do it all together. We have two motions to accomplish those two tasks tonight. But that's how that works. Yes, we then start the fiscal year July 1. We have our to taxation August 5th. We're one month, if you will, into the operating season. And so you can still make decisions on August 5th. We would have to then scale back or adjust to whatever is adopted on August 5th. And we couldn't hold that truth and taxation before August 5th. No, the we need to know the tax. There are other regulations. So tax notices have to go out to property owners around July 22nd. So you can't meet any
042sooner than that. And then the tax truth and taxation hearing can't take place until 10 days after that date. Okay. So So August 1st is like the closest you'd ever get. We're on August 5th. We're as close as you can get. And plus that's established by uh Salt Lake County to make sure that uh all the local taxing entities don't hold their meetings on the same time to allow taxpayers to be able to go to multiple meetings. So we don't actually set that date. It's set for us. Well, fortunately they cooperate with us. We recommend a date and so far they have adopted our recommendation. So we're very grateful to their their help there. Thanks for your hard work on this budget and on the the tax situation. Could I further address that a little
043bit further because you bring up an excellent point which puts us in a bit of a pickle because as part of this budget proposal, we are adopting employee compensation packages which will go into effect July 1. And so if the if we adopt a budget and then retract on that budget at some point in time, obviously we'd have to take in consideration um the commitments we've already made um to our employees part of negotiations and other pieces that we've already kind of voted on along well the board has voted on along the way. It's a really strange timeline. Yeah. And I'm glad that you asked the question so that we could clarify for the general public um how that puts us in a bit of a bind to kind of approve something, implement it, and
044then uh go back and ask for their feedback on a tax increase and then go get the revenue. Yeah. I mean, it's very I I think it's really flawed. Yeah. Okay. Julie, um thanks for your questions. Kim, go ahead. I just wanted a clarifying question about why the first motion is about approving the revised 2024 2025 budget. Isn't there better wording for that? I mean, we're basically saying we agree this is what the budget ended up being. We're not like approving anything. It's done, right? So, is there are we saying it that way because it's required by law? Um yeah. So, so every every budget is adopted by the board. So, we've been operating under what we call the the working budget and then we're now formalizing that at this stage, which is an adoption
045action by the board. Sure. Would say the board voted no. You you could and we'd have to close our books out differently. Yes. Also, we we were just saying that a budget is a projection and um it feels like we ought to really be approving like the financial outcomes or the financial statements of the year, you know, the end end of year statements, if you will. Um, so we were we were just talking about that before the meeting. I I is there something in state statute that says we need to approve the budget at the end of the year? Well, under statute, you can adopt the budget once and just run the whole year through and hope that your estimates were accurate and correct. Yeah. Uh, in the course of the year, we will have
046other grant awards that we may not have anticipated when we put the budget together. There are adjustments that happen to grant awards. We received notices from the federal government just recently that said, "Oh, we were going to give you some money. Now we're not." And so we have we have to acknowledge that and allow those to be adopted into a budget. We save them up if you will till the the end of the season and then the budget season and then we just have one single motion there. But we could be meeting throughout the year as these events happen and and hold a budget hearing like today. It would be another budget hearing uh very much in format like today and adopt them as we go. We just save them up for one one single
047action. still just I mean for purposes of like anybody who's listening if we approve that budget it's just we're basically acknowledging the planned budget changed in this way and it's now done that's all we're saying so just clarifying that since Kim's asking what are the changes are there what are the significant changes in the 2024 2025 budget um I think Todd hit the the big ones which would just changes to grants and awards that are they're given to us or awarded to us or taken away from us in some cases. Um and and those budgets can create essentially differences between what we initially projected and where we're landing at the end of the year. Um, we want our budget ultimately to to reflect everything that we're actually doing so that we're in compliance with um,
048state laws around budgeting that we should not be exceeding the expenditures of the district should not exceed the formally adopted budget. Right. And so by by making changes at the end of the year, we're we're helping to comply with that as well. But but that would be the the big things that have changed in the budget. It's not significantly different or or changing in an upward way from what the initial adopted budget was. In most cases, it's actually going to end up being lower than than what we had initially adopted at the beginning of the year. And just to be clear, that that budget ends of June, correct? Correct. So July one is our the beginning of our new fiscal our our fiscal year. Yep. Thanks, Kim. Did you have anything else? Connie, go ahead.
049I want to say thank you for the budget hearing the way you put it together. I don't think I've ever seen the details of the budget like this. I mean, this is really nice. So, thank you very much for putting that together. Then remind me, do we get another book that finalizes that 2425 budget? Do you put together something that we get later on or am I not? So the the budget book that is published right now already includes that 2425 budget. So if you go look at each of the funds, there's a column for this current school year and a column for next year. Okay. That shows you each of those pieces. Okay. Yeah. Right. And and mentioned earlier, there's another book, the the financial report that also uh by reporting requirements has us
050put the original budget, the adjusted budget, and then the next year's budget. So you can you can see the whole tracking of of what's happening in that document as well. Okay. But that won't come out for a few more months, right? And it seems to me like we see a working budget and then we see what what was planned. I don't know the words. Thank you. Thanks, Connie. Chris, did you have any? Um I just want to say thank you. Um, this was I I love that we are prioritizing our strategic plan with our budget. Like we we can see what we have um for our different let's see like where we're putting our money is where we want it to be. And so I appreciate that you guys took the time to deliberately make
051that part of this budget proposal and um it's just easy to read and very clear. So thanks for all your hard work. Thanks. Clerk, did you have anything? Nothing at this point. Thanks. Thanks, Clark. Um, I just had a couple questions. Um, last year we had a budget that we were we were trying to be very very strategic about as far as we didn't want to raise taxes. And so, I know we had some one-time funding that went some ongoing expenses that we used onetime funds for. Have those been filled this year or are those continuing to be filled with onetime money? So in this budget there were probably three major programs. One was the administrators the the administrative support that is now switching over to be ongoing dollars instead of one time. So that
052has been resolved if you will or or taken care of on an ongoing basis. Uh we had money for the special education program where we have the co-e model. uh we're wrapping up the first year of that experience. We believe that we need another year of data to know how well that program is performing. Two two data points gives you a line, three give you a trend. You know, it's best to to hold on for a number of years, but uh at this point that is still one-time dollars uh as that program goes into its second year. And then the third has to do with the preschool program. Part of that money now has come. We we were able to represent that as receiving a grant, but that was about 1.5 million uh that we
053were short this year that we're in. And we anticipate that we still will have onetime funds for that program next year. So it that 1 million for the preschool is still being funded through onetime money. Correct. But we're hoping that we will see some more funding for that improvements will come in funding opportunities. If your fingers aren't crossed, then I'm going to be very disappointed. Thank you for keeping that preschool program going. I think that is so huge that you guys found that one-time funding to figure that out. I think there's some parents that are, as I've heard in the news this week, the some of our um local daycarees are shutting their doors, and I think there's going to be parents who are grateful for that program to continue. Um, I just had a
054question on the um proposed property tax increase if we kept the capital local levy uh the same rate because you said on that one you said it's even though it's increasing, it's not increasing as much as as as what it could have. What could it have been? What would it have been had we kept at the same rate? So, we are dropping that rate from what it is currently. Correct. even though we are still increasing our our revenue there. What what would that be? So this proposal is 0.001760 right is the rate that proposed rate if my math is right between the capital local blue piece and the debt service piece. It could have gone up to 01812 which would have generated an additional 2.4 4 million in into the capital fund if if we
055would have kept that rate frozen at the the same as last year. So the impact on a taxpayer would basically be to double. So if you go to the next page, if you doubled that $13, that would roughly be what it could have been. Okay, that was just my my question with that. I I I want to re-emphasize for anybody listening um that we I I know we had two people appreciate their their comments that we have been put into a difficult position um of the things that we have as expenses this year. The school safety requirements, the school fee loss, the pro staff money, and the parental postpartum leave. All of which were ones that we did not have a choice in. most of which I look at and think that is not something
056that would benefit or move towards our strategic plan and yet we are being asked to fund these ourselves. Um this is frustrating I think in so many ways. Um and it puts us in a very hard position. Um, but as a a board, we've tried to be as conservative as possible in our budgets. And I I appreciate um Ben and Todd and and and Brian and your teams and and looking for ways that we can really conserve and and where we can use our money wisely. And I do appreciate that this was going towards what our strategic plan is and that this is the money that we have is important for us to keep our students moving forward and to invest in in good teachers who will continue to work with our students and help
057them. So thank you so much for that. We really appreciate that. Um if there's no further questions Oh okay. I just want to comment that I think that there were some of those um some of those cuts to our funding from the state that were intentional where lawmakers intentionally said, "Yeah, we we think that uh local school boards can step up on this one and fund these things." they where they were intentional, but then there were other areas where they weren't intentional, like where it they didn't where maybe it impacted us but not anybody else, right? Um or and lawmakers thought, "Oh, this is a great idea, but didn't understand the consequences of how that would look and play out." And so I want to recognize that because I think I I don't I I
058think some of it was unintentional and education uh finance is so complex and I want to use that example to reiterate the importance that school districts, superintendent, BAS, schoolboard members be invited to the conversation and that we have a seat at the table and that it's a collabor collaborative effort when we talk about education because um I think that that will help us to cut down on some of these unintended consequences that we're facing here in our budgetary situation. Okay. Right. If there's no further questions, I will entertain. We've got four motions that have been suggested tonight. I move that we approve the final revised 2024 2025 budget as published. I'll second. I have a motion and a second to approve the final revised 2024 2025 budget as published. Is there any further comment? All
059in favor, please say I. I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Okay. I move that we adopt the proposed 2025 2026 bud budget as published. A second. We have a motion and a second to adopt the proposed 2025 2026 budget as published. Are there any comments? I do have a comment here. Um just want to reiterate public comments and things that other others have said. So while I think a majority of this year's proposed tax increase has nothing to do with the legislature but decisions that the district has made, a lot of it is still. And so I do think it's worth noting the legislator legislaturator's role in the budget. And so I'm just kind of repeating what you've already said, but the the pattern of approving grants and funding for various programs and then pulling
060that funding when schools have become dependent on the programs combined with continual passage of new expensive unfunded mandates that schools have to abide by is not helpful to say the least. Um, beyond that though, I have a couple of other concerns. There's there's definitely pros to this budget. I'm not trying to diminish those, but I have concerns. Last month, this board approved, for example, an expense amount of 6.5 million, 4.5 million of which was just for Chromebooks, um, according to the information I was given when I asked. So 4 and a.5 million, that's equal to like a third of this tax increase, um, in just one item and an item that I think has become overused and that I think will ultimately lead to reduced need for teachers. And I know we've had discussions on
061this. another district has, you know, reinforced the statement that they won't let that happen. But I just don't see how you avoid it if we continue down this trajectory of this ongoing increased reliance on on electronic curriculum and devices. Um I think teachers will simply become facilit facilitators of tech down the road. Um so these funds as well as others we spend on various third party contracts, electronic curriculum, things like that. I just I don't support in the budget. And then finally, the budget, as we've seen, creates a sizable tax increase when so many people are struggling even more than they were last year. Um, and so with all those things together, I personally just don't feel that I can in good conscience approve this budget. So for all of your awareness, thank you, Kim.
062Any other comments? Right. All in favor, please say I. I. Any opposed? Nay. I'm sorry, Clark. We didn't get you. I motion carries. Ready for a third motion. I move that we set the preliminary tax rate at 0.00.6164 subject to changes in the state basic levy. I'll second. I have a motion, a second that we set the preliminary tax rate to 0.006164 subject to changes in the state basic levy. Are there any further comments on this? Same comment as I just made. All those in favor, please say I. I. I. I. Any opposed? Nay. Okay. I move that we schedule a truth and taxation hearing to be held on August 5th, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. I'll second. I have a motion and a second that we schedule a truth and taxation hearing to be held
063on August 5th, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. Any further comment on that? All in favor, please say I. I. I. Any opposed? Right. Motion carries. All right, that is all we have on our agenda. And without um without any having come to the end having come to the end of I was going to say without any objection