001this meeting of the budget board budget committee of the whole to order at 5:07 p.m. Miss Lady has submitted a request to attend tonight's meeting remotely due to a personal conflict as she has a family matter and is located in Chester, Virginia. The board chair I have performed an initial review of Miss Lady's request and have found it to be in compliance with the school board's remote participation resolution. Um, and I have approved the request. Miss Lady, can you please check your audio and visual video? >> Check. Check. >> We can hear you. >> Hello. >> Thank you. Uh we we now ask board members who are physically present to vote on the following. All those in favor of confirming the chair's approval of Miss Lady's request. That is Miss Mr. Moon, Miss St. John
002Cunning, Miss Dixit, Mr. McDaniel, uh Mr. Mavine, and myself. All those opposed, Dr. Anderson. We have some other board members that will join us in just a few minutes, and we will vote them in as as as they arrive. And we call on um Dr. Reed for a [clears throat] presentation of the fiscal year or 2027 proposed budget. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. And I'm phoning a friend already. So, it um is my pleasure this evening to share um our budget presentation. I'm going to be sharing slides with our chief finance officer and our finance and budget staff. So, if we can go ahead and go to the next slide, please. One of the things I wanted to share as we approach the budget is I always want to make sure we're student centered. And
003this morning at our all county principles meeting, we had an update um if you will, a midyear check-in on our strategic planning goals and our progress. And I wanted to just share a couple of these updates with the board and community because our principles I know were very excited to see uh the data. And again, just a reminder of our work with uh our current eighth graders and algebra. We again have achieved an almost 16% increase over three years. And in particular wanted to highlight that we have doubled um our multilingual learner enrollment with continued performance in one year over year with some of our new strategies which were budget related. And in part these were selecting textbooks in uh home languages for students so that they're able to access the mathematics and the content.
004So as their language acquisition improves they are not going to be behind in the math progression. So really want to uh thank our board for investing in those uh resources that have enabled us to begin seriously closing opportunity gaps for our young people. Um madame clerk, if we could go to the next slide, unless somebody here Okay, thank you. Yeah, Alice has the clicker. Um also wanted to share that 22 of our high schools are currently projected to improve their federal graduation indicator rate compared to last year. So that's a significant data point. Thank you, Dr. Pon. Um, but when you think about where we were at this time last year to have 22 of our comprehensive high schools projected to improve and overall the division is projected to improve our FGI rates over last
005year. Um, that's great news. And again, our budget has supported strategies, positions, and resources that have continued to support world-class results for our students. Alice, lastly, chronic absenteeism. We talked about this data point and um what we wanted to note is that in school year 223, we had a 17.1% chronic absenteeism rate for the school division. Even last year at for 2425 we cut it down to 11.9 but we're right now at 10.5% which is the strongest since COVID and honestly you it's competing with our precoid rates at this time. Last year our division chronic absenteeism rate was 12.9% and this year is 10.5. So, we're making strong progress again supported by the resources this board has allocated and our staff have utilized to support significant shifts in data and again really working to close
006gaps um with our students. So, I'm going to turn it over at this point to our chief finance officer, uh, Lee Burton, the, uh, the all knowing, uh, finance officer, and, uh, her staff to present the numbers, but don't want us ever to forget that the reason we need a budget that's needs-based is because we have children with needs that we are meeting. and I'm really proud of the work our staff is doing and I know this board is proud of that and our community is grateful for it. So, Miss Burton, good evening. Most of these slides you all have seen a couple of times before. We just included them in the slide deck in case you know one of you all had a question or wanted to refer to them, but I'm going to
007go through the ones that I've gone over before really quickly. So this slide of course the budget summary. Um we asked for 197 million increase. 138 million of that was increase in county transfer which is about half of what our requested increase was last year. The next slide represents all of the expenditure adjustments that totaled 197 million. This slide is new. We thought it was worth um you know displaying the reductions that we took in fiscal 26. As you all know that was 121.3 million. Um and the fiscal 27 budget uh restores the staffing formula change halfway. Um the elementary special education chairs and the AERT. Um the next slide shows the M's Lane comparison. Of course, this hasn't changed. We're real proud of this slide because we went from seventh of eight to second
008of eight in just three years. So that's great progress. The compensation comparison looks largely the same. We do have a few uh jurisdictions who haven't released their budgets or their salary scales yet. If you look at the next slide, we still um remain second based on the proposed beginning salary of the divisions whose salary schedules we have. Um so we're we're still ahead of Lowden and Prince William. So that's that's our biggest competitors because they're the largest. Then again, the revenue overview, county transfer request was 138 million. And then here's the new information. This represents the um county programs that are being shifted to FCPS. U 4.6 million that was previously funded outside of the um school operating county transfer for the middle school afterchool program. the values in prevention program or VIP program which
009funded summer camp at middle schools and then transition services to FCPS which um basically helps high school seniors with IEPs transition. The county also you should know that the county assumes that uh we would initiate a pilot fee structure for the middle school after school program and that those funds would be remitted to the county because the 3.9 million that's for the MA MSA MSAS program is the full amount um that they've included in the county transfer as opposed to outside the county transfer for fiscal 27. seven. Uh, another change was eliminating the crossing guards at high schools. Um, it's 13 positions, couple million dollars, and then redesign of the school health program, which is actually in its second year. They're phasing that in over five years. So, if you go to the next slide,
010the impact of the county's advertised budget is we requested again 138.4 million. The county executive has provided 94.6 6 million as a transfer to the operating fund which leaves a gap of uh nearly 44 million and then support previously funded outside the transfer they they have transferred to us um but it's within the 118 million that you may have heard conversationally that was the increase to the schools and then they also have identified 7.5 million um to deal with major maintenance issues um but again that's part of the school operating fund transfer and I believe that um Mr. Hill mentioned in his um presentation of this that this 7.5 million you know it is school operating fund transfer and it's not really their decision is how we would spend those funds. So the 7.5 million
011can could be applied to major maintenance or it could be included as part of the uh support to the operating fund. And then debt service that's pretty standard that that's our increase in debt service and 11.4. So that the total is the 118.1 million that you may have heard about. The next slides again is just the looking forward if we do get additional state funds. Um, we ask again that everybody stay involved. Next slide. Then the next steps are the House and Senate release their budget, their proposed amendments to the governor's budget on February 22nd. We have a joint meeting with the board of supervisors on the 24th that you all are aware of. We're already working on the PowerPoint with the um the county today and and tomorrow. We're meeting with them. And then
012you all are slated to adopt the advertised budget on February 26th. And that's it. >> Thank you, Miss Burden, for the presentation. Um, I'll now call on Mr. Moon for his question. Yeah, >> thank you. Thank you, Mr. Dixit. Uh, thank you for the presentation. Um, seeing the gap of $44 million to say the least was a huge disappointment on my part. I'm going to begin the conversation with that set first. Uh, at this point I understand according to timeline the houses and senates amendments are not expected until February 22nd. Do you have any a any intelligence advance of that? What that may look like compared to what you were initially put what the superintendent initially included in our proposed budget? I I do not generally when we receive the amendments um we then kind
013of have an idea where where the House and the Senate align and so those things probably have the greater chance of making it to the end. Um but you know they don't adjourn until March 14th. So we usually do not get calculation templates that would tell us you know directly from VDOE how much funding we'll get until much later in the process. Um, one of the things that I meant to mention and I I didn't I forgot is the county executive uh indicated that they had an available balance of 23.2 million in recurring funding for the board of supervisors consideration. And he did specifically mention that those funds might be used to um assist the schools with the difference between the county transfer and the amount that we requested. I mean I mean county members
014on the county board of supervisors do or always have that discretion to use the money left on table by a county executive to use in whatever the best way they see fit. Uh but not all the time they had used for to help the school system. So uh >> correct. >> Uh so with with that I do you know whether on the county side whether they expected you know more funding from expecting more revenue from the general assembly for their side. >> I do not know but that would be a good question to ask on the 24th. But will they will they say that simply because amendments are not due until 20 >> I don't know the revenue sources that they receive from the state. >> Yeah. >> And and going to a slide number
015whether we have a 18. Oh that one 14 page 14. We see that do we have a comparable numbers in those categories like that for FI26 because I want to be able to compare apples to apple because at the bottom at the bottom we see 118. Somebody might claim that that's the same as last year's 118 magically and and from executive summary of uh you know county executives proposed budget we see the number of 99.2 which is 90 94.6 plus 4.6 six. Uh but I mean I mean showing like the 118 you know people could uh you know could think that oh 118 like uh it's the same amount of transfer from the last year. >> Yeah that's not quite right. I mean the the people could say that but that wouldn't be >> so
016I would love to have accurate right you know >> FI26 numbers broken out in that fashion >> right because we got the 4.6 six for the middle school uh after school program. >> But that's that was outside that wasn't outside. >> That's right. It was outside of the operating transfer. It was funds that just came into us to support those programs, but outside the county transfer. >> So right now, just looking at the uh that slide, what I see up there is 94.6 94.6 for FI26. That was 118, wasn't it? for that particular line item >> it was 118. I just don't recall whether debt service was included. >> Yeah. Um so debt service last year was >> 6.7. >> Was that included? Was that part of the 118 or 19? >> It was 118
017plus the 6 >> plus correct. So >> to 125. >> So com so when you take those numbers out it's a 18 minus 90. let's say the 95. So that's the delta between FI26 and FI 27 looking at in those categories. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. Again, I would like to request in in the in the manner for FI26. Thank you. Sure. Dr. Anderson, you're next. Thank you. I'm sorry, Mr. Moon's question has me twisted up in knots. I think I thought I had it, but now I don't have it. This is data from this year. So what I think you all were discussing was potentially having a similar chart that laid out last year's to really determine which one of these things fell outside of the transfer which would have
018included debt service and the middle school after school programming and VIP all of those other pieces that are on page I don't know but thank you on page 12. So, okay. So, I think I understand that. So, here's my question. Now that these items are outside of the transfer, what does this mean for our ask? Do we have to build them in to keep them at this level? And if we do, does that grow our gap? Like, how are we treating this information? Well, we haven't done anything with it yet. But is it accurate to say that if we were looking to maintain these um expenditures at this level, >> you would need to cut 44 million somewhere else in the budget, >> right? But if we were to just add it to our bottom
019line of um >> I don't know why I don't remember this. um our bottom line of 197 plus that it will just show a larger gap. Yes. Is that going to be how we treat this Dr. Reid? How what what how are we treating this kind of new approach? >> I think at the moment we're just discussing the new approach because it's so new. Um you know I think we've had >> two days new >> I'm sorry >> two days new. >> Yes ma'am. So I I think that we're trying to figure out how to explain it as well to be honest and I think Miss Burton, you know, has done a good job with the initial explanation and I think Mr. Moon's questions are spot on because normally you kind of look at a
020budget apples to apples year-over-year and this is a different way of budgeting >> uh for us as a school division. So, um I'm going to likely defer to Miss Burden as we think about how best to explain it. Um because it is I think even our principles and others as they began to read through it or are struggling a little bit to understand you know the implications potentially. >> So since you are all knowing um she said that at the beginning so I recorded that. What were the conversations with the county with your counterparts there as to why this is the approach with these three expenditures on slide um 12? Why are we doing this this way now when we haven't in all of this time? >> I I have not had any conversations u
021with Miss Jackson about this. Um but I can tell you that the comparable number to 94.6 6 that you see there last year was 118.6 because the capital and the MSAS were not part of that number. >> Okay. >> So, can I just clarify for one second? So, the capital piece is here because there is an increase over what they're funding us in the current year. So there isn't always an increase that they show in their budget, right? So there was a few years ago that they showed the capital um separately. It was a couple million dollars where they were increasing at out of that joint infrastructure reserve. So I just wanted to be clear there. And then the debt is also something that they have shown on a separate line item as well. The
022debt is something that's consistent yeartoear. The capital has come in and out. I think I think I think I'm mostly asking about the 4.6 million. >> Exactly. That that's the piece. >> Why were you able to have any insight in your conversations with Mr. Hill? >> No, ma'am. >> Clearly, that's a question for next week. It is one that I'm very curious about. Um, going up to page 13, while this is not directly in our budget, slide 13. This is not directly in our budget, but it really does impact our community. I know that um crossing guards have been reduced pretty much every year since I've been on the board and now with an additional 13 on the docket. Do we have any um input as to where these would come from or is that
023decision made outside of FCPS altogether? So, our understanding is they're eliminating all crossing guards at the high school. And we currently have 14 high schools that utilize crossing guards. Centerville High School, West PTOAC, Mlan, South Lakes, Edison, Hayfield, South County, Robinson, Lake Bradic, Anendale, West Springfield, Robinson, Chantelli, and Oakton all have high school crossing guards, and they've all been paid in the county's budget previously. And my understanding is they're all being eliminated. >> So, it's 14, not 13. >> Well, it's 13 positions and 14 schools. So there must be somebody that shares a school. I'm not sure how they, you know, staff that, but there are 14 schools that currently have crossing guards that will not have crossing guards next year. >> How many crossing guards do we have at our middle schools? >> Mr.
024Lambert, do you have that number? >> I can pull that for you. We do have the information. It's a little difficult because sometimes the same crossing guard who does a middle school does an elementary school or >> so I guess a better question is how many of our middle schools have crossing guard support and how many of our elementary schools have crossing guard support whether they're shared or not is fairly relevant. If you could get that that would be helpful. Yes, ma'am. >> Dr. Anderson. Yes, ma'am. There is a page in the county's budget document that I can provide you all that basically outlines all of the county services that are provided outside of the operating fund. And in that it shows that there are 55 crossing guards left for elementary and middle. So they
025clearly are working more than one one school as um Mr. Lambert said. >> Thank you. Um my other question is still on page um 13. this reduction in um school health programs. Can you speak a little bit in terms of what that impact would look like for us or who can speak to that? It may not be you, Dr. Reed. This again has been something that the county has funded through the county um budget and I think they're redesigning their public health model program. And my understanding is that I mean I I don't know which schools specifically are part of this particular five staff reduction in the redesign. Uh but it looks like they're utilizing existing vacancies so that no current staff are expected. But that may mean there are current positions clearly that must
026be impacted and really we've only received this document. We haven't received like what schools are going to be impacted or which positions yet. >> So there were no conversations before this was determined. >> Not that I'm aware of >> with um FCPS school staff. Not that I'm aware of. >> Okay. Thank you. Um I'll take a go back, please. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh Miss Miss Anderson. >> Okay. So, I just have a few questions. Um first, do do we typically see the county leave money on the table in order to plan? I mean, I understand that they always have end of year the same way we do. Um but is it a traditional thing to actually leave money on the table at this point? I think this number larger than we've normally seen as
027far as the amount of funds that are unallocated and can be used, you know, for something that they didn't anticipate that maybe comes up during the budget work session, their budget work sessions. Yeah, the number seems larger than than we've seen historically. >> Okay. I think that what I'm noticing in this um that's very similar to what we've been talking about the entire budget process this year is we need help from the state. Um our county is at a tipping point of what we can fund through just the revenue options and we now have utilized them all. Um it it's no longer that you know anyone from Richmond can look at us and say well you haven't used every taxing mechanism we've given you because we've now used every one that we've had. Um, and
028so I think that what this shows me more than anything is that we need help um to in order to meet the obligations and to be able to keep the school system at the at the level. So I think what we're seeing is real time what the JARK study is trying to show is that we have to get more money in order to continue to provide the same level. Um, and I'll go back to the same thing that I always say when we get to this point is if we start looking at state rates of completion and so track and everything else. Um, go ahead and pull Fairfax County out and see what happens. So, if we dip, it really hurts the state in a significant way because the next largest division is half our
029size. And so, we are doing a the line share the work in terms of making sure that the state continues on the path for education that it is. Um, I I do want to talk a little bit about not this slide but the slide before. um when we're talking about the middle school after school program because I know there are a couple things on this list that were hot button items last year and so I definitely don't want to be in the same boat that we were. However, this does change things pretty significantly. Um does Fairfax County or does the public school system at this point have a fee structure system that we could utilize to collect fees like this? Because the majority of our fees come through my school books, correct? >> Yes. >>
030So, does the county already have a fee structure that they utilize that would collect a differentiated pay structure? >> I do not know the answer to that. Well, I this is a rare opportunity where I'm actually going to ask you a question I already know the answer to and it's yes because they already are doing this with the SAC programs because SAC is collected through NCS at a differentiation based on income of family and so I have mentioned several times to different board members on the county side about the fact that we while we have a robust system that we use to collect school-based fees we do not have a system that that differentiates. So, I do think that there's a certain amount of time that it would take for us to be able to
031put any kind of structure like this in place. Um, and the other question that I have is do we already have this I'm assuming that we do not already have this factored into the budget that was the 138 million. Correct. We have it in our budget, but it's offset by a negative 3.9 million, which is the funds that come in outside of the transfer to offset our costs. And that negative is now gone. Right. >> So, it increases our budget by 4.6 million. >> Gotcha. Okay. I would like to go back. >> I'll take a turn. Um so yeah little this is little bit uh shocking to see the gap but you know um with the current situation like uh my colleague just said that we did exhaust a lot of resources but the $438
032million deficit we have I'm looking at that and then going back to the slide number seven where we have shown where we restored the funds for one with the one-time funding to maintain the elementary spec chair advanced a arts basically. So not saying that this is what we cut last time and so we can cut anywhere right but knowing what happened last time is it something um of of something could could hurt like is it is a possibility that we could lose this additional uh funding we provided last year because we didn't get funding for arts and spread chairs. Well, I think like on the page that shows all of the expenditure adjustments, I think that in order to align with the funding that's been provided, we would have to look at all of the
033things on that list of expenditure increases that make up the 197 million. >> Yes, Miss Burden. And 89% of our budget goes to the teach and salaries of the staff. So there's not much room to cut elsewhere and other than going to that. So even if we cut these, and I'm not saying we want to, but $32 million comes from here, which we funded last year by onetime money. Um, and then we have 10 more million deficit if we don't get anything extra from the state. And that 10 million could come from somewhere here. It's not on the list but going to back to the staff and and we are very staff labor intensive in you know uh you know school board like not school system. So um I I my my concern now is
034like what do we tell our you know our staff or the people who are concerned because I have been getting media like emails and uh we had meeting with with with the parents who are saying we absolutely need those pet chairs or we absolutely need those arts. Yeah. I mean everything here would have to be looked at the need >> but we can't fund ourselves right so what what do we do at this time is it uh something we could do we could tell our community that you know go to their state you know u officials or go to our county's counterparts like whoever can fund us I'm not saying one or the other but if we don't do that we going to be in a in an issue And you know with uh this
035I think we had a long last year we had a very late decision making and it kind of upset a lot of community members. We don't want to do that this year. So um I really hope that we get answers soon from whoever fun they funded uh funding us. Thank you. We are going in the go bags. Uh Miss uh Dr. Anderson. Thank you. Um, one of the things that I think we have to offer some clarity on to our population to our residents because we saw the outcry that occurred regarding the middle school um, after school programming. I mean, teachers, students, families alike from all corners of Fairfax County really rallied around that is our only option at this time. Dr. read a fee structure to help that continue. >> That's [clears throat] not
036our only option. I mean, we could as a board, you could choose to fully fund it. You're just going to have to not fund 4.6 million. Bless you. You're not going to be able to fund 4.6 million of something else, which could be any of the above items. >> Um that I I've said this before and I'll say this now. it would advocacy to not route. It's not just for the logistical um difficulties that Mr. Anderson has explained. We talked about this at Nauseium last year that most of our students who participate in the after school programming I believe 72% was the number that was provided by um and I'm so sorry I can't Mr. Emmery are on free and reduced lunch. So, we're going to be looking for blood from a turnip at this
037point. And the reasons why this program was established by Jerry Connelly was to provide opportunities for those students that were constructive. I I would not want to be part of a board that now says there's a fee involved with this and so families will have to make some really challenging decisions. So, that for me as one board, I am not interested in that. Whether we get the funds from county, state, we make some different decisions. I I would like for all stones to be turned on this. This is a a fairly hard line for me because I know what this means in the community that I serve and those robust programs will not be such if there's a fee involved even nominally will be a challenge for many of our families. The other question that
038I have is regarding um we talked about how we seem to be in a decent place perhaps with the state amendments are still flying about. Are we anticipating um and looking at the um the bills that are in process right now? Any unfunded mandates which will change our picture? Do we see any of that on the horizon? Mr. Mallaloy, I don't know if he's here or Dr. to read. Has anything been raised to your um awareness that could kind of sink us a little bit? >> I think anything's possible. Miss Burton has often said not to speculate, I believe, about what could occur with >> if there's anything in the pipeline, I'd like for that to be raised in this conversation. >> That's that's the sort of thing that Mr. Malloy certainly would call to
039our attention if there was something that was going to have a huge impact, but it wasn't being funded and I've not heard anything like that, but you know, we're a long way, you know, from adjournment. So, >> okay. Thank you. Um, can you also say this for me? I know I've asked this before. Um, the meals tax, how is that being included in the county's budgeting? Well, according to their documents, they doubled it. It increased by 100%. Uh I think 64.7 million was what was assumed for fiscal 26, which represented a half year. And they have okay 67.9 and so they they've doubled that to 135.8 or 100% increase. So the according to their documents, they have accounted for the entire year of meals tax collections. >> Okay. And we're still here. I I wish
040I had never raised that as a point now. Okay. Um and find my last question. I'll come back once I find my question. Please proceed. >> Mr. Moon. >> Yeah, I've been trying to find one particular number that I saw yesterday and I have not found that yet. But I have uh couple other questions anyway. So, I'm going to ask you those questions first. I'm trying to uh make sure that I am understanding this correctly. Looking at county executives message published yesterday that they were expecting allto together $270 million of additional revenue for FI27 and $270.65 65 to support county and school requirements and they are proposing not even half of that for us. I'm not even talking about 52% according to their documents they have a total of 270.65 65 available >> and then
041out of that >> even even using their number 14 slide number 14 they're proposing 118 or county executive proposing 118 which is perhaps about 48% as opposed to 52% I saw >> yes >> okay there's another disappointment right there and and I am also looking at the language of the county executive message on it's page number three I think for our middle school after school activities the language seems to dictate school system will implement B-b based collect. Is that something that we agreed to do it? Okay. Uh let me see whether Okay. It says it's on first full paragraph on page three of county executive message. FCPS will implement a pilot program for the upcoming school year which will include the introduction of a fee schedule. Is that something we agreed to? [clears throat] Um
042it is something that the staff uh at the county and [clears throat] the staff in our um activities office was working on looking at modeling that we could bring to the board for consideration and was predicated on the middle school after school programming being outside the school operating fund transfer. So since the monies no longer exist outside the school operating fund transfer, I think they've paused the work on creating modeling to bring to the board for review at this time. >> But why would county executive use definitive language that this we will implement? >> That's probably a question better directed to him. >> Okay. Thank you. I so I just wanted to see whether there was an agreement for him to be able to say something like this because this would require a bulge approver.
043>> Absolutely. >> Okay. Thank Okay. Thank you. And one number that I have not found yet was so I remember seeing school system having flexibility of being able to use 240ome million dollars to meet its needs. is up. >> I think with that particular line item, they have combined the state revenue, the revenue that they're now providing, and they've mixed expenditures in there and included the VRS rate reduction and the value of that. And and that's why they're it's a really big number that they're saying >> since since since that is out there since that number is out there and I would like to know the breakdown of what that is so that I could you know intelligently be able to respond any inquiry from anyone. >> Okay. Um, next up is uh Miss Lady.
044>> Thank you. Um, uh, I I just have a couple questions. First of all, I'm, you know, speechless like most of us. um because we've really done a fantastic job um postcoid uh putting Fairs County back on the map in terms of all the successes that we are seeing in our students and then their learning and then their achievements. So I guess my one question is Dr. read. Is it um possible that you could put together a budget that would match what the county is saying they were going to give us if we didn't get anything more from the state. Um so if we could see what else could be impacted in terms of cuts. Um I just I don't want to wait and do this at the 11th hour like we did before. Um,
045my hope is that the state will show up and the state will come through and will provide uh what we what we what we need to to support this needs-based budget, but is it possible to produce a budget? Um, I mean, I'm thinking of all kinds of things that could be cut. I don't necessarily want to throw them out in this particular call, but I do think that we need to start looking at what we would have to do to get to their number. Is that is that a possible thing we could ask that that the the that Lee and her team do? Yes, ma'am. I mean, I think we've already begun discussing what are the possible things and um beyond the cuts we had to make last year, which I believe we still have
046we've retained 88 million in cuts from last year that are still cuts, um which are significant. And the to answer your question directly, yes, ma'am, we'll have to because we have to present a balanced budget uh for approval late this spring. The items we're discussing are obviously not items that we would advocate, nor are they characteristic of a world-class school division. >> Yeah. Um, and I mean, I'm thinking about other things. I mean, I don't know if we do something as drastic to going back to, you know, because of elementary planning time and the fact that we have specials that create that planning time. It sounds like we might be losing some of that staffing that we go back to early release every week um like it was before Dr. Garza. Um the other thing
047is let's talk about staffing. I mean we just reallocated I believe 400 positions throughout the county where there was growth we took from schools where they're they had lost enrollment as opposed to maintaining positions and hiring new people. So I and I know that there's been a lot of repercussions certainly in in my constituency. Very disappointed in those moves, but I I think our community needs to understand this is what we're looking at. You know, we were hoping to reinstate a 0.5 back in that staffing model, but what I'm seeing is that's impossible. And not only can we not do that, that we're going to have to look at deeper cuts um in order to get to this this, you know, this the number that the that the board of supervisors has has has shared
048with us thus far. So, you know, I don't want to wait to do it. I I know we're having conversations. I don't know what all those details look like. Um but I think that we need to at some point point out to the public, here's what the budget looks like if we only have this much funding from um the county and the state doesn't pick up anymore. And I want it to be very spelled out so people can understand. And that for me, you know, my experience has been the one place that you get the biggest bang for your buck is in the staffing model. Um, and unfortunately that really impacts the learning experience of all of our kids. Um, but again, I'm I'm still certainly uh am in sticker shock in a in a
049different way than I expected to be. So, uh, thank you for listening. I look forward to seeing what the team comes forward with and what we can work on together to see where those cuts would be. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Thank you, Miss Lady. Miss Lady, um, uh, Miss Anderson, you're next. >> Okay. Okay. So, I'm just going through my list of questions here. Um, so they may not be in the perfect order. Um, am I understanding correctly that crossing guards were put back into the budget last year? Is that correct? They were restored. So, this is this is going back to the same thing that we were discussing last year. So, the 1.9 that would be crossing guards because the schools that were read off um many of them are schools in my district.
050So I fully and completely understand why we need crossing guards in those locations. Um it was my understanding that do those contracted employees have a right to stop traffic now because from what I understood that is something that solely aligns with the police department. Is that correct? >> I don't know. I guess Mr. Lambert >> I need Mr. Lambert. I don't >> we can go back to that. But >> I I would say that in speaking to Mr. Lambert. My understanding is that the contracted crossing guards were able to stop traffic as were the police officers uh because the contracted officers had the training and the certification to do that and um but they've all for the high school been cut by the current county executives budget proposal. So basically, if we wanted to continue
051that contracting, then we would have to find $1.9 million in the budget in order to continue it at those 14 schools. >> Right. And we are a little upside down now in the budget, but you're right. I mean, the budget, the county was budgeting for it and has now said um I'm not sure if they've said there's not a need or they're not going to fund it. Mr. Lambert has returned. So, Mr. Lambert, did you have any conversation at all about crossing guard cancellation? um not for the the reason or the origin behind it, you know, if they they'd thought about that. I did want to follow up. I think Dr. Anderson had asked um after last year, as you recall, the same proposal was for a 22 uh crossing guards to be removed and
052that that didn't end up happening. They are moving away from full-time equivalents doing this and they went to a contract. And so there is a company that's doing it. One slight difference is that they only stop traffic to allow children to cross and they do not direct traffic. Uh so they don't uh for example stand at the end of a of a kiss and ride line and hold traffic and move traffic. They simply focus on the uh the children who are crossing. And I I do know that they are moving toward all contract uh for for that. And is is that at all 55 of our or is that at all of the locations related to crossing guards and is this just the first iteration of that? >> Um my understanding is that they are
053moving toward all contracts, but they do still have some full-time equivalents who uh cover some of their crossings right now. So, it's it's a bit of a hybrid where you have some um that are being handled by Fairfax County police employees, not not police officers, some that are handled by the contract as my understanding is that as they they lose a full-time equivalent that they move that over to the contract. And so, I believe that's the direction they're going. I I do know that on Tuesday that the safety and security committee um will be briefing this out at the board of supervisors as well. So I expect this to be a topic during their Tuesday briefing of the safety and security committee for the board of supervisors. >> Okay. Thank you. That's helpful. Um I
054think I I had heard pretty significantly that it was getting harder and harder to find folks that were willing to be crossing guards. So I I do understand. I think that it significantly impacts our safe routes to school um if we can't trust that kiddos can can cross safely. Um okay. So to move to the discussion about the capital, the 7.5 million in capital. My question is is that I understand that that's additional money towards capital. Is that part of the syncing fund in just being identified this way? Because the syncing fund traditionally has been outside correct outside the transfer. Um you are correct. So the funding um here is coming out of that joint capital infrastructure syncing fund. Um and the county executive did say in his presentation when he was giving it on
055this piece that the school system could supplement, you know, use this 7.5 million to supplement your current, you know, capital requirements or you could supplant existing, you know, school operating fund dollars to provide additional flexibility um to help So I guess my question is if the 7.5 million is part of the syncing fund that's been identified for capital or for capital improvement in terms of facilities renovations and things like that, does that mean that we cannot make a decision on our own about how that money would get used within the budget? >> Uh no. He explicitly said that you you could do that. You could use it to supplement um current either major maintenance or other facility needs or you could supplant um you could choose to supplant existing our existing operating dollars that support
056capital in order to free up school operating funds. So um he explicitly said that in his presentation. >> I would like to I think point out that had the money come in its traditional form from the syncing fund that flexibility would not exist. It would then need to be I believe wouldn't it be earmarked for maintenance? So the best way I think I can answer that um is that so far uh the money that we have received out of the sinking fund has come from the sinking fund into our construction fund. I'm going to go off of pure memory, but um this is the first time that I can recall that the county executive has provided flexibility to FCPS very explicitly as part of his presentation. >> Isn't that likely because it's the first time
057it's actually been put in the school operating fund transfer? >> Yes. Thank you. Thank you. That was kind of that was the question that I was getting to as I was trying to understand whether or not I understand that we can reallocate money that we already had in the budget towards but it does not change the fact that again we are talking about real dollars that we need to improve our facilities. So these are all compounding problems. Um, can you speak a little bit to the increase in debt service costs because I mean is that just an interest rate issue or is it an amount of debt like because I understand that as we increase the bond um that we are going to increase our debt service every time. >> Yeah, I think it's associated
058with the sale of bonds. I mean it in theory we sell the same number of bonds every year though, correct? >> We just vote on them every two years. >> Yes. But at the same time, debt could be falling off that it's completed. So, yeah, I mean, we can get some detail as to what makes up the 11.7, but okay. Um, and then the other question that I had, um, there are a few things that I am anti I am guessing that are not in the budget right now, and I think that they're related to things that we're going to be discussing soon. Um, is the is transportation cost for phasing in the budget currently? >> No. >> Okay. Because the board has not made a decision on that. So, if I'm understanding this correctly,
059if we make a decision that we are going to provide transportation for every child that is phased, then that is going to be money that is directly impacted by other things that we already have budgeted. Yes. >> Okay. Um, are the math textbooks, which I know all parents and teachers desperately want us to have, is that currently in our budget this year? >> It's currently planned for in the budget, but it would be one of those areas we would look at potentially having to cancel if we're not if we don't receive um additional funding from the state or the county. I'm just going to say that we already did this once related to social studies um materials last year and I understand that these are one-time funds and I'll finish up but I understand that
060these are onetime funds but they are it's it's kind of like if we don't increase staffing at the appropriate rate is that if we let it go too far then we're increasing the amount that we're going to have to spend to get back to stat the status quo. So >> thank you Miss Anderson. Um, I'll take a quick turn and uh Oh, Marcia, why don't you go? Okay. I just wanted to make a I guess a plea to our funders that the crossing guards are not uh for high schools are as important as elementary and middle schools. I've been in the mornings of near Centerville High School almost two three years with my son and it is absolutely crazy crosswalks there and if there's nobody to guide those students we are seeing this union mill
061very busy and road going through the in the morning you know rush hour traffic from there and it's like an accident waiting to happen so um our our kids' lives are very important and $1.9 million or $2 million. U I I think it's not a big um uh you know amount for such a you know so many schools. So I I definitely would like this funds to be allocated because um we're talking about safety and security and livelihood uh life life of our kids. So but I'll then go to Mr. Miss Gunning St. John. Um, this wasn't what I was going to ask, but I I I just want to piggyback on what you said. Uh, you talk about, you know, what 2 million for crossing guards and, you know, what's the value of a
062life? I know that there was when my kids were in high school on very busy Franconia Road, a student was struck and killed. And I know that exists in several high schools where there are very busy streets. And it's not through the fault of anybody else other than sometimes a distracted driver. So, um, safety is one thing, a life is another, and we've got to remember that. Um, I I want to go back to the staffing formula because as I was looking over this budget and thinking about it, and my concern is always the least of in our community. Um, and when you think about staffing formulas and how that goes with, you know, advanced academics and our sped chairs, our after school, middle pro, our after school or after middle school programming, the communities
063that that serves and lifts are the ones that are going to hurt the most. So, in terms of our staffing formula and looking at slide number seven, um, there are still reductions of 15.8 million. What does that transfer into numbers? Class size, teacher to student ratios. That am I reading that correctly? If I'm looking at what we formula adjustments, >> right? This.5 million is a half a student per class in the formula. And um so if we go back to where we were with the loss of the 1.0, then we would obviously save the 17.5 million. But currently, it's in the budget that the superintendent's proposed budget to uh try to claw back some of our class size uh ratios. And I I think this is important because I think what a lot of people
064don't understand is that title one funding is just K through three. And so then what we see is an increase in sixth graders like in terms of class size for sixth graders. Is that correct? >> I'm going to ask Dr. Pon to respond to that. My understanding is the title one is for uh the school K6 if it's at that elementary school, but there's schoolwide and then there's targeted title one. And it depends on how they've chosen to plan. But Dr. Pon, maybe you could elaborate on that. >> Uh you are totally right. And uh what is this specific uh is if we can utilize the fund for something else or we can actually utilize it. But also we do have uh uh some schools that uh overlap last year but this year only for
065elementary. >> Okay. I I may have incorrect information there. I I >> I'm happy to add a little bit to this conversation. Um there are there are two separate things uh funding sources for for for higher need schools. Um, obviously Title One is one of them and that's a federal government program for ele, you know, mostly elementary schools, although we do have it in middle and I think high schools at this point. Um, but but in addition to that, the the state has a program known as the state K3 reduced ratio program where the state provides additional funding if we meet certain standards for class sizes um in K3 at elementary. >> Okay. Thank you. >> And and that overlaps with title one, but is not necessarily exactly the same set of schools. And that's
066state funding. >> That's correct. >> Thank you. Um I understand that times are tough for everyone, but they're particularly tough for our underserved community. And I think that when we look at how we're funding, we look at it as an investment in in people and in our community instead of spending on something. Um, I just have to sit with this for a while because I'm a little bit surprised. We all are. Uh, Dr. Anderson. Yes. Thank you. Um, I have a slew of questions I may need to go go back, whatever that is. Um, Dr. Reed, I I know I've asked about this a little bit and I know this continues to be a question out in the community. People are wanting to know the difference between a class- size increase versus a staffing formula
067adjustment. >> So, I'm going to defer to Matthew because that's his wheelhouse. Mr. Norton. >> Yeah. So, when we when we think about a staffing formula adjustment, we would be talking about something like taking the number of students at the school and dividing by some kind of divisor. So, you know, say you take 300 students, you divide by 25, which is a divisor for a relatively lower poverty school that's about, you know, midsized. Um, and that would produce a number of teachers. Um, when we talk about a class size increase, um, you're often thinking more in terms of like the class size caps that the board has in regulation. Um but it because it doesn't when you make a staffing formula change it doesn't necessarily mean that an individual class size at any given school
068would go up or down. Um so it's it's it's slightly nuanced in that way. >> Sure. And the bigger bang for the buck would be the class size um increase. If we were to in and I'm not advocating just trying to make a point. If class sizes were to be increased by one um across a division, what would be the savings in terms of dollar amounts? I know you know this about 35 million. >> About 35 million. When we had the staffing reduction by the staffing adjustment, which was also by one teacher that yielded 35 mil 33 million. I thought these were further apart. >> Yeah. Sorry. I would like an opportunity to talk that through a little bit more. When when we talk about the school board's regulations on uh class sizes that are
069set at 30 or uh sorry 27 for I believe it's uh 27 for uh first through third grade and then a cap of 29 at fourth through sixth grade. When we talk about increasing that from 27 or 29 up to 28 or and and 30 or something like along those lines, it would actually affect a fewer number of schools because we we we we only have we don't have as many classes that are right up against those caps. And so by by making a change to that regulation, you would actually be affecting fewer individual classrooms than you do if you make a staffing formula adjustment. Because when you make a staffing formula adjustment, you're applying that to every single school. It's just that at any given grade level at a school, when you make a
070staffing formula adjustment, it doesn't necessarily mean that the classes in third grade at Alder Elementary would necessarily be any different than they would have been with or without. Exactly. >> Okay. That that's very important. Thank you. And I'm glad that I've been kind of stressing about having that right num um nomenclature in the documents here. Um, what am I saying here? Um, geez. One of the things that you mentioned, Dr. Reid, which was the textbook that Miss Anderson referred to. Where is that in our expenditures list here or Miss Burden? >> It's not. >> Yeah, it's not a new item. Therefore, it we in page six, it has our multi-year initiatives that are new. It has the um restorations we were endeavoring to provide. And the textbook fund is not something that is a new
071initiative or um a multi-year initiative because it's part of our budget. >> So, where does that show up? I I still would like to it's it'sing because they're multi-year funds that we year to year for when there is adoption because can never afford to do a textbook adoption. So we save along along the way every year. So have money when the adoptioned. >> So what does that mean for the um textbook adoption last year? cut. So the little dollars we were saving number of years, we wiped that out. So how much are we intending on saving for the math adoption in the base budget currently? Like how much do we have to date? >> I do not know. I'd have to get back with you on that. I just don't have that level of detail
072with me. Okay. >> Can you add that to my list of questions? Um thank you. One of the things that I also wanted to touch upon is the um not the debt service. I think the um the capital improvement while there's flexibility, it's really it I'm not seeing it as flexibility. I'm seeing it as more of a misnomer because if we have the flexibility to use that elsewhere, we just continue to push back our renovation cycle. Is that accurate, Dr. Reed? >> It's not the renovation cycle. It's major maintenance. maintenance. Thank you. >> There's so much deferred major maintenance now. I mean, the board is really going to have to decide, do we want to invest in staff to support kids in the classroom or the major maintenance because the debt service dollars, I believe,
073according to Miss Burton, had previously come to us outside the operating fund >> and earmarked, which we of course were using for major maintenance. Now when it's placed in a underfunded transfer then we have to make a decision as to which things that we are planning to the planning to do that we stop doing to do the major maintenance. So, it's we're certainly excited that there's a recognition of the importance of the major maintenance backlog and it now competes with other commitments um and other priorities uh that we've been discussing. >> Sure. And and I think I go back to one of the first questions I asked. Why are we doing why is this being done this way? We're not doing it. But I I'm I'm really really questioning that. And I do have a
074few more questions. Uh, I'll put you on a go back. Uh, Dr. Smith Anderson now. >> So, um, I have I have a quick question because I mentioned safe routes to school before. Am I un is it my understanding correct that part of the reason that we have the safe routes to school that we have is because we have the crossing guards in place. Is that correct? Safe Routes to School is a national program and so it plays a role in helping every time that a principal or administrator sees something that they think merits. Uh we do use Safe Routes to school to first go out there and evaluate it. If it meets the Fairfax County threshold of yeah, we think it it meets it, then we contact the police department's traffic bureau who will
075then come out and they have their own standards that are laid out in general orders of how many students over how much time. So that is one of safe routes to schools initiatives, but it also has others such as encouraging walking and biking to school, teaching biking, teaching biking safety to students. So it has a pretty broad mandate, but one of the things it does is help inform if it's a good option and we work with Mr. Muick's team on those as we develop what would be a walking route and what would not be a walking route. So, I guess my question is is would we have to potentially increase transportation costs if we don't have safe routes because we do not have a safe way for kids to cross? >> Mr. Muick and I
076were just just discussing that on on the side. I think that's something we would we would look at. um you really got to dial down into each of those intersections and really determine, you know, perhaps some kids, you know, if they stay on the same side of this, you know, street, but across 14 different schools, that's a lot of reviewing. But yes, that would be something that we would be looking at. And I and I spoke last year with some student advocates that were from Chantelli High School because they have a unique issue is that they have a an area where they cross at a light, but it's significantly um removed from where they actually have the kids parking because of the reduced parking available. And so like just not having an an additional and
077I believe that we had a student struck there last year. Excuse me. >> And so I am I am deeply concerned about this safety. I'm also deeply concerned about what it could mean in terms of transportation costs, particularly as many of us are very interested in trying to get to healthy start times. Um adding buses for for places that we previously had um good options for walking is not necessarily um a good path here. So, okay. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Anderson. Um I would like to recognize our student representative in this year's student leadership development program who are attending tonight's meeting and ask them to please stand >> thank you for being here and being part of this important discussion because you know this budget impacts um every single school you guys attending
078and and the families of course. Um so I have only Dr. Anderson right now left. Thank you. And I just have a few because I just wanted to circle back to these. Um this is for Mr. Lambert. Mr. Lambert at current and I hope you have this information. How many of our high schools are co have coverage with crossing guards? And this is without whatever is being um shared by the county. >> 14 of 25. How many of the middle schools >> I I just got and I think Dr. Reid may have just shared with you where all the crossings are. I just need to go through and see which ones are middle schools. Just for clarification, the police department would look at it less in the buckets of high school, middle school, elementary. Although
079we're discussing high school cuts, they look at them as crossings, like numbers of crossings. But I uh I lit it literally probably just hit your wires while you were asking the question. So I'll take a look at it. Try to get >> But it's 55 between the two. >> Sorry. >> It's 55 schools between the two or 55 FTEEs between the two. >> I'm not I'm not sure that 55. >> It's 49. I'm sorry. that their budget document shows that there are 49 remaining after this reduction. >> 49 FTEEs >> FTEEs >> which could cover multiple schools. The point that I wanted to make is for years now we've been chipping away at um the crossing guards and in places where it it's high on Gallas Road. If you need to go to um Woodburn,
080if you need to go to Mason Crest, there's no crossing guard and there hasn't been there for years on um Little River Turnpike to go to Wayanoke, Little River Turnpike and Bradock Road. Busy busy has not been a crossing guard there since my first year on the board. So, this is not a new issue. This is an issue that I think if we're going to really elevate, we need to kind of elevate the decisions that were already that already occurred because it didn't take away the fact that cars are speeding down those roads at 35, 40 miles hour, 45, and kids are just trying to get to school and many of them on their own and many of them elementary school kids who don't have the wherewithal that we think our high schoolers have, which
081also happens. We had a student who passed away crossing the street trying to get to Justice High School in 23 now. So, there's a lot out there for us to investigate. Um, and I know we're here asking a lot of questions and but Dr. Reed, I I want to get some clarity. I want to make sure I hit the mark. If you had any particular outcome you were hoping for from us, any kind of particular feedback, I want to be sure that I provide that in this conversation or is this still very much exploratory? >> I think the tradition of this particular work session is exploratory. It's to make sure we understand the budget in light [clears throat] of the uh county executive's proposed budget. And you know, I think that's what we're doing. I
082think we're trying to grapple with what it means um in particular this year and um I don't know that there's a a further uh ask that I have at this time. Okay. Thank you. So the last thing that I want to say that I I am one of the board one of the board members who feels that we have to provide transportation for our kids in phasing. We know right now it's 1,700 kids. We know some subset of those kids are going to elect to remain at their schools. We cannot take that decision away from them because of lack of transportation, which is what's going to happen. They are not going to be able to have transportation. So, there are potentially seniors who are going to have to switch schools because they can't get to
083schools otherwise because they don't drive. Their parents don't have the flexibility to drive them. So, I'm really hoping we can be a little bit more creative to handle um those students. And yes, none of this looks great. Um you know, and I've added the 4.9 to the negative 43 I think we have here, but that still has to be managed. I don't think that's how we manage um where we are in this budget. Um yeah, and I'll stop there. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Um, so I'm going to come back to what Oh, Marcia first. I'm sorry, Marcia. You're just not used to having me right next to you. >> Yeah. So, Dr. Reed, I'm going to second what one of my colleagues said. I would like for you to try to do a
084proposed budget. Well, I don't know if you can or if this is a a fair ask of what it would look like with what we just have because I think the public needs to see what that would look like and they would have the opportunity to advocate for what's important to them because we don't know what would be cut, you know, and if we're waiting for the state and um I think that one of the biggest impacts this has is obviously on our families and on our students and they're also our strongest supporters. because they see our work every day and they're the ones that are going to help advocate for what they see as critical. So, I think [clears throat] if if you're requesting that I write a budget based on the county current
085transfer, I think that would require me to hear from the board which things you are more interested in having cut than not, right? Like because I know there was a conversation around wanting more input into that as well. So, I think that would certainly be uh information that would be helpful in our designing of a budget to get a sense of which things the board would like to cut. >> Thank you. I I realize it's a hard ask. I don't even know how you even come up you even came up with this budget. I realize it's a hard ask. Um, and I realize there's it's also hard times and I feel like we're robbing Peter to pay Paul sometimes, but we will see the negative results of that down the road and we'll have to
086eventually pay one of them in one way or another. >> I agree and I I have to believe that number one, uh, we're always going to stay in the light, right? And number two, I think our state uh delegation is working hard. Um, we've elected uh a Senate and a the delegates to the assembly and a governor who ran on supporting public education. And I believe that um that they're going to do that and uh I know that that's important and I I trust that our um that our budget's going to work out for our staff. The the other thing, you know, as we think about and contemplate writing a budget that somehow matches uh this specific scenario, there's still time, right, to uh contemplate funds from the state and perhaps other funds from the
087county. U rather than, you know, it's also uh very challenging for many of our staff to be going back and forth and back and forth every year on topics such as this. So trying to balance the need for stability and our focus on our children as we um are getting close to March and within a couple months of what unfortunately are also high stakes assessments and really want to keep our focus on that and focus on what's happening in the classroom. So I um hear the direction and we'll work earnestly to support that uh while our school-based staff stay focused on our children and their education. Thank you uh mjanganing and I'm going to just uh make one last point that the class sizes which um we some of our schools had increased classroom sizes
088parents were not happy about that uh you know I had a lot of emails again about that and calls and meeting with the PTA that um they you know there they did not expect their students to be in a bigger classroom last year and now I think we're going to heading back to that even though the the intent was to to um relieve some of those bigger classroom sizes. So over in all I think we are working kind of going backwards on everything except I hope we don't do that in whatever progress we have made in student teacher salary but other than that I'm seeing no really good um restoration here that we are left with. So I guess our community has to um you know talk about this more and and and I think
089we have a voice as a community and not just the school board here. So um having said that I think Mr. Moon just wants to go you know just I'm sorry >> that's okay. I was a slow and and raising my black as uh as we have heard there are a couple of board members at least you know wanting to see uh what uh Dr. Superintendent could potentially uh you know share with the board to consider if there was not additional revenue other than what has been already shared with us. I think that's a prudent practice. Uh especially looking at the budget timeline. Uh county board of supervisors budget hearing is April 14 through 16. And community needs to know community needs to know that what school system budget will potentially look like if we
090only get certain amount of transfer from the county side. By that time we'll probably we'll know what the state is going to give us is going to give us. Of course nothing is for 100% guaranteed but but we'll know that. So we will need to have a potential reduct list of reductions you know before people go out and testify before board of supervisors. >> Yes sir. I I think we can look at um certainly providing a list. you've we already have a start of a list right on our slides. Um but there are the things to add to the list. I do think though that it is prudent to um wait till we see what the state is going to uh do. uh in talking with the principles this morning, we're going to be delaying
091the delivery of staffing sheets uh until we see state dollars because we also, you know, our staff, our educators are more than numbers on a chart. And I know this board knows that. And when we think about formulas and adjustments, it's real people that are moving schools that they've been at for years or being moved to a school that increases their commute and creates hardship for child care. And I know this board cares deeply about that. And I rather before we sort of begin to turn lives upside down again, I want to make sure that uh we exhaust every possibility and stay true to our north star of wanting to focus on resourcing our classrooms. So uh I think as we look at the state and Miss Burton, I think that's March 12th, 14th, March
09214th, we should have a clear idea of what the state is going to do. And I think at that point it's probably I'm going to believe that we're going to be fine at that point. Um but if there are still gaps then absolutely I think we're going to need to present what those are um prior to so also the board of supervisors sees that and maybe you know at that point they may um have an opportunity to make an adjustment then as well. >> Thank you Dr. Read Miss Junganing. [laughter] >> I'm sorry. >> I was like, but I forgot. >> Okay. All right. So, this budget committee of the whole is recessed at 6:30 p.m. and the board will reconvene at 700 p.m. to move a motion to meet in close session. And just
093thank you to all of you, Miss Burden, Alice, uh, Matthew, and Dr. read for this presentation and everybody who's worked on this. Thank you. Okay. >> No, not yet. >> I'm sorry. The board budget committee, a meeting of the whole is reconvened at 7:01 p.m. and the board will now make a motion to go into closed meeting on February 19th, 2026 to conduct with legal counsel regarding matters requiring the provision of leg legal advice by such council pursuant to section 2.2-3711 A7 and A8 and A29 of the code of Virginia, specifically contracts. Do I have a motion? Uh, Mr. McDaniel, do I have a second? Mr. Moon. All those in favor? That is unanimous for all board members. The budget meeting of the whole is recessed again at 7:02 p.m. and the board will now
094meet in close session.