001there you go. Good afternoon. Thank you for coming to this special meeting where LULAC is part of the referendum. Uh, we really appreciate you being here supporting. Uh, LULAC and uh, listen to what Tony has to say. Tony Vasco has to say about this presentation. All those that are here, member correct. Man, you deserve five stars. Thank you so much. I would like to have the opportunity to introduce Dr. G, who is going to greet us. His time is... Uh, you know he has unlimited time, so... Go ahead, Dr. Vasco, School District superintendent. So, thank you all for being here today. Thank you very much for being here today. I appreciate each one of you taking the time to come tonight. If you're here, Noah, I'm here to talk with. Your participation is greatly appreciated.
002We have a referendum that the School District is promoting, and this presentation is my hope that we can share a lot of information about the referendum related not only to our needs but also in case the referendum doesn't pass. I asked Mr. Vasco to assist in this conversation today so that this will be a very comfortable place for... All of us, the presentation will be in Spanish. Our goal is for the presentation, or the referendum information, to be done correctly in a transparent way. [Music] That's the right thing to do. I'm going to clarify that. Thank you for your time, and I'll give Mr. Vasco the opportunity to take the microphone. Good evening. My name is Mr. Vasco, and I'm the Education, Instruction, and Equity Leader here for the School District, and thank you very
003much for being here with us for this referendum presentation. As Dr. Gerson said, if I say anything that is n't quite right, thank you. You and I are going to correct me, okay? But sincerely, thank you very much for being here with us for this presentation. We have food, water, cookies, biscuits, biscuits in the next session. Take some and enjoy them however you like. Okay, please. We're talking about a referendum because we need the support of the school district, and we're going to show you that Bloy isn't in a situation alone, but the entire state of Wisconsin is pretty much in the same place regarding the referendum question. Okay, for the entire presentation. If you need me to clarify anything, okay, or explain anything, please tell me. Okay, my Spanish is improving. per day, and
004many at LULAC already know that. Oh, before we begin, a presentation about a question we need to bring to the community. We want to celebrate. It's important here at BL Blo Wisconsin that we celebrate what we are doing today for our students, for our community, because outside, people don't really understand what we are doing here in this place with the resources we have, and we want to tell this story to you, to the community. Okay, to begin, as I said, we celebrate for the last three years. Really, since COVID, we have been improving the scores on any test, any data we use here at BL Blo and also in the state of Wisconsin. And we want everyone to know that the scores we are improving are important because it shows that for the last three
005years in reading, writing, math, any grade level, we have improved everyone's scores. And this is something that in the social studies department doesn't want to say, but we have improved. And we have the evidence of that. We are also preparing all our students for college and career, and we have data that shows again that we are improving in those areas. We also take a test called the PREA. We take it from grades 8 through 11, and in this PREA data... We're improving our access to college and career readiness programs. We're also seeing increases in attendance and decreases in chronic absenteeism. Sometimes it seems like people don't recognize the value of the work we're doing here at the blog, but those three points are important. We also want to show the community that we're improving access
006for students to our advanced three-year and four-year programs. We've increased the number of students across demographics who can participate in these opportunities, and students who pass the AP exams can enter college with free school credits. We've increased both the number of students in the program and their success in it. The last thing I want to show is that we're also improving by creating more work-learning opportunities. Compared to the state, we're three times better at providing opportunities for students to work, gain experience, or be in a business or factory—something like that—more often in high school than other students in Wisconsin, preparing for a career. At first, this referendum question isn't just from Belo. Last year, 145 Wisconsin school districts had asked a question because they don't have as many resources as they need to financially support
007the school mentors in Wisconsin. For the last three or four years— I'm sorry, the last four years— 275, less than a third had passed those referendums. Okay, that says that the communities here in Wisconsin need support from everyone, not just Belo. There are many communities there that are asking questions like this, and these graphs show what I'm saying. Since 1990, 86% of all Wisconsin school districts had asked a question asking the community for more support. What percentage do you think had passed a referendum question since 1990? How many? What percentage? 60? Another one? How do you say it? Okay, another one? 40? 60? 40? Or say 70? Yes? 60? 30? 40? 30? 40? 60? Okay, I don't have Gift if someone is for person who is closer. Sorry, you can talk to T. Let's see
008if he has anything. Okay, really, 67, 77, 77 percent of all schoolchildren in the state. What does that mean? What does it mean? Someone tell me what it means if 86 are asking the question and 77 had approved. What does it mean? Yes, many communities are in the same place as we are saying, and that's a surprise to us that there are so many who had approved. The community doesn't understand that. No, no, no, no, no. Okay, we have already asked two questions in the past, 2023 and 2024, and we are again with the question on April 1st. Ah, for this referendum that we are having today, it is a little different than the last two times. When you go to vote, the ballot is going to say that, but in English. Okay, it's going
009to say that, but in English. And it is really asking for this level of support for 3 years, which you can see here, that in 2025, 26, 14 million dollars. Ah, sorry, 9.1 million dollars in 2025, 26, 14 million dollars in the school year. 2026-27 and $16.9 million in 2027-28 for non-recurring purposes consisting of operating expenses and maintenance, including teacher and staff compensation, as well as academic resources and student social-emotional well-being. There are actually three things, and there are actually four, but we're going to discuss them. The 2025 referendum will fund the main priority areas: staff compensation and retention, academic support, social-emotional well-being support, and operational stability of the School District. And we're going to discuss each one for the last three years. We've heard in all the financial circles that the cost of living
010goes up year after year. The cost of living goes up, and really, for the last two years, it was 8% last year, 4 % last year. This year it's going to cost who knows more than last year, when it was 8%. The School District could only give the staff 4%. So that says that instead of keeping salaries at the same level, they've actually gone down a little bit because... We're keeping up with the cost of living, and last year it was four. We're only offering two this year. If we don't pass, who knows what we can do? Yes, and what were the points that made them refuse to say yes the previous two times? Ah, I think it was here. Yes, that specific point. Oh, well, we don't know that. If we know that, we'll
011pass, yes, but we can discuss that at the end. Okay, and sometimes we're saying that the question and the use of the funds aren't very specific. Okay, okay, okay. It was a very small space to pass the information to the community, and it was when [Music] was coming that for more of the community, the second year, last year, we think we did quite a bit of work in passing information. More time was given. So, Snowstorm, what's it called? A lot of people didn't come to vote because of that, and there was a difference in the vote numbers this year compared to last year, the 24th, when we didn't pass. I think the community wanted to know more, and we want to improve on that. And so now it's been years of improvement that we've made,
012and we also have the petition with the question [Music] million reduction. And that's also going to be covered with Mr.'s presentation. Vasco, thank you, thank you for the question. And again, if you have anything else, and while you're here, we can answer it. Okay, and one more thing is when we talk about teachers and the importance of having good quality teachers, we have to attract and retain them. And if we're not paying as much as our neighbors in Clinton, Jamesville, Delvin, Madison, or anywhere else, we've lost out. And that's... uh... this part of the question is so that we can attract and retain them. Okay, it 's very, very important to have good quality teachers in front of every student. Okay, a. Academic success, and we've really talked a lot about what we've done in
013the last three years about improving the academic success program here in the Beloy School District. But it's a real investment, an investment we 're making as a community in the future of the community. And this is for the next three years, and we're focused on literacy and math because, especially at the elementary level, we've adopted new resources in literacy and math. And to maintain this level of good quality resources, we have to make investments, and every year we have to pay... For some literacy resources, the technology that supports and helps students who are still developing their reading and writing skills, we also have a state statute that says all students entering third grade must be at a certain literacy level before graduating from third grade, and that's called Act 20. There's a lot we need
014to do with our teachers, with resources, with training, all of that. So, putting that into the question, I also mentioned that Dr. Gerson had spoken about the teacher reduction we 've made in the past, cutting $10 million over two years. When we have fewer teachers, we need tutors for students during the day, after school, when there are more people because teachers have more students in their classrooms and therefore aren't trying to give the attention they always need. We need more help. Also, in math, we've adopted Yurika Math Square, a new resource that's very high quality. And Imagine Math is a program we've seen our students doing at home, and they like it. It's good practice with reading, writing, and math, as much as they can practice outside of school. The school, the most they're going
015to improve, okay, behavioral support. This is another thing the community, the state, says Bloy needs more help, more help, more help in this area. But we also have to understand that everyone after the pandemic needs more support in that area, and that's why, as the School District, we're asking for six social-emotional support positions, one assistant principal at BLM High School. Because there are four grades there, but there are only three assistant principals. And that's really difficult. I was there as a principal assistant, and it's a lot of work to share one grade, share two. One person sharing two grades. There are like seven hundred students in two grades there. It's a lot of work for one person. Two principals for the middle schools in front. And that's also to support students when they need some
016social-emotional support. And those assistant positions. All the remaining funds are for... we're going to use them to address daily operations needs, maintenance, and provide financial stability in times of uncertainty. And that's another part. When we talk about how we're going to use this $23 million, we're saying that we already know today, in the next three years, some of the things that... We're going to need $9.5 million to maintain our schools. We have 10, that's quite expensive. Increased costs for staff benefits, like everything else, go up year after year. And if we can't pay more to help teachers more, those benefit costs go to another school district. But where do they go? Where do they provide more support with benefits? Increased costs for instructional materials, books—all of that is quite expensive. Again, we need to plan
017for the future resources we're going to need: technology and communication, equipment replacement—all of that too. Technology changes day by day, and we need to research and make investments in technology. Increased costs due to inflation for student transportation. Duram is another company with a contract with the school district, but their costs are also rising, and that's why we have to add that to the question: increased costs due to inflation. Establishing the previous reduction in athletics—we've eliminated some athletic programs and want to reinstate them. There's a law in Wisconsin that says we have to maintain a rainy day fund, okay, a reserve fund, and for $ 10 million in reductions, $10 million in reductions, still We don't have as much as we need. So we have to use some of our reserve funds. Yes, if we need
018more information on that, we can discuss it. [Music] More. It's been going down in recent years. Accounts support the cost year after year, and anything else it takes to manage or move the School District. 9.5 million for, like, no. This is, these are three-year totals, just for the referendum, so no. It's not what the normal cost would actually be. It would be more than this in this specific area here. We have 10+ buildings and a lot of different repairs. It's talking about building repair and maintenance, probably mentioning the different buildings we have. If we had to fix everything in the school district, it would now be like 14 million. And these numbers aren't exactly numbers that are going to stay. They can change in some areas; it's more depending on each school's situation, and sometimes
019less money is being spent. This is simply to keep us going, to keep operating in all these areas, considering at least 3% of the cost of living each year. For example, utilities will increase next year. 3% 3% more increases every year each year it keeps increasing because the cost of living increases every year. Thank you. Thanks. Operational budget challenges, as I said, throughout the state of Wisconsin, school districts are receiving the same state support. B receives a little more from others, but the district has not received any increase in that per-student funding in six of the last 10 years. But as Dr. Gerson said, the costs keep going up, keep going up. Okay. And this is something I'm not an expert on, tax rates. Okay, but it says that for every $1,000 of your home's
020value, you pay $ 2 this school year. Okay, you can see the state average. We're close to the state average, no, no. And as a community, we have to think about that. That's the support we have for our education system. Here we were, there we were, we were. And Dr. Gerson, can you explain why it had gone down so much? But you have to do with the stories they had in 2012. We had a referendum in 2012, and we had some that it had gone down, and that's why you can see one reason it went down so much. The tax rate there in the community [Music] to keep the tax stable or balanced when as our administration we are in the process of lowering it and not [unclear]. And that happened and last year it
021happened and then we are in the present we have been asking for the increase and we want to have a successful petition. We have to come with that petition or [unclear] that we have to come and ask to increase our profits and income and that's why we have this petition not only us but also at the state level. Thank you. And this graph and another graph that we are going to show shows the average that we are looking for over the renewal period and I want everyone to keep in mind that difference between the state and the community. Here you can see this year a 0.92 cents per 1000 of the tax rate and we are asking that we go up here to 7.53 cents for 3 years and that does not go up to
022the state average. That's what we are asking for. The taxes will go up next year. [Laughter] The taxes will go up. If the referendum doesn't pass, we'll increase the tax rate. [Music] In the state, also PR, we are quite low in tax payments, and therefore there will be an increase if the referendum is not successful. The difference between $4 and $44 is like $3. That's the difference there is. The school [Music] city question is not a capital city. It's an operator. It's like [Music] for. I had something about it. Only you see V al al al al al al al al al al and as he said, that's the difference between $44 cents and what it would be if we don't pass, or if we pass. If we do n't pass, we pass, and what
023we're asking for, and you can see every year that we keep at the same level of tax rate. And also, if you have a house valued at $100,000, you're going to pay $ 753 per year. If your house is in the average home valuation here in Puerto Rico of $7,000, then you're going to pay $ 86 per year. Okay For two months. Ah, divided by two months. Okay, and we're talking about what we've already done to maintain a balanced budget, and we have to reduce 48 positions for that school year, the 2023-24 school year. Here in the school year, there can be 21 teacher positions, six administrator positions, three coordinator positions, one academic interventionist position, one secretary position, and one school support staff position. 48 in one year reduced, and this is what's at risk
024if we don't pass this time. Okay, we have to continue reducing compensation, freezing salaries for teachers, for all School District personnel. If the cost of living goes up, we can't do anything if we don't pass that referendum. Ah, reduction of eight positions in the central office. Speaking of up to 35 support staff positions in schools, we already know what will happen if we have to cut so many. Significant reductions in contracted services: technology, transportation, primary, legal services. Also, if we don't pass, we have to review insurance for teachers. This is another thing about recruiting and retaining teachers. If we have to increase the cost of their insurance, then they're going to have less to pay their bills each month. Oh, and another thing: if we don't pass, programs and courses not aligned with graduation requirements—that
025could be art, sports, music, all those things. Okay, so we're just saying if we pass, that's the list of things we have to think about. Okay, thinking about classroom sizes, the number of students in a class. Right now, we don't know if we have to reduce class sizes. Normally, a class isn't larger than... Right now, we have, on average, like in elementary school, we have about 22 students, and it's a little lower than that. In high school, we want the average to not go above 30 per class, but who knows if we have to... Reducing by 35 positions, which is the average, we're going to change, I think, but we don't know for sure. The question is, do they know about the programs we have to change if we don't pass? There's a... in the
026previous referendums, I didn't necessarily see where it was focused on the students, but the students do have a voice, and they're at home explaining these sorts of things to their parents. I mean, if there are... We have very successful athletes at the high school, and it's scary to even think that. That's a possibility that they wouldn't have... Those things... of the stud... are 18 years old, and they are... Back... Qui responder... Laun doing... is not happy about having to cut staff or budget. Reducing staff is the biggest cost we can... we have to look at that cost... what it's going to cost us when we go to this kind of reduction... we have students who come to our district every... to teach them... We have to have the teachers... when we reduce staff... to a
027certain level, and it's still not enough. So we have to look at the programming... [Music] programs... the distance it takes to... not spend or use the money for curriculum... curriculum... not fix things... we have to... Answering your question completely is not our goal. We have 6.2 million students, which is why we have to, when we start looking at programs and people, want to prevent this from happening by coming to the public with a petition. It's your choice whether you're for or against it. We, all the students, have to go to April. When we come with another question, it doesn't happen. We still have 8.9 million students. We have to think about how we're going to reduce the number of students in the community. We want to know what they need to be successful in our
028school district. That's related to the school board. This school is about the needs of our students. We can reduce, reduce, reduce. Years and Ian was when the students... And I mean, they were like, you know, and so what they did was the parents... like, in charge of knocking on so many doors to let them know what was successful, what the district was doing, what they were getting through, and what they were getting through the school system so that the community understands what was happening, to make sure they're happy. Now, so I'm answering... Thank you for bringing that up. Back up. For information, I'm going to answer the question now. In schools, there are conversations that are starting to happen about what you need to know about the referendum. As a School District, we cannot [Music]
029persuade the [Music] students to vote in the referendum or not. In their own schedule, students can do it [Music]. District administrators cannot put this information in front of students in a way that would look like we are trying to persuade them. We can only provide information in the way we are doing tonight. There will be opportunities for us to provide this information to our students, just as we would with any opportunity we have in the community. What we have to share information about is our referendum page. On our website, there is information about where we will have the next presentation so you can share. Tomorrow we will be at a restaurant called [Music] for lunch and at the History Society in the afternoon to share information about and how people [Music]. At the same time,
030as administrators, we can try to provide information to try to persuade people in the Community Point. Back to What we're sharing is greatly appreciated. So there's Lula, there are many, and the budget is with you, my finances, okay? I think I'm thinking that, I mean, what you say is correct, I agree with that, but I'm also new to the community. I'm here, I'm watching. I'd like to thank everybody for sharing. Thank you all for sharing. President, who's going to close us on today's conversation? Again, thank you so much for hearing our presentation as it pertains to our referendum needs. If you have any further questions around what we could do, what we can do better, we can definitely take that information and see what we can do over these next two weeks roughly. And we
031definitely want to make sure that we hear from all.