001opportunities, achievement, and community for all. Our mission, the school district of Milton, in partnership with the community, prepares our students for achievement and lifetime readiness by providing opportunities for all. and pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. things. >> All right. I would entertain action on tonight's agenda. I have a motion from Mike, a second from Ed. Any questions or comments? All those in favor, please say I. >> Oppos. Motion carries. Uh, I would entertain action on the minutes. >> I'll move to approve the minutes for the regular meeting held on January 26, 2026 as presented. >> I have a motion from Tracy, a second from Don.
002Any questions or comments? All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same side. Motion carries. Action on vouchers. I move to approve general checking account vouchers totaling1,50,42.92 as presented. >> Motion from Tracy, a second from Rick. Any questions or comments? All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same side. Motion carries. Um, tonight our student, we found out at the last minute our student council members were not available. So, we will be moving their report to a future agenda. And I did check uh Ross is checking again. We do have no one for comments. So, we are on to 2A Redhawk highlights. >> Yeah, we have a number of things that I want to highlight tonight. Again, some great things happening across our district. Um I'll start with our
003FBLA students. They competed at the region 5 conference this past Saturday. uh eight of the students individually qualified for the state competition. There are also some that are alternates in case others aren't able to make it. Um the team as a whole received a first place designation for all of our community service projects that have been taking place uh with that group and more details about the upcoming state competition which will be held in April uh will be coming out as we get closer to that event. So, congratulations to our FBLA team. We have three Milton High School teams participated in the financial literacy bowl, uh, which was held at Blackhawk, Blackhawk Tech on February 6th. Uh, of those three teams, uh, one team finished second overall and another team finished fourth overall. The team
004that finished in second place is also moving on to the state competition in April. The Milton Middle School Unity team has been raising funds for their annual Polar Plunge. Uh it's taking place Saturday, February 14th at Henry Villis Zoo. And over the 12 years that the Milton Middle School Unity team has been uh taking part in the Polar Plunge, they have raised over $52,000 towards Special Olympics uh Wisconsin. So encourage anyone who's interested in making a donation to support a very worthy cause to reach out to uh Milton Middle School. Another thing uh that happens annually, at least over the last couple years, the North Side cereal box drive is underway. Uh students are accepting cereal donations through February 20th and all boxes that are collected will be not donated to the Milton Food Pantry.
005uh their goal is always every year to raise more uh food for the Milton Food Pantry than they did the year before and they've been wildly successful with that lately if you've followed that in past years. Um our school district has joined other school districts and private schools across the county uh for the Rock County School Safety Con consortium. Um, the Jainsville Jets are partnering partnering with the consortium for a school safety night that's coming up on February 14th. They're raising funds uh for the Jets are raising funds to purchase emergency first aid kits for every classroom across the entire Rock County. So, um we're looking forward to that fundraising opportunity. Again, that's on February 14th. Milton High School Chamber Choir performed the national anthem uh in Madison at last week before the UW women's
006basketball uh game. Uh so congratulations to the chamber choir for being selected for that honor. Milton High School is hosting our first robotics tournament of the season that's coming up on February 21st. People interested in attending that, that competition starts at 10:00 a.m. And we had today a professional development day. Uh it was a focus on student and staff wellness with a lot of breakout sessions for staff members to attend. Uh I want to thank all of our presenters both our in district and out of district presenters that that um took part in that and thank all the folks for coordinating that great opportunity for our staff. >> Any questions? Just to confirm, robotics was February 21st, >> I believe. So, let me double check. Robotics February 21st at the high school starts at 10
007a.m. >> Thank you. >> The other item that I had in the superintendent's update uh is the second Friday in January count. There's two documents there. Uh Chelsea, if you can pull up the uh final copy of the 2026 second Friday DPI count calculation, and I'll walk through that document. Uh in that document, you'll see a couple different things. Um this has listed for each school and each grade level um our overall enrollment uh both in the third Friday in September count and then the second Friday in January count. and then also our number of uh resident students that open and roll out, the non-resident students that open and roll in. And then it gives a total for the total in buildings. Um on the right side in red uh is our enrollment. That's the
008number of students that are in our schools. The total adjusted headcount is listed there. And then on the bottom, the total FTE. And you'll see that the overall enrollment dropped seven students from September to January. Went from uh 3,426 to 3,419. And if you look at the breakout by different schools and uh grade levels, you can see that that's kind of a mix of of students across all the different schools and grade levels. open and roll in uh decreased by four from January to or excuse me from September to January. Uh where 4K through 8 open enrolling stayed the same. Uh but 9th grade through 12th grade it dropped by four students and open and roll out uh the resident students that open and roll out to other districts went down by 16. Uh and
00910 of those 16 are from Milton High School. So uh the second Friday count is takes place at every school in every district across the state u each year in January and those numbers are sent in into DPI that uses the September count and the January count uh in their calculations for funding. Any questions or thoughts from board members on that topic? you clarify the open enrollout reduced by 16. So we had 16 enrolled back in. Is that the way I interpreted that comment? >> They either open enrolled in or they may have if they moved out of the district then they're not resident students anymore. So then they're not included in the open and roll out. >> Thank you everyone. All right, we'll move on to 3A update on debt debt defeasence planning. >>
010So, we have Are you going to >> Yeah, I'm going to introduce. Yes. So, sorry if that's okay. Um, so back in um January 19th, we the finance committee met and one of the agenda items was an update on debt defeasement. Um, so we actually have a guest here, Kevin, to present tonight. Um Rich, I'll hand it over to yourself and Ross to uh update, but just wanted to make the folks know that this was part of the committee meeting. >> Yeah, just one quick thing and then uh we'll let Ross introduce Kevin and share a little bit about his background. But as Tracy shared, the finance committee meeting was back on the 19th, so it was uh prior to that uh prior to the last board meeting. We gave an update at that time
011on on all three of the agenda items that are listed, but Kevin was able to join us. And then just um previewing the other two agenda items are things that we talked about at the last meeting, but we're bringing back as action items uh tonight. So Ross. >> All right. [clears throat] And then real quick, I'll introduce uh Kevin Mullen here. He's with Baird. On the 19th when we talked about the debt defeasence, uh we looked over the initial projection for defeasing about $4.275 million and um I invited Kevin to join us tonight to see if the board has any questions regarding that document and to walk through some of the calculations he prepared for us. So, >> thank you. >> Thanks, Ross. Thanks so much for having me uh here this evening. as Ross
012mentioned um so this uh defeasence is actually the action of paying off the debt but you as a board have been preparing for this for a few years so for the last three years when you developed your budget and you looked at your debt payments and your overall levy as a strategy to manage your levy you've added a little bit to debt service and so uh for the last three years you've added a million and a half a million and a half and this year a million275 to your budget for debt prepayment and So, uh, Ross and I periodically have talked about like what the timing looks like and, um, Ross has been very strategic about, you know, not only planning for this moment, but then the actual action of doing the defeasence because when
013you actually do the defeasence, it gets added to the shared cost for the school district and in that year it turns through your aid formula. And so um there's been the act of levying to build up to this moment and now the actual you know mechanics of the defeasence. And so what the defeasence is is you take those additional levies um and you put them in an escrow. The bonds that you sold um back in I believe it was 2019 have a call date and that call date is J uh March 1st of 2027. And so this these funds will be put into an escrow and you'll direct the paying agent for the escrow to call the bonds in a year basically. And so the the that debt comes off of your books. It's no
014longer your debt service. It's the responsibility of the escrow. Um and it reduces your debt requirements moving forward. And so um as Ross mentioned, you've got a a balance of 4.2 million4,275,000 in fund 39. That's the amount that we'll be using for that defeasance. Um it will be put in the escrow and then once you know everything is put together, the investments are made in that escrow and it's paid off. Um the the act of reducing that debt service will lower your interest cost on that debt by about a million500,000. That gets added to the defeasance that was done in 2023. Um which was about, you know, just over a million3 together. combined savings uh through those two defeasences is roughly $2.9 million in uh unspent debt or interest cost. So a savings of $2.9
015million. Um terms of board action, you'll have the resolution approving um the defeasants and I believe that'll be at your next board meeting. >> March. >> Yep. Uh at the March 9th meeting. Um, assuming that's approved, then the mechanics of the defeasants get put together and we'll actually put the escrow together before June 30th. And so that's, you know, what we're actually uh preparing to do right now. Um, so the sheet in front of you, I just kind of went over the the the timing sheet really. There's only one board action required on your part. A lot of activity on Ross's uh part and his with his office. But then turning the page, I think it's also helpful just to look at the snapshot of your debt service before and after the defeasence. And so
016the the large box on the uh left hand side is before defeasance. Um and that is the actual scheduled principal and interest payments on that 2019 borrowing. And you can see that borrowing goes out to the year 2039 presently. Um the last defeasance, you'll notice the last maturity on that borrowing is shaded in blue. uh the last defeasance had paid for a portion of that principal in that year. This defeasence will pay off that last maturity and then eat into the next maturity in 2038. So we basically you know shortened the debt by a year and a half through this process. Um but if you look at the after defeasance debt that's what it looks like once that those payments have been removed. And what's really important is if you look at the um far
017right hand side, it shows what the annual reduction in debt service cost is. And so because those maturities are at the very end of the uh borrowing cycle, the big payments are taken off of the back end. And you can see those large reductions of 3.3 million and a million dollars in the last two years. But then annually each year, you'll also realize a reduction of debt service of about $128,000 until that time. So, it does take pressure off of future budgets as you're preparing and it also shortens the window in terms [clears throat] of when your debt service is due. Um, down below uh is on the lefth hand side is a summary of uh the costs involved in the defeasants. And I think Ross has been very thoughtful and um intentional about, you
018know, combining these together because there are fixed costs in terms of doing this. And so to do, you know, three of those, you know, together in one uh fell swoop saves some costs and there are about $17,000 of fixed costs involved. Um there's uh a bond council fee, so there's an opinion that's written at the time that it's done. uh our cost for pulling the transaction together as well as a CPA verification fee. So you actually have to have an independent auditor certify that the money put in escrow is sufficient to pay off the debt. It's a really important piece of the process. But once you you kind of factor all those things in, on the right hand side is a summary of what the savings is after those costs. And down below is just
019a summary of where the levy amounts come in and how they're being spent. So you can see, you know, how that money is accumulated over that three-year period of time and how it's spent. That's really more for Ross's edification than anyone else. He likes to have, you know, all that information in front of him. So, but also helpful for you maybe as well. Any questions on that or anything you'd like me to elaborate on? >> Kevin, thanks for joining us and thanks for the information. I do maybe I'm reading this wrong, but I just need a clarification. So on the top you stated that our savings was going to be about 2.9. >> Thank you. So this uh this actual defeasence is a million534. There was a defeasence that was done in 2023 that also
020saved a million3. So the the actual strategy together between that one and this one added together is 2.9 million. A million535 is what the estimated savings is for this actual defeasence. >> Okay. So, so that was my question. That's so on the bottom where it says million 535. That's just the one >> correct >> portion of it. >> That's just this. >> But the total >> which I want to make sure people in the public understand we're saving 2.9 million. >> Yeah. So part of that was already that occurred when we did a defeasence in 2023 which was roughly a million350 plus then this million 534 at this time. >> Thanks for asking. Thank you so much for coming this evening. We appreciate it. Can you just clarify this money has already been levied? >>
021Correct. The district is not going to seek any additional funds to do this defeasement. >> That's right. >> Thank you. >> Well, thank you very much for coming tonight and explaining everything. And then the the other two agenda items uh are items that were shared at the last board meeting on January 26, but we're bringing them back as action items. The first one is the 5-year capital maintenance plan and the vehicle and equipment uh replacement schedule. Uh Stephen has put together a memo uh that's listed in board docs along with those uh actual plans. If you recall at the last meeting he walked through the different projects that would be uh in the plans if approved for next year. Uh Stephen, anything uh that you want to highlight beyond what you talked about at the
022last meeting? >> Uh no, really nothing to highlight. Uh everything is still the same from what was presented at the previous meeting. uh I didn't have any other uh clarifying information or additional information that was put into the memo. So it's uh just the addition of the recommended motion from the memo that was shared previously. >> Thank you, Stephen. I would like to add that the finance committee does support approving this motion. [clears throat] >> Stephen, just to recap a couple things. So just to summarize, this has been a couple weeks and agreed we're very supportive of this. The roughly 1.6 is money that we've we're we're not we're not as Teresa said, we're not asking for that. That's our money that we have budgeted to pay for. >> That is 100% correct. [clears throat]
023Money that is part of the plan is budgeted for both out of fund 10 and out of fund 46. It's a a typical action typical budget line item uh every single year >> and very that number is very consistent year to year. Correct. Very about about the same, right? >> Yep. Um and then just one other piece of clarity. Um the discussion around the new maintenance building, we will see that in the capital plan because it needs to be in the capital plan, but that is not part of the approval here tonight. >> Correct. So the two items that were added to the capital plan, one was healthcare sciences at the high school, two was the new district maintenance facility were added to the plan. So it could be eligible for fun uh through board
024approval at a later date uh which will be later this fiscal year, not uh not for board action tonight at all. >> And so I'll just recclarifying that make sure I understood. >> Yes. Thank you. I move to approve the 10-year capital maintenance and improvement plan and the 5-year vehicle and equipment replacement schedule. Specifically, the items projects outlined for the completion in the 2627 column as presented. >> I'll second that. >> So, I have a motion from Tracy, a second from John. Any other questions? >> All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. Thank you very much. And item C, you're still there. >> So, the next item from the finance committee meeting was also um the north side playground equipment and this was also supported by the
025finance committee if anyone has any questions. >> And this is same same story as the previous uh memo really. The only addition to this amendment was the recommended motion based on the the finance committee meeting uh finance committee and the last board uh meeting presentation. Uh no real new information to share other than that. >> And one more clarity Stephen again this is not money that we are asking the public for this is a result of frugal spending over the last year. We have the money to do this out of pocket. >> Correct. Yes. This will be uh money that should become forecast to become available this current fiscal year. Not any additional levy or additional burden on taxpayers. This is taking taking advantage of uh unspent funds at the end of the fiscal year.
026>> Thank you. >> I make a motion to approve the north side playground equipment replacement project with leisure products in the amount of $250,000 be completed in the fiscal year 2526 presented. I'll second. >> So I have a motion from uh Rick, a second from Tracy. Any other questions? All those in f say I. >> I oppose. >> Motion carries. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Oh, next we have a report on the superintendent hiring process. The hiring committee had a meeting right after the board meeting two weeks ago and tonight again we will have a committee meeting right after the board meeting. Last uh committee meeting we talked about HYA gathering data for a profile of the superintendent. The survey link was emailed out. It closes on February 13th. The it's been
027out on social media. Please, if you've not taken that survey yet, please participate. We also had our focus faceto-face focus groups on February 4th. We had students, staff, admin, community members, um many many people had input on what we were looking for that profile of a superintendent. Uh there's still one more opportunity to provide input. There is a community session on February 15th and again that link will be sent out closer to that date. Uh and then again we're meeting tonight and tonight we will um be talking through the day in the district and some of the other planning items for the process. Any questions? All right. Thank you very much. So, we will move on to governance committee Ed. [clears throat] >> Thank you, Dr. Smith. Uh, last Monday, Friday, February, I'm sorry, Monday,
028February 3rd, the governance committee met in attendance. So, that were all the committee members, Rick and Tracy and myself as well as Dr. Smith. Um, we are also joined by a host of administration and um, there were two agenda items in that meeting that I will summarize here tonight. Neither one of them are action items tonight. They're both informative tonight so we can vote on them in the near future next week and possibly further out for the second one. Uh the first topic was uh first reading of Neola policies. There were a total of 18 policies that were in need of updating and they those are listed in a document that uh is available to you in Bordox. If you need access, please reach out to myself or Chelsea. We can certainly make sure you
029get it. There is also two docu or two policies that are being recommended to be rescended as they are either now covered by a different policy or they're just simply no longer necessary. U and then there are also three new policies available for review. Uh I would invite the board to review all these policies over the next two weeks. If you need any clarity or questions, certainly reach out to Rich or myself. we'd be happy to fill you in on what we know about them and the purpose of those changes or additions or rescendings. Um, and before we get into questions, I just want to take a minute and thank the administration and also Brie Miles who assisted with the AI policy though there's a lot of work that goes into that prior to the
030meeting and it went pretty efficiently and it's tedious hard work but it does it is the backbone of what we do. was very important work. So, I really appreciate that everyone's effort. And I will pause there and see if there are any questions on any of the policies at this time. >> And I had a couple if I if I could ask now. 58.95. >> Okay. >> That's student employment. Uh >> does that mean we just we we don't do those permits anymore? So I'm going to go back to my memory, but I believe yes, we do not have this the change in policies that we don't have to do anymore. It's mandated that done somewhere else. >> Yeah, it is it is new legislation that that's required that the state approves those rather than
031each individual school. >> Okay. >> So the policy matches that new uh requirement from the state. >> That'd be an example of a policy just kind of no longer necessary. >> Sure. Thank you. Anything else, Joe? >> Uh 6152.01. That was the waiver of school fees or fines. Does that cover like all sporting uh groups, band, show choir, is all that covered part of that? If there's a need, >> we had that question actually come up because I asked a question about uniforms and which there are no uniforms. Rich, I think the answer is yes. It covers anything that is curricular. And does it cover extracurricular, Jeremy? >> Schools are school. >> So like a band fee or a showquoire fee. So, so with with those we do have fees that are go to the
032membership of the of the ST parent group. So, parent groups have their own membership fee department. Well, they put out those fees that those kids get contributed to our 121s. They are not they're not wable because it's not a school fee. But that does not mean they cannot be part of the program either. >> So my guess the pro the program might find a way to let all those kids participate. >> Yeah. Anybody that is enrolled because it's one of our classes is take showire and van they still get to participate in those programs. >> Okay. >> Our supporting groups have participation be in [clears throat] their groups but that doesn't mean that if they don't get that they don't get to participate in the activity. >> Okay. Thank you. Anything else? That's >> what
033I got. Thank you. >> All right. Anybody else? All right. I will move on to the next item. The second topic was uh uh kind of we've been talking about the strategic plan. As you all may recall, there are some goals in our current strategic plan that have we've achieved which is great stuff and we're really happy about that. But now we need to look in uh coming up with new goals. So in board docs you will see that the the administration has put together a draft of some potential new um goals that we might use and these are strictly um I want to really highlight the word draft. These are thought processes meant to kind of [clears throat and snorts] get the conversation started. In most cases there's more than we would actually use.
034there's more goals than we would actually use in a strategic plan. So the discussion that night was to bring it to the board tonight so that you all would have a chance to digest it and read it and give it give us a little time to come back in at a future date and then also offer administration the chance to maybe uh potentially kind of rank the ones that are highlight the ones that they they feel are that they really want to lean into the most they're most important. um rich and then we would come back a later day and try to collaborate on that and see if we can come together on those and pass that once we settle on those goals we would also administration would work towards metrics for those goals. Am
035I catching that about right? >> I think you described that really well Ed as far as uh what we have right here and what's coming up. So um as an example if you look at that first pillar in teaching and learning uh for each of the five pillars it has which administrator took a lead on uh gathering information on different potential topic areas. So for teaching and learning it's our teaching director of teaching and learning Julie Musgrove. Uh and uh she worked together with other directors with principles uh to get input on what are some different possible areas that we could prioritize as goals. So the idea isn't that there would be a goal or a focus area for each of the things that are listed under that category. It's more of a starting point
036for conversation and then um what we'd like at the at the next board meeting and added share that we can bring back from our administrators some uh priority areas out of the ones that are listed but also if the board has any uh priority areas of the items that are listed or anything that's not listed uh on this document in each of those five pillars. Um then once that's been determined uh if we follow the model that we've had in the past that has worked really well we would identify one goal for each of our five pillars and then two to three to four focus areas under each of those pillars. [snorts] >> And given that um if the board has an appetite because I as everybody knows I'm a spreadsheet nerd. I've already made
037a spreadsheet with all those in it and rankings so I can share with Rich so the board can have access to it and I can certainly rank one, two, and three. I I only went down to three, but you could have two ones if you wanted to or two twos and two threes. I think that'd be very beneficial for the administration to have that information kind of see which way the board is leaning. I think we have to be careful with uh the board providing information uh where every member of the board or multiple members of the board are are chiming in on that uh outside of a regular meeting. So, it might be a good way for you individually to organize your thoughts and bring them back to the next board meeting, but I'd
038be cautious with um filling those rankings in and then having our administrators move based on those recommendations. >> Then I will use I will use it for myself and then pass it along and not share it. >> Is it is it okay if we copy it and have our own version? >> Sure. I mean, I think well I I'm gonna ask lean towards Rich, but I think that would be okay. >> We make our own copy. We just don't put it all on one. I'd like you to share it. So I could do that. >> And I think the process would be for me to share with Rich and Rich share with the board or can I share? >> Okay, I can do that. Um and that so I'm going to pause there and ask
039for any questions on the second topic on strategic plan. Um, I would just like the admin team to thank them for putting the definitions in for some of the categories that I was not as intellectually able to understand. So, that does help um to be able to understand where where they're going with what their like where their focus is. So, thank you guys very much. >> I think that's a good point, too. as you're as you're reading through this and mulling it over over the next couple weeks, if there are things that you have questions on, definitely feel free to reach out uh and we can get answers to you if there is anything here that you don't understand or you want to dive in a little bit more deeply. >> Yeah, I just want
040to recap one thing that Rich said if I'm, as Dr. Smith said, I'm happy to share the spreadsheet out with everybody if they want to use it, but I don't have a placeholder for thoughts that you might come up with of your own. So, be sure and articulate if you have it. It's perfectly fine to say, "Hey, I would like something in this spirit and articulate that." So, either send that an email to Rich or um find a way to put it on the spreadsheet. I'll put a placeholder, I guess, for it. And with that, that's what I have. Dr. Smith, >> I just want to reiterate the timeline so that we're all on the same page. We will be talking about this at our next board meeting and giving guidance so that we can
041start getting measurable goals in place. So, >> and just to back up one more item. So, we'll be looking for approval on the on the policies also next meeting again and what you just mentioned. >> Yep. >> All right. We are on to the human services committee report. John, >> thank you, Annette. All right. Thank you. Uh so this uh presentation that you have in board docs is an attempt to try to keep everything organized as much as possible. Um so this was shared with the human resources committee as John shared. Then it was also shared with the benefits advisory group and then brought forward to the board of education here. So I'm going to jump around just a second and touch base on that uh that postemployment benefit memo. It's a follow-up to the
042memo I shared on January 9th. Um and this memo has corrections to the scenarios that were listed in that January 9th memo. And in looking at or reviewing our numbers and talking with a few retirees and staff at the district office, I had incorrectly calculated uh the total maximum that the 2023 teacher retirees would um max out at. So, looking at this updated memo, you'll see towards the bottom of that first page, it outlines the 23 uh 2023 teachers, and they're going to be coming in at uh just shy of $6,000 less than the maximum cap of $76,000, which is a correction to that previous memo. And then you'll see the 2024 teachers are going to be just over by $97328 more than the cap. So I originally looking at that last memo had projected
043that the 23 24 and 25 teachers were going to be over those that $76,000 tier 1A cap. So the 23 teachers just summarizing are going to be fine coming in under that cap. 24 teachers are just over that $76,000 cap and the 2025 teachers will be $8,597 over that cap. And those are based off of the actual rates that we know as of today. I'm not going to go into the projections for next year because we'll be getting those later this month uh from USI, our insurance broker, on the 25th of February. Any questions about the correction memo? There >> just one thing that I'll add to that uh is that uh it only pertains to folks that are in that tier 1A of our uh post-employment uh benefits plan. And that folks to qualify
044for that have until July 1st of 2027 uh as their retirement date. So there could potentially be a a retirement class of 2026 uh that would be eligible to stay on those uh benefits and could potentially reach that that maximum cap. And then a a retirement class of 2027, but then that would be the last group that is able to at retirement stay on the district's insurance plan for up to those four years or until that cap is met. People that retire after that time are still eligible for retirement benefits, but it isn't being on the district's retirement plan. >> Uh just want to recap kind. >> Okay. Sure. Actually, the um this agenda item is based off of the January 14th, 2026 benefits advisory group where we met and we talked through that component.
045So, this presentation was shared at this last uh Thursday's uh benefits advisory group meeting too. So, we'll see um the first item on the recap slide. We talked through medical insurance enrollment trends. We talked through um the medical loss ratio and how it's performing for the two different plans. >> Keep scrolling >> up or down. >> Down. Yep. You're keep going. You're doing good right there. So, you'll see that we talked through the medical insurance or the how the medical loss ratio is performing and the HA and the HSA are both separated. We talked about our wellness participation. And then we also talked about uh critical dates. I mentioned the February 25th with the dean health insurance renewal rates. We tal and the what we're looking for is board action on March 9th. So this
046is just a discussion today to kind of give you the background on what was taking place at the benefits advisory group meetings. Um, we talked through what Dean's uh, insurance renewals um, stipulations were that they had shared with us this last August and how that applies to our current situation. And then uh, moving on to the next slide, we talked through the medical insurance considerations for 2627 and at HR committee. Okay, Chelsea, can you go back up a few? >> It's six. >> Yep. and right there. So at this um the medical insurance considerations. So we had if you recall back to our me uh meeting in December, we identified all these different options that we had. And so the task from the human resources committee was to what are we going to be focusing
047on for the 26 27 year. And so those are the first two that we were focusing on was the district contribute contributions capped at 85% to the lowest cost option as well as separate HA and HSA risk pools for the first time. Dean has said that that second bullet point is not an option for us because they're mandating that and that's going to happen right now for when we get the 2627 rates. So our focus has been on the district contribution cap rates capped at 85% of lowest cost option. The next uh bolded area talks about other considerations. So now these are options that we talked very high level at the HR committee and we are not going into further detail for this upcoming renewal year. Other findings that we talked about with the HR
048committee and the benefits advisory group was double dental coverage for married employees as well [snorts] as uh the family cash option. And that was 18 families with health insurance and cash option. And we have 15 families that both of the married couples have family dental. And so we've had this conversation a few times over the years with the human resources committee and with the board of education. And so just sharing that information with the benefits advisory group that we are bringing this forward back to the human resources committee and we'll be talking about that here in a next agenda item. The next steps we talked through uh with the bag or the benefits advisory group meeting as well as the human resources committee. What does that timeline look like? So that was our overall summary
049for the benefits advisory group. Any questions on that agenda item? I >> want to highlight one thing there too and and Chelsea, I'll have you go back to slide three because we had a really good conversation with the benefits advisory group. It's always nice to be able to meet with uh representatives from our staff, talk about kind of where we are and what we're seeing with with our benefits. And often times we lead with this slide because it reinforces what a large part of our budget is taken up by benefits. You can see there that almost a quarter of our overall budget, about 21% uh for this current fiscal year uh are benefits for our employees. The largest portion of that is medical insurance. Our medical insurance costs for the district's portion of what we
050pay uh for this current year is about $5.5 million uh for the year. And as we're doing some projections for next year, we anticipate at least a 9.9% increase in those premiums for next year uh between the HA and the HSA. And if that were to materialize at that point, that's that's over $500,000 in increased costs for the district. And uh a large part of our conversation on this topic is around the sustainability both for uh the school district uh and our budget but also the impact that rapidly increasing medical costs has on our budget our our staff's home budgets too. uh and it's those increased costs and how quickly they're uh increasing uh really has a a huge impact on the district and on our employees. So because of that we we are looking
051for ways to uh find sustainable solutions to that issue. If there wasn't anything else, Chris >> for Chris. [clears throat] Um, over the years, I know we've looked at, and I'm speaking specifically about the double dental and the cash option. We've looked at it periodically. We never really had an action. You know, we were just sort of taking a peek at what those numbers look like. These numbers strike me as historically lots lower than in previous years. Is that accurate at all? So >> as far as number of families electing either of those two, >> so right now, no, it's it uh es and flows a little bit uh depending on the demographics of the staff at any given year. So when we have people resigning or retiring um or the new staff that are
052coming in, that amount has ebbed and flowed. Not a lot like it's we're not like seeing a like a trough right now and then we're going to see a hill in a year or so. Um, so that's pretty consistent with what we have seen from the HR 11s. >> Okay. One one thing on that though and uh Chelsea has slide seven up on the display. Um the double dental there are 15 different families where uh both of the spouses work for the school district and they both uh take the dental insurance and and as Chris shared that's about that's somewhat typical to the numbers that we've had in the past. you can see what that annual cost is to the district of family insurance and what that overall cost is then for the 15 employees
053uh and 18 that are are that take family health insurance and the cash option or I shouldn't say family that take some health insurance and a cash option um and you can see that overall cost there um those are with the cash option list there that's only uh employees that are taking both the medical insurance and cash options. That's not the total number that take the cash option overall. And and that number is listed on I think that's listed here. Is that coming up, Chris? >> 96. >> Yeah. On slide five, there are 96 employees altogether that take the cash option. And then of the rest of the the staff that are are on one of the two insurance options, it's split almost equally between the HR and the HSA. >> You'll see Joe right
054at the top, the third bullet point, we're down from 103 in the previous year. >> Yeah, those are the numbers that I was recollecting. So, thank you for that. So the other piece that Joe had shared that we've been talking about this uh for the few years and looking at it. This is something that um we're not bringing as any recommendation right now, but we we can look at that timeline. We're going to continue to have uh another HR committee meeting that's scheduled for February 18th and then at the next board meeting on February 23rd. uh discussion and then potential action on March 9th on any uh potential changes. One of the things that the committee asked Chris to do is to gather information from the other Badger Conference schools about uh that issue with
055double dental and with insurance plus the cash options. So once we have that data, we will be bringing that back to the HR committee and the board. recap of the benefits advisory group from January 14th or the double dental agenda items. >> Chris, can you just clarify that cash option? It's what is it like 2,200? >> Uh $2,375 for the full year depending on when the individual starts. >> Thank you. >> [snorts] >> Okay. >> Any other questions? Thanks. Is that what I got? >> One more. One more agenda item. >> All right. So, the fourth agenda item is the 2627 health insurance scenarios. And Chelsea, if you can bring up that presentation one more time and then we're going to go down to the green um options and right there. Okay. So that here
056we have our what we know today is we have our 2526 HRA rates and we have our HSA rates for 2526 and as Rich shared we're looking at uh the 9.9% uh for the HSA if we continue to meet our wellness objective um and if we meet our wellness objective and keep our um our medical loss ratio below 103 three, they're going to cap the HR also at 9.9. Right now, as uh Dean had shared from looking at November's data, we're trending a little high on the medical loss ratio for the HR. And so I believe that was around 113 um further up on the memo. So right yep, right up here. So you'll see that what we are projecting on this next slide is that the HSA will come in at a 9.9 and
057we are anticipating approximate 15% underneath the HRA totals. And so you'll see what does that 15% look like for 2627. And that would be a difference uh between the two different rates for the two different years, a $3,732 increase. And then looking at the HSA difference with the 9.9% increase, uh, that would be $1,893. I want to stress that these are strictly projections that Rich Ross and I have worked on. We haven't received these projections from uh, USI. So, these are just internal to kind of give you an idea of what it could look like as we wait a few more weeks until we get those actual rates. It's also important to note looking back at our last three years, we have gotten 9.9% on both HA and HSA because they were combined. So each
058year that 9.9% turns in translates into half a million dollars each year of new money that we have to pay the health insurance company for these employee benefits. So three time three years times 500,000 1.5 million. So, just want to keep that on everybody's mind. And there's a few key takeaways that uh Rich had hit on when he was talking through the benefits and how much they make up of our total budget as well and how that would impact staff as well as the district. Any questions on those two slides? I want to reinforce that uh Dean has uh shared that they'll be moving forward with separate calculations for the HA and the HSA plan whereas as Chris just shared that in past years whatever that rate increase has been it's been the same rate
059increase for both plans. Uh and that's looking at the qualifier numbers, especially the medical loss ratio. It it as of now is likely that the HR is not going to qualify for the 9.9% rate cap and we would be anticipating maybe about a 15% increase to that to the premiums in that plan and then the 9.9 specifically on the HSA plan. Chris, do you anticipate having those final numbers from Dean before next week's HR meeting? >> I do not. >> Okay. >> February 25th is when USI said it's the absolute soonest they will get those >> rates to us. So, we are uh anticipating that we'll have those uh for the March 9th board meeting, but not for uh the board meeting or the HR committee meeting before then. And that's why we're running these
060scenario numbers so that we can be thinking about kind of what if it comes in in those levels where we think it is, but then if it doesn't come in at that level, we'll bring adjusted amounts uh to that meeting once we have them. >> Okay. So, um, Chelsea, if you can leave this one up and then if you can go into board docs and bring up this the um modeling numbers. Yep, that one right there. Ross is going to talk through this document and what does that translate into for that 9.9 and that uh 15% that I just referenced. >> All right. So, what we're looking at here is a more exploded view of the actual premium dollars tied up in the HSA and HA plans currently. Um, on this spreadsheet there, the information
061is separated by two gray lines across the middle of the page. On the top of the page represents our current premium for the 2526 school year for both plans. And I've colorcoded the pertinent numbers to pay attention to when we're talking about district cost and employee cost. The HSA plan has a premium contribution. and we'll use family in this example. Uh, every employee contributes about $2,874 annually to their family HSA plan. On top of that, the district also provides the HSA contributions to their account for a family plan of $5,500 taken out across their payroll structure throughout the year. On the right side of the page is the HRA version of the the plan where the employee would contribute about 3732 uh annually to the premium. So right now on paper the premium difference for
062employees is already highlighted um on this page but what I want to draw your attention to at the top of the page is the total premium and this is where we really need to understand our plan design differences in the school district because for the for the entire year the HSA premium for family is just over $19,100 and for the HR it's $24,800. The difference between those two is that HSA contribution that the district makes into that family account. And this was by design. When we split the plans into two different HSA and HA plans with Dean many years ago, uh the the concept was that the district total contribution to both plans would be roughly equal. So now that we've been in discussions with Dean about what the deviation in medical loss ratios means
063for us next year, we know that those rates are going to start to renew on diverging paths going forward. So, no longer at 9.9. We know that or we anticipate that 9.9 will be our HSA renewal, but we're projecting and um anticipating as much as a 15% renewal for the HR. In the middle of the page where those two gray lines exist, we have those percentages uh dialed in for modeling purposes. This is a spreadsheet that we're using to adjust as we learn new information from USI. Below the page though, I wanted to highlight what we mean when we stated on earlier slide what renewing it at the lowest cost option means for purposes of employee and uh district costs. Okay, this is one example. This does not represent what we will do or what
064we will recommend, but it does reflect what the current model is showing. On the lower half of the page, at a 9.9 renewal for the HSA plan, the employee contribution per family would increase to about $3,159 annually. And on the right side of the page, we have a couple different numbers to look at. On the HR side of things, if we cap the district contribution to what would have been the 85, I'm sorry, what it would have been the increase at the lowest cost option, we cannot simply look at the premiums under the HSA and say that's the limit we're going to pay because you can already see that difference is on display with what we contribute to the HSA accounts and the premium costs themselves. So instead on this [clears throat] spreadsheet we modeled
065what the HRA would have been if they had stayed in alignment if both plans have been at 9.9 and in the event that we get a renewal for the HRA above that 9.9 that differential would be passed on to the employee as the way we would renew at the lowest cost option going forward. So on the far right of the page uh where we talk about the HA levels, what would that effective premium contribution be for employer and employee? And you can see that it would increase from 15% to about 18.77%. Um other than that, the other changes for the plan are on display here. If we renew at 15% and don't change the structure of how we currently contribute, right now it's 8515 for all plans. The district contribution is um under that first
066column for HRE as well. Any questions? I thought this would be helpful because it demonstrates how the uh costs of healthcare have increased dramatically, not just the past year, but the past several years. >> So, I have a question on the um 113% the um the loss ratio. Is there a shot that we can get that down or is that what what is the period? Is it calendar? So, January through December and we have through November. Is that what you were saying? >> So, um with what Dean provided to us that was in looking at a snapshot at the end of November and that is starting from July 1st till November. >> Okay. >> Because we look at July 1 to June 30th. So Dean is looking at right now our rates and they're going
067to say based off of how you've progressed from July 1 of 25 till February of 26, here's where we think your path is going to be. This is why we're going to give you the rates that we're going to give you. But we still have from February all the way through June yet to make sure we get to or till May at least to get our wellness numbers at that 70% threshold. >> So Dean's kind of giving us a a precursor or to say here's what we're going to do based off of your medical trends >> if we're if the loss ratio does it have the chance to reduce as well through the end of June? >> Um possibly. um doesn't when we were talking with USI they didn't think it was going to be
068possible which is why we're looking towards that 15% uh as a most likely outcome coming up later this month yes it is definitely possible >> well and what I'm saying is that the trend may not be there from from our perspective but we have that opportunity within that's how the rates are calculated >> correct >> okay thank I have a question for either of you. Um, how many years have we offered the HSA? Do we know? Is it six or seven or eight or something like that? >> Um, I believe that we started the HSA your first year, Rich. >> Sounds right. >> I think it was 2020. I think that it's been six years now. >> Okay. My point is I remember the presentation from Al Jagger [snorts] um that was very typical I
069think of districts and I'm doing this from memory that would offer both plans and then ultimately migrate away from the HR portion. Is that part of our strategy? I mean it looks obviously with the numbers like that's the portion that we cannot control the cost and and gives us exposure to the to the increases. Do we have any discussions about ultimately moving away from the HR and focusing on the HSA offering? >> Yeah, that's a really good question, Joe, and you're absolutely remembering that correctly. um we really don't want to um move away too quickly from it because the majority of our retirees are on that HRA plan and as Rich shared the tier 1A folks once they retire they have four additional years after that. So once that period of time ends, absolutely. But
070with Rich Ross and I, we're uh concerned about moving too quickly away from them. >> We have ever since uh it's offered every year there are more and more uh employees that take the HSA option uh as opposed to the HRA option. And I think we had shared earlier that for this current year they're almost exactly the same number of each where that was skewed and then every year that the number of employees on the HSA option is rising and on the HA option is going down. And I think that as those costs continue to to rise faster for the for the HA, it it makes it more likely that more and more employees will move to the HSA option. And oftentimes, and we we can't know for sure what that will do to the
071medical loss ratio, but if you end up with a a older pool in in the HR compared to the HR, there's a stronger likelihood that uh that medical loss ratio will be higher there, which will just continue to increase that difference in overall costs. I guess my question then from a strategy standpoint is can we incentivize the migration from HA to HSA and have a predictable cost exposure for the district juxtaposed against 15% type increases and we can't predict that in 2027 8 930. Is there a way that we could incentivize folks to migrate faster than what [clears throat] is happening currently and then we would know our exact cost of potential premiums. >> I want to be careful about >> turn off. I want to be careful about using the term incentivized because I
072don't want to speak for everyone's individual needs on why they chose the health plan that they're in. However, that's one of the reasons why I put this model forward to not just potentially control costs, but demonstrate what it would look like were we to keep our contributions as a district in line regardless of what plan they're on. Yes, that would ultimately make the HR plan more cost more provide more cost difficulty to maintain as an employee, but we don't want to remove the option if we could at least offer it under this structure. While we're looking at that model and and it's related to what Joe just asked and what Ross just shared. If you look under the HSA column, uh you can see and and I'll use family insurance as the example. The district
073this year uh right now is paying $16,290.93 uh annually for employees that are on the family plan. Does everybody see where that is there? And then if you go down with a 9.9% increase, if you go to the bottom of that column, that would go up for next year, the district's contribution would go up to $17,90373. So for the HSA plan, if it plays out that way, the district's contribution will go up by about $1,600 per employee that's on the family uh HSA. Um so that's where that additional cost is is coming from. Um, if you do that same comparison in the HRA columns, you're going to see that the district's portion would go up by considerably more than that $1600 or so. Uh, especially if the HR went up by 15%. You can see
074that currently it's $21,149. Uh, at 15% increase, it would go up to 24,32157. So, it would be about a $3,200 increase in the district's portion. So, almost a double uh increase. It was about 1,600 for family on the HSA. It would be about 3,200 per family, an increased district contribution. Um, if it goes up by 15%. And that kind of gets at what Joe was asking that the employees portion is going up but the district's portion is also going up considerably with these large increases. >> Sorry, but isn't the calculation to show that the district will only pay the difference on the 9.9 on the HSA that cost? So if the cost of the HSA plan and I'm going to use single because it's smaller number. So the cost is 15% sorry 85% of the
075single I don't see the difference here. So it says 7618 that's your annual cost versus 6932 right. So 6932 minus it's like $1,000 for single that would be the increase >> for single. Correct. >> For single. >> So is that exact increase? So, say it's $1,000 the district is going to pay an additional $1,000 per employee. >> Does that not just go over to the H, the district will only pay an additional $1,000 of that premium. The resting employee has to be that >> that's something that the board could consider. Yes. uh and that's uh looking at capping I guess the best way to describe that would be capping whatever that dollar increase is uh on the the smallest increase plan which will be the HSA. Uh whatever that dollar increase is on the HSA
076matching that same dollar increase uh on the HR. The way that it's laid out here isn't matching the same dollar increase in that third column. It's matching that same 9.9% increase. And even keeping those percents both at 9.9 is going to be a larger increase from the district for the folks on the HR because the starting number is larger for folks on the HR. That for family that would come out to be about $2,100 compared to the 1,600 that we talked about before. But that that's definitely something that the board could consider. And uh when we get closer to that point, we can uh bring some different options on what that would look like. >> Okay. Thank you. I was just trying to ask if that's what you were doing here and that's where I
077cuz in my head that's where I you said lowest cost option whatever that increase was. So >> going forward be interesting to see what that would calculate to. >> Yep. >> Um but I apologize. I thought that's what this was doing. But thank you for that clarification. That was something different. >> Yep. This is B. It's a really good question because it's it's there are a lot of different directions that that the district could go. >> So, you're correct. This is based on percentage, but if we were to do it on a dollar basis off that plan, the splits on the lower right would probably get more increase. It would be higher than the 18.7 you're seeing here. >> One more clarification. um when you're visiting I presume with Al who is obviously negotiating with
078Dean for us if we do not improve our loss ratio right I mean if if that stays where it's at and maybe it even trends higher who knows uh is the 15% your guesstimate or is there a chance I mean we hear about districts living through 20% increases is there a potential right that we could face that if we can't control that loss ratio Joe, >> absolutely, Joe. It's right now the 15% is what Rich Ross and I had talked through as a possibility. We could come in at closer to 20 like you were sharing or we could come in at 13, higher than 9.9, but right now we're trying to look at somewhere in the middle to help pro, you know, to share these scenarios with you. And like what Tracy was sharing is
079one option may be looking at a dollar amount, one option be looking at percentage, but keeping in mind how this impacts staff as well as the district as a whole. After we get the numbers back from USI and you share them with the committee, then we share them with the board. When do we have to make the ultimate decision? when we have the options laid out and we have to vote on a a path we're going to take. When is the the end date for that? >> Great question. Chelsea, if you can bring up the um presentation again and go to the second to the last slide. One more down >> right there with the timeline. So, this is what we're looking to do with um the February 5th and 9th. what just transpired here
080uh this week and last week. So, we're looking to have the 18th um a kind of little point that we're not going to have the rates [clears throat] quite yet. um committee meeting after the board meeting on the 23rd. So somewhere 25th and after because we only have one board meeting in March. >> Um and with spring break. So we would need to look to see if we can get another human resources committee together to share those rates with you all. And then we're looking for a board decision on the 9th because this is very important that we get a decision to for open enrollment that's going to be coming at the beginning of May and we have to communicate it out to staff. Staff are going to want to meet and talk through their
081scenario, their situation and we have to make sure that we're armed with what the board's decision is to be able to communicate it to them. That's everything I had. Any other questions about any of those four agenda items? >> Nope. Think that's it. Appreciate all the info, guys. >> All right. Thank you. >> Lots to share tonight. >> That was a great conversation. We're going to move on to new business 7 A, educational options. Julie [snorts] >> [cough] [snorts] >> Good evening. Um, every year it's an annual notification um provides families with information on the full range of educational options available to Milton residents. Um, the families are able to see the full-time and part-time open enrollment opportunities, college and career readiness options, and homebased private education. We also are required um to notify parents
082and guardians around our district and school accountability report cards um as well as the educational options. So, that is what has been presented. Um but it is an annual notification. it's required and so it's um to meet our state requirement to inform our families about accountability results and our educational options that we offer. Any questions? Thank you, Julie. Appreciate it. Discussion and possible action on high school extended field trips. Mr. Bill Horn. So, it's my first time at the mic. Um, So the baseball trip uh is we've done that the last I believe three or four years. Uh the music trip which is do every four years last uh they they put those on the same cycle. Uh so band and choir will go together. They've done Disney recently. Uh they came to me with
083another uh option which I be honest we had we've had several conversations about the the cruise that's on listed there. Um because at first I had a lot of questions about a cruise. Uh but uh what it is is there will be several different high schools on this cruise. It's a cruise that's designed well, it's a a cruise cruise, but they have a program bringing high school music programs on board. And so the show choir and band will both be uh uh providing uh they'll be performing on the cruise. Uh a couple different performances uh that'll actually there'll be other high schools that are performing as well. So they'll have an adjudicator on the cruise. So it's kind of like a mini competition while they're doing that. Uh and um uh and it's again a
084poor program for high schools music programs on this. So it's and the cost is uh it's a few hundred more than what a Disney trip would have been given the cost of busing now. So uh in both cases uh students have booster groups they're helping to raise money but students also have opportunity for fundraising as well. >> Do they need any chaperoons? [laughter] >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Um I I did notice on the second one it's a hundred students. how how many chaperones are in there to protect that many >> and again that it'll be approximate. So it's still once it's approved and there'll be a a set date coming up here this spring about um you know who actually is going to go. So that's a and that's an approximate number but we
085will have I believe it's for every 12 students we have to have a shepher >> and you feel comfortable that that >> I do I do. >> Okay. In fact, they felt actually on the cruise they'll be actually be more confined on the portions of the boat that they'll be allowed to be on. >> Okay. Then I'll move to approve the 2526 Milton High School extended field trip request as presented. >> I'll second that. >> So motion from Tracy, a second from John. Any other questions? All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Oppose. [clears throat] Same sign. Motion carries. And Mr. Mr. Billhorn, summer 2526 ECCP. >> All right. So, uh, you know, I bring these three times a year. For the fall, uh, for the spring, and then for the summer,
086we have two students, uh, this to share with you. Two students will be taking classes, one at W Madison, one at W Whitewater. Uh, this summer >> question um, on the one, what course path does that fall into? So uh under ECCP uh students can choose to take any courses that are not courses that we have at Milton High School. They've exhausted ours. So for the accounting course they've they've exhausted our accounting classes. Folkler there's not a pathway that's similar. So therefore we have to approve. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> All right. Thank you so much. On to miscellaneous action on staffing reports. >> I'll move to approve the staffing report as presented. >> Second. >> I have a motion from John. Uh second from Rick. Any questions? All those in favor, please
087say I. >> I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. On to action on gifts and donations. I have a motion from Tracy and a second from Ed. Any questions? All those in favor, please say I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. We are on to meeting dates. >> Excuse me. The next regularly scheduled board meeting is two weeks from tonight on Monday, February 23rd at our usual 6:30 start time. Uh we have a couple committee meetings between now and then. Next Monday we have the instruction co-curricular and student services uh committee meeting Monday, February 16th at 300 p.m. here in the PDC. And then on Wednesday of next week, uh the HR committee will be meeting on Wednesday, February 18th at 100 p.m. in the first floor conference room. We also have a staff advisory
088meeting scheduled for Wednesday, February 25th at 4 p.m. in the PDC. >> What time did you say staff advisory was? I'm sorry. >> Staff advisory is at 4 p.m. >> Thank you. >> February 25th here in the PDC. All right. I would entertain a motion to adjurnn. I move we >> second. >> I have a motion from Rick, a second from Tracy. Any questions? All those in favor, please say I. I. >> Oppose. Same sign. Motion carries. Thank you all so much. Thank you.