001Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. N. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. >> [music] [music] >> Heat. [music] [music] Heat. >> [music] [music] >> Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. [music] [music] Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Hey. [music] Hey. Hey. >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. Green. [music] [music and bell] [music] Yeah. >> [music] [music] >> Heat. [bell] [music] Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] >> [music] >> Yes. >> Good afternoon and welcome to the work session for the board of education of Gley School District 6. This
002meeting will now come to order. Miss Lemon, will you please call the role? >> Director Zari, >> present. >> Director Bentley, >> present. Director Campos Spitzy >> present. Director Edmonds >> present. >> Director Limos Garcia >> present. >> Director Mash present. Director Roi >> present. >> All board members present. >> Thank you. The first item on our agenda is to review our calendar which does go through of the year. I don't know if there are any questions. Once again, please RSVP to all events um especially the graduations. Um, they'll be printing their programs and want to know who is on stage. Um, I assume Boys and Girls Club needed an RSVP from us as well. >> Yeah, Amy needs to double check that because we've got some question marks, but she'll check in with you
003guys. >> Okay. Um, I would highlight the D6 retirement celebration on May 6th. That's a really fun event. um we get to honor our educators who are retiring. It's really fun to hear their stories of all the different buildings or all the different roles or how long they've been with us. Um so if you can come to that that's a lot of fun. Any other highlights from you Amy or dear coach? Nope. Any questions? All right. Moving on to board member comments and reports. Let's start with you, Mr. Red. >> Right on. Okay. So, uh I guess since we had a little bit more time between board meetings, there's a bit more that that I got to be a part of. So, um I went to the career fair at Island Grove, which is really
004cool to go there and just see all the different opportunities that they made available to students. Everything from SWAT trucks to um even ECA was there actually. It was great to show the the students the other options for high school, especially since they always kind of think of the quote unquote big three. So to have some other school representations there. Um the food bank was there, so they got to learn about just those different industries for them to work in. And I know we've been getting updates on that. So it's just great for the kids to actually get something that's not a screen. They get to actually talk to people and see what things like banking and and even what is offered through the CTE center. This was really um just thank you to all
005the businesses that agreed to spend their their workday to be there and and help our students just know of the many options that they have. Um the Heath school visit was great to be back in in Heath. Haven't uh haven't been in that building since 1999. So it was it's cool to see some things have been updated. Um but it's great to see that they have such a strong community and they are very close and caring. I know often times Heath might get overlooked just for some of the other middle schools, but just to see the great options that they have, especially that they have a wonderful feeder program and to what they can offer there that goes into the high school. So, um I just I sensed a lot of pride from the administration,
006but even with among the students as well, it was great great to see that from the from Heath Middle School. Um then that same day, I got to go to Battle of the Books at Fred Chartis. Thank you to Fred Chartis for hosting those for the district. and um got to see my my daughter compete and see some other familiar faces from other areas of my life. Um went to the ECA scholar breakfast which is great. I know that this is really the season where students start getting recognized for all of their accomplishments not only this school year but for for ECA they were recognizing students from last spring because you know it's hard to honor a student with a GPA in spring semester when the spring semester isn't over. Um but it was great
007to be at at AS um wonderful facility for those type of events to recognize students and their hard work. Um and so as students are heading towards graduation and I guess the end of the school year not not all the kiddos who get recognition are graduating just to relish in those accomplishments. Um I know there's a lot of pride in the parents seeing that from the parents but also the teachers as well. It's just great um to see teachers care so much about their students. it's not that it's a number on the page so we can put a headline in the paper that they really do care that their students are getting the GPA and getting the experiences and getting themselves prepared not just for graduation but for post high school. Um and then lastly,
008transition services. It was wonderful to get to be there. I've I've been interacting with transition services for tomorrow will actually be 12 years for me at the food bank. Um, and so interacting with transition services almost that entire time and to see where they are from and I only got one little snippet being at the food bank, but to see all the other wonderful things they do and obviously my desk smells really good because they gave us a bunch of soaps and air fresheners and all that stuff. So, it was just great to see those students um ability to to adapt and to learn and how to best transition from high school to the workforce. So, um, yeah, it's just great couple of weeks. I was excited. So, actually excited for today. I was looking
009forward to the board meeting. So, that's it for me. >> Thank you. >> So, yeah, it's been a busy couple weeks for me as well. I got to go to Shasheen Steam College and career ready family night. Um, they did such a great job. It was like CSU had a truck there and they were doing experiments that were over my head on energy transfer. Um they had a what is it called? Boston Dynamics robot that looked like a dog and was like unreal galloping all over the library inside. Um the students were presenting their science projects. Um there were CTE students doing anything from cosmetology to teaching kids how to weld with this like electronic thing that would grade you on how well you did. I got like an 80some. So I asked uh Kyle
010if he'd hire me. [laughter] But um [clears throat] >> did he get back to you? So, so anyway, it was so so cool. Um, and very well attended. There were so many families. Everyone was engaged. Um, I I just thought they did a fabulous job coordinating that. Um, and they were handing out those career pathway, you know, handouts that they give the students so that they know which high schools have which pathways. I was like, see, it's happening [laughter] in real time. Um, I got to enjoy the Heath school visit as well. Uh the student panel was so impressive. They were obviously leaders in their building. Um but I probably what I love the most is that many of them said their favorite class was math. Um and some of them were girls who liked
011math. So I really like that. Um they did ask us if we could figure out their backpack hook situation. So some of the rooms they were just dumping their backpacks on the ground. And I am confident we can help them figure out that problem. Um I got to attend the dream team honors banquet. Um it was a recordbreaking scholarship night. So they had never given this much money. They gave $84,500 in scholarships to 50 students. Um and just a a magical night. Um the theme was old Hollywood and it was just an elevated, elegant, beautiful event. Um so really enjoyed that. Um I got to hang out with a lot of eighth graders on April 3rd at UNC. They hold um it's called the Latina Youth Leadership Conference. It's the 27th year they do this
012and they had 232 eighth grade girls and from our schools they were from Prairie Heights, Twiton, Frontier, Bella Romero, Salida del Sol um and then they had high schools in other dis or middle schools in other districts as well. Um but the girls get workshops on self-esteem and um cultural pride and leadership and um all kinds of and an education panel. So that was really cool. Then this weekend, I missed the Boy Scouts dinner, but I was in Denver. I attended an event called the Latin American Education Foundation fundraising gayla. Um, it is an organization that raises funds for uh students to achieve higher education. Um, their theme was Suenos to success, which is dreams to success, and they honored 11 graduates, and one of them was a D6 grad. So, um, she went to
013Maplewood for elementary and then Heath for middle school and then Central, uh, for high school and then just graduated from UNC with a double major in Spanish and dietetics and she was one of 11 amazing scholars, uh, being honored and I was very proud that she came from us. Um, and [cough] other than that, just uh, things going on in the cool things to hear about from like parents in the district. I was at a birth a kid's birthday party on Friday and the mom um told me that she was going to take an intern for the first time, Rose Perez. She's I think doing Discover D6 Academy and she's a realtor and she was so impressed. She got 16 applications. She talked about the cover letters and the resumes being so professional that it
014was hard for her to narrow it down from 16 to five. So, she's going to interview five students um to give one internship. um but grateful for our community partners um who are who are taking interns um and I told her I was excited for her and um hope that she had a great experience. Um and then I'm a soccer mom on the weekends. So Saturdays I'm out at Montford. Um and it's such a great time to just be around educators, parents, like the whole community feels like is out there. Um we actually scrimmaged or I guess it was a real game against Sean Scribbik's daughter. Um I'm not going to say who won, but my daughter is a rock star. So, uh, there's a hint. [laughter] [gasps] Um, but yeah, they had the concession
015stand open and I was just fell in love with Gley all over again. We live in such a cool all-American town. Um, let's see. I had a couple more things. Oh, yes. Um, a story for my clinic. I had a 5-year-old coming in to get his shots so he could start kindergarten. Spanish- speaking family. He was the oldest. And at the end of the visit, he couldn't do the eye exam because he didn't know his his shapes or his letters or his numbers. So, we couldn't like, you know, he couldn't participate. But he was like a talker. He was very confident and like was telling me a million stories. So, I told dad, you know, you can teach him the alphabet this summer before he starts school and you should take him to the library
016and you can take out 25 books at a time and they're in Spanish and English. The dad had never heard of a library and he's like, "What are you talking about? what's a library? And I was like, "Oh my goodness, it is a a magical building that is free and you can check out books and then return them and check out more." Um, but just a a reminder for me even who works with an underserved community that these are resources that we take for granted that some of our community members don't even know exist. So, I wrote down the address to the link library. And I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when that little 5-year-old discovered this brand new world. Ah, gets me. Um, I did want to end my
017comments tonight with an apology. Um, last board meeting I I did I was out of line [laughter] and I want to I want to admit that publicly and I want to make sure I'm not setting a a bad example for new board members. Um, I think our role as board directors is in policy, right? like we we review policies, we revise them, we can re repeal them if we don't like them, we can suggest them even we can say like, "Hey, do we have a policy on X or Y?" Um, but we shouldn't be writing them. So, [laughter] I do want to um apologize for for setting a bad example um and for not not understanding the role as well as I should this far in. So, learn from my mistakes. [laughter] Thank you guys.
018Thank you, >> Director Azari. >> Okay. Uh Weston and uh Dr. Brenda did a great job of reporting out on several things that I attended. I did go to the Shashi Steam College and Career Family Night. Brenda is absolutely right. She did great at all the all the folks that were there. Very impressive. Uh that uh robotic dog is a very interesting thing and it kind of freaks me out every time I see it. I'm glad it's not chasing me. Anyway, okay. On March 27th, I I attended the Prairie High Schools to watch assembly. We got a thank you u from um Principal Cooney uh tonight, and I appreciate that. I think one of my uh most impressive uh things that happened that day was uh seeing our superintendent once again get the attention of
019a of a gym full of middle schoolers and walking right into the middle of them. I think that that was just super. I wish adults were so easy to get attention at times. On March 31st, I also attended the career fair expo at Island Grove. Uh again, um Weston did a good job of reporting out on that. It's a big event. Lot of things going on there. Kudos to the district 6 staff for organizing that. I also attended the Heath and the transition services visit again. Uh it was great to see the um I didn't know that the main food pantry was located down there. So that that was new to me and again a lot of organ organization goes into that. It was great to see the kids working in that and organizing that.
020And then finally I had the opportunity to represent the district at that whale respit center lunch. It's great to have community partners. Uh they they are interested in in just working closely with the school district on the best for in the best interest of kids and families. And then I also attended the Sunny Mapelli Distinguished Citizens Dinner. Um it was great to to see community members honored at that event as well. So there you go. Thank you, President Mash. >> Dr. Elim Garcia. >> Okay. Yes. Um I attended a lot of the events that most of you have attended and it's always so great to see just the plethora of our board at the various events and the experiences that we each get and bring and to hear your perspective. It just is so enjoyable
021to hear that. Um so I attended the Prairie Heights Assembly um the watch assembly. Um and it was so exciting. the students were just so excited to learn that they were being recognized and uh everybody was so exciting about that. So I enjoyed that attending that. Um I attended the dream team scholarship dinner. We did have about 50 recipients. I sit on the board for the Gly Team. Um so this was the most recipients that we've had and it was just well attended. Um so thank you all for um attending whoever attended that that night. Um I attended the transition services. This um component was certainly near and dear to my heart. I was a Special Olympics coach for about 10 years and so just seeing how the students progress and how much time and
022effort we spend with each of these students to help them just be successful with life, I think was just so tender for me. So I really enjoyed learning more about the transition services. Um I attended the children's festival this weekend um just briefly. Very well attended. Everybody loved it. It was great weather. Um, and then the Boy Scout event, um, as well with all you all. So, it was it was a great couple weeks to be able to share out what definitely what Gley has for us. So, >> yep, that's it. >> Thank you, >> Director Ro. Um, well, it's been it does seem like it's been a while since we've been together, but um I um I guess one of the things that I attended was I I think it's the last Discover District
0236 uh session that was on March 26th at Jefferson. And I think the takeaway I had from that was um just it's I think they did a very good job of explaining kind of how and why kids end up at Jefferson and kind of the unique uh needs that it meets. Um, so that was I it was really a well done presentation and I always super enjoy the kids giving us tours and and that was a a really [snorts] great experience. And then u the Prairie Heights Middle School on March 27th was really fun. Um, a lot of fun to be in a school assembly again and have all the cheering and the teachers acting crazy and I love the the fashion show they did was great. Um, and then on April 1st, I did
024uh the tour of uh Heath Middle School, and that was they all start kind of running together in my mind. I have to kind of think, okay, location, where did I go to get to that one? So, um, and then also on Saturday evening, the Boy Scout fundraiser benefit. And I found out that our own director, um, Dorne Aari, was a Boy Scout at one time. So, that was really interesting. So, and then I wanted to just share briefly about this wasn't an activity for the district, but um we had some uh district people there. It was an Fellowship of Christian Athletes um Night of Champions uh last night. And the reason uh and my husband was awarded the lifetime uh service award in uh disciplehip. It's based on Dan Staley. If anybody's ever familiar
025with him, he was a coach back when um McCartney was coaching and was real influential. But we had a numbers of some of the people that Mark had started teaching with at Central that have been longtime retired. Um, one of the women called a bunch of them and they came and that was a real surprise and and I I told him it's it's you are really so out of touch because there was so many things that would have told him that that maybe he was going to get an award and he was totally surprised. [laughter] So, but one thing I just sort of a takeaway from that, one of the things that FCA offers um is they do offer a a a coaching workshop where and I know the the Windsor coaches uh Windsor high
026school coaches shared that they had gone through that and it's more about what are your priorities in coaching and you know what are you trying to instill in your young people besides winning and losing um or you know always winning. So, that was uh something that might might be fun to check into as far as offering uh some of our coaching staffs because they were very positive about the results for their their staff and their kind of being all on the same page. So, yeah, thank you. And I also wanted to say to um director Campos Spitzy, thank you so much for that. um you in so many ways are someone I look up to um as a board member for your enthusiasm and your caring for our district and so in very many ways
027you're very uh much someone that I want to um exemplify but and we thank you for that >> director Bentley >> uh fun fact I was also a boy scout [laughter] >> believe it or not >> um [clears throat] I I spent a couple weeks traveling for work uh since the last meeting. So, I didn't get to do as much as uh all of you guys, but I appreciate you guys being so dedicated and showing up to everything. Um outside of the dream team scholarship award, which is always great that dinner, uh I did get to go to the common grounds at the Chamber of Commerce on last Friday, which uh in this update from the city, they kind of touched on the downtown project and um you know, there's a lot of drama with
028the funding and the stuff, everything going on with Cascadia. So, uh, it didn't sound like any of that's in jeopardy and the land swaps are in process and and it still is not a big cons doesn't sound like it's a big priority or worry at city level because of all the Cascadia stuff, but it was encouraging to hear that is still going forward because I know we're we're doing our parts in that. So, um, outside of that, just excited to get into graduation season. Thank you all for your very detailed um presentations and and as director Bentley said, thank you for attending. Um and there's so many things to go to. Um I was just going to highlight that I think we had our first um student say that she wanted to be a principal
029and then even said maybe I'm going to be sitting in your chair, Dr. Belch and that was awesome. >> Watch out. [laughter] Watch out. Um, so [clears throat] we very much hope that one of our future superintendents comes from district 6. Um, I also attended the community council on education. That's a once a month um, meeting with the the business community and and the education community. [snorts] We heard extensively about the UNCC career I'm going to say it wrong, but like the the folks who help students figure out what's next career center. Yes. And um very very robust program, lots of options for students. They're encouraging them to come, you know, not six weeks before they graduate, but one, two, three years into their um careers and they have micro um internships and larger internships
030and of course um resume and and cover letter writing and all those kinds of things. So great to hear all the supports for our students and um yeah. All right, thank you for everyone's comments. Um the next portion of our meeting will be our budget update. Get this over to Dr. Milch. >> Thank you, President Mash. Uh CFO, Chief Financial Officer Megan Sponsor will join us uh to help us through this. Uh we thought we would give you just some background on school finance and how it works, a little bit of how the formula works and then uh talk a little bit about what we are forecasting and and a little bit about what we're thinking. We're not ready to share um a lot of detail [clears throat] with you. We're still uh we're still
031working with the compensation committee through negotiations. So, we haven't we don't have closure on that yet, but we do you'll see in tonight's presentation, we do have some some ideas about where we might be headed. So, with that, I'll turn it over to you, Miss Sponsor. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Pilch. Um, I thought it would be helpful to kind of start with the 30,000 foot view, and we might get down to 10,000 ft, but we're not going to get to the granular level today by any means. Um, but as Dr. Pilch said, I thought it would be helpful to kind of talk about the process and why we are just now getting to this information at this point in the year. Um, so it all starts with the legislative process and as you
032know the legislature has been in session for quite some time now. It is not unusual for school finance information to come super late in the session. This year was a little unusual in that they actually introduced the school finance act like one of the very first bills, one of the first week I think it was. And that was great. And I was actually talking to Nate earlier today. The reason that that was so helpful is because it allowed the CDE to start generating some numbers for districts. So even though we don't really know what school finance act says yet, we have some starting point which typically we don't have. It's really just kind of a guess at this point. So that was really helpful that they did introduce the bill because it allowed CDE to
033start the work. Um so most of our funding comes from the school finance act. It's approximately 86 85 86% of our general fund budget. So that's why this is so critical to us and why we pay attention so closely. Um the overall K12 funding is set in the state budget bill which is called the long bill that has been introduced that I believe has made it through the house at this point after a long weekend. it sounded like um someone had requested that the bill be read out loud and it was a 640 page bill or something like that. So that took some time. Um once the long bill is introduced then that paves the way for the school finance act. So the the lawn bill kind of sets the dollar figure, but the school
034finance act says this is how we're going to divvy up those dollars. So why does it take so long? Really, it's because they're waiting for better information to guide their decisions. And so there are quarterly economic forecasts that come out every quarter. Um the December forecast sets kind of the framework for the legislative session, but they don't have enough information at that point to make spending decisions for the next year. So they typically wait until the March forecast and then that's what determines what they can spend. So right now those forecasts were released on March 19th. Um there are two forecasts that come out every quarter. One is from the office of state planning and budgeting and that it often is called the OSPB that is part of the governor's office and the other one
035it comes from the legislative council staff. Legislative council is a nonpartisan entity and I think one of the interesting things is legislative council can only use what is in current law to generate any kind of forecast. So, um, the school finance act that was introduced, so it's it's Senate Bill 23, so it's a low number because it was early on, um, is currently scheduled for the first committee on April 20th. So, why are those forecasts so important? The legislative council forecast would have paused the implementation of the new funding bill. There are some automatic triggers that were built into that legislation and based on the numbers that the legislative council came up with, it would have triggered a pause. The OSPB forecast allowed for that implementation to continue. So sometimes those two forecasts are very
036close, sometimes they're miles apart. In this case, they were miles apart. And I think part of that was because legislative council can only do what's in current law. The governor's office and the OSPB, they made some assumptions and they made some pretty big assumptions around some things like the sale of Pinnacle. Um Pinnacle is the workers comp association. That's who we have our workers compensation insurance through. um the state owns a stake of that entity and so the last couple years it's been a topic of conversation that maybe the state should sell part of that ownership. So the governor's forecast says okay we're going to assume that that happened. So they assumed that they had revenue of 300 to $400 million. That really hasn't happened yet. And so there are some assumptions like that that
037are built into the OSPB forecast. Interestingly, it's this is not typical, but interestingly, the joint budget committee decided to go with the OSPB forecast. I think part of it was because many of them are so committed to the new school funding formula, they did not want to have a pause. And so I think part of it was they they wanted to choose the lesser of the two evils with those forecasts. And um it's a bit of a gamble, but they chose that one to create the budget for the year. So, we'll see where that lands, but I think overall it's benefiting K12. I think there is also some angst amongst those of us in K12 that what happens if the economy turns south or something happens um and the money really isn't there. So I
038want to talk a little bit about the previous um school funding formula and the new funding formula. So the previous funding formula was based on the school finance act created in 1994. That act has been revised and changed over all these years but it was still very outdated. that act typically put the funding focus on district characteristics and not on student characteristics. And so the intent with the new funding formula was to have more of the student characteristics come through. So in uh 2024, House Bill 1448 was adopted and that created the new public school finance formula. That formula um as I mentioned has some triggers that might pause that implementation, but right now it is set to phase in over seven years. So next year would be year two of the phase in. Um
039that means it would be phased in at 30%. So 30% of what? Um that's where the old formula is compared to the new formula and the difference between [clears throat] the two is what they consider the phase in amount. So they're going to take the difference between the two formulas and 30% of that and that comes to the district. So, I know that this is very hard to read. So, uh it's more just a visual. Don't worry about what the boxes actually say. But the the previous school funding formula, as I mentioned, was very district- centered. And so it had things like the cost of living factor and the personnel cost and um non-personnel costs and things like that that were really about where the district was and what the district's characteristics were and not
040necessarily about the students. So the new formula, this might look more complex, but it's actually much simpler. Um, this one has all of the student characteristic pieces up front. So, those are first in that formula. So, we have the foundation funding, then we add funding for students that are at risk, students that are English language learners, and special ed students. Then we start talking about things like the cost of living factor. There's a new factor called the local funding factor, size factor, and all of those come together. And then we add on top of that any extended high school students and multid-dist online students. So, I know that that is a lot of boxes that stack up, but it's actually much much simpler. Uh the worksheet to get to this funding formula is actually fits
041on a page. The worksheet for the other formula was about 500 line items. So it's greatly simplified. So based on the school finance act that has been introduced, we are expecting our base funding to be $8,99. Um then once you add all those factors in, so special ed, English language learners at risk, we are projecting our total per pupil funding to be $12,174. Then we have separate funding for extended high school and online students of $10,721. And that's just something that is written into statute. It's interesting because I guess the theory was that if you had online students, you didn't have the same infrastructure to operate, so you shouldn't get reimbursed all that money. So that's why there's that difference. So I've mentioned a few times about our general fund and I thought it would
042be helpful to talk about the different types of funds that we do have. Uh we do use fund accounting which is required and we have five types of funds. We have a general fund, our special revenue funds, capital reserve funds, debt service fund and what we call agency funds. Um general funds are the ones that we talk about most often because those are the funds that we in this room have control over, how those are spent. Um, special revenue funds are things like our grant funds, our food service fund, student activities and athletics funds. So, those funds exist for a specific purpose. And so, we might have a little bit of say in how those funds are spent, but there are rules that guide what we can and cannot do. And then our capital reserves
043funds, um, that is our building fund and our capital projects fund. So that's what we use for maintenance and for building new buildings and buying property. So I'm coming down a little bit further from the 30,000 foot view to talk a little bit more about the general fund. And I mentioned our per pupil funding. And so what does that mean in terms of how much money do we have to spend overall? That depends on our enrollment. So you can see the past three years we have been in a little bit of a declining enrollment situation. Um last year was probably the first really significant decline that I have seen in this district with the exception of the year of COVID. Um so I think this is something that we need to start paying attention to.
044I'm sure that you have heard of other districts in the metro area and other places, Fort Collins for example, um where they do have significant declining enrollment and so they're having to have conversations about closing schools and trying to find ways to make their budget work. We're not in that situation, but it is something that we need to be paying attention to. Um, in the school finance act, they have what they call enrollment averaging. And that's something that has been a very hot topic, especially with districts that have declining enrollment. And so, it's been a conversation about um some people might call them phantom students, but when you average your enrollment, it kind of helps that fiscal cliff that you might experience. So, um, we don't experience that huge drop off all in one year.
045So, that's very important for districts because we can't necessarily adjust our spending like a business could or other entities might be able to. So, school finance act revenue, this again goes into our general fund. In the current year, we have $260.8 8 million um coming in through school finance act. For next year, we are expecting $268.8 million. So that's approximately $8 million in new funding. We do take the charter school enrollment and their per pupil funding that gets passed on to the charter schools right off the top. And so that leaves about 5.5 million in what we would call new money for us to spend. So that's good news, right? It is good. But we also are experiencing expenses going up much faster than the revenue coming in. So, these are some expectations of expenses
046and increases that we will have to figure out how we're going to fund. Um, salary increases. I put a range in there because we have not settled on what we are going to do for raises for employees. We would like to do something. Um, it just depends if we can find the cuts to help offset the total amount. The health insurance increase came in at 4.4 million. So I believe during negotiations I had said 8 million. We have come way down from that. So that's good. But it's still 4.4 million is a a big number. We have our cop payment that's about 3 million. And then we have our IT refresh. So, refreshing Chromebooks for schools and laptops for teachers and our smartboards and things like that. Um, we had paused that for this school
047year and so if we are going to reinstate that, which my understanding is we need to, that is $3 million. And then we have some grant-f funed positions. These are specifically social workers. >> [clears throat] >> um that grant is coming to an end and we have found that those positions are valuable and we want to keep them and so that is about 500,000. So that all totals about 14.9 to 18.44 million. We have 5.5 in new revenue. So we have some work to do. We have identified some reductions already and we're continuing that work. Um because we needed to get staffing information out to schools quickly, we have made some adjustments to uh student teacher ratio to help balance there. We also needed to rightsize. So we staffed our schools based on a higher
048enrollment than what actually happened. So, we have to rightsize that staffing as well. So, it kind of feels like a maybe a double hit to the schools a little bit. Um, but it's what we needed to do to try to get to a balanced budget. We are also eliminating some administrative and central support staff positions. We will have more specifics on those later on, but just know that we are doing that. And then um I will be working with each department to [clears throat] try to identify where else can we find some cuts and make some savings. And so that's partly going to happen tomorrow in our cabinet meeting. We'll continue to talk about budget and where we can find find money. Nate and I were talking about the state like peeling up the couch
049cushions and looking for the loose change under there. That's kind of what we're going to be doing tomorrow, too. So, >> well, and we've already done some of that work. >> We have. >> Yeah. We've identified a few million in cuts already. >> Yes. >> So, with that, what questions can I answer for you? >> What was that figure you just cited there, Dr. Pelch? >> Three million. >> A few. [laughter] >> Depends on how you define a few. >> I I just wonder. Mhm. [clears throat] >> So, basically, uh, if I do the math right, it's somewhere between 10 and 12 million. >> Yes. >> That the district has to find. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Right now. >> Mhm. And because we've already right sized staffing back to our current enrollment, um that
050that has already netted some of those dollars as well as the administrative cuts we've already make it we've already made. >> And there are some things that we may recommend that we pull out of our fund balance. So our rainy day savings account. Um, I think the increase in health insurance costs, for example, we may recommend that we take some of that from our fund balance to put into our health account. Um, thinking that we might not necessarily need it, but it would help shore up that account going forward. So, if we had another bad claims year, it would be there if we need it. So, we'll be making some of those recommendations as well. I have a couple questions. One with uh so it sounds like we had an IT pause and that we're
051going to unpause. Is there a way to unpause like is it just an on and off button? Can we go like in the middle somewhere? >> I think we're working on that. Um Tony Czech who's not here tonight, but we've had some conversations about what what would it look like to maybe have fewer computers at the schools. Um, so that's certain grade levels you might be able to get away with that where others you probably can't. So we're trying to find that kind of middle ground of what makes sense and where can we save some money. >> Um, with the adjustments to the teacher to student ratio. I was wondering if there was um if there was differentiation. I know we've talked about um the foundational years, the K through three years and trying to
052keep that ratio more manageable. Mhm. Yeah, absolutely. Um we always try to keep the I would say K3 class sizes more manageable. Um that's something that they the principles work with Anthony and Wes on and when they're trying to make decisions, do I have, you know, four sections of first grade or three sections? And um so we always emphasize those early grades having smaller classes >> and there is some tension in the system that I will share um in that you may recall we went back and said hey there we've got to have all of the elect or certain electives available to all students at all middle schools for example and so uh in doing so we you We have in the past had schools that chose to say convert one elective teacher to a
053classroom teacher. Uh thereby lowering regular class size. Um and we've just we have said no this is the program we offer. Um we we need to offer full programs at all schools. And so um smart labs have been one of those tensions this year. uh our ele a few of our elementary principles wanted to convert that FTE to classroom FTE to try to remain where they were last year when they were overstaffed which is important to remember they were over staffed last year because the numbers especially at the elementary did not come in at at as high as we [clears throat] thought they would and so we've we've gone back to getting that right size which meant that most schools lost at least one FTE if not more Um but but we have made the
054decision at this level that we're you know we we have smart discovery labs we have uh donors and organizations that have contributed significantly to the implementation of those and it is a curriculum and so to put a classified person in there instead of a classroom teacher really is doing a disservice to to that investment. Um and it's also probably a contract violation because we're asking classified people to act as a classroom teacher which is against our master contract. So um that there is some tension in the system. I will tell you about some of these pieces which is to be expected. I mean the reality is guys we are we as many districts in the state of Colorado are facing a budget deficit and there's going to be some pain with that. I mean that
055is the reality. So, we we got to get through it. And um I do think we're still in in better shape than many of our our neighbors who are in significant declining enrollment. We're fortunate to not be in that situation where you're you're compounded with increasing costs and as well as declining enrollment. Um fortunately I was on a superintendent call today and um everybody all of us are facing increased in health insurance costs all of us. And um I I do think we'll be able to do we're hoping to do more in terms of compensation for teachers than what many of our neighbors are planning to do. and we just we just need to to to hire high quality staff and keep them here. >> Do you mind going back to the slide where it
056talks about salary increases? So, I think this is a really important one for all of us to to understand because I did already get a question from a retired educator last week who was like, [snorts] "What's going on with all the layoffs?" And so I, you know, from negotiations, I knew health insurance was going up. So, it's an explanation of well, we we're not pausing um the teacher salary, you know, ladder that they do. So, we're not doing a freeze. Our health insurance has gone up. Um you know, we have some grant funed positions that things like restorative justice that have kept [clears throat] kids in school rather than, you know, having them suspended. And so, it is an explanation and and like this person understood, you know, it was like it it came in
057very she came in hot. And by understanding this part um and being able to explain that to the community, it's like we this isn't something we love doing. We don't want to do cuts and layoffs, but this is what the financial picture looks like. Um and with 300 plus fewer students and not knowing what next year will look like. Um I think it helps people understand. >> That's a really good point. And part of why the cuts feel so great is we were overstaffed by 300 students, which is about >> well it was I think 370 students almost 16 teachers >> yes so that 16 FT and then that we have significantly added special education uh certified teachers as well as pair professionals throughout the year as needs have continued to increase and you you
058all hear a lot about special education um and so we've got those positions come back also I mean we've got to get that right sized again. Um, so it does, you know, that so then and then you're not increasing. So it feels kind of like a double whammy in terms of class size. >> And it wasn't that long ago that we had all the COVID relief money, too. So we were able to do a lot in terms of hiring teachers with those funds. >> A lot of a lot of work. The other thing, so Miss Sponsor, I wonder if you want to walk through um just kind of what the the cost of a step is if you have that at off the top of your head and or the cost of of So when
059we talk about salary increases, that's not just additional percent on the base salary that is also steps and lanes. So that's teachers who gain a year of experience or teachers who have increased their education. That's what we talk about when we talk about lanes. If you know as they increase their their hours, their graduate hours um or earn new degrees, they also increase in terms of their pay. And then we'd hope the reason you see the four to seven and a half million is that kind of depends on how much we are able to put onto the base for teachers. and those teachers that are, you know, already all the way through the schedule, if we don't add to the base of that schedule, then they won't see an increase. And so that's another complexity
060I think that you know people are like well steps are great but we have a whole other group of employees that have been here for 25 years that expect to see some kind of pay adjustment >> as well as our other employees that are not classroom teachers and that are not on the salary schedule. >> Yes. So, off the top of my head, >> I know, sorry, Megan, [laughter] >> I believe that the cost of the step is around 2.5 million. >> Yeah, I think we we were getting closer to three million, which when I first came to the district, a cost of a step was right around a million dollars. >> You know, a decade ago is around a million dollars. And so, it you know, that it's it's gotten more and more expensive
061to operate the organization. >> Yep. So, and then when we talk about our classified and administrative employees, that's another like one and a half million. So, that's where the four million comes from. Um, we try to do something comparable [clears throat] for classified and administrative employees as we do for our certified teachers. So, that's where those numbers are coming from. We uh over the last few years as co dollars the relief dollars went away we did keep those parent um lays on positions at the elementary and middle schools we also kept social workers and counselors and made sure that we had the mental health providers and so those have been questions that we've been asked by principles about those positions and about um would we cut those and and use those for teacher FT and
062it's you know it's really um that's a difficult decision to make because do you put it all in if you put it all in the classroom, who's there to support the child who is struggling when the classroom teacher is with with the rest of the class? And so those those conversations we're trying to not have this year, they are probably conversations we're going to need to have um in coming years if if there is not either additional revenue that we go to the ballot and ask voters for or or additional revenue through a new statewide ballot measure. Uh we will probably need to look to make some of those decisions in the future. And you know, it's it's everything. You know, quite frankly, we're talking about, you know, do we do we fill the legal
063council position with Nate's um upcoming resignation and or do we go back to the model we had several years ago? Um we're going to have legal fees the but maybe we we we don't spend as much if we don't have in-house counsel. So, that's one of the conversations we're having. Um we are pretty confident that we will see some forward movement with the new funding formula. >> Yes. Yes. So it was pretty clear in the long bill that that was the expectation as that continues. So yeah, >> it's just gonna it's just slow coming because, you know, they're trying not to harm other, you know, harm districts. At the same time, they're trying to honor that new formula in those districts that would see additional revenue. So, it's it's complex. >> I know [clears throat]
064nobody can predict anything in terms of the future, but we did lose that 300 students or so. Uh do you feel at N at in any way positive that that number will go back up that we will gain again >> 300 students that may have left? >> The demography we've been working with really anticipates we'll probably only gain over the next 10 years by a few hundred students. So I don't think we'll see an increase of 300 in one year. um not according to our demographer, not according to the numbers that we look at. Um but but I think fortunately we won't I mean we we don't have any indication that we're going to see what you know our friends in Thompson and Pter and other districts in the Front Range have seen in terms
065of declining enrollment either. We we do still have homes that that for Colorado for the Front Range are somewhat or at least a little bit more affordable. We do have new still have new construction coming. um in some areas and so all of that contributes to our ability to grow a little bit but you know we saw years director where we grew you know hundreds of kids in a year you know a few hundred a year we're not we're not the future does not look like that's what we're going to see now director mash working [laughter] in the in the in the the [clears throat] pediatric ward and um and being a part of delivering new babies tells We got lots of new babies coming. So, in about five years, maybe I'll be wrong when
066those babies hit our kindergarten. Yeah. >> Yeah. Well, and don't we still hear that [clears throat] we're supposed to be bigger than Fort Collins by 2050? >> Yes. But keep in mind that's a lot of that is West Gley. Yeah. Outside of our school boundary. >> Yeah. >> I was trying to is where the St. Michael's shopping center like just west of that they're building. Is that our district? kind of >> on the other side of 34. >> Um 34. >> It kind of angles through there. >> Yeah. >> Um it goes kind of to the west of St. Michael's and angles through >> um to the south of Prairie Heights. That is in the district. >> East of St. Michael's is >> Yes. Okay. Some But when you're on that side of 34, there's
067some that is ours. when you come across 34 then east of or west of um well all for certain 83rd is all Windsor school district but >> there's a big development that is supposedly coming in south of Per Heights and that would definitely fall in our district boundary. >> Who knows they're up upgrading the airport. Maybe we'll see growth in northeast gley too. Yeah, we had um 84 more babies in 2025 than in 2024, which is like 6%. But >> that's good because if they stay here in the community, that means they >> they are coming. >> Yeah. And that's just one hospital, but and yeah, I think we're up about 20 >> deliveries for the first quarter. So that would be about the same. Another >> another 80 extra babies. >> That's one of
068two hospitals. So >> yeah, that's right. I need somebody with an N to get the numbers from the other hospitals so we can see if we're just stealing it from Banner or [laughter] >> or they're just coming here to have babies from other communities or Yeah. >> Does not like Banner? >> Well, I go I am at Banner. It's >> not at UCL. >> No. Oh, >> I don't know. I I I sample different system. [laughter] >> Yeah. No. Yeah. I don't know. >> Yeah. We'll need a monthly baby report. >> There you go. [laughter] Well, yeah, that's that's a new demography. >> Sounds like a podcast. So the other thing that's that Megan has not put on here as expenses, but is another factor we continue to to wrestle with is preschool and that
069we are not being fully funded for preschool and we are losing money on preschool and we're having to dip into our general fund to make up the difference in preschool. So that's that's problematic as well to have a you know a new statewide program that is not fully funded at the state level. and we continue to say we'll see what happens. We'll have a new governor. We'll >> have a statewide initiative we're going to hear about shortly. >> We we do anticipate two measures on the ballot. Um and one that will is there's hope for it to be referred legislatively to the ballot and then another that they're collecting signatures on and they're very optimistic that they will have the signatures. Both measures are polling very well actually. Um so one of the measures is
070the measure that really kind of puts lifts the ceiling [clears throat] or puts a floor um on Taber and uh initially looked like there'd be a lot more money coming to K12 from that initiative whereas now it looks more like an initiative to to balance the state budget and >> and fund programs throughout the state. Dates can talk about it more. >> But I think there I think that there will be some amendments coming forward that will help clarify >> that's our hope >> what K12 will actually get. I think there's a lot of hope amongst K12 that it will help us. The way the language is currently written it's not that much of a help. >> Um >> so we're waiting more money in the pot in general then at least they don't take
071it from education. Right. >> That's the hope. Mhm. >> Then the other ballot measure is a graduated income tax measure. Um where most most folks in Colorado will pay less and those highest earners in the state of Colorado would pay pay more. Um and that measure would all those dollars would go to K12 um if that measure were to pass. So, >> we'll keep watching what's coming our way for November and then that's probably a nice segue almost to Nate, but what other questions do you all have about the budget? >> I guess I it's just interesting to me that with all the concerns about safety in the schools and um you know, the people that need to be there to back up if there's something bad that happens with social workers and that kind
072of thing and therapists in the schools that there isn't a special funding for that. But I I suppose there's lots of issues like that that why isn't there some kind of special funding so that we have the safety in the schools but then also these social workers and counselors to be there for the kids. [clears throat] >> The state of Colorado flat out does not have a mechanism to fully fund >> um public education. [clears throat] I mean that is the reality. We are still one of the probably lowest 10% of states funded at the state level in in the nation. So we we just have not we don't have a mechanism to to fund K12 at the level that it's funded in other states and neighboring states to us. Um and but and you're
073right, the needs are significant and have become even more significant. I know throughout my career, uh we the needs are far greater today than they were even 20 years ago. >> And um and there's there is more I mean we have in in our strategic plan, we've we have written for more safety and security measures in our schools. It's but it's going to be a matter of funding of course. So, we'll keep plugging through it. >> There used to the [clears throat] state used to um decades ago used to designate that you had to put away certain percentages of your budget for certain things like capital improvements, um transportation, and then they realized that districts just couldn't commit to those things at the level of funding that districts were receiving. And that's why there's so
074much onus on the local local taxpayers. We were looking at another district um at a problem we're trying to solve and we were looking at another district and we saw that that district brings in 4,500 per student in mill levy override dollars >> um with multiple mil levy overrides at that district. And so we bring in 750 >> around 1,200 >> 1,200 now around 1,200 with our mil levy override. So if you just think of the difference of we're bringing in 1,200 and another district in the front range is bringing in 4,500. I mean that's there's so much disparity too >> and the funding% >> of the more than 30% of the per people funding >> which is really why we have to why you see that paying people become such um kind of a
075deficit to us because in those in districts that have passed multiple mill levy overrides um many of those have passed promising to pay teachers and those dollars go to paying teachers and uh we just don't have the volume of dollars that some of the other large districts have that have more mil levy [clears throat] override dollars than we do. So it's but and yet we need to stay competitive or we will not compete for those teachers with those districts and administrators teachers and administrators. >> So when will we revisit this? Well, we have we're working hard this week and then we have another meeting Monday morning with our compensation committee. Um I've asked Aaron um I' I've shared with Aaron that we only have the one meeting in May and the one in June to
076actually ratify the contract. So I think her goal is to try to have um her the the terms we've negotiated finalized and go to her membership prior and for ratification prior to that May board meeting. So they would need to do that like the first week of May. So sometime really the final week of April um early May I will have uh Miss Lemon set up meetings with you all individually too so that we can just go a little more deeply and answer individual questions and then um the actual budget comes back for considerate for for approval in June. Um but we should be able to bring you some preview of that earlier than that June meeting. It's a busy time of year and it's a hard time. Anytime you have less resources than you
077did previously, it doesn't feel good or it feels I mean we know we have more resources but we also have >> greater expenses. Yeah. >> Thank you very much for that detailed. It's it's I know our previous president would attend every finance 101 at every CASPY and learn something new every time. So we appreciate >> you were just getting started learning about school finance and it just changed. >> So thank you very much >> and um we will move over to Mr. Fall. Dr. Pch, may I have a tissue? >> You may. It's cold in here. Drippy nose. I need a blanket. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> All right, I'm just getting an outline passed around. Um, and good evening, President Mash and board directors and Dr. Pilch. My name is Nate Fall. I'm
078legal counsel for the school district. Um, this is just getting so long. I need to think about how to kind of recreate this because it's getting chaotic just like the fast tracker is. Um, I don't want to go through each and every single one of these. I don't think it's worthwhile unless you want to just stop me. Um, I've updated this outline though just to kind of say where it's at. You can see for some of these bills, it's still stuck in purgatory. Like that first bill hasn't gone anywhere um since February, right? Um, but I'm going to kind of skip around here, so please bear with me. And I just want to start at school finance. So, um, I know that Miss Sponsor just beautifully laid out school finance, and I don't want to
079cause confusion as to everything that Miss Sponselor just so clearly articulated to you all. Um, but just know that the the joint budget committee essentially closed a gap that was significant, right? We're talking almost a billion dollars. And they did that really through kind of a lot of Jedi, mind trick, kind of throwing some money here and there, making up about $800 million. I can say that part of that was based on this pinnacle sale of pinnacle that is um speculative in nature. Uh they res reduce the general fund reserve from 15% to 13% and that was freed up about $340 million. Obviously we don't want to we don't want to lower our general fund reserve amount any more than that. In fact they want to bring that back to 15% by 2028. So again
080this is kind of a one-time transfer. um they relied on the more optimistic um revenue forecast as Miss Sponsor pointed out. And then um significantly they committed zero dollars to uh general set aides for new legislative priorities, meaning anything that has a significant fiscal note probably isn't moving forward this year. So they kind of had made some adjustments. They are being wildly optimistic. We're happy that they are. Um, and the reason that we're happy is because the school finance act is going to be fully funded to the extent that we need it to be fully funded for next year. Um, and so that's kind of how they made up the difference. That's a one-time change. They're not going to be able to make up that much money again. So, I think we need to continue
081having honest conversations with ourselves about this lack of money that the state has available to support public education. So, um, and really I shouldn't just say public education. I should say for all government services, but, um, my focus always is public education. >> And Mr. F, I'll just add, it's important to remember that, um, we, you know, we have significant elections coming up in the state of Colorado. And that too influences, I think, a desire this year to not have cut K12. >> Yeah, it's a good point. Um, so this brings me to Senate Bill 23. That's little section I. That's the school finance act. Um, this was introduced as one of the first bills that was introduced. Um, and my I think that should say April the House Education Committee. Oh, that that date
082seems wrong [laughter] here. Um, so just know that this is something that I would recommend we do support and I can I I'll provide you the electronic version with an updated date there. That seems awkward. March 12th. Um, so just so you know, a couple things they did is they're going to be continuing to draw upon the state education fund. There have been questions around solvency and that the state education fund does risk solveny somewhere down the line. Um, if we continue to draw off of it, um, again to kind of make this work, this is how they're doing this to perform. case. The Colorado Association of School Executives has been working really since last year on kind of a smoothing factor to address declining enrollment statewide. We know that the new funding formula impacts
083districts with declining enrollment the most. And so, um, I think in terms of kind of what all districts are looking for, Case has been kind of more wanting to address kind of that four-year averaging and that smoothing factor, uh, which is going to drop, um, as the years progress. And this brings me then to 135. So we talked about Senate Bill 135. That's on the second page here. Um and that's that what's going to be [clears throat] moving forward a ballot measure in the fall. So we talked a bit about this at the last meeting. Just know that that's going to be um up to voters to determine if some reserve from Taber can be set aside up to 2% of this current year fiscal year. Right. And so, um, any Taber refund kind of
084in excess, any revenue, um, that does go back to taxpayers, they would reserve 2% of that to go directly to, um, school districts. It's a education specific, um, fund, right? And they're calling it the positive factor. I think now it is probably appropriate to support this bill. I don't think it's perfect. I think we have lots of questions around whether or not it's actually going to serve the purpose that it's being brought forward. Um, right. And we we know with the marijuana tax that it didn't do everything that it was promised. Um, but I think really we just need to consider finding ways to support public education funding and this is just another way. Um, did you have something to say, Dr. K? >> I had a question because so you said 2% of the
085refund would hopefully go to K through 12. What happens to the other 98%? Does it just get refunded or is it going somewhere else? >> I believe that's how that works, right? Yeah, it would get refunded. That would be part of the refund. Um, >> and I could but I could be wrong. It's 2% of the total program funding >> of whatever they retain. We'd get 2% of what they retain, but the remainder of what's retained could go to other statewide [clears throat] programs. the way it's written right now. We don't know what the amendments may look like, but right now it's written to where other do you know other remaining dollars could go to other state costs >> and that is in perpetuity, not just this year. >> It would be it would be
086in perpetuity. in perpetuity >> um for 10 years and then so and then right now there's kind of this guarantee they're like guaranteeing right that they can project up to $2 billion of additional revenue that schools are going to receive right and so I think >> if they're going to be giving guarantees like that if the general assembly or the bill sponsors like they need to then put it in the bill and so I think there's some amendments that we've been looking at we also talked at the last meeting about the four purposes right this money can only be used for four purposes like decreasing class sizes, right? And so this is going to create another reporting mechanism that we're going to have to kind of figure out and then [clears throat] the state's going
087to have to have. And so we're also looking to see if there's amendments that can be made with information that's already being reported, all the information that's already being reported. Can they just glean from that that we're using it appropriately? Right? So there's like a few amendments that have been floated out there, but by and large, you know, I don't see any reason why we wouldn't want to support a bill like this. And so Nate, which one is it? Which number is it? >> This is on the second page on the back. Oh, I can't label this. This is really bad. [laughter] This is bad. >> Bill 26135. >> Yeah. >> So, it's an O that's missing a side. >> Did a really bad job today. I'm sorry, T. >> I like that it's called
088the positive factor. I just feel like that's hilarious. [laughter] >> Negative factor. Now it's a positive factor. Okay, whatever. Th this brings me back again to >> they ought to call it a budget [clears throat] stabilization factor for for K12 that we're get finally getting stabilized [laughter] >> the K12 stabilization factor. Yeah. >> Instead of budget >> we did talk about like that this isn't guaranteed, right? It's only when Taber has surplus, right? And so like I just that's the other problemful that that it doesn't guarantee anything. Um, so, um, but this brings me back, if we go back to the first page under school finance act, that's that little I that's properly numbered there. Um, so we noticed there have been about 50 orbital bills related to school finance act and it's just like
089cut this grant program, move this one, sun like sunset this one today. And so when Miss Sponsor was bringing up digging into the couch cushions, I mean, that's really what they did to get to where they were at. and it's like a million here, half, you know, half a million there. Um, it's pretty interesting if you read through some of the orbital bills to just see how much work they've been doing to get us to a place where we can hopefully support the school finance act. Um, so then again, just jumping around a little bit, if you look at C, uh, that's House Bill 26141, discriminatory practices in public schools. We had talked about this. So, this bill along with the 504 bill um that would be Senate Bill 26125, disability rights protections in public
090schools, right? Those are those are two bills that have a really important goal and that's to provide a mechanism for folks to bring civil rights complaints under Colorado law if OCR goes away, the Office for Civil Rights. um because these bills have such high fiscal notes attached to them, it's unlikely that we're going to see these pieces of legislation passed this year. Who knows? It's it they it could still work out where maybe they move one of them forward, but it seems unlikely given that they've kind of really put a pause on um any bills that have a fiscal note attached to them. Um, another one I wanted to mention to you all, if you go down to G, that is House Bill 261391, safe drinking water in child care centers in schools. So, just
091know in 2022, they passed legislation for K through 8 and all childc care centers. And essentially, we had to test every single sink and every single drinking fountain in every single building to determine if there was a certain amount of lead uh in the water. And if there was a certain amount of lead in that specific, you know, drinking fountain or sink, then we had to shut it off or provide notice or fix it. Um, and so we tested 708 um taps. Can I call them taps, Kent? Taps. 708 taps. um we got around 3.8% of those taps were determined to have a certain amount of lead that was above the um safe limit. So a lot of those were like classroom bubblers that were against building codes anyways. So we shut those off. A
092few drinking fountains that we were in fixed I think and in our all of our middle schools only one of the 110 um water taps that were tested had lead above it. So anyways I'm just kind of painting a picture. It was a significant amount of work. uh we did do all the remediation necessary. This bill is going to expand that now to high schools. So um we [clears throat] I will say this board did oppose this bill in 2022 and so you know I leaving that option open to this board to oppose this bill. Not that anybody's against safe clean drinking water. Just kind of the administrative burden without the funding um is always a challenge [clears throat] for us. And we have a very old historic high school that [laughter] uh just one
093can speculate, but I'm not saying there's anything wrong with the water. Um I'm just saying that you never know. Um and so >> all of our bottle fillers have filters. >> I [snorts] was going to say let's get bottled water. >> You see a bottle filler. Those have been retrofits and those have filters, >> right? So I think the fear though is we're going to have to test another 500, you know, and it's like just like one or two, right? Then there they might not even be drinking. It might just be like a hand sink right there. >> I'm kind of like why is education paying for this? Shouldn't it be like the Department of Public Health and Environment? You know, like >> there is some grant funding that is available. Um but yeah, that's
094what we would say and that's kind of why we originally opposed it in 2022. So >> from a medical perspective, the lead makes more of a difference in the younger grades for neurodedevelopment, for their brain development. So, in high school, I'm not sure if it makes that big of a difference. >> Well, I might bring you then to the capital. Uh it got [laughter] it it did get all the way through. Uh basically, it's it's moving so quickly through the House. Um and so, you know, maybe if we get to the Senate, Dr. Kos Spency, I might bring you down for some testimony, but no. Um, so just know that that bill is kind of it's kind of interesting and and certainly something that >> just it just creates a lot of administrative burden for
095us and just know that that it has all the right things, the right features to legislation that we want that ultimately um just causes a lot of work for us on the back end. Um, and then let's see here. So, I do want to mention if you go back to the [clears throat] second page, there are a list of bills that have now been passed. So, we have the the new category of past legislation. Um, and so that uh protection order bill, the uh eer the red flag bill did pass. Um, just know that that bill does have protections for staff who do or don't say anything. Like, you don't have to make a report. um you don't have to petition for a protection order, right? Um so that's part of it. And then the
096we we spent some time talking about House Bill 261050, optional individualized readiness plan for school. Um and that bill did end up pass. It hasn't been signed yet. Um, and so I think ultimately what this bill turned on, they amended it to say if a student passes all of the tests and they don't need to have this readiness plan, then schools still have to provide notice and give families the opportunity to request a plan if they want one. And so I think that now that now that they've added that, uh, it was able to pass through both chambers. And so that is legislation. And, um, just kind of in in the interest of time, we'll [clears throat] stop there. if you have any questions about anything. And yes, please. >> I was um interested in
097B on the front page. Little B, the off-campus courses and concurrent enrollment program. Do you mind talking a little bit more about that one? >> Yes. Um and if you wouldn't mind, let me pull up my notes on that one. >> You don't have it all memorized. [laughter] So, um, and this this is just taken from the summary. Um, so under current law, off-campus courses offered by institutions of higher ed are excluded from concurrent enrollment programs with a narrow exception for courses offered through TREP, the teacher recruitment education and preparation program. So, this would expand concurrent enrollment eligibility to include offcampus courses from higher education institutions. Um, which I guess would include any 4-year institution like University of Northern Colorado, for example. Um, so it would, you know, it would expand access to off-campus concurrent
098enrollment opportunities potentially for students earning college credit um outside of where they're kind of currently getting it. So um I think it just would open the door to additional concurren program opportunities. >> I think that um this is a result of there are some universities that will not uh and community colleges too probably but some universities I'm certain of that will not um develop a mechanism by where sitting high school teachers can be qualified to teach concurrent enrollment courses in district 6. So, we have many, many, many teachers qualified to teach concurrent enrollment. So, I believe that's what this does is it opens that up to have to have a an avenue for that to occur. So, that students aren't all going to the college campus to take the college course. >> I first heard
099[clears throat] about it on Saturday at this gayla. Um, so the president of CU was there. >> Um, yeah. And so he's I think he was the one pushing it because he spoke about it um in his they're you know one of the big sponsors and so he got some time on the podium and so he felt this was a huge win for students to have their first two years um covered you know before going to a four-year institution. But what I was talking to Andy about it earlier today. He said it levels the playing field because right now community colleges get to get all these concurrent enrollment dollars, but four-year [clears throat] universities for off-campus weren't able to. So now four-year univers this opens the door for four-year universities to do off-campus concurrent enrollment,
100which wasn't allowed before except if it was Tre. >> So I'm hoping UNC reaches out about off-campus >> enrollment. Yeah, we do it now, >> right? That's too but but CU does not or did not when I was in down there. So we do that now. >> So I don't know. >> Maybe it was more for CU because maybe though what it allows UNCC to access dollars is maybe what it does and which they're not allowed to do right now because that person is not employed by UNCC. >> So maybe that's what the difference is. >> We'll we'll do some more research on it and see. Yeah, it's an opportunity fit with the what we've just heard about um our our um teachers going to teachers going to UNC to get uh credit for becoming
101a teacher. That got taken away. >> Not funded anymore. >> That got not funded. >> That's TR. That doesn't have anything to do with this. >> Okay, that's a different >> Not really. I mean, they could overlap, but Tre is a program um that was paying tuition for ed for folks going into education. Okay. >> So, that was the only avenue a 4-year university could take from a K through 12 prep, >> like could get dollars from D6 into UNCC. The only way was through TRE and we wouldn't get the same amount that we would if the kid was like it was a dis at a discounted rate, but that was the only mechanism. So, now yeah, Tre is going away, but now they're saying now four-year universities can partner with K through 12 and
102and get those concurrent enrollment dollars. Okay. And so why is TREP going away? I think >> it's one of these finding budget dollars. >> That was a question from this board at the last meeting. Was Trip Sun setting and and the answer is yes. It's going away unfortunately. So there was a pretty interesting article by was that Chalkbeat they >> I sent you guys an article from Chalkbeat. Yeah. >> Yeah. too bad because some folks that are already invested in in it might not be able to continue on and it's like >> so we can still offer those 24 credits at the CTE pathway which is two 12 units. >> Yeah. Something you're close. Yeah. >> Like a year. >> Yeah. >> 24 credits teacher. So, I I the other thing that's really important for
103this board to remember and for our staff to remember, the um amount of concurrent enrollment that we provide for in district 6 is is very unique to district 6. Most school districts do not let students go take college courses unless they have completely exhausted that line of curriculum in the home high school. So, um, and we just don't do that. I mean, if you want to take college courses, we're going to work with you to do that. But, but most school districts, uh, for example, will will you can't go take um an art history class at or h and earn concurrent enrollment where the district pays for it unless you've exhausted all of the art curriculum at the home high school. And in some cases, I'll even say you have to have exhausted all of
104the elective curriculum at the home high school. So, you're almost never accessing electives in some school districts. So, I wonder if this concurrent enrollment bill had something to do with that, too. Um, so many districts it's just really those only higher level math classes and higher level um well really just higher level math classes that aren't available at the home high school that have typically been accessed and then anything through a career and technical education center. >> Um just an up I'm reading this update. So, aside from TR, which was teacher focused, um the Ascent program is also suns setting. >> Yeah. Which we've known for a while. That's not a new cut. Um we've known that ascent was going away. >> Yeah. June 20 June 30th, 2026 is when it is effective. And what
105a ascent was was it allowed a student to actually finish all of their high school requirements and graduate and come back for another year and and remain uh [clears throat] our enrolled it as one of our students and take college courses. goes away. It's they're they're all ways to try to save kids from having to pay full four years for college, >> which is sad that these have gone away, but maybe I don't know. Maybe it gives more money to K through 12, which [laughter] I'm fine with, too. >> Well, I don't know that it really does because the home district had was paying the, you know, the tuition anyway. So, I don't know. I think it hurts both. K12 and higher ed. Quite frankly, >> just balancing the budget >> when it's not allowed.
106Yeah. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. [clears throat] >> It's a busy time of year. >> Yeah. My goodness. All right, let's debrief the work session and get some dinner and maybe start a meeting on time. [laughter] Fine. Either way, uh we'll start with director. uh just appreciate the learning experience just of a just all the the budget stuff is really overwhelming um but challenging and I'm just it's good to see the work and understanding what's going on in our state. So we'll just um I just hope to be part of the solution and not part of the problem I guess. >> Good question. Uh, same. I just appreciate the updates for the budget and the legislative update. Um, so much information, but so well needed. So, I appreciate the updates. >> Sorry.
107>> Yeah, the that slide presentation on the budget was one of the better ones I've seen, Megan. It's very clear >> and I really appreciated that because it's it is really confusing. Uh, so it's it's nice to to see clearly what we need to do as a district and I have full faith in the district staff um that will that will operate in the best interests of the kids uh in the district as we go through this. And then Nate, your presentation was great as well, although I do question the the letters uh on the sheet. But uh no, it was it was super and again >> uh very valuable to me. Thank you, >> Director Campbi. >> Yep. Same. Um thank you, Megan. Uh the budget is is still hard for me to wrap
108my head around, but you definitely make it easier to understand and and for making it clear why. Unfortunately, we have to adjust ratios and things that aren't fun. Um, but it's really nice to know the why so we can explain the why to our community. Um, and yeah, thank you Nate for keeping us updated and and just kind of giving us guidance and and your perspective not just on what's the right thing to do, but what can we actually afford to do? Um, and yeah, I'm optimistic. I'm so grateful for a JBC that values K through 12 and who decided to be wildly optimistic and um, and help us out that way. Yeah, continue the echoes. Thank you, Megan and Nate. Um, I do just have to say that it is really sad to see
109that we're not going to have Nate much much longer. um just having these updates and knowing that you're doing all this hard work that we can we can let some of the the organization slip because even just going through this fast democracy and seeing all the things that are out there. It's a lot a lot of a lot of stuff that's not on this sheet. Um and it it breaks my heart to know that we have to always be faced with these budget cuts. Um because ultimately at the end of the day it's it's about the students. But I know that we want to try to provide the best district, not only for our students, but also our educators. So, I just also hope anyone out there that's watching this meeting at home or if
110the word gets out that we still have an amazing district. I know we're talking about all these cuts and these things we have to look at, but like we have so many well-performing schools and dedicated teachers and and hardworking students and this is a district that I want people to be a part of. So, I'd love to see that declining enrollment take a turnaround because they can see all the different opportunities that they have to get 24 credits to be a teacher, to have the opportunity to be a welder, to have a district that doesn't that does offer these concurrent enrollments that you don't get at other districts. And I I think part of that is just because we do have people that love our community and they love our students. And so, um, hats
111off to you guys. I know you got cabinet meeting tomorrow that you're you're really doing the hard work of trying to find that 10 to12 million that's short. Um but ultimately I'm optimistic that we are still on the right trajectory to to be one of the best school districts if not the best school district not just in northern Colorado but Colorado that people want to be a part of. So I'm just still excited for what we have ahead of us as well. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, Ditto. Um, thank you guys for all that hard work. I know it's a excruciatingly huge job that Megan and her team do deal with a budget that size. Um, uh, just, you know, kind of, you know, as a business owner postco has been, you know, very challenging.
112And so in a in a public education world where we're publicly funded, it's those dollars are are going, you know, a a shorter and shorter distance just like in the real world and just like our constituents and our families are facing too. So, um, really just boils down to elections have consequences and it matters who you elect and when and and it it just I would encourage everybody to pay pay as close attention as you can and get involved cuz they uh, you know, inflation is a real thing and it's it's very damaging to our to our, you know, low-income families. The percentage of groceries going up to their overall budget is way bigger than um, those even the middle class. So, um, yeah, thank you guys again for all your hard work. >> Thank
113you very much, Miss Bonsler. Um, you're all getting to know Megan, but she is just very, very well attuned to what every line item is, that it's a person, it's a program. Um, so very much appreciate that there's so much thought [clears throat] going into every every shaking of the cushions. Um, [laughter] so thank you very much and thank you, Mr. fall for continuing to monitor all of this and um advise us how we can help move these things forward. All right, this meeting is adjourned. [music] Heat. Heat. N. [music] [bell] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] >> [music] [music] [bell] [music]