001Good evening everyone. I'm going to reconvene the August 28th link for school district board of education meeting and we're going to start from a moment of silence. I stand under God, indivisible, liberty, and justice for all. >> Thank you. You may be seated. >> Thank you. Item 2.3 roll call of eligible board members. Dr. Wy >> present. >> Mrs. McCloskey >> here. >> Vice President Starky >> here. >> And Jane Val serving as chair present. Four voting board members for now. Item 2.4 recognition presentation. None. >> Skip to 2.5. Approval of the agenda. >> I make a motion we approve the agenda as presented. Second. >> Have a motion on the fourth properly. Second. Any questions on the motion? Hearing none. I'll call for a vote. All those in favor? >> I opposed abstensions. Motion
002carries. 40. >> 226. Approval of the minutes. I make a motion we approve the minutes of August 14th and August 20th, 2025 board meeting. Second. >> Have a motion on the floor properly. Second. Any questions on the motion? I have one correction in the August 14th minutes item 1.1 called to order. It's very flattering to be called Earl Dempsey, but um that's within that. So we can change that please. Other than that, we are good to go. Any other questions on on um resolution 2.6? Hearing none, I'll call for a vote. All those in favor? I opposed. Abstensions. Motion carries 40 2.7 reading directly from board policy K public concerns and complaints. The citizens participation item on the board agenda is an opportunity for for members of the community to speak publicly. Those who wish
003to speak publicly to the board must complete the information form provided at the board meeting and submitted to the board secretary prior to the opening of the meeting. The form should clearly state the reason for addressing the board. The public should not expect discussion or responses at this board meeting. Comments are limited to three minutes per person. I do want to remind any any any potential speakers in the audience and any comments made or public record. Further, the board discourages any public comments directed specifically at staff or students out of respect for privacy. Finally, we also ask that all speakers respect the balance of professional decorum and common decency. and it does not appear we have any speaker this evening. So that will conclude our public comment period for tonight's meeting. I will open the
004floor for citizens participation again near the start of our next board meeting. >> Takes us to item 2.8 board selection. Mrs. started. >> We've resolved the Lake Forest Board of Education approve the selection of Amber Rash to serve on the Lake Forest Board of Education effective August 28th, 2025 to June 30th, 2026. >> That in the form of a motion. >> Yes. >> Second. >> I have a motion on properly seconded. Any questions on the motion? >> Hearing none. I do want to just make some general comments. So, just to mention at our last meeting, this is a little bit of a different scenario. Typically, this is all handled through an election process. Whenever we do have someone that uh leaves within a certain period of time, it does not go to an election. We
005actually the board gets the opportunity to actually appoint someone. Um and so this time uh we had four very strong candidates that did express interest uh to Dr. Lucas and the board for membership with the board and we appreciate that because it made it difficult for us because they were very strong candidates. Um, and it's a decision that we certainly don't take lightly and we want to make sure that we're bringing somebody in that um that is going to serve the same interest that we do, which is the best interest of this district. And it was a difficult decision. So, um, we did choose Amber Rash. And just to give you a little bit of a background with her, she's a lifelong Spartan like we are. She's a member of the class of 2009. She
006has served as our high school cheerleading coach for 12 years, including state coach of the year in 2019. She's an active volunteer in the district including on South PTO uh on our high school principal search that committee that brought us doc Mrs. Rllo parent advisory committee and then most recently she joined Lake Forest Community Education Foundation. Professionally, she brings a background to finance and she's also served as president for seven years on the Del FFA uh foundation, which is a nonprofit organization that helps raise funds and provide opportunities for students in aggra science education, including local student-based FFA chapter such as ours. Uh Amber is a well-rounded, active member of the community, and we're happy to have her join us on the board next uh for the next year and hopefully beyond. So hearing no
007other questions or comments I will entertain a a vote on that motion. All those in favor >> I opposed extensions. Motion carries 40. That takes care of that portion. Now join me hopefully. If this is a mouth for somebody to give you, you want to put your hand and repeat after me. >> I state your name, do you soly swear >> I, Amber Rash, do solemnly swear >> that I will support the Constitution of the United States of America. >> That I will support the Constitution of the United States of America >> and the laws of Delaware governing public education >> and the laws of Delaware of Delaware governing public education. And I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of schoolboard member. >> And that I will faithfully discharge the duties of office
008of schoolboard member >> according to the best of my ability. And I do further solemnly swear >> And I do further solemnly swear >> that I have not directly or indirectly offered or promised to pay >> that I have not directly or indirectly or offered or promised to pay. >> contributed or offered to contributed or offered to or promised to contribute >> contributed or offered to or promised to contribute. any money or other valuable thing as consideration or reward. >> Any money or other valuable thing at consideration or reward >> for the giving or withholding a vote >> for the giving or withholding of vote >> at the election at which I was elected to set office >> at the election to which I was elected to set office. >> So help me God. >>
009I bought those Actually, >> if any family wants to come up with share, girling that we now have five voting. Thank you. [laughter] >> I guess you're on your own. myself. >> Now we will move into section three reports. First up is section uh 3.1 financial reports. Mr. Kirk Kell. >> Uh good evening. So the first item on the agenda tonight for the financial part of our board meeting is the financial position report. And so, uh, this is our one time of the year to kind of gauge the district's financial health from year to year because this is a snapshot of where we are on July 1st at the start of the fiscal year. And so, when we look at this report overall from an internal perspective, we're kind of looking at that upper left
010number, local expenses, actual unencumbered, because that's basically telling us how much we have in terms of cash on hand that we can use in a discretionary manner. And so I do want to point out that even though from a local standpoint we might have local funds that are maybe twice as much as that because we have for instance our Kent County impact fee uh tuition funds and other stuff like that that are of a restricted nature. This is strictly 8 million that's of discretionary nature that we have available to pay for discretionary expenses whether it's payroll, local payroll or anything like that. So from that perspective that number was 6.4 4 million last July 1st. And so that's great news. Um why did it go up 1.4 million? Well, we had budgeted last year to
011have about a $900,000 surplus. So that came to fruition. So there was 900,000 of that. Uh we collected about a couple hundred,000 more than we were anticipating. There was another couple. And then on top of it, we typically underspend our budget. And so last year we underspent our budget by about $400 to $500,000. So that's why you see we added about $1.6 million to our local uh expense district reserve. So that's the the the good picture there in terms of that upper leftand corner of the the report. Now I realize there's a lot of numbers in here. Um and for our new board member tonight, I just wanted to point out that the reason that we have this report is it's required by Delaware Code Title 14. And so, uh, it talks in there that
012the, uh, school districts are to submit a financial position report before August 31st of each year. And so, we are required to submit these reports three times a year. So that the next time you'll see these, uh, we have to submit it before February 1st and then we have to submit it before May 1st. And so it's basically providing a financial picture. This is the financial picture at the start of the fiscal year, kind of looking also back how we did. But then the next one will be halfway into the fiscal year because we'll take the the data up through the first six months. And then the one that's due in May is basically after the third quarter is completed. How do we think we're going to end? And so, uh, in terms of the
013purpose of this, it's really to get school districts to project their local expenses and revenues in order to make sure that they meet that that number in the top right hand corner, the projected one-mon local payroll. And so, um, and the state funds are presented up there as potential other sources to to meet that obligation of one-mon local payroll. So uh in terms of this the uh the report shows a local expense if the report shows a local expense deficit or less than the amount required to satisfy that $950,000 um we need to indicate steps we're taking to the department of education to correct that. And so you might see a lot that's in the news right now. The school district up in Newcastle County that's going through this situation and this exact report has
014been in the news about they did not correctly uh present their financial position at that third quarter financial position report and they had missed some items in terms of like a third pay in in the month of May last year and things like that. So, um, so failure to meet that one-mon salary could put a district in the position where they'd be in financial receiverhip of the Department of Education. Now, as you can see there at 950,000 when we're projecting an available balance on 1015 of 9 million, we're nowhere near having to worry about that. And so even if we look at the the actual unencumbered of the 8 million to start the the fiscal year, um we've got plenty of of wiggle room in terms of meeting that local payroll expense obligation. Um but
015they talked about um in the news um risk mitigating factors in terms of what's out there to mitigate the risks of this happening to other school districts. And one of them is the citizens budget oversight committee. So I meet with them before these reports each year. they have financial representation on them. In fact, we've got some very strong candidates that are on that um uh that work elsewhere in the state in finance. Um but I will be honest, I mean, they don't see the stuff even as much as you do. So, I'm not sure that they would pick up some of that stuff that happened up the road in Newcastle County. Um but the other risk mitigating factor is the school board. And so, we present this report to you. And so you're the last
016opportunity to kind of ask questions before it gets submitted to the Department of Education. So when what I would tell you about this report is of course that top right $950,000 is the most important piece that we've got to be able to meet that. Now, the other thing is is they talk about this being a projection through October 15th, which is a little bit different than normal, but I think they do that because our first big local tax deposit for all school districts happens on October October 31st. And so, this is before that happens. So, what kind of risk financial risk is are we exposed to before we get to that big local tax deposit in terms of local payroll? And so what you can see here is um probably the most important numbers on
017this entire report is that local payroll number the 950 what we have available on the balance on 1015 which is 9 million but also what is our projected salary for this upcoming period that they're looking at. So it says 71 to 1015. We've got July, August, September and at a minimum that first pay in October. So we know that that's seven pays right there. So a one-mon payroll is assuming that there's two pays per month. And so you can do the math in terms of like three and a half months of payroll. And it's it's roughly about that 3.3 million. But that's kind of an opportunity to double check those numbers and make sure that you know this report's accurate. Um and we're presenting correct information to the Department of Education. Now, why is it
018coming from that division three line down at the bottom? Uh I think I've mentioned this before. We always try to spend out our our state funds first. And so we will spend those state funds first from division 3 equalization funds until the point where those are depleted. And so you can see 5.7 million. We're going to keep spending that until those funds are depleted. And that happens for us normally in about the January time frame. The big reason we do that is we want to keep those local expenses in our account because we collect interest on them. And so when we get that big tax deposit, for instance, the 8 million that's sitting in the bank there, that we're gaining interest on that the whole time. So, um, so I just wanted to point that
019out. Although October is a three pay month because that was what was in the news. One of the concerns about that, um, October 15th is actually before that second pay and third pay. But you can see that we've got plenty of room um in terms of uh the ability to pay that, you know, meet that local payroll obligation. So, uh that's what I have to present for the financial position report. Is there any questions? Any questions for Mr. Calvin on the financial position report? So, at this time, we'll move on to the preliminary budget. And so again, this encompasses the uh the budget for the 2526 school year. Uh and as we go to the first page of the uh the report, uh we do present last year's final budget as a kind of a
020comparison to see where we are. And so these first two slides that you're going to see are the revenue picture of our budget. And so um so if we're our new board member, the reason we call this the preliminary budget is because we do create a final budget that does not come up until January. And it might seem a little backwards that you're approving a final final budget halfway into the fiscal year, but a lot changes with school districts after the September 30 unit count. And so, um, a lot of these numbers will stay pretty constant. However, some of those numbers in blue and particularly that division 2 AOC, which stands for all other costs, that's the number that changes probably the most drastically in terms of uh as we come out of unit count
021and decide, you know, what our staffing is and and whether or not we have to cash in units and things like that. So, um, so this this first slide is just the state funds picture. And so when we talk about the preliminary budget, the state funds do account for almost 75% of our entire budget. So it is a significant portion. Um the formula salaries, that's all that we earned through unit count. Um so the reason that has gone up quite a bit is because the state did implement a 7.28% pay raise for the teachers this year. Uh that's year two of the public education compensations recommendations. There's still year threes and three and four to go. So, they're still anticipating two more years of increases for that to get to that target of $6,000 starting
022salary, at least from the state standpoint. Um, the division 3 equalization number, the reason I'll point that out is this might be the last number that you'll see it that large. They have kept the formula frozen for the last 15 years. And so we know that they're looking at changing the formula now that all the reassessments have been been completed across the counties. And so we fully anticipate that that number is going to go down in the future when they change the formula for equalization funds because right now Lake Forest has the highest equalization value per division one unit of any of the school districts. So I fully expect that number to go down. Uh the other thing I'll point out in terms of the state revenue funds, uh the minor capital improvements, again, we
023had good news that they approved the enhanced minor capital improvement funds. Um so you see $738,000 there, whereas in a normal year that might be, you know, somewhere in the I300s in terms of minor capital improvement funds from the state. Um the other thing I'll point out is the mental health block grant. That's to cover the um whatever we can in terms of mental health units at the high school. Uh I forget what house bill it was, but the the house bills that were approved for the elementary and middle school, they've already incorporated that into the unit count. They have not done that with the high school. They've satisfied that with this mental health block grant. And so I think they realize that it's going to cost more money to implement it into the the
024unit count and create authorized positions for those at the high school level. So this is probably a little bit lesser expensive way for the state to attack that in terms of providing the mental health block grant. So that's why I think we see that in year two now. Uh hopefully they'll get that corrected next year and it will become part of our unit count and our position authorizations. Uh and that's all I have for the state portion of the revenue uh budget. So if you can go on to the next slide there. Uh current expense tax receipts. Um we did not change the current expense tax rate. Uh what you see there is just uh our estimated increase in natural growth in the district. So we have growth in assessments. Um again in the past
025it's been in the 2 and a half to 3% range. Last year I did not see it that high. I think it was under 2%. So um but that's the uh the change there in terms of the current expense tax revenues. And then the other local revenue, the reason you see a large decline there is twofold. One is we no longer have CARES funds. All the federal funds are done and paid for and some of that from last year was the indirect cost that we collected off that grant. And so we no longer have the indirect cost to collect off that grant. But the other thing I'll point out is is the reason that number's been so large last year is because of interests on our local funds. And so even though we have more
026local funds this year, the interest rate has gone down. And I can already see it as starting as we're as we continue to progress along. You know, six, eight, 10 months ago, we were seeing four, five, five and a half% interest rates. Now we're starting to see, you know, three three and a half%. And so I fully expect our interest on our local revenue to go down. Um so that's what you're seeing there. Uh in terms of the federal funds, we took a little bit of a hit to title one there and that's why our total federal funds are going down. I know that was a question during my citizens budget oversight committee. Um in terms of our what is our risk to federal funding? Um, and I truly believe that the only reason that's
027going down is is and it's gone down for probably the third year in a row is the only thing I can suspect is that we're having a decreasing low-income population in the district because Title One is there to serve our low low-income population. And so, uh, that number continues to decline over the last three years. So, again, I'll point out those blue highlighted items for, uh, Miss Rash. there is those are the ones that lead to our discretionary funds. And so that 16.7 million there for total discretionary funds is what we're going to use now to build this discretionary budget that we're going to present on the the ensuing slides. Everything else that's presented up there that's non-discretionary in nature just rolls over to become the expenditure portion of the non-discretionary budget. And so but
028we don't present that up here for those purposes. So if we want to move on, do you have any questions about the revenue side first before I move on? Any questions for Mr. C on the revenue portion of the deducted budget? Okay. So as we move on to the revenue side, and I know it's a little bit tough to see there. Hopefully it's better on your computer screens. Um so we start with the schools in terms of the allocation and we do allow we provide an allocation per pupil at the different schools in terms of their school budgets. Uh this year we increased it by $2 per pupil for all the schools um with the exception of Central Chipman and Lake Forest High School which increased an additional $2 beyond that for additional funding for
029the arts. And so there's a little bit of an increase there for all the schools. But one of the reasons we're increasing for all the schools too is because um we're starting to push more expenses on to the schools from the district. some of the things that we used to cover at the district level. For instance, our Zoom expense, um, CARES funds covered that the past three or four years and we found that to be a very good tool in terms of communicating with parents and IEP meetings and things like that. And so the schools want to keep this service for now. Um, so we're going to have the the school districts pay for a portion of that out of their school budget. So that's why you see that that amount increasing that. Um, in
030terms of the athletics, um, it's just the, you know, we typically see from year to year an increase in the the transportation costs and then also the officiating. And so that's what you're seeing there in terms of, uh, the increases in athletic costs, uh, aquatics expenses. Um, we that was our budget last year, but we we went past that $68,000 budget. Um, and so I know we do provide additional coverage because we do have those agreements with some of the other schools. So even though we have to pay more because we have these agreements with these other schools, we also collect revenue to compensate for that from those schools to pay for that. So the one item that's new there is the one-time AV upgrade at the high school auditorium. Um we fully expect that
031to be more than $45,000, but we've set aside $45,000 of our discretionary funds to cover that. Um it could be as much as two or three times that, but um this is the amount that we plan on, you know, pulling out of this because we might be able to pull some out of minor capital improvement funds as well. Um as well as maybe, you know, having some of the schools already in the high school kick in for some of that. Um Spartan Strength and Conditioning Club. Again, we have to there's a little bit of a pay raise there, but also there's some equipment we need to start replacing there that's old and getting outdated. And so we've added a little bit more to that budget as well. Uh moving down to the curriculum section. Let's
032see. The first item on there that shows the increase is the K of 11 assessment. So we are picking up more testing costs across the district. Uh also with the summer school, you see it increasing from 12 to 45,000. The only reason for that is because last year we did initially have about 40 45,000 in the preliminary budget, but we used some lastm minute cares funds to kind of recode and and use up those those uh funds for the summer school. But that's basically for the uh the high school's credit recovery program. As we move further down that list, we have acceleration that's increasing as well from 10 to 28,000. And so we do have an increased cost there because we're going to start offering uh several uh AP courses virtually. So that's going to
033be the cost to the district to offer those courses and we put that under the acceleration line. And then support services IRC. We did shut down our IRC. Um so we have some savings there. But with the support services, we also got the um we've got a program called the truency tracker that we've kind of moved from our administration budget over to the support services. that's part of a one of the modules in our data data service um application for truency tracking and some other support services as well. So those are the big changes there in terms of the curriculum. Uh the other big elephant in the room there is that uh the special programs uh tuition and so that's the amount that we expect to cash in in terms of those units that we
034earn from that high roads in district class in North and Chipman. Um, so these are kids that would normally have been sent out to another school district, whether it be Charlton or KCCS, uh, to capital or see our school district, but by keeping them in the school district, we earn the units for those. And then in this case, we cash those units in and we use it to pay for this contract with High Roads to keep them in our district. So, any questions on this the first half of the expenditure? Any questions for Mr. B on this page? Um, did you say where did you say um that we were cashing that in the high roads and stuff? Which one was that under? >> That's the tuition payments special school. >> Okay, that's getting Okay,
035that's what I was wondering if that was um if we had less students were paying out for or anything like that, but we're cashing. >> Yeah. So, we so we know that we're starting the year off with I believe it's eight students. Is Michelle here? No, she's not. So I believe we have eight students in the in the classrooms right now. So we know that we're going to at a minimum qualify for eight complex students. We might have a ninth, okay, >> between the two classrooms. And so in terms of what the units that garners, I think it's roughly about three units. And so three units cashed in is what you're you're seeing there. And then also I was wondering about the this it may not be right now but I was it made me
036remember about that really crazy bill that we had gotten last year for one of the >> oh KCCS. >> Did you ever find out more information about that or was that accurate? Did we end up paying that full amount? >> It is. Um, I know that Capitol School District, um, so one of their arguments was that they're having to pay increasingly more for contractual support for the related services because they can't hire people. Um, I know we've been fortunate in this district to have some of those related services and we're fairly well staffed, but I do know that we sometimes pull from, for instance, capital. And so I can see where, you know, they're short on staff and they're having to go to different like employment services to try to pull that those um those
037providers in. But when they do that, that does cost quite a bit more. >> And that was KCCS. Do we still have do we have students attending? >> We still have students there. Yeah, I think we have five students there. >> Okay. And did they expect it's just a chance again if they're still paying that contractually high price? are or are they starting to budget that in a little bit more now for >> Well, they did budget that in for this upcoming year, which was one of the reasons why we >> we had to pay so much. >> Yeah. >> Was there they were budgeting it for this upcoming year. So, it's an anticipation of the increased expenses as well. >> Okay. >> so we are we have that on our radar now. >> Oh,
038yeah. Yep. >> Any other question for a few questions? So, one, this is more of a receipt thing, but it does apply to products. When we have um different police forces that use our pool for training, are we donating that to them or are they actually paying for the use of the pool? >> I'm sorry, I'm having trouble here. When we have police forces that do training in our pool, for example, I know state police has sometimes done training in the pool, those >> uh I would have to double check. We might provide We might not charge them for those services. With that, >> agencies that we probably don't charge. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Um, and then as far as that $2 per pupil increase, how did we arrive at that number? >> Um, well
039formula or or is there anticipated cost or what? >> No, I I base that on the anticipated cost that of at least the Zoom that would be pushed upon the the the schools. So at least it was enough to cover that cost in the event that they have to pick up the Zoom costs. And that leads to my next question. Just so we can understand as a board um particularly for um Amber and anyone that doesn't fully understand the process. Are there meetings with the different uh buildings to talk about for example a wish list something that they have coming up that they would like to factor into a budget even for example like the fitness center um you know I know we did additional equipment there. How do we some of these different buckets?
040How do we arrive at some of those? Is it all just based off projections or are there some do some of them have, you know, like a wish list type thing where, hey, I'd like to increase my budget to have something like this added in. >> Yeah. So, so I will meet with the the schools occasionally and and so for instance, they will kind of sometimes assemble a wish list and so they'll try to use their building budget for that wish list initially. If if their building budget from year to year can't support something that they need to purchase, that's when they will sometimes come to me. Now, there's other sources that sometimes we can go to because a lot of times what they're looking for is items for, you know, expenses for improvements in
041their facilities. And so, from that standpoint, I usually kind of direct them to Carl and say, "That's a minor capital improvement expense. So, you should be using your building budget funds for that. We should be using minor capital improvement funds for, you know, making kind of um changes to your building." So, and the structure. Okay. All right. Thank you. All right. Uh and then on the last page for the expenditure budget, um so in terms of the personnel line that went up a decent amount there and we are picking up the cost of that frontline central personnel management software. Um the cost of that last year again was born by CARES funds and so um that's something that we picked up at the district. So, this is really the first budget you're seeing that we're
042completely off the bandwagon from CARES funds, uh, from the federal funds. Um, and then as we move into the finance section there, you can see, uh, a bump in the local salaries for the 2% local pay raise. And then I've broken out our insurance this year. So insurance used to be a component of the administrative services but I wanted to highlight to you how much we have to pay for not only liability insurance but also athletic and accident accident insurance. Um and so and then we also have insurance on like the turf in case you know something catastrophic happened to the the football turf or the track or something like that. Um but that cost continues to go up uh quite a bit each year. this year. Fortunately, it only went up like 10% compared
043to maybe like 20% last year. So, but this is an area where I wanted to break that out personally and show that in the future as a separate line item for our district expenses. um charter choice. The only reason I have a little bit of a slight increase there is because even every year, even though we we continue [clears throat] to do better in terms of the choice arena for school choice from the other public school districts around us, um we do start to we do continue to see the trend of a trickle of students exiting the district for some of these charter schools, whether it be early college, high school, or you know, because they picked up middle school, um first, military, and things like that. So, um, hopefully I'll be proven wrong and
044that that'll be closer to like 70 75,000, but we've got the the budget there set for that. And then tuition reimbursement, um, that's my best guess right now. Um, but that's based on the theou to our contract, uh, and kind of opening up the the floodgates in terms of providing this benefit for our our staff. Um I will tell you that for the first 6 months um claims for tuition reimbursement we hit 111,000. So um hopefully we won't hit that much for the second time around. But um we are seeing quite an uptick in in tuition reimbursements which which is great because we got a lot of people that are getting advanced degrees in the district. So um and then moving down to the next section uh just the water sewer fee. I think I'd
045mentioned that in some some of the monthly board reports back in the last fiscal year that we over spent that budget at 65,000 last year and when I first got here about six years ago, I think that was at about a $75,000 budget anyway. So, we're back to the original budget when I kind of came on board. Um, and then moving down to um some of the other areas, we're just kind of seeing, you know, um inflation pressures. That's why we see the the small bump up there in technology. he he came pretty much close to expending his entire budget that year uh last year and so you'll see a little bit of a bump there and then transportation a bump there because we are having uh an increased cost in the bus cameras and
046the GPS's and so we have to replace you know who knows two three four a year and so that increased cost is getting reflected in that transportation line there for $50,000 but that also pays for our um where's the bus app and that that scheduling software uh that we see there. And then the the decline there in the transportation match um that 480,000 budget from last year was an overshoot. And so I think we only spent about 435 last year. So, but we do know there's going to be a little bit a 2% increase to the driver pay this year for bus drivers. So, uh that's kind of my best guess at at what we where we will land in terms of the transportation match. So, but overall in terms of our discretionary budget, kind
047of a flat budget, balanced uh really not much of a surplus at all. So, any questions on the uh that second page of the expenditure budget? Any questions for Mr. C? >> Um this is just showing uh back the last six years our district reserve and where we've been 2.6 6 million pre-COVID um and then at the years through COVID and then uh these last two years we've had quite a jump in in district reserve revenues. So as we go to the next slide, you can see based on our our projection of a $2,400 surplus, it's only going to add, you know, that amount to our district reserve. But knowing that we traditionally underpend our budget by about 3%, you know, you could easily see about 500,000 being added to that uh in terms of
048a projected reserve at the end of the fiscal year. So, and that's all I have for the preliminary budget this evening. If you have any other questions, appreciate uh your work with this. Um it's my going into my 12th year and there were times early on when we were not presented with a balanced budget. So just that in and of itself, I appreciate your work there. Um but hitting on that point, my first few years on the board, we were pulling from that reserve routinely. Um >> yeah, >> and then some changes within the district, um some belt pening and some cost, um conservation, things like that, we turned a corner and started going in the direction that we're going in now. Um having said that, over the past two years, a drastic increase in
049our reserve, $3.5 million um to the point where we're now at that $8 million number. um if I'm a I am a taxpayer I'm a citizen also a board member I would start asking questions what is the district doing with that money what are the thoughts with that so a question to you and and to Dr. Lucas, just to kind of, you know, give just some general preliminary ideas of or thoughts of what, you know, what that is kind of being earmarked for so it doesn't look like we're just sitting on the stockpile of cash. >> Yeah. Well, and and to to answer the first part of the question, I will never apologize for trying to save the district money because that's, you know, one of my goals and I'm going to try to to
050add to that reserve as much as I possibly can every year I'm here. So, that's always been my goal is to add to that reserve. Um, with that said, there's always going to be a time where we're going to face financial headwinds. And so, I do anticipate at sometime in the future that you're going to eventually get to the point where we're going to have to start pulling from that reserve. We're going to eventually start to hit that point where we'll have to implement year two of the referendum in year three. I don't see that. Um, I mean, I feel like we've got pretty good flexibility for the next few years. I don't see that happening anytime soon, but um I talked about the equalization funding. So, you know, we could lose $500,000 in equalization
051funding next year and there all of a sudden, you know, that five00,000 under spend on our budget and now we're, you know, back to we didn't do anything to our reserve and that's just equalization funding, right? So, there's other stuff out there in terms of, you know, the change in and how they're going to they're talking about um making a change to the unit count system. Um, I think it's good changes. They're trying to bring in the the MLL population and the low-income population into the equation for unit count, but we don't know how that's going to affect the district in in the future either, >> right? There's definitely some uncertainty with with that there. Um, so one of the questions that I would have for for Dr. Lucas and for um the district leadership,
052there's a CN on our agenda later that we know is already going to be denied and that CN certificate of necessity is for expansion of cafeteria at Chipman. At what point does it get to the point where we feel that there's a need for us to potentially just go ahead and and cover that cost on earn since we do have a large reserve? And that's a question I would pose to to Dr. Lucas. You want to discuss that maybe? >> Yeah, absolutely. Uh we anticipate that after we, you know, get a decision on this resolution to this CM, uh which we anticipate it would be disproved. Who knows? uh that we would probably put forth a spending plan um to sort of strategically look at a couple of major projects. Um for example, this this
053year uh we're resurfacing the pool. That's that's a significant project. Uh we've got the tennis courts getting resurfaced. Uh the track has to be redone. And uh we really feel like if if we can't get the Chipment project 80% funded by the state that we probably need to just go ahead and um through a combination of minor capital expenses uh or minor capital exp revenue um our our district reserve and our um impact fee uh put together some sort of of a strategic plan to get that built. Uh because we really think that Chipman needs that space. Uh they need that flexible classroom space. they need a lunchroom space and um and they need that that space for extracurricular activities. So definitely a need to to go forth with that project. Um but uh we'll
054put that to the board as a recommendation here once we settle on this certificate of necessity. >> I've got to Mr. McCloski. Go ahead. >> Um just quickly the because I don't remember I've only seen us apply for this multiple times. When was the last time do we know that we've had a certificate of necessity pass? >> Uh, it had to be probably 2013, 2014 now. 2014. >> Yeah. Because that's the last time we had a a capital referendum, >> I would say. I mean, and and maybe I'm way off base with this, but I feel like at some point we're going to have to push legislators or something because there's just no reason that we should go this long where other school districts have had things funded um and and not as much of
055a need as what we've had >> simply because it's not a huge ticket compared to other places. >> It's something for us the mold and we're being denied >> and I don't think we should have to if we have been fiscally responsible. I don't think we should have to spend a majority of our reserve to do this when it should be 80% funed by the state where we haven't had anything from the state in 10 plus years. So whether we have to push legislators or get do something, somebody needs to do something because they can't just keep keep um being the one that are fiscally get punished for being fiscally responsible. Well, the other thing we're facing too is we're facing, you know, other projects out there that other districts are submitting where, you know,
056their enrollment might be at 110, 120, 130% of their school capacity. And that, you know, they might look at this project and say, well, you guys are only at 96% of your capacity. What's, you know, they're going to to look at, you know, what's the worst case scenario in terms of what they need to fund. And then in terms of the last three years, I mean with COVID and all the the rapid eres and inflation of the construction costs. I mean really the last two years alone has just been the state trying to cover the original cost of what they had approved three years ago because of the increase in costs uh you know that happened over the life of the project. You know the the the market increase prices. So, um I don't think
057they've really been accepting any new projects really in [snorts] the last year or two. Um and they've already said that they probably won't be accepting any this year. So, that's one of the reasons that we've kind of just we haven't put a lot of time into this. We've just changed the dates in the some, you know, the fiscal years and and and put it back out there. uh with hope that you know, who knows, maybe the September Delaware Finance Committee revenue report might turn up better than they anticipated and maybe they might find that they might have some money that they can put aside for capital projects. But um but I think you know OM has already put out there that you know that the state revenue is growing at you know 3% and their
058expenses are growing at eight or nine%. And so that kind of recipe, the bond bill is always the last one to suffer with that because there's no cash left to put through capital projects. Um, I personally think, you know, our our capital system needs a lot of improvement in terms of the whole process itself because like you say, you know, we've got projects that need to get funded and we can't get them in. >> Well, and when we first submitted this, we were denied the first time. It wasn't that they didn't approve. We we weren't chosen. >> Yeah. So, that's an instance where we, you know, like Dr. Lucas said, we we can use our impact fee. Um, it's sitting at, I think about 3.3 million right now. Um, it could pay entirely for the
059chipment edition. Um, we wanted to go this route because if the state can pick up 80% of the cost, by all means, >> no brainer. Absolutely. >> It's a no-brainer. Now, other projects we have that are capital projects, you know, let's say if we wanted to do something about the high school concess, you know, the bathroom situation there. I don't think the state would ever probably fund anything like that. So, there's where we might want to use our, you know, impact fee or even, you know, if we didn't have the impact fee, our 8 million reserve balance. So, um, so those are other options as well. Mr. store >> just along um the lines of what Mr. Al was saying, you know, I I want to be fiscally responsible as well. Um I want to
060see that, you know, that revenue growing, but at the same time, I'm thinking about just some of our staff who are boots on the ground. Do they have what they need? like is there are there needs in our classrooms or in our buildings um that something that we can do to enhance our students education and our staff's ability to do their job? And I don't need an answer right now, but I think just to see that keep growing and growing and growing, but seeing so many of our staff spending more and more and more and more of their own personal money, it's just something I'd like us to think about as we're forming these budgets. >> Yeah. And I mean you you hear stories about teachers spending their own money and and I believe at
061least you know from the K to five level you know I think all the the classroom teachers provided an allocation for their classroom. >> What is that? Do you know? >> Uh I'd have to I think it varies by school, but >> I guess that would be a question for me too like just equity wise like I'm just going to throw out I don't know what everybody's giving but if central's giving $200 to a teacher and Shipment's giving 80 just saying like I just think there's some equity things there that might need to be addressed and I know there's different needs for different age groups but I don't know just something for us to to ponder. >> Yeah. I will say this though is is if they get to the the end of the fiscal
062year and and we still have they still have money left in their budget then you know I take that as a sign that they're their needs are being met if they're not completely spending out their budget. >> Yeah. So, >> and this is just from knowing some of our staff in the community and you know sometimes I just say stuff but um you know like we can get this something that they don't deem as necessary but there's not enough for us to get new whiteboards or something like that you know so I just I want to make sure that our staff have what they need and if the budget doesn't allow that um and I don't know maybe our administrators can know better what our our staff needs in the daily loops on the ground.
063>> Well, I will come right out and say whatever they need, if they ask for it, we try we make every effort to give it to get it to >> I would, you know, the last thing I want is teachers buying anything for their classroom. >> So any teachers that are listening, if you need something, please ask for it before you buy it. I think what tends to happen, human nature is see something at the dollar store and go, I need 40 of these and then grab them and then later suggest that nobody would have got this for me, so I just paid for it myself. >> And if nothing else, maybe that's what this conversation does. It brings awareness and um permission for our staff to advocate for what they need and and the
064district to be able to meet those needs. Amen. >> Any other questions for Mr. I will say I appreciate the discussion there because again this on paper if you're just tuning in and you see this number as a community member clearly questions start to go off what are they doing with that money and I just want to make sure that in and I knew that there would be but I wanted to make sure there was some dialogue that was pushed out there um that does let everyone know that there is a clear path and a method to the madness of why that that is there and what it's there for uh just as a general matter because I said it earlier when I first started on this board. It was going the wrong direction. We
065were pulling from it and that's not the way to run a business. Um so I am uh that's a good problem to have and I'm glad to see it going the other direction. So appreciate um your hard work. Your department sales work and had had a role in that. So thank you and that will come back later for uh moving into section 3.2 of reports. Superintendent Dr. Lucas. Good evening everybody. We just like to kick my reports off something positive. We have a lot of that happening right now in the district. Uh first congratulations to board member Rash for her approval this evening. Uh being a school board member demonstrates an uncommonly high commitment to the community. Uh so on behalf of all of our students, families, and staff, I thank you for your willingness
066to do this very important work. Uh we wrapped up our second week of preparing to open schools today. Uh schools uh are opening Tuesday, September 4th. As you know, yesterday the schools were full of excited students who were both dropping off and picking up supplies and meeting their teachers. And then today we had transition day for kindergarten, fourth, sixth, and ninth graders. And all reports are that the day was successful across the district. And as I said, we kick things off real on Tuesday, and we're excited to get going on another great year. I want to send the community a reminder that we're working with a couple of new systems this year. Infinite campus is our new student information system and parent square is the new software you are using for mass messaging. Now we'll
067be migrating to a new website very soon as well. Now none of these were by choice. It's just that system, you know, companies have merged and the state bought a new student information system. So um we're we're we're being thrust into having to assume all these new sort of automations at one time. Um so we ask that you please bear with us as we learn these new systems and we do our very best um to do with do this without any interruption to services. Um reach out to your school's central business office. Call somebody just just as soon as you can if you don't feel like you're receiving the volume of communication that you're used to. Speaking of the website, you still find just about everything you're looking for there. uh including our comprehensive school
068calendar which has got a new kind of facelift and it actually will integrate with your own personal Google calendar or outlook calendar. So, it's pretty cool. Uh start of the school year brings with us a lot of events including uh those very important open house nights. Uh but if you can't find what you're looking for, just give your school or give us a call here at the central office. We'll point you in the right direction. That's all I have for this evening and I yield the floor back to President Ralph and the board for any questions or discussion. I think Dr. Lucas, any questions for Dr. Lucas. Thank you again, sir. Thank you. >> Don't go anywhere because I'm gonna turn it right back to you. Second four discussion items. First item 4.1 is the
069application for the scene that we just discussed u briefly and giving that a little more depth right. Yes, same here all over again. So, the certificate of necessity application and I'm going to talk just a little bit about this uh the project in question is an addition at uh WT Chipman Middle School to support the expansion of uh some flexible classroom space. Um, additionally, we can use that for cafeteria space and then uh comes in real handy for some extracurricular uh activity space. Total cost of the project I believe is about 2.2 consumed million as as presented. Um, and the scope of the project is to build the addition uh adjacent to existing cafeteria where there's currently an outdoor picnic space. There's a picture of that on um page four of the uh of the
070presentation. Um now uh as we've discussed the certificate of necessity actually uh goes to the department of education who decides on what sort of capital projects are going to be funded. Uh Lake Forest if we were to get approved for this certificate of necessity would uh that would mean the state would fund about 80% of this project and we would fund the remaining 20% of this project. Um, let's see. And then if the state the DOE were were to approve it, it would still have to go to OM uh for final approval from the um uh the the joint finance committee. So, but this is the first step and um we're going to continue to put this in um and get told no on it before we before we stop asking for it. Any questions
071for Dr. Lucas? Most >> and this I may not just be understanding this correctly but even though we are just under capacity at Chipman does that really mean that the size of the cafeteria is right for capacity because that cafeteria >> was like for south when I was in school and then different hour shipment and the capacity was way less there and it was still packed. So just be like that's where the only thing when I look at this and I'm like oh if they look at that and say oh yeah we're they're under capacity but we're that's too small for the capacity it's at like I don't feel I I don't feel like that's doesn't relate to the size. You know what I mean? Just >> doesn't take consideration. >> So is that capacity
072number is that building capacity? >> Yes. Like fire code capacity? >> Uh I'm not sure how that's calculated. Maybe Mr. Kelman has a little more insight on that, but capacity if we're over and I forget 90% capacity, right, K or what is what do we have to be over or full? The definition for DOE for over capacity actually is is a low threshold is 85%. >> Yeah. So, we're technically over capacity. you know, we could cram another 4% in there. >> Um that because of things like >> right? I just didn't want to look at that and say, "Oh, well, you know, they're not quite there." But like I bet that 75% fast still isn't what what would fit a day in that cafeteria. >> And I'm going to have wishful thinking or hopeful thinking
073and just say it does get past uh Department of Ed, right? That's where it goes to first. Department of Ed is that right? Does the CN go to department of education? >> So the department of education is the one that racks and stacks the projects and and >> so let's just say it gets past that. What's the odds of like MMB accepting? >> Typically if it um OM will kind of foreshadow to DOE whether or not they can they're going to have any projects to fund with capital funding. And so I believe at that point they'll kind of meet and but I do believe they meet because this is due for all the school districts August 31st. So I believe next month they meet to probably evaluate all the projects and and kind of rack
074and stack and prioritize the projects. And so then they're ready to go in case something happens that they say that you know they can submit for some of the projects. And do you know Kirk if they with if they have money there funds there do they try to exhaust those? In other words, they try to fit in every project that they can fit in there. For example, if they have one that they have 20 million, for example, and they have two or three larger ones that equal 18 and there's two left over, would they sit there and say, "Well, there's this one for 2.2. We can squeeze this in." Is that something they would do or no? >> That's what I'm hoping, [laughter] you know, because I would I would assume >> some of the
075larger projects to build a whole new school. >> Yeah. in the grand scheme of things, it's a smaller project that I would think that if they do have some scraps left on the table that they could push some way, but >> yeah, and that's I'm personally half privy to the the operations of how they they rack and stack these. But, >> you know, this is a reason why I think we should continue to submit, you know, because who knows, maybe you develop a a waiting queue and if you get out of line, maybe, you know, they put you back into the queue again. So, >> ruin that real quick. Um, also, so if we took away that space, would we replace it with something? So, like if we took away that outside seating, would we
076then like um have some sort of like patio area that replaces it? >> Right. I Well, I couldn't I didn't see it. >> Are you talking about the current pad and cover? Yeah, the plan um was to take that the current picnic sort of setting, slide it outboard you know, to that other space, there used to be that >> volleyball court and kind of recreate that pad over there. >> Okay. >> Yeah. The other thing I will point out in in the certificate of necessity because I know RG architects the um the architecture engineering firm did point this out in the um the CN here is it talks about uh the building's current cafeteria is only 3,800 square feet in area which is considerably smaller than the recommended 5800 ft found in the Delaware state
077of Delaware school construction technical assistance. >> Can we highlight that sentence? So, >> no, I'm serious. Just in case they're looking at that percentage and >> it's that's a little a little over half, but so what it is now is a little over half what it should be >> and it looks like just from doing from the simple math, it looks like that the cost of the entire project went up roughly 5% in the last time. So, $100,000. >> Okay. Any other questions for Dr. Lucas on the CN that's going to come back later for a vote. >> All right. >> Staying in section four discussion items item 4.2 uh child nutrition services Mont. >> This is just our annual adult meal prices and they are um determined by USDA. So they're just increasing to
0783:25 for breakfast and 502 which will run up to 505 for lunch. >> Questions on how that's determined. >> These are all just federally mandated increases. Correct. >> Forward. All right. Any questions? Any questions on that? Come back later. Thank you. Another section seven amendments. Mrs. Stark 7.1 and make a motion we amend the offer of employment 50 >> from August 14th to July 14th. Second. >> Have a motion for properly seconded to amend the uh initial um resolution we have for Dr. Cooper. Any questions on the motion? >> Hearing none, I'll call for a vote. All those in favor? I >> I >> opposed abstensions. Motion carries 5-0. >> Section 8 personnel make a motion we approve the personnel report as presented. >> Second. Have a motion on the floor properly seconded to approve
079the personnel report this evening. Any questions on that motion hearing? None. I'll call for a vote. All those in favor? >> I opposed extensions. Motion carries 5. >> Section 8.2. I make a motion we approve the assistant principal at Lake Forest High School. We resolved like the board of education. Approve the offer of deployment to Morris, assistant principal. 2025 through June 30th, 2027. This author is contingent upon the receipt of satisfactory criminal background child protection certifications requirements of the Delaware Department of Education. Second [clears throat] >> have a motion on the floor with a second to approve um promotion of Mr. Morris to our assistant principal at high school. Any questions on that motion hearing? None. I will call for a vote. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Abstensions. Motion carries. 5-0. Congratulations. >>
080Second personnel. I've made a motion we approve the assistant principal from WT Chipman Middle School. Be it resolve the Lake Force Board of Education. to approve the offer of employment to Andrew Crawford, assistant principal, WT Chipman Middle School, effective September 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2027. This offer is contingent upon the receipt of satisfactory criminal background, child protection registry checks, and meeting the certification requirements of the Delaware Department of Education. >> Have a motion and a properly second on the floor to approve Mr. Crawford as new assistant principal at W Chipman. Any questions on that motion hearing? None. I will call for a vote. All those in favor? I opposed. Extensions. Motion carries. 5-0. Congratulations, sir. >> A quick comment. Uh this is a position that the board has strived to be in where we're
081promoting quality uh administrators from within. We've done that with Dr. Fer Miller back there and then now two internal hirings for APS. That is the ultimate goal. We want to you know build from within and we're fortunate to have some really good administrators in the building now. So appreciate that. Thank you. >> Mr. >> All right. Section 10 on the business uh 10.1 school choice. to make a motion we approve the school choice recommendations as presented. >> Second. >> Have a motion and second on the floor to approve resolution 10.1 school choice. Any questions on the motion? Hearing none. I'll call for a vote. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Abstensions. Motion carries 50. >> Section 10.2. I make a motion we approve the application for the certificate of necessity of capital. Second. >>
082Motion and a second on the floor to approve resolution 10.2. Any questions on the motion hearing? None. I'll call for a vote. All those in favor? >> I opposed. Extensions. Motion carries. 5 >> 10.3 child nutrition services. I make a motion we approve the adult meal increase for the 2025 2026 school year. Second. >> Have a motion and a second on the floor to approve resolution 10.3 child nutrition services adult meal price increase. Any questions on that motion? Hearing none. I'll call for a vote. All those in favor? I >> opposed abstensions. Motion carries 5-0. >> Section 12.1 other business financial reports. I make a motion we approve the financial position report as presented. >> Second. >> Have a motion and a second on the floor to approve resolution 12.1 financial position report. Any questions
083on that motion? Hearing none. I'll call for a vote. All those in favor? >> I. >> Opposed. Extensions. Motion carries 5 by zero. >> Staying in section 12. Make a motion we approve resolution 12.2 um 2026 preliminary budget. >> Second. >> Have a motion and a second on the floor to approve resolution 12.2 fiscal year 2026 preliminary preliminaries budget. Any questions on that motion? Hearing none. I'll call for a vote. All those in favor? >> I opposed abstensions. Motion carries 5. Thank you, Mrs. Starky. Thank you, Mrs. Moving to res excuse me uh section 14 board reports discussion items and concerns. Item 14.1 go to the order. It's a chance for any board member to raise any uh topic or concern that was not discussed uh previously in the agenda. I would just like to
084say as we are on the uh precipice of a new school year, uh first of all, have a great Labor Day weekend, but um wish everybody a great 2026 2020, excuse me, 2025, 2026 school year. Uh got a lot of smiling faces out there, so it looks like you guys are all ready to hit the ground running. We appreciate all your hard work and uh have fun with those kiddos next week. >> Absolutely. >> Unless we have anything else, I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. that >> I have a motion and a second on the floor to adjourn this evening. Any questions on the motion? >> Um, forget we might have one quick executive thing I wanted to bring up before. >> I apologize for not covering 15.1. >> I I did hear a
085second. Mrs. Starky, do you need Do you resend your motion to >> Yes. M >> make a motion. Sorry. >> No, we need to We have a motion to call now. motion so that we can do >> I think we resend your >> I just resend your motion. So if you resend your motion, we're good to go. So there's no active motion on the floor. I will entertain a motion for executive session at this time. >> So second, >> I have a motion on the floor and a second to enter executive session. Our work is not done this evening. I will uh now call for a vote on that motion. Any questions before I do? Hearing none. All those in favor? I opposed extensions. Motion carries. The board is now in executive session. I believe
086it was safe