001Maybe two graduations both times. Welcome everyone. Call this meeting to order. I'll make a motion that we adopt Roman numeral three and four. Yeah. A couple of things that's coming up regarding our budget is I'd shared with you that with us opting out of House Bill 581. Um there's some things going on outside of Gainesville City and Hall County that it's impacting the state as far as the timeline when we'll wind up uh adopting our budget this year. And so what we would like to do is instead of adopting a budget and then coming back a month or so later and doing a millage rate, we actually want to look at putting off our adoption uh with a resolution that will come in uh June that will allow us to adopt it after June. It
002would allow us to go from five hearings down to three. And so uh what I just want to share with you tonight is this is the plan. Uh, and this is tentative because we know that if if that information starts to come in a little later than what we're anticipating, then all of this would shift uh into July and possibly early August. We are not the only ones dealing with this. The city's dealing with it. The county and county schools are both dealing with it as well. And I believe it's a number of about 140 uh counties in the state of Georgia are having to deal with this because of House Bill 581. the software changes is just causing a bit of a bit of a challenge in getting the digest numbers out. So, we
003would uh adopt a tenative budget at the June 16th meeting. We would have three required hearings. One would be at 6:00 p.m. on July the 7th, which would be immediately after that work session. And then on July the 21st, one at 11:00 am, one at 5:00 pm, which is before the uh board meeting that month, and then July 21st, that 5:30 meeting, we would be adopting that budget and and milligrate. So, right now, that's our game plan. Uh we talked about separating it out, but I think after talking with some of the board members, we've decided, let's just put it off and we can do a resolution and hopefully adopt this in July. I I do want to share with you some talking points that as you talk to people in the community and and
004people talk about uh millage rates and money from the state and things like that, I put together just a kind of a couple of tables for you to look at from a budget standpoint and kind of where we've been. And going back for the last um seven years when you include the 2020 school year up to next year, uh our enrollment dipped a little bit during COVID. you see that it went down into the 7700 7,800 number. Uh this year we jumped up to just under 8,500. Next year we're predicting about more. But if you look at the certified positions, so those are your teachers and admin and anybody that is a professional certificated person. So that does not include your secretaries, your pair professionals and so forth, but your certified teachers and so forth.
005Um you can see kind of how those positions changed over the years. we hovered around 600 for about four years. Uh you can tell during COVID we kept the number sim kept the number similar uh while the enrollment did did kind of grow back and dropped in there. But you can see the last couple years we did make a jump made a huge jump from the 23 to 24 school year. That was due to the investment we made with Horizon and then we jumped a little more this year because of the growth. Uh but we are anticipating next year absorbing about six certified positions across the district which tells you we have about 13.6 kids uh per certified teacher which you can tell that would be the highest we've had uh right in line with
006what we had in FY20. Administratively uh we feel like we're doing the due diligence there. Some of these reductions come in the certified positions. So next year we anticipate being right at 41 administrative FTE positions. We've been as high as 46 uh over that seven period, 7-year time frame. Uh but the biggest challenge for us, and we've shared this with y'all, when we add new positions, um it's typically due to special education teachers. And you can see the number was as low as 47 and 48 back around COVID. We now have 60 special education teachers in Gainesville City Schools. Uh you you saw in some of the training how those numbers increased as well. If you look at the teacher retirement system, uh the some of this money we are able to receive through the
007certified uh aotment from the state. Um but we do not receive that on the classified a lotment or positions that we don't earn from the state. Uh it did drop after COVID, but of course it's come back and now we'll be just under 22% this next year. The biggest challenge as you know has been our health insurance costs over the last uh few years has increased. We were at 945 for the longest time, but in three, four short years, that number has now doubled. So in 2023, we were paying $11,340 for classified. We were paying $15,150 for certified. And this next year, it's jumping up to $22,620 per employee. Uh so a little bit of a jump this year comp this next year compared to where we've been. But nonetheless, over the last three to
008four years, it has definitely put a massive financial burden on the school district. So, I wanted to give this to you as an attachment uh just so that you can have it as a reference point. Um I think this is really great and I think any taxpayer that had questions as to why the budget grows, I think these numbers help illustrate that. Um, one other thing, I don't know if we would ever go so far as I don't know if you plan on making this public, but out of curiosity, uh, I would be curious what the growth in certified positions were. I think this is great where you see the number of classroom teacher I mean maybe I'm thinking of class size are you? I think classroom teachers uh, ratio stayed the same. I think
009the fact that admin uh, ratio has actually gone down probably is with the people But I know we also have more bus drivers and all the other things would be interesting. Yeah, we'll be able to pull classified some of the challenges we run into with that. It depends on the time of the year with bus drivers. Sometimes we're a little heavier knowing that some may be stepping back sometimes lighter. We do contracted services with our custodial services so they're not included in here. Um so there's a little bit more fluctuation there. Definitely be glad to pull that together. Well, and it's it's not that big of a deal, but I just think being able to show people that uh you know, we're being good stewards of the money. And Dr. Williams, the TRS is that
010just a percentage of aggregate payroll. So basically the way we receive those funds uh is let's say we earn 600 u certified positions from the state then we get whatever the average salary is for our employees 21.91% of that. So we in some cases we earn a little more per employee in other cases we don't earn enough and that's where the local funds kind of kick in. uh and then the employees pay 6% and in addition to that personally uh to be a part of TRS. So you're looking at about a 28% investment in salary towards um teachers and others who qualify for TRS. Yes, absolutely. Um, so this may look a little familiar to you because I actually uh came to you about this same time last year um with our CTAE local plan
011and asked you to approve it. Um, the difference between then and this year is that really all we have to do is review it because it's a two-year plan, but I do have to bring it to you just to kind of let you know where we are with it. Um, one thing I will share is we're not changing anything. Like if we decided that we needed to change the plan, if the data indicated that we needed to change anything, we could. Um, but we feel like we still have a solid plan. So, we're not changing anything with our CTA local plan. And so what I did want to do is just kind of give you an update on some of the bullets at the bottom because those are specific things that are actually in our
012plan. Um for the first bullet, continuing the work of the multi-year workforce development plan. Um I wanted to highlight working with industry partners. So we actually just had our annual meeting with our industry partners back in April. And at that meeting, we always ask them what they're seeing with the the you know, their employees that are coming to them or the kids that are coming to them if they're doing internships and things like that. And we asked them what are they seeing that we can work on um in our classes. And so the two big things, actually three big things that came out this time was um working on problem solving skills, um collaboration and project management. Now for um the collaboration and the problem solving I feel like we can work on that one
013absolutely but as all of you know um as adults and working and having businesses and things like that project planning is a little more in depth. I feel like you have to have a lot of experiences to be able to develop a a well-laidout project plan. Now are there things we can do to help kids prepare for that? Absolutely. But we did have multiple industries say that project management was an area that they wanted to see more um training in. So we told them we would see what we could do. Um the other feedback that they gave us was um you know incorporating more AI and we did tell them that from a school perspective and Eddie let me know if I'm saying anything wrong here. You know, one of the things that we're doing
014with AI is ensuring students know that it is considered an idea generator, not necessarily something that creates a product for you, a finished product, because we want all of the work to be authentic. So, we did share with them that that's kind of our take on it right now. And of course, that may expand in the future. Um when you look at the employability skills um piece, you know, one of the things that happened this year was we hosted our um first discovery days. And what that was was Natalie Smith and her team collaborated and created two days for um GMS West and GMS East students to come to the high school and they got to choose um particular pathways to go and visit. And then the CTAE teacher teachers created either interactive experiences or
015like projects for them to engage in. And what that allowed the middle schoolers to do is to kind of get a taste of some of the pathways that they would have options for when they come to the high school. So for instance, in construction, they got instructions on how to build a Christmas tree. And they got to spend that time, you know, taking the pieces, sawing the pieces, using drills um to build a Christmas tree. and we got to see lots of the kids walk out with little Christmas trees that they could take home. So, that was really cool. We got lots of great feedback um from the teachers, from the students um about that um activity and we're going to continue to do that in the future because what that does is is it
016opens up those doors for the kids to decide which pathways that they want to be involved in when they come to the high school. So, that was really awesome. We also had our annual career fairs with UNNG and Bernal, which y'all probably read about or may have participated in. Um, and that went really well. Um, if you skip down to the next bullet, supporting CTAE teachers or any CTAE professional, um, just wanted to highlight there is that that we always try to make sure that we're meeting the needs of our, um, CTA professionals. Whatever professional learning they need, we try to make sure that they get it. So, if they're a new teacher, we have specific new teacher professional learning that they go to for their pathway. if they're an existing teacher, there are a
017lot of options that they have to engage. So, we support that. Um, let's see. Identifying skills that support the academic areas of ELA, math, and science. One of the things that we're working on is um meeting with department chairs for the core content areas so that they can work with CTAE teachers to identify skills that cross over between CTAE and content so that we can make both programs really solid. So we're working on that. Um providing CTAE lab equipment. So so far this year we have bought cameras and um lenses for audiovisisual. We've bought drones for engineering. Um levels, sanders, miter saws, routers, angle grinders, c circular saws for construction, a garment printer and heat press for graphic design. and then portable tables um for our he healthc care class where they can do like
018you know mock injury assessment of uh students in sports medicine. We've also bought exercise rail systems and stability balls that help with the therapy piece. So that's um equipment we've purchased this year. And then increasing participation in our different um facets of CTE. We hosted the elect fair. We've hosted job fairs. We host student and parent informational meetings so that they know what to expect uh when they get to the next grade and what options are available to them with CTE. And then we also printed and um provided guidance on the ad student advisement guides for all eighth graders. So all eighth grade students got a got a really nice copy of the advisement guide so that they could see what core content classes they're going to be taking and then also what CTAE pathways
019are available so that they can decide which pathway they would like to be a part of. And that um advisement guide includes um jobs that are associated with the pathways and it also includes um like potential income that students could make if they follow through with that particular pathway as an adult. Um so yeah, anything any questions on that thoughts? So those are just a few things. That's not everything. Just a few things we've been doing with CTE. the best on the risk assessment. Yes. So each year we have to conduct a risk assessment with um the CTA division and um what we have to do is we have to go through and we have to rate ourselves. I've included um that as well. Eddie, if you want to pull the rating scale up. Yeah,
020that'd be great. Um we have to go through and we have to rate ourselves on these particular indicators and um each yes no response um has um a point value associated with it and then we also have to provide narrative regarding the um evidence of or lack of compliance. And um the points that are associated with each yes no answer um is what determines our risk rating. And a lower score, kind of like golf, um a lower score indicates reduced risk of needing monitoring between the 5-year monitoring cycle. And um I'm pleased to report that we are low risk for the fourth year in a row with our lowest score yet. And um you can see in the indicators the kinds of questions that they ask. It's really a lot of compliance, making sure that
021we're checking our boxes um with all things budget and inventory and um completing our programs. The only indicator that we actually received points for was number seven and those were that was on our credentials of value. So what that is that's also called the EOPA or the end of pathway assessment. So when students take that third level of any pathway, they get the opportunity to take a test essentially to um assess what they know and they can potentially earn certificates or certifications um at the end of that pathway. You'll notice that this ask about FY23 because when we did this survey, it's a the data that we get is a lagging data source. So we're always a year or so behind. Um, and so in FY23, our COV rate was only 39%. Um, but that
022was just coming off of the heels of COVID because we did not give credentials of value or what y'all may hear as EOPA's in FY21 422. Um, and so that's one of the reasons why that percentage was so low. You know how it is sometimes it takes us a little bit of time to get back into the swing of things. However, I am happy to report that in FY24 that 39% went up to 53% and so hopefully next year the risk assessment may be zero because that 53% means that we actually met our state target. So sorry if I'm asking something and you just clearly said no it's okay. I said a lot that percentage that uh that's percentage of people that gain the certificate after taking the or pass the test. They either gain
023the certificate or pass the test that goes along with it. Not all of them have not all of them have it. Certificates. Not each area or each pathway doesn't have correct. But the percentage then means they passed the test and it meant that that pathway has a certificate they also got. Yes, good question. And the state target for that particular year was 50%. The state target went up in 24 to 53% and we actually met um that state target in 24. Any other questions? Thank you. Good evening. I'm coming before you tonight to um ask you to approve the renovation of the hub. As you know, the hub opened in 2020. Um since that time, technologies have improved. Um our understanding of how the room is used has improved. And this is the big wellness
024room at the hub. Um, what this is going to allow us to do is to come back in and renovate that space. And it'll work very much like this location, the boardroom here at the Oak Street office and also like the training room that we have over at the Washington Street location. We'll have the nice uh panel or we call it the brain on the wall that will control the different scenarios of when that room is in use. It'll allow us to come back in and we find that one of the things that that room is used for quite often is meetings where the presenter is in a virtual setting. they are not in the room like a college visit or a college expert um speaking to a group of students in the room and
025we really don't have the microphone system in there to allow that person to be able to hear the kids when they want to ask questions. This is going to allow us to take care of those kind of renovations. Um and again you're not seeing um num you know having other bids because this is national contract pricing and so we did not get the competing quotes. Um it is going through nicewonger same group who has done these two buildings and the amount of the renovation is going to be $75,86566. Be glad to answer any questions. know how much was put into the space between it was really just the two panels. Right. Right. It was a very minimal amount. We did put speakers in, but that's it. Yeah. Yeah. I would say under 10. I I
026I don't have that number in front of me. I'm sorry. I don't I don't have that number. It was set up at the time to be more about let me pull it up on one screen mirror to the other and just speak to a group. It was never about engaging anybody outside. Right. Right. We weren't thinking that way. Opportunities where we're sharing with other schools and bringing in speakers and uh we've had some issues. I think with one of the panels too sometimes you connect to this. Yeah. Some of the um just it's it's a we really didn't do a good job of building that system so that it didn't require technical expertise in order to use the room. And so we run into problems with people like reaching behind the panel and unplugging things
027and breaking wires. And they're not doing it out of any, you know, any malice. It's just, you know, it's not really set up. Bill wants me to say is six months after she got here, we opened it. And so she didn't get to have her her uh ideas in it quite as much. But no, it we we've had issues with it um ever since it opened. So I'm hope I know this will u resolve a lot of those challenges. Well, realistically five years is a pretty long time in terms of this kind of technology. So it's um is is this going to just replace that outdated technology or is what's there something that we can use elsewhere in other ways or is it pretty much done? Most of it is to the point that it
028will not be useful to to go into another location. The panels are something we will be able to reuse. The panel itself. We'll have to replace the computers because a 5-y old computer is too old to really be useful. Um, but we will be able to to repurpose those. Um, but we'll we will most of this will be for some of the extra things that we're going to come back in with like the uh microphone system that picks up everywhere in the room. It's a, you know, much more sophisticated kind of technology than what we have right there. Now, and this is within general budget. We're not I have the money allocated within my budget. I'm not asking you for beyond my regular budget. I probably should have said that to start with. Make a
029motion to approve. Thank I've got a few if I can just touch on them. Uh you should have in front of you the end of the year awards programs and various things that are happening at the end of the school year that if you want to pop into any of the schools. Uh you're more than welcome to see those grade level awards. Uh I know anytime you get a chance to do something like that, everybody loves uh seeing the board engaged. Also, as a reminder, this Friday uh at noon is the honorary diploma lunchon uh in the media center at Gainesville High School. Uh we'll be honoring once again Scott Rutherford and Dr. Faith Simpson. Uh we we will put this on the next board agenda to remind you that we did we did shift
030the June 2nd uh work session to June the 9th. And um yeah, so just want to give a couple of those real quick items there uh for discussion. into session. Make a motion.