Special Regular Board Meeting- January 13, 2026

001It is 5:00 pm on January 13, 2026. I'm going to call to order our special called meeting for our budget work session. Um, just a reminder, this is a special called work session and with these we do not do public comment. Um, so just wanted to remind everybody of that. Roll call. We have four members here in person. We do have another board member who is going to be a little bit late, about 10 minutes. So, she'll be here shortly. And at this time, I'm going to go ahead and call CMTA Energy up to do their presentation for us. Y'all hear us? Okay, >> perfect. >> Great. Um, I'm face this way. Uh, my name is Presley Dean. I'm a mechanical engineer project manager for CMTA Energy Solutions. Been with them for about five years

002now. >> And my name is Sarah Wan. I am also a mechanical engineer with CMTA. I've been here about three years. >> Yeah. Um we'd like to encourage you all to just ask ask questions, stop us as we're going through if you if you all have anything that catches your eye and and want us to speak on anything more. Um yeah. So, first, uh, CMTA and Woodford County have had a great partnership over the last 20 plus years. Uh, CMTA has done at least some sort of design on every single building in the county. So, at this one, I think it's the smallest impact. It was just the cooling tower, but at least something at every school and building throughout the county. Uh, the most recent being the new high school and then before that,

003the renovations of Southside and North Side about nine years ago now. Um, so we've been we've been doing the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing design at these different schools. So you all have known us as a design partner. And what we're here today to present on is how we could build that same design. So how we can design that and be your design partner, but also be a build partner to help renovate these these schools and get some projects built. So first going over what is a general a general a guaranteed energy savings contract. uh GESC. So, it's essentially just a financing tool to help you reallocate money that you're spending today on utilities and instead invest that money into infrastructure of your buildings. I like to look at these two charts to the right on

004the screen here. These are describing your operations budget before and after a project. The one on top is before a project. You have two main costs in this bucket. You have your utility cost, what it takes to run your facilities, and then your maintenance costs, what it takes to keep that equipment running and keep things up and running. The second chart there is representative of an operations budget after a project. It's important to note that these two these two pies are are the same uh size, represent the same budget amount. And what these projects mainly focus on is decreasing that portion of your budget that's being spent on utilities. So, we guarantee energy savings. So, all of those all of those dollar savings are are guaranteed. Um, and we stand we stand behind that at

005at CMTA. Um, over the last 14 years of doing these projects, we have not missed one of those guarantees. So, we're confident when we say that we're going to guarantee you some energy savings. And those energy savings, if you if you decrease the portion of that pie that's being sent to the utility company, you get some new equipment. So, it costs less to maintain that equipment. the leftover that green slice of the pie is your guaranteed energy savings and that money can be used to help fund infrastructure upgrades. Um many different things that you can use that money for, but essentially what this is doing again is taking money that you're spending today at the utility company and instead realloc reallocating that money to be spent on infrastructure upgrades. And then this is something that

006is not new. Um, we've been doing these projects all across the nation. Uh, but we're based in Louisville, Kentucky, and have a strong local presence here in Kentucky. And all of these green counties that you see on the on the map are places where we've done a guaranteed energy savings contract. So, we've done it all all across the state. And as you can see, we've done a [snorts] lot right here in the immediate surrounding area. And then here's what we've done to date. Um that's part of this partnership with Woodford County. The first step is really to get out there and evaluate all of the systems. So we walked your different buildings. Um Sherman was grateful gracious enough to take his time and walk us through those facilities. So grateful to him for doing that.

007Uh we looked at all the different things you see up on the screen from HVAC to lighting and controls. Um we also have access to uh past utility bills. So you all uh provided us with that data and we analyzed that data, looked at the utility rate structures and summarized um how you're spending that money today. And then finally, we evaluated some potential energy savings measures and um we're going to look at how those could be maybe be applied in Woodford County. So first the utility summary. Um energy use intensity. I wanted to quickly talk about this because you'll hear me say it several times throughout the rest of the presentation. So EUI is energy use per square foot. Essentially what this is doing is taking all of the energy used at the building dividing

008by square foot and that gives you a metric and you can compare a really large building to a really small building and you can see which one's more efficient by you know average or you know calculating out dollar energy per square foot. you can compare buildings one another. And this is the overall Woodford County um district utility summary. This does not include the new high school. So when we put this uh these totals together, the new high school didn't have a full 12 months of data because it's such a new building. And to act accurately get an EUI, again, it's energy per square foot and that's on a yearly basis. So if we don't have a full year's data, we can't calculate that out. So, this is just for those other facilities throughout the district.

009You can see a total of just over $660,000 spent between electricity and gas at those facilities. Um, and that works out to an EUI, what I was just talking about, of 37.2 overall for the district and a total utility spend of $122 per square foot. >> [snorts] >> Um these numbers might not mean anything to you if you don't have anything to compare them to, but these are really good starting numbers. You all are a very very energyefficient district and you know the credit all the credit goes towards your staff for for you know having um doing a good job of maintaining that equipment, doing a job good job of running it effectively and efficiently. So credit goes out to your all's uh maintenance staff there. And then here's just those EUIs of each facility

010um on a graph so you can see how they stack up one another. Um these are really good low starting EUIs. Uh you can see that Safe Harbor and the Board of Education are are slightly higher than the rest of of the district, but again these are very good low starting numbers. The message I'm trying to get across to you all is that you are are doing a very good job of running an efficient district today. What would just so I can give reference to this, what would be an inefficient number? You know, we're low, but if you saw this number, that's kind of a red flag for you. >> Sure. Um, you know, on the dollar per square foot, um, I've seen upwards of $3 a square foot. Um, you all are less than

011half of that. I would say if I see $3 a square foot, I'm going to know that there's something that can be done there to to lower that number. >> Yeah. in Kentucky highsiding schools, you know, they're down in the lows. >> Perfect. Thank you. safe is a little skewed. It's a really small building and it's got heavy gas. So although it's high from an EUI standpoint, you're not [snorts] spending a tremendous amount of utility at that building compared to >> and it's the gym. It's the gym specifically that is not energy efficient there. Yeah, that that gym has um really old single pane windows and like John said, the envelope just isn't good. So, a lot of air leakage between inside and outside naturally is going to cause you to heat that space more

012as you're leaking, you know, heat to the outside. >> Perfect. Thank you for that context. >> Absolutely. Um yeah, so Sarah's going to next talk about some of the existing conditions that we saw as we walked throughout the district. >> Yeah. Sorry. So, starting with your all's lighting in your buildings, all of your buildings have some percentage of LED lighting already, which is a great start. Whether that's 10% or maybe 100% like your new high school, there's a range for all of your buildings there. But again, great foundation to start with. Um, lighting is one of the first things we look at when we're doing a walkthrough of a building. Primarily because doing a switch over to all LED lighting is going to be a tremendous help for your energy efficiency and your energy savings.

013And it's also going to have a really short um payback term in comparison to some other work that's needed throughout the district. Then we have your HVAC automation. So the controls that um make your HBAC equipment run. So kind of same story here. We have some newer controls and we also have schools with some older, more outdated, inefficient controls. And the great thing about a newer controls platform is that your maintenance team is able to remotely pull up their HBAC system status from anywhere in the district on their phone or on their computer. Um, and we actually got to see this with your team firsthand when we came a couple of months ago and walked your facilities. It was the first snow of the year. It was really cold. It was probably the first heating

014day of the year. And you know, as Presley mentioned, we took their whole day. They were gracious enough to give us their time. But, you know, while we were taking some notes, taking some pictures, they were also able to just pull that up on their phone and kind of field cold complaints as they came in and address those situations from wherever we were at in the district, even if we weren't at the school with those problems. Then we have your HVAC equipment. So, you have a couple of different system types throughout your district. So, we'll start with your geothermal Wellfield schools. So, that's Huntertown Elementary School, which is about 17 years old. Simmons at 20 years old and the middle school at 22 years old. So geothermal is the most efficient HBAC system type. It

015has a really long lifespan. So I know I just I threw a couple years at you there, but um those well fields themselves still have decades left of life in them. However, their classroom equipment, so those water source heat pumps that serve all of your spaces, those are approaching their end of useful life um and will be there in the next couple of years. So those are your geothermal schools. Then you have your VRF schools. So that's North Side and Southside Elementary School. Those are about 8 to nine years old. Still a pretty efficient system, but we know just from speaking with your maintenance team that those are kind of the problem schools of the district, they seem to have a lot of issues there. And these schools also run on a refrigerant that can

016no longer be purchased new. Um, so in the long term, as years go on, it's only going to be harder to find and purchase that refrigerant. So those are your BRF schools. And then you have Safe Harbor, which is kind of again on its own little island. Um, that equipment is about 15 years old and um, still has a couple of years left of life in it. And then you have this building, the board office, which is a boiler cooling tower system. So, it's very similar to geothermal wellfield, but it's not going to be as efficient and it's not going to last you nearly as long as that wellfield will. So, the systems here, with the exception of the cooling tower that was replaced six years ago, everything else in this building is 28 years

017old, which is a pretty pretty old for HVAC equipment. And again, that's just truly a testament to your maintenance team. We know how hard it is to keep equipment this age up and running and functioning for you all. So, huge props to them. Um, but kind of from our point of view, again, I threw a lot of years and dates and information at you all, but um, a couple of things stand out to us. First being this board office, 28-year-old equipment is well past its average useful life in terms of equipment lifespan. And then you have those geothermal schools as well. So again, the wellfield itself is in good condition, but the actual equipment inside of the building is again same thing, reaching that end of useful life, if that all makes sense. So next,

018moving on to project opportunity. I know Presley kind of spoke on these little pie charts earlier, uh, but we wanted to bring them back now that we've kind of spoken through your need in your district, things that can be improved, and really just how this type of project gives you all the opportunity to reallocate money that you're already spending on your utilities and put it back into the needs and upgrades um throughout your facilities. So, an energy savings project could fund work like LED lighting or HVAC or controls equipment replacements. However, we know the need in the district is a lot higher than what these energy savings can fund, but it's a great starting point to kind of start knocking down that list. What we would hate to happen is for you all to kind

019of just kick this bucket down the road, you know, five, 10 years, and then you have six or seven schools with all failing equipment all at one time, which would not be very manageable, very overwhelming. So, if we're able to, you know, hit some of these things in smaller projects one at a time, it would hopefully kind of ease the stress off of you all and make it more manageable. Do you do you have any kind of recommended schedule that So, obviously, you've looked at everything that we have. Do you have like a recommended priority list and here's here's what we would tackle first. Here's maybe the estimated cost for that. you know, do you guys build something like that that we could see? Not right now, obviously, but >> Yeah. Yeah, for sure. We

020definitely also want to take your all's priorities into account as well. Um, we know from our technical engineering, our point of view, this is what we would fix it. You know, the board office, I said, is up there. Those geothermal Wellfield schools are up there as well. Um, so we would kind of walk through a process with you all of this is kind of what we see. What do you all see? What does your maintenance team see? and where where can those priorities kind of align and um kind of go from there down that process. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you. >> I was just going to add on to that that there's obviously a financial p you know side to that conversation as well. So being making it manageable manageable from a financial perspective and

021not trying to put an unrealistic you know number in front of you or expectation in front of you. Um yeah and just being able to plan that out over the course of years and what we would do is evaluate the life cycle cost analysis of all of these schools. So if we are expecting this equipment to last 20 years you know well you don't need to replace it today but you need to have that in mind when it comes to what time you know when should we replace that equipment. I don't know if that helps but >> one thing I'll add is whenever it's kind of like buying a car there's good, better, best. And now, especially this time with the ITC and inflation reduction act that's out there, there's federal tax dollars that can

022be put towards the geothermal HBAC renovations that are actually making the first cost with that with those ITC dollars very similar to a conventional HBAC system, but there there's a component to that because you still have to have the first cost there, >> right? >> So, there's a there's a range, but yeah, we would love to sit down and and help chart that out and see what that looks like and go through options and see what that >> and then we had this um kind of a list of what we've done so far with the check marks next to it and then what would the next steps in this in this process be? And you know, I've mentioned that we've reviewed your utilities. We walked your facilities and kind of walked through a couple different

023project scenarios. Um, our main goal of this phase is really to just find is there an opportunity to fund meaningful work with energy savings. And I can confidently say that in Woodford County there is an opportunity for that. Um, to fund meaningful work that would be, you know, funded from energy savings. Um so that's that's the main point of this phase is to figure out is there an opportunity and confidently can say yes there is an opportunity out there to uh you know produce some energy savings and fund some of that work. Um but really this this project is and we've alluded to this would would just be a piece of the overall puzzle when it comes to upgrading Woodford County schools you know from now until when um these are you know living buildings

024that need to be taken care of over the course of time. Um, and like Sarah mentioned, there's more need throughout the district than what can be funded directly with energy savings. Um, and really the next step would be to help you all develop that road map. Um, give you all some different options of how to phase out these different projects and take into account what your all's highest priorities are and what we would recommend from a technical perspective. >> Yeah, because you all are so energy efficient, you make our job hard. So, >> yeah, >> there's a starting point is is lower, but that's good news for you. You're saving money every day. >> Yeah. >> But less less energy savings dollars to leverage over 20 year term. >> Yeah. >> Um yeah, we'd be

025happy to uh to field any questions that you all might have. >> Can you um can you tell us is there has there been or is there any cost to the district for the work that you've done so far? >> Yeah, that's a great question. This has all been at risk work so far. So there there has been no cost to the district for any of this work. >> Um and that's you know another great uh aspect of these projects is that um really all of the all of the development in terms of getting you estimates on uh scope of work, what we would be accomplishing and budgetary numbers for that. All of that work up until you sign the contract. You've decided exactly what you want to do. You have a really good number

026in mind of what it's going to cost. you've signed on that contract and then that's where the financial, you know, commitment comes into play. So, up until that point, there's no financial commitment from you all for this project. >> And do you have an anticipated like an estimate of what a financial commitment would be to do this work in Woodford County? >> Um, >> I know I know you said a lot of the the idea is that savings from as a result of these energy efficiency projects would fund the improvements, but then what would be the cost to your company? for us. Do you see what I'm saying? Like how will you make money I guess is my question. >> Yeah. Um that's a good question. So we at CMTA um along with developing all

027the different scope of work. We uh it's really a turnkey project. Um so you all get a lot of advantages going to CMTA. Um for one, it's a guaranteed maximum price number. So there's no change orders, which I know is an issue on every other type of project. Um, but we also provide a lot of services. So, we'll have construction management on site every single day. Um, so that's a CMTA employee that would be on site. Um, we also guarantee the energy savings. So, you know, that's another service that we provide. Um, yeah, we're also very transparent and open book with our pricing. So, any of the any of the bidding process that we go through would be transparently presented to you all. um you all would be able to look at all those numbers

028and from there make a you know more educated decision on if you want to proceed with any specific scope of work. Sorry I couldn't get that out. [snorts] >> And this might be kind of putting the cart before the horse and I apologize and it's okay if you say I don't know that yet. It's completely fine to answer that. Um, but I guess my question is as far as longevity, like how long would it take to recuperate the financial burdens upfront as far as like cost analysis, including your fees and kind of what you know about the industry and what you think your projected cost may be, for example, for the geothermal or replacing the remainder of the LED lights. I guess when do we get over top of our cost? >> Kind of when

029the break even point is what you're asking. How many years would you say or months even >> the way the projects are structured is that they're in Kentucky the statute is that they can be 20ear projects. So um you know the the savings are that green slice of the pie that then get opened up to make a debt service payment >> um that pays for the project. So uh the longer the term the more those Energy savings can fund construction. So if you were to uh for example do a lighting project in the district, the lighting might have a a ROI return on investment of four to seven years depending on what we do here. So for uh the remainder of that 20 year term, those lighting savings are actually funding HVAC savings or control

030savings or whatever other infrastructure upgrades you're you're wanting to make. So the the the goal of these projects is to free up dollars you're spending already and then have those savings fund infrastructure upgrades that don't pay for themselves in that and the overall term is like a 20 year term. >> Thank you. >> Anybody else have any questions? >> No, I would just say thank you guys so much for coming and presenting this information. Um, it's definitely nice to have, you know, assessments and options and and hear about our facilities and and kind of have in the back of our mind like what some some upcoming needs may may be and also just to kind of have a different idea of how maybe things can be funded if we have to. And and I do

031think that we're probably at the point where we we may, you know, not it may not be a decision of of um, you know, doing or not doing it. It may be just we we have to. So, it's nice to have some ideas. Thank you. >> Yeah, absolutely. Thank you all very much for for having us. >> Absolutely. Thank you very much for presenting. >> Yeah, thank you all. >> Thank you. >> All right. Well, next we will move on to our budget committee presentation and I'll turn it over to Dr. Mr. Jones to introduce >> I'm going to ask um Mr. Joe Belelford and Mr. Logan Nance as well as Mr. Ryan Wilson to we're just going to have you sort of up here. Um and >> the mic >> you can also I'll

032let you just remind you can see the um screen there as well as you're presenting if you need to. But I know you already have everything. it. Um I [clears throat] I did want to just intro do an introduction and just say that um you know before applying for this position as superintendent, I've watched several um board board meetings over the years and studied the financial um status of the district pretty extensively. And then that you know the school board's charge to me was we we have to [clears throat] have a balanced budget. we have to get our budget under control. And so that is actually one of my um professional growth plan goals that I will be evaluated on um as your superintendent. And um I wanted to say that just to give some

033context um I wanted to share this graph and this I'll have to sh tell you that um this starts at 2016 and runs through 2026. Um but you can see the bars are the um there are fund balance at the end of each of those years, those fiscal years and the percentage of our budget in that fund balance. And so I just wanted to paint a picture of [clears throat and cough] our current reality um where we are as a district um as your superintendent. And so you can see that um spanning from 2016 to 2026, our fund balance, which truly funds um everything for our district that first quarter before anything left over after we close out um the fiscal year, we begin the new school year. Um those expenditures have to be paid

034from that fund balance. And that's one of the reasons that the state requires us to at least have a 2% fund balance. And so that's where that red line is. And so you can see that we have spanned over the years um anywhere um from you know in some of the years we were down to like 18% 16% but never where we have been over the last three years. And I can tell you that Dr. Raburn and I along with um this budget committee and several members um of our central office have gone through line by line by line of our budget. And I I do want to publicly thank Dr. Raburn because he has stepped in and I'm going to tell you that I cannot estimate the number of hours he has dedicated to

035helping us helping me helping our board really balance this budget. So if you see there by the end of this school year we are projected to have and this is with savings that we have currently put into place we are projected to have a fund balance of uh 1,992,98062. If you notice that is extremely close. That's the closest we've ever been to that statemandated 2%. At that point, if our fund balance falls below the 2%, the Kentucky Department of Education will come in and they will take over management, financial management of our school system. I want to be sure that we're all clear on that because that's our current reality. And so, if you do the math, we are spending $3 million more than we need to spend. And so, the following year, you can

036see that we would be well below. So 2027 if something is not done we will be well below and the state will take over our financial management. This school board will no longer have financial management of this district. So I want to be very clear with where we are. I also want to be clear that we are in an incredible school system. We are an incredible community. We have two cities who are unique and love our school system and communities throughout this county that love this school system. We have a committed board of education. We have committed citizens. We have committed employees who absolutely go above and beyond anything I have ever seen. And I have been in some incredible districts. But this district is very special. And so I don't I want us to

037understand our current reality because we have the responsibility to ensure that this school system thrives for our students, for our staff members, and for our community. We do have a legacy of excellence and we are going to ensure a future of opportunities for our students. And so this is a bump in the road, but it is our current reality. And we do [clears throat] have to take all of these things into consideration to make sure that our school system thrives. So, I did want to mention before um our fine budget committee uh folks share um our commitment the budget committee was to provide transparency to analyze and truly look at trends, staffing comparisons, um all sorts of data to really ensure our our priorities were lowest impact that we could possibly make on classroom instruction.

038uction student centered budgeting prior prioritization maintaining as many current student programs as possible like not eliminating any of our programs but maybe needing to reduce but not eliminate and then maintaining that step increase for our staff members if at all possible and so I'm going to allow our wonderful budget committee representatives to start. >> All right. Um, [clears throat] again, I I just want to thank Dr. Jones. Um, as she mentioned, I can't imagine having to come into a new role and and that be your your first charge, your first task. But, um, I commend her on on her commitment and dedication uh to making sure that this was a very thorough and in-depth process. Um, so the process that the the budget committee went through, you can kind of see it's that statement at

039the top. Um, I just want to read that real quick and just kind of highlight a couple key words that you'll see in that statement. Um, so we were to provide a strategic financial recommendation to the uh, Werford County School Board. Uh, the committee's purpose is to analyze trends and provide transparency and to represent all stakeholder voices. Our goal is to identify opportunities for the operational efficiency and the best use of public funds. Um so just a couple key words I want to highlight in there. First of all is um all stakeholder voices. You know again this was not a small group of people. Um this was a collective group of people that includes uh voices from administrators such as myself. Um we had uh classified staff, certified staff members. We had central office staff

040members. Um we had parent reps, community members, um uh what was it about 10 10 people or so. Um so all voices were a part of this committee. And so again, I greatly appreciate the the collection of of voices that were assembled for this committee. Um at the same time, I want to show my or give my gratitude and appreciation for those people. Um we set some expectations uh within that committee. Um and and you know people showed up, they put in the work um and they I think they did their due diligence to make sure that the recommendations tonight were at the you know met the needs of our district. Um the next uh thing is um analyze trends. Um we looked at like Dr. Jones said so much data. Um we looked at

041everything from energy efficiency to seek funding. Um I learned a lot. I probably learned more in in these uh budget committee meetings I have in a long time. but really looked at every single possible data that we could have and and what I also appreciated that it wasn't just Woodford County people that that we heard from. We brought in all sorts of people and um allowed them to kind of look into to Woodford County and to provide us some information, input so it wasn't just one voice. Um and then lastly, uh transparency. Um you know, after every meeting, Dr. Jones put out her her video to inform the public of of what was going on at our meetings. we had the transparency link on the Woodford County web page. So hopefully uh people were able

042to check that out. Um but again just just truly, you know, it's not an ideal situation to be in and not not an ideal committee to be on, but I was truly um proud to to be selected to represent our administrators. Um and so hopefully what you are presented with tonight um you guys will understand and know that this was a lot of work and and um time and effort. So >> Mr. Wilson. >> Yes, ma'am. >> I know we know who you all are, but I'm imagining that a lot of people are watching this video. So if you want to share who you are and where you like what role you play in the district, I think >> so. My name is Ryan Wilson. I am currently the principal at Huntertown. >> Sorry. >>

043I thought they remember me from last time. All right, good evening everybody. Uh, my name is Joe Belelfford. I am a member of the community. I got recruited by Dr. Jones uh at a WEF meeting. I'm uh I'm the vice chairman of the Woodford Educational Endowment Foundation. I've been involved with WEF for about eight years now. First as treasurer, now as vice chairman. Um, and I I just I want to reiterate what Ryan just had to say. Um, you know, Dr. Jones came in, uh, got this great new job, and I think before she knew what was happening, she realized she had a really bad hand to play. Um, and between her and Dr. Rurn, um, she assembled a great group of people on this budget committee. Um she put us to work and you

044know I I know there's some people who aren't thrilled with some of these things and it was a tough situation. We had to you know we had to make significant cuts. There was no one $3 million line item that we could just cut out. So you know it was little big but you know multiple things that had to be addressed considered and uh that was pretty much what we did. Um, as far as the process, we met in I guess we met four times from the uh middle of September through just before Christmas once a month. And that uh graph right there, that graphic right there, that pretty much explains what we did. Um, at first the the first month was kind of an introduction. Who are you? you know what do you got going

045on but um explained what's happening with the budgets the general budget you know um seek funds the I guess the end of esser funds which I know they've been gone for a little while now but you know some of the problems that we have today within the school district are kind of left over from you know maybe excess positions and things like that um But in you know we got to know each other briefly and uh we talked about the general fund and we addressed that you know we've got a job to do and it's it's not going to be pleasant at times but you know I mean Dr. Jones and Dr. Rayburn, they looked under every rock that they could to find what we were, you know, things that we could meet and, you

046know, a cut if necessary. Uh, so that first one, the budgets, that was basically meeting number one. And then the funding came um in October and we had an basically an expert on seek funding and um you know as you know as the property valuations go up the SEK funding goes down and that was uh that obviously creates a big hurdle. Um, so you know, and we talked about what people are making and things like that because that was the biggest problem was with positions and stuff like that. Uh, a big problem with the funding was what we ended up addressing in our third meeting was all our expenditures and stuff. And we found out that the uh, you know, as as far as revenue, I guess we could say they remained somewhat flat, but

047expenditures went higher and higher. Um, and one of the primary things was salaries. Um, you know, uh, we we addressed, uh, neighboring counties, what they've got going on. Franklin, Fyet, uh, Jessimine, Scott, um, who am I forgetting? Anderson and you know and in every aspect Woodford County was right there as far as number of students in a classroom, number of employees in various roles within the district. Um yet you know the hole got deeper and deeper. uh Miss Macau uh was quoted in the Woodford Sun probably I don't know six or eight months ago. You know, time flies, but uh basically that you know there it was just you know no there was no worry about spending more and more money. Um I know that Miss Springgate had a problem with uh Was that you?

048>> That was very >> right. And you I think you hit the number on the head when you pointed out to the then CFO that the deficit was about $2.9 million which was pretty much exactly what the deficit for 25 ended up being. um you know so we addressed all these things and um the November meeting we ended up it was time to say well what should we look at and um Dr. Jones had a couple of poster boards up throughout the room and we just did little postit saying, you know, this one, what about this one, what about that and we discussed it. Um, you know, there was agreement. It it was it was interesting. It was it was a pretty cool process actually. And then uh our final meeting was the December and

049she you know and and transparency is something I I feel she's she really focused on and she posted this on her transparency which was the different components of what we addressed as far as the budget reductions and you know some of them were small some you know it's like instead Instead of each school buying their own school supplies individually, we're going to do it in mass for the whole school district. Some of them were tough. You know, I mean, there's people who their job got critically evaluated and you know, some of these will have to be cut. Um, and you know, no single group of or you know, uh, individuals got pointed out and identified. There was no targeting or anything, but listen, it's $3 million and it's it's a critical point right now. As

050Dr. Jones just pointed out with her graph earlier, you know, if we can't address this now, then what next what happens next isn't the best interest for Woodford County Schools. And uh I just I wanted to say everybody on that board committee, they did a tremendous job. Um if anybody's got a problem with our conclusions, uh I'm sorry. I I don't know what to say. I I felt, you know, good about myself and us as a team when we left the room the final time. Uh, and I don't want to give you more work by any means, but if somebody has a suggestion or an idea that we didn't come up with, you know, there's a way to find out to contact these people on the board of education. So, um, you know, I I

051would think if you have something to propose, you know, this is the time to do it. So, anyway, that's all I got. Thanks, Thank you, Joe. Appreciate it. Yeah. Um, so my name is Logan Nance. I'm a parent rep that served on the budget committee process. I'm on the city council in Midway. Also serve on the SPDM in North Side, which means I have a problem saying no to stuff uh as Dr. Jones uh took advantage of. Um, which but uh I I'll keep it I'll keep it short and sweet. This gentleman did a great job of summing up kind of the process for how we got to where we got. And you know, I can just speak from my own uh personal experience, you know, coming into that meeting that first day. I expected

052I was going to learn a ton, but I thought it'd be a good opportunity to learn about the school budgets and what's going into it. And pretty quickly into that first meeting, I realized the enormity of the task that was actually set before us that it wasn't going to be a a fun experience. It was going to be a learning experience, but it was also going to be an experience that culminated in a lot of really tough decisions getting made. Um, and the right people were in the room. I mean, there's a ton of of of people in there that that came from other districts, as Joe said, that that brought in a lot of great experience. Um, and you know, uh, I think we were we were all really committed to making sure that

053we were willing to make the hard decisions, but we want to make sure that we kept the kids and their education at the forefront of every decision that was made and that we didn't want to sacrifice Woodford County's competitiveness in the region. So, how can we do those things and also make the really tough decisions? And after that third meeting, you know, we all left there really realizing again how big this this issue is. And the task from Dr. Jones was find some things like find some areas, you know, go back and scour over those budgets, look at the budgets for the other counties like Anderson and and and Franklin and and Scott and and try to find areas where we can reduce. And that was the task. And then to Joe's point, we came

054in that last meeting with those sticky notes, with those um areas that we had found. Um and and I think we were again all committed to saying that this is not something we want to pass the buck on. This is not something we want to make next year's, you know, we don't want to do just a little bit. Like if we're going to sit here and do it, let's do it and let's solve the problem now so that we're not dealing with it again next year and next year and next year. So I think that was the goal. Uh but it was a really eye openening experience. you know, again, as a parent, um, to to really understand, I guess, even even on the city council, the the budget here is just significantly more complicated

055um, than even like a city budget just because of the different buckets and stuff. So, really eye opening process as a parent to know the reality of the situation. Um, and that yeah, it nothing we were going to do was going to make everybody happy. We had to make a a lot of really tough decisions as you'll see here today. But I think obviously that's that's that's the job. That's the role. we got to do that kind of thing and when we're called upon it. So, but um yeah, so hopefully um as you all have seen what we recommended that you'll you'll see again that again none of it easy decisions, but I I think it all it puts us in a significantly better situation going forward. Um that's the goal at least. Thanks. >>

056Yeah, thank you all for sharing that. I think it really sheds a light to a lot of people just how complex this process is and the fact that you all as a committee really dug in, learned the ins and outs of everything and where we are and where we need to be. Um just really appreciate all the hard work that everyone put in. So Dr. Jones, >> so Dr. Rayburn will um now we'll go through um every recommendation um one by one and um you are feel free to ask questions board members of course for any clarifications uh anything that that you need from us um and then I will share my recommendations. So we've got the budget committee recommendations and then I'll share my recommendations. had to uh get the camera ready. So, board

057members, you should have in front of you the printed copy of the working or the draft budget that is being shared tonight. All of these recommendations, all of these discussion points are in the budget. Um, I have the budget next to me. So on as soon as the slides come up um we will uh I'll show you my screen. I'll show you exactly where it is in the budget. You can make a note on your budget where it is because our budget is 87 pages. So if you're trying to figure out where in the world does this exist in 87 pages, good luck because I've spent the last few days scouring it and trying to find it. Um and so what you will not see in the draft budget is you will not see um

058individual departments affected by this. We did a global reduction instead of going down to the nitty-gritty which is what happens later. So to get started, I want to remind everybody of our um of our strategic vision, which is stewardship is one of our pillars that we are proposing. And that means that team Woodford commits to the careful and responsible management of facilities, operations, and processes. And underneath that uh stewardship goal is to have best practices for budgeting, purchasing, staffing, and maintenance to ensure stability of district assets. So, as we go through our presentation this evening, I would like to encourage you to remember um remember our pillars that we are working toward to for our strategic goal and strategic vision. >> Dr. Aurn, I just had a quick question. Um this is the first time

059we're seeing any of this tonight. Is this going to be attached to the um agenda so that folks can review this? >> So, I'm I'm going to explain all of that. >> Okay. Thanks. So um so as we go through this process, these are the three different budgets that the board is required to approve over time u from January through the end of the fiscal or end of the budget year not just the fiscal year for the calendar year. The draft budget is due January 31st. It is not reported to KDE and I'll get to that in a second. The tenative budget is due May 30th and that is the one that you will see actual line items adjusted on the budget to reflect all of the changes that come over the next few months

060as we work through this budget process with the board and refining our practices and policies and procedures to reflect the tenative budget. And then we have the working budget which is done after the tax rate is set and adjusted for any personnel changes or any um changes that need to be done there for the working budget for the school year. This is set by KDE. So the January 31st budget is required um but we do not report this to KDE. So this does not get reported. I'm not going to upload this to any portal to KDE. The draft budget is simply to start the discussion for for you all um to get you in line so that you can make a informed decision come May 30th and hopefully before May 30th but come that April

061May timeline when we're setting salary schedules when we're setting um the next year expenses and stuff like that. This is to get you ready for that. So to your point, Miss Springgate, this wasn't uploaded because it wasn't ready until yesterday because I wanted to give this ready to you here today so that you can then have until our actual board meeting to review it and ask questions. But this doesn't reflect any future tax increases or decreases or anything like that. this is keeping the revenue the same because we don't have that information to to go off of. >> That makes sense. And so I guess my question was will this be attached so that our taxpayers so that our community so that our teachers our staff can can see it also >> um after tonight

062obviously. Okay. Thank you. >> We will also post post it on the budget transparency page. So, the draft be budget reviews revenue analysis for actual versus projections, which we have some um some notes there, some increases and decreases in expenses, anything that's on the horizon, and not not a whole lot of new information like I mentioned. So, if you would like to compare what we had from 26 to 27, FY26, we had a beginning balance of 4.8 8 million with a contingency at the end of this school year to be projected at 1.9. Now you're going to look at your working budget and you're going to go Dr. Aren that says 2.7. You're exactly right. Okay. So what has happened is as we have collected our taxes and as we have collected our revenue sources

063and everything else, our projected revenue was lower than we projected it to be. So, our contingency actually went from 2.7 down to 1.9. So, this we're pretty confident that this is the accurate contingency that we will have. We're hoping that we'll have more because everything that we cut from from the time that we've started. I mean, we were down to 1.4 or five and we're up to 1.9 with our um most recent cuts that we've made to discretionary budgets and line items to make that happen. But um it is going to be less than what your working budget was approved and that's due to um forecasting wrong or forecasting budgets that didn't actually happen. So um do note that that is going to be a difference. So I took out the on behalf payments as

064you know the on behalf payments are not they're like they're there but they're not there. So you can see that $10 million is not really reflected in our budget. Um we did have a balanced budget this year. Um but that balanced budget included dipping into our contingency fund. So as Miss Springgate has pointed out for many times, that's not balanced. Um and so you can see that between 26 and 27, the proposed changes that we're making increase our contingency from 1.9 to 2.8. So we're trending upward. We're not ripping the band-aid because we can't we can't rip the band-aid and survive. that we would be to looking at a $5 million reduction instead of a $3 million reduction. >> Can I ask a question? Just a clarifying question. So the the projected contingency and you

065were talking about the the proposed cuts you've already is it the ones that you all have already looked at and made not the ones that we are looking at making an addition. So the progress has been here. the changes that I was referring to earlier only reflected like discretionary positions um not necessarily just positions but budget line items that we have been like we can push those off we don't need those right now those positions that we aren't going to be renewing um that have due to attrition have left we haven't filled back in we've gained some of that contingency money back so these are cost-saving effects that we have done right now to impact us for next year >> so right now with the costsaving measures that we've already taken. The number is I'm

066sorry my computer is not working so I'm like looking far away. 1.992 is that the >> that's the current contingency. >> Okay. >> And so that would be on um >> if you look on your budget page happen >> I don't know. I'm sure there is but So you can see on page 86 of your budget. So if you needed to see where that lives, your um your contingency line items live underneath your expenditures right here at 5300 on page 86. Um this is the current year 1.99 and this is the projected year with this working balance working budget draft budget sorry. So page 86, >> it doesn't have the last year's contingency for last fiscal year, but um we saw that in an earlier chart, so I guess we can get that. I like

067when it has the last year, the current year, and then the um appropriation, so you can kind of look at a timeline. >> Yeah. So you would be at um at the chart that Dr. Jones shared earlier. Um and it could be budget code changes that that's why that doesn't reflect the But you can also look at the screen. So I did take from the line item from um here on our budget line. So this 50.3 million on page 86 as well as revenue shows up on page three um at 40 or 50.3 there. So those to have a balanced budget, you have matching revenue and matching expenses, not over or under. Um, which is what we have with a contingency going because if your contingency is going down, you're going to have a balanced

068budget, but the contingency is actually going up. So that's on page three. So your revenue stops on page three and then the next 80 some pages live in expenses. All right. The um the recommendations that are going to be shared tonight are on our one pager that we have shared from the budget committee. Uh these are budget committee questions that were asked and I um spent a lot of time looking over those and getting projections. Here they are. So all of these are going to appear on this page. Um not everything that you'll see on this document will be in this budget. um do know that that's because we've taken some discretionary budgets to offset some of the um once this went live, we've had feedback and listening sessions with people and those are reflections

069based off of here. Um so you won't see some of these line items on there because we've taken that already out and found that money to replace it and other line items that we could reduce. So you will see the reductions just in a different format. All right, the budget committee's priorities. I want to remind you that what they were have the lowest impact on classroom instruction, have a student- centered budgeting prioritization, maintain as many current programs, and then maintain the step increase for staff. The maintaining the step increase for staff from FY26 to FY27 is an average of 1.5% which is equaling $485,000. That's what your step increase cost you every year. So, um, do know that that is given to each teacher and staff member for a completed year of service. They get

070that step increase. So, that's an additional pay. Um, that so that rolls up automatically in all of the project code. So, if you're trying to go, well, he said that we were cutting this line, but it's really up. Remember, we did generalized budgeting for the draft. So, you'll see the line item, but the the budget will show an increase because of the step increase. It does that automatically per line item for staffing. And then the maintaining a current as many current programs as possible and the lowest impact on student instruction from FY 26 to 27. We um will optimize staffing levels to align with state standards. These reductions, this reduction is designed to minimize disruption and prioritize continued support for classroom teachers and students. The majority of the proposed budget cuts are from district operations,

071operating procedures through a collaborative review and district central office personnel while reviewing neighboring districts. So the part of the budget committee was to review all of the districts around us and see what was happening, what's the state minimum, what is the requirement, uh and so forth. So now we're going to get into each of the line items uh and then you uh can see that. So, at our school levels, so we're going to start there. We currently offer one interventionist from the general fund. Um, we have proposed to remove that interventionist with a net savings from each of the elementary schools. That's one per elementary school that is currently given. Um, for a net savings of 20 $260,000 to the general fund. That doesn't mean we're cutting that position. That means we would be looking

072for opportunities to find that position through a grant position, grant funded position um as well. Um yeah, so that doesn't mean that we're cutting the position. That means we're taking it out of the general fund and finding a way for us to fund that position through different grants, title money, different other ways that we can support that. Um >> then that would be they would be a reduction of staff there. >> That these positions be eliminated and then hopefully we can bring them back but if not they will be eliminated. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> I do want to say that the budget committee did ask that this be identified as uh lowest on the priority list. In other words, you know, if if we have to, but it's not it was not their in

073their top recommendations. >> Yeah. So, these have also been prioritiz prioritized for you as well. >> What about Sitebase? If Sitebase has the money to go back and shift things around like move a pot of money from here to here to fund the interventionist, they have the capacity to do that within their individual budgets. Correct. So currently if you look at the staffing formula the staffing procedure that the board approves um that position while it doesn't live on the current one I'm uh an honest person to know that the board approved it so the board has one position given just like we give a music art PE library media specialist to the schools that position can't be changed they can't do anything with it can't touch it but if Cypace decides that we need an

074intervention ionist or we need two interventionists. We can take money and transfer it and use school funds to support that. >> Well, and to be fair, um because I was a big proponent of this and really pushed for it and brought it before the board to get the approval. Um to be fair, I think if sightbased councils and schools had the money for the interventionist, they would have been doing it already and they clearly didn't even though that was a huge need. Um and then you know also I think that it looks like maybe some of the cuts coming up deal with some sitebased money and allocations. So um you know it's not like they're getting extra money to be able to fund this. I think that um you know this this would definitely not

075be something I would like to see happen. Um I think that it it's you know all of the things obviously on the list are going to be hard but this one feels like it's really cutting into bone. Um, and grants are down, title funds are down, we don't know what's happened with the federal government. So, I think that in my mind, how I think about it is if we remove this and we don't fund this, and we don't keep this a district level position that our kids just aren't going to have this. >> So, currently the district allows for one interventionist per elementary school. Correct. That does not come out additional in the budget. It comes it comes without a general fund. Just to make sure everyone everyone tuning in at home is clear. >>

076Yeah. Just some background in history. This is something that we really pushed for for learning recovery after the pandemic where it >> I was on site base. So I remember those things from that that angle of it. So at at Huntertown. So >> all right. So the next um proposed a proposed agenda item is custodial staffing. You'll see that at all levels. Um this was done a few years ago to take custodial levels from one to like they were just given custodians. Um, and then a few years ago, we went to a square footage. So, one square one custodian for every 20,000 square ft of the building space. Uh, and changing that from 1 to 25,000 only changes two positions total. And those two positions were the two positions gained when we made this cut

077or when we made it this additive a few years ago. Um so to the two two elementary schools, it's two positions um at those elementary schools. >> Which two elementary schools would be impacted by that? >> Uh it would be Huntertown and Southside. >> Thank you. >> And so to be clear, what this will do is is give less custodians at the school um even though they have a large number of students and give them will cut the number of custodians. So the custodians there would have essentially double the duties. >> They would still maintain their I mean they currently have multiple custodians at each of those locations. So they would basically all of them would have three. So we're still some schools are above um that normal that what they had a few years

078ago. Some schools only had two. >> And so are you taking into account the different numbers of students in the building and and >> the staffing formula does that? >> Yeah. Yes. >> So larger buildings. >> No, not buildings. I'm talking about students. >> So as far as the custodial way that it's written, it is strictly square foot square feet of >> but 10 kids in 100 square feet is different than 100 kids in 10 square feet. So that that was the only thing I was thinking. >> Okay. Um so those are the two items there for elementary school. And then for middle school, we are looking at proposing a 1 to 29 uh ratio from teacher to student. They are currently at 1 to 27. That is going to be, sorry, I miss forgot

079to put that on there. That's two teaching positions at the um middle school level. And then again, the custodial square footage would be going back to um six instead of seven. And of having eight, nine, 10 year olds in my house right now, I can't believe I just said that, but they uh you know, I felt like I had to do like the six seven thing, you know, but the uh six positions at the middle school instead of seven, which is what they currently have. So, a reduction of one staff member there. And then at the high school level, it would we currently staff them at 1 to 22. We would be looking at 1 to 25. that is four staff um staff members there and then two custodial staff members. Any questions? So when

080the budget committee looked at all of these recommendations and look at the ratios. So, just so you're aware, the um ratio is 1 to 31 for the high school and 1 to 29 for sixth grade and 1 to 31 for um uh seventh grade and eighth grade. And then elementary school does weird things. We are within that um range of the state recommend recommendation for class size for ratios already. Can I ask a question and and this may be a sightbased question and not because I think it's important to not discount the role that sitebase has in a lot of this budget and how this unfolds in the schools like we're we're saying one thing but they they have some determination factors in this too. Um when we look at the high school if let

081me say it it turns my stomach to think about the impact on jobs like that and the capacity to serve our children. KTK, I can't hear you. Impact. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Let me let me yell. Speak up. [laughter] I know that this is going to be a hard task and I'm just trying to wrap my head around the information. So, I apologize. I'm stopping and asking questions, but I just want clarity. >> Um, when we look at cutting four staff members, for example, at the high school, is that a sightbased decision on how that is allocated or is that an US decision on how that is allocated? Do we just say four members are gone and then the school decides what they need to do with those four members if they don't replace someone

082who's retiring or what that looks like or are we saying do we know who those individuals are? Not that it matters so much. I'm not saying like oh I want to keep Mr. Graves. Mr. Grace was my teacher [laughter] um versus you know someone else. I'm not trying to say that. But I'm saying is is that is that like a history teacher because >> we need to cut versus an arts teacher or something or a special education teacher or is that a sitebased decision on how that's allocated? So the sitebased council along of course the principal being part of that they look at how those like we would determine you all would determine as a board how we staff and then those allocations go to site base and then they decide how they're used in

083their buildings. >> And just a little bit of context and I'll talk about this when I talk about my recommendations but the high school is staffed at one teacher for every 22 students. The state cap is one teacher for every 31 students and then those around us range from uh 1 to 25 all the way up to 1 to 31. So we're basically the the budget committee was given the reduction in terms of staffing at the high school could have ranged from and if we went up to state cap it would have been a reduction of 16 teachers. >> So that tell I mean we have staffed very generously in the past because we value obviously right. So that lets you know really that end of it is the lowest impact possible and we will

084be staffed better than anybody around us still by far at the high school with the four positions. Y >> so it could be a sense of individuals are not necessarily losing their jobs. People that may be retiring for example just may not be replaced >> but that's a sightbased decision. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Any other questions? >> I just for those who are watching at home, I think that that because you know I'm always the advocate and trying to give you the direction of where to advocate for. So I think it's great reaching out to us. We've had a good body of one representation reaching out to us. The proper channel would be to go to Sitebase. And as someone who served on sitebased for many many years, I think that it gets drastically underutilized

085in the understanding of what your sitebased reps do for you is is of paramount in the this process moving forward after we make our decisions here. That would be your next step of advocacy and sharing your voice. And I encourage everyone to share their voice. I think that that is incredibly important. I encourage you all to reach out to us directly. um that that is what your representatives are for. And your sitebased people, your parent reps are elected individuals. So, just keep that in mind as well when you were seeing those positions come up for reelection. Consider that. Consider what they bring to the table and and how um you can reach out to them as well as your principles and your your teachers that serve on those committees as well. So, that's it. That's

086just my little plug. >> All righty. Thank you. So, continuing on here, like Miss Springgate mentioned before, um adjusting the student allocations for section six funding from $147 to $100 for the school levels. Um and then we are currently doing a flex focus match, which is not required. Um and that's a section 7 allocation. So, anything in section six is the requirement. That's what we're supposed to give. uh and anything in section seven that's a gift to the schools and so that would be taking back that flex focus which at one point was required for a match is no longer required for a match to maintain flex focus um requirements there. Um and so that would uh be the final um and then the last one would be >> could we go back to that

087slide really quick? um the section 6, section 7. Um that just sounds absolutely detrimental to school budgets um to make that drastic of a reduction. So can you remind me again how much we get per pupil with state seek funding? >> It's in the SE funding. I'd have to look it up. I don't have it off the top of my head. >> 4,200. I mean, you're saying that we get $4,200 per kid, but that also implies that we're >> No, no, I'm not implying anything. I'm just kind of asking because when I was on site base, that was one thing that we were really interested in knowing. So, the state's getting this much per pupil, maybe 4,200 or whatever the number is. And we're, you know, wanting to do per pupil allocation with the sitebased

088section six funds of moving from $147, which doesn't seem super generous, and cutting that down to a hundred. And and I understand that's allowed. >> Um, you know, legislatively, I guess, is that the lowest number it can go. >> Um, but as someone who served on sitebased, I mean, I understand they didn't have lots of extra money. Parents bring in paper. Um, we bring in markers and Kleenexes for teachers. So, so it's not like they're just kind of rolling in in money at 147 per student and and to knock that down to 100 and then take all of the section 7 just it feels like cutting bone. Um, just an observation. >> I mean, everything we're doing here is hard. These are hard conversations that we have to have and unfortunately these are conversations we

089have to have. So, >> and I will tell you, Miss Springgate, um, when we've compared what we are giving versus districts around us, many most districts around us are giving that they're doing the $100 to the school. Yeah. >> All right. So, the last thing at the school level would be currently we have some random pots of money that are going toward team, sports, academic, for travel support. Um, while that wouldn't be a Sorry, that copied over it. That should be um Look and see what that would be. I think it's $60,000, not 188. That just didn't copy over correctly. >> That would be on page 84 of your uh budget. Just so that we all know that I'm not making up a random number here. uh 66,000 that would be so for for whatever

090reason over the past few years like it this has had a zero dollar bot balance historically. This has now been added to the budgets from the school level. So um I'm not saying it wasn't needed and it's not needed. Um it's just something that wasn't there a few years ago that is there now for um so that that's just a um a general observation that we made to uh to that. So that >> so that 188,000 would be the 66,000, right? >> Correct. It would have um it would have the code um what is that code number? >> 8095 >> up here at the top. So that just didn't copy over. When I post this online, I'll update that code. >> Perfect. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> And I'm sorry to ask this question.

091Is this on is that on the sheet? >> I don't think so. The travel assistance is not on here, but we're looking at right now we have 116 thou 100,000. We're looking at reducing it to what? I'm sorry. >> Uh taking away 66,000 which is what has been added. >> Okay. So we would take away 66 and that's our our >> that's what the board is giving to teams and um sports and academics and other things that for travel. >> Okay. So that's just a flat cut and then the athletics other programs would decide how that gets divvied up. Their normal funds get divvied up. >> Yeah. Those those funds didn't exist for until two years ago. So >> it would be taking that back that we gave two years ago. >> Do we we

092fund free and reduced lunch field trips and travel expenses? Correct. >> Yeah. So these would be outside of that. >> Okay. And how does like our our rates of free and reduced lunch? Do we get reimbursement from the state for those expenses for that just comes out of the district? Yeah. >> Okay. So they would take top that money would easily be allocated first for travel, right? And so the variant of that yeartoyear may impact what's remaining for the to offset the other expenses. So, it's not saying that we can't once we have a good grasp over this that we can't add this back. Um, and anything that we're adding can't be added back in September when we have a full good working budget. Like, so if we decide in September that we have more

093of a surplus than where we currently are, we can always put that back, but right now I would not advise keeping it in the budget. >> No, I'm not asking that. I was just wondering how the variance of free and reduced lunch, the how our district because I know we have transient individuals on free and reduced lunch and those who are not on free and reduced lunch and how that can maybe impact the overall look at some of these expenses that are impacted by that. We would have to pay out more costs I guess is what I'm saying with the higher free and lunch. >> Historically looking this is not impacting free reduce. This is impacting athletics. >> That's not what I'm trying to say. >> Sorry. Yeah, but this is a different thing. It's

094not that at all. This is just money that somebody put in the budget a couple years ago that we didn't really know was put in the budget that um is mainly it sounds like for sports sporting >> events and so we didn't even know it was there. >> Let me ask this question again. So for and this is just me trying to understand the meat and potatoes of every single situation that we're in. I'm not questioning it or anything like that. Just a depth of understanding. So this is for travel expenses including field trips like things like FCCLA or is it just athletics travels expenses and that's it. >> When I historically look at what was been done over the past two years it's just been athletics. >> Okay. Because it says academic travel support

095>> what it's listed as in the line items but historical has been athletics. >> Yes. Got it. Okay. So this money is just for athletics. I guess my question was that answers my question I think in some ways >> because I think about field trips and that sort of thing that is being more general. >> So this is not that. >> Mr. Chairman, um to respond to Miss Springgate, she said that that money was put in there without any knowledge to board members. He's brought up several things over the last four years. Was that the only one or you all knew none of this? We we did not have a lot of budget or financial discussions and we had u Mr. Brickler being the third vote for you know over a year to not even

096have any financial discussions about monthly financial reports. Um you know when we talked about budgets there was a lot of screaming and name calling and you know ending of the discussion. So that I think that really the public was misled, the board was misled. Um there there was a lot of stuff in the past that really should not have happened that the board um as an elected representative, you know, we should have done better. We should have done our job. We should have provided the oversight. So I think there were a lot of things that we could have done better. But I also think there were some things that the administration did that we just had no idea was going on. >> 100%. So that's my perspective. But we but I'm not saying we because

097I wasn't here. But hopefully everyone knew about the 10% raises and everybody knew about the four intervention is added the uh substitute salaries going up. >> Yeah. We would know about things but we would be given incorrect numbers. So when you're given incorrect numbers, you don't really know. If you're told, oh listen, the tax um rate this year is going to cover all of these raises. It's going to be great. It's going to be evened out. We're actually going to have some left over. And for that to not be true then really impacts just moving forward. And of course when it's reoccurring expenses, it just compounds. >> And all of these expenses were reoccurring >> a lot. Yeah, it looks like a lot. >> All the ones I've heard are been reoccurring. >> Okay. I

098just was trying to clear that up. >> And we've never gone through the budget since I've been on the board. We've never gone through line by line like this. So I just want to say first off, I appreciate this because we haven't done it before. So, >> uh, and Miss Springgate, $2,817 per pupil >> for seek >> is seek. $2,817. >> 2,817. >> And that's our >> That's our per pupil seek. >> That's our current funds, not what we know. We don't know what's going to come out of the bud budget this year. >> That's on the calculator from this year. 2,817 after the local effort. >> Thank you. >> Oh, okay. Thank you. I think I was thinking about the overall number and and not um after the local effort which definitely is something

099we need to consider. >> Yeah. So um some of these changes they don't have dollar values to them. These are operational changes that we're going going to be asking the board to uh to look at and just also some general board knowledge that maybe not necessarily board purview but just board knowledge on um budgetary purposes. Um, looking at ways to be energy saving here and consolidating space here to allow for certain areas of the building to be maintained but not heated, cooled, and electricity being used on a regular basis um are some of the things that we're looking at um from a district level with Dr. Jones um looking at how can we consolidate but still use that. And then um the next thing on here, so there I did put a $20,000 one because

100that is kind of what we're seeing as a current one, but I believe it could be more um $20,000 reduction in energy usage for this building. Um but it's currently not reflected here because I don't feel comfortable putting a fake number in just to put a fake number in. Um the other thing that's here is we currently allow our 260day employees to occur acrew 80 days um of vacation days. So they get 20 vacation days. This was a change in practice from 2023. I believe the FY23 is when that changed. They used to get 10 vacation days and then they would get another day every year after so many years of service to the district not coming in with years of service and then that was changed by the board um in a procedural change

101or policy change to allow 20 vacation days from the very beginning. It also is board policy that we pay those out at 100% at the time of leaving. So, separation of duties, we pay that employee that's 260day employee out that vacation days. So, I I did some math just so in case you wanted to know. Um, and and this is not a make believe number. If we were to have every single 260day employee leave at their last payroll, so not this, not if they left today, but this would have been as of the January 10th payroll, it was 300 over $300,000 that we would pay out that we do not have budgeted. Um, that's a that's a huge liability to me um in the district and I don't feel comfortable having that huge of a

102liability. So, what I'm going to propose in the coming months, uh, Dr. Jones and I are going to propose a policy change to that one, um, to take that back down. Uh, they were allowed to carry 40 before and go to a policy that reflects that. That would be a board action item that would be there. It doesn't have a budget, but just so you know, like it was around $40,000 already paid out to employees who have left um, >> this school year. So, and we don't have that budgeted. It's not in a line item. You won't see it in there. Um, actually, you will see it for $1,000 for whatever reason. There's a thousand dollars budgeted for it. But that's a that's a huge liability that I don't I don't feel comfortable keeping the

103district in that that shape. So, um, we will have to make out a payout program for the employees who have above that 40,000 or come up with a solution for them. Um, just so that we're transparent. Um, but the new policy would not include 80 days of vacation. And that mean I don't know any employer in the private world that allows you to have 80 days, nor do I know very many school districts that allow you to take 40 days on top of that. Um, >> can if we do that, can we, and maybe this is not the time to talk about the policy, but can we encourage going ahead and using some of those days and working with supervisors to say you're going to, you know, work to let your people off >> um

104so those days can be used because it's hard to lose your vacation time that you have acrewed and not have the capacity to be able to use it for fear of being >> Oh, yeah. >> You know, told them. The other thing that we have to look at in the operations management side is we want to make sure that our employees are using it, >> but we also want to make sure that our supervisors, our managers are looking ahead to say, okay, for instance, Dr. Raburn knew that we were having snow back in December. Is it December? He looked ahead and said, "Okay, we know that crews are going to have to come in and work, so we're going to flex out some time this week to let those people come in on the weekend

105rather than paying time and a half." So, that's a management side of that, but in terms of the policy, yes. Um, and our neighbors, um, they're around the beginning at the 10day mark and then earning more vacation days for the years that you put in in the in the district. Um, and then only having so many days that carry over. So, >> so those would be policy changes coming um, after this. Like I said, these are non board nonbudget things, but they do impact the budget because I mean I mean I can budget $300,000 out to be just safe, but that's not fair either. >> I did want to just reiterate, thank you so much for the information, for the numbers, for the honesty, for looking at things. Um, I really just appreciate it so

106much. And then just as a side note, when we do things like this and and so you're talking about folks taking the days, which is great, then that also affects other parts of the plan, other parts of the reductions. And one thing I think that we really need to be aware and cognizant of is if we're going to have a lot of folks out, we really need to make sure that we are paying our subs, our long-term subs, our experienced teachers, our retired teachers, that that we are not, you know, hurting on this end and then hurting on that end, too. So, we really need to meet a happy middle. So, if we know we're going to be having a huge need for subs because we're making changes to this particular piece of the puzzle,

107then I think we just need to be aware of that. And I just wanted to say that >> and this would be 260 days. So, these individuals um >> are classified. >> Yeah. This would not be teachers. Yeah. >> Non sub decisions. But I do do not disagree with you. >> Um All right. So some other things that you'll see that um was mentioned by um one of the presenters I can't miss Mr. >> Mr. Belfrey Belfford >> Belfford sorry mentioned the centralized purchasing. Um so utilizing purchase agreements and um bulk purchasing for certain items instead of just giving schools you purchase this many items you know housing them there um at central office housing them here and then having the schools buy them from us type of thing instead of you paying for the

108single um thing there. So that would be that's something that's coming. Um, the last one, and I put this on here just so you know, are interest rates. So, we get interest payments for money that's in the bank. Um, that has helped us a lot in the past, specifically with the high school project. Um, we had a lot more money in the bank at the time, and the high school project brought in more money because of the interest. So, it was very beneficial for us to take that money from the high school project and put it back into the high school project so that we could have additional funds there. um that's that's not going to be able to continue. Uh like we can take that money, put it in the general fund instead of

109putting it into the high school project that's wrapping up hopefully soon. Um and just so you know, our current interest rates 2.3. Uh last year it was 3.3. So we are down interest rates. We don't set those. Um the federal government does. So um but we are required to have a bank that is um it does have a interest program. So if we had two banks, one had one, one didn't have one, we were we're required to go with the bank that does. So um also keep knowing this this does not impact the schools. So we are not going to take the interest payments from the schools. They do use those for um certain things. It's it's additional money for budgeting appropriately. So um this is another recommendation that was on the lower end of

110the budget committee recommendation. Um, and that first number is 86. Should be 89, but it's $89,900 or $600 uh for the 1% 403b match. Um, and we are one of the only districts around. Like I don't think anybody around us does it if I remember correctly from my research on it, but the very few districts actually do this 403b match. Um, uh, oh, Dr. Jones, you're moving things around on me. >> I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I was trying to fix it. >> It's It's live. It's live. >> Okay, I'll Okay, >> you moved it around on me. >> That's the undo button. Yeah, look at that. >> Go back. Go back. Go back. Go back. Go back. >> Okay. Um, so the 403b match um it wouldn't >> it wouldn't necessarily impact this year because

111we we wouldn't want to stop that on employees doing it that this year. Um but uh that is something moving forward. And then our natural gas, uh, we have budgeted 119 and I don't think we're going to get there. Um, especially because our budget was, this is the biggest gas hog that we have, this building here. And when we budgeted it, we had students sitting in this building. So, we don't have that many students. We have very few students in this building anymore. So, I think we can reduce that budget down. Um, and we we've given a nice little allocation toward it, but I don't think we need as much as we had budgeted there. So those are operational changes. Um lastly, we have tech devices that um are budgeted in there that I think

112we can remove. Um and not that we are removing from purchasing, but using K's funding to purchase some of those devices. So taking those out of the general fund, purchase, not all of them, we can't take all of them from the general fund, but some of the budgeted items for tech devices could be moved to the KTS funding, which is given to us by the state. And then we budgeted debt services. We don't have debt services to our general fund anymore. So that it does doesn't need to be there. So that's a nice little wash that under the rug and it still helps our overall, but we don't have to worry about that. >> Can I ask a quick question about the tech devices? >> On the second sheet that we have, which I'm hoping

113this will also be attached for the public to be able to see. Um it says reduced paid cell phones to only emergency/ essential and unsubscribe from Wi-Fi devices. And I just wanted to make sure um I know Ambrose you were a huge proponent and a huge reason that we were able to make sure that every student in Woodford County had internet and sometimes that came through these MiFi kind of devices and I want to make sure that this is not going to be taking the MiFi devices away from the students that have no internet or no access to internet unless there's a plan to replace that internet because obviously nobody can even be a student now without you know some kind of Wi-Fi or internet and I just don't want to like do a double

114whammy to our most vulnerable populations. >> So full transparency, this line item doesn't, >> but that is something that we are looking at not continuing. >> Those are different tech devices than what we're talking about. >> So that would be an 0650 device, not an 0651. Um, partially because we are not having so we get a huge influx of MiFi devices around NTI and that's the only time we are actively using it. Now, that's not saying that there aren't kids that are using them, but we are paying for services that, you know, we're we're spending about $20,000 on my five devices alone. Um, and I just want to let you know, like, I asked all the other tech directors in our region that we have monthly region. They're like, I I can't believe you're still

115paying for that postco. Um, and I and I recognize that that is the case, but that that is something that is a nice service and that we have done it for them in the past, but that's not something that maybe we should be continuing, especially with the city and the county working on connectivity as one of their main priorities and getting getting families connected to the internet. Whereas five, six years ago, that was not even an option. You live out in um near the river, you're not getting internet down there. Now that is working with the city that is in the county that is something that is actively in the state government is providing funding for that connectivity um through the state. So >> what about what about those students who can't get internet? >>

116Well that's what I was going to say. What about the ones that can't afford it that don't have capacity? I think that we have to look through the lens of others in that sense and if we're going to offer things one career and college readiness our high schoolers should have internet in some capacity always. Um, I'm assuming that because most of our curriculum is now on a Chromebook, you have to have internet to access, excuse me, those things. Doing homework, you have to have access. We can't, we will completely put our students at a deficit. They also don't have the capacity to drive. So, it's not like you can run into town and hop into Starbucks and use their Wi-Fi or go to the library. Even some may, but if you live in the rural

117areas of the county, that's a significant hole. And there's no connect connectivity as far as like you know a bike trail from out Macauan's ferry or you know McCracken Pike to to where they need to be to be able to utilize those things. So I just wonder and I understand it's a significant cost but I also think that unless we're going to adjust our curriculum and stop paying for everything to be online and everything being through a Chromebook, we have to give students access to internet service if that's the expectation. It's it's a basic need at this point in time for education. >> And it's really easy to look through the lens of the whatifs, >> but when you're looking at the reality that we have 40 40 people on MiFi devices, they're not high

118school students. There are only four NTI days. Like there's there are high school students on there, yes, but they are not the majority. And when we're spending $400 for a student to have internet for potentially 10 days of school, like that's >> But I don't think they just use it for 10 days. >> I don't think it's that simple. >> Yeah. >> Well, could we I think it would be good for us to get the actual numbers for for you all and the usage. Would that be a good thing for you? >> Wonderful. Yeah. >> Well, and I guess that's my question, too. when we when you mentioned working with the city to gain there's a difference between an access point and to be able to spread internet access which may alleviate some of those

11940 people that now they have connection but could we work can we reach out to um like oh gosh what am I trying to say community action council and see if they have any fun or anywhere in the community to see if they can maybe fund some resources >> I mean the the government offers resources as well >> you know if you're on SNAP benefits you get a redu like you get devices being on SNAP benefits, >> right? >> That's not coming from our funding, that's coming from their funding and that is something. So there is just it's just public using the >> public services that are available to us. But I agree with Dr. Jones. Um that's not on this agenda item as well, >> just so we're all >> Thank you. I appreciate

120that. Yeah, that's good information to have. Well, and also think too because we don't know what's going to happen and to some of those funding cuts for like for example SNAP benefits that are coming up, especially with this legislative session and that sort of thing. If we just have the capacity to make sure our students who do not have access and we can work with our family resource coordinators, our school social workers to help alleviate and and maybe determine those numbers would be helpful. >> Yeah. And I'll tell you that already that you know this, but that happens already. And truly if we have to think about this as this is one bucket of money. This is our general fund. So again going back to what we said before what comes we we have to

121think about and it is your your task as a board to really think about what comes out of that fund versus what comes out of other funds. Well, I also think when we're looking at our free and reduced lunch numbers and kiddos being our most um vulnerable in our community and we continue to talk about that population in particular, that would be the population that could potentially be using these MIFI devices. And if we take that away from them, we're going to decrease their capacity to reach their full potential learning and be able to do things like a Google search or something of that nature. >> Getting those usage numbers will help a lot. >> Yeah. Sorry, I don't need to belabor this. I just want to remind everybody here that that's not on the

122table. >> It It's on my recommendation. >> Yeah, it's on It's on the recommendation here. >> Um but like as far as in this budget here, they're still budgeted for that. >> So we're good right now. >> Yeah, we Yeah. >> Okay. And then just to follow up with that, I do think it would be really important for us to see exactly um you know, maybe in pi form, pigraph form, something uh just exactly What are the numbers for the general fund? I know we've got the large document and we can sort through and pull those out, but it would be nice to see exactly what are we spending on staffing, exactly what are we spending on instruction, exactly what are we spending on these little discretionary things. And I know that pennies do add

123up to make dollars. And I get that. But I do think that sometimes it might be easier to say, well, you know, what positions do we have that maybe are not in the schools that are maybe, you know, I don't know, administrative or central office or whatever. >> Yeah, we're only halfway through. Just so you know, >> that's part of this. Yeah, that's coming up. >> So, all right. So, the um staffing changes, this is taking the certified base from 188 to 187. Um that would be the um cost savings of 102,000. We currently give every certified staff member a base pay of 188 days. That is for um technically it's been given by the board for the best practice academy. It's not saying that the best practice academy couldn't still happen, but that is

124the that was gifted from the board several years ago. So that would be taking that that extra professional development day back, not student days, but that's an additional professional development day. Um that would come off of that for the 102. And then shifting some positions from general fund to grant money for that savings there. have gone through all of the grants and um we're going to have to do some clean up on our grants, but shifting people from there to um to those grants to allow that funding to not come from the general fund. Um for that, >> let me go back to something. Um the the days the that could also be one of the work days. It could be either a it could be a staff workday or best practice academy. >> Correct.

125I was just giving the the >> as an example. the example where the extra day came from was a best practice day. >> Yeah. >> So, does that just essentially mean that like everybody gets a cut in pay? All the certified folks get a little cut and pay? >> Yeah. So, our our daily rate for certified is $318. >> Okay. So >> yeah, I just think it's really important and even going through the list um even after tonight um you know because I'm going to want to talk to my constituents obviously and just kind of go through um since most of the information we're just kind of now seeing and then that's going to be online so folks can see it. teachers, everybody can kind of see it, staff, parents, um students that um that

126we're able to like really just kind of understand exactly what what that means because sometimes I think like when it says something you're thinking it's one thing and it's another. So I appreciate the clarification like with the Mifi and all of those kinds of things. So thank you. And I will say too, I think as we consider this and to echo Miss Springgate's point of listening to the community and that's not getting on Facebook, that's responding directly to us and giving us input. I think that that's incredibly important. Um I do read the Facebook posts. I do sit on my fingers and not respond, but I am reading. Um not every elected official does that. Um so it's important to reach out to them directly, not a dig on anybody else, but that's that's important.

127That's not necessarily the best communication route. I will say in consideration of something like a reduction in pay from a 1888 188 base pay to a 187 base pay. Some may say that that matters more to them versus I you know having less staff in their building or vice versa. So I think it's really important from the lived experiences that you all are having. I speak not just to those in the room, but those who may be listening online, but it is crucial for you all to reach out um to to let us know how this directly impacts you because we want to take your we have to cut the budget. We have to all of this is challenging and hard. Um but what matters the most? How how does it impact your workday? How

128does it impact our kids, parents, guardians, those in the community? How does it impact you? Um, so I think that that's an important piece just to keep in mind and remember. >> All right. Thank you. Um, so then the certified substitute pay looking at the daily wage threshold which is so the daily wage threshold this is for retirees. So, anybody that has retired from teaching that has a certifi is a certified teacher at retirement um or has a certification that is retired can get their daily wage threshold which is set by KTRS. So, the teacher retirement system tells us how much that they would make for that daily wage threshold. So, they can't make more than that, but they can make up to that for whatever whatever services they're providing to the district. Our current

129practice is $300. up to $300. That is down from last year, which I believe was was it 350 or 400? Do you remember? >> 400. >> Yeah, it was 400 last year. This year we're at 300. Um, and we're proposing a reduction to $225, which is still more than all of our surrounding districts. Fate County is the most at 200, so we would still be above that. >> Dr. Raber, with the with the anticipated or estimated savings of $200,000 annually, can you tell us how you came up with that? So, did you take a look at at the number of retired teachers that served as substitutes over the last fiscal year or how did we come up with that number? Yeah. So, we we get a I have the ability to pull a report of

130how much each month the subs are costing us and I can see which subs are which. Um, and then, you know, we can see what our non DWTs are versus our DWT subs, and we can see what that savings would be. And it's an estimated, it's not a guarantee, you know, it's all based off whether teachers come to work or not. um and and everything, but it it's uh our our sub cost over the last few years has increased significantly. And I can provide that if you need to see that how much it's cost, >> I guess. So, is it was it a look at this year at the $300 rate and then annualized out based on what's already happened or was it a look at >> can you be a little bit more specific

131about the time frame? >> So, it was the LA So, we started this two years ago as a way to get our subs Mhm. >> So, I started then and then this year and looked at who's currently subbing, what are they subbing, how long are they subbing for, and and everything. And just it's an estimation like I I can't guarantee anything, but I can say like we might save around that price because if you take what we paid for two years, well, precoid, so I went back pre-COVID, I didn't do anything with CO land. Um, and then what we pay now, you know, I just it's one of those things that it's not super easy because you can't pinel on when somebody's, you know, going to be sick. But, um, it is a we have

132a $1 million certified salary for substitutes budgeted. >> What is the cost of a um, non-retired teacher? like a just a if I wanted to go sub today >> $120 >> and then we have Garrett do we still have >> is it $145 for rank >> yeah so we have a $120 and then we have $145 and then we have the DWTS >> and that's for how many that's 7.5 hours right >> okay >> thank you I I do have a question and not to be glib but um you know with the shortages that we saw I mean there was a reason that that there was an increase in in um this cost there was a reason that we raised that rate um uh was due kind of to the shortages and so I'm wondering

133if that's still a problem. >> Uh we are not seeing the problem that we had before. >> Okay. So we're not seeing the problem with shortages at this point. >> Garrett, are you seeing No. >> Okay. And do you think that's partially because we have the u retired teachers that are kind of coming in and taking some of those challenging long-term um you know >> it's not just that they come in for one day. I mean it that does like we are getting a great crop of teachers and I'm not discrediting what they are bringing us. I'm just saying >> we are paying them $100 more than a district that's not well their budget isn't great but like next door $100 more. Now, I understand, but I also understand that like our discipline referrals are

134down, folks are happier, the cultures are better in the schools. And I think a lot of that has to do with when your child doesn't go to school and have a different substitute that you don't know um you know that doesn't have that kind of experience and and uh ability in the classroom with the management and also just with the ability to teach kind of the subjects. So, we're seeing really good results with discipline being down and with, um, you know, um, reading math scores, those kinds of things kind of kind of being up. Um, and I know it's not 100% due to the subs. I don't believe that. I'm not foolish. U, but I also think that, you know, if we don't have subs and we can't open our doors a day, that that

135costs a heck of a lot, too. Um, so I know it's a balance and I appreciate the information and I appreciate um all of the balancing that the um the folks on the committee did. So I'm not trying to be glib or or flippant, but I do think that like sometimes you have to look at the little picture and sometimes you have to look at the bigger picture and you always have to look at how things fit together. Well, also will say I think especially for our long-term absences like maternity or paternity leave, having a certified a retired teacher rather, I'm sorry, in that position is much more valuable than having someone who maybe has no experience. I I don't think I mean, even though I have education experience in higher ed, I don't know

136that you want me in your classroom for two months versus having someone who has had plenty of experience, right? That's the no-brainer choice, right? and someone as a parent who has a student that has a long-term sub currently right now, I'm very thankful that they have the experience that they have to be able to teach that class for an extended period of time. And I think that that's the value in that, >> which is is really truly why we believe that they should be paid more. Um, and we do value that tremendously. My mom is a retired teacher. She subs and um she does an incredible job. not in this district, but to be clear, but um you know, we're trying we were trying to look at being competitive, but we also know that we

137are so blessed in Woodford County to have great classrooms, great students, great leaders, and a lot of the subs that I've rounded with have said, you know, as long as the pay is competitive, and we've even had some reach out and say, we feel like 225 would be a good point. So >> yeah, I would much rather as a classroom teacher have a retired teacher >> every day, >> any day and every day. >> All right. So some of these things you will not see exact details because that information is going to come to you later. So just know that this information is being shared as a holistic thing, but in a close session later down the road, Dr. Jones will share more on what this is exactly going to look like. Um but for

138central office it is all departments are going to take a reduction so not just one all departments um and that I I can't really get into exactly those because that is one person one position um you know I don't want to get into that without Dr. Jones having the opportunity to explain that to you all in a closed session so you can know a little more what her plan is. Um but having been shared a little bit about that, I will say that um some of this was a lot larger um in transportation and I did work with Dr. Jones to lower that. So instead of um I believe we originally said we were going to have to reduce half of the monitors, you know, we are going to have to take some monitor reductions

139on the buses but not a full half um like what was originally thought by cutting out some of the other discretionary position discretionary funds that we have used um there. So, um, >> I'm glad to hear that that you're able to reduce because because when you >> and I'll admit myself and other parents when we saw the half monitors being reduced, that was >> a little alarming. So, um, what you're saying is you don't feel that it's going to be that significant of a number. >> I I do not um I can't give you an exact number, but it it would probably not be more than 10 um positions. >> And, you know, really, we have to look at what is required. It's required to have a somebody over the age of 16 on a

140bus that has preschoolers. That's what's required by law. Um and so a 16-year-old could potentially be a monitor according to the state. Should a 16-year-old be a monitor? Probably not. Um and especially the way that our schools are timed, a 16-year-old would have to be or 16 and above would have to be leaving school early to be that afternoon rider. They could do it in the morning, but they couldn't do it in the afternoon. Um and so also our monitors would be prioritized if a bus has a preschooler on it, which is what our current practice is. They are required to have a monitor on that bus. So that is um the requirement there >> and and I get that that's the requirement. I understand that requirement. I think that not every route has the

141same behavioral concerns. And so I appreciate the fact that we're changing that number as well because if we're just allocating those to that situation and that statebased scenario, we could really be leaving our bus drivers and of course every child on that bus in a very vulnerable position. So I think that that that is a safety concern for me. >> Let me add this too to that. Currently we have monitors on 100% every single run route that we run. the district closest to us has 30% of their routes with monitors just to give you some comparison. Um just that's so yep >> I yeah I did have just a couple questions. Um I mean I appreciate having information about the surrounding districts but I do think that you know when people move here and live

142here and send their kids to school here there's a certain expectation um you know there's a huge amount when you sign your tax check that goes to the schools. I when you look at that sometimes you're like all that goes to the schools. Um and so I do think that it is valuable to know what other districts are doing. I do think that you know there's a standard and there's an expectation and so um I know we have to kind of balance all that but I had a question um about the staffing reductions. It says all departments. So what does what exactly does that look like? Are you doing a certain percentage? Are you doing certain number of staff? Certain number of what exactly is included in that? What's that new staffing now? >> But

143that >> so we've compared the budget committee as well as our staff have compared our staffing in all of our central office department. >> Mhm. >> Okay. >> And so >> and that is on the website just so it's on the transparency. >> You can see every you can see our comparisons to everyone around. I'm not like again I hear what you're saying. We do have a high standard. Um we also need to cut $3 million from our but you know you know that as well as I do. So um you know you it'll be your job to figure out where that comes and if if one thing is eliminated where does it come from in another place right? So, um, with I'm not I can't I don't need to legally talk about um any

144of that personnel in an open session, but it would be a reduction based on the um size of our departments versus per students versus what other school districts staff their central offices at per student. Okay. So, just to be clear, this is reductions like at central office with administrators, with bus monitors, with teachers, with staff, with everything in all departments and it's cut by a certain >> This is all departments at central office. >> This is central office. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. I just >> This is central office changes. >> Gotcha. Can I ask just like a request for when we do have this conversation, can you and I don't know if you feel comfortable doing this, so I apologize if it's too much. >> Most of this will have to be discussed in the

145whole session, but you can always pose your question here. >> Here's my question. No, it's not a give me an answer. This is a question. Um I when we consider looking at this restructure and the cuts, can we can we estimate an impact of like this position could impact direct service to our children in this way and have an overview of kind of what that looks like? >> Sure. Absolutely. >> Thank you. >> And then just to double check, uh I'm not sure. I know I've done a couple of the close sessions over the years for different things. Um, so I just want to make sure absolute sure that discussing staffing, I mean discussing um, central office staffing reductions meets the criteria, the letter of the law to be able to go into a close

146session. >> I've reached out to our board attorney and he's going to give us clear guidelines on exactly how we need to word it to go into executive session, what we can actually discuss there, right? I don't think it does. I think it'd be something >> we're going to have very clear guidelines on how this is discussed. Yes. I feel like like these sorts of things need to be discussed in an open open forum to be quite honest but but I understand there might be some nuance or some sort of a >> a detail. Um but again I just want to make absolute sure because you know the guidance we've received in the past about closed sessions it's very clear there are a few reasons >> and and very few things that the board has

147oversight as far as any kind of personnel actions and that sort of thing. Correct. Usually has to deal with one position. >> Absolutely. Yes. >> Which so Okay. Thanks. >> May I ask one question? Sorry, but I think it falls under the staffing reductions. I know several of us probably I received an email with questions about the ETC program. Are there any can you speak to any plans for or is that coming up a little bit later in terms of like a reduction of teachers and the ratios and all those kinds of things? Because that something was said and I know they came to us >> and there was quite a post on that on Facebook as well. So of that. >> So currently um what we have so our staffing of ETC is um

148some of our staffing is sort of those positions are subs. And so if if you are in a situation where um you know you have a much smaller number of students that particular day then you can give your employee those employees that are substitutes the option and sometimes you may have a college student you may have you know someone that would appreciate having that time if they can have it to go go ahead and and go home. That's the only thing that we have said is just making sure that you are using your staffing wisely. >> There's concerns voiced about, if I remember the Facebook post correctly, about combining fifth graders with kindergarteners or students who maybe had special needs who were used to having the same teacher present throughout the time and now all

149of a sudden that person was going to be sent home. So, it sounds like there may be some misrepresentation of what that actually looks like. Um, again, another plug. That's why you reach out [laughter] and and not just follow what's on Facebook. Um, but I I so it is a substitute situation. Classes could be combined if the sub was released and sent given the option to go home because the numbers were low. >> And there are a lot of specific nuances because it's so ETC is a is a child care service, right? and childare >> it it follows the child care laws and um so we want to make sure that and I've expressed this to parents if any changes look for conver like look for a message directly from me if there are major

150changes that are occurring it will be communicated from me yeah >> thank you >> and then just one final thing and I'll be done um I would like to see kind of the math like what are the net savings how do we get the net savings where are we taking that um you know just kind of the math on the net savings for um the classified and the certified positions to whenever we meet. >> You will have it. We already have it actually. Yeah. >> Mr. Chairman, may I ask a question about this subject on the bus monitors? >> If we have bus drivers who are who retire and want to do something different and they want to become a monitor, are they paid more because they are retired bus driver? >> No. >> Okay.

151Thank you. >> We pay monitors the same rate. Now, they might get they'll probably get there if they were in the district. They'll get their years of experience, but they won't they don't there's not a different pay scale for >> there's no differentiate. Okay. >> The only difference that we do is for special needs bus drivers and monitors. They get a higher pay. >> Thank you. >> And with that, I am done. Are you may can I ask and I apologize. I should be more like Sarah and send you these questions, but back in August uh during the tax hearing, there were two proposals before the board. One was to leave the tax rate the same and it would generate X amount and another one was to lower it and it would generate. Do you

152know what those numbers were? Yeah, I'm going to show you on the website so I don't have to make up any numbers. >> Good. >> Off the top of my head because we all know that I get a few numbers mixed up every now and then. [snorts] So that is on on the budget transparency page um the public hearing board document here. Um we chose option two. >> Okay. What was the difference though? That's my question. >> So the keep the rat flat rate would be 4.4 4 million projected increase and the projected um increase from option two, which is what we took, was 829,000. >> I think you said four, but it's really two. 2 million, not 4 million. >> 2.4 million. >> Yep. >> 2.4 million. I told you that's why I don't

153make up numbers. >> Well, going back to Facebook, >> wait, I still have the floor, please. >> I'm sorry. >> No, I know. I just um what was the difference that if we had taken the higher one how what how much would that have made revenue go up? I know >> held the rate if we had held the rate the same not increased it or decreased it [clears throat] rate what would >> we had held the rate the same >> I bought a calculator >> about 1.6 6 million roughly additional. >> So yes, >> uh 1,61610 1,616,106. >> Okay. 1.6 million. >> And has that projected increase of 800,000 been accurate or have we really had revenues of more than the 800,000 in new um tax receipts? We have not received more than what we

154projected it. >> Yeah. And so, of course, as you all know, when when the taxes are collected and and things can look different from what the projection was, and it was a little bit lower. >> So, it was lower. We actually received less money than we anticipated receiving. >> A little bit. >> Yeah. >> So, and I think that to go back to Ambress, you finished. Go ahead. I'm so sorry. >> No, no, no, no, no. >> I really want to get this out. You know, I know you did. Um, there was a post on Facebook and I hate to keep on going back that to that, but I just as an educator and as someone who teaches policy, I cannot say enough to reach out to your elected officials or to reach out to

155Dr. Jones or people who have direct information. Don't just go by what you read on the internet. There was somebody who posted that the board is going to raise taxes. The time for that has passed. And if you remember correctly when we had this tax conversation, we talked to the community about where we would be if we did not change. >> There was lots of community feedback understandably. So we are all in a crunch for money that you know the economy is not great right now and there was concern about raising that rate. We created a situation I know for myself I got money back. you know, I'm my escrow is changing because of the reduction in taxes that I'm paying because of this rate. And the community did not want that. We talked about

156we would have to go into a um >> recallable recallable vote. >> It could be recalled. That doesn't mean it would would have been >> but we would have had to have a specific vote which would have cost an another great sum of money that would be charged to the to our school district. Um, so thinking about being good stewards with money, but this is not this is not the time we can't go back and raise taxes at this current juncture. Like we are in it in this situation. Um, and we've you know we gave the options of very clearly everything is very transparent now on our our website. So I encourage everybody to check that out and to not take misinformation about what this looks like. And we do have to cut $2 million

157and it is going to be incredibly gut-wrenching decision because and I'm with everybody else that >> I mean it is three million three million um sorry wishful thinking with two um but but this is where we are. This is the reality of the situation. We do not want the state to step in. That is not a good situation to be in. Um I I do not want to lose any jobs. I do I'm always been for teacher raises and and making sure our kids get the best services that they possibly can have. But we we have a monumental task ahead of us. Um and part of that is because we did not raise taxes. >> Not raise them. >> Hold them. Hold the rate. Hold the rate. Not >> raise the rate. There's a difference.

158>> We're going to learn this. We are all going to get it. Yep. Um, [clears throat] can we just get the actuals and our tax numbers at the meeting at the end of the month just so we'll know what the actuals are? >> And it would be at this point though, Sherry, it would be right to this point because it could, you know, >> if you remember in December, I did provide you with the taxes up until the end of November. So, and it's part of my presentation in January for the Treasury report. You will have the up till >> December, >> right? and all of the taxes because I know there were some other taxes that we were getting that was >> all of the taxes that will be listed as a revenue source.

159>> Yeah, that would be helpful. Thank you. >> We're also in a budget year so our state budget can drastically impact where we are next year. So our seek funding that's what's impacted us drastically as far as the budget that we have now, our property value assessments and that sort of thing. So >> lesson of tonight, reach out to your representatives. And I also wanted to say I want to thank our employees for doing such an incredible job of going ahead and completing their surveys. Uh we sent out a survey just about you know are you are you planning to retire? Are you leaving for a different reason so that we um would have that information. Um and so we had over 600 responses which was incredible. So thank you to every single person that

160did that. Um and so we do know um how many people are considering retirement or are retiring um and also are leaving for other reasons. So we have that information. >> Sure. So um definitely um saying that they they are not returning next year. We have eight individuals, two uh retirement, six for other reasons and then we have 16 who are still deciding and two uh considering retirement and in those 16 and 14 for other reasons. >> How many of those are at the high school? >> I don't know that. I can tell you that later. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> All right. Board, I would like to just publicly thank the budget committee. Um Yes. Miss Macau serving on that. Mr. Offet >> in the back of the room didn't present, but he's here

161as well. >> Um >> I think that's >> and then the the three that spoke today like they they did a tremendous job and um they they pointed out things that uh we we chose to present to you, you know, like those were recommendations and things. Um and then we just took that opportunity to uh to re-evaluate some of the things. So also on the here that is not on my presentation just just for your reference something that might be changing um is the certification program for our um cert classified staff members looking at revamping that figuring out a way to grandfather it revamping it. um it it might need like we've tried it for a little bit maybe we need to re do something different so looking at that as an option um it

162doesn't have a current impact because we are currently paying those already >> so this [clears throat] would be a moving forward thing that um could not be budgeted but if you look on the budget breakdown it does show you that cost of what we are paying currently for the certification program and then um like I like was mentioned earlier the the cell phones and the MiFi devices, the the cell phones are currently given to certain individuals um in our district and we're we're looking at looking at a ways to um reduce cost there but keeping the essential safety concerns for schools as a top priority. If the phones go out, they need that. Um, again, it's budgeted still, uh, but that is an area that we are still evaluating for effectiveness, as well as the

163MiFi devices, which I will give you more information on at a future, um, board meeting. And I believe that is everything else on our list that I have. And so, I'm turning it over to Dr. Jones and walking away. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for all the answers. Just just so we know like we need to approve the draft draft budget on the January date. >> That doesn't mean what we approve on the draft budget which has been presented to you tonight for review has to be what we approve in May. So just know that >> we need to approve it. You you can agree or disagree, but we still have, you know, until May 30th to make that ultimate decision on how exactly this budget works. So, please note that

164you're not you're not going to have to make an ultimate decision on what this looks like tonight or January, whatever. >> Right. >> Yep. >> Thank you for pointing that out. So, my recommendations um I am recommending an adjustment to the substitute pay to still pay our substitutes who are retired experienced more um at a two $225 uh rate up to that amount for daily wage threshold. Um that is uh $25 more than uh one district, the highest paying district next to us, and it is a lot more than any of the other districts around us. Um, I'm continuing I'm recommending that we continue to restrict outofstate travel for central office with the exception of grant requirements paid for by grant funds. I am um recommending that uh we make a reduction to um all

165certified employees by one contract day. I am recommending that we uh consider reducing the section six and seven allocations to schools so that we can um those funds can be used to continue to support schools but to pay for some of the things that we're paying for out of general fund that also supports schools. So I am recommending that um we do look at our vacation acral board policy and that we adjust for 260day employees that we adjust that to um you are earning 10 year 10 days of vacation time and then you would a model like you would you would earn an additional day every year after five years. Um and then that we limit the amount of um vacation days that can be rolled over to 10. That is my recommendation as superintendent.

166Um I am recommending that we look at all cell phones that we are currently paying for um and look at our MiFi device usage to make an informed decision about usage um versus cost and if there are better options out there. there may even be better options that are more cost-effective. So that's my recommendation on that. Um, I am recommending uh central office staffing reductions in all departments and um I am recommending that we do prioritize the placement of our bus monitors based on the levels of needs on our routes and that we do that um to ensure safety on those routes continues and that we look at that uh reducing that number. Um I'm look I'm asking that we consider to a revision of the um certificate program for classified employees. Um that we

167look at the offerings that we are giving to employees for that certificate program to make sure that um that it's the best structure we could that so that we can honor all departments and all employees equitably. In other words, that if I'm a custodian or if I am an instructional assistant that I have opportunities, equal opportunities or equitable opportunities to earn more money based on that. Um, and I'm also recommending that that be looked at as a stipened rather than an hourly rate. Um, and that we consider our 403b. Um, I agree with the budget committee that that is an important contribution. Maybe we match a lower percentage or we just at least review that and look at that. Um, I am recommending that we change the custodial staffing from one per 20,000 square feet

168to one per 25,000 square feet. Um, again, that is still much better staffing than our uh our neighbors. Um, and then I am recommending that we adjust the teacher staffing at the middle school to um 1 to 29 at 6th, 7th, and eighth grade. And um again, this is still better staffing rates than our surrounding districts, but also well below state cap. And then um I agree that we need to adjust the teacher staffing at the high school from 1 to 22 to 1 to 24. And um this places us well below state cap and is better than our surrounding districts by far by a very large gap. Um that would be a reduction of four uh allocations teacher allocations for the high school. Um I wanted to remind us that if we staffed at

169the state recommended cap uh that would be adjusting our ratio from 1 to 22 to 1 to 31 which would be a 16 position reduction. So when we recommend when we look at the recommendation of adjusting the teachers that is a sitebased decision correct >> our board allocation so our what we currently staff like when we send out our staffing to our schools we would we would reduce what we are able to give out of the general fund >> for teachers only and then they would then sitebased councils would decide how do we use what we are given. >> Okay. >> Yep. And then the last thing and it's it's very it's very difficult for me but I am I feel like I have need to say it. Um I think we should strongly consider

170looking at trying to pay for our interventionists from other fund sources um if at all possible. And the reason I'm saying that is because all the research suggest and states that 70 to 80% of our students should be on grade level based on classroom instruction and less than 10% of our students should require tier three interventions. And so truly if you look at our data, we really should be able to have our the needs of our students based on our data really should should be met with one to one and a half interventionist per elementary school. >> That hurts my heart. Um could I ask that as part of the next meeting we also receive a list of just the um district level uh funded positions so that we can kind of take a look

171at that. Um >> tell me a little more about that. I'm sorry. >> Just um you know I know we fund media, we fund PE, we fund art, I think we fund athletic directors, assistant athletic directors. um just those kinds of positions that would be kind of on par with um you know the interventionists that we we also find. So we have the formula but outside the formula we have specific funded positions that the district >> those are there too in the document the staffing comparisons those are all there as well >> transparenc above the teacher above the teacher allocations those discretionary they're all there and you can see >> are listed yes thank you >> I will say that some of the things that I guess just going back to um trying to think

172of how to word this. We are not looking at cutting our arts right now like our PE or music or any of that. Okay. >> Um >> can we look at that list? I don't >> sure. >> Do you mind pulling it up? >> It's on the It's on the for those of you at home. It's >> just so because >> it's on the budget. I don't have my computer. Josh, do you mind to pull up the staffing comparison >> document, please? Dr. Raburn, >> Dr. Jones, while Dr. Raburn's looking for that, can I ask a question about the the recommendations that you've given us about what does that total? Does that total right at 3 million or more? these recommendations, the the recommendations actually uh total a little more than 3 million and that

173gives the board flexibility to be able to choose, you know, the priorities um that you feel are appropriate. >> Okay. I wasn't sure. I know that the one pager was like $3.4 $4 million and I didn't know if that was >> and you know we are in the budget literally every day every single day for hours upon hours right now. And so as we're cleaning some of that up um you know we are just trying to make sure that everything we report to the public, everything we report to you all is is as accurate as we can get it. But again, if we estimate something that is based on a lot of different factors. So, we're doing our absolute best to estimate those calculations as closely as we can get them, but it all there

174are factors that impact those. So, the staffing compare the staffing allocation comparison >> you're on. >> So, yeah. So, just so everybody saw that, that is right on the budget transparency page on our school board website. So, everyone has access to this. >> Yep. >> Okay. So, can we pull it up and see it? So all of the district level funded positions are are where is it called that or >> if you look at the comparison >> central office administrative comparison. >> Oh okay I was looking into one at school. Okay, hold on. >> And while we're looking at this, just to reiterate, Dr. Jones right in the beginning of tonight said that one of her main assignments in coming to Woodford County was to tackle the budget, >> was to get a grasp on

175this. And I just want to thank you so much for doing that. I'm not seeing it. >> The staffing allocation comparison. >> This is school. The other document is district. Yep. So, our budget committee looked at all of that and that was part of the process of saying, well, you know, maybe this is something that we ought to consider. >> Interventionist, I'm sorry, tell me again. >> Is that the one that came up? So that was the one that you have most recently added that the that the board has most recently added. So um I mean you're welcome to look at others. >> No wonder I'm just asking that was something >> that was part of the all the positions added over the last four years was part of the process of the budget committee.

176And what were the other positions added over the past four years that could have been? >> Um there were the actual list of the four posi the four the positions that have been added for four the last four years. Um >> you just pulled >> it's it's pulled up now >> and that was also available on the budget transparency tab. >> Yeah, Mr. Chairman, I think You want to hit your >> Over the last two minutes, people have asked for stuff. Let me get here. We'll get it here. Just a minute. We'll get it here. We don't need to overlook how important that is and that wasn't like that before. Dr. Jones >> and I want to thank you for that. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, just to finish what I was saying earlier, um

177this has been an incredible amount of work for the committee, for the budget committee. Um, Dr. Jones took the lead to form that committee. So, I want to thank you. Dr. Rurn has done an amazing job in digging into this. The the budget is very complicated and I think everybody's starting to see that now and there's a lot of moving parts. This is an extremely difficult um decision that everyone has to make. The reality is we have to make cuts and it's going to affect different people in different ways. And our goal is to minimize that as much as possible, but we have to make them um you know, making sure that we're all aware and see everything that's going on within the district finances is very important. Um you know, comment earlier about not

178having the treasures report on there for a number of months, um is accurate. There there was a time when we did not have it. Um my vote on that was more of the conduct and decorum of the meetings that was happening during that time. Uh my first action as board chair when I came into this position was to put that finance and treasury report back on the regular agenda because there was a request for that and I trusted the board that's in place now to to have that conduct and decorum that we expect and that's gone well I think in the last year. So um I want to thank everybody for that. Uh I want to thank again Dr. Jones and Dr. from doing this deep dive and explaining it to us and presenting it

179to us in a way that is understandable. Um, we have the 87 pages here in front of us. It's very difficult to read. Um, and you've made this much easier and every month you've come to us with the information broken down in very uh easily digestible ways. And so again, just want to thank everyone for that. Um, but I know we've been here for a while. I want to thank everyone for being here. And >> you can give everybody an opportunity to say something if you want. Okay, Mr. Ambers, >> I echo everything you said. Everything you said. Exclamation point, but Mr. Belelfford >> Mr. Belelfford said something at the beginning of the meeting that has stuck with me and I can't get it out of my head. He said Dr. Jones was dealt a

180bad hand, but I think we need to recognize that the board of education deals. uh and we're the ones that are going to have to correct it and uh I'm glad you're here to help us. Thank you. >> Well, and I did just say Oh, I'm going to go in order. I'll come back to you. M do you have anything? >> Yeah, I guess same same thing everyone said. Thank you to the budget committee. Thank you all for being here. Thank you for Thank you to the constituents that it's emailed, contacted, phone calls, all of that feedback is critical and I I'm happy to have it. Um, thank you Dr. Jones and Dr. Raburn. Uh, I guess just before we leave, next steps. So, with these recommendations, I know that that that is something we're

181going to look at implementing at our uh, regular board meeting in January. So, what are our next steps um, so that we can come to that meeting and do we identify like, okay, this is a no-go for us or this is how how does that work so we can be helpful and prepared? So in terms of of adopting the the um draft budget, right? So if there are things that um you know that as a board member that you're like this is a no-go for me, then you know I would like for you to communicate that to me directly. Um and then um you know we will have to bring that back out into a revised draft budget. So the the recommendations that you've made, those are things that you're recommending. Do would we vote

182on that in January? Would that be something separate or >> So in this the page that I gave each of you, you'll see that some of the changes if if we adopt this draft budget, then we will have there will be subsequent things that the board will have to do. So you'll see that like there are policies or staffing formulas, that sort of thing that would need to change. And so those would come those would come after in the months okay after the January board meeting because we do need to get staffing allocations out um to our uh schools as soon as possible. So I think for you know the point of the of the work session as you all know it really is to discuss those things and then for you as individual board

183members to really consider um you know what you feel like we're willing to approve and then that informs the draft budget. That is just what you've been given. Would you if if we come up with it, if we say I don't agree with this 500,000 recommendation you made, realizing we have a $3 million we have to get to, would you like for suggestions on how to overcome that 500? >> Absolutely. And we have truly like my hive groups have been incredible to get the word out to staff members to say, "Hey, if you come up with an idea, >> good >> send it send it to Dr. Rapurn. Send it to Dr. Jones." Um it's going to take all of us. >> Absolutely. >> And and you know to be honest the the more of

184that we that we those ideas we come up with the less we have to reduce in this way. So we we want those recommendations. Absolutely. >> And I think it's important that if because we may have a recommendation that the other four of us haven't thought about. You haven't thought about. Absolutely. >> Yeah. So we're in this together. >> We found that with the budget committee as well. Well, the budget committee came up with things that we were like, "Oh." And our hive teams, our hive groups have given lots of recommendations when I've been rounding with employees. They've said, "Hey, what about this?" And and so that's where several of those operational adjustments came from. >> Yeah. just I'm trying not to talk too much, but um I do think it's important this exercise that

185we're going through now. In the future, if we come up with ideas that are going to it's going to require a lot of revenue, we need to go through that process then >> instead of after the fact, I would say. >> And one thing another thing that I instituted um when I became board chair was these quarterly meetings. We didn't have these before. So these quarterly budget meetings um are very important I think and so having this opportunity just like we're doing today to go through the budget every quarter talk about things that may come up because we know this school needs a new roof that school needs a new HVAC system and so by having these quarterly meetings and discussing anything um you we have that opportunity and sharing it with the public also.

186So, um, yeah, but I know we're >> Oh, well, I'm just got >> Miss answer real quick to Miss Macauen real quick. We do have to approve the working budget or the draft budget by the 31st, even though it doesn't get reported anywhere. Again, it's just a draft. So, that's not even if we approve it and then in February we're like, actually, we want to do this. Well, we really are our goal is to get to the tentative budget. So even if you don't 100% agree with the draft budget >> so to speak like >> approve it but then we move forward and we'll adjust it for the tenative which is where you really want to >> make all those adjustments and where you'll see those line items >> you know like we just put

187high numbers here but the you'll see a line item in >> this department will be reduced by this number because we have reduced this position type of stuff. Yeah. >> In the tentative. So that's April, May. So we've got we've got we just have to by law approve it by June January 31st. You don't have to agree with it. You don't have to come up with all these in the next two weeks. We do not have to make these decisions in the next two weeks. That's just the tenative budget. All of these actionable items that we're talking about will be more for the May um tenative or yes tenative budget. And we are going to have that quarterly budget meeting in April before that to also disc I mean we're going to keep discussing this

188constantly. But that April quarterly meeting very much like what we're doing now is where we're also going to >> bring up a lot of those things. >> I would still like to hear from each board member. I really would by email um or call, phone call or meeting. I mean I just I really do >> Mr. Springgate. >> Yeah. I would say I feel like all the discussions need to be had in an open public meeting like this. I think that it's um just beneficial and I've advocated for that my entire time on the board. There have been years when we've had folks that really want to shout down, silence others, um use attorneys, use whatever um to, you know, cut meetings. We used to have a planning meeting so that we could have discussion

189about agenda items. Um you know, we used to have it so that folks could take things off of the consent agenda and since you came, we've been doing that again. But um I think a lot of things we had a lot of changes that were for the worse um with the past administration and I think that um you know as board members um some of us did not do our job in any way, shape or form um financially um in any any of the metrics that you would measure a good good board member. Um, and so I think there is a reckoning and I think the public has the right to be um, you know, upset. You know, they were misinformed about things. They were um, you know, the board was misinformed about things. And,

190um, you know, I'm I'm glad that we had a quarterly meeting. Um, I think this was very helpful. I'm glad that we have a superintendent that's willing to do a budget committee and um, put documents online and answer questions. Um, but I I I think really it's important to remember that we didn't get here overnight. We got here through decision after decision. Um, and not really following best practices about having discussions and doing things in open meetings and really um just being good humans and good board members. Um, so I think that it it's it's a big hole. It's it's a a bad hand, but to Mr. Wilson's point, it was dealt by the previous administration and the previous board and some some that are still on this board. And so, you know, hopefully there

191will be um continue to be positive good changes and and I think the the one thing I would like to say to the public, to our parents, students, teachers, staff, is that you really do have all of the power. Um we represent you. you elect us. And so you do have all of the power. You have the voice. You have the ability to advocate and to speak up. And so, uh, moving forward, I'm hoping that we can have public comment on any and all agendas. I realize that it's not required by law except on regular meetings. Um, however, we change a lot of meetings. They become special meetings. Um, work sessions when folks come and want to be here and want to have input, they should have that ability. Um, I mean, it's a taxpayer

192funded school. It's a taxpayer funded meeting, taxpayer funded board. Um, and I just think that that is something very valuable that even if we don't agree, even if sometimes things are hard to hear, um, that just should be a fundamental value that that we want to do that. So, thank you, >> Dr. G. >> Um, so I want to ask my follow-up question first, then I'm going to go into my spiel. [laughter] So, what what I was asking um before was with the central office conversation that we're going to go into close setting session for, will we have that before or after we talk about our tenative budget because I feel like having that information will be key. Okay. So, that I was just curious about how that if it was before or after. So,

193um so that was my question. Uh my burning question over here. I I know I talk a lot. I'm going to try to be brief because I know we're all getting on here and I'm last. Well, you probably shouldn't put me last, right? Um, I I just want to say a huge thank you again to the budget committee, to Dr. Raburn, I know that this has been a very challenging task and a monumental task. Just to echo what everybody said, and I know it's been said multiple times, I also want to thank Dr. Jones for her work in transparency, um, for her work on the budget. Um, she's taken on a huge task and I think she's handled it with grace. She's had so much to handle um walking into the this new role for

194her that she continues to do a great job on that. In her hive meetings, I'm hearing good feedback from community members about that transparency, just that one-on-one conversation and what that looks like to help inform everybody where we're at. Um I I think I've said like 20 times tonight, I'm going to say it again. Please reach out to us. Use your voice. I'm a huge proponent on advocacy. I was at the Capitol building today fighting for stuff with social work legislation and I'll go back again um to talk about our kiddos and and meet with our representatives. We have got to use our voice and I'm really big on lived experiences. If anybody's ever heard me talk in these meetings, they know that I want to view um as your representative. I want to view

195from your lens. Now again, there is going to be challenging decisions to be made ahead of time. I there I look at this and I think where is it going to come from? And from my lens, it's what is when I ran, I said, how does it impact kids? I want to continuously go back to how it impacts our kids because that's why we're here, right? And our kids are the future of our community. Even people that are saying that, you know, I don't have kids in the district and I pay all these taxes. Well, look at how many Whiffer County graduates are running for a public office in our county um this coming election. There is quite a few. And and there's graduates of Whiffer County sitting on this board right here. We reinvest

196in our community. And so it takes us investing in our kiddos. They are our future. Um and so I think we have to keep that in the forefront of every single decision that we make, but also how it impacts those of you who are employed by this district and in our community at large. I think that there's so many factors to take into consideration here. And I I don't want to see anyone lose their job. Um and and that's why I'm asking some of the follow-up questions that we're having. And um when I ask these questions, I don't mean to discount any of the work that anybody has put into this because I know that it is a significant amount. It's just me seeking clarity because I do know this is a big choice and

197it's not one that I want to me make without listening to other people. And I think that that is key to any elected position. You have got you are elected to be a voice, but you have to listen to the voices of your community, your constituents, your students. Students absolutely have a voice in this. um our staff and and teachers um and our parents and guardians of course too. All of us have a stake in in this this situation. So um I'm I'm now officially in my sophomore year as a board member. Um I've done a lot of reflection as I've you know seen memories pop up of when I was sworn in. I will say this has been an amazing journey so far and I can't wait to see what the future holds. So

198I'm glad to be in this chair. Mr. >> Chairman, I move we >> Mr. like will she stop? >> We have a motion to adjourn. >> Second by Miss McCallen. All those in favor? >> I Good night everybody. Thank you.