001Mhm. >> Dinner time. >> It is Thursday, February 19th, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. and I would like to call this meeting to order. Can I get a roll call? Mrs. Will. Yes. Mrs. Powers. Yes. >> Mr. Wilson. Yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut. >> Yes. Mrs. Mason. >> Yes. Please stand and join me in saying the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I need a motion to approve the agenda. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Please call the roll. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? >> Yes. Mrs. Mason? >> Yes. Now I need an approval of the minutes of the regular board meeting that was
002held on January 15th. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Please call the roll. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? >> Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. Now I'd like to hand the meeting over to Josh Kaufman. Well, thank you. I'd like to invite our featured artist from Boyd E. Smith to come on up, as well as Mrs. Cooper, Mrs. Espy's here. We've got some really, really exceptional artists we're going to recognize tonight with their artworks hanging here behind us. Some really cool stuff, guys. Some really, really interesting, different, unique, and creative things that you all have created. So we're really excited to recognize you tonight. We are going to go oldest to youngest tonight. We're going to start with Hunter, who did the pastel Northern Lights here over my shoulder. Great, great job.
003And then I have Avery, who did the woven paper mosaics here. Congratulations. Well done. I have Gray here, who I'm taking a little bit of Gray's I've got a little bit about it out of order. Taking a little bit of Grace drawing here home with me tonight. I've got Ella who has the mixed media eagle which is beautiful. If you draw your attention up here, we have Elizabeth Ranly has the 3D sculpture here on the front table. Congratulations. Still Nosa has the woven pieces right here. I have Max who has the marker illustration down here. Great job. And our youngest eagle tonight is Valentina who did the beautiful sketch drawings on the end. GREAT JOB. ALL THE STUDENTS ARE TAKING HOME THEIR CUSTOM FEATURED artist pin that was created last year by one of our
004high school students that all of our featured artists get. Would love to thank Mrs. Cooper, Mrs. Ashby for all of the things that they're doing to create beautiful. If you WALK INTO YEAH. WALK THE HALLWAYS OF BOYD E. SMITH, you know that it's a building that loves art. There's beautiful art everywhere. So, just a few fine arts updates to share with you this month. Tickets are live. I mentioned it last month and they are selling fast. We're over 50% sold for Water for Elephants. So, it is the most like I said this unbroken record. It's the most ambitious show we've ever done. We have trapeze artists. We have a giant elephant. We have all We're bringing the circus to town in the Mudio Theater. So, please join us for Water for Elephants in a couple
005weeks. Tickets are going fast and it will sell out. And then on March 8th, we are capping off 100 years of celebrating the the history of Milford band program turned 100 years old and March 8th at Cincinnati Music Hall, our students are going to have an incredible opportunity to perform on a world-class stage thanks to the Milford Schools Foundation, Milford Band Boosters. Um we are in the process of distributing tickets to our band students and their families. If we have extra tickets, we're going to open those up to the community. It'll be first come, first serve, but we just don't know how many and when that'll be. Uh but we'd love to have some community members down there if we have some tickets. So, thank you so much for all you're doing to support the
006arts. Um Milford is really a destination district. Um it feels like over the last couple months I've touched different programs in our fine arts uh department, performing arts department, where I've run into students that have said, "We moved into this district because of the arts." And and that's really an exceptional thing. So, thank you for all of your support. Good evening, President Mason and members of the board. Thank you so much for inviting us here tonight. My name is Nick Suma, and we are proud students from Boddy Smith Elementary School. My name is Mabel Ham. My name is Amelia Nice. My name is Annie Brockman. My name is Mack Berry. My name is Camden Martin. My name is Ella Carrier. My name is Finn Huggins. My name is June Ranly. My name's Gray Downey. My
007name is Charlie Nice. My name is Jackson Nice. This year our school theme is camping, and we say our we are being our best at Camp B S. In our Eagle Leadership League, we learn how to spread our wings and soar high as leaders. This Eagle Leadership League is for students in grades 3 through 5 who want to step up, help others, and make our school the best camp it can be. Just like at a real campsite, everyone has an important job. We are excited to share how we are helping our school community grow stronger together. In the Eagle Leadership League, we have learned that leadership is not just about being in charge. It is about setting up your tent the right way even when no one is watching. Last year, we only had Eagle
008Experts. This year, we have expanded it We have expanded to become the Eagle Leadership League that includes Eagle Experts, Flight Force, and Soar Squad. To us, leadership means being respectful, responsible, and ready to solve problems. It means using kind words, making safe choices, and helping others when they need it. We practice these leadership skills everywhere in our classrooms, in the hallways, and at recess, and even outside of school. We try to soar like eagles by making good choices every single day. At Bordy Smith, we like serving our school with our Leadership League. One of our leadership groups is called the Soar Squad. Soar Squad members support students with special needs by reading with them, practicing math facts, and participating together in activities like art, gym, and music. It is kind of like being a camping
009buddy. You stay together, encourage each other, and make sure no one feels left out. We learned that leadership also means walking beside someone and helping them feel confident. Being part of the soar squad teaches us compassion, patience, and kindness. Sometimes learning takes extra time. And that is okay. We learn to slow down, listen carefully, and celebrate small victories. When everyone feels include included and valued, our whole school becomes stronger. It is like building a sturdy campsite. Every piece matters. As eagles, we want everyone to feel like they belong in our nest. The second group in our Eagle Leadership League is called the Flight Force. Flight Force members serve as leaders during dismissal. We help younger students pack up their things, line up quietly, and get safely to their buses or cars. Dismissal can feel busy
010like packing up a campsite before a storm, but we stay calm, focused, and ready to help. As members of Flight Force, we learn to be responsible problem-solvers. Sometimes a student forgets where to go, drops their backpack, or feels worried about getting on the bus. We help answer questions and solve small problems so everything runs smoothly. A younger Younger students look up to us like we are big eagles guiding them. We take that job seriously because we know they are watching and learning from us. Our third leadership group at Boyd E. Smith is called Eagle X, the Eagle Experts. As Eagle Experts, we help plan and organize activities that bring our whole school camp together. We help with school assemblies, lead our weekly video announcements, and share important information with everyone. We also try to model
011what it looks like to soar by being safe, organized, accountable, and respectful. When other students see us, we want them to see eagles who are confident, kind, and ready to learn. Eagle experts also lead service projects that help people in our community and even beyond our school. We organize donation drives for organizations like Fuel for Flight. These projects teach us responsibility. They remind us that even small acts like bringing a donation or helping organize supplies can make a big difference. Just like a campfire starts with one small spark, kindness can grow into something powerful. We also learn that being leaders means caring about the people around our school. During arrival and dismissal, there is a lot of traffic near our building. We want our neighbors to know we appreciate their patience. So, we made thank
012you cards to show our gratitude. This helps us understand that our school is part of a bigger community. Just like camps campers respect nature and their campsite, we want to respect the neighborhood around around Body Smith. One of our most meaningful experiences was volunteering at Impacting Tomorrow. When we were there, we helped families who weren't shopping who were shopping for for groceries at no cost. We bagged food carefully and carried groceries to their cars. It made us realize that leadership is not always about being seen. Sometimes it is about quietly helping behind the scenes. It felt good to know we were helping families in our community fill their tables, just like families gathering around a campfire. Helping at Impacting Tomorrow made me feel proud and grateful. I felt proud because I knew I was doing
013something important, but I also felt thankful that I had the chance to help others. It showed me that being a leader means stepping up when help is needed. It means treating everyone with respect and understanding that everyone's journey is different. Just like eagles look out for their flock, we look out for our community. Being part of the Eagle Leadership Week has helped us grow in so many ways. We are learning that leadership is not about having a title, it is about having heart. It means helping others, showing respect, being brave enough to do the right thing, and always trying our best. At Boyd Smith, we are camping together on a journey of learning and leadership. We are lightning the way, lifting each other up, and soaring higher every day. Thank you for listening to us
014and for supporting student leadership at Boyd Smith. We are proud to be eagles. Weren't they amazing? Wow. >> I mean, so phenomenal. And as we were kind of going through getting ready for the presentation, I said, "Do you want me to do an introduction?" And Nick, our first speaker, was like, "Nope, I got it." I was like, "Okay, you go. It's all you." Um so, thank you for listening to their presentation. Um they are really our leaders of the building, and we hope to continue to expand our Eagle Experts um and our Eagle Leadership League. We generated any questions? I know Mr. Kaufman's lucky that he went before that group cuz they did such an impeccable job. So, no, I don't have any questions. I'm always just so blown away by these presentations from our
015all of our schools, but our elementary schools in particular and all the kids did a fantastic job. Congratulations to you guys. Thank you for being leaders in your school. I think it's incredibly important. I love all the things our elementary school are doing. Those cards with the neighbors is so such a cool idea and very impressive. So no questions. This is this is always my favorite part of the meeting. We did get a call after delivering the cards from a neighbor who said, "You know, that means so much." I'm glad it all smoothed out at the beginning, you know, it was a little rough, but you know, we all got it together and kudos to all of our families, too, for really moving moving our process along. Yeah. Yeah, I I love hearing about how
016your groups have also reached out to the community beyond the school. Like I always feel like the schools are really at the heart of our community and I think it's because of things like this. And I love hearing about that and I especially love hearing about it from the students themselves. And I especially love hearing about it from my granddaughter, one of the speakers. I saw your phone out. I just want to say thank you to the students for sharing the information with us on what you do. I think it's great. Good job. If you guys ever have any ideas for us, just send them our way. We can go get some pictures. Yes, let's do it. Now, there goes everybody. Okay, so we have an update on impacting tomorrow. Was that part of that
017or is there another update? They're not here? She said they wanted to say something. I thought maybe it Oh. Yes, hi. Nice to see you. Thank you. I guess ask just to make sure it's none of the Is there anyone here from Impacting Tomorrow? Oh, the guy >> No, but I'm going to call Libby tomorrow. Yeah. I want to make sure she knows what a great presentation they did. Yeah, we we did think Impacting Tomorrow was going to make a short presentation about while everyone's leaving. Um, if you haven't heard about it, it's uh Ken Tracy, Miami Township Trustee and his wife have this amazing charity that serves 84 counties and it's on Wards Corner and we're really lucky to to be a part of it and have it right here. We'll have to see
018if Are you Are you That's fine. Oh, I was there. Hidden behind all the kids. >> I know. I was in the corner, sorry. I get the tucked up tough act to follow. So, my name is Beth Rogers and I'm the operations and volunteer manager at Impacting Tomorrow. Ken is out of town today, so I get to be in his place. Not quite as tall, not quite as bald, but but here nonetheless. So, we are located over off of Wards Corner Road. We've been in our current building which was formerly the old Cold Jet building since August of last year. Um, but we have three major services under the Impacting Tomorrow umbrella. One is our food market. One is our clothing boutique and then also our Carry Her program which we launched when we moved
019into our new building. So, the food market our guests are able to come in and shop once a week. All items are provided free of charge. We have a wide variety of items from meat, milk and eggs, fresh produce, all the pantry staples, and some fun things along the way as well. All of those items, if our guest take advantage of all of the items we have to offer, they typically walk out with at least $200 worth of groceries every week free of charge. We are also highly committed to consistency. So we make sure to have all of the consistent items so that our guest know what they can expect every time. Just like when I walk into Kroger or Aldi or Meijer to shop, I never wonder if there's going to be canned vegetables
020or maybe if I'm going to be able to find any produce or bread, those types of things. We want our guest to have the same experience. In our boutique, all of our clothing is donated by community members like yourself. We go through everything, make sure it's in excellent shape. Just because it's free does not mean it should be in any condition that it comes in. We want to make sure that our guest are proud of what they're getting from us. Guest are also able to shop in the boutique once a week and they are able to get plenty of items for their family as well as things like shoes, bags, accessories, things like that. Also out of our boutique, we run our Carry Her program. This is where we provide essential items for women and
021kids in our community. So this includes our Carry Her Baby program where we provide a monthly pick up of 50 diapers and a package of wipes every month. Our Carry Her Woman which provides a package of either tampons, pads or a mixture of both every month for pick up. As well as our Carry Her Senior which is for both men and women and provides our senior care items so that they have what they need. By them signing up for the program, we are committed to making sure we have that product in stock for them to pick up once a month. And so it's a helpful again that consistency piece for all of our guest. Like I said, all of our product is available free of charge. Our goal is to make sure that the process
022feels normal that that we've removed any type of stigma. Dignity and respect are at the heart of everything we do. In our building, we also partner with two additional uh providers. One is Grow Together Therapy, which provides pediatric occupational therapy um to children. Um, they are a standalone practice that functions out of our building, but they do um take all major medical insurances as well as provide scholarships for those who need them. The other uh partnership that we have is with HealthSource of Ohio. Um, we have both uh five medical patient rooms, six dental chairs um that are available. Again, they take all major medical insurances um as well as Medicaid, Medicare, and they also do payment on a sliding scale based on income. Um, the philosophy on our campus as a whole is uh
023that we want to make access to those resources as easy as possible, kind of a one-stop shop, all under one roof. Um, and we again we want to remove those kind of stigmas um around care and make it feel like a normal experience. Um, and so all of those services are provided in partnership um to our guests uh across the board. We also heavily rely on volunteers. So, uh the group that you just heard from, um, they they really made our some of our other volunteers step up to the plate with uh how excited they were to be there and how hard they worked. Um, uh they all worked up a sweat while they were there helping out during our market. Um, but we heavily depend on volunteers. We see a lot of Milford students
024um both from um from different student groups, a lot of our National Honor Society kids, and a lot of times we'll hit see kids that hit their total number of hours needed and they'll say, "Can I keep coming cuz I really like this?" And we're like, "Absolutely, please." Um, so we see a lot of different groups from our churches, different companies and organizations as well. So, yeah. Anything I can answer for you? Uh individuals can just sign up, right? Uh I just got on and looked at it today and you can just pick a slot to work at the grocery or the boutique? Exactly. Um so we do offer volunteer opportunities 6 days a week. Uh some of those are when we are open to the public. So we are open Mondays, Fridays, and Saturdays
025from 10:00 a.m. till noon. And then um Wednesdays from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. We also do a lot of group projects um for behind the scenes to help us get ready as well. Um as far as our shoppers go also, I forgot to mention, we do not have any zip code restrictions or income restrictions. Our only qualification is that people walk in the door. Um and so we have we see folks from quite a wide um array of zip codes and areas of town. Um lots of different income levels. Uh but what we we have found across the board is for a lot of our guests, um their expenses and their income just don't seem to meet sometimes. And sometimes it happens some weeks and not others, so they don't necessarily need to see us
026every week. Um so yeah. Um do you also accept donations like for your boutique and also for food? So we do. Um when you pull onto our campus, when you head straight ahead, you will see a donation shed um just right down on your left. Um and there is where we have all of our donations dropped off. We do accept clothing for men, women, and kids. Um all the shoes, accessories, those types of things. Um we do accept food donations as well. Um and then also we'll get calls from uh folks a lot that say, "Hey, my my baby just outgrew this size of diapers, of course, right after we opened it and used a few. Um is that something you can use?" We absolutely can. Same thing with um with used adult products or
027new adult products. Perhaps a family member has passed away or there's a product that's no longer needed. We can take those as well. Yeah. What are the things you're in need of the most? Like is it volunteers, money, donations? I mean, obviously all of the above, but is there certain things that you guys are more in need of than others? Absolutely. Um the items for our boutique are probably the ones that we depend on our community for the most, um because those are all provided through donation and we aren't able to get a lot of those in bulk. So clothing is a big one, especially clothes for kids. We see a lot of kids through our our doors as well as men, men's clothes. Um men tend to A not go through their clothing as
028often as women do, nor do they buy as much of it. And so there's a little less there that we get donated. So those are always two of our biggest clothing needs. Um but volunteers is always a big piece too. It takes about 40 to 50 volunteers to pull off on open market and boutique anytime that we're there. And so we want to make sure that we have lots of people coming in the door because we don't want to burn out any of our volunteers. What's that process for volunteers? So sign up on your website, come into the door, how does that work? Yeah. So we do have all of our volunteer opportunities on our website. We use a platform called Civic Champs where the volunteers can sign up ahead of time and see what
029our available times are. And then we also do have some volunteers that just walk in and one of those available times to come and volunteer as well. So it's an easy sign up process. There's also a sign up available on online for groups that want to come in where a group lead will sign up on behalf of their group and then we'll get everything settled when everyone comes to the door. I would just recommend that any Do you have an Amazon wish list? We do. We do. So on our boutique page there is an Amazon wish list. On there we have some of the items we use for our carry hair program, also some basic clothing items, socks and underwear we require to be new for obvious reasons. So those items are on there, also
030things that we will use seasonally. So right now this today is not as quite as much of a need today specifically, but for like coats, hats, gloves, things like that that we have seasonal needs. Thank you. >> Absolutely. I'll just say it's really just phenomenal you guys are doing. As when I toured so one of the things that's good about you guys being there doing dental and health care work is so just so important because when I toured a lot of the inner city schools with the city of Cincinnati, a lot of the schools there have to have dental or medical there for the kids and the families and things like that. That's traditionally not uh generally a need for the more suburban districts like ours. Um but as we know that there's people who
031need help everywhere. Um the process for us to add something like that is difficult when it's something we've never done before. So, the idea that you guys were there doing that and serving that part of the community is really important. So, thanks for that. Thank you. And I was just going to say if you have any interest at all, you should sign up for a tour there at most days or a lot of days of the week and it's really amazing what you all are doing. I mean, I just had goosebumps. It was I went home, I cleaned out every closet, every drawer, I parted with that North Face coat I can't fit in anymore. And I was just like, "Ah, I got to go get that stuff over there." It's really amazing program. Thank
032you. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Thank you. Uh do we have any public commentary? We do not. Okay. Um next we have a public hearing for federal real grants. Um it's my understanding that if anybody has any comments on this, they can comment on them. Correct. All right. Please please apply. I know you I know the uh your department does a really good job at taking advantage of everything uh and making sure that we spend within the the bounds um to make sure. We have individuals sitting out in that audience right now that take a very uh keen as- or look into these grants and make sure that we get every spend every dollar. Yep. All right. Uh moving on to mission moments. Uh tonight we wanted to recognize our maintenance and custodial
033teams. Over the past month, our district experienced more snow than usual and it came quickly and heavily. While many of us were watching the forecast from home, our maintenance and custodial teams were already in motion. They demonstrated our portrait of a staff member trait of flexibility, working extended hours, often in the very early mornings and late into the evenings clearing parking lots, sidewalks, entrances, and making sure our buildings were safe and ready for our students and staff. Their work isn't always visible, but it is absolutely essential. Because of their dedication, when our doors opened, our schools were safe, accessible, and welcoming. On behalf of the board, we want to say thank you. Your hard work, flexibility, and commitment to student safety do not go unnoticed and we are incredibly grateful. On that, a good point
034to make is I had a community member come up to me around the the when it's snowing. I was outside shoveling the driveway and we were talking about the school closures, you know, how sometimes we close them down um, little earlier in the the day before, right? And I had to explain to him like all the parking lots, all the sidewalks, all the schools have to be cleared by our staff, right? So, if it's a a lot of snow that's coming down and we know the campuses aren't going to be safe, then, you know, that's generally why I called early. So, um, you know, they they are a critical part of getting the campuses open because there's nobody to clear that except for them and it is a tremendous amount of work, so yeah, thank
035you so much to them. And I think calling them for is early is important for parents to arrange child care and everything too. >> absolutely. Yeah. It's a win-win. We do have Ed here from uh, our building maintenance team as well. Oh, yeah. Thank you so much. Do you want to get Do you want to Do you want to put him up there to say anything, Ed? Did you Did you prepare an acceptance speech or anything? No, did you prepare an acceptance speech? All right. Yeah, we heard you guys because of how tall the snow was this time and some of the equipment was breaking cuz it wasn't used to. Yeah. Yeah, and we're clearly grateful for you guys. Thank you. Absolutely. Okay, now moving on to treasurer's reports. Michael, do you have a little
036summary for us? Yeah, so we mainly covered in committee this this past week what Doug's going to be going over. So, the 5-year forecast now is on a new schedule. The new schedule is August and February instead of November and May. That was under House Bill 96. Um so, we're going to go through that with Doug. I'll point out some areas to highlight if Doug doesn't already touch on them. Um we did talk Do you have the the slide in there, Doug, around the cost of $85 a day? Okay, so we'll talk about that. Um we did discuss enrollment a little bit, but I know that we're preparing more on enrollment for March. So, we're closely monitoring and Bobby's doing a fantastic job of digging in with our administrative staff around enrollment. Um you know,
037something for the important that I point out regularly is that you know, public school districts traditionally haven't had to pay a lot of attention to enrollment as you know, families move into an area, it's natural that place that the students are going to go. But now that there is um more competition for those students, uh different ways that the money flows down from the state, it is an area that we have to pay attention to more. So, you will surely hear more about that as we plan out this next year to ensure that we are um advertising to the community all the great things that our school district offers that the kids in our community may not be able to get elsewhere. Um let's see. So, we go over that. And that's about it. So,
038we'll go pass it over to Doug to go through the through the forecast. All right. Can I get a motion for approval for the board reports? So moved. Second. All right, Mr. Ackerman. Okay. We're going to start with our normal monthly board reports. So, here we go. So, Madam President, members of the board, thank you for allowing me to give you a snapshot of the district's finances through January of fiscal year 26. And as we scroll down, and can everyone see that or do we need to blow it up a little bit? I can see it. Always a Always good to make it a little bigger. >> larger. Yeah. So, what's really important is that total balance. If you scroll down just a little bit, you'll see the red 00, which means we are balanced
039between our operating account and uh the uh state software. So, that's important. And then, as we scroll down to the next slide, okay, I think we're up. Keep going. There we go. So, this is our uh investments through the um through January, and you can see this column right here, that's what we earned for the month, and then this is what we've earned year-to-date. So, what's really important is that we have earned $138,000 right there for the month of January, and then year-to-date we're looking at almost 1.7 million. So, even though interest rates are going down, we're still uh actually doing a very good job of earning some extra money for the uh taxpayers. Is that earning in the 5-year forecast, Doug? Like how do we >> them, yes. >> Okay. So, we project it
040in that way. Yeah. Um then as we scroll down, okay. Now, normally this is the exciting slide that I like to show everyone, but we have the 5-year forecast coming up as Mr. Wilson stated. So, what this is this is a snapshot of our 5-year forecast through January. So, you'll actually see the forecast for fiscal year '26 right here, what we've earned and spent through here, and then how we stand year-to-date. And if you scroll down just a little bit, there's a couple lines that are really important. Uh there we go. 6.010, you can see that we were projecting a uh deficit spending of 1.9 million. Through January, we're actually deficit spending of 2.4. Now, normally I would probably have tremors right now. But, we only get paid twice a year, so this is why
041you have to have cash. And by that I mean, we receive one tax settlement August, early September. The next one doesn't come until the end of April, early May. So, that's why this line right here is so important that you actually have money so you can carry yourself through the hard times. So, I'm not shaking yet. Um and then as you slide down, we have some nice graphs. Okay. So, Doug, quickly though it's important to note that we're not exceeding our deficit spending where we project to be at by the end of the year, though, right? We're We're going to get to that. >> Okay. I just don't want No, we are going to get to that in the next presentation. Okay, so here's our revenue and you can see between 24, 25, and 26,
042those are fiscal years, that the local revenue has gone up, state revenue has gone up from 24 to 25 and just about even between 25 and 26. And then all other revenue has gone up. And then the next slide, all right, now these are expenditures. And I don't get to say this too often, but salary and benefits from 24 to 25 have gone up. They normally go up every year. It's It's normal. But from 25 to 26, what we have done in the past year is already state starting to take effect. We've actually got a reduction right there. And then purchase services, which is where we've been concentrating or focusing the most, has gone down between 24, 25, and 26. And then all other expenditures have gone down, but then back up in 26 for
043some various reasons. Not to blame facilities or technology because that's not fair, but since it's their day, we'll blame them. Right. And then the next slide, >> to note though on the salaries and benefits part and the purchase service part because that's what we continue to talk about about how these savings trail um very far behind the cuts. So it's it's very important as a board that we're starting to see these go down a little bit because we started to make these adjustments right after our levy failed even before we got the state performance audit. We started to look at both of those areas. So the idea that they're trending downwards and obviously we'll continue to track those and and we'll talk more about in the five-year forecast and continue to ask Doug to drill
044in to make sure that the savings that we are doing are the things that are being reflected in this, but um very positive to see it starting to trend downwards. >> It It It is. It It He's Mr. Wilson's correct. It everything lags behind. Um it's unfortunate, but that's the way it is in this business. Um and then again, we've not really made any uh reductions from the recommendations of the of the performance audit. So, that is to come. Um so, that's why things are positive right now. And then our last slide, now this is something that House Bill 96 is requiring that we keep administrative expenditures below 15% and you can see right now we're sitting at 14.3%. So, that is good. Any questions on that part? Please call the roll. Yes, ma'am. Miss
045uh Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mason? Yes. Now, I need a motion to approve the 5-year forecast. So moved. Second. Okay. Guys, I'm excited. I'm excited because this is my Super Bowl. Mhm. And >> slide layout. >> when you talk about the 5-year forecast, I mean I show you something every month and I get excited about that. But now we bring it all together. And like Mr. Wilson said, just a little refresher, we used to do this in November November and May and now we're doing it in August and February. So, yes, we don't have as much data, which just means we'll kind of flip how we amend things, but that's okay. It still gives us direction. We need to know where we're going and
046we need to know how we're doing it. And someone like myself who looks at this forecast every day, you start to feel like things are starting to take effect. Like I I know I say it every month we have to reduce expenditures, we have to watch everything we do. But I have to applaud everyone in this room and I have to applaud everyone in this district because we're really really believing in what we're trying to do and and I just want to say thank you for that. So, let's start with the first slide. Now, this first slide is actually a base slide, a comparison that we're going to use. Now, as you can see, this is from May of last fiscal year. So, May of fiscal year 25. And where I want us to focus,
047and I know that's hard to see and I apologize, I want us to focus on fiscal year 29. Now, remember fiscal year 29 is only a few years away. But what we're going to do is we're going to start at the bottom. We can see we have a fund balance. So, we were speculating we'd have a fund balance of around $12 million. Deficit spending around $12 million. Okay, that's not good. Expenditures. This is an important line right here. You can see that our expenditures last May, we were predicting around 95.7 or 96 million dollars. Next slide, please. Here is our February fiscal year 26 forecast. Now, first thing I want to point out, these are zeros through here. That means there's no levy discussion. That's on the table for another day. But let's go to
048fiscal year 29. Let's look at our ending fund balance of 13.7. That's positive. Let's look at our deficit spending is down to 6. Going to make sure I look at this correctly. 6.8. And then right up here, you'll our expenditures. They're down to 89, 90 million dollars. So, we've been able to reduce 6 million dollars worth of expenditures in a year in this forecast without even looking at the performance audit or the recommendations that have been put into place. So, I think that's awesome. Yeah, our deficit spending, too, was cut in half, right? Yeah, 12.8 previously and at 6.8 now, so another huge positive. And then something you brought up earlier, now granted it's only right now, meaning it's early 7 months into the fiscal year, is we've been able to reduce the deficit spending
049from 1.9 to 1.6, which is right there. Right. So. Yeah, I just wanted to bring that up earlier cuz of just the difference between your previous part is which is a is is today's information where we haven't been paid yet for the second time versus this is showing you what that's projected to look like. to the end of the year, so that's just a part for you to understand. And then our next slide, this is a nice, simple graph, nice bar graph, shows fund balance at the beginning of the year, fund balance at the end of the year, and the reduction is because of the deficit spending of 1.6 million. And then the next slide, okay, so I have a couple donut graphs. I hope no one's hungry. So, what you see here is revenues
050to the left, expenditures to the right. The blue shaded area, that's our local revenue. The orange, that's our state revenue. Over here with expenditures, the blue shaded area, that's our salaries. The orange shaded area, that's our benefits. And then that's our purchased services. And then the next slide, I kind of take the same information but put it into a pie chart in case anyone I see this differently and probably it's more clear to me. But you can see right here the red shaded area, that's our local revenue, state revenue, and all other revenue right there at 14%. And then, our expenditures. And I think this kind of sums it all up. So, you take salary and benefits and realize that yes, we are in the people business. So, 78% of our expenditures are salary and
051benefits. 14% right there are those administrative expenditures that we discussed earlier. So, of that 78% 14% of them are administrators. And then, that was a great recommendation out of our committee meeting for Mary Ann to show it in that way. And we show it that way because that is an area where that we sometimes get criticism is around our administrative cost, and that's why we continue to show that we're under the requested 15% at 14%, and um and that's a really good number to be at. Um so, it's I like that you guys have showed it there on that slide. I think that's very important. And this this presentation will be on the on board docs. Um and then, of course, this is purchased services right here, which is 17%. And then, in the next
052slide, okay, so this is our cash on hand. Now, we have a 90-day cash reserve policy. So, once we get below 90 days, which really isn't until fiscal year 20 or 30, excuse me. We're past 20. Um do bells and whistles start going crazy. Now, everyone lives in the present. Unfortunately, in my job, I have to live in the future. So, the bells and whistles are going crazy right now in my head. So, that's why you work right now to make sure that the future is where you need it to be. So, this is really an important slide from my perspective. And then, the next slide. All right. Now, this is our enrollment. So, as Mr. Wilson said that Dr. Fiori and her team is working very hard to figure out why we've gone from
0536,200 students down to 5,000 students right here in fiscal year 26. Now, a lot of this is not our fault. We cannot control this because of the fair school funding plan, which is the state revenue. In fiscal year 22 or prior to fiscal year 22, any resident student, no matter where they went, we counted them. Now, the money follows the student. We don't get to count them. So, we lose these students. So, there are other reasons and we're working on that. And I'm sure Dr. Fiori is going to make it a high priority to figure out why and what we can do to get them back. Um but beyond that, you also have the voucher system, which is a big deal anymore throughout the whole state. So, these are kids that go to non-pubs. And
054by non-pubs means they're not public schools. And money follows them now, where it didn't in the past. So, and then the last slide. Now, here's what Mr. Wilson was stating earlier. So, we're going to end on a high note. So, you got a bar graph to the left, pie chart to the right. This $85 what that means, it only costs residents of this district $85 a day to educate a student. I think that is a great return on your investment. So, thank you. Any questions? I don't have any. Fantastic. Thank you, Doug. You've done great work. All right, please call the roll. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? >> Yes. Mrs. Mason? >> Yes. Um now I need a motion to approve the following vendors. So moved. Second. Any discussion?
055Please call the roll. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Bowers? Yes. >> Mr. Wilson? Yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. Now, I need a motion to approve the following donations. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Please call the roll. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Bowers? Yes. >> Mr. Wilson? Yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. Now, I need a motion to approve the resolution accepting the amounts and rates as determined by the budget commission and authorizing the necessary tax levies and certifying them to the county auditor. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Just so everyone knows, this not mean we're running a levy. It means anything that we've passed in the in the past. Um so every year they do this. They need to know how much money we've collected and basically what your property values are
056worth because remember if we passed a levy at 10 mils and your property goes up, the millage goes down. So that's how rates are created. So every year they look at the not only our fund balance, but they look at property valuations and just so everyone knows it's on six-year terms. So every three years something's either updated or actually uh gone through a a full re-appraisal. And we are due for a full re-appraisal in Clermont County in 2026. So. All right. Please call the roll. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Bowers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. Um I also wanted to mention, I know that we've been doing a presentation on the performance audit and taking it piece by piece every month. Um we are skipping this month. Uh, we need um,
057Mr. Johnson here to give us a presentation. We are going to look at uh, transportation as well as facilities next month and we will do be doing both of those sections together in our update. All right. Um, we are moving on to Superintendent's Business. Um, we have a first reading of a policy. This is policy KMA and that's relations with support organizations. Um, and then I need a motion to approve the 2026-27 Ohio High School Athletic Association resolution to continue membership. So moved. Second. Any discussion? This is just a membership that we renew every year so that we can be part of the Ohio High School Athletic Association. All right, please call the roll. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. Mrs. Mason? >> Yes. Um, now moving on
058to human resources business. Um, we will be doing this by consent agenda. So, I need a motion to approve G1 through G4. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Myra, did you want to >> I did want to say we do have two retirees. Um, Kim Farrell from Boyd, a long time PE teacher is retiring. My grandchildren have loved loved her for the last 7 years and my 41-year-old son loved him loved her at the junior high. Uh, she's a wonderful teacher. I think she's hearing that grandma siren and that's why she's finally hanging up her gym shoes. And also Helen Thatch is retiring from the academy secretary and Helen's worn a million hats in the district and she's always done them graciously and efficiently and kindly and it will be hard to replace Helen. So. Congrats
059to both of them. Please call the roll. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Mason? >> Yes. Uh now we're moving on to curriculum and instruction business. I think Emily has an update for us from Great Oaks. >> Oh, yes. Um So, highlights from the Great Oaks meeting this month. The high school applications closed in February. Uh there are a total of 2,100 available spots across all four campuses. They had 2,973 applicants. So, um not all of those applicants that that's before they've added them. Sometimes people apply and they're not eligible yet. Um but it is a uh super popular program. Um for students who don't get their first choice, uh they are offered a open spot in another choice or they can go to another campus
060um if there's spots in that program. Um specifically at Live Oaks, we had 590 applications. Um for what? For what grade? 645. For the whole grade? >> whole campus for that grade. Yep, 645. Um How many do we get in from our district? We don't they haven't applied yet. >> Okay. Uh well, I mean so they haven't accepted programs. So, that's just Live Oaks. I I we can go through and count, but all the Milford students don't always go to Live Oaks. Like Milford could also go through you know, they could go to another depending on the programs. So, I could we do have that breakdown on something on something else, but um >> I got it. Lots of programs there. Um Let's see and they'll do if there are programs that have more than
061available spots, they'll do a lottery in March And people will hear mid-March if they've been accepted into lottery program. We also Great Oaks is doing some construction. They always have some construction. Right now, they are working on Diamond Oaks has an aviation building that will be opening in the fall. And then Scarlet Oaks has a phased plan, I think three or four phases of how they're going to be updating the campus up there. They do a lot of work to um look at what programs are filled, what programs are in need, how do we need to retrofit all of that. So, they they always have construction going on. And then for anybody who has ever interacted who has interacted in the past 30-odd years, Mary Beth Smith is retiring. She has been the executive assistant
062to Harry Snyder for the past 12 or so years. She's been on campus I think it was almost 30 she's been working there. So, she's really a great resource if you've ever interacted with Great Oaks, you've probably come across Mary Beth. But they have already re- found her replacement who has been working side-by-side for 2 months. So, good shoes there. And they named the picnic shelter out there after her. It was surprising at the last meeting. They had a nice plaque for her dedication. So, good things are going on at Great Oaks. All right. Thank you. We only have a couple things on curriculum business tonight, but just an update from our committee meetings. This is our social studies curriculum revision year. And that work has already been underway. As part of that, we're continuing
063to strengthen our financial literacy program, which is important life skill for all of our students. >> Yes. For elementary, we focused on literacy and we learned about how our kids continue to score higher in writing. This reflects the strong instructional practices happening in our classroom and emphasis our teachers place on helping students think critically and communicate clearly. We also talked about the reading improvement plan that's being presented for board approval. This plan involves a literacy committee that actively reviews student data, sets goals, and monitors progress throughout the year. As part of this, we're continuing quarterly RTI, uh which is response to intervention meetings, to review student progress and make sure our supports are working. And this We talked about how this isn't just a document. This is a living plan. Like, it's continually changing to
064guide our instruction and intervention at the elementary level in the best way possible. Um at the middle school and high school level, we focused on career readiness and talked about that a little bit. Uh this continues to be an area of real momentum for us. We're part of the Greater Cincinnati Business Advisory Council, which allows us to continue to learn more about how to best prepare our students for their careers. At the middle school level, we're launching School Links to begin career exploration a little bit earlier. And we're also open to looking at tools like YouScience as we think about how to give students meaningful exposure to different career pathways. Uh Dr. Fiore has shared a strong vision around building career exploration out intentionally grade by grade, so that students are exposed to all 16
065career fields over time and without repetition. And that kind of long-range planning is important if we want this to feel cohesive rather than a fragmented plan. At the high school level, staff are being trained on how to use LinkedUp Connect, and that's a platform that allows students to explore work-based learning opportunities, and it helps our teachers connect classroom content to real-world careers through guest speakers and partnerships. So, they can uh like request a local business leader to come in and and have a speech or like connect to the students, which is really valuable. Uh we're also exploring grant opportunities to expand hands-on career experiences including immersive technology like VR simulations. On the technology front, our 9 12 password reset is complete and we're focusing on our 6 to 8 reset which is scheduled for February.
066Our cybersecurity monitoring system has already intercepted thousands of phishing emails which is a strong reminder of why we're prioritizing cybersecurity. We're also moving forward with uh towards eliminating bring your own device to create more consistency and better security across the district. And then finally, we have some DECA students who will be traveling to the state competition on the 24th and 25th next week. We're really proud of these students who earned this opportunity and we wish them the best. So with that, um we have curriculum and instruction business. I need a motion to approve curriculum pay of $25 an hour not to exceed 20 hours to support financial literacy curriculum work. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Please call the roll. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? >> Yes. Mr. Wilson? >> Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? >> Yes. Mrs.
067Mason? Yes. And now I need a motion to approve that reading improvement plan. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Please call the roll. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut? >> Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. Uh now moving on to business operations. I need a motion to approve the lighting controls replacement. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Please call the roll. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? Yes. >> Mrs. Mason? Yes. Uh now I need a motion to approve a purchase of two Sierra 3500 HD chassis cab trucks for maintenance and food service. So, moved. Second. Any questions or discussion? Nope. Please call the roll. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. Mr. Wilson? Yes. Mrs. Chestnut? >> Yes. Mrs. Mason? Yes. Um do we have any public participation?
068We do not. All right. Um so, now we're moving into concluding items. Does anybody have anything they would like to discuss? Dr. Ford, do you have anything you'd like to add? I feel like this is uh you haven't had a lot to say tonight. Not really. I've it's been a great first month. Um my for official, Friday will be the end of my first month and everyone's been so welcoming and kind and I mean I did I assumed everyone would be very nice, but I've been blown away with um I guess the reception and how hard the staff works to meet student needs. So, it's just been nice to be in the buildings, seeing what's happening, and starting to meet different community members, and just get to know Milford on a different level. So, it's
069been great. Yeah, seen you at so many pictures at so many events. At the basketball game the other night. It looked like a great time. >> She's trying to catch up with me. Not possible. It's hard to believe that she's only been here for 3 weeks. Um I know that she's been to every single one of the buildings and met so many people one-on-one and it's just been really great hearing all the feedback from everybody in the community. And she spent an afternoon delivering Fuel for Flight food bags with me, so that was very nice. >> Next up, carpool line. But, I appreciate the format that you send to the weekly emails. The update to the board Do they go to the broader staff or just just the board? But, what I have seen is
070so many connection points. And there's, you know, updates in there where that brings awareness, things that I didn't know were happening, which I think is the perfect level. >> I agree, too. I don't need a minute-by-minute run down, but I love seeing who you're getting out to touch. Yeah. I appreciate that. All right. Well, with that, our next regular board meeting is going to be March 12th at 6:00 p.m. That's a week earlier than usual, and it will be right here at 1099 State Route 131. And if there's no other commentary, I need a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. Any discussion? Please call the roll. Mrs. Will? Yes. Mrs. Powers? Yes. >> Mr. Wilson? Yes. >> Mrs. Chestnut? >> Yes. Mrs. Mason? >> Yes. >> Mhm.