Now called to order. Roll call, please. Vice President Konz, here. Director Wilburn, here. Director Yanez, here. Director Payne, here. President Shandy, here. The Pledge of Allegiance will be direct led by Director Yanez. Is this on? Oh good, there we are. 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. Mrs. Ruckman, are there any updates to the
agenda? No, there are no updates to the agenda. Are there any discussion items to be added to the agenda? May we have a motion to approve the agenda. Moved. Second. Roll call, please. Vice President Konz, aye. Director Wilburn, aye. Director Yanez, aye. Director Payne, aye. President Shandy, aye. All right, item up for Board consideration is whether to take action on joining the litigation titled school District 49 versus Sullivan and Et. all #25-CV-1463
Colorado following discussion on its potential implications for our district in alignment with board values and legal responsibilities. Let me take a moment to just say always in my own attempt to always be better self analysis I think I let our meeting last time get a little too informal and so I will be tightening that ship tonight, a little bit, just so you know. Also to keep it tight wanna make sure that sure that we're clear on the questions we have that we wanna have answered.
I walked away with the question Amongst everyone was we weren't clear on the cost of it, if there are other questions, please raise them now so I can notate them and make sure we answer them. President Shandy? Yes, ma'am. OK. I'd like clarification on we've had some discussion about if joining this lawsuit it would offer protection for the district if other lawsuits were filed against us regarding our resolution or policy upcoming policy. So I'd like to get real
clear on what is protected, what's not protected or we just deferring, if we join the lawsuit, is that just Deferring. Stay and stay? Yeah, other suits that might come up. You talked about the the cost, I'd like to discuss what fund or funds this would come from, And, I have one iffy I'm not going to state it at OK, it's kind of a moot point right now, so thank you. Director Yanz. President Shandy, I was gonna also add, I think one of the questions we walked away with was
the timeline. So the… when it's too late to join or not. One second. Superintendent Heberer. So, I appreciate this opportunity to explore cost a little bit more and to list all the questions right now I would like to ask for the opportunity for Deputy Becky Allan, CFO, to follow up on the similar question as far as where would the money come from, but what we what our normal process is in D20 when we have
a potential contract in front of us that would be Go potentially go over a certain limit no matter what that contract is, we really dig into it and we ask a series of questions about that. So I would like like to ask that Deputy Becky Allan, CFO, would have a chance to ask her questions and then I also looked at the sample agreement that we were given and I have some specific questions, but they they're all very much so, I think, Connected to cost which is those were the 2
topics right timeline and cost and so our Deputy Allan but you to list them all that would probably take it'd probably just be quicker if Becky could have a, Ms. Allan, would have a chance to ask her questions and, me as well, just because we are in the weeds right when if this were to go forward and just have questions to ask about that OK. OK. All right, I would like to, at this time, ask Mr. Ellis and Mr. Murray to please come to the table. These are attorneys that are representing the lawsuit and are here to answer our
questions. Thank you, gentlemen, both for taking your time to be here Appreciate that. Thank you, President Shandy and as my my colleague, Mr. Ellis noted to a couple of you before the meeting, we usually like to be the ones asking the question, so this should be fun. It's always good to be a little uncomfortable in life, right? Alright, so you've heard most of our questions right now, so I'm gonna give you an opportunity to address the big question of cost and
then we'll just kind of roll from there. Sure. And maybe I'll begin, there may be sometimes where I defer to Mr. Ellis. Both, but that way there's just one of us speaking So first cost. There are so the overall cost of this litigation that we are estimating and this is through a trial, so an actual trial to the federal District Court here in in Colorado is $1.5 million. We think the likely cost to
Academy District 20 as a large participant under the draft engagement letter which I know going to get to in a moment. I had My it's gonna be probably under $300,000, under 20% and actually closer to about $250,000 or 240 because candidly we continue to get increased interest in participation in the litigation that's through trial, I'll say say that the immediate near-term cost Is on the order of probably
$60,000 total with with about 15% of that looking like about $10,000, that's through a resolution on a motion to dismiss. We anticipate a motion to dismiss from the defendants. There should be a motion to dismiss from the defendants because initially there is a really big legal issue here, right, which is What is the conflict of laws between What is the conflict within between title 9 and the Colorado Civil Rights Act.
Is there any conflict within the Colorado Civil Rights Act and is there any conflict between CHSAA’s transgender participation policy and Title 9, and we would expect that the District Court will want to pass on those legal questions before potentially letting the case proceed forward to a trial. And so when you say immediate the 60,000, when would that be due? Over the next three months. Thank you, Superintendent Haberer. So in the draft agreement that we got and worse, I'm making the assumption that the agreement that we would be
looking at, we could be similar, but I know this was written by somebody different. Yeah, that was written by our partner, Michael Francisco, who is actually on a graduation trip with his daughter, right now. Yeah, so down on bottom where it talked about pro rata division of fees. I guess a question I have is Right now I know you have lots of perspective people who wanna join. My understanding is that right now you've gotten written, signed agreements from only two districts
which is D11 and D49. Is that correct? In the large district category? That's right. What about I think there's a distinction between signed agreements in the door and I don't think we even have D11 that's signed, right, everyone's going through the process right now of getting this group just like you are. Our anticipation is we will have 4 schools at least in that large category that we've we've been talking about. Can you say who the 4th one would be, because it's on here too. But when we ask, I don't know who
the 4th would be. Not yet. Perhaps in executive session we could provide what the client group would be, but they're still going through their internal process and I don't wanna shortchange that process. And then there's another 4 smaller School districts, so we anticipate at least 8 school districts, 4 being much larger than the other four and that's how we get
get to the percentages that we've arrived at and so we can look at this if we're only talking about 8 Four large districts, 4 small districts, it's broken out into basically shares, so 12 shares. So you would be 1/6 or two twelfths of the cost. In a smaller district will cover 1/12th of the cost. So it would be Roughly 16.67%
Would it be possible to Know, so if the board were to vote today, to say we wanna join the lawsuit, then my assumption would be that what we're, what we're saying is we're willing to engage in negotiations around that certainly from our perspective, not knowing for sure that anyone's really signed an agreement yet except for D49. Is just kind of feels a little that we I know I personally would like to know for sure those numbers that
you gave are certainly better than what we were considering, but we don't know for sure that those are going through and I know for the timeline you told us that to to join, it was June 24th. Is that the same timeline they have and then my second question along the timeline, 'cause I think it's related to this too, is, My understanding is that if we didn't join by June 24th, we'd still have the opportunity to join toward the end of
July through an addendum process. So those are two questions Yeah, so on the timing, the amendment process, which is governed by federal Rule 15, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, we get one chance to amend the complaint as of right. And we are in coordination with the defendants out of courtesy and the litigation process To notify them, because certainly we don't want them doing unnecessary work, perhaps working on a motion to dismiss
if the target, the complaint, is going to be be moving. So you know, our internal goal is to give them enough time to their current deadline to respond I I believe is July 16th. We work backwards 14 days from that day. And that's how we get to the end of June. July and June 24th where we're looking for a final resolution on the numbers because to your point, you're making an informed decision about who is in the group and what the cost is going to be.
And so we have asked everyone to give us a hard yes or no by that time so that you have a better sense of what you know the commitment is financially to the district. But I want want to stress the point too, and that's on timing. Another point on cost We are giving you kind of the worst case scenario. There are lots of different off ramps that could minimize cost in various ways and I can go into some of those different ways without going into
the litigation strategy, which I cannot do. And so there are levers to pull that will minimize costs in different aspects of the case and so when we we are talking about $250,000 total through trial for a sixteen. Yeah, that's right, .67% share. It is likely much likely that number's probably gonna be much lower, perhaps in the 150 to $200,000 range. Again, it depends
on how the federal court decides to approach the litigation. The scope of the discovery, the experts engaged that is often informed how the defendants here the the state and CHSAA, decides to defend the case And so just Superintendent, I want you to keep in mind the number that we're giving you is the outer band of what we anticipate just because we don't want the school district to be surprised if with any numbers. And just one other thing I'll add to that, too, on the timing piece, the reason why we work
backwards from the July 16th deadline that they have right now to respond as to when we amend, I could see the question on your face Superintendent, why would you do that? Well, because once we amend, Federal Rule 15 gives them 14 days to respond. Tt basically changes the clock, right and so This is this important case, right? And the defendants on the other side have to wrestle with the same difficult issues that we on this side have to wrestle with. And frankly, the process isn't served well if we start out by playing procedural games with each other.
And so we've reached out in good faith to those lawyers and said, hey, something like this might be coming and, you know, they've under they, we understand that they would not want us to play a game where we try and shorten the amount of time they Have when they've just invested a bunch of the time they already had under the rules in getting ready for the complaint that we filed when we're when we're going to change it. So we don't want to start by sandbagging them. So joining later than in from what I heard would feel like
sandbagging. Is that what you're saying? No, so, in I I didn't address your second part of your question in my original answer. So thanks for bringing that back up. So for us to amend the complaint later, right, to add additional parties, would require leave of court, and you're going to have to get a federal court to approve that. I'm not saying it's it can't happen It's much less likely to be able to happen particularly once the defendants have filed a motion to dismiss
and we are litigating a motion to dismiss at that point in time, so it's kind of, you know based on the procedural posture of the case and it's why the federal Rule 15 is structured the way it is. You get one chance up front then once parties start to litigate the case and make their strategy known, and they start moving the chess pieces, then it gets harder to amend the complaint. Not impossible, but harder and you have to have court approval. Go ahead, Superintendent
So another question I had and the financial terms and this was it said that in January 1st of of each year you normally adjust your rates. Which and then it says you agree your obligation to pee that pay that. Do you have an anticipation of what your rate increase would be? So I you have the benefit of being the Co-managing partner of the firm as well as a firm partner which comes with all the additional administrative
responsibility and no additional compensation. I will say that to my partners in live meeting. Thank you, Julian. We know this past year we did not increase the rates, historically it’s never been more than 5%. I just actually have two more related to this and so in looking at the fees, you know, were $600 an hour for Chris and then Julian $560 an hour and then on the back there was out of pocket
expenses and public relations expenses I'm assuming when we said that we were pro Rattus that you would roll all of that together and that's what you were giving us in your estimate that you just gave or was that just for attorneys fees? No, that's exactly that's all answered that includes expert, I mean experts are gonna be a big part of of this case and understandably, public relations are gonna be a big part of this case because it's a public facing case. Public law is a lot of what our law firm does. And so sometimes you have
really an obligation to communicate with the public about the case while it's going on. That's not to litigate it in public but that's simply to the public deserves to know what's going on in this case. And not everybody knows how to access and read court filings. So that estimate would include those other pieces yeah as well. And then I think for now my last question is In CHSAA bylaws, 810.10 It says that the members of CHSAA if they choose
choose to bring about a lawsuit against CHSAA, that we would also be because we are a member of CHSAA, that we would also be responsible for paying their attorney fees. And so when we're looking at pro ratas, I guess knowing that and I assume that 49, probably 11, most districts are members of CHSAA, I would, I would assume the two other larger districts are, we'd be paying for your firm's attorney fees as well as
under the bylaws, their attorney’s fees as well. So it's we just kind of recently learned to be like we're paying them for the lawsuit when we're suing them. And so, I'm wondering what the pro ratas does that it does that piece enter in at all for what we would pay you or in our agreements with the other districts or Is that something that would be separate? So, it's separate and we've been in contact and communication with opposing counsel, counsel for CHSAA there
There hasn't been a reservation or a invocation of rights under that clause that we've heard so far. I'm not aware of its use, not to say that it can't be used and nd you should certainly, you know, coordinate with your general counsel, your in-house counsel here on You know what your obligations may be under that agreement. I will say too that while we're talking about fee shifting and indemnity, there is know there's also brought this as a civil rights case under the
In part section 1983 of the United States Code, which provides for the recovery one way, 4 plaintiffs of their attorney's fees if they prevail so there's also the option or the opportunity to recover your fees, our Fees, as a collective as the plaintiffs from the defendants if we we were to prevail. Anything with CHSAA would be what you're saying saying is the agreement with CHSAA that says that we would we actually talked to the head of CHSAA that this morning about that and
and from our conversation I got the sense that they would move forward with that. So it's interesting to hear that they haven't said anything about that, which could be a good thing, but would that be something then what I'm hearing you say is that agreement with CHSAA and their bylaws saying that we would have to pay their attorney fees as well Would be something really separate from the agreement that we would have with you and the payments we would have with you. I think it would be separate in terms of its legal enforceability and separate in
terms of your obligations under it. All right. Thank you. Director Konz, does that answer your question on timeline? I'm sorry, no. Oh, and Director Yanez, does that answer your question on timeline. It does. Thank you. Thank you. All right. I believe that answers the question on cost as well, $250,000 over 2 years. Superintendent Haberer, if I could please give Deput\ CFO Becky Allan a chance to ask her questions too. Nice to see you. Thank you for coming and helping with the questions.
As you mentioned earlier, about budgeting, we do the same. We're funded dead last in the state. Hard to believe in Academy District 20, one that's so successful and one that is booming. But we have the lowest funding in the state and one of the strategies that we use with our budgeting is to do so very conservatively. Sir, as you mentioned, you mentioned we we like to plan for what the worst could be. I don't use the worst. I just say the biggest budget impact which is why I asked some of these questions. The other challenge that we have, obviously,
is also knowing when might that expense occur. So if it's OK, I'd love to go back at you know, I've learned that there's potentially, and please correct me if if I'm wrong, I am certainly not an attorney, but that there could kind of be 3 levels, kind of the the state level, the 10th Circuit level and potentially Supreme Court. Now I know that's, I know that's way off in the distance, But as the person responsible for the finances, my
question to you is, would you please be so kind as to give an estimate of the total amount Let's just start with total. That might be an easier place to go then we could apply the 16.67% to have an idea of what our share would be. But if we could go state first, what might that total cost be and when would be expected to actually pay? The 16.67 and then if you don't mind I'm gonna ask the same question for the next two levels to
give us dollar and timing. Sure. So I'll say first the leaving aside this the share percentage, right, the number that I quoted earlier $1.5 million is the state that's actually the Federal District of Colorado. That's the same thing it covers the the state of Colorado's federal court. The timing on that As I said, there will be an initial spend in the range of for everybody, probably about $60,000. That's the total. Again, we're just going to do that's the total that's
the total correct in the motion to dismiss phase that will be in the next three months. There is an additional maybe say $20,000 to $30,000 spend that might come on top of that if it goes up to the 10th Circuit on the motion to dismiss, right That's just a question of hey, legally can we even be here? That would be be probably within the next 8 months or so. So the motion can go up the levels before really the case has. It
could only if we lose right? If we we win on a motion to dismiss, the other side can't ask the 10th Circuit to review that, the case goes forward. And that's just the way the Rules of Procedure work. Then the rest of that cost which is is obviously the lion's share, you would probably have Julian, feel free to chime in, but I think we're going to be spending About Or around $900,000. Again, this is across the group over the
next year after the motion to dismiss as decided and that is in what is called the discovery phase phase. It's also known as the incredibly boring phase of litigation. It's the phase where everybody forgets the case is there right? Because what you're doing is gathering evidence, providing evidence to the other side that they have asked you for. Finding expert witnesses. Deposing the expert witnesses of the other side, all that sort of stuff. It's basically the long slog to trial and And you think it would likely be in
our fiscal year is July 1 through June 30, so let's just say 25/26. Do you think that chunk would hit that year? A piece of it, yes, especially if we prevail on the motion to dismiss then it would advance it a little faster to the discovery phase, right if If we if we're if we take a trip up to the 10th Circuit on the motion to dismiss then very little of it will hit 25/26. That helps. Yep. And then the last piece which I would estimate across the group
to be between 4 and $600,000, right is the final Sprint to trial and trial right? So final trial preparation and the conduct of a trial that is in terms of compressed amount of money that is the most expensive period of time because it is very lawyer intensive and it’s also intensive on expert preparation and if you've got a five-day trial in federal District Court you'll probably have it two or three lawyers there representing
You. That time adds up when you're talking about 10 or 15 hour days for for each one of them. And Sir, are you guessing then a trial at the state level would likely bear a cost in 26/27? Is that probably the most likely? Yeah, I think ballpark. It likely Q2/Q3. Of 26/27. Yeah, 26/27 thank you. But that is really a guess at at this point. It it's definitely not, it's definitely not in
25/26. We'll tell you that's what helps as you can imagine, Obviously, you know, you said earlier we don't like surprises I never want to come to our Board of Education and say, boy I really miscalculated here. We like to to be very conservative, as I said, and make sure we're set up. May I please ask you, could we go to the next level? And plot that out so it goes to the 10th circuit. So that would be likely, At the earliest, because this trial would be to the court, right? It would not
be to a jury, which means that the federal District Judge who hears the case right now that Senior Judge John L. Cain would have to issue a written opinion. And I would imagine that the judge will take his time writing that opinion because of the importance of this and frankly, the complexity of the issues in the case. And so I would. I would, I would guess that and who knows, maybe he'll listen to this and quote it to me in a while in a a while, but I would guess it'd take him at least two to three months after a trial to issue a reasoned opinion and
that then and only then does one side, whoever's losing, have the chance to go up on appeal. So I think you're talking about fiscal year 27/28 and in that year That's you're almost certain to be at the 10th Circuit in that year and, Julian, what would you estimate the appeal on this to be at the 10th Circuit level? You know, it really depends on whether we've won or we've lost. Let's take the worst-case scenario. And so if we've lost, we have two briefs in an argument and so
you're talking about in the $250,000 Range, total, for the collective. So not as expensive at the 10th Circuit, no because it's just briefing an argument at that point the most it's not a litigated trial, right? The most expensive part of this is the factual development and getting ready for trial. Got it. And so the 10th Circuit would be about 250,000 probably in 27/28 and then if again it went to the next level we're probably looking 28/29, I don't know, but what might those costs
might those costs get to? Again, it depends on whether you've lost or won at the 10th Circuit. Let's assume you've lost. And we are filing the petition for writ of certiorari to the US Supreme Court, which is a discretionary review device to the Supreme Court. Know you're you're talking about maybe 45 to $65,000 for the petition. Again, collective cost and then if the court were to grant review in the merits phase of the case, it would be similar to what you
you saw in the 10th Circuit around $250,000. And if it had to be, there was an attorney presenting to the Supreme Court. The $250,000. Cause that's there's more judges up there, but it's this or justices, but it's the same procedure. It's just an oral argument and And gentlemen, if when you share these numbers just so that I have clarity, this would except for what CHSAA issues may arise in terms of legal bills that we're not sure if we would be responsible for at the time this would include
include the paper clips, the copies, you know, All of the supplies that we talked about But also would it also include then then just to make sure there would not be a separate bill from the public relations firm this would be embedded in this? That is correct. Hold on, Julian, are we using the gold paper clips for this one? No, it's absolutely a fair question. Yes, we're we're giving you the number including all of that stuff. So basically those numbers that we're giving you are not all the legal fees, OK or they include
all the legal fees, but they're not all legal fees. And then gentlemen, I don't know, that was very helpful. And for the timeline, thank you. I don't know if there's something that you'd be willing to share but, or to estimate, because I'm asking for an estimate really, If again, because it's my job to budget from a position that we are going to have to pay these potential pieces to prepare for that if the CHSAA legal fees were our responsibility again at some type of pro rata share
is my guess. Is there any estimate that we could have on what that could possibly be? I would not hold you to it, but your experts in your field I am certainly not, so I just just don't know where what to even guess what, something like that could be. And then? I'll speak frankly the reason it's very difficult to estimate them them is because we haven't yet seen who's going to take the lead in defending this case, right? There's multiple defendants on the other side. My working guess would be CHSAA is
going to do some look into the state and saying you guys kind of helped get us here. Maybe you want to help get us out of this, right, and may lean on the state's resources to defend the case, which would significantly lower their legal fees. So I don't think their fees would be in the same ballpark as as ours, as plaintiffs who have to carry the case entirely against these defendants. But could they be half or two-thirds?
I think they could. Could they be significantly less than that, I think they also could. And I would bet you will have a way better idea after the motions to after the motion to dismiss phase when we see how the defendants decide to allocate resources between themselves. But a reasonable assumption on the part of China. Again, prepare for that rainy day, right? To make sure that we're ready would be maybe 2/3 of all of the costs that you just shared, a pro rata share of that. I think
that would be a good working worst case scenario for now. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you, May I ask one more or is it not OK. You get one more one one more OK. And again, this shows my ignorance this. All your questions have been excellent so far. Are the fees that we would pay or even that CHSAA would pay, Are they contingent at all on the outcome? In other words, if you win versus you don't are
Are there any changes in the fees associated with that? And I'm betting Mr. Ellis will have something to add here. OK, But the short answer is yes at the bare minimum, for example, If we win on a motion to dismiss, there's no first appeal up to the 10th Circuit. Those fees go away. If we are the winner at the trial, the appellate costs go lower because the person who won a trial only gets one brief, right? So there's just less to do, even if you
want to have another brief, which sometimes you do, you don't get it Same thing that the Supreme Court level if we've won at the 10th Circuit, we don't have to respond to a petition for search for Aurora, most people, Most burden of proof shifts to the other. Well, there's the appeal. It's their burden to get the court to take it. And so most of the time, given how few cases the Supreme Court takes, you know what the person who won does? Yeah, I'm OK. Thanks. You guys just go ahead and decide that right. So that is one way that they're contingent
Another way that they are contingent is I haven't studied 810.10 so I'm not gonna comment on what happens if you're a prevailing party in a lawsuit against CHSAA. It could be a one way ratchet for CHSAA, I don't know. But if you prevail on this case as a 1983 plaintiff, you will be owed at least a portion of your legal fees because federal statute requires that they be awarded to you. So does it lessen the fees? No.
However, if you’re budgeting right, is there a possibility right, is there, you know, a contingent interest potentially in a fee recovery there? Yes. And when would you get them? Probably after the fiscal year where you've incurred them right. So, at some point they might show up and you'd say, oh, well, I'm that that's a nice surprise. But I Ms. Allan. I take that most of your questions are not asking about nice surprises, only if they're good ones, right? Mine are more, you know, just again that path And now, Sir, I understand why you were kind of giving me it depends if
if it's a win or a loss along the road and it sounds like we the numbers you gave me showed more of the the case of a loss, if you will, just to look at the deeper the deeper amount of money that might be needed. Thank you so much. I appreciate you taking my questions. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Allan. Those were excellent questions. Thank you. All right so I believe that answers the question on costs. Next question that we have is clarification on protection of other lawsuits. Can you please clarify that
question and if you need more understanding Director Konz no President Shandy and I'll maybe I'll I'll say what I taped the question to be asking. And if I have, if I'm getting started on asking a question that you don't want to answer, just let me know and then we'll get the right one. I'll do but I take the question to be asking. Look, this is a fraught issue right? It is always possible that somebody again in good conscience, could disagree with what this board decides to do in adopting a policy of this nature and joining in this lawsuit and might say
you know what, I'm going to try and drag the district into port at a place of my choosing right? And does joining this lawsuit or I'm gonna file a complaint with the the Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Does participating in this lawsuit protect against at least the costs associated initially? Right with that sort of an action and the protection that we believe it provides is a very practical one that is grounded in the judicial and administrative
doctrines of abstention, right. So if if you're in a federal court litigating the very issue, which is, Can we adopt this policy? Is this policy necessary under Title 9? Which way does you know is transgender participation in sports actually discrimination against women, or is it the other way around to not permit that participation? Is that the discrimination? Those, if you are actively litigating those issues in front of a
federal judge who has statewide jurisdiction, In my experience, if somebody files a lawsuit after you're in a case like that a state court judge or another federal court judge or A hearing officer at the Civil Rights Commission is going to say, all right, got the complaint. I'm not dismissing the complaint. The person has every right to file it, but I'm gonna wait 'cause there's no point in every and lawyers spending a bunch of money litigating this very same issue that the school district
has already decided and volunteered to litigate in another forum. I'm not gonna make the plaintiff or the complaint in that case spend money. I'm not gonna make the district fight it in more than one place. Because there's a legal question I need resolved here and we might as as well get it resolved before we get started 'cause it might change our proceedings It is that sort of a practical protection, does it foreclose anybody from bringing some kind of a legal action or a complaint? It absolutely does not. And by the way, it shouldn't, right that you can't close the
the doors of a court to somebody. But does it practically mean that whoever the judicial or administrative officer it is that is faced with that, I'll call it subsidiary Claim, that is it much more likely that they're going to say I'm gonna let this bigger process play out? Yes, in my experience as an attorney, I don't know if you wanna add to that. Sure. Thanks Mr . Oh, go ahead. Do you have more Julian so So there is both like there is a legal impediment under you know it's the supremacy clause that actually
says that the federal courts and ongoing proceedings are supreme or Are superior to any ongoing or subsequently filed state court action or administrative action, say in the state proceedings. And so the question really becomes one of fit and and relatedness. So how closely are the issues in the state proceeding, again, whether in in court or an administrative proceeding are to the federal proceedings, the closer that fit in the relatedness
the more likely both legally and practically the state court proceedings are going to defer to the federal court proceedings. The secondary consideration is who the parties are. We have sued the Civil Rights Commission, so it makes that fit much closer. Say if you were to have a proceeding by a student or an, you know, an interested party against the school district Before the Commission, and so it
really depends on who it is, but, in our experience, what we have seen is that if the issue is being actively litigated in federal court, the parties are going to defer to that process because at the end of the day, the Commission, the state, CHSAA and the districts, you know, the reason why we have this lawsuit is for certainty and clarity around this issue. And I think they're kind of rowing in the same direction on that as well. So just thank you, both, for your answers. Just to oversimplify say we joined the lawsuit,
Two situations and we complaints were filed against us, similar complaints and we lost this lawsuit. Then would those complaints, be, Addressed again and we'll proceed forward. That's one option So and that's a real, I hate to say this, so I'll go on the other side of it, but it depends so and and here's what it depends on, right? I could, there's a way that this lawsuit could be lost where OK. We're wrong about the law, period, right. The federal courts
courts have decided otherwise, and in fact, the law requires the opposite right of the policy that underlies the basis for this litigation. In my experience with the Civil Rights Commission, most of the time what people are seeking there is somebody to change their behavior right to better accommodate a party who requires accommodation under the Civil Rights Act. Well, I don't want to speak for a future board of directors, but I would imagine that if you lost this lawsuit, you might reconsider the policy and say that, yeah, we don't really have a that we
don't, we don't have legal grounds for the policy. It's incompatible with superior law. So even if we might like a different policy, we can't do it. Well, if that's if the relief that somebody is seeking is a relief that is possible after the rescission of the policy, it might make that case go away really quickly. On the other way, if you win, well, you didn't ask if you win, you know what happens if you win. It might also be though, that there's another case where if it's a case for money damages, right, that you know, you robbed me of my
my opportunity to participate in A sport that I wanted to for the three years that I was in high school. That case, if you lose, could very well still go forward. I mean, I, I'm speculating about what the nature of a lawsuit would be. It really would depend on the the plaintiff and the facts and all that, but there's some that I could see would practically move forward. There's some that I could see would almost certainly not. Sure, and I understand. So the other situation and this is the clarification I feel like I need before we vote on this. If we is it accurate to say if we did not
join this lawsuit with D49 And we had complaints filed against us against our policy, our upcoming policy. Those would proceed through the court because we're not under the lawsuit at all. Much more likely. Remember what Mr. Ellis said, just a moment ago, that it becomes about th efit between the the proceedings. So if you have adopted a similar policy, OK there's a piece that fits, right, that looks the same as what's in the federal court but then all the other pieces of
of the fit aren't there, right? You're not a party to that case, in fact and look this is one of the hard things about being a public body and making decisions is that you have to make decisions like this in in public, right? But you make that decision, you've actively made a decision to not do it right that is going I is going I if I'm the plaintiff's lawyer, I know what I'm saying about that argument on fit saying. They don't want her. They didn't want to be there, so we're gonna make them go there, right? I'll say that is there still a chance that a state decision maker might defer to that process? There's a chance
I think the chance is significantly lower because the fit is significantly diminished because you are not a party to that proceeding. Thank you. All right. Do you feel good about that answer, Director Konz. Ok, very good. So that leaves the last question for Superintendent Haberer, the funds or funds this would come from Most likely, yes, I'm gonna defer to to CFO/Deputy Becky Allan for that question. So if I take a look at the notes that I took when I asked about the timing of the different payments, we
know that our 25/26 budget has already that's been adopted and obviously that budget reflects our anticipated expenditures. This is not in there. So where the money and I'm looking at 2020 or 25/26 next fiscal year it was about $960,000 was perhaps a ballpark for 25/ 26 if I use my calculator and do 0.16. Seven times.
So next year if the four small and four large, I think I had that correct, if they all come through. So please keep in mind we would also be very closely watching if that does not come through, then these dollar amounts would obviously grow based on the pro rata share. So that to me looks about like $160,000. So where that will come from is our unassigned fund balance, so our unassigned fund balance, that is exactly what it is. It's sitting there that we
ours is projected at 8.67% next year. It sits currently for next year at 30 million And so we would take it out of there. People always always ask, so what does that mean you would not do that would all be trueed up at the mid-year. So when we bring mid-year budget to you in January, That is where we handle all unexpected things. And so I'm not necessarily unexpected we expect some true up with enrollment, right.
I've always said if I get the enrollment right in a school district with over 26,000 students, I should go then buy a Powerball ticket. We know it's either going to be higher or lower. Highly unlikely that we hit it on the target, so we make an adjustment. We made a projection regarding our assessed valuation. That would most likely need some tweak to what the actual is. Our per pupil revenue from the state could change. We true that up. We true that up with other types of unanticipated things that happen. Some things come in less
expensive, some more. So what would happen? We are going to have to it sounds like pay some money before the mid-year. So again, unassigned fund balance is where it would come from. But at the mid year we look at everything that's unspent this year that moves to next year right as as part of our unassigned fund balance and we look at the true ups that we have to do. And when we look at what ultimately would have if $160,000 or we might be discussing that we
would want to put more money away for this lawsuit anticipating the other years coming up to be prepared. Bottom line, that would come the last thing that we do after we true everything up, we look at our anticipated changes, all of of those pieces, We come down to after we look if there's a bonus for staff. We don't do that every year. We did last year. The bottom line, the remaining dollars once we determine what that unassigned fund
balance percentage is going to sit at, remember it can't go above 12% and I would highly recommend we don't go any lower than about 8 1/2% where we are right now or 8% then that those dollars get moved to the capital reserve fund. So at that point, if we had to expend something unanticipated, that would have been shrunk a little bit and then depending on the bit is however much we had to pay. So if things things come out the way they said, the gentleman shared
almost $1,000,000 next year Pro rata share puts us, as I said, in $160/$170 So then that perhaps is a $160,000 less in projects that we would be able to do that year. I can certainly give you a sampling of the projects that are typical types of projects each year if you would like that, but that's really how that works if that amount became much much larger for some reason, less folks joined the lawsuit. What
have you, then that becomes less money than that goes to the CAP reserve fund. So Ms. Allan, you don't have those projects already allocated. I can, yes, we have them. I can let you know what we are planning. But I'm saying why would they come out of the unassigned fund if they're already allocated? At the beginning of each year, we give about 26 2.5 to 2.6 million. It's a per student basis that CAP Reserve gets funded every mid-year. This is just our practice. Whatever money that we are not putting we
meet all our obligations for changes in enrollment, change in in PPR, unanticipated expenses. Then we go ahead and we put the remainder in the cap reserve fund. That's why if you look in the budget. Sometimes you will see that the actual budget for the year was like $8 million, six million for CAP Reserve the transfer from the general fund to the cap reserve, that didn't happen at the beginning of the year About 2.5 2.6 happened. The rest comes at the mid-year with the dollars that would be available but
But if we have to pay a bill prior to the mid-year we don't have this budget anywhere, so where we would go is the unassigned fund balance, because this is not a budgeted piece. And our first opportunity to rectify that is in January. All right, can you please calculate for me the percentage of 160,000 in a 30 million budget? What do you and do you want 30 million because that's the unassigned fund balance, so you're not looking at total expenditures? Sure, I'll take 160.
$160,000 divided by 30 million. And that be about half of a percent about about .5%. The other thing that we're talking about .5 a percent out of 30 million budget for one year. Which is 30 million amount that sits in the unassigned it's not budgeted to be spent, but that's what's what we anticipate being there. So you would still have 99.95% of the unassigned budget, correct? Yes if everything works out, you'd be correct, yes. OK, thank you. For
year and I would just add that the that the strategy though, may be looking forward to costs in future years to ensure that the district is poised to be able to meet those needs in the past when I I know that there's something coming up, you know it's something that I'd like to say at least give some options around so that you can consider not only planning for the cost for next year but costs if we already know what they are we
are. We do that with different types of reserves, you may say, Becky. Yeah This year it's 160 but like you to put 500,000 in there to ensure that it can be maintained for the future. Yeah, and even taking that out, you would still remain above 8.5% like you like to keep it, even taking out that .5% it would it would not drop you below below your desired 8. We could do the math by and see where it ends up. I did the math on 125, approximately 125 per year and you were still at 8.5
OK, any other questions on cost? All right, I will just say roughly take just coming in thinking 250,000 over 2 years which would in my calculations approximately $125,000 a year in a an adopted budget of 588,635,292 that is .02% of our budget. That's what we're talking about. That leaves 99.98% of the adopted budget the same. So just keep that in perspective when you're thinking
about the amount that we're talking about So, if there are no other questions, I think it's time for a motion. Are there any other questions? May may we be excused? Yes, Mr. Murray, Mr. Ellis, you may be excused. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Yeah. Yep. OK. Just read the script. OK, I move. I make a motion to approve joining school District 49 versus Sullivan et all., No.25- cv-1463.
Second. Roll call, please, Vice President Konz, Aye. Director Wilburn, aye. Director Yanez, nay. Director Payne, aye. President Shandy, aye. All right. I greatly appreciate the discussions that we've had in public. I really do. I appreciate the people who've come to talk. Ms. Allan, thank you for your questions. I appreciate that. Superintendent Haberer, I appreciate your diligence in helping us overturn every stone so that we have come going in wide eyes wide open. So, I appreciate that very much.
This meeting is adjourned.