I know everything. If it doesn't talk yet, Okay. I'll stand for the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation
indivisible with liberty and justice for all. We got our agenda for the evening. I get a motion to approve tonight's agenda. I'll get that motion. >> And then Carol, any discussion? All those in favor?
>> Motion passes. Um, our first agenda item is our recognition of a Cornwall Foods 10 under 20 food hero, Ali Music. Our speakers are Austin High School Principal and Austin High School student council advisor Emily Hland.
>> Come on up. >> Well, first of all, congratulations. Wellveed. >> And so it's congratulations everybody here. So your work is really important for for two reasons. One, it's important because
you're providing food and essentials to so many of our students that normally wouldn't have it. But the second reason it's so important work that you and your and your other students are doing is goes to our mission of inspiring others
and inspiring others to make a difference in the world. And you are inspiring so many students that you can And it doesn't have to wait until you graduate from high school. You can do it right now.
Congratulations, Dr. Paige, members of the board. Um, so when I saw the opportunity to nominate a student for the 10 under 20 food Heroes Award, um, in the past, I probably would have just kind of passed by that email and been like, "All right, that's not for me." And this year, I
took a pause and looked at it more closely, and I knew right away that Ally was a great candidate for this. She has poured her heart into working in the pantry since she started off high school and has continued to work to grow and
improve that each and every year. Um, she's helped to elevate it to the next level. She cares about the space and about those who use it. She works hard to push for improvements and is always thinking about the next steps for the pantry and for those that it serves and also food
insecurity. She has worked hard this year to um kind of transition the pantry in some new ways with a team of students that were in the CEO program with her and they are all working um really hard to continue to push that mission forward. A couple
of them are right here and up there. So, they are um on board with Ally, but she is um just doing a fantastic job. She is a great student. I'm incredibly proud of her as always, and I was so happy that she was selected for this honor.
Congratulate. Would you like to say a few words? Thank you. Uh, it was a huge honor to be nominated for the 10 under 20 food hero award. I was able to work with a bunch of other young people around the country and hear what they are doing to fight
food security in their own communities. I'm excited to continue to grow the Packer Pantry for my final semester here at Austin High School. I want it to be something that is sustainable for the future and so we can continue and always meet the community needs of all of our
students. Congratulations. We're going to give you a round of applause. We're But we're not going to ask you to come and shake our hands because we know that that's not physically a good idea. So, congratulations. All right, congrats Ally. Excited to see
what comes next for you, >> which is hopefully getting that food off. All right, our next agenda item is our Packer study table with activities director Katie Har, Eric Anderson, Jo Johnson, and Jack.
Good evening, board chair Dubet, Dr. Paige, members of the school board. First up, one of two agenda items from the activities department tonight, I want to highlight a program that is quietly making a tremendous impact on our student athletes academic success, which is the Packer study table. Uh,
after seeing some trends and patterns with academic eligibility for some of our athletic teams, I brought the idea up to district administrators and I had their support from the first meeting. Packer study table discussion started in the summer of 2024 with implementation
ready for the 2425 winter and spring seasons and we are into our second season already this year. This initially started as a simple plan to provide a space with supervision and time dedicated for student athletes to get caught up. This initiative has become
far more than a place to get homework done. It's a structured supportive environment where expectations are clear. Accountability is built in and students know that there are adults who generally care about their progress, not just on the field or court, but in the
classroom where it matters most. At the heart of this program are three remarkable individuals who pour their time, energy, and compassion into helping our students stay on track, stay eligible, and most importantly, build strong habits that set them up for
long-term success. They create a space that is positive, structured, and student centered. And their relationships with our athletes have become a driving force behind the program's effectiveness. Please join me in recognizing and welcoming Eric Anderson, Johanna or Johanna Johnson,
and Jacqueline Ruiz, three dedicated leaders who ensure that Packer Study Table isn't just supervision, but true academic support. We are incredibly grateful for everything they do and the impact they continue to have on our student athletes. Please welcome the
three of them to talk a little bit about Packer stud. >> Um thank you guys for letting us come and talk to you about this. Um study table is really um a dynamic thing that we're doing and it's changing and we're
seeing of um that students have and just have to thank Katie and the principles and it's it's been really fun to work on. So I'm going to tell you a little bit about this. Um so packer study table otherwise called PST sometimes you'll see it because I'm tired of writing package
study table so many times. Um academic support for student athletes. Okay. So who does this? Any um Austin public schools athlete in season or out of season. We have coaches that are saying, "Can we please have my kid come to that?" For example, the football program
is saying, "We already know that it's way in August, but can they still come get help?" Absolutely. Um, we're supporting the Austin Pack or the Austin public schools coaches. I'm trying to make as clear as possible to help their students. Just a discussion today. I talked with the boys or the girls
basketball team and he's like, "This is so great. My students are already coming to me saying, "Yep, coach. I know what my grades are. I know what they are." Kids understand and are able to read and understand and know exactly where they stand. This has been a fantastic thing. Also, the uh the teachers that are in
the school, this is something that helps them out too. Why do we do this? Um the Austin public school guidelines, students that have two or more failing grades are not eligible for competition. That is a huge motivator for students. Obviously, we want them to do great in their academics for their future. But
the immediate thing is students say, "Oh my gosh, I don't get to play this weekend or tonight." And so, students are that also students that are failing courses they need academic help in general not just because like oh just to get the sports they need help and we see
it so who's involved Katie Carter myself I'm the advisor and then from Austin aspires um Jaclyn Ruiz and Johanna Johnson and I'd like them to just say a little bit about what they do and by the way they're awesome >> hi I'm Joanna Johnson and this is
Jacqueline Grace. Um so we are with Austin Aspires and we have the privilege to be part of this packer study table. We welcome our students here and in that I would say like 50 minutes or so. Um we
help students um focus in the area where they need to bring up their grade. We'll work oneonone with them or just kind of let them work on their own and then um we'll just check in and see what they're doing. um in the part with Austin Aspires, just
real quick of what we do. Um we do a lot of social emotional um work with them in the classroom and then of course we do the academic part as well. But building that social and emotional gives us and open such a big door with these students who then listen to us when it's like hey we need to bring it up. Why aren't you
making it to class? They kind of listen to us a little bit more just because we've already made that relationship with them. Um we also help with the FA application. That's like our right now with all the seniors. We'll pull them out, get that filled out. We call parents and help them fill out their
side of the application. We also help them with volunteer hours um for the Austin insurance. Um and then we keep track of their attendance grades and credits credit recovery and summer school. So basically we are kind of on their backs all the time making sure that they are where they need to be and
then when they come to package study table some of our a lot students um then they already know who we are and then we make that connection with them there as well. It's basically the same goal to help them succeed academically. >> So some specifics when and where does this happen? Um we have seen that
Mondays and Wednesdays are a great day for us because there very typically is not um events that are happening on Mondays and Wednesdays. We've gone from 3:30 to 4:30 and we meet uh we now meet in the in the IMC or the library and we just try to keep it there. It's a very
good solid place to go. So how does this work? On Thursdays, what happens is Katie sends out grade reports and she sends them to each of the courses, each of the coaches, and says, "This is the grades for your kiddos that are failing one or more courses." So the coach knows
who the teacher is, what the grade is. They understand, get a picture of what's happening on Thursday or Friday, Thursday afternoon or Friday. The coaches we found are the best implementers of, "Hey kids, look at your grades. I tried and tried to email these students last year and we said, "This
doesn't work." and realize that really coaches are doing such an awesome job of having this conversation not only about sports but about their academics. So this is a really beautiful thing that's happening. Um Mondays and Wednesdays students are at the Packer Packer stud
table. They we check grades. We make a plan. We let them study. um Jackie and Johanna after um like during and after the study table they actually email the coaches and say this is what your student was working on. This is what
they completed. They tell them exactly who came and what time that they got there. So the coaches know this is who is really working on this because coaches want to know did my kid come to this. Um some things that we've learned so far a majority of students a far
majority of students are staying eligible. No question. This is just beautiful. Um, Austin Inspires has been able to connect with students that need more help. Um, I'm going to have to tell you what happened specifically for math.
>> So, we noticed a lot of students are struggling in math and we were able to connect students with our two tutors from the county and we have seen the difference in they're getting supported in math and homework is getting Just real quick, one thing that um we
experienced um recently with one of our students is she she's a 10th grader and she was unfortunately failing all her algebra test, just all of them. So, she's not wasn't passing this class. She started working with our tutors and slowly she started going up. Last week,
she got a 79 on her test. We had a party in our room because that was huge. Just that one on one for an hour with a tutor just helped her. So, we're really excited about our tutors coming in and helping. And this is not only for our Austin aspired students, but schoolwide
counselors, teachers, even themselves are referring referring themselves to get tutors. So, a great program that we have there. >> Um, just a couple more things and I'll be done. Um, the the Packer Profile course, um, this has had a huge effect
on nth and 10th graders. The 11th and 12th graders have not got not so in on this so much. But in nth and tth grade every week you're checking your grades, check your grades, check your grades. They are so well educated on understanding what are my grades, what's my attendance, what's coming up and those things. And I think that I just
want to say thank you for the people that have worked on packer profile is made a big deal. Also, I'd like to say thank you to the people from bar. We know that if we have students that are struggling, we can say, "Hey, we had the student come to us to pack your study table. How can we help you? and we work
back and forth. It's been a great thing. Um, overall, we've really seen that students are really willing to work hard and I think that's something to demystify because sometimes I think students think, "Oh, well that kid has a F. He's just not a hard worker. He's not
going anywhere." We rarely see that kids that come to the study table, they're ready to work their butt off and they're ready to get back to their sport. They just need a little bit of help. So, thank you guys for your time tonight. >> Thanks. Eric, before you go on the mic, can I ask a question? Sorry. >> Yes.
>> Um, and maybe this is a question for both you and Katie. Um, we have athletes at Ellis as well who are subject to this. Are we thinking about what this could look like at for our Ellis student athletes as well?
>> So, we kind of already run it a little bit. It's just the homework room at Ellis. We have some head coaches out there that just take their kids in their classrooms after school. Um we have in the past we do have a statement available for somebody out there to run it. So yeah, we are running a parallel
program out there as well. >> Awesome. Y thanks. I appreciate it. >> Question. Well, I should probably know this. The two failing grade rule is that a district nine is that Austin district rule? What does what does that look like?
>> No. So just from talking with other ads whether in our conference or you know just networking I've asked a lot of different eligibility questions and I don't want to make eligibility too hard because we know that there are barriers and struggles. Um so with the 2F policy
that kind of has taken a life of its own with our lower levels. So our ninth grade B squad teams as they're learning high school and navigating the system were a little bit more lenient with two F grades or more. But most varsity programs have adopted their own more stringent like a C minus or C average
for JB and varsity. Um, so it was just something we're trying to use their sport as a tool to help drive them rather than it to be, you know, something that we're trying to take away from them. We want them to know that they're they have to be the student first before they can be the athlete.
>> And is that for all activities or just sports? So and all that. Right now it's just for athletics. Um there are some advisors music fine arts who might inquire about a student here or there but if I see some correlation and I know
there's a student in a fine art I will communicate that with the teacher as well. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Any other questions? >> I might have some two ladies who do the real heavy lifting on question every time I have to put it down. Uh last summer the district uh established
two um um working groups. One had to do with substitute teaching and the other one had to do with attendance. You said that you record attendance. Have you found over the last year and a half that attendance has increased as your student
athletes grades get better? Uh have you track that at all? >> So like if the attendance is getting better, >> right? >> Yes. Yes, it does. Um, we've noticed that students don't go to class when they are avoiding the test. When they're
not understanding something, they rather be anywhere else than in class. When they're understanding the subject, then they're like, "Okay, I will go." Or they'll come and check in with us during the day because we're making these connections with them at Packer Study Table, but then they become they come to
our room during the day. So, if they don't want to go to algebra, they'll let us know. We communicate with the teacher. We'll see what they're needing to do. we help them. We either committed with them in class or they work in our room. Um so slowly, yes, we'll see how they'll still be going to class instead of cutting class because they're
avoiding the hard things that they don't understand. >> Have you ever had instance and we talked last weekend about the PSSE program in the state of Minnesota and some alterations that are occurring? Have you ever had a teacher or a student say I have such test version in algebra 2
second hour? Could we take it after school in study table? Has that ever been something that you've uh you've broached with a teacher? The teacher or student ever asked you that? >> No, not not at packer study table. I don't know that I've heard of it. No,
they asked in our room um during the day, but after school at packer study table, not yet anyway. >> Are you in the school during the day as well? >> Yes, we are. >> Yeah, we're both Jackie and I are here during the day, the full day. >> Okay. So then that's when the students come to our classroom and they work with
us oneonone or with the tours. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Great work you're doing. Thanks. >> Thank you. >> All right. Thank you so much. >> Um we cannot start choosing taxation until after 6. So we are going to jump
ahead and maybe get in a couple student um sports recaps. All right. >> Good evening again. Um, second agenda item is we're proud to highlight the hard work, growth, and accomplishments
of our fall sports programs. Each season brings its own challenges and successes, and no one sees that more closely than the student athletes who show up every day with commitment, resilience, and pride representing Austin High School. This evening, you'll hear directly from
our SP fall sport student athletes. They'll share a brief overview of their season. We appreciate their leadership, their honesty, and their willingness to speak on behalf of their teams. And with that, we're just going to do a revolving door with each sport. Um, and they will
introduce themselves and give a brief overview. Hi guys. Um, we are representing the girls awesome team. My name is Olivia. My name is Gracie. Um, the team captains this year were myself, Addison Tobach,
Hannah Don, Realins, and Bridget Kelly. A few of our season highlights were that two of our relays in the top 10 all time swims. Um, we took ninth as a team at Big N with one Big N champion event. We took fifth in the
section as a team with two section champion events and three state qualifying performances. >> Okay, sorry. Um, a memorable moment for us was winning our Austin invite in the first time in quite a few years. As a fundraiser for Austin, we an invite. We
invite um all of the big nine and others. And this year we actually won it which is really exciting. We haven't won our invite in many years because the Rochesterers are just you know quite amazing. So we won this year and it was really really fun. The exciting and the
energy was really fun to be there. um at sections I out touched a swimmer from Winona to win the 200 IM by 08 seconds and advance to state and then not only going to state for our relay which was absolutely so exciting
and so fun but our relay this year actually made finals and not many people know this but a girls 4x50 relay or relay in general has not made state finals in the past at least 15 years I I would like to say it's more than that but I didn't double check with their
coaches but I know it's been at least 15. So, making it to finals was just crazy. And we were actually the only team from our section, our 1A section to go to finals for a relay. >> Um, and then going off that, all of our state qualifying events made it into
finals. >> Yes. So, some of our team culture, I would say some of our strengths are being very upbeat and always having energy and finding our grit this season. This year I feel like we really dug down deep and you know the team atmosphere was so much better than it has been in
the past. So our strength was definitely a big strength this year. Um some of the traditions we have are wearing pink suits on Wednesdays because we have that opportunity and it's just so fun and why not and also wearing pink suits on hard sets to lighten the mood. We have a set
called the the death set which we've transitioned into the Barbie set and we wear pink suits for that and it definitely gives a extra boost of confidence and that's just fun. And then another silly tradition we do is we don't shave our legs and they'll section the days before sections. We shave them and we do a little shave party and it's
so exciting. But that's a little funny tradition we do. >> It makes you faster. >> It does. We shave down, you know, just that little and then community involvement. This year we were able to do a fundraiser with Brave Nutrition which was really fun doing something local and in town um
getting her name out there and supporting a local business. And we also participated in the 40 mile breast cancer awareness challenge where our team swam 40 miles in the month of October to raise awareness for breast cancer. And then on my personal Facebook page I posted a fundraiser where people
from the community um donated and we and I raised I think $250 on that. So >> great. We had five graduating seniors this year and we'll have eight seniors next year. The team's offseason plans look all look a little different. Some
of us will keep swimming, some will move on to other sports and then some will take some time off. Um with our graduating seniors this year, we are looking to rebuild in a couple spots such as in both of our relays. And I really I'm really hoping to take on the relay state and end my home team with a
very memorable season. >> Awesome. >> Thank you everybody for Next, >> you guys soccer. >> We are up here to register the AHS football team. My name's >> I'm a couple other team captains that we
had Rob. some season highlights that we had this year was seeing our team improve how many of our class some notable wins this year was our only one was uh beating the Warington Trojan
that was really nice >> some highlights and accomplishments one of our teammates is an he across the sideline. We always thought that was pretty amazing to see. And
during our game, our receiver scored some touchdowns during the game to seal up the team culture and grow the team for holding each other accountable. Our lessons that we learn
take each play at a time. team traditions and themes. We have leadments youth involvement going on to help businesses. Looking ahead to next season this year we had 14 people graduated and two
managers offse that way and we have a morning list in the morning and afternoon going to do our next >> great job. Hello, my name is Ava Lewis and I am one
of next year's team captains for girls soccer. Our team captains this year were Ayah Baron, Alie Ravenor, Emma Clark, and Ariel Stouts. This year, our varsity record was 411 and one. Our highlights of the season
were beating JM for the first time ever, beating Northfield, who ended up being the third seed in our section, and beating Worthington 9. This year, our four wins equal the total wins of over the past four years combined. Our JB team had a total of
seven wins this year. This is seven more than we had our prior season. Looking ahead, this year, we had 12 seniors graduate. That leaves a lot of open spots. We have 19 dates in the dome for training with the Riverland head coach
Frank. Three camps this summer as well as Sunday night pickup games. We will we will have one senior next year, but a good group of younger players who've got a a lot of playing time this year. Our winter training and technical skill building will hopefully allow us to be more competitive. We also had a new
coach this year, Dave B. I thought I think it has helped tremendously grow help us grow and expand our soccer knowledge and our soccer wins. Thank you. Thank you. I'm supposed to say where's Michael?
>> Sorry. My name is Sia. >> I'm Julia. and captains are Thomas, Michael Deet, and Ashley Garcia. Um, our season highlights are that we had a lot of PRs and Sydney
qualified for the state meets. We also had the highest number of athletes out that we've seen in years. >> Some memorable moments from this year are team camping trip and our work over 19 in Iowa. A tradition we all will enjoy is running the football during
homecoming week every year. >> Uh this year we have seven seniors graduating and our team's offseason and summer plans are to prepare prepare even more for next season to be better. also throughout this season together.
>> Thank you. >> I'm here. >> I'm one of the cheer captains >> and I'm still welcome. We have two captains today and she couldn't make us today. Um, our season
highlights are hitting these guns. They were really exciting. I cannot lie. Having our football team win a game. It was a lot of fun that night. We ended up having a lot of fun on the bus ride back and we ended up like dancing around and the football team ended up singing to us
at the end of it. That was pretty funny. our team culture and growth. Um, one of our team strengths is coming over challenges. We have a strong team bond. One of our lessons learned is that our coaches taught us that success comes from hard work, commitment, and communication. We wouldn't be the team we are today without the hard work and
commitment put in from the coaches and the girls. >> For our team traditions, we usually have a team meal before every single game, usually the day before. youth involvement and service projects. We do Little Packers Cheer Clinic most years
and we go to all the elementary schools. This year we have six girls graduating. We will start off early next year. Um having captain's practices over most of the summer and getting more involved with the community and like oh my gosh
and the schools. We hope uh next season gets off with a better start. We also hope to have more numbers and get more involved in the community. Hello, I'm representing girls volleyball. The captain for season were us and Walsh.
One of our season highlights when we first swept St. Peters. Our season ended with 13 wins and 14 losses. A memorable moment for us this season was when our Lero Addison Walsh got her thousand career. A strength of our team was that we were
really close this year and everyone got along and that is a very big part of being a team. A lesson that we learned is that no matter how many points or sets you are done in the game, you can always come back. Our team's traditions are positive before every home game. Our involvement was that we helped lead
youth camp and also victory. We have two seniors graduating this year. Our coaches are ready practices for the summer to get the girls back in the gym and get ready for the following season. Our hopes for next season is for the rest of the girls to keep a good bond with each other and have lots of improvement. Thank you.
>> Thank you. One more. My name is Sophia. We are the tennis team captains. Our other captains are Isabelle and Yasmin from here today. >> Um, a few of our highlights this season was um, being able to see so many new
faces joining this year and just having a lot larger team than years before. And then also like another highlight was having one of my levels matches um, I think it was in Wells where me and my teammate came back from 25 to 57. So
that was really pretty exciting. Another one was that our team had the highest GPA that our coaches had seen so far. >> Team strength and culture. We have some youth involvement in the summer where we
have a free tennis program with the boys team to have everyone get more involved in tennis. We're looking ahead. We have six seniors graduating. Um we are our returning during the off season. We want returning members to continue with the summer summer program
and for next season we hope that the team will continue to improve and enjoy playing on the new courts. >> Thank you. >> Thank you for allowing us the opportunity and for them to share their experiences. We appreciate the time. >> Thank you. Thanks for bringing in.
>> All right. you've all been waiting for is after six o'clock so we can have our public hearing on our truth and taxation information and public comment period. Um speaker is executive director of
finance and operations. >> Good evening Bay superintendent Dr. Page and the rest of the board. It is my honor to be in front of you with the truth and taxation presentation. Um it's going to be hard to follow our athletes where they can talk about the exciting news. Um my presentation today
at least we're talking about a 1.02% increase. So we will go through this um as I go through the slides. Please stop me at any time with any questions. Uh we will leave at the end for any public questions or any public um comments. Before I get actually into the slides,
just a reminder our our mission is inspire, empower, and accelerate. We look at our core values today. One of the things we're going to be doing is communicating communicate what um what a truth and taxation presentation is. We're going to go through our budget. We're going to go through how the levy is set, what control the board actually
has over this levy and how it's set and how it touches all four of our priorities. Um when we look at our desired day experience from our students, they're looking at their supporting our mental health needs. um our budget, we have counselors, we have social workers, and
part of the levy comes in is money that is supporting salaries. So that's looking at their desired daily strengths. When we look at families, they want us to have their children taught life skills necessary to be successful in whatever path they choose. Again, that goes into salaries, that goes into supplies, and that goes into
that. That is what this levy covers. When we look at our staff, that they've got adequate training, that they have the flexibility and that. So again, when we look at what we're here for is the desired daily experience, the core
values. So we'll communicate, we'll um have people learn what the levy's about and go through it. So the agenda is to review what the meeting requirements are. We will go through the budget that was approved in June. We will go through the proposed tax levy for 2026,
which will be actually our school year 2027. and then we'll leave time for public comment. So the requirements for the truth and taxation is the meeting must be held between November 25th and December 30th.
It must start after 6 p.m. It must cover the fiscal year 2026 budget. It must cover the pay 26 proposed tax levy and then it must allow also for public comment. So when we look at our school funding, public school districts are funded by
three main sources. First one is federal government. So when we look at our budget, couple of sources for our federal government is our title funding, our title one, our title two or title three or title four that is based on um our free and reduced and all that
stuff. Uh we've got our special education federal funds. We've got the food service program that has some federal funds in that. Our state government when we look at that as based on our enrollment that has our special education that has our basic skills um
has our transportation has some funding in there. Our third one is our local fees. That is um fees we charge to be in athletics. That is gate um fees we receive. That is donations we receive that we'll be reading later tonight. And also in there is the local property
taxes that we'll go through. Again, making sure that the state of Minnesota is the largest source of funding that this this school district receives. When we look at and we spend a lot of time when we go through our budget, we talk a lot about the basic formula that
the state sets and the state sets that um every two years and they tell us what the formula allowance is. When we look at the green bar there, the line there is the actual formula allowance that they've set since 20 2003. And when you look at it for 2027 school
year, that is set at $7,658. um that's for a K6 student and then that increases for 712 and then there's other categorical revenues on top of that. And what this graph is going at is one thing that you'll notice is that has not kept up with CPI um increases or inflation.
So if that was to be based on what the inflationary increases would have been that same time we'd be looking at that formula should be around about $9,112. So what the reason this graph comes up is it just continually shows that the inflationary money has not kept up with
where that formula is at. And that just shows what we've been continually doing is the money that we're given from the state is lower than what the inflationary pressure is. But we've done a great job of balancing our budget every single year with the money given in our in our balance budget. So, I just want to continually put that out there
that that's a formula that we're a lot we're given and we will continually grateful for the dollar amount the state of legislators give us, but we just continually will push for it to be balanced with inflationary percentage. So, we'll start first with reviewing the
budget that was approved in the June board meeting. Um, I live this every single day, but I just want to go through what we call fund accounting system. Um so we have our revenue expenses. We right here on this screen show six different separate
funds. So everything we do every single day is put into funds. So general fund is about 85% of our business. Um that is where we put our teacher salaries, our administrative costs, our textbooks or rather that's transportation
that's dayto-day. Um that you'll notice has a start that has a levy component. Our food service is a separate fund that is just for breakfast and lunch and some catering that we do that does not have a levy component. That has to stand on its own based on the meals we serve.
Community service or community education is um school readiness adult basic education. It's got our kids corner program in there. It also has a levy component on that. Um we have to submit um birth to four numbers every single December. we have to submit some other
census numbers. So that is based off um enrollment on that and that does have a levy building construction we have if we're in a construction. So last year board approved the LED um construction project and the tennis courts. So when those get approved with different
funding sources we put that in that fund so that we are able to account for that separately and it does not get intermingled with our day-to-day operations. Uh in the past we've had some um debt service for some building projects and some other projects that goes into the
debt service um again so it doesn't get intermingled with the general fund with that that has a principal interest. We levy 105% of our current principal and interest payments and the reason for that is our taxpayers are allowed to be
delinquent on their payments to us. we are not allowed to be delinquent to the to our um people we borrow the money from. So again, that's why we borrow 105% of that and then every single year the state will look at where our balance is in that and they'll look at where our
delinquent payers are and if our taxpayers are not as delinquent as that 5% above, they'll take that money back. So that is a continually back and forth. And then some districts have it. We do have it. We have an internal service. We are selfinsured for our health and dental plans, meaning we collect 100% of
the premiums and we pay the um our own premiums, our own claims of that. So, we have our separate fund for that. Any questions over fund accounting because I know that is different than any businesses that are out there. So, I just want to pause there for a second. >> Yes. >> Yeah. I'm just interested. I've always
been interested by the the self-insured aspect of health. When you say that we collect all the premiums, can you can you uh define what that means? >> So when we we go through open enrollment, which we're going through right now, and so we have a 14 when we
set the the rate, there's a district contribution based on the contracts of each um union contract and nonun contract. And so whatever premium the employee pays and whatever premium the district pays, we collect that either out of the contract or the district will
put into um a a fund and then when the when the the employee goes to um primary care or they go to ER or they get a prescription, we pay those bills. So we'll collect the money out of the
paychecks and then we pay those those claims instead of it going through a third party vendor. Does that >> thanks? >> Yep. >> So, every year we have to submit this. This goes on our website and then this
goes um into our paper which shows um later in this present um agenda item. You're going to hear our audit. So, we start there. It starts with our beginning fund balance and then goes through the next two columns is our revenue and expenditures which our
auditor will go through here in a little bit. and then ends with our um actual fund balance. Uh not to steal their thunder, but again we had another successful FY25 year. Again, that is kudos to the
board for the policies and procedures you have put in place, to our amazing um leadership, to our amazing staff, to everybody that works on that mission, to our priorities to get the results we have. When we go into the next two
columns, that is the budget that we put in place. We knew going into FY26 that our enrollment for 24 and 25, we were coming off record years. We saw record growth. We knew going into 2026, we weren't seeing that. So again, you'll
you'll see that our our fund balance for the top two is dropping a little bit. I mean, that comes with lower enrollment and a 2% increase from the state. We knew we had some strategic investments we were making into that fund balance where we are going to drop a little bit
below that fund balance that we had in the prior years. Again, we are we are still above the board 8.33% but that was a board approved target to drop down a little bit. When we look at our revenue by sources,
the big blue one is 81% that is state. Um that is very important for us. Um, and that's why when we look at Cory's department here, Cory's doing a weekly enrollment, we are constantly looking at enrollment. And that's why we we've had two studies done where we're looking out
three, four years at enrollment. It is very important for districts to understand where their enrollment's going. When you look at 81% of our revenues coming from enrollment, we can't turn a blind eye to what our future looks like. So when you look, that's why it's very important for that.
When we talk about our taxes, the orange brown there. 9% of our revenue is based off what we're here tonight talking about. So, I just want to make sure we we know that 9% of our budget is based off our le. When we look at our expenditures, I look
at the bottom three together, that is direct instruction. That is 66% of all money coming in going into direct instruction. When you combine everything and outside of administration and um district support that is 92% is going
into the student dayto day. When you look at administration that is 4%. We're actually lower than that in the audit. We're about 3.52% without a go through that. So less than 4% of our budget is going to administrative costs.
When we look at our school district financial highlights, our bond rating is A1. That is a pretty great rating or there's not much more the district can do for that. Some of that is based on the city and some of the um the what's going on
in the state in that. So, there's not much more we can do for that. Um the audit results I was hoping the audit was presented last month but here's the audit results and they'll they'll go through this more but we had unmodified clean opinion our unassigned fund balance is higher than the board
approved fun balance and there was no findings. Those are three amazing things and again I can't thank the staff enough at Austin Public Schools for achieving this there. There's a lot of work that goes into getting those three bullet items. I mean those are just small words on on a screen but that is an amazing
accomplishment. So again, I can't thank my staff and um all all the staff here at APS for achieving those. So before we go into the uh property tax, there's any questions on our budget here and our audit results where the
auditors will go through here shortly. Okay. So we'll go through the tax lo here. Just to give you a little reminder of the school district timeline on this. We start in July to August providing some information to state uh where our debt is some certain uh we've got to go
through the long-term facility maintenance 10-year plan. In September, the first Thursday in September, the state has to provide us one quick run and then every day they run another run. In September, the board has to approve a
maximum levy and that's why we do that. preliminary maximum levy. That just allows um things to happen the rest of September and then from November 25th through December 30th, we have to hold the treatment taxation. And then these
payments are May and November of 2026 is when these payments come into this district. So again, we're talking about this in 2025. We will receive this money in 2026 for school year 2027. So some of the things that go into this
and a lot of this when people are asking like how much does the school board have an authority over this very little of what we're going to go through tonight the school board can actually set. A lot of this is set on um formulas are driven by our pupil count. So based on where our enrollment is going to go over um
expenditure type. So there's certain things in here long-term facility maintenance that is set. um population do the voter the voters we have the operating referendum that we went out for a couple years ago that was voter approved we have the debt that the
voters approved that is a base in here um and then there's some valuations that will go through so they take your the estimated market value of each parcel in our district and they'll go through and when I say they the county assessors do all of this and
they'll go through and they'll take the property classification established by the state legislators. And then they'll take all of the city, all the county, and all the state taxes, and they'll add those all together, and they'll set this all together. And that's how they come up with the property taxes that comes
out. So, you'll notice when you got your statement, there's a county line, there's a state, there's a county line, there's a city line, and then there's the school district line. And it'll tell you non voter and voter approved. And so, We talk through the formulas and how the state does this. There's
something called the state equalization formula. So what they'll do is they'll take the property values of each district and they'll divide it by the students. So if a district has less value per student, they'll put more state aid to it. As more if you have more property
value per student, then less state aid will be provided. So they that's how they continually will move. And you'll see a slide here coming up where I'll say sometimes what'll happen is they'll shift money from state aid to property taxes and our our revenue might not increase but they might do some of the
shifting and it comes from this state equalization formula. This is just a look back over the last eight years of our valuation history. This is just a great way just to look at what has Austin Public Schools uh
referendum market value done over the last few years. You'll notice it's kind of been level around the same thing except for 2023. That was across the state. All market referendum values went up.
There was assessors went and value of homes and everything skyrocketed during that year. Um there's the tax net tax capacity almost every district saw an increase in that year. You'll notice coming into 2026, they're estimating the
market value of Austin Post Schools going up about 6.63%. As I mentioned, just because our tax levy may be going up the 1.0, a little over 1%, that does not mean our revenue could be increasing. What that could
mean is they might be moving money from the state used to be paid, now the taxpayers are paying. So, we might be seeing a decrease in state aid and an increase in property taxes. So when we look at this tonight, we are only talking about a tax levy. We have not seen the state side of this yet.
>> I ask you a question previous >> one. >> What's the difference between referendum market value and net tax capacity? >> Great question. So the referendum market value is based on two things. That is if we were going out for an operating
referendum or a bond referendum, they take certain so a bond referendum and operating referendum, they use a referendum market value to um take that money and spread it. Everything else
like our operating capital, our long-term facility maintenance, anything else in the levy, they spread over net tax capacity. So the state will take certain things and spread it differently based on if voters have um a vote on it or voters don't vote on it. So it is
their way to spread the the less. >> If I were a taxpayer watching this presentation which of those two numbers would I be concerned about? It depends on as a voter. Depends on what you own and if you're a business,
if you're not a business, if you're an A, if you're not it, that's not an easy question to answer because it would depend on exactly all you what you all own in that. >> So, it would just be it's one of those that would have to come to us. A house, >> a house, you're looking at the net tax
capacity because when you look at a bond referendum, on a bond referendum, businesses are going to pay a little more. In an operating referendum, homes are going to pay a little bit more. So, again, it depends on what you're really talking about on each one of them. So, it's not as simple.
>> No, no. But, I mean, it's nice to hash these up. Yep. >> People know what those numbers represent. >> Correct. Thank you for bringing that up. >> Yep. So here is a look at our levy for the left first column for 2026 compared to 2025.
So our general fund is going down about 595,000 and the change in there's long-term facility maintenance is going down about 612,000 and that's on the next slide. I'll walk through that. Our community
service is going up about 47,947 or 19% in here. One thing with the levy is that we're always looking back. So we everything in this levy is estimate. So we estimate what we think our enrollment is going to be in 2027. We estimate kids corner um
we have in kids corner we have um at risk. So we have we have the ability to define students that are at risk that my there's a definition and I won't quite go through it but if a student u meets the definition at risk and if we have to
put more services towards that student we can levy for that. So we're estimating what that cost is going to be in 2027 sitting today in 2025. So what they'll do is they'll allow us to we put that cost in our fund accounting and then
they'll look back and say well 24 you estimated this but you actually spent $20,000 more. They'll let us catch that up this year. So that's what you're seeing down in adjustments is our estimates based on enrollment, based on census, based on our estimated costs.
They're allowing that catchup to happen. So that's why you're seeing community service increases because of the some of the estimates that we put in. We just they're lower than what we expected. Um and then debt redemption or debt services you'll notice is increasing
668,000. Um you and we'll go through it but debt is going up and general ed is going down and that is the main change there is long-term facility maintenance when we did the le converting to le took money from our long-term facility maintenance
to borrow and pay off the debt portion. So that is just a transfer from general fund down to debt service. So overall, our levy is going up 121,531 hours or 1.06%. There's the the difference there is just
the transfer from long-term facility maintenance to debt. So we're just it's a shift. Um I like this slide. I we'll have this out there. We start on the bottom and this is kind of getting to what you were asking a little bit. On the bottom, this
is a $200,000 home and the estim tax is $778. So starting on the bottom is $180. That's $778 is based on the voter approved operating levy that we ran out two years ago.
Go up from there is the categorical the local optional which is the 724 the equity the transition all the stuff the state has put in is another $257. We go up from there. The voter approved.
So the voter approved bonds that we ran for um building for doing some other projects that we got voter approval for is another $129. The board approved debt. So when we
would do debt for building projects where we don't have to go out and ask the the taxpayers for to prove it. So, if we wanted to do an LTFM plus or we wanted to do any other projects where we can issue debt as a board, but the voters don't have to approve, that's the
$54. And then everything above that, the long-term facility maintenance that we submit, the operating capital, community ed, career and tech, leases, that's another 158. So, that's a kind of a way for us to be able to break down how the
778 on a on an average $200,000 and how that is allocated to a home. So it just shows how much is it operating that the voter approved and then you go up one more the voter approved bonds is 129. So about 39 of the 778 is voter
approved and some of that 257 is the stuff the state requires and then there's the other categorical stuff. So I'll leave this slide up and just pause for a second and see if there's any questions on it. But it kind of gives you a breakdown of how this gets allocated.
>> Remember a couple years ago we were at $43 per student in terms of sub levy and we up we had a road and it was up to 400 something. >> Yep. That's that bottom. That's the very
bottom that 180. >> Yep. That's on this hole. That's the 180. Yep. Um we as we were going through and looking at this one of the things wanted to on this slide as we'll have this out on our website is just other taxpayer
resources. So, as we're going through the referendum um questions is there's the homestead property tax refund. There's some other property tax special property tax refunds, uh senior citizen property tax. We just wanted to put links out here for uh for our taxpayers
for their ability for them to go out and look at these other refunds that they could possibly qualify for deferrals and just continually communicate the refunds that are out there because it is hard to get this information. So, we just will continually have this on our website for
our taxpayers who want to be able to look at it. So, what we're be asking, I think later in the agenda is the recommendation to approve the levy for this year 11,546,2128. So, I will open it up for any public
comments or questions at this time. questions. I just wanted to make a couple comments. I really appreciate how you always thank your staff. That's very, very nice. I know they work very, very hard and I Thank you very
much for um getting all those links for the taxpayers together for any possible rebates that they might be entitled to revisit this a little bit later. >> Yes.
>> All right. Thank you so much. Superintendent report. >> Thank you, Chair Deb. Good evening. A few things I just want to highlight tonight. Uh first of all, I just want to uh stop back here from a few minutes ago just the board's recognition music
earlier. Uh this is really a big point of pride here uh in Austin and her work with the packant closet and coordinating volunteers and building an online ordering system and about uh access the way I think an engineer would. Uh and when a student is working hard to
address food insecurity and is celebrated both locally and nationally, it's really important and it shows the impact that our students are making and the strength of the partnerships around them. So, I just want to thank the board uh for recognizing her tonight and for supporting programs that give students
room to lead. Also, you've heard from our fall uh sports activities and I just want to congratulate them. Just special recognition for our bowling team uh that was uh at Savior and our all of our other state qualifiers uh from
representing Austin at the state level. Uh they set a great example for students uh who will come after them. So that's really important here. Uh a couple weeks ago, uh we had an opportunity to uh honor and surprise I should say first surprise and then honor uh they're our
teacher of the year. And I just want to say congratulations to Laura JSON who was our 2026 Austin Public Schools teacher of the year. Uh Laura consistently pushes students to think bigger and believe in themselves and she's a great example of the kind of educator who shapes futures every day.
So congratulations to her. Uh last week I shared some information from the Foundation. Uh the Foroundation board uh recently approved $34 million in distributions into our county. Our district is incredibly grateful for the
continued support. Uh this year we received more than $1.5 million for technology uh across K12, our reach program, gifted and talented services, uh professional learning, robotics, family literacy, and music programs.
These investments touch students in real ways and we certainly appreciate the foundation's partnership with our school district. Um talking about board development and leadership work. Uh as a board we recently completed our phase training with MSB uh MSBA
which uh was really focused on strengthening the governance of the schoolboard team. And looking ahead next month, we'll finish phase three together at the MSBA leadership conference. And I would also highlight that several members of our staff have also been
invited to present at the conference on our impactful work with bar uh direct admissions. And then our more county CEO program will be featured in the school of excellence showcases here at the conference. So it's great to see our district uh being recognized and sh uh
doing the work that's being shared across the state. Uh last month was National Community Education Day and it's a really reminder uh for everyone just how wide our reach really is. We're talking about early childhood family
education, early childhood special education, adult basic education, kids corner, enrichment programs. Uh this work touches families and caregivers from morning until evening. And Minnesota pioneered the community education model decades ago, but here in
Austin, it continues to make a measurable difference. And I just want to thank our community education staff for uh lifting uh the learners of all ages and for the dedication that they bring each and every day. Uh last week we also celebrated our first
dispersement of the Foundation scholarships. Uh we had five students who received $1,000 scholarship as part of the foundation's 10-year commitment that's tied to our new uh AHS weight room. Uh these students represent strong academics, leadership, and character.
exactly the kind of role models we hope to lift up. In January, uh we'll be having uh our community and employee engagement survey. This is a bianual survey that is done with our community and staff. Uh
the engagement survey will go out uh right after winter break. Our goal is to have the results ready before the end of the school year uh to use that data and guide summer planning and next year's priorities. And that's our report. >> Thank you. Anybody have any questions on
that? All right. Does anybody have any schoolboard reports to share? >> Okay. Carol Carol and I will talk about these maybe 40 minutes or so. So
strap on your seat belt here. >> Um last Saturday and Sunday. last Friday and Saturday, Friday night, Saturday till about 3:00. I was a delegate assembly on Friday night. Um there was a
nice dinner and uh and then uh Lawrence Jacobs who's at the Humphrey School of uh um policy and government affairs spoke to our group about the current climate of politics not only in
Minnesota but in the entire nation. On the way out, we I've got to a picture taken. If you haven't seen this, I think I'm holding up my end of the deal, aren't I? Uh anyway, there are $16 at the
convention. Um and they did a different configuration this year. Uh I don't know exactly what it entailed, but did uh result in more participation than in the past. Usually it had about 100. So now it had maybe 16. There's some open
spots. There are 116 delegates. There are 12 districts just like maybe in sports. There are eight regions or 12 regions in the state. But there are 30 areas. So for example, we are in the first district. Uh in the first area is Winona. In the
second area is Rochester and the third area is Rochester, Austin and Elbert Lee. Others other communities are in there but they decide not to be involved. We had 36 resolutions. They're contained in this book. This is a
summary of all those resolutions. So, this might tell you that those individuals, the government body up at St. Peter who do the heavy lifting for schoolers and school districts, students and staff around the state. This is a
this is a large compendium of research done by them. If anybody is having trouble sleeping at night, I'll just leave this right here and you can take a look at it on your own time. It we we did spend quite a bit of time on it. We had a pre-t delegate assembly.
We also had another Zoom meeting where it talked to us about what was going to happen at the delegate assembly. Um we called Dave Plot from Albert Lee as our district one director. He oversaw our group. There were two members from
Albert Lee. There was a number from Sepra Triton. One person from Rochester. Um and two open seats. Um Carol, would you like to go over a couple of the resolutions?
We debated 36 resolutions. We started at 8 a.m. We had nice breakfast at 7. 8 a.m. we started went through some parliamentary procedures and we were out of there by like 12:45. So that's not too bad. Uh I
say the 36 resolutions um 28 passed and 8 did not pass. And the governing body, the school association recommends passage, recommends no passage, and has no
recommendation. And so we're free to discuss and overturn what the Minnesota School Board Association Governmental Body has to say. I think we did that once or twice during the course of the day. It is democracy in action. If you
like grassroots, it's a it's a beautiful thing. I'll tell you this right now. Uh I sat down at breakfast with a guy from fire and he said my board chair
he had like a badge with a little green thing at the bottom first I remember I said where you from Lake said how'd you get here well John a board chair railroad me in a comment and he started talking about how he didn't want to be
there he was uncomfortable he didn't like the potatoes the the sausage anything like He was in a sour mood when I saw him on the way out. I said, "Bob, how did it go for you today?" He said, "I can't wait till next year." It was it was awesome. So, um, he went in with a
preconceived notion. He came out realizing that it was an opportunity to be involved with your fellow board members from the state. Um, it was really great. Okay. Sorry. Yes, it was really a humbling experience
because when when this arrived in my mailbox, I thought, "Oh my goodness sake." So, um, they had the helpful meetings that Don was talking about. Um, you know,
kind of explain the process, so I wasn't like totally overwhelmed when I got there. But it was a very, very nice experience and I highly recommend if somebody else wants to join us next year, you know, please come. So,
I'm just going to talk about two of the resolutions that passed and they're kind of financial in nature. So, I thought Todd might like these. Um, it's actually resolution one and it was submitted by Morehead Area Public Schools and this
one passed and it says, "Be it resolved that MSBA urges the legislature to provide a fund reallocation authority provision which would enable districts to transfer restricted nonfederally
encumbered funds between internal restricted operating funds through normal through formal school board resolutions. Thereby granting local school boards the author authority to address financial
needs without requiring additional state aid or property tax authority. And key safeguards include transfers must not must not reduce any fund to a level below the minimum threshold established
by the local school board. Transfers must not lead to increased state aid requirements or higher property tax levies. Each transfer requires a board resolution that clearly states the
purpose and amount is posted publicly and is submitted to the commissioner of education and transfer should be coordinated with the school's annual audit to ensure that restricted funds remain viable and
protected for future needs. And then the other resolution that I'd like to mention um Friday night we did have a presentation that was really interesting
and it talked about it had a graph I wish I had taken a picture of it because it was really interesting on the number of mandates but the funding for it. Um so this resolation resolution four um
was submitted by Holding for Public Schools. Um and this one passed and this is talking about the fiscal note required for new mandates. So it says, "Let be it resolved that MBA urges the
legislature to require that all proposed legislation creating new mandates on public school districts include a full fiscal note as well as a local impact note when appropriate and dedicated
sustainable funding source sufficient to cover all associated costs. So, those are my two that I wanted to mention. Um, and I just wanted to mention too that
um, like Dun said, there was MSBA's recommendation to, you know, pass it or not pass it or some they didn't have a recommendation. So when I had read through all this material, I kind of had my own preconceived notion on how I
would be voting. But once the discussion started, some of them, you know, had quite a bit of robust discussion. So that was really interesting to hear that and different perspectives and different things that people um you know mention
during the discussion piece of it. So I actually changed my vote on a couple of them. what I my preconceived notion was. So, thank you. >> Your point about the unfunded mandate,
the resolution, we we as a board, if you remember, um we voted on two resolutions. One had to do with the unemployment insurance fund for our workers. And um if that is not paid for
by the state that becomes a mandate that I believe Todd I recolct could cost public schools $350,000 $25,000 a year that passed unanimously. Um
two of them were very important cyber security and artificial intelligence. uh those p those we're to establish task force to investigate them those issues that are they're facing us uh head on.
Um another one that um that struck me was and and it was in there there were four different resolutions on PS and PSO is in a number of different forms. One of the forms is uh going to
other educational institutions and Rochester public school stated that in 2024 they lost $8 million to postsecary education. And so there are a number of different resolutions. One of them is if you have a concurrent
class in your high school that's as rigorous as one at Rochester Community College and the student is mandated to take the concurrent class. So there's a lot of different things working parts in these four resolutions. I believe three
of the four passed but u PS and then and then uh Friday night you may or may not uh it's something that keeps coming up but uh there's a permanent school fund that's based on land in the state of Minnesota and that
the dividends go to school districts. I think the average school district this in this day and age gets about $60 per pupil unit. And the schoolware association wants to have a um constitutional amendment to free up more
than just dividends but part of the capital in that fund. There'll be more later Dietrich who is really smart really talked about all these resolutions that was a heavy lift for her to explain to us. So you're going to hear more about this. It's an
opportunity to um redefine kind of archaic constitutional amendment. It will take legislative action. It will also take a vote by the citizens of Minnesota to create
any amendment to the constitutional process. And then the last one was the board stip that was number 33. I got talked about it for a few moments. I said let's have a robust discussion. The robust discussion basically involved
the term local control. However, Rochester did come to our defense. However, that's easy for them to do because they get paid more than any other district in the state. So, it's basically a local and control thing. I don't think that is the end of
my mission, but uh as of right now, uh it was resoundingly defeated. Thank you. Any questions? Yes. Will that summary will that show up on the MSBA website at some point? Will there
be a report? >> You mean of the all these different resolutions? >> Yes. Of the things that are moving forward? >> I would I would think so, but I guess I really couldn't tell you definitively. >> Okay. I'll watch. >> And these aren't things that are
moving directly into law. These are things that are going to be lobbyed for with >> the legislation in the next session. Right. >> And I believe if I'm not mistaken, Dr. Paige, are our two representatives going to become meeting with us sometime
before the legislative session begins? >> That's correct. We have confirmation from Representative Miller. Not heard back yet from Senator January. >> Yep. Be January 12th. >> Okay. at meeting like this. >> Yep.
>> Okay. >> So, it really wouldn't be a wouldn't be a robust question to ask. I mean, in the past, I believe we've had like what my recollection we've had, Mr. Senator Dors
come and sit and talk about this be a little bit more formal. >> Yep. >> Yeah. And certainly can ask questions and I think uh resolutions that we're discussing here. So yeah, it's meant to be an
interactive engaging conversation. >> I mean the unemployment insurance. >> Okay. Thank you. Good. Does anybody else have any board reports? We're keep moving from Chairperson Dubet and members of the
board. Thank you for this opportunity to speak with you tonight. I'll be presenting the first half of the report. This week, our school community is proud to celebrate Ali Mus as recognized earlier as a hometown hero for her dedication and leadership with the packer pantry at her school. Next up,
many students are taking up taking advantage of the School Links program, which continues to offer meaningful academic and career readiness opportunities. Along with helping set up things like college visits, school links recently just coordinated a Mayo Clinic job shadowing, which gave students real
experience and firsthand exposure to careers in healthcare. As as school looks to support students academically and professionally, our winter our winter athletes are also on to also off to a strong start this season. The girls hockey has delivered an impressive 10
to1 victory against South Central and the boys basketball is currently 2 and0 having won their most recent game against John Marshall. In the spirit of service, the National Honor Society is working hard to brighten brighten the holiday season. members are preparing holiday cards and hot cocoa gifts to
bags to deliver to local nursing homes. And our student council is preparing a fun and engaging winter week with lots of fun dressup ideas to send students off into winter break. Next Monday is our annual holiday concert featuring performances from our band orchestr choir programs. I highly encourage all
of you to attend. Our music department is working hard every day. And as a student in the music program, I can tell you that a lot of the hard work we put in through our music. This concludes the first half of the report. Thank you chair bay and members of the board for your time and your attention. Any
questions? >> No questions. So, thanks for sharing all of that. Sounds like a lot of fun things are happening right now. Thank you. Thank you. Determination members of the school board. I'll be presenting the second half of the student award. To begin,
Austin High School is proud to recognize this year's participant recipients Isabelle Owens, Yasmin Herrera, Jonas Cland, Ada Baron, and Bella Lion for winning the Foundation Scholarship. These students were selected to demonstrate strong leadership, academic
commitment and a positive impact on the school commitment. We are grateful for the Foundation for continuing to support Austin Public Schools in such a meaningful way. And also, I'd like to say congrats to the tennis team for having three recipients, two I think three on the tennis team.
In athletics, the boys basketball team had their season opener with an outstanding performance against Farbo, winning 80 to 61 and also beating JM this past weekend by 20 plus points. This team has been working very hard this season and the win reflects their energy, teamwork, and preparation as they move forward into their season. I
would also like to highlight Jamal Gibson's efforts in keeping those guys engaged all year long. A few of my close friends are on that team and they practice all year, all the time. Whether it's opening gyms on Sunday night at 7 7:30, they're there as late as 10 o'clock some nights and he's always
there with them, keeping them accountable and keeping them on the right steps for the next steps in basketball. December work is a major month for extracurricular activities at Austin High School and this year is no exception. Our music program in particular are extremely active during
this holiday season. On Sunday, several of our music groups were at the Paramount Theater, giving students the opportunity to share their talents in the new beautiful space. Following that, our winter music concert scheduled for Tuesday, December 15th. This event will feature performance from band, orchestra, and choir and marks the
highlight of the year. I'd like to give a thanks to all the choir teach the choir teachers, all the music teachers this time of year for the extra performances and things they're doing in the community to support this Christmas cheer. Meanwhile, in hockey, senior defenseman After Kyler Flanders was recognized as
prep player of the week by local news outlet. Flanders known for his strong skating leadership and offensive vision on the ice with 28 points last season, the most among returning players and is expected to elevate the entire team against this year. After talking to some of my buddies on the hockey team,
they're excited about this season and hope to have better results as they feel their younger core is doing a lot better. With so many events taking place this December, this highlights just how active and dedicated our students are across all areas of school life. I'd like to thank all the students and extracurricular activities for these
months where they're doing all the volunteering and all the other things. These accomplishments and opportunities continue to reflect the strength of our programs and the commitments of our staff and community. Thank you. Any questions? >> Yeah, I've got a comment I'd like to make, Michael. Thanks for your observation about the basketball team um
and the dedication that you suggest that a lot of players have. I don't know if you saw the Ohio State Indiana games, but at the end of the game, Indiana really wasn't uh they're a Cinderella team and they talked to the quarterback and they talked to his wide receiver and
both of them talked about last summer, 5 in the morning, Sunday, they were out working out, throwing passes, getting ready, practicing till 11:00 at night, doing the weight, doing all that stuff, and it paid off. So, it's that kind of thing that really makes a difference.
So, applaud not only those players but other athletes that are doing the same thing. I also want to ask you to tell me another thing. Did you mention the FFA fruit drive? >> I do not. >> I just want to tell you I got a box of oranges and grapefruit that were just out of this world. So if you see an FFA
member, man, you were good. And and the summer sausage is awesome, too. So you see an FF, tell them thanks. >> Okay. Nice job. >> Any other questions? I just want to say thanks to both of you
for all your dedication that busy time and also feel free to do tonight. It's okay. It's a long night. >> Thank you both. >> Thank you. >> All right.
Move forward with our consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve? >> Motion by Don, second by Dan. Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I oppose
that motion pass. Thanks you too. >> Thank you. Happy holidays. Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. See you next year. >> Thank you. >> That felt weird to say. All right.
Uh, next up is human resources director Sar. We're going to our request for the approval of the 2527 parent educators working agreement. >> Yes. So, chairperson Dubai, Superintendent Page, and members of the board. Tonight, I would like to present to you the 2527 PAR educator contract
for approval. The highlights of the contract were included in your board packet. Um, are there any questions? Okay. So it is my recommendation that you approve the proposed 2527 collective bargaining agreement between the
Minnesota school employee association Austin fair educators and in school district 492. >> All right. Is there a motion to approve the 2527 PAR educator working? >> So
motion by Bob second by CC. >> All right. Further discussion. All those in favor? >> I. Anybody opposed? Motion passes. >> All right, we're moving back to our our
levy conversation um with the request of the approval of the final certified 24 payable 25 levy with executive director of finance and operations. We just noticed. Can we unfortunately
change that? It should have been 256. >> The title in the slides, right? But the the off. >> Okay, let me say it again so that I can say it right. Uh, we have the request for the approval
of our final certified 2025 payable 2026 levy with executive director of finance and operations. >> Sorry. No, that's okay. >> So, we're looking as we went through that presentation, we're looking for approval of 11,546,
$2128. >> Is there a motion to approve the 25 certified 25 payable 26 levy? >> Motion by Maggie, second. Second by Dan. discussion. All right.
All those in favor? >> Anybody opposed? Motion passes. >> Right. Next is our is a request for the approval of assigned funds with executive director of finance and operations. >> Good evening to Bay, Dr. Page, and the
rest of the board. We walk through this at the work session, but just as a reminder, part of our UFARS, we um which is our uniformed financial accounting reporting standard, we have the ability to have assigned
funds, which represents the district's intended use of resources for certain purposes. So, these assignments can be established by either the school board, by a delegated authority such as the finance committee, or by certain officials. So, as we went through this,
what we do as a part of our annual audit process is we compare our unassigned fund balance to our school board policy, which is right now at is schoolboard policy 714, which is 8.33%. And we compare that to what our our
revised budget polic. So we take those three numbers and look at where our audit ended where our board policy of 8.33% is and where our revised budget was. When we looked at all three of those together with Dr. Paige myself
made a recommendation to the finance committee and then we work walked through this with the at the work session. We would like to take a portion of our unassigned fund balance and make a designation to assign funds. And the reason we're looking at this is with the results of the recent referendum in
mind, um we're looking at our district facility needs. Uh we have some critical needs coming up um that we feel we need to put money aside for. And where that we're looking at is about $3 million for just district facility needs. Right now, we are working with ISG, which is our
architects to figure out exactly the plan for that. Um that work will continue over the rest of December. We will come back work session in January to put a plan together of what that means. But we just feel that with where our fund balance is right now, we need
to be fiscally responsible and put that money aside to continue the look and then another million dollars for Westcon facility needs. And right now we're earmarking that right now for turf replacement. We have two amazing turf
fields that we're lucky to have, but those also have um life cycles coming near end. Uh we believe we're four to five years from that. Right now we are looking at because there was a great question proposed to
us of what what is that grass versus turf the replacement cost. We are looking at all that. We will have that at a work session coming up but we know um we we uh the hospital we're looking at that replacement. So we would like to put a million dollars aside for facility
needs at WCOT and $3 million aside for facility district facility needs. So our recommendation tonight is to approve the creation of $3 million assigned funds for facility needs and a million dollars for resca. Um remember uh prior Andrew or prior to
Tony Andrew Adams and you perhaps put together a request for a grant for the Ellis pool >> correct >> and can you talk about that just a little bit but most importantly can you give us how much money you're asking for
there? How much the the request is for? Uh we have submitted a grant to uh Department of Energy uh for construction of a brand new pool. Uh and I believe I don't have that information in front of me, but I believe that was at $19
million. >> $19 million. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Um I probably asked this before, but I'm going to ask you again. I think last spring a lot about the time that the legislature um got their work
done is that you you told us that you had charts that show us that the u the unrestricted fund balance is 16.12 example and because the the employer contribution to TR was
increasing quite dramatically and we put $750,000 toward technology and $750,000 toward curriculum. And then there were a couple other items in there that I can't remember, but it was pension was a big
thing because it went from be 8.5 to 9.85 something like that. The state kicked some money in added to TRA, but it was going to be a heavy look for the district. Um, I thought that took our balance out of 12.30.
So >> what what you're discussing there is so the fund balance we're talking about right now is FY25 audited results that we're going to go through right shortly on the next agenda item. So that is our fund balance of 16.1%.
The 12% is FY26 approved um adopted budget based on our estimated enrollment and where our estimated settlements and inflationary costs and
projects and stuff like that. So we are working through the revised budget right now but that 12.1% is where we believe our fund balance will end June 30th of 2026. So what we're talking about right now is where we ended June 30th of 2025 and
that 12.1 is where we believe we will end 2026 knowing that our enrollment was coming down from our record growth and some of the other inflationary percentages. And so that's why we believe putting this money aside will help us take care of our facility needs
because of us being above that percentage where we're at right now. >> I'm not questioning that at all. Nope. Since I'm not a numbers person, >> let me just th scenario and you tell me if I'm right or wrong. Basically, in essence, the school board spent down the
fund balance from 16 to 12 if we vote today twice. Is that correct? >> It's not spending it down right now. we above the 16 >> appropriating money for turf or um uh
WCOT or overall facilities or um curriculum or technology for the transition. I believe if we vote again we're we will have voted unrestricted fund balance from 16 to 12 in vote in two consecutive years. Is that correct?
Not necessarily because right now what we're voting on is to bring the results to the 16%. So if we're going to start the year 2026 school year, which we believe we'll finish at 12.1 at 16%. So we're not going to bring it down to
12%. It's going to come to the 16.1%. So we're not voting twice to bring it up. We're going to bring it to the 16%. the starting basis where we believe we should have started this fiscal year with all where we where we had our revised budget or adopted budget at.
>> Sure. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Is there a motion to approve the assigned funds? questions conversation like you were ask for it. I I just said
I'm pretty sure uh Todd these are just one time allocated um transfer well creation of these funds right so um they'll never grow the actual funding balances will never grow they'll just be earmarked to pay down
projects in the future unless the board decides to allocate more money to those funds >> correct there's not there's not a way for that balance to grow unless the board we we come to the board going to make another recommendation to increase those balances. These would be set aside to pay for certain projects based on
projects brought to the board for approval to move forward. Okay? >> If we ever got into a situation where our fund balance, we could move money from this to pay for other things. These are just currently earmarked for projects as we develop plans.
>> I always think about like the Dave Ramsey envelope thing. I'm making an envelope for a boiler at Neland or a bathroom at Sar and I'm going to put money into that and
if I need to pull it out because I need to pay or hear from something I still can but >> conversation >> but not without a real conversation. >> I agree. >> Is that that kind of
>> that was that was that was my main question. I just wanted to >> just wanted to make sure it wasn't that you know that's a that's a goal of how how much we're going to have in funding funding buckets again where we're going to try to have a million and try to have
four million >> I don't think >> ongoing we're just it's a one time allocation >> yeah kind of like that like the 750 that we put aside for technology and the 750 we put aside those are one time things that we earmarked because we know that
we've got those expenditures coming up, >> right? >> No, you're correct. I mean, it's it's way to look at it, too, is we know we've got some big expenditures coming up. So, instead of taking it out of the operations of 26 and 27, in the years where we've been able to achieve these
results, we're able to put money aside so that in the years where we may not be able to achieve those results, we have that money put aside. So, it's just setting this district up physically or physically fiscal responsibility.
It's a tough word tonight. Um, we're just making sure we're getting that responsibility out there. >> All right, other questions. Anybody? It's getting late. Did Did I do a
motion? I was like, "Yeah, okay. Thanks. All right. All those in favor? >> I Anybody opposed? Motion passes. All right. Our next agenda item is a request for the approval of our 2425 audit report with executive director of
finance and operations and CLA representative Ser. >> So, I'm going to start at this and then I'm going to turn it over to CLA. Uh this presentation has gone through our finance committee and as was also at our work session. So Sterling's going to go
through a few slides here. Uh first off, I can't thank CLA enough um for their partnership on this. One of the things when you're going through an audit, it is nice to have a partner that is looking through everything, um, is
willing to show you improvements, um, but also at the same time is deep deep diving into this. Um, there's a lot of records they pull and there's a lot of time and effort they put into this. Um, and again, one more time, I want to give a huge shout out to the amazing
staff. There's a lot of work that goes in when we closed books in June um to get to where we are today um to Amy Hower, to Sherry, to Jenny, to Kelly, to everybody um trying to think who else to
Rachel, to Sue, to all those individuals that do all the work that I'm able to stand here today and say this is an amazing audit. That staff does all the work. and I just want to make sure they get the public recognition for how amazing this audit is. So, I'm going to turn over to Sterling right now and I'm
just going to drive the slides here. >> Thank you, Todd. So, introduce myself Sterling Chad, senior here at CLA in town. Uh, go to the next slide. So, uh, just to summarize the audit quick. So, uh, we issued a clean audit opinion. Uh,
the financial statements are materially stated fairly. Uh, we did perform a single audit for available compliance findings. We uh through that single audit process, we found no compliance issues and reviews of the laws, regulations, and contracting grants. Uh
overall internal control review, we noted no material weaknesses in the internal controls over the financials. And then lastly, the Minnesota legal compliance, we uh had no findings reported through our audit procedures. So, as Todd was uh noting earlier, the
The district has had increased enrollment within its within the last few years. So in fiscal year 25 enrollment increased approximately 88 ADMs. Uh this this caused the revenue it's to exceed the budget in the general
fund and to note that this has been the record growth for the last few last two years. So record enrollment for the district in the last two years. Uh this graph here is the general fund operating results. So uh five years. The
far right column is 2025. The dark blue bar is the revenues. The light blue bar is expenditures and the light green bar is fund balances. As you can see both revenues and expenditures have increased. the uh revenues haven't had
increased as much as the expenditures have, but overall there has been a positive margin to the district. And then that last blue, that last green bar is the fund balance for 2025. That general fund fund balances have increased due to that positive margin for the general fund. Uh this shows
positive stewardship with the district and I'll break out uh more of these uh operating results in the next few slides. So uh here is the uh general fund balance is broken down by their categories uh for the last five years. On the far
right is 2025. The starting with the little blue bar, that's the non-spendable. That's your prepaids, inventory, stuff that fluctuates from year to year just due to operations. Uh that next green bar is the assigned fund balances. These are things like food service, facilities, health insurance,
technology as John was talking about earlier in the end analogy. Uh the next bar is the red bar and this is restricted funs. These are for items like ALC, operating capital, LTFM. That next orange bar is unassigned fund balance, which we'll talk about later,
but unassigned fund balance is that orange bar. And then if you add those all those colored bars up on the left on 2025 and you get that large blue dark or dark blue bar, that is the total fund balance for the general fund. So the general fund B total fund balances have
increased due to that positive operating margin for the district. Uh this slide here is unassigned general fund balances. This is what Todd was uh discussing earlier. But uh you can see in 2024 that percentage of or unassigned fund balance as a percentage of the fund
balance policy expenditures was 17.8 for2% in 2024 and then 16.1% was the audit results in 2025. I won't comment on any future periods because that's out of the scope of this discussion for an audit. But I will say
that the typical range with our clients is 8 to 12% and then the ME and OSA recommend approximately 8 to 16%. Uh the light blue bar is of course what your policy is 8.33%
of one year's worth of expenditures is one month. 16.1% is approximately approximately two months. So right now the district's sitting at two months of expenditures of their unassigned fund balance versus that 8.33% which is just
that 1%. So two months uh it's not extreme either way. I mean it varies but overall within MD and OSA recommendations. Is it your is it your experience that you know MDA suggests recommends
12 to 16%. Do you do you find school districts of our size following it or are they more in line with what we're >> uh it varies. I can get back to you on that with a little more detailed research. >> Yeah. So overall I'll say this is a healthy
fund balance. Uh this this graph here is the general fund revenue for fiscal year 25. So due to that enrollment increasing by 88 revenue exceeded that budget in the in the general fund. Uh this pie here uh
breaks it out by state local property taxes federal and other sources. So we'll note that revenues increased due to the strong earnings from investments in 2025. CO funding was only 211,000 compared to 3.8 million in 2024.
This shifted the pie chart almost 4% between federal and other sources. For tech grant revenues increased as did reimbursements through medical assistance. Uh then that other that other that other bar includes that investment income that
has been strong at 1.3 million. So overall increased revenue for the district. The pie chart did change some due to that co funding being decreased and then some grants coming in and then uh enrollment being higher than it was the year prior.
This uh pie chart breaks out by program instead. So the same expense or this is sorry that was a revenue pie chart. This is the expenditure pie chart. So uh this is only districts you do it by uh by source and program but this is general
fund expenditures by program. So in fiscal year 25 expenditures ended up under budget capital spend had more technology purchases in 2025 included iPads, laptops and desktops and playground equipment for summer
elementary schools. The distribution for this pie chart in general has been fairly comparable to 2024. So no big changes in general fund expenditures by program. So these net charts are district spend
versus state averages including districts of your size and then the actual state averages of all district. So there's going to be some things in here that'll affect it. It'll one things will be the increased enrollment. So that'll have a higher number of students to divide the total cost by. So that'll
bring the averages down because there's more students to spread that And then also uh the increased expenses will also reflect in here. So those somewhat offset but uh overall this is administrative expenditures for ADM.
2024s was $583 per ADM. 2025s was $592 per ADM. Uh for 2024 averages that light blue bar uh 4,000 and higher districts had an average of 754 and the state average of 772. So overall this is lower
than state average. Uh this this is um shows that the district is being responsible with their administrative expenditures. Next one is the regular instructional expenditures. This uh keep in mind these are monies going into the classrooms. So
we uh good good this is uh classroom spend. So we like to see substantial spending within these categories. I won't go and uh discuss the actual figures themselves, but below the state averages for districts of 4,000 and higher and the state average uh 2025 has
been ended up approximately $6,700 per ADM. Next slide. Uh the food service fund operating results here. So, uh I know food service has been in the news or uh talked about a lot with the free meals and then a lot of districts have been
having substantial fund balances that remain. So, I won't talk about it too much tonight, but 2025 revenues uh were were expenses and revenues were down are down slightly. So, uh one big change was United Way was sourcing their
backpack program directly from Martin Brothers rather than going through the district. So that did decrease revenues somewhat. Uh overall expenditure increase. I know the district was working on spending down some of this fund balance. So uh overall food service fund is has a
healthy fund balance. Moving on to community service fund here. So uh overall this varies from district to district. Some districts have a hard time keeping even a positive fund balance in community service without transfers. So uh I will that the
fund balance here did increase due to decreased expenses and increased revenues. So uh in fiscal year 25 salaries and benefit expenses decreased that was the big driver of that decreased expenses in 25 uh revenue
increased in adult basic ed there was an added section for preschool which increased the school readiness and there was a $50,000 grant from the initiative foundation to be used for school readiness. So there was a mixture of grants, revenues and then decrease in expenses due to decreases in salaries
and benefits. Uh this led to the fund balance increasing for the community service funding. >> Yeah, all these are positive fund balances. Um good good shows that the district's being good stewards of dollars and being reflective of each
fund and keeping track of it and and uh monitoring and keeping the else is positive. So, uh here is the last slide just the total spend per ADM. So, 2024's was 18,355.
2025 was 19,411. Uh district average for state uh district size of 4,000 and higher in the state in 2024 was at 22,000 and in 2024 was 21,792.
So overall overall expenditures per ADM is is below state averages between other districts of your size and other all the districts in Minnesota between Austin and state averages. So overall shows that these and I want to note that these
numbers include debt service, construction, food service, community ed. So everything all the expenditures are are substantially lower than those of your peers and of those in the whole state. So that being said, I'll conclude this
presentation but open the floor to any questions. >> I just like to what Todd said that is, you know, I talked earlier about this this book here. It really is summarized in five pages. This is work that people did research to put together. That's
exactly what what you folks have done and Todd talked about the the work that you did, the research that you did and looking at all the deep dives and things and you know we've had uh uh an entity come and look at the school building. We need help from outside entities for us
to to be successful. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> And also Todd, you've thanked a lot of people uh from the podium there and I as a board member like to thank you for um the expertise you bring and the hard
work and uh want to do the right thing and thanks a lot. I just want to say one thing. He glossed over but I just want to highlight the community ed him saying without auditor saying every single funing community
that is positive that is an accomplishment. A lot of times school readiness, which is an investment school districts will make to get kids ready to come to kindergarten, is normally a negative just because of how it's
funded. To have ours not negative is a huge accomplishment. So again, we glossed over that. I just want to keep saying how big of an accomplishment that is. So that program is running in the black is a great thing to have here is getting our kids and we're going to continually work to in that program. And
I just want to keep highlighting that >> I've said this before. Um I there's a tendency um sometimes in the community when things are rough to be really critical of school districts and to
think they're not being smart with their money and how much is this person being paid. We have settled some very contracts. We have wonderful programs going on in our district and I am so
proud every time I hear these presentations. Um, and I I would hope that if somebody had a question, they could come in and have somebody in this room talk them through these presentations because it is really
impressive. So, thank you Can we get a motion to approve the 2425 audit report? >> Motion by second by CC. Further discussions. >> Feel like we need to give a shout out to
Jen Lah. >> You have something? >> Yeah. I just want to say if you have a nice to look over the full report 106 pages. There's a lot of really good stuff in there. Um
be here shortly, but I just wanted to highlight one of the things that I posted really quickly. Um because it's been part of an ongoing discussion, you kind of just took our money to uh but this line right here, uh the
district has a large amount of deferred maintenance due to the age of buildings. The district has done an excellent job of maintaining the buildings on limited funding for deferred maintenance. However, the last large renovation was completed in 1992.
>> That was Austin High School. >> Just wanted to make note that that is noted in there that you know there were some questions in the community about why >> why you know are these buildings being maintained right here? district has done
a fulfilled job. >> Excuse me. I almost >> anybody opposed motion pass. >> Thank you for coming to make Sterling speak with us. We appreciate all your work. >> Thank you for supporting your local auditor. >> Please, please share our gratitude.
>> Oh man, that was good. All right. Next up, we've got our approval, our request for the approval of our donations for this month. >> Yes. So, we're here tonight to look over these donations. Um, we've reviewed them. They are in accordance to school
board policy 706. So I will read these off and then ask for approval at the end. So the first one, Josh Dixon, $50, Austin Public Schools. Joseph Hootman, $30, Austin Public Schools. The next few
are from the Fraternal Order of Eagles, $500. J Holden, $500. World Language Program, $500. Austin High School boys hockey, $500,
gymnastics. The next one is State Farm, Steve Justice, $50 gymnastics. ABC Driving School, $275. Austin High School gymnastics. Kathy
Euing, $20. Austin High School speech club. Quanics Club Early Risers $250 Austin High School robotics program. Again, we'd like to thank every one of these individuals and the programs for their donations. We're very grateful.
>> A motion to approve donations. >> Motion conversations. >> You know about these how the Austin school donated I I'm going to ask this again just to
clarify. So the some of the service clubs have to spend their hand money. So is there how do we know who's asking money? Is the district
ever aware of who's asking >> and because the ultimate decision is up to that service club >> but to me >> and I I really don't want to have people
not ask for money but Is that something that every place does this or is it something we'd like to see? Pretty common. Um, you know, we have
one of our um service organizations that's very supportive and there's certainly other individual donors that do that. Um, studentally, but I don't think they were different than other school districts.
Um, but I know we've had conversations around this boosters and then also it's been a while since we've talked about that formalizing how we are approaching our businesses or service organizations.
So we're not exhausting our ass. >> You know, there was a resolution last week had a similar type of topic where it was asked if uh sporting groups could have access to parent and children's
emails so they can tell about triyouts and stuff like that. And people came back and said, "No, that's the coach's responsibility to get that information out. That's what was when I coached. And the thing about my own personal experience at the Eagles is uh they have
meetings and they have money and you just go online and you just go and you make your case and and they as a board determine whether it's an up or down, how much it's very democratic and >> and I would hate to see I would hate to see it become so
complicated that they don't want to. >> I just want to make everybody. >> But that's my point about the resolution. It's your responsibility as the girls basketball coach. If you want to ask, go ahead and go over there and bring a couple of kids along. And that
that's kind of resolution. >> Sorry. >> All those in favor? All right. Anybody oppose? Motion passes. Hopefully I don't start coughing. Um any delegations?
>> Any of you have anything to say? >> Um reminder that there's no study in December and an organizational meeting will be held. All right. Organizational meeting will be held at noon on Monday, January 5th.
Folks who want to make committee requests, Sharon, do those go to you? >> Tomorrow, so you can just watch that. >> That way we can have a a good facilitated conversation during the the organizational meeting. You don't want to just come in and blindly. So start
the ones that you really want to get up. All right. You good? >> Yeah, I think I'm okay. Dry throat just a season. All right. Can I get a motion to >> you want a second?
>> Motion by >> All those in favor? >> Motion passes. Happy holidays, merry Christmas, happy new year. We'll see you in 2026. Thank you.