Thank you. >> I didn't get the paper. >> Good evening. >> I'm now calling to order the January 28th regular meeting of the 27J Board of Education. Uh, all matters noticed on our agenda in
any category may be considered for action as listed. Any item not so noticed may not be considered and items listed on this agenda may be considered in any order at the discretion of the chairperson. First up is a pledge of allegiance and Ramon is going to lead us in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you very much. Next up will be our roll call for attendance. >> Director Tracy Alvar, sorry, Director
Ramon Alvarado. >> Director Tracy Alvarado >> here. >> Director Melinda Carvajal >> here. >> Director Ashley Khan. Director Tom Green >> I am present. Director Star Trillo >> here. Director Rachel Wilhelm. Mr. President, you do have quorum. >> Thank you very much, Madam Secretary. As
usual, the board will govern lawyerly, observing policy governance principles with an emphasis on outward vision rather than internal preoccupation, encouragement of diversity and viewpoints, strategic leadership more than administrative detail, a clear distinction of board and chief executive roles, collective rather than individual
decisions, future rather than past or present, and governing proactively rather than reactively. Uh, next up, I would like a motion to approve the agenda. I'll move to approve the agenda dated January 28th, 2026 as presented.
>> I have a motion from Director Kahal and a second from Raone Alvarado. Could you have a roll call vote? >> Director Raone Alvarado, director Director Tracy Alvarado, >> I. >> Director Melinda Carvajal, >> yes. >> Director Tom Green,
>> you betcha. >> Director Star Treo, >> I. >> Motion carries. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Next up is our 2015 2021 bond oversight committee report and the fabulous Kevin Kerber will be presenting this e report this evening.
Kevin, the floor is yours. Be quick. >> Thank you. >> I'm on here. Okay, great. Yeah, thank you for uh having me first. As a result, I will only report on just the the last quarter updates uh with with the exception of the first three paragraphs. But um thank you board. The bond
oversight committee's role is to monitor the bonds issues passed by 27J schools voters on November 3rd, 2015 and November 2nd, 2021. The voters in the district authorized 248 million and 515 million in bonds
respectfully for those two uh program years. The report covers our fourth quarter expenditures. You guys have you should have that report in front of you and project pro project progresses for October, November and December. Uh the bond oversight committee held regular
meetings in October, November and in January. Uh there was no December meeting this past quarter. Um 2015 bond interest uh last quarter was about uh $12,000.
2021 bond uh issuance so far remaining of about 113.5 million. So we've had two issuance so far with 113.5 remaining. We anticipate one uh or two of those issues uh this
year. About 2.5 million in interest was earned in the fourth quarter on the 2021 bond and a total of 318 388,000 was earned in the
fourth quarter between uh two bonds. The series 2024A bonds have earned about 5.9 million in interest of which 2.1 was earned in the fourth quarter. Uh project expenditures to date 2015 were about $300 million spent. That is
99.9% of the 2015 bond project from what I understand. Uh just some accounting items just need to be identified there and closed out. Uh 2021 we have about 344 million spent. That's about 59.5
of of the project of the bond. Major projects include Talon Ridge Middle School. Uh this project is 80.6% spent, the Rocky Vista High School, which is moving very quickly. Overall, that project is 43.7%
spent, and the North Transportation Terminal is 96.7% spent. There's just a few uh items there. I think it's a heating area and then a cabinet. Uh deferred maintenance uh as you know is another big portion of the bond
program. That's 90.1% spent so far. Uh we continue to close out several other projects. Um there's about 190,000 spent this quarter on deferred maintenance. Uh primarily with the STEM and CTE schools
and discovery. The majority of the spending was uh for Gerald H. fifths to complete some work for the detention pond at Riverdale Ridge um right there next to the STEM school and I think it's 136 additional smaller costs um we had to
mitigate some asbestous containing materials near the Jacobson property that was that small house next to Talon Ridge Middle School. Um, we had to move a modular uh unit out of Quist Middle School to Padilla and some minor costs related to the continued work at
Friendship Park. Technology is 48.1% spent so far. Safety is 49.8% so we're about halfway there on both of those items. the vestibils at South Elementary, Southeast Elementary,
Henderson Elementary, Bob Sakata Educational Campus, and Brighton High School uh were were some of the major items there. Um other safety items include camera upgrades, um public address uh access system upgrades,
intrusion system upgrades, and card access installations, overhead spending support. Um, as you guys know, um, there's a lot of administration and construction efforts, um, that are taken on by the district to, you know, manage a half billion
dollar construction projects. Um, and so we spent about $640,000 last quarter on that. In October, the bond oversight committee approved um two specific recommendations uh to the superintendent, and one of
those was to add another $4 million to deferred maintenance. Uh so there's some projects that had uh came up uh once the bond was already issued and identified as urgent items in the school district. The other one was arbitrage arbitrage
liability for about $1.5 million. Um we're actually making money on on money that we're making. So the IRS doesn't like that. That's called arbitrage. Um, so we we're setting aside about $1.5 million uh for when the IRS wants to collect that.
Additional deferred maintenance uh includes some window replacement, water intrusion, canopy repairs um at Second Creek and Timig. um canopy repair at Turnberry, water intrusion at West Ridge Elementary, and uh roof replacements at
Second Creek, uh Timig and Turnberry, and then flooring upgrade at the Southeast Elementary, uh classroom library, the Rocky Vista High School. Um kind of major project notes here to close this out. Um basically, the steel structure
is nearing completion. Um we have interior mechanical work. We have drywall installed in some areas already and uh thankfully the weather uh before last week uh had cooperated uh significantly and so we've got um exterior work including the stadium,
ball fields and sidewalks and and lighting started. Ste school project has advertised for its final completion and they're in the early stages of their closeout stages and Eagle Ridge Academy has one
allocation. Um it'll likely be a recommendation from the committee to the superintendent here uh in the next few quarters, next quarter or two. Uh again, the 2015 bond program is 99.9% spent. The 2021 bond program is 59.5%
spent. And finally with this report, the committee certifies that all expenditures to date have been made in adherence to the official bond language as approved by the voters of 27J schools on November 3rd, 2015 and on November 2nd, 2021.
>> Thank you, Kevin. >> Thank you. >> Uh I guess you know my main question uh on behalf of the voters, we're going to have the money to complete our plans for Rocky Vista and we still have another money for additional school. Is that correct? >> That is correct. That is what I wanted.
>> Yes. And I think um we don't know the exact numbers yet, but our last committee meeting we talked about possibly some savings um that were in contingency by getting some work done early with the good weather that we've had. So >> awesome. >> That is always good news to hear. Do you
have any other questions >> with Go ahead. >> No, I just I'm excited that the vestibs are done. So every school deserves that like equity for safety and so that was a big project and I'm really happy that that happened. that first line of safety. Absolutely. >> Yeah. Thank you so much. >> Thank you.
>> With that, I will accept a motion. >> I'll move to accept the report from the 2015 2021 bond oversight committee is presented. >> I'll second. >> Motion from Director Trillo. Second from Director >> Carvajal. >> Thank you again, Kevin. Can I have a
roll call vote? >> Thanks, Kevin. Uh, Director Raone Alvarado, >> Director Tracy Alvarado, >> I. >> Director Melinda Carvajal, >> yes. >> Director Tom Green, >> yes, sir. >> Director Star Trio, >> yes. >> Motion carries. Thank you. >> I should have said yes, ma'am. I
apologize, Mr. President. >> Next up is our mill levy override oversight committee report. >> And I I was gonna say I didn't see Michael Kuba out there, so >> Wow. Kitty, walk up Burkehead, thank you for walking up. I appreciate you being
here uh and stepping in for your co-chair. Um please take it. Okay, so our December meeting um the reason why I'm covering for Michael is because he wasn't able to make it. So we figured it probably
wasn't the nicest thing to make him present something he wasn't there for. But uh so December 9th of 2025, we met and um we got to have a very comprehensive update on everything that was going on with the career and
technical education programming across the district. So across all of the high schools and including the online learning academy, we got to see all the data that has been showing sustained growth with student participation and all the industry certifications they're
earning. and we got to hear from current and past students who are involved with the CTE pathways how the these programs have helped them at school and beyond. So, it was actually really um informative and we really enjoyed
getting to learn all that they are doing with CTE. It's truly amazing. Um we also looked at the financial status of the MLO funded CTE program for the fiscal year of 202526. Um, and so far we're staying within the
budget. We're looking good. We we are still within budget as of November. So everything's looking good there. We also looked at the safety and security portion of the MLO um budget and they are also staying within our approved
budget from that. And you know, we confirmed our upcoming meeting dates and reporting schedules and we'll be looking at charter school updates next time. And so far the um well, we have affirmed that the MLO
funds are being utilized in alignment with the voter intent with continued focus on student opportunity, fiscal responsibility, and transparency. >> Kitty, thank you very much for stepping up and presenting this report. I I guess the the one question that that I always
hear is is how we do on that security. We kind of pivoted uh from the metal detectors we were talking about before. Where are we at on the status of that and uh what are your plans for the future on that portion of the mil levy? >> Yeah, I know that um they're still
looking at other options. Um, I believe the last thing that they were looking at was a camera option that can utilize our current existing camera system, but is going to be remotely monitored and has some sort of AI computer system
that can um alert to threats. But what it does is it will trigger somebody who's there at a call center watching these video feeds and say, "Hey, look at this. Does this look like something you need to report?" And then if a human being affirms that yes, this looks like an issue, then he immediately contacts
the school, contacts the police. So I know that's one of the systems that they were considering. >> Yeah. And we'd appreciate any updates you get you get on that one. Uh so I know that's a concern, but we also don't want to drag down the class starting, you know, because I remember the long lines that was basically stopping
students from getting inside. So >> yes. Yeah. Yeah, that is definitely a concern. And I know they are also still trying to they were going to be trying out another weapons detection system that was actually going to be like injuring, but again, yeah, the eye on
keeping getting the kids in faster so they're not waiting forever and missing out on important instructional time is certainly a valid concern. >> Great. Thank you. Oh, I was just going to say based on safety, I'm on the bond oversight
committee and Sam came to our last meeting and gave us a really comprehensive update on all the safety and how things are being spent. So, um definitely getting that stuff out to the community is super helpful. So, appreciate that. >> Uh thank you again for stepping in. Uh you're actually better than Michael
anyway. So, if we could in the future, you can come anytime you want, Kitty. Uh I will accept a motion, please. I'll move for >> to accept the report from the 2022 mil Livby override oversight committee.
>> I'll second. >> I got a motion and a second from the Alvarados. Can I have a roll call vote, please? >> I think I have that correct. Um, director uh Ramon Alvarado, >> yes. >> Director Tracy Alvarado, >> I. >> Director Melinda Carbajal, >> yes. >> Director Tom Green,
>> happily, yes. Director Starter Heel. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. Thank you. >> And as if we weren't having enough fun, it's another one of our favorite topics, the Student Advisory Council Monthly Report. Come on down, guys. You get to pull double duty tonight.
Look at that. >> That's fun. I I don't even miss Tyler. No, I don't. >> Go right ahead, guys. Sarah, >> I know. I know. I was gonna say he looked just like him, but I didn't want to say anything because And he was
wearing the hat, too. So, >> uh >> Oh, >> thank you for balancing it out, guys. >> Yeah. >> All right. Now, while waiting for Linan to pull up the slides, um we just we just wanted to introduce one of our new
members that is representing STE. Her name is Kennedy. And I'll kind of have her say her name and just something where her thanks. >> Hi guys. I know we just met kind of, but I'm Kennedy. I'm a senior at the Stad School. I've been there for all four
years and um yeah, I I'm just filling in for one of our former student advisory members. He graduated. We all know Tyler. He graduated. But yeah, I'm just excited to represent my school and hopefully solve any problems or make
changes for the better. All right. So, today we are kind of we're doing something kind of along the lines of advising, but it's something different that we haven't done in a while. So, we have been researching safety from a student level. So, today we're kind of going to show you some of
our findings. So, it's still in the work, of course. Um, we've been putting in a lot of effort. Everyone on this team has been showing up and consistently giving their opinions and helping us tweak. I mean, some of our meetings, it's just us going back and forth saying like, "Oh, we should do this. Oh, we should add into this." So,
it's been really great watching everybody um find information and do researching. So, let's get started. Sorry. Hello. Um, yeah. Uh, if you guys don't remember, just a quick refresher. Uh, last time we were meeting, I believe
we introduced our whole agenda. Um, we kind of broke it down month by month. Um, and our goal for the months of December kind of January 2 was to define a specific problem statement. Um, and just to a reminder again, the two kind
of goals of our safety project this year um are to one implement a system in which we can get I feel like I'm whispering or something. Sorry. Um our first goal was to design a system and that or sorry implement a system where
we can get feedback from each as many individuals in our school districts as possible through the use of Google forms and posters um and individual interviews and things like that. Um and so we've been working on that. They'll update you um on their progress on that. And our second goal was of course to use this
system to collect data on the general topic or problem of safety. Um, and our goal for these two months was to take or like this is what I said on the form. Uh, but we were trying to define more specifically what in safety students were most concerned about. Um, and so
yeah, that's the findings that we have. And just to be super clear, this is still an ongoing prog process. You'll see that, you know, we don't have tons of data yet and we hope that as the months go by and the years go by especially, this will be a more defined thing and people will continue to give
more and more input. Um, and we are gonna keep gathering data on problem statements until the end of January as well. >> Uh, thank you, Tven. Um, could you click to two slides forward, please? Or
another two. >> No worries. Um, so I'm going to be going over a little bit of our prelim preliminary data findings from our surveys. Um, we've been, um, sending surveys out via posters, QR codes, mouth-to-mouth um, communication with
our peers with the ultimate goal of getting peer input on our projects and seeing what they're most concerned about. Currently to date, we have 94 responses and they're primarily from Stee Riverdale Ridge High School and Perryview High School and we're working on getting more data from those schools
and from other schools like Brighton High School, erra, and innovations and options. Yes, please. Um, so we are trying to get a diverse response from all um different grade levels and all different schools.
Um, so this is just a little pie chart of how uh what our engagement looks like. We have um 10% and uh of our freshmen have responded to this, 12% of the responses are from sophomores, 24% is from our juniors, and then 52% is
from our seniors. So we're trying to get an even distribution amongst each school and the grade levels just so we could get a holistic view of what students think. And then this is how we were collecting our data on this survey. So the question was what of the following is most
concerning um safety issue in your school pardon me. So they read it on a scout one it's um very impactful or not impactful and then five is most impactful um is what they're most concerned about and that's
just from the whole district what our data shows currently. Um and then if you could click the next slide I'm going to dive into what Riverdale Ridge is currently showing. So uh we had 30 responses from Riverdale so far. four
from freshman, five from sophomores, 10 from juniors, and 11 from seniors. The biggest concerns to date that um we've collected survey on is privacy is their first concern for safety. Uh bullying is their second concern and then weapon access is their third
concern. Yes, please. And then we also collected individual student comments about what student safety means to them and how does it feel safe? How do you feel safe at school? And just some students, uh, this is three responses we got from
Riverdale. Um, you guys could read them if you'd like. Uh, those are Should I read them? >> All righty. Sounds good. And then I'll pass this off to Perry View. All right. So, for Perry View High School, we got a total response of 27
people. Um, a lot of it has to do with the fact that if you put up a paper, kids don't want to like scan a QR code. A lot of people don't want to read. But this is from Jazz and I going into our classes, having people, our friends, our peers, and just all of our classmates
filling out responses and getting data from us. So, this is one of the student responses that we had. Um, during our de data collection, we try to do it anonymously so people can just say how they feel freely. And I was looking throughout the responses and this is the
response that really felt super human to me. And it also felt like you got to see the raw human reaction that students at Prairie View kind of felt with um the responses. So this is the quote that I put and yeah
>> I just I'm going to go back here a little bit. Can you better define what privacy means in in terms of of safety? I I it doesn't always go hand in hand. I'm I'm trying to to get where where where that's coming from. And also on that it said natural instead of neutral.
I think you need neutral instead of it's a natural but go ahead. >> Uh thank you for pointing that out. And for privacy, I think we were thinking more along the lines of uh like privacy in school, like um being able to be yourself and be authentic about who you
are and being able to also have privacy in the private areas, locker rooms, um bathrooms, stuff like that. If you guys want to elaborate on that for >> So, when it came to privacy, a lot of it kind of bouncing off with Oh my god. bouncing off what Andre said of just
being able to express yourself and also it could all go into um cyber bullying and just bullying in general and not feeling like you can be yourself. I think that one is a very great question and I do have to admit I don't have the exact wording for what that is but it
does raise a great concern that we can always just look into. >> Maybe try to drill that one down. Didn't mean to derail your thing. Keep going guys. Um, sorry. And if I could add one more thing, we kept the topics relatively general and I would say almost up to interpretation by each
student because I mean we were playing on whichever one was getting voted the most to go dive deeper and say, well, what about privacy? What does privacy mean to you? Um, and so hopefully with further um research and a more sorry defined idea of what the problem is, we will be able to answer those specific
questions that you might have and then eventually come up with maybe a solution. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um, so after averaging after averaging out for Prairie View, these were the top three that we students were most concerned about. So it was mental
health, weapons, access, threats, and bullying. So for those we are kind of, and we're going to try to delve into this with our next survey of defining what those are and seeing what those means to students. Um, like Tven touched on it. Um, of course, things like mental
health, weapons access, threats, and bullying, and even the definition of safety can be very subjective when it comes to each student. So, through our next survey, we're wanting to take these broad topics and break them down even more so they're more specified for you guys.
Um so what we saw instead was uh our top problems were first building security, second would be mental health and third is res resource accessibility and we got a total of 37 responses and as you can see from the little pie chart that we
made um the distribution of what students believe their top concern was was pretty even. Um but so these three like very barely came up came out in the lead. >> And then same with the other schools. We
have a quote that we thought was you know interesting and we felt like it meant a lot to our school and just what we know about our school. We felt like it resonated. I'm not going to read it because no one else did. So I feel a little weird reading it. But I don't know. I just like I feel that our school is pretty secure. You know we've got
cameras everywhere. We've got locked doors and all that. But, you know, safety comes from more than just being safe physically. It also means feeling safe mentally and whether or not you feel like you have a good support system that you can ask for if you need that help without feeling ostracized and a
little bit embarrassed. Um, yeah, I would say uh building security. We got a lot of comments on um us having like three different academic buildings and how that may be unsafe. Um, I can't say that that has been a
problem for us yet, though. But I do see the worry there. I do see the concern. >> All right. Moving forward, our next goals is to keep connecting the data that we have then we presented to you guys today and get more of it and also specify it. So, it's finishing surveying
our school, seeing if we can get more student input, and then um kind of talking to students and seeing how they feel about um the topics that we said. So, like seeing what privacy means or seeing what mental health looks like so
that we can give you guys the best report that we can. And then more of just student advisory updates. So, um we're hoping to induct and interview new members. Um, as of Monday morning, we got 29 responses from schools throughout the district. So, it's 12 from Riverdale
Ridge, um, I believe eight from Prairie View High School, um, five from Brighton, two from online academy, and then one from Innovations and Options. So while we're doing that in the month of February, we also are still going to again collect our data, make our number
um our second survey for our safety project and then through our research, we hope it keeps creating more solutions and then we hope to make more leaders for the next month. >> I have just a couple questions. How long have you guys been collecting data? When
did you start? So when it comes to collecting data for us, we definitely spent most of December brainstorming our ideas and especially even through our first meeting in January. We are still like um problem
solving and seeing through our um data. So we really started in the month of January getting a lot of that data for this month. But these ideas we've been talking about them since November and then we really started implementing them very hard in January. Yeah, I just am excited about the 94.
I'm sure you can ask leadership in the back, maybe specifically PIO, how hard it is to get people to actually participate. Um, it's just it's really hard. And so I feel like if you guys are like, "Dang, it's 94." Like 94 is good. We just got presented at city council and there were only 300 and they've been
doing it for months. So I actually wanted to applaud you. 94 is really good. And so um, if you have one more month to put out there, like you're really getting good data. So congratulations on that. >> Thank you. Yeah, maybe just concentrate on those schools that you haven't. I mean, you've gotten a pretty good sampling from from those three. Let's
let's see if you can expand it to them all. But so far so good, guys. Appreciate what you're doing. And again, it's valid data. >> That's good. >> Anything else? Sorry. >> Was there anything that like stood out to you that as you're putting this
together, you thought, you know, oh wow, these are what we see or this is a potential. Was there anything that came up that was different than what you thought would be for safety concerns? >> Um, one thing that um I think it was Rachel noticed at our last meeting. Um,
what was interesting is we also looked at our top three and our bottom three at our last meeting. And what was interesting is that physical bullying was in our top three, but cyber bullying was in part of like the bottom three, if not the most bottom one. So, we're kind of interested to see if that will come
up again when we kind of specify our topics and seeing if people are really going to say, "Oh, it's actually cyber bullying. They just did not know how to define it." So, >> yeah, sorry. And if I could continue to speak on that. Um,
oh yeah, sorry. Uh, yeah, as we were looking at those general topics, we did come up with averages and like averages of all the points for all the topics. Sorry you guys didn't get like super long to look at all those bars. Um, but it was interesting. We did s be see a sort of trend in where mental health um
was kind of the main concern and the many different ways that it manifests itself and I'm sure that's not too much of a surprise. It is a very very broad topic. Um, so yeah, that was that was that was what was interesting um to me. >> Yeah. Again, thanks guys. And again, we
really like this whole new direction that the student advisory council has been taking for us. And what we always hope for in the end is uh suggestions for solutions. So whatever you guys think that might be able to help because uh again we want to invest in our students. You guys are our future, we
want you to be happy, healthy, and feel safe. So thank you again. We look forward to your next report. >> Thank you guys. And on behalf of the council, we would like to present you guys a little card for appre our appreciation for your support and involving us in the board of education
and helping us support you guys and supporting us. So, I'm going to come hand this over to uh Director Green. >> Thanks, Andre. >> I just got a card from a kid that said, "I'm the best." So, I'm I'm already >> I know, but I got one that said,
"Personally, I'm the best." So, I don't know. Thank you again. >> Look forward to seeing you soon. >> No, just like the the one you just showed us. Can we get that? >> Yeah, >> I just want to go through it. It was very fast. I couldn't
>> No, no, you did great. I just >> I was trying to read it. >> All right, Super. Are you ready? We'll have you load up yours. uh our superintendent report, Will Pierce. >> All right. Well, uh thank you. Uh it was
interesting going through this report. Many of the things I've got in this thing you guys were also part of as well. So, this is this I'll try to go as as quick as I can. This was a a shout out. We we always are talking about high school CTE. We have we have CTE things going on even in our middle schools,
which is really exciting. This is Michael Cloud going to Mr. burners, family, and consumer science classes, uh, where they were actually giving a restaurant experience to all staff members. So, like I I just think it's fun the the metriculation of things up the system and down the system that we're starting to to grow in our CTE
programming at middle school, which is exciting for kids to be a part of, give them advocacy. Uh, this was a really cool I uh Brighton High School. This is the first AP honor roll certificate we've ever had for a school. So, just look at some of these statistics. So AP they give you an honor role. The AP
organization gives schools honor role. Look look at what we have that they rated silver in college uh culture. 56% of students graduating in this class of 26 have taken one AP class before graduating. Um college bronze 30% of the
class of 26 scored three or higher on AP exams. Right? We that that's a bronze. and then gold for college optimization. 10% of the class of 26 have taken five or more AP classes, right? And so you think about uh the students and and what
we're able to provide for for many of our students. I think we we've been shining bright lights all over CTE and the industry certificates and giving kids exposure, but we have a ton of kids that are still taking AP college classes in school. That's that's that's an incredible number. >> What's the scale on that score? Three or
higher? Is it one to five? >> One to five. Okay. So, three actually earns a college credit. Okay. You you can get you can you can take an AP class and this isn't we also have concurrent enrollment which is classes offered through >> through college, right? But this is
actually AP classes. So, >> yeah, but I just thought I haven't seen we we have never had that award and when it came on my desk I'm like what is this? I don't remember seeing this. So, I had to go do research to figure out exactly what we've done. But that's that's a first for us. Very exciting stuff for for our top performing schools.
>> We have AP classes in all of our schools. Yes. But we've never received an honor role. >> Okay. >> At any high school, but this is a first for Brighton High School. But now that Brighton High School's done it, I'm sure. >> Yeah. Yeah. That's >> Riverdale is going to say game on. Prairie is going to go game on. Rocky
Vista hasn't even opened. And there that principal who we haven't hired yet is still fired up to get that award. So, uh, thank everybody who turned out for our community, uh, listening sessions. Um, we've got some really exciting things happening in in the space of
opening two schools in the in 2027 and anxietyprovoking. If you if you know all of the conditions when you take all the existing enrollment in our school and start spreading it out to more schools, our our populations get thinner, new boundaries are formed. What about neighborhoods? What about programs? What
about sports? Uh, and so it's just honored. We had over 280 people. Thanks to Janelle and her team for organizing. uh Greg um and Terry for doing all of the data work behind the scenes, but it was an amazing turnout and thank you for everybody for giving that perspective to
to FPAC who will then eventually make a recommendation to me uh in April sometime when what the new boundaries look like and that and that'll set a whole bunch of other dominoes in place is as those who know. Uh this was interesting. Um this is the Colorado Restaurant Association. I just copied
and pasted their ad to me. Colorado Restaurant Association has a blue ribbon reception and and that kicks off kicking off the state legislative session. So they invited caterers and you can say plus there will be bites
from Colorado's best restaurants including and I don't know all of those restaurants. I'm I'm not a foodie. Melinda, you may know >> a few of them, >> but there's a few of them on there. And then you see one highlighted that the Brighton High School Colorado ProStart team was there at that event catering
for for that group. So, I just thought that's a really cool thing. Like, how did we get invited to that? And how did I just think that was awesome. You got Monarch Casino catering and Brighton High School ProStart there. It's like, good job, kids. That's exciting. Uh I
I'm always highlighting professional learning. You guys know we have we make we take advantage of every day and even though we're on 4 day, we take advantage of every day for different learning opportunities. Uh we we've expanded that this year. We now are doing more learning opportunities for school secretaries, which is awesome to to let
them be powerful and play a bigger influence on our on our work in our school district. And we got to meet Terry and I got to meet with the entire transportation department uh two Fridays ago, I believe it was. And so to see 120 people that you usually don't get to see because they are writing 100 routes all
over the district all in one place, their passion, enthusiasm for our mission, uh their their their their willingness to fulfill the values and the things asked to them. Man, what a great group of champions um and our district. So I just I wanted to highlight that. Uh I also had the
opportunity uh Riverdale Ridge High School poly science polysai class uh did some rec the homework assignment that the finals project was to take a policy a district policy or school policy and make an advocacy of why we should change
or alter that policy. And so these kids came with it. They had data. They had arguments. They had rationale and reasoning. Uh and I I was just honored to sit with those kids uh as they went through the number of things that they would think it would be smart to change and and there wasn't a bad idea any of
them. I extended the offer for if they really are serious because sometimes having a good idea is one thing. Having an idea based on research and data and logistics if they really want to help make this move, there's a lot of tension still that would have to be moved to make these ideas work. But I would hook
them up with the department that they're responsible for and give them a chance. So, we'll see if they reach out. But great day either way. Uh Rocky Vista, many of you went to the Rocky Vista topping off uh ceremony. Uh if you have not been out to Rocky Vista, the the neighbors in the community are saying,
"Is that going to be ready to open next year?" We are not opening that school till 2027, but it looks like it could be open, ready to open. It is moving. Uh and it was fun to go with our our a couple of city council members joined us out from Commerce City and uh the that
there is no doubt that it's going to be just a magnificent facility uh high school in Commerce City and can't wait for that to happen. Um next, if you didn't know, we a long time ago named Ed Ed Harshburgger Educational Services Center. The sign we
had that displayed on was a little marquee that you couldn't even read from the street. And we've always given um our our naming of buildings big name plates so you could actually read the name of the person we're honoring in that. And uh at the funeral Ed Ed
Harshburgger passed away earlier this fall early at that time and um um Jan Palowski introduced me to his family and they said you know it'd be good if we could read the sign and you go back and check and we hadn't it wasn't big enough. So, if you haven't seen it, that's there. Thanks to Janelle and and Leslie for helping design that. And we
now have a a name plate as you walk by. Uh today, you know that we've we've been working with uh Steuart Middle School for their their uh their state board hearing coming up on February 5th. Today, this is a picture of Christ's presentation, but the the commissioner
of education was there um um going through that presentation. Christa was fabulous. The commissioner and the state staff think Stuart, just like you guys do that Stuart's doing incredible work and we'll have the hearing next month. But that was exciting stuff.
Um, for everyone here to know, we have we have a number of leadership positions available and we'll start filling those and I'll update you guys at through each one. But but when anytime you have a new leadership change, it it causes some some change.
So, just just to post this out, we've got Rocky Vista that closed yesterday, Michael or Yeah, yesterday. >> Monday. >> Yeah, I got it wrong. Closed and we'll be interviewing for that soon. Talon Ridge, uh we we we moved one of our existing principles, Fabricio, out to
Talon Ridge. Uh he was interested in that. And when you open new schools, if you have existing talent in the school, in the school, a sitting principal who would like that job, that makes sense. Uh, VCON, we're going to we're going to work in and interviewing and hiring for VCON as as soon as that closes. And
Overland Trail, Eric Lambright is retiring. So, we have that position as well. And if you hadn't heard, Carla Ryder is retiring at the end of the year. And so, we will be working to fulfill that position. So, you can imagine these postings. And then there's the chance of dominoes that happen. So,
somebody else wants this one and then we have to So, we're trying to get on it as fast we can. want to bring stability to all of our schools and continue to chase the thinking classroom. So, important stuff. Uh, this next slide, uh, I I'm always
I'm always baited to take a political um opinion for the district on on numbers of things as you can imagine in our context. And this this serves as my statement, right? Right. And I I I just do want to take a moment to acknowledge the anxiety and uncertainty many individuals and families in our
community may be experiences related to a wide range of political issues. Right. And and I I don't even want to name them all, but we know people are impacted. But regardless of these individual perspectives, it's important to recognize that what happens outside of our school walls does not just stay there, right? It it also comes into our
schools. The feelings, confusion, diversity of thoughts walk into our front doors and they're part of each and individual within our public edge of school. U we've got it comes in with our kids and it comes with our adults. And so our role as a public school district is not to resolve national or state political debates. And I just want to be
clear about that. Our responsibility is not to operate schools that are our responsibility is to operate schools that are safe and welcoming and legally compliant for all kids. And while we may not agree on every issue, we will share a common responsibility to ensure all student our schools remain focused on learning, belonging, and student
well-being. And that is where our attention should be and that's where our commit and energy would go. So I it's I wanted to say that because I'm always baited on what is your opinion, what is your feeling and it's like man in school we're here to help kids learn and every one of our kids who walks through that door gets that opportunity. So just say
it in this public forum so that there it is on record. And then exciting stuff if you didn't know audience and staff and the whole finance team and friends that we see often. Uh it is uh January is uh 2026
school board recognition month and so I will read a proclamation and I will hopefully read it as well as all of you do when you have. Whereas school board members are elected to sit in trust for their diverse communities and in the capacity are charged with meeting the
community's expectations and aspirations for the public education of their children. And whereas school board members are entrusted with the guardianship and wise expenditure of scarce tax dollars and they are responsible for maintaining and preserving the buildings, grounds and other areas of the district that the
community has put in their trust. And whereas school board members are responsible for providing leadership that ensures a clear shared vision of a public education for their schools that set standards for the education of all students and requires the effective and efficient operation of their districts. And whereas school board members adopt
policies to give voice to that leadership and employ a superintendent to administer board policy. And we are all responsible for the regular monitoring of the district's performance and compliance with policies. And whereas the men and women elected to the schoolboard position deserve recognition and thanks for their countless hours of
service um to public education and the children of our state. And now therefore, I will pierce do hereby declare my appreciation to the members of 27J board of education and proclaim the month of January 2026 as school board recognition month. And I would
encourage everybody in our audience, all the citizens to join me in recognizing the dedication and hard work of our local board members in working with them to mold an education system that meets the needs of both today's and tomorrow's children.
Thank you for what you do. That's it. >> Thank you all. Appreciate that, sir. Anything else? >> That concludes my report. >> I didn't. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Do is there any questions for our superintendent? Please.
>> I was just going to make a comment. The slide you put about Riverdale going through the different policies for the school board. I thought that was really cool and um VCON was doing something similar. So, Director Khan and I got invited a while ago to volunteer and meet with middle school kids and what should we change about our district and
working on policy. So, it's great to see that, you know, we're teaching our kids in all different areas of the district to think to consistently improve the world they live in. So that makes me proud of what's going on in our classes. >> Well, it's like the best the best of us is really good civic engagement, right?
And so I'm really proud. I mean, those kids, they didn't just have an opinion. They came with facts. They came with rationale. They came with a was just it's exactly what you'd want. So they're they're they're awesome. Great kids. >> Thanks, sir. Uh next up will be our
matters of public comment. The board will now hear public comment on the topics that have been indicated on the sign-in sheet. A reminder that this board meeting is a business meeting held in public, not a public meeting. The board hears public comments to learn about the preferences and concerns of our community. Therefore, tonight we
will listen. We are prohibited by state law from taking any action on the items because law requires formal public notice prior to any action on an agenda item. During our next meeting, if appropriate, we will consider your comments in our discussion. We'll ask that the superintendent attempt to find an answer for any of your questions. At
this time, the board always welcomes the comments of our community members, but to ensure that everyone will have the opportunity to participate, we have a few ground rules we ask you to follow. Uh, first of all, we'll call the speakers in the order they signed in. Speakers comments are limited to three minutes. Uh, we ask you from refrain
from making complaints or negative comments against individual students or district employees. However, we cannot prevent you from doing so. Such complaints and comments should be addressed first at the classroom or school level and if then still unresolved to the superintendent. Uh disturbing good order by inappropriate
language or gestures is grounds for removal from the meeting and we thank you in advance for your participation tonight. Uh first up is Dave Pockington in the district. Please step forward. Dave, welcome. was that on?
Uh, so I have 158 more months to go. Um, last time we met in December, a lady by the name of Ammerborn, psychologist shows up to talk about how it was okay for kids to use different bathrooms that correspond with their gender. It was
Manny Thomas' last day, and it was a coincidence that nobody has ever shown up for the past nine more months. It's amazing how Reaching Hope, 27J, and Almost Home all do business with each other. But has anybody ever looked at Ammer Bourne's qualifications?
She specializes in kids mental illness. Does 27J J believe that kids who are transgender have mental illness? Or does 27J believe that kids of the don't want the opposite sex in their bathrooms? Do they believe that those kids have mental
illness? In Colorado, accommodations must allow individuals to use facilities consistent with their gender identity. If 27J follows Colorado law on this bathroom policy, why do they have to meet with
the superintendent, Mr. Pierce? Makes no sense. Is it because 27J has created their own policy, but still refuses to place this policy online? Is it because they might lose federal funding if they place it online?
You have 372 policies that are online, nothing for the bathroom. Why does 27J believe that students have the right to be protected? Yes. There's a paperwork in there says, uh, did you know that the US Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights finds
Denver Public Schools violated Title 9 for its use of bathroom policy, same way 27J is doing. Can a school board be held liable for child abuse? Yes. Remember, it's placing a child to be unreasonably placed in a
situation that poses a threat of injury to the child's life or health. It's like placing a a kid in a car with a drunk driver. Nothing has to happen, but they can still be held for child abuse. Dr. Amra Bourne said at the last meeting, by letting kids use the
bathroom based on their gender in no way causes violence. She even said violence is reduced. Another sheet that I gave you on there says the Virginia judge finds transgender teen guilty of sexually assaulting in a high school bathroom. Oklahoma transgender student charged
with assaulting female in a high school bathroom. Transgender Wyoming was convicted of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl. Transgender student flashed four girls in a locker room. In no way is anybody saying transgender kids are going to assault anybody, but
when you place boys and girls in the bathroom together, stuff can happen. We care about the kids safety. She even talked about having boundaries. There's no bound there. There's no boundaries when you place boys and girls together in the same bathroom.
Can I do one more? Thank you. So, 27J uh 27J's board has last se on the curriculum. Can the 27J school board explain to everybody else at the next meeting what is a male and
what is what is a female? Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Buckard. Next up is Janine Rula talking about literacy. Welcome, Janine. Thank you for your time tonight. My name
is Janine Rol. I'm in the district. Um I want to briefly mention a national reporting series called Sold the Story. It's a podcast that investigates how reading instruction across the country shifted away from decades of scientific evidence about how children actually learn to read. It highlights from the
gap between research and classroom practice, especially the need for explicit instruction and foundational skill skills like phmic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Often described as the science of reading. The reason this is relevant is because
literacy is a foundation for everything students do in school. When reading instruction isn't aligned with research, students fall behind and catching up later is much harder than getting it right early. Here in district 27J, we can see patterns that underscores this challenge. On the most recent ELA CMASS
assessments, only 33% of third graders are meeting or exceeding grade level expectations, and only about 28% of eighth graders are meeting or exceeding expectations. These results show that a majority of our students are not yet reading at the grade at the level that we all want for them. I know many
parents in the district have concerns about literacy, but do not attend schoolboard meetings. often they do not know how reading decisions are made, how interventions work, or how to understand their child's progress data. That lack of clarity creates frustration and mistrust even when educators are working
hard. One practical constructive step I'd like the board to consider is establishing a parent district literacy advisory council. The purpose would be collaboration, not criticism. This group could provide a consistent transparent forum to discuss literacy
curriculum and instructional approaches. Review MTSS and intervention systems. Increase understanding of dyslexia screening which begins next year. Strengthen communication around special education literacy supports. Look at the district level trends and outcomes. And build parent capacity to support reading
at home using evidence-based strategies. Parents want to be partners in sol in solutions. I also want to raise a specific ongoing concern. Since 2024, I've been asking about parents access to FastBridge data. This data shows whether students are performing at above or
below grade level in reading and math and whether they are making progress over time. Families need this information in a clear, timely way to understand their children are doing and whether interventions are working. This still is not happening unless a parent asks for the information from the teachers. Most parents don't even know
this information exists for students. Transparency builds trust. Shared data leads to shared problem solving. We all want the same outcome. Students who can read confidently and independently. Creating a structured partnership between families and the district is one concrete step towards the goal. If you
haven't listened to read a story or told a sold a story, I highly recommend it. Um I don't think you'll be able to put it down. It's it's very enlightening about the science of reading. Thank you very much, Janice.
Next up is our consent agenda. All matters listed under the consent agenda are operational matters about which the board has governing policies, implementation of which is designated by the superintendent. They will be enacted in one motion by category in the order listed below. There'll be no discussion of these items prior to the time the
board of directors vote on the motion uh unless members of the board, staff or public request specific items to be discussed separately and or removed from this section. Seeing none, um the uh consent agenda items are a approval of the board education minutes dated
December 3rd, 2025, regular meeting January 10th, 2026 and January 14th, 2026 planning sessions. Uh the per governance 3.0 0 executive limitations uh will be approval per Colorado revised statutes designated the Edward C.
Hartsburgger Educational Services Center uh as the official location where the board will post notices to the public of the date, time, and place and agenda items of the regular and special board meetings. Uh and then per governance policy 3.0 executive limitations approval per Colorado Revised Statutes
designated the Edwin C. the Harshburgger Educational Service Center uh as the official location where legal notices are posted as received and the alternate location will be Riverdale Ridge High School for both of those. And finally, item D, approval of personnel items on
the memorandum dated January 22nd, 2026. And can I have a motion? >> Move to approve the consent agenda as presented. Second. A >> motion from Director Trill, second by Director Carvajal. Can I have a roll call vote, please?
>> Director Raone Alvarado. Hi. >> Director Tracy Alvarado. >> I. >> Director Melinda Carbajal. >> Yes. >> Director Tom Green. >> Yes. >> Director Star Till. >> I. Motion carries. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Next up is our governance process that supports our global goals. Of course, if you don't
have a report, it's fine to pass. Uh first up is ownership linkage. Director Carveral or Tracy Alvarado, either one of you. >> We will be meeting tomorrow morning. >> Very good. Thank you. Board of Education Director Carveral and Director Trillo.
>> We will get that on the calendar for this next week. >> Uh the facility planning and advisory committee is coming up uh meeting in February and I will be attending that and we'll be discussing those community meetings that we just had. Uh, next up would be the board committee for the
capital facility fee foundation. Director Raone Alvarado or director start anything? >> Uh, nothing to report meeting uh, next month. >> Thank you very much. Uh, the Rocky Mountain Risks Director Alvarado.
>> Yes. So, it was um, we met this Monday. It was really interesting um to kind of learn how that all works and get up to speed and um, yeah, I'm excited to serve. Uh, and this pains me to say, but the 27J believers, Dre Chahillo.
>> Yeah. So, um, it was fun kind of rolling into this, thankful for Linan for all of these new committees that we're joining to kind of guide and give some background. So, we created a schedule and are confirming dates for the committee to go through the nomination.
So, the schedule's um, dated and in place for all that to go out and a theme is picked and it should be fun. Perfect. Thank you. We look forward to that. Uh we just had about the 27J and Commerce City school use tax, Director
Alvarado. >> Uh nothing to report on that. >> Thank you very much. We just had reports from the bond oversight and mil levy over override oversight committees. So we can uh dispense with that. How about the Brighton Youth Commission? Director Jahil.
>> Yeah. So, not last Sunday, I believe it was, we had like a fivehour speak kickoff meeting with all of the Brighton youth commission. I think there were like 35 of us. Um, we took a break
in the middle of it and did some tai chi together to kind of it was some really heavy topics. Um, talking about the speak kickoff. Um, speak was created by the Brighton Youth Commission during a year that we lost a student to suicide
within 27J community. So, it was a 27J student. Um, their mom comes to every speak kickoff. Uh, it so like I said, it was really heavy. They do a really great job of making sure every student feels okay during it, checking mental health
checks, taking breaks. Um, so we were over at the reunion coffee house. Like I said, 5 hours with a bunch of teenagers. They are amazing. Um, really great ideas for themes. They do the walk every year. So, I encourage everybody to participate
in that. They work really hard. Um, on top of that, we are all attending the Youth Celebrate Diversity Conference this Saturday. Um, this conference has like hundreds of teens and teachers that attend every year. diversity in many
different aspects of what diversity can mean to celebrate um youth and just learn more about it. And it's a whole day planned by students and I think they have like 85 schools that are represented throughout Colorado there.
So that'll be exciting. >> Thank you. And that speakwalk is in May. So look forward to that. Uh next up would be the uh teacher of the year awards. Uh Len, did you bring copies of that one page? >> Um I did not. Okay, >> we'll have you we'll have you send that
out. Uh we do have a basically a onepage overview of how the program will work and operate. Uh we'd appreciate your input or comments on that and uh get that back to us. Let's not do a daisy chain. Just respond individually.
So >> yeah. So like I said as quickly as possible if you guys and again send your comments individually and then we'll get together as our uh sub subcommittee group and see if we can input your comments and uh get this so we can get it moving. So, >> whoan?
>> Uh, send it to uh Lenan >> individually and then she'll just dump that all to us. >> Okay. >> Thank you very much. I appreciate you doing that. Is there any other information for the board for future agenda items? Melinda, you look like you're ready to say something,
>> but not a future agenda item. Just a reminder, if everyone on the board could fill out the form um for Steuart Middle School for the state, that would be really appreciated. And again, that's another one of those by February 5th or before >> I think Friday. >> By this Friday was 30.
>> Thank you very much. All right. Next up is the expectations of the board. >> Wait. Oh, wait. >> I was just going to say I was talking to um Amy before and she was encouraging board members that want to come take a tour of the stat school. So, I definitely want to. I don't know if
anybody wants to let me know if they want to join. That way we can just kind of do one group. So, if anybody wants to join, let me know and then we can get something scheduled. >> It's a really fun school. I've been out there many times. It's it's it's a lot of fun and and they just keep improving.
Uh next up, finally, the expectations of the board policy reference 4E. Uh we have no reports uh since the last meeting, but we do have the external expectations of the board report 3D, the financial conditions and activities. uh partner Rodney Rice and manager Max
Habercorn, both from Rubenbound LLP. Guys, come on up. We'll present the independent auditor's report. This item was postponed from the December 10th regular board meeting. Uh and uh they do have some uh attachments there if you wanted to start handing those out. And
gentlemen, the floor is yours. Thank you very much, President Green, members of the board, Superintendent Pierce. Uh, always a pleasure to be with you. Again, just if you need it for the official record, again, my name is Rodney Rice. I'm a partner with the accounting firm, Ruben Brown. Uh, with
me is my, uh, esteemed colleague, Max Habercorn, uh, a manager uh, with the firm. Max and I have, interestingly enough, both been with Ruben Brown our entire careers, which is not very common in our industry. So, uh, we've also been
working with your organization. I should have counted that up before I got up here. I did not, uh, also for a number of years. And, um, maybe our faces look familiar. The reason I tell you that is uh because it really um helps us execute
the annual financial statement audit as well as the audit of the expenditures of the federal awards programs in an efficient manner because we're not coming in as a new team just trying to learn your organization trying to figure out which way is up. Uh we're really able to hit the ground running. Um your
team as you know uh behind us has been fairly consistent as well. Um so um we're able to do that in a pretty efficient pretty efficient manner. Um we have completed our audit of the June 30 2025
uh financial statements as well as our audit of certain expenditures of certain federal grant programs. Um I say certain because the federal government determines how we do that and what we look at and how much we look at. That's not a judgment that your team or our
team u makes. Um, I can tell you that um, we were able to issue what is referred to as an unmodified opinion, which is an industry term really for a clean report. An unmodified report means there are no modifiers in them. A
modifier would sound something like except for everything looks okay. So there are no modifiers in the reports. That means they're unmodified reports on both the financial statements which are contained within the annual comprehensive financial report. That's
this report here. I'll hold it this way. Uh so you can see that's actually a double-sided printed report. It's 170 some odd I should look back there. 170 some odd pages. That is a significant significant lift by your finance team to
put that together. We do not do that um uh for you. your team does that internally. Um, so we do have an unmodified opinion on the financial statements contained within the annual comprehensive financial report. There are other things in the annual comprehensive financial report that are
not within the scope of our our audit uh that we do not app. Um the other unmodified report that we issued was on the expenditures of uh federal grants and that was specifically the child nutrition cluster. I say cluster because
there are multiple federal programs in that package of federal funding. That is the program that was selected for audit this year for expenditures of federal grants. And what that means is we're looking for your compliance with certain provisions of the grant that you spent
the money on the right things that the people who got the financing uh the benefits were eligible to get them. Those those kinds of things. Um, one thing that we do not appine on because it's not within the scope of an audit of a nonpublicly
traded company, which would be state and local governments, non-public entities, um, and nonprofits. Those are non-public organizations, right? Like Apple, Microsoft or public organizations. We do not appine on internal controls over
financial reporting or internal controls over the compliance with the grants. We test the compliance but we don't appine on the internal controls that your team applies. Right? There's one thing to do something, there's another thing to check and make sure what you did is
right. So it's that internal control. We don't we don't appine on that. Um nor does that happen by the way anywhere else in the country for your type of organization. that is not that is not unique here. So that's kind of a bird's eye uh level view. Um I'll turn it over
to Max for just a few highlights. Um 176 pages. We are not going to start on page one and then on page 176. If we did it would be coincidental. Um so Max, I'll point out a few highlights and we'll let you on with your agenda. >> Just Oh.
Okay. No worries. Um, yeah, I, as Rodney was saying, in the interest of time, has anybody had a chance to actually look through the financial statements? And if they do automat, you know, have questions at this point, I'm happy to answer those because, you know, we could go through this line by line, but again,
I don't think we want to stay here that long. >> I I think the uh the key thing is is can we cover the references to the misstatements? So, I I think that's always one of those that when when people see that that kind of sets up an alarm, but it's it was relatively
innocuous, I'm assuming. So, maybe you could cover uh what that is and and why you you make reference to that in the report. >> So, the are you talking about the restatement? >> Yes. Oh, yes, sir. Okay. So, that's a really interesting thing and I think that's something that you know even in
you know a decade plus of of practicing it you get something new. you do run into new things all the time. Um, this was a situation in which there was a timing issue of a sale of uh basically a chunk of your investments uh bond
proceeds had been invested um through a um third party uh investment company and the sale happened exactly on 6:30 2024 which was you know that your end year end for the prior year. The problem was
is that the statement that was given out and also the confirm that was given to us in prior year did not account for that sale on the statement appropriately. it hit the July like as of July 1 in the July one statement. Uh
the basically the cash coming in from the sale of it and unfortunately that led us to have a situation which the the basically the lost cash for that one day became a loss of uh sale on investments
as opposed to just being cash where it should have been. And that's what that $10 million reflects is the basically just saying, hey, we took we took a loss we shouldn't have in the prior year, so we're putting it back on to our statement of net position and our, you know, in to the I believe the capital
projects fund. Um, so basically it's just like nothing happened. It was a blip that just so happened to happen on your year end. So it didn't occurred right in the wrong place at the wrong time. And it's something that I don't think we've seen in our, you know, many
years of combined service. So, but it was, you know, it was self-detected by, you know, the accounting department and it was corrected by them saying, "Hey, guess what? We noticed this happened. I don't know how it happened, but we need to have a restatement." They came to us saying, "Here's everything lined up for
us." And we're like, "Wow, yeah, that is so strange." And we agree. And, you know, everything worked. In fact, we did not even have to issue um any kind of, you know, control deficiency related to this. Like a lot of times when you see a restatement like this, you'll see a corresponding thing in your uh single
audit report that says, "Oh, you messed, you know, someone messed up with the review process because something like this, a restatement doesn't happen without, you know, usually a control process happening." But really, the control process happened and it was detected. It just unfortunately was not in time to be able to, you know, correct
it for the prior year's audit. But it now is corrected for your organization going forward. So yeah, bizarre to say the least. >> And that's why I wanted you to bring it up and clarify it so that full
transparency. >> It was literally a 24-hour timing difference. It just couldn't have been on a worse 24 hours of the year. >> Last last day of one year and the first day of the next year. But for the most part, we have an unqualified
>> everything. Yep. thing. Um just to add a little bit to context to Rodney's um point on your grants, uh that is you I believe the the nutrition cluster is approximately $7.9 million of your total spend. You had $17 million in uh fiscal
year 25. So that's just over 46 somewhere between 46 47% of your total federal expenditures. So that's your coverage that we were get getting on that. Uh the other thing to note is you will see the uh proceeds of your bonds. So we did have you know issuance of bonds that was a pretty significant
increase in um towards your capital projects going forward and I know that you know you're on top of you know all those you know new schools that are being built and all the projects you're you're you're leaning into. So, um, you know, positive growth obviously for the district and, um, there's no, you know,
nothing of concern for like ongoing fiscal, um, fiscal health, uh, for the organization that we saw as part of our audit. So, >> well, we appreciate your attention to detail here. And >> yeah, >> go Ramon. Yes. Sorry, you had some you you had a bunch of questions.
>> No, I don't. That's I don't have any specific questions. More on the high level in terms of who's the lead auditor for 27J. I assume it's not you two, right? You probably have other folks who are doing kind of leading the audit. Can you talk about a little bit about how
that staff that's dedicated to 27J? >> Yeah. Um, >> actually, it is us. >> That's you, too. >> We're here on >> Thank you. >> We're not necessarily in the minutia of the detail, but we do we do have a team, if that's what you're asking, of >> two
>> Yeah. two other people at the at the staff level, >> right, >> who are executing a lot of the work. Um, plus an intern. And then Max basically does the first level detail review of their work. I do a a highle detail of
that work on top of that. And then in addition to that, outside of our 27J audit engagement team, we have a what we called a cold review. Somebody that's not associated with this audit team at all. still in our firm, but somebody who's not on the team at all will then
pick it up and also look at it cold. You look at anything cold, right? You find things that people who are kneede in it didn't find and they'll raise questions. Did you think about this? Did you think about that? And we're and sometime most of the time we'll say yes. Every once in a while we'll say, you know what, we were didn't see the forest for the
trees. We didn't think about that. And they'll have us go, you know, add that back into our work and go look at it. So, I'm not sure if that's exactly what you were asking, but Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Last comment I'll make. I do want to thank your finance team um that are here
with us uh today. Um this this I probably say this every year. I apologize, but the audit is a heavy lift on top of what is already a full-time job for them. Probably should be speaking to you, superintendent. So, they have full-time jobs every day already. And then we come in and ask for
about a half time more of a job. It's a it's a heavy lift and um they're very responsive to our team. The reason that's important is because that helps us get in here, get our work done, and get out of their hair, but plus stay on budget and stay on time uh and stay on
schedule. So, it'd be remiss if I didn't make reference to your team. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Just the the other thing that I mean, Rodney talked about the act for the document overall is that's not something that's required. You don't have to do that. you're only required to do the basic financial statements for
the you know state reporting and everything. the ACER is that whole big document like is a lift upon a lift and so the fact that they are taking that responsibility on on top of everything else that they you know do like as Rodney was saying that's uh you know
just something to be a proud of and to get this certificate of achievement too you know which is the the best award you can get from the GFOA on top of it is a pretty impressive thing to do for those people listening at home the act refers to the annual comprehensive financial report
Exactly. >> Go ahead. >> I just I just have a question about like the hiring process of you guys and like you've done it for a really long time. What does that look like internally for us in terms of procurement and then um is there like a regulation on like how long you can do that type of audit and
that relationship? What does that what does that look like? >> Uh probably let Stacy >> say if you don't mind I will speak to the uh rotation requirements. Um there are only rotation requirements on
um the partner role in audits of publicly traded companies. Okay. So Apple's auditors the partner has to rotate every five years. The firm does not. Uh it's a very good question. And the SEC has actually looked at this
issue and um the OM OM I think has looked at this issue and they both rejected um firm rotation because of the loss of institutional knowledge. Um rejected firm rotation for the sake of solely firm rotation. Yeah. Now if
there's other issues, there's other there's other issues. Um so that that's to answer your question on the technical rotation the internal procurement I will pass. >> Tell us about the >> so we don't technically have anything in
in our policies that say we must go out for an RFP every so often every five years or whatever the you know assumption is. I think typically standard it's about every 5 years that you go out uh for an RFP if the board
wishes to do so. Um I think when so our former partner Cheryl she moved on from Ruben Brown and Rodney Rice took over as our partner um with the engagement probably about four years ago >> is
>> fourish years ago. Um so for our internal purposes it to us that meant it was somewhat of a rotation because it was a new partner on on the engagement. Um it brought a new set of eyes, a new team. Um but yes, if you are interested
in potentially going out for an RFP we are more than No, I wasn't saying that. I just is curious about the process. Thanks. >> But do you believe we're being treated fairly? >> Loaded question. Yes, absolutely. >> Yeah.
>> And and I will say that working with uh Max and Rodney over the years has been a great partnership. Um they are not just another accounting firm coming in and trying to, you know, find I gotas, right? They're helping us with things.
They're helping us through new pronouncements that come through. we come we we run into a number of different things which reminds me I need to reach out to Max on something that has come up throughout the year and they absolutely partner with us um on more than just the audit engagement. So
>> thank you so much. >> Thanks. >> Anything else you guys want to add? Thank you again for coming down even you know or coming up. >> We appreciate that. Uh and and we appreciate the diligence and the comprehensive reports you guys produce every year. Thank you very much. We
appreciate you. >> Uh at this point, I would like to have a a motion on item uh it is 12B. >> Move to accept the expectation of the board report through 3D external
independent auditors report. >> Second. >> Oops. >> Motion from director Trillo. Second from director Carbajal. Roll call vote. >> Director Raone Alvarado. >> Hi. >> Director Tracy Alvarado. I >> a Melinda Carbajal.
>> Yes. >> Director Tom Green. >> Okay. >> Director Star Treo. >> I. >> Motion carries. Thank you, >> Stacy. We should have just had you stay up here. Um >> Oh, okay. Well, they can hang around because I know that
they love to watch you report. Uh, next up, our chief financial officer, Stacy Yashimoto, will present the internal expectations of the board report through 3D, our financial condition and activities. So, we'll have more data to hand to you.
Uh, you want to just >> Oh, >> we're not there yet. Oh, that's the later one. Okay. You You want to keep me from looking at that book? My favorite book. that I just cannot wait to get. I know. I'm just so
excited about that. Please proceed. >> I It's my favorite book. Thank you. And be quick about it. >> I will do my best as I wait for this. So, I did want to kind of introduce my team. I did invite my management team um
to come and watch the presentations to watch auditor presentations because everything that they do um day-to-day every time we ask for this report this information I need this I need this um it all comes down to basically the budget the audit and our monitoring
report. So um just want to tell the team thank you so much for all your hard work. As Max said and Rodney said, this is it's a it's a big lift for the audit and the budget. And I absolutely get the honor to just sit up here and present it to the board um while they do all the
work in the background. So, thank you guys. >> Let's introduce them individually. Let's give them their moment in the sun here. >> I'll take it. All right. So, up front here, I have Christine Bernado. She's our payroll manager. We have Myra Ramirez is our budget manager. Lavar
Cypress is our budget analyst. We have Chad her who's the finance manager and Britney Barter who's our accounting manager. Um and I also have a purchasing manager, Bobby Coleman, but he was not able to make it tonight. So, >> thank you guys. Appreciate it. Well, one
other thing while we're on the the the team, not only do they do the work, right, there's that that we have we have business services that that could be the way we always do things, right? It's like that makes sense. we've always done. This team is really trying to upskill and improve the way we do things
in our district. So, I admire their their learning. They show up at every learning district leadership meeting. They're trying to be better leaders, better processes, better client services to the schools. Like, I'm proud of their continual improvement efforts, too. So, I think that could be one you're like, well, that's that's the way we always do
it. It's like, that's not that group back there. I mean, there is some things they would like to not change every time, >> right? we do need to get people paid on time and we do need that that math to add up, right? And that stuff. That's the way it's always been. But I'm really proud of that group, too. So, thanks,
Stacy. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, I am here to present um policy 3D financial conditions and activities. So, this is the midyear monitoring report um for fiscal year 26.
So the the period that is covered in this report is July 1st through December 31st of 2025. So obviously the first six months of our fiscal year. Um it focuses on our fiscal stability, cash flow and reserves that we have debt and borrowing
internal controls and compliance with statutory and board requirements. So just a brief you know summary conclusion overall um we don't feel that there is any fiscal jeopardy. We have adequate reserves maintained. Uh we're
not author there were no there was no unauthorized borrowing. All payroll and payable transactions were processed timely. Internal controls are functioning as intended and there were no material audit concerns. So overall I report compliance with all provisions of
board policy 3D. Um and so now for the rest of the presentation I'm just going to go through and highlight some of the things that are within the monitoring report. Um so one of the um parts in there is a superintendent will not exceed funds received unless the
liquidity reserve requirements are met of 3% TABRE and 3% board reserves. Um and as you can see in the data presented our adopted budget is expected to end of the fiscal year 26 with general fund balance of about 38.8 million. And this
is adopted budget. I love this presentation because this is based on adopted in in a few minutes I'm gonna I'm gonna present to you guys the amended. So some of these numbers are going to change and you're going to see that. But um so including fully funded
reserves a 3% taper 3% board reserve. Um so in that you can see here's our cash balances. Um I should have switched these around. So revenues versus expenditures over the first six month of the six months of the year. The orange
bars are the revenues. The blue line are expenditures. So as you can see through August through December, our um expenditures exceed our revenues. So we you know at first glance you can might think we are not compliant with this but
because our cash balance we maintain our reserves um we are in compliance because of the timing of our revenue. A lot of our property taxes are received in the the later um the last few months of the
fiscal year. So come March, April, May, you'll see the revenues exceeding expenditures. So >> Stacy, can I ask I was curious when I was looking at this, what spikes in July to make that revenue. >> Um so in July, a lot of our categorical, so um our state revenue that we receive
from the state, um it it comes they they send it all at one time. So they send it up front. So you should see that spike every July. If we don't, we may have had a timing issue on our categorical. So Uhhuh.
All right. So the next area is the superintendent will not borrow funds without board approval. So during this uh period during this reporting period, there were no there was no new borrowing made during the time. Um, and the total
outstanding debt that we have is $951.6 million. So, that went down because the last time I reported this report, I think we were at over a billion. Um, and that's because we did make um a principal and interest payment at the 1 of December. So, brought that back down
to under a billion. Um, the next area, superintendent will not allow cash to fall below 6% of the general fund. So that kind of goes back to that um chart that I'd shown earlier. Um reserves are maintained 12.7 million and they never fell below or below the
required 6%. Um and then also with transfers general fund transfers are budgeted at 13.9 million to seven other funds as allowed by state statute. So can I just >> Yeah.
>> Um so just this is probably a on the 38.8 8 million adopted budget. There's 6.2 million for Taber and then 6.5 for the for dexation but the bullsh 3%. >> So the yeah the calculation you go about it a little bit differently. One of them
you include we include um I want to say charter schools. I can get you the the the reasons that they're different but one of them we include a little bit more expenditures. Taber doesn't res require us to reserve to reserve on certain expenditures so
that we can pull those off. >> Okay. >> I know. And so that's why they're always they should be about the same. >> Okay. >> Roughly, but they're always going to be a little bit different. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Good question. >> All right. Oh, so I was just pointing out the transfers and again this was at
adopted time. So right now we have budgeted transfers out of the general fund of 3.8 million to those seven different different other funds right here. Um so this is just kind of showing how the general fund will support other funds within our district
and I'll have updated numbers in the in the amended budget presentation. So we'll move on. Um the next area superintendent will not will not fail to settle payroll obligations and payables on the time on time. So during the report period, we paid an average of
2,666 employees per month. Um that continues to grow every time that I give this report, as does the gross payroll to date of $82.4 million. Um on the payable side, 99% of our payables were settled
within 90 days. And during that period, we issued 3,746 checks, which was six more checks than the last um report time I reported this. So, seems to be pretty consistent. Um, next area, superintendent will not
allow tax payments or filings to be overdue or inaccurately filed. And we can report that all mandatory deductions and tax payments were accurately filed and made on time. And this just kind of goes to show what we consider a mandatory deduction and how they're paid. Um, as you see, most of them are
paid by wire transfers. Um so they they go almost instantly. Um next area, superintendent will not execute purchasing commitments over 25,000 unless disclosed or approved by the board. Um so during this monitoring
period, 173 checks, 16 PECARD transactions, and 61 wires were paid that were $25,000 or greater totaling 75.9 million. Um, and all of these purchases and transactions were budgeted, approved, and aligned to instructional or operational needs. So,
as you guys saw in the monitoring report, there's a long list of that. And if you have any questions on any of those transactions, I am happy to look into them for you. Um, >> sorry, another question. Go ahead. >> Um, has PRA ever audited your guys'
payroll? >> Yes. >> Okay. and >> and the I know one payroll audit we went through it had to do with like a bonus. There's a lot of different things um
that they come and audit us for. >> I believe the year before I started quite a bit. >> Yep. And they do come in and audit on like I know recently they audited on um
1099 vendors who are parah retirees. Um so for par if you're a par retiree and then you go and start your own business and then you go and you uh partner with the district you have to pay into parah's retirement fund as a par
retiree. So it's our responsibility to make sure that they we pay our portion of it and for that vendor to make sure so that I know we did get audited on that because there was a vendor that showed up that he did not that entity did not say that they were um let us
know that they were a par retiree. So we did have to go back and par they do as part of our financial audit. Um they do audit what we send to parah as um when
we set up our new employees so that all of the people that we say are parah employees make sure that we send that information to parah. >> Yeah. I just have a question on this list of the 25,000. We have uh $189,000
that's a copier lease to one company and then we have another copier lease for $240,000. Why do we have two of those? Would it be advantageous to work through one company to get a deal? What does that look like? >> Yes, I So,
we have a number of different contracts based on timing of things. So, you usually enter into a three-year lease with one of the copier lease companies. Um, and can you give me the two names? I'm sorry I don't have the report in front.
>> Yeah. The First Citizens Bank and Trust and the Complete Business Systems of Colorado. >> Go for it. So basically there's a financing element when you do these copy leases that the company actually works with financing. So Citizens Bank is who's financed
through if that makes sense. And so we actually make payments to that financial institution for the contract. CVS then has a few that they hold that aren't financed and those then we pay directly to CBS. the entire umbrella company is
CVS to that one entity. >> Correct. >> And then my my second question with that in general is just like when we move to technology as being like a whole and we're still spending three, four $400,000
plus on printers or copers. Is that I just I'm just curious. Is that like realistic? And what does that look like? >> I don't know anything about copers either. That's just a lot of money. >> No, absolutely. A great question. Um, and
>> um, and we did see when we start when through COVID we did see a drop in the number of copy machines that we do have. And I know that um, our purchasing manager, Bobby, anytime you want a new copy or anything, you have to go through him. And if it's just because you don't
want to walk upstairs to get one, we're kind of saying, "I'm sorry. We just can't finance another copy machine for that." >> So, we're starting to say now. >> So, in the years in the future, we won't see a half a million dollars start to copy machine. >> I hope so. >> Thanks.
>> You stay here >> if you want. That's fine. >> Okay. All right. All right. So, the next area is a superintendent will not acquire, lease or dispose of real property without board approval. Um, so during the monitoring period, there was only one property lease that was
executed and it was approved at the August 27th board meeting and that's the 17th Judicial District Youth Resource and Assessment Center, which is Ry Hirak located downstairs in this building. >> Can I ask I I know Terry's not here.
When is the YRA going to be operating like fully? I know that they're still working on that. I don't have a date. I know that we had hoped that they had been in would be in there by now, but they've not. So, I don't I'm not sure when that start,
>> but I will I will I will get that answer. >> Okay. The next area pertains to donations. So, superintendent will not accept revenues in consistent with the district's missions and values. Um so
during this period, this is a list of all of what we call local grants. Um it's money that is not federally or state driven um that is given state CDE state driven there. you'll see some like state of the state of Colorado and
whatnot, but um driven revenue and it's tracked a little bit differently. But as you can see, we have a total of $58,000 that um is essentially donated to and received through donations and grants for the district.
>> Stacy, can I ask about the Kaiser? Is that a re like a rebate out of our fund surplus or what does that come from? >> Um so that is a program, right? It's it's it's more like a wellness program. So, we get reimbursed to have wellness
programs for our employees. Um, I used to teach yoga and uh Lori Martin from the HR wellness department would pay me a little a little bit of money and and the funds for that came from there. So, yeah.
>> I think I asked this question last time. Actually, I'm sure that I did. So, like some of these things land here, but then there's a lot of things that don't land here. And we kind of talked about how does that work and is it just about categorization and how do we make sure that we're seeing a full scope of
donations cuz like Dion's Pizza gave PVHS a,000 but they also gave other places and that's not showing up. Why is that? >> And so what is shown here is anything that is over $500. So, we have given the message that if you're
receiving any kind of check, any kind of monies that's over $500, please let us know about it so that we can track it accordingly. Um, that doesn't always happen. Um, and then a lot of booster clubs, PTAs, PTO's that aren't
associated with the district, well, financially associated with the district, um, receive monies from those types of organizations. and we don't have um financial responsibility to track that those funds. >> Okay, perfect. So, primarily threshold and I have a question back again. Sorry
about these ones I had circled and I just want to ask it. I'm trying to hurry, but Will told me I have to ask why we're here. So, Stanbury uniforms for band uniforms is in here as a giant purchase. Is that with a new school with B? Like, would that have came out of mill levy? Um why did it hit the bottom
line? And is it for all schools? What does do you guys know? Uh, Prairie View did a combined district-wide marching band and their uniforms were retired. And so, uh, that the the the dollars you
see did hit the general fund and then that number plus more money was contributed from Prairie View activities funds. >> So, kind of split it amongst two people. My last one on the list is
>> that is the Zoom one because we utilize that for online learning or do we get to use it as a district a whole? Like what does that look like? >> I will defer that one to Jeremy. >> Both. >> Thank you.
>> It's a licensing agreement. >> Yes. So that's that's it costs a lot to have all those computers be eligible for it. >> Yeah. Carry on. Sorry. >> It's kind of been a challenge. If everybody could just agree to use what we use
like Google meets that would be ideal but there's teams there's meets there's zoom like I can't go to your meeting because it's not in the so we there's there's a lot of pain points associated with like us controlling what everybody else uses for a meeting that I can or
cannot get into. Right. So I think that that's part of the the challenge there. And that's pretty close to what you have here with 20 with $26,000. So, purchase this Zoom one with Teams or any of the other
platforms. >> So, this is our primary one and we just otherwise do the hour and then sometimes we're kicked off >> and the Google all comes in a suite, right, Jeremy? I'm just >> Okay, cool. >> Thank you so much. >> Good.
>> Any other check questions? >> Carry on. >> All right. So this is this area is the superintendent will not fail to pursue material receivables after a reasonable grace period. Um so this is the fee collection area and other revenues when
we where we invoice and overall we have strong collection rates across the board. Monthly statements are sent out to students or to students families to collect unpaid fees. Um and we I would say we don't have any material delinquent balances.
So this is the the report that we provide. Um and I can say that during my tenure I say I would say that the the p the collection percentages have drastically improved. Um, and that has to do with
the partnership with it, with the schools to send out um, monthly statements to the families to make it easier for them to pay on online platforms, not just cash and checks and and yeah, it I I want to say that that was a pretty heavy jointed effort to get
collection to where it's at. So, >> can I ask a question about the the fees for >> things like that? um when we're char when like when somebody
has a lot of fees I know that like graduation's restricted >> um athletics are restricted has there ever been like a different route looked at so that that punishment isn't on the student who put in all the work when they can't really be financially
responsible for the fees so that they could still participate in those type of things >> fees would be if we had an ideal world. I mean, you add up all those totals, it's over $4 million we collect in fees. I hate that we have fees, but it's also
far more than a bake sale to recover the fees, right? And so, um, yeah, that that that's always a heartbreaker to try to figure out whenever you leverage that fee or the consequence for not paying the fee, right? We we we didn't get in this business to be fee collectors or or or
levy punishments against families or say you can't play sports because you don't have fees paid or you can't graduate or walk without fe but every fee has has that same consequence to it in the world and it's just it's it's it's a heartache
for us and I don't I don't know I don't know what the better way would be start but every time we talk about it and people come and say is there a way we could do a bake sale or something instead of having fees. And it's like, can you think of a $4 million bake bake sale, right? It's like it's it's it's
serious revenue. >> And we do and we the families who call in that, you know, we try to do what we can to work with the schools to work with them to see uh maybe they forgot one year to fill out, you know, to check
the boxes on on certain forms to see if they're exempt from things. Um so we do try to work with them as much as we can. >> I think I have a question in the opposite direction of this which I think you know is coming as well. Um when we collect fees from people that they don't
use it just sits in that account and is there any way in this report we could put in how much money we're holding that's um not actually going towards fees and then there what do we do with that? Like is there a longevity of time that it sits in the account? When does that transfer back out? We we're not
obviously contacting families, I don't think, to make sure, but they get their funding back. So, is there a principle where that could become part of paying off those fees into an account after a time frame? I don't know what that looks like. >> So, we could in this report, we could give you the surplus balance like as of
this certain date. Um, but as graduation comes up, the secretaries, the finance secretaries at each comprehensive high school go through all of their seniors and if any of them have surplus balances, they will issue. They work with my team to issue refunds on surplus
amounts. So whether that's refunded back onto the credit cards if that was there or cutting checks because at the end of the year you'll see >> hundreds of checks go through to families to re refund the the surplus. >> And so we do that for all seniors at all schools. So that's when we catch it. >> Yep.
>> Would there be a way to put out an option that we could then donate that money back in to create that type of funding? >> A roundup fund. >> I don't know. I don't know if that's possible, but you know, I just had this and I said like, "Hey, give me my money back." And you're like, "Okay, this is how you have to do it." Um, but like if you would have said, "Hey, you could
donate it." I probably would have been like, "Oh, fine. That's easier. Let's do that." And it's better. So, I don't know if that might work. >> Yeah, we can definitely look into that. It's an option. >> And if we could see those reports, we would know what type of impact that could have, >> right? >> And and just clarify, there are people
that are eligible for fee waivers, correct? So it's it's not so there are disadvantaged students that aren't paying any fees at all. They're still walk across the things that are >> there's some that are in that gray area,
>> right? >> And it might be nice to have a round of fund or something that that might be able to tap into >> and there may be some parents that would just be happy that their students going to walk across the aisle that you keep that money, you know, make sure he's
going to get that paper. Okay. All right. So, the next area is the superintendent will operate with adequate internal controls. Um, so as you guys saw, the district undergoes an annual audit by independent CPAs. Um,
the fiscal year 25 audit did show one finding as a significant deficiency, but not a material weakness. Um, this issue has been identified and has since been corrected and documented to ensure in compliance going forward. Um so overall uh the financial condition
remains strong for the district. Our board policies seem to be followed in regards to financial conditions. Reserves are protected. Controls are operating effect effectively. No fiscal concerns were identified and based on the reviewed data. The superintendent
remains in full compliance with board policy 3D. >> Thank you very much for that comprehensive report. Do I have a motion for item uh C? >> All I'll move. Sorry. I'll move to accept the expectation of the board
report through 3D financial condition and activities as conveying reasonable interpretation of the executive limitations. >> Second. >> You guys have been the workh horoses here by the way. So director from
>> Yeah. Carvajal and Truill. Roll call vote. >> Director Ramon Alvarado. >> I. >> Director Tracy Alvarado. >> I. >> Director Melinda Carbajal. >> Yes. >> Uh, Director Tom Green. >> Okay. >> Director Star Trujillo. >> I. Motion carries. Thank you.
>> Michael Clow, you're the next contestant. Uh, he will now present the expectations of the board report through 3C, treatment of faculty, staff slunteers. Hey, Mr. Heath has joined us. Thank you.
>> Hey, Sam's Club, too. Hey, >> my friends. >> You need a lot of support. Is that what you're telling us? >> Speaking of uh copies, uh we'll work on that, Melinda. Here, >> we take down a lot of trees. Awesome. Uh
uh first uh I want to thank uh colleagues who supported this report. Uh Andy Pippen in HR, Carlo Ryder, uh Julie Small especially with the culture survey, uh Lucille Gonzalez uh and others with the parent survey and uh Sam
Ortega who does the um emergency safety uh part at the end. So, I just want to walk through uh uh the report a little bit. Uh we only get to do this once a year. So, I'll re reiterate some things
from the past. Um if you go to page two, you could see the the history of the report and and you could see through that first table the history of the data. Um so, a couple things on that. First, um this is
a culture survey. It's not a happiness assessment. I point that out every time because it's based on um research about high performing organizations that's referenced in the report. Uh we want to be a high performance high performance
organization. Sometimes that conflicts uh with happiness. This is not a leadership uh survey that we do. This is a culture survey and everybody's involved in our culture. Everybody plays a role in our culture. everybody impacts our culture
and and that's very intentional. Uh uh the other component here is you could see data over time and so that's a concept that we've held on to and I really thank Carla and Julie for helping us hold on to that concept so that we
could see if there are trends, we could see if there are changes and a lot of times there are tendencies to take input and change or change it. We're going to ask a different question. we're going to ask a question this way and and that gets hard because you're trying to see things from different angles. At the
same time, I think it's really helpful to see data over a period of time and and see what that means. So, um just just so you have a sense of what we're thinking about as we collect this data and um how we're going about providing
this report to you. When you say every on this, are we extending this to bus drivers and substitutes and across the board? >> Substitutes are a separate survey. Uh the term that we use in HR is regular employees. So regular employees would be
um certified staff, our educators, full-time and part-time. Uh classified staff, that could be hourly staff. Our nutrition service workers are hourly. Um bus drivers are included. Yep. Yeah, substitutes we survey separately.
>> And do we get that separate report as well? >> Say that. >> Do we have access to that report as well? >> The full report. No, the data is reported in >> on the substitute side though. It is okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. And if there were other components, happy to share it uh as
well. Um let's see. So overall results, as you look at the overall results, you know, it it's a it's a fairly stable the data points are fairly stable overall.
Um they continue to to at least in my mind trend or hold in a positive direction. You're not seeing any major fluctuations. Um I'd have to make assumptions about what that means. I'd be careful about that, but there's general stability.
It's generally positive. This is one data point among many how we tune into um our work with our labor unions and that relationship is another data point. Uh how principles tune into the culture of their schools and leaders tune into
the culture of their department. Um how departments and schools are performing is another data point that speaks to this. So this is one important data point to talk about how things are going. Um but it's it's one indicator of many.
Starting on page three, you can see a sort of a question by question breakdown uh based on the different categories. So again, we're bringing information to look at things from uh different angles.
Um, and that shows some history. And you know, I've set it up so you could see a few years at a time. Um, certainly we can go back further if you ever felt like you needed to see that. Keep going.
Keep going. Uh, and then, uh, on page 11, section B, that shows individual schools and departments by category. All the leaders have access to to this
information and uh tune into it. It's part of our dashboard as well. And um it's a tool. It's a tool for leaders. It's a tool for staff to understand what's happening at their school or department.
>> I have a question for you. >> Yeah. When looking at the individual schools, the thing that stood out to me is I was kind of seeing a a trend of our three high schools kind of coming in lower than everybody from the most part. Is that I didn't look if that's traditional in the last years or if you
have any indication of maybe why you think that is. >> Yeah. Well, I want to be careful on on a why like that. That's a comp it's a good question. It's a complex question and and uh being my first year working with high schools just understanding how they
function has its own complexity but it's it is fundamentally different than the other schools just in terms of the scale. Uh there's a team of leaders not just one leader. There's a 100 plus staff members not 30 that you can all go tune
into every week. There are teams you know some of my learning in the high school people on one wing may not know people on the other wing they may not interact with them they may not and so it's a different animal
just in terms of its operations um it has based on those separations the English department versus the math department right those departments may or may not know each other interact they have their own interests their own tensions
that they bring into the school. And so I'm just speculating on as I'm seeing the differences in the operations. I don't have a a specific theory. It's just sort of a general wondering as I'm learning how high schools function, but it's yeah, it's
it's you you notice the data for sure. >> I have I have a kind of a question about data on page four with some of these questions, which I really like. Uh question number 5B kind of just made me laugh. I don't know why. Do we take care of things in meetings instead of in parking lots? Um, I think that's a funny question for some reason, but when
you're looking at data on some of these like 4C, 5A, 5B, and we're noting that like staff, certified, classified have like a vastly different, you know, 5% or more different than like administration. >> Like administration's like really low for that. And then we're looking at
staff and they're saying like it's higher, you know, 5% difference. Are you utilizing this like to create change or awareness? when we talk about leadership like how do you utilize those things to try to figure out what that looks like in the district? >> Yeah, that I that's an interesting
question. There's not a global way that these are addressed. It's really a tool at the site. So, it's for the principal for the department leader to wrestle um internally with those questions with their staff and how they lead and how
they engage. >> Is there a goal we should be looking at for improvement or or you know moving these numbers in in a in a better direction. You know, I mean, I know we come up with these every year.
We come up with these numbers and it's just kind of like it is what it is, but >> how are we using this to improve the the numbers that we're getting? >> Well, I think the first part of that question, Tom, is this is a limitation
report, right? it it it's not a board goal, right? But it but it is a limitation that you will not have disgruntled dis I don't know what the the limitation specifically says. So that that's the first part. The second part is that like you've got Heath former principal what what did you do
with the data because I know I know Heath looked at the data and car like you could hear from a recent practitioner. I know how I use it with our team, but >> um so I'll tell you how we used it at Southeast was, you know, we would look at that our culture and climate survey.
We would typically take our lowest area um which I'm just going to brag on Southeast was the numbers were pretty good and we would talk about that as a staff. often it was 3C of uh three it's something about like work is organized
in a fashion that you can accomplish work something like that um and then we would have we would use that information um to how do we design our PDS after school how do we design our PLC's and we would come and we would evaluate that and that would be part of our seal goal
for the building uh for the year and then we would evaluate that with with our staff at the end of the year and we would see if that would come back to um on our culture and climate survey. And so we would typically pick an area. We wouldn't try and do all the parts of the
survey. We would just pick something that we felt like we wanted to improve on. We would make some goals around that, a short PDSA around what did that look like? What do we need to learn about? And we would try and just address an area on the culture and climate survey. So, you found them helpful as
I'm trying to ascertain because I I struggle with this at at my work privately where I I joke the surveys will continue until morale improves. You know, it's just like they're just going to keep asking you this question until you say, "Yeah, fine. Yeah, I'm I'm I'm happy." But I I don't
>> We used it as a tool. We absolutely used it um every time, you know, both parts of the year. We used that as a tool to monitor if we were heading in the right direction. >> Yeah. I appreciate that and we talk so much about leadership here. So like when we're looking at this like hearing you say I'm taking the data, we're setting
one goal and then we're chasing that to see if we have that impact. I was and it's good at a school level that's happening. Are you doing that in the human resources office too in terms of like looking at leadership before you're like renewing contracts or doing those type of um things like when you're
evaluating? So that was kind of my question and I get that that's not necessarily within limitations, but how you report back to us determines whether or not we're meeting limitations. So is this how you should report back to us or is it not? That's kind of what I'm trying to figure out. >> Well, and that evaluation to make your point it just it's the same model that
Heath described. The evaluation for high schools fault to me, not in human resources. So the eval the evaluation goes with the supervisor. HR's role is to support processes, bring information forward, >> but on the supervisor side of that like
principles like that's so like that's what I'm talking about. So if you looked at 5A, well let's look at 4C it's like 9.5% 9% in certified and classified find that to be like not satisfied but 2% of administration like then are we going
back and saying there's a seven like everyone working in the schools isn't content but like administration is content. How are we working on that? >> Yeah. Yeah. This is >> think about that question. You have a voice that impacts the decisions. Who gets to make the decisions? The
administration should not be putting I don't have a voice. You're in charge. >> But the fact that people don't feel like they're bought into it in the type of environment that you're cultivating is interesting. >> Play the same strategy that he just modeled. Right. >> Okay. >> Guys, I don't I don't I don't know how
what would voice mean to you that you were heard? Did that we'd be agreed with your decision? Did you all have an input? Like we're getting low on this one. What what would what could I be better? How could we do this better as a team? and the team goes, "This would help before we make key decisions. Could we all just get a chance to weigh in?"
All right, that's a good idea. Let's start this at the end of every meeting. Is this a good decision? You know, like >> Yeah. Yeah. I get it. I get what you're saying. >> That's how that's how you could use the data. >> That was a good that was my example. >> No, that's a that's a great one. That's that that's that's consistently our lowest one.
>> Always. Yeah. >> Well, everyone everyone wants a voice. So, voice. >> The decision. Yeah. The voice in the decision. And in a high school, imagine that with a hundred educators that
you're trying to figure out processes to include and you have department interests and and it's not a percentage. It's just a it's a calculation for a rating. >> Um I know that they're not in the hot seat right now, so don't yell at me, but you both looked at me. Barb and Kathy,
is this something that the union uses as a tool as well? Like when you guys are kind of looking at overall status, do you find it helpful? >> It's super important to me. I'm always asking my principal, hey, can you send me the results? Can you tell me >> good? It it also to their to Kathy I
think what they would say I think they would say because they've said it before it also gives a voice to a a a group of people that like when if you're trying to let your principal know we don't feel like we have a voice here this is what that means right so now the
what would work great is if the principal went to the hour and go why are this score not what we thought it would be and it's like well here's what I'm thinking let's have a meeting about it like sometimes sometimes it's hard to give feedback up the chain, right? And so this gives us a chance to like
it's not just me. It was it's it's 37 of us that thought that >> it's interesting. and there's asterisks all over data, right? I mean, because what's the reason for that score not going down? New
principal, something happened, uh, a death of a couple student. I mean, it it can sometimes you look at that and you go like, well, that kind of makes sense. that that was a really hard year for that school. >> One last question. Um, so I think this
has been used for what, nine, 10 years, right? And I think it was sort of started up 10 years ago. Seems like it from what I'm reading here. >> I'm just wondering like how much faith do you have in the survey? >> Just the way it's structured and it's I
mean just the questions being asked. I mean, how much faith do you have that will caption what you need to capture via this survey? >> You know, I I I think the questions are powerful questions the way they're framed think that you hear that it's being used as a tool. You see that
there's pretty good participation in the survey, right? On on average, you can expect on any given survey 30 33% and you know, this survey does pretty well. It's it's well responded to. So,
Yeah, I don't want to go I don't want to make any promises deeper than that, but uh yeah, no, it's >> Yeah, I I guess I mean just having a kind of like a sort of a background. I think often times there's a lot of questions here and so tendency is that
people are just going to go number three, number three, number three. I mean, is that's what I'm trying to figure out is >> Yeah. >> You know, like >> how confident are you or the staff is about that we're capturing what needs to be captured? I mean, I know it's a
survey, but I'm not sure if I'm asking the right question here, but I >> I think some of it has to go with the use, right? The the more you use it and you talk about it with the people, the more the like Tom, we're going to keep doing the survey till the survey goes up. Totally get that. If you if you
don't if you but if you talk about it like like Keith just modeled >> this this matters. The these these these us not talking in the parking lot is important to me man. Like why are we engaging in that? Could could we think of a st like that now now I'm more
interested about assessing my school accurately? You know, like and then there's some things on here that you you as a leader can call out. Like we always score higher on I model the values and we always score lower on everybody else models the values. And it's like if you
were a leader and you just posed that question, how could that be possible, right? People start thinking about that question differently, right? Like who's we and who's those and why is those that's that's a we problem, right?
Moving on. >> Anything else? >> Oh, yeah. There's a lot more. >> Let's keep going. Sorry, we spearheaded that a little bit, didn't we? We had a lot of questions today. Um, I just want to talk about the
report in general and some of the like pieces of it. Actually, I have something written down cuz that was what I was going to do today. And I I kind of want to talk about substitutes a little bit. Um, and like in here it says like we make sure that they are all like trained and have adequate like access to
resources and they're prepared to go out in our schools. So, talk to me about substitutes and how we're making sure that they're part of the every >> Yeah, I can tell you some things that we are currently working on. Some of it is um how do we communicate just because
it's my experience but it's southeast I'm going to keep harving on that. Um one thing that we did is we just had a common lesson plan template for all of our subs to come in. Um we've discussed some of that but one of the things on the lesson template was uh what what do
you do if a kid has a seizure? What if they have allergies? What do you do in a lockdown? What do you do in a secure? What do those things mean? Um, and one of the things that we are learning is it's not necessarily communicated well throughout the district in that way. Sam
and I have met and Andy of I have met about different ways to like what do we include in our onboarding? What is that training like? Substitutes, we're constantly adding and losing substitutes. So, it's not like a training that you can have at the beginning of the year and cover all of
those things. Um, so we're we're talking about making some videos as part of the onboarding packet so we can communicate um those and uh what does it look like when you walk into a school? What should you receive and how do we communicate that to our subs and also communicate
that uh to our buildings so that we are somewhat consistent >> in some of those. >> Okay, that's that's perfect. So all of it though is current work that we're doing. So in this report over the last however long that it's not something we've been providing. Is that correct? >> Uh we're trying to improve it.
>> Okay. No, just just for clarity just cuz you know over the I think I could give some background to that. I think you know subs is like a big thing as I'm looking at this report tonight. Um I called Will this week about subs. I called I've been having a lot of conversations about that how we're onboarding them and I um there's about
140 subs in the district. Is that correct? >> Uh active. And currently though there wasn't a training program as we onboarded them or sent them out into our schools. >> I I would say that I wouldn't say that
that is correct. I think there is some I how are you defining training uh some communication I think probably less at a district level as I'm learning that and but more of a what happens in a school?
How do you train them? Where do you talk about your go bags? those kinds of things at an individual level. What we're looking at is how do we incorporate that more into a district-wide so we're getting them as they come and not the responsibility of the building. >> Okay. So sometimes they go out to schools where they have somebody who's
making those adjustments and sometimes they go out to schools and it's rogue >> not being in a lot of schools. My impression is that could be like there are variances in how that happens. I think I think that I just wanted to talk about that a little bit because it's our job to keep the district safe and I
would consider not having substrate that you do that work as a collective so that we get that operating. Um and in my voting for this specifically tonight I just need the interpretation to include subs moving forward for this report.
I really liked that point on subs. Um, with my experience, I was a sub quite a few years ago within the district and it was stepping no background in education. You just sign up to be a sub. And I want
to say 90% of the schools I went into did not have any type of active here here's the like I got thrown a folder and where is Seawing? like how do I figure this out? Um I wish I could have shadowed a class honestly like as a sub
and somebody that was stepping into it. I don't know if that's an option or something that could be done to kind of understand what it looks like to be in a classroom because I do think a lot quite a few subs come in like I did
without any of that experience. I think that's a great interpretation to to add. I mean, you could also work on it as a as a board protection that you'd right, but if I mean, if you could change the language on one of the goals
to explicitly in in ask for subs or we could make it an interpretation in the report that we also are going to interpret that when we say employees of district, we also meant subs. Does that make sense? But I I I
heard your interest that you you think subs is something good. >> I have one other thing about the report that we didn't talk about. Um the turnover statistics I was confused on the way I think it's page 18 Lan. Um I was confused on the way it was listed
because it says CDE overall turnover rates. Does that mean this is for state of Colorado or these are RP specific? pull it from CD to CD CD is the source >> to get our data back and do you know how
it compares and it stacks up to the states like are these pretty much general trends of having you know 18% turnover or is 27J doing better are we doing average are we doing worse >> when I look at I think it would be
>> perfect. I think it'd be really helpful maybe for next year to include a comparison around like even if we pick like 12 and 14 or if we include Mapleton or WPS, something like that. So we can just kind of speak to, okay, we're we're treating our staff in the treatment of staff to where they're wanting to stay
and how that stacks up. I just want to add that I'm glad that you're sitting here for safety and security and that that's part of this and we talk about that component of subs. Like it's really important that we have that piece too going into it. It's not just how we do students, but how do we keep them safe? And are they trained
in the same way to make sure that we can manage uh any type of thing that would come into the district? >> Do I have a motion to accept? >> Okay. I move to accept the expectation of the board report through 3C, treatment of faculty, staff, volunteers as conveying reasonable interpretation
of the executive limitations. >> I have a motion and a second from the Alvarados. Tracy was first. >> Do I have a roll call vote? >> Uh, director Ramon Alvarado. Hi. >> Director Tracy Alvarado. >> Hi. >> Director Melinda Carbajal. Yeah. with the same thing that I'd like our board
to talk about ensuring that whether we're doing it through including that portion or whatever that we're interpretating that subs are part of it. Got it. You guys got that. Perfect. Um >> you don't get to qualify the vote. That's that's a future >> and yes. Yeah, that's a future. I was adding that to my
>> That's a future direction. Yes. And I would go yes. >> You're giving staff direction for next year on that interpretation. Perfect. Director Green. Yes. and director start. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Welcome back, Stacy. She will now uh offer resolution number five, 2025 2026 regarding the adoption of the revised fiscal year 2025 2026 budget and appropriations.
Bring them all down. Come on. I hold it. There we go. All right. Hello again. Um, so I'm here tonight to present our fiscal year 2526 amended budget. I have Myra Ramirez with me, our budget
manager, and Lavar Cypress, our budget analyst. Um, again, like I said before, these two are the ones boots on the ground doing all the work. I just get the the joy of presenting presenting all the information to you and they are here to help with any questions that you guys
might have. Um so just a little bit of background. So typically the purpose of the amended budget um is to update enrollment that we have revenue projection staffing adjustments table or board policy requirements and property tax collections. So if you guys remember
back spring of last year, you adopted a budget for fiscal year 26 in June and we proposed it in May. So um a lot of assumptions are made at that time. Um I think our enrollment projections are based on a March
projection. Um and so a lot can happen between March and October count. So really the biggest thing is to update our enrollment. Um a big thing is revenue projections. A lot of times our grant and our um state categorical
allocations aren't released by the time we adopt our budget. So we adjust all of that. Um in December we certified mill levies. So our property tax collection also gets updated at this time as well. So we have statutory right to amend or
adopt or revise our budget once a year and we have to have that done by January 30th of that fiscal year. So we are here to amend our budget. So for fiscal year 26 the major drivers of change in this
budget are were enrollment um decline of 237 230 students from our adopted budget um 174 students below projections for district managed schools. So if you look at that it you might have think that overall we decreased enrollment but we
did not decrease enrollment from the prior year. we just the enrollment projections were decreased. So we just didn't get as many kiddos as we had hoped. Um so from there also the major drivers of change are increased property
tax revenue of 4.5 million. Um adjustments to staffing and what our benefit percentages really came in at. And then we had an update to our internal inner fund transfers from the general fund um of about $2.2 million. and
that's a decrease. So less went out to our other funds from the general fund. Um so I'm just going to touch mostly on general fund because that's the bulk of our budget. Um
this is the revenue over overview of our total available resources. So state equalization makes up about 44 a.5% of our total available resources and that's at $169.9 million. Property taxes are
22.9% at 91.9 million and that as you see in the next bullet does not include our mill levy override revenue. So mil levy override revenue equate 6.2% at 25.7 million and then all those others um make up the rest of our available
resources. And so that those percentages include our beginning fund balance from the prior year. So that's not um those aren't percentages of just revenue, that's percentages of our total available resources. Um so on the general fund side,
expenditure overview, uh real high level, um salary and benefits make up 86% of total expenditures at $216.8 million. Um supplies and materials are 5% at 12.7 million. And then purchase
services, which is contracted services, are 8% at $20.2 million. Just a nice breakdown. Um, and here's the the breakdown of our inner fund transfers. So, as you can see, we transfer to
uh from the general fund to our transportation fund, UPK, which is our universal preschool program fund, our risk management, which that's our, um, Rocky Mountain risk, our insurance, uh, fund, CAP reserve, pupil activity, um,
detention center, and print shop. So, they are ranked there in in um, dollar order, highest to lowest. um as you can and then the next column I just wanted to kind of highlight. So the transfer um is 70 so for the transportation fund
the transfer from the general fund equates to about 72 or 78.24% of the total revenue for transportation. So it just kind of shows how much the general fund backfills some of these funds. Um so my favorite one is universal
preschool as well. um when that came into play through legislation, the free preschool for all, we're going to support it. We're going to fund it. And as you can see on ours, um we have to support about 50% of the program through from the general fund. Um so just little
fun numbers. Risk management obviously about 100%, that little tiny percent comes in from any type of um claim revenue we might get for random things. So um cap reserve 20.6 65%
uh and cap reserve is kind of an anomaly this year um because they got money in to fund 17 for a lot of bond projects. So from the CFF found Foundation and then from um Cash
and Lou as well, there's money that was set aside um specifically of other revenue um that we don't normally see in the CAP reserve fund. So um and this little note down here, it says transfers from the
general fund equal about 26% of the total available resources. >> Can I ask a question about transportation? Um, just for understanding. So, we transfer that 10 mil and that's going to cover like transportation to and from school, buses, and staffing. >> Staffing. It's mostly staffing. Yep.
>> And then people that pay the fees is going to make up part of that. >> Yep. And then we get some categorical revenue from the state based on uh you get a percentage of gas and and staffing of bus drivers and whatnot. These >> and then schools that utilize
transportation for extracurricular also pay their portion out for those events. Do they pay at 100% or do they pay at a do we backfill some of that too? >> Um, so they have a rate, an hourly rate that they bill out to the schools. So like if the softball team has this, they
bill out. >> I just am curious. You can ask for later just if it's full coverage on that side or what the back fill is on that as well. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> I have a question. If you go back to that slide where it says 86% um for salary and benefits, how does that
compare to last year? I know it was in the 80s as well. Was it 86% as well last year? >> We we fluctuate right around that 86 85 87%. >> Thanks. >> So this is just kind of a snapshot of the reserves portion of it. Um so total
designated reserves are $34.5 million. that is made up of Taber, board reserves, a little bit of CTE reserves. Um, and as you can see, Ramon, the the Taber and the board reserves did go up a little bit from the last presentation that I had. Um, and then the sign for
subsequent years is that $28 million, which represents the mill levy uh override revenue that we collect in the current year, but doesn't necessarily get spent until the next year. Okay. So, that did go down a little bit because we got tighter on
um our mil levy number. >> And how do we backfill our reserves? So, how do we get that back up again? >> We save money. >> So, what I'm saying is that we're basically we're reducing what our available
reserves for next year. So if we needed to do that, it'd be 50% >> right >> of our reserves if we had to pull $10 million from this. So this could rapidly put us in some dire straits. >> Absolutely. Yep. We have done a few projections and we're trying not to nose.
>> They they've seen it. >> Yep. Okay. Yeah. >> I guess I was going to say my question for since you brought that up. Uh Tom, >> is it possible or do you have like what are ratios actually do when you make all these adjustments? like we just got the
the the new aer right so we probably have revised ratios of the financial stability of 27J right but with these changes is it possible to get those ratios as well to tell us like what's actually going to happen ratio-wise to kind of show us the financial stability
of 27J you see what I'm saying like there are certain ratios that >> districts use to kind of monitor the performance right so I'm kind of picturing like with these changes that we're making what does that do to our ratios No, absolutely. Yeah, we can. >> And I don't know how the board feels about that, but often it's kind of nice
to see what's going to happen to those ratios as >> we're reviewing this >> to go along with our projections. >> Correct. >> Ah, gotcha. Yep. We can definitely do that. >> Yeah. Because it's interesting when they came out and do the audit, they're obviously looking at a singular year and
they're saying, "Hey, everything's healthy. You're great. We saw the numbers presented to us that you're talking about and we're watching this fall already." So obviously the auditor is not looking at a projection either when they're doing that type of audit. It's just current moment, right? >> And so it's really our our job to make
sure that you see it and then direct that. How does that even how are we even going to do that? >> That's why forecasting and and talking about and knowing what's going on with legislature, all that is is extremely important on this side of things. And
you could even say that the the auditors look at what has already happened, not even like at a point in time. So >> has a resolution. >> I do have a resolution to read later. In addition to that, I know I think I briefly spoke about this when I came
back from the CASBY fall conference. I don't know if you'll remember this because I know it makes more sense to you than it does to me, but one of the positions that Casby was trying to take was that the the double 3% reserve is kind of tying districts hands more than they need to to kind of put relief on
one of those 3% reserves. Is that something that you think would be kind of a big savior to us or is that just not a huge help? >> I mean, so Taber is statutoily you every across the state, everyone has to have that reserve. The other 3% that is
designated by the board is at the board's discretion. It's one of the constraints that we have set up just for fail safe. So, um we in my tenure here, we've never had to ask to
dip into any board reserve or anything, but I know that that would be the plan would be to do that first and then potentially taper, but All right. So then just to break down a little bit from within the general fund, um student achievement and our learning
services, our total budget for them is $42 million. It's the they have the largest chunk. Um with SPED representing the largest portion of that at $26.8 million or 65% of that budget. Um people support services representing $7.8 8
million in improvement of instruction at 4.4. Um, so just a little highlights of the breakdown of things. And then the last one that I have is operations and support services. So operations total budgets 9.9 $19.9 million. Um, and that
includes custodials, services, building maintenance, building services, grounds. Um and then information technologies 9.7 million, HR is 1.9, finance 3.3, communications 1.1. And across the board, a lot of these um budgets are
made primarily of salaries and benefits. Okay. So in conclusion, the big changes from um the adoption of the the fiscal year 26 budget is that enrollment adjustments were accounted for, updated revenue was accounted for, refined staffing allocations and updated
transfer amounts. And then so thinking about over on the fiscal stability check side, um we are presenting a balanced budget to you guys. Board reserves requirements are met. As of now, there's no structural deficits that are presented. Um and we are continuing to
have a conservative assumptions um maintained. Any questions? >> One more question. >> Yeah, >> I can't find it, Stacy, but I thought I read someplace where we were actually moving some expenses or because we weren't going to finish the project this year.
>> Is that >> finish the project? >> Yeah, some of the projects. I think we we weren't able to get to them this year, but now we're moving them. >> That's a bond. >> No, I don't think it was a bond, was it? >> Um, was it the assigned for subsequent years? >> Yes.
>> Is that number? So, Ramon, back when we passed the mill levy, so we passed it in fiscal or in November of 2021, we collected the revenue in 2022 in before the end of the year, but we weren't prepared to spend it just yet.
>> Is that what you're talking about? So Tim, I got my reports confused. So sorry. >> You're okay. >> If I find it all. >> Yeah, please feel free to reach out. >> Yeah, that's different financing. The the levy and the bond is separate fin.
This is the operations. >> I'm sure he will. >> Are there any additional questions? >> Yeah. Thank you guys. >> Find more money. Could you Could you >> We're doing our best. They're doing the best. >> Move to approve resolution number five,
2025 2026 regarding the adoption of the revised fiscal year 2025 2026 budget and appropriations as presented. >> Second. >> Motion for director Trill, second from Director Tracy Alvarado.
May I have a roll call vote? >> Director Raone Alvarado. Hi. >> Director Tracy Alvare. >> Hi. >> Director Melinda Carbajal. >> Yes. >> Director Tom Green. >> Of course. >> Director Star Tree. >> I. >> Motion carries. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. I did uh gloss over
it, but uh next month we'll have the graduation rate, the post-secary readiness, and the treatment of parents and guardians as our policy review schedules. Uh, now we're on to item 14, which is a resolution supporting increase to K12 funding. Oh, timely. Uh,
Tracy, will you please read that resolution for us? >> Sure. So, 27J Schools Board of Education resolution number 6252026 supporting placement of a statewide ballot initiative on the November 2026 ballot to increase K- through2 funding.
Whereas, Colorado's constitution calls for a thorough and uniform system of free public schools throughout the state. Whereas Colorado's public K through2 schools are currently woefully underfunded at 1989 levels. Whereas Colorado's current level of funding
schools is inadequate by 4.2 billion per equity and adequacy studi study commissioned by the Colorado Department of Education. Whereas inadequate school funding leads to overcrowded classrooms, larger class sizes, outdated materials, deteriorating facilities, and growing
teacher and support staff shortages. Whereas Colorado ranks nationally below average in per pupil funding in 2024 2025. The state funded school districts at an average rate of $1,452 per student, $1,668
less per pupil than the national average with 27J remaining $1,500 per student, less than the Colorado average due to the dependency on local mill levy overrides. Whereas since 2009, the combination of Taber and the budget stabilization factor have drained over
11 billion from Colorado's public K- through2 schools, forcing educators, students, and local communities to do more with less, even during times of economic boom. Whereas, in the absence of additional state revenue, the joint budget committee projects the state budget to have a $ 1.2 billion shortfall
as it begins the 2026 legislative season. And to avoid reinstalling a budget stabilization factor, they are considering using local specific ownership tax monies that have never been used in the state's equalization act to backfill shortfalls and further threatening 27J with an $8 million cut.
Whereas a statewide ballot measure in November 2026 would enable a sustainable and equitable long-term funding solution, helping to provide adequate funding to address the needs of every 27J student, ensure adequate funding to prepare our students today for life
after graduation, close the per pupil funding gap, maintain our teacher and staff pay at a competitive level, recruit and retain highquality educators in every Colorado classroom, and support safe, welle equipped learning environments. Now, therefore, be it resolved that number one, that the board
of education of school district 27J formally endorses measures to increase funding for Colorado K- through2 education. Number two, the board directs the superintendent to work collaborative collaboratively, sorry, with educators, the Brighton Education Association, and the state board of education, Colorado
General Assembly, education advocacy groups, and local stakeholders to take the necessary steps to ensure Colorado school districts are fully and adequately funded. dated this 28th day of January 2026. >> Do you make that resolution? >> Yes.
>> Which one? Read that. >> I don't have them. I'm sorry. I don't know about that. >> Would you move to approve resolution number 6, 2022-2026 supporting the placement of statewide ballot initiatives on the November 2026 ballot to increase K through2 vending? >> Yes, I would. >> Do I have a sec?
>> I'd love to second that. >> Thank you. I have a motion in a second. Roll call vote. I liked that, Tom. I was trying to Yeah. Good. >> Yeah, that was good. Uh, Director Alvarado, >> yes. >> Director Tracy Alvarado. >> Hi.
>> Director Melinda Carbajal. >> Yes, please. >> Director Tom Green. >> Yes. >> Director Start Trio. >> Hi. >> Motion carries. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Go, we're getting close here to the end. That's why I'm trying to move things quickly here. Uh
February 11th, we'll have a tenative bond and middle levy oversight committee vacancy interviews that have been posted and hopefully we've been getting lots of people coming in and uh even it's uh misspelled, but an additional meetings may be needed late February, early March depending on the number of applicants.
Let's fix that uh spelling error. And then February 2020, February 25th, 2026 will be our regular board meeting and a study session that will begin at 5:30. Uh the next quarterly meeting evaluation
will be at the March 11th meeting uh due to the the March 11th will be our only meeting due to spring break. So that'll be the only meeting in March and director Carbajal will present that out evaluation. So good luck with that. Are there any closing comments or future
agenda items? Hearing none, I move to adjourn this meeting at 9:44. I don't let you guys get away with that. I really >> This guy just >> I can't I know
>> drives me up a wall. >> We can't keep pulling from reserves. >> No, that's what I was That's what I was trying to point out here, guys.