Okay, we're recording. >> Welcome to the October 16, 2025 um finance and capital subcommittee of the Brookline School Committee. And the first item on the agenda is approval of um minutes. We have minutes from
September 17th and minutes from September 26, 2025. Can I get a motion for approval? >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> I'll second. Okay, Sarah, how do you vote? >> Yes, >> Jesse.
>> Um, I did have one tiny edit. Is it okay to mention it or is it I I thought moving was just to get to the discussion part. >> Yeah, we can do that. What's your edit? >> Yeah. So, on the ones from Thank you, by the way, Betsy. These are great. on the one for September 17th. >> Mhm. >> On page two,
the the uh section 2B where it says um the the uh the this the next to last sentence it says and discussed educational equity relative to all
students achieving. I I would sort of say maybe something a little different like discuss educational equity um uh supporting the achievement for all students or to help all students achieve to their
potential something like that. It doesn't say >> where are you looking? Sorry I missed it. You said which one? >> Uh September 17th second page >> 2B. Mhm. >> Like a line and a half in the end of the bottom of the paragraph
where it says and discussed um and discussed educational equity relative to all students achieving. I sort of get what that I mean we could leave it that way. I mean if it was push came to shove but I was I was just thinking to clarify a little bit. We had
talked about providing support to all students, you know, in their educational journey or to help all students achieve to their potential. >> Would everyone be okay with that? I can change them and bring them back or we can decide on it now. But changing that
to providing um support for all students to achieve to their potential. Yeah. >> So I I think that's a clearer way of putting it. Just achieving sort of leaves it off the edge of the sense. So that's that was the only >> It's okay with me if it's okay with you, Sarah. >> It's okay with me.
>> Okay. So Sarah, you voted yes or you're still voting yes. >> I'm still voting yes, >> Jesse. >> Yeah, the other one was fine. Yeah, I'm yes on both. Thank you. >> Okay. And I'm a yes, too. >> Great. >> Okay. Next item on the agenda um is
Sorry, I lost where I was in space and time. Oh, Charlie. >> Yeah, Charlie Capital. Yes, we're going to hear the report from Charlie Simmons, the director of public buildings on um both the summer pro projects um and the
related expenses and then report on the final FY25 repair and maintenance budget. >> Thank you. Um I'm working off my laptop and I didn't bring the file with me, but any bets you could put up? >> Sure. Uh let me get them here. I got
them ready. >> Which one do you want first? Uh, >> we can do them either. >> Either or. >> Charlie, I'm going to ask I I looked at them beforehand and um it's helpful, but very helpful of course, but I think I
need like a little bit more refresher slashbackground on what this all means. like if you can just like zoom out a little bit before we get into the details. Is that okay? >> Sure. >> Okay.
>> Um Oh, >> do you want me to have it up? I'm sorry. >> Yeah. No, let me be a little more clear about what I mean by what I'm asking for from you, Charlie, is >> like so this is the second if if I just want to make sure I'm like understanding things. This is the second of the two
summers in the two batches in the combined batch of funding they gave us two years ago for deferred maintenance. Correct. >> Correct. Yes. >> Okay. And then the projects here are the ones I guess I got a little bit lost in
what happened between what was originally submitted and then the revision. So like were these project revi projects revised at some point with capital last spring? Like were they changed at some point
last spring and there was that whole approval process that I think had to go to select board. That's what I don't quite understand of like does this reflect a major shift in funding from the original plan or not. >> And just Mariah just to back up even a little piece before you when you said
the money came from too. Where did it come from and where did it go to? I know you're saying Charlie's budget. So that's the building department. >> No. So these are this this is this the deferred maintenance bucket, right? This is >> and so that's the CIP money. So it's not
in Charlie's buildings department budget. It's in the CIP budget in lines he administers. Is that correct, Charlie? Am I accurately representing that? >> Yes, that's correct. So the so the CIP is um is is is a series of requests by
departments for funding. So there's a certain part of it that is is um provided by the town for deferred maintenance and then if it's if it's approved by town meeting that amount of money is allocated to back to the billing department to do the deferred
maintenance work that was an element of the CIP. Is that correct? >> Yes. But two years ago, and Susan, jump in on any of this. Two years ago, PSBX asked for I can't remember the exact dollar amount and then got a significantly larger amount beyond that
that was meant to be a two-year allocation. Um, and there was a lot of just back and forth about that. So, as we get to this work, I guess I'm still like it's I just don't quite understand the if this is a onetoone mapping of the original work,
but maybe Charlie, you can explain that like what's different, what's new. Maybe the new requests means things that were added after. I just don't know. Well, um the um we'll call it the original
deferred maintenance list was funded um two years ago and as you mentioned it was um over a couple of years that we did the work and um the original list if we're looking at Baker is everything that's in the top part where it says complete
and um of the everything that was originally requested to be on that list and was approved and has been completed except uh for some work in some bathrooms at the new Lincoln school which will probably end up being done
over Christmas break, but I'll try to get that done sooner. So, as this has been evolving, we'll say over the last year or two, there have been um new items added, which is fine. And the idea was
to first finish everything that was originally on the list and then if the school department wanted to add more things by all means they could add more things and then there was this process that went through the advisory and the board of selectment and was a vote. So
what I have right now is the list that I have had working on the original items. the items have been added and there are new items that were added very recently
and that's on a list that Susan and Joe had at the last meeting. Um that list is I'm going to say $1.5 million plus or
minus. Um of the monies that were given we'll say it was $4 million. I have as of today $1.3 million um unencumbered. So that means um other than about $25,000 I have encumbered for the new Lincoln to finish the bathrooms,
there's $13 million available under the mini CIP. Now, um the next steps and this is don't go by this as um 100% but it's my understanding that it needs to
go to the advisory and potentially to the select board if you wanted to change or add any more items to the list based on an original vote that was done two years ago. So um for my discussion I just want to I
just want to focus on um what was done from the original list and um we can discuss the uh the newest list that was u presented for the CIP if you'd like. Um
but it's it's along the lines of some of the same things. So, >> so, so the 1.3 million, um, Charlie, is that the far right bottom grand total column, the one that says total remaining? >> Yes. >> So, so that's the sum of all the things
that are not complete and not requested, not new requests, ongoing. >> Is that how that works? >> Yes, essentially. Um that's the amount of money that's left over for the original appropriation >> from two years ago. Okay.
>> From two years ago. Um and that includes um everything that I paid other than New Lincoln um of all the work that we did. So there was estimates made um per building per project. Some are higher
and some are lower. And um overall I guess we did pretty well. >> Can you make it so we can see the the full the full page because we can't see the right hand side right now. >> Thank you. So Charlie, can you remind me how much
we had for 25 and um 26 um hang on one second Susan total in that original 25 allocation? Yes. Give me one second. I was just looking at it. >> Okay.
>> And then I have a follow-up question. Then I'll call on you, Susan. have it on this print out. >> Susan, do you have that dollar amount of what the com I'm buying CIP paint now? >> Yeah, >> I don't have it off. Yeah, not off the top of my head. >> Not off the top of my head either.
>> Okay, >> I can get that. Um, >> I guess I'm trying to understand how it compares to the dollar amounts that Jesse was just referencing in the bottom because there was two different dollar amounts in this document. One that was the sum total of the buildings other
than Baldwin and then Baldwin separately, right? >> Mhm. >> Okay. Um, my next question was just I I'm a little confused because the red things that you're listing that are new and maybe Susan you can help clarify. I thought that those things were being
submitted for the 27 um for our upcoming deferred maintenance request, but this I thought was like a retrospective of the 26th summer. So, I'm just I don't quite understand
why they're here. Susan, am I right in understanding that the red things are um I just went back and looked and like they they're the things that were in >> the new one we saw. >> Yes, the new deferred maintenance, >> right? >> But maybe they're coded yellow, so that
means they're FY26. So those are things you added. >> I think I'm just getting confused on the color coding from our other document from our prior meeting. I I don't think there's a relationship between the two documents. The one that we approved for our current CIP for 27
through 32. I don't think I although I might be wrong. I don't think it marries up to that. >> Well, I think because so Charlie has like the first one here, paint co cafeteria and main hallway area and that was in the Baker document that we looked at for and it says complete repair and
maintenance. So it looks like maybe it was done. Okay. I don't know. >> Okay. But what's confusing to me is like dishwasher replacement was listed as complete using state funds, but here I guess they're just I can't tell if they've been It looks like the other
document said they were done and this one doesn't have them as being done. >> I wouldn't look necessarily at mine. I was using the one document that I had that we were you going forward so I can give you the numbers easier. And that's how we broke it down. there were items
added or changed that's on Susan's document that she gave you and that would list yes it was done or it's a new request or so forth >> but I mean what you're saying Charlie in a sense is that we could pretty much ignore the red in this document
>> you're not ignoring it you've you've requested it for 27 >> right but these things have already been like listed and costed out somewhere else but here they're Like yeah. So in the Susan document, we reviewed this. Some of it had different
words like different descriptions and I believe that there were pricing with everything too. >> Yes, there were. Yeah. >> Yeah. That's why when I saw this here, I sort of said I just sort of like skipped. >> I just working there were there were multiple documents on this going back
and forth and this is the last one I had that was an Excel. Um, >> so for Baker, didn't though last summer the was the flooring project for the auditorium, the refurbishment of the auditorium, wouldn't that have been paid
out of 25 actuals last summer? I guess I'm just confused why that project isn't here. >> I don't think it was part of the mini CIP. Um, I don't recall exactly. It was done obviously. Um, but it might have been done out of the repair maintenance
money. Okay. >> I can check on that for you though. >> Okay. So, um can you clarify like what what if there's a balance and I think you said
there is a balance of perhaps 1.3 million somewhere. >> Yeah. >> At the bottom. >> Okay. Yeah. If there's a balance of 1.3 million, um, what is the intent to is that just the Baldwin money? I guess I'm confused because there's 1.1 million
above and then 1.3 million below. See how there's the two grand total lines? >> I think he added the 1338 to that other number. >> So after Lynch, he added the Baldwin. >> I see. I see. Okay. So the one point Okay. Because they're both labeled grand total. Remember the Baldwin had a little
bit of a different history and it was >> I do >> I would just say it was special and we had to do certain things and we were very limited that what could be done and what couldn't be done and that had to be done per that with no changes. So I just
it's was listed that way. Uh there's the original budget amount by the way. It's it's 2.9 million >> or 2.99 million if you want. >> Okay. Um, so then you're saying that there's still a balance of 1.3 million out of the 2526 deferred maintenance
funds. >> Correct. >> Only 25,000 of which you currently have encumbered for the you said the bathroom work at Lincoln. >> Correct. Yes. >> Okay. And so um in this case with these funds
is the plan to come up with a proposal to reallocate the funds or what happens from here when with this type of balance? >> Um well I presume that you um would request for a reallocation and um use
that last list that Susan and Joe made. I um it's prioritized. I mean it's it's one through five what would you like and um if it's approved then this could continue or whatever amount of money is approved
um we can go forward with that. >> Susan in this case would you for example take the list we had submitted to Melissa before and say well we still have x amount 1.3 or 1.2 2 and change and we
would like to reduce our CIP request for 27 with the idea that we would expend the 25 26 funds instead. >> Yeah, I think um so as Charlie said there's a protocol we have to follow
which we followed last year but it kind of fell apart on us. But um now that um Charlie has completed the original work um and there and there's a known balance of 1.3, we would then go back to following that protocol. The good news
is that we've you know we know what we would be requesting. >> Um because we have I think it was 1.5 million or somewhere in that neighborhood for the first year 27. And so now what this is saying to me is that we have 1,300,000
available to um address those issues. So, what we would need to do, Mariah, is just simply identify of the list of 1.5 that we already approved, what will we ask to be reallocated um um totaling up to $1.3 million so
that we could use existing CIP money, which would then ultimately if approved, so it goes school committee, board of selectmen, and we have to notify the advisory committee, that's the way the protocol works, of our request to the board of selectmen.
it doesn't go to um the advisory committee for approval. Rather, they're notified. Last year, the board of selectmen, then requested that it be reviewed by the the advisory committee, which was not part of the protocol, and then they took the recommendation of the
advisory committee when making their decision as to whether to approve our recommendation or our request to reallocate. So we would just follow that same protocol um in order to be able to access this 1.3. But it will ultimately if approved by the school committee and
the board um of selectmen uh no select you call it select board here sorry board um then uh it would reduce our 25 um request uh the 27 requests um that we previously submitted
which is good news. >> It is good news. So, do you need an action from the finance and capital subcommittee to assemble that? Like, do you want us to formally request that staff put that memo together or do you not need that kind of action to proceed
from your side? >> No. with this armed with this information um I would just u meet with Joe and Charlie and we can look to see out of the 1.5 million of 27 asks you know what would we um ask for
reallocation um and we bring bring that forward to this I think the school committee I don't think it needs to come back to this subcommittee do you Mariah >> no I was just wondering if you needed us to like say please prepare it for school committee but as long as you all are on board with that that if you don't need the vote Great.
>> I It doesn't hurt to have the vote for sure. >> What happens what happens Mariah to the column prior to the final column. It there are it says total spent encumbered and then like for New Lincoln and in
Hayes and in some of the other school buildings and of course in Baldwin it says ongoing and only a portion of the money's been spent so far. That led me to think that we're not done with the project yet and we're going to >> scroll up Betsy so we can see
>> I mean and for Hayes for example Hayes has like upgrade main electric to building to install heat pumps 250,000 um but only 89964 spent to date leaving 160,000 of the 250
but since it's ongoing and we budgeted 250 so Wouldn't we be expecting to spend the other 160 on doing the work? That's why it cost it out at 250. >> I apologize. You're right. I should have updated those to say complete on the
left. I was more concentrating on the numbers. That's a good call. >> All right. So, the way I >> complete >> Yeah. If everything's complete, then that's a different story. That mean that means we actually came in way under budget. Like for example, like if like like we budgeted triple the cost for the
main for the main electric work at Hayes. Is that what that I mean is that the way it's actually complete? >> Yeah. That Hayes came in differently in the sense that I was able to talk to an electrical engineer. >> Yeah. >> And at one point we're talking about
putting in a whole new service and a transformer. But this engineer worked on a project many many years ago and he remembered how it was set up and it was for the new addition in the back of the B-wing. >> Yeah. >> At that time there was a new panel and
new sort of a smaller service inside the building put in that we could tap off that to finish the back of the building. And so it was much much less and much easy to do. So >> Right. Right. I I I see that. But you can see where we would get like sort of
diverted here in the in the way it's presented because these things are if they're all really complete then there's that 1.3 million but if they're even in New Lincoln almost everything's ongoing >> but you're saying they're all >> so >> yeah I was trying to rush this through
the other day and I wanted to get the numbers the most upto-date numbers and I should have caught that. Apologize. So, so are the I I get I get column status. Okay, I see that. But so are we to are we to then say that the final two columns on the right, the one that says
total spent encumbered and total remaining are actuals as of today. Like the project's complete, >> every line item that says ongoing or complete is complete and still were $1.3 million under budget.
>> Yes. for the haze electrical. I remember Charlie did wasn't it originally scoped at like 600,000 and then we reduced it to 250 if I'm remembering right? So it's been a huge economical savings. >> It's all memory. >> Carla, before I call on you, I just have
one question. So Charlie, for the high school with replacing the door, it looks like there was no cost though. Were we able to It says it was 15,000 budgeted, but there's no actuals paid in 25 or 26 and it's marked as complete. Oh, because it came out of 24
>> R&M funds. I had some money left over. >> Gotcha. Okay. >> Do we still have any funds left over in FY24 repair and maintenance that we should be then real like including in the re um the request? Like should it be
a consolidated this is how much is left in 24 or any prior years like to have everything roll forward for 27? Well, that would be more of a question for Melissa. Um, 24 monies would be gone. 25 money I um rolled over into 26
if I had anything left so I could pay the previous fiscal year's bills. >> So, you're saying that all of our prior I guess I meant deferred maintenance, not repairing. I'm sorry. So I guess my question is is there any balance in any of the prior deferred maintenance years
that should be also rolled up in this reallocation of funds? The prior years don't have the the same select board process, but for example, if there's a couple hundred thousand in earlier mini CIP funds, that could also sort of clean up some of our 27.
>> I see your point. Yes, I see your point. Yes, that could happen. >> Okay. >> So maybe when you all meet, you can provide the balance of the prior year. CIP ones too again just to sort of clean up old accounts and yeah. Okay, great. Carla,
>> um I think it would be helpful if there uh was an effort to distinguish between deferred maintenance and mini CIP. It seems to me if just um looking at at
um the CIP writeups of SC, this this mini CIP was supposed to be for the repair and upgrade of school facilities in between major renovation projects um including window treatments, new flooring, ceilings, large-scale painting
programs, and toilet upgrades. If if replacing an oven or refrigerator or whatever it is, I'm sorry, even with my glasses on, I can't read this. Um, at Baker, that's an appliance. How is that deferred? How does that fall
into the category of deferred maintenance or um school rehab upgrades? So, all I'm suggesting is we we seem to be rolling these two programs into one
and using the money that was voted by um town meeting to do both. And it as a town meeting member um if I wanted to do a deep dive into this, I think I'd have a hard time making the distinction because I don't see any
definitions. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Carla. Um, I think that over the past couple of years, we've tried to make it clear that it's more of um a broader definition of deferred maintenance. Things that would
have fit under Charlie's annual repair and maintenance, but due to the underfunding in multiple years um were not fitting within the repair and maintenance bucket and were were lingering yeartoear. Um, I see your point though that dishwasher replacement might not have been within Charlie's
original remitt and so how that how that evolution has happened we need to perhaps consider. I don't know that it isn't in his remit. I guess I'm not sure. So I think we need to be clear about like you know is this due to the our goal has been to have a multi-year
sort of like recon making sure that we were getting caught up with repair and maintenance. So, while we were putting significant additional funding into the building department budget yearon-year, we were also trying to play catch-up on this deferred maintenance. So, I I I hear your question and I don't
necessarily know at one point I thought and maybe Susan was it last year, the kitchen renovations were I guess my question is and maybe this is part of it there. These are listed under Charlie's, but I'm not sure that they're actually for funding under deferred maintenance, Carla. So like the
kitchen things you see, I'm not sure where they're funded from. >> Okay. >> Yeah. So that might be another and when the document that we had worked on the school committee submitted I think it was didn't it Susan also include a funding call a funding source column
because it helped us clarify which things were being requested from for example CIP versus other sources of funding like for example Charlie's um energy system CIP line >> right >> because I think it is important to to
clarify the buckets um and but It's also helpful to have all of the projects visible at one time as opposed to thinking about them. >> Absolutely. And if you look at if you look at the CIP um uh spreadsheet that Melissa prepares, it very carefully identifies funding sources. It's the
entire CIP program, but it's not all funded with local um revenue or with bonds. So, thank you, Mariah. >> Sure. Yeah, Mario, I would sort of suggest maybe like as we see these different sheets because projects move
from sheet to sheet, maybe we should just have a standard procedure that like you said that funding source should be in this document as well so that it's always clear where the funds are coming from. I think it's my impression is it's
challenging because um Charlie's working from one set of documents and Joe and Susan and team are working from another set of documents. I would love to see like one document that >> um perhaps and maybe Susan this is what
you're referring to also is now that you've got this additional information from Charlie being able to plug in some of the actuals against the other document and then have it all in one place might be helpful. But um to help us reallocate >> and just so I understand the process now
Carla sort of touched on maybe a little bit. So if we have this 1.3 million over left left over essentially unspent still Mariah from a prior year what is the public process to that money just stays with us like it sticks to us or does it go back into a
pot and then we have to reask for money because we didn't spend it. Why >> carry over year to year? >> Oh, they do. >> So, yeah. So, that's why we're also talking about Charlie's prior year funds that we had for deferred maintenance, like doing a little bit of a cleanup of
earlier year funds as well to again if they carry a balance. This is often what happens, at least that my perspective. So Charlie and Susan, apologies if you don't think I'm representing, but I'll say my perspective is the funds are originally voted and then if we don't spend them all, there's not necessarily
a public process about how much was left and how they get spent later on. So this is an opportunity for us to actually look at those balances and then, you know, sort of formally reallocate them through the school committee process. That's again just my perspective. But
but there is an effort sometimes to close out funds if they're not expended for a certain period of of time. >> And my recollection is that um that that has to be by town meeting, right? Isn't the recision of funds at town meeting, Carla? >> Actually, the um finance director can
close out those funds legally, >> but I think as a matter of protocol, it's a vote of town meeting as well. >> Got it. Um Sarah, >> what is the relationship here between items that are listed as not funded and
new items? The ones that were not funded, are they being funded um by a different source at some point or are we repprioritizing and listing and deciding not to do those and having new things that we're going
to do? Like what what what does it mean not funded and new? Um well, it's partly the same thing. Um again, there's been multiple worksheets, but um if it wasn't part of the original
request that was approved, it was either new or it was pushed ahead um to 27 24 on 29. and those items um are on this new list and
you can use those monies that are available to do some of that work. Now um the nomenclature is going back and forth between the school department and me as to the the wording of it. Um and
>> I wouldn't that a little bit Charlie? >> Sure. Go right ahead. Just to just to add that if you look back at our document that we voted a couple weeks ago, just using Hayes as the example, all of those things are on there from the prior year and they're now either
requested for 27 20 like they all have dollar amounts and future years associated with them. Just looking at the Hayes example where it says it's not funded, it doesn't mean it just means it was in a future year. So Charlie was focusing this on the stuff that was for 2526.
>> Okay. >> So it is in our plan just not in this document which focused on a specific set of work. >> And then what does new mean? >> I think if I can interject I my recollection is that new is not that it was new entirely. It's it's in relation
to the original ask for the 25 and 26 allocation. So different than as opposed to never being on our list. Okay. >> Yeah. >> And the replace of an equipment that's listed as new for Hayes is in the our document or again our comprehensive
document for 27 for 40 $40,000. >> And how would that and that is that a deferred maintenance item or is that a mini CIP item? A replacement oven. >> Mini CIP is deferred maintenance, >> right? Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. I think what we're looking at
here, which is unfortunately some somewhat confusing, is our other document that school committee looked at from Susan Mariah is um is further ahead in time than what's left over in some of these boxes. Right. So, it's confusing because if you look at both, you got to
figure out which one is the more current version. >> Correct. >> It'd be better to >> I'm not sure one's more current, but this they have different information in there, >> right? Yeah. Exactly. Susan's is all budgeted of future years and this is budgeted of a point in time but with actual expenditures.
>> Right. >> Right. >> But >> but all the nonfunded Yeah. But all the non-funded things have already been costed out for a future year with which if there was one more column saying I don't know FY27, those would all be populated >> and we know how much we're planning on spending and then we could compare it to
the 1.3 and see if we're in or out, you know. >> So it would be helpful. Yeah, it would be I think to have it all come together. >> Yeah. Yeah, exactly. >> Um, but with that said, it's really helpful to see the different costs. Charlie, is there anything on this
document that you want to particularly draw our attention to of things that were like really above or below or projects you're really excited about? I'm just thinking like we did often we get pictures. We didn't necessarily get pictures this time, but anything else you want us to like maybe you could send
us pictures of that you think went really well? Yeah. Um well, as we mentioned, um the service at Hayes came in quite a bit lower, which is good. Um if you have a chance or if you haven't yet, um I'd walk through the new Lincoln
School and the Run School. Um it came out really nice. The colors are great. Um the building is clean. I can't say it looks 100% brand new. It was both retired, believe it or not. Um new Lincoln, but it looks fantastic. And I
think the staff and the kids and the obviously the parents are very happy about it and long time coming and I think we should keep doing things like that um to maintain your buildings. A lot of it obviously I I fund like the
things behind the walls that nobody really sees and it's it's important that we fix the fire alarm and the heating system and the roofs and so on, but this stuff is sort of forward facing and it's nice that people see where their money is going and actually can see a
difference when school starts. So, um I'd like to continue on doing that. I've been really happy at how they've been sort of set up as like focusing on specific schools because like you said it's very obvious to sort of see when a
school has quite a few things that get cleaned up over the summer. And also I'm really impressed like there was the original cost budgets but looking at um for example the one for I think it was budgeted around 750 or 800,000 and it came in at less than 300,000 when you
actually were able to do the work. So it just shows that like the efficiency of the process to really make people feel like the public good is being maintained at a relatively small cost. >> Yeah. Um we did not replace all the flooring. We went through room by room
and some were repairs or partial repairs and some were complete replacements. Um and it doesn't look like we were like, you know, putting down glue and cocking. It looks nice. It really came out well.
And um yeah, we were able to do it in a much more cost-effective way. >> Susan, do you think that um you and Joe or Joe could work with the principles to get some pictures for us or Charlie? I just would love to be able to have some pictures to document some
of the work. Um sure. >> That's done. >> Are there other key things you would like to highlight to us? >> Uh those are the big ones. Those two schools we did a lot of work on and um I'd like to continue on with another
school if I have a chance. Um you have to remember that the new Lincoln school was closed down for two years in the summer. So it affected your summer programs and I can't get the work done elsewise. Um and was down obviously down uh this summer. So if we were going to
go to another building, you'd have to come up with a plan that you wouldn't be using that building in the summer. That's all. >> Given the >> Oh, sorry. Go ahead, Jesse and then Carla. >> I was just going to say g given how far under budget we came, Charlie, does this
feed back into like an a loop back with Susan and Joe at costing out the new requests, the ones for FY27. I mean, you know, it's not luck. I mean, this is like hard work, being efficient, you know, uh um the way you go about doing your work
with your team. you did as much as you could with the labor you had, with the materials you had, and the time you had, and and came in and came in way under budget. So, could this be uh the model for moving forward in the coming year? So, that >> Well, I I did go through the list and uh
Susan, Joe, and I talked about the numbers on each and every one of them and did update them. >> Um, could it be better? Sure. I mean, if you look at the list, I was wrong on a bunch of stuff I was over, too. if if you go individually line by line. So
it's not perfect, but >> Right. >> Overall, big picture was better, >> right? >> And frankly, I'd rather be conservative and then, you know, you you promise people all this work's going to be done and then we're way over budget and it doesn't happen and people get upset.
>> Sure. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. you want to talk? I guess she can't hear us. >> Mariah. >> Yeah. >> Um just to get back to the idea of reallocating money that was voted by
town meeting um but is not um expended or encumbered. The vote of town meeting was um appropriate $4,670,29 or any other sum to be expended under the direction of the building commissioner with any necessary
contracts over 100,000 to be approved by the select board and school committee for minor renovations/upgrades to school buildings. So those are your parameters in terms of what you want to use the unencumbered funds for.
That's for the$2526 as opposed to Okay, >> thanks. Y >> thank you. >> So, wait, it's 4 million. >> That's what it says. >> So, is it 4 million or is it 200 2,983?
Sounds like it's even more. Charlie, >> it'll be great to get to the bottom of this. The three of you, you and Susan and Joe, get to the bottom. >> Just I'm reading from the warrant. >> Yeah, >> those sums. It says any other sum. So those that may not be the um the final
number that town meeting voted um could be something other but but my my focus was really on the purpose of the funds which includes minor renovations slashupgrades to school buildings. >> Thank you. >> Yeah.
>> Um why don't we go to your repair and maintenance budget for 25 Charlie? >> Sure. just a little bigger bit. See? >> Yeah. For me, too. Oh, there we go. Thank you.
Um, so, um, for repair maintenance, I have a list of things that I'd like to get done that we should be doing, and it's broken down by plumbing and roofing and so on and so forth. And I come up with numbers, and I put a budget request together that I ask you for the next
fiscal year. And it's based on primarily what we've spent in the past. And if any new changes are coming up, I add um and I modify it. Um list is not exact. Um it's my best guess 18 months in advance.
So um and a lot of things can influence this. Um weather, temperature, hot, cold, and so on. And if there's any changing in programming. Um so if you go through the list, some were we went over and some we were
really under. And um it was actually a pretty good year. Um and not to change the subject, but this year going so far, I mean, it hardly rained, so there's no roofing bills and roofing leaks, so that's even a better
thing. Um and hopefully we'll continue on with the dry weather in one way. So, so something like carpentry and painting down towards the bottom, Charlie, >> where the numbers the numbers were budgeted like at 25 and they came in at like 175 or 133, like six or seven,
eight times the amount. Is that just >> due to additional work that was unanticipated or how how did it get so large >> from some of it is, but some of it um as I get closer to the end of the fiscal
year and I see we're doing okay. I do um and I need to get the work done by June 30th or thereabouts. Right. >> I do pull up repair and maintenance projects so that we can get them done and not give the money back. So um I did not prioritize u flooring and you know windows and so
on because I didn't have the money. Um, and we did do some things over the year, but as we were coming closer to the end of the fiscal year, I saw the opportunity that we could get some work in on um, we did a lot of uh, gymnasium floors. I believe we did some painting,
a lot of work at the high school and that was all based on previous requests. Um, and then frankly there's a there's millions of lists floating around in Brooklyn for the schools. Um some of the work that was never was originally approved for the high school project got
value engineered out like four times. Some of it got put back in. Um Hal Mason is still requesting that work to be done and he will always request it to be done which is his job. Um so we were able to do a few things for him. So, um, those I
I I'd rather get those things done instead of giving the money back and, um, try and keep the buildings looking good if we have the money. Now, if it was the other way around, we had a very bad year, you know, it rained every day, it was 20 below zero, we'd be chewing up
obviously more other money and we wouldn't have any money at the bottom, >> right? >> And I don't want to ask for zero transfer. How how does how do these 15 items map into the different school buildings? Is there is there like traceability on you know where I don't
know plumbing got done and we know electrical service was at Hayes but obviously much more you know was 90,000 at Hayes up to 250 or something so 450 like is there a next level of detail that explains where these which school buildings got these
uh maintenance you know deferred maintenance done? >> Yes. every um every item purchased whether it's a screw or carpeting 10 classrooms is encumbered based on a a code for the
building. So if you went into Munis and you filtered it and anybody can do this, you could get all the work that was done at the school for the last year and that includes PM work and repair of the boiler and painting and everything. And
I do look at that. Now, what historically happens is the older buildings actually use more money and the newer buildings don't use as much because they're in much better condition. >> Yeah. >> But the newer buildings cost me more in preventative
maintenance, >> right? >> Because the newer buildings have a lot more equipment or a lot more elevators and it's it's much more of a complicated building. So, um it's a it's a trade-off. I mean, if we renovated all the buildings again,
obviously, um, reactive maintenance would go down and preventive maintenance would go up hopefully. >> Jesse, I just want to clarify something. You said that, oh, the the Hayes uh, electrical came from this budget. It did
not come from this budget. Hayes, this is Charlie's actual building repair and maintenance budget. It's above and beyond the CIP budget or his other CIP lines for
repointing buildings or windows or removing oil tanks. So there's many different funding sources that buildings operates from and this is from an this is the operating budget portion of it, not the CIP portion of it, just to clarify.
>> Okay. I guess I guess what I'm trying to figure out though is like how to map it into the schools like which buildings are actually getting these dollars. >> Yeah, I could give you a report on that and break it down into detail for you. >> Thank you. >> That would be very interesting. I would
appreciate that. >> Carla. >> Yeah. Is my hand still up? Sorry. >> Yes. Hand or an old Oh, an old >> I apologize. >> Okay. Um, can I just ask a clarifying question, Charlie? When it says total
paid from FY25 carryover, the last column, meaning you paid it after the fiscal year um was over, what does that mean? >> I can't see that on the screen. >> It's the the brown column on the right.
It says total paid there's like 50,000 and I just am not clear what >> um so we carry over monies and then we pay if the bills eventually come in after July 1st we pay against that and
the total right now is $50,869. You know I I don't understand why these contractors don't want their money. Frankly, I scream and yell at them. It's hundreds of thousands of dollars and I have to threaten them that if they don't give me the bill by the end of the day tomorrow, I'm not going to pay them.
They're terrible at building. I mean, they know they're going to get the money. That's the problem. They know they're going to get paid, and if they were working for a GC, they'd give me the bill right away, but um they just you got to push them and push them and push them to get the paperwork and get the bill.
>> Um and then they don't the bills are not always complete. They don't give me the certified payroll records and I have to hold the bill. I can't pay it by law until I get that. And they, oh, we're working on it. We'll get it to you. But they're in no rush to get paid. >> Deep pockets, I guess.
>> Any other questions from the subcommittee or other people here before we move on? It'd just be great to get that breakdown report that Mariah and I agreed would be helpful um within I don't know some some shorter period of time within I don't
know Charlie what you can do but if it's just a munis report and you have time it would be good to see it soon. >> Sure we can work on that. >> Thank you. >> Thank you Charlie so much for coming. very helpful for providing the data and um and it will be great to get the
information about um >> that I guess will be coming to full school committee between you and Susan and Joe on the revised um request. Nick, I see your hand is up. Go ahead.
Oh, do you need to Oh, there we go. >> Hi. Thank you. I don't know if this is the appropriate time to ask this question and I definitely don't understand all the different silos of um budgets for the schools but for something like um so I'm representing
Driscoll for this comment Driscoll school um we have a couple of requests um that we that have been kind of ongoing um I'm on the Driscoll site council and that we thought may be able to come out of the
contingency funds that were remaining from the project um but it's unclear if that's able to happen. The most recent one was for a replacement of a play structure bridge that has basically been unusable for 2 years since we moved into the new building because there were
multiple significant injuries um from the little kids falling through the bridge. Um and I believe that request just got denied by the building department. So, I'm wondering if there if if maybe it went to the wrong place, first of all, or if
there's a different sort of funding source to deal with something like that. It's not necessarily maintenance. Um, I mean, maybe it is, or is it different because it's kind of outside the building and not inside the school building, but it's
been, you know, we basically have an unusable play structure that's for our beep and kindergarten playground. um that's just unsafe to use, but we haven't been able to find any department or funding source that we can actually
use to replace that. >> I think that was probably the building commission, right, Charlie? And not the building commission. >> It was um there was a request made by the principal, actually by Karen King that works for me, uh to the building commission and it came up on Tuesday night and it was discussed. Um the
building commission actually did not vote on it at all. Um, they didn't say yes, they didn't say no, but they didn't approve obviously give you the money for it and they pushed it back back. Now, pushing it back to the town, it wouldn't be me. It would be outside the building
so that we the parks department. Um, I believe we're just going to go contact um the parks director and see what she can do, see what kind of funds she has um and work on u coming up with a solution for that. So, it sounds like Nicole could follow
up directly with Karen or you and the parks director where you're going to do that. >> Okay. >> I thought I thought she's already been requested, but I could be wrong because the way the vote came Tuesday night that um it was sort of directed back to the
DPW. So, >> okay, that'd be great. And I know it's not your jurisdiction if it's going to parks, but um you know the t it's been I think since basically since the building opened um that this has been kind of an unsafe closed structure. Um
>> and it sounds like there's some money somewhere. Um but you know people have to be willing to actually allocate it for that. So, I would, you know, hopefully I don't know what you think the turnaround time would be to hear back from parks
about that or if those contingency funds still exist. We haven't been able to um I haven't been able to get an answer on that. So, um >> um the contingencies funds still exist, but um about 3 months ago, the commission
voted on a list of items to remain essentially. And after those items were completed, then the budget was supposed to be closed out. Now, they did add two things uh to the list. One of them was uh soccer nets.
>> Mhm. >> And another one was the solar and >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. And they haven't entertained anything else more on that list. There's been other things floating around. Um they're trying to close the
project out. they don't want to work on it anymore, frankly. So, the money would go back to the town and if the town wanted to allocate it some other way, by all means. Um, but it would probably go through parks department then because it is the outside of the building. >> But it's not closed out yet. Is that
what I'm hearing? >> It is not closed out yet. No, it's still open. >> I think Val is the school committee rep, Nick. So perhaps, and I see Lee's hands up, too. Maybe you can take this um up also with Val to keep uh the community
eye on it and I want to keep moving because we've got some other budget items to cover too in addition to capital. Thank you. Thanks for the comment. >> Um we're going to turn now to FY25 budget close. Um and before that we have
review of the new position report and grant submitt. Um Susan, do you want to um review the new position report with us? Betsy's pulling it up. And I know I had sent a couple questions in advance and I think there might have been another couple questions in advance as
well. And I think I saw Karen was here as well. Um I don't know who's my questions were specifically I can just tell them to people. I'll say um there was the new program parrot haze
and elimination of an inclusion parrot and what was the like what was the motivation that needed that shift and then um the other new wording is flexible support clinician and flexible support parah and what that means and my
understanding was the idea CCIS is disproportionality is it tied to that and just what it all means so that was my questions on this. Um, Susan, do you have those answers or is that something Karen has? >> I think I can uh I think I can answer
those questions for you. Um, can you hear me? Okay. >> Yes. >> Good. So, so there's a process um internal process for creating a position and uh one way that we do that is by
realigning an existing position. And what that means is that as we put the budget together, uh, we have a certain number of specialized paras and a certain number of inclusion paras that we um anticipate we're going to need.
But sometimes in practice um when all is said and done, we need one less um inclusion parah and one more specialized parah. And because they were a different um the the pay associated with them is different that we do what we call a
realignment and that's what this first item is. So that's what happened. We had a sufficient number of paras that just a different um configuration that we needed when uh we went from planning to
the execution of our uh um needs for this year. So that's all that one is. Um so again, there's plan and there's implementation. And then when we're putting the budget together back in January, but we're implementing that
plan in September, sometimes um we have, you know, not enough of this and um a little more than that based on how the student uh needs play out. So that's all the first one is um and that happens. So it's a zero uh zero impact on the budget
um because uh as I've described, we had sufficient numbers of paras. we just didn't have the right configuration of them. So that's what course corrects on that. And then uh the other two, yeah, CCSI um as you know this year uh we received
um uh um the news from DESIE that um uh we had a disproportionate share of African-American males who uh did not meet targets. And so when that happens, we have to allocate a certain amount of
money in the idea grant to address those needs. So these two positions are are really being added um and funded through this CCI um CCESI um kind of set aside in the idea grant
to address um the needs of that student population. Um, and so that's that's what those two are. So, yeah, they're a little bit different than what our uh typical um uh job titles are because their work is not
in a specific location, but it's to do specific work to help address the needs of those students. So, that's that's uh what those two positions are about. >> Thank you. Mhm. >> Um I'm just looking to see if there was another
>> I don't recall seeing a >> No, I don't think so. >> Maybe. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Right. >> Yep. Thank you. If there's any other questions, if not, we'll keep going. I think the next item we can take up is the um submission for the Metco
>> um supplemental special education program. So, um I didn't have time to ask, but do Susan, do you or do Karen know what happened with our submission last year? Were we awarded I think we had requested a similar amount or maybe
90,000 out of the four? Have we not received it yet either way or you don't know? >> No, uh we were not awarded that amount. And this Yeah. So, the state sets aside a certain amount of money, not for us, but um as a supplemental um amount of
money and then school districts who are METCO can apply for that. We're applying for 135. We may get it, we may not. We may get less, we may get a little bit more. We we don't know. So, >> the total pool is less than $400,000 for the whole state, though. So, just to set
expectations for people who don't know. >> Yeah. Exactly. and not all uh apply. So, we don't know what we're going to get, but we do know what we're going to use it for. And that's for uh pair professional um and it isn't for new pair professionals. It's it's to uh
reallocate pair professional costs against the supplemental grant if we do get it. >> So, I have a mo I will make a motion to approve the submission. Um I'll make the wording. I'm moving that the school committee finance subcommittee has reviewed the following
grant application and approves it for submission to the grant awarding authority as listed below. Um, is there a second before I take Donna's question? >> Second. >> Okay, Donna, go ahead. >> I'm sorry I was such a hard time with
the unmute button on my phone. Um, thank you. My my question was just um so last year we did we not get any of the 90,000. Is that right? >> We didn't get the grant last year. >> And and and do you do you at all get any
feedback as to why you don't get it or it's just like a hard no? >> I honestly don't recall. Um Donna with I think we just get notified like typically typically we would just get notification.
Yeah. I want to say that there might be some sort of district um financial like wealth of the district consideration. I vaguely recall in some of the documentation, but Karen, I see you unmuted. Do you have something to say
about it or no? >> Uh no. >> Okay. Um Okay. So, we have a motion and a second. Um Sarah, how do you vote? >> Yes. of the screen. >> Yes. >> Jesse, >> yes.
>> And I vote yes. Okay. Next item on the agenda is the FY25 close report. >> And I think we are going to hear from Susan. Donna, I see your hands up. Go ahead. >> Thanks. I I was just going to ask Susan, I know you'll if you can um maybe give
like some some light framing for the new people about what this closed report is and how it sort of how it's structured or framed or um um put together. That would be helpful for me. So, uh, because you're new and other
people are new, gonna I took the time to do a little bit of a recap before sharing what the final numbers were so that folks that may not have been here at the beginning of last year. um and uh you know present for uh the reports when
they were presented would kind of have a little bit of a sense of uh you know what what the conversation was and what information was shared at that time. So, I took the time this year um in writing this um to provide you with some um
summary information that recapped the various quarters so that it would help you better understand the information in the final report. So, can >> I just take one step above that? Donna, we get quarterly reports from the administration and so I think I don't
remember if we've gotten any since you joined because of the timing and so this is the end ofear report the fourth quarter as it says but then we will also get like Q1 reports Q2 reports so we'll get four reports a year >> so essentially this is the final
reconciliation for FY 20 six or five yes okay got it thank you and Susan I did read that that Amazing. Thank you for doing that. >> Yeah, you're welcome. Um, so that's really what's before you and I'm not sure in what level of detail
you want me to go into. Um, I did spend quite some time writing this and I'm not sure given the limited amount of time that we have, Mariah, what your pleasure would be in terms of uh presenting this or would you like me to just recap the
25 close portion or what would you find helpful? Um, I guess I'll open it up. Thank you for asking. And I'll open it up to the committee to see if there's specific questions from people that they have. I think that would be effective to focus first on. Are there specific questions
that people identified during their reading? And I also would just u make sure that our advisory committee colleagues know that they're of course also welcome to ask questions if they have them. The document's blank on the screen. >> Uh I don't know what's happening here. I'm going to stop sharing and try to
pull it back up. >> Okay. Thanks. >> I also want to say that if you remember uh Donna, you were here um in August when I did give just like a little brief summary of um you know how the deficit
component of our budget uh played out. Uh so this is much greater detail. At that time, I didn't have uh a lot of the um a lot of the information had not been fully processed through the town. So, I wasn't able to give you the the level of
information that I'm have available for you tonight. >> I have a question that I will start with. So, if we look at um I think it starts on page five, if you don't mind, um Betsy,
um the breakdown by unit, one of the things that I don't quite understand is it's my recollection, and perhaps I misrecall that there was essentially a spending freeze partway through the spring so
that we could shift funds to cover student services. And while student services is there and it's over spent, I think that's what the or it's under spent. I guess I'm like why why are the dollar amounts here not
as drastic or as over like the approved budget was 145 then the revised is 134 and then they expended 135 with additional incumbrance. So they're over spent by 375. But why is it only 375 and not a much larger amount given the
conversations we had? Does that question make sense? >> It does. And it and I find the the cost center report, especially last year's version of it, to be very difficult um uh
to use as a tool for um explaining in general terms what occurred during the year, which is why I added the line item because th those accounts are are usually the ones that we refer to. Um so that's why I added the um summary by
line item so that you could better see um when we talk about overspending in various hotspot categories you can't get that from this report by cost center um what happens when I if Betsy if you go to the the report before this that I
added and I will continue to provide this to you moving forward um as a nice little summary um because this this is where when we talk about claims and settlements ments that we've been talking about as a hot spot all year. This is where you can see that one of the things that's important to note and
as I was doing the recap, Mariah, one of the things that I think was maybe a bit of an injustice is that when you talk about where you're in deficit, you're not also subsequently talking about where you're running, you know, um to
the positive, to the good. And so when you look at it in this way, you can see claims and settlements, which what we're talking about here is the out of district tuition settlements. Okay? So, you know, we keep trying to go back to making this connection though those were
running hot as we say or over spent. If you look um several lines down, you see out of district tuition. So, it's about six up from the bottom here. You can see that's to the positive, right? So, one nets out the other. And so it's really in terms of overspending was only
32,000. So what you're recollecting is true. You know, these hotspots area were running really in deficit, but there's other accounts at the same time that were running positive. And that's kind of what you weren't able to get and we weren't able to to share in a way that
was uh clear to you um at the time. So that's why I've added this report so that as we're moving forward and I'm doing a a quarterly report, I'm going to also summarize it in this way so that you can see both things that are running um uh over and things that are running
under by um um categories that are are really more indicative of um how we spend our money. Like when you say salaries um it's it's not as meaningful as when as as when it's organized in this way. So I think that I hope you
find this to be a helpful tool um moving forward. Um >> I do I guess like I and maybe the answer is this that like the the way that the office of student services is set up like for example the paraprofessionals was overspent by almost a million
dollars. But like those costs aren't necessarily allocated into the office of student services. They're allocated at the building level. Right. So is that why for example we might see a school overspent where it's you know it might be a a a paraph or a specific student or or whatever a specific program but it's
not acrewing to that cost center per se. Is that an accurate >> Exactly. Exactly. So you might be running uh you know to the good in some schools in salaries and you might be running over in another but you can't really tell why by looking at that. And
what this helps us to do is to be able to understand as we group these things. Um it shouldn't say cost center here by the by I just noticed it says cost center. It should say uh line item but by line item category. Um it's easier to
really be able to see where our spending is up or down. Um because it rolls up these categories by uh school. >> And then Sarah, let me just ask one more question just so I understand. For example, transportation here when the
column like using the 25 actual expenses, this is FY25 actual expenses that accured against the general fund. So transportation for example, 5 million of it went to was actual expenses against the general fund, but it actually cost us almost 5.8 million
because there was additional expenses charged against beep and against materials fee. Correct. >> Correct. >> Okay. Thank you for that. Sarah, go ahead. When I see something that's um over spent and it is associated with salary, then I can expect that to continue to be
overspent for the next three quarters. Is that fair? >> Sometimes, but sometimes we have what's called breakage, Sarah. So, let's say a position becomes open and then it goes unfilled. The next report that number could change, right? And an example of
that is um in extra comp. So extra comp in this report is summer programming and stipens and you know you combine those together. When I first reported it in the first quarter I said extra comp unfunded right unbudgeted really was
$730,000 right but by the time we get through the end of the year the delta is less and the delta is less because there were stipended positions that were extra comp budgeted that we never filled. So an example of that we allocate um uh let's
say this is not the true number but let's say five stipens for the culture and climate committee in every building. Sometimes there's only four teachers that are interested in participating. So we would have one stipen unfilled that occurs over the course of this and and
likewise in athletics, right? That's another form of stipen. You know, we might we might budget for let's say three assistant coaches and a coach and then we only need two two assistant coaches and so that accumulates over the course of the year and nets out. So the
numbers can change um from negative to positive or not as negative as the as the year progresses. also the other way, right? So maybe we had a situation occur and we had to add a position. So the delta might grow, right? The deficit
might grow, but it might um be just like a realignment. That's not a good example as the one we looked at tonight, but a realignment might look like um we had more EL students that came in um and and so we had to add over there, but um we
were able to reduce let's say I'm just making this up totally um uh let's say uh a portion of an FTE for music because we had overbudgeted there. So one uh would offset the other and may show up in different locations. So
>> completely understand and that and that's helpful. Um the only issue is that when it has to do with salary, there's more chance of us um being you know not having positions filled at the beginning of the year and less chance that a paraprofessional would not be
needed later on in the year. Very infrequently would we drop pair of professionals during the year. Right. >> True. You filled all the positions almost. So it's >> for this year. >> Yeah. For this year, right? >> Yeah. We we opened this year for the
first time with all of our professional staff filled. The only one as of uh September when we open there was just one and that was in the process. So really all all year we've been fully staffed with >> which is great news. I mean it's awesome.
>> Great news for schools but it's hard for breakage. I guess you're gonna >> Yes. >> Um, okay. This is very helpful and I appreciate this. Now, um, I think that, uh, in terms of the MOA, we haven't
signed it yet, but it would be good. I don't know exactly what that process is in terms of forwarding it formally to, um, advisory committee and maybe is that something Bella might do or or Bal? I don't know. I guess we'll have to check with them on how they want that to go.
Okay. >> I can send it along. Yeah. >> Yeah. I think I think it'll be good. And I think um it's to advisory and also select boards. So maybe we can check with Val or or Bell on how to how to make sure we have a process for getting it there.
>> Okay. Thank you, Susan. Um, >> and Mariah, I just wanted to make one one teenytiny comment on this other than >> um looking at it and it's it's an amazing piece of work what Susan put together here with her team. Um, I guess the
the from her financial um, you know, decades of experience in the subtotals on both sides, the diff the differential is only like a couple thousand out of 120 million on top and 20 million on the bottom. Is that sort of normal? I mean it shows such a uncanny match between
the approved budget and the actual expenses. >> Yeah. Yeah, that's a great question. Um but really in reality when you overspend your budget, which we did, and then we had to reallocate costs out, you know, um that can that can cause uh some some
uh >> it look in this way, right? because I moved off of the operating budget, you know, certain salary expenses and certain not because I was trying to match that, but rather >> No, no, no. It just chewed up and >> it just chewed up that way, you know. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. Yeah,
appreciate the answer. >> It should it should be fairly close though. I mean, the better your budgeting is, the the more accurate um the actual to the budget would be. But in this particular case, uh, some of the reason why it looks the way it is is
just just the effect of, uh, >> yeah, pulling things out. >> Pulling things out. Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you, Susan. Thanks to the team for that. Um, and I think we're >> Can I just give a shout out to Z and and
Donna Chisum because uh, they really work so well together and between the three of us. uh and and uh Deb McDonald who is the payroll and benefits manager. Just uh really um a lot of good work went into um creating this and setting
ourselves up for better financial reporting in the future. So I do want to give a shout out to the team. >> I mean it feeds in really great to the kind of view we'd see in the budget book for next year, Susan. Right. I mean when I saw it, I said, "Wait a minute. This is like this is like our budget book without without a couple columns."
Maria, right? The FY27 numbers. It's magic. >> Yeah, look at that. >> Magic. >> Such good preparation on this end. I mean, at this point, move sliding it forward is just it's going to work so much so much better. >> Yeah. >> Yeah, it's great. Thank you.
>> Okay, I think we're going to turn it over to the guidelines now. Um, I edited them with Bets's help according to our conversation last Wednesday, Thursday, whenever that was last week. Um,
>> so they're now less than two pages, which I know we were aspiring for brevity. Um, Bets's Adobe is angry at hering things. >> Um, and
Sarah, um, I So, I just want to say we've got 10 minutes. I want us to end pretty close to on time. Um, and I want us to, I think, like if there's things people want to tweak, let's just sort of have those quick conversations. Um, the most we could do tonight is vote to move
it to the full school committee, but I don't think we need to because I think we're naturally going to have a next conversation anyway. So, I just want people to sort of give some feedback now on this and we can keep going. Sarah, go ahead. >> I'm starting to feel really good about this. It's it seems to be reflecting the
conversations that we've been having and I'm noticing the sort of through line um in the reasoning of this with the introduction and the priorities. So I'm feeling very good about this and would hope that there aren't a lot of changes at this point.
>> Okay, Jesse, I'm calling I'm just going to call on everyone on the committee. >> So So I I sent you a note earlier about this. um due to I mean I understand the guideline FY27 to 31 for the superintendent but none of our items in
1 2 and three below go past 27. So I my suggestion was since we're going to be in the middle of reworking with the with the schools the strategic plan anyway because it's one year to go >> maybe maybe we could drop the -31 because there's nothing
>> it's only in two places in the re at the top and at the beginning of primary guideline but it really we're asking for an FY27 budget and all the items that we asked for in the section below 1 ABC 2A all that stuff everything only refers to next here. So, I just think it'd be
simpler if we removed the -31 and just make it the guidelines for I think I just saw 29 down in your table, but um I think the somewhere down there maybe. Oh, no. It says Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's an override. So, that's a whole different story. So, so I'm I'm just thinking in terms of the public seeing
it and the budget that we're going to get, it's a one year. It's like we're looking at one year out really. Even if in the past we were looking at more, maybe that was earlier in a strategic plan's lifetime, but now we're waning on the current one and about to build, I
guess, maybe a new one. Just an idea. >> Okay, Donna. And Donna, I know you said a document, but I personally didn't have time to process it beyond a quick skim due to the day. >> I wasn't sure I was going to make this meeting. Um, so I was just trying to get
my thoughts in some form of presentation um to you guys. Anyway, I totally agree, Jesse. the the the part about um FY27 to 31 that um resonates like removing it like
narrowing it to just FY27 resonates for me because the strategic plan doesn't go beyond FY27 and so I don't want to I feel like it's just cleaner and I don't want to create any confusion um at all about um
about I I think think it's cleaner because if we start on embark on a new strategic plan for FY 28, a five-year plan, I just feel like it's cleaner to keep it separate. So, that really resonates for me. I I did send just um some additional
feedback. I don't think I changed any um I did not change any of the budget priorities. I I did add a little bit more um I I would say there were some like slight structural shifts um and maybe some more um strengthening of the
clarity of our budget guidelines. Um I also think some of the wording I shifted only because I felt like um again I want to make sure that we're leveraging this document as much as possible as an effective external facing tool um particularly in a in in an override
year. Um, and then also I just integrated a couple things that I saw in other, you know, when I did that work of collecting um, budget memos or budget guideline memos from other districts. Um, there were some things that we were missing that they had in there. So, for
example, those um um the the fiscal assumptions like that's something we don't have that a lot of the other guidelines did have. So I thought again in terms of the strength of of of uh of in terms of leveraging as
an external facing tool in an override year I feel like some of that additional clarification might be helpful. So that was some of the stuff that I that I changed. Oh and then the other big thing that I was hoping you might explain. I did not understand the four in the in
the override budget section. >> I didn't understand the difference. I can't remember which one it was, but I did there was something that I didn't understand in terms of um the number of budgets that were asking the district to
>> so I was trying to come I let me say one thing about that. So I got some feedback that like it looked like many like so many different budgets that we wanted. So I tried to make it a little simpler but I was afraid if I used regular dash like regular dashes it would look like
minus signs. So I tried to but basically it's like budget one and then you add those three arrow things and that turns into budget two. Then you call out the restorations that gives you budget version three which is the restoration budget and then you recommendations and that gets to the fourth budget. So it's
really like four budget versions but it includes the like it's just sort of showing how you would get from one to two, from two to three, from three to four. Does that make sense now, Donna? >> But I can change the little arrows or something. that made more sense because I was confused about I wasn't clear what the difference was between for example
the ongoing budget and the restoration budget. >> Yeah. >> And I and now that you say it like that and and um is Susan still on? >> She is and she has her hand up too. >> Oh, great. I was just going to ask like it it seems like it's not as much work as it looks like on paper. I mean I'm
sure it's a tremendous amount of work. I'm not discounting any of the work going into this, but I'm saying is it it doesn't it's not like you're actually and this is an open-ended question like really for your feedback. It looks on paper like you're being asked to create
five budgets, but you're not is that in in reality in operationalizing it like it's not actually five budgets, is it? Like the way Mariah just explained it, it does didn't seem like actually five budget or four. Um Susan, do you want to
respond to basically how does this how does the structuring of it look and is it complicated as well as whatever you were going to say in addition? >> Yeah, I I would say it it things are not going to play out as nice and neat as this looks and so what I
would say is that I hear you. I know what you want, but I don't know that I'm going to be able to bucket things exactly like this. We also have the guidelines I have to bucket information from. That takes a lot of analysis as well. So I just I I just caution that if
you create this this particular framework that when I'm looking at efficiencies and trying to cost that out and then I have to make a decision about does it fit into the restoration bucket or does it fit into an efficiency bucket that there's there's overlap and one of
the things that you know I want to make sure is that we don't get bogged down in some of those level of details and miss the bigger messaging about what we need as we approach this override. So that would be my feedback I get. You want a level service budget? Yes, I can do
that. Um any enhancements or changes um may not fall neatly into restoration, efficiencies, etc. So that's my concern. Um >> but enhancements would fall into recommendations that last area. >> It could. But how is that different than
efficiencies? Right? I I mean I don't know. This is what I'm saying. And so then we get >> because the recommendations are to support equity for all students. The efficiencies are like operational efficiencies, right? >> It's not clear to me when I'm reading it. >> Actually, that's what I'm saying. I don't I don't really know. I don't
>> Okay. Well, this is Bella's wording, I think. So, that's something I think you all could >> articulate internally. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I don't want to set up an expectation and say this is I can do this because I don't I don't know um
that I can make something fit into the buckets as they're presented here, especially since I haven't built the budget and we haven't we're just beginning the budget process now. So, >> I could answer better down the line, but I it it doesn't doesn't resonate with me in this format and I'm the one that will
have to uh try to figure out how to navigate that. >> Yeah. >> Okay. All right. >> Yeah, that's something for us to explore more because it's really I don't want there to be space between what you think you can do and what we're writing here.
>> I agree. That's why I raised my hand. >> Yeah, Sarah, I saw your hand was up before, too. I don't want to forget that. And then we're going to wrap up, I think. >> And I have to scadaddle. >> Yes. >> Okay. >> For your point doesn't make sense anymore after what Susan said, so I'm all set.
>> Okay, sounds good. Um, I think this is on our agenda. Betsy, for whenever for Wednesday or whenever our meeting is. >> That's right. Next week's meeting is on Wednesday and it is on the agenda. >> Yeah. And I think what I'll do is um basically just flag a couple of these
comments, but we probably I'm not sure. I think I want to go back and clarify with Bella and Susan what is what they do think they can deliver. Again, this wording was more or less what Bella had. I just created names for the budget versions, trying to use the words that were already here. So, let me get some
clarity from them on that bit of it. And then we can um um and and the reason I structured this just to was because I think that as the override study committee is thinking about what their recommendation is. I was trying to make it very clear sort of like the different um structures that
would be so so they could say oh well we think this you know it could be this one or this one or this one. I was trying to make it like um conceptual things for them to be able to um understand and have it bracketed. Again, I want to make sure that that aligns with what staff
can prepare. Um, and then beyond >> I'll email you separately some more concise things that I thought would maybe also help, but >> Okay, that's >> instead of sending you that vers the word word document.
>> Okay. Yeah. And then I can weave some stuff in before then. Um, but again, this is just helpful. I I appreciate Sarah you saying it's like you're basically pretty happy with where things are at, Jesse. It sounds like minor tweaks, Donna. Maybe a couple of ideas and I feel pretty good about it, too. You know, we're getting really close.
So, that's hopefully. Yeah, hopefully next Thursday, ideally next Thursday we can reach conclusion. So, that would be next Wednesday. >> I'm sorry, next Wednesday. Thank you. >> Could I request that you keep the changes separate and not into the draft because this, I think, is our agreed
upon working draft. Well, I would do it with track changes like I've done the other version so you can see exactly what changes. Um, so that way you have this version and then you'll have but it'll be marked so you'll be able to see exactly what has been added or deleted.
>> Okay, >> good. >> Thank you. >> Thanks everybody. And Donna, the sooner you can send that the better. That would be really appreciated. Okay, thanks everybody. Have a good night. Bye. >> Thank you.