We're recording. Welcome to the August 6, 2025 um finance and capital subcommittee of the Brookline School Committee. Is that our official name, Betsy, or are we just called finance now? Um well, maybe we should talk about
that. I only um let's we'll figure that out. Okay. Um very good. And we'll get started on the agenda. Um, so the first item is review and approval of the July 11th, 2025 finance subcommittee minutes.
Um, do we have a motion for approval? So moved. Do I have a second? Sure. Okay, Jesse, how do you vote? I have a question. Oh, go for it. I guess this is the discussion part. Yes, it is. Yeah. So, there was a follow-up item in
section two. that states, "Miss Fitzpatrick will share these questions with Greg Porter and Jen Martin for clarification and answers." This had to do with a question I brought up around the genocide education grant at that meeting. And I haven't heard
anything uh in a month. So, I'm just wondering, was that done? And if so, were there any clarification, answers, or an update? You did give qu answers to the questions the next day at the before we voted this in full committee. You had asked about
the LEA size and we were told that it's by LEA size, not just by the That was Yeah, that that we answered. Yep. And then there was another question which I'm just going to look back at the I think I had a question Mariah about um how that fit into the framework that um
and and that all was discussed putting that at curriculum in a future date. So there was the specific grant questions that were answered beforehand and then there was the bigger question that was to be addressed in a future curriculum subcommittee meeting.
Okay. Okay. Ready for Jesse? How do you vote? Yes. Uh Donna, yes. Sarah, yes. And I vote yes. Okay. Next item on the agenda is review
of position control report. Um, Betsy, do you mind pulling it up? And Susan, um, Donna's on the subway, but she had asked for if we could just go through it a little bit more, um, like explaining the headers and all of that a little bit more before we just
dive right into the content. I think just to clarify, I don't know if you guys can hear me, but I actually was hoping we could do a quick overview of the process by which this report is produced so that I can understand what
the inputs are and that I'm aligned with whatever, you know, whatever information sources are shared, I'm understanding that part of things. So maybe I can give a little bit of the overview of why we do this and then
Susan can talk about how she does it. Um that's great. Yeah. Okay. So this is basically the thing that fills in from budget to budget what the changes are in FTEES that happen
during the year. And it was really great because in this was only first I think last year Susan was the first year we had this in prior years we would see one budget and then when you'd go to look next year there might be a change but we didn't know where it had come from or why and so there was sort of this like
closes the loop on the budget to budget changes so that we have this running tally of what has changed and why. Um, and so from our perspective, I think it's really valuable because as people who are looking on the budget from one year to the next, that way we're not
like lost when we're trying to understand why things might have changed. And so that's very valuable. And then I guess if that Donna, does that help un explain the why? And then Susan can talk about the how. It's super help. I don't know. Can you hear me?
Yes, we can hear you. Okay. Okay, great. It's super helpful. And I also want to make sure that I'm reiterating that the reason I'm asking these questions is because I'm new to this subcommittee and I just want to
make sure that whatever information existing members have as well as whatever amazing information Susan and the department has that goes into this report is something that I'm keeping in the back of my mind so I'm not over asking questions or you know like I'm
aligned and understanding again like what the inputs are. So yes, that's super helpful. Great. Oh, and I just want to say one other thing. Well, Susan can talk about this, but I'll just say that the nice thing about this is it tells us both FTEEs and dollars. So that's a nice feature and like where would those dollars would come from because we don't
always have them in the budget and so they the staff is in the back end looking at this. So it's really great for us to have like a very high level perspective from the school committee. Okay, Susan. So now the how. Okay. So, um internally
um there are occasions when we need to add staff um after the budget has been approved and when that occurs so let's say we have um a student that requires additional services perhaps um you know
they need additional OT PT speech um andor we need to hire a pair professional um etc Then um there's a process internally where a principal or a director can request a position. Uh they request it of the deputy that
oversees their particular area. So if it's OSS, it goes to Karen. If it's OTL, it would go to Robin. They review that uh request and then um they ask questions. It's vetted through them. they sign off and part of the process um
of their um signing off is to identify where the funding would come from. Uh sometimes it's we're making a reduction in one area and adding in another. Sometimes it's uh we're we're um adding a new staff member, but it's coming out
of the extra sections we set aside. And so they identify that. It comes to me, I review it, and I approve it. It's put on this. we set them up with a PCN and if we're eliminating a PCN which is a position control number then that
position control number is eliminated. So this is an a very important internal control that we have and this is the report where we share out the changes that have occurred um on a month-to-month basis. So every meeting
um I present this report to you and um so the first column represents the new position that's been requested and the FTE associated with it. The next column is location. So that's the location where the new position will now live. Um
and the next column represents the reason for it. So if we're looking at the social studies, we added a 0.4 at BHS for programmatic reasons, meaning they did the scheduling and they were short based on enrollments um in
courses. They needed an additional point4 FTE in social studies. Um and so we we funded that through extra sections which sits in the uh office of administration and finances budget. The
net cost is zero because uh we had the money in the budget. We're moving it now from OAF into the B and into the high school and it's funded through. So the fund type it it's all of these right now are general fund but it could be that it
came out of a grant or revolving fund or some other source and I would tell you that there so you can keep track of it. And then the last column represents what month the action occurred in. So this is the only one we've had in August. anything that happens between now and the next report would then be
September's activity. So that's how you read it and that's uh the process that we follow internally in order to um add add positions after the budget has been approved. Is that helpful? Yes. Thank that's super helpful. Do you mind if I ask you a couple questions so
that um so that I understand some of um some of the detail when you are saying for example with that social studies that first line the social studies teacher and it's a programmatic need so
it so am I understanding that it that it's the vetting the vetting that's happened me that's happened means it's already gone through essentially like the principal or whoever the whoever's the decision maker
that they need an extra section in that space. Yes. Like that person has already sort of like reviewed it and said yes, we definitely need that or no, we don't need that. Like that that that vetting has already happened. Is that right? Yes. So the principal in this case would
be the one that re requested it. Yeah. high school principal requested it after he and his team um you know went through the process of setting up the master schedule. Um and then it goes to the office of teaching and learning in
this case. Um and then they review it and uh ask any kind of questions that um they feel are relevant, important. Um and then they identify the funding source. So the deputy identifies the funding source, they send it along to
me. um if everything's in order, I approve it and then it gets um added to this list and then we set it up in the system. We sunset if if if we're eliminating a position, which sometimes happened. So, I'll give another example. In this case, we're taking extra
sections, but let's say the the high school principal had said, um I need a point. 4 in social studies, but I I don't need all the sections that I had set aside for math. Right. So another scenario could be that it says
point4 social studies that it's that that we're setting up but when it comes to funding source it could also be that it's coming from the math department 4 in which case it's still zero but at least you get to see where we're making the adjustments um
from in this case he needed all the sections we had set aside all of the academic areas and this is an an additional point for um uh that he needed in order to run his master schedule. And and is it also true when I'm reading
this that that would have to be in in either the middle school or maybe the high school? Because if it was if it was the elementary school, it would be a section like a section collapsing or something like that. Like in other
words, like the the the three lines that you have under grade five, grade two, grade three. I'm so sorry about the noise on the tea. Um, that means it's that's in the elementary school because they need an extra teacher
like a a a fulltime educator like one full FTE in in those particular cases. Yes. So, when we looked at enrollment information um back in the uh late spring after the budget was passed, um there were uh
there were some uh enrollments that were lower than we had anticipated when we put the budget together in January. And uh there were also some cases where enrollments were higher in certain grades. And in those three cases, we
collapsed three sections where we were underenrolled and we added a section in another location where we were overenrolled so that we could keep the average class sizes at either uh below 22 or below uh 25 depending on whether
it was you know upper elementary or lower elementary. So in those cases we could collapse but sometimes we can't. So when it says like the computer teacher is another example, right at the Lincoln school, we added um a computer teacher there. It had been cut the prior
year, but when uh the principal was doing his scheduling, they needed to add this position back. So in that case, there wasn't a position collapsed. We used extra sections. Um so if we don't have a um a a place where we can reduce
and we don't reduce unless there's not a need for it right when we're putting the budget together back in January then of course we don't know exactly what the enrollment's going to be um and so we're giving you know a staffing plan based on on the information we have at the time
that ties to the number of sections that we we anticipate we're going to need. But then in practice as we get to see what the enrollments are actually looking like andor you know potentially students move in and have needs then we have to uh kind of course correct. Um
it's it's totally typical in a school district to have these kinds of uh adjustments that are made as you get closer to the opening of the school year. uh this year, you know, I I really took a a good look at the enrollment information as we were getting to the
end of the year because I wanted to be able to post for any positions that were open and also if we were collapsing and there was an an opening that we weren't hiring into a position um that we no longer needed. So, I try to keep a good eye on this in the spring so that you
know we we're we're hiring where we need um staff and not um you know overhiring or or or um um because we don't have a need in one area and we recognize a need in another.
Okay, that makes a lot of sense. So is it safe to say that the position control report is essentially like or ultimately the source of truth when it comes to to sections changes in the sections? Yes. Yeah.
Yeah. Okay. And and is it also true then that um requests for either collapsing or adding a section are also typically originating at the school and then it's vetted at the local level and then it comes up to you or How does that
sometimes when we're looking at like at the elementary level, we look at all of that together. And so in the case of the elementary, we we had kind of a a a leadership meeting where we reviewed this together collectively so that we could make sure we had our eyes on all
aspects of changes. Um and so we did that at that was more of a group conversation that took place then which is why I could make a connection between like these are the ones we're collapsing. This is after conversation you know among the principles not not in
isolation because they're also in the process of hiring at the same time. So we really need to um all be on the same page and you know using the same information um to make our decisions. So in the elementary schools back in June,
um all of those decisions were made as a group. Okay, that makes a lot of sense. And then do you remember um I think it was last June because it was like during one of my first school committee members meetings. There were um parents and
caregivers that came out of I can't remember. I think it was Driscoll. Um, no, no, it was FRR about a second grade um section that either that was collapsed. I I can't remember the history, but um
when when we as school committee members are hit with something like that, then we know either it's gone through this process for the position that you know the process that results in the position control report, right? Like it's already gone through all that vetting.
Yeah. Yes, it does do that. And so what you probably recall when you came on board was that there were a number of meetings that um parents were requesting an additional teacher at the Driscoll School um because they were concerned
about rising class size and um you also heard that at the second grade uh Ruff and Ridley. I think there was another school where we were getting a little bit of activity on but in the end it did not um you know the the enrollments
actually didn't bear out to require an additional section. So we we look at it as a group um we you know we want to make uh equitable um and timely decisions. So um also when we did that
uh did make the decisions on the sectioning the principles communicated out at noon time on Friday simultaneously so that there wouldn't be uh you know families wondering you know hey did mine get approved you know um so the principles were good about um
communicating out to their various communities when the section was added so that there would be clarity and consistency and communication. Okay, that is um thank you for taking all the time to sort of to sort of walk me through the inputs and all of that. I
think it's it's really helpful for a new school committee member and someone who's I don't know if Jesse you feel the same way, but someone who's new to finance to understand like how these how how you end up with this report and what information goes into it and and what the process is. So, I really really
appreciate it. Thank you. You're welcome. Yeah. I have a a maybe a follow-up question or two, Susan. Sure. Um I just want to be conscientious of time overall. So maybe we can spend like five more minutes on this. Sure. Um so in in a case like Baker
where like um when we when we got this material was the first at least for me that I knew that there was going to be a section collapse at Baker, right? That's how I'm reading the report. So, um, the original kindergarten, um, enrollment numbers that were in the budget guide
that we got when we started on the budget was like 67 students or something. So, what we're saying is that did not materialize. And so, that's why the principal now at Baker came back and said, I can accommodate that because Driscoll is is
growing a little more. Is that the idea? Um, they're look they're not looked at the Baker school is kind of horse trading with Driscoll. it doesn't really happen that way. But what we do look at is so one of the things that is um a little bit unique about Brookline is
that we have these buffer zones. So when we're looking at capacity at grade level, we also are looking at the buffer zone and what's happening by grade level. So in this particular case when we look at the number of of um openings
at um Baker we're seeing I think when I counted it at that that time we we we had 35 slots open at the Baker school. Well, you wouldn't keep you were never going to get that many slots filled
between there's no world in which we would have that much of a churn that in migration would Right. And so yeah, I hear you. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, so but we're also but the 35 includes how many at kindergarten are at the hay school
because they're buffer zones, right? And so we're also looking to see what's going on at the Haye school at the same time because we don't want to overcompensate, right? Or cut Baker and compromise, you know, Hayes, right? We
got to look at it simultaneously. So in that case, I remember uh so we look at them um in groupings and we look them at at not only in the school but in the buffer zones and what we see going on. So okay. So, so and and and just so that
I heard what you said to Donna correctly, the for example, the parents and any of the I guess it's Baker, Hayes, and Lawrence, they've been notified or something like around now that that there's an exception collapse so that they're aware of it before
school starts. Is that a normal thing from their principles? The principles are responsible for communicating out to the teachers. We don't do that at the uh to the teachers and then to the um parents. Yeah, that's not something we do at the district level. Got it. But I think Jesse's question is
Driscoll, Ruff and Ridley, and RLE were notified of the addition. Are the other schools notified of the collapse? Oh, yes. They they knew when we left the meeting which ones were collapsed. Well, the principles know. Does the school community get notified? That's my question. Yes, that's my understanding. Yeah, that the
principles communicate and to the best of my knowledge they did communicate um in those cases. So, so ju just to understand then again again because I mean being in the Hayes district I you know I might hear from parents soon. Um in the fifth grade we
had we projected 49 students and you're saying there's fewer I guess that you can collapse because that'll give you 24 and a half students per the two grades. Now it was a three section three section grade. So uh the fourth graders were 44.
So now we're going down essentially to 22 or something. If it was if it was two it was two sections before and when in the projection in the budget. So what happened that it was a section collapse of grade five. These are students entering grade five. So I understand the reporter.
Yes. So these are the 44 students that are that are metriculated into grade five. Right. So, so there were it was only a two section. Fifth grade was going to be three sections. So, now it's going to only be two sections. That's how to explain this. Yes.
And the teacher who was going to be the third grade, the third section of fifth grade, what happens to that teacher? That teacher because at that point in time, we owe them a position. That's what I'm talking about in terms of hiring. And this is why we have those conversations. we see where they are um
what their levels of certification are, what they've taught in the past, and what they have experience with. If we can if we have an opening in another at another uh the same grade level, another school, um we would offer that person that position. But wouldn't that wouldn't that opening
show in the position control report or or or not really? No, those are already existing positions, Jess slotted into an existing position. So the assumption is that we're we found a position for that third teacher. U Mariah is
okay. We had an opening and and nobody was rifted after that. We had also made a commitment to the union um if you recall that that after um uh the deadline for notifications for riffs that we wouldn't
riff any anything after that point. So, no, we we didn't uh we honored that um agreement and anyone that was uh would have been displaced at that time was placed in another position. So, okay, I guess I guess my final question then
because Mar said she wants to move on is um um so when would the school committee receive an updated set of tables on the class sizes and sections since of course the one we have was
dated February of 2025, right? That's the one that has school by school what their projections were. So, it's now you know um exactly 6 months Those are typically delivered only like in November that detailed table.
Okay. Yeah, those are only like the October one freeze data is submitted to Desi and then Desi goes back and forth with Brookline and make sure no one's double counted and that takes a couple weeks and then once it's finally generated those tables are produced like for we'll
say end of October, early November somewhere in that window. Okay. Thank you. Okay. That's why I was asking Jesse that that essentially this position control report becomes the source of truth as opposed to that table that you're referring to.
It has enrollments in it, right? It's different, Donna, because Oh. Oh, it doesn't have sections. It could be sections at the elementary school, but it but it only has classroom sections and some of these positions aren't classroom positions. And at the high school level,
it's not broken down by section. It's total student counts. But but in terms of am I right when I say that in terms of sections in the elementary school the position control report is the source of truth it would yes it would tie right right of change right
okay Sarah I'm giving you the last word and I really hope you'll make it like a 30 second last word one of the conversations that Susan and I had at expenditures and revenue has had to do with when in the school year we will know if we're seeing a change in
international students and for some reason out in the community people are already quoting that um that our schools are down 700 students this year and like at the Lawrence school they're down a full 100 students. Um, I assume that
what I'm hearing isn't good hard facts, but um, and I also think that you and I have already discussed that we're not going to know about those international students until like that October 1st date, but do you have a little bit of a feeling of how that forecast is going to go? Are we seeing fewer um,
international students returning to our schools? Right now, enrollment is in the height of churn. So, I really don't have any um any better information to share right now. They're up, they're down, they're I Yeah, I don't know where it's going to
land yet. There's a lot of activity, I can tell you, and there typically is right now. Yep. Thank you. That's what you and I had said last time we spoke about this is that all the way through September, we'll be seeing that activity. I just want to double check back in. Thank you. Yep. And and by the way, I don't know
where that 700 number came from. You know, I've heard I've heard it twice. Um but I don't know where it comes from either. Yeah. So definitely not a PSB official number. People are getting it from somewhere. Okay, great. Thank you. Well, you're saying though, but to your
point, we will we will have an official number like around the first week of October, like in two months because then by then we know like it's settled. We know I mean there may be students still coming in from other countries but by then people come in people come in and out all year long but that is the quot that
is the official number. Yeah. So we'll have some idea then. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Um we're going to skip approval of grants and gifts for now and jump down to capital.
Um so this is the update on the deferred maintenance request. And Joe, I think, thinks that we all have like telescopes built into our This is really hard to read.
They're keeping it one page no matter how small. Right. Yeah. Um, is this related, Mariah, to the message we sent to Charlie Simmons to get some idea of the meeting that didn't happen yet? Okay.
Right. Yes. All right, Susan, are you gonna cover this? I will. So, um, in the summertime, um, the director of operations, uh, Joe Albuquerque, uh, he meets with the
principles to review, um, what they, uh, have for emerging needs in their school, um, from a facility standpoint. and um he puts together uh the requests from the principles andor if a director or
you know a deputy or or anyone else has any um concerns or needs um and then it is summarized. Now typically what happens when we get this request uh summarized we send this off to Charlie which we did again this year. Charlie reviews it um and he provides the
estimate estimated costs. Um once he provides the costs, uh Joe and Charlie and I meet and then we review the priorities and based on the priorities and the estimates we identify what belongs in deferred maintenance, you
know, what might be funded through other accounts that Charlie has, what might be um repair and maintenance, etc. And then we take what is deferred maintenance and we put it into this five-year plan based
on what these needs are. So this information is is essentially what the principles and the director of operations have um identified as emerging needs since the last uh report
that we provided and was approved back in September of October of last year. So, um, unfortunately, um, Charlie's on vacation and so he's not here to answer questions and Joe had a family, um,
emergency and is not with us this evening. So, I can't get into any depth with you about, um, some of them, but um, essentially this is what we um, have before Charlie to give us some pricing.
Um when Charlie gets back from vacation next week, he'll give us a date and then we'll um continue with our process of of vetting and um identifying how these various projects will be funded. And then we'll come back to you with the
with the um standard um CIP. Attached to this, if you scroll down, there's three pages. So this is a two-page document. Um, and then the last the last item is what was approved last year from the
CIP. So you have a reference point. And so this is what we would bring to you next. We'd obviously on this particular one, we would eliminate any of the projects completed in 25 because they're not relevant. We would put in which projects
were completed in 26 and then we would add all the new items just as we did this year and give and Charlie would be here to answer questions about um his project work in the summertime, what the costs came in at, and if there's any money um left from the CIP, but I don't
have that information for you tonight because Charlie wasn't available. But while this is um displayed here, Susan, for example, Hayes bathroom renovations on this page for FY26 deferred maintenance looks like it's not going to get it'll be two more years because it
looks like he put that there's money there for 28 and 29. That is in a CIP. It's not necessarily um approved money, right? It's an ask. Correct. So, correct. So, that's repair and maintenance.
This is for deferred the So, so most of the information on this one is the the tab for deferred maintenance, not repair and maintenance, but deferred maintenance. Uh because my understanding is this was born out of the town getting
um not having adequate funding in the repair and maintenance line over time. Um, and so they got backed up and this account was set up to try to get a, you know, get caught up a bit. That's my understanding. Okay. Yeah. I I'm just I wrote Charlie a
message saying I didn't know he's on vacation about that particular item due to complaints from parents in the district about uh the bathrooms never working, you know, for a year. So, I'm saying I I I thought maintenance would cover that. Um but uh I won't hear back
from him, I guess, until he uh returns. Yes. And and and that's true. If something um occurs during the year, there is a repair and maintenance budget separate and aside from this that Charlie manages on our behalf. So this is not the only bucket. This is just the
capital improvement component um where they set aside funds for uh projects that are over 25,000. And in this case, one of the lines is deferred maintenance. Um, and that's kind of the catch-up fund. But he does have a repair and maintenance um account. And he also
has several other separate um buckets of money for things like HVAC. Um, if there's an ADA compliance uh challenge that arises, uh, roofing, he has other buckets of of money that are set aside that he can access to, but he
Charlie would have to really walk you through and explain how Well, we're trying. Yeah. I mean, think Mariah and I were planning to meet with them. So, thank you. Yep. And it should definitely be a like with PSB staff conversation, but I and and maybe even just with PSB staff or whatever, but
hang on one second, Carol. Um, yeah, I just wanted to make clear that like if you recall Charlie, we had long discussions about Charlie's about the PSB buildings budget. So, if you recall Jesse, there's millions of dollars that goes towards fire alarm testing and other painting and such. But, um, even
like this year, we held it flat compared to last year. And, um, and but we have done a huge amount of work to make it bigger over the past 5 years. And but the part of the issue and where this deferred maintenance comes from is that it really for many years was quite
insufficient, right, to maintain the buildings. And so a huge effort has been done over the past five or so years to do much better on understanding what the projects are that are on the list and how that ties out
over a plan for multiple years of funding. um so that everyone understands what's being done when when and that also lets them like coordinate for example oh if's going to have a whole bunch of work done in blah blah blah summer then that means that building's
offline and so they know summer programs can't be scheduled there and so forth so there's a whole intricate dance that this level of six-year planning really helps everyone get on the same page for um so that's nice um Carol go ahead
first I just want to thank Susan for adding in priority rankings, which I think is really important for the rest of the the finance community that's trying to look at this, and I think it really helps. And then this the last thing I just want to caution. I know
some of these specifically say not deferred maintenance. Um, but there are some things on it that look like they're sort of a change in requirements, like the genderneutral bathrooms. I wouldn't call those classically deferred maintenance. And I think as a town or
for public buildings, we're going to need a tighter definition as to what's really deferred maintenance, what's ongoing maintenance, and what's a new capital improvement project. That's not your problem. I just want you to know that that's been a discussion that we've had on on the capital subcommittee of
the AC. So if you get push back on some of these things not being deferred maintenance, even if Charlie finds money in a deferred maintenance budget, it's might not really conform with the true definition of that. So but but thank you
so much Susan for the um the prioritization. And then my other question is in December of last year, you put in a request for how to redirect some of the money and I was wondering how wi-i which didn't get approved at the time and Charlie said he'd look at
it after everything in FY25 was done and I was just wondering how does this list tie out to the list that you presented back in December of 2024. We don't have um so this is this is the what was approved by the school
committee and brought forward to the town for the capital improvement plan last year. Um you're right um in the end funding doesn't always align with what the school committee moves forward. Um Charlie has not given us an accounting
of um the projects for this year. So, I really can't answer that question um until he provides us with um with more information. Um so, I can't really I can't really speak to that. So, let me
ask you this. Have there things that were in your December 2024 list that have fallen off of this list that aren't showing completed that were new requests? Or is everything that you requested in December included in this
list? whether it's been completed in this fiscal year or not. Yeah. So, this the list that you're looking at right now is the list that we moved forward last year with all of our requests on it at that time. There is another section, but this was the deferred maintenance component. We also
had requested money for the capital improvement assessment. Um, an allocation for genderneutral bathrooms. Um, and I think there was a third thing that's escaping me right now that were outside of this. And to your point, what
I've been trying to do is is clean up what and define deferred maintenance as deferred maintenance and not have separate projects in it. The what what the first document that um we reviewed
is for new requests. That's not all deferred maintenance. Those are just the new requests from principles. Okay. So, I just want to be clear. They're not new deferred maintenance, but in fact, all of the requests when we sit down with Charlie, we'll figure out what's deferred maintenance, what should be a
separate project to your point, you know. Um, but this is from the administration, what um the emerging needs um since the last uh since last year cycle, all of them, deferred maintenance or otherwise.
Got it. Thanks so much for that clarification. Y thanks Susan for this. Um I have one question um which is we heard from several Baker school community members about the air conditioning I think on the top floor of
Baker and I just I I wanted to check it might not be showing up in the deferred maintenance list. I'm not really sure where it would be, but um I guess I just want to maybe not check, but put a flag in um making sure that we'll be able to respond to the community members about,
you know, what the timeline is, whether it's in Charlie's um HVAC line or whether it's in deferred. I just don't know where it stands, but it would be great, not now, but to make sure we're being responsive to that concern. Yes, I know on the new request there's a
specific um request for air conditioning in a particular area of Baker. Great point. Yeah, top. Yeah, I just didn't know if that was like the top floor. The wording we got back was like the top floor. So, um and that's our question over here. We have all these rooms listed.
Yeah. I just, you know, this is helpful. Well, I just, you know, I just I want to make sure that we're raising that concern again so it doesn't slip through the cracks given the community concern about it. So, absolutely. One other thing, too. Um, last year we
had um a number of people raise concerns about the entry um at Lawrence and uh that's not that's not in the realm of building. So that's in DBW um world, but that is being um uh
repaired right now. So when school opens, the entrance at Lawrence School will have been um repaired. Suppose that's all like the cracks and the issues. Okay, that's great. Yeah, that was Yeah, a little rough. Thanks for that update.
Yep. Um okay, any other questions on this for now? Can I just mention too that so according to the timeline um we need to um have
the recommendation uh move from our whatever the final recommendation is move from the the this finance subcommittee to the school committee and then to the town by I think it's the 12th of September. So we'll have to have another meeting. I don't want to hedge
when that will be until Charlie gets back and we schedule the um the meeting the the staff meeting where Joe and he and I sit down and kind of work our way through all of this. Um but also um it will be good timing because um when we get to the grants part, we did get our
grant a allocations from the state for our title grants, our ESSA grants, and I'm going to want um to be able to move those through as soon as as soon as possible so that we can open the year with the grants um having been processed
and ready for us to um use when the school opens if possible. So, I'm just I know in our calendar in our document, our shared document, there's a meeting penciled in for August 27th, which is three weeks from today. But I think that as you're saying, like if you don't meet with Charlie, if you don't have
something to present on this, we have to wait until you have that ready. So, yeah. But either way, I don't want to delay the grants. Okay. Because Yeah. I don't want to delay the grants. Okay. I with all the challenges we've had, we're in a good place. Um, and we're uh,
so anyways, talk more about that at an upcoming meeting, but um, I know that it sounds like Jesse was interested in joining your staff meeting if possible. And I would be curious to join too, just like because it's I know that like if we have any questions for Charlie and if just in case he can't join the meeting, then at least we would
get the chance to close the loop. But that's up to you how you handle that. Yeah. I I just don't know his access his availability yet. So, okay, happy to loop back. Thank you. Um, okay. Next item. I think we're going to
go back to review and approval of grants and gifts. We have four of sorry, five items to consider. Um, the first is the FY26 METCO grant for 2,387,684. The second is the coordinated family and
community engagement grant for 139,874. Although I have a question about that dollar amount, so we'll come back to that. Um the third one is from the state for enhanced school health services for 90,000 for this fiscal year and 90,000
for next fiscal year. Um the fourth is a federal grant for career and technical education for 73,278. And then the fourth, which actually first in our packet, is the um gift from an anonymous donor um which is the latest in a multi-year series of gifts
to support zerowaste initiatives in PSB food services for $80,000. Um so why don't we start as you can see with the first one that's on the screen. Um Donna, is your question specifically about the zero waste? Actually, my
questions I had two like um general questions about grants. So, I'm happy to hold them. Why don't you start with those and then we can go through the other ones. I'm I'm going to um share both of them. My kids are so loud. I'm sorry.
um how do any how what's the interplay between any um stipens or I don't know we call it extra compensation that's um outlined in any grants. How does that connect to um
again in one of my first meetings there was a memo that had outlined like hourly rates for extra compensation. Do those two things are they aligned in any way? In other words, am I being clear? You are. I think Susan, can you answer
the that Yeah, sure. Um, so there's two um places where we draw information from um to pay extra compensation. One is the collective bargaining agreements and in
the back, I think it's I think it's appendix B, there's a whole host of stipens that are listed there. if they're not in a CBA, then the non-aligned um extra compensation comes into play, right? So between the two uh
typically any stipens that we pay out in terms of extra comp would be either under the CBA dictated by the CBA or um what you approve uh annually for these um these other extra compensation um
whether it's stipens or hourly rates for employees. Susan, are the and are the rates sort of similar or can they vary? Well, the ones in the CBA, the collective bargaining agreements are negotiated
and um so when we're setting the ones um for non-aligned um we do try to u look at uh cons some measure of consistency. Um so let's say stipens uh you try to
look at what the workload is the amount of hours that are spent um on a particular activity responsibilities associated with it. Um, so we've done a lot of work trying to get some some consistency and equity between that. Um,
uh, so perfect right now probably not, but um, I know that it's on our radar to take another look at that um, on the non-aligned in this upcoming um, season. So is that also true? So, for example, when I'm reviewing like grant requests
and there are stipens included in there, are those are the rates of pay for those stipens consistent with what we approved in that memo? I I keep forgetting the name of it. I wouldn't I wouldn't make parallels between the two.
But I'm confused, Susan. the memo that we approve like any stipen that's issued either is is approved by the school committee either through the CBA or through the stipens list. So the funding for stipens that might be available in a grant is still in alignment with the
those two documents that prevail essentially. So you said that much simpler than I did. Okay. So yeah, Donna shouldn't assume like like when some when a grant says stipens, the stipens that would be funded through the grant are still
according to those documents. Donna, like those docu documents govern who gets how much. And and at the same time, Mariah, I think that we all agree that it is something that we're going to return to and look at again, right? It's Well, right, that's a different question, though. Just like stipens that
we approved through when you see a stipen listed in a grant that is a funding source and the funding source is used according to the CBA or according to the stipens document that we approved. Okay, that's incredibly helpful. And then I think my my second um what was my
second general question? I can't remember what it is, so I'll stop there. I have I just have a I have a second question, I guess. Um um on the topic of stipens, Mariah, uh is it correct that when when you when we see point people
listed for the recipients of these grants, um and then their stipen dollars included within the grant, is the grant money, if approved, uh go into a general fund that pays
people out of for their normal salary. based on a a contractual agreement and then it gets debited out of the general fund for the school or are individual people actually paid through like a third party that gets the grant dollars
and then knows to allocate it to the to the existing person who's doing that particular work that the grant was written for. So the funds the the the grant agreement comes to the district as a basically an
approval to spend. And so the grant the accounts that you see in the far right column there yes those are internal account codes and the costs that are listed in the document are charged against them. The point person you see is the person who knows
about the grant and there's a staff member who I think is in uh OTL who manages the grant. Where are they Susan? Is it are they in OTL? Yeah, they're Hill right now. Yeah. Yeah. So they're managing essentially the expenses charged to the different grants.
So the school in terms of the finance flow then Susan the money is paid from PSB to people based on a contractual agreement. of a certain percentage of their time, say half to make it easy, is is being done, let's say for metco. So
half we still pay them 100%. But we're assuming later we get reimbursed essentially when the metco money comes later a portion of money that's exactly the same amount is transitioned over. So transferred over to the account that we took it out from to pay the person.
So when the revenue comes in for these grants, it goes into a separate fund, right? raw fund and then if a person is 0.5 between the the grant fund and the general fund.5 is charged directly to that granted fund and 0.5 is charged
directly to the operating fund. So there's no money that moves actually between um special revenue funds like that and the operating budget. The money is actually paid directly out of the funds we set up. And then when we do the quarterly reports, you'll see these very
funds for the most part. I'm I'm saying in general, there's some exceptions. For example, this donation that's coming in goes right into the food service revolving account as that's not typical, but it it is um the way that particular
one's handled, but typically they're set up in special revenue funds and we hit those funds directly for those expenses. Thank you. Yep. Okay. Any specific questions on the um
first generous gift for $80,000 to support zero waste initiative. And I think this is the third year that we have received these funds. If I recall correctly, it's the third and final. Third and final. Okay.
And are Okay. It's the third and final. So that was that sort of answers my question because I noticed that this is going primarily to fund a salary. Yes. Right. Okay. So there will need to be a transition
plan if that position is to remain. There's no requirement to the the grant was not um is not predicate. Accepting this grant is not um predicated upon you maintaining the position. moving forward.
Um, next item, uh, is the METCO grant for 2,387,684. Are there questions on the METCO um, funds? Yeah, I had a couple of questions, Mariah. Um, there's a there's a item
listed $10,000 for supplies. Mhm. Is there some kind of breakout of what all this what what this is and that these supplies are used I'm assuming directly only for METCO students and not for the general classroom or something in which it's done somehow labeled bucketed differently or boxed
differently. I think it's things like um I'll give an example. There's an end of year MCCO celebration. So if they need to buy supplies for like that celebration or something they could charge those kinds of things but yes dedicated MECO
supplies. So, so is there like I I didn't have time to look up last year's, but if we looked up last year's, is there some accounting that says, "Yeah, we spent about that amount last year and that's why it's reasonable or is it just a um annual recurring ask for, you know,
certain amount level of funding? I don't know if ME if the METCO funds themselves were stable or have increased or decreased. Susan, do you know off the top of your head?" I think it's a slight decrease. It's not significant significantly different than what we anticipated.
Okay, I got to go back. Give me a second just to go back to the um It's not scroll. I mean, it's not scrollable where we are right now. I got to find the my other uh Susan, do you think it's possible that for some of these recurring grants um we
could get like maybe even on the cover sheet just what the last what the last year um amount awarded was and then what our for the current fiscal year what our projected amount we expected to receive was cuz just talking about that now it seems like really helpful under
information to for context on um these grants. These cover sheets are super helpful to like give us the big picture. I think those would be two additional pieces of information that are probably very available to staff and would help us understand as well. Yeah. And we have that information where
all the time. But yeah, we can add that. Thank you. That would be great. Yeah. So that Yeah. Okay. So because there was a different budget item in there somewhere about parties and end of year stuff, you know, that's that's why I got confused about where the 10 grand
was was sort of going. um the the social workers, the um the full-time echo adviserss is the understanding that a direct student support that's ts. It's like on page five of the 16. Is it is it
um accurate that all of these services are provided only to MECO students? There's no spillover or bridging over to other students or anything like that even in group situations or anything? Yeah. So there's been a little bit of a change um from prior years in that uh
they want us to be um spending money like we had in the past had some classroom teachers on the grant and we had assigned them based on you know populations of METCO students in a
school. Um but uh the the awarding authority kind of pushed back on us and so uh we've had to rethink how we're allocating cost. So for um the social workers and the METCO liaison which are
paraprofessionals those 100% support METCO students there are also some positions in there for like um literacy and math specialists.
support some other students but are predominantly supporting all the METCO students in that particular school. So they were comfortable with that. But there are no longer any classroom teachers charged against the METCO grant because uh they've kind of changed their
view on what they feel are um you know costs they're willing to support through the grant. Right. Okay. Okay. So, to go back to Mariah, to go back to your answer, um it's actually shows up in two places, which is why I was confused when I read the multicolor thing, the 16 pages. If
you look on page 15, Mhm. under object code 06 other expenses, there's 10 grand there for six different student field trips and parties and stuff like that. And then like the senior sendoff, sort
of like the end of the year thing. But then earlier on there's a different 10 grand that says I'll find it uh 05. It's on page 11. And on page 11 it says office and school supplies for students and staff use
$10,000. So that's why I was confused. I mean these are it's basically you know two different $10,000 items. I think that the one that you see like the MECO senior sendoff those are not Brooklyn events. Those are MECO events where where Brookline where MECO students who attend Brooklyn go to MECO
hosted events like those are for all districts but you have to pay to attend them. That's my interpretation of what's going on. And this um item here office supplies we do have a metco office. It has a director and a secretary and they do
prepare materials um and you know they have to run an office. So there's office supplies. This this item here is for the office and school supplies that they're they're funding out of their uh for their program um centrally.
I Okay. Yeah. Um sorry, is it Jesse? Do you have more questions? I'm searching for another note I made, but go ahead, Donna. I'm sorry. I was going to just pick up on something you said earlier, Susan, a few minutes
ago about um teachers not being covered. Maybe I read this packet incorrectly, but I thought that there were four teacher salaries included in the MECO grant. Those are for the two literacy specialists and two math specialists. Those aren't classroom teachers.
Oh, okay. Understood. And so they're educators, but they're not like a grade one teacher, grade two teacher, grade three teacher. So, where it says So, where it says on page 13, uh, Susan, we support the district in funding teacher salaries who are full-time classroom
teachers and serve METCO students. So, isn't this a teacher who's teaching both? Like they're teaching a mix, not a mix, an integrated inclusive classroom, right? So I I get I don't I don't get the this
is says salary reflects correct placement on the district's collective baring agreement salary schedule for four full-time teachers. It's on page 13. Yes. Those are the literacy and math specialists. So they're supporting everyone in the classroom, right?
Yes, they do. They but they they support all of the METCO students in that school and additional non-metco students. Right. So there are four teachers spread across we're assuming not in the high
school across eight schools. Nope. There's there's that are funded. Nope. There's there's two literacy specialists and two they're not they're not across they're in specific schools.
Okay. So there's a literacy specialist and a math specialist um in two of our schools that are funded through the METCO grant. those ones were selected because the number of METCO students that they supported in addition
to other students in the school um uh were were sufficient enough for us to feel uh it was justified to pay for it out of the METCO grant. In prior years we did have some grade grade level classroom teachers funded from them. we
had to make this switch because the METCO grant granting authorities um pushed back um and were not comfortable with us um uh allocating the grant in that way. So we shifted it to literacy
and math math specialists um this year and is the number they do serve other students they they they don't exclusively and this that's that was my question yeah don't exclusively right in this case but they do touch all metco students when you have a classroom teacher meco
students are sprinkled throughout the grades of course yeah sure yeah yeah so a classroom teacher may only I'm just making these numbers up for illustration right there might be I just want to ask Susan that We don't spend a lot of time on this because we're already at six o'clock and we have to go through our budget updates, too.
I feel like the questions answered, right? You got it, Jesse? I got it. Yeah. Okay. Anyone else have any more questions on meco? Again, keeping an eye on the hour. Yes. Okay. So, and and these could be quick answers, but is because of what you just said, is that why the teacher
one salary on page 13 of 16 is a specific number 77 948 versus a higher number because it's like a particular person in a certain lane and a certain, you know, and and is the number of teachers based
on the number of METCO students that are in Brookline schools? Is that like proportional somehow? We tried to target um schools where the specialists were touching the most metco students. Okay. But me
um and then my question about my question about so social workers and I think earlier you mentioned paraprofessionals are they also providing IEP services or they're providing other services? They're providing services to the METCO students specifically. And could they could those services
include IEP services or those are sort of um paid for separately? Um I would assume it wouldn't matter whether they're on IEPs or not, but I can confirm that and get back to you. Okay, that would be help. I'm just wondering
if like if yes if it falls into like the case load of in into that case load or it goes elsewhere. Okay, I just wanted to make an observation if I could. This is like the only time we have to discuss these things because we
don't have like intermediate finance subcommittee meetings. So while I completely agree that we don't want to go late, um this is our first opportunity to discuss a very complex set of materials that were only provided yesterday. So where when else are we going to like like when else would we
generally ask these questions and have an opportunity as a subcommittee to discuss them? I hear you. However, right, we don't have a lot of control in this. the state government and DESIE has told us whether or not they're going to accept these things and this has already
been submitted and and reviewed by Desi. So like it's a $2.4 million grant and asking if there's a like breakdown of $10,000 in supplies to me is like focusing on the trees and missing the forest on something that we can't control how big the forest is or what we
do with it because it's decided by the state. So I don't see a lot of point myself in like getting really far into this into the details. I understand right and I think that at a certain level staff have decided how they're going to allocate these funds for
maximum impact and everyone is looking at balancing the needs of MECO students understanding the challenges of the district and understanding the requirements of the grant and we just should like move ahead with that is my that's my perspective on it. So it looks like a lot of money and yet we have very
little control over how it's spent and the staff has already maximized and optimized that to the best they can. So that's why I don't think like we should I mean frankly like the $80,000 a couple of months ago members of the school
committee like were having a huge um uh some people were very focused on the fact that a different um gift was being offered that would fund staff and people didn't want to accept that and in fact voted not to accept it. Now this one it seems like much more straightforward.
So, it's just interesting to me like that one has much more flexibility in it and it might be smaller but we have more input on it. Do you mind saying that? I'm not sure I'm following what you just said. There was discussion about whether or not to accept a gift to bring back OEE staff
and multiple members of school committee were quite concerned about that because what does it mean to accept a gift for to fund staff and yet we have a gift tonight to that would fund a staff position and all I'm saying is people had a lot of concerns about it before they haven't necessarily been raised
tonight. Those are the kinds of places where this committee can think about where it its policy and position actually influence what the district does. the METCO grant that is essentially a state entitlement grant and has strong restrictions on it and and expectations is not it.
So, are you referring to the um $80,000 grant that we just covered? The gift? Yes, it's a gift. Sorry, I keep mixing up the language. No, no, I No, Donna, I think Mariah's referring to an earlier school committee. No, tonight's Tonight's conversation. I'm saying that one is a parallel to an
earlier gift that the committee spent a lot of time talking about the kinds of things that is actually impactful when we dwell on these. So while we might spend hours reviewing like a $2.5 million grant you could spend hours reviewing this and asking all the details but at the end of the day
there's not a lot for us to actually meaningfully impact on this. Right. But I mean as a committee understanding what it means the first time through is helpful and then in the future we won't have these questions because now we know. So this is great.
But I I do want to go back to that. I am a little bit cons I'm more concerned by hearing that this is the third and final year of that salary position. And while the the g the the gift may not have specified that we need to retain that position, the community will have some
concerns about eliminating that position. So, you know, I'm happy to keep talking about it because that is something that I was thinking about, which is specifically why I asked. Sounds like it's mostly it's mainly a salary. That's mainly salary. And I I don't know what the common practice is
in Brooklyn to or by the school committee to ensure that we are transition planning appropriately or that we're addressing the community's concerns because it will be a loss. I think it's going to have to be a future discussion. Right. Exactly. subcommittee can vote
whether or not to recommend to the full school committee to accept that gift and beyond that every but it's something I'd mentioned earlier right there's a transition plan that needs to happen here it needs to be like something there's a decision point after this if we accept this grant
yeah totally I I 100% gift the gift right thank you I was like enough can I know right Betsy can we go back up to the front page and um look at the rest of the items to discuss.
Okay, so we've talked about MECO. The next one is 139874 for CFCE. I was confused by that, Susan, because Betsy, if you scroll down, the dollar amount on the actual award pages is not 139874.
Um, it's like 70 something. So, I'm not I don't really have like a dog in this fight. I just want to make sure that the record is what it's supposed to be. There's two parts to it, Mariah. It's really the way it's set up this time,
but there's two components to it and in total. Yeah. I don't know why it's done this way. This I found it very confusing myself and said the same thing when I went through and it was pointed out to me that there's two sections. That's what I saw, but I wasn't sure if one was the revised budget of this.
Like, I wasn't sure what was going on. add them together is weird. I can we on can when Betsy is it possible on the cover sheet like that we can have it split out we can vote it just as separate so anyone who's looking at the documentation doesn't have to have the same questions that we do
who does the cover sheet is that Donna okay yeah I'll have Z let Donna know tomorrow thank you but you're saying if you take all those subsections together going all the way down that's not what I'm saying if you scroll down to the bottom of this page a little
further Betsy Uh it totals 70 something. And then if you go further there's another like if you go a little further there's a second budget this one which then is
67 or there's something else here. I can't remember and I'm not like there's two parts to it. Yeah. I know what you're looking for. Okay. Um okay. Are there any questions on the CFCE grant? Just for anyone who doesn't know, this is like early childhood
engagement and it's led through um it's sort of separate to beep but connected to beep, right? Yeah. Looks like Okay. Wait, I actually I wanted I did have a question. That's the one that had um literacy curriculum components to it,
right? I think so because they do some inhome programming and some community programming and it's for very small kids. So I was just curious whatever literacy instruction is sort of being built into that is that somehow
again like aligned with the the literacy changes we're making as a district or what we're like h how does that how do those two things work together or it's not important because it's I don't know we could ask the question separately as like a literacy question
but this is just if we're going to approve the grant Okay. Yeah, it's like those park play groups and stuff like that and like a reading time type of thing. Yeah. So, is it safe for me to assume that if it has any implications for students going into
K12 and that would impact any of their literacy instruction in school that this doesn't affect that at all. This is like two through four year olds in the community. Yeah. Okay. Will you go back up to the top? Okay, next is
the um nursing grant for 90,000. And we had a prior version of this like this isn't new. This is multi-year, but this is I guess the latest increment of this multi-year funding. So, um can we actually approve future year? Like, can we approve 180,000 or do we have to only
approve the 90 and then approve the second 90 next year? Susan, well, you can approve it all at once. Okay. And then last, any questions on nursing? Okay, I'm seeing only shaking hands. And then, uh, the last one is the CTE grant for 73,278.
Any questions on that? Okay. I'm going to make a motion to approve um all of the grants and gifts on the sheet. Is there a second? Sure. Okay. Donna, how do you vote? Yes. Sarah, yes. Jesse,
yes. And I vote yes. And I guess my motion should have been to recommend approval of the full school commission. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um, thank you. Next item on the agenda is uh going back to budget
updates. Oh, no. Pierce project. Do we have something written on that? I didn't see anything written on it. Okay. I just wanted to give you a heads up. That's all. So, um, back in May, um, our operations team
sent out a survey to our rising fifth, sixth, and seventh grade families to see what their interest is in using our transportation services for their kiddos. Um, so that we could get in front of, you know, what are our needs? do we need to change um any of our
programming to to transport them um uh over to the middle school primarily? And um and also I will say we knew that the outgoing eighth grade was pretty small. So we wanted to get kind of gauge um what our writership would be. So based
on that, um it looks like we're going to need to transport about 192 families and this year it was 147. And so we're going to have to add an additional route. And so I just wanted to flag that and let you know. I'm going to be sending a memo
to the Pierce Building um uh commission or committee to let them know that we're making this change, too. It's just really more informative to let you know that we're we're going to be adding around when um we we don't think it'll have any cost impact overall in the
budget because when we put forward the budget, we had kind of a little kind of a um kind of a circuit breaker built in um contingency. Contingency, thank you. Built in so that if we needed to add vans or something to
um address need that we could. So, we're eliminating the van and just actually adding another run. So, this will actually help uh significantly with um ridership. And as you know, last year there was concern and and uh sometimes the the buses got a little bit snug. Um
it was never a safety issue, but with you know, 45 more students, um it just seems prudent to to change the model up a little bit. Wanted to make you aware of that so that when it goes to the commission, we talk about it there. won't be going, why didn't we know? So,
I just wanted to let you know before before submitting the letter to them to to just keep them up to um to speed on on what's happening uh with our Pierce transportation. Again, I don't think it'll have any it doesn't appear that it's going to have any impact financially.
Oh, that's good news, Susan. Thank you. Does that mean if there if there if it does have an a financial impact, does that money come out of the building pro project? All of this is funded through the building project, but I don't That's fantastic. Yeah,
it seems costneutral based on uh the estimates Joe and I have put together. You need to throw some salt over your shoulder, Susan. Yeah, please. So, that was it. That's it. That's the update on that uh agenda item. Uh the
next item I wanted to I did send Betsy, can you can you put up I I just wanted to share some preliminary not that one. Um that one 25 FY25. So you know I the books are not quite
closed for FY25 yet, but they're pretty close. um the comproller, not all of the receipts have been posted by the um by the uh treasury office, the finance office, and um they're still doing some work in the controllers's office trying
to process all of the the the bills. So, I don't have final final numbers here, but we're pretty close. And so, I thought um you'd want to know kind of how did how did our deficit funding plan turn out in the end? Um and so of course
we we overspent our budget um and we had to use revolving funds but we also had um a spending freeze on the non-salary accounts and we had a hiring freeze on the salary accounts. So so in other words things that we intended to purchase we did not purchase. Um
positions we intended and hoped to fill we froze and did not fill. And many of those positions that we froze, we ultimately eliminated in FY26 during our budget deliberation process. So I I thought you'd kind of want to see how how it all, you know, played out at
least in a high level. This might change slightly, but not in any significant way. Um and so I just wanted to share that with you. In the end, had we spent, you know, according to the the plan as was approved and didn't uh implement
those spending freezes, then um you know, we would have our budget gap ultimately was about one, you know, 2.1 million. Um but because we were able to kind of claw back some money in those areas, um we didn't have to tap into the
revolving funds um at the at the at the um uh at the level that we had originally um considered back in February. So that's all that is. Well, I'll give you more detail. uh you know they'll they'll
finish closing out the books and I think we have on the calendar in October that you'll get like the accounting of FY25 and how it landed. I wish I could give it to you now so that we could see 23 24 and 25 spending against the 26 budget but
couldn't pull that off because you know they the town has not um completed their work. Does the does does this zero out materials fee? Nope. No. Um, not quite. Spent the majority of material fees.
It's tricky when you get into revolving funds because things like BEEP, you can only charge expenses that are related to our early childhood program against BEEP. It's not related. I can't just charge anything to it. And that's true with all revolving funds. There's restrictions on
how you can use that. material fee isn't restricted because um because the nature of it is that we collect uh fees that are um you know kind of like tuition fees really is how it's defined under the law and so if we're
so does the 324 represent the maximum that could have been charged against beep um there in terms of this expenses that we had some of this is um transportation that's related to beep students and and then some salaries Yep.
So, but is it the maximum that could have been charged against beep um based on the expenses and the amount of overage we had? In other words, when if you add the beep and the material fees, so that's money that we charged it outside of the operating budget. Um
I couldn't have charged any more to BEP for the types of expenses that we had. Um, so yes, that I have here. So yes. Okay, we have a bigger balance. So this is what I'm trying to differentiate. I guess we have a bigger balance in beep
than the 325,000. I just didn't need to tap it, right? That's what I'm trying to differentiate. Of the eligible expenses, you maxed out what you could charge. Yep. Okay. Other questions or comments? So, are we going to look at the budget
now? Well, no one has comments on this. Okay, let's keep going. We only just have 10 minutes left. So, I know. Yeah, but we only have one thing left, right? So, that's big thing. Perfectly on schedule.
Yeah. Yeah. So, um I unlike you have in the past, I wanted you to be able to start the year with where we landed by account. Um and so that's what I've done here. So, I updated based on all of the changes that took place um throughout
our process uh our budget process as well as all of the changes in staffing that occurred um since the budget was developed. and um I was able to I wanted to provide you with kind of a a starting point for FY26 after all of those
changes. So that's what that's what this is. So I I wanted to provide it in the format that you saw it in the budget document itself. And so these are the tables recreated um after all of the changes have been made for FY26. So this is your final
FY26 numbers and those are the numbers that we are going to be tracking expenses against during the year. So I just wanted to provide that to you. Um and the only other thing that I wanted to point out Betsy if you could go u one
page deeper if you could scroll up for me. Is Betsy there? don't know. Oh, she's back. All right. On on the one of the things that I did differently on the tables, and this is so I could start to tie out
um things um in a way that we haven't been a able to in the past is I always like to separate out salary from non-sary um on the budget and give subtotals. So, so this is again we're going through this like iterative process of um of of
of kind of improving our budgeting and so uh that would be something that that would be look a little bit different for you um than what you saw in the budget document itself. So for the superintendent school committee, if you go to the page, you'll see similar
numbers. If you look at the grand totals, but I'm now giving you subtotals, salary and non- salary, and then a total for the cost center. So that that's the format we would be the next iteration of our format um updates um moving forward. This will allow me
too when I'm doing projections um against salary to have the salary subtotals um called out now so that when we're doing the quarterly reports you're starting from a you know from from a base you know the baseline um and you
can see what that number is. So I just wanted to means nothing to anybody but when you see your financial report you're going to be able to see oh yeah that was the salary number we tied to that was that was the final salary number that was approved ultimately.
So you'll start to be able to see you know across reports some consistency that you hadn't been able to um we haven't been able to provide you and that you haven't seen in the past. So, just wanted to point that out. So, that Thank you, Susan. Yeah, thank you, Susan.
This is a much This is a a big improvement. Can we stop at um OSS again? You were Betsy was there a second ago. Oh, I have questions about that, too. But Sarah's questions are probably my questions. So, go ahead, Sarah. Do you want to do you want to go ahead,
Ryan? No, go ahead. All right. So, um I'm looking at the out of district tuition and at the claims and settlements and um just wondering
are the claims and settlements are the the number that we see there is that tuition at all or is claims and settlements only legal fees? None of them are legal. the account. I know this gets um confusing sometimes,
but there's c certain labeling um that we have to use AC across accounts. Um and so claims and settlements is a category. There are no this is not legal at all. There's no legal this is all settlements
um that Karen spoke to you about as we were going through the budget process. So it's not legal. their settlement agreements that um were put into place because the regular IEP process did not um result in
an agreement between the families and the district. So, I'm going to ask the same question again because I still don't think I um have it. Under the line of claims and settlements, is there any tuition there? If if it was part of a settlement
agreement, it would be here. tuition. What else? There's out of district tuition is one of our line items and claims and settlements is the other line item. Is out of district tuition line item
complete accounting of tuition except for those that were through a settlement agreement. Okay, we can get Karen to to clarify, but that's my understanding of how they're separated out. but they are for tuitions. And then there's a third category that's out of circuit breaker.
So to get the total cost of out of district tuitions, you have to add up those three numbers. Okay. Now, what I was hoping for, and this is why I really wanted to give you the FY25, not budget numbers, but the expenses is so that you could see the a
stronger correlation between the 25 and the 26 actuals. But unfortunately, uh, the town hasn't finished closing the book, so I couldn't I couldn't do that for you. 25 actuals in the 26 budget. Right. That would be super helpful. Yeah.
Yeah. Would it would have been, but I didn't have it. And the other place that it would really be helpful is when we when we look at if you look at tuition or uh transportation on this line, you can see it looks like 24 expenses is 4.5 million, then it goes down in 25. It
went down in the budget but didn't go down in cost. Right. So if you could see the actual then what you would see is that that it went you know that it was that that was high so that there was consistency. But again I was really pushing hard to get you the
25 actuals. But I I just you know was beyond my control to to finalize that. But because then we could be having really interesting conversations about you know trends and what does it look like in 26 and it would help inform what we were doing in 27. But we'll have to
when will we be doing that then? October. Okay. I if I could just um again like just underscore what Susan just said. If you look at the tuition line that's in the budget, it's obviously too low. So
clearly some of the tuition was covered in the circuit breaker. So I heard Susan say that some of the tuition is in the circuit breaker. But do you see how it's just low between FY25 and FY26? All right. So to get the full picture of
the total expense that we're paying for out of district tuition, you need to look at that number that's budgeted plus whatever she charged against circuit breaker and then whatever is embedded in that claims and settlements line. Right.
I did right Susan. I just wanted to make sure that yeah that that's that's that is likely part of your structural deficit. Yes. Yes. Does does that make sense to everyone? It does. Yeah.
Donna, before you ask your question and before Jesse has fears, can we this is related to this. Can you go up to the first page Betsy because this ties to this question. When you look at total budget by cost center, student services here looks like it's dropped 400,000
from the FY25 budget. But when we talked about our FY26 budget, there's a whole bunch of costs that are spread across the schools that are student services costs, right, Susan? And so, because if I recall, the student services budget
actually went up by about I don't know 7 million at the end, netting I think it was 9 million to start and then it got reduced. I don't know where it landed, but I just think that it's helpful to understand even though you're presenting this at a building based budget and where the costs are that there's like
it's interesting. I guess I'll say it's interesting that although we had this extensive conversation about it the way this shows looks like the budget's dropping and then if you go back to that other page we're looking at it looks like oh out of district tuition is have and really like there's a lot more
happening um right due to what Bella just said like pointing out that there's multiple sources of funding for these things. So, um, it's just notable, I think, that so much of the conversation that we have had around budget in the past year, unless you have this sort of historical
knowledge, it's not necessarily visible in this document. So, something for us all to keep in mind. Um, Jesse, I'm sorry. Donna was next. Go ahead, Donna. Jesse, if it's about this topic, you can go ahead of me. Yeah, it is. If you go back to the
students OSS page again, um, Betsy, please. Yeah, I was just one thing was the general supplies went from like a factor of like um seven. So um Susan, do you is that is that normal? I mean,
so the other thing that I want to um point out too that's going to be a little bit different. Okay. There were some expenses that were broken out, not expenses, some budget items that when we presented were broken out by school. This is not teaching,
okay? These are like our supplies and our contracted services had been split out between school as well as the district um student services account. Karen had requested that in those cases especially around contracted services
that they be brought back in to a centralized account for um so that she could track them with better clarity. So there is some adjustment here in the FY26 that brings some contracted
services that were not big money but were were um being accounted for at some of the schools into the centralized account you know so that we could keep a you know a good eye on it um okay
moving forward. So, so there is a little bit of an adjustment there. Um, well, it's like war. Yeah. Well, it's but it's so some of the So, the supply line is one of those areas that you're seeing it. Karen wanted to have a tighter control on it and by having it I guess what I'm trying to say Karen
wanted to have and I agree with her that that was prudent especially where we are right now to really get a good sense of our costs and not lose sight of them because they're being um split out in four different ways that makes it difficult for you to get a a true
picture of the relationship between the the the contracts that we have in place and the costs associated with them. So anyways, thank you. The other Yeah, the other question had to do with if we're assuming that some students age out, other students come in, students are in
the schools that didn't need OSS support and develop a need in some grade, let's say for example. So my question is if you take a look at professional staff, it's down $1.7 million and administrative support for it's down about 75 grand. There's some
stipen that comes in, you know, the four times what it was in 24, the 100k, but this shows like a a it seems to be like a large reduction in staffing or at least staffing salaries and administrative support for what should
be or maybe a um a um a population of students for student support that is about the same as it was last year. So how do we explain the professional staff you know significant decrease and along
with the administrative support some of this again I want to see how the FY25 actual because there was there is some and I'm doing some cleanup right now with some of these codes um and one of the things that I've learned is like in the central in these
central office accounts uh some of the old accounts were still being tapped instead of the new accounts. I'm I actually was working with staff today to be able to clean up some of that. So, I think some of it is associated with that, but until I get this final number
on 25, then I can better explain to you what the how the 26 I know what's in the 26 number. I can tell you to the penny. I reconciled every single one of these. So, I'm I feel really good about what's in 26. Cleaning up the backs the backwards looking um information.
Okay. I guess asking the question a little differently maybe, you know, I I I get like 20, you know, FY23 may have been messy in its accounting and that's why it's triple the number that's, you know, in 26, but the I guess the question from a community perspective would be is the 1.097 million what's
what's necessary to provide the same kind of level of support that we did last year? Yes. Because it's not in this district account, it's in the school accounts as Mariah had mentioned, right? Okay. Yeah. is accounted for in one place or
another. Um it's just trying to get uh consistency across how it's being reported in what cost center. Yeah, thank you. It's my recollection, Susan, that for example, hang on one second, Donna, that like say there was a staff position that was split between two schools.
Previously, it had been appointed in OSS when really it should have actually been fractally appointed in two schools, right? Is that correct? Is that is that And it could be the other way around, right? They were assigned to a a school one 1.0, but they were showing up in a district account and they should have
been in the school, right? Okay. So, it's just really like it's like the Okay. course correction. So, Mariah, are you saying that if we had an indent under professional staff where it says 1.097 million? In theory, there could be indented under there
nine schools with their own contribution to additional approved budget that covers student support services. If you scroll to scroll to Hayes, Betsy, if you don't mind, just for one moment.
Um, the Hayes budget, if you look at it, just to give one example. That's Lincoln. That's going to be maybe that went too far. There you go. So, if you look for example, pair of professionals has increased from 900 to 1.3 million. Professional staff has
increased from 4.9 to 5.4 million. So this school has gone up although they had level to flat enrollment deserall by 900,000 and I think that's the kind of thing that you're seeing also it's the reallocation of staff into the schools and my guess is that a lot of this would
be like you know rise costs and other things that are coming in here being allocated out of OSS and into the school where they should have been to begin with and I'm sure someone maybe thought back in the day again I'm projecting oh rise is a district-wide program but it's located at Hayes in this case So that's
the kind of thing that I think Susan's pointing out. But again, when you go back to that first page, it looks like OS like our special education costs or at least the costs that are incurred in OSS, oh, it's flat slash down when really our conversation has been about quite different trends happening in the
district. So I guess is there a way budget preparation displaywise to get at what you just described so that as the school committee and then the public you know looks at this they're going to be very confused as like how where is all this stuff? So maybe there is a way to
you know for student support services being such a huge component of the budget matrix budget you're asking for. Yeah. I mean for for student support. Yeah. Yeah. If if it's not too difficult to do. Aren't there subudgets? Aren't there building based sub budgets for student
services? I thought there were or like what you what you get is so when I the complimentary piece to this on the staffing side is the FTE that I give you which is broken out by by the number of of positions. Right? So that helps you
to understand when you're having changes in staffing and if if you're adding programming you would see a rise in FTE. One of the things that makes it tricky with teacher salaries in particular is that you could sometimes the the dollar value doesn't really tell you the story.
And why might that be? Because if you move teachers around and you have somebody that's in a slot right now over here at Hayes, right, and their salary is at 120,000 when I start, but that person retires and somebody comes in at
80,000 or that staff member that's at 120,000 gets moved over to another school. The cash amount, right, the expense amount doesn't really tell you the story. But that's true at the individual level but not at the aggregate level that we're looking at.
So I guess the real the only question is is there a way to separate out the student services expenses by building in addition to those that are charged directly to OSS. We saw that last not without doing it manually. I see. Oh really? Okay.
Okay. It's just one of these things, Mariah, that came up at a couple of our conversations at expenditures and revenue in that this particular student services component with this which again I said earlier is such a large component of the budget and variable to some
degree. It's the more we don't want to shine a light on it to like say something's wrong about it. No, we're giving support to students who need support, but accounting for it so we can see what's happening. I I like Susan's both ideas. It should be there by FTE
and by number and by and by dollars. That way we can get a sort of a fair picture of how many people are toiling away, right? And also know something about how much money we're spending. Like there's a different cost increase trajectory, I think it would be very
valuable to be able to disambiguate it within the buildings. Right. Right. though for our own financial projections. One of the things I can look at, but I don't think I can pull it off for right now with everything else we have going on, but I can look at and I've done this
before. It's not set up to do this right now, but um maybe looking at it across programs. So like I have it by cost center, then I have it by line item. I don't know if the munus account code system can accommodate another segment,
but it I'm wondering if I can look into can I can I actually recreate it by program? I thought the coding did let someone told me at one point I thought that there was that you could that there was a section of the code that could tell you
it could but only if it's with fidelity. Um, sure. If people haven't coded stuff correctly, that's a different question. I know. Well, that I'm trying to get this format um coded correctly in the backside because right now the mun reports won't print in the format, right? And I'm trying um to work with
the town to get that that so I can print a report actually to the point of the CLA report, right? If we can't print a clean report out of Munice that aligns to our account code structure, then what you have to do is dump it and you have to manipulate it to
get it to do that. And I'm trying to get Munis, which has been a problem for 20some years here, not being able to get reports out of Munice that fit into the school desmat that that the rest of the school districts um use. So
I'm trying, but um there's, you know, it's progress at this point. But I I I think I think we can put a pin on that and exactly come back to that. let's refine what we have and then let's go to the next level of sophistication after that. But
yeah, just like when these kinds of reports are put out without context as a cover page, like they start to tell their own story that isn't necessarily the accurate one. So we're talking about it now, but anyone who doesn't watch the tape doesn't know. So there's that, Donna. There's that, right?
Probably why people didn't give you these reports before. Um, okay. I have a few questions. This is incredibly helpful. Um, so and I just want to flag time, too. We're already over and I have an odious hate of going over time. So,
yes. Okay. Um, I want to make sure I understood what you said, Susan, correctly, and and I know OSS has sort of been a a huge issue over the past um, God knows how many months. So is am I am I understanding it correctly that contracted services are now under
um general supplies on that OSS page? No, no, I was using that in an example about why you might see a like that. Yeah. And that supplies was one of them that Karen wanted to pull. Um okay, but so where do where, for
example, where would contracted services sit for? It should sit in the OSS budget. um as well professional technical services. Donna, the second one, see how it went from zero to 1.5 million. And I thought at some point each school had a
they did, but that they they they do it's it's just pulling out of the schools the OSS portion of that. And I see something that's looks suspicious to me, too, because the FY25 budget did have online books. So, I'm going to have
to talk to Diane about what her table did here. And this is the this is the thing that we were talking about before where when you have to dump the data out of Munis and recreate it in pivot tables in order to get us into this format, sometimes it comes over in a wonky way.
And that looks odd to me that I didn't catch that before I sent it to you. No. Okay. Because it wasn't professional and technical services and 25 was not zero and neither was online book subscriptions and tools. So, I don't know why it's showing up zero here. So, that gives me something I have to look
at. Um, and I'll talk to Diane about when she gets back from vacation, though. I'm on vacation next week. So, we we'll try to get this um clarity on that. Um, Betsy 25 actuals. That's weird.
Betsy, can you pull this PDF off of the meeting materials and just like say like it's being double checked or something? Yeah, sure. Okay. That way, like that way the link's not totally dead. They didn't pull correctly there because that's not true. We know that there were
expenses in FY20. Why didn't they budget? Why didn't they show up? Okay. When this pivot table was run, I don't know. I don't have the answer to that. Okay. And then what's the difference or what differentiates the PAR professional
that's sitting on the OSS page from the PAR? from like the pair professional in the $74,000 for the FY26 approved budget versus a pair professional that's in for example
like Lawrence FY26 $835,000. So the pair professionals that are showing up in the schools are the ones that are attending to the needs of students in that school. There are a variety of different um categories of
pair professional in the pair professional contract. So that's your unit C. And so for example, and I'm I'm hoping I'm I'm recalling this correctly, there is um like a PT assistant.
All right, that's a pair in the PAR professional contract. I believe it's PT assistant. And that would be something that would be showing up as a pair of professional in the OSS uh pair of professional line here. Okay. Okay. Is there a district-wide position? You
mean? Yes. Because they serve students not just in one school. And it's an OT assistant. Pretty sure it's OT. It's an OT. It's OT. It's one of those. Yeah. OT PT, I know. Okay, that makes sense. And it's Tell me if this is also true. I mean, it's true
in my experience, but I don't know if it's it's true in real life. Um, a paraprofessional in a school building isn't only a paraprofessional that is um part of an I, you know, like IEP, but we have we have employed paraprofessionals
who are not just providing IEP services, right? At the school level, you also have paraprofessionals that are um in kindergarten and first grade in addition to OSS. Okay. So if if at some point you needed to delineate what was associated with um
IEP services, you could do that by just there's a way to do that. Okay. Um and then my other question when I was looking at this was um on the stipens extra comp numbers is the reason BHS's stipen extra comp
number so much bigger because of the athletics. Yeah. And and they have a much more robust co-curricular programming. So they have all those advisors for clubs and everything that are significantly
and and would always be. It's not just a be it's it's any high school would have more clubs and athletic programs than an elementary school would. Okay. Um, is there I think I I'm think I
I'm I is there this is a more general question, but if there were any changes to the approved budget um amounts for FY26, am I remembering correctly that that discussion happens quarterly when
you like produce some sort of report? I can't remember what it's called. Quarterly report. Oh, okay. Oh, okay. There we go. sort of and sort of not like we might be we sort of get like a snapshot of expenses
against the budget but say I'm making this up BHS overspends their technical services or the district as a whole or someone or they ask to reallocate funds that does not come to us.
Okay. So money can move freely between cost centers and the school committee might not be aware of that because that's an operational thing. Is that right? There is in general there isn't a lot of money that's moved around between the
accounts. What does happen is that because we're going through this um you know process of moving to a different chart of accounts sometimes money is budgeted on one line but the expense is showing up in another line and so we
might make adjustments um and see budget modifications for those reasons but there isn't a lot of moving around of money. I do not move salary money around at all during the year because I want to track where the variances are and if I start moving the budget number around
then it it kind of obscures my view a bit about how I'm tracking. So I never make transfers on the salary side. So this was um so that when you're when I'm doing a projection you're not on mute. You might want to go on mute.
So, so there isn't there isn't a lot of shifting. Betsy. Yes, you're not on mute. Thank you. Yeah. So, um Susan, I have one I have another sort of question and and maybe we take this into the next meeting, but at some
point, can we get um some more insight into like the VP situation at each of the schools and like how many VPs are because wasn't there remember LA last um budget at the
I think we'll get a staff update at full school committee from Bella at the beginning of the if that's what you're asking. Yes, I presume Bellow like that's in historically when there's been like leadership transitions or new people like I wonder I'm sorry I think Dana is just
wondering because we eliminated a VP at Driscoll is that all you were wondering about? Yeah, I'm wondering if it's if it's sitting in these numbers like is that reflected in the FY26 numbers? Uh Susan would know. I assume not
if it was cut but it's no longer in the budget here. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Any more questions on this? We're 20 minutes over. So my timeliness. You're still smiling on the right. That's pretty good. The more I freak out, the smiler more
smiley I know. I just want to be respectful of everybody's time. That's all. Yes. Yes. This is this was in I know that I took up a lot of time asking questions. So I appreciate all the um all your patience especially important knowledge.
Yes. And thank you Susan to you and the team for preparing that document. While as you say there might be some like glitches. I think having that level of transparency at the building level and everything else is really helpful. Um, so I'm really appreciative of the kind
of detail that then that lets us like understand how it's all going to build bake into the budget in and seeing that comparison going forward and then in October seeing the actuals it's wonderful long as we can get those pivot tables to like don't blame the pivot tables. There's
something in the data. Do not bismerch the good name of my friend pivot. So you and I are always I know not Pivot's fault. It's not Pivot's fault. Anyway, um I think we had one more item
that was just reviewing dates, but that's such a simple thing and we can pick that up with priorities at our next meeting for our FY27. So we'll skip that thing and we will conclude tonight. Um unless there's any last words from anybody. Okay, have a wonderful evening
everybody. Thank you so much. Thank you. Bye. Bye.