All right. Good afternoon. We'll call this regular meeting of the Carroll ISD Board of Trustees to order on 08/18/2025 at 5PM. Our first agenda item is executive session. Therefore, we'll we'll adjourn to executive session in accordance with Texas government code five five one 071, five five one dot zero seven two, five five one dot zero seven four, 551076, and 551-0821 at 5PM. Alright. Good evening. We'll call this meeting back to order at 6PM. Our first agenda item is the opening prayer, pledges of allegiance, and moment of silence.
Will you all please rise? Heavenly Father, we thank you for the opportunity to serve our students, families, staff, and the many blessings you have given to our community and for the trust placed in each of us to make decisions for the benefit of our district. Lord, may our actions tonight reflect integrity, compassion, and a commitment to excellence in education. We ask for your blessing over this meeting, our district, and our community. It's in Jesus Christ we name. Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen. Alright. We have, miss Thumanopoli, to lead us in the pledges of allegiance.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, with liberty and and just and justice for all. Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible. And now for a moment of silence. Thank you. Thank you. Alright. We have a recognition tonight. Item 4.1 is, the HOSA state leadership conference,
sports medicine first place. Miss Lofton, are you presenting? Hey. Thank you for taking the time to recognize our students and their achievement. Tonight we're recognizing Nethra and her achievement in HOSA. HOSA Future Health Professionals is an internationally recognized CTSO that supports the health sciences. Nather is a junior this year, but she's actually participated and hosted both her freshman and sophomore year in the sports medicine, competition. And if I may take a minute and explain, what all entails that competition so that you can understand how great her achievement actually
is. But it all starts in October when they decide what event they want to participate in, And then they study on their own until, the November, December 1, in which they take a academic, multiple choice test, about 100 questions or so over that, discipline area of sports medicine in her case. From there, the, top 10 in our region, our region is anywhere or every school that has a HOSA program regardless of classification, basically from Tarrant County West out to Abilene up to Wichita Falls down to Killeen,
Waco area. So any school within that area is who she, and our students are competing against, again, regardless of classification or school, even if it's a magnet school. So if they have a HOSA program, they can compete. So she's competing against all of those students, and then the top 10 from that go to the regional or the area conference in January in which they will perform skills related to their event. In her case, maybe taping an ankle, doing anatomical landmarks, that sort of thing. From those top 10,
the top three make it to state where they start all over again, but now they are competing against everybody from all over the state of Texas. And the top three from there qualify to go to the International Leadership Conference, competing against people from all over The United States, Canada, China, Vietnam, all over. Netra has actually made it to ILC both her freshman and sophomore year. Her freshman year, she placed second at state. Her sophomore year, she got first at state. And then at ILC last year,
she actually placed eighth in the whole Wow. Thing. So that's it's really cool and really awesome for her, that she has advanced that far, especially being young in the program as well. And she's actually serving as HOSA president this year. So, here's some help. Congratulations. Miss Metcalfe is also here. She is our cosponsor. So Alright. Next up, we're gonna move item seven, the president's report, and item eight, the superintendent's report, to our next agenda item. So I'll start off. I have four items that I wanna just report on,
and I'll go ahead and start. As previously discussed and as part of our continued effort to address the projected budget deficit for the twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six school year, the board is considering a recommendation from the Budget Reduction Action Committee or BRAC, tiger team to pursue a school funding measure that would require voter approval and be included on the 11/04/2025 ballot. This measure, officially known as a Voter Approval Tax Rate Election or VADER, is the team's recommended strategy to help address our budget deficit.
The team found that even with the implementation of district cost reductions and efficiencies, additional local revenue will be necessary to balance the budget and preserve the exceptional educational programs, teacher staff compensation levels and student services our community expects and deserves. The board plans to discuss and act on this item tonight. We have also scheduled multiple town halls to share additional details and answer questions from the community. More on that coming. Also, we have formed a second BRAC Tiger team that will start meeting in September and
will be charged with prioritizing next steps in implementing the BRAC's five year recommended plan. Please know that long term bonds that would encumber our community with hundreds of millions of dollars for thirty to forty years to build new infrastructure is not, and I repeat, is not included in the BRAC's five year plan. With our state's flawed public school funding formula, we are one of the lowest funded school districts in the state and thus can't
even afford to maintain the infrastructure that we have, like roofing and HVAC systems, let alone new infrastructure. Tonight, we will consider passing a tax rate that is lower than last year's rate and is below the no new revenue rate for the second year in a row. In fact, your Board has lowered the tax rate significantly in the last five years and as a result is now one of, if not the lowest, rate in our region. We take our fiduciary responsibilities seriously and while we can't reduce the tax rate enough
to fully offset the rise in property values, we believe our efforts to lower the tax rate will help ease the tax burden on our community. Lastly, the Board voted unanimously to hold a special election to fill the Place three Board seat vacated by Trustee Dudley Jordan earlier this year. The application period closed today at 5PM with two candidates applying, Mandy Reese and Scott Martindale. As a reminder, this election only serves to fulfill the remainder of Dudley Jordan's term, which is May 2026.
Thank you. Doctor. Glenn? Thank you, Mr. President. And on behalf of the board, I wanna thank everyone for coming out tonight and also thank everyone who's taken the time to email us over the last couple of weeks. Before I begin, I would like to take a moment to share that the first week of school went incredibly well across the District. Students returned with energy and we've had a smooth start to the year. I'm also pleased to report that the implementation of our new cell phone policy has gone better than expected. We've seen strong cooperation from students and early feedback from teachers and principals has been
positive. I wanna thank our incredible teachers, staff, and campus leaders for all the work they've done to ensure a strong, successful start to this school year. Your, dedication is truly appreciated. Next, I want to acknowledge the concerns shared by many in our community regarding the recent budget reductions, particularly those affecting the debate program. We understand the value this program brings to our students and these decisions are not made lightly. However, it's important to clarify that these cuts are not unique to debate.
Every program and every campus across Carroll ISD saw reductions this year. No single area was spared from the difficult choices necessitated by our current financial reality. Carroll ISD is facing a significant decline in student enrollment. While we graduate more than 700 seniors each year, we are bringing in only about four twenty kindergarten students. We expect to lose another 100 students next year. Fewer students means less funding from the state at a time when costs continue to
rise and state support remains inadequate. Despite our best efforts, we are currently managing a budget deficit nearing $4,000,000 and we expect it to grow further next year if additional funding is not secured. Over the past five years, our Board of Trustees has strategically lowered the District's tax rate, a deliberate effort to prepare for a future election and give it the best possible chance of success. This election is now necessary. Without it,
we cannot generate the funding needed to protect our programs, pay our staff competitively, and maintain the quality of education our community expects. Our Board is working to call this election not just to save debate or athletics or fine arts, but to preserve opportunities for all students in every corner of Carroll ISD. It's true that the debate program serves approximately 140 students and we absolutely value the opportunities it provides. But it's also true that many other teachers across Carroll ISD serve similar or even greater numbers of students and they have also seen reductions this year as part of
district wide budget adjustments. This situation is not unique to one program or one classroom. Thankfully, our Senior High Principal, Ms. Lewis, has made multiple good faith efforts to work with our debate teacher, Mr. Brown, to support the program and address concerns. In light of recent challenges, she has identified another certified teacher who is willing to help with debate one. In a conversation this afternoon, I confirmed with Ms. Lewis again that she and Mr. Brown have reached an agreement to support the program.
These conversations have been taking place for weeks behind the scenes. Ms. Lewis, thank you for your proactive leadership. Carroll ISD is facing difficult district wide financial challenges that required shared sacrifice. Undermining trust through misinformation does not help students or staff. It only distracts from the real work ahead. We must all remember, advocating for one program while ignoring the broader picture means that another program, another student's opportunity, may be sacrificed. We cannot pit one child's opportunity against another's.
Now is the time to come together, not fight over limited resources, but fight for a better solution. Let's focus our energy on the real issue, which is a funding model that works for high achieving, dynamic schools like Carroll. We ask for your partnership, your advocacy, and your support as we take this critical step towards stabilizing our District's future. Mr. President, that's your report for August. Thank you, Doctor. Glenn. I commend you and Principal Lewis there in the back for, working hard to hear the community and to resolve this issue of,
I guess I heard you right, the assistant coach. We've identified someone to take the place of our English teacher that's left last year. I know that yes, Ms. Lewis has been working with Mr. Brown on many solutions. They have identified a staff member and they were also looking at the possibility of someone that could help after hours as well. So she's been doing the hard work, and thankfully, we're glad to have her at the helm working to resolve things like this. Thank you, Principal Lewis again for that. Our next item is public comments.
There are 27 speakers signed up tonight. We'll give each speaker a minute and a half. In light of the fact that, this debate issue has been resolved, just because you're signed up, that's you're not required, to come up and speak, but I know you're all debate people, so that's gonna be, difficult. So, you're more than welcome to come up and speak, anyway. So let's go ahead and get started. Miss Yelton, will you call the first speaker, please? Yes. The first speaker is Zania Karim. Good evening, superintendent doctor Jeremy Glenn, members of the board, and guests. My name is Sonya Kareem,
and I'm a senior at Carroll Senior High. Today, I will be presenting on the Southlake Youth Wellness Summit. My personal passion for mental health advocacy began at Dawson Middle School, where I received meaningful support from my guidance counselor during a difficult time. That experience inspired a lasting commitment within me. This past May, because of my continued advocacy, mayor McCaskill issued a proclamation officially recognizing May as mental health awareness month in Southlake. That moment meant a great deal to me because mental health has been the center of my heart and work for several years.
As a Girl Scout Gold Award recipient, a distinction earned by just 5.4% of Girl Scouts nationwide, I created a project my sophomore year of high school called project mental health matters. Through this initiative, I raised $1,000 by developing and selling a calming music playlist with local musicians, including myself, to highlight the positive impact of music on mental health. Additionally, I directed the assembly and distribution of more than 1,600 stress relief tools to students across all four Carroll ISD intermediate and middle schools. These experience reinforce my passion for continuing this work on a larger scale.
Building on that foundation, I'm now organizing the Suffolk Youth Wellness Summit, which will take place on Saturday, September 6 at Evans Hall, Whitechapel. It will feature interactive workshops for students, expert led speaker sessions for parents, community resource booths, free lunch, and fun giveaways. I've been especially grateful to work closely with trustee Andrew Yeager who has supported this initiative from the very beginning, as well as principals, counselors, and community leaders to ensure the summit truly caters to his audience. Thank you, miss Corinne. Thank you. Thank you for your time. Could you repeat the date for everybody? I'm sorry. Good. The balance went well. It's September 6. I'd love for you guys to come and see what It's sept September 6.
Where at? It's at White's Chapel, Evans Hall. At White's Chapel, September 6. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. What time what time is it? It is 06:17. No. At, you're at the very end. Sorry. Sorry. It starts at 9AM and goes till two. Yes. And if someone's want if someone's wanting more information on this, where could they go? I actually have posters that I was going to flash out to you guys, if that's okay. Okay. Do you just give them to Barbara? Yeah. And she'll give them to us. Again, thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Is there any way after the meeting that I could get a photo with you
guys? Absolutely. Thank you. Yes. Thank you. The next three speakers in order are Yuzar Lokenvala, Anushka Velala and Peter Lin. Hi. My name is Anushka Velala, and I'm captain of World Schools debate. As I became my speech in the winning round of an international debate tournament, I thanked this very district. Whether it was a debate club I ran in the corner of missus Jobe's science class or my elementary teachers who encouraged my nervous self to even start talking. My parents were willing to uproot their entire lives in India just so that me
and my brother could break out of the very bubbles that held them back. But I was arguing about the morality of America's health care system with the CFO of Budweiser, or advocating against the exploitation of child workers in The Congo. The price of debate extended beyond the tournaments our program won. It extended in our advocacy efforts, where I spent hours talking to congressional staffers with the necessity of health care. It extended to my family back in India as I explained the importance of equality in our lives.
What our numbers to a finance department in this district were the very tools we all used to break the bubble of complacency. In Room 316, I met future doctors, startup founders, and senators who may govern this very land one day. But now, without the funding, it costs $7,600 for my hopeful parents to have had their once awkward freshman daughter be given the opportunity to speak. So she can't. So to the voices that impacted generations of families or the souls who could have
healed millions with their words, we stay stuck. Because when you put a price tag on opportunities to those who can't afford it, you don't silence voices, you destroy Please stay, miss Salala. Thank you. Is Uzar Lokenwala in the room? Peter Lin? Good afternoon. I have been a Dragon parent for twenty one years, and luckily, I was involved in the high school, the children's degree since 02/2014. I'm kind of very heavily involved in the kid, kid activities, so I basically I in the in the past eleven year,
every year, I volunteer in the judging, in the debate line. I watch you can say in the right now in the nation, I work from panel perspective, I watch the most debate line in the nation. You can say that. They were in the old one thing I know up there is very high school, the debate tone is level is very strong. It's a lot a lot of people don't understand that it's very strong. You will call you one of the same many at high school the high school, high skilled,
debater when they get to college, they just don't continue because college debate, it lack challenge compared to high school. That's why I get to a main point is that if I will this is the only focus on the UIL debate. There is no no because the in the UIL debate in the com debate community is the not weaponized. Each year, they only have two events. The TFA is the one hundred and sixty two tournament in 2017. TLC have 60 tournament in 2020.
Thank you, Mr. Thank you. Thank you. The next three speakers in order are Sharon Hu, Mufti Farooqi and Wayne Westgard. The first is Sharon. Is Sharon here? Good evening. Sorry. I was because I didn't reach your capacity. I guess it's really popular meeting today. Yeah? First, I just wanna say thank you for all the board been working so hard to try try your best to provide the best education for our kids. As a Dragon parent, I really appreciate what you've been doing. I'm here tonight just to bring to your attention that ensure you're already aware that,
there have been some of the funding cut of the budget and eliminating the assistant coach position for the debate turn for the debate program. And it's not just about the teacher student ratio, one to a 144, but it's also the coach attendance for the, for the week for the sixteen week for the sixteen weekend tournament. Because when the kids went to a tournament, sometimes they had to stay till, like, 12AM midnight on Friday. And we do need support from the staff there to help them because the parents
like one time, I was there just waiting for her in the parking lot from 8PM to 12AM, and I just waiting outside the building. And it'd be a huge relief if we could know that there's someone inside the building to help and watch our kids for us. And thank you again for all you've been trying to do to help our kids. Thank you, Ms. Yin. The next speaker is moved to Farooqi. Mr. President, members of the board, my name is Mufti Farooqi. My son, the elder one, Aman Farooqi, is a sophomore, and he loves to do debate. When he joined debate,
he was a little nervous and he had great guidance with Ms. Johnson, who was the associate coach, and guided him and helped him. And now he's a confident sophomore. My other son, taking cues, is also very excited to go into debate. But this was kind of a disappointment. Like I know you guys have been working hard. I really, really appreciate that to solve this problem. So I don't need to stress the importance of debate in front of you. Coming from like a third world country where debate and discourse is sometimes shut down,
it's not important. What we are doing here is a debate. And I would really love these kids. These kids are showing up in such great numbers. It's exciting because they're going to be empowered citizens who are able to address and debate issues, which are going to be important for them. And I would really, really encourage your board to do whatever they can to help with this debate program because all the programs are important. But I think this is one of the programs that really, really helps us generate the citizens that we need who are going to be responsible
and empowered going into the future. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Perky. Good evening. I'm Wayne Westgard. I'm the, I'm I'm a parent of a incoming freshman debate student. And I think the tone of the meetings changed. I very much appreciate your comments, doctor Glenn. I think it's really great. One thing we haven't heard from anyone so far is the role of the Booster Club in this situation. So the Booster Club, we all know, is there to support financially. And this Booster Club compared to others in Carroll right now is a bit underperforming. We are going to continue to need Booster Club funds.
So I'm gonna propose that the superintendent raise a Tiger team of other board members of different booster clubs. I'm the treasurer of the Carroll Athletic Booster Club, and we could come together with this booster club and show how to how to raise some money because we're gonna continue to be in this environment for quite some time. And we're all dragons. It doesn't matter what program you come from. We know how to do things in different parts of Carroll about raising money.
And that's what we really need to do here is come alongside our brothers and sisters and figure out how can we solve it together. Just for some reference, last year, 2024 to 2025, the cash intake for the Caro Athletic Booster Cup was about $740,000 So we're not talking about this is real money and we can help them find it because it's out here. And we just need to help them market what they do because they're leaders and they're coming up. Thank you, Mr. Westgaard. The next three speakers in order are: Three years ago, when I first moved to Southlake from my small suburb in Chicago,
I never would have imagined that I'd stand here today, confidently delivering the speech amongst many of my peers that I've met through speech and debate and who I now call my best friends. I'll be honest, making friends in Southlake in middle school wasn't easy. It felt like everyone already had their own friend groups, and I always felt like the odd one out. Fast forward to the end of eighth grade, and I still felt this way. And honestly, if it wasn't for the amazing speech and debate community here in Southlake, I'd likely still feel that way. Because the truth is,
debate didn't just allow me to find my passion for speaking and advocacy, but it gave me the opportunity to find my community here in Southlake. It not only gave me a voice, but it taught me how to use it. But most importantly, it taught me to believe in myself and others because that's what our speech and debate community has done countless times. It's been a place where fellow dragons, like myself, have been able to find their place and find themselves. By cutting funk by cutting funding, you irrevocably limit the opportunities students have to develop critical skills like public speaking.
That's why I urge you to rethink your decision, not just for our current competitors, but for the rising generations of dragons who will forever have to think twice before enrolling in major tournaments, who will have to sacrifice valuable coaching because our current staff is being overworked, and will inevitably start to lose the magic of our debate community. Thank you, miss. Good evening, everyone. I'm Lakshmi Viravolu, the mom of, a sophomore in the debate team. And I thank the board as well as miss Lewis, for all the changes that they're they're trying to do to remedy the changes in
the coaching structure of the program. Now my son was a freshman last year in debate one, and we had newly moved to ISD. While moving from out of state, there were several things we were considering between Southlake and other areas. And definitely, the well rounded, programs offered here in ISD was one of the reasons we moved here. And my son had a great experience in debate one. He took it only to explore his interest, but then grew to liking it under the guidance of both the coaches, coach Brown and coach Johnson. And I think debate, we soon understood, was a big umbrella under which there are many categories,
many nuances that if you have a separate assistant coach care to where to debate one, the kids truly understand where their interest lie. And also, as it's been mentioned, the tournaments are very long going into late hours of the night over weekends. So the coaches do spend incredible amounts of time there. And I'd also like to mention, an instance where I saw a great team spirit and kinship when the debate juniors and seniors threw a baby shower for coach Brown last year and his wife. And there was so much warmth and love in that room. And I sat there thinking this is what a team truly is about because they
spoke about not just lessons in debate, but life lessons they learned from the coach. So I think that amount of kinship can only be cultivated, if he cannot do it single handedly. He needs more help doing that. And while cuts do need to be made, I think adequate staffing in any program should be a priority. Good evening, everyone here today. I'm Ernav Tomer, a current freshman in the Carroll speech and debate program. So I remember walking through the doors of kindergarten at Walnut Grove Elementary School, and from the moment I walked into my first class, I knew Carroll ISD actually cares about me.
Carroll ISD cares about their students. So now I just want to plead with you that our students of debate want to have more funding. We want coach Brown to have more help to grow this amazing program that we have today. Not just because of the critical skills that it teaches you, like public speaking, which you can carry on through college, even through later in high school, and even through your career. 60% of hiring managers think public speaking is the most important skill and can even be a deal breaker. And since at Carroll ISD, I know you care about your students because I've seen it single handedly through so
many years of being here, and I love this ISD so much. But, also, let's just look at the 60%. The that's mean this means that the debate program if we just grow the debate program, give it more funding, this looks like more our kids having more jobs, our kids actually seeing growth, our kids actually showing empowerment and advocacy, and since we always want our kids to show advocacy. And at my time in Carol's speech, even though I'm just a freshman, I already know that this speech program will change my life forever, and I really want this to grow into something bigger.
So because extra funding for Carol's speech and debate is extra funding for your children's future. Thank you. The next three speakers in order are Sarah Vangula, Ms. Yaki Hunsinger and Nina Chen. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Siri Vangala, and I am a junior in the Carroll speech and debate program. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today. Over the past two years, speech and debate has been the most impactful part of my high school experience. It has given me skills in writing, public speaking, and critical thinking,
and more importantly, a space where students dedicate countless hours and see that effort turn into real growth. Last year with both coach Brown and our assistant coach, miss Johnson, our program had balance. Beginners received the guidance they needed, while varsity competitors got focused support to succeed at high level tournaments. That structure is part of why Carroll debate has stayed so successful. But this year, with nearly 145 students and only one coach, that balance is gone. Students at every level will now receive less preparation,
less guidance, and fewer opportunities. On top of this, district funding for major tournaments like TFA state, TOC, and nationals has been cut. These are the tournaments where Carroll has consistently reached finals. Shifting those costs entirely onto families doesn't just reduce the participation. It also reduces the equity. It means opportunity is determined by resources, not by talent or dedication. Our program is at a turning point. We are willing to commit the hours. We are willing to do the work, but we need support that matches the size and caliber of this program.
On behalf of my teammates, I urge you to reconsider the loss of the assistant coach and the cuts to tournament fee funding. Thank you. Thank you. Missus Hunsinger is is in the room. Nina Chen is next. Good evening. My name is Nina Chen, and I'm a current junior at Southlake Carroll Senior High School. But I wanna take you back to when I first joined in freshman year. It was 08/16/2023 when I first joined the debate program at Carroll. I vividly remember walking into the debate room and being absolutely terrified at my first task, giving an impromptu speech on a topic given to us five minutes beforehand.
And as you can assume, it didn't go very well. I was stuttering every three words, and I couldn't wait for the drill to end. But, Coach Brown doesn't just give up on his students because of one bad practice or because of one bad drill. He does the opposite. He caters his time working with each student, making sure they're constantly improving and enhancing their confidence, critical thinking capabilities, and public speaking. We see this every single day in our debate program. Countless hours in practice and class where he's constantly giving us feedback. And coach Brown does an excellent job, but he,
like everyone else, isn't a superhuman. Currently, the debate program has around 144 students. And even with the addition of an assistant coach, that just means that our debate program is going to rapidly that just means Art debate program and the skill of students is going to improve. However, funding to critical tournaments like TOC, TFA, and even NSCA Nationals are being cut. And this strongly reduced, but extra help is needed. And cutting this crucial funding hurts students who have grown and thrived through this program, including the students who have found their confidence and voice through this intellectual activity,
largely thanks to the help of our coaches. Thank you. The next three speakers in order are Tania Kyriakos, Tim Schutz and Marley Gale. Good evening. My name is Tanya Kurikos, a junior and in my third year of the Southlake Carroll speech and debate program. Debate forms a way of thinking that cannot be nurtured elsewhere, teaching how to evaluate a multitude of perspectives and respectfully disagree. I'm sure we can all agree that these skills are nothing short of essential for the real world. However, the lack of funding restricts this. Whether that be the access to tournaments or the capacity to coach all debaters from
an assistant coach that actually understands debate on a deep level with the current landscape of our funding and the lack of a proper assistant coach, the implications I discussed before are heavily impacted and not feasible. Through funded and supported tournaments, I have met and competed with people across the world, gained critical thinking, communication, and confidence from the active support in tournaments of this program. I developed the skills to have a voice and the most importantly, to have confidence. Debate funding helps generate the success it has in the past, whether it was winning nationals a few years ago or winning a world championship last
year. The support of everyone in speech and debate has been tremendous during my past three years with the largest debate class in history with a ratio of 145 students to one coach with a possible assistant coach not even being proper and able to assist at the magnitude of our student body. This landscape cannot support the massive amounts of potential talent. This simply does not work. I urge you all to reconsider your choices of funding and the assistant coach employment for this program. Don't put an extreme price tag on these life changing experiences. Allow debate coaching to actually be efficient. Please support speech and debate.
Thank you. Thank you. Oh, good evening, trustees, doctor Glenn, and fellow citizens. It was just fourteen months ago I was first here to speak about cell phone use. The law clearly has the potential to really make a difference in our schools. However, my enthusiasm is very measured. In the first week, violations were met with warnings instead of the formal documented policy of first offense, $15 phone confiscated. My concern is that a strong start, students without a strong start,
students will be finding ways and workarounds. If they sense the rules won't have consistent enforcement, the policy will lose effectiveness even before it gets a chance to start. Another key issue is teachers' confidence. I have heard that some teachers are not yet sure how it will be supported, that they will receive strong administrative enforcement and are hesitant, right, when a strong consistent enforcement is needed. Teachers must know administration will stand firmly. Pointing to a poster is not enforcement. They will that's why transparency matters.
Reporting violations is not optional. It is essential. Regular sharing of the number of violations giving gives parents a clear baseline to know that it's being worked. Asking for an open records report is unacceptable to know if this is being enforced. Sure. I urge your I urge your district to enforce. And once again, when my daughter comes home and says Thank you, mister Shuts. Your time is up. Thank you, mister Schutz. Thank you. Good evening, president Brian, superintendent doctor Glenn, and board of trustees. My name is Marley, and I serve as the speech captain on our varsity debate team.
Today, I'd like to walk you through a weekend in the life of our coach, Anthony Brown. This is a tournament weekend. All week, coach Brown has been running practices, registering students, and making sure everything is ready. By Friday, he's coordinated with the school, told us where to be, and made sure we can all get there. As we arrive, he greets the 80 of us competing this weekend and sends us off with words of encouragement. Then, he heads to his round, where he is scheduled to judge for the next hour. Afterwards, he makes his way back to his students and helps them prepare for the rounds they'll face next. He gets a message, a room is missing a judge. He alerts the tournament and spends twenty minutes finding another judge to cover.
Then he goes back to judge another round. This one lasts three hours. Then it's back to his students, who've in the meantime competed two more rounds without him, needing more prep and more assistance. A decision was messed up by an unfair technicality. He has to appeal the tournament for over an hour to get it overturned. When he's done, he's judging again, and then prepping, over and over until it's midnight. At 08:00 the next morning, he starts again. All day, the whole weekend, 15 weekends a year. I assure you, just like everything else at Carroll, our program is excellent. But we cannot uphold that tradition if we lack the opportunities that let us be
excellent. We have the talent, we have the skill, and we have the work ethic. What we need is resources. What we need is your support. As leaders in our community, I implore you, help us be excellent. The next three speakers in order are Nikki Atla, Amber Lin, and Natalie Wang. Good evening, members of the board. I know that many programs across the district are facing cuts, and I understand the difficult choices that have to be made. But I also wanna share why debate and the assistant coach position in particular are so meaningful to students like me. With over a 100 students,
our coach can't possibly be everywhere at once, especially at tournaments where he's judging. Having an assistant coach meant we always had someone to guide us, answer questions, and make sure we weren't left on our own. That support not only made the program stronger, but also gave our coach more time to work with us individually. And since our assistant coach was also an English teacher, the impact reached beyond debate and into the classroom as well. And look, I know many other teachers are also losing funding, but they have other teachers in their department that are willing to help and support, but coach Brown only has himself.
Families such as mine moved to Southlake because of all of its stellar programs, academics, athletics, fine arts, and debate is such a big part of that reputation. If this position and other funding are cut, it becomes much harder to maintain the excellence that makes people choose Southlake in the first place. On behalf of myself and my teammates, I respectfully ask you to reconsider these cuts and help us preserve what makes Carroll so special. Thank you. Thank you, miss Allen. Good evening. My name is Amber Lynn, and I serve as the congressional debate captain for our speech and debate team. I thought about this moment and exactly what I would say to you guys for
months. Yet the lack of support that this team has received from this year and last year has left me speechless and without words because I cannot explain what a slap in the face it is to all of Southlake hard to all of Southlake's hard work by the decisions that this board has made to remove our funding. We are one coach down. And regardless of any current solutions, we should have never been in that position in the first place. Forcing us to pay over $4,000 per student in travel fees by not covering tournament costs makes the activity I know
and love impossible. This board has decided that only UIL competitions will be supported, but the level of competition that UIL competes at is substandard in our community. Don't force this team to go from regularly winning international and state titles at dozens of tournaments every year to sitting on the sidelines at the two UIL tournaments that occur every year. Doctor Glenn, you cannot preach equality in all and urge us to not speak for our dying program because this issue is far from resolved. Debates has taught me to find my voice in situations like this,
so we will not stop fighting for our program. Make the changes we deserve. Remember, protecting excellence in education means protecting speech and debate as well. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening to the members of the board. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak to you tonight. My name is Natalie Wong, and I'm the president of our Carroll Speech and Debate team. Over the past several years, our program has been more than extraordinary. And as a lifelong Dragon, I know excellence when I see it. State championships, national championships, and international championships are a sign that our speech and debate team,
we just we don't just foster excellence, we ensure that the critical thinking skills and the public speaking skills that we learn in this program are carried on to the rest of our lives. Speech and debate is not just one of the largest programs at our school, it's one of the most successful in the nation. For me, these successes are deeply personal. When I first joined the program, I had never spoken in front of more than a handful of people before. But as some of you may recall, just two weeks ago, I spoke at convocation in front of hundreds of teachers. That sort of transformation from being voiceless to being a leader has only happened because
of the opportunities that speech and debate has provided me. But today, stories like mine are at risk. Our team has grown to more than 140 students, yet we have less funding and less resources than ever before. Today, I'm asking you to remember what's at stake, a program that doesn't just win trophies, but changes lives. Speech and debate gave me the confidence to stand here tonight. It gave me the confidence to stand at convocation, and it gave me the confidence to stand on the on the final stage of multiple tournaments every semester. With your support, I can continue to give that gift to hundreds of all students,
but only with your support is that possible. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Wang. The next three speakers in order are Ronak Desai, Manisha Mehta and Kamala Tamarissa. Hello. My name is Ronak Desai, and I'm a citizen here in Southlake for a good long while. And I grew up in Tarrant County as well in the public school system. And one of the things even you knew about Southlake from when I was a kid is there is an immense commitment to excellence, and Southlake was good at everything. And the debate program and any other program is no different. You moved to Southlake because there is such a great commitment to excellence from the
school board and from the principal, miss Lewis, and I'm just really encouraged to hear that you guys worked behind the scenes to come up with an answer and a solution. It may be imperfect as it is right now, but we should all be happy that we're moving forward in a direction. And I just wanna make sure that everybody understands that there are four world champions in this room. If you're a world champion, stand up and debate. But four of them won world champion last world championship last year and then two years before that, they were national champions. That's a level of success that's very hard to come by and it requires your continued commitment to excellence in order to provide a supportive environment for that.
Thank you, guys. Good evening. I'm asking you to give the debate program the staffing resources required to keep the program running at a state and national level of competitiveness. I'm a parent of three dragons, two are in debate, and I have donated to CEF. Last year, my student was a freshman in debate one. They had a head coach and a part time coach. It wasn't enough. There were many times where my student came home and said that they ran out of speaking time in class. So I don't think one coach is necessarily enough. This year, I come to hear that we, had no solidified coach,
assistant coach, went for a 140 students. I also want to draw to attention that the program grew in size and success, now add world champions. And we arrived to under staffing coaching. It really didn't make sense, and I asked for some transparency in what happened and why this happened. So, you know, scrambling to find a teacher, I again, miss Lewis and the board, thank you for finding, as Ronick said, an imperfect solution. But I'm hoping that you probably understand at this point from all we've heard that we need two or three teachers with experience in debate, to truly succeed.
The students from this program are being accepted into the most prestigious colleges in the nation, from Ivy League such as Harvard, Stanford, Yale, the list goes on, all the way to elite honors programs and state schools. And that's really hard to achieve from a Texas public school and probably going to get harder. So, you know, these are the stats and acceptances that are bringing you highly motivated families who expect academic excellence. I kindly request each of you to ignite the dragon within you to provide what is needed for success and longevity of this award winning team. Thank you, miss Spencer.
Good evening, board members. Thank you so much. We appreciate all your time. I know you heard from everyone, so I'm not going to bore you with the numbers. I do have a child, who's a junior in the school district. And on behalf of all the kids and my child is a selfish mother, I request you please support the debate and the coach the speech program. We have one coach, coach Brown. He has a young baby. He has a family. He has one person for more than, you know, one forty kids growing up to become one eighty in number. So, you know, as a parent, please support us,
and we appreciate your time. Thank you. Thank you. The next three speakers are Tom Vigala, Sid Chamala, and Alexis Lance. Good evening, members of the board. My name is Ton Vigala, and I'm a senior at Southlake Carroll. I serve as the captain of public forum debate, but more importantly, today, I'm here to help represent more than 140 students who are a part of this program. When I first started debate, the program was much smaller. We had a few dozen students, which wasn't even a fraction of the size of the program today. But one thing has never changed,
and that's the passion and the enthusiasm of every student who walks into that classroom. Every day, we all come ready to learn, to improve, and to carry the skills we gain in debate into the real world beyond these competitions. Behind every speech or argument is not only the effort we've put in, but our commitment to representing the school with excellence. But this year, our program has faced significant cuts. Our funding was reduced, and we lost one of our assistant coaches. Additionally, the burden of financing tournaments in the post season have fallen onto students and their families, totaling over $4,000
per student. For many, that means choosing between competing and affordability, limiting access to the very opportunities this program is meant to provide. Debate is not just another extracurricular. It teaches students how to think critically, project confidence, and view situations from multiple perspectives. Cutting our resources also reduces opportunities for students to find their voice and prepare for the future. I truly hope you will choose to continue to support the speech and debate program and help us make this district proud. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, Southlake. Oh, hi, Southlake board members. My name is Siddharth Damala,
and I'm currently a debater for the Southlake debate team. First of all, I'd like to thank every one of you for taking the time out of your Mondays to come here and hear out the debate program. If you told me last year that I'd be speaking in front of the entire board, I'd say you're crazy. But debate helped me come out of my shell and become more confident, enough to speak about the funding towards our program today. Now let's address the topic at hand. Debaters shouldn't have to pay for success. Cutting funds and driving up cost for tournaments just pushes people away from debate and ruins the spirit of competitive debaters who've put years of preparation into getting where they
are today. We've just seen the largest influx of freshmen joining debate, but we don't nearly have sufficient funds to see that potential materialize. It's so critical that such a large program that that we can cater to each student's needs and develop a nurturing environment to foster the growth and improvement of young debaters. But instead, we saw Our assistant coaching role get removed. In addition, the debate program is one of the most successful clubs and activities in all of Carroll, amassing world and state championships over the years. We we are a representation of what it means to be a Carroll Dragon.
More funds means more students who can become confident, who can compete on the biggest stages, who can rev who can receive ample instruction, and who can enjoy the activity they love without having to worry about grueling costs. Thank you for her hearing me out, and I urge you to reconsider the funding towards the debate program today. Thank you. Thank you. The final speaker for the evening is Angela Frazier. President Bryan, trustees, Doctor. Glenn, I don't know about you guys, but, I think these students are pretty darn impressive. I know it's only the first week of school, but I give them all A pluses in speech and debate for the week.
They really they really embody the spirit of the program and advocating for themselves and the things that are important to them, is really extraordinary to see tonight. But, this program is about extraordinary students, investing an extraordinary amount of time and thankfully having an extraordinary coach who's willing to walk alongside them. And and every step of the way from that nervous freshman who is hiding in the bathroom at a debate tournament, turning that same kid into a championship national championship debater. And that's a true story,
that just happened recently. So these kids come a very long way in their short time. We're a little bit behind the eight ball. We have a tournament that starts next week, and it was a surprise to learn that the coaching position no longer existed when we got to the week before school started. So there are a lot of resources we needed to we need to make up for. Glad to hear mister Westgard is going to do some fundraising. I I love that 730,000 number. Let's see if we can shoot for that. I'm all for that. But we definitely need everyone pulling in the same direction and helping us really make
sure that these students have the resources they need to win the championships for Carroll because I know their heart is in it, and they're willing to do the work for that. Thank you. Thank you, miss Fraser. Michelle, do you have any more speakers? There are no further speakers. Okay. That, concludes our public comments. Thank you all for being here. We're gonna take a short recess and get a picture with miss Kareem, and then we'll, move on with our agenda. Thank you all for being here. Alright. We'll call this meeting back to order at 06:59PM. Our next agenda item is item number six, which is consideration and possible action on any matters addressed during executive session.
Yes, president Here we go. Yes, president Brian. I authorize the board president Wait. Excuse me, Andrew. Excuse me, folks. If you we've started the meeting back, so if you please quietly exit if you're speaking. Thank you. Thank you. Trustee Yeager? Yeah. President Bryan, I authorize the board president to enter into real estate contract for the property as presented in executive session. Second. We have a motion and second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Motion carries five to zero. Thank you, trustee Yeager. Okay. Since we have already done the president's report and superintendent's report,
we'll move on to agenda item number nine, which is a public hearing on the Carol ISD proposed twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six tax rate. At this time, the public hearing is declared open, and I will ask the administration to take us through a presentation regarding the twenty twenty five twenty twenty six proposed tax rate. Mister Park? President Brian, doctor Glenn, trustees, good evening. I'm here to take us through the public hearing to discuss the resolution to adopt the 2025 tax rate for the 2526 fiscal year.
So just to recap a quick timeline of what's happened over the last two months, the district received its certified local values from from the Tarrant Appraisal District on July 25. We had to submit our local property value study, to TEA, to obtain our, maximum compressed rate from this from from the agency. On August 8, which is ten business days before today's, date, we published our publish, we published the notice of public hearing to discuss the tax rate, and then here we are today to, seek approval for the proposed, rate that I'm about to discuss.
So this is our, proposed rate. We are proposing a total tax rate of $92.94 cents per $100 of taxable valuation. Our maintenance and operations rate is set at $68.53. That is essentially the MCR set by the state, plus the eight, enrichment pennies, tier two pennies that we are seeking, and then an interest and sinking rate of $24.41. As I mentioned, so the state has compressed our MCR from,
sixty one sixty nine to sixty fifty three, which was a drop of 1.16¢, and that was just based on our, taxable value increase of about 4.45%. And then the tax, the tier two enrichment pennies, we are seeking, an an an increase of, 3¢ there. And then our INS side, we are dropping 5.7 5.07¢, for a total decrease of our tax rate, from last year at 3.23¢.
So just to provide a little history, over the last five years, again, as you see, we we are decreasing our tax rate, 3.23¢ this year, from from a 4¢ decrease, last year. And so over the past five years, we have dropped our tax rate. The board has adopted a tax rate that is, 33 almost 34¢ lower, since fiscal year twenty two. And as you mentioned before, this is the second consecutive year that we will be proposing a tax rate, that is below the the no new revenue rate.
And I will go back, go through that in the next slide. So, mister Park, just a quick question, because community probably doesn't know. That is how how common is it for, an ISD in the state of Texas, to pass a tax rate that is below the no new revenue rate, not just once, but two years in a row? Is that pretty common? No. It's, it's it's a pretty challenging, feat to to accomplish just just because of the way, tax rates grow and and and, you know, everything with with the funding mechanisms right now. And so, you know, it is a commend commendable action by by the board to to,
you know, place place that kind of fiduciary responsibility, for the community. And the no new revenue rate, actually means that we are not generating through our tax purposes new revenue over what we generated last year. Correct? Correct. Essentially, it takes last year's, values Right. And and you take the percentage from this year's values and then you divide that by a 100 to get what what the tax rate would be to generate the same level of revenue you did last year. Right. So Okay. And then just to highlight, this year's tax rate will be the lowest,
in in Carroll ISD's history. So just a little table of the last ten years. We ten years ago, we're at the total tax rate of of almost 1.4¢. Now we're down, to to $92.94. And so that's, quite a significant drop, especially in the last five years. I mean, this is a really telling, bar chart, mister Park, from, when I got on the board in 2021, we're at 1.2686. We're now proposing you're proposing at point nine two, which is a a significant drop, over the last, five years.
This really illustrates the, how serious this board takes, their fiduciary responsibility to this community. You know, and while our our property values continue to rise significantly each year, mainly because our school district is consistently the number one school district in the state of Texas. You know, we're able to lower, this, tax rate that incidentally is makes up about 65% of the entire property tax bill, for a citizen, in Southlake is is tremendously, significant. And we we appreciate doctor Glenn and you,
mister Park, for coming in, and realizing that this is important to us, this board, in this community that, the tax burden is reduced as much as we can knowing that our property values continue to, get sky high. So thank you so much. Absolutely. So here's that, just just the calculation of of the no new revenue rate. So as I mentioned, you take last year's and you divide it by, this year's taxable value, and then and you and then you multiply that by a 100 and you and you get the rate. And so, the rate came out to nine two nine four one, eight. And so we'll be, you know,
16 or to the whatever, you know, eight and and the digit, below below that. So, and then, this is our our voter approval tax rate, calculation, which came out to point eight nine nine four. And so, by adopting a total tax rate of $0.9294 which is 0.03 higher than current year's voter approval tax rate. That will be the mechanism that will trigger the VHA reelection. Yes. So just take a second, Nisplay.
So let me take a second and explain this. So essentially what we're doing as a district is we're looking at how we invest our monies. We are lowering the tax rate overall year over year. However, as we reduce the I and S side, there's two parts to a school district tax rate, M and O and I and S. As we reduce that I and S side, dollars 3, we're looking to gain some of that back on the operations side. And, and I wish our friends that spoke at the meeting earlier had stayed because this is where the rubber meets the road with our trustees, trying to be good stewards.
And not only are they lowering the tax rate, but they're actually trying, to put together a proposal that will go before voters, that will generate about $4,000,000 in funding while simultaneously decreasing the tax rate. It's something that our BRAC worked very hard on. I see members of our BRAC committee in the audience. It's a thoughtful, purposeful strategy that has been in the works for years. And so as our board strategically started in 2021 lowering the tax rate knowing that the day would come where we'd have to go to voters and with confidence say, trust us to continue to lower your tax rate because we need these additional funds
on the operations side. Yes. And the only reason we were really able to do this, right, Doctor. Glenn, Mr. Park is because this board has been very good stewards of our bond funds. In fact, we've been defacing debts for the last five years and that has given us room within our tax rate to be able to lower 5¢, to be able to still continue to lower our total effective rate, to lower than it's ever been in the history of of Carroll ISD. So it's the good work of this this board and and our district leaders, that has allowed us to be able to be in this position.
And, you know, while many school districts around the state are, asking their communities to encumber debt thirty to forty years and billions of dollars, we're actually paying off our debt, and you're seeing what happens when we're able to be good stewards of the dollar. And trustees will have the opportunity to vote on tonight another defeasement. And when you hear that word, just think of like your home mortgage, if you want to pay a little more on your monthly mortgage so that you can pay it off in a shorter amount of time, that's essentially what our trustees are doing. They're paying it off. They're reducing the amount of principal and interest.
They're trying to be good stewards of the debt the district has, I guess, put in place over many years. That concludes my presentation. Do you have any other questions or discussion? Thanks. At this time, I will recognize any speakers who have not already spoken earlier during public comments to address the Board regarding the proposed tax rate. Okay. This concludes the public hearing on the proposed twenty twenty five, twenty six tax rate for the twenty twenty five, twenty six fiscal year. The hearing is now closed. We will now move on to agenda item number 10, public hearing to present the results of the efficiency audit.
At this time, the public hearing is declared open and I will ask the administration to present the results of the efficiency audit. Mister Park. Alright. Good evening again. It's time here to discuss our efficiency audit findings. So the purpose of an efficiency audit, this was placed back in 2019, with the eighty six legislative session under hospital three, that required the district to undergo an efficiency audit, prior to holding the voter approval tax rate or ratification election. And so so,
you know, our task as a district was to hire a firm, to to, do these agreed upon procedures, that will provide, a set of informational, statistics, that kinda rank us with with other districts that are like us. So, we elected to hire Whitley Penn to perform this, agreed upon procedures. Selena Saraceras was our, partner in charge. And so they performed the, agreed upon procedures, on our audited fiscal year 2324 data,
which is a ten month fiscal year. So some of the some of the expenditure data, is kinda skewed. It's not a full 100% representation of our of our full twelve twelve month year, just just because, that that audited year was was a ten month basis. So the guidelines, are set by the legislative budget board, the Texas legislative budget board, and then just our our, input as well as the, auditor's input, we selected the following school districts, to to be our peer districts for this audit. So just some,
statistics to highlight here. On the revenue side so basically, essentially, this audit really confirmed that that, Carroll ISD, is one of the lowest, revenue per student districts, in in the state. And our local local M and O tax revenue, we are sitting at about $7,500 per student, while our peer districts, raise, 8,100 and, the state, obviously, because, you know, a lot of districts get get help from from from recapture districts like us. Their their, their, revenue per per student with the local revenue is, 4,500.
However, if you look at the total revenues, we are sitting at 11,000 per student, while our peer districts, generate about $11.05, and then and then the state is at over $13,000 per student. On the operational side, because we generate so little, you know, we're we're, require or we're only able to to spend, $11,600 per student, whereas our peer districts in the state especially, you know, they're they're well over $12,000 per student. A payroll as a percentage of our total expenditures, we're at about 77, percent. And again, you know,
going back, this is, based audited on a ten month year, and so some of those, full time salaries might might not have, you know, been calculated at at the twelve month rate. And so, and that's below our peer district average of about 80.5%. Extracurricularly, we spend 4.6 of our total expenditures, 4.6%, and that's, above our peer districts by by 1.1%. I think that can be attributed to just how good our our, academic extracurricular and also our athletic extracurricular, you know, how deeply they go into every playoff run,
you know, every state and national competition that we we, you know, have have been funding in the past. And so, that just speaks to the to the excellence that this community, it has experienced over the over the, you know, years. And so, and then also one more highlight is our plant and maintenance, facilities expenditures, 12.7% of expenditures. Because because we have not had a bond in in, you know, almost a decade, you know, we're just having to to what would historically be capital expenditures, through a bond election or something. You know, we're we're we're forced to kinda,
patch those up with using using MNO dollars. And so We use about $2,000,000 a year in MNO funds to cover, what maybe, yeah, general maintenance, for all the buildings in the district. I think one thing that's worth noting here that delta, that $11,600,000 to the $12,200,000 of our peer districts assuming the same enrollment of those peer districts, which I know they fluctuate just looking at the list you provided, but assuming the same enrollment, that would be about $8,000,000 more dollars So, you know, just as we talk about like the equity within the state system,
it definitely targets districts like Carroll and certainly we're at a huge disadvantage because we don't get a lot of those multipliers that the state tends to incentivize. And I like to put on another perspective. I know there's a lot of numbers on this page, but if you look at the top local MNO tax revenue, so because we have to pay an enormous amount of money back to the state in form of recapture, of approximately 25,000,000 this year, we only get to keep $74.52 per student of the tax dollars that, we bring in in this in this community. And because of us offering so many programs and,
you know, the curriculum and everything we do extra in this district. And we haven't cut really anything significantly since we've had this financial crisis because we've been trying to limp along to see if our legislators would do something in Austin, which they haven't. But a telling number is take a look at that 7452 per student that we get to keep, from our tax revenue, but we actually spend $11,667 per student, which is a $4,000 difference. Where does that $4,000 come from? It comes from booster clubs.
It comes from, you know, fundraisers. It comes from parents. It comes from community. So, you know, when, you know, we and I I appreciate, you know, the debate team coming out and talking about, you know, supporting their programs. You know, but the the the facts are the facts. We we are hanging on by a string, and we are not going to be able to keep the great programs and all the things that we offer. If we have to come up with $4,000 a student every single year, it's just not possible. And so that's why we are putting a, a VADER on the ballot in November,
which will net us an additional $4,000,000 that will not be subject to recapture, that will be we will be able to keep here, in the in the district. And, you know, we we we're about to, you know, vote on, the tax rate here in a second. But, if we vote in favor for that tax rate, that leaves out any question, come November of of whether or not we're gonna raise taxes because, the voters approved debater. It's already been passed, and it's lower. It's the lowest it's ever been, in Carroll ISD history. So I think those two numbers are telling numbers that we need to,
really, post in talking points. And when people say that know, we want to support our FERS, we wanna support our programs, we say, well, where are you gonna come up with the $4,000 a student deficit that we're seeing, right now? And so that's what this board is trying to do along with, our community members in the budget reduction action committee, and that is coming up with ways that we can, generate extra revenue without, having to cut, significantly programs and and curriculum and, keep keep our salaries, keep our teachers, keep our staff, up in that 95% of market value in terms of salary. So thank you very much for this graphic,
Mr. Park. And last slide, just some highlights. Despite our funding challenges and our kind of limited ability to fund everything we do, we still produce you know, the the highest academic ratings in the state. You know, all of our campuses, for this fiscal year, were rated as a, and then and then our, you know, account accountability ratings just got published, you know, last week for for, this past year, and and, you know, we got a's again. First rating continues to to be superior with with a rating.
And our attendance, you know, despite it going down a percent or two, over you know, since since COVID, you know, we're still we're still, very high compared to the state and our peers. And so, And I think it's worth noting again, and, doctor Glenn, maybe you can just say a few words on this, and that is the importance of the attendant rate. I mean, just just 1% increase to ninety six point seven, that's us, what, about another million dollars Yeah, close to $1,000,000 And I know this was something that Trustee Bottom spoke about a lot when we were doing Take Action Dragons is one of the easiest ways to generate funding because
we are funded based on attendance not on enrollment is, making sure that, that our kids come to school. And so, yeah, if we were able to shift that number to 96.7, that would be nearly $1,000,000 in additional funding. Thank you. Now, that's my shameless plug. Please take your vacations. I'm always going to take the opportunity. During spring break, during Christmas, please do not plan your vacations when school is in session because we take a hit every time your child is out of school. We absolutely take a hit, so. And that that's one of the reasons too.
We've put the calendar together so far in advance is so that parents can plan. Well, and if well, you'll recall something else that came from this legislative session is there is staff funding that is also now tied to attendance. So our ability to pay some of our counselors and some of our other staff beyond our teachers, again, is tied to attendance. We really, really, really need kids in class. We can't have kids, you know, leaving and starting school, a month later than it actually starts. Good point. Once our enrollment declining, it also, you know, puts more critical,
importance on on maximizing every dollar that that we are, allotted to get, but, you know, due to attendance. So, that concludes my presentation. Alright. For other discussion. Thank you, mister Park. At this time, I will recognize any speakers who have not already spoken earlier during public comments to address the board regarding the efficiency audit. Alright. Seeing none, this concludes the public hearing on the results of the efficiency audit. The hearing is now closed. We will now, Trustee Yeager, will you give us a motion on item number nine so we can vote on the tax rate? President, Brian, trustees, I move to approve a tax rate of $0.9294
per $100 of taxable valuation, which is below the no new net revenue rate with a maintenance and operation tax rate of 0.6853 and an interest and sinking rate of 0.2441. Second. Motion and second. Any further discussion? All right. All in favor? Motion carries five-zero. Thank you, Board. Trustee Yeager, now we need to vote on the efficiency audit. And I move that the Board accept the efficiency audit as presented. Second. Motion and second. Any further discussion?
All in favor? Motion carries five to zero. Thank you, Mr. Park. Next item is, item number eleven, eleven point one, consider twenty twenty five-twenty twenty six student code of conduct and student handbook. Mr. Nickel? Good evening, President Bryan and, Doctor. Glenn, Board of Trustees. I'm here to present the twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six, student handbook and code of conduct for your review. We bring this back in September for final approval. We worked with T for recommendations based on the latest, legislative session, and We've also made some standard updates as far as names, dates, things like that to get updated from year to year.
And I'm open to any questions you guys may have regarding the Handbook or Code of Conduct. Thank you, Mr. Nichol. Thank you. All right. Moving on to 11.2, consider draft twenty twenty five-twenty 26 employee handbook. Ms. Kubido? I'm here to present the twenty twenty five-twenty 26 employee handbook. This update, is based on the model provided by Tee, which includes revisions that reflect key legislative updates through this last legislative session. Some of the key highlights, house bill 4,623, the liability for sexual misconduct and failure to report.
Senate bill five seventy one, reporting suspected child abuse. That change, moved from reporting from forty eight hours to, now twenty eight hours. And, did make some updates to our travel policy. Okay. So is is our post district travel policy now included for, like, our academic and our athletic Okay. And that is something that people are signing off on. The reason I'm asking is because everything that has kind of just occurred this evening,
I I really wanted to look in to see, you know, evaluate. We were kind of getting some feedback that this board focuses on athletics and funds athletics much higher than our academic programs. So I did a little analysis to figure out if that is in fact true. So the board or the district is gonna find all UIL activities. Correct me if I'm wrong. Absolutely. All UIL activities, like, a 100%. 100%. As they go through that. But when these different programs, they make it to playoffs and whatnot, that is part of a post district travel policy?
Yeah. And so that that's UIL as well. Okay. Yeah. So for for so that'll include UIL. But then any out of state travel that is not UIL Sure. And yeah. And we do have that from time to time. You'll have, like, the DECA, which is which is like a business organization for students, and they'll get the opportunity for a trip to, let's say, Disneyland. Okay. And, and so or or the band will go to Disney or TMEA. And so we get a lot of trips that are outside of the University Interscholastic
League, which is our recognized state competitions for athletics and fine arts and academics. And so for those that are going outside, what we've done is we've given all the principals a budget allocation and they can disperse that as they see fit. So there may be the opportunity within their budget to help different programs. They may choose to fully fund one program. They can, I guess, explain that to their teachers? You know, we do give them that autonomy as campus leaders, or they may say, you know what? I wanna make sure that we're funding our coaches so kids aren't having to fundraise
to pay for coaches to go on these trips. Or they may say, like, hey, we're gonna pay partial, because I have funds available. But but outside of that budget allocation, then either booster clubs or or families will be responsible for their costs. Okay. Because so so where I had concerns and where I wanna make sure that everybody is signing off on agreement with that policy is the district allocated $140,000 to our academic related travel. So you just named them, like, band, business professional, DECA, speech and debate, all of those things. The district also allocated equal amount,
dollars 140,000 to our 15 different athletic programs. Our athletic programs, they did go over some. They spent $147,000 But our academic travel, they spent $291,000 So more than twice of what was allocated. So if the question is, are we spending more money on academic programs or athletics, the answer is, is our academic programs. 100%. And I just wanna ensure as we're kind of managing our budgets and trying to be mindful of our expenses and,
you know, staying within boundaries that everybody's signing off on that policy, that they understand the process and procedures that are put in place for that. Yeah. And we're district that prides itself on giving kids experiences. We're just at a point financially with a $4,000,000 deficit where it's hard to pay for every experience. And so it's reasonable that you go to booster clubs, it's reasonable that you go to parents and say and I'll speak as a parent myself, my son was asked to go run-in Utah with Coach Leonard. And so we wrote a check so that he could run-in Utah this summer with Coach Leonard. He's a cross country runner. And so it's reasonable that a coach may come to a parent and say,
you have to contribute, you have to pay a fee. I mean, that's something that a lot of programs are kind of used to here in Carroll, some apparently are not. Thank you. Thank you for looking at that. I appreciate it. Good points, Trustee Bynum. Any other questions, comments? Okay. Thanks, Ms. Cubito. Appreciate your time. All right. Moving on to item number twelve, twelve point one, consideration and possible approval of an order call and a voter approval tax ratification election to be held on 11/04/2025. Mister Park. President Brian, doctor Glenn, board. All right. Thank you, Mr. Park. I move President Brian DeBord to approve the order calling a voter approved tax ratification
election to be held on 11/04/2025. Second. Motion and second. Any further discussion? All in favor? Motion carries five to zero. Thank you, Mr. Park. Next up is item 12.2, discussion and approval on an order directing the defeasance or redemption of certain of Carroll Independent School District's outstanding unlimited tax bonds on one or more occasions? So I don't know if, the slides were prepared for for this meeting, but, so if you recall, back in June, we adopted a budget that was based on an assumed,
INS tax rate of 27.48. And so, that was we were budgeted to generate, 39 and a half approximately, million, in, debt service collections. Since then, we just approved a rate of $24.41. And so, the estimated revenue generation from from from the from that, tax rate on the INS side will be, a little lower at at 36 and a half million, and that includes, the local collections and then also our, INS hold harmless, from the state, and then and then delinquent, tax penalties,
and interest, from from prior years. The the feasance that we're considering, is is, up to $10,000,000. I had a slide that that showed our, outstanding district bonds as of June 30. And right now, we're sitting slide. Is that slide Not available? No? Okay. Alright. As of June 30, we had around 215, $216,000,000 out outstanding, debt. And so a defeasance of $10,000,000 this year, would would would allow us to, come out with a with a with a balanced budget, on the INS side.
And and, our financial advisor, US Capital, we we have been discussing, quite heavily about what strategy, would would we be able to implement that would provide us the highest, net, present value interest savings as well as generate the most capacity for the near term bonds. And so, that's always kind of the important consideration that that that you have to make when you when you, when you decide which year of of bonds to call. And so,
so we're continuing to, do that exercise. So one one one scenario that that, US Capital provided to us, on a $10,000,000 defeasance, using just 2026 through 2030 maturities. So a $10,000,000, defeasance would net a present value interest savings of over $800,000 And so, if you recall, over the last three years, I believe, we are close to about $15,000,000 or $16,000,000 of, present value interest savings, for our taxpayers on the $45,000,000
defeased debt that we've done over the past three years. And so, you know, that would continue, that trend of of just being being fiscally responsible with with that with that outstanding debt. And so, that would set us up well for, you know, any any any possible future bond considerations as well, you know, in light of of even lowering our tax rate 5¢. So, So even despite, voting to, lower the INS rate by 5 pennies, we're still able to continue defeasement of our of our bonding. Yes, sir. And and, you know,
that I mean, I believe the last time I spoke with with our with our with our accounts, financial advisers, you know, the max capacity we have currently is still over 300,000 $300,000,000 that that we could call, you know, if we had to. And so, you know, leaves us in a in a great, cap capital situation, on our I and S side. Excellent. So the next steps, is just to seek approval of the resolution, to to, defease, up to $10,000,000 for this fiscal year. And then, we will continue to to work, with our financial advisers,
through this year and our bond counsel to determine what the right number is and then also execute the transaction when it comes time. Excellent. All right. Thank you, Mr. Park. Any questions, comments for Mr. Park? Trustee Yeager? I wish we had that great slide. It's good. Trust us, folks. We'll send it out tomorrow morning. It's good. Defeasement is our favorite word around here. I move President Bryan and Trustees that the Board approve the order as presented for cash defeasement of bonded debt prepared by bond counsel. Second.
Motion and seconded. Any further discussion? All in favor? Motion carries five-zero. Thank you, Mr. Park. Next up is item 12.3, discussion of possible action including adoption of a resolution authorizing the sale of surplus real property. President Bryan, Board of Trustees, Doctor. Glenn, I'm presenting to you for discussion and approval the 3.6 acres at 601 Silicon Drive. This property must be deemed surplus and authorize the administration to proceed with advertising for sale. Thank you, Mr. Meaney. Anybody have a use of it,
I guess? Okay, good. President Bryan and trustees, I move that this board approve the action item and resolution to declare the property surplus and authorize the administration to advertise the property for sale. Second. Motion and a second. All in favor? Motion carries five-zero. Thank you, Mr. Mooney. And just for the community out there, I will tell you, that property is actually located across from Dragon Stadium and I want to commend Lanny Mooney actually finding that as he was going through different properties for the district and recognizing that that was one that could be deemed
surplus. So thank you for your work. My dear work is money. Thank you, Mr. Rainey. Yes. All right. Next up, item 13, our consent agenda. We have a few donations. Trustee Yeager? We do in order. I'd like to thank the baseball boosters. Tonight, one of our conversations has been so much about the important role of booster clubs. We had a gentleman come speak and talk about that and we had many students passionately ask for funding and I think it's a great avenue to help that great speech and debate program that we do have. Here's a great example and that is that the baseball trip,
that our baseball team will be making, to Orange County, California, this coming February and, coming back, on the February 22. This is a fundraising baseball trip, I should say is being completely funded by the baseball boosters. That's something we'd like to recognize. A fantastic job that is not, as you know, baseball team is decent size, and that's, getting all of our kiddos out to California and back safely and during their stay and, playing some really great teams. So all completely funded by the baseball boosters. Thank you. My next donation, President Brian and and board,
is from the Dragon Cheer Booster Club, another great club, that does a wonderful job. And, thank you. I think we see actually a check coming right now to us. We appreciate this is happening live. And that is a donation of $40,000 and that purpose is thank you. The Dragons, your coaches and choreographers. What a wonderful group and all of those people on that program, we thank you for your generosity. And lastly, President Brian and Board, the NTN Parent Club. We know that's our club swim program here in Southlake, dollars 15,000
donation, very generous. This will fund purchase of a new scoreboard at the Aquatic Center, the Elise Ceramic Aquatic Center. Thank you so much for that great NTN group. President Bryant, just great examples of booster clubs helping out our Dragon Kiddos. You're exactly right, Trustee Yeager, and I appreciate that. I motion to approve consent agenda as presented. Motion and a second. All in favor? Motion carries five-zero. No objection, we'll adjourn this meeting at 07:38PM. Thank you, board.