of education to order, public notice of this meeting pursuing to the Open Public Meetings Act has been given by the Board Secretary on November 4, 2025, in the following manner. posted notice on the school bulletin board at the administration building, transmitted to the courier post, Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Clerk of Cherry Hill Township. Please rise and join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag. of the United States of America. And to the republic for which it stands. Indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Shim, can you please call the roll?
Dr. Braddock Dr. Dreysen. Mr. Greenbaum. Here. Here, Ms. Manzano? Here. Ms. Palmer? Here. Ms. Stern? Here. Ms. Winters? Here, thank you. We have a treat tonight, our very first thing is board recognition. I'd like to call up Alexis from High School East to talk about their upcoming fall play. Hi, um, thank you so much to the board for inviting us here tonight. We're very excited. My name's Alexis Navakusky, I'm the Thespian President at East. We are opening our show, Dracula, in a couple weeks. It's through the 11th through the 14th. You can find tickets on our East Theater website on curate.com, and it's also on all of the Cherry Hill East.
socials and everything along those lines. Um, one of the parts that we really enjoy about Dracula, um, our version, is it's a comedic thriller, so it's not just the typical Dracula that everyone reads at school, but there's also some fun aspects, like there's. dancing and some music and some other fun aspects, so… We are excited to give you a preview of that tonight. Thank you! Awesome, we can't wait.
You guys, that was so fun! I can't wait to come see it! So everybody, everybody out there who's listening, go get your tickets now, Dracula at High School East, coming soon. Thank you guys so much for coming here tonight. That really is the best part of being on the board. There are no presentations tonight. There are no administrative reports tonight.
Is there any correspondence? I feel like we were just here last week. Did anybody do anything board-related? Miss Stern. Yes, I'm sorry, I was trying to be fully prepared. In my pocket from last night. Um, last night, I attended. the 2025 All Cherry Hill Elementary Chorus. So, um, you guys might… Remember that when we come for our meetings, sometimes we've run into a bunch of parents waiting to pick up their kids, and sometimes we see the kids.
these were them. Um, so Brian Kane, Mr. Kane, who is the, um. The voice chorus teacher, um, at Carusi and Beck. was a director, and Ms. Lori Lossie, um, who is the chorus teacher at East. Um, who's been here a very, very, very long time. I might add, has taken our students even to sing at the White House. Um, they were, um, directing these. I counted approximately 130 students.
on the stage of High School West, and they did a beautiful job singing. Um, very impressive for a bunch of, I guess, most… I think they're all 5th graders. Um, in elementary school. Um, and, um, I thought Mr. Cain did a really amazing job. Um, just really understood the kids. He had them kind of get their wiggles out of their bodies before they started singing. Um, and, um… He just had a great interaction and rapport with them, and they only had 7 weeks, I believe it was, to rehearse.
Including a Thanksgiving break right before their concert, so definitely a challenge. Um, but they did a great job. It was a packed house at West. There were tons of families, um. Along with the siblings of all ages, including babies and younger siblings. It was a great night. Um, beautiful job, and I'm excited to see where these kids go next. Um, so, uh, definitely enjoyed it. Thank you. Any other correspondence? We are heading into concert season, I'm very… Excited about that, all the winter concerts coming up.
So we are now at first public comment. There are two opportunities for public comment this evening. The first public comment section is for board action items only, and tonight those are items 18 through 20. If you wish to speak on any topic other than what appears on the agenda, you may speak during second public comment. Speakers must provide their name and municipality. Students may comment on any topic during first public comment by identifying themselves as a student, that means online putting S after your name. We will alternate between speakers in the room and those wishing to comment online. Each viewer has 3 minutes, and the timer on the screen will indicate the amount of time remaining.
All statements, questions, or comments are addressed to the chair, and your inquiry may or may not be addressed by administration at the close of this session. So for first public comment, I'm going to see if there's anyone with their hands raised. I see no one online with their hand raised. There was no one in the room. Going once, going twice. I'm going to close first public comment. and move on to our Committee of the whole session. The first is CNI, and I'm going to turn it over to Ms. Staffin.
Good evening. It's good to see everybody. I will be really, really short. I just wanted to give you an update. We are in the process of starting. transition to high school? And the scheduling process at the high school. So, um, we've been working on. streamlining and updating the course of study catalog. So I will present all of the changes to the course of study. in January to the CNI Committee of the Board. And what we've worked on with Mr. Reardon back as the Interim Director of Guidance. is kind of streamlining, um, looking at. Some of the courses that have not run in a while, and pulling them out again, and then looking at some of our electives.
and identifying if we can do some every other year. And in order to fill more seats in electives, so that we have a cleaner picture of what our scheduling. will look like as we're filling classes and building a master schedule. So we should see, um… some more seats filled in some of those electives by not offering the entire catalog all at once. But coming into a rotation. So we've been able to identify. several courses to start that process, and we'll keep looking at it, you know, over the next several years to see what that looks like. We'll be adding some new courses.
And we'll see the final courses to the math pathways. added, um, for the 26-27 school year, so we're really excited to finalize. that process and have that full catalog of Math Pathway courses available to our students starting in. 26-27 school year. So that's just a preview of highlights, more to come in January, um, and I'm really excited to get started in that whole transition period, and. I'm getting ready to build that master with the high schools. Thank you so much. Any questions on… the course of study process for this evening.
No questions. I am thrilled about the math pathways. To see that through is just amazing. Yes, I know you would be… You knew I would be. You would be. Yeah, it was honestly one of the reasons why I was so excited to be returning. Next year, and for the two years following us to see… to see that finished, because I think it's really important. Um, and I'm looking forward to seeing the full catalog and having a discussion in January. So, thank you so much. Our next Committee of the whole item is B&F. Turning it over to Mr. Greenbaum. Thank you very much. Uh, this, uh, this month, we have one item, and that is a budget preparation update, so I will pass this along to Mr. Schemp.
All right, thank you. So… I'll try to be as succinct and quick as possible, Ms. Winters, but I thought, um, now that we are… we are. deep into our budget preparation for the 26-27 school year. Um, I've continued to make my rounds. to each of the schools to meet with their school principals and their school administrative teams. I really enjoyed. Um, those discussions. And I thought now, you know, consistent with our budget preparation calendar, I thought I would continue to provide some updates.
At our work sessions as we move through the process here. Um, so this, tonight, I'm just… I just have a few slides. I'm just going to focus on the revenue side, because as you know. Um, as the schools build their budgets, they have until January 16th to get all of their justifications in, all of their wants and needs for the 26-27 school year. So we don't have that, uh, data yet. Um, nor do we have a very key piece of our revenue, which is our state aid. Which I'll get to in a moment. Um, but I thought I would just highlight a couple areas on the revenue side, a couple things that we do have control of, and a couple things that we.
We don't necessarily have control of. So here, what you see is just an analysis of our… of our tax levy, which is really the one piece of revenue. In addition to fund balance. that we have control over. on the revenue side of things. So you can see, uh, between 25 and 26 here, we did have. Uh, an increase… on the average homeowner of about $179, and in total, with the debt service portion and the general fund. That was a total increase on the levy of about 2.97.
And again, these figures are based on the average assessed home, which was $227,000. Uh, in 2025. Um, so looking at that, as you all know, we do have a cap. on the amount that we can increase our tax levy. So it's not a cap on our total budget, it's just a cap on… on that levy itself. So a 2% cap would equate in 26-27 to about $4 million increase in revenue. Uh, which on the average homeowner. Would have an impact of about $115.
So with that being said, as most of you also know, we're coming up on… in the 26-27 year. It'll be the first time since Cherry Hill residents have been paying back the. principal and interest on the $300 million in bonds that were issued in 2022. in 2627, we're actually going to see our first decrease. on the… on the principal and interest payment, which… will continue for the next 3 fiscal years. Those continued decreases. Um, so right now, with just some quick calculations on what our principal and interest payments will be.
And what I anticipate the state's portion to be. Um, we can anticipate on the average… Again, estimate of about a $61 decrease on the debt service side of things. Um, so we'll have an opportunity here… Um, as you all know, from the last couple meetings, and obviously from the last few budgets that Ms. Sugars. presented. We knew we were kind of heading. towards that… that… I'm not going to call it a fiscal cliff, but we knew where we were headed as far as.
State aid and the use of surplus and all of those things kind of bouncing their way out. Um, so we've kind of used a couple band-aids over the last couple years, so it'll be a welcome relief. Having the ability to hopefully or potentially increase. the general fund side of the tax levy to support our operations. While at the same time offsetting that increase with the. with a decrease on the debt service side of things. So, also in 26-27, we will have some banked cap.
Which was created back in 23-24. So, banked cap… is something that the state instituted with SFRA back in the day. Um, where districts have, you know, again, you have that 2% increase ability. And there are certain waivers. So if a district chooses not to necessarily utilize those waivers or go to the 2%. Um, they can bank the ability to raise the levy. by that amount. Now, it's only for 3 years, and if it's unutilized, it does go away.
So here on this chart, you can just see that we did have 3.3, or almost 3.4 million. in, um, in banks cap that was generated during that school year that has not been utilized or touched. Over the last couple fiscals, and that was due to a health benefit increase back in. in 23-24. So let's do some quick math on that. If… In addition to utilizing. Um, you know, the 2%… Plus, uh, you know, the offset on the debt service side of things. If we were to.
have a need, or were to utilize, uh, you know, the banked cap, that would create an additional. Uh, impact on the average assessed home of $97. Um, so if you add all those up, so the 2% plus the bank's cap. Uh, would be an increase on the tax value of about $7.4 million. And overall, would be a net impact. Of $151 on the average assessed home. So that's kind of like… I'm not going to call it worst-case scenario, but… Um, in addition to those, or to utilizing the bank cap and the 2%.
Um, we may also have additional. uh… waivers that apply as far as the health benefits goes. Um, the state health benefits plan just. on January 1st is about to incur a very substantial increase. Um, as I… As we talked about, I think it was the last meeting or the last committee meeting we're looking at. Um, a substantial increase on our major medical prescription as well. So that will generate the ability to raise the cap. Um, or to go even further above the 2%.
But just keep in mind, we don't necessarily have to utilize that in 26-27. So that… that's the portion that we're generating in 2627 that we could push down the line, potentially. into future years and kind of spread that out, knowing that we're going to have that offset on the debt service end to kind of balance things out a little bit. And help us on the operational side. Uh, just to jump into State Aid. Uh, real quick, obviously, a lot of unknowns at this point with state aid. Uh, with a new governor, um, from everything we're hearing right now, which is really nothing.
Um, she hasn't… hasn't been put into office yet, but… Um, you know, during or on her campaign trail, she… She kind of remained consistent in her belief that she would. Continue following the formula as is, similar to. what Governor Murphy, uh, has done. Um… in addition to that, what she hasn't necessarily commented on, or we haven't heard too much about, are… some of the changes that Governor Murphy placed within his. Within his budget legislation in 25-26 that do not remain permanent.
And more specifically, those are the caps on the decreases districts could receive in the form of state aid of 3%. And increases up to 6%. Um… Without those, or without that 3% cap. As most of you at this table already know, the district would have been looking at about an $11.3 million decrease. in current year. Um, that… was offset, obviously, with that 3% decrease, and we were held harmless to $884,000. So there's… still the potential there without those caps that the district could be looking at another substantial state aid cut in 26, 27.
Um, so obviously a lot more to come on that, and we won't really know. The answer to that question until the end of February, after the new governor does. or provides her budget address. Um… But I think, you know, more specifically is… is… The district no longer receiving equalization aid. Um, 2526 was the first year for that, and that's the first year where. our local fair share, or… You know, what the formula says, our community can support our budget, our adequacy budget in the form of tax levy.
actually exceeded our adequacy budget. So that negated our equalization aid, but that full reduction, again, that $11.3 million. was offset with that 3% held harmless. So you can kind of see they played, you know, kind of fuzzy games with the numbers and kind of just moved that additional 11.3 that we're not necessarily. Um… We don't necessarily… or we're not owed, but are receiving this year, and they kind of move those into the categoricals, which. I've now moved those above the levels in which we are owed, so… According to the state, we are actually now over.
overfunded, uh, from a state aid portion, so… Uh, we'll see how that kind of plays out again. Um, I don't… necessarily see… Um, and I'm gonna get into it on the next slide. I don't necessarily see that number changing, um… As, you know, that would require significant property devaluation and income levels within Cherry Hill, and that's just over. 3-year average now is not going to occur. Um, so, main point here is we are anticipating further state aid reductions going into 26-27.
Um, this is a slide I'd like to use in the past, and this just kind of shows our status. Uh, as far as it relates to the SFRA, the formula itself. And on the far left column, you'll see is… really the adequacy budget, and the adequacy budget is what the formula. calculates for each district as to what. They believe, or the state believes, or the formula believes. Um, the Cherry Hill Public School System needs to spend in order to provide a thorough and efficient education for our students. Um, so you can see the… Uh, our current spend… Towards our adequacy budget is about 2011.
million dollars, which is now our tax levy, because we no longer receive the equalization aid side. Um, and per the SFRA, we should be spending 200… almost $210 million. So for the first time. Um, in many years in Cherry Hill, we're actually spending below adequacy. Um, and only receiving categorical aid on. On top of it. So you can see how that kind of plays out. So the state within the formula and based on. Uh, the districts equalize. Home values and the district income levels, it has now shifted.
the full burden of the adequacy budget onto the… onto the taxpayer. Um, so just to put… A couple numbers that I found interesting. So, our local fair share, Terry Hill's local fair share, has grown from about $145.8 million in FY22. to $210 million in FY26. And again, that number is directly driven by the equalized values in district incomes of the district. So to put that in a further perspective, just from FY25 to current year.
The equalized value, or that the figure of our budget that, um… That goes into the local fair share number for equalized value went from $78 million to $90 million. and the district income level went from $103 million to $119 million. So the local fair share. In one fiscal year. Um, increased by over $28 million. That's a… that's a major shift. from state aid to tax levy in one year. Um, and honestly, the district was fortunate to receive that 3%.
Uh, whole harmless reduction. Um… I don't anticipate… Either, again, saying, you know, the equalized value or the district income level is decreasing going into FY27. To the extent that it's going to drive these numbers in an opposite direction, and as we also know. Um, those numbers are also… manipulated, I'll say, by the multiplier. That the state places on them when they do run the formula as well, so… also an unknown, but I just thought it was a good slide, or… It's an interesting history to see how much it shifted from state aid.
portion to now full tax levy on our… on our operating budget. Uh, one of the other remaining, um… revenue sources that we have some… somewhat control over is our fund balance, and fund balance is really. Uh, broken down into a few categories, which I have listed here. Um, your… the unassigned… think of unassigned fund balance as. really our savings account, and that's… that's the portion. of the district's, um… fund balance that we can legally maintain in reserve, meaning we do not have to designate it for any purposes.
Um, what's a little crazy is, for school districts, we're actually held 2%. of prior year expenditures with a couple. Uh, manipulations as far as unassigned fund balance, and I think anybody in the private world would tell you that's. Um, pretty crazy on a near $300 million budget to only be able to maintain 2% of your prior year expenditures and unassigned. Unassigned, typically, in a private industry is 15-20%. Um, so it's… it's very few dollars, like I said, or I like to say.
Um, an unassigned fund balance wouldn't even cover a payroll. Here at Cherry Hill for one pay period. Um, and again, that 2% of prior year expenditure is actually state statute, so we're not allowed. to exceed that, any surplus or fund balance above and beyond that unassigned. Has to be distributed, um… as revenue, or budgeted as revenue in future budgets. So that's the designated portion you see in line 2 here. Well, before I get off unassigned, you can see at June 30, 2024, our unassigned fund balance was almost $6.9 million.
That number plummeted to 3.8 million at June 30, 2025, and that's an audited number. Um, so we're actually… not only… Is it hard enough to manage with cash flow on 2% a prior year? we're not at 2%. So we've actually utilized some of our unassigned to balance. Uh, prior year budgets. So the designated portions is… is that what I was referencing? Those are the amounts of surplus above and beyond that unassigned. And those are required to be budgeted, and you can see. what was budgeted in the last two fiscals. Um, or really, I should say, what was designated at the end of each of those fiscals, so that $13 million is actually what's budgeted in 25-26.
You can see right now, and these are very early rough estimates, I don't project having more, probably, than $5 million in designated to budget in 26, 27 out of current year. So, in addition to anticipated state aid cuts, of which, at this point. It could be anywhere from $11 million to… say, $800,000. We're also looking at a drastic reduction in service. Plus, to balance our budget as well. So that's going to be an additional challenge we're gonna have to navigate. Um, as we move through 26-27 preparation. The last one I just wanted to touch upon is our capital reserve balance, and those are funds.
Um, that have been placed either in June of each school year, we can take excess surplus and drop it into, by board resolution, into our capital reserve account. Or you can budget funds, going to budget process to place into your cap reserve account. Um, over the last few years, since the bonds were passed. Uh, in addition to utilizing those capital reserve funds. for capital projects, which is the only thing those funds can be used for within the district. We've also utilized some of the cap reserve funds and transferred that over to the debt service side to help pay down the principal.
And mitigate the impact of the bonds on the homeowner. So you could see here. after what was designated in 25-26, current year, which was the $4 million for the debt payment plus. Um, a little additional for a few other capital projects that we've performed. We're actually gonna. drop below that $4 million number bounce. As of June 30, 2026. So as it would stand, if we don't place surplus, if there isn't surplus in existence.
Out of the 25-26 budget. to designate in June, we will not be able to make that full $4 million payment towards the principal. in, um, 2627. So that's an additional thing that we also have to be mindful of as well. Now, there's other things we're working through. Obviously, the. $300 million in bonds that have been issued. Dude, have been placed in… high-yield savings account, as well as investment accounts, and really, we're restricted to Treasury bills. Um, so those funds have continued to generate. Uh, some income and investment earnings.
Um, which we may have the opportunity to utilize. Um, in the form of getting some of that money into Capital Reserve. To help increase that bounce, but we also have to be mindful of the arbitrage that's going to be hit on those funds, so… because our bonds are. Um… are issued… are tax-exempt bonds. The school district is not allowed to earn. in investment earnings on those unspent bonds above what the bond yield is. Um, that's a calculation that's done by our financial advisor.
each year, um… So the bonds were issued in December of 2022, so that bill to the Fed, so again, anything that we earn above that yield has to go back to the federal government. And that bill will come due in December of 2020. 27. So that's an ongoing calculation that's done, so I'm aware of what that current figure is. Um, and I'm not gonna quote it right now, because I don't have it written down in front of me. Um, but we will have an arbitrage payment to make, but that's not to say that we won't also have. That's… that could be looked at as a good thing, because that means we're.
fully earning, you know, we've earned our full potential on. on those existing investments. So we may have. Uh, an opportunity to. utilize those investment earnings and get those in the cap reserve, or used for other capital projects in the future. Uh, just the last slide, I mean, that was really it for the revenue as we stand now. Like I said. All of the departmental and school budget justifications are due by January 16th. All of our schools and departments are hard at work on those, on their zero-based budgets. Uh, we'll then begin our full administrative review and deliberation, you know, after post-June.
January 16th and into February. like I mentioned, we anticipate receiving state aid on or about February 26th. Because it is a new governor, she does have the ability to amend that date and push it back a bit. Uh, which could be problematic as our work session in. March is currently scheduled for March 10th, as our tentative budgets have to be adopted and submitted to the county. by March 20th of each year, so that… that board meeting date could fluctuate a little bit, depending. And then, obviously, our final, uh, the public hearing, and then final adoption will take place.
at the end of April. So, that's just a quick snapshot of where we currently stand. Like I said, we are in full budget mode. Um… and, you know, looking forward to report back. in… at our work session in January. And we'll keep moving. All right, Mr. Schump, thank you very much for that update. I think that was very helpful. It doesn't paint the, uh… the most optimistic picture, but I'm confident we'll. We'll find a path forward. Um, are there any questions from board members?
Ms. Stern. Thank you for very… transparent update. It's very helpful, actually. Totally. Um, first question is the debt service… Reduction that you're anticipating. Does that depend on the $4 million fund balance contribution from the fund balance? Or, I guess… I guess it's from fund balance, right? Well, yeah, capital reserve. Capital reserve, yeah. Um, it does. So, so if… I mean, I'd like to look at.
Because the fund balance was what Mr. Sugars was always worried about, um, and it… I, you know, see why. And even though we tried to, um… mitigate it to some degree. Nonetheless, we see, you know, what's happened with basically spending down our savings, is how I look at it in the most simplest terms, so… I mean, it sounds like we need to think about that. The, um… earnings from the, um, uh… the bond proceeds, you know, the proceeds from that, um… they can't be applied until… down the road, is that correct? Like, we couldn't apply them now, correct? To, like.
Pay down the debt service, or could we? If we needed to. We wouldn't be able to do it in the current fiscal year. But for next budget year, we could… that could be part of the play before the picture. Okay, well, that's… The 26, 27, that's correct. That helps, because the truth of the matter is, you know. that could really offset and help with the tax levy at the end of the day. tax levy in terms of debt service for the bond, like, basically, you know, the community.
pays for the bond, but at the same time. You know, that brings… it generates revenue for the community, so… Um… and then, do you have an idea of when you'll have a firmer idea of the health insurance impact? Yeah, I do. So, I've met with our… with our broker, um… Actually, about a month ago, to get the preliminary. Um… loss ratio, so as we currently stand, typically on our renewals, they're looking on a 12- to 18 month look back.
Um, so I… we've had a chance to review, we have some preliminary estimates of what we believe Horizon will come back with. Um, but I did ask that they mark it. the coverage, just to see what or if any other providers are interested. Again, for the public and any staff that may be listening, that doesn't mean we're looking to make a change to healthcare providers. We're just making sure we're covering all of our bases and making sure all options are open at this point, so it's just really… Um, seeing what those numbers look like.
Um, I would say we'll have… Or won't have final, final numbers. Until probably the end of February. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Well, it would honestly be kind of irresponsible of us not to. go-to-market and see what else is out there, right? I mean, I think… That keeps our provider on their toes. Right. Agreed. Insurance provider, so that they know… So that, you know, they have to come back with.
A number that makes it work for Cherry Hill as much as possible, even though there's a loss ratio we have to deal with, but… Okay. And that's a negotiation, so, you know, we'll be… Yes, exactly. …in addition to our broker and myself, we'll be at the table. Um, negotiating, probably, or hopefully getting the best rate we can from Horizon, or… Whomever it may be. Okay. Um… last question is, um, again, kind of looking at our capital reserves, which is. You know, very significantly spent down, and obviously, you know.
Um, if there's any unspend… unspent, um… one of these from our operating budget. Um, do you… do you anticipate being able to talk about that in the next… in our January meeting, just so we know, because. Part of it, you know, we're at times, proposals for positions are being brought to us, you know, in terms… that impact our operating budget, even for this fiscal year. Um, I think we need to understand. how to balance that with… What we're looking at in terms of capital reserves and fund balance. So, if.
We don't want to be kind of flying blind of, oh, okay, so we want to add these positions, because guess what? We have. We have the room in our budget. But lo and behold, we get to the end of the year, and we only have, you know, 1% left, and we really would have liked to have had 2%, and maybe if we hadn't. made those changes mid-year, we would have had more, and we need to know that. Um, so it… so if that… if that can happen next, you know, by next month, that would be really helpful. Yeah. I mean, to whatever degree possible. I know we're only early in the year, it's only December, but… Yeah, that's… that's fair. Um, you know, in January, we'll be… 6 months into our fiscal, I'll have a much better handle.
Uh, on the next 30 days or so, where we stand, um… you know, budget to actual current year. Um, you know, I would just say, you know, with the additional positions that are coming on. Um, we certainly look and take a look at. areas in which we believe funding would exist for those positions. So we do have some breakage. And I was comfortable knowing that we could cover those positions, but… Um, that's one of the benefits, I think, moving forward, really on the zero-based model. is that I think we're getting an additional level of flexibility now, where we're not simply moving these pockets of money, or buckets of money.
that the schools are accustomed to, and I'm asking them to. Um, really look at what their actual needs are. So there may be, and the hope is, and I've seen this happen. Um, over the years. is funding. levels open up in other areas, and it could be on the discretionary side, which helps cover. the personnel side, the people side. Um, so yes, I mean, in January at that work session, I'll be getting into the appropriation and the… narrowing in on that fund balance on.
Thank you, very helpful. Thank you. Are there other questions from board members? Yes, Ms. Winters. I have a very simple question. Can you put that presentation into the BNF folder so that I can look at it again? Because I am not gonna at all synthesize or remember anything. everything you told me tonight, but I would like to take another look, because I'd appreciate that. I can, and I did put a PDF. literally right before the meeting happened in… in BoardDocs, but yes, I will.
Thank you very much for that. Are there any other questions? Oh, yes, Dr. Drivesen, didn't see you there. Mr. Green? Thank you, Mr. Trump. Really terrific presentation. I'll just echo the comments I already made. It's very helpful. Um, in terms of process, um, one question I had following up on. Our, um, our budget process last year. And maybe this question is independent of even the 26-27 budget. But maybe this goes to BNF, not to the full border. Are we considering, um… Like, different scenarios.
Um, and, uh, different levers that we can pull, um. really, from a hypothetical perspective. Um, ahead of. any potential budgetary shortfalls? Yes, yes, uh, is the simple answer, Dr. Dreisand. We'll be running several different scenarios based on. you know, different ideas of what we believe revenue will be, you know, like I talked about with the tax levy, we do have several options. on the tax levy side, so finding that common ground here, what we're comfortable with going to the taxpayers for as far as a tax increase.
Um… how… how aggressive we want to be utilizing or continuing to utilize. surplus, um, and then obviously that's just on the revenue side. On the, on the appropriation side, yes, we'll have several different. Um… Uh, you know, breakdowns, I guess you could say, of where, you know, as I go in and I'm meeting with the principals and all that, I'm kind of saying. Hey guys, I really want you to go through this exercise, I really want you to do it from a zero-based model, I really want you evaluating what things you're currently.
Doing, and are they working? Are they not working? Do we want to go in a different direction? Um, but I'm saying at the same time. We have to be reasonable, and I'm saying. Think of it as, like, green, yellow, red, like, you know, green, like, these are things that are red, these are things I absolutely, or the school cannot do without. yellow saying would be great. Um… but difficult to do without having. And then, Green Yield, these are kind of, like, the low-hanging fruit kind of thing. So, they're all mindful of that. And we'll be… I'll be developing different, you know, funding scenarios as we navigate through up until.
And so in that timeline slide that you showed. You know, that March… March 10th date. Is that, like, where in 2020. 6 would potentially be an FB. Um, you know. participating in discussions of those scenarios. Yeah, I think at the February work session at the latest, but we'll be at… it'll be at committee early February. Would be where we're really… you know, I'm panning out a document, and we're talking about, like, legitimate scenarios, because I'll have a better handle on what the budgetary needs are.
on the appropriation side, but again, none of that will be able to be finalized until we know what those state aid figures are, but all… Yeah, I would say February. Understood. At the latest would be… you'll see several different scenarios. Okay, thank you very much, and again, are there any other board questions? Okay, seeing none… Um, I will make a quick mention of acceptance of donations. I typically go through these on… when they're on our action agenda.
Um, and I just… I always like to read through those just for the general… appreciate the generosity of our donors. Um, but, uh, I will, uh, I will ask folks to take a look on our agenda and take a look at the list. We have quite a big list here and some pretty substantial donations from. Cherry Hill Education Foundation, Woodcrest PTA. Uh, and a scholar-athlete. Scholarship from Michelle Liardo Trotman, scholarship. Um, I'll read through them all next meeting. It's quite a big list, but I always like to just say thank you very much, and we'll go through them then.
And with that, I will hand this back to Ms. Winters. Thank you. I don't believe there is anything under Human Resources this evening, Mister? Not that I'm aware of. Okay, it says discussion items, but… Yeah, I don't think we… I think you asked that question earlier, I don't think there was a… I don't think there is. There is nothing under P&L. Tonight, P&L will meet next on January 5th. There is nothing under governance either, and that brings us to our action agenda for this evening. And shockingly, there is nothing under CNI. Tonight, um, for the action agenda, so I'm gonna hand it right back to Mr. Greenbaum for BNF.
Thank you very much, the superintendent recommends, and I move the following. 18.1, approval of minutes, regular meeting minutes, and executive session minutes, dated October 28th, 2025. 18.2, approval of bill lists, and 18.3, resolution consenting to and approving solid waste and recyclable materials collection. bid award, and contract. do I have a second? Ms. Palmer, thank you. And any questions?
Not seeing any online either. Thank you very much, Mr. Schimf. Please open the voting. Mr. Schimp, I will need to abstain on the payments to Bancroft on bill list number 2. Mr. Schimf, I also have to abstain from 18.2 second billless payments to Beiata. So, noted. Motion carries. Thank you, I'm gonna turn it over to Ms. Stern for the HR agenda items.
Superintendent recommends, and I move the following 19.1, termination of employment non-certificated. 19.2 appointments certificated 19.3, assignment salary change, non-certificated. 19.4 other compensation certificated. Do I have a second? Mr. Greenbaum, are there any questions? Seeing none, Mr. Shimp, please call the vote.
Voting's open. Motion carries. Thank you, and I'm going to turn it over to Ms. Palmer for the P&L agenda this evening. Thank you. The superintendent recommends, and I move the following. Item 20.1, approval of harassment, intimidation, bullying investigation decisions. And, uh, for the board's reference, these are the investigations, uh, reviewed in executive session on.
November 25th of 2025. Can I have a second? Ms. Starn, are there any questions? See none, can you open a vote, Mr. Shimp?
Thank you, there are no items under governance this evening. Do any board members have new business they would like to bring forward? Keep myself honest and check online. Do not see anything. Do any board members have any old business they would like to bring forward? Does anyone have old business? Seeing no old business tonight, I will move to second public comment.
Public comment is an opportunity for members of the community to provide input to the Board of Education on educational issues. The board welcomes diverse opinions on relevant matters. However, statements that are abusive, obscene, or which demeanor are defamatory to any individual or group of individuals. will not be tolerated. Such comments are disruptive to the orderly operation of this meeting. Speakers wishing to provide the board with information which is not relevant to the district operations may communicate directly with the superintendent and the board president via email or other alternative means. We'll start by custom in the room. There is no one in the room to give us any public comment.
going online, I do see one hand raised. It is Michael. Michael, please give us your name, municipality, and you will have 3 minutes. The timer on the screen will start. Michael Nussbaum… Um, Terry Hill, I'm a parent of a child with special needs. I've come here week after week to share concerns about the status of special education services in Cherry Hill. Because I'm tired of my concerns being ignored. But most of all, I'm tired of. Being treated like a threat because I'm a concerned parent who speaks out.
At the last meeting, after I presented OPA data. showing years of unusually high mediations and due process filings, the district of. Official responded that the rate is down. 2.3%. That number reflects only a partial school year. When you look at multiple year trends. Uh, including summer filings, the NJDOE's own data shows Cherry Hill is consistently a high frequency. District. You cannot claim improvement by shrinking the denominator and ignoring documented patterns.
Problems are fixed by acknowledging them, not reframing statistics. The district also framed mediation as neutral middle ground, but parents do not request mediation lightly. Under the new state rules, many mediations are run by administrative law judges. Which signals this matter is serious. We should not be reaching mediation so often. If collaboration and IDEA procedures were followed consistently. Families wouldn't feel forced into legal channels. I also need to address the observation issue that I recently encountered after I requested a follow-up observation.
Um, the district sent me a November 2025 revised. quote-unquote outsider provider observation form immediately after my request. It isn't published anywhere, yet it was presented as quote-unquote policy. Actual board policy, 9150, contains no limits, annual caps, or restrictions on professional observers. Um, this was for a professional observation. It wasn't for me personally. Um, the new, but to observe my child, the new form even allows requests for additional time, yet my request was denied automatically.
In the explanation I received was that because we had mediation, I cannot make additional requests. That makes no sense. Mediation agreement covers what was agreed at that moment. It does not freeze a child's progress or prevent new needs from being addressed. My son has transitioned into an inclusion environment, which makes updated observation even more necessary. Change of setting requires updated data. This is a basic IDEA practice, not a favor to a parent. This is not collaboration, it is gatekeeping. The district exists to serve the community.
Parents are partners, not adversaries. When concerns are raised, the response should be openness and reflection, not defensiveness. Finally, I'm again requesting. A written response to my formal request for an independent audit on the Special Education Department model after Haddonfield's 2019 audit. I'm asking for acknowledgement and a clear decision by the next board meeting. Thank you for your comment. There's no one in the room, looking back online, is there anyone who would like to make second public comment this evening?
I see no one online with a hand raised. I'm gonna give it one more minute. I don't see anyone online with a hand raise. I'm gonna close second public comment. And turn it over to Superintendent's comments. Thank you very much, Ms. Winters. I really don't have any comments this evening. I think just a quick reminder, uh, that next week, uh, our preschools, elementary schools, and, uh, middle levels. Uh, we'll have, uh, teacher conferences, uh, next week, so hopefully parents have had an opportunity to schedule.
conferences with their, uh. child's teacher. Additionally, the end of the week. Uh, that Friday. December 12th, if I recall correctly, uh, will be an early dismissal day as well. Other than that, I'd just like to wish everyone a great evening. Thank you very much. I'd like to make a motion to adjourn. Do I have a second? This Manzano seconds all board members in favor? None opposed? The meeting is adjourned. Thanks, everyone