Good evening. Calling this special board meeting to order. This board meeting has been appropriately advertised. Roll call, please. Mr. Craig, here. Mrs. Divine.
Oh, sorry. Mrs. Maya here. Mrs. Makowski here. Mrs. Selter here. Mr. Sherman here. Here. Excuse me. Mrs. Z here. Mr. Dulkus here. Mr. Chu. Oh, here. Please rise for the pledge of
allegiance. There was no executive session tonight. So, we're going to move on to section three, committee of the whole. Um, is there a motion to enter committee the whole and a second? Second. All those in favor? Okay. Um, and so for committee
the whole, we have a budget update from Dr. McD. So, that'll be the presentation. Okay, good evening everyone. Thank you so much for being here. We are uh here to present the 2526 uh school budget.
Our theme uh for the upcoming year is supporting our continued growth. Uh, and so before I get started, I just would like to uh publicly thank um all of the individuals that have worked so diligently in order to get us to this particular moment. Um, all of our public
officials, all of the uh staff, specifically the staff on our finance team. And so in uh in government uh budget planning, you're constantly working on three budgets. You're closing out the previous year, you're working with the current
year, and then you're planning for the future year. And so this particular year was um unusually more challenging based on the chain of events that led for us to avoid where we were this time last year, which was a significant budget
deficit and significant layoffs of staff and personnel. And so for the last year, we have worked collaboratively with a lot of stakeholders in order to avoid having a repeat uh of the current uh school year.
So, the mission um and vision of our school system is to build on the strengths of a diverse community in order to provide an inclusive and supportive environment that inspires and empowers students. But our long-term vision is to make sure that we're building the qualities necessary for our young people to be able to grow and
thrive in a just society. And so, before we dig into the numbers, we want to talk about performance. Why are we here? Over the last three years, going back to uh the 2122 school year, when we were coming
back from the pandemic, we heard in the news, we heard on our on our feeds and social media, learning loss, learning, loss, learning, loss, kids are behind, kids are behind, kids are behind. And so what our faculty and staff have been able to do for the last three years is
nothing short of remarkable. By working collaboratively and really putting their heads down and working uh collectively with our families, we have seen double digit growth year over year in both literacy and mathematics. And that is large in part to the dedicated faculty
and staff of this district. In addition, we also want to look at culture and climate. And so students are whole children. There are a lot of moving parts. There are a lot of things that make up the whole child. And one is collectively as a school
district, we have decreased the amount of students that are chronically absent. What that means is is that more kids are in school. When students are in school, they receive the benefit of our educators. When they receive the benefit of our educators, they excel. Also looking at culture and climate, we
wanted to make sure that we were creating a positive tone on our campuses and that we were creating opportunities for students not only to reconcile their behavior but to also demonstrate positive behavior. We've seen a 28% decrease in overall suspensions which
also means that kids are spending more time in school receiving the benefit from their teachers. In addition, our goal is to ensure that 100% of our young people are prepared for college or and career. The skills,
the requisite skills are the same. The trajectory or the pathway of preparation may look a little different. And so, um, I'm not going to read to you, but I just would like to highlight just a few pieces. Um last uh board meeting we had our counseling team uh give um a
presentation on all of the tremendous work that they're doing in order to support our young people. We have roughly 185 seniors this year uh as we have in previous years and so far 167 of them have been accepted into college and of those young people that have been
accepted into college they have already earned roughly $3.35 million in scholarships. Last year they earned 4.25 million. So, they're currently on pace to exceed four over $4 million in scholarships. And this is in part to the
tremendous efforts of our counseling team. In addition to making sure that we have an educational system that appeals to students of varying abilities, we made the decision several years ago in order to be able to quantify
um the capacity of our young people. We started participating in SAT and PSAT school day with one goal in mind. We wanted to have a way to be able to better plan to provide advanced coursework for students who were ready for advanced courses. And so we
currently assess all 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th graders. That then helps to inform the types of courses that we offer, the types of programs that provide support. And so, um, just a couple of bullet points, we currently exceed, uh, the state in both advanced
classes offered, um, and, uh, tests taken. And so students take tests in these advanced classes in order to actually earn college credit while still being in high school, which is a tremendous savings to their family. One area of note is students enrolled in
dual credit courses. These are high school students taking college credit bearing courses. Right now, we uh are double the state of New Jersey with roughly 60% of our young people at Collegewood High School taking college college courses uh with the potential
for college credit. And so when we talk about our budget, I would be remiss not to share and and to really uh take a moment to actually talk about the environment in which we're currently operating uh in 2025. I would characterize it as chaos and uncertainty
in public education. We are still dealing with long-term impacts of the pandemic. We are dealing with an escalating mental health crisis without the resources in order to do that. Growing teacher shortages both state and nationally, rising cost of goods and
services, and you'll hear more about that a bit later, local budget crisis. This is not unique to Collingswood. There are roughly 600 school districts in the state of New Jersey, and 50% of school districts in New Jersey are not receiving their adequate funding needing to provide a thorough and efficient
education to the young people in their communities. the potential elimination of the United States Department of Education in addition to federal programs and services. And this is not hyperbole. On Friday, we were notified that one of our federal programs, a mental health
services program, which helps to put counselors in our elementary schools will be cancelled effectively December 31st after one year. This was a fiveyear uh multi-million dollar grant that was cancelled by the Department of
Education. And so when we talk about planning for the future, we're planning for the future with several unknown quantities. in addition to pending reductions in federal K12 funding. And so uh there have been ongoing discussions about uh
potential reductions to IDA, which is the funding that supports our special needs students in addition to reductions to title one funding, which supports our students who are uh lower income. What is our current budget challenge in Collingswood? So we've
talked about at the national level, we've talked about at the state level. What does that mean for colleagues? The bottom line is is that the costs to s support our students and our staff significantly exceeds the revenues that are available. If we go
back to 2324, the actual cost to operate increased from year to year by $3.4 million with revenues being $1.6 million. 2425 the current school year,
the cost of doing the absolute same increased by $4 million with revenues being $1.2 million in 2425. This resulted in a $2.8 million structural deficit. That $2.8 million
was reconciled with $1.4 4 million in programmatic cuts, reductions to classes, reductions to offerings, reductions to services, and $1.4 million in personnel. That translated into 21
dedicated faculty and staff who did nothing wrong. 2526 costs $4.7 million. the inflationary costs post pandemic continued to rise with no uh reduction
in sight. And so school districts around uh the country, specifically around um the region, we're all working collaboratively to problem solve together how to address this core challenge. With revenues, initial revenues being $1.1
million, translating into a $3.6 6 million deficit. And so what has been done to address this challenge? And so in previous meetings we shared these are just a sample of the level of advocacy that has taken place over the last
several years between community members participating in public hearings and letterw writing campaigns uh think tanks uh writing critical analysis and presenting to the state department of education. A Camden County created
advocacy group of parents, teachers, community members, board members in Camden County. Um, started as a result of these efforts in addition to local residents here in Collingswood developing a resource website in order
to make sense of a very complex issue called bridge the gap. In addition to us working with our burough partners in order to not only uh uh provide opportunities for partnership uh for a whole host of items but with
one goal in mind which was to avoid massive and drastic and unprecedented cuts. Um and so we are thankful for all of those individuals that helped us advocate to get to this point. What that translated into was the New Jersey
Department of Education tax levy incentive aid program. And so this is a new program that was established as a result of roughly 300 school districts being in this precarious financial
position. And so what is the program? It is a one-time exception to the 2% tax cap law. It's an opportunity for school districts to raise the local tax levy and permanently reduce their budget deficits and funding shortfalls.
It's an incentive for use where the New Jersey Department of Education as an additional incentive for school districts to be able to do this, they will provide a one-time uh aid package of roughly 5% of the additional taxes raised through this exception. And so
why are we eligible for this program? The state has determined that Collingswood specifically is underfunded locally and we have a budget that is below educational adequacy. And so the state identifies adequacy as a thorough
and efficient education. So what does that mean? That means what is the minimum amount of funding required for students to be able to fulfill their state constitutional right to a free and appropriate public
education. In Collingswood, we have a different definition of thorough and efficient. And so in Collinswood, uh we want our kids to have more than just the bare minimum. And so we want our kids to have robust activities. We want our kids to have robust experiences and opportunities. And so it creates an
additional degree of complexity to be able to balance the resources that are available with the demand, desires, and the hopes of families for their children. And so I'm going to have our business uh administrator talk about the
numbers and then I will join you back. First of all, thank you to the board of ed for um your patience during the I don't know since October, November. I have many versions of the budget. I believe we landed on the final one, but I appreciate your patience during this
process. This is been very unusual. Um, so this is our projected 20 um 25 2026 um enrollment. Um, and it does match to what is in the budget, but we're looking at a decline of about 62 pupils, mostly at middle school and high school level.
Um and that's usually the DOE um when they when they send us our budget, they have um our last five years of weighted enrollment and then they do a pro projection based on the number of children that we have and um how many stay. Um so here's a snapshot of our
district revenues. This is different than last year because I had to add different categories um because we are participating in the tax levy and senate aid program. Um you'll notice the board resolution that's in tonight's agenda is much larger than previous resolutions for the budget. That's because Trenton
is requiring a lot of line item detail um with regards to the 2526 budget. Um but we had about 800 $800,000 of surplus that we put into the budget. That's basically savings from prior school year um that once it's audited it becomes available for me to
budget as revenue. um local tax levy that's including um the 3.9 million that's in the in the budget resolution of additional tax levy incentive aid. So um local tax levby 23.7 million tuition again when we started
the budget process is actually lower than it was last year because we do owe our sunny districts uh money back. We are withdrawing from maintenance reserve to um help support our maintenance department. We are withdrawing from the
capital reserve of 376,000 and that's to um repair the Irvine gym entrance. Those of you who have been by you see the the metal poles supporting it. Um the county has determined that it's an emerging project and we can't we can't push it off any longer. So we do have to do it
this summer. Um student activity fees, admissions fees, and facilities fees for when folks come and use our buildings is about 65,700. State aid 10,918,000. Um when I started in Collingswood about 18 years ago, we were about 31% state
funded. So we are seeing a decrease um in state aid. I I'm assuming and I think it's a smart assumption going forward because we are utilizing the tax levy incentive aid program, we're going to start seeing more of a decline in our
state aid. So this year we saw 1% um decrease in state aid. I know that the governor this year when he did his budget address, he said he wouldn't anybody by more than 3%. I fully envision because we Trent does consider us considers us overfunded by about 1.9
million that we're going to see another decrease in state aid next year. Um Trenton did require this year that I show the tax levy incentive aid, the additional onetime pot of money of state aid to show it separately in our budget. So that's $195,760 Medicaid. Um this was a massive
hit to our budget this year. Um this is money that we normally get for the services that our child study team provides for some of our children as well as our nursing staff, OTP staff. Um the federal government has cut semi Medicaid um last year most
years 60 to $100,000 in state aid. I'm getting 6,000 now. So that was a massive hit to us and there was discussion at the federal level to get rid of the program completely. Um and then just some miscellaneous revenue um about
97,000 and that's mostly from our shared service agreements. So just to break it out in percentages, taxes about 54.7%, state aid 25.1%, tax levy incentive aid half of a
percent, tuition 15 and 15.6% and our surplus just under 2%. And just break it out into areas of the budget. Instructions 62.2 2% of the budget, student services, which I would argue should be part of instruction because it
includes the nurses, your OTP, your guidance counselor, your child study team. Um, but Trenton requires it be broken out this way. Um, so student services is 16.24%, facilities 13.15% and admin 8.42%. And again, just broken out on a
pie chart. Um, and there's a year-over-year comparison. This is what every you know. Um, so we've actually did it for three years. You see the big jump between 2425 or tax levy was 18.7 million. We're at
23.7 29% increase over last year. So for the average house, I know there was a new assessment in town, the average assessment is now $450,200. Um, that comes to $9247 a month, just under $1,110 a year
to support the schools. So, beyond the numbers, it's important to make those numbers real. And so from a school district perspective, uh we have just a few categories of how we are investing these resources to support the students in Collinswood. We want to improve the
alignment um of the entire administrative team to make sure that we're providing appropriate support to all of our schools. We want to actively engage our uh community around our infrastructure challenges, but we also want to continue to look at ways to
secure additional revenue um and school funding while also simultaneously pursuing new streams of revenue in order to support student learning initiatives. And so over the last several years, we've been able to help offset some of
these budget challenges by establishing a grant management team. uh and we've been able to bring in roughly 7.1 million dollars over the last three years in grant funds in order to offset some of these challenges to be able to
provide a continuity of services to students. And then the number one uh piece and responsibility of the administrative team is to commit to supporting and retaining dedicated staff. And so to put this in perspective, without us moving forward
with uh either the partnership with the bureau or the tax levy incentive program, we would have seen a net reduction of 30 to 35 staff in addition to the closure of an elementary school,
in addition to the closure of programs and services, including transferring all athletic and extracurricular activities to pay for play. And so we were coining this as the nuclear option. Nuclear being that once it happens, there is
tremendous fallout for years to come. And that's what we were hoping to avoid. Curriculum and instruction update our curriculum platform to make sure that we are continually aligning to the standards. uh focusing on continued implementation of the science of
reading, improving the quality of teaching and learning in our schools, building our capacity to be more inclusive, and then making sure that we're looking at the right data, the right information at the right time for the right students and making the right
decisions. PreK through five, one of our goals is to ensure that we are increasing access to high quality preschool for all Collinswood families. Uh we're pleased uh to announce that we are currently on pace to open our newest
campus which would be the calls at Park View preschool campus. You'll be hearing more about that in the coming weeks. Uh this will provide uh three or four uh classrooms for Collinswood families, meaning between uh 45 and 60 children
will be receiving high quality services as a result of the state uh preschool uh expansion grant. In addition to updating our multi-tered system of support structure at the elementary level which includes um
academic support and more intensive tiered intervention grades 6 through 12, we are launching a new student progress monitoring platform. This is a a digital tool that will allow our educators to spend more time working on supporting
students rather than tracking down data while refining our grades 6 through 12 tiered system of support. Uh we will continue to work on implementation of our into math program with fidelity for algebra, geometry, and algebra 2. And uh
we're constantly uh looking at ways to be able to update our program of study through our course offerings. And A few items of note are an algebra uh geometry part two, aerospace engineering, a math acceleration for students who need a
little more support in grade nine math. Uh two new music electives based on student demand, music and film and music as a mirror to history. a total revamping of our PE um developed by our teachers to provide more choices and
options for our upper classmen in physical education and then an exciting new partnership uh in the PE department of unified partners. This is where student leaders they partner with uh students that have uh developmental needs and IEPs and they work
collaboratively uh in a physical education environment. And so how are we saving costs? And so one of the things that we have really been focused on over the last several years is external relationship management. Actively seeking grants, partnerships, and
philanthropic support in order to be able to provide the the support that students need. We also participate in an insurance uh joint venture through the school health uh insurance fund and the Burlington County joint insurance fund.
This helps to actually lower the cost of insurance based on cooperative purchasing power u from multiple districts. We are also uh lowering our utilities cost by participating in a consortium as well as belonging to the educational services commission of New
Jersey for the cooperative purchasing of supplies. We have a shared service agreement here in Collegewood and Oakland as well as within our our burrow for administration, business services, child study team, custodial and maintenance technology and income is generated as a
result of this to be able to provide meaningful service uh to our school district. Uh we have reduced our transportation costs specifically for our vocational technical program by having a in district uh bus. Uh we also
contract with Oakland uh public works for trash removal. And then ultimately by offering high quality programming, we reduce the likelihood of not being able to service students and be forced to send them out of district and then have to pay private
tuition. So um we are extremely uh proud of uh all of the individuals uh that have worked in order to get us to this day. And we are here for questions. All right. Thank you, Dr. And Miss Coleman.
Questions or comments from board members? Yeah, I'll start. Um, so I was happy to see that there is, you know, a plan to support and sustain the actually MS um MTSS model because I
think that department took quite a hit last year. Um can you explain a little bit more on what that model might look like? Is it going to mimic what we've seen in the past or is there anything Maggie? You're talking about elementary specifically?
Yeah, we can start there. I did see it bulleted on both, but we can start elementary. Dating back to last spring, uh right when I came on board, um I think you were referencing that there was quite a shift and a um an adjustment to the
staffing model in that specific um in that specific role last year. Um, and so I spent a lot of this summer working with two MTSS coaches to strategically re rebuild um and redesign um that that
team of staff. Um, we've maintained um two um uh learning acceleration teachers at Sharp and two at Tatum in response to the needs and the enrollment in each of those schools um and maintained one at
Garfield, Zane, and Newbie. Um so that remain that was the the staffing model this present year 2425 and remains the staffing model next year. Um one of the things that we've been really intentional about is being
super clear about what kids need and how we meet those needs. Um in a in a typical MTSS sort of like upside down pyramid, right? There's anywhere from one to four or 5% of students receiving the most significant levels of support, maybe 8 to 10% in that next tier and
then the the bulk of kids um not requiring any support outside of the traditional core classroom instruction. Um, and so we spent a ton of time over the summer making sure that our staffing model aligned to our kids' needs. Um, and that we could meet those needs um,
between a combination of class teachers supporting tier 2 interventions in the classroom um, and learning acceleration teachers supporting kids in or outside of the classroom with replacement curriculum for those most specialized types of supports supports in reading and math. Um, so all that work took
place over the last summer and the start of this year. Um and with those um uh during this four, five, six, seven learning acceleration teachers and the two MTSS coaches which do now um support some kids directly. We're able to
support all of our kids in our INRS pipeline at at all of our schools. Um staying under our contractual minutes and and meeting the needs of kids in doing so. Um, we'll continue to refine and make tweaks at the end of this year and going into the summer, but we feel
like confident about the current model, confident about the our ability to support our kids well with that staffing model. Um, and then in that kind of vertical K through 12 piece, just to speak on that specifically, bringing in branching minds um at the secondary
level um and that will pull directly from um all of our different data platforms. And so one of the most cumbersome parts of trying to figure out especially at the middle and high school level whether it's,9 kids give or take um is tracking attendance data, behavior
data, lateness data, uh academic data um and to do that manually as you can imagine for that number of kids is really cumbersome um and time consuming. Um analyzing the data is important but actually having the data so that you can move the needle with kids is most important. And so we're excited about
the opportunity that branching minds offers to do to pull kind of like a a repository connecting with all of our different Genesis student information systems, math and dibble uh the map data for the academic intervention piece to
actually generate a report that says like this kid needs support with this specific set of skills and being able to turn key that information a lot faster to leaders and teachers to be able to hit the ground running for kids. So, um, we feel proud about where we're at now and excited about the opportunities that
we have ahead of us next year to do that work even better. Um, I just wanted to make sure I really wrap my head around the data that was presented and so we all are kind of tucked from the same song because the materials are dense and light items are
banks. So what I believe the 54% is getting us roughly in alignment with what we've said our goal is or what we're seeing within neighboring districts in terms of tax percent. I'm just asking are we moving up the like I'm trying to square the baseline for
the net new amount in taxes of roughly 1100 per month a year relative to where are we today like how much more is that or is that on top of what we're everyone's contributing today and is it getting us closer to what everybody's been advocating for and if so, how much
more? Right? We've said we've been below what um the tax share. So, are we getting closer to average or or kind of peer groups with this budget? So, I I want to make sure that we're being very clear. Um the actual
gap in terms of local fair share is short uh $ 8.69 million. And so, in order for us to be made whole, um according to the state, it's 8.69. 69 uh actually 8.691 million. Uh this puts uh
a dent. Um but we're not out we're not out of the waters yet. We're still in a very precarious position and ongoing discussion is going to be needed in the long term um to to be able to fill to fill the hole
in terms in terms I'm sorry in terms of the raw percentage. I'm not sure where that that puts us in terms of total total fair share. We're about halfway for what we needed for the eight like the 8.6 million. I will say Trenton is being very strange with
their letters, the approval letters. Um like as of I guess last week, I don't know if Hatton Township even got their letters because like the BAS were all emailing each other, did you get your letter from Trans? Like um they're coming. It's not like they're releasing them all at once. It's like they're a couple at a time are being released to
districts. Um, and not everybody's getting what they asked for, right? We didn't get everything that we asked for. Um, so I know I sent an email on behalf of the board like asking for what they determined to be a thorough and efficient education because I wanted to try to back into their letter. Um,
mathematically I could not back into their letter. Um, so you know, I think a lot of uh BAS are having issues with with the way it was um communicated back to the business administrators to try to make sense of what they were approving and why and why they were not
approving certain things. Um, but I don't know like the fallout like where everybody wound up yet. So when I get that information, I'm quite sure my state association is going to ask for a survey when everybody's done because they asked for a 25 26 budget survey before this and I'm sure they're They're
going to ask for one like afterwards. So, I think every I think everybody still has till Wednesday and I still don't know that everybody's gotten their letters from Tren yet. Beth, um, thank you for all of the running around and chasing documents and everything. I know this has been very
stressful for you over the last couple weeks, months. Um, Howard, um, could you just clarify for um, without the math brain? Um, when you say back into their letter, can you just explain what you mean by that? So, they sent a letter and I I can get it on the website. Um they sent us a letter um because I had to
send them a detailed spreadsheet of every line item very similar to what's in the agenda. So they sent it back and said you know we reviewed your request you know we deem the follow following items to be required for a thorough and efficient education and then the following like not required. Um so they
disagreed with the wellness center they disagreed with athletics and they and they disagreed with um I forget what the other items are. Oh, they they agreed that I needed maintenance supplies, but they didn't agree with me replacing somebody for the John's department. So,
it's just very, I guess, arbitrary is the word. Um, because we were told from the county office during the beginning of the budget process when we were looking at athletics because we had a hole and co-curricular on athletics is it's a very large line item. Um, I was
told by the county office that we couldn't cut it, that the county superintendent deemed it a requirement for throwing a fish to education and I did save that email but now I have a letter from Trenton that says the exact opposite. So I kind of on behalf of the board I took it upon myself to ask them
for clarification. Can you give me what do you determine a thorough and efficient education so I know moving forward. Um of course they didn't reply but those were some of the large line items that were in our request that they did not honor. You're welcome. I have um two questions. Uh, I guess while we're
on numbers, Bethanne, I wanted to ask you, um, you mentioned that the state determines that we are overfunded by $1.9 million, but yet here we find ourselves in this situation where they're giving us the opportunity to raise the tax level incentive because we're underfunded. I don't, you know,
how we got there. Oh, I know Roger's brought this up before, but um long story short, we're getting about $1.9 million more in equalization aid than this than our funding formula actually shows that we should be getting. But I guess because we are
upside down by so much, Trenton has kind of they haven't cut us in equalization aid. This was the first year they kind of shaved like 1% off of state aid. But when you look at the the raw data of the state aid formula, it look we based on what they calculate for us, we're
getting about 1.9 million more than what they calculate for us. So my assumption because I'm always very wary when we're dealing with this type of situation, if we're increasing one pot of revenue and and Trenton thinks you're overfunded because we've been flatunded. They
haven't taken the 1.9 million away, but they really haven't given us any additional state aid. I think they're going to start shaving it off. I just Just warning everybody. I I probably a year from now I'm going to be sitting here and telling you exactly that's probably what they're going to do. Right. And just to try to add some more clarity for folks who who haven't heard
this before. So basically at the at the beginning of the budget uh cycle the state not beginning but I guess in the middle of the budget cycle the state will calculate for every single school district in New Jersey what they deem is a adequate um school budget. So how much
money should be spent by a in order to provide every single one of its students a thorough and efficient education. So that's what Dr. D was talking about earlier. And so that amount of money is the starting amount and from there they also calculate the state will calculate
how much do they believe that the local town can and should support uh the district with in terms of taxes. So for example, if an adequate budget is $20 million, they might calculate that the local town
can support $12 million. So then per their formula, the state should provide $8 million in state aid so that the local taxes plus the state aid equals the adequacy budget. So, the reason why we've been able to apply for this tax
incentive aid program to apply for this one year exemption is because um not only are we uh basically the the amount of money that the state says that we can and should contribute as a local town to our school budget, we are our to local tax
levy is is well below that amount. So, it's 86 8.7 billion dollars below what the state says our town can and should contribute. And on top of that, because of that, uh what we're spending in terms
of our our budget is $6.4 million or so less than um the ady budget. And so, we were that's why we were able to apply for $6.4 million and we're only approved for $4.1 million. The reason why, one of the big reasons why there's that gap between
our the 8.7 and 6.4 number is because the state is still providing us about 1.9 million of extra state aid. So my example earlier, I said $20 million budget, local town pays 12 million, the state should pay 8 million. Well, it's
like this local states playing uh paying 10 million instead. We don't know why they're giving us additional money. It's definitely helpful. definely appreciated, but you can kind of see that starting to fall away as belts are tightening over and as they're trying to make sure that um funds are are distributed, I guess fairly according to
their their state a formula. Hope that's helpful. Thank you. Uh Mayor, you mentioned uh branching minds. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? Is that some a company that we're bringing in to to do this?
Yeah, I believe that either last month's board meeting or the month prior to that um the board approved a contract with branching minds as our MTSS platform. So it's like a digital platform and the technical assistance that comes along with it um to um help support this
secondary specifically. Yeah, I can share more but I think we talked about that previously but I can Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Um and then I know we've talked over time about the possibility of the state allowing us to spread the taxes
over time. If that does become an option, which it may not become an option obviously right now, but when they do their budget, uh is that something that we are planning on taking advantage of or um is that something that the state determines that we have to do? How does that
work? So, we applied for 6.4. We were awarded 4.1 with 3.9 being local taxes. We're putting the 3.9 in our budget. So, right now there's nothing left to bank,
but where I'm sitting I I still I'm sorry. I still want to argue with Trenton with the validity of things that they've cut out of our budget. Like we were upside down by 6.4. they admitted it to us. We
applied for what we were upside down by um as far as what they determined adequate and then they reduced us. So I don't know that there's any going to be anything left via the budget mechanism to bank. But if the conversation is still open
to apply or appeal or argue on behalf of Collingswood for the remaining funds that they arbitrarily took out of our request, then yeah, I would absolutely do that on behalf of the district and I would love to be able to bank that for future years. But right now, like what we're approved for is what is included
in the budget. There isn't anything like left over. How about the impact uh on the community in terms of taxes? Right. I'm sorry. Yes. So the the in terms of of banking, right? So this idea has been that um uh I think the mayor has talked
about uh a potential for us to to bank this tax increase. So what that means is basically uh let's say we're raising it by 3.9 million. Instead of doing all 3.9 million, we would do two million this year, right? and then or or you know 1 million this year, 1 million next year,
1 million the following year in order to to slowly increase the uh the impact of the tax on um on the community rather than this one one big time that that's that that's the the banked piece right that you're talking about. Yeah. So if we like take so if if that is does
become an option and like we do the 1 million this year can we still have the bureau support us on the other three million for this year and then you know incrementally increase it. So, I had a conversation with with the mayor on uh Friday, which uh he was talking about
that that that might come through, right? That option at the legislature might come through. Um and if it does, then we'll uh have to have a conversation, right? Uh with the bureau about how that might occur. One of the things I think that we have to be careful of is is without additional
support, right? So, basically, if if we dip too much below the $3.9 million initial additional, we're we're talking at that point and so we would need additional revenue support in order to phase anything in. Um not suggesting we
go. No, and I'm just telling I think the public challenge of why we couldn't just phase stuff in um without additional support there. Um and then the other thing too is that uh that would be a later discussion because we do have to have this public hearing on the budget
by Wednesday and then uh and it has to be passed by by 15. So anything that happens if this were to happen would likely be a separate process kind of like last year when there was a separate process as well. Can I just reiterate the question about the financial impact of the community? I I What is that
dollar in this budget? Sorry I thought it was in the slide presentation $9247 a month. What is the difference between this budget versus last year just by virtue of proxy like what is it net new amount between the two? Because in addition you we already have a baseline. This is a bit more. I'm just
trying to relative how much more well while Beth's looking that up I did want to make one point around the banking conversation and I think it's important to remember that this money that came from the state and this opportunity to take advantage of this tax levy increase came together rather
quickly we had two weeks I think to apply for it um and it was because of efforts like in Hen Township and across the state advocating for real and wanted to see more money put into school
funding formula. Um that said, I think it's advocacy saying that this initial hit should be spread out could also have an impact. So I think as more towns that are looking to take this on are advocating saying we would like to see this spread out. We want opportunities
to be able to to meet to close this gap, but we also don't want this then to just be something where everybody has to hit that So, there could be opportunities for advocacy, but all of our conversations with the Department of Education, they've been pretty clear that this is a
one-time opportunity and that's it. Last year's tax increase was $136, so 975. You're welcome. I have a couple questions on some of the costsaving measures. So, we talked about
utilities um and district which is great. Um, so those are some of the items that we're using the tax incentive aid for. Um, so I'm just wondering if not not the in district bus we're using um for the line item for transportation.
It's our out of district special. Yeah. And utilities I mean I know everybody's being hit personally, right? Um is that something you know the cost measures is that something that's already in place or is that something? That's with that's with the co-op pricing and they're saying we're still going to get hit. So
when I had done the budget, I tried to get to like the massive 20% but then we shaved it off so I just put the remaining back in. So knock on wood. Hopefully we'll be okay. You're welcome. Quick question to tap on to that one. I know that um you know this is a very
detailed but yet guessing game for you in terms of like what you're going to be spending the next year based on what you spent last year and all of that. when if and when you go happen to go over budget in a particular line item, what happens to that money if you don't use it? Does that go into the capital reserves? Does
that go into um That's a great question. So any item unspent, let's say I don't put any money in reserve, it falls to surplus. So the auditor comes out during the summer, I close my books, fiscal year ends June 30th, they come um end of
July, beginning of August to audit us. Um, I'll then know exactly how much surplus we had. Once it clears the books and it's not reserved for any specific purpose like for capital or maintenance and it goes to surplus, that dollar amount then gets um it has to be
budgeted in the following year as revenue. Okay? Like a savings. But every June and um the state does allow the school district to deposit and it's the only time we can do it um in June for if we think we're going to have excess
funds, we can deposit funds into our maintenance reserve and capital reserves in the month of June. And I always do an up to dollar amount and it's a humongous dollar amount, but we never have we never have that much money um to put into it. But that's the only time I can do it. Um but yet it would roll to
surplus any any unused funds. Okay. I had a question about the last slide um similar in terms of costsaving funds. Um Dr. McDow, you said something about uh being able to save on private tuition. I did note I know that costs are going up a lot, but I did note in the budget that
it seemed like the jump for what we need to spend on private tuition between last year and this year was quite significant. Would you be able to speak to that, please? Oh, I can too. I I just I'm sorry. I know the details in my brain. Um, we did have we try to keep as
many children in district as possible with the programming that we have in all of our schools and it's outstanding, but we do have some children that do move in with very specific IEPs. And if the child study team determines that um they keep with the keep with the IEP with the the out of district, then that's what we do. And we did have that on several
occasions this year after the budget was already set. And we're we're rolling in the school year. We did have families move in with children's that had IEPs with added district tuition. And then we're until it comes to this where I'm not a child expert, but I believe they stay there until they're re-evaluated
um to determine if programming within the district is the appropriate placement. But we did have a lot of those both columns would end locally and had that situation quite a bit this year. So that's why that that's why those numbers wind up in the following year's budget because of they came in midway through the year. Thank you. So
it's also important and the reason why this is so critically important for us to have high quality in district programs is the average cost for an out of district placement is between 70 and $125,000 per child. And so um plus
transportation plus transportation. So we want to always make sure that we're meeting the needs of our students. Um but we try to the degree possible to do it in the least restrictive environment. And so we focus every on establishing new programs to be able to service and
support who we can in house. Um so in terms of the is there a difference between this presentation that we had and the information about the collaboration with the bureau why wouldn't um I know we talked about additional revenue that we
would be getting from the bureau and I did not see that concluded here. So is that a separate conversation? Uh part of my conversation on Friday with the mayor was uh confirming um some of the additional amounts of money that that he he has said that to to uh to
commit to the bureau. And so one of them being the $225,000 um uh earmarked for the CA contract. Um, and another one being that we can adjust our um, basically over the years the bureau has transferred
$222,500 per year of park fee pilot money to the district and it has uh, historically under agreement been that that would count as a credit to our tax amount. So, for example, if we tax 15 million, then that
222,500 would would basically lower the amount of tax that we tax It doesn't have to be that way. That can actually be in addition to what our tax revenue is. So, so per all these discussions um that was one of the steps that as I think the bro has called it accounting
adjustment. So, those were two pieces uh that um we discussed. Uh but then I think at at the moment we're just waiting you know once we see it in in the budget and or the resolution passed then then uh M will be able to then at that point add it uh in as
uh additional revenue basically once it comes in. Yeah. And so I know their meeting is tonight as well. So so we're waiting for that budget to be um voted on and then we can include it in our revenue in addition. Thank you. Is there a plan
to meet with the bureau about any of this in terms of just emails back and forth? Is there a plan to sit down and have a conversation? Yeah. So, so there uh we've been working our the lawyers have been working on a redevelopment agreement in terms of the athletic
fields and night parks that was part of the joint agreement. And so, uh on our discussion, we we said, "Hey, let's take a pause. There's there's a budget season right now." And so we're going to set up a time to meet um after May 15th when the once the budget deadlines are done
uh to then talk next steps on how to get that redevelopment agreement um completed and in place so we can hopefully move forward with some some facilities updates. also speaking to the impact on the um on the community which you know I know we
all agree that this this is a big ask um and and these are very difficult times and and I think it's important that that we do consistently acknowledge that this is a lot of money you know it's it's it's going to be a lot of money for all of us I know I feel like my mortgage
keeps going up and now it's going to go up some more so believe me we really do appreciate that um in terms of um plans try to mitate the impact. I know we have talked in the past about um making seniors in the uh community um making
collaborating with board to notify them about um tax relief offerings from the state and I know we had talked about collaborating with the burrow on that. Um can you speak to how that collaboration is going? I is there is there a plan for us to collaborate to get the the message out for those applications things like that? I
remember we had talked about that before. Okay, so we we haven't talked specifically about those pieces. I think one of the things that we have worked together on was notification um to uh basically all the residents in town about our our meetings and about the the
tax leans and debate program. I have a couple questions on some line items for the tax column. Um so I appreciated that it was presented this way because it really gives a snapshot of what we're using all of this and I think it's beneficial for the community
to um a couple of line items that were significantly larger than last year and I just want to make sure that I fully grasp what we're using them for because it really adds up to about a million dollars. Um are the general supplies and
um the purchasing service for home instruction it looks like um we spent a significant amount lower this year. So, I'm just wondering what the plan is on I mean for general supplies, we've added $977,000 and for the home instruction
one, it's additional 24,000. We only spent 480 last year. So, I just want to make sure that it would be that's a million bucks. It would be nice to not have to tax our community that much money, but it makes sense. I'm just curious of what those line items are going towards. Which which page are you on? I'm sorry.
I know it's huge. I'm sorry. If you look on the just the tax incentive, right? So, the increase in appropriations. Can you do the line number? That might be easier for me. So, uh 380 is the first one. Um so, 380
is really a general um account to add that much money when we've only spent about $400,000 this year. So, what are we? So, basically every supply every school there's hundreds of supply lines. So
when we reached out to um the schools and we rep prioritized based on getting the tax levy incentive aid, we now are buying instead of putting off Chromebook purchases. So this is also technology. It's all supply lines for every school, every department, including technology. So I restored what
was cut two versions of the budget ago, including all of the Chromebooks because we we replace I for how many grade levels we do at a time. I think it's three. So, I've just replaced what has been cut in the last couple budget cycles. Okay. So, computers and then the teachers will see teachers, staff,
principal. I mean, they're going to see $977,000 into their general supply budget for next year because I thought budgets were due in or in October already. So, are we giving them an opportunity to add to that? I wouldn't say add. We asked them, they sent our
budgets to us and then we we reduced from there and then we went back to them with the they rep prioritized. Um I will say in some of that I do put um uh some salary increases for unaligned staff. I
I do put it in different line items so that it's I just know I have all the money in one pot so I can tell the board what that number is offline. That's in there as well. Salaries are also just for my unaligned staff. Yeah, I keep it offline because we all have access to the same software. So, just so you know
to be on the up and up. Yeah. Okay. I have an account number. I put that in for them. And then what was the other account number you had? Um the other one is line item um 9260.
Um, this year we spent only 480 and the line item is I'm going to be transferring money into to the 11209. That's special ed home instruction. I'm going to be doing transfers into that. Okay. So, we'll see an increase for this year that will mimic or you know. Yes.
So, I just want to make sure we have enough in the home instruction line because I've been taking from other areas in the budget. And I appreciate that we need to pad some numbers because things are going up and I just those were two that were huge increases. So, I just wanted to Yeah, we have seen an uptick in home instruction um just
districtwide, but in the last I say three to four months, uh Bonnie's been doing she's been needing more money in the in the home instruction for special ed line, and that's what that is. You're welcome. I I do want to clarify there. It took me a little bit to understand which line item you're talking about. Um
the Right. Right. the the the general supplies piece, you know, I I don't know that we should speak about the specific number there, but but to I think you know that is a big increase on the general supplies piece and um one of the reasons if I understand correctly is that that is because that that also is
the line we're currently um uh additional teacher salary um uh that for the contract that has not yet been agreed to is is held. And so that right there, so that amount of money when you're talking about there's a lot of
money in there that is that is directly supposed to be for teachers when the contract is settled. Thank you. Thank you. Um speaking of that topic, um I appreciate that we cannot have a public
update on how things are going. Um but if the board members not on the um negotiations committee could get an update on how that is going, I think everybody wants this to be settled so that you know we can demonstrate to the taxpayers that their tax increases are going to be put toward what the
community has clearly said that it wants and what the staff says that it wants which is a fair and equitable contract. So I think that needs to be made priority. So, we'll uh I'll provide a I'll provide an update uh via email to to the non non-conlicted members on on the board.
Um so, the other thing I think we need to make sure we talk about in terms of the uh tax money raised is that we initially had applied for $6.4 million. the the state approved um 4.1 uh and I think it was mentioned earlier
that items that they did not I'm sorry I see someone coming here items that they did not uh approve as as uh giving us additional money for because they didn't deem it as being required for thorough efficient education uh was stuff like u I think 1.1 million for for athletics
right and they because the state doesn't deem that as being or athletics programs as being necessary for thorough and efficient education which as Dr. Mau said earlier we clearly disagree agree with. Um they also didn't approve funding for our wellness center
because uh I think I believe from their statement from the letter that uh they basically said that well your funding hasn't yet expired or been cut by the federal government yet even though we know it uh the chunk of that funding is ending uh at the end of next school year. And then we got that letter last
week, I think Tuesday evening, and then on Friday, part of the wellness center funding uh got cut from the federal government. And so the reason why I bring that up is that there is still um you know I think this is a a much I
would say um like a better budget conversation than we had a year ago where this same meeting a year ago um we had students, families, teachers talking very very clearly and passionately and and and
truthfully about the the positive impact of all the teachers and staff that that we um had to let go of because of budget cuts last year. Um and and so this year, the fact that we're able to have this budget conversation without having to
say, "Hey, we're we're cutting 21 staff like we did last year," I think it is is uh amazing. And that's because we're able to fill that this this budget deficit that keeps on growing um with the increase in taxes. One of the
challenges is that from our uh before we applied for this program. We talked about three different funding levels. Um, one of them being the maximum level, 6.4. What we got approved for is basically the minimum minimum level. So, basically, we just got enough to uh a little bit over what we need to fill
this year's gap. And so one of the problems that that poses is that uh we're going to have to keep on advocating um uh at all different levels and especially at at the state level uh for ways in which to um I think rethink and
revamp school funding within the state of New Jersey. Uh because what this tax raise does is it fills this gap that we have this year, right? It helps us keep a balanced budget this year without having to cut uh programs, but
uh we're going to have additional costs from inflation uh and from uh uh salary increases that we have to pay that will that comes ahead next year. And because we weren't uh approved
for the maximum amount to bring ourselves all the way to adequacy, we have no buffer. We basically have enough right now to fill what we have now. And we're going to be challenged with growth in in costs next year as well that we're going to have to figure out
how to face. Um, and I think there there's a a really, you know, we talk a lot about structural deficit. One of the the things that I think the the state needs to grapple with and one thing that I think we're going to continue advocating for uh figuring out ways in which to address this is that the the 2%
tax cap um both has been in place because to try to make sure that we constrain how much taxes increase year-toear, right? And that's really important piece. But then also that means then that uh that the district can't keep up with
the rising costs of educating our kids. So if you remember our local taxes make up about 50% of our budget. So if we can only raise our tax local taxes by a maximum 2% every year, we can increase our budget by 1% every year. Right? And
and that is a that's a really big issue because at the same time our our staff need raises, right? And they need raises that can keep up and maintain uh uh within inflation. The entire board here agrees with that. And
and the problem is that that percentage is significantly higher than the than the 2% we can raise with with taxes. And so one of the things that we're I think I'm really thankful this year that we're able to balance our budget this year um
without having cuts. And my goal, I know personally, is to continue advocating um throughout the next year to to see if we can adjust, update um somehow the funding formula or how we do school funding in New Jersey so that next year
our district is able to bring in enough revenue to be able to cover um uh the increase in cost and and the the increases in in salaries that that all of our staff deserve uh and we need to provide without having to lay off anyone. um uh else. And so I think
that's one of the the things that that I don't want to have this be a Debbie Downer of Me, but something to just mention that the fight's not over, right? And we got to keep on uh figuring out how to um advocate for more and more school funding so that we can keep the programs and the staff that that um do
so much good within our community. Speaking of athletics, I have another question um because there's a a line item that has cost 23,000 and I just want to maybe that was a one time cost you know and we don't
need to pay for it this year but that's just why there's no proposed item for that it's on page 25 budget that took me by surprise since there was nothing proposed this year and I know we are crushed for time
but it would have been helpful for the finance committee to see this budget kind of review these I got it to you as soon as I could. I know you did. I mean I really did. Um which are you referring? This is athletic equipment. Um it's couple from the
bottom 7527. That was the scoreboard. Um Trenton. Yeah, that was actually in our letter from Trenton along with all the athletic stuff. Okay. Trentonos that we're not doing that. Okay. Yeah, I just want to say I tried to line up again this beyond the board.
It goes to this has to go to the department of edge. I tried to line up the original budget that was submitted with the bureau's assistance and then try to back into the letter in a way that Trenton could follow the line items. Yeah. And try to
make sense of it. And that's why there's at the bottom there's a little reconciliation so we all could kind of follow it along a little bit. Thank you. Anything else from board members? All right. Uh, so do I have a motion to exit committee of the whole and a
second? All those in favor? Uh, so with that, we're going to move to our first section of public comment, section four. Um, so the purpose of this public comment section is discuss items listed on the agenda. U there will be a second additional more
general uh public comment section at the end of of the meeting. Uh the public is reminded that attempts to resolve all concerns and complaints should first go through appropriate staff members and administrators. Intent of public comment is to give the community opportunity to provide feedback to the board. We will be actively listening taking notes so that we can take all that is being said
into consideration. We will also take note of any questions and if appropriate do our best to address them at the end of public comments. Members of the public are welcome to speak and expect to do so with the utmost sensitivity for everyone in attendance. In fairness to all who wish to speak, there is a strict three minute time limit per person
during public comment. Uh and Miss Coleman will assist uh by keeping time. Please remember to state your name and address for record. Uh and the floor is is yours. My name is Karen. I've been an English teacher at the high school since
1998. Um I have some concern about our willingness to buy new technology when the technology we have doesn't have enough people to run it cor correctly. Um I work at the 9 through 12 um system. I've never heard of uh branching minds
and I may not need to but I do know that this year Genesis which is the backbone of our system was unreliable because we didn't have enough bodies to input data. When I was trying to fill out state paperwork for appeal students who need
to have accurate data, they had at the beginning of the year no graduation scores whatsoever because there was nobody in guidance to put them in because you had not replaced a missing guidance counselor. As the year went on, kids who needed to be in my appeal class
came in halfway through it because we didn't realize they needed to be in my appeal class. Um, so trying to use buy another service, spending money we don't have when the problem is the the systems we have right now aren't functioning
because there aren't enough bodies to put in the data is ridiculous. I would also like to mention another thing that we bought this year. Um, we did my god I'm having a senior moment.
We um bought system, the computer, the Mac testing. Thank you. Totally forgot it because I didn't know I was going to write about this. It was supposed to be given three times a year. We didn't have enough bodies to get this
information uploaded into our system. So, we didn't give it the first time until almost mid year. And then when we tried to give it the second time, there was no time. And I was just informed this week that we are going to give it a second time during my exam period, which
means that preap um English 3's final exam will be MAC testing. It will not be a test that reflects what they've learned this year. It will be an attempt to catch up on data that we've paid for,
but we haven't it wasn't able to be implemented correctly. I beg you, Stop chasing the system that is going to solve the problem. Hire the people that can make those systems work. Hi, my name is Tim Phillips. I'm a
resident 828 Avenue. Um, a couple of questions. First of all, um, can you tell us, and I know you're not going to answer now, can you tell us how much of an increase is provided for in this budget for salaries
and compensation for teachers? I understand some of it is hidden, but you know, if you give us a general idea, I don't know if you're allowed to, but Okay. Um secondly I you announced last week that
Thursday would be Thursday May 8th would be a roundt on the budget and I'm wondering if you approve the budget today what's the purpose of the round table and the third thing respectfully if you guys have the same resolution for
the budget that was handed out at the back of the room then it's invalid because the date in the I think it's the 8th whereas is uh May 6th and in the be it
further resolved the last section says Monday May 6th at 6:30. So, I don't know if you want to change that before you vote up here. Hi, I'm Lee Troutman, 104 East Madison Avenue. I have a couple questions that I
hope will be answered uh after the public comment section. Uh first of all, is any funding in this tax increase going to anything that had to do with the referendum that was defeated% last year? That's one.
Uh second thing has to do with the fact that we didn't actually get to see a line item of where our tax dollars are going to go. Uh there was one very innocuous addition which was called administrative
capacity and there was something about in the building and in the district. Are you talking about adding administration to the district itself to the upper level offices? So if you give us an idea of
what you're talking about with that because got a lot of other needs much more so than things within your district administrative office. You already have two assistant superintendent. You have assistant BA. You've realigned jobs with better
titles by from people who already doing these at a lower level salary previously. So I just want to make sure that my tax dollars that I'm still paying forward as a senior citizen are actually going to something that is
necessary and not a wish. Hi, my name is Andrea. I'm a resident and I am also the secretary on the CMS PTA board. I wanted to take a I wanted to take a moment and recognize that today is the kickoff of National
Teacher Appreciation Week too. And I want to give a huge shout out to our teachers and staff for all they do. And as we talk about raising the taxes, I just urge all of you to settle the contract. Thank you. My name is Shannon Peters. I'm a res
inwood at 450 Wood Terrace. Um, I just have a question about the fair share. Are we as a districtaching out to the state fair? We're not the only district in the
state that's facing this. It appears that there's 48% of districts in our state are considered underfunded. Is this getting not just across county or across South Jersey? Are you reaching out?
Hi, Becky. So, you got 10:30 Grand. I've got two kiddos over at Sharp. Um, two questions. The first is in the agenda for tonight. Is there somebody somewhere that we can see the account numbers, what these actually link up to? as we're reading through, you know, Maggie, your questions were really
helpful. Just seeing the account numbers doesn't help to know what the lines actually mean. So, is there a place that we could find that? And then second, and I'm just going to reiterate and ask from last week, is there not a ton of people
here and this tax increase is going to hit everybody. Please, please get outreach done to make sure that community members know what is happening, where the money is going, and the change in results we can expect to
see with this kind of an investment. I am very concerned in talking to people that a lot of people still don't know this is happening, and they won't know until that tax bill hits. So, please get out and talk to people. Even as a parent in the district, I forgot about the
meeting tonight until the CE posted it. There wasn't even the parents and community members who are on the email list and the text unless I got accidentally took myself off and I may have but please make sure people know what's going on. This is a big thing for our town and everyone needs to know.
Thank you. Hi Liz Wilson 109 East Franklin. Just a quick question, not to beat a dead horse, but um Good Shepard I know is the district offices right now and I know that that could be in flux depending on what's happening with the agreement with the burrow, but I feel like that's maybe
a really big building for what it's being used for. And I would love if there was a little more transparency about what that what the building is being used for, um how efficiently it's being used, and if we're looking into other options that might be less expensive since we're talking about the
budget. Hi, Cara Boiler, 90 Summerfield Avenue. I have four kids in the district. So, uh, I wanted to hit on a couple points. Is it okay to cover something that was in the presentation? Yeah. Okay. Um, so for the presentation, um, I wanted to thank you for all the work for opening
classes at Parkview for, uh, preschool students. Um, I wanted to find out or maybe suggest that there would be an optin specifically for families who have a walking because I currently am a power professional over at Oakland and we have students who walk from Collingswood at
Park View to get all the way to the building. Um so I hoped that especially if there's like um three-year-old students who might be able to take advantage for this upcoming school year that families might have the option to opt in so that they don't have to have
the walking knee. Um second was uh for the for the Chromebooks um I wanted to um I guess emphasize or re reiterate that uh as some other parents have mentioned that the roll out has not always been successful. I paid for um
two of my students to have uh Chromebooks. By the time se December rolled around, we still had not received Chromebooks. We paid insurance for them. So we opted as a family to purchase our own and we asked that the money that we for insurance be gifted to a student in
need if it was possible. But we never heard anything. We never saw you know what became of that. So I hope if we're making this um financial expenditure part of next year's budget that the roll out is more successful or there's more communication with families so that we
know what's going on if our students need them. Um especially if there's financial need. Um, and then the last one, um, is I'm a CHS, uh, high school PTA president. Uh, I wanted to stress that this unsettled contract, um, for
teachers is impacting some of our senior activities for our students, um, end of year activities for all of the high school students and also um, it's going to start impacting students for next year who might be looking for, uh, letters of recommendation for colleges.
So, as a PTA, uh, president, I I just wanted to stress that we would really love to see this contract settled so that it does not impact our students further. Thank you. Bethanne Rogers, CA as an update for negotiations. The CA
has sent an MOA to the board negotiations team on Friday. We have yet to receive a response. If you look back at the three levels of funding that was presented by this board with this idea of the tax levy, there was never a mention of funding going towards the
teacher contract. And the CA contract is not a priority for this board. If it had been, it would have been settled. The mayor has offered a considerable amount of money for the town to pitch in and still nothing. Crystal 325 Newton Avenue and I
appreciated tonight's discussion. Um I'm a little disappointed that the full budget details have not been shared publicly um so that the public can review it. Just very brief summary without account descriptions and without the full budget detail that Maggie was referring to
saying it was like wonderful visibility for the community. Well, it's only for you, not the whole community. So, yeah. So, so um in addition to that, it's very upsetting to hear that the teacher contract is still not settled. Um, I noticed in the presentation that there
is overall declining enrollment, but yet lots of new programs being offered and challenges to fund salary increases next year. So, that seems to me again with the common theme I've been hearing over the past several months here at these meetings that I don't have confidence that the BOE is being a good steward of
the money that you are charging all of the taxpayers to fund. And lastly, I think it's very irresponsible of the BOE if your main goal was to balance the budget this year, as the president mentioned multiple times, that you turned down
$3.3 million of funding offered by the burrow at no tax increase to the residents. and instead you're opting for the easy out to tax every single household in the burrow irregardless of ability to pay one of the largest tax
increases on every homeowner in the modern burough uh history. So I don't understand how you can live with yourself at night and I strongly urge everyone on the board to vote no against this proposal. You can take the money from the bureau. The bureau has offered
to revisit their own budget to provide this to the school and that gives a whole year to continue working together with the burrow and the residents to come up with a solution and this can and should be done. You have a responsibility to work on what is not only important for the school but what
the what is important to the community and what the residents can afford to pay and many many many neighbors cannot afford this massive tax increase. I don't care if you tell yourselves it's less than what you wanted. It's still huge for a lot of people and I that is
just somehow being lost and listening to what is being presented tonight. I just feel like there's so much wasted spending happening and it seems like there's a a goal here to hurry up and spend money because it was budgeted and you know just so that you can um not lose that funding and that that's just
not the right approach. Hello, Steve Kirk in 320 Newton Avenue in Collinswood. Um, a lot of what's been said already is they stole my thunder, but I wanted to bring another aspect to this. Uh, I've been a resident for more
than 70 years in college and a family member of mine served as a school administrator in the college school system for more than 35 years. Extremely proud of that. Um, also
The point I like to make, even though it's everybody is important, but you know, my wife and I never had any children, okay? But for a lot of years, all our living years in college or as
homeowners, we paid the taxes and we paid them without any hesitation. When I say every year there was increases, yeah, there were normal increases, increases that were acceptable, that didn't hurt the public.
I think this increase can really affect a lot of people in Collingswood. And you know after spending all my life and my wife's life working and earning and so forth and we never hesitated paying our taxes but at this point you worked for
the golden years to retire and a lot of families and colleagues were on fixed incomes. We talk about inflation and so forth and how it affects the school. I understand that but how does it affect the public too? And I think without
going any further, I think you have to understand the effect this will have on a lot of people in college. Sorry, one more thing. You know, and I have to speak on this. Tonight the superintendent spoke about
some great numbers and he was very proud and he should be. But I also counted four times where the superintendent said we thank our staff and teachers for getting those numbers. So if that is the right thing, I mean you can't talk out
of both sides of your mouth. If what you're saying you're proud of those numbers, you're proud of the teachers who have gotten those numbers because without them it doesn't happen. Let's take care of our teachers. Uh Jeff Herman, uh high school special education. Um I just had a question um
about something in the agenda tonight. Um, so I just want to rewind last year to the AVID program um that was talked about and was going to be implemented prior to the budget cuts. Um, the district decided to spend $30,000 on the
curriculum for this program. Um, and a bunch of us teachers were going to help uh get it up and running along with $18,000 stipen um for the person to run that program. um that program was cut, but the district already put out the uh
approximately $50,000 for the program last year, which never came to fruition. It was just part of the cuts, but that 50,000 was spent. Um I see again in this uh agenda that the $18,000 stipen is still being paid out. So, I'm interested
to know whether that uh program will be returning or if we're just, you know, pushing that through in this budget or not. All right. Thank you. name is Tom Skipper. I live right around the corner on Avenue. Uh just a simple question. Um we
had funding by the bured tax. Is there any reason you can't do a hybrid one? We have the same cutes My name is Larry. I live through many
changes. I have to tell you if you want good labor, you have to contract. your teachers, settle it, stop delaying it. Okay? And you're asking for per month tax increase on top of tax
assessment for us seniors. It's a tough and I got to tell you, I know personally a lot of situations there's money being wasted. Nobody will ever reexamine ourselves a little bit.
And I know the state the same song every year. It's been going on ever since forever and it's never going to get better. Okay? So you need to really come together and buckle down and do the
right thing. You were born here on behalf of the residents. So let's represent the residents without us into bankruptcy. Thank you. My name is Connie Connie. Um, I lived here for 40 years and seen
this town and I've loved it since the minute I moved here and it's going in an odd direction. I'm not as eloquent as Crystal was, but I want to ditto everything that she said. I feel
like we have to live within our means and can't spend money that we don't have. We have to learn to tighten our belts and live within our means. Taxing the citizens money that they can't afford is just
not imploring that I was back at last year's public hearing on the budget and it looks like every line item is there and shown and you know itemized out as to what is being spent but right now I
thought this was the same public hearing for the total budget. Maybe I'm correct about that but we're only seeing a handful of items and of those we don't even know what they're for. So I was just wondering when we will have the opportunity to see the entire budget. Um, and secondly, I want to reiterate
what what a lot of people have said, and it's not just retired folks who can't afford the tax increase. We have many, many, many, many, many families with two parents working, trying to pay for all the
things. My annual raise definitely doesn't cover the same amount as the annual tax increase is going to be if this is approved. And I know I'm not the only one out there. And Lastly, please please get our wonderful teachers a
contract. Hi, Rachel Hennessy. Um, just one quick thing. I know that we've been talking about budget and all of that and thank you for all your hard work. I know this isn't easy and you're probably having nightmares about spreadsheets and line items, but um something else that with
the tumultuousness going on in the world, in our government specifically, just an update to make sure that we're protecting our children and keeping anyone out that shouldn't be there. Um specifically immigration, all that. Um,
also our kids right now are experiencing chaos everywhere in the world. The one place they don't is when they're in school. So, please settle our teachers contracts. Okay, seeing as if as there's no more
public comments, I I'll close that section and then I think we we have a lot of questions to address, I do want to give um the administration some time to address a few things. I think uh Miss Halter, did you want to speak about the
map at all or Good evening again. Um yeah, I'll say a few things. Um uh Cara Boiler in no particular order. Cara, I thought your uh idea and suggestion regarding um uh rostering and registration uh was
thoughtful and uh I made some notes about that. So, thank you for that um suggestion. Um not a guarantee that we can do it, but the wheels are are turning a bit there. So, thank you, Cara. Um and then uh yes, I'll touch on uh some comments that came up tonight
around um the Branching Minds MTSS platform or MAP both uh from public comment, Miss Tenure and some of the board here. Um I should have I should have said more clearly earlier that um both Branching Minds and our MAP and our Dibbles universal screeners are all grant funded. Um so just to make that
distinction in terms of where that funding flows from. Um uh and then uh I'll follow up with Miss Tany around your your feedback about uh the timing of um the timing of questions of assessments.
So my my so first thank you everyone. It takes it takes guts to speak in public and so um all feedback is good feedback. So I think that it's it's really important for us to be able to hear the complexity of what we're dealing with within our community. And
so when I'm speaking to you this evening, I'm speaking to you wearing a few hats. And so the superintendent is my job. That's not who I am. Uh I'm a father. I am a Collinswood resident uh since 2017. I'm a homeowner and a
taxpayer. I have two children who attend Collinswood public schools. Uh and so we're not just talking the talk, we're also walking uh the walk. And so some of the feedback when we talk about building capacity, we're not talking about adding additional administrative staff. We're
talking about how do we better utilize the individuals that we have in order to be able to provide better and more targeted support to our schools. And so uh the gentleman that that spoke uh about uh my comments around our
teachers, let me be crystal clear. Uh the academic progress that we made would not be possible without the tremendous efforts from our teachers. And so end stop, no excuse, no qualifier. Our teachers have 's job. They've worked extremely hard with very challenging
circumstances um and uh very lean uh budgets and so nothing short of remarkable which is why I will continue to to scream about despite everything that has been thrown at our tremendous educators. They've
shown doubledigit academic growth over consistently for the last three years. That speaks to the dedication that speaks to their talent. That also speaks to uh the importance of both our association leadership as well as our board working to be able to settle this
contract as quickly as possible. And so as my role as superintendent, it's to uh help make things make sense and to translate some of these complex concepts. Same thing with our chief financial officer. We provide technical
assistance and feedback. Um and we are collectively uh pushing our parties to come to a resolution so that we can continue to to move forward. Um in terms of u the goals and the objectives of the referendum, I also need to be very
clear. And so what we heard time and time again um was is that the goals and the objectives of the referendum had merit and there was widespread agreement including burough leadership making the exact same public statements over and
over again. What was rejected was the financial remedy. The community spoke very clearly that the uh $40 million price tag was not something that they were in favor of and that they wanted us to achieve the goals and the objectives in another way. We will continue to work
collaboratively with the bureau to figure out other ways that minimalize and dramatically reduce any negative impact on our citizens to be able to achieve some of the goals and the objectives of the referendum. Hence the plan for partnership. And so it's a
long-term uh partnership looking at a whole host of of of items, one of which is a redevelopment agreement for athletics. And so embedded in the referendum was looking at how do we update our facilities because as a homeowner and a taxpayer um it is
unconscionable for us to pay the taxes that we pay and not have outdoor recreational facilities. the bureau is in agreement and so we are working collectively in order to get the resources uh that the community has been asking for so that they are not only aligned with the recreation plan for the
bureau but it's also aligned with the athletic needs um of our of our students and our student athletes. Um in terms of uh National Teacher Appreciation Week, I want to uh publicly thank um all of our teachers for the tremendous work that
they do. All of our PTAs, they have an a whole week full of activities just to show their level of gratitude, respect, and love for their teachers. And so on a daily basis, every single campus, they're going to be loving on our staff, and it is rightfully deserved. And so we look forward to being able to report to
you about the good things uh that come as a result of that. Um in addition, uh we also want to make sure that when we're talking about advocacy, uh we don't want to minimize the importance of advocacy. And so there are a lot individuals, some of which are in this
room, that have helped us advocate for flexibility that did not exist six weeks ago. And so when we talk about finances, we are are stuck between a very challenging circumstance, uh, temporary funding and a $10 million
hole in October, or do we move forward with what we can do now to put a tremendous dent in a a large hole so that we're not having the exact same conversation 12 months from now about the nuclear option. And so when we talk
advocacy. One of the core challenges is the state's interpretation of the funding formula. The state uh uh has shared that they believe that they that school uh uh districts and local communities are supposed to be carrying
the lion share of uh the burden as it relates with education. We fundamentally disagree with this interpretation, but this is the rules and the laws in which we operate. Hence the reason why we've been asking for your advocacy. And so when politics is at play, and it always
is, the legislature did not want to touch this in an election year, they kicked the can down the road. And so what they did was they created the tax levy program to basically shut everyone up across the state about the gaps for another year. There were some districts
that took full advantage of this. There were some that did not because their circumstances were very different. And so as a community, we have been very clear for at least the last four years, if not the last 10, that there is a structural problem with the way that the
state interprets school and educational funding and that we collectively as a community must confront this challenge. We have to do it together. We cannot continue to ask for things that we are unwilling to pay for. And so uh when we
talk about living within our means, we are are trying to live within our means, but we are also trying to provide as our community has defined it, a thorough and efficient education for our young people. According to the state, a thorough and efficient education does
not include any extracurricular activities. It does not include targeted additional intervention for students who struggle. It does not include athletics. It does not include building
maintenance. It does not include funding for supplies for building maintenance. It does not include funding for uh repairs. And so we are working within the constraints. Um but we are in need
of assistance. And so in the coming days, in the coming weeks, and in the coming years, we're going to be reaching out within our community. Uh we have a an agreement with the bureau to help us advocate both at the county and at the state level. And as you have heard this
evening, we are making more progress at what we have made in the past based on the partnership with our with our bureau. And so we are thankful uh for their willingness to partner with us. We're also thankful for the continued advocacy, but this is not this fight is
not over. We do acknowledge that this is a tremendous ask but the alternative would have left a very damaging destructive u outcome for the students as well as the staff within this community and that's what we were seeking to avoid.
Thank you Dr. and I think there are a few other questions that that I want to address. is there's a question about the round table on the budget on Thursday that Sure. Good evening everyone. Um we will have a round table uh on Thursday the 8th 6:30 at the
Collins library. Um, for those of you who have been to these in the past, they are, you know, much less formal opportunities to engage with the board um about, yes, the budget, which you're correct, right? There isn't necessarily
uh time at the round table to make input that would change the budget, but it would certainly be an opportunity to make sense of it, to ask questions that you might have, to get additional insights. But these round tables are also for any other questions um or topics that you would like to come and
talk to the board about. Uh so we encourage you to come out. Um they're usually good conversations. Um uh we'll have a few of us there to to try to answer any questions that you might have. Thank you. There was a question about um
uh seeing the the timeline to see see the full budget uh and also I think a related question about you know what the count numbers mean. So the the full uh budget is on the public agenda online. It's it's a 44 page document. So I think you might understand why it wasn't
printed out for everyone here, but it's on the agenda online um that that you can go through and and look, you know, line items and and it has all the descriptions there. Um and I just want to give a little clarification. So this was an unusual year with regards to
budget and we had to push off the public hearing um for the tax levy incentive aid. So we last year we approved our budget and there was no like need to change it into the public hearing. So I was able to log into the state software and print out the actual department of the 90page document that everybody saw
last year. I don't have the ability to provide that document tonight because when we change the budget at the public hearing that we're doing now um I have to um email Trenton after the board meeting and let them say you know yes or no the budget was voted on. They have to
open the software. They only do that after the public hearing on the budget and then I can go in and modify the actual 89 90 page uh department of ed budget document that everybody's looking for. I don't have the ability to provide what what's on this what's on the website is what spit it out of my soft
my accounting software which will tie to the state budget but the actual state budget document that has like the enrollment information all that other supplementary information everybody's used to seeing tomorrow I email the county I let them know what happened at the board meeting they open that up I then have to redo the budget in the
state software so it matches our accounting software that the board members did see um and then um this county approves it and then once that's done I can get a final document and then the user friendly budget typically within 48 hours of the public hearing
that has to by state law has to be on the website. I'm going to I'm hoping the county approves our budget quick enough that I can meet the 48 hour deadline but usually all that information is on our website pretty quickly but that's kind of why that final document that everybody's used to seeing I don't have the ability to get to that right now. Right. Right. Thank you. And I think
that also speaks to the point about questions about you know how we're spending our money. Just to be clear that uh the the budget will be public. Uh the budgets also go through county uh review this year. It also went through went through and will go through state
review as well. Um the burrow has reviewed all our financial auments this year as well. And so beyond also the annual auditing and so all those pieces I I know folks are well um is the budget being you know spent well or or you know
x y and z and it has gone through so many different sets of eyes looking to make sure that that it's uh being spent correctly. Um there's a question about outreach and making sure that uh that folks uh know about uh this stuff. And again, this is
why we've worked with the burrow to put a postcard in every resident's uh uh mailbox to uh know about this. This is why we've had multiple meetings about uh this piece here and why we will uh continue to um email and and talk and
discuss uh uh the the budget challenges that that we're facing. Um there's question whether or not there is state level advocacy for the fair share calculation. There is and and that's actually part of the New Jersey Fair funding collective that was started by that Dr. McDall talked about started by
the Haden Township Board present and so you know we have we've had members who've attended those meetings. Um we've uh had members who have advocated directly to Department of Education again about the uh the fair share calculation. So yes that that is ongoing and and work that will have continue uh
happening. Um see the then I think finally there's a the mention so there's a question about uh there's a comment brought up about uh how uh apparently none of our funding options that we
presented several weeks ago um has uh in none of it do we mention funding going towards uh teacher raises or teacher salaries and and Let let's let's make sure that we're on the same page here. All of the funding, all of the taxes that that we're raising
here, it is to ensure that we can continue uh offering the programs and services and maintain the staff that we have. The the tax increase here lets us avoid cutting 30 to 35 staff members. If that's not for the teacher contract,
then I I don't know what would be, right? So, let's just be very clear. The taxes here are here are to support our staff and to support the programming that we're we're offering our students. Um, and so I think a member of public
said said it very well. You can't talk out of both sides. We want to be able to provide raises, adequate, fair, equitable all raises for our staff. In order to do so, we must bring in more revenue to be able to pay for it. Or else the The other option we have is to
cut staff as we did last or not uh uh fill empty positions as we did the year before. So in order for us to continue offering paying uh raises, we have to bring more revenue. And that's why this tax increase is really important. Why
it's also different than uh accepting a one-year offer from the burrow. So, the burrow offered a one-year $3 million for us to help get us over the hump for one year. Very much
appreciated uh especially when there was no other option for us to fill this this budget gap. Um the issue with that is it was only for one year. This will help us uh uh you know pull pull up our our it will help us plug the hole for this year and also reduce the hole that we're going to face next year because it's
ongoing. Another thing too I just want to mention is that any sort of financial solution cost the taxpayers, right? So, so the $3 million that the burough was offering was they're offering through
the use of a redevelopment loan, which means that they would be borrowing that money at at up to an 8.5% interest rate. That money has to be paid back by us by us, the taxpayers. So, in
the end, right, the taxpayers, these are public This is a public school district. The public has to pay for it. And so one way or the other, we all have to pay for it. And I think that's we have to be very clear that that in the end that there is no free lunch. We have to pay
for it. Uh and I think this community uh you know and we talk about this is what we're grappling with is understanding hey if we want all these services, if we want all these things, we can't talk out of both sides of our mouth. We have to be able to pay for it. And that's what's really important here for us for us to grapple with. Um
that I want to move on to the actual budget piece which is uh section um section five and I think we'll have a few we have a few there so I'll let uh Mr.
the chairperson announce. So the finance buildings and grounds committee um reviews all financial statements, purchase orders and warrants on a monthly basis. The committee also reviews and approves all contracts with outside service providers and oversees all maintenance and capital improvement projects districtwide. Uh we are seeking
approval on the following item. Did you want to were there changes you want to do or you want to do that after? We'll do it. Yeah, go through it and then we'll probably need a motion. I apologize for the typo. Um yeah, motion to to tonight. Um, and then we'll do a roll call on the motion and then a roll
call on the main motion first. So, we're moving on the recommendation of the superintendent to approve the final 2526 budget for the Collins public school district. The budget change for tax levy incentive aid at the public hearing. Uh, 2526 final budget adoption with all other resolutions readed. Adoption of the
final budget, modifications to the tenative budget approved by the interim executive county superintendent. Whereas the count colleges board of education adopted the tenative budget on March 18th, 2025 and submitted to the executive county superintendent of schools for approval. Whereas the tenative budget was approved by the county the county superintendent of
schools on April 17, 2025 and whereas the tenative budget was advertised in the legal section of the retrospect May 2nd, 2025. Whereas the proposed FY2026 state budget, certain districts had the opportunity to apply to the Commission of Education to increase expenditures, including an allocation of tax levy
incentive aid in order to satisfy the thorough and efficiency standards established pursuant of NJSA187F-46. Whereas the Collingswood Public School District is below local fair share and spending below adequacy to be eligible to participate in this program. Whereas Collingswood is eligible to increase expenditures by
$4,110,955 and qualify for incentive in the amount of $195,000760 $195,760 whereas the Collings public school district has been granted approval to increase expenditures based on the following reasons classroom teachers curriculum upgrades guidance
home instruction IT supplies maintenance nursing preschool principal purchase services and supplies security substitutes transportation costs and utilities whereas the final budget including the increase in accordance with the tax levy incentive aid was presented to the public during a public hearing held Collingswood High School
cafeteria, Collinswood, New Jersey on May 6, 2025. Where we'll be changing it. Um whereas the board of education has now determined to make modifications to the tenative budget as follows. Increases in revenues. Um I'm not going to go through
each of the budget lines, but increases in revenues as are below. Increases in appropriations as are noted below. It resolved that the colleges of board of education approve the 2526 school district budget as follows. General fund
budget 43,598,841 23,780 $787 $80,7 coming from the local tax levy. Special revenue funds of $6,457,178. debt service fund of 121,286,163 and a total base budget of
51,342,182 local tax levy being 25 million66,170 further resolved to seek approval of the applicable tax levy caps healthcare adjustment of 724,469 you have further resolved to use the bank cap as applicable zero dollars use of bank cap is to maintain current
programing that cannot be deferred or incrementally completed over a longer period of time. Cuts in state aid make use of bank capab programs. Uh be it further resolved to withdraw funds from the capital reserve in the amount of 376,620. Purpose of withdrawal is to
address the emergent masonary repairs needed high school gymnasium entrance be further resolved to withdraw the funds of the maintenance reserves in the amount of 150,000 withdrawal for maintenance reserve account to use a required maintenance activities for school for a school fac. reported in the
comprehensive maintenance plan pursuant to NJAC 6A26-20 be further resolved to withdraw funds from the tuition reserve in the amount of $0 further resolve pursuant to NJAC6 6A 23A-73 the Collings Board of Education
establishes $25,000 as the allotted maximum expenditure for travel 2425 2526 uh whereas the Collingsville board of education recognizes school staff and board members travel costs related to and within the scope of their current responsibilities and travel that promotes delivery of instruction
furthers the efficient operation of the school district and whereas NJAC 6A 23A-73 requires board members to receive approval for those expenses by majority of the full voting membership of the board and staff members receive prior
approval of these expenses by the superintendent of schools and majority of the full voting membership of the board to date thus far in 2425 school year the board of educ has spent $4,1001 on travel and to advertise said tenative budget in the retrospect in
accordance with form required of the state department education and according to law be further resolved that a public hearing be held board of education located at the high school on Monday May 6th at 6:30 p.m. for the purp 266 school
year. That's all. But I think that's it. So, we're seeking approval for uh item 5.02. Yep. Um is there a motion and a second? Okay. So, we're going to need a motion uh to amend the
resolution um under the one, two, three, four, five, six. Change the change the date to May 5th uh in the two places. So uh on the eth statement and at the very bottom be it for the result.
So is there a a motion uh to amend the resolution as thus uh and uh is there a a second? Okay. So then I think that's is that that's a roll vote now. Mr. Craig? Yes.
Mrs. Divine? Yes. Mrs. Maya? Yes, Mrs. McCowski. Yes, Mrs. Seltzer. Yes, Mrs. Sherman. Yes, Mrs. Mr. Dus. Yes, Mr. Ch. Yes. Um, are there any further questions or comments
from board members about the budget? I I do. Um, first of all, I just want to uh say thank you to Andrea and yes, happy teacher appreciation week to all of our amazing staff. Um, second, I um I can assure you uh Dr. McDall's correct the PTA does have a lot planned
for you this week and as Zaki and I are nodding our heads over here. Um the second thing I wanted to say and this is not specifically about the budget but I wanted everybody to understand that we we do look at these things very very thoroughly. Um, I avoided all of my
personal work today and I I reviewed 44 pages of budgeting over and over and over again for several times over the course of the last few days. Um, and I know sometimes it seems like we're not listening and we don't hear you, but we are listening and we do hear
you and we don't always necessarily align with everything and we try to make the best decisions that we can. But I just wanted to say that I appreciate you coming tonight and I appreciate you speaking and I encourage you all to continue to come and continue to speak and to continue to hold us accountable
because that's why we're here and that's why you're here. So I just want to say thank you for everyone that came and and whether you spoke or you didn't speak, we appreciate it and we are listening to you. Um, I would also like to say, um, to respond to a lot of the concerns of the
community, I just wanted to say again that I I I also do hear you and we hear you. This is a big ask and, um, I I appreciate how everything has been laid out for us from both the the board of ed leadership and also from the bureau. Um,
these are really hard financial uh, decisions and they're really hard times. And um, you know, there was a comment, you know, how do we sleep at night? Believe me, I I don't sleep well at night over this. I don't I haven't slept well since I got on the board pretty much. So, it's it's
it's we really do think of these things and take them into consideration. And you're right, we are here to represent you, the community. Absolutely. Um, but we're also here represent the students and um I personally feel that um the
these times we we need um something that is going to give us long-term stability and that is the kind of thing that I I am definitely taking into consideration as well what our students would lose out on and what our staff would lose out on if we did not take advantage of this
opportunity. But I I so definitely weighing both has been weighing on me and I just want you to know that I hear you and we are listening and thank you again for your for your comments tonight. I'm sorry, can I say one more thing? I forgot. Um, also if there is I know we said this before, but if there
is an opportunity in the future, you know, this continues to be a very fluid situation. Um the state has said, you know, multiple times and I and I think um the mayor has said based on conversations he had and conversations I know you've had, Roger, um with with the burough leadership, this could continue
to be a fluid situation. And I really think we have to make a promise to the community that if there is an opportunity to um do do a gradual rolling out if something becomes available in the coming weeks, all
current deadlines obviously we will fulfill, but um that that we need we need to physically meet with Burough leadership to continue to have those conversations and if we can bring any relief to the taxpayers, we need to do so. Thank you. So with any more questions
council members call please. Mr. Craig. Yes. Mrs. Divine. Yes. Mrs. Maya. Yes. Mrs. Mcc. Yes. Mrs. Mrs. Sherman. Yes. Mrs. Z.
Mr. Dulkus. Mr. Yes. Okay. So, moving on to section uh six, the curriculum committee. Do you want me to Okay, Miss Sherman will present. Okay. First, I'm
so sorry I sound like this. This is what seasonal allergies sound like when you're not from this area. The curriculum committee oversees and approves a district curriculum and assessment of programs as well as field trips, home instruction, co-curricular
programs, and the school calendar. Luckily, there's only two items on there. Seeking approval for the following items. Um item 6.02, this is a middle school field trip, the um MD68 classroom taking a trip to the Cape May
Zoo. And 6.03, this is the um UN trip to Cheriel East. So maybe you'll see them there. Uh the global issue discussion simulation seeking approval for the um items 6.02 to 6.03. Uh is there a
motion? So move and a second. Uh so apologies. So in uh in honor and celebration of our teacher appreciation week, uh we'd like to send some additional appreciation to the back of the room. uh our Panther Pantry uh Miss
Nissner is uh leading the charge. Um and so Panther Pantry, for those that are newly joining us this evening, um it's a labor of love that is run by our our students as well as our staff in order to provide nutritional uh and home
support to needy families. And so we uh are continually accepting across all of our schools non-p perishable items. Uh they also accept uh uh cash uh as well as uh personal uh care products. If you've got questions uh or wish to make
a donation to Panther Pantry, which supports Collingswood, Oakland, and Woodland uh families, please see uh Miss Nishler in the back. Any other questions or comments from board members? Roll call, please. Mr. Craig.
Yes. Mrs. Divine. Yes. Mrs. Maya. Yes. Mrs. Mcowsky. Yes. Mrs. Seltzer. Yes. Mr. Sherman. Yes. Mrs. Z. Yes. Mr. Dulus. Yes. Mr. Chim. Uh, yes. Now move on to
section uh seven, the personnel committee. Dr. Czer will present. Personnel committee reviews all recommendations for teaching and staff employment. considers co-curricular employment and considers all professional development opportunities for staff members. Um before I get into
some of the longer items on the list, but I I won't read them all, I promise. Um 7.02 through 7.04 are resignations. 7.056 are revised contracts for two staff members. Um uh 7.07 is um the
approval of an elementary lunch just one. Uh then we move into recommendations of the superintendent to issue contracts uh to a number of our staff. 7.08 are preschool through grade five teaching staff who are
tenured. Uh 7.09 is the same preschool through grade 5 teaching staff non-tenured. 7.10 10 moving into secondary grade 6 to 8 teaching staff
tenur 7.11 6 to8 teaching staff non-tenured 7.12 moving into high school staff high school and district staff who are tenured and 7.13 high school and district staff non-tenured.
Uh 7.14 is preschool through grade five office and service personnel who are tenured. 7.15 is the same group preschool to grade 5 office and service personnel non-tenured. 76 preschool grade five office service
personnel tenur uh 7.17 grade 6 to8 uh service personnel tenur 7.18 6 to8 service and office personnel non-tenured 7.19 high school district
office and service personnel who are tenured 7.20 high school district office and service personnel who are non-tenured. Uh 7.21 high school district office and service personnel 10-month employees non-tenured. 7.22 preschool through
grade 5 administrative staff who are tenured. 7.23 preschool through grade 5 administrative staff who are not tenured. 7.24 4 grade six to grade eight administrative tenur staff 7.25 high
school district administrative staff who are tenured 7.26 I got through it approval of items 02 7.02 through 7.25 Do we have a motion and a
second? Oh, do we have a motion? Oh, and a second. Second. Okay. So, there uh I am going to ask for a a motion for I I guess it's an amendment technically to item 7.08. Um we'll need to something that we
had caught. will need to uh add um uh staff member um SD uh to to that list. Um and so just I just need a motion for for that and a second.
Um questions or comments from board members? Yeah, somebody was inadvertently left off. I'm gonna do a roll because we're adding we're amending the agenda. Mr. Craig, sorry. I have a quick question. Um, do these just because they're generic, they
don't need to discuss items, right? Yeah. So, so most of these are uh by basically by like tenure law. Okay. Thank you. Um, roll call, please. Mr. amendment.
Yeah. On the amendment, Mr. Craig. Mrs. Divine. Yes, Mrs. Maya. Yes, Mrs. McCowski. Yes, Mrs. Seltzer. Yes, Mrs. Sherman. Yes, Mrs. Z. Mr. Dulkus. Yes, Mr. Chu. Yes. Okay. So,
then uh back to the approval of of all these items. Any questions or comments for board members? Okay. Uh roll call, please. Okay. Mr. Craig. Yes. Mrs. Divine. Yes. Mrs. Maya, yes. Mrs. Mcowsky, yes. Mrs. Seltzer,
yes. Mrs. Sherman, yes. Mrs. Z, yes. Mr. Dulkus, yes. Except we're required to Mr. Chim. Yes. Okay. So, now we're moving to section eight, our second section for public participation. Uh,
this section is available for for additional more general comments. It doesn't have to be on the agenda. Um, uh, again, we will be active listening. notes that we can take all that is being said. We'll also take notes of any questions and appropriate do our best to address them at the end of public comments. Um as a
reminder there's a three a three minute time limit per person during public comment. Miss Coleman will assist like time. Uh please remember to state your name and address for the record. Um, I'd like to address Dr. McDow's comment about the referendum and his
statement that the community was in favor of the goals of the referendum but didn't want to pay for it. I think it's wildly inaccurate and frankly dishonest to make that claim. It is not accurate to assert that this community
was in favor of closing Garfield, of closing Sharp, of requiring amilies in the district to move their fourth and fifth graders to good sheeperd. I don't think that's accurate and I think that if that's what you took away from the
conversations that you are having with people, you are not listening. And that is a grave concern that I have in broader ways about the leadership of this board. Bethanne Rogers, CA negotiations team.
Finally, the CEA is ready to settle this. As I said before, we sent a memorandum of agreement to the board on Friday. We are still waiting for a response. The budget is about choice. It is not how much money you have. It is how you choose to spend it. We have
spoken. The community has spoken. The students have spoken. Now is the time to settle to move us forward. We deserve a fair settlement. [Applause]
Hi, my name is uh Bob Rup East Styles Avenue. I know there was a few questions um before about some of the details on like the Um, and I didn't really hear much in terms of like how that is where that's coming from. Um, and it wasn't clear in
the budget um, uh, document from the agenda today like you know where this different money is going. So like where can the public sort of get that um, uh, information or can you maybe provide some more details about that?
district marching band. So our kids spent the last four days of competition in Wildwood performing their heart. and wins. They both came in fourth in their division while our color guard came in
21st I'd like to recognize staff members Mr. Woodward Holly Jackson along with their team of volunteer instructor instructors and thank them for all of their effort. I had the privilege of staying at the hotel with the band as a parent volunteer and was so impressed with
our special recognition to our high school. We have a very young comprises mainly of CMS. They are the majority of our color and our program and for a few of our seventh graders it was their first time away
from home for an extended period since they being Especially for the first time, our high school members stepped up in a big way and came here. They were there to offer support, encouragement. They helped to calm nerves, performances, offer advice. They
organized secret sibling exchanges and all kinds of board auction, you know, all they were eating way too much food. watching all of our kids run around the motel in their seagull hats and they were jamming together during their time. It just made all of our hearts as parent
volunteers and it was such a truly special experience to witness and I just want to thank you all for your support of the program. Uh Jeff Herman, special education teacher at the high school. Um just let me be clear. Um since maybe my question wasn't heard the first time and nobody
responded to it in the little public comment after part, $30,000 was spent on a curriculum for a program that never happened along with an $18,000 stipen to run that program which then never happens. And we are spending $18,000 again this coming year. Is this program
happening? Yes or no? Thank you. $7,000 by the way for a program. Okay, seeing as there no more public comments, I'll close that and then I'll ask for a few clarifications. I think we address that
answer. Okay. So we'll follow up with that. Um the there was also uh so just clarify so for Mr. Herman we'll we'll follow up with uh once we get a little more information there.
Um there's a question about where is is the money going and where can the additional money tax going and and where can we get more information for that? U so the $3.6 million budget deficit in order so we as as a district pass a
balanced budget uh with a $3.6 million budget deficit without additional revenue. We would have had to cut 30 to 35 staff, close an elementary school, so to consolidate elementary schools to save costs. Um make all of our
extracurricular activities and athletics uh a fully paytoplay. So so families would have to pay completely for the cost of extracurricular activities. Um we also uh uh cut an additional I think 10% off of uh budget line items on
budget lines that were already frozen from the year before to try to contain costs. Uh and then I don't I think there might been one or two other things I can't remember exactly right now. So by bringing in additional revenue that is what that's paying
for keeping a school open not having to lay off 30 35 staff paying uh activities and athletics for our students uh and and so so that is because if we did not have that additional
revenue those would be the cuts that would happen. So in case there's any confusion there that's what that this money is is going towards. Um, so with with uh in terms of the contract negotiations, I'm I'm grateful uh and thankful to hear that the CA is
ready to settle. Uh, I do appreciate that they sent us on Friday, May 2nd um at 4:35 p.m. a document in response to our email from the board on Tuesday, April 20 29th. Um so as we look through uh the document we will get back to the
CA uh about uh their offer um you know one of the things I think again we have to continue mentioning is is yes the the budget is about choices. Absolutely. Unfortunately in the past we the only
choice we've had has been to cut programming services and staff. You know, one of the things that I think we continue talking about the the teacher contract is yes, the board is absolutely wants to sell this contract and one of the things that we have to balance, one
of the choices we have to balance is uh you know, currently the offer on the table is significantly above county average. We have to balance the idea of of will we have to cut in the future in order to afford the contract in the future. In
the past several years, the answer has been yes. We have to cut in order to afford our contract. And that's why I think all of us up here have been working so hard to bring in additional revenue so that we can provide significantly above county average raises to our teachers without
having to cut any of them is that is a choice. That is the choice. It's either cuts or additional revenue. And so that's what we're doing our best to do here. And that's why, you know, I think we keep on even though these are long nights, trying to find ways to bring in
addition. Um, that Okay. Right. I'd like to say something. So, the MO was sent Friday afternoon. This budget was posted Friday afternoon. We all had the whole weekend to review
45 pages of budgets and go through and try to figure this out, but we couldn't go through it. So, Yeah. So, we're we're going to So, we're now going to move on to a German. So, uh section nine. Do I have a motion to adjurnn?
Uh and a second. All those in favor?