good evening thank you all for coming here on on such a gorgeous night uh I am calling this special board meeting to order uh this meeting has been appropriately advertised uh Miss Coleman Ru call please Mrs
Brown here Mr Craig here Mrs dine here Mrs Maya here Mrs molski here Mrs seltzer here Mrs Sherman here Mrs Z here Mr
McMillan here Mr dilus here Mr Chu here see please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance there was no executive session uh for tonight's meeting we so we'll go on to section three which is a brief
presentation about the uh burrow and school district of plan for partnership there you go and so I think we'll start with yeah uh so so while folks are walking in first and foremost we would just like to thank everybody for being here um we
would also like to publicly thank uh our buau and our board of education for working collaboratively in order to support the needs of our children in our community and so from the uh Board of Education perspective everything that we do is in service uh uh support of uh
students and their families um and what's being presented tonight is consistent uh with that but is also uh fiscally responsible and takes into consideration um the overarching uh needs of the community and so we're going to hear from our uh Chief Financial Officer uh
Mrs Coleman good evening on the next two slides you guys have seen before or most of you have seen before they've been on our district website but just kind of going back since uh 23 24 current year and what's estimated for next year basically our upside down um our
increased costs and our lack of revenues um for no other way of putting it and a lack of state aid which is causing us to be in the situation tonight I know this is hard to read it'll be on the website so um when we received our state aid notice uh from
the Department of Education they recalculated our local fair share they did change the they changed the funding formula slightly instead of using your most recent years property values and incomes as reported through your tax returns they now did a an average of
three years but unfortunately for Collings would have kind of made it worse so instead of being upside down um for local fair share of five and a half million we're now just under 9 million um so what that means is um the commissioner and the governor when they
look at Collingswood they are starting to take state aid away from from our school districts because they consider us fully funded through their eyes so that $28 Million number that is highlighted in a red box that's what they think Collings Swit should be paying and we know that that's not what
you are paying and nobody's asking you to pay 28 million but that is how Trenton gauges us so when they figure out our funding that's the number that goes in and they start backing stuff out of that so this is a a definite Factor um in the amount of state aid we receive
and we're one of those districts that are going to be losing state aid over indeterminate period of time um we lost about $100,000 L year I assume it's going to be the same if not more going forward like I said for an indeterminate period of time until we get a new governor and a new funding formula
so this next slide is a slide that I presented I believe last board meeting but it is essentially what Miss Coleman our business administrator just talked about which is just the how basically our funding as a school district has evolved over the last decade or so and
what you'll see is is this red line at the very top that is the amount of funding that the state says you know expects that we receive from our our local taxes and the blue line is is what we're actually able to receive because of our our 2% cap and this is what uh
Miss col was saying about how why the reason why the state is is decreasing one of the reasons why they're decreasing their funding to the district over time is because they keep on calculating that we uh uh should be getting more and more funding from a from from our our local residents you
know like ourselves and so that arrow that Pink Arrow is that Gap in funding where basically state says well you should be gting this much money but in reality we're only getting that blue line and what that's led to in this uh past year and one of the big reasons why
we're here today is uh a $3.6 million budget deficit for the coming school year just to continue uh providing the the same level of Services Program pramming and Staffing as this year because of inflationary costs and and uh
and so forth so so that is the challenge that we're uh faced with here today and and that's why I think we're so appreciative of of what Dr madal is now going to be talking about so one of the responsibilities of uh the district leadership team is to uh
explore every uh potential option uh for additional revenue and so over the last several years we have uh been uh pretty aggressive in pursuing philanthropic or grant-based support uh that funding is uh shortterm it fills an immediate Gap
but it is not sustainable and so over the last two and a half years we were able to secure about 7.2 million in grant funding uh but each of those dollars has strings attached and also has an expiration date with many of those dollars that are uh falling off some fell off this past year some will
fall off U at the end of this current year and so uh it was important for us as a uh School District uh to go to our uh burough Partners um identify what the challenge was and seek their assistance
and so on February 10th the Board of Education unanimously approved the ability to request support keeping in mind uh we uh fully are aware and understand um that times are tight for us all and that our buau is not sitting on millions and millions of dollars and
so that wasn't uh the ass thinking that there was money that was readily available we knew that it would be a tremendous ask um and therefore uh we're extremely appreciative um of the work and the effort that it took just to for us to get to this point today and so included uh in the long-term plan are
both immediate needs and then long-term discussions that are yet to be held uh in order to to firmly solidify that what's good for the district is good for the burough and what's good for the burough is good for the district and we can only do that by working collaboratively uh to together for the
common good of our community and so what you will see um in the next uh few slides is a proposal that identifies uh low to uh to to know uh uh tax impact locally um in addition to looking at some of the pilot funds of which many
are expiring in the in future years uh looking at other collaborative ways to Leverage The Authority uh of the municipality and the flexibility of the school district in order to problem solve this math challenge also while providing uh additional
resources and value to our community for the public good and the public usage uh in addition to going um together to look at the goals and the objectives of the referendum uh in September and and exploring all available options uh to
achieve many of those goals uh without increasing the tax burden on our residents and then also a deep commitment between both organizations to work collaborative to go to a public uh vote and a public referendum to secure long-term funding
this September um and the the slides that you see uh will outline that and Mr Chu is going to share those about an hour or so before this meeting there was a joint statement that was released both by the buau and by the district outlining this uh agreement the
next couple of slides will will'll pull out the six major points from that joint statement so the the first piece is about uh just focusing on eliminating the current upcoming budget deficit for 2025
26 school year that $3.6 million that I spoke about um a few minutes ago and so the way in which this uh agreement between the uh B buau and the board works to do this is um the bur was able to identify uh areas within their pipot
funding and a little bit of surplus funding to be able to to uh uh help with about $750,000 of additional funding for this next coming school year that was our Point number one um Point number two here is um that uh basically we are
going to work together with the the burrow we're going to review uh the the school Financial uh um documents together and then from there after that process the uh the buau will commit to
funding the rest of the upcoming budget deficit for 2025 26 school year and I think when the when the Commissioners come up they can kind of explain that this mechanism a little bit more but they were able to find a a creative way to to do this in the short term with with a very little tax impact uh on the
community and then finally the last piece here for for close uh for closing this Gap is there is a discussion at the state level a proposal from uh that we've heard from the governor to uh give school districts who are well below their local fair share so that little pink Arrow from before on that line
graph that districts who have a a big kind of gap between their local fair share and the local Levy to give school districts opportunity to to um increase Revenue through uh going above their 2% cap and and if that proposal is passed uh in time for this budget season we
will use that so to lower the the need for burough contribution now finally the the second piece there you go the second piece is planning for the future so last three points on the uh on the in the joint statement and the agreement which is
first that uh there's going to be a shared Recreational facility development and so uh the buau uh and the the district will work together to uh redo and and update um the athletic fields and and to really bring value to the community in terms of of
recreational space for all um we will also form a joint committee to plan out the long-term facilities needs uh and to really look at addressing the uh the needs that were identified during the September 2024 Bond
referendum and then finally as uh Dr madal stated uh with the Bal support we're going to go out in September uh to uh to a vote to ask the community for longer term um funding support uh so that we we will not encounter this type
of deficit uh in future years and so that that those are the the six main points from the um from the uh agreement and and from that were listed out inside the joint statement that was sent out uh probably about an hour hour and a half
ago so at this point what we're going to do is we're going to uh we're going to move to committee VI whole where uh We've today uh ask the Commissioners to join us at
the Das to discuss um this uh this joint agreement um and so first I think what we'll do is is give the board members a second to move back to their seats and then I'll ask for a motion to move to Committee of the whole so is there a
motion to uh open Committee of the whole so moved and is there a second second all in favor and so at this point I'd like to ask the Commissioners if they would like to come up and and join us at the dis to to discuss the uh the partnership between
the burough and and the district uh in the meantime as they are walking up Dr malal you want to mention the P Pantry so um part of um what we've added um uh to
our our official uh board action is making sure that we are continuing to promote um our Panther pantry and so in the back of the room you will see one of our phenomenal teachers Miss nner who runs our Panther Pantry um this is an
opportunity for us uh it's just a student run um activity where they are generating donations and additional resources for families in need and so as part of our uh commitment to supporting it uh at every board meeting um we send
out messages to the community they are always willing to accept non- perishable items uh they also accept uh cash um and so uh it goes to a good cause and it goes specifically to help Collingswood Oakland and Woodland families in need um
and so uh at the at the back is Miss nner uh please uh check it out and talk with her thank you so much and I'll also mention I believe that P uh Panther Pantry will be here our next board meeting as well and and uh maybe a few in the future so so um if
you don't get an opportunity this time please uh uh contribute if you can next time um so to to start really a few things you know I think you all know how the microphones work you're going to have to share two amongst three so so thank you uh but I I want to start first by thanking the Commissioners for for
their hard work and and uh partnership here on this and I think it feels a really big need now and and really helps us plot a path forward in terms of partnership between the bro and the uh board but I wanted to give y'all a moment if y'all want to say a few words or or add anything to
this thank you I want to thank the board and if you don't mind I have to stand where I'm talking it's a part of my there's no way and the hands will be gone I wanted to just try to thank the board thank all the professionals that have been involved in this this has been uh uh well it's been a long month it's
March the 10th it's been a month um and I want to just kind of walk through a couple of the issues that president was was touching on just to explain to everyone the impacts and how it fits in to burrow operations okay the our goal
in all this was um trying to get um this plan that we've been talking about we we pres presented it here on Thursday um was trying to make it so that it did not um cause undo hardship on taxpayers and
so really what what changed for us is is the the willingness of the board to entertain an operating referendum in September so that it kind of change the ask from a big tax increase
forever okay that we would decide to how do we fill in the gap for this year to get us to U A a referendum that allows voters to have input and to to decide this so what we we were able to do is we
we're kind of reassigning um the the some of the pilot payments that were requested to to cover this year um it took a little from Surplus it's going to mean a an additional $20
tax increase on the municipal budget okay um we make those changes it's for this year and then what we will do what the burrow will do is we will borrow the money that's necessary to fill the
gap for the 2526 bu budget and what we in the in the world of Municipal Finance we don't have to take that to what they call permanent financing so if you think of it like your home mortgage if you had put an addition on the house you have
construction financing that you know you'll pay your contractor as you're going along for a big number $100,000 and then when it's all done you can roll that into a a mortgage a more permanent mortgage that runs out for 10
years or 15 years so you can pay out over time so in in the Burrow's finances we can do what they call short-term notes so if we end up that the numberers three million whatever the number is pick a number we can borrow that money
we won't we will have to begin making interest only payments in 2026 that will will have a negligible impact on our budget roughly $90,000 if it's 2 and a half mil I think is what I had the Auditors run and and what we
will be able to do since the diversion of the pilot payments goes to this year and it's for this year only because there'll be a referendum in September then next year those payments won't continue coming into the schools and we
can use that money in later years to pay off that that two two and a whatever the money is we put in for this deficit we can use that money to pay off that debt okay so we get to accomplish getting the getting some Aid
into the schools this year getting working once we agree on what numbers are we we get to work on solving that cap issue that everyone talks about and and what a referendum will allow us to do is basically reset that cap reset
that cap number so that for some time after that not forever but for some period of time after that it won't be the issue that it is now okay so that's a really important piece as we were looking at this like fixing this budget
issue we just didn't think that was enough and that's why we have all these other components um we we believe that like addressing the field issue here and also for the burrow at large the wck plan we just came out with it the other day kind of got lost in the shuffle last
Wednesday night but it is up on our website um kind of got lost in the shuffle because of the focus on this and but really a focus from a whole lot of people were were to do some improvements in night night Park and also improvements here we'll be able to um to
borrow $15 million to put toward that and again with that short-term financing and long-term financing we'll be able the burrow will be able to slot that in with debt that is retiring over the next couple years so that it won't have any
impact on taxpayers okay so but don't it ain't done yet Don't Clap all right hold your applause to the end like in six months the end okay so the and then the last piece that that Roger talked about was the the um the global
kind of referendum last year I know a lot of people you know it's still a there's still a lot of uh kind of Hangover emotion from all that and we want to kind of start fresh on it virtually everybody was in in favor of the goals not only improving facilities
but but addressing uh uh Equity issues and education and this will give us starting with a joint T task force we start off together on that that journey to try to address those issues okay so it kind of covers everything
um but but it does it in a way that it still leaves some things up to voters there's still a lot of work to get done here um but it does it in a way that won't Crush people um and and that's what the goal was so uh this is a PhD
degree in Municipal and school Finance uh not exactly been the easiest thing to do but we want to thank everybody's support and cooperation through this uh I with the group with the bid the other day that I think this year has been a
full moon every day um it's certainly been a full moon for the last month every day so thank you for all your help and we're happy to talk answer questions and talk anything you want to talk about and those Applause Jim are for me
because they know I was I was speaking so um listen the details uh mayor went over and it was great you know we talked about before that um I I I've said that we're all in the same boat and we either think or we float together but why we
say could be very very different depending on who you are right in this instance you could think if we cut staff and we we we cut teachers right and and and the educational experience for students being being limited and changed
that would be sinking but for other people it's affordability it's being able to stay in one's home and being able to to you know just make make things work on on tight budgets and I think what we've tried to do here is not
take sides but try to find that that area that that keeps everyone in the boat every everyone afloat and I think we did so today's a good day right today today's a good day but you know governing doesn't stop and I think that's why we we board and and and
municipality have talked about the importance of of continuing conversations on on new issues and anything else because because ultimately you know um kind of Ju Just Like education if you stop using it it it'll
stop working and so we're gonna we're going to keep at it um saved the a budget here but really uh and and the budget's important but we also want to make sure working collaboratively with the community with everyone is to make sure that we're providing the best
education to our students and I think everyone can have a have a role in that and I I look forward to it I thank the board I I I um this was not easy but uh but things that are worth it rarely are and look forward to to keeping at
it I deeply appreciate the collaborative effort of the board and and the burough is a lot of creative problem solving uh but I really want to express my thanks for public engagement um between decid finding out the numbers
getting to the dead to the meat of it showing your passion um help helping us help you it's been it's been a real outpouring of community and it's it's important and I'm very grateful I wanted to see if any board members wanted to
make any comments or or had anything they they wanted to say I just wanted to say thank you to the Barrow to Boe leadership um This Crew worked all weekend um not me this crew um and to try to figure out you
know a good meeting spot so I appreciate everybody for all your hard work and last week we were in a much different area and today um I can have happy tears instead of sad tears so thank you everybody for your um absolutely to to Echo Maggie I said this to a few members of the board
yesterday that I felt like I could finally take a breath um today in a way I have not in quite some time um so very grateful for the collaboration very grateful for the time over a weekend as Maggie said um really appreciate the collaboration and I'm excited about what
comes next I'm going to go ahead and and um third that I guess um it's been a very emotional emotional week for us all and um we're really grateful to all of you um and thank you for doing what you
didn't need to do on coming in and and trying to help us out so we appreciate it um I'm really appreciative of of the creative thinking especially since so many of these um you know these projects seem to reflect not just some of the educational needs but our community needs as well um I think that like you
said um uh Rob that this will benefit people who have children in schools and people who engage with the community moving forward um and I think it's a real inspiration to our students so as a parent thank you yeah echoing again thanks for the
Commissioners for stepping up to help us face this problem and again leadership for for really taking this on we have a lot of work to still do but this allows us to at least breathe um and not have to fear the worst but we still have a lot of work for our kids and we have a lot of things that we still want to accomplish and I think as a board we we
know that but this does grant us the flexibility right now to to focus on those pieces so again thank you and appreciate everyone coming out and for the public for for making this pushing us to the table so want to say thank you from uh across the pike for the rising freshman
that are coming in from Woodland this year and hopefully lots more of them in the next years to come and I'm M Chris um as representative of Oakland you know we had a discussion the other day about how Oakland's bud Bud's okay right now but
that's only to fifth grade and then so our our kids become colins with kids so uh it's good to collaborate with all this thank you um just I just wanted to Echo what everyone has says thank you so much for really truly putting the students first
and agreeing to work together so really appreciate that well you know it's going to keep the thank you parade going um and also really you know I'll do you know I I I don't threaten me with a good time all right um so thank you for really the
great work this weekend and I would love to see that it isn't an emergency dire call next time right like I I'm just gonna say that out loud for the record like can we figure out how to stitch This Together going forward continually um and the Hail Mary We
Appreciate You catching it um but really want to challenge us all to show up in this way going forward because it is we all rise together um so really just I appreciate it and hope that we've built the muscle that we need to continue doing
this um well you can't go without me I have to say thank you now you left me yes I want to thank everybody I'm new so I'm learning still and I kind of got a crash course on all of this but I do appreciate it it's been a lot um just learning this but I do
appreciate everybody who's come together and made this happen for our community and our kids and our teachers I was just going to say now that you know we're in a Love Fest that's great but get ready for the phones to start ringing from both for
both parties because our neighboring districts are kind of all in the same boat right Township haddenfield everybody's nodding we all know so they're all going to be like calling like how did you do this so let's just make sure we memorialize all this and just share it all over and just Hammer the governor with everything that we're
doing because that's the only way he's going to wake up really so I'll I'll jump in here to to Echo what Miss Coleman just said which is that I think part of the long-term solution here is uh continued advocacy
both by by the board and you know by the buau at the state level for you know a a real I think examination of how we fund schools with within our state because of how important they are and also considering
the the big concern about needing to maintain affordability while also meeting the the needs of our our students um and I think uh you know they're probably up in in Tron used to hearing us call and and and knock on the doors and I think what's really
effective is when there's also um a large contingent of community members right not not just elected officials who knock on their doors and say hey there needs to be a solution because as Miss colan has mentioned we're not the only District in
this uh situation but we are are lucky in that we've found at least a a a solution for this coming year uh and again thankful for the Commissioners for their support there and and I also want to take a moment to to thank uh Dr McDow Miss Coleman and Miss how Turner for for
their extraordinarily hard work over the past you know months trying to navigate um uh this this budget cycle uh might have to get the state and and do their best to to find the funds to keep the services programming and staff that that
our our kids deserve and and need and and that I think the makes the town better for for having uh those type of programs and services around and so I want to uh you know personally thank them for their hard work yeah please please you know that end
when you mentioned about other towns and I I hope the lesson that we can all take out of this is that the answer in politics especially where there's unlimited wants and needs and limited resources is never more right more is just almost impossible but the idea is
how and how is really a creative process and sometimes it's an academic exercise and it's art and it's technical and so when they ask us you know it's like it's not really just about more it's about how and collaboration and creativity is
really and and really just due diligence and going over and over again is what got us here and it's good but now we'll work on better right that's what we'll all we all want that so can I ask a question being mindful of
the I I'm appreciative of the energy right now relative to Thursday's meeting um um and also want to be mindful around bethan you this is your heavy your Herculean lift so timeline right like what is the time for the next the one through three uh sorry I just like
because I understood it as of the essence so want to just be mindful and anticipation that folks are trying to know what does the next step look like is that next week a couple weeks so so I'll I'll jump in here because I think the a lot of those pieces are uh I think Miss Coleman is going to be you know
working with uh the um the the burough uh CFO to to uh do some reviews of budget documents but in terms of the timeline for the board and also for the public to know uh as a board we have a um requirement to submit a tenative
budget so preliminary budget to the county department of education representative so the county executive superintendent for their uh full review and approval by March 19th and so today
originally was going to be our um meeting to pass that preliminary budget which is I think uh um why Miss Divine said that we had a we had a a committee meeting on Thursday that was it was a a a uh it was not a
pleasant meeting unfortunately because because of the budget Gap and so now hopefully when we have that next committing meeting uh we we uh can be excited for what we can do next year and so right now we've postponed the passing of that preliminary budget uh to next
week and I'll be in discussions with board members about the the specific day just to make sure that that we can uh we can all all make that um and then so that will be the first step uh and then the the finalized budget um uh will be submitted towards the end of of April
and that uh basically there there's this a Reconciliation process uh between the county review and the finalized budget that from the burrow perspective it's it's uh it's this conversation that goes on on on seeing if there's any way that we can lower the number somehow
something we can do whatever but get agreement on that number and then we're going to have to take some official action in terms of uh really probably at this point just authorizing an agreement that we're going to do and then after that we'll be doing the official action to actually raise the money and
everything like that so you know we know we know the timeline and we'll do specials that we have to to get it get it through Roger can I just clarify sorry um so this will be discussed in um the finance
committee next week the uh sorry what will be discussed the progress yeah so the the so there there likely won't be a uh well we'll see there likely won't be a committee meeting for it because we'll be passing the just ATT tenative uh budget with full funding um is is is the
plan right um uh but you know depending on what our PR we'll we'll see if we need to have Comm meeting on that um but otherwise yeah so what happens between now and then is I'm going to meet obviously with the the bureau official um their auditor
and my auditor just to go over everything and then everything that I did for the Thursday meeting has to then be undone so that's going to take a while um so I checked in both Monday and
Tuesday this cafeteria area is available unfortunately I am not um so it's looking everybody check their calendars possibly for Tuesday because Steve can sit in for me I can have somebody sit in but um possibly for Tuesday the 18th at
6:30 same place same time this way we meet the requirement for submitting by midnight on uh March 19th actually excuse me 4 o'clock pm. that's when they leave so and I will say I did ask uh Miss
colan and it is a a manual process to to undo all of those pieces within within the the state budgeting software so it does take a considerable amount of time and and again you know thanks again to uh Dr mdal Miss Co and Miss how Turner for their hard work
here um if there's nothing else from from folks you know again I I want to thank the Commissioners for making out tonight for uh we we will we we will but um but if you'd like to yeah we can say sure yeah yeah if you would like if you
like to then uh feel free to um but again want to thank you for for all the hard work here and for uh this partnership yeah so with that can we take a motion to exit committee the whole Mo and a second second second all in favor
okay so at this moment sorry oh yeah yep so section five there uh is there yeah there's is there a motion so it's item 5.01 is approval of minutes so we're motioning to approve the minutes of the February
2024 uh 24th 2005 or 2025 regular board meeting is there a motion so moved and a second and then is that an all in favor all in favor okay so uh we are now going to open up our uh to the
first public comment section and so that's section six uh and so I have a little statement here so the purpose of public comment section is to discuss items listed on the agenda additional more General comments may be made later in the meeting during our second public comment section uh the public is reminded that attempts to
resolve all concerns and complaints should first go through appropriate staff members and administrators the intent of public comment is to give the community opportunity to provide feedback to the board uh we will be actively listening and taking notes so that we can take all that being said into consideration um if appropriate clarifying comments may be made by the
board president after a public comment or at the end of public comments for more detailed responses to concerns communication may go out later in the week by the appropriate staff members or administrators or be discussed by the board during future committee meetings members of the public are welcome to speak and expect to do so with the utmost sensitivity for everyone intends
in fness to all who wish to speak there is a strict three minute time limit per person during public comment and Miss Coleman will assist uh Me by keeping time please remember to state your name and address for the record right hi Kevin Walker 401 West Franklin uh
thank you very much for all your hard work we uh appreciate it uh love the collaboration uh let's keep it going could you guys talk a little bit more about Point number six because uh as I understand that this is essentially a
stop Gat measure it gets us through this very problematic year but the structural deficit about which we've been discussing for months and months still exists unless the governor is going to change the funding formula which I assume he's not going to do so come
September we're going to have a referendum and you know that's where the voters have an opportunity to express their opinions but I mean that's that's the big issue isn't it I mean that's where we have to make the hard choices so if you could all just talk about that a little bit more so we don't have any
illusions that whatever we accomplish today is going to go into the subsequent years because I don't think they will we're still going to have to address the hard issues that have been deferred as a result of uh the bureau's hard work and your hard
work I'll jump in really quickly here uh as Mr Walker said item number six on the um joint statement uh does point to a future referendum that that the uh board is planning out to go um with the Bur support in September to raise additional
revenues uh to help kind of close that structural funding Gap and so yes as Mr Walker mentioned it is uh our current the current additional funding is a stock that uh measure for this coming school year and we will need to go out to find solution longer term solutions for this structural
deficit hi I'm Katie Dean 11 Meine um I had a similar question there about number six just understanding if that referendum that's being proposed for September number is just for a potential tax or to close the gap whether that be increased taxes or whatever but then
point number five which is the Joint Committee for long-term facilities and Equity planning to address the failed referendum for this past year it sounds like that could potentially be a second referendum then in the future or there's going to be a plan to try to close that
Gap with Barrow funds that wasn't quite clear to me what the plan there was to add draw number five and then the third thing I just wanted to clarify was I saw on the note that you guys sent out um earlier today and thank you for sending that out in anticipation of this meeting it was really helpful um was the contract offer was mentioned that it
would be allowing us to fully fund the contract and so I was wondering what is the timing of that is there still negotiations that need to go on or does that get signed now or do we have to wait for the funding sources to come through one on the on the uh the facilities work the task force St long
term so there at the end of last year there was a new law pass new statute that allowed u a kind of a system where the involvement of the county Improvement authorities the town and the school district okay could get
facilities work done through the the Improvement Authority um borrowing the money the town guaranteeing the repayment of that money and the facilities work would be done and then the schools would be paying in essence
like a lease back okay to pay the debt so one of the things that we want to explore listen we're starting Ground Zero everything gets explored but one of the things to explore is utilization of that and if it's a cheaper if it's a less expensive to taxpayers way to go to
get done all those all those things that we want to try to get done and that's for like physical buildings right when we say facilities yes physical buildings yes thank you and then so there's a I think as mayor mey said earlier it's a PhD Municipal and and and school Finance right there's
a lot of discussions there in terms of how that works um and then I know this is a question that's come up often the the uh $3.6 million deficit and filling that hole will mean that we are able to um uh meet our our contract offer
without any staff layoffs and that's one of the the nice things about being able to fill that that that um deficit name is Manny kaburu 947 Oriental um clearly there's a scarcity of
resources lots of competing sort of needs that the community has and many of us feel that education is a very high priority um my understanding is 70% of the residents who are going to pay taxes
uh do not have kids in school and I'm part of that demographic so so my recommendation for the people that are the leadership representing the school system is uh uh a very aggressive
messaging uh how and how to do that and what are the mechanics of that I'm not here to discuss that but the idea is that Outreach uh to the uh uh uh community members that especially that are going to be asked to pay you know
increased taxes for whatnot in the future you need a mechanism for uh really clearly articulating the priorities and uh that it is really really important uh because you're competing for resources with other
aspects of that and um uh and you know it's public opinion and we're you're competing for that and I'm going to very strongly make that recommendation to maybe even have a subgroup that might include community members on that
messaging uh strategies and so forth thank you I'd like to take a moment to to thank Mr kavulu for for his statement about uh making sure that we include uh messaging for uh community members who who do not have children in the schools
um I am one of them I do not have children and so that means a lot to me to make sure that we are messaging uh to not just parents but also uh folks like myself who who do not have children in schools because I think a lot of folks would agree that regardless of that uh
strong schools are important for a community thank you hi my name is Dan Casino I live at 528 jezmine Avenue and uh I've lived here for 48
years and uh one of the reasons I moved to colinwood is because it had good schools even though I've you don't have children uh rols keep the property values up and make this a place that
people want to live in okay um so I need a little bit of education on some of this stuff for instance what precisely is this three point whatever
million dollars going to be spent on this is a shortterm fix to fill a Hole uh that is caused by the state of New Jersey not funding things properly primarily at least in my opinion and
uh that none of the money should be spent frivolously so I'm interested to know uh how this is going to be used to uh to maintain the the uh teaching staff and the quality of Education
here uh what physical uh improvements in particular are being uh contemplated and one of the things that raised my hackles and uh those of many
of the other people around me that I that I talked to in my neighborhood uh was a proposal to do something with the football stadium and uh I mean I grew up in Texas in Texas football high schol football is
an industry okay and uh our first High School allamerican from my high school was Kyle Road okay last one that I know of was Tommy novas who was the best best uh linebacker in the United States at the
time but anyway uh so I take that sort of stuff seriously but I don't think that in an emergency situation redoing the football stadium and putting down AST is a big priority so things like that you know
what physical improvements are you talking about how has the student population of Collingswood increased and in what demographics you know what age groups uh so that the money is not just
being spent but being spent wisely and with good purpose so these are the kinds of questions and issues that I and my neighbors have been discussing now I don't know that any of
them are are here tonight or were at the the township meeting the other day I'm here I was at the township meeting too and uh so this is a very important thing
but it can't be done foolishly and I fear Mr Cino thank you for for your time your minutes fear that that uh better controls are necessary thank you Mr Casino thank you I think this is a question that I've heard come up a few times and so I want
to be direct that the $3.6 million to that would fill this deficit is going directly to saving uh uh staff positions for for next year so Karina
607 Karina St 607 eldri um so I was just coming up because in the text message I received from you this afternoon it did State um that the the current plan would be able to offer the
board's wait fund the board's offered contract so I'd like to know is that the one the ca has declined already or is it the one that the ca is asking for um also I noticed that the whole
correspondence between you guys sharing office space at the old zaye school kind of came off the table which I was a little curious about because if your lease expires in September at Good Shepard where your office is going to go if you don't have plans to
purchase um I don't see them you know continuing to give you office space when they're looking to sell the building so I would just like clarification on those two points um to to be clear about the the point about the this funding helping us
to fully fund uh our offer uh to the the teachers so that would be our above County average offer that that we have uh had on the table uh since September Roger can I I just want to address first off all of you clappers you're invited to the burrow commission
meetings every first Monday it's most clapping I've ever heard at a public meeting so you're all invited to come out but I want to just um K reminds me just of one thing the um one of the other parts of this plan like the burs of original plan which we are going to be heavy duty doing is for all of this
uh the the state has adopted um a new property rebate property tax rebate program um stay New Jersey and we in a later in April the burrow we're hosting the division of taxation to come down
and give a briefing because um they have changed the application process so that um eligible seniors seniors just have to file one form there's like three different programs you file one form and then the State just evaluates where
you're eligible what you're eligible for but the new program is actually pretty good it is it is per granting a rebate to person 65 and over uh with an income below
$500,000 a year and what it does is it rebates one half of your property taxes up to this year I'm pretty sure it's a Max of 6,500 next year is a Max of 13,000 okay so part of what we intend to
do is literally hit every household with someone 65 and over and make sure they submit this application to ensure again to help on the affordability piece of this and help um just make it easier on
everyone as we're all going through the process for the rest of this year major component okay hi I'm Eva I live at 170 Lawnside I was at the Town form and I brought up that I felt like the teachers were can you give our our last name
please G wine G we i n um and I was at the town for and I was I kind of felt like I need I got some kind of bolster that the teachers were going to be a you know back priority and all this and I
think that sounds like it's getting that way but I also think the teachers are kind of on their like last thread and I'm wondering if there's going to be some kind of sustainable bringing back interventionists bringing back positions that were lost last year and trying to make actual really solid Community
behind the teachers in addition to supporting a fair contract so I was just hoping I'd hear more about that I don't he much about that yet thank you what I think one of the one of the key pieces of of this uh joint agreement
that um will will help to address that and will uh and and that will be a big part of discussion is that item number six right about the the um refer that that the district will qu out for in September 2025 and and to bring in that
that funding necessary in order to U hopefully not just sustain services within our schools but also uh add to uh Christine kvat 431 Park Avenue question on point number five interested in how that committee is going to be
formed who's going to be a part of it um who will be invited to it how long will it take and then point number six last year was my first experience with the referendum it seemed that there had been a large opportunity for Community feedback but but not necessarily any
iterations based off of that feedback so with the same kind of six-month time frame now will that feedback be used in improving the plan prior to a vote so the the question about uh Point number five I think we're we're still
going to be in discussions on how how to put that joint committee together and so um that's a if I just answer your questions it's yes yes yes all of it okay heavy duty public engagement yes uh the sorry and the and the committee will
include members of the public as well like there will be some some suggested on our end some suggested on the district end it'll be a a broad U sampling of people for proper input uh hello Trey ramsburg 32east cter
Avenue I'm not here to ask clarifying questions I'm here to call a spade a spade this is not a success story this is a bailout a bailout that the board had to beg for uh I said before a couple meetings ago that if the board came to an agreement with the teachers and signed a Union contract which they have
not done since then uh then it would not be progress it would be the bare minimum right now we are at less than the bare minimum we at not losing $3.6 million uh and we still don't have a teachers contract and I heard the words Escape your lips today uh the contract you
promised to offer them is the same one that we know isn't good enough if it's above County average and County average sucks every month every month we we sit here we stand here and we listen to Dr McDow lectures about fiscal respons possibility while he got a raise last
year and 40 people got fired listen I know it's expensive to live in this town these people know that too the ones you fired knew that too and they're asking you to pay them fairly to compensate them for their often a thankless unpaid out of hours
labor on behalf of our kids us me I'm not going to be here next year I I I think uh a couple of people are going to be very happy that I'm not going to be attending board meetings anymore I'm going to be off to college I'll be far far away from here
I'll be very glad that not have to deal with any of this anymore but these people will still be here maybe not enough for you to play the blame game with anymore Dr mcdal you blame Murphy's uh Murphy's funding formula you shift a blame to Mali for not getting the not
getting the deal done sooner and you keep blaming the cea for not coming to agreement about the contract we know that the contract isn't good enough we would they would not be here asking for a new one for months they would not be holding out this long if they had any
doubts that what they're asking for is barely the bare minimum you are not offering the bare minimum you're offering handouts you're getting a handout from the burrow that you are not legally required to get and you aren't very grateful for getting until
today this is a bailout a bailout that you begged for we will not thank you I will anyway we keep hearing about these uh national state Trends you're supposed to be good at your job and right now I can look at every one of you and say that
you are't I I would like to take take a moment to mention that um the the board is responsible for the negotiation of the teachers contract so I understand that there may be many uh
um uh issues or or complaints or or so forth right with the negotiation process and that should be directed at the board thank you good evening forgive me I had talk a little funny it's at dental surgery on the way over here so I'm drooling
forgive me pardon me mayor nice done mayor nicely done that was a serious nicely jum job for three of you like this and I think it's good that everybody's working together because damn it I pay taxes
here now I just have a simple question to ask and I've been taking notes and I'm a little slow right now forgive me my the anesthesia is getting to me um we're still hearing rumors that you're meeting people folks that good shepher
school are you still meeting to purchase that building is it happening this year or is something to be done for next year just like to know thanks hi Kate nicely 209 Lincoln Avenue I have
a 10th grader and eighth grader I think the statement was that there was a a rumor and we will not be addressing rumors thank you Kate nicely 209 Lincoln f um I'm gonna re reiterate the question a little bit too I have a 10th grader and eighth
grader I work at Tatum um couple things I've thought about throughout the budget process I'm thinking about with an eighth grader all of the families that are leaving and spending tens of thousand of dollars a year in in private education how can we capture those back
how can we use them so as we're shifting money around maybe we can identify projects that could be funded privately somehow as much as I hate it in theory for public education I don't want the halves to have more we are getting creative here so I do kind of want to
put that on the table that maybe we can identify a project like a new bathroom that we can just pay for because my kids hate going to the bathroom it's a big part of their everyday life they don't go to the bathroom at school because it's disgusting gross and scary um so I'd like things like that to be a
priority too as we're getting creative with how we're using our budget um teacher contracts number one maybe we don't even have to go to the fact finding right now maybe we now we have our budget figured out let's do it let's meet right now let's get it done it is
the most important thing our teachers are so tired our mood is so down we need to fix that first before anything is better hi I'm Crystal Ward at 325 Newton Avenue I think the Commissioners know my address by now I hope people don't show
up at my house um um i' I've been a resident here for about almost 19 years I have no children so I'm living here and paying taxes and I don't use the school district but I do agree that schools are important a couple of concerns I have in this process is first
I'm really glad everybody has been working together to come up with this proposal an additional $91 in tax is a lot better than the almost $700 in increased tax that was communicated about a week ago or a month ago so I'm I'm glad that you came
together but one thing I'm thinking about is um Mr Chu you mentioned that the budget is based on funding the same level of services that's the Baseline and considering in my recent memory the last two Boe referendums have failed by
a large margin I'm just wondering if there could be some out of the boox thinking why does the starting point um begin at you know keeping the same level of services and Facilities we should be thinking about what are all of the
different options and choices and hard choices that need to be made because if you are relying on your long-term solution to be a new referendum later this year you're going to need a Plan B if it doesn't pass so what is that and I'm really glad to hear that you're
going to include Community Representatives because maybe together if you get more Community Representatives you can come up with a better plan B so I hope that you're not going to go into this long-term referendum or the long-term solve with the referendum this
fall starting with assuming you're going to be able to keep the same level of services because that may not pass so what what are your thoughts on that so there are just a couple things that I think I I want to make sure that we said here so typically in terms of
public comments um this is a time for the the board to listen to public comments I think today is a little bit different in terms of the fact that there have been a lot of uh questions regarding the joint statement today I think a lot of the uh questions that you brought uh Miss is it Ward um are are
very important questions and are things that which um we'll need to absolutely grapple with so I appreciate them great thank you for hearing me hi I'm Liz Wilson I live at 109 East Franklin Avenue in collinswood I have two kids in the district um I just had a quick question
about the proposal actually and it refers back to a couple of questions that were asked here which is about the the it is in the Burrow's original proposal the idea of merging your workspaces at the old Zay building and
selling burrow Hall and purchasing Good Shepherd is mentioned in that so I but then I noticed in the joint statement that piece was not in there neither of those pieces was in there and uh I just would like to know more about that and why that wasn't in there if that's just
that it's understood or if that's being rejected by the Board of Ed thank you I can just Ju Just from our perspective later in the statement it makes reference to other facilities like it's basically the the the request was
to Simply kind of do that like deal with the budget stuff first and we're still going to be talking about that okay hi my name is lucil D young I live at 550 Grand Avenue and it kind of feeds in the last question um this isn't a rumor I'm just asking the question are
you still interested in buying good sheeper and then also um there's um Garfield are you thinking about selling that and what happens to all of that that um the other thing is Again The
Joint um cohabitation I just love that idea I mean I think you guys really do need to work together and why not do it living together I think that's a wonderful idea okay thank you
hi Robin Hogan CA president and teacher at Sharp Elementary School fifth grade um I do want to recognize the hard work I know an awful lot of hard work went in to make this partnership possible um and it really is it is the
path forward to improving things there are a lot of really great things in this um proposal things like the fields that's an improvement for the community and the school um working together to make sure seniors can access their full
refund great idea love that um talking about shared services great way to save money okay all of those things are going to be a direct result of this partnership and we're we're pleased to see that and very excited as an organization okay um but this plan
forward also though I have to say that we did notice that the the very specific language that was used and that is that you are supporting the budget in terms of your proposal proposal that maintains
the status quo a proposal that does not make significant movements towards County average for our organization as a whole so we have so I think it's time for us to focus if we do
have a shared Vision on retaining and attracting teachers I think it's time for us to use this pathway as a way to get back on track and focus on that goal okay and here's a great here's a great way to save some money let's not go to fact finding let's save the money that
you're going to spend on a very very expensive lawyer to support that effort let's put that into the contract and let's move forward okay uh seeing as there are no more public comments um we are going to move to section s which is the building
surrounds and finance committee uh the chairperson Mr Craig will present yes please uh thank you to the commissioners e okay thank you everyone I'm just going to get ahead so that we're moving forward here the finance buildings and
grounds committee reviews all financial statements purchase orders and warrants on a monthly basis basis the committee also reviews and approves all contracts with outside service providers and oversees all maintenance and capital Improvement projects districtwide uh tonight we are seeking the approval of one item which is 702 which is the
preschool budget submission to the New Jersey Department of Education uh just as a reminder the preschool budget is a separate Grant from uh this the uh money that we've been talking about today and the local fair share so this is separate money to build up and the budget for our preschool so do I have a motion for for
item 70 or no that's you is there is there a motion for approval of item 7.02 so moved and is there a second second um questions or comments from board members okay roll call please miss
Coleman Mrs Brown yes Mr Craig yes Mrs dine yes Mrs mayia yes Mrs molski yes Mrs Seltzer yes Mrs Sherman yes Mrs Z yes Mr
McMillan yes Mr dulus yes Mr CH yes um moving on to Section 8 Personnel committee uh some exciting news Dr szer will present the Personnel committee reviews all recommendations for teaching and staff employment considers co-curricular
employment and considers all professional development opportunities for staff members uh tonight we're seeking approval for uh one item 8.02 which is um moving on recommendation of the superintendent to approve the contract between the Collingswood um
Building Services employees Association and the Collingswood board of education for the 2025 uh through 2028 school years um I'm going to turn it over to um oh yeah goad yeah so is there a motion to approve item uh
8.02 and a second all right so then we're going to turn it over to Mr Craig who who chaired the negotiations committee uh for the Billings and grounds Association yeah so just want to quickly say uh thanks and share appreciation was able to chair
this Committee in negotiations with our buildings and grounds team um very productive conversations we were able to come to an agreement on a three-year deal help providing services to keep our buildings running and our services provided here for our students and then also um helping us with our shared
services uh thought we were able to come to a really strong agreement here uh that helps benefit them and make make it an attractive place so I want to thank again um our our great buildings and grounds team questions or comments from board members and I also would like to extend
my thanks to the uh buildings of grounds Association um for their partnership there in working through the contract and um very excited to be able to um meet their their needs for the upcoming school years um with that can we get a roll call please miss Coleman
Mrs Brown yes Mr Craig yes Mrs dine yes Mrs Maya yes Mrs molski yes Mrs Seltzer yes Mrs Sherman yes Mrs Z yes Mr McMillan yes Mr dolus yes Mr
Chu yes um and before I give my microphone away everybody if you could let um Roger and I know availability for the 18th so I can lock it in and advertise uh the meeting thanks okay thank you now we'll move to uh section
nine which is the second section for public participation uh give me one second here so um the purpose of this public comment section is for additional more General comments um and and so it does not have to be on items uh discussed on the uh
agenda and so um again in all fairness to all who wish to speak there is a strict three minute time Li limit per person during public comment uh and Miss Coleman will assist by keeping time please remember to state your name and address for the record hi Lisa Caswell 128 Eastland in a
I have a nth grader a sixth grader and a third grader and I just want to speak to those people who have spoken about how we need to cut more going forward in our budget my ninth grader was so excited to go to high school last year she picked her electives she finally got
to pick classes that were interesting to her and not just what had been put forth it seemed like a period of like two to four weeks she got an email a week saying that one of her electives had been cancelled until all of her electives were
cancelled she ended up in a construction technology class which great I'm really glad we have that class but my kid is in it because public I'm sorry public speaking Child Development cre some sort of creative writing were all cut and
taken away from her after she had signed up for them and it's not just her it's all the kids in our high school so to say that we just need to keep the amount of teachers that we have and not expand back to teachers teaching positions that
were laid off is concerning to me I have a sixth grader who is in band um Miss lewig is doing an amazing job with her but miss lewig is doing the job of two music teachers our music our instrumental students in middle school and high
school are not getting the group lessons that they had in elementary school friends of hers friends of both of my kids are dropping out of instrument instrumental music left and right because it's really hard to keep up as a player of a musical instrument when you
don't have a lesson in school on how to play your instrument and you sit in an ensemble class every day um I'm just really concerned about all of the comments made about cutting more from the budget when so much has already been
taken away from our children opportunities that students and surrounding districts have I don't want to pull my kids my my nth grader went to high school and none of her friends came with her all of her friends went to private schools or to Tech schools she went went by herself because I'm a
public school teacher and we believe in public education but I'm also a little bit sad about all of the amazing teachers that have been lost and I hope that we can come up with some way forward to give those opportunities back to our high
school kids hi my name is Eliana AER and I live at 105 Mill Avenue behind sharp I am currently in six in sixth grade at Collingswood Middle School and I was very excited for this new stage in in
callings with schools I was told by teachers principals and our counselors about all the wonderful activities and clubs that I would experience here I was so excited to take choir and band and for the opportunity to show my family
and friends what I could do un fortunately my expectations were met with a totally different reality because of the unsettled teacher contract what should have been a rich and exciting introduction to Life Beyond elementary
school has instead been a year of tension sadness and disappointment there are no clubs or after school activities no in-person band or Choir concerts and no chance for my family or any others to
see not just me but all of The Talented students perform this situation hasn't only impacted me at the middle school my little brother and all of his friends and classmates are missing out on activities that I was able to
experience at sharp like field trips and teachers collaborating on ETA events not to mention incredible teachers leaving for opportunities in other districts we will never get this school year back to experience all that
we've missed I know that my teachers desperately want to provide all of these activities and experiences to us and I know that teachers all over the district don't want students to miss out on these experiences students are watching and we
know why this is happening it's not fair to expect our teachers to work for free after school hours when they aren't being treated respectfully by their employers we we want people who are we want the people who are our major support at school to be treated with the
same care and respect that we are expected to show them show them that respect and settle a fair contract teachers deserve to be paid fairly for everything they do we don't have to lose more time or more amazing teachers
please settle the teachers contract good evening uh my name is Anthony Calderone I live at 1012 Park Avenue I am a 32-year resident of Collingswood I have never never voted no
for any school budget or referendum this year was the first time I had to do that uh from another another angle I just want to ask you uh and in in that time period I have never heard of a
superintendent having assistant superintendent so my question to doctor is what do they do do do do they have do they have a job function or what do your assistant do so we may answer after you're done with
your public comment but this is a time for you to make your public comment thank you okay so I think there there's been a a common uh question and and referring oh yeah U Maryann denhart 644 Stokes Avenue um I
just wanted to thank the board for um doing whatever it was to bring the Commissioners to the table to work through a really difficult situation and hopeful that going forward some of the other issues that are being raised tonight teacher salaries contracts
additional programs uh can be addressed in some collaborative way so again thank you for whatever it took to make that happen Okay seeing as there are uh no more public comments uh I do want to address a couple things first is I just
looking at the number of comments that we've got today um I think this is actually probably one one of the rare occasions in which we have a lot of families here who or folks here who maybe do not have kids in the school and so I'd like to encourage the Cs of the
community especially those who who don't have uh kids in school to continue to come to our our meetings and and and let your voice be heard um I think there's also a common question that we've heard over I think the last couple years uh of uh folks stating that uh this district
and this board have hired um assistance for uh the the superintendent and let me be very clear what we are talking about is the assistant superintendent uh for for business and operations so that's our business administrator who that was
a position that existed exist has existed in every single School District needs a business administrator and we also have a assistant superintendent for uh curriculum instruction which is a pos position that has also existed as a director of curriculum or or supervisor
of curriculum for many many years in which all uh districts also need you know something that I think I want to make sure I dispel uh this idea that um we have some bloated administrative staff or or that we are uh just hiring
administrators left and right and and and not uh taking care of the overall health of the uh District finances now our district is one of of the has one of the lowest per pup total administrative costs and so what that means is the amount of money that we spend per people
on administrators is one of the lowest in uh New Jersey I think it's one of the lowest hundred so out of the 7,000 or so uh school districts that New Jersey reports that out of and within our own specific um uh kind of comparative
District grouping we're we're in top 10 lowest total administrative costs and and in fact one of the things I looked at was that in 2018 2019 we had 23 administrators on staff this year we have 20 on staff so I would like to make sure that I I've clarified that this idea that that that
that we have bloated Administration or so forth is uh uh false and that if you look at the numbers it's very clear that we have done and prioritized keeping our ministrative cost low because again we understand that there are a lot of services in which our our students need so again I I appreciate all folks for
coming out here and and again I encourage um folks F that you know new faces here that that we haven't seen before again understanding that there are a lot of folks and kood who do not have children or do not have children in schools encourage all to continue coming out to our board meetings um it's good to be able to hear from all different
folks within the K of community um and so with that uh I would like to move to section 10 our adjournment is there a motion to adjourn this meeting so moved and a second second all those in favor I