Good evening everybody and welcome to the regularly scheduled meeting of the East Windsor Regional School District. Um I hope everyone has braved this cold and everyone's staying well. Um, written advanced notice of this meeting was
provided at least 48 hours ago. Such notice provided the time, date, and location of this meeting and included the agenda to the extent it was known at the time. Notice of this meeting has been given in accordance with law. Minutes of this meeting are being kept by the board secretary and will be made
available promptly to any member of the public requesting them from the board secretary at 25A Leen Lane, Heightstown, New Jersey. Minutes will be provided at cost and in accordance with board policy. Are there any board members present who believe this meeting to be in violation of the open public's
meeting act? Okay. In compliance with the fire code of the state of New Jersey, I call your attention to the emergency exits for this room which are located behind our audience and to um the right and the left or vice versa. Please stand for the
pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you.
>> Item 1 C. >> Having read the materials received, I'd move the agenda be approved as submitted. >> Pull the board, please. >> Second. Oh, sorry. >> Mr. Falco, >> yes.
>> Miss Drake, >> yes. >> Miss Laruso, >> yes. >> Miss Patel, >> yes. >> Mr. Weeks, >> yes. >> Miss Lance, >> yes. Item 1D. >> Be it resolved that the East Windsor Regional School District may hold two
closed sessions at this meeting. These closed sessions concern personnel, HIV report of February 9th, 2026, negotiations update, and superintendent contract extension. Minutes of these closed sessions will be made available to the public when the need for confidentiality no longer exists.
>> Second. >> Pull the board, please. >> Mr. Falco, >> yes. >> Miss Drake, >> yes. Miss Laruso, >> yes. >> Miss Patel, >> yes. >> Mr. Weeks, >> yes. >> Miss Lans, >> yes. >> We will now move on to our student
representative report. >> Good evening everyone. I hope everyone has been staying warm this cold weather. To start off, Black History Month is being recognized daily through the morning announcements, highlighting extremely important historical figures, events, contributions throughout the
month. Uh students are having uh an amazing time and they're loving the opportunity to learn more about black American figures throughout history. >> On February 3rd, the senior class got to hear about the exciting events that are taking place at the end of the year.
During the town hall meetings, while the younger classmen talked about the next year's classes and exciting events to follow the end of the year, younger classmen have the ability to request the classes they would like to take for the 2026 to 2027 school year. Students are
encouraged to pick their classes as quickly as possible so they can meet with their counselors to go over their next year's schedule. The senior class has been doing fundraisers to help cover the cost of end ofear events like prom. Our biggest fundraiser being the Jersey Mike's fundraiser where the class of
2026 raised over $1,000. We would like to thank everyone who came out and supported our class. This weekend, the Heisan Robotics team hosted Snow Day Showdown, an FTC Robotics regional competition, welcoming over 25 other teams to participate. Our
very own FTC team did very well and dominated the competition, but got eliminated in the later rounds. Additionally, the F the F FRC robotics program has also begun its build season, which means more and more students are staying late to work on the larger
robot. for some upcoming events. The midyear reports will be distributed by the end of the end of the week and parent teacher conferences will take place next week with families being able to schedule the meetings on Genesis. The high school students are excited to
introduce the upcoming freshman class to the high school by giving them tours and having our peer group connections outreach with them on the 10th and the 11th during school. And Wednesday evening is a chance for parents to explore the opportunities and activities students have access to at Heightstown
High School with the clubs having stands and many presentations for parents. In terms of sports, the girls swim team advanced to the second round of the state tournament under the leadership of their new coach. Both boys and girls basketball teams are
scheduled to begin their CBC tournament play tomorrow. The track program is having an outstanding season with multiple school records being set throughout the year and a complete uh summary of all these records will be shared at the conclusion of the season. For any students interested in the
spring sports registration and forms are now available on Genesis. >> Lastly, many members of our senior class are starting to make their decisions for post-secary education and many of our class including myself and Danny are still weighing our options for college.
We would like to thank everyone for listening to our report. Thank you. >> Thank you very much for that wonderful report. Does anyone have any questions? >> Okay, we'll move on to item three and I will turn it over to Mr. Daniels to kick
off our student artist recognition. >> Thank you, Miss Lance. So, good evening everyone. It's always a pleasure when we have the opportunity to celebrate the most important people in our school district. That'll be our students. So, tonight uh is a unique opportunity. We've been doing this for the past uh
probably it's our second year where we've engaged our students to serve as the artists that feature their work, their artwork, their creative artwork on a district calendar um that not only reflects the each month of the year year but also has a cover a back cover. So it
just really serves as an opportunity kind to showcase one obviously our student talent and creativity uh but also it's an opportunity for us to remember the art educators the very dedicated art educators who guide them and inspire them. So tonight uh we're
very proud to celebrate our students from kindergarten through 12th grade. And I'm going to turn things over to our supervisor of visual performing arts coal. Thank you. I am thrilled to celebrate our featured
artists for being one of the 15 student artists selected for the East Windsor Regional School District 2026 arts calendar. The featured calendar artwork showcases the talent of the individual student and highlights the overall excellence of our art program here at
the East Windsor Regional School District. So, in order to honor this achievement of artistic excellence, we are going to individually call each student artist up and award them with a certificate of artistic achievement. So, artists, as I call your name, please
come up towards the podium to receive your award. And Mark, if we can have you up here as well, Sarah Nagara, Mendoza Tatiano Zubu. >> Oh, not here. Not here. Not here.
Lennon Draco Yates. Himea Morales. congratulations Molly Biner >> Benjamin Picket it. >> Congratulations. >> Congratulations. >> Sie me. Congratulations,
>> Stephanie Dachi. Congratulations. Congratulations Mong K. >> Congratulations >> Alex Torres Meno. Congratulations, >> Quinn Hawket. >> That's it.
>> And that concludes our recognition portion of this event. Thank you. You don't have Thank you so much. All right, congratulations once again everybody. Um, thank you for sharing your art with us and keep keep up your
passion. Keep making art. I like to make art myself. I wouldn't call myself an artist, but I enjoy making creative things. Um, so it's a really great thing to hold in your heart always. So, congratulations again. Um, for all the families, um, if
you want to take five minutes and spend some time with your children, um, their artwork is displayed on our back bulletin board. Um, and I also wanted to say I love the calendar. It's the first thing I look forward to the beginning of the year to write out everything and putting our recycling and our trash and
all the days off from school for my son on it. So, thank you for giving that little gift to us. Okay, everybody, we're going to continue on. >> Um, next up will be item four, our superintendence report.
>> Okay. Uh good evening again. Just want to congratulate our student artists. Definitely proud of your accomplishment. Uh continue to do that great work and uh you know that calendar will will live on for forever. So I definitely cherish my calendar. So thank you again and thank
you to our our educators for for the amazing work you do with our students. Uh I'll begin tonight just by thanking our student um representatives tonight. Thank you for your report. Very comprehensive. Uh definitely appreciate having that student voice. uh each month at our meetings.
I'm going to stay in the theme of uh student recognition just very briefly. So I do want to um just highlight a couple of things that I just I think it's important to reiterate. So um last week I'll start with last week. So
I did have the opportunity to attend Dare to Dream Jr. the uh middle school musical. Uh happened to attend on opening night. Um just want to commend the cast and crew. Very um engaging, energetic, enthusiastic cast. I I was
impressed by the number of students who were participating uh throughout uh the production. So kudos to uh the directors there for not only the singing but also the choreography that I know could be challenging. So so great great
performance. also last week had the opportunity to attend the eighth grade and high school. Uh each year we do kind of a a collaboration between the eighth grade band and the high school bandwid ensemble jazz band. So part of it is
obviously the opportunity to kind of um highlight the the connection between the middle school and the high school as students are transitioning, but it's also an opportunity to sell the program to some degree as students are kind of planning ahead as they're looking to
transition from the middle school to the high school. So the performances were just amazing. uh really really uh appreciate the level of collaboration between the middle school music educators and obviously our high school uh music teachers, but the quality of
student performances uh as usual was at a really high caliber. So definitely appreciated that evening. A a couple of things in terms of student recognition uh related to our high school thespian society. So they attended the New Jersey Thespian Festival a couple of weeks ago.
We had two students uh who I'd like to congratulate who are ranked superior um and will be competing on the national level. That'll be senior uh Laney Kenwood for musical solo and junior Gideon Hezroni for playwriting. So
congratulations to those students. At the middle school level, a couple of uh recognition components related to the arts as well. So we we had each year um you know teachers can kind of uh nominate students to be a part of um
some region competition. Uh so this year we've had four students at the middle school level who uh competed and were selected to be a part of all state choir. Uh those students are Mirabel Guo
uh Maline Hasten Harun Simbi and Farah Shack. uh from uh MHK. So definitely want to commend those students. They're competing with students across uh across the state. Also, we had a sixth grade student who auditioned for the Central Jersey Music Educators Association
Intermediate Region Band. Over 700 students auditioned. Um we had Octavio Constantino uh from Kreps who successfully auditioned and was accepted into the symphonic band which is very very rare. So huge accomplishment to him
and once again just an opportunity to celebrate our music educators for their work in terms of nurturing our student talent. Uh next month I think I think you took something out of my report here. Sorry I think you pulled something out but
sorry. Uh next month we have the opportunity February 23rd actually later this month let me correct that. Later this month, uh, at the February 23rd Board of Education meeting, we will be recognizing, celebrating, uh, the Governor Educator of the Year, uh,
recipients for this year. We've been talking about those folks, two two professionals, uh, representing each of our schools. So, that evening, we'll have the opportunity to celebrate them in person. and hopefully they'll bring their family and friends and we'll have the opportunity to kind of recognize and
highlight their accomplishment, which is no small feat. As I've shared before, uh those individuals are eligible uh to be considered to be uh the county uh educator of the year. So, I've had several um members reach out to me
asking for that next level. So definitely wishing them all the best as they move forward and also just really have the opportunity to have their um the work they do just kind of recognized outside of our school district. I think it's uh something that is worthy and uh
sense of pride there. So February 23rd we'll be here celebrating our our educators for the governor's educator of the year recognition for this year. Uh in terms of um another student
uh uh update I I forgot to mention. So for the National Girls and Women's Day uh the National Girls and Women in Sports Day, let me correct that, which is usually the first Wednesday of February each year, which I think was February 4th. Just want to commend uh one of our students here for her
excellence on and off the field. Uh and that is Samantha Ake from from Heisttown High School. So, she was selected by the athletic leadership council which is comprised of coaches and other uh staff members within the high school. Um, a
lot of it came down to her dedication. She's a three sport athlete uh tennis, swimming, lacrosse all four years at Icetown High School. Um, not only is she connected to athletics, she's also uh playing the saxophone and the wind
ensemble, the jazz pit, rock bands, and she's also a member of the ecology and outdoor club. So, just want to commend Samantha for her accomplishment. Connected to uh at our last meeting, there was a a conversation that we have regarding public comment related to high
school arrival. And specifically, it was connected to uh a process that we've adopted in recent years where we have two buses that take our students to uh Mercer County Technical Schools in the morning and they're kind of situated.
They were situated. they are situated on lean lane uh related uh in close proximity to where we have our parent drop off. The concern that was presented was related to um the buses that are bringing students to school as a convenience where we're
were stopping uh in the area by the tennis courts to allow those students who needed to get off of the bus that brings them to Heisttown High School and then transition to the vote. we just use that terminology to the vote buses. So,
the timing of when those buses were stopping and allowing students to exit uh was creating just some congestion as it relates to those parents who were dropping off and then looking to to exit. So, we shifted the location after reviewing it. We changed the location of
where those buses are now situated in the morning. So, they're they're at the front end, I guess, or the back end of Leian Lane. So instead of being dropped off by the tennis courts, those students remain on their buses like all the other students that are taking a bus to school
and they exit at the main entrance of the high school and just walk over to those two buses. Uh in addition to that and just reviewing uh that drop off area, it's pretty obvious to us that the time of the year is contributing to the
increase in cars. Um, you know, obviously it's been very cold outside, so uh, more families have been opting to drive their children to school, which is completely understandable, and that's actually across all of our schools. Uh, but specifically with the high school, just because it's our largest school in
the district. In reviewing that parent drop off area in addition to shifting the process for the vote buses in the morning, uh we also noticed that there's a small staff parking lot in close proximity to the
Leia Lane drop off area that some families have opted to kind of cut through uh as a shortcut when they come off of Lean Lane um via Main Street. So, we're going to make some adjustments to that uh to to not allow that to be a cut
through because it kind of creates a little bit of a um some parallel traffic and some, you know, people needing to yield to let folks. In addition to that, it can create a circumstance where uh when a parent actually kind of cuts
through there, it they may or may not make it over to the curb to drop their child off, which we think is a safety concern. So, um, in working with the high school administration, I know there was a communication that was sent home today. Just kind of reminding folks in
terms of one some of the adjustments that we're making. Specifically, it will be kind of creating a more consistent flow uh of traffic um to drop students off curbside on Leian Lane. And one ma major difference will also be um needing
families to pull all the way to the corner. So, where the buses used to be, those two votch buses, we're expecting students uh with their families obviously to to pull up to that stop sign curbside uh to have students exit at that point. We think it will create a
longer flow for for the drop off lane um and hopefully minimize or mitigate just some of the some of the congestion that that will occur at that time of the day. The other piece that we've done in terms of trying to manage the AM um flow
is that we have uh asked the Heightstown Police Department to provide some assistance. You know, Leian Lane is an interesting piece of road. Although it appears to be part of our campus, it's technically a Heightstown Burrow Street. So, we don't have jurisdiction over Lean
Lane. Um that would be provided by the police department. So by the digital sign as you come off of Westerly, we know that is a that's a very busy place whether students and families are coming into the campus or uh folks are looking
to exit and we've got some stop signs that we need people to to adhere to and obviously we would prefer it and we do not want to have people parking or or yielding or pausing uh in that curb area by the digital sign. So we've asked our police department to provide some
support there to keep the flow of traffic moving but also to ensure that people are adhering to some traffic safety. We have a crosswalk in that area. We want to make sure that as students are uh coming from Westerly across to our campus they can do so
safely. So there's a number of things uh that we are working through to improve the situation. Um, one thing I'll say is that this high school, you know, one of the realities is that
we currently only have really two ways to get in and out of this high school and unfortunately they are residential streets. Um, so at one point we we had talked about exploring the possibility of currently
we have a connecting driveway from the high school to kind of our maintenance department transportation area. So as a consideration is something we may look at uh exploring to see if there's an option there for us to create another either another entrance way or at least
another exit way. Right now our buses use it. Um but in terms of where we currently are, you know, a school that has 1,600 students, uh unfortunately we have Westerly and uh Leen as our entry
and exit points and um those are not the widest roads and it's just the reality of where we are. So, we're asking folks during the arrival time, um, if you know, if you arrive around 7:25,
that is a hot time. I'm going to tell you right now, you're going to be frustrated if you pull it in thinking that you're going to just, you know, comfortably drop your child off or comfortably park. So I would say uh you know give yourself some adequate time uh if you are dropping off in the morning so you're not enhancing your level of
frustration because uh that is the you know 7:20 to about 7:28 we've been monitoring that and that is a very busy time uh as it relates to vehicular uh uh traffic here at the high school. So, I would ask folks just to use some caution
and try to provide yourself with some time to comfortably get in out uh in the morning. >> Last item today. >> Mark, can I ask a question about before you get off the high school drop off pickup? >> Can you just Sure. Sure. Go for it.
>> Have you talked >> I wanted to finish my spiel first. >> I know, but then you're going to get off the part of the high school. >> Okay, I'm with you. I'm with you. Go ahead. >> It'll flow. I know we had talked about I had brought it up previously if the other problem is leaving. Have you talked maybe to
Heightstown Burrow about either putting um a policeman at the top of Leen to help with the people making a left because it's really bad. And it's even bad it's worse when there's snow because
you can't see and the left I mean that's It back, as you know, it backs all the way up past the tennis courts because people can't make the left because there's the other traffic coming in. So maybe if somebody was standing there between like 710 and 720 or something, if we can't make it so you can't turn
left, maybe if someone was helping to direct the traffic because there's going to be an accident. >> Well, I'm in communication with the police department. So that's that's one of the the things we're looking at to determine how we can assist with that. So, um,
so that's my answer right now. Right. There's a host of different things we're trying to figure out like what we think is is most problematic, but that is definitely one of the things that we were looking at to see how we can increase that that flow. Part of the issue is, you know, this is all of like a fourminute issue. It's like, you know,
things are really problematic for like four minutes uh and then it kind of dissipates. But yes, it's also really problematic when you're trying to exit via Westerly to Great Run. I know some people cut through Spring Crest to get out onto Main Street, but we are having some just some congestion as it relates
just the volume, right? So, but your point is well taken and uh been, you know, in communication with the chief to see what can we do to lighten I think a lot of the issue is relate, not to say all of it, but we do realize you mentioned snow that hasn't helped either in terms of just mounds of snow, which
sometimes is hindering visibility as well. So we do realize that this is a in large part due to the weather, but we know it's not the the only thing. So point well taken. Anything else on that?
>> Uh in closing uh today, I'm going to just uh talk briefly and I'm going to transition over to Paul uh just to provide some detail. We were supposed to have a finance committee meeting today and we were going to address this with the finance committee, but as you know,
it's budget season. We've been preparing for the budget probably for the past uh two to four months. Um we have a new governor in place. So the governor's address that typically would occur around February 27th has been pushed to March 10th. Usually state aid is then
released about two days after that. So, we've been kind of in the process of um being prudent and and somewhat responsible, very responsible in terms of just trying to anticipate what we uh believe state
aid may reveal and then trying to make sure that we can um plan accordingly to ensure that we can uh keep our our organization in a way that we think is fiscally sound and uh we can continue to build our educational program. So, with that, turn things over to Paul Todd, who
provides some some details regarding where we're going. >> Thank you, Mr. Daniels. I'll be referring to the page I handed out um on the table for everyone to review. Uh first is a side by side a high level um
kind of where the money is coming from on the revenue side. If you remember when we do our budget adoption, I have the big ledger size paper with five years of expenditures and revenue. So that is still coming. Don't worry, this isn't all the information you're going to get. So right now on the revenue
side, you'll see budgeted fund balance is $800,000 for this year. Last year was 6.9. Mostly that is from one-time revenues being injected for capital projects. So we'll be talking a little more about that later on in the sheet. uh as things have been going on, the um
the excess funds that we had that we were reinvesting back into our capital projects is just drying up as our budgets have been getting tighter and tighter and that's just kind of the trend moving forward. So, we'll be talking a little bit more about the reduction in projects that will be pursued next year. Right now, the levy
stands at $76.9 million for $73.4 million. That is a 4.8% increase. Last year we were at 2.7 and for about the five years before that when we were getting the nice state aid increases we were below 2% at 1.9%.
But I have some information to share with you kind of where we stand in regards to the rest of the county. The local sources that's kind of where we have uh the Roosevelt tuition facility rentals kidare receipts come into there. Um that
is pretty steady. The only difference is an increase of 120,000 through a federal program that funds technology. And then state sources. This is really kind of the big question mark. At this time, we're budgeting flat state aid at
$48.7 million. If you remember over the past two years, we collectively lost $3 million just because of the way the funding formula is with the uh increase in in u in salaries in the community and also
property values which the district which the state uses to determine the district's ability to pay. As I say every year they tell us what we already know. living in East Windsor Heights Town is really good and you know people are prosperous and things are going well and and the state translates that to
well you don't need as much state aid as you used to unfortunately that's the way they look at it right now. All right so moving over the notes which is kind of more on the expense side of things. Our salary load for next year is about $2.6 million. Just keep in mind
our regular 2% levy increase is $1.4 million. 2% of our levy is $1.4 $4 million. So, our salary load is $2.6 million for next year. One of the things that we haven't talked about in the past few years is health benefits. That's been pretty quiet, but it's finally
caught up to us and every time you open the newspaper, you just hear about the spiraling costs of health benefits and now we're kind of like everyone else. So, this year's budget will have an increase of $3 million to our health benefit budget, which we have not seen
in quite a long period of time. So when I say health benefits, I'm talking really medical and prescription, not dental and vision because that they're not significant parts of of that budget. So that is an 18% increase in health benefits. So if you've been reading the
paper, that is on the lower end of things. It's not uncommon to see 20 25%. You can see the state on their prescription side of renewal was close to 60%. So that is >> like 38%. >> Yeah. the state the state health the
state health benefits is somewhere around 30 to 38%. And just to kind of this is very eyeopening. If you were to go back to 2018 our paid claims for prescription and medical was
$10 million just a nudge over $10 million. Last year it was close to $20 million. Now I'm an accountant so I have to be proper and I'm going to tell you that's a 97% increase. But for conversational cyclist, let's call it what it is. 100% increase in seven
years. If you were to compare that to our salary increases over that same period of time, considering an average of 3 to three and a half% a year, that's going to give you a 21 to 24% increase over the same period of time. I can just tell you right now, that kind of growth
is not sustainable. And it will bring down most of the state, not just us. It'll bring down pretty much the the state. Uh, as far as staffing goes, right now we do not have any changes in the total FTE count. Obviously, every year people
get moved around to different positions, but as of right now, there are no increases or decreases, and we have about 910 individuals employed by the school district funded by our general fund. One of the things BA's always like to
point as far as cost increases is our special education tuition for outside placements. And I don't think you've really heard me say anything over the past six or seven years. David Row and his team do an excellent job of finding uh very uh reasonable appointments for
our students that meet their needs. And actually tuition for special education is down $280,000 year-over-year. So kudo to Mr. row and his team. That's not an easy feat. Uh, as we were putting our budget together and we saw that some of our
increases are a little more than we like, um, talking with Mr. Daniels and the administrative team, all schools and departments have made a 15% reduction in discretionary funds. So, what does that mean? That means if you have a piece of software that we need that we use every
year, that wasn't taken into consideration. So, we're talking about general supplies. We're talking about the things that we like to have. We talk about the buildings and grounds team with some of the maintenance stuff that we do. So, some of the big decreases,
two of the largest was our curriculum department, which was half a million, and then our buildings and grounds reduction was about $350,000. So, just keep in mind, 1% of our levy is about $740,000. So just those two decreases alone
reduced our levy by 1%. One of the few departments that actually maintain their budget and there's a slight increase of about 500,000 is our technology department. So we're still making a commitment to our technology needs. We're still rewiring our schools
as we have in the past couple summers. We will be renewing our Chromebook fleet at third, sixth, ninth grades. And we will also be renewing our iPad lease program for the K2 program. So that's still going to be maintained. So we're very proud of that.
>> Um >> go ahead. Do you want to do you want to mention that or >> Okay. >> Yeah. Um I these don't go through though. >> Yeah. Um >> right. So I what Mark is talking about
is -ate and that is a federal subsidized program for technology needs. So like the wiring of the schools for example will get 40% aid from the federal government for those kind of things. So that is led by Ray Nessie our technology
coordinator and he does an excellent job with our third party consultant to maximize those funds. We're going to still we're going to continue with our expansion of our emergency notification system which is right above us here. It's part of the new system that we put here in the high
school. And also new if if you've been around the district for any period of time, there is a black hole for cell service that we call PLLD. You go in there and you just cannot get any cell phone service. So, we're going to be looking for cell phone extenders at
PLLD. So, we're very excited for that. And also MHK All right. So, let's talk about our dwindling facility projects. As you know, the board approved an SDA ROD two SDA ROD programs here for the
high school. That'll be happening this summer. So, that leaves about $8 million remaining of that ROD grant. That will be happening not this coming summer, but the summer of 27. And that will be the front original part, the twotory part of the high school. We have about $8
million to put to that and that'll probably absorb the rest of that ROD program. You know, we've been talking we we took an $8 million loan, what they call a lease purchase, which you pay back over five years. We have about $2 million of
that money left. We will be taking that and seeing what else we can do. We have some still some sizable core areas like the high school cafeteria and the library that need updating. So, we're going to use those funds and try to get that. And I would say between the ROD grant and the LP, we'll probably have
90% of the high school done. There'll still be some pockets that we're going to try to have to find the funds to to completely refit the high school HVAC system, but we'll get there. Uh, also, uh, we have 14 as of right now, after this audit is complete and we
make the contribution, we'll have $14 million in our capital reserve. That's for facility projects. However, $8 million of that has already been pledged as the district share for that rod grant. So, after you take that into consideration, we'll have $6 million in
addition to $2 million in maintenance reserve. So, after we do those two projects, we really have two bundles of money left to handle all future needs. 6 million in capital reserve and 2 million in maintenance reserve. So, we're going to have to start getting creative on how
we fund our needs and repairs because the money will just not be coming in like it has in years past from leftover funds from our budget that we were repurposing for capital projects. Uh, in next year's budget is our final lease purchase payment that I just
talked about for $1.6 million. I just don't see, you know, as of right now how we're going to be able to renew that and continue that. So, we will be losing that funding losing uh moving forward, but next year we will have that last of the five-year payments of $1.6 million.
So, let's talk a minute about the tax levy cap because I think sometimes it's misunderstood and people overly summarize it because they say the tax levy increases 2%. That's the base adjustment. That is not the complete adjustment that you get for a tax levy.
And that's how when you see a school district, like I mentioned, we're at 4.8%. That's how we get to that because there's other components to that tax levy adjustment. So the first piece, the base adjustment is 2%. So our 2% is $1,469,000.
That's what that represents. We get adjustments or all school district get adjustments if you have an increase in enrollments. Our enrollment's been very flat for a very long time. It meanders a little bit, but pretty much it stays around 5,000 plus or minus 100 students.
So right now we do not have any adjustment uh forecasted for enrollment. The next adjustment and when you see everyone with their increases, this is really where the increases are coming from. You get a full adjustment for any increase to your healthcare benefits.
Right now we would because we put in 3 million, we would qualify for 3 million, but because of the the way other reductions in the budget have gone, we only need about 1.1 million of that $3 million. Now what will happen with that extra money in the last area here is called
bank cap. So if there's anything left from the first three things that I mentioned that money gets saved for future budgets and you get to save it for up to three years. So out of that 3 million that 1.9 that we're not using that should be able to move over to bank
cap for future years. In this budget we're going to be using 1 million of previous bank cap. That's all we have uh in there and we will be using it. So, those are the four main components of what a tax levy cap looks like.
Now, these are just preliminary numbers, but I was talking to my county colleagues last week. I'll read it out loud for the members of the public and also for anyone at home who uh is watching on YouTube. U right now, Princeton is the lowest in the county at
4 and a half%. So, clearly not 2%, the lowest in the county right now is 4 and a.5%. Lawrence at 4.8, 8. East Windsor at 4.8. So we're right there among the lowest. West Windsor is at five. Euing
at 6%. Hopewell is at 6% and growing. Hamilton is just a tinge right below 8%. And our poor colleagues next door at Robinsville at 9%. And how they're doing is they're basically going through a referendum. They have exceeded all of
their levy adjustments. So they exceeded their 2% their enrollment, their health care adjustment and also they've used all their bank cap and what the uh funding law says that if you need to extend your levy above those adjustments, you basically have to go
out for a referendum, an old style vote. So they're going to be having a vote coming up uh in early March. And if you want to just go to their website, you can just see they put a nice package together. And I just like looking at other districts and how they communicate their budget needs and they've done an
excellent job documenting their needs, but they're at 9%. So those tax increases are going from 4.5 to 9. We're definitely among the lowest in the county, which I think is something to be proud of. I know the administrative team has worked hard and have, you know,
sharpened their pencils to bring the increase down to that level. So that is coming at some sacrifice within the district. Uh moving forward, the governor budget address, which is usually the fourth uh Thursday, Tuesday of the month, which would have been
February 24th. And it's common practice when you're an incoming new governor, they usually give you a couple weeks to get a little extra time for that budget presentation. So, it's being moved back two weeks. That will now occur on March 10th. State aid will be released two
days later on the 12th. That's unfortunate because if we had our old February 24th release, we would be heading our March 9th date for our public adoption, preliminary adoption, but we're going to miss that by a day. So, it looks like our March 23rd will be
the preliminary adoption. And that is my update on the budget. >> Okay. Thank you, Paul. Any questions on what Paul shared? Yeah, I had a couple couple of questions. Uh Paul, once they have the budget meeting on the 12th,
will the number change for what we get for the state aid or the number that you have? Uh I think we just blocked in 48 right now. Would that increase or decrease or would that also change our rate as well? >> That that definitely could change. So
yes, absolutely. So if if you know there's a couple ways state aid could be reduced. Number one is that the governor um because if you're reading the newspaper the the state has their own budget problems they have a built up over the years especially because of co
funding a decent fund balance right now that's projected to run out in a couple years so we're very interested to see how the governor is going to jump off previous Governor Murphy's you know commitment to the schools and the increases and how they're going to try to maintain that. So we're waiting
breathlessly to see what that state aid number looks like. So the the so it's the level the level of funding could affect that. And also there's the funding formula where they could put in the same amount of money as the prior year. We could still you lose state aid if that comes if the property values
increase like they have over the past few years and if the income levels increase. We could lose funding that way even though the governor puts in the same amount of money. >> Thank you. Um, second thing, uh, we're doing the remaining extension for the second section of Ice Town and we're
going to be using up the $8 million. What exactly are we doing for that second story? >> So, what we received, we received the $14 million Rod grant, which is regular operating district. It's how they fund capital projects within you know what they used to call the the Abbott school
districts which were the 30 of the lower um economically uh disadvantaged uh communities. So for the people who weren't Abbott districts, you received the ROD grant uh and that's how the state made their commitment to help fund
facility projects. So we submitted a couple years ago for HVAC upgrades here at the high school. >> So that's what we'll finish up. Yes. >> Awesome. All right. Thank you, Paul. >> You're welcome. >> I have a a question about the health benefit increase. Does any of that
increase get passed on to the employees and what they pay for their benefits or is that all covered from on the back where it talks about the adjustment for health benefits or like does the district take that take up that difference or >> Yeah. So there's there's two groups of
and it's based on after the number of the law that was passed. So there's something called chapter 78 which was the 78th law passed in that year of the session of the of the congress. And basically chapter 78 contribution people
contributed a percent of the premium based on your salary. So obviously the more money you make the more you contribute. Mhm. >> That was in place for um six, seven years. Uh to help give some of the uh
staff members some relief from that, they then passed chapter 44, which is a new new set of plans. So, anytime you switched to a new district or you came into a new school district for a first time employee, you went into a chapter
44 plan. Chapter 44, you pay a percent of your salary. no longer a percent of the premium of the plan. So the people who are in chapter 78s, they will definitely feel that they'll have an approximately 18% increase in their
contribution. The chapter 44s will not. >> Okay. >> And just to give you some more information, you know, I wanted to talk a little bit about our prescription plan because that is one of the areas that is really uh blowing up on us. Um and I and
it's it's not a surprise that GLP1s are becoming a large large percent of our medical spend. Uh right now we have about 150 members across the entire district who currently are taking a GLP1
of some sort. Not necessarily a staff member, could be someone in their household, but basically 150 plans or someone has has someone on a GLP1. About 50 of those are for diabetes, for either type one or type two diabetes.
However, the majority of our GP1 use in the district are for staff members who take it for weight loss only. And that is a pretty big number. Right now, we're spending about a million dollars on those 100 people who are taking GLP1s for weight loss only. And that is only
going to grow as now GLP1s are moving from the injection to the pills. Um, just to give you a sense of what that means, I told you a little earlier that our paid claims last year was $19.7 million. Of that, about 4.7 million was
spent on prescriptions. So, of that, let's call it $5 million, 1 million or 20% of our prescriptions are now going to GLP1s for weight loss only. I'm not sure that's to my earlier comment, I'm not sure that is s that
kind of growth is sustainable moving forward. So, so one addition we will, you know, subsequent to the March 12th um state aid and March 10th governor's address, we are preparing to engage in a budget
budget presentation during the I think it's the March 23rd meeting. Um, so in more detail in following up what we shared this evening. >> Are there any other questions? >> Yeah, I I forgot to ask one question regarding the reduction of the
curriculum um department of the 500. You said it's you know stuff we don't need. What exactly does that pertain? Uh is it something academically? Is it something that our kids need or what exactly are we not providing?
>> I I don't think I said it's stuff we don't need because everything that we do here is for the kids. Everything that we do and is for the direct benefit of the kids. So I think what happens is you see like I'll just take it's a little more easier to understand you know nuts and bolts. So I'll just talk about buildings
and grounds. You know when something is broken when you're pretty flush with your budget you address it right away. But what you find is that as time goes on and you start reducing your budget, you're not sure when that next big
repair break is going to happen. So the the things that you would jump on and you fix get deferred, deferred maintenance. Well, we're going to have to wait to see if we have money to fix it. So things that were nice, I know that it was shiny and bright. now we're going to start looking a little
lackluster because you're holding on to that money because you're waiting for the HVAC to to break or for a boiler to go down. So, it becomes more layers of needs, right? There's some stuff that you really like and the kids really like and they really enjoy. The question is
how long can you hold on to that stuff as you start reducing your budget? So, there's like a core level of needs that you will always need. Um, so right now and then there's just, you know, add-ons from there. So, we're kind of going through that process. It's like a peeling an onion where you just have to
make some value decisions and they're never easy. But yeah, everything is needed and everything goes to the kids. So, it's just a slow whittling down. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else with questions?
Mark, did you have anything else? Okay. Uh we will now move on to item five, our first opportunity for board member comments. >> Michael, I had uh had the pleasure of being at a bunch of different events in the
district uh last week from the the joint middle school high school concert for um for band and the um and two of the performances of the play. and like absolutely again reaffirm
just how absolutely uh how rejuvenating it is to see all the kids and and tonight being another fun capstone of how great the the arts are at giving everybody an opportunity to do
group activities and have some individual uh recognition. And it's it's it's good to see I agree. I was very happy to be able to take in the concert last week. I miss the play unfortunately. Um I try and
make all the events, but sometimes it it can happen, but always impressive. Always impressive. Um any other board member comments? Okay, we'll move on to our first opportunity for public comment. Any members of the public wish to speak?
Okay. Uh there being none, we will move on to our first executive session in 20 minutes. Okay, everybody, welcome back. Um, we'll now move on to item seven, old business.
We have our committee meetings listed there. Um, there were some changes listed to the u made to the committees. Um, the folks who have moved in or out of committees have been contacted. So, if there's any additional changes
someone was looking forward to, please let me know. I do think there is one opening still available on finance committee if anyone's interested. Okay, we'll now move on to item eight. Second opportunity for board member comments.
Okay, there being none, we'll move on to item AB. our second opportunity for public comments. >> There being nine, we'll move on to item nine. Motion to approve routine items by exception. Having read the materials
received, I move that the board approve the routine agenda items as submitted. Item A, staffing for 292 uh 2026. Item B, HIV report from January 26th, 2026. Item C, out of district placement.
Item D, approve HHS overnight DECA trip to Atlantic City, New Jersey for March 2026. Item E, approve HHS overnight FBLA field trip, Atlantic City, New Jersey, March 2026. Item F, approve ESA reallocation of title 3 funding full
year 2025 to 2026. Item G, approve new field trip sites for upcoming trips. Item H, technically technology recycling batch number 67. Item I, approve HHS and MHK spring sports schedules 2026. Item J, approved
travel and related expenses. Item K, acceptance of donation from Dr. Redlick. Item L, surplus property disposal, WCB. Item M, transportation. Item N, regular and executive board meeting minutes. Item O, report of the board secretary
and financial report for December 2025. Item P, expense and transfer reports of school monies report for December 2025. And item Q, bill list of February 9th, 2026. >> Second. >> Any questions?
>> Pull the board, please. >> Mr. Falco. >> Yes. >> Mr. Drake, >> yes. >> Miss Laruso, >> yes. >> Miss Patel, >> yes. >> Mr. Weeks, >> yes. >> Miss Lans, >> yes.
Um, this evening, we do have a need for our item 10, second executive session. Um, the board will adjourn to that. We do not have any mot any items to be voted upon, so we will close the meeting as soon as we're finished. Um, thank you
everyone. Have a great evening and be safe and stay warm. Can you just text me when you're done? >> Oh, you're not going in.