everyone to our special meeting tonight. Um just want to make a quick um public service announcement. Um the meeting will not be livereamed due to technical difficulties, but it's going to be recorded.
>> They just got it up. >> They just got it. Yeah. >> Oh, so it doesn't have to be recorded? >> No. >> And posted tomorrow. I retract my statement. Our meeting will be live streamed and we thank you for your patience as we had a few technical uh difficulties. So we
like to welcome everyone to um our special meeting which is the school budget public hearing um for Tuesday, April 28th, 2026. Okay. On Wednesday, January 7th, 2026, notice of this meeting was emailed to the press
and the Daily Journal. Notice was also delivered that day to the Garber Township clerk and posted on the bulletin board in township hall. >> Roll call. >> Mrs. Bird >> present. >> Mr. Buyers >> here. >> Mr. Delbara >> here. >> Miss Hyman >> here. >> Mr. Ireland >> here.
>> Mr. Sepy >> here. Mrs. Sagy >> here. >> Mr. Price >> here. And Mrs. Gilbert Floyd >> here. So, everyone buckle up. We're ready for an exciting journey through our school budget. All right. So, we're going to do a uh a
quick uh presentation on the budget. Uh really not much has changed in the last couple months. Uh our goal has been to mitigate the number of personnel reductions. Uh so that's what we've really been working on the last uh two months. Uh so with us tonight is Miss, our assistant BA. She puts a lot of
effort into the budget as well. So uh we're a welloiled machine as you can see. Uh so thank you for your attention and we'll we'll get through this. Uh so tonight we'll just talk about the timeline, the tax levy, the rates, state aid, uh our revenue appropriations, uh
changes since our preliminary budget approval, and tonight's board action. So from January on, we've done uh multiple presentations, uh gotten feedback, we've spoken with administrators, our finance committee, uh and gone through that
process of of going through different iterations of the budget. March 12th, we received our state aid, which was a few weeks later than normal. Uh March 26th, we submitted our preliminary budget that was board approved on March 24th to the county office for review. We received approval from the county and we're here
tonight, April 28th for our public hearing to approve the final version of the 2627 budget. Uh so as far as the general fund tax levy, we really look only looked at three options uh at the committee level. Uh we're going with option A, which is leaving the rate the
same. Uh so it's still an increase of 1.6 million or 1.98% and generated that new revenue uh into next year's budget without increasing the tax rate. Uh our levy will be just over 84.5 million. Now uh that number in
particular, one thing to note, our local fair share is just over 89 million. Uh so that we'll get to that on as far as our debt service fund. there's a small decrease in next year's principal and interest payments. So, our bond referendum that was approved on
March 10th uh in next year's budget, our first interest payment on those bonds is is scheduled. Uh and then in 27 and 28, our principal payments will begin for that bond. And from this point up until 3031, uh we're looking to keep that debt
service tax levy steady. So, we'll see. There may be minor pluses or minus like you see next year we're going down $4,000. So there may be those little changes from year to year, but it won't be anything drastic. It'll be pretty steady uh throughout the next uh handful
of years. So our total uh debt service tax levy is 5,450,000 in next year's budget. Uh so just a quick look at our uh general fund tax levy over the last few years. Uh and all of those increases uh are due to
ratables increasing except for 2526. We did increase slightly over the ratable increase uh to help balance the budget, but overall it's been pretty steady. Uh and you can kind of see what overall for the average taxpayer, which is just over $215,000 of assessed value, the annual
change is a decrease of just over $5. So zero on the general fund, uh a drop in $5 on the debt service, so a combined of negative $5. uh state aid uh the biggest part of our budget, the biggest revenue source. Uh you see transportation and special
education went down slightly. Uh security aid went up slightly. Uh equalization aid, which is the biggest factor, uh went up by over 4 million, which was really unexpected. So those other areas, transportation, special education, and security, they're based
on our enrollment uh and and factors that the state applies to our enrollment. Uh equalization aid is the difference between our adequacy budget and our local fair share. So uh equalization aid so that that's to equalize districts throughout the state.
So the state uh provides an adequacy budget in our state aid notice. They look at different enrollments. Uh they multiply that by per pupil cost factors and then geographical factors depending on what county you reside in within the state. So that's our total number. uh
subtracted from that is our local fair share uh which the state calculates uh it's been increasing every year. Uh I will say that in 2627 the state did tweak that formula to make it a little more current I guess is a good way to put it. Uh and then the difference
between those numbers are is our equalization need. So our adequacy budget is about 161 million. Our local fair share is 89 million. The difference of those two is our equalization need. Now, one thing to note about our local fair share, rate, that's about 89
million. Our current tax levy is about 84.5. So, that $4.5 million difference is not anything we would uh receive from the state. Uh the state views that as something the local taxpayers should be contributing. Uh, so say next year all
of our aid is is status quo and um, you know, we're $4 million short, you know, the state's going to look at our our particular formula and say, "Well, your local fair share is 4 million short, so just raise taxes to balance your budget." So that's just something to keep in mind. You not that we would uh
look at that. Obviously, the the goal of the board has been to keep the tax rate as steady as possible, but that's just kind of the a very generic way of looking at the thinking coming from Trenton as to how districts can help balance their school budgets uh going forward.
Uh we just wanted to show this uh kind of donut chart just to show that the biggest piece of the pie is state aid. So, we are really relying on state aid. our free and reduce rate has increased significantly significantly compared to 10 years ago. It's been going up each
year. Um and one thing to note is that our directly certified number of students has increased each year as well. So those are students who are receiving some type of assistance already prior to filling out their their lunch application. So that's just something to keep in mind. And I know we
talked about the funding formula uh and changes going on at the state level. You know, so when we hear those things, you know, we think about 50% of our revenue comes from the state that that the state is the formula, excuse me, that the state is working on. Now, uh so on our
appropriation side, as we said before, $10.7 million in increases in basically two areas, right? Salaries and health benefits. Um the health benefit number, 6.6 6 million is massive. Um, you know, just if you just look at our increase in
state aid and our tax levy, those two increases alone don't cover our health benefit increase. Uh, so that's really the biggest factor why we were in a budget deficit situation. Uh, and even though 6.6 million is very high, uh, it's really not that bad compared to
other districts around us. Uh, so other districts are scrambling to change plans or or change ways they administer their plans. Uh so we actually were in pretty good shape even though it's still a $6.6 million increase. All right. So in ways to offset those
increases, uh we had our tax levy increase, our new state aid, uh we made some non-personnel cuts initially as in our initial review of the budgets. It got us down to a deficit of 3.6 million. Uh so we really looked at non- salary accounts first. Uh and when we started
the process uh back in October, you know, personnel was always last. So we wanted to go through everything within the budget and save personnel for last since we're very labor intensive. You know, we need teachers in the classroom teaching. So that was our kind of last last step. Uh you know, and through this
we looked at data. We looked at becoming more efficient uh and how we could do that uh with balancing the budget. Um excuse me. So that kind of brought us into phase two, right? Where can we get more efficient? We looked at uh class schedules. We looked at, you know,
different timing of things. We looked at how many staff were assigned to different duties and things like that. We looked at um everything throughout the district. We looked at security, transportation, maintenance, clerical. kind of looked at everything um throughout the entire district to see where we could streamline things where
we could maybe not make a change for 26 27 but say we can start implementing these incremental things so that a year from now when we're doing the 2728 budget we might have areas that we could reduce without affecting student programs. Uh and then the last phase was personnel. Uh so that's kind of where we
started and I'm sorry where we ended. Um, you know, we really prioritized, you know, student programming, uh, student offerings, uh, both within the school day and after the school day. Um, you know, we had a lot of discussions on on
what areas, you know, were were ranked kind of in priority. Uh, and that's kind of the process we went through, uh, when we were looking at our personnel reductions. So, after we are at that 3.6 6 million. Again, looking at all areas other than
personnel, we were able to make some adjustments, look at some financial things, uh move some staff into title one funding, uh to utilize some of those resources since we did receive good news on on that end of our funding with the from the federal government. That brought us down to just over a $2
million budget deficit uh when we were looking at personnel. Uh so the $2 million is reflective of about 23 uh full-time equivalent positions. So when we look at the list here, uh again, we we looked at efficiency. How do we how
do we offer what we're offering today, do what we do today, but do it more efficiently and effectively. So our first iteration, we were looking at 38 reductions uh on the personnel side. uh through all these uh different meetings uh and re and iterations and talking
with administrators, talking with the finance committee, talking with central office, we went from 38 to 35 to 32 to 26 and then a final number of 22.84. Uh so in the chart here, you can kind of see that the total column that breaks
out that 22.84 and we broke that 22.84 into two categories. We have riff and no riff. So no riff means uh that a position can be eliminated whether uh it's someone who's retiring and we're eliminating their position or we're
eliminating someone's position but based on their certification they can teach something else or they can move into that same subject matter uh within their building or a different building. Um we looked at current vacancies to see you know if a position's been vacant for the
last four months do we really need that position? can we adjust adjust that position uh to fit something else in there? Um we looked at being more efficient especially in our uh administration, clerical and child study team. And you know it was a really hard
process to go through. Um you know we started back in November and we asked all of our principles and administrators for reductions uh in force that were about 8% of their their workforce. um which sounds like a lot and it was uh
throughout the entire district and we we kept looking at that information looking at the data uh to figure out where we could reduce from. So again administration we're cutting two positions uh two clerical positions two child study team positions uh six elementary instruction 5.84 high school
instruction two intervention and three middle school. Uh and with those 23 point or 22.84 84 reductions. Uh we've maintained all of our programming for students with the exception of Latin at the high school. Uh so that's the one
program that will be that we won't have in September that we have today. Uh and if you recall in last in the current budget presentation, so April of 2025, we spoke about uh reducing that program and 2526 being the last year of us
offering Latin at the high school. Now, we do have a couple students who are interested in continuing that to finish out their their um Latin progression. So, we're working with with those students in the guidance department to high school to have an option in place for those students uh for next school
year. Uh so, what do we do to minimize it? So, we explored all the retirements uh looked at our vacancies uh and we analyzed certifications. So what we did through this process as we went through uh looking at the data uh we kind of
created our list of possible reductions uh then Dr. Charlton went through and said okay this this uh type of teacher at the elementary level these handful of people can teach these different subjects or this person from high school can move down to middle school or this preschool person has like a middle
school certification. So he really took a lot of time to look at that and create this matrix to determine all right if we have to cut a certain type of um we'll use health and PE for example at the elementary level okay we we have these other health and PE teachers that can
teach these other subjects when we move to a different location uh so that that takes a lot of time uh you know we didn't just create the matrix he went through and and double checked it and triple checked it uh and just as of last week we went back through the list again and said okay we got a couple
retirements, what has changed? Um, you know, can we reduce the riffs? We were able to take two more off the riff list to bring it down to 3.84. Uh, so again, it's been an ongoing process since November to get to this point. Uh, we had one change to the budget
since the preliminary approval on March 24th. It's regarding our special revenue fund, spec specifically the preschool budget. Uh, so at the time that we presented the preliminary budget, we had preschool carryover. We're waiting on some guidance as to whether or not that had to be included in the budget. Uh,
you know, Mr. Mano worked closely with the preschool administration to balance that budget. Uh, and then after approval, uh, we determined we had to include that carryover fund in next year's budget. So, we did that. 47,000 went into preschool revenue for next
year. A corresponding appropriation went to the health benefits in the preschool program. So, the updated preschool budget is uh just under $10.9 million for next school year. Uh and then the the final action tonight, we're just asking the board to
approve the final version of the 2627 budget. Uh you see the totals there. Uh total budget 210,176,518 and the local tax levy including the general fund and the debt service fund uh $89,992,854. All
right. So, that's our really quick presentation that we put together for tonight. Again, not nothing has changed in the last few months other than that preschool change, uh, which is outside of the general fund. So, has no effect on the tax levy or the tax rate or state aid or anything like that. Um, so now
we'll open it up to any questions from the board. >> Madam President, >> question and comments. Thank you. Great presentation, Mr. Smith. Uh it was a tough budget season between the referendum and putting all the numbers
together and everything, but most importantly, we want to save the jobs. Um I know we were in a similar situation last year where we were were able to save the jobs, and it looks like you're on the right path to it, putting a lot of work and time into it. So, I'm pleased about that. Overall, I think
it's a great budget. I just wanted to clarify, we talked about the um option A 1.98%. It remains the same. So essentially, um, we're not raising anything. We're just going to stay where we're at. You're we're just going to pay the same amount
we did before, 1.98%. Is that correct? >> Well, the tax rate stayed the same, right? So we have to differentiate levy versus rate. So the rate stayed the same. Uh, because ratables went up, the levy increased even though the rate stayed. >> Okay. So the good news is the tax rate remains the same.
>> Correct. Yep. >> Okay, that's good. And my last question uh was um I had it here a second ago. Personnel options a um oh with preschool uh we're at 10,893266.
What was it before we got to that? What was it? >> Uh it was about 10 million487 I think. >> About 10 million 487. Okay. >> Yeah. And the preschool funds, they they reside similar to food service. So, uh, when we create our preschool budget, we
get through the year, our audit is completed, and you know, if there's $400,000 in carryover, it has to stay in preschool. We can't take that money and use it for other purposes. It has to stay in the preschool fund. >> Okay. So, we were at 10,487 approximately. That's going to go to 10,893 266.
>> Yeah. and that that kind of popped up because the state the last two years has kind of changed how they fund or account for preschool funding. So, you know, two years ago if you had carryover, you didn't necessarily have to budget it. It could just kind of sit in your preschool
surplus. Then last year, uh the state went through and if if you had carryover funds, they deducted it from your state aid to kind of force you to budget for it. But in our case, we had already budgeted and we're using it currently when the state deducted it from us. So, we kind of got took a hit on that that
we had to account for. And then this year they they modified it again, tried to streamline it a little. Um, so it kind of helped, but the one good thing is this year the math worked, so everything added up. Even if you don't necessarily agree with it, at least it added up. Uh, so we're hoping that now
going forward, the state just did a major upgrade of their system and how you submit documents for preschool. Uh, so we're hoping going forward it kind of remains the same so we kind of know what we're dealing with. >> Good. I I I feel that we're in good shape compared to some other districts in in the immediate area and the whole
state and we talk about different meetings with the county associations. Um the whole school funding formula needs work and it's it's everywhere. It's not just this district. It's throughout the whole state and I think the state's aware of it. It's just now time to start doing something about it.
It's it's been long coming and the whole school funding formula needs to be um needs to be addressed. So, I'll leave it at that. All right. Thank you. That's all. >> Thank you. >> Any other board comments, >> Miss Bird?
>> Thank you for all your hard work. Um, and also thank you because our district's been very fiscally responsible over the last six, you know, for many years. And, uh, all your hard work is showing. we do not have the cuts that a lot of the districts are facing
because of all the hard work that you all have put into it and for the leadership in the district. So, great job. I have a question about the equalization aid um if we keep it at the 1.98%. We're holding flat because of the
ratables. So, no tax increase, which is great. I worry about next year though when the state comes back and says our equalization aid has to change because our local fair share number is lower than what they say. So are we setting ourselves up for difficulty next year
and are we going to be at a more of a loss holding this way? >> Uh no. So our local fair share calculation is separate from the tax levy. So the state is saying regardless of what your tax levy is, you're you should be paying 89 million. And if you're choosing as a board to pay 84,
that $5 million is on you. Basically, it's kind of how the state's looking at it. So, uh, when next year's state aid notice comes out, you know, there will be the adequacy budget calculation and the local fair share calculation. The difference is our equalization aid. It's totally independent of our actual tax
levy. Uh so and when we submit our budget um that's one of the screens that pops up is you know hey your your tax rate should be this and you're just and your rate is this are you can and we kind of have to confirm that say yes our tax rate is lower than what the state is
projecting it to be. So next year uh unless I mean I really don't think the funding formula is going to change um because what we're hearing is that the state's gonna their task force is going to start in December. Um you know when the governor's budget addresses in February I think it's really hard for them to make any
changes. So you know if we assume we're going to have the same calculations for next year's budget you know we should be relatively the same. Um, one of the problems that we faced in the past is that the the per per pupil amounts for the advocacy budget didn't increase, but
the local fair share rates did. So that that gap got smaller of what your equalization aid was because the state saying, "Well, you should be paying more, but they're not kind of accounting for increase in in costs for salaries, health benefits, supplies, whatever the case is." So now they've started to update those as I guess as their kind of
first pass to upgrade the formula. Uh, so I think, you know, as far as local fair share versus local tax levy, you know, because we're under doesn't necessarily gonna it's not necessarily going to hurt our equalization aid. It just might, you know, make it harder if we petition to the state and say, "Hey,
we need more money." You know, the first response to say, "Well, you can raise your taxes another 5 million." You know, that would be that's going to be their first response to us. >> Thank you for that explanation. And I think that's what I'm afraid of that uh
you know we've we've held it pretty flat and I'm afraid I don't want to have to go back next year the taxpayers and hit them hard. So um I guess we'll see how it goes next year. >> Yeah. And that was one of the complaints from a lot of districts when S2 rolled
out was that districts who were fiscally responsible uh maybe didn't benefit as much as other districts who weren't fiscally responsible. So, we've done I think we've done a lot in the last five years as far as maintaining staff, doing capital improvements, keeping the tax rate steady, you know, maintaining all
of our programs and extracurricular activities that we have uh without major, you know, budget cuts. So, I think we've done a really good job. And yet, in a year from now, when if we petition to the state, is that going to hurt us? Probably. But, you know, we kind of have to do what's right and then
hope that it works out in the end. Um, my just one more thing came to mind while you were talking. Just a fast one. Uh, the travel related expenses. I know you answered the question last year. I just want to make sure nothing changed on it. So, it's $90,000 and you come up with that figure. It's a formula. Doesn't mean you're going to use it or
spend it. It's just based on a formula, the amount of the budget and the people, etc. Is that correct? >> Correct. Yep. Yeah. And that's something that we uh when the accountability regulations were released a while ago, districts had to start accounting for that. Um so it was a public knowledge of you know we may spend up to this amount
but we haven't really whatever the number we put in we haven't really come close to that. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Okay. That's fine. Thank you. >> Um any other questions or comments from board members? >> All right. Thank you.
>> Just want to publicly uh thank uh Mr. Smith and Mr. Mana for the hard work that they've done um in in the BA office. Um this has been an extensive process and um after tonight, it starts all over again tomorrow for next year.
But it's an extensive process. It wasn't something that just, you know, happened overnight. uh within a month's time. Um you know, we've had these conversations since last spring about today. So, um I just want to thank them for their
effort, their knowledge, uh the time that they put into developing uh this budget for the board this evening and for the community to see. The time and thought has gone into it. And um you know while we don't like to make uh cuts
um we did the best we can and I and we still have programs and services for our students in place and that's what why why we're here. All right. So again thank you all and um great job. Any other comments, questions
from board members? Okay. I just wanted to say as you just echo what Dr. said, um, I'm thankful for, uh, our, uh, our board secretary, our business
office, um, M. Jano, just really putting a lot of effort in. And I think for for me seeing it from the other side where they they answered every every single question and and I can guarantee you and
to the public that we had a lot of questions and and that is that is how it it's okay. Um but we had a lot of different questions. Um and there wasn't a question that wasn't asked that I don't think um there was an answer that was given. So we appreciate that too.
Whether whether we agreed with the answer or not, we got the answer and you know, you know, whether it was by line item um the professional development um money being spent or allotted for staff um to down to making sure that no
programs were lost um for students. So, I just want to thank you all as well and thank the board of education for for being a researchbased um digging heels in and asking the questions those difficult questions but
making sure that is a a balanced um budget. So, that's what all I had to say. Anyone else have any questions or comments before we go into um public comment on budget for the budget only? All right. So, the board values and welcomes
comments and opinions from residents. Um, this meeting will now be open to public comments. Three minutes per person. >> If your questions pertain to lit, well, litigation, I don't have to read that part, but to litigation, student
personnel items, or depending on your complexity of your questions, the board secretary may ask you for your contact information so that you may get a response. As a reminder, this public meeting, excuse me, and all comments should be appropriate for a public setting and made in a respectful manner.
So, please come to the podium, state your full name and your city of resident. And this is for the budget only. All right. Seeing none, and we can go into public comment for any item other than the budget.
Any questions, comments, public comments for any other items besides the budget? the general comments. All right, seeing none. All righty. So, at this time, I'm going to ask for
um a motion to approve item 4.1 to approve the 2627 school budget, district budget. >> Motion buyers, >> second debarka. >> Uh any discussion? All right. Roll call, please. Mrs. Berg,
>> yes. >> Mr. Buyers, >> yes. >> Mr. Mr. Delabara. >> Yes. >> Miss Hyman. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ireland. >> Yes. >> Mr. Sepy. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Sloggy. >> Yes. >> Mr. Price. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Gilbert Floyd. >> Yes.
And at this time, I'm going to ask for a motion to adjourn our meeting. >> Motion. >> Second. Third. >> Fourth. >> All right. Let's let's keep it let's keep it together. We're going to ask for a motion to adjourn our meeting. >> Let's just keep going.
>> Were you able to record it? >> You got it. Okay. All right. All in favor? >> I >> All right. Thank you so much to the public for coming out. >> Thank you everyone. >> Have a good night. Thank you.