Hi everyone. How are you? >> Great. Good. It's Christmas. My favorite time here. Okay. All right. Right glasses. Wrong head. Oh my eye. Yep, you're ready to go. >> Good morning. I'd like to call the
meeting to order. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. We don't have enough people. >> Everybody sit down for We could say the pledge of allegiance, though. No, I hope they can start meeting until
Yeah, I don't know. You You're older than I am. Much wiser. >> I said you're older than me. Much wiser. >> I don't know about that. Maybe older. [clears throat] >> Well, let's make small talk. Is
everybody ready for the holiday? You know, are we ready? Is everybody ready? Excited? Good. Who's traveling over the holiday? Who has to travel? Okay. So, we'll be praying for safe travels for you guys. Everybody's Christmas trees are up. Yeah. Nope. Nope. That's all right. That's all
right. I had some clients yesterday go to Evie Trees and here it's a cutting down place, right? They only had four trees left. >> Yeah. Is that crazy? So then I love the Google and I was like, "Oh, I sent one to Napony to Flickingers. One went to Grape Road. Everybody found trees by six
o'clock. I got some texts. People had trees. It was good. So, yeah. Yeah. So, and um I can't sit in silence, you guys. I'm sorry. I'm a hairdresser and also a pretend talk show host. We are in a quorum. Let's go. >> All right. [laughter] >> Good morning,
>> Eric. The day because I was about to throw down my own talk show. >> Oh, well, here we go. >> Save everybody. >> Good morning, everyone. Uh Daisy said she's running a few minutes late, but we can go ahead and proceed this morning. I'd like to call the meeting to order. Please rise for
the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States. >> Thank you. the uh Elcart promise. Every student is known by name, challenged and supported by highly effective staff and in
partnership with the community will graduate career and college ready and life ready. Thank you. Okay. And we have an invitation to speak protocol. Does anybody need me to review and for
you the protocol? Dora, do we have any uh people who would like to address us this morning? Okay, just one. All right. Okay. Um
um Mr. Spelbring, please. >> Good morning, Ralph. How are you? >> Good. >> Good. >> My name is Ralph Bbring. I live out in the East Jackson area. First, it seems to me there should be a trolley stop sign down by the uh stoplight. There's
one just uh after you turn off an apony and there's one out here. But like I said, I think there should be a trolley stop sign at the stoplight along California Road. [clears throat] It it it seems to me that we want to
keep the Bristol Elementary in Washington Township. We want to keep the Cleveland school in Cleveland Township. That means that Eastwood and Mary Feeser would be candidates to be closed in my opinion.
[clears throat] Michigan in 1989 had a referendum with two proposals on school funding. Both were defeated. If both had passed, it would have been the one with the most votes. School finance is a pretty
difficult situation. I that's something that needs to be decided by the legislature, not public referendums. [clears throat] And in the early 90s, uh, twothirds of
the money for Michigan public schools was coming from local property taxes. So they held a referendum in June of 1993 on whether to increase the state sales tax from 4% to 6%.
70 in Michigan counties voted yes, but it was defeated. So that meant that the big population counties in Michigan had to vote no. Berian County is a good example of the shortcomings of property
taxes to fund schools. The Bridgeman District has the Cook Nuclear Plant, so it has plenty of money. the uh Benton Harbor district is one of the poorest in the state. So it it it doesn't have much in the way of local
resources. Michigan after the June 1993 defeat. We had a Republican governor, Democrats in the House, so they said we'll put it on the ballot again. This time if it fails, the income tax goes
up. So this time it passed. Uh by [clears throat] 1998 more than 80% of the money for Michigan public schools was coming from the state. Essentially local property taxes
would have been paying for debt service in the late 90s. So, you went from 2/3 local in the early 90s uh to uh 2/3 local to less than 20% local uh in the
late 80s. So, that and Indiana did that back in the early 70s. We increased the sales tax from 2% to 4% to reduce property taxes. Additionally, Elcart County adopted an income tax.
We were the largest population county to do so. So, our property taxes went down considerably in the early 70s. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Ralph. >> Consent items. Uh, do I have a motion? >> Motion.
>> Do I have a second? >> Second. Okay, good. Uh, Kelly, are there any gifts? >> Yes, we do have a gift. We have from the Elkar Education Foundation. We have a $1,000 donation for our um JOTC. So that is going to be used for like their ball,
their competition, supplies, snacks, anything that they need. So thank you Alcar Education Foundation for that beautiful donation. That's it. >> Does the board have any other comments on the consent items? Anybody else? Good. Um all in favor say I.
>> I. Those opposed? Motion passes. Thank you very much. Um, it appears we have no old business. Okay. And new business. Uh, contracts. Uh, Miss Ross. Good morning. The administration
presents contracts for initial consideration starting with Crow LLP and Barnes and Thornberg. You have any questions? Crow will be related to the WVPE audit
and Barnes and Thornberg will be related to our bond issues. >> Thank you. Uh Mr. Thorne, >> good morning, Vice President Weaver, [clears throat] members of the board, Dr. Huff. Uh this
morning the administration is presenting for preliminary consideration uh proposed agreements with the University of Notre Dame professional benefits administrators and the city of Elcarts. >> Are there any questions from the board?
Okay. Thank you. Uh Miss Lozano. >> Thank you. Good morning Vice President Weaver, members of the board. Dr. Huff, the administration presents for initial consideration the contract with All One Health. Any [clears throat] questions from the board?
>> Okay. Thank you, [snorts] Miss Brander. >> Good morning. The administration present this contract for initial consideration health to add school psychology services. >> Any questions from the board?
Okay. See none. And apparently we don't have to vote on that. Okay. Thank you very much. And uh Dr. Roush. Vice President Weaver, School Board of Trustees, Dr. Huff. The administration presents proposed revisions to the 2026
2027 school calendar and request a waiver of second reading. The change came from Memorial Day is not on May 24th, 2027. It's actually on May 31st, 2027. [clears throat] [snorts] We also have three built-in
asynchronous days and then a built-in snow day. And that built-in snow day would be used if for some reason we called off school and we could not do asynchronous or synchronous and students would come in person on that um March 26
date. If we don't need to use it then we would not be in school on that day. >> Um do I have a motion? >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. Uh any uh comments uh from the board or questions?
Any comments, questions from the audience? Okay. See none. Okay. All in favor say I. I. >> All in favor? All. All oppose say no. Motion passes. Thank you. Uh Mr. Smith,
recommendation for award for the fuel contracts. >> Good morning. The business office recommend recommends award of a contract for fuel for the 2026 calendar school year. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Uh, do I have a motion? Motion.
>> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Uh, any discussion or comments from the board? Any comments from the audience? No. Very good. >> Okay. Uh, seeing none, uh, all in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Thank you.
>> Motion passes. Thank you. [clears throat] >> And, uh, Miss Ross. >> Thank you. Um I'm here to propose a resolution for transfer of appropriations as we close out the budget for the 2025 school year. Um
certain accounts are in need of transferred appropriation in terms of we may not have uh we need to move money from one object to another just to balance um the budget. So it's just a transfer
in that regard. >> Do I have a motion? >> Motion. >> Have a second. Second. Have a motion, a second. Any comments for questions from the board? Seeing none, uh, all in favor of the motion say I. >> I. >> All opposed.
Uh, hearing none, uh, the motion is passed. Thank you very much. And also right on to the finance report. >> Yes. Thank you. Right. Um, so we have here our monthly financial update. I'm presenting the financials uh for November 2025.
Um here I'd like to start with the education fund. Um here's our budget. Um as I've uh presented this uh recently. Um you'll see our we have three columns here that itemize our receipts in the first column. Our expenses and we're
getting down to the projected ending cash balance is what I want you to see. So if you take a look at the 1782 budget as you've seen um this is the budget we started the school year with. what we anticipated. And if you would draw your attention to
the third column, the adjusted budget. A few adjustments since the previous update. Um, local revenue sources slightly down, state sources slightly down, but we still are anticipating total receipts about 93 million um for this school year.
Just a reminder, that's a $6 million revenue reduction from our 1782 notice. And jumping on down to um our transfers to operations, just a reminder that we are decreasing those to balance the
revenue reduction. And getting down to our projected ending cash balance, this takes us through December. We're looking at a cash balance of about 1.5 million in the education fund. But just a reminder, our goal is to transfer um a total of 3
million to the operations fund. So 1 million will be transferred to the operations fund ending with our cash balance of about 500,000 in the education fund. And just a reminder here, I have uh circled um that 92 million in the middle
column is our uh appropriations, our authority to spend up to 92 million um this year. And due to kind of a decreased spending trajectory, we shall it looks like we shall be under that spending authority. Um so that's good
news. All right, moving on. Education fund expenditures. Um we have here um presenting November, but October is presented here just as a comparison. So we're looking at November highlighted here. Our total receipts in the
education fund about 7.2 2 million. Um you can see our expenses. Um you may be able to see wages are trending down. Um as we'll speak about momentarily um and as you go down the expenses you can see some eb and flow of some items but you
will see transfers are up uh significantly and those transfers are transfers uh to the career center. About three months of transfers owed to the career center has appeared here. So, normally this line item would be about 200,000 when things level out.
So, you see our total expenses here at about 7.4 net revenue. Um, we have made a transfer to operations, the second of the 3 million in transfers, leaving us with a 2.3 million cash balance in our operations
fund. I'm sorry, in our education fund. Um before we leave this slide, just take a look at our remaining budget um highlighted here. We have about 7.7 million left in this fund for December expenses. So you it it appears as you
can see our expenses are about 7.4. We have about 7.7. So we anticipate having enough money to cover our expenses through the end of the year. >> I just want to make a clarification on this slide. >> Sure. >> Um in reference to the slide before
that. So the remaining budget on this slide that's from that's the 782 budget >> um >> line correct >> and not the adjusted budget. >> Say that one more time please. >> On the remaining budget on this
particular slide. So that's the 782 budget >> in the middle column. >> Right on on the next slide under your remaining budget [clears throat] that's using the 782
budget. It's not using your adjusted budget. >> Well, we didn't adjust the expenses. We adjusted the revenue, >> right? That that was my point. So, the remaining budget on this slide is showing 13 million remaining, but that's
based off of the 782, correct? And we're not going to be receiving 6 million. So, the remaining budget, if we're looking at based on our adjusted budget, is is going to be about 7.3 million
left. See what I'm saying? Not quite. But just to clarify, um, on this slide, we didn't adjust expenses. So, what we did was adjusted the transfers primarily. We did not adjust the
expenses for the education fund. We adjusted revenue and said, "Hey, we won't be able to make those transfers over to operations." So, this is pretty much asis. The expenses we didn't adjust from the 1782, >> right? But the revenue
we did adjust. >> Correct. >> So, what I'm saying what I'm think I'm trying to say is when you look at the remaining budget for revenue, it's showing on this slide 13 million. I don't see that on this 13
million on this slide. >> Uhhuh. Under remaining budget for total receipts at the top. >> Oh, correct. Yes. >> So, that's based off the 782 budget. >> It should not be. It should have been
adjusted. If it wasn't, then I missed it. But >> Okay. I just wanted to clarify that. [clears throat] >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> Well, oh yeah. Any other question because I still have operations left. >> Oh, okay.
>> Okay. Um, let's see. Sorry about that. Okay. So, looking at our education fund, taking a step back as we're closing out the year, um, we can see um the proportion of wages and benefits um that are spent. Um, and that's
[clears throat] 93%. I know you've heard a a higher number, but two things to add. Wages and benefits have been trending down. And also you'll see that purple slice in that pie. The transfers were not included. So that's taking up about 3% of expenses that were not in
factored before. So you may have heard like about 96 97% of wages and uh benefits were um uh the portion of the operation uh education fund it is closer to 93. But the point I'd like to make here is um as we close out the year on
that first bullet, 86 million of our 92 million was spent on um wages and benefits and 7% for other items. So curriculum, supplies, professional services. These all benefit the classroom. So out of the education fund,
6 million went to these items. With that being said, um the point is that the savings that we must um um accomplish must come from wages and benefits. You already see the other items are a smaller portion of the education fund,
right? Curriculum, supplies, just 7%. The savings have to come from wages and benefits. With that said, we are looking at um to be in budget for 2026 school year, our wages and benefits would have to be about 70 million. As you see here,
we spent 86 this year. We have a $16 million budget gap. Uh we do anticipate a bond issue, but that won't change our structural issues. Um u averaging out those um savings that we need per month, we would need to save
about $1.3 million per month for 2026. Um, and we've already started some of these savings initiatives, but I just wanted to share with you the the scope of our challenge. Um, wrapping up with the cash balance
and the education fund at 2.3 million for November. Uh, moving on to the operations fund briefly. You see November here. You see our total receipts. It has received a transfer from education, pardon. Um, and you can see our total
expenses and our net revenue and ending cash balance. Again, wages are down. We see repairs are down and other purchase services are down. A few items went up, utilities, is expected, and also a transfer to the career center
also hits the operations fund. Here's our um operations fund cash balance ending at 1.9 million. A rainy day, no change. Our total cash balances across these funds ending November 11 million.
And just to recap on some of our saving savings initiatives that we're still u moving forward on including uh the district footprint and consolidation assessment and putting some numbers finally putting some numbers to those savings initiatives this month. I'd like to
highlight uh the payroll savings. So looking at the education fund um from August to dis the first pay in December comparing 2025 versus 2024 the education fund is down $745,000.
Operations fund same period is down. So that last line is all funds. So that includes federal grants just across all funds that the district has the payroll is down one.8 8 million. And that concludes um our finance
update. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Questions, comments? >> Thank you. >> Okay, Dr. Huff, >> good morning. Um, Vice President, we member of the board, members of community. I will be very brief. I just
want to hope everyone a very safe holiday, merry Christmas or whatever holiday that you um celebrate. Um I think it's important to always to practice respirate and recharge. The work that we do is very heavy. Uh the work that we do is also um very taxing
and not just taxing on you, it's taxing on your family as well. So want to make sure that you really are prioritizing yourself um over these um holiday um over these holidays. I also want to wish the kids who are in school watching this board meeting feverishly in the classroom um a very safe holiday as
well. Um you are the reason why we do this work and we appreciate you um staff members um in whatever department you are. Same wishes that for the people in this audience we wish for you as well. So everyone have a great holiday break. Welld deserved um hardest working staff that I've ever had opportunity to work
with. And on a different note, um, as a reminder, in January board meeting times do change. Um, they start at 6 PM. Um, starting on our January 13th meeting, work sessions will begin at 5:00. So, I just want to reminder, we'll send out some reminders to our community as well. But, um, those two things are important.
They were on my heart this morning, so I thought I would share that with the community. I'm [clears throat] going to turn it back over to you, Vice President Weaver. >> Uh, Dr. Huff, thank you very much. Uh, any, uh, comments from the board? Eric and I, I know Kelly does. No, I'm like my color's corner is just going to
be merry Christmas. I just love this holiday season so much. So, I hope you guys are blessed and happy and enjoy yourself because we all need a rest period, I think. So, thank you. >> Stacy, >> good morning. >> Also, I didn't say it before, but it was actually Eastwood Elementary School that
won the basketball championship for elementary. So hopefully they send you something, Wendy, cuz they did a really cool championship march. But I didn't want to like say it if they were going to send you something, but that is who won the basketball. That's it. >> Uh I want to wish everybody a merry
Christmas and uh it's uh thank you for everything that you've done this year and going forward into 26 and 27 and 28. Uh we appreciate it. I personally appreciate it. Thank you. Merry Christmas. Have a good