All right, we're going to call the meeting to order for the Frontier Regional School District School Committee at 6:00, February 10th. To start the meeting, we'll read the operational goals. The school committee's primary responsibility is to establish those purposes, programs, and
procedures that will best produce the educational achievement needed by our students. The committee's charged with accomplishing this while also being responsible for wise management of resources available to the school district. The committee must fulfill these responsibilities by functioning primarily as a legislative body to
formulate and adopt policy by selecting an executive officer to implement policy and by evaluating the results. It must carry out its functions openly while seeking the comments of the public, students, and staff in its decision-making processes. The first order is to review and approve
the minutes from January 6th. >> To approve, Madam Chair second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> Damian is with us remotely. Oh, yep.
Sorry. Um, when you're remote, we'll do a roll call. Thank you, Jessica. >> Olivia, >> yes. >> Cia, >> yes. >> Mary, >> Bill, >> yes. >> And Damian, >> yes.
>> Thank you. All right. This is the mini version uh for the financial statements and signing of the warrants. I don't do not have much for um fiscal year 26. So 28 warrants were reviewed by Bob. Thank you, Bob. Uh the total on the warrants
was $2,139,99060. I intentionally did not send you the expense reports because my office between payroll and accounts payable is currently going through open purchase orders to see what needs to be closed or
increased as well as looking at payroll to ensure that everything we need for payroll is encumbered. For example, spring coaches need to be added into the system. The purpose behind that is so that we can really look at what's available for budget money. Um, we did talk about that frost last meeting. So,
I'm still analyzing all of that and I didn't want to send you reports that really were not presenting accurate information. So, that's it. There's no new concerns though with the budget. So, that's that's good. >> Yes. >> Thank you.
>> Do we not have us >> We do. >> Caitlyn's on. Okay. Thank you, >> Caitlyn. Are you ready with the student council report? >> Yeah. Um so first off I just want to say that we've had a good start to the second
semester. Um so far student council has come up with a Jeopardy night that's happening. Um happening oh it's happening um February 26th at 5:30 p.m. and it raises money
for the Special Olympics and um community me like community members are invited. Um, you can play for a cash prize. Um, it's $5 for students and $10 for adults and $2 to be a spectator.
Um, there was also a winter concert tonight that happened at 6:30, but if you missed it, they were also having a winter modern concert, uh, an open house this Thursday at 6:00 p.m. Um, the last week in February, um, the eighth grade
will be going on their annual trip to Washington Washington DC. And we are also having a spirit week/pep rally, which is also a wellness week the first week in March. So each day will be dedicated to a different aspect of wellness. We have movement Monday, touch
breast Tuesday, wellness Wednesday, thankful Thursday, and Frontier Friday. Um so there's a wellness day in the wellness week. I don't really know. Okay. But um so we'll do like various activities and
workshops um like based off that stuff. Um, there's also the musical coming up which is Mary Poppins this year and it'll be held on March 13th through 15th. Um, so yeah. And then some stuff to add to your calendars is also student
council will be hosting a student versus staff dodgeball event which is Thursday, March 26th at 7:00 p.m. to raise money for teacher appreciation week. It's going to be $5 for students and $7 for adults. and we're we encourage you to come out and cheer on your favorite students and staff first. And that's
really all I have for now. >> Thank you. You guys are feeling optimistic about touching grass the first week of March. >> I was thinking the same exact thing. >> I will cross my fingers. >> We can do that. >> We're going to touch snow. >> Thank you, Caitlyn.
>> Georgie. >> Yeah. And so just echoing a couple things that Caitlyn said once. So, the DC trip is still happening with eighth grade. We're really we're really glad that we're still able to to offer that um to our eighth grade students. Um and we'll also be hosting local trips as well for students that aren't going to
DC. Uh but this year, once again, they'll be going to the Kennedy Center, the Holocaust Museum, uh and other places as well. Um every year we administer a health survey to grades 8, 10, and 12. Uh so this year we're we're administering it this week um in
conjunction with communities that care coalition. Um and basically uh this is a survey uh that talks about um uh talks about um mental well-being. Uh it surveys students about um their health um whether or not you know um concerns
about mental health, concerns about um drugs and alcohol. And uh we do this for 8th, 10th through 12th uh grade. We've been doing this for probably close to 20 years. So, we can actually we can actually analyze the data in a really useful way. So, we're going to be
administering that this week and then we'll have a chance to to debrief as an administrative team um in a in a month or two. Uh our career fair and career fair and reality fair is happening again on March 25th. Um, and we're this is this has been happening. Uh, in large
part, I want to give a a public shout out to Christine Woo, uh, who does an amazing job organizing this. Uh, she gets all sorts of folks to come, um, to meet with our students. She does, uh, employer panels. Um, we there's a job fair that that sets up. Um, so it's a
really it's a wonderful opportunity for our kids. Uh, and last but not least, I want to I do want to congratulate Lynette Varnon, who is one of our high school uh, English teachers and our English department chair. So, she uh was awarded and it's not pronounced capital. I believe it's pronounced Capetan prize.
Um, this is this prize recognizes an outstanding high school teacher uh that exhibits exemplary character, integrity, honor, and leadership. Um, as part of the prize, she's awarded uh $10,000 which she can use for uh a trip and she's going to be using it to go to
Scotland uh to learn book binding. So, she'll be doing that next week. So, we're very proud of Lynette for that. >> That's a big deal. Yeah, >> it's very cool. >> Yeah, it's very cool. Um, >> and correct me if I'm wrong, not the first time that one of our teachers have gotten a science teacher a few years
ago. >> So, this is a different This is not the >> No, I know. But like just it's nice to have our staff be recognized in such a a nice >> Yeah, she's wonderful. Lynette's awesome. Um and then just a few other things. We just had our sixth grade parent night uh last week which was well
attended. Uh next week is winter is winter break. Um Caitlyn already mentioned Mary Poppins. And then just so everybody knows March 6th early release resumes and we'll be uh picking back up with PD for staff. Thank you.
See, we have several members of our uh uh select board and finance committee uh locally. I don't know if any of you are here intentionally for public comment, but thought I would and I don't know if somebody joined. Is that
also one of you guys? >> Okay. Perfect. >> In that case, I turn it over to Shelley. >> All right. >> Sure. >> Okay. So, a lot of what you're going to
hear at the beginning of this presentation mimics what we presented in January because I want to recap on what we discussed at that point. There's also a lot of new information that normally I would probably wait till public hearing to go over, but it felt like given us having the earlier conversation around
this and for educational pieces um with a couple new committee members and knowing that we were going to have some public hear, I felt like we should go into a little bit more detail on um things. So, uh first slide, we're going to talk about how the budget is developed.
Keep talking. >> Okay. Um so the first steps of the budget start in uh late fall, early winter. So November, December, the administrative team starts looking at um the needs in the building based on level
services as well as any new initiatives that may come up. Uh we really develop that first draft. We look at having a needs-based student centered but also fiscally responsible budget. We always start that first pass with level service, not level funding. So level
service does result in growth of the budget versus level funding would mean that you are actually not increasing over your prior year. Then we look at new needs and initiatives. And then we analyze our supplemental funds. So all of our grant and revolving funds, we
take a close look at those as well. January, the budget subcommittee meets and typically there's not much of a presentation at the January meeting to school committee because we don't have the governor's budget yet. Uh we don't have an idea of what our revenue is going to look like. We started that
process a little bit early this year because of the the level service budget increase that we were looking at. February, we continue deliberations at this level. And in March, we have our public hearing, which is on March 3rd. And then right now on the calendar, the
next meeting would be March 5th, which would be our vote to adopt the budget. And then our member towns have their annual town meetings between April and June. Uh the first town meeting, I believe, is Sunderland, which is on Friday the 24th of April. Um and that's
why we have to vote in March because by law we have to have our budget adopted 45 days ahead of our first town meeting. So looking at the level service budget for the new year again uh we're replicating you can click one more um
same program same staffing same services as the current year in the new fiscal year but we are increasing costs based primarily on usually our contractual wave wage obligations and then other wage increases for uh schoolbased staff that are not on contracts and central
office as well. And then we take into consideration adjustments for non-wage expenses. Usually at Frontier those are very minimal. Uh however, this year the story is a little bit different because of our insurance costs going up and then some other funding source changes that
we're going to get into. So total level service budget came in at just over 14.2 million which was a 6.95% increase over fiscal year 26 at 923,000. This is slightly lower than we talked about last month. I believe the original
presentation was 7.12. There were some personnel changes and also um Franklin Regional Retirement Assessment came in since the January meeting. So I made those adjustments which is bringing us just under seven. Not a huge change, but um in case you're had that number in your head, it is
slightly down a little bit. So what goes into our level service budget? These are the different expense categories. I know there's a lot on this slide. I'm going to email out the slideshow to you all because this is good education for you to have. Um, and then I believe Raquel is posting the
slideshows on the website under the school committee meeting minutes. So, public will be able to access them there. Um, but if we can go one more slide, Darius, what that means for us as far as those expense categories that are broken down by DESIE, those are not set by us as a school. So, instruction is
exactly what it sounds like. any uh personnel or non-personnel expenditures related to teaching and learning. Student services is our transportation. Um cost of our health office, uh athletics, student activities, uh anything that's not directly educating
our students in that category. Operations and maintenance is building it and facilities. Administration is expenditures related to central office and school committee. It is not principal's office. When you think of administration that falls under
instruction because all of those staff members help to directly provide education to our students. Benefits and insurance is self-explanatory. Uh there is a cost sharing component in all of these categories that I will mention particularly benefits and insurance because Frontier does pay a portion of
central office expenditures um including benefits. And then out of district placement is the category where any of our expenses fall into where we have students coming into our district who were not able to meet their special education needs and we have to outplace
them in a specialized program. So you can see the growth in that last column on the right um from fiscal year 26 to 27 and the 923,000 there at the bottom. We're going to break down those expenditures further in the next couple slides. So, our non-wage growth is
pretty significant this year. We have not had non-wage growth like this in my tenure. This is um I think my eighth budget season. And this is certainly an anomaly for Frontier. Uh the primary growth of the 4.67% and the 620,000 can be attributed to
health insurance. Uh that is the most significant factor of that $515,000 of actual expense increase. There was also an increase in our retirement assessment that happens annually. And then our liability and workers comp insurance is also seeing some growth
there. Um the health insurance is twofold. Uh anyone with Hampshire County Group Insurance Trust, which we've talked about at great detail here at school committee, there was an October 1st increase that was not budgeted in fiscal year 26. We have to roll that into fiscal year 27 as part of our
starting budget. And then we have in a 20% placeholder. Rates are not set by the trust yet. Um the next IA meeting I want to say is the 28th of this month where there will be a proposal and then a vote amongst that group. Um I don't
think we're going to fall much lower than 20% though when that comes through. The other impact for non-wage growth, I mentioned on that first slide that we do an analysis of all of our revolving fund and grant sources um to see if there's
any change in those funds. Uh last year the budget supported or fiscical year 26, we had support from rural aid of $100,000 on the budget and school choice of $100,000 on the budget. When we look at level services, I put those
expenditures back. We can continue conversations about the use of those funds, but if those funds did not exist, we want to know in the level service budget what our true costs would be. That growth with these changes is a total of 105,000.
We're receiving a little bit more circuit waiver money, so I was actually able to relieve the budget there. Um, so that helps make up for some of that difference from school choice and rural aid. So 620,000 of our 923 is stemming from nonwage growth primarily related to
health insurance increases. Next slide breaks down our wages. Left hand of the slide shows our non-UN personnel. So that is anyone who is building base not on a contract. So, secretaries, uh, custodians, cafeteria staff, central
office staff, principal's office staff, anyone who is not on a union contract falls in that category. That is about a $40,000 increase. And then union is on the right hand of the slide. You can see that unit A is making up the bulk of that growth um of the overall 33,000.
This is typical. Um we have a lot of teachers in our building uh comparatively to the other non-union staff and there are we did settle a contract we were going into year two. Top step will see a 4% cola. Am I saying something wrong? >> Nope. You're saying something. Just
identify unit A versus unit C for our guest. >> I will. Yep. So unit A is the teacher contract and unit C is our instructional assistance or pair of professionals. Um so unit A is having a 4% growth at the top step. If anyone else is stepping
within the contract, the step varies for Frontier. It's not a standard 3% per step. So there could be with a 3% cool plus the step up to 9% depending on where you fall in the salary schedule. We have no column advancement happening next year, which would mean that someone
has obtained additional post-graduate credits and are advancing their degree. There's no nothing impacting the budget. When that happens, the increases for those staff could be upwards of 10%. Um, so I think it's a good thing for us to be aware of that that's not impacting our growth. Unit C is our instructional
assistance. We were able to reduce the budget by two uh full-time equivalent IAS for next year based on attrition of things that have happened in the current year. So we've had some changes with students and some changes with staffing already. Uh George took that back to his instructional leadership team and was
able to say we can start off by reducing two positions. However, anyone else that still falls within that contract, everyone will move up because we added a new step 2 and a half% cola plus the 3% step. So, instructional assistance will
see a 5.5% raise in the new year. The contract also had some growth for department heads, clubs, coaches, and advisers. So, we've added about $9,000 for that as well. Any questions before we keep going? Okay, just to bring us
back, uh, total growth was 6.95% at level services, 923,000, >> which gives us, >> no, it's fine. Um, 4.67% growth of non-wage expenses and then 2.28%
for wage expenditures. Questions? Okay, so let's talk about historically. Darius mentioned this at our last meeting that usually we're falling and you can see here from this slide somewhere around a $300,000 growth or
about 3% annually on our general fund budget this year is the anomaly. It truly is an outlier. And what I will say about these prior years is um coming in at that 2 and a half three and a half% was level service funded. the growth
really was related to cola increases and maybe some minor non-wage um growth, but really it's been salary and wage driven. Um we haven't made reductions. Last year the 2.2 came into play because we did use rural aid and we did use an
additional 100,000 school choice. We were slightly above the 3%. After getting feedback at public hearing and talking with our towns, we voted to bring that down slightly, but there um really has been level service funding year to year.
So, let's talk about next our other funding sources and our total costs to educate frontier students because we do utilize grants and revolving funds to help supplement the general fund so that the general fund is not as high. So, the next slide breaks down and I'm not going to go slide by slide again. and I will
or line by line I will email this to you so you can dive into it deeper. Um but you can see our grants and revolving funds if you look at that total on the bottom line are just about level funded from the prior year. Uh any growth here really is attributed to wage increases
for each of these um different funding sources uh which just comes out of the contract. Next slide shows total general fund plus our revolving funds and grants for a total budget of 16.658
million. What that breaks down to for cost per student is about 27,500 based on 606 students. We do have a change um in enrollment. We're down 12
residents but up 22 in school choice. Um enrollment is always based on your October 1st numbers from the prior year. That's how chapter 70 is um taken into consideration and the formula plays out based on that October 1st. So um those
numbers will fluctuate when we actually are enrolled in September but right now as they stand. All right. So, let's get into how our budget is funded. Chapter 70 is the first piece of the budget that we look at. It is the um
major program of state aid to public elementary and secondary schools. Um it also establishes it establishes what the state is going to pay based on a foundation budget and which is based on enrollment, but also sets what each of our member towns in a in a school
district can afford to pay to educate students. Again, a lot of words on this slide, but ultimately chapter 70, it's very complicated, but to break it down as simply as I can for us, there's a foundation budget calculation in the formula, which takes into consideration
resident enrollment, including students who choose to go to another public school. So, if we have a student that's school choicing to another district, we are getting credit for that in our foundation enrollment, which I think is important to point out. We talk a lot about the flip side of students coming
in and how we only get $5,000 per student, but in the chapter 70 formula, we do get credit for students who are choicing out of the district. Um, so again, resident students, students choosing to go to another school and then there are percentage assumptions in
the formula that account for lowincome and out of district students as well as English language learners. The second component of chapter 70 is what the state determines based on the formula that our member towns can afford to pay to educate our resident students. That
part of the equation is based on the property values and resident incomes in each of the towns. The third piece and this is where it comes into play for us as something that's important and it's going to demonstrate on the next slide is something called for hold harmless. So
the state says if you have declining or stagnant enrollment, a district cannot receive any less funding than the prior year. There is a per minimum per pupil calculation that comes into the formula which is how we receive additional chapter 70 money because our numbers are
either staying the same or going down year to year. Next slide. How much money will chapter or frontier receive in chapter 78? So the first part on the top of this slide is what the formula calculation would equate to. The
state says based on our enrollment and our town minimum required contribution, we would receive $1.3 million in chapter 7 funding. What actually happens is because we're in hold harmless, we cannot receive less than the prior year
and we will get an additional $75 per pupil, which is based on the current governor's budget. Um FY26 is $150 per pupil. That could grow as the budget process continues with the state, but we always are conservative and go off of
what the governor's budget presents. So we will see an increase of $35,000. That's it. $35,000 more than the prior year for chapter 70 funding. So, we're talking about a $923,000
growth in our budget and we're only going to get $35,000 more from the state. So, outside of chapter 70, which is >> that was well done and dramatic. >> I'm trying, you know, break the ice a little bit here. Um, so on this slide,
the last thing I'll say before we go on is that that $3 million that we receive in Chapter 70 funding is only 22% of our general fund budget. Do the math quickly. We have a $14 million budget. We're only getting 3 million from the state. Guess where the rest of the money
is coming from? Primarily our member towns. So let's look at other funding sources on the next slides. So, we do take into consideration in our budget state transportation reimbursement, which is uh about $250,000.
We help offset our budget and reduce our assessments by applying $200,000 of excess and deficiency. The balance then comes from our local tax base and special revenues. Our local tax base is covering about 32% of the
general fund budget. that is on top of what the state says that they're required to pay. And then we use our revolving funds and grants for the balance. Next slide gives you a visual of what that really looks like. And I
intentionally made the two largest pieces of this pie similar in color. Um the dark orange is on the left bottom corner is the additional membertown assessment that helps cover the remaining balance of our general fund. The lighter orange is what the state
says that our towns can afford to pay. Those two pieces of the pie are making up. Um, if you look at our whole budget, it's about 65%. If you're just looking at the general fund, it's about 75%. You can see from there, the green is
chapter 70 at 3 million. Purple is revolving funds and grants at about 2 and a.5 million. Our revolving funds or grants are very similar to chapter 70. And then we have the other two smaller components of excess and deficiency in state transportation reimbursement.
Any questions before I keep going? Okay. So, let's break down our member town assessment. Um, according to our regional agreement, the costs of construction and operation are shared between member towns according to a 5-year rolling enrollment average. The
bottom section here are the different components of our assessment. So the state required contribution that comes out of chapter 70. Additional that we need to meet to fund our budget plus capital if we're proposing any capital expenditures and any debt service that
we might have which is irrelevant this year. Frontier does not have any current debts. But those are the components based on our regional agreement. Let's first look at the chapter 70 minimum town required contributions. So the state says our four member towns can
afford to fund about $5.8 million of our budget. The enrollment component is on the bottom left of the slide. You can see here that Conway Deerfield are having a decrease in foundation enrollment.
Sunderland is seeing a growth in foundation enrollment in weight is flat and overall we're down two students compared to the prior year based on the foundation enrollment. That means that if you are seeing a decline in enrollment or level funded or levels um
student population, your growth in what you can afford to pay is going to be minimal even before they look at your um resident income and house values. Sunderland's growth of eight students is going to automatically inflate their
portion of what they can afford. Um, on the right hand side of the slide, it breaks down what that change is in actual dollar amount. So, according to the state, Sunderland, I mean, sorry, Conway can afford to pay $27,000 more,
Deerfield $32,000 more, Sunderland $125,000 more, and Weightley is seeing a small decline of $2,000. So that total growth in the state required contribution is $183,000. We have zero control over what this
looks like at the school level. This is what the state mandates that our towns have to cover. It's a lot of data on this slide. I'm not going to go over all of this, but it is important to see um I think in
especially fiscal year 26 to 27, you can see that $183,000 growth there. Um you can see the trajectory over the years. This demonstrates in that top line with Conway, if you look at 25 to 26 and then
to 27. So in 25, Conway had about a million dollars that the state said they could afford. In 26, that went down because there was a change in enrollment in what Conway's foundation enrollment calculation was. And because enrollment
declined, there was a decrease in what the state said that they could afford to pay. That's kicking back up slightly because they did have a change of, I think, a decrease in two students. when you factor in the formula, it's equating to minimal growth. So, this is just sort
of showing you how each of the towns have ebed and flow over the years. There have been other years where there are big jumps in in Conway. Um, Sunderland has had consistent growth year after year after year. Um, Deerfield has as
well, but I think it's been, you know, smaller amounts that they've grown. >> I'm so sorry. Can we go back a slide? Cuz I there's and it didn't quite add up. There's like it's like down the
>> the bottom left the change category in the bottom left. >> It should be 471. I just >> I think it should be 471. >> Yeah. And minus one would be the change. >> But I don't know which town. >> I mean I pulled this directly from chapter 70. So I'll double check all of those numbers. I don't have that
spreadsheet in front of me. Um, I just want to make sure that I think the total in that first column should be 471 and then it's minus one. >> But then it can't be it can't be >> Oh, you're looking at the number >> 9 and plus 8 and get -2. So like some one of the towns is off by one.
>> Okay, I'll double check. >> No, no, should be 47. But and and while we're at the the slide that we were on um in the presentation that was being made, it was attributed primar the changes were attributed
primarily to changes in enrollment and um that and I'll just use Conway as an example because I'm most familiar with that. the changes that were being discussed were primarily based on changes in resident income. Um, and
>> you're absolutely correct. >> Yeah. >> And and so Conways and Phil's actually pointing out and we've talked about this before, you know, the state looks at wealth and resident income, which you know, as you folks in the audience know, has no real factor on your taxability other than unless those wealthy people
are buying and building. Um, and Conway actually did not receive rural aid because they looked at the wealth factor of the town and said it grew too much. And so how does the town of Conway grow too much in wealth factor? It has to be one or two individuals with very high incomes because they didn't have that
much turnover in their town. So feels exactly correct. So as we say it's we as we're we we have the numbers of enrollment. we don't have the numbers without going through everybody's cherry sheets um to get the idea of what the total income of each town is adjusting by. So,
>> but in that example from 25 to 26, it really was enrollment driven why there was such a big decrease in that particular year. I think it was a drop off of like 12 Conway students. So, >> okay, >> when it goes the reverse, we tend to sometimes attribute it to other things,
but >> it is a component of >> chapter 70. and I'll check the um enrollment numbers on the chapter 70 included workbook. >> Okay, >> cost sharing. >> Um yep, let's go cost sharing. So cost
sharing is based on the regional agreement and the five-year rolling enrollment. Um if you look at that second row from the bottom of the total, um you can see the change in each of the four towns and then the change overall all the way in the right hand column. So
we're down 49 students when we dropped off 2021 and added in 2026. That then correlates with the cost share depending on where you're going up or down. You can see Conway is having slight decrease. Same in Deerfield. Uh Sunderland is going up and then
Wheatley's going down as well. Where this comes into play is that additional assessment um above the minimum required contribution. So that other $5.7 million that our towns are going to pay, that gets broken up by these percentage
points. That make sense? Uh the next couple of slides just have some data for you. Again, I'm not going to go through it uh in detail, but what I did want to point out here is that in the last four uh fiscal years or school
years, we've decreased in the 5-year rolling enrollment average by 155 students. You can see that in the top chart. And then the bottom chart shows the change in cost sharing percentage for each of the four towns in the last fiscal year in the last four fiscal
years. And again, that cost sharing component impacts how much each town is assessed to fully fund our budget. So, um, there's really been a decline pretty much everywhere with the exception of Sunderland, who has continued to see
resident growth year after year after year, >> right? I mean, the big change you're seeing is Sunderland is, you know, Deerfield's falling from about 50% of our budget. We've always kind of just thrown that out there. They're going to be closer to 45 and Sunderland's going to move up to about 25%. So that's or just over 25%. So they're taking on a
bigger share. >> Okay. So we talked about the minimum required contribution. This is the details on the additional assessment to fully fund the budget. So in fiscal year 27, that amount is about $4.8 million. You can
see the growth over fiscal year 26 all the way back to 24. So, we've grown um the budget for that additional assessment that our member towns are covering pretty significantly over four budget cycles. But again, I want to point out that really was attributed
primarily to COLA increases and minor increases. We've not added staff. We've not added programs. We have except we funded them out of grants or other funding sources, but the general fund growth has really been related to
contractual and non-contractual wages. This has the total in the bottom there you can see of our as a reminder the general fund budget is about 14.2 million between the required contribution and then the additional assessment to our towns our member towns
are funding about 75% of our general fund budget or uh $10.6 million. So what does that all break down to as far as the assessment numbers which is really the most important piece everyone wants to know what's our growth over the in the new year how much how much do we
have to cover of the school's budget uh so the last column here demonstrates based on the level service budget of 6.95% or 923,000 our assessments for Conway would come in at 8.14% over the prior year 6.45%
uh for Deerfield 12.6 61 for Sunderland and 6.49% Perth for Wheatley. Any questions? The final step of the assessment calculation is a capital and debt assessment, which we're not really going to talk about in great detail here, but
I did want to throw it on the slide um as a component of the assessment. And we talked about this in January. if you can click again. Uh we talked about the parking lot replacement project um that we are looking to move forward with which has an estimated cost of $1.1
million and we discussed assessing our town's about 10% of that which would equate to $110,000 uh the breakdown there by town. This would be on top of the general fund assessments that we showed on the last slide. um 17,000 for Conway, 51,000 for
Deerfield, 28,000 for Sunderland, and 12,000 for Weightley. Um capital is on the agenda to continue to talk about later. I just wanted you to see this because this would be on top of the general fund. So, where do we go from here? Um we had
given a hint clue last meeting that we may be looking at budget reductions. we were going to go back behind the scenes and administratively do some work to try to bring the numbers down and that's what we're going to talk about next in the next few slides. So, we're looking to reduce the budget and the assessment
to our member towns. And we are recommending uh a $400,000 budget reduction of which we would use $100,000 of our rural aid money that is available and reduce positions in the building. Um, which would be about six or seven
positions depending on how we move forward. Um, and that would be $300,000 in salary and wage cuts which we're not prepared to discuss in detail tonight. We are still talking behind the scenes administratively of what that looks like, but we wanted to have the
conversation here about the number that we're hoping to get to and we're going to show you what that assessment will look like. One more click shows what the general fund looks like with that adjustment. So with that adjustment uh would bring our growth down to 523,000
or just under 4% over the prior fiscal year which reduces our assessments very significantly while still not um wonderful for Sunderland considering um all of the factors and the elementary budget that we're discussing. However,
it brought all of the other towns and also gave uh Sunderland about a 4% relief with a $400,000 reduction. So, Conway's growth would be 3.84. Um down from 8.14,
Deerfield from 6.45 to 2.44, Sunderland 12.61 to 8.58, and Weightley 6.49 to 2.45. questions or comments? Anything that you want to say before we
go? >> Do you have more slides to read? >> Yes. >> Um I'm going to go quickly through the next slides, but I wanted to throw in some school choice and charter data here. one, I received some questions
from um the committee offline to get a better understanding of what our finances look like in with this funding source. Um because if we are talking about cuts, we should also have the discussion of what money is available and if we're talking about funding a million-dollar parking lot project, what
where are we getting that money from if we're only assessing our town's $100,000? Um so there's a lot of data here and again I'm going to email these to you. you can absorb it, write me questions, we can come back to it next month, but I wanted to present it so that we have an
overview. So, there's two components of our charter and school choice revolving money that comes in. It all goes into a revolving fund and is held in the same pot, which is why I'm breaking it out separately here. We're going to talk about charter in the first section. So, charter schools are independent public
schools designed to encourage innovative educational practices. That is according to Desessie and this MGL. That is why they're established, not my personal opinion. Um, they're funded through tuition charges assessed against the school districts where the students
reside. So, in Frontier's case, Frontier receives Chapter 70 revenue um through the state and we are assessed for any resident students in our four towns that choose to go to a charter school. At the
elementary level, the town is assessed for any um component of that that might come into play there. Um there's a revenue component as well. Let's say oh sorry I was waiting for you
to click. Um so we do receive sorry we we receive partial reimbursement um for to sending districts for the tuition costs incurred. So click one more time. Um, so the expenditures are broken down again based on a formula from the state.
So similar to chapter 70, there's a foundation calculation. Uh, they create a budget. There is a formula in there that takes anything above foundation spending as well as a facilities fee and that's what the district is assessed to pay out for students going out of
district to charter schools. On the revenue side, it is also formula driven and it is a partial reimbursement to the regional disc district district to offset the loss of funds. The next slide demonstrates um the revenue coming in versus the assessment going out. And you
can see it's um kind of laughable what the reimbursement amount is compared to our assessment. Both of those factors, there's an enrollment component taken into consideration there. In the assessment piece, it there is a per student charge. Um, so you can see that
our charter assessments have gone down significantly over the last 5 years, which means we have less students choosing charter schools over our school. The revenue doesn't necessarily um make a ton of sense as far as the
formula goes because you can see we were assessed more in 21 but received less revenue and then it it goes up from there. Um, but the revenue comes down when the enrollment goes down and the assessment goes down because you're reimbursed based on your charges going
out. The thing that I want everyone to understand on this slide is in this last column where it says the net, you can see we are losing money um, for lack of a better word on students going out of school choosing charter schools over our
regional school. Um, this is important because when we talk about school choice and our general fund budget, if we were not um on the positive end of school choice, we would have to fund this
elsewhere. We would have to have a line item to cover in 2025. I didn't give you 26 info because it's still preliminary. They haven't released all of the data yet. Um, but in 2025, our budget would have been up $35,000
if we didn't have positive school choice revenue to offset our charter, which at $300,000, it's multiple percentage points. So, um, we really need if we can go to >> Well, and just to kind of jump on that as well as we talked about that where we
were able to pay down some of our capital projects because of the influx of money as the number of students going out came down at the same time. Because remember we I just kind of saying that to also the guest that at one point you know if you go back far enough when I was principal we were almost 50/50. We
were barely breaking even maybe we were 50 $50,000 over the mark about those going out. We've become a very attractive school to go to um and keeping our own students with the programs it says we put in place and um
um with less students going out and more students coming in. So, it's been a very very good, you know, obviously in the positives. Our neighboring towns, it's kind of like it's a game we didn't design, but we do, and I have to say it out loud, we do take from our neighboring schools and leave them with
deficits. And you can read in the paper where they um you know would not like the choice thing to be still active because the amount of students that especially northern schools sending down to us from Greenfield Monagu um and even some of the other schools as they're getting smaller and smaller and losing
um you know losing programs that um their children are interested in. They're now you know they're making decisions to leave those programs to go to schools that have their program that have their programs from the arts to the amount the amount of electives to um you know and so forth. you know those kind of things. So I'm just kind of on that
>> mentioning that as well. Can >> I ask a two questions? One, this doesn't include tech kids, right? >> And the second is how many students does this represent leaving the district? >> I have it for 25. I don't have the
>> Yeah, I just want second up. So in 25 um they do it based on FTE because if students choose to go midyear. So in 2025 there were 16.4 students choosing
to go to a charter school. In 2021 there were 44. >> So we've it's significantly gone down. can also understand for those who don't follow it that charter school tuition costs are four times the amount of
school choice reimbursement. So for every student we get at school choice we get $5,000 plus bed sped increments if there's any other um additional you know cost that may be associated but $5,000 each student that's going out the charter schools is around 21 I think it's 21,000ish.
So for every charter school student that goes out, we have to get four school choice students to make up for that number. And then school choice to school choice. We have students who do actually choice out, believe it or not. Um and um that's you know even Stephen took it's
the 5,000 number there. >> Okay. So Darius um sort of went over some of these things on the next few slides for me. Thank you for giving you a break. I needed that. So how does school choice work? Uh, school choice is the interd district program that allows families to enroll their children in
schools and communities other than the city or town in which they reside. Tuition is paid by the sending district to the receiving district. So again, this is another assessment that the state automatically deducts from your chapter 70 um or at the town level if
they have um other unrestricted aid that they're getting from the state, it's automatically deducted. We have no control over this because it's based on enrollment. And as Darius said, if you click one more, the tuition rate is $5,000 per student plus special education increment claims.
So, let's talk about um how Frontier Benefits Darius did just get into this a little bit. So, expanded enrollment allows for increase and enhanced curricular and extracurricular offerings. Um so, more advanced placement courses, competitive and athletic programs, advanced arts and music, expanded special education
programs. I think it goes way beyond this. Um, I have two students here. I have a senior and a sophomore. And the amount of connections that they have in our surrounding communities is invaluable to them, I think, as learning how to navigate life and and uh interact
with people in in different ways. Um, and there's so many other things that we don't have listed here on the slides, but I think that the advanced placement is something that's um critical. And then athletics and arts is is critical as well. Um, as Sarah has mentioned, we see other schools closing athletic
programs and eliminating um, arts and music programs, and we're able to have these phenomenal musicals and have really competitive athletic programs, which is why people continue to come here. Um, so big benefit. Okay, so let's talk about the numbers
and what they break down to. So I have school choice receiving, which is the revenue side, and then the school choice sending, which is when we have students choosing to go out of district. That's our assessment. So, this is the opposite of charter. So, our receiving is higher.
We're getting in more revenue because we have more students coming in than we have students sending out, which, you know, we don't want a lot of students choosing to go out of district. So, it's nice to see that number continuing to come down year after year after year as
well. Um the net on the end shows you uh the revenue coming in assessment going out and how we make out. So in 2025 that $1.5 million that was the net of school choice that helps cover that $300,000 in
charter assessment that we had to pay again based on enrollment something the state automatically ducks from our aid. The next slide shows um the net change of these two components. So net charter net choice overall net. So
looking at 2025 as that example. The last slide showed 1.5 million in school choice coming in. Deduct the 305 for charter and we end up with a net of $1.2 million. So when it's like the base for school
choice, the base is the $5,000 and then when it says special education claims, I think that was the language. Like seems like that must potentially be kind of large amounts for some kids. >> It is. It can be very large for some kids and it is something that we have to
keep internally a really close watch on. >> Um especially if you're using some of that money to help offset other expenditures. If you're only using that money for that student's IIA or their transportation, it becomes a wash. But
it's something that we have to be aware of internally and it's part of why our numbers are so high. We do have some students coming in from other districts who are school choice students that have significant special education needs. >> Can you give me like a ballpark of what
how much that could be for a student? Well, if a student has a one to one, it could be $35,000. >> Okay. >> Increment on top. If you're receiving just speech services, one, you know, 90 minutes a week, >> Yeah. >> you're talking, you know, a couple thousand dollars. >> That's right.
>> So, it ranges through that whole thing. >> And so, yeah. So, you know, and we do have significant special education programs in this building. And so, we do both do a tuition based and school choice based on those programs depending on who we're working with and stuff. So
when you if you pull up a commiss on arrival and you'll see vans from other school districts and you're like why are there other school districts van here? We we our special ed programming that we have here is desirable by other districts because they can't build the programs inhouse or they want um you
know based on what we can we can provide here. So we take in tuition and there's a I don't want to say there's profit in it but there's a within the margin of what DESI lets us to do to charge to you know pay for administrative fees and pay for those other kind of things in in that as well. So
I mean some people might not know this and correct me if I'm wrong on charter four years going to a charter school you get reimbursed more the first year >> than the last year. So continuously Yep.
>> Goes down from year 1 to year four. I mean, you may, you know, may get 20 the first year, but you only may get five to last year. That's I'm not sure how they came up with that formula, but >> I saw Julie had a hand. >> Yeah. Just for folks who aren't familiar
with this, this is a little out of the norm to have the um folks who are here in public join the conversation, but because we are both vested in your uh opinion of this uh and it's in all of our best interest to have this discussion as openly as we can. Go
ahead, Julie. You you have a question. I just Darius should also mention that by having those special ed programs here that means we're not tuitioning out kids that we might be otherwise which also saves us a lot of money. >> Absolutely true. Absolutely true.
>> Okay. So, you've seen the numbers. We've talked a little bit about the math. Let's talk about how we use school choice and charter money. So, school choice and charter money, whatever that net end result is, helps offset our general fund budget. We have
eight positions in fiscal year 27 that are being paid for from school choice. Um whether they're teachers or IAS, their salaries and wages. Uh we also help fund our special education transportation and some of our out of district tuition. Not all of it, but
some of it. It just helps keep our general fund budget lower if we have these alternative funding sources. We've also been able to over the years use school choice charter money to help reduce our capital assessments to our towns. So capital projects that we've
been able to fund ourselves um include paying off our $930 $930,000 bond anticipation note which was for the large track project. We used $275,000 of school choice money to cover our boiler replacement. uh we funded some of
our roof replacement with school choice at 465,000 and also put in 250,000 to our tennis court replacement project. So this is a significant component of our school choice money. If we did not have the level of school choice students that
we have and the amount of revenue coming in, our towns would have had to cover this additional expenditures. and we were lining up. Um there's more in that account right now because we're trying to line up to pay for a big chunk of the million dollar $1.1 million
parking lot project. So um and we also have some roof projects coming down the phase one when there's three phases in the roof projects all all at at least half a million um for each one. So, um, and it's kind of a
I know that there's conversations you hear in the community. They're sitting on too much school choice. Why aren't they just bring down the budget with school choice? If you start tying into you can a you can choose where you want to put your money. we can assess the towns for capital projects or we can pick up the capital projects and then
not have a fake budget where as that number comes down then we're going to have to um either assess our way out of it or cut our way out of it and that kind of thing. So it's kind of the choice. It's also we've also had an increase in school choice. I would say
it grew faster than we expected because while we can control the numbers coming in, we don't control the numbers coming out and we had a perfect storm following COVID where every year the numbers going out and they were graduating at the charter schools and they weren't
refilling numbers we were seeing so we were receiving even more money as well. So and I showed I think Shel's slide a couple slides back showed that over the last few years um that amount has increased. So, um, anyways, that's why it's also important that we're looking at a capital project that
we aren't planning on taking out a bond or, um, a large assessment to the towns um, to do as part of this. So, >> okay. So, the next slide shows us the actual numbers. So, we've talked a lot about how we come up with our our money
every year, whether it's revenue in, revenue out. There's a lot of info on here, and I know it's small. Um so what's on this slide shows our start of year fund balance, choice and charter revenue coming in. Um that's the net choice and charter revenue coming in,
operating expenses, capital expenses, and then our end ofear balance. So if you look at the second row from the bottom in 2026, uh we started the current fiscal year with a fund balance of $1.9 million. You
can see our estimated revenue of 1.1 expenses going out of 1.3 and then the end of year balance of 1.7 million going into 27 that carries over for next year 1.7 start of year so on and so forth and
those are just estimated right now I have to wait for um DESIE to release enrollment numbers which they're launching a new system for school choice that was supposed to be launched three months ago and it's still not ready so um I don't have actual data, which I
would normally have right now for 26. Um, but the anticipated balance at the end of the current fiscal year would be 1.7, which is where our conversation came in about using some of that money to help fund the parking lot, not having to take out another bond anticipation
note, which ultimately is an expense to our town because we are paying interest and they will have to pay back that note. Um, and also keeping that assessment for the parking lot project as low as we possibly can. Questions about this before we go? One
more slide. Okay. So, uh, Darius mentioned this a little bit. You know, there's always that conversation out there of like, wow, you're holding on to so much school choice money. Why aren't you using it to help offset your budget? Somebody might be thinking, if you have all that money, why are you cutting positions? Um
there's always some risk in using school choice uh funds for recurring expenditures. It's a higher risk than using it for capital projects because capital projects are a onetime expense. Um as Celia pointed out, some of our revenue coming in is due to special
education increments which may be helping offset other expenses. So if we see an enrollment decline in school choice or a change in what our enrollment looks like, our revenue goes down. The more we stack recurring expenditures, the harder it could be in
future fiscal years, which some may have the opinion, well, let's worry about the future fiscal years in the future. I feel like I have a responsibility to make sure that you understand what that impact is as we make decisions. So, um, I am always in favor of doing the
one-time expenditures. Uh, and we have things coming up. The parking lot is a now. We need to fix our parking lot. The roof is future, and the future is not that far away. We're only talking a couple of years, which will be another half of a million dollars. Um, so that's all I had on this one, unless
you have anything else. Any questions? I I have another question. I'm wondering like this is a sort of a charter school question, but kids who are is there is
anybody like paying I mean I'm I'm assuming we know which or you guys know which charter schools the kids are going to? >> Yes. And um so like are there has anybody like got their finger on the pulse of the trends
of charter schools and like can is there any is any anybody have like a sense of like we anticipate more kids going because charter schools are looking really strong. We anticipate more kids staying at Frontier because Frontier has competitive sort of programming that
would help kids stay. I mean obviously kids are staying right. I mean, obviously those numbers show that that Frontier is is doing well in that in that um decision point for families who are thinking about it, but I guess I feel like there's it's such a big factor. I'm sort of wondering if you
have thoughts about like Yeah. like what's the pulse on the charter school situation? >> I think it's changed over time. You know, we've been I've been at this for a while, so to speak, where I've seen trends in charter where schools become popular um and they be popular for
multiple reasons. word of mouth. Um the uniqueness of, you know, um of what they're offering and how the community responds, the uniqueness of what they're offering and what we're offering in comparison sometimes. Um we use like Pioneer Performing Arts. Um we lost
quite a few in the beginning when they first opened up. Um, and I think we became competitive with if you don't if it's not really your I mean some people leave cuz they they want something different and sometimes it's a good choice for that family cuz um, you know, not every system while we try to make it
perfect for everyone, it's not always perfect for everyone. So sometimes you know there's little niches or they have friends or certain groups that that they're following and that kind of thing. So you're going to get people leaving for various reasons. Um, even choice-wise like get people like you why are you choicing that district? They don't have half the offering their friend. Well, maybe they have they have
friends there, families working there, you know, you you know that you know that kind of thing. Um, you know, members, you know, their their family went to that school and they want to carry that legacy in their high school. That happens as well. Um, so but I when I look at again when I look at the performing arts school and I I've seen
our numbers have gone way down on that and because we built an art program over the last the last 10 years that people are really involved in and that kind of stuff and that fills that they don't have to go somewhere else to get that. there still may people go there because they want even more than we're providing or something a little different than we're providing. Um but that's kind of
an example there. Um right now as you see overall those charter numbers have come way down you know from 40 to 16 over the last 5 years. Um >> that could change. I don't know what the currents you know again looking at you're looking at your sixth grade class usually.
>> Um what that looks like. Um I know so it's just kind of looking at that and also I you know ask our town bodies that see the um that outside of charters we don't talk about the tech school but the tech school is taking more and more students as it's grown
>> is while the county shrinks it's growing and so there's a lot of discussion about what students are they taking how many they're taking and then how is that assessment to those because because the way the tech school operates you really you know enrollment's up So that's why
it's up. Enrollment's down two. So that's why it's down. But there's still they're growing their budget. So and the way they're set up with one school community member of all 13 towns, there's not as much I would say oversight of how that's all functioning. So I ask um those boards just to keep an eye on that because I I have my
disagreements of tech school growing when the county is shrinking. And if you're growing to less students going into college, that means your overall wealth of your county is going to it's already the poorest county in the state is going to become poor. So that's my general view. I can have that debate with somebody offline. Um but so I just
ask that people keep an eye on that too because you know we sit there there's very questions on the tech budget at town meeting. So >> there you go traffic. >> Well just to speak to that issue you know tonight there's a meeting at GCC about their new 200 something million
dollar building it's going to go in. Uh I went to the meeting with Bob Decker maybe a month or so ago. the first meeting on that, this question came up like you're cannibalizing, you know, all the other schools. Well, I think it's a great education and it's good for a lot
of families. Um, they definitely recognize that there's a cap. They're not looking to just kind of continue to grow and I think they're kind of looking to drop a little bit from where they are right now, especially going to the new school. So, I think they recognize that they can't continue to to just swallow
up all the kids and um it has to be a has to be a happy balance for sure. But >> that's a big price tag. >> I think I think they've actually made a firm commitment not to exceed current enrollment. Correct. >> In the new building, >> um not to exceed current rates of
cannibalism in the new building. But the and you know just to go to your earlier the the charter schools that's been a long time budget move of mine ever since the inequitable financing mechanisms were first established and um and I
always make try to make a point of finding out local residents that are sending their kids there making acquaintances and finding why and uh yeah I was surprised that a lot of the uh answers had to do with the conditions
of the building. They they like it when there's new build. They liked it when there was air conditioning. And I think that's one of the things that it was important that we now have a heat pump air conditioning thing in our schools now and we can compete on that level. >> Um and then the other thing too, it's
important to remind people that we our budget everything that we do is transparent. Anybody can come in and they can find out all of our sources of revenue, all of our expenditures, who every check out the door is a public record. The the level of documentation
that the charter schools have to provide is so much less. They have to provide some budgetary information, but they're allowed to keep whole categories of expenses private, including who are the equitable owners and investors and how
much the return on the investment is, all kinds of things like that. Um, so that you know, you they're basically taking taxpayer money and you you don't you you don't have an insight into where it all goes with them.
So that's always an important thing to me to always remind the public that that's what you're really doing. >> Okay, I'm going to bring us back quickly to close us out and then if there's continued discussion, we we keep
discussing. So um recap and next steps. So we talked about a level service budget of 14.2 2 million 6.95% or 923,000 over fiscal year 26 which resulted in
assessments of um as outlined here Conway 8.14, Deerfield 6.45, Sunderland 12.61 and Wheatly 6.49%. We are recommending $400,000 in reductions, which is $300,000 of actual
cuts in the budget, um, which will come from salaries and wages and applying role aid of $100,000. One click for a general fund of 13.8 million or 3.94% over the prior fiscal year, which pans
out in the assessments, dropping them down significantly, about four percentage points for each town. Um, 3.84 for Conway, 2.44 for Deerfield, 8.58 for Sunderland, and 2.45 for Wheatley. And then we are still
proposing uh to be up for discussion is 110,000 in a capital assessment for the parking lot project. And then you can see the breakdown there on the slide. So uh the last thing that I will say before we continue discussion is this is your budget. that we've made a presentation
based on the numbers and what we believe can be fiscally responsible reductions. Um we do not think we should dip further into school choice. Even though we do have a healthy balance, we feel like we should use that for the parking lot and not recurring expenditures. Um and
knowing what we know about the elementary budgets right now, this assessment um seems much more reasonable for our member towns. So on that >> I just want to say again I uh that I really appreciate all the work that you
do to both that goes into this the guidance that you provide in terms of making uh recommendations that help us to be both sustainable and keep the services that we're able to keep and make the projects the capital improvement projects that we're able to
make. I really appreciate it and you did such a great job of putting that together. I know there's so many questions. I'm Trevor had a >> and >> a hand up, but I think I've got Damian and Keith and Olivia as well.
>> Can you back up one slide for me for the minutes? >> Can you back one slide? >> Trevor, I saw your hand first. Although Keith, you are >> No, I'm going to wait for the table and then I'll >> Perfect. Thank you. >> I just want to point out the presentation is something that the budget subcommittee approved
>> um prior. So this is when you come to the whole committee. This is something that the budget subcommittee is recommending. >> Well, so I guess what I need to outline is that so the next step in our budget process is we have a budget hearing in March which is the next meeting. >> I should say support, >> right? So what I'm just trying to so for
those first time through this so at this point we have to have discussion about what number you want to move to the public hearing. The number at the public hearing can go down but it can't go up. Okay? So we got to bring them a number to the public hearing. Um, and quite
frankly, given the time frame, the way we set it up is that we have the public hearing on a Tuesday and then we have the voting of the budget um, two 2 days later and then it gives us we're like at the 48 day mark prior to the first town
meeting, but we used to vote it all on the same night and we got some feedback from the towns like you're not really hearing feedback if you're voting at the same night because you don't put yourself any time to put into um, process there. So, you know, basically what this discussion now has to come to is what number do you want the
administration to put forward into the documentation for the public hearing >> and how are we getting there is what we've proposed what we're comfortable with as a committee or are we looking at other options? >> Could you I'm sorry. Could you just repeat can you just clarify that the
number can go down but not up? >> Correct. You can't after the public hearing, you can't raise the amount that you're going to >> discuss because nobody complains when it goes down. They only complain. >> So you look at it that way. You can repost a public hearing and then raise
it up, but given our time given our timeline, you're not going to really um that's not going to really fly. So you really >> have to adopt the number vote on it as a committee. >> Yeah. >> And then it can go to the public hearing, but it can only go this way. And it also there's we have folks here,
but there's also folks that aren't here. They're going to get that and they'll be able to come to the public hearing and give us their feedback on, you know, this is basically where your public hearing is where you kind of want to close to land and, you know, andor and that's where you're getting feedback to adjust from that point on.
All right. And then Damian, >> yeah, elevated, did you have >> uh Yes. So, just um I just wanted to make sure I'm understanding this correct. We had a lot of discussion about how we've initiated a number of wonderful things. The um the pathways and like um the arts things to make
ourselves you know more enticing for people and to keep them here. Um are is there any cons like how will we make sure I'm sure you guys would make sure but um losing six to seven positions is that going to make us >> Yeah, it's a good question. So we're looking at we have so
>> you know we have done um the ground work to look at what positions will be the the we are going at it with the focus of um not changing offerings to students not changing clubs and activities for students um and try to have the least
impact as possible and in general it's going to be a probably a combination of some teaching positions some support positions and some non um teaching positions. So, um, and it's it could range from 6 to 7. There's a few kind of >> moving pieces that we have to kind of
let that down, but, um, the goal is to not change the student experience as much as possible. Um, and, you know, maybe there's a course based on sizes and that kind of stuff that, you know, could happen within it, but, um,
overall, you know, you know, we'll we'll bring that to the next meeting. >> I didn't want us to shoot ourselves in the foot. I didn't want us to shoot ourselves in the foot. We've been doing such a great job >> moving direction. >> Y >> Damian, >> can you hear me? Okay.
>> Yes. >> Um I think you actually just answered uh my first question was what the reductions were going to look like. Um, but I guess I wanted to comment on what what you talked about with the uh public
hearing. We can't go up. We can only go down. So, my opinion would be why not go in at the higher amount with no reductions and see if people are okay with it. And then
and then if if there's a lot of push back, then we can look at the reductions. I think you have the benefit of not being in the room with the finance committees looking. >> So I mean it's a good question, right? Like so I think it's a good question
like you could always go in higher if you always bring it down but you really have to at this point at some point you got to make decisions that says listen this is kind of what we're talking about because you know we're in cooperations with our four towns are trying to figure out their budgets. So, they want to know
where we're going to kind of land and how much do they need to put pressure on us to um if they can't afford the assessment that's coming their way cuz at the same time we have an elementary numbers that are going to be coming out as well. And so, I'll be sharing that with the towns as soon as the school
committee it's basically this week um um in Deerfield it's next week but our um or week after two weeks because of the vacation week um you know we're going to start releasing the elementary numbers as well. the two together. I have that I have I know where that's
going to land. And you know, we do need to I think I think Frontier does need to reduce um on multiple fronts. One um we have an unprecedented bill from from the uh insurance and the towns are taking it
the insurance on the chin as well and we need to do our part in that. We've also had a reduction in enrollment over the last few years and so um I think it's fiscally responsible also to reduce our staffing there too. So um and so if we can do it in a way where we're you know
we're saying administratively we'll have the least amount of impact still any reduction has an impact but the least amount of impact um I think that it's our responsibility to do that. I think if you go in with a high number and you're not playing a an honest conversation,
then you're not having an honest conversation. Then people don't like not honest conversations. They're not as friendly. You know what I mean? Does that make sense? >> If you look at those numbers that are associated with the original 7% budget, you know they're not going to pass. The
last thing, and I've said this before, the last thing you want is to have that budget number adjusted on top. You guys see it happen one and she votes the other one and you got follow three different versions of the budget voted by three different towns because it was
a free-for-all reducing the number. We've got to come to a compromise between the towns and us and what that number should be so it's the same in all four towns and the island. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that there that one wouldn't pass. Okay?
We had to do something. So this is what we're recommending you do and we're hoping that it helps the task because they have the same problems that you're asking we have and all those other things. >> That's the way the budget subcommittee wants us to play it. So >> and I think if you look at it there's
only only so much wiggle room that we have control over because there's so much of this that is associated with the insurance that it really doesn't leave us a whole lot of play. >> Yeah. The gambling is not handling. >> Go ahead. >> So two questions. one is there any
portion that you foresee I know it's you don't know for sure yet but um of those staffing reductions that are through attrition or retirement or unfilled positions >> those are being considered as part of it >> okay do you know how much of it or
>> the majority of it >> I'm sorry >> the majority of it >> making at least half yeah half 60% >> and and then the second I mean I know the parking lot is capital and we're talking here operating expenses And yet I'm still trying to wrap my brain around spending a million dollars on a parking
lot and letting people go um at the same time, especially when that school choice money, while it's not guaranteed, is pretty gosh darn regular. Um and so can you just talk about your thinking about that over the budget? I'm just
>> Sure. So taking a step back where just I think I think but I do parking lot aside, right? I do think budgets do have ups and flows. We've been in this room and I've asked to increase positions. I think if I and I I say this to my principles all
the time, if you have to be in a leadership position, you have to say if I can come to you and ask for more money to increase position, I also have to be able to make the decision that says we're going to have to reduce position, right? And I know people's livelihoods and stuff are, you know, that's we control a lot of that and that's a
really heavy part when we start talking about health insurance and those kind of things. we have those lives in our hands and that thing, but there is the natural course of the business. I so I I kind of say that out loud where nobody wants to see anybody lose a job or that kind of thing. It is part of the business of
doing this. When I look at the capital projects, um we're starting to get to a level of a safety issue out in that parking lot. >> Yeah. um between the potholes and whatnot. Um we remember that I we brought this parking lot project forward
in 2018. Um and and just and we've done some patchwork and that you know we did $20,000 worth of patchwork last year and you can't even tell. It actually just makes the stuff next to it look twice as bad. Um so it it is kind of one of those
things. There's nothing like as I said the parking lots like new tires in your car, right? like unless you, you know, unless you're really a performance person, you're like, "Really, I just spent for new tires on that car? I really can't tell." Um, it's like the last thing you want to spend when it comes to education. Um, so, you know,
there has, you know, if we were cutting if we were cutting the arts versus the parking lot, the parking lot will be gravel, right? like there's is some like there we I'm hoping that what we'll bring forward to show you what those
positions are will be something that um we'll be able to swallow you know um it won't be something that is uh just unacceptable level of changing like I said we're going to try to not change programming not change offering students both um extracurricular um from the arts
all the way to through so um that that kind of makes sense it is if we don't do the parking lot this year. It's we're now a year behind for the following year and then we're going to start having leaks in the other section of the roof, you know, and then all the other kind of things that are going to come up that
come up in a mid-age building. So, um like I think that's also why the towns they have a capital committee outside their budget because you have to continue to maintain your assets and if you don't you'll get so far behind that you'll end up having problems that you
can't do. I see >> I work at mass which is the center of deferred maintenance. So it >> is true. >> Um sorry two things to add to that response really quick is we have the money in school choice. If we funded
that 300,000 for the next two years we're down to the 1.1 million and we can't continue to maintain that. So there does become a point where we're going to have to look at the reductions and now feels appropriate based on enrollment. I also think the other
component of it is there's only so much our towns can afford. If our budget's 14.2 million and we're only seeing three million from the state, the rest is all falling on the local tax base. And I think we have to be cognizant of how
much our towns can continue to afford or if they have to get overrides to raise taxes. you know, there's so many factors that go into it, but it is a it's a valid point. I think somebody's gonna ask that question. >> I mean, I think too that the the health
insurance problem is not going to go away. And it's an incredibly generous health insurance benefit package comparably. And so, I feel like that's going to come on the table at some point about whether we can sustain such a
generous benefit package. I'm not proposing that we cut it. I'd be the last person to do that. I'm just saying that I can see foresee in a couple years it becomes so unsustainable that we're thinking okay is no deductible no co-ay etc something that we can really
afford >> else is afforded >> and I think you bring up some good points within with that as well. I mean I think health insurance this year is also been put right on the a lot of people's radars what is their benefit and what is the cost. and we look at
comparable salaries, but what are the benefits? If people are taking a longer look at health insurance than they ever have in the past, just to look at that as a benefit. So rather than I think rather than whether or not that changes and comes down, you're going to have to negotiate that. Good luck with that. But
the other side of it is just kind of celebrating the fact that it is a strong benefit. Wow. You know, if you only if you're taking home $80,000 as a teacher, but your health insurance benefit is worth another $10,000 compared to a neighboring district. That's an important thing that we probably have to
highlight more. Um you know I I the other um thing I also want to talk about is the amount of school choice revenue that we should be holding on to um has also increased and because the cost of everything else has
increased and I was you know talking with Shel I have concerns about if the health insurance they said we're not going to be done in one year and I think that the towns have probably heard the same thing. This may be a two or three year problem. if there was something to go wrong with the trust, we have a responsibility to our staff to continue
insurance and we need to have backup funds because as a regional district unlike the town the elementary schools we can't we can't go easily to the town and say hey can you float us a couple hundred,000 we have to have those kind of in reserves too. So I want people also to understand that that you know I
was saying it would be safe like I would be holding a half a million dollars and just labeling insurance right now because if we ever have to leave or we try to do any kind of transition there's going to be an upfront cost to it. So we need to be kind of holding some money aside for that as well. We always talk about that you know tuition if you can
get out of district tuition and it just hit you know Sunderland just had this happen this year. Um $160,000 replacement bingo right out of the budget. So, it's you have to have a couple 200,000 if not $400,000 worth of
just ready for um emergency um >> you know addition placements day fund. It's a rainy day fund, but it's a little bit different, but it's also managing. You can't also at the same time, that's why we're trying to spend some of it down on the capital and not go to the towns with, you know, with the capital. So, >> and I'll take feedback on it, you know,
from I'm looking over the towns, like, you know, we want feedback on like how that how that juggles, but that's how I'm seeing it. And it's been working the last few years. >> You're talking about what you in an ideal world, what you'd like to do. That's not what we're actually doing. We're not we don't have a half million
dollar rainy day fund. We do with school choice right now if we aren't using it to offset the >> it's earmarked for >> a lot of it is earmarked but we're still going to have $600,000 remaining and then going into the next year we're not going to suddenly lose borrowing a
disaster all our school choice you know what I mean like we it could come down um but yeah you're going to have that it's you have your fluxes but you're not going to come down you know >> and if we had a gear like when he was
principal where we had a million going out and a million coming in. >> Assistant principal back there. >> I just want to make sure. >> I'll try to give you the benefit of the doubt. So, you could imagine if it was that type of year this year,
>> we couldn't do the parking lot, but there's a lot of other things we couldn't do either. It might be more than six or seven people. >> Sure. >> If we >> Oh, sorry. Sorry, Bob. I didn't mean to cut you off. >> You're okay. All right. >> Thank you. Um, I just want to thank you
about the town a little bit. You know, speaking this early in the process, too. Um, we are in a tough spot. You know, it's suddenly devastating, right, to see those numbers. Um, and all the other things that we have to spend money on to run the town other than just education.
You know, it's it's 62% of our budget. Everything else has to be run on that other 40. So, um, I really appreciate you looking at the numbers the way you are. You know, I look at the I think when I first started in school committee, it was maybe 14,000 educated
child. It's almost double that right now in in just a short 10 years. Um 15 years, something like that. Um and then looking at the amount of um students, you probably 100 kids less, 114 kids less, you know, but we haven't really
cut, you know, we do level service and we haven't really cut positions much, you know, over that time frame, too. So everything else has gotten very expensive. So I appreciate looking at staff cuts. Not that we want to ever, but where you can get attrition, you know, where we can kind of reduce those
areas to make sure we can still fund the arts and walk that fine balance of making sure kids want to come here. I mean, that's the reason our school and our district is so soughta is because you've you've looked at the arts and not just sports, but sports as well. I mean, it's hard for these other towns in the
north. They're trying to group together because just not enough kids and not enough programs and a lot of kids are coming here. So, I appreciate the work that you're doing. I know it's hard. Um I appreciate you thinking about the town where we're at. And um very grateful for
looking at those reductions that would would help the town, you know, handle our hits as well as, you know, help the elementary school as well. And it's just going to be a tough year. So, um cuts are never fun, but um appreciate you
doing that and and coming back number we can we can handle this year. It's going to be a hard year. So look forward to next month. Thank you. >> Does anybody else have any questions from the public?
Anybody from around this table? I don't think anybody's raising their hand over there. We need a motion to move. We need a number. We need a voting number to move forward to the >> on record
tenative budget figure of >> $3,82,875. >> Second. >> Do we need to have the other components? >> It's a I would say because we're just you're not voting the budget. When we vote the budget, we go through every single one to make sure we have all the numbers
correct. You're just making moving this budget to the public hearing. We'll bring that forward and then you know I think I think you're going to be okay. Do you agree >> with this plan that we are talking about actually cutting the budget, not using another funding source like I want to make sure that everyone is clear that
that's what we're moving forward with. And if not, let's continue to jump on it. >> All right. So, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion on this number? >> Just so I'm understanding. So, we're
saying this is what would go to the public hearing, not that we're approving this budget. >> Correct. >> Is that right? >> And this is the number that we can we can go lower, but we can't go higher. Correct. It's the recommendation of your budget committee >> and hold on. So the part where we would
potentially go lower I just want to talk about so I don't quite understand and I'm I'm sorry I'm need to talk about process but so okay so we're we would vote on this and it would go to a public hearing and there'd be feedback and we would need to take
into consideration a town or some comment saying this is not possible it has to be less than this we have to find more reduction to make is that >> so we'll present And at the public hearing this number if it's consensus
also on the same agenda will be FY27 budget. That way if we need another discussion about taking the number down, we can do that. >> And and
it also announces so we're going to send this the town administrators. There's two were on the call. I don't know if Vene is still I think she might have dropped off but >> they're waiting for this number so they can bring it to their finance committees and their finance committees are going to dive into it and say yay or nay or
let's kind of give our feedback on it. It's interest we have folks here tonight which is great but it's they're normally they come to the hearing >> after they've seen a number to give us feedback. Um and it's great they're here tonight which is speeding up the process because they it's a tough budget year.
There's always more interest when it's a tough budget year. when we have a good budget, it's a good budget year. They're like, "H, don't bother coming and talk to us. We like what we see, right?" So, so I'm going to send this budget out to the the town administrators, they're going to share it with everybody and then they're going to give us their feedback. That's where I was kind of
saying to Damian earlier, like we have to give them the honest where we want to land so that they can give us feedback that says, um, this is where, and they'll come in, explain where they're at, or they'll say, "No, you got us to a point. We like where you're at. Um, we're going to try to make this work." >> Yeah. and we we'll bring it to the
public and it's got to be then it's got to fly in town meeting >> and three out of the four towns vote on it passes. If one doesn't actually >> it shouldn't be three out of four anymore since that Supreme Court case. I
don't know if you ever got Disney fresh. >> So we have >> we take additional feedback whether it's feedback we've received between now and then because we get may get messages that say you know this is still not doable. Um, we have an additional
discussion at that meeting. >> Yeah. >> We go back and do any more work if we need to behind the scenes based on the direction of the committee. Two days later, we have another meeting where we're voting on whatever that final number is. >> Okay. >> Then that final number distributes to
each of their towns >> which then have to have the town meeting >> to approve that >> final. And if it completely hits the fan, then we actually could come back the following Monday and have another meeting >> and have three meetings on the budget within that time. But then we're out of
time. >> All right. Any other clarification needed before we take a vote on this general fund? We have a motion and a second to move forward this general fund number to the public hearing.
I'm gonna start with Damian first since you're easy for me to miss over there. >> Yes. >> Jessica, >> yes. >> Olivia, >> yes. >> Celia, >> yes. >> Mary, >> yes. >> Bill, >> Bob, >> yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Yes.
>> Keith, >> yes. >> All right. That's another we're working with. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. I know that's a hard one. >> I'll email you a slide deck tomorrow if you have questions. send them my way and if I can answer them quickly, let me know, I will. Otherwise, I'll bring them
back for the group like we did with the school choice questions. And that is separate from the parking lot discussion that we have kind of woven into this a little bit. Do we need to take a vote on that or leave that for?
I think it can unless we should have a discussion about it and if there's a a larger group that feels like we should not be assessing the talents for capital project given the state of the budget then you would vote on that but I guess our
recommendation is to move to the March meeting. We just >> when do we get one in anybody's warrant closing because we have to get the capital on the warrant before anybody's warrant closes. I know it's so many days back from the first meeting. >> Yeah, we could wait till the March. >> But the March meeting would be sufficient.
>> Okay. >> Cuz that's before. >> Yeah. Yeah. I >> I'm just thinking of timelines and whatnot, but at the same time, you really can't move forward with this without the public hearing because of
the the conversation about if you go and spend the money, you kind of you block you you kind of block the >> Well, we won't spend the money. >> Not spend the money. If you commit to spend the money, >> then you railroad one option only.
>> Yeah. for >> I wonder if it makes sense and to table a discussion on the parking lot. We've been open that this is part of the piece you guys will get some feedback from the town and we can have that as
part of the discussion in >> in March because it will be on the agenda in the only the only thing I want to add that's changed in the parking lot. Okay. And we've already we're going to conservation right now conservation commission. So that we've started we're still moving kind of forward to get their our ducks in a row is that we took
the rural aid out >> and we applied it to the budget. >> Right. >> Okay. So we took so it would be $100,000 more of school choice now being applied to that. >> And the reason why we did rural aid is that I just think it's the appropriate
use of rural aid. It also was in the governor's budgets. I have hopes that we'll at least get level funded. And I Jessica's wideeyed over there because she's kneedeep in rural aid advoc advocacy. Um but it also kind of sends a message I hope that we're using it in
that capacity rather than to offset um the operating budget. So um just that's the one change that's happened just keeping people uprised. We don't have to do anything. >> But the vote that we just took was to recommend the budget that included the
use of the school choice for the parking lot. No, that's separate. >> We used rural aid to reduce the budget by $100,000. >> Has nothing to do with that vote you just >> took. So >> when we vote on the March 5th meeting, both pieces
have to be voted on because we're then assessing them. >> So we make make a motion to table the parking lot until March meeting. >> I think it on the agenda it is on the agenda today. Yeah. Then that's just I wonder if that doesn't make more sense
to table it. So you've got a motion to table it. >> I'll second that. >> Perfect. Uh Damian, >> this would be a vote to table the parking lot decision until March. >> Yes. >> Jess, >> yes. >> Olivia, >> yes. >> Celia, >> yes.
>> Mary, >> yes. >> Bill, >> Bob, >> yes. >> Yes. >> I would say no only because I would I would approve it today. >> Yes. >> Yes. And thank you. >> Um, can I say one thing about the enrollment slide that was the two? It's
because of Excel. So, they're rounding and it's throwing off the percentage points. So, when you just do the math as it is, yes, it should be minus one, but >> 471. >> It's rounded. >> We have half children. >> Yeah. >> Well, because they do everything based
on everything. Right. >> Everything's based on full-time equivalent. So if a student leaves the district or comes into the district, they don't count as a whole, but then they're rounding it so that there's no decimal points. So it's skewing the numbers. >> I think I was just worried that like if
a town was off by like >> Yeah. >> town where we were off by kid that it's like actually kind of a significant difference potentially. >> Yeah. Search and rescue because we're missing half. >> But no no actually point those out
because you know but Shel also likes to make sure she's Well, I hate mistakes. So, >> and we love that she hates mistakes. >> Yeah, it's good enough. >> Round up. >> Exactly. >> On a positive note, we've got a Yankee
Candle donation to talk about. >> Yes. >> George talked about it last night. >> We have We received a check from Yankee Candle for $3,000 for their $4,000. $4,000, >> but it was not on the agenda to vote to accept. So, you're just voting to accept.
>> I'll make a motion to accept this donation for me. Second. >> All right. All the seconds. All right. Damian, >> yes. >> Jessica, >> yes. >> Olivia, >> yes. >> Celia, >> yes. >> Mary, >> yes. >> Bill, >> Bob,
>> yes. Phil, >> Keith, >> yes. Diane, thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Tanke. We will negate your comments about lower >> and then we've got a a policy first read. I don't know you want to give some
backtory. >> So uh basically it's a new policy KIB parent observation of a classroom. Currently we do have a policy on the books for special education. Um it it specifically talks about parents visiting classrooms in regards to
special education or special education programs. We've been using that policy for other non-special education visits, but it's come to the point where we do need to have very clear visitation policies and process when parents come into our classrooms um to observe their
child and teachers. Um, and basically this particular policy, you'll see it's kind of longer than usual because I when I constructed it, I took it from other MASC policies that are out there, but I also put in language that could be very user-friendly reading as a
parent wanted to do this, right? A lot of our policies are very legal, a lot more legal heavy-handed there. So, this is the first reading to get feedback on. Um, and I'm already starting to get feedback. I'll take any feedback I get and then bring it to the next one if there's any adjustments. Okay.
>> And we'll vote on it next. >> And we vote on it next month. >> How many Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. H how common is it for parents to come in and visit or >> once or twice a year per building? You
know, non special ed even less. Um but um if it's not clear, usually people aren't coming in because they're happy. >> Yes. >> Cuz they may be volunteers in the classroom, >> you know. So um you know, that kind of thing. So usually you there sometimes
there's strain there and you just want to make sure that people aren't you know from if you go through the policy you can kind of see about they're not sharing information they're not um video think they can come and pull their phones out um disrupting the class you know trying to engage with you know that
kind of thing so just kind of making sure that they're not disrupting the rights of everybody else in the classroom when they're doing a visitation. Jess, you >> just want to share to the public, I've emailed with Darius the policy says um that an observing parent may be asked to
sign a confidentiality agreement and I said I would be in favor of that. Would you like to share your response? >> I agree. I you know if there is um and that might be something and I'll try to see I said when Jessica wrote that to me I said absolutely I want to I think we should add that to it. I do want to make
sure see what other what the attorney says and so forth. But there is a level um where if a parent comes in observes a classroom and then with posting online and stuff could post about what who they saw, what they saw in that kind of level of other students which they don't have
the right to share um outside that space. And so >> even just be verbally sharing that which is still problematic and a violation of >> Yeah. And I was yeah I was going to like a very where you can see it get very ugly if someone said jumped online said >> you know Susie was a having a trans room
in the classroom today I observed you know so yeah >> which you know >> is there um is there a separate policy for online classes when we still have them >> because that's certainly something I heard about both from parents and from
teachers during the Zoom years um >> of being problematic. Yeah, I didn't see I didn't see that either. >> Other questions along those lines. So, >> I'll look into that. >> Yeah, especially considering that new program which will have some access for patients or for patients still.
>> So, that's going to be but that's going to be on they're going to be in the >> in the building and the teacher is going to be in the building as well. So, it's just so it's not >> I thought there was some online portion of it. >> It's an online component but it's everything is internal >> but the instruction is
>> Yeah. Yeah. School. All right. >> Thank you. Is there another hand? >> I was just going to say I think during COVID when people were at home and the parents were all in the background that that was a a much different much less private. We were all just doing our best. But um but now that they're having
them in, you know, computer labs or things in schools, it's less likely that the parents are in the background watching what's going on in the classrooms. >> I was just going to ask what what is a local equivalent of a volunteer? depending on whether or not
I guess >> I I just wasn't sure what >> All right, that's all I have. >> Not sure if there was some special >> consideration.
All right, almost at the end. Um, I have just an update on um on superintendent evaluations that the plan is to have Google forms ready to go out for those by March 5th um and to go
out on March 6th. So, we'll have a nice reminder around the time that we have our next meeting that those will be heading out. And ideally, we'd like to have those back within a week or two for a couple reasons. One is that we are all less likely to do them if we wait much
longer than that. So if we get that um out and returned as quickly as possible, we can compile all the information to present at the April meeting. Have other um budget committee has done their part in
uh presenting today. Uh you have any other committees that have a report to share? You >> have anything from the collaborative? >> No. Go. >> I know. I'm sorry. >> It's on there. I have to ask, but I know
>> executive director process has not gone smoothly. There's more marathon meetings in the future. >> Do you have any updates? >> Um, I did send an email out to everyone regarding um Dr. Sarah Mitchell. He's going to retire is intend to retire at
the end of this year. Um, and I think we'll we can she'll be at the joint meeting in April and we'll get a chance to recognize her then. Um, but she is >> and is uh June 30th. The end of her contract is June 30th. So, >> refusing to accept a retirement.
>> No, it should be pretty even or maybe some savings. >> Minimal. >> Minimal savings most likely. She wasn't paying higher. just came out. >> It always came more than replace people though like the market just
>> Yeah, that's true. All right, I see you packing up. Would you like to make a motion associated with that? >> All right, I'll second that. >> All right, Damian, >> yes. >> Jessica, >> yes. >> Olivia, >> absolutely. >> Celia,
yes. Bill, Keith, and thank you very much for your attention.