Yes. Mr. um Henback is going to do our budget presentation. Absolutely. Board members, you're free to join the audience if you'd like. You also have a copy of the presentation in front of you uh that I'm going to give here this
evening. So much of what is included in this presentation uh are things that we have shared both at our March meeting and our April board of education uh special hearing as well.
One of the things that we talked about is the fact that like many school districts across the country and across the state of New Jersey in general, we have large expenditure increases. Uh some of which are controllable, others that are not. Salaries across the
district are going up $583,000 as a result of collective bargaining agreements. We have a reduction in uh federal um funding for fed uh FICA and Medicare. Pension costs are up
$107,000. Health benefits is the very very difficult one up $92,000. We are actually part of the state health benefits plan. It is a a program operated by the state of New Jersey that incorporates school employees, municipal employees, judges,
firefighters, each of which have different components to their plan. Uh the state increased premiums in that plan by 22% on average um January of last year, this past year. the second half of that increase because the health
plan operates on a January to December basis, it actually spans two separate budget years for us. Um, we looked at multiple times moving from the state health benefits plan to other private insurance companies. If you understand
anything about health care and private insurance, something called a loss experience, which is basically how much you pay in in premiums versus how much your health plan pays out in claims. Um, typically the insurance industry wants
to see no more than 80% of the premiums collected paid out in claims. All right, that 20% is their operating cost and their profit. In the case of Hopakon schools, two years ago, our experience rating was
107%. This past year, it was 111%. Which means we pay in less than the cla the plan pays out in claims. So, another insurance company isn't really banging down the doors to offer us good
rates and take us on as a customer. Um, we're considered higher risk. uh insurance. That's just the increase in workers compensation insurance. That does not include increases to our liability uh officers and directors and errors and omissions. Um we did make
some additional cuts to facilities tuition for out of district special ed students and other students. Uh the other is charter schools and vote tech payments and then increases to transportation. So you see our cost
there up almost $2.6 million. Our revenue reductions, the end of federal ESSER funding is a quarter of a million dollars. Um we were told to plan for a 25% reduction in federal grant funding.
Um I hope that's going to be enough. Uh although there are points in time where um I I believe additional cuts will be forthcoming from the federal government. uh but not before there are large court fights that address that. A reduction in
semi Medicaid payments to the school district. Students that have special needs might require speech therapy, occupational therapy, counseling, uh nursing services. If they are low income and part of the Medicaid program, we are
responsible one for providing those services in the district during the time they're enrolled in school. and we are responsible for billing the state Medicaid program for the cost of those services. The state has unbundled those costs along with the federal government.
Previously, a 30 minute session on average through the Medicaid program was about $34 in reimburseable costs. That has been cut down to $4 per service. We have to budget that amount
of money as revenue in our budget and then we have to physically go out and bill for all of those services. This past year we were required to budget $97,000 in revenue, but we are only
going to get $13,000 actually back from the Medicaid program. a budget hole of $84,000 or basically one teacher. And there is no way that we can just say, "Well, we're not going to get it. We're not going to
budget because the software that comes from the state with your budget automatically has those figures loaded in it." The state is trying to address it. Um, but if you have read any of the news
regarding tax cuts and and things on a nationwide basis, one of the additional areas that is potentially going to be targeted for federal budget cuts is the Medicaid program itself as well. Uh, we were budgeting for a state aid reduction. We actually got a little bit
of an increase. And because over the last couple of years we have been previously using excess surplus to fund our future year budgets. When your costs go up and you don't have money left at the end of every year in savings to push
forward to help pay for bills in a future year, you end up with that shortfall. So we will be down $600,000 in available funding to pay for future year expenses. I talked a lot about this in the presentation previously. What makes up
our budget? 75% of our entire BA budget is uh salaries and benefits. Transportation costs make up about 8% of our budget. Tuition out of district, BCH, charter makes up almost 6.5% of our budget. Facilities, oil, electricity,
buildings and grounds maintenance, custodial make up 3.3% of our budget. uh the referendum, the tax referendum that the community passed last year. All right, that's 4.1% of your budget and discretionary
spending. Discretionary sounds kind of silly, but it's also the smallest part of our budget. Supplies, textbooks, clubs, athletics, professional development makes up 3.1% of our budget. This is a look at something that's
called adequacy as released by the state department of education. And the state took a look at a number of factors. It takes a look at your prior year tax levy here for hopacon $28 million. It says
according to its analysis of Hopacon, HopKong's local fair share or what it can afford as its tax levy is actually $34.8 million. Then it takes a look at what's called adequacy. How much are you
spending to educate your students in hopacon? And what does the state think you should be spending to provide them with a thorough and efficient adequate education? The difference here is $4 million. So the state has said our local
fair share is under what we should be paying as taxpayers in Hopakong. And the Hopong school district is spending less than it should be spending to provide an adequate education to students in Hopakong by $4 million.
Now, we can't turn around under the current law and raise taxes by $4 million to make up that shortfall. But the state in this year's budget has provided something that's called a tax levy incentive. It allows
school districts that are highlighted in yellow, in this case, this is just Sussex County, that are both under their local fair share and under adequacy to exceed the 2% cap to increase their
taxes as a way to start to cut into that amount that they are under adequately funded. All right. If you read the newspaper, you'll see school districts across the state are looking to raise their taxes above that 2%. Uh Little Egg
Harbor today in the news wanting to increase its tax levy by 36%. Uh Rarit and Flemington School District, I think by 22. Right. This is a look at our taxes and our tax levy in Hopakong dating back to
2009 2010. And you'll see that the total tax increase as a percentage of the tax levy since 200910 has gone up by 27.69%. Inflation or the CPI during that
same time has gone up 43%. The average CPI increase is 3.8%. The average tax increase in Hopakong has been 1.7%. And if you notice the years 1718 all the
way up through 2122, there was either no tax increase or a local tax decrease. Okay, this was part of our media that we showed as part of the
referendum. So, prior to the referendum, Opacong's distribution of taxes, 51.9% of your tax bill as a resident of Hopkong went to the school district. The remaining
21.7% went to the county of Sussex and 25.7% went to the municipality. We are third lowest in the county as a percentage of your tax bill that supports schools.
As a result of the first two slides that I showed you, increased cost and decreased revenue, we entered this budget year with a deficit of $3.6 million. We have made program cuts. We
have made contractual cuts to to certain uh facilities uh to vendors that we utilize. We've deferred the cost of textbooks. We've deferred purchasing new Chromebooks next year for certain grade
levels of students. We are amending our transportation. If you are a student in the state of New Jersey and you attend an elementary school and you live less than two miles from school, under state
law, you do not have to be provided with transportation. The Hakon Board of Ed provides courtesy transportation for those students. If you are a student at the secondary level, that radius is 2.5 miles. We provide transportation to
those students as a courtesy as well. Next year is a result of those budget cuts. Students in fourth grade through 12th grade, a larger percentage of those students will not receive courtesy transportation next year. and those
families will be notified at the end of May. Those are generally folks that live in the height section of town. Those are people that live south um of Modic Park and those are folks that live south of
Broadway Avenue. If you live east of Lakeside, um you'll continue to receive transportation because you can't cross Lakeside Boulevard. All of those changes are already in alignment with our existing board policy with regard to
transportation. It's nice to be able to offer it. It's not a mandate, but it is incredibly expensive. That change to transportation alone um correlates to about a $220,000 savings to the school district.
Okay. In addition to that, we will be cutting nine positions this year. We will be cutting multiple advisor positions. We will be cutting multiple athletic coaching positions as a way to try to save additional funds. And each
of those decisions are made based upon a number of factors. Enrollment, our course offerings, and our staffing. In the case of the positions that are up there, I will be notifying the individual affected
employees tomorrow of the fact that if the board passes this budget, their positions won't be renewed for the next school year. At the current time, all of those individuals that are impacted are non-tenured employees. We are cutting money from our
homeless tuition. I talked about this at our last meeting. If a student lives in Hokakong and their family becomes homeless and they have to move to a shelter, another family's house in Paripany, but they still want to come to
school here in Paccom. Under federal and state law, we are required to provide them with their education here, which means I have to send a bus to Parcany to pick them up every day and bring them here. and we are responsible for that
cost. If they decide they want to go to school in Paripany, I have to pay the cost of tuition for that child to go to school in Paripany. And after 365 days of consecutive residency in wherever
they might be staying, that child becomes the responsibility of that new school district. But in theory, if on day 364 I become homeless again from where I was staying in Paripity and I move to Roxberry, that 365day window starts all
over again. The number of children that we are seeing both in district, our students who are homeless is increasing. The number of students that are homeless from other school districts that are doubling up and living with families in Hopaccom is increasing.
We're cutting professional development. We are cutting our seasonal summer custodians. We will no longer have summer helpers to provide our custodial staff with help. We are cutting overtime for our custodial staff supplies. We are
cutting tuition reimbursement for administrators. We are cutting substitutes. We were, it's in here now, and I'll talk about this. Attendance at the high school and middle school was slated to be cut. I talked about Chromebooks and I talked about
textbooks. You see all of those savings and what they add up to in addition to the other work that we've done. With all of those changes, we have been able to balance the budget but require a tax
increase. Based on a tax increase of 3.62%, 62%. We can balance the budget and the cost to the average assessed property of $345,000 is $120 a year, $106 a
month. Now, the governor in his budget said, "Hey, listen. You're eligible for a tax levy incentive." And what does that mean? It means if we wanted to raise our taxes above 3.62%. We could do so with approval of
the commissioner's office, which we submitted an application to. And the commissioner's office will allow us to increase both our local tax levy and they will provide us with a little bit of extra state aid up to 5% of the total
amount that we've requested. We requested an additional tax increase of $397,000. 1.38% the state will kick in $18,861. It equates to roughly a 5% tax
increase. Today, nothing like the state cutting it really, really close. At 3:30 this afternoon, I got a letter from the commissioner's office saying, "We have approved your application. The total amount that they approved is a little shy of our original
increase of 397." So, the total tax increase, if the board of education chose to do it tonight, would be three, excuse me, 4.93%. Okay? Excuse me,
4.96% would be the total amount. So, if you are an average homeowner with that additional increase, your total increase for the year 166. Okay, $13.90 a
month. All right, I understand that times are difficult, that costs are up. The same is true for a school district. Would I pay for heating oil? You pay for heating oil. Somebody asked me a couple of weeks ago, um, how many
of you have ever had to replace your hot water in hop, right? You know what a plumber costs for you to replace your hot water heater? $1,000. Our hot water heaters are a lot bigger, certainly more complex. Our hot water heaters anywhere
from 12 to $18,000 each. All of those costs are more when you have a larger facility and a larger organization. As part of this tax levy incentive, I talked about this last time. After we struck our budget in
March, we had a student move into the district who has special needs that requires a very specialized placement. The cost of that placement roughly $98,000 a year. Had this child moved in after our
budget was finalized, we would be on the hook for that cost. It most likely would have meant that we would have had to have let go another staff member in order to be able to afford it. We would be looking to add a grade 9 to 12 teacher back to
the budget to offer elective classes at the high school and address class sizes. I have to pay for health insurance as a result of that employee. We're looking to add some of the money back to homeless tuition and transportation. We'd be looking to restore the
attendance cuts at the middle school and the high school. And we'd be looking to restore an elementary guidance counselor. As part of our original budget, the plan was to cut one of the elementary guidance counselors and share that position between the two elementary
schools. Not ideal, but given our budget circumstances, it's something that we would have had to have done. trying everything within our power to limit the impact on classrooms. And notice I said
limit. We're beyond preventing impacts to classrooms. That is going to continue to happen because if I can only increase my budget in a normal year by 2%. and my costs just to break even are going to be at three or
4%. I'm always going to be in a position until the state addresses the funding formula properly to be able to balance my budget. As I said to this board in March and I said it to you again in April, the governor has touted the fact that he is
fully funding the funding formula, but it's disingenuous. The total dollar amount is being fully funded. the pot of money, but how it's divvied up is not according to that funding formula. The state put a
3% cap on how much state aid you could lose, but in order to put that floor in place, it had to put a cap on how much you could increase your state aid. I said our state aid went up by about 174,000. But according to the funding
formula, our state aid should have gone up 830,000. We are short $560,000 in state aid that we will not see in this budget year as a result of the governor putting a cap on tax
increases. Will we see that money in future years? If you've ever used the magic eightball, right now mine says the future is cloudy, right? You will have a new governor next year. The entire legislature is up for
election in November. I don't know what that holds in store for school funding in future years, but the reality is this is where we have to be. And the fact of the matter is we're $4
million under adequacy. And as I said at our April meeting and I said at our March meeting, on average, a local high school district next door to us, who will remain nameless, because their budgets have passed every year, spend almost
$3,500 more per student on programming and staffing than we can afford to do. And if you take that number times 400 high school students, you're at $1.3 million more that they can spend on
educating students than we can here. That's a reality. That's a reality of where we're at. We're going to continue to try to do everything that we can do to offer the best possible education to our students. And my commitment to you
as a board was to find every savings we could, look for every opportunity to maximize revenues, and try and do everything possible to continue to offer a a positive education for our students, and we'll continue to do that. So, with
that, I'll conclude my presentation. Madame President, I'll turn the meeting back over to you. Can I please have a motion to Oh, I didn't realize that. Yep. Yep.
Hey, can you drop this on your feet? So, now we're going to open public comment just to um issues pertaining to the budget. So, I'll call the people on here. If you didn't want to speak about the budget, you wanted to speak during public comment, the regular session, just let
me know. Um, I have Mr. Austin Brown. Yes. So, this is my first time at an event like this. So, I just want to hear how this all gets broken down. I uh just you know what's in the back of my head what I'm feeling. I know that numbers
and decimals and percentages, all those things are super important. I just hope that, you know, what the kids are getting is at the forefront of decision making. I'm content with whatever happens today, obviously, and I'm sure there other people who think the same or
think differently, but hope that the kids benefit from the actions after all of what goes on tonight. That's really it. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Thomas ShraMM. Um, I want to save my
comment for the general section. Thank you, Mr. Steve Ren. First of all, I'd like to thank Jeff complete to the uh meeting last night of the Democratic last month, not not last month, right? last month who gave an overview of the budget who gave an
excellent overview that I would like to report that a number of people who are anti-school system and anti-budget came up to me and said now that I'm educated I feel much better okay two people who are really really anti-school system and
anti-budget okay I also think Nicole did a superb job at the tricky trade to and it really was a lot of fun uh and I mean and uh 30 or $40,000. It was amazing. You did a great job on the uh on the chicken was wonderful.
I've learned how to use the fryer this year. Everybody add that to my resume. My wife won't let me eat fried food. So, make sure you have to have pasta. That's I can make that happen. But I was talking to Stephanie and she said she won four things at the chicken. I was
amazed at the gifts. I was amazed that the way it was set up with the tables and the chairs. It was really, really well done. Um, I'm concerned about this budget. I'm concerned about the cuts to staff. I'm concerned about the the
concerns about the the cuts to textbooks, the Chrome. Uh, I think there are important things. I think you I think we need to educate the public more about what's going on, the positive things in our school system. Um, and uh, I want to thank Jeff and I want to thank
the board for all the hard work we did in putting this together. Thank you. Thank you. Is there anyone in the public who'd like to speak about the budget who didn't get a chance to sign up? Mrs. Johnson, um, I think you guys are in a really tough position. Um, and you know that I
support schools 100% and I know that the decision that you guys have to make is not an easy one. It's really tough. You guys are taxpayers for yourselves. Um, the question I often get get in the position I'm in is and I can't speak to it because I'm not on the school
board is, you know, cutting nine teachers that's that's a lot of teachers. And we have kids that are already in classes that are, you know, we have ratios we have to keep. I know special ed is 8:1 or 9:1. And I know in regular ed there
are ratios. You know, is there a danger that we're going to exceed those ratios? How are we not going to exceed those ratios? Um, and then the other question that I get asked a whole lot whole lot is have we actively looked I know we
have in the past but have we actively looked at other districts around? Now I know when the previous not the previous superintendent but two previous superintendents had reached out to Roxberry, Randolph, Kittini, Newton, Sparta, Lenovy
and they all went nowhere because I know it's a it's a it's a humongous process. It's a very cumbersome process because not only do you need each board of education to agree, you also need each town council to agree on the merge. And if one of those things goes haywire,
it's off the table. was done. So that's the question I get asked a lot is has that been looked into currently? Is there a plan to do that? If we have been looking into it, why hasn't it happened? Because with one of the districts that
was going to yes and then they know it was we don't want hophon students there, which I think is a an absolute parent problem. I don't think the kids care. I think it's the parents who care. and can we do something, you
know, about that? Sorry, that was a long question. I apologize. Thank you. Let me um let me try and answer that question. Um and thank you for that question, Jen. So, on the issue of consolidation and looking for dance partners, right, as
we've talked about it in the past, we continue to do that on an ongoing basis. Um we can't doz if we don't have a dance partner. And the reality here is we don't have a dance partner. The governor through the Department of Community
Affairs and through the budget process in previous years floated out tax relief and additional funding opportunities for the state to fund pilot projects to investigate whether or not consolidation
was feasible and an amount of savings. um one school, one county, I want to say it's Ocean, but I may be wrong, undertook part of that study and they're still looking at that to actually consolidate as a county school district. All right. Um the problem with this
process is part of what you said is correct. The part that's missing is that it's not just the school boards from each of those municipalities have to agree. It's the voters in each one of those school districts have to vote on any potential merger. So I'll give you
the example I've used before. When before I started in Hopakong 20some years ago, I worked in Belvadier. Belvadier was a K to2 district that received high school students from Hope Harmony and White Townships. We looked at consolidating 24 years ago and as
part of that process went through a study. The taxes, if I remember correctly, would have stayed the same or gone down in Hope, Harmony, and Belvadier, but the taxes would have gone up in White Township. Hope, Harmony, and
Belvadier, all of the taxpayers in the community at a referendum said yes, and the voters in White Township said no. And as a result, any potential merger falls apart. That is the way the legislation is written. There are other
components that go on behind the scenes that have to do with collective bargaining. So, anytime multiple school districts merge together, you basically take the collective bargaining agreements of all of those entities and you take the best provisions of all of
their individual contracts that now becomes the the super contract. So, if Jim's school district has the best, excuse me, the best salary guide and mine has the best best health care and Jason's has the best working hours, all
of those things just came together to form your new contract. So, a lot of times there aren't savings to be had. The other component of that is when you look at school districts in consolidation, you're looking to save on
administrative costs. There aren't many administrators here in Hopakon and you're looking to save on collective bargaining agreements. One of the things the state of New Jersey did under uh Governor Murphy's first administration
is pass legislation that impacts outsourcing of collectively bargained groups. And basically the law as it exists now says let's say I have a collective bargaining agreement with my
flower laborers union 101 right if their collective bargaining agreement is coming to a close I can't just decide to go and outsource the production of flour for my organization when the contract ends. I actually have to have a year
cooling off period where we investigate and I try and negotiate with the existing union and after that year if we can't come to an agreement then I can start the process of investigating outsourcing and once I have all of those
proposals then I have to come back to my existing union and negotiate with them off the proposals from the outsourcing and give them a chance to meet those requirements. It is a process that takes two to three
years. And I can't tell you since that legislation passed that I know of any outsourcing that has occurred since those laws have passed. There may be, but I don't know of any in a public
sector that have happened after that legislation passed. And it makes it incredibly difficult to be able to save additional funds. Do any of these legislators realize that all of these things don't actually help the taxpayers of New Jersey like or educate children?
Like that's the most and I know you did right the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard that you can't take control of your own tax dollars in your own district and use it for educating your children or improving your buildings. I
mean that's when did that pass? Um, 2018. 2019. Yeah, I think 2019, but 2019. Probably an election year. Just a guess. Just a guess. I'm sure it
was an election year. Thank you for your question. Jeff, do you want to address the class sizes? Yeah. So on the class size end, the staff members that are being non-renewed, we are going to use uh something called option two that allows flexibility in how students can
earn credit for certain classes. We are not touching any of our elementary classes where our class sizes are admittedly higher than in other areas. Um but I I'll be honest and forthright,
right? If you read the news, you see um this notion of the educational cliff, not just a fiscal cliff, but an enrollment cliff, right? Over the last 12, 15 years, the number of families who have had children and the number of
children per family has been decreasing. And at the higher education level, you're seeing enrollment drops of 10 to 20%. We've seen our enrollment drop along those lines. It will be interesting to see how we address and
how as a nation that those enrollment changes continue. We made it through COVID. We saw a little bit of a rebound in births. Um but you see a cyclical approach to the birth rate as tied to the economy and given the economic
uncertainty currently, I it will be interesting to see how that impacts birth rates in this country. Um but we wouldn't see an impact for that for another four, five, six years anyway. Um but it it's something that you have to
take a look at, but it's difficult to plan for as well. I just want to add, do we have do we still have um agreements with Sussex County Community College as an as it's option two? I I don't know if it's option B or option two. Option two.
And then we used to have didn't we have a contract with um or an agreement with either Satan Hall or William Patterson? Yeah, we have credit sharing agreements and um and dual enrollment agreements with a number of school districts or uh
colleges that students can take classes here or offsite and earn both high school credit and college credit um for their participation. that. No. Okay. No. Thank you. Welcome. Anyone else in the
audience who didn't get to sign up for budget? Just a quick question. Do we know what the how many kids are graduating high school this year? The number uh I want to say this year's graduating class is right around 90 or 91 students. So, it continues to drop.
This year's class is subsequent year's classes. I don't know how many will graduate. Uh but based on in district and out of district enrolled students, we're about there. Um because my son graduated in 2020 and it was 95. So it continues. Last year it was four. Yeah.
Last year was higher. This year is a little lower. Next year's senior class um is in that 100 range. But I know our elementary school is is huge. Um but I also know that a lot of kids once they hit the sixth grade, they tend to go
out. Um, do we know the percentage of the kids that go out to charter? Changes every year. Um, somewhere in the 8 to 10% range. And how about after 8th grade graduation going off to to tech or to um
you know, so we we don't track who goes to private school, right? We can track who goes to tech and we have a listing of those kids and again depends on programs. Tech is actually cutting a number of programs this year because of their budget as well. Um, and we have a
number of kids that go to choice, but those numbers are dependent on how many seats a choice district has and who wins the lottery. Um, and that changes any given year. Anywhere from uh 13 to 17 students take advantage of choice at the
high school level in any graduating year. Um, as a school district, we did petition the commissioner of ed to limit the percentage of students who can attend school choice programs. And the commissioner, even though the law allows
for it, the commissioner denied that request. um stating that the benefit to the 10, 12, 15 kids who take advantage of choice is greater than the financial
um implications to the remaining students in the school district because all of that state aid goes with those kids to the other school district. Um we were greatly um disenchanted by that decision and certainly don't agree with it. Um, but that's the commissioner's
decision for now. And just a reminder, it costs $17,000 to go to charter school. Is that law? 17,000 in tuition that we have to pay that that the taxpayers pay to send a child to charter school. That's my whole point. Yeah. But they are allowed by law to choose to go,
right? And that's why we need to figure out a way to keep them here not send them to charter or John or Mars Catholic. And but be be I want you to be very very careful with the choice of words. We are not sending them anywhere.
They are choosing to go somewhere else. They're choosing. We need to find a way to keep them here. That $4 million that we're underfunded would go a long way into bringing back programs that we have had to cut over the last 10 12 years
that other school districts can offer. But again, we are limited by how much we can increase our taxes to be able to do that. We are underfunding. We are underfunding our schools. Lenipe can spend an extra $3,000 a student to educate their kids.
So, until we can rally and properly fund the school budget, we are going to be faced with that challenge because, you know, money is money and the more you have of it, the more you can offer. And
a lot of kids, a lot a lot of kids and a lot of people get hung up on, you know, more is better and the grass is greener. And I like our grass here. I want everybody to stay on our grass. So, we're trying the best. We're we're
trying the best that we can, but when the public talks about not wanting to spend any more money on a failing school system, we have to think about what we've done in the past, which is fail the school system. So, we need to write
the ship. And today is terrible. It makes me sick to my stomach to have to vote on this budget. I've lost sleep over it. And we're going to continue to fight to properly fund it. And if I could raise the taxes 13.01% 01% um to get us to that $4 million that
we're underfunded. I would do it. I would too. Yes, you guys would do that. I don't think the town would like that though. Well, the town has not been funding. Thank you very much. Sorry, this is not a public back and forth discourse. So, I
appreciate you all speaking up. I do understand that people want choices and I would love to give students in Hope more choices. Okay, with that said, can I please have a motion to close public the pud public budget hearing? I'll make it. I'll
second. Okay, Mr. Helena, can you please call the role on the motion by Miss Paulenzis and seconded by Miss Gulan. Dr. Capello? Yes. Mr. Davi? Yes. Miss ShraMM? Yes. Mr. Chaffy? Yes. Mr. Dustphano? Uh, yes.
Miss Paulena, yes. Mr. Citri, yes. Miss Goulan, yes. And Miss Falcone Schubert. Yes. Uh Jeff, based on the presentation, I'd like to make a motion to revise the preliminary budget as a result of the public hearing and the application for
tax lever incentive aid as outlined for the fiscal year 2026 appropriations act and as submitted to the NJDE commissioner on April 9th, 2025. A second. So the motion is to revise the
preliminary budget as a result of the public hearing. based on the application submitted to the commissioner of education on April 9th under the FY26 Appropriations Act. Can I have uh the motion by Miss uh Dr.
Capello and seconded by Miss Paulina. Miss Paulina. I'll have a roll call after you open it up to board discussion. Again, this is just a motion to revise the budget. This is a motion to revise the budget according to the presentation
where we're able to increase the taxes to a total of 4.96% bringing back some positions and um increase in certain line budget items um to help get us through the next school year. Any discussion?
Yeah, as much as I don't like to increase taxes, I I personally don't see how you could not vote in favor of this. Just unfortunate. Any other discussion? Hearing none, please call a role. Okay. On the motion to revise the budget.
Um motion by Dr. Capella, seconded by Miss PCA. Dr. Capello, yes. Mr. Davio, yes. Miss ShraMM, yes. Mr. Chaffy, yes. Mr. Dphano, uh, yes. Miss Paulena, yes. Mr. Citri, yes. Miss Gulan, yes. And
Miss Falcone Schubert. Yes. All right. As a result of that motion, let me provide to the public, the board, you have your copy in front of you. The 7B is the approval now of the
following resolution for submission of the revision of the revised 2526 school budget to the Sussex County Superintendent. It reads as follows. Whereas the superintendent has presented to the finance committee and other members of the Hopakon Board of
Education a recommended 2025 2026 school district budget in the amount of $43,320,11 as follows. And whereas the board approves a local tax levy of 30,127,32. Whereas the local tax levy will be
increased by a total of 4.96% comprised of a 2% increase of $574,73.78 and a 1.62% 62% bank cap exception in the amount of $463,89422 and a fisc year 26
appropriations act tax levy incentive increase of 1.34% in the amount of $385,645 which will be itemized below for a total tax levy increase of 1,423,613. And whereas the budget
includes the withdrawal of 1,369,296 from capital reserve for the purposes of paying down referendum bonds. And therefore, be it resolved that the Hopakon Board School District 2526 budget for submission to the Sussex
County Superintendent Office is approved as follows on the meeting agenda of April 28th, 2026. The following line items will be amended as a result of this tax levy
increase. Count number 11 0005627 description special ed out of district tuition increased by $98,000. Count number 11401 100101 a grade 9 to12 teacher in the
amount of $79,410. Account number 11 00002912701. Health benefits in the amount of 45,589. Count number 110010056672 homeless tuition in the amount of $10,000.
Count number 11 000000 270 518 0702 homeless transportation an increase of $10,929. Count number 11 1901 1006102 attendance office staff
$18,000. Count number 11 1901 100 10612 attendance office staff $18,000. Count number 11 0000281041 elementary guidance in the amount of
79,410 and account number 1100 2912701. Health benefits 45,589 a total amount of 404927. The tax levy incentive itemized budgetary accounting of specific costs
that are approved as part of the 1.34 additional tax levy incentive increase is included in this motion. Mr. Henbach, can you please call the role? discussion. Oh, on this any discussion on the increase? One quick
question. Uh the the benefits two lines here that say benefits, that's for the specific employee made above it, right? Correct. And what about the the uh attendance officer staff? There's no benefits to those people. Part time. Okay.
Any additional discussion? Need a motion and a second on the new resolution, please. I just No. 7B. I need a motion and a second. I'll second. On a motion by Miss Palena, seconded by Dr.
Capello. On roll call vote. Dr. Capello. Yes. Mr. Davio, yes. Miss ShraMM, yes. Mr. Chaffy, yes. Mr. Dphano. Uh, yes. Mr. Miss Paulina, yes. Mr. Citri, yes. Miss Goulan, yes. Miss Falcone Schubert.
Yes. Thank you all. Okay, moving on to item eight, which is the approval of the minutes from our March 17th executive session in regular meeting. I please have a motion. Make it. Second.
on a motion for AAA the minutes of the meetings of March 17th regular and executive session. Dr. Capella, yes. Mr. Davia, yes. Miss ShraMM, yes. Mr. Chaffy, yes. Mr. Dustphano. Uh, I abstain. I was not at that meeting.
Thank you, sir. Miss Paulina, yes. Mr. Citri, yes. Miss Gulan, yes. And Miss Falcone Schubert. Yes. Next, we're going to move on to the superintendence report and the HIP report. Unfortunately, I don't have my super my uh student representatives here
with us. They are diligently preparing for the lightning fe thief that is coming up this weekend. Um I know we're going to have a representative from one of our organizations talk about it in a little while. So, I don't want to steal her thunder other than to say please
come. Please come. It's going to be a wonderful opportunity to see some tremendous young men and women um taking the stage. It's a wonderful performance and I'll let you talk a little bit about it here in a couple of minutes. Uh we do have some uh hip reports for April for
first reading. Uh as a board in executive session, we did go through and look at those individual uh hip reports. We have one, two, three, four, five confirmed HIPS for the month of April. We have two code of conduct violations
and we have one issue that was neither a code of conduct um nor a hip uh on first reading for April. Um with that, um let me conclude my superintendent report as we've covered just about everything else
this evening and I'll turn it back over to you. Okay. Okay. Can I please have a motion to approve the s the superintendent report and the hip report? I also on the motion by Mr. Davio and seconded by Dr. Capello. Dr. Capello. Yes. Mr.
Davio. Yes. Miss ShraMM. Yes. Mr. Chaffy. Yes. Mr. Dphano. Yes. Miss PCA. Yes. Mr. Citri. Abstain. And Miss Gulan. Yes. and Miss Falcone Schubert. Yes. Next, we're moving on to the best
part of the meeting, the acknowledgements and correspondence for all the great things that the kids are doing and their teachers. Absolutely. So, congratulations to our middle school students who made honor roll for the honor roll and high honor roll for the third marking period. Uh the same to our
high school students, honor roll and high honor roll for the third marking period. Uh congratulations to our high school students of the month for the marking period. Uh, eighth grade, uh, Melisand Senate, honorable mention, Hayden Arnold and Gian Carlo Ggo. Grade
nine, Jacob Leos. Honorable mention, Reagan Gravat, and Noah Cortez. Grade 10, Anelise Dylan, Dylan Coffer. Honorable mention goes to Jasine Ruiz, Savannah Scott, and Lilianne Zenzili. Grade 11 goes to Jayla Lynn Ortiz.
Honorable mention to Antonio Sudek. and grade 12 honor uh Andrea Godfrey. Honorable mention to Ashley Mau and Ally Elmerir. Congratulations to our students who were chosen as middle school students of the month for their
outstanding performance. In grade four, it's Ramon Santos. In grade five, it's Nila Deron. In grade six, Ian Nunees Delgado. And grade seven, Katrina Bender and Braden Coleman. Congratulations to
all of those students on their outstanding achievements and efforts during the third marking period. Okay, next we're going to move on to parent teacher organization representatives. I know we have Miss Platt here from the drama club. Would you like to talk to us about the
production? Hi everyone. Uh this is my first year as a drama club president. I'm very excited. My daughter is a freshman this year. The great thing about the high school is eighth graders are able to join the high school production, which for some people it seems scary, but my child absolutely
loved it. And this year we have, I believe, six students who are eighth grade who are getting to benefit and be in this production at at a level of, you know, a high school level. Um, it's a really cool play. Um, the best part
about it is our middle school students, I believe in sixth grade, read this uh, book. So now they get to see it come to life with their peers and older sisters. I know I have a sixth grader and my daughter is Annabeth, which is the lead
of the play. So she gets to watch what she read, her sister become this larger than-l life character. Um, performances are May 1st, May 2nd, and May 3rd. Um, that starts at 7 o'clock. I know there's if you're local, I would come Thursday
or Friday because I feel like traffic with sinkholes, you know, like get a little tough. Um but uh and then Sunday we do our matinea. We actually have a scouts day. So we have some families for uh scouts coming which is very cool. They're going to get to go
backstage and meet the uh meet the cast and everything and uh just it's going to be a great uh production. Um, we're going to send out a promo video so you can watch a little uh tickets are available online through ticket tailor. Um, we've kind of been blasting
everything everywhere. So, if you can't find it, just call the school or ask for Nikki. Um, I have information over there and we hope to see you all at this phenomenal performance we're going to be putting on this weekend. And a lot of
the teachers are going to be offering some type of um assignment that goes along with attending and homework passes or extra credit. So if you have incoming fifth graders, it would be great for them to come and watch it, get a feel for what they're going to be reading. Same thing goes for sixth graders and
then just coming out to support um you know, all of our fellow students. We're hoping to pack the house. Thank you to the administration for doing that. That's really great. Thank you. Um, anyone else from an organization who wants to speak? Always. Okay, good.
Great. Um, I first wanted to say that I'm offended whenever people say that, you know, they don't want to pack on kids around them. We have some of the very best kids. Um, we have the new music ensemble performing at William Patterson
University on May 5th. On May 15th is the middle school concert. A week later on, sorry there was a lot of detail. On the 21st is the high school concert. So those are opportunities just to see um the bands, but it goes beyond
that. The kids are involved in so many things. Come catch a baseball game. Come catch a softball game. Um see them at the track meet. I hear there's a game at Skyland Stadium on May 12th. I'm really excited about that. I want to take my whole family to see the the baseball team play. But the kids are are doing so
many great things. So it's not just what you hear like on Facebook, what you read, what the neighbors are saying. I think that just come out and see the kids, you know, to the whole public. So tell tell your neighbors, tell your friends, tell your family, come see these kids, come see the things that they get into. You know, they work
really hard. Thank you. And that game on May 12th at Skyland Stadium is a rivalry game that is Hopong and Lenipe Valley. Sounds perfect. Are there any other parent organizations? I just want to uh
piggyback. Uh the booster club helped raise uh the money to um fund that game at Skyland. So, a group of parents got together and they went out and sought local business sponsorships and we also sold some great apparel. So, um it was
just wonderful to see it kind of come together very quickly. Uh the PTSO, thanks to the uh profit from the uh tricky tray, are going to host a couple of things for seniors. Um it's their time to shine. It's getting down to the
wire there. So uh decision day, I believe, is this week. So we're hosting a bagel breakfast for them. Anyone who is deciding on a career, going to a college into the military, um there's going to be a celebration for those kids. We also are going to help fund some of the busing for the prom,
transportation costs, and I believe either participate in a senior picnic or senior breakfast. Um, and then at the end of the year for all the students and the staff, we're having an ice cream truck come to celebrate the end of the school year and getting through finals. Oh, and we already have the date
for next year's tricky tray. I'm not kidding. I'm not kidding. March 26. And we have someone very special in the audience who's going to hooked up with all those special prizes. March
21st, 2026. Tricky tray. Tricky tray. That one. And I will go out on a limb and say that for the ice cream truck, there is a 95% chance it will be above 25 degrees that day. It was rainy last year, right? Yes, it
was. It was cold, damp, and rainy last chair, though. Always time for ice cream. Ice cream is ice cream. Thank you all for everything that you do. I know a lot of people up here are volunteering and a lot of people out there are doing everything they can. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Next,
can I please have a motion um to discuss items? Oh, sorry, I skipped it. Public comment. Back to it. Okay. So, I'll go through the list again. Um, and then if there's something that you want to mention just about anything on the agenda, now's the time to do it. Mr.
Brown. Uh, I'm good. Good. Mr. Shra. Yeah. Hi, everybody. Hi. Um, I want to thank the board for unanimously passing the budget. Um, I think you guys are given a really terrible hand considering looking
at the numbers from 2016 to 2021. There's even a decrease in taxation, which is insane to hear about for school districts. Um, the way you guys voted is the same way the community should be voting. Unanimously to support our kids, our
schools, and our staff. I also want to uh thank Jeff Jeff for answering all my questions last time after the session. I think it was super important to hear this information because we get information from all over the place, but sometimes we don't get it from the source and I think it's crucial to be
hearing this in this time, especially for our kids. Um, that being said, um, there were some parts of our conversation that I thought were so important that I need to stress once again to you guys that we should be having a public comment section at the
end of the agenda. I think it's crucial to be asking questions after key votes where some board members even vote no to pass uh to certain uh agenda items where we can't ask as a as a public why those people voted no and also why you vote
yes. Um I'm asking you to again consider adding that public comment to the end of the agenda. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for those please. Okay. Uh Mr. Sure enough, I agree with everything he said. Did I and
I congratulate the board to present this budget. It's unfortunate that the town there are many members of our town council who refuse to support the school system. It's extremely unfortunate and we constantly talk about
taxes. Unfortunately, they get benefits like health insurance and they get a salary and uh I think that's extremely unfortunate hospital. people that have been on the on the Oh, yes. Illegally. They do get they do get
health insurance. Anybody that's new, that law has changed. So, um I uh I am I really am very grateful for what you guys do. I've sat there and I know it's not always diff. It's not always easy. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Miss
Johnson. Good. Y anyone else in the public who didn't get to sign up who would like to make a comment in general? Miss Yanko. Hi, I'm Stacy Yenko. Um, I live in town. I actually am the high school guidance secretary. Um, and I hold many other positions. Actually,
I'll be down in Washington DC lobbying our federal legislators um for a lot of the things that they're taking away from all of our schools. I really just want to I know it's difficult and I've been in the district now over 19 years and I've seen even
bigger cuts than this. Um, and any cuts are really difficult, but we've had so many over the last few years. Um, even little ones like one here, one there. Somebody retires, somebody leaves, we don't replace them. What I really want
to ask from everyone is to continue to not only support our students, but our staff, from administrators to teachers to school counselors. Um, we we need the support. It's very stressful taking on
more and more and more and more. Um, and it's very difficult because we're trying to keep all the balls in the air and always making sure that the students are taken care of. And you know what? I know it comes down to numbers, but our kids need a lot. They need the support. They
need all of that. So, I really just want to make sure that we're all supporting each other and keeping that in mind because especially at the high school, I feel like it's bare bones and we just really any kind of cuts is really
difficult. So, I just wanted to share that with everyone. Um, and and thank you for the work that you're doing because I do realize that there were years that we had people who wanted to have that 0% and we see now what that
did because had that not happened, we may have still been in a big deficit, but it may not have been as bad as it got. So, I do want to thank you and I appreciate your support. Um, but just please continue to keep in mind that
we're a community. We were family here in I did not grow here, but my husband graduated from here, my sister-in-law did, both of my children did. They got a great education here, and they were both very successful. So, I, like Nikki said,
get really frustrated when people say something negative because we do have wonderful families, wonderful students, wonderful staff. Um, and we have students who really succeed in the many
different things that they do, whether they go to work or the military or go on to a four-year education or have their own business. So, um, I just wanted to thank you and thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. Thank you.
Okay, think that will conclude the public comment five. Okay. Now, can I please have a motion to approve uh Can I please have a motion for number 13, items A
through D? Make a motion. I'll second. Is there any discussion? On a motion by Mr. Chaffy, seconded by Dr. Capello, 13A through 13D. Dr. Capella, yes. Mr. Davio, yes. Miss ShraMM, yes. Mr. Chaffy, yes. Mr.
Dphano, yes. Yes. Miss Paulina, yes. Mr. Citri, yes. Miss Gulan, yes. Miss Falcone Schubert. Yes. Okay, moving on. Can I please have a motion to move finance 14 A through G?
Move it. I'll second it. Any discussion on finance? I have a quick question. Um uh um G, you're receiving two checks of is it is it for a scholarship? It says scholarship in both of them, but do we know who the scholarship winner is? I
mean, how is that assigned? No. So, what'll happen is this amount goes to those scholarship accounts. Okay. And then students through the high school guidance office apply for those scholarships and then they'll be awarded and handed out um as we come through the upcoming year. This is just to accept
those two donations. Yeah, I understand. I believe it's June 3rd, right Miss Yenko? The the senior awards, if you have a chance to go, even people in the audience, it is like my favorite night of the year to see like people who have come back who want to give back to the community and then new people and listen to their
stories and their families. It's a great night. So, those will be awarded when you come for the Rotary. Same idea. Oh, I I had a question for Miss Yanko. I'm sorry. This is kind of out of but it'll take a moment. Um, Monday, we're supposed to meet with you with the students for who's that at 10 o'clock. I
believe this is this is a Yeah, maybe after the meeting. All right, that's fine. No problem. All right. 14 A through G on the motion by Mr. Dphano and second by Dr. Capella.
Dr. Mr. Cabella. Yes. Mr. Davio. Yes. Miss ShraMM. Yes. Mr. Chaffy. Yes. Mr. Dustphano. Yes. Miss Paulina. Yes. Mr. Citri. Yes. Miss Goulan. Yes. And Miss Falcone Schubert. Yes. Moving items to
personnel. Can I please have a motion um for personnel 15A through Z? Oh, Z. We went through the whole alphabet. A through Z. So this section
will include resignations, um leaves, uh tenur employees, nonrenewals, renewals, and non-renewals. Um can I have a motion? I'll move it. I'll second.
Any discussion? Of course. I have another question. Uh this is about personnel though. It's absolutely about personnel. Uh that several of of the cases have longevity increases but some it shows zero. Why is
that? Uh because they haven't reached uh the number of years of service to be able to get longevity yet. But even even um um Stephanie Mrs. Martinez several years. So for some folks it's based on their individual contract. All right. So if they were
part of one collective bargaining agreement but now are part of a separate one, there are different words and and wording for for seniority. Okay. Any other discussion? Hearing none. 15 A to Z on the motion by Mr. Dphano, seconded by Mr. Davi. Dr.
Capello. Yes. Mr. Davio. Yes. Miss Shramp. Yes. Mr. Chaffy. Yes. Mr. Dphano. Yes, Miss Paulina. Mr. Citri, yes. Miss Gulan, yes. Miss Falcone Schubert. Yes.
Item 16, travel and professional development. Can I please have a motion? Motion. Second. Any discussion? On the motion by Miss Gulan, seconded by Miss ShraMM, Dr. Mapello. Yes. Mr. Davio,
yes. ShraMM, yes. Mr. Chaffy, yes. Mr. Dphano, yes. Miss Paulina, yes. Mr. Citri, yes. Miss Goulan, yes. And Miss Falcone Schubert. Yes. Can I please have a motion um for item
18, Students Services A through B? 17. I skipped it. How about let's we do 17 and 18 together then since I skipped it. I know there's a motion item 17 and 18. I'll second 17
and 18. So this is a discussion on both 17A and 18 AB. Any discussion? And who had the motion? I'm sorry. Oh, uh, M Kevin. And who seconded? Uh, Natalian. Italian. Thank you. Excuse
me. Sorry, I was busy flipping pages. Uh, Dr. Cabello, yes. Mr. Davio, yes. Miss Shramp, yes. Mr. Chaffy, yes. Mr. Dphano, yes. Miss Paulina, yes. Mr. Citri, yes. Miss Gulan, yes. And Miss
Felcone Schubert. Yes. I have a motion to move the rest of the agenda. Yes. 1920 1920 I'll make the motion. I'll second Jim and Natalia.
Um any discussion? Just want to bring to everybody's attention that we're getting off on May 23rd, which is the Monday after Memorial Day Friday. Friday before Friday before Friday before and that's our last unused snow day. So, just a
reminder and notice will go out to all of our families. As part of our calendar for this year, we had four built-in snow days. We used two of those days. We gave one back uh the Monday after spring break. The other day will be the Friday
before Memorial Day that we will give that day back. The calendar for the next two school years is on our website. Uh there are three built-in snow days to those calendars in each of the next two school years. Um part of our our
calendar encourage you to take a look. School year will be starting earlier and we'll be ending earlier in anticipation of our referendum projects so that we can get out and begin summer work um while while the weather is good and get a jump on things uh to work on those
projects as well. Just as an FYI. All right. No, you're good. Any other questions on 19 or 20 before I call the roll? People can check the spring break on those, right? Yes. Spring break is on there. Everything is out outlined in those calendars. Yep. That's what I was just adding to say at the end. So, you
did it for me. Perfect. On a motion by Mr. Chaffy and seconded by Dr. Capelloa. Dr. Capella. Yes. Mr. Davio. Yes. Miss ShraMM. Yes. Mr. Chaffy. Yes. Mr. Dustphano. Uh 19. Yes. Uh 20 present. Thank you
sir. Miss Paulina. Yes. Mr. Citri. Yes. Miss Gulan. Yes. And Miss Falcone Schubert. Yes. Okay. Board member comments. Is there anyone who would like to give any? I'm going to start with Jim if you want.
Good. Um I just want to say that the tonight was obviously a difficult meeting. We've done a lot of work on this. Jeff has done a lot a lot of work probably in a lot a lot of tums. Um it's not easy and as educators three
educators up here we feel budget meetings straight to our core. So we're doing our best. Thank you for coming. J oh sorry Jane I didn't see sorry uh no
thank you for everyone that came. Uh Kevin, Bill, I'm good. Thank you. Um I just want to say thank you to everyone who had questions and came and um asked and listened and continues to ask and
listen. Um and also I got my tickets for Friday night and it'll be date night with the hubbies. So I'm excited. My wife I do actually have a a comment uh remarks today. isn't um a happy day
normally for you know budget passing budgets. It's unheard of kind of for a board to get together and vote unanimously in one shot for a five about a 5% increase. Um and so most people rejoice over that. I'm not rejoicing. Uh
as Miss Yenko pointed out, you know what, the staff is the heart of our district and we're kind of like a snake eating his tail right now. I'm getting a little choked up because I I feel bad uh eating his tail right now because as we reduce teachers that stigma of a packon
increases uh and when I joined the board I didn't look I don't want to point blame I didn't want to point fingers at what happened but it's glaringly obvious those those calendar years where we didn't uh where we didn't raise taxes uh reduce taxes I'm no mathematician I'm
sure someone out uh streaming right now will correct my math but at a minimum we lost $2 million And it's compounded actually because if we raise it 1% obviously it goes up even more. Um my goal of joining this board
wasn't to cut teachers. Uh my priority are the students and the staff. Um and I'm going to continue continue to do that. Um, I'm not one of the more vocal people, but I I feel very strongly about what we did tonight. And it, as Nicole pointed out, it it's really bothering
me. And I'm a public employee myself. And I know the first thing that gets cut is the people. And the people are the foundation of the municipality, the state, the district, or wherever you guys work. And unfortunately, we're the
first to go. That's all. Thanks, Sh. Thank you. Yeah. And just to remind you, 75% of our budget is based on people. We don't produce a thing. We produce beautiful, talented, wonderful people. Um, and you
know, it c it's at a cost. Um, I had to write this out because I'm going to cry. So, here we go. Um, it breaks my heart that due to serious budget constraints, uh, we must make incredibly difficult decisions to reduce staffing, including value teachers and support staff. These
are not just positions. They are people who have dedicated themselves to our students and our community. But despite these challenges, our commitment to students will remain unwavering. We will continue to fight for fair funding, seek creative solutions, and support our
educators and students in every way that we can. While this is a painful moment, I believe in the strength of our community and our shared dedication to ensuring every child receives the education that they deserve. I want to thank Jeff and Matt and all of my fellow board members for making tough decisions
with the students best interests in mind. And I want to thank um everyone and I'm sincerely very sorry to those who have been negatively impacted by this budget season. Our goal up here is to strengthen this district and not
dismantle it. And I alongside of all of you, that's what we're going to keep doing. So with that, can I please have a motion to adjurnn? I'll make it. I'll second. All in favor? I I really