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Heat. Heat. Good afternoon. I would like to call this meeting of March 4th, 2026 to order. Roll call, please. Miss Harper. >> Miss Applegate, >> here. >> Dr. Mr. Chavaria >> here, >> Mr. Gibbons >> here, >> Miss Kenworthy, Miss Moian.
>> On behalf of the board of education, welcome to tonight's meeting. We welcome all attendees, those joining us live in the audience and those connecting with us virtually. We also wish to express our appreciation to the live simultaneous Spanish interpreters for facilitating access this evening. As we begin, I have two important reminders to
share. Applications for our board advisory committees open tomorrow, which is very exciting. And also beginning next week on Tuesday, April 10th, our board will kick off a town hall series. There's a lot more information for all of these items and that can be found on
the jeffcochools.org website. We invite you to please stand and join us in the pledge of allegiance. Is there a motion to approve tonight's meeting agenda? >> I move to approve today's agenda as presented in board docs. >> Is there a second?
>> I second. >> It has been moved and seconded to approve the agenda for today's meeting of March 4th, 2026 as presented in board docs. Roll call, please. Miss Harper. >> Miss Applegate. >> Yes. >> Dr. Etcharia. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gibbons. >> Yes. >> Miss Kenworthy. >> Miss Moian.
>> Thank you. The first study item of this evening is for the board to receive monitoring reports to 3.2 and 3.4 presented by Terara Pena, chief of family and community partners, and Amanda Parzio, chief of human resources. We have allotted 40 minutes for the
update. Welcome. Please reserve time for the board questions following your remarks. Sorry, I caught you guys off guard. We went fast. >> So, 40 minutes in total with questions included. >> Okay. I think the presentation will um
Did I cut you off? >> I was going to turn it over to you for any comments before we uh let our >> I thought you I thought you were done. Sorry. I think the conversation will uh the presentation will go um at the speed at which then we'll have time for uh conversations and allow the board to
stay on track with its agenda. U thank you Miss Pñena. Thank thank you Miss Parzio for the work that you put into this monitoring report and I'll hand it over to you to begin. >> Good evening um board and members of our community who are listening. Um, we look forward to spending some time with you
for, you know, the next 30, 40 minutes or so. Um, good evening. I'm Tara Pena, chief of family community partnerships, and I'm joined by my colleague. >> Hi everyone. Amanda Parzio, chief human resources officer. >> Tonight we're presenting our monitoring
report for board ends 3.2 and 3.4. >> This evening, we will be discussing the following things. Um beginning with the board ends as you have laid them out for us and our interpretation of them followed by some report updates around the different initiatives and um work that is tied to this report as well as
that which is on track and those um things that we still um are working through challenges to ensure the um that we are um both meeting the board ends but also meeting the needs of our students, staff and families. So this monitoring report provides an
overview of the implementation of board ends 3.2 and 3.4 from January 2025 through this January 2026. The report outlines how district policies, budgets, curricula, training, and programming are designed and implemented to reflect and
respect the diverse identities, abilities, and experiences of students, families, and staff. Board ends 3.2 and 3.4 4 guide the district's ongoing efforts to foster equitable and respectful learning and working environments across all schools and
departments. These ends emphasize both intentional decision-making and consistent practice to ensure that all individuals are treated with dignity and have equitable access to opportunities and resources. Together, these ends focus on both representation and respect
within our systems and in our daily practices. Thank you, Amanda. >> So, our work is grounded in honoring the identities of those we serve. This context underscores the district's commitment to ensuring that every student is known by name, strength, and
needs, experiences a sense of belonging, and has access to the supports and opportunities necessary for academic success. So, just demographics include the following. Um as you see our um percentage of um the number of female students versus the number of male
students that we serve, 51% male, 49% female. Um the number of free and reduced um lunch allore or economically disadvantaged students at 28.5%. Um the students of color um are represented by 36.6%
of the students we serve. um 13.9% of the students that we serve in DECO um are supported by an IEP and we are fortunate to serve um 7 7.9% multilingual learners in DECO. Um so the
the importance um and the impact of this slide is um in DECTO our diversity is our strength and it requires intentionality responsive systems um to ensure every student. some of the updates that we would like to share with you um from last year to
this year. First of all, um district policy. We have implemented um an uh review in a comprehensive civil rights policy overhaul which was conducted and completed in the summer of 2024. Um additionally, diversifying our workforce has been an initiative and a
goal. um inclusive hiring practices and intentional recruitment of educators of color have been two um areas of um effort that we have put forth both by the talent acquisition teams and human resources and across all uh hiring managers and leaders um throughout the
district. Um, additionally, uh, a way in which to, um, allow our students and staff to be able to share with us any civil rights complaints or concerns of discrimination, harassment that they may experience um, through a Speakfully
platform. Speakfully is simply the um, the vehicle by which these complaints and concerns are submitted. And that is a reporting platform which we successfully implemented in November of 2024. And um you saw some data in the
full report around the number of um reports that we have received from from staff specifically. And then uh districtwide training. This is something that we have continued to add to annually to ensure that our staff are being trained in um some of the
mandatory trainings that we feel are necessary but also that which is required by state statute. Um so we do have a new annual discrimination non-discrimination training um that is specific to non-discrimination and harassment of our students um but certainly applies to discrimination and
harassment um as a whole. And of course as you are aware these actions are strengthening our compliance in infrastructure while also reinforcing our commitment to dignity and belonging for all students and staff. >> Thanks Amanda. Um so as you um see in
your report um There's a lot of data and a lot of information to um demonstrate how we are creating a culture of safety and belonging for the stu for our students um especially those from from diverse and underrepresented communities. Um but we wanted to spend a little bit of time on um a few um of the
points that are shared within the report um just to highlight for not only just for you but for our community as well. And so word ends 3.2 shows up in our resource allocation. So we continue to invest at risk and title one funding strategically to support our students with greatest needs and those are invest
students in poverty. So for concurrent enrollment reimbursement also um 1,312 students across nine high schools um access college coursework saving our families um 1.3 million. Um going I want to go back really quick. I kind of jumped ahead in my notes here but
spending a little bit of time. What you saw in the report is the number of um dollars that we um invest per people for students who qualify for free and reduce. So for um every atrisisk student um so we saw that 28% of our students in
DECO are economically disadvantaged or experiencing poverty which shows up as we have students experiencing poverty in every school in JCO. And so we know we have concentrations of higher poverty which um are served by our title one schools, but we know that poverty does not discriminate. And so students that
are experiencing um poverty and need additional supplemental supports above and beyond what the general fund will require um is through an investment in our at risk dollars. Thank you. Um and that is in a per pupil allocation of
$1,241 per atrisisk students. So regardless of the school that a student might attend, title one or um just a comprehensive um school, they receive schools receive $1,241.
Um if I am a title school um I receive that at risk allocation but I also receive a title one allocation threshold dependent upon the um percentage of students who qualify or the p overall
percentage of students who um um who qualify on a certain threshold for my school and those thresholds are in your report. But just wanted to share an uplift that um our Title One schools also receive an overall weighted average of $2,381
above and beyond um their per pupil allocation as part of their SBB funding. And so that um at risk um investment um is a commitment that we've made and continued to invest in year-over-year. Um as we created the SBB resource guide um goodness that was rolled out three
school years ago. um we've we've continued to make significant investment in how we provide supplemental support to our most at risk learners in Jeffco and so um you see that in the report but another way in which our resources um reflect the needs of our students in our concurrent enrollment for equity and for
access and so um through some really intentional and strategic um tuition reimbursements for teachers um we now have 16 teachers that are able to offer concurrent enrollment that are serving 1,312 students um as a as a mom of a senior and thinking about paying for the
college ahead. Um any way that we can remove barriers including um tuition to ensure equitable access for our families um is is really important. So by by leveraging that tuition reimbursement, we're able to save our families about 1.3 million in tuition um which um you
know which is is tremendous. Um another way in which um our resources have been leveraged to directly support um the needs of our students is through curriculum updates. So, our curriculum updates that have been done um over the last year now include expanded diverse
literature. Um K12 classroom libraries featuring predominantly authors of color and the implementation of the I civics to elevate diverse perspectives. Um there is in K12 our bookshelf which are sets that that include um diverse
representation um which is really exciting. got to spend um a little bit of time this week at Foothills doing Read for America. And um some of the books that they selected um to to to have read um were those of diverse authors. And so um you know, you you've heard me say before, but I'll say it
again. Kids can't be what they cannot see. And so having diverse text and students see um being reflected in in the curriculum and in the um text that we share um is is a powerful commitment to us upholding these ends. Um, so I'm just really grateful for the work of of
our chief academic officer and and the teaching and learning team to helping make this commitment um, come to life for our students. And then um, being able to also see the I civics curriculum. Um, spending a lot of time in our learning leadership walks in in middle school and seeing that I civics curriculum come to life. Um, we were in
middle school this week. Students were doing a lesson on um, the Aztecs and the Incas and um, there was some really robust conversation that was happening. So really grateful for um our our recent investments in curriculum and materials as well.
Next um ensuring access and belonging for our multilingual families. And so I'm proud to share that we have scaled language access across the district. And that has been um a work that has taken place over the course of the last three and a half years. Um and so what you saw in the report, I'll just share out some
of the the high points of celebration. our um language light on demand which is our over the phone interpretation has um made communication accessible to our families to be able to receive information in their preferred to their home language. And so to date um really
well as of February 13th so from from January um 2025 to February 13th of this year um 4551 calls in 44 languages have been made um to strengthen a communications thermal bilingual families. Um last year we
rolled out a tool talking points um which allows two-way communications with our multilingual families. Um so think about a Remind or a class dojo or a tool where it it feels almost like a texting platform. Um talking points is very
similar. However, it allows you to communicate with the family in their preferred and or home language. And so if I'm going to send a communication to to Dr. and her preferred language is Spanish. I'll text her in English, she receives
the language in Spanish, she texts me in Spanish, I receive it in English, and voila, we're strengthening academic partnership and support of student outcomes um in a way that is really affirming to the needs of our families. And so um um we have 100 um% of title one schools that are successfully using
that. We piloted it last year. We had so much success that we have fully implemented that at scale in all of our title schools and um at the time of the report um almost 150,000 two-way messages have been sent um to our families and so um there's no greater
way to strengthen trust and to increase belonging than through communication. So um really grateful um for that tool that we've been made um that's been made available. And then finally, um you read a lot of information about how we're supporting um our newcomer um families
in in Jeffco and as we know that that is a changing landscape. Um but really grateful for the investment of the board in providing supports to ensure that we are able to provide the necessary wraparounds for our newcomer and undocumented students and families in
JECO. And so we have a a um a um family ambassador team that continues to support um and they are they are serving families across a 100 schools in JECO. So similar to what we talked about um around um serving students in poverty that concentration of students is is
dispersed across all of our schools. The same can be said for our newcomer families. Well, we have concentrations of where our families are in in clusters of where we serve them in schools. We have newcomer families um in in in in almost every school in Jeffco. And so um I hope that you um found some really
helpful information in the report about how we're serving um that unique demographic. Um and these systems ensure families can access information, advocate for their children, and feel welcomed in a sense of belonging in Jeffco. Um so um in addition to how we're
supporting our multilingual families, we also want to spend a little bit of time around instructional excellence and inclusive practices because these are um deep investments in equity as well. So our focus on belonging is also reflected in outcomes. So over the past four years, JeepCo has intentionally strengthened the instructional core so
that every student regardless of background, race or ability has access to rigorous grade level learning. So providing high-quality instructional materials aligned to state standards is equity in action and help ensures that every student um experience learning
that affirms their potential and strengthens their academic identity. Um we're also seeing encouraging results. So students engaged in career and technical education concentrator pathways graduated um at a combined average of 96.2%. We know you've seen that concentrator
data, but when we think about closing achievement gaps, um for um our historically marginalized and our underrepresented groups in Jeffco, this is um life trajectory changing work. And so um it needs to be underscored 10 times 10 ways when we think about the
the impact um that this have been has in student outcomes. Um so again with the CTE concentrator data um we are seeing historically underrepresented groups graduating at comparable rates or actually exceeding um their counterparts in certain in um in certain pathways and
and access to these opportunities can be trajectory changing for our students opening doors to college careers and long-term success. When students experience both high expectations and a strong sense of belonging, they are more likely to stay um engaged and and
succeed. Um in the access and belonging um academic belonging and access section of the report, um we we we you know spent a lot of time talking about the importance of tier one instruction. Um, and that I I just I want to also underscore that regardless of whatever
school a student might attend in Jeffco, having access to high quality instructional materials and tier one best practice um taught by a highly qualified teacher um is a deep commitment and something that every student deserves. And so if you're at a title school, if you're at a mountain school, um if you're at the north,
south, central, um you know, irregardless, um and regardless of your background or circumstance, um that a student um you know, deserves to have access to grade level um instruction. And so I just want to make the correlation that that is a a um
significant um um investment in in actualizing and making equity visible in Jeffco. Um, and then finally, another example of how we foster belonging across our system is our district-wide belonging calendar, which helps schools recognize religious and cultural observances throughout the year and
ensure student and staff sees their identities acknowledged in our learning environments. The great thing about the belonging calendar is it's interactive. If you click on March 1st, um, women's history month, you will see lots of resources and information that can be incorporated, announcements for the
school day, lessons that are are grade level appropriate across different grade spans. Um, and so it's a tool that has gotten a lot of traction and and schools really appreciate. There's a fun little feature in Outlook where you can actually add that calendar to um your
Outlook calendar so that if it's March 1st, it's women's history month, you can click that event and it takes you to all of those resources. So, we're trying to make it as accessible as possible. Um so, in the report, we also talked um at great length about affirming learning
environments. And so, um, the report highlights a small representative overview of the programming that we offer to affirm the identities and experiences of our students. And one example in the report is Latinos in action or LAA. Um, which is a class that we offer. Um, this is an elective course
at three of our comprehensive high schools, Jefferson, Bear Creek, and Wheatidge. So, Latinos in Action is an evidence-based leadership development course that positions students cultural and linguistic identities as strengths. The program focuses on academic
excellence, leadership, leadership, and service, empowering students to use their bilingualism and lived experiences as assets for success. So, at Jefferson High School, which is now in its fourth year of of implementation, the impact has been
especially strong. A core component of the program is academic mentoring and tutoring. So, Students and Latinos in action at Jefferson provide weekly bilingual tutoring to kindergarten and third grade students at Lumbert, supporting early literacy and numeracy
while also developing their own leadership, literacy, and language skills. For many of those younger students and many of those you see pictured here um here on on the bottom picture, you see their um their mentees. um for the younger students to um they
see the high school mentors um as someone who shares their language and their culture and that partnership and that pairing can be incredibly powerful and it helps them to begin to see themselves um you know in a future of something that's possible. Students in the program also engage in civic
leadership, community service. They've hosted cultural celebrations such as the Adel Muertos and La Posada and they've partnered with Edgewater Police Department um to host their Christmas crusade gift drive and they even visited the Colorado State Capital to advocate for healthier school lunches. So these
results are powerful. Last year 92% of LAA graduating seniors enroll enrolled in college or trade school. And last year, the program was even highlighted by Channel 4 after learning that students enrolled in the class held some of the highest GPA and test scores in
the entire school. So programs like Latinos in Action demonstrate how identity affirming leadership opportunities can strengthen a sense of belonging while also driving strong academic outcomes. As you saw throughout your report, we have several initiatives that we have
been engaged in that are on track um as well as a few challenges that we'll share with you this evening. Um first of all um we are on track with several of the important areas that are connected to board ends 3.2 and 3.4. First we have strengthened operational compliance and system structures that support equitable
practices across the district. This includes alignment around resource allocation through at risk and title one funding as Miss Pena just described consistent implementation of mandatory non-discrimination training for staff and accessible reporting systems for civil rights concerns. We're also seeing
progress in areas that support academic belonging and student pathways. This includes expanding academic, excuse me, expanding access to rigorous grade level instruction, diversifying our instructional materials so that students see themselves reflected in the
curriculum, and strengthening career aligned pathways that support strong graduation outcomes. Another area of progress is the continued focus on our 9th grade ontrack systems, which we know are a critical predictor of long-term student success and graduation.
Together, these efforts reflect a district-wide commitment to creating learning environments where students experience both high expectations and a strong sense of belonging. We're also seeing significant progress in in inclusive student leadership and
as we just mentioned with LAA, identity affirming programming. So across Jeffco schools, programs such as Latinos in action, the Native American education program, our LGBTQ plus supports, and the JECO student leadership board help create spaces where students can develop leadership, build community, and fill a
sense of belonging in their schools while also bringing voice and visibility to underrepresented groups within the community. In addition, we've continued strengthening access and belonging for diverse students and families. Our multilingual supports are fully operational across the district.
Newcomer students have expanded. Newcomer supports have expanded and schools have access to clearer guidance and multilingual resources to help ensures families can engage meaningfully within their schools. These efforts help ensure that that students and families across Jeffco experience schools as
welcoming, inclusive, supportive, and supportive environments. While we are encouraged by the progress we've outlined in the report and what we've shared with you this evening, certainly some challenges remain. One of those areas is our training compliance.
And although required civil rights and non-discrimination trainings are in place, time constraints and system limitations can impact completion. Strengthening our supervisor accountability and improving tracking systems will help ensure more consistent participation across all of our employee
groups for both veteran employees and new employees to our system. We also continue to see persistent academic achievement gaps, particularly for our Hispanic students, multilingual learners, economically disadvantaged students, and students with disabilities. While access to rigorous
instruction is improving, especially tier one instruction, as Miss Pena discussed, closing outcome gaps will require sustained and coordinated effort across our system. Um, in addition, we continue to see differences in student and family
experiences across Jeffco, excuse me, particularly at the secondary level. Experiences related to safety, rigor, and belonging can still vary by students by students schools or identity and increasing consistency and coherence
of experience across schools remain an important focus. Um, I want to thread this with um, you know, um, truth and hope. Um, as you saw in the report, we've also done a really nice job of intentionally um, finding ways to
um, ensure that families um, our our multilingual families are able to share their voice. And so, as you saw in the report, we've seen increased access of the Panorama survey um, where our families of color, and you'll hear more about this in in monitoring report 2.2 and 2.6 six this spring. Um but we have
increased um diverse representation of family voice on the survey by making it available through um paper copy and and available in multiple languages. And so families who have um languages um such as Russian or Farsy and other more um
obscure languages um that aren't as accessible in our district. We are hearing from those families. And so I just want to also uplift, you know, it was in your report, but I also want to share that we're doing a, you know, a nice job and have lots of work to do, but but making certain that we're hearing from from all of our families is
is a commitment that um that remains strong. And what we do with that data is also really important. And the fact that we have families with diverse backgrounds that are experiencing school really differently um remains a challenge um that we are paying really close attention to. And then finally,
um, and probably most importantly, um, we are navigating a complex and involving state and national climate that can create uncertainty for students, families, and staff. Um, especially within our newcomer communities. We know that that um, remains a present challenge and
something that that we are leaning into. Um, again, I can't say enough how grateful I am for the board resolution and for the investment in our our family ambassador team to be able to provide that necessary wraparound support and and bring um comfort, voice, and
visibility. Um, never did were we able to um gosh, it felt like we almost had a crystal ball at the time when we made that investment. We think about the ways in which our family ambassador team has been leveraged to support um our newcomer community. Um and and most importantly during times like these clear communication, steady leadership
and a continued focus on belonging um remain essential. And so um just know that that commitment remains and um these these challenges remain at the forefront. So while there is still work ahead, this report reflects meaningful progress in ensuring that Jeffco schools are places
where diverse identities are respected and celebrated and where every student has access to opportunities that support their success. So with that, we welcome any questions from the board. >> Thank you. Board members, questions.
Director Kenworthy. >> Hello and thank you for being here. Um I liked reading the report. Uh so I'm just going to dive right into it. Thank you for the detail in there. You mentioned the cope >> experience and I'm curious um how many
cohorts happen per year and how many people per cohort? like how how many people has that reached so far? >> Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for asking. So, we have hosted two cope experiences. So, that's the co cost of poverty um uh cost of poverty experience which is a simulation hosted by think tank. So, we
have three members of my team that have been trained and um we really um provide the training on on demand on as requested. Um so we are offering it to um pair professionals and secretaries on
March 30th and that is a request that has come um from the professional learning team. So if if the board might have interest um in in participating in the simulation on 30th but we have had um members of the professional learning team, members of our community as well
as my division that have participated and we have a lot of schools that are showing interest in wanting to participate in this simulation as well. Um it is quite um it is quite the event and it requires a lot of coordination and so making certain that we have enough interest um before um before it's
offered is really important to help with our planning efforts but members of our cabinet team or academic leadership team have participated but I can I can come back and get you the exact number. >> That's excellent. I think simulation experiences like that are um incredibly valuable and I'm grateful that we're
doing it. I'm looking forward to having that happen some more. And I I remember taking the dyslexia simulation and how much how much um awareness and and knowledge you gain in a short relatively short amount of time. I think they're
really valuable. So I wanted to lift that up. >> Um use of speaky. It looks like we've gone up from 37 to 77 um reports and that that was specifically employees. Have we had any other reports from students or anybody else in the
community through that? >> You want to speak about employees? >> Sure. So, the employee count um we believe has had an increase specifically because we have been better at getting out the word around the um accessibility and where it is and how we find it. Um, anytime we discuss that with our
associations, if they have a concern or a member who's brought a concern to them, we always encourage them to fill out the speaky form so that we can handle it appropriately. Um, with regard to the student concerns, those are typically um, oftentimes they are title nine concerns and they go directly to
our legal team that has a title n um, coordinator who works um, directly with students and families around any type of title n um, investigation that we might need to do and responsiveness of course in collaboration with the school leader um, around ensuring supportive measures
are in place. And um at this time we don't have the numbers. Um we weren't able to access the exact numbers because our form wasn't allowing full access to our um administrator who has the you know director report level. Um and so we
we are looking at trying to get the student numbers um and we're more than happy to share those back with you. >> Is it fair to assume though that students have been using it? They have been um definitely at lower rates than staff. >> Yeah, it's relatively new. So, we'll continue to spread that word. And also
to differentiate that from safe to tell. >> Director Kenry, may I interrupt? I was one of my questions was going to be, can you explain the difference between speaky and safe to tell? So, if I can add, would you mind doing that really quick? >> Sure. So, safe to tell, as you know, is an anonymous reporting platform um that
anyone can use. Um and there's multiple ways in which you can use it whether it is text message um over the phone or um online. Um anyone can file a report. They are completely anonymous. Goes directly to um the school leadership but also law enforcement depending on that
actually all of them go to law enforcement but it also comes to district leadership. Some of them only come to law enforcement and district leadership depending on the um type of report that is submitted and the language that is used in the report. Um, safe to tell is then followed up on by
either law enforcement, school leadership, uh, community superintendent, or even um, someone here centrally, whether that is from human resources or a combination of all of those people, including our office of um, school safety. Um, with regard to Speakfully, Speakfully forms only come,
first of all, they're not anonymous. They have to have a name submitted with them in order for us to respond. Um it is um aligned to district policy around providing a platform for employees to be able to file reports specific to discrimination and harassment. Um they
come directly to human resources or andor legal and um they right now they're reviewed my by my director of uh EEO equal employment opportunity. She determines um usually in collaboration with my executive director of um HR
partners and talent acquisition um where this speaky form needs to go. Is it a simple workplace conflict based on the information that's in the report and that needs to go to the HR partner and the leader um that either supervises the department or supervises the school or
does this need to go to legal? Do we need to discuss with legal um how to respond or does this potentially need to be assigned to a workplace investigator um to find out more information? Oftent times the way in which we determine that is through an intake phone call. And so
either our workplace investigator or our director of EEO will make a phone call to the reporting party and find out tell me more about this, what happened, getting some more detailed information than what they potentially submitted into the form and we will follow up on
that. um as necessary >> as just one little additional piece to add. Um as as we worked on this report and we worked collaboratively goodness with legal and HR um my team um what we noticed in in particular to how students are reporting um instances of
discrimination is a lot of times they're they're leveraging safe to tell. They're going to um somebody safe at school like an administrator or a mental health provider. Um calls are coming into first. And so thankfully we've been able to provide a lot of ways for students to
share um really any part of their lived experience including discrimination. And so that's what's made it really difficult for us to pinpoint um and that if they're submitting um we did have five submissions on the speak form and some of those were flagged as discrimination but then as you read them
more closely they were not incidences of discrimination. There's just like a there's there's some drop down in speakullfully. Um, so we're also trying to figure out like our standard operating procedure, but knowing that there are many complex layers with discrimination and they're being reported in a lot of different ways. And
so it's proving a little bit challenged to really get an exact number. Um, but really grateful that we've been able to disseminate our AE AC non-discrimination policy that one our board resolution posters are visible as is how to file a
um discrimination complaint. Um those posters are in I spent a lot of time in high school athletics and so I spent a lot of time in in um our high schools as a parent and see the posters really visible on how students and families can report discrimination and so I believe we made a lot of that accessible um one
other thing is um our structure with our equity ombbuds um and so that is a structure that's also being leveraged by employees families and staff and so we have a lot of reporting in place um trying to intersect that in a nice clean number um is is um something that we
need to continue to improve upon. >> I really appreciate it and I I do just want to highlight that we do have multiple ways that our students can report um and that speak is one way that they may not be very familiar with but that their concerns are still being addressed
>> um through other other methods. I really appreciate the information. Um, talking points. I have experienced the talking points app and I think it's a great tool. I know we're using it in title one schools and I'm wondering if there's any thought
about expanding beyond title one and I know that that might be there might be a fiscal note attached to that. Um, >> yeah. No, I >> but I do think it's a great tool. >> Yep. Sorry to interrupt you. Um I know that we are looking at a mass communication tool for the district and
um expanding upon what we use doing something different. We currently use school messenger which has a lot of limitations and so um to my understanding some of the tools the comm communication tools that we're exploring have features very similar to talking points. So it may be that we sunset
talking points and use what the new mass communication tool is. Um, and if that seems to be a little bit further down the road, um, then looking at expanding talking points systemwide could be, um, a really important next step. >> Um, I also really appreciated your just description of the language, um,
>> over the phone interpretation, language, >> over the phone interpretation, but also talking points. If I put it in English, then it can be trans translated and >> communicated in another language on the other end. And I just think that that's really valuable. And I know our title one schools need it, but we also have students and families >> Absolutely. that are in schools that
have not been, you know, officially designated as title one. And so I was just hoping hoping we can ext expand that um for them. Um I'm going to tell you I love the CTE data addressing persistent graduation rate gaps and I hope we continue to work toward
discovering gap closing practices earlier in student experience like elementary school and middle school. I know that those have been elusive for decades and we're still trying to find them. But I I do think it's promising that we've found something in the high school realm and my hope is that our
continued work will help us find other other things that where we can address that earlier. You >> um and I I have lots of other things but um I think the last one I want to ask is about at risk and title one allocations. There's a bill at the capital um that is
directing schools to specifically direct funding to those populations, high-risisk populations. Um and we are already doing it obviously, but my question is are we doing it because it already exists in state statute or through the funding
formula or are we doing that through our own decision somewhere along the way in Jefferson County? But our SB >> our well our specifically at risk funding. >> Yeah. The way that we structure our SBB was redesigned
approximately four years ago. >> Brena is shaking her head. Yes. So, Brena and I um ran a pro led a process um many many school leaders were involved um in this process and we had some technical assistance uh that
supported us in reshaping our methodology for allocation of funds to our schools in the general fund. Um through that process we increased what we call the at risk factor. So, we
increase the amount of money that schools get um on top of the base per pupil amount for any student that has um an atrisisk that qualifies for at risk. Um and so that that uh increased uh through that process uh which is great
and that's applied to all schools not just title schools. In addition to that, we did some work um partly through that process, what we learned was that in Jeffco, we have um quite a spread of
students who have at risk factors. In other districts, um you'll find that um at risk students might be more concentrated um in one part of the district. We do have some areas of concentration in Jeffco. um those schools get the
additional funds um for every atrisisk student that they serve um at higher concentrations. But when we have students, for example, a school with say five students who qualify for at risk um needs, this also then allows those
schools to get the additional funding for those students. Um, and then we've also done some work in the title one space to just make sure that we're being really thoughtful about how thin those dollars are spread or how wide those dollars are spread, especially given what we learned about the concentrations
and or um geographic sort of distribution of students who are at risk. So that work has gone on and that work happened about four years ago. Um, and we're proud of that work and I think our schools are seeing some of the benefits to that. So, our title one schools that have the concentration of
students in addition to the atrisisk dollars in the SBB model, they also have title one funds on top of that. Yeah. Yeah. I just I wanted us to run through that because I've received some questions recently about can we can we allocate more dollars towards our title
one and at risk populations? And the answer is we do that already. Um, but I think sometimes people are hoping that we we they want us to do even more and I would love to do that if we had more financial resource and we are we are
prioritizing resources and dollars in that way. So I just wanted to have that conversation. >> Thank you. I just want to add one point to that. So, as you see in the report for the 2526 school year, the at risk allocation um is $1,241, which is um approximately $22 million of
investment that we've made from the general fund directly to support our atrisisk students. And again, that those dollars are distributed um across the entire district. >> I appreciate it. Thank you. I also wanted to just add um you know while you know you've heard us share we've also
increased um the threshold and the tiers of funding um for title one um 5% um across the board. So in you know a budget um reduction um process we've actually um increased um the allocation that we've been able to provide to title to try to help protect their purchasing
power. understanding the complexities of um the declines of enrollment that our title one schools are seeing. I'll be done. Thank you. >> Thank you, Director Kenry. Directors, Dr. Etcher,
>> thank you so much for sharing um these slides tonight. I also appreciate you including the inclusive hiring uh slide deck. That was really eye opening for me. Um, looking at the monitoring reports, we've got the pie
charts and, uh, on slide four, you're talking about 36.6% of our students being students of color, but looking at the specific pie charts, um, page nine, 26% of the PI are
Hispanic students. Um, so my question I'm gonna push a little bit on Miss Pena because I know you and I have shared experiences with this as a demographic that is a largely diverse demographic. We're talking about people who may communities who may have been in the country since the 1500s versus people
who arrived yesterday. We're talking about people who are very fluent in English versus not um, you know, multilingual learners. So my question is do we have any kind of data showing the subgroups within that Hispanic because
that's a that's one quarter of this population. It's a big chunk. So do we have anything that breaks those that sub that Hispanic part of the pie chart >> into subgroups based on possibly language um you know
generations in the country uh things like that. And then do we have do we see different solutions working with those different subgroups um to improve achievement? >> Yeah. So answer the first question. Um and so the way that we collect that data as part of the registration process and
it's self-disclosed. So, a family um will will self-disclose um race and those boxes are, you know, federally aligned. And so, I'll just use my own lived experience when I have to identify my race and there's no respectfully
brown box, right? I click white, which doesn't fully reflect my identity or my lived experience. And that would the same would be would would the same would ring true for our families. And so one, when we talk about how we track data by race, it is part of the census data. It's part of how we report for state
reporting. We think about graduation. It's important that there's trend data. And so that when we say Hispanic student in Jeffco, it means the same thing as Hispanic student in Douglas County and so on. And so a lot of that is for reporting measures. Um, we do track and it is in the report the number of
multilingual families. And so when we talk about diversity being our strengths, I might be Latino, I might be CHO, I might be Colombian, I might be um, you know, Mexican-American, wherever my my Latinad lies. And I may also be a Spanish-sp speakaking family. And so we
do track kind of the dual identities and multilingual, but our multilingual families, again, we have over a hundred languages spoken in Jeffco. And so some of those are Spanish and we know there's different dialects and families are from all parts of Central and South America. Um and so it's it's complex. Um and so
no that is not a way in which we currently track but I can tell you um that our family ambassadors specifically when we talk about supporting our newcomer and our undocumented. And so when we talk about newcomer um as a really technical term, it's if you
nearly arrived in the last year. Um but our newcomer, excuse me, our family ambassadors are supporting families. So a student might be new um to school in the last year, but a family might be um new to the country in the last 1 2 3 four years. That doesn't mean that their
barriers and challenges are any less because they've been here a few extra years. And so our family um ambassador team are are serving and supporting those families just as they are for families who have newly arrived. And so, um, the identity of our Latino community
is, um, rich, as it is complex, as it is diverse. Um, and I can tell you that's not something that we currently track. But I can tell you, um, the lived experiences of the different um, slivers of diversity are are very different. And
I would say that that is something that that my team um, leans into very distinctly. Um, and I would say that's that as a community and as a country is is a growth opportunity for us when we think about creating cultures of belonging.
>> Thank you. Just to clarify in these slides, I saw ethnicity. Are we saying are we were you using race or ethnicity >> based on the census data? >> Yeah, so we are using so how we track that is by race. >> Okay. Thank you. Mhm.
>> Um I do want to acknowledge that Miss Pena may have a time commitment, so please note that if you need to leave. >> Thank you. Doing okay. >> Certainly may. >> I appreciate that. Thank you. >> Board members, any other questions? Director Moanian, >> just a comment. I just really want to thank you for the important work that
you guys are doing in this space um in supporting all of the families particularly with the complex nature of what's going on nationally, locally, whatever that might look like. So I just want to uplift and thank you guys for the hard work and effort that you guys are doing. So thank you.
>> I appreciate that. Thank you Mr. Gibbons. On the topic of challenges, we've got the um first off, there's these academic achievement gaps, and I'm wondering if there are, you know, particular schools that seem to be addressing this, working
with this better than others. Um, and, you know, if you've identified any trends in that way where we can then identify sort of best practices that can be shared with other parts of the district that maybe aren't dealing with these gaps as well as as certain parts. >> Absolutely. And so thankfully we have um
our chief academic officer who's here and I know that she um recently um shared monitoring report 1.1. Is that accurate? Um that talks a lot about um the disproportionality that we do see. And I can tell you that our disproportionality um does really mirror
what we see um nationally where um you know particularly our students of color um um have um gaps in in outcomes. Not in every indicator in and in every part of our community. Um but that is that is very much um a challenge that that we
are navigating. And um I can tell you that recently we um as an academic leadership team um as a district academic leadership team um have have spent some time really looking at disagregated data and looking at promising practice where we are seeing schools that are closing gaps or at
least um meeting that medium growth percentile um for students of um um diverse identities. And so we are paying really a close attention to what that promising practice looks like. That's a big part of um the importance of the leadership learning walks that we do gosh almost weekly. And this year we're
focused on middle school. Um but we're able to actually be in classroom and look at um um the instruction um happening in real time. And that's why I I really underscored the importance of tier one instruction. Um in my experience um you know I you know over
20 years of education most of that serving in title schools. And what I can tell you is um the opportunity that serving in a diverse community unfortunately comes with really good intention, but it also comes with lowering the bar um for students. Um and what we know and what research will tell
us is that high expectation and high supports coupled with um really good teaching um highquality instructional materials and access to the standards is the work that happens to help close achievement gaps. And so, um, like I I, you know, I I know I sound like a broken
record, but that is such an important component of the work that we're doing to closing gaps. And we think about the graduation data, um, you know, and our our academic um, um, achievement gains that we have seen, um, continuing to focus on closing those achievement gaps
is going to be really important. But, >> um, I'll just add in and then I want I'd like Renee to maybe say something if she feels like she has something to add. Um what I would say is we we often I think tend to look at like what school is getting it done and um that is
definitely something I think our academic leadership team is looking at year-over-year um and especially our school leadership team who supports the principles directly. Um what we are also seeing is what type of programming is getting it done
>> and that's just a different way to view it. So when you look um at the monitoring report um and just to draw everybody's attention to this if you haven't looked through the whole report uh pages 23 and 24 show you what I would
say is the best programming results I have ever seen in my career at closing achievement gaps. So um this is this this data is all over the place. I think we had it we have it in multiple places in multiple monitoring reports. It's something I'm talking about every time I
get the chance to. I talked about it last night with the partnership when we have high school students who are concentrating in a CTE pathway, which means they're taking four or more courses uh aligned to a career pathway.
Um, we are seeing a 30% closure of gaps for multil- language learners, students of color, students on IEPs who have special education needs, and students who are experiencing poverty. I have never seen that kind of data in my
26-year career as an educator. And so I would just say that's a great example of programming that we are paying very close attention to and trying to everything we can right now frankly through high school reimagined which I know you guys heard about last month to
expand um and it's one of the things that we talked to the part that I talked to the partnership about last night which is if we have an opportunity to raise additional revenue from our voters um we do need to consider investing it into these kinds of programs.
that we have proven data work for Jeffco kids to help them close that graduation gap for example. Um so that's that's one area that I think would I'd make sure and highlight. And then Renee, do you have anything to add? >> Uh I would call attention to you hear
me? Um a few years ago, I think two years ago now, we did um commission a report a study in Jeffco um for what it would take to close gaps uh within our schools. And some of the things that came out of that study was the importance of coherence. So a coherent I mean there's it's the things that we
know. It's just communicating them effectively and doing them consistently that really makes a difference. So coherence, consistency, and belonging make a difference for kids. So how are we as a district organizing ourselves to support our schools in a coherent way with a coherent vision with coherent and
consistent materials so they can execute consistently on their campuses for students. And that's what we've been doing for the last few years. We've gotten these tier one pieces in place through materials and practices. Um, and grade level instruction was critical. That was a huge gap in our system that
we are not seeing anymore. We are now seeing grade level instruction consistently across our classrooms. And you saw with 1.1 our mid-year data, we are seeing some of that improve as a system. It's also the use of data, right? It's interventions. right now
that we're supporting teachers with is if you have 60% of your students in your class on a read plan, meaning they have a significant reading deficiency, how do you teach them at grade level, right? So, what are the skills that our teachers need to provide access to grade level without lowering the rigor of the
expectation? Because that is what happens. I even heard, I think it was just last year, um it was during a negotiation session where a teacher said, "I don't understand how the district expects me to use these new literacy resources." This was an
elementary school teacher with my students. We're a title one school and they are so traumatized. That is a mindset challenge that we have to overcome. Students in title one schools can with the right support. So it's it's very
complex but there are things that we know work. Relevance matters right when we provide re relevant meaningful learning for students like our CTE concentrators. They engage, they perform well, they show up to school. Um so there are things that work and there's
also what I always refer to as a Rubik's cube, right? Every school has a little different combination that you need to put together to make a difference for those kids in that school. So I think we're working on the right things. I think we're heading in the right direction and our data is starting to show that.
>> So the elephant in the living room is, you know, challenges related to state and national climate. >> Are there areas where you think there need to be either better or more or different policies, procedures, um areas where you think there needs to be just
more support and conversation. How how do how can we best address this challenging moment for a population that's very vulnerable already even before the current moment? >> I would say um first and foremost creating the foundational conditions of
a culture of safety and belonging um where we are creating inclusive and welcoming classrooms, inclusive and welcoming schools um really starts with the commitment of knowing our students and families by name, strength and need. Um and so that that you know is is is an
important commitment and something that we have been really working towards for the last four years. Um families feeling um seen, respected, and supported to be able to go into their building um get their questions answered, feel really seen and and be able to access support.
I would say something um that is is is a structure that we have that you all are very familiar with, but that's the first team, our family response service team. creating technical structures where we're actually supporting families in removing barriers and addressing needs and concerns is is really important. And
so I would also underscore what um Renee said around the mindset challenges. Um there is a lot of mindset work that that needs to be done to ensure that um again I said it before, we're holding our students to high expectations coupled with high supports. And so, um, we will
be rolling out some, um, professional learning to support with some of that mindset work here in August. Um, and I think it's remaining flexible and compassionate, um, to the lived experiences. You know, I always say we never know what a family or someone is walking away from or
walking into, and that has never been more true than it is presently. And so, also, um, staying really calm, um, and really accessible for our families, um, is going to be really important as well. Um, and
I wish I wish I had um an an answer on on how to kind of calm current state. Um, be being responsive and being accessible is one of the most important things that we can do. >> I just want to echo a sincere appreciation. Um, the passion that you
both have for this work is really evident and we really appreciate it. I know there's been significant growth and these tools that we've put in place. You know, they sound like small things, but they I do believe they can make an impact to a family. And I really um I
appreciate you saying that we don't know what families are walking into or away from because we don't know from the outside. And um I do believe that all of our staff, our principles, our educators, central office teams working on these
care deeply about our kids. So I appreciate that. And I do know that we are planning to to share more information around um some of our guidance around some of these tricky issues coming up. >> Yes. Yes, we are. >> So thank you. >> Absolutely. Thank you so much.
>> All right. Thank you. Alrighty. Um, really appreciate that. Thank you, Miss Pena, Miss Parzio. Um, next the board will receive an update on the 2026 legislative session. Presenting this update is our very own Director Kenworthy and our guest presenter, Mr. Ed Baich from Bowish and Castle Public
Affairs. We have allotted 30 minutes for this update. Please reserve time for board questions. As we go through and before I turn this over to our esteemed presenter, Superintendent Dorland, is there anything you'd like to add? I just want to thank uh Mr. Bowic first of all
by um uh saying uh like genuine thank you for being here last night and tonight. I will not mention Monday night. I'll let you do that. Um I really appreciate uh the time that you spent with our partnership meeting explaining
the state level conversations around state possible state ballot measures that could impact K12 funding. um and or just K12 operations going into the November 2026 election. Um it was great, Ed, to have you there and I just really appreciate that and um thank you to
Director Kenworthy for all the work that she's been doing on behalf of the board and the district side by side with Ed and others down at the state capital. Um, having a board member representing the district's interests um, in that way I think goes a long way with our local
delegation and legislators who um, are doing their best to represent Jeff Co's interest. So, thank you very much. Um, and with that, I'll hand it over to you guys. >> Thank you very much. Good evening, fellow board members, Superintendent Dorland and President Applegate. I am Eron Kenworthy, your board legislative
liaison, and I'm here with >> Good evening. I'm Ed Bowich, the district lobbyist, >> and we're here with your legislative update. I am also want to echo um deep gratitude for Ed's continued efforts to keep us updated and informed and answering text messages for me when I'm
asking about specific bills um after hearings. So, he's been incredibly helpful in allowing me to feel like I can keep up on what's happening down there uh without having to be there in person all the time. Uh we're starting to see some bills pass out of committee
and head across the hall to the other chamber and that means that we are in a good space to begin considering legislation on which we would like to take a position. We'll have a chance for a similar conversation again in April and by May by our May study session the
session will be in a hectic race to the end. So, we could, but it would be uh days and a little bit late for consideration. We could still do it, but I just wanted to give you that timeline. Um, which is
why we asked um last night or the day before for you to make sure that you took a look at everything on our most recent updates so that we can begin to have some of those conversations. Um, the school finance bill continues to be listed as pending in the Senate Education Committee and awaiting a
hearing. Uh, so that will also start to take up a lot of our bandwidth as well um later in March and through the rest of the session. And Ed, I'm going to hand it over to you. >> Great. Thank you. And um, thank you for
the invitation to come out here tonight. And I know you're all incredibly busy people, but if you ever find yourself in this building rushing into a meeting, it's a great place to get work done in this room. and you can work for maybe 45 minutes before you realize, I must have the wrong night here. And when the
custodian comes in and tells you, what are you doing here? I've gotten lots of work done. So anyway, highly recommend it. Um, today is day 50 of the legislative session. We are marching towards next week's halfime. Um, lots of things going on. All of the tough budget
decision decisions should be made this calendar month. the legislature will get their next round of quarterly revenue estimates. The revenue estimates aren't going to change a whole lot. They won't change the fact that we have a big budget deficit. Um maybe they move
50 million in one direction or another direction, maybe a hundred million, but we're looking at an $800 million shortfall. So, it's not going to change the large picture. Um, but we'll get that and then after that happens, the JBC will be working in a furious
five, six days to come up with the plan to balance the budget. I'm told the pinnacle conversion from state entity to private entity. While it's not dead, it's kind of on life support. It's still an option out there, though very
unlikely. um the Medicaid cuts that the governor had proposed um haven't been accepted by the joint budget committee. Some of those have even been withdrawn by the governor's office. Um so they are the joint budget committee is making
reductions to many of the lines that that have been line items that have been brought before them. But you're not going to get your way out of this by cutting $2 million here or $3 million there. You're not going to reach 800 million or even half that. A lot of it
is going to have to be pushed off till next year. So, whomever is elected governor will inherit part of a big mess. Um, in terms of bills, what would you like to do? >> Well, well, I gave you a list. Um, but I'm going to run through some of this
with you. Um, the first one that I will start at the top of the of the list, HB26 1028, second language educational program for high school students. Um, I would like for us to take a position of support on this if the board is willing to consider that. Um, it has passed
passed the House Education is pending House Appropriations. Um, Mr. Badich, do you think that this if it has a fiscal or financial note will not it will not be viable? >> Um, thank you. The fiscal note for this
bill is roughly 35 $30,000. So, it's not some huge amount of money. It's a little more than what they usually wink at and pass along. Um, but there are ways that that can be addressed. So, it is definitely still in play. >> All right.
>> The fiscal note won't immediately kill it. >> Wonderful. Thank you. So, I ask my board members. >> Yeah. Director Kenry, do you want us to go each one as you go through? >> Yeah, I think so. >> Um, so this is the bil bilingualism endorsement, correct? >> Correct.
>> Okay. concern, discussion, questions. >> So, I'm just concerned about the funding. Is this going to be supported by funds from the state since it's going to sort of set into uniform statewide requirements or is this going to be a
new program that Jeffco is going to have to take on and figure out how to fund? >> My understanding is it would be state supported, but I could be wrong. >> Um, yeah, just turn it. Thank you. Um,
so right now we do have the diploma endorsement in biiteracy that's gone on for a few years and this bill creates that separate diploma endorsement for bilingualism. Um, and it would um allow districts to
do that. I don't know that there are necessarily going to be state funds that come with that, but I haven't heard a lot of districts object that this will be a huge budget drain. They're not thinking that this will be a significant
um budget drain if this goes into place. >> Good question. >> To that end, I mean that as I look at it, it also would seem that if we're not currently offering this that this is something we could probably do with existing capabilities pretty >> pretty readily.
>> And I I would think this would be a bigger impact on smaller, more rural districts. But I don't know. That's >> I'm supportive of this. I think it's a great add-on to what we're doing. >> Yeah, I I would support it as well.
>> All right. >> Did you have any other questions? >> No, I think I'm good. >> Okay, great. >> Thanks. >> So, just so everybody understands what this means is we will probably draft something >> or Aaron will draft something with Kristen or Mr. about it for us to agree
and typically they would go on consent that just says Jeff Co is in support of >> this this bill. >> Yeah. >> And we I don't know we might have other ones to add to that same thing that I'm going to have to write up. Uh the next one I want to direct our attention to is
down towards the bottom. HB261255. This is a social media duty to report and search warrants. It's being sponsored by our very own Representative Story and Senator Cutter. Um, I am incredibly supportive of this bill and it has finally been given a scheduled
date in the House Judiciary for March 18th and I plan on being there to testify um in the hearing. The only thing I need to know is am I testifying on behalf of myself or on behalf of the board. I would also add this is Sheriff
Marinelli's bill as well and um in concert with what um our representative Person is doing at the federal level. Yes. So >> thoughts, concerns, questions? >> I think we should support this. >> I strongly support it and to the extent
there's anything I can do beyond saying that, >> yeah, >> I'm I'm available. And >> fantastic. >> Yeah. Um, we'll send I'll make sure you have the date the 18th. >> I'm I'm really proud that our county is taking lead on this and want to show our
sheriff and um, Representative Story and Senator Creder that we are behind them. And madame chair on that bill, this will be a big fight with the tech companies and it may be something um that the board
will want to send a specific letter to all the members of our delegation. >> I will Yeah, I will just go on the record now on this and I'm I know I'm not speaking for the whole board. I don't care. Yeah. And if they cannot, it would be one thing if they came with
some sort of compromise saying, "Hey, this doesn't work, but something else does." And if they don't want to, get rid of them. Like, it's I'm just I cannot state it strongly enough. >> I appreciate if there's other things we can do like a letter like testifying. Um, let us I think you've got strong
support from this board. >> This one may need that extra level. >> Let us know what we need to do. >> Yeah. And we'll work together. >> Okay. There was there was another similar bill um but that was asking for 72-hour turnaround and this particular bill that we're talking about supporting
is in favor of a 24-hour turnaround and I wanted to just lift up that I'm much more supportive of a 24-hour turn turnaround um in these cases. >> Director Moian >> just wanted to kind of echo what Director Kenworth Worthy was saying. I think it's important that we are giving
our law enforcement agencies the tools that they need to make sure that they're addressing any safety concerns within the community. So, I fully support this bill. >> Thank you, board. >> Director Kenworthy, can I ask before over here it's Kristen?
Um before we go on to clarify, you are going to testify for this bill. Okay. Okay. My understanding is the board has to have um you have to approve an endorsement for this bill before she can testify. When do you plan to testify?
>> It's on the >> 18th, right? So, if we approved it in next next week, >> this one is on March 12th. It's in the morning before. >> So, what I'm hearing you say yes, that's an excellent question, Miss Har. >> I want to ask I want to ask Julie. I
mean, that's not been my experience with boards that there needs to be like a formal action. I do think like best practice would be the board giving direction and kind of like a maybe even an informal thumbs up, you know, for lack of a better way to
say it. But I but maybe I my experience is different than what your advice might be. And obviously the board should be taking your advice, not not basing it on my experience. >> Well, in in a in a perfect world, which is not the world we're in, right? better.
>> Okay, just got to hold it closer. In a perfect world, which is not always the world we're in, you all would have taken an affirmative position on a piece of legislation and under your one voice policy, decide who's going to use that voice. Um, people always get nervous about voting in study sessions, but I will tell you our agenda, you know,
recognize that we were discussing pending legislation tonight, and I would have no problem if you said we we want to simply vote to take this position and designate so- and so to go testify on our behalf. I actually like that best because otherwise we simply have
confusion in sort of the public record about why did a board member show up and purport to be testifying on behalf of Jeffco when we can't find anything suggesting that the board took a position on the legislation. >> Roger that. But it doesn't need to be like a formal piece of paper written
down. It can be a proc. It's a process. So >> it can and it certainly doesn't need to be a resolution or anything fancy. >> Miss Tullson. So, I could make a I could request a motion from the board now. >> You could. >> So, I'd like to request a motion that we agree that the board, the Jefferson
County Board of Education will support um House Bill 26 1255 Oops. Which one? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Um and that we would authorize um Director Kenworthy to testify on our behalf.
I move that the that we offer our support for House Bill 261255 and that we authorize Director Kenworthy to testify on our behalf in support of that bill um on March 12th or whenever it is scheduled to be heard. >> Is there a second? >> I second.
>> Any discussion? Seeing none, roll call, please. Miss Harper. >> Miss Applicate. >> Yes. >> Dr. Chavaria. >> Yes. Mr. Gibbons. >> Yes. >> Miss Bowenian. >> Yes. >> Miss Kenworthy.
>> Abstain. >> I don't want to vote on myself getting giving myself permission. >> That's fair. >> Speech. >> All right. Thank you, Miss Tullison. And thank you, Director Superintendent Dorland. All right. Director Kenworthy. Shall we keep going? >> Let's continue. The next bill um we have
is HB261282 which is eliminating duplicative regulation of school child care centers. Um Superintendent Dorland, you and I have spoken about this. Would you be willing to share some information for the board? >> Yes. So this is a bill that I think
mostly Boulder and Adams 12 have been uh advocating for. It it actually removes what we believe as superintendent are duplicative and oftentimes um conflicting regulations for how we
operate certain programs. As an example, during the school day uh per the national school lunch program, we can serve chocolate milk. in the regulatory uh uh arena of afterchool programs, we
are not allowed to serve chocolate milk. Another example is uh the use of the playground regulations are different for the regulatory agency that looks at afterchool programs before school programs. Um preschool has a bunch of
different regulatory requirements than our kindergarten through fifth grade does. and yet they're all in the same school doing the same things on a daily basis. So, I'm in strong support of this bill just as a practitioner um and would encourage the board to consider a formal
um a uh support stance on this one as well. >> I concur. Questions? >> I would support it. That makes sense. >> I agree. Okay.
Thank you. Next one, and this is going to be a hot topic of discussion. Um, HB261 1291, educator performance evaluations. Uh, this would make a change. It requires non-probationary teachers to receive one evaluation that includes written evaluation at least
every 3 years, except if a non-probationary teacher receives a less than effective rating, the local board may require that the teacher receive an evaluation the next year. So, this is meant to for our veteran teachers to change them from being every year
evaluated to every three years. They would still have check-ins with their supervisors. Um, but it would also lighten the load for our administrators, not having to do an evaluation of every single staff, licensed staff member every year. They would have it on
rotation. Um, so I am supportive of this because I think it helps us redirect some administrator time to um, instructional coaching and other things outside of just evaluating employees. >> Dr. Question on on that one. Um
I know in certain districts if you are moving over to that district of I think Boulder Valley School District has this on their pay scale for example. Um on their steps and lanes if you are highly effective according to CDE for the past
3 years you automatically get moved up in your in your steps and lanes. Is this does this bill account for teachers who are switching over to different districts or is it just within the district they reside? >> It's an excellent question.
>> This bill has not gone yet to um committee. So I think that conversation will occur when it is in committee on March 12th. Um but I think it's an excellent question. I don't have an answer. I don't know if Mr. Bowage does. Nintend. >> Thank you. And for the record, I am in support. I'd like to see how it plays
out when teachers switch districts as well. Thank you. >> Sure. >> Superintendent Dorland. >> My understanding is that it would be applied to the state educator effectiveness system which most districts use and so it it's like right
now we have a statewide requirement. I'm sorry. No, that's more like this system. This is just the the requirement that every teacher is evaluated every year. And so, um, that is a statewide requirement right now. And my understanding of this
bill based on conversations I've had with, uh, the the St. Brain has been, um, sort of driving this one forward is that it would apply also then statewide. That it's not every teacher every year, but is more on a cycle like what used to be where we were every three years or
so. Yeah. I hope that's helpful. Any other thoughts or comments on this one? >> I would support it. >> Thank you very much. Moving right along. Um the next one's SB 2623 is the school
finance act and it has not be been given a date in committee yet. So we'll pause on that but I'm sure we'll have more conversation next month. SB 26068 is modifying administration of education
assessments. Um and this is asking for us to spend as minimal time as possible on um with students in assessment situations. Um doing sampling u model of assessment
as an option um and it is scheduled in Senate education for March 9th. So again, that conversation will occur in committee, but is the concept is something that I'm supportive of. I'm wondering what the um amendments that
get offered might be. >> Um I have Oh, thank you. I've heard unofficially that this bill may become more of a task force on this issue >> unofficially at this point. So yeah,
>> which I think is fine. Yeah. as it stands right now, it is still proposed as legislation and we could take a position of support to signal that we're supportive of it of the concept um even if it moves into a task force. >> When you say that it could move into a
task force, like what does that mean? >> It means that they wouldn't pass um legislation this year, but that they would set it turn it over, set it aside so that they can study the implications and how it would be implemented before they pass legislation on it. >> Okay. I think I would be supportive of
either direction. I I like the concept behind this idea. >> Just to clarify, this is formal assessments, CAMASS, MAPS. Um what is this encompassing like unit assessments
at the end of our curriculum? Is it informal assessments? What is it? >> I think it's formal assessments. It's the Cass. >> Yeah, >> just Cass. Okay. >> Um I don't PSAT. >> Yeah, >> it's mostly looking at >> I think it's mostly looking one of the
things that I think they're looking at is how much are like juniors and 10th graders uh have to take in terms of like the SAT which is minimal versus you know our third graders taking 11 hours or more of tests. And so, um, really trying
to get it more in line with what we're seeing in the high schools, um, and just really getting some more instructional time back, frankly. Um, >> so, thank you. I, um, I'm in support. I just wanted to clarify, are we going to start restricting informal assessments
in our classrooms? I think those are important. So, thank you. >> No, I think we absolutely will still need to evaluate our students progress. Yeah, and that's one of the methods that we use. But um I think this is speaking to the amount of heavy um formalized
standardized testing that take that goes on in a regular school year and the annual cycle just the constant role of that and trying to pull it back a little bit. >> I I have similar concerns to Dr. Etcha.
I want to make sure we're still able to see growth, know we're having growth in our students, make sure we're able to see achievement and do all of that, but I certainly appreciate not the over testing that we we seem to do right now. So, >> we could signal that we're supportive of a concept without saying anything about
legislation specifically. And then if we can talk about it in April, we still have some time to weigh in and that'll be after they've had committee hearing and some of these conversations have been had. Does that sound good to everybody? >> I'm generally supportive. Yeah, that
sounds good to me. >> Dr. Moronian, >> just a quick question. Can we go back to 26-023, the school finance act? I had a question about that. Just I wanted to get some clarification. So, it says that this this school finance act contains the
required inflationary increase of 2.3% per student funding for fiscal year 26 27. Okay. Um and this would be state allocated funds. Okay. >> And how how is that going to be funded
from the state? Do we know? Do we have that information? >> So this um the the requirements of amendment 23 says that school finance um has to increase by the rate of inflation and you have to fully fund the
number of students. Now Colorado is in an enrollment decline. So the number of students is going down a little bit, but the base per pupil funding has to increase by the rate of inflation. The big asterisk is that the legislature could do something such as increase the
per student funding by the rate of inflation per school finance and then recognize all of the specific ownership taxes that the districts are collecting and districts have lost 190 million in that way. or they could um change the
enrollment averaging and suddenly enrollment goes down even more quickly or the final option is to bring back the budget stabilization factor and just say we're going to we're going to increase by inflation then we're going to cut the whole thing by X. So, but the start of
it is always increasing the per pupil amount by the rate of inflation because that's what the constitution requires. >> I'm just going to jump in here um because their uh superintendents feel pretty strongly about this. Um, I co-chair the Front Range Superintendent Group and we've had lots of conversation
about this and Case is sort of who we uh work with to support some of our positions as superintendents across the state. Um we have been strong advocates that if the state is going to reduce our
per pupil dollar amount and our budgets um that they do so in a transparent way that tracks and monitors the reduction through the budget stabilization factor. um that they need to if they're going to make an adjustment to the money that we
are to receive and per statute are supposed to receive that they actually take the step and track and monitor it through the BS factor. Um, that's sort of an ironic place to be because you're advocating for the BS factor and this is
sort of like a if you're going to try to balance the budget by reduction of uh revenue to school districts, we want you to do it transparently and in a way where we can fight against it going forward. um this whole backending it into the
specific ownership tax and changing the rules and regulations related to that while at the same time the governor is standing on his pulpit talking about fully funding K12 education is absolutely unacceptable and we have been very clear in our advocacy through case
and directly to the governor's office that this is unacceptable um not transparent and lacks integrity. So, I'm just I have to get that out there. >> No, I appreciate that. And I some of our legislators asked uh me at our last
check-in if that change happened with specific ownership tax, what Jeffco would stand to how would impact Jeffco and we would be looking at about $17 million um in in general fund loss that we're expecting. So that would take the
amount that we're addressing through our budget blueprint and increase it by 17 million. So I just I wanted to share that also so that folks understand the real impact of the implications of this especially when it's not being presented in a straightforward um manner through
the governor's office. And I also am very strongly against any of that happening. And um but the specifics have not come out yet because it hasn't gone to committee. And I'm not sure I
mean some of that will be informed by conversations that are happening in the JBC or the joint budget committee. So we we're we're still in a holding pattern because it hasn't been given scheduled a date for a hearing. It's just we know it exists and we the conversation hasn't
happened yet, but we'll be paying attention once once it does get scheduled. I'll let you know and then we will dial in and pay attention and we won't be the only ones. There's also CASBY will be paying attention. CA um several other community advocacy groups will weigh in on on their thoughts about
this. So, we won't be alone um in following that conversation. >> I mean, on the face of it, right, when I read it, it says 2.3% increase. That sounds like a good thing. until we start diving into the details, right? And then all of a sudden it turns into a very scary picture. But I'm glad
to hear that we're kind of still in a holding pattern and pending information. So I look forward to see what that looks like. >> Excellent. Thanks for the question, too. I appreciate it. Uh I think the next one that we're on is SB26103.
Um at risk public school program and public school accountability. Uh, I mentioned it earlier in our last presentation. Um, but I think that our district already does this, but this bill exists to direct other schools and
it also specifically mentions that charter schools adopt policies to direct additional resources to at risk students. So yeah, >> I I'm going to come out and say that I support this because I think our
atrisisk students need all the support and help that they can get. So >> this this one I'm sorry, Madam Chair, this one may be undergoing some changes as well. Um and at this point, I know there are a number of districts that
have formally voted to oppose this bill, especially the rural schools. Um, it's really asking for districts to provide information about how you use at risk funding and how you serve at risk students. Um, and so it's not directing that you have to do things, but it you
need to describe it, but it's looping in not just school districts, but every charter school as well. >> Yeah, I think I'd like to in concept I think it is the right concept. Absolutely. I get nervous about the unintended consequences of this one. So, I think I'd like to see the language and
see what's actually gonna come out of it. >> We'll put it off till April. Um, pending. >> That's okay with the other directors. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Well, visit April. >> With me. >> SP 26125, disability rights protections in public schools. Um, this brings
federal statute regarding disability rights into state law, including prohibiting districts from discrimination against students with disabilities. It is pending consideration in Senate education and this has been introduced as a way to address the loss of coverage from the
from changes at the federal level. >> Is this going to have a significant fiscal note? >> I don't I mean I just >> I love the idea and concept. I'm just struggling to see how it goes very far. Um yes, madame chair, the um fiscal note
has not been issued yet, but everyone is anticipating that both the Department of Education and the Attorney General's office will have increased costs. >> Since it's pending, we can talk about it in April. >> I think that's wise. Thank you.
Um, two other things that I had on my list, I think. Uh, one is SB129, which doesn't necessarily impact schools directly, but it is about mitigating tax initiative financing,
which are called TIFFs. and President Applegate and I both sit on as a a fun extra role uh we're commissioners on urban renewal authorities which are with our with municipalities if they're
doing urban renewal projects and they have a commission that studies that and decides things. They have to have their taxing entity local taxing entity partners represented on those commissions. And because we are a taxing
entity as a school board, we have to be represented when there's an urbal urban renewal commission. And so that's another fun um window into a completely different world of legislating and governance. Um
direct or I'm happy to to speak on on this. This is one I think we need to pay attention to. Um, I don't know that we need to do anything right now. It did come up. Um, I sit on Wheat Ridges. It's in my district and um, it came up at our meeting. There's there's concern about
it. Um, but it it does have that the bill does talk about funding for schools and I would I would anticipate we will hear more about it. So, at minimum, I want us to be educated on it. So, I've asked Mr. Bow and and Director Kenworthy to at least loop it in so we can stay
apprised of it. I wholeheartedly agree with that. I think the implications of this could be huge and yeah, we should watch it closely. >> And if anyone has an interest in learning more about tax incremental financing or tiffs, um I have asked Superintendent Durland if we if I could
get a refresher so that I am knowledgeable. And so, um if anyone else wants to join me, >> I would just like to say I actively avoided classes on this topic in law school and could probably use a a refresher myself for that reason. I have >> I have several amazing powerpoints from
the Lakewood Municipality if you would like to study. Yep. >> Julie, they think we think we might need some education for a few of our board members on TIFFs. Uh yeah. So,
>> we can get on Miss Tullles's calendar. The last one that I'm going to bring up is um SB26055 which was um it did not pass out of committee. This is a registry in CDE for school personnel by Senator that was
introduced by Senator Basisley. They did have a hearing. It didn't pass out of committee. However, um we wanted to have a conversation about the idea behind it. Director Applegate. Yeah, I my I had I guess I had a quick question is one I
know early on there had been discussion of maybe this could be picked up. Um it's seeming like that's less you're shaking your heads I guess Mr. Bowich is that for for us and our public is that kind of done at this point? um I think
it will not go forward this year and early right before the session I talked to some key house members and said look this is a concept it's a it's a very important issue that deserves discussion but admittedly there hadn't been any stakeholding done on this
>> and so they said well it's probably not ripe for this year >> certainly something if the board wants to pursue for 2027 >> well that's that's what I'd like to ask is director Kenworthy and and Mr. about it if the board has interest in being a part of helping to draft and
helping to push and and maybe stakeholding around that. >> Um, everyone looks like >> All right, Director Minian so I I'm generally supportive of this idea of
expanding the um background checks and making sure that there is information being shared across districts. When I was looking through all of the um var the the update that you sent us last week, I came across HB261090
and I was wondering right just thinking out loud here if if maybe we can expand the the work that's being done on this particular bill to also maybe align with those goals if there's an appetite for it. I don't know.
Um, that is a a really good question and I did think of that when this bill was coming out, but this bill's title probably would not restrict it, would not allow for um the type of um requirements that we've talked about
where if an individual has been investigated for certain offenses such as sexual assault on a child and the investigation was a result was substantiated or the issue was substantiated,
a school district could not withhold that information from another requesting district. Now, it doesn't do anything if somebody's coming in from another state. You can't obviously make that restriction. Um, but again, the other
challenge is we'd really want to spend a lot of time talking with other districts and the statewide associations before rolling something like this out. I I think the bottom line is that it it is a good idea that we could have started working on uh and been more effective if
it had if that conversation had started like in in August. I mean I think we need you need a longer on-ramp for something like that um than what we were getting with this first iteration of the bill. It was it's a good idea. I just think it does it
needs more stakeholding. it needs um some language adjusting and making sure that we're defining terms accurately and and appropriately. So, I just it needs more of an on on-ramp and I certainly think we could begin starting those conversations right now and start to do
some of the work um to help on-ramp it and get it into session next year. Yeah, >> Dr. Atravia. >> So, just a little bit of background. Um, I actually did attend the testimony um last week speaking out um or speaking in
an amend position for Senate Bill 26055. Um I think I missed something because I feel like I was a little bit lost. Um my understanding from our last meeting was that we were talking about the Senate Bill 26057 and I did not realize that
the Senate Bill 26055 was I thought it was still in play to be fair. um our former board president, Mary Parker, invited me to come testify, which I went with her, and um I didn't understand it was in the
process of I mean being postponed indefinitely. Um so we talked a little bit at the board retreat on Friday. Um, Miss Tolson shared she had sent uh an email and I looked that over. New Jersey has a law called pass the trash. Um,
which thank you for that email. Um, but I'm pretty confused. I guess if you can explain to me because I am very I was very lost about the whole process and I'm not a politician really at heart until now. >> You are now. So, um, can you explain to
me, I guess, how, uh, when we brought those the thoughts forward from that email, um, back in January, um, how do we get representatives to actually pick up something like this and see that it is important for Jeffco?
If um I would say we start talking about this in June and we reach out and get people who are willing to say I will introduce that bill in July. Um you want to obviously selecting a sponsor is about the most
important thing that you can do. um there's an election year you you know you don't know who's going to be back but you need somebody to say I will make that one of my five bills and then they give typically they give you drafting authority um and you start drafting a bill you you can use a model like some
of the ones um that we looked at last fall um and then get a bill draft and then you have a big stakeholder meeting probably in August because it will take a lot of time to circulate it among the other districts and the statewide association especially
um and then you keep refining it and then you want it introduced as one of the first bills in the 2027 session. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I was very confused by the whole process last week. Thank you. >> And the final thing I'd say is that bill with the registry. anytime you talk
about some sort of a statewide thing that costs money. And the the issues, the bills that um that we looked at last fall in this regard um we made sure we looked at the fiscal impact statement from those states because the the impact
would be on the districts and it would be thankfully extremely minor that if somebody had been investigated, no charges were filed, no charges were brought, but there had been a substantiated allegation. and there's a definition of what is a substantiated allegation, then that something would go
into that person's file. So, if they tried to get a job in the next district, that couldn't be withheld. >> Yeah. And I'm just going to um speak openly here. I think that mentioning the fiscal note when we're talking about a potential lifelong trauma of a child is
not appropriate. So, that's just me speaking from my heart. Um, I think we need to make sure we're putting students and children at the heart and um I understand the fiscal responsibility. However, um I I felt when I testified
that the person who mentioned the fiscal note as the reason for voting no, I felt like it was um she was not in tune with the real life trauma that a student could experience because of this. Thank you.
I want to I want to acknowledge what you've shared and I agree with you and we also have an incredibly limited budget in Colorado. This is one of the reasons that we have to have those hard conversations is because the whole state is dealing um with the funding shortage.
And so I agree with you. It's an unfortunate reality of the conversation and I wish it wasn't part of the conversation because I do think that it's you can't quantify uh in dollars um the value of keeping a child from being
um injured by somebody that that is supposed to be caring for them. >> I agree. >> Mr. Gibbons. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I did want to state on this topic. I one I absolutely support us taking steps to begin talking about this in June. I think in particular the
stakeholding process on a measure of this kind would be very involved and complicated. Um I also think it's worth noting, you know, with Senate Bill 26055 as I read it and I've read it a few times and it's not that hard. It's not that long.
>> Um I don't think it would have actually solved any of the problems that we were concerned about. And I think that's another thing that's just important about good policy and um I support the intention of it. It wasn't something that we were approached about by the senator. Um whereas other legislators
have approached us on other things and it just doesn't as it was written it it probably would have not only increased a burden on a lot of districts in the state, it would not have done anything to solve the problems that I at least was concerned about from situations I was aware of. Um, so I think again it
just impresses the importance of really thinking this through carefully and making sure that whatever we're working on is likely to work and solve problems as opposed to create more which is what I'm concerned this would have done had it had it gone through. >> We're fortunate to have Mr. Badich who I
think has watched this process over and over again. So I think we have um really good partner in having those conversations moving forward and I don't want to take up any more of our time. If you have any other concerns about any legislation or things that come into your interest, please let me know. Um, and we will have another conversation in
April, thank you for the conversation and I will send um just a summary of what we discussed uh with the numbers of the bills that we're going to support and hopefully we'll put something on consent agenda for our meeting next week. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Badich. Thank
you, Director Kenworthy. um board, we are quite a bit behind schedule and we have a very important guest who's been waiting and um and I hear is celebrating something tonight. So, I would like to um if we can push through um and if you need to take a quick break, please do.
Um but I'd like to if Superintendent Dorland is amanable and the board is amunable, I'd like to go ahead and invite um our next presenters up. Oh, five minutes. Okay, then why don't we take a five minute break?
Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Don't be Heat. Heat. Down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N.
Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. Down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down down Welcome back. Next, the board will
receive an update on school budgets for the FY2627, including the budget reduction blueprint, enrollment patterns, and their connection to school level budgeting decisions. Presenting are Miss Brena Copeland, our chief financial officer, and Mr. Brian Sammons, our
director of budgets. Presenters, we have allotted 60 minutes. Please keep time in there for our questions. And before I turn it over to our presenters, Superintendent Dorland, do you have anything to add? >> I'll just emphasize the importance of this presentation. Uh the quality of the presentation is um top-notch in my
opinion. Thank you, Brian and Brena, for the thoughtful intention that went into it. And in honor of Brian's birthday, I'm going to close my remarks at that. hand it over so we can get this show on the road. >> Awesome. Um, so thank you all for uh
inviting us to come and share uh the budgetary plans for our schools. As you know, principles prepare and submit their budgets into the system. And so this presentation reflects their planning and thinking. It also reflects some significant input from our school accountability committees. And I do want
to say this year um I personally got to spend more time with some of our school accountability committees. And I just want to uh give a shout out to our parents who really understand this stuff well and show up and are informed and ask good questions. And so um I I just
wanted to to point that out. And finally, I did want to say Mr. Sammons on his birthday has agreed to a special BRB reduction and he will be reducing a year instead of adding a year to his age this year
for Jeffco. There you go. >> Okay. Well, good evening members of the board. Um the budget development update presentation we have here today covers three areas. First, we will um go over the school
budgetings for this year. Um second, we'll walk through the school's preliminary budget results for 2627, including the funding, staffing, and we'll review some ratio um data. And finally, we'll outline the next steps in the budgeting process and preview what the board will see in April.
Okay. So, before we dive into the school budgets, I wanted to highlight how each spring presentation builds on on the one before it. I have this illustrated visually by a house on this slide. Today's update along with the April presentation on departments and revenue provides the foundational information
that shapes the district-wide proposed budget presented in May. The only expected difference between the budget we present in the May and the final adopted budget in June is the updates for the final negotiated compensation agreements. So today's presentation is the first major building block and sets
the stage for all the presentations that follow. Okay. So the first section we have here is the context setting. This section highlights the key factors shaping next year's school's budgets. Every January, her schools begin budgeting for the upcoming year using
the projected student enrollment. These projections directly shape each school's funding and staffing decisions. Princ principles work closely with their school accountability committees to plan how best to support their students and communities. This year, in addition to the enrollment projections, the 117 SB
schools received their budget reduction blueprint targets. I'd like to note that the six special schools including our outdoor labs did not receive a BRB target and are budgeted through the departmental budgeting process. The budgeted dollars associated with these school special schools will appear in
the April uh department budget presentation rather than today's school level figures. And as always, the 21 charter schools are not part of the district budgeting process. Okay, so the 117 SBB schools received resources in two main ways. First, they
receive SBB dollars which principles use to make decisions closest to the students. SBB provides funding for each student using a formula that adjusts for factors like at risk status, school size, and grade level. Second, schools receive staff resources from departments. These include special
education, English language supports, career and technical programs, and operational roles roles such as custodians and food service workers. These positions are funded through the departmental budgets and are signed based on the needs and size of each school. When you put these two pieces together, SB dollars and department
staffing, you get the full picture of the resources supporting each school. This slide is a visual representation of the resource model I just described. It shows how the different funding streams come together to support the school's overall program. the SB dollars, the title one and other supplemental
allocations and the staff services come from the departments. The SPB portion includes the base per pupil allocation, the at risk allocation, size equity allocation. I'd like to mention here that the title one per pupil allocations increased from FI2526 to FI2627 and were
not part of the BRB um adjustments. So the board has seen this slide before. or I'll keep it this brief. As part of the BRB process, about $14 million was removed from SB allocations and the reductions were structured to protect smaller schools and schools serving higher need students. On average, the
SBB reduction across all schools was about 2.5%. Now, I'd like to turn over to Miss Copelan. So, one of the questions um that the board has uh shared with us and actually community members as well is how do we
know um that these reductions are actually smaller for our smaller schools and for our schools serving more at risk students? So, this dot plot, which I love, but I understand may not be everyone's favorite thing, um, characterizes our large schools as green
dots and our small schools as purple dots. And every school shows up here. And of course, their size is in comparison to their peer group. So, elementaryaries to elementaryaries, half of them are smaller and half of them are larger, right, within the elementary group, etc. by grade level. And what you
see is um two things. one that um all of our large schools, the right the green are clumped to the right, meaning in comparison to peers, they have these larger percentage reduction of of um uh
budget. Thank you. Uh the other thing you see is a slant to the overall line like a trend line and that suggests that as at risk percentage increases on that y ais um the reduction target or the BRB
reduction decreases which is a smaller reduction in schools with higher at risk. So again, this was a way to visualize um a really important question we've gotten from community and the board around how do we know um that our reductions are differentiated to both um
be smaller and small schools and smaller and higher at risk schools. So hopefully this helps a little with that visualization and this is another way um to think about um how many schools are actually reducing within different ranges. You know, we talk about 2 and a half%
um as the average with a certain range, but I think it's also important to note that 85% of schools uh have reductions no larger than 3%. Right? That range on the prior slide goes all the way up to 4 point something or other. Um but but in
fact, this histogram is pretty tightly clumped um within and around two and a half%. So I wanted to share this one as well. Now a really important point um that I've heard from my parents in the sack
meetings and from principles and from you all is but this is not the only thing going on right it's not just the BRB reductions there's other things going on and so um what one of the really important other things going on um is something that's been happening
every year within Jeffco for the last five I will say my first year here was the most dramatic we had a 4,000 student drop um in enrollment in a single year. And that was a moment where where it was
not feasible to try to say to schools, we're going to go ahead and reduce your SBB allocations by 4,000 kids with no forewarning. So my first couple years here, um we we smoothed that that out for our schools. We held them a little bit harmless. We used different sources
of fund primarily the early phases of ESSER. Our last phase of ESSER was all supplemental, but our early phases of ESSER helped us hold schools harmless a little bit or stagger that big drop. But for the last several years, schools have been absorbing um enrollment declines,
averaging about 900 students a year um each year in the budget process. And so as we look into next year, we are forecasting another 850 student decline across all schools. Um, and we'll share a little bit more of an update about
that in some of our subsequent presentations. Um, important to note 42 schools actually have an enrollment increase. Right? We often talk about a declining enrollment district, but that's not necessarily true for every school in the district. And so, um, 42 schools are
projected to have an enrollment increase, five have a flat enrollment, and 70 have enrollment decreases. So I think that's another important contextual note um is we don't want to overgeneralize what all schools are facing. And so then um you can see the
tallies overall um our projected enrollment is 60,923. Um and again that produces what's called a sort of enrollment budget impact. And that's just saying we don't we don't allocate out money for kids who aren't
really going to be there. And so that's a $6 million reduction, so to speak. Does that help quantify the overall enrollment impact? Great. This is a note um just about process and
um and a little bit about how more than one thing can happen at a time in addition to the two things we've already talked about. So we've talked about BRB reductions and we've talked about enrollment declines from this year to next year. But there's one other type of thing that might be happening on a
year-over-year basis for our schools. And that is the reality that when we get that October count and we apply a budgetary true up, our schools are allowed to use so-called carry forward. In layman's words, that's just simply
budget they didn't spend the prior year. If you ask, well, where is that on the district's budget or resources? Those are reserves, right? the the unspent money in any given year falls to a reserve, right? And so those are
reserves on our balance sheet that schools are allowed to use quote unquote. When they use those at an October count, they're basically saying rather than me adjusting to this October count, this lower October count, um I'm
going to use my carry forward. Well, that just means they're going to keep their staff in place for that year, but it means the adjustment to that October count happens on a year-over-year basis. So that's the one other type of change that's happening is that schools who had
a lower October count in October of 2005 who used carry forward for that one year to keep staff in place um are now adjusting to their October 25 count as they plan for 2627.
So that becomes the third type of change happening. Right? So, I just wanted to note that. Um, and while it does help us mitigate mid-year staffing, um, it does push the reduction into the following year. And so, you can start to have some compounding changes depending on the
decisions of the principles. And with that, I'm going to hand it back to Mr. Sammons. Thank you. Um, now that we've covered the resource model, BRB methodology, and the Roman impacts, the next section shows how these factors come together
within the school's budgets. All right, this slide breaks down the factors shaping next year's school budgets. The budget reduction blueprint accounts for 13.5 million or a 2.5% decrease. Projected enrollment declines across all SV schools reduce budgets by
about six or six million or 1.1%. There's also the true up like Min talked about um of last year's actual enrollment which accounts for another budget adjustment of around 3.3 million or 6% and finally schools are using
about $2.8 million or half a percent in carry forward which shows up as a positive to help maintain stability into 2627. Altogether these pieces result in a net decrease of about $20 million or 3.8% for next year.
Okay, so here are the staffing impacts within schools budgets from the factors we just reviewed. There are two tables. One for positions the district budgets by FTE and one for positions budgeted in daily hours. For the hourly positions, we converted those hours into an FTE
equivalent using an 8-hour day. So the two tables can be viewed together. In total, school budgets show an estimated reduction of 261 FTEEs, which includes the conversion of about 4 94 daily hours into the FTE equivalent. These figures
reflect only positions funded directly through schools budgets. Departmental staffing reductions will be provided in April. The preliminary data also highlights that JCAA positions that budgeted within schools are being reduced at a higher rate than both the JCA and Jespo when compared with their
current share of school-based FTEES. >> Um, I just want to underscore what Mr. Sammons just said and point to where those numbers are just in case there's so many numbers up here. Um, so year-over-year percent change where we see that JCAA is a negative 5.1%
of their total budgeted FTEE. Just below there, you see that JCEA is a negative 4.6% of their total budgeted FTE and JESPA when it comes to salaried JESPA is a negative 3.7. So, so all those numbers
would match if each category was being reduced proportionately. The fact that they don't means you're seeing um steeper cuts in certain bargaining units than others. And so, um and of course JCA is not actually a bargaining unit, but for simplicity uh
we we do list them with that heading. So, any clarifying questions on that? Yep. Can you explain the guest teachers? Are they assigned to a school versus the district?
>> So, for those nine guest teachers, the 9.1, um there are some teachers who um are carried in a school-based budget as a full-time guest teacher on occasion, um which is called like a full-time sub in certain um categories. And so, uh,
there you're seeing out of the nine, um, two were removed. So, we now have seven across our 117ish SBB schools. >> Director Moenian, did you also have a question? >> Mr. agreements. >> In looking at this kind of
year-over-year FTE change, to what extent do we expect I mean this is from a a workforce view as opposed to the impact on the students, but to what extent do we expect attrition to kind of account for a lot of this shrinking? >> That's a great question. Um, I'm going
to answer that in just a minute because I actually had Amanda send me some information that will help. So, can we come right back to that in about two minutes? Thank you. Okay, back to you. >> Okay, we'll move on to the next slide.
We can answer the question here in a second. Okay, so this table breaks out the preliminary 199 FTE um reductions that you saw on the last slide by school level. So the board can see how these staffing changes are distributed across primary, middle, and senior schools.
Please note that this table does not include the hourly budgeted positions. um those will be shown later in the presentation. These reductions represent school budgeted positions only. Department funded positions are not included here. Those will be updated in the presentation in April.
Okay. So this slide um provides a historical view of the schoolbased budget staffing levels and shows how FTEES have been right-sized over time in response to Roman trends. For next year, school budgeted 4,151 FTEEs, which is the 199 fewer than the
current year. Over the past two years, FTEEs have decreased about 6% which aligns with the combined impact of the 3.6 enrollment decline and a 2.5% average BRB adjustment. I've also noticed here that about 25 FTEEs were vacant as of December. That's when the
data pool starts for us when we start doing the budgeting process. Um, which contributes to the year-over-year change. Even with enrollment right sizing, schools continue to prioritize key roles such as deans and instructional coaches. Um, a similar FT ratio chart is included in the appendix
for additional context if you have questions there. All right. So, here's the um the hourly staffing reductions by school level presented in the first of total hours per day then converted to the FD equivalent. So, here's the purple that matches the purple from the slide couple
a couple ago. Um these hourly reductions reflect the same underlying adjustment shown on 15. Um they are not additional cuts. The visual simply shows how these reductions vary across primary, middle, and senior high schools following the same enrollment and BRB patterns that we
reviewed earlier. So you'd have more hourly reductions for PAR staff within elementary school because that's where most of the staff Paris staff would be located within schools budgets. Okay, I'll pass it back over to Brenda to finish the presentation and to answer your question. >> Great.
Um so in response to the question about how much of um the budgetary reductions might be addressed by either attrition or turnover or other types of job movement. There's two ways to answer that question. Um the first is to give you an update. We we offer something
called an early notice um stipen. This is the last year we're going to do it, but um it is simply incentives for folks to tell us in advance that they plan to retire. So back in December or as of December 19th um we had approximately
I'm trying to do math in my head a little over 200 total and um broken out by group about 137 JCA who had already submitted retirement notification uh 48 JESPA and 22 JCAA. So, as you can
see right there, just in terms of people in December who've indicated that they don't plan to come back, that was about 200 folks. Um, in a prior presentation back in November, we also shared what we call like regular annual hiring data,
which gives another proxy to how much turnover do we expect in any given year. So, for example, um the 2425 district-wide hiring data, we hired 643 teachers hired or transferred, right? And that was not a year where we were
growing our teacher workforce. That was just simply saying through different mechanisms, either teachers are transferring into new roles or being hired um internally or externally. Pair professionals, 658 pair of professionals hired or transferred. um instructional
support staff 181, office administrative 95, crafts, trades, and services 307, and administrators 15. So that gives you a proxy for over the course of a 12-month period, how much total turnover is there. Um which would suggest that
those reduction figures you saw on the previous slide um can be absorbed largely through um turnover, attrition, retirement, etc. However, there's not always perfect alignment. So, inevitably, there are going to be some displacements and we want to be honest
and transparent about that and we will continue to provide updates as we have them. It's a little too early um to firm up those numbers. So, I don't want to misspeak and and try and estimate that, but uh by March 15th or thereabout, we'll know a little bit more about some
of that displacement information. Does that help? >> Yeah. And and then that displacement though issue is kind of was my second concern was that you know with some of these positions you know say teachers like well there's a lot of slots for teachers across the district and that's
going to be pretty easy to address that displacement. >> But I'm concerned when I look at say >> cells psyches nurse social workers one we have a huge reduction at the school level and two there's not as many positions in general on top of that. So,
you've got in many of these instances licensed professionals where there's not going to be a slot opening up that actually fits their license. I'm wondering how close we're monitoring that and and what >> sure can >> what can be done about that. >> So, um I want to jump in just for a
second and share you probably have more data than I do, but I do want to share that in many of those positions, we already have vacancies that we can't fill. So, for example, we have cell vacancies where we don't ha and mental health uh
vacancies we have every year where they're budgeted positions, but we can't find an individual to fill it. Um, and so I that's one just data point that's uh important to note. And we are monitoring it very closely. HR is sort
of individual by individual helping people find a match position that um they want and aligns with their credentiing. And Brena, I don't know if you want to add more, but I just wanted to make note that those are positions we normally have openings all year long.
>> Yep. Um yes. So to further um that point, even though you see 12.8 8 up here as a potential cell psych social work nurse reduction. That's a budgetary reduction. That is not um that is not a proxy for humans yet. Um we will give
you the human tally uh once we have it available. Um preliminarily it's less than a third of this 199 >> um are actually filled positions and even then that's before considering whether we can find a placement for
folks. So >> well then with this vacancy issue though with cells right so we know we historically have vacancies but how much is that changing based off what the schools are going to come back with you know because principles may be saying oh well I'm going to go ahead and
eliminate an FTE that I can't fill anyways >> and then we're losing a vacancy that we can slot in to sell who's losing their position in another building or the the cuts we've had in central admin >> and and that's exactly what uh we're speaking to when we say budgeted FTE is
reduced. So we do acknowledge that that person is no longer budgeting that position. It's just a question of whether there is a human in it andor um whether that actually creates an opening andor whether attrition or turnover somewhere else creates an opening for
the person in that position. So there's a lot of different like it's like a link chain of questions. You're absolutely right. um there are fewer budgeted positions to the tune of 199 out of SBB dollars and um we still have to figure
out how many humans that will impact and then how many um additional folks will emerge because that's the other thing I want to say is even though these early retirement notices of about 200 folks um you know came in in December more folks
emerge out of the woodwork um as the months progress and so additional openings emerge. So again, uh if we're hiring 600, um teachers a year, I think that was the number I read off my other slide, um I feel pretty confident that when we change this budgeted FTE into an
impacted human FTE, those impacted humans have quite a few positions um to choose from. Yes, >> if I'm if I may build off of Director Gibbons question, if I look at slide 17, and I just want to make sure I understand. So that bottom it talks about the cell
numbers and it shows we went from 39 to 41 this year to projected 33 for next year but that says buyups only. So help me understand because I know the central office budgets for some and I know the school's budget for some and they buy up. So
is that the combo or is that only buyup or help me help me make sense of that table? >> That's buy up only. >> Okay. So that's buyup only. So we are So if somebody buys up half an FTE >> Mhm. >> that's all added into that 33 >> that's reflected in that 33.
>> Right. So that could be more than 33 people or less. Wait a minute backwards. >> It could be. >> Say that again. >> Okay. Do you want to speak to split
assignments? So, so it will be so this is only what the schools are buying up their portion, right? So, they get the allocation and then they're buying up the the remaining amount that they may they want to have within their building. So, it may be a.5 if they get an allocation of a point 6, they might may buy up to a point 4 or maybe just a buy
up of a 0.2 based on the resources they need in their school. This is only that buyup section. The department >> all summed together. So, this is your point 2 and your point 8 and my.5. >> Yes. All sums. And then the the departments take that information and then pair that up with their information that they have to start making sure that
the the positions are filled. Right? >> So this isn't necessarily 33 people. >> Right? >> That's what I'm trying. >> These are going to be 33 FTEEs that are that are portioned out between different schools that sum to this 33 and then the department then will take all the information that they have their allocations plus the buyups and start
pairing everyone together for these jobs. So, it's a lot more. There's a lot of it's a it's a big process that the HR team leads and to have that all together. So, it's hard for us to give information about who's impacted today because that process hasn't moved forward. >> And that certainly makes sense. I I think the the part that I'm sensitive to
and I think what I hear the rest of the board being sensitive to is that that total FTE is still declining and we know there's going to be positions declining. That's that's what we've asked our schools to do. So, I just wanted to clarify. I was confused by that. Is that
a person or is that a part portion of a person? >> I I will also just emphasize when you look at it from like the 2425 total FTE S39 and these are just buyups, right? We still have a lot of cell allocations coming from central departments and some other schools buying up, right? This is
just this is a portion of the buyups. We went up to 41 and 2526. We're going down to 33. So the enrollment change of the number of students that we're serving from 2425 to 25 to 2627 is also dropped
dramatically. So you know 1,400 kids from 2526 to 26 27 alone at another 800 decline from 2425 to so we've declined 2,300 students
give or take. This is my back of the napkin math. This is my superintendent math. Um from that 39 to that 33 in terms of buyups. Um so you do have fewer FTE that people are buying up and um we're serving fewer students and this
is across all these categories, right? >> But these things are not all equal, right? Like if we have declining enrollment, it would make sense that we might not need an additional teacher, right? because it maybe it's for an
empty classroom, but if we're learning anything from the initial presentation earlier this evening, our students are facing additional challenges. So just because there's less students doesn't mean that we need ourselves any less. We
probably need them more. So these uh last few slides um provide some additional data on what are the ratios um of students per and um teacher staff. There's different categories here. So I'm going to walk you through this
slide. This slide is really looking at um year-over-year change for elementary so primary schools and how many students per total FTE in these different categories. So for example uh core teachers in the current
year we have 21.6 students per um core teacher. Next year's budget indicates that we will have 22.0 0 students per core teacher. So that's a
per point4 student increase. So when when we talk about um enrollment changes versus BRB reductions etc. I you know I think it one of the indicators the board should look to is these ratios.
And so um what we see is a very um point4 so a small number um increase in that total number of students per core teacher. So we aren't seeing something that's a red flag around class size or inadequate staff to to meet the students
we still have um to serve. for the all teachers metric which brings in um some of our non-core teachers again you see a 6 increase of the number of students per teacher. Uh for instructional support staff uh you see a little bit more of an
increase in count and it's important to note that um these vary somewhat across schools as well as on a year-over-year basis. And then you see admin and office staff. How many students per admin or office staff? So you see the smallest
overall change in the core teachers line which I think is important and that makes sense um in terms of these ratios. Then the other thing to think about is um how much are we kind of budgeting spending per kiddo in different
categories whether it's salary and benefits or non-personnel. And again, you're seeing a little bit of a reduction per student um overall. And you're seeing that between salary and benefits and nonpersonnel. I mean, the non-personnel budget's really small. Um
so the 278 dropping to 271, though that's only 2 and a.5%, you can only cut so far in um supplies and materials. So it's just important to note that that you start you're starting with a very small number. Um, and then the budget per student in terms of wait, what's
that second category? Why is it labeled the same? Oh, no, that's I see non-attrisk versus at risk allocation. Um, you can see some leveling there. So, any questions on how these ratios are playing out
and I'll let me walk through the secondary as well. So here in secondary um core classroom teachers increased from 30.7 students per core teacher to 31.6. Um and then you're seeing some
additional trends through the other categories and you're seeing overall budgets decline. Um here you see a larger percentage decrease in that non-personnel. I'll be curious how that plays out next year uh for secondary.
And then my final slide in this category of kind of pressure testing whether um the changes we're seeing um are are kind of what we would expect. Uh every year we show some version of this graph updated. Um on the left is primary on
the right is secondary. Uh the y ais is that core classroom teacher ratio. So how many students per core classroom teacher. The x axis is the percentage of students who are at risk. So it grows from zero
to I mean realistically somewhere around 80. Um and what you want to see is our at supplemental at risk dollars which we do provide. We say we provide do we see that that schools receiving those
dollars actually have a lower number of students per teacher? Right? Is it manifesting in what we would expect, which is an investment in staff? That's that's what it takes to um support our kiddos. And so you do see um a basically
a negative correlation or a negative slope on that correlation line, which means that um as you get further out in the atrisisk percentage um generally those ratios go down. Now there are some outliers and some of that just reflects
um schools at different levels of capacity right um versus others and and sometimes that's a little bit haphazard. So >> do you want us to save our questions until the end or just ask if we have on slide? >> Um I am almost done and then um we'll
entertain the rest of the questions. So just as a reminder for next steps, um we'll come back in April and in April we're going to revisit departments. So we presented last on departmental reductions in like a November and December time frame. We we kind of did
it in both meetings. Um and so then we're going to come back again in April and talk more about our departmental budgets. It's also an opportunity for us to speak more specifically to revenue. We don't attempt to talk about revenue in this meeting because we need the March econom economic forecast from the
state. We need to see a little bit more about what's happening um and trend a few things out before we come out with a a revenue forecast update. Um that being said, in January when we brought you the revised budget, um we did provide a
revenue estimate for next year um that's publicly available if you want to take a look at that. There are some changes to that that we're already aware of, but um that is available just for general um oversight purposes. So with that, happy
to entertain more questions. Dr. Edriia. >> Okay. Thank you. Um going back to the scatter plot page or slide 21. Um I know that we had Edgewater come in and comment uh last at our last meeting and
I'm just curious about these outliers. Um are we able I you probably I don't know if you have this publicly but are we able to see what schools we have here that are outliers to possibly address some of those concerns?
>> Absolutely. uh we can get some school by school data and and look at um what's happening. >> Yeah, I'm mostly interested in the the really high one up here on the title one school, the one that has
uh 25 kids per class and then this super low one that has like 17 kids per class on the elementary and then for secondary um the one that's sitting around 31 kids per class. Mhm. >> I'm just curious about those schools and
>> Sure. >> Yeah. Um >> can I just jump in on that? I do think that one of the things we'll find when we look at that and we're happy to take a look at those things um >> is that often times especially at the elementary level it's kind of where the kids fall >> um and how many kids you have per grade
level and then you know like the 17 for example you it might be a kindergarten kind of uh situation where you can't necessarily have 34 kids in a classroom and so you have to split them into two um and that creates kind of an outlier sort of ratio
there. So, but we'll look into that. I just want to, having done this for a long time, acknowledge that elementary schools are sometimes um trying to make decisions the best they can given where the kids >> Yeah. And I'm just thinking if it might help us respond to specific
um concerns from our community members possibly if we could. >> Yeah. I mean, the best way to do that is to make sure that they are working with their principal and the community superintendent to get the details around their questions answered. Um, so if you have community members coming to you
asking you about specific schools and their reductions, I I guess I would ask that you forward that to the first team and then they can get the community superintendent on it to be a sense maker with the principal. >> So then that was my next question. Um,
all of these are building based decisions that we're seeing. Everything's building based. Okay. And then just to clarify, it looks like based on the 850 projected decline, that's about 1.3%
of our total student population. And it looks like the core teachers were we're reducing about 1.9. So, it looks like we're on track with reducing the amount of um FTE
based on the reduction of students. >> From what I'm seeing, >> if you could Okay, I'm sorry. I'm trying to keep up with you. Can you point me to specific slides? >> Well, I just did the math on my calculator, but No, that's fine. >> I just did the 850 student decline
divided by a total amount in our district. And then the slide that I was looking at for the reductions were was slide 19 and the core teachers we have a 1.9% reduction in core teachers. So it looks like it's matching pretty well the amount of students that were losing ah
>> our FTE is matching pretty closely for our core classes. >> Yes. I do I do want to be clear about slide 19 and what that 1.9% is. It's not a reduction in teachers. >> Okay. It's an increase in the number of students per teacher.
>> Oh, okay. >> It's not a reduction. >> It's an increase in the percentage in the number of students on average per teacher. So, I don't I just I I'm sensitive about quoting and I know that folks are watching this tonight, so I want to be really clear.
>> No, thank you. So I guess my question then would be are the reductions in or the declining enrollment >> the percentage of that is that matching our decline in FTE.
>> So I think I would point to 17 and and I would invite Mr. Sammons because he's much more in this data on a day-to-day basis than I am. Um slide 17, that teacher row, you see um this year's FTE
of 3,200 um decreasing to 3,000. Now, the 6% is a two-year decline. Okay? It's not a it's not current year. It's not the budgeted. It's a two-year decline. So, you get a little bit of a trending um amount. And
so over in the bullets we've said um this the overall across all positions not just teachers the 6% decline in total FTEES from FY2425 two years ago to next year or a year ago to next year so it's a two-year span um
align to both the actual enrollment decrease of 3.6 and the average BRB decrease of 2.5. So, if you if you think about these things as kind of summitative, um there's the enrollment change and then the BRB change. And what
we're seeing is on a two-year horizon, those two changes are are roughly matching some of our overall FTE changes. Does that help? >> Yeah. So, it's pretty it's like six and 6.1. It's pretty clo close. Wait, is that Am I doing that right?
>> Probably. Yeah. Yeah. There's there's some rounding. Okay. Um, great. And then the last >> comment I have is I really like your little house pictoraph and I think it might be helpful for the community
possibly if we had like a little student one and we filled in the student with like this is how much of the student, you know, money goes to staffing. This is how much goes to books and supplies. This is because I think that might help
the community understand out of one student, how much is going to teaching versus admin versus curriculum and I think that might be a fun pictograph to share with the community and maybe help give some visual understanding to where the money is going. So, thank you.
>> I we'll work um we'll call Microsoft and see if they can make Excel create a graph of a student for us. Now, I'm teasing. We can absolutely work with comms and help visualize some of this data bit better. So, thank you for that suggestion.
>> Thank you. Other board directors, uh, Mr. given. >> Um I I don't know if it was in February or January, but I previously asked if we could start to get breakdowns of understanding, you know, staffing or FD impacts at the building level, particularly because,
you know, I'm getting a lot of questions and having a hard time understanding how cuts in central admin have trickled down, right? Because that's more about, as you've described in the past, decision- making and not necessarily where people are located. So, I'm just going to ask again if we can get a better way to really understand how
these different cuts, whether it's school or central admin, manifest in building level, you know, humans in buildings working with students, particularly to understand the central admin effect at the building level.
>> Sounds good. So, next month, stay tuned when we talk about our departmental budgets and um the we'll give you an update on the budgeted FTE reduction in departments and we'll try and break that out to the best of our ability um for which of those FTE primarily work in
schools uh versus which of those FTE work in other locations. The other thing I think that might be helpful as we do that presentation given um director given question is making sure that people understand from the
department budgets for example what is every school getting um so you know every elementary school has a 0.5 cell right and um there are still some schools that are buying up and some are not as we saw but that's
just an example of like knowing that that's out there. These percentages are not a percentage of like the whole they're the percentage of the buyup. Uh and so that might need we could maybe clarify that a little bit more when we talk about the department budgets next month and all the various pieces and
parts that actually go into schools from departments. So we'll thank you for the feedback. We'll try to think about how to communicate that in a different way when we talk about the budget for departments. And just so it's clear, I am aware that
that is not an easy task. So I am not I'm not trying to I don't make it it it's the information probably will be simple and I understand the process of getting it is not and I appreciate your efforts for what is not a simple task to accomplish a simple answer. >> Yeah. I also just want to highlight
because I try to make sure this I'm repeating this also over and over and over the complicated Thank you for acknowledging that it is complicated. I would say it is further complicated by the fact that we do not utilize the
state chart of accounts which means we do not use and in our chart of accounts not this is not going to be like 100% said the right way but we don't necessarily have as specific a location code as the state chart of accounts
does. So that makes it very difficult for us to look at this location like in 23 24 25 26 27 um and what has changed over the period of time that makes it very difficult for uh these guys to sort of technically do what you're asking and
I've been asking these kinds of questions for 5 years now um and constantly frustrated by the fact that we don't have the state chart of accounts to tell me how many psychologists or social workers are or assistant principles or whatever you want to call it are where it's a very
difficult task for task for HR and finance to come up with that data because of our chart of accounts as we roll out the ERP um and the horizon project to move into a more modern system. We are also making the shift to the new state chart of accounts. I
anticipate this time next year or six months from this time next year, 18 months, we will be able to do some of those pieces and parts that are driving us all a little bit crazy much in a much more easier fashion. Um, so I just want to highlight that we're going to do our
best and we have some technical and systems issues that make it really complicated. Um, so >> Director Moian, >> so some of the things that I'm getting feedback and emails and concerns around is just right like we had half a cell
and we're not going to buy up this the cell for next year. Um, or the cell position being reduced from full-time to part-time, whatever that might look like. And if a budget is supposed to be reflective of our values, I'm just
wondering what is it that we are valuing here? Are we just valuing reducing headcounts and just getting it to a certain number? Or are we making the um sort of value judgments on hey given the current climate, given the things that
are going on and our goals as a district, are we giving the tools to our schools to meet those um what's the word I'm looking for here? Objectives. Thank you. Yes.
I mean, I think it is it's a it's a great question. Um, I don't know that there's an answer necessarily to it. Um, I don't know if there's anything Superintendent Derland or Miss Copeland you can add. >> I think the only answer I might say is,
um, budget reductions suck. Um, and we have done our best to keep the larger percent reductions as far away from the classroom as possible. I think you're seeing that reflected in
what's being presented here. Um, because schools have done the same >> right in our department budgets. We took bigger hits in central teams that are in support of schools but not necessarily directly in schools. And I think what you're seeing here in this presentation
is principles, sachs, and school leadership teams making those same kinds of decisions that it's the support professionals that um are being reduced because we need to have classroom teachers teaching classroom students.
I'll also say I mean I think we need to keep an eye on this and through the um school leadership team uh Dr. Coleman and and the community superintendent are are meeting diligently uh with principles to understand the impacts of the decisions that they're
having to make. Dr. Coleman, I think, has allocated approximately half of the budget assistance funds that he has to support schools where some of the reductions they were um needing to make didn't seem palatable. Um, and so
they're paying very close attention to that and I think we need to pay, you know, continue to pay close attention to it as we go into next next year. I will also say that um the academic success of our students and the mental health the
mental health and well-being of our students is for sure a shared responsibility. I mean, as a former classroom teacher, I had a role in the mental health and success of my students. All of our teachers do teach universal selfcurriculum.
Um, and ourselves support with that. Um, all of all of our mental health professionals, I think, support with all these kinds of things. Um, and so I know our principles and our teachers, um, and the mental health professionals who, um, are in our schools take this seriously
and take it as a team responsibility. Um, and so, um, I I just know how important it is to the people who are in our schools and, um, we'll continue to have conversations with them about how to support that effort. Um, so I it's
it's yeah, we we have got to get this budget to a structurally sound place and we are not structurally sound financially in this organization right now. And so
we're having to make across this district very difficult decisions, none of which we like to have to make. And we've talked for for three years with
this board about the fact that this was coming. We've foreshadowed it. We've forecasted it. And it is here. And so there are a lot of things going on that we're not going to fund next year that I'm not happy about.
Um, and at the end of the day, as superintendent, I have a responsibility to be a responsible steward of public funds. And this board has the ultimate authority uh to approve a budget that doesn't sink the ship. And so we're having to make difficult
decisions uh so that that doesn't happen. Uh the forecast based on the reductions that we're making right now looks a lot better. Um but it's we are still going to be bringing this board a deficit budget in June.
That's the reality that we're facing. And so um yeah, there are things in here, a lot of things in here that I wish we weren't having to make decisions about. And I just want to I want to add to those comments. So I appreciate you both. Um,
adding color to that, I also want to add that this the previous board of which director Kenworthy and I were a part of for two of those three years recognized that even though we were coming to this spot, we still needed to make investments, which I still continue to believe were the right investments in
our teachers and our staff. Director Amonian, do you have additional questions? Director Kenworthy. Um, I just have and you you actually almost just answered it, Superintendent Derland, so I just want to recclarify
recognizing that there are 70 schools with declining enrollment on top of they're kind of getting the triple threat, Miss Copeland. I like how you kind of categorized it. It's first time I've really thought about it as as all three of those adding on top of each other. Um,
if there are schools that are really struggling, they can work with their area superintendent. They can work with Dr. Coleman. That is still ongoing. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Um, I recognize that that work is also going to be ongoing. >> Yeah.
>> To address that question and talk a little bit more to that, Director Applegate. Um the we have this year allocated budget assistance earlier than we typically do um because of this process. Um and at
the same time when fast forward into the fall, school has started, children, students have arrived, staff are in place, they know their position, they're ready to go for the year. the enrollment we project and the budget which is just
a plan, right? An expenditure plan. Um, and all plans change over time. When the kids arrive, schools start to realize, oh, this is the actual amount of revenue I'm going to receive. And that might look different than what
they've budgeted for. And so we do um need to preserve some of that budget assistance for the fall because what happens is there will be a situation where we planned for staffing for x number of students. Fewer students
arrive and yet you've got a classroom of call it 15 kindergarteners. You had budgeted for a classroom of 25. um you wait through Labor Day to see if more kids arrive. They don't. Um you
don't all of a sudden yank that teacher and interrupt the students experience uh in middle of October. And so we use budget assistance also in those kinds of scenarios in the fall. So so you know it
is a it's a balance, right? And the community superintendents are norming and and Dr. Dr. Coleman and I are meeting regularly on a weekly basis to review all these things. Um, but we do need to preserve some of that budget assistance to go into the fall because we will have tricky situations. Now, I have been part of districts where in the
fall we made people move around. We said you lost 25 kids here, you gained 25 kids here, you're losing this amount of money. We're taking that money from you. We're giving that money over here. And these the teacher the teachers move around. I will tell you I'm not
it's not I'm not a big fan which is why we have not done that here uh in Jeffco and we've had the luxury of a healthy fund balance to not have to do those kinds of things and to be able to leverage that um and so I don't see us having to do that this fall um because I
think we will be able to take some budget assistance in and be able to support those hot spots uh for the year but then again it all comes back around and recalibrates right now for the next year and that's what we're going through. That's what we're going through.
>> Thank you. Yeah. Um my only my last question I think is actually an easy one. Um so we'll take it. If I look at slide 19, when we talk about instructional support staff, does that encompass our paras? I know we've talked
no. So this is not our staff. This is just >> these are just the FT budgeted positions, >> salary, >> salary positions that we had as like that blue section up top. So I can if you want to know what's in there, we have deans, instructional coaches, DTLs, counselors, cells, mental health bi-ups,
bups only, the fells, and then the full-time guest teachers. >> Thank you. I appreciate that clarification. Um, thank you guys. We appreciate it. Happy birthday, Mr. Sammons. Um, have a wonderful day. Um, this is a lot and we appreciate it and forgive our squinting
at all these numbers. So the work you do is really valuable and we appreciate it. All right. Next, uh, Superintendent Dorland will provide a preview of items anticipated to appear on our consent agenda at the upcoming March 12th, 2026 board meeting.
Superintendent Dorland, the time is yours. >> Thank you, President Applegate. Um so you'll see here uh in your um attachment in the agenda that uh we will have employment as always employment administrative appointments and resignations terminations a supplemental
funds notification for the month of March you'll be approving minutes for for the following board meetings February 4th February 12th February 27th and March 4th. Um wow that's aggressive. You're going to be getting these ones done. Look at her setting goals for
herself. Thank you very much, Kristen. Yeah. Um, acceptance of monitoring reports that you've studied over the course of uh tonight and last month, 1.1, 3.2, and 3.4. Approval of donation uh to the Evergreen High School. This
just is new, hot off the press. Um the PTSA at Evergreen High School has donated $400,000 uh for new stadium seating um in the school. So really excited to bring that to the board and have you approve that piece and thank you so much to the
Evergreen High School PTSA uh for that generous donation. There will be a two-part contract approval for Oracle Peopleoft. Uh we and which is basically uh license expansion and annual maintenance renewal. Oracle
is currently the vendor that um uh provides Peopleoft to us. Peopleoft is our current soon to be suns setting um ERP and so we're moving away from this but we've got to we've got to keep the business running while we're shifting
into and before we flip the switch and go live with our new pro product. And so you'll see the information there for both the license expansion as well as the annual maintenance of uh the Oracle People Soft product that we use.
Superintendent Derlin, one quick question on that. I know the annual maintenance is a not to exceed. Is that 1.3 based on past years or is that just a max? I'm assuming it's based on um uh past
years. >> Okay. >> Uhhuh. And probably whatever we other data we've gathered throughout the course of this year about issues that we think we going to need to have focused on and maintained. >> Okay. Thank you. Um the next contract is for DW water
projects. So we have a uh unique water situation up at the uh Conifer High School site and so we have to replace those tanks. Um and so this is a contract with this vendor velocity constructors to replace those water tanks up at uh Conifer High School.
We're hopeful that's going to improve the water quality up there at that site. A contract approval for the Fletcher Miller abatement agreement. I'm super super excited to share that the Fletcher Miller staff and students and families
will be moving into their new home in the new building um over spring break which is just amazing. We have the ribbon cutting coming up. I believe it's on the 18th of March. Um, it's in my brain
because I'm, this is one of the things I'm most proud of, uh, is building a new building for our Fletcher Miller students and community. Uh, so that that'll be happening. They're moving in and then we have the ribbon cutting uh, right shortly before they move in. We need to tear down the old building. Um,
and in order to do that, we have to abate the asbestous in the building. So, this is a contract for that. Uh, we have some mechanical upgrades at Bradford North. I'm just going to highlight for you all. You can see these large dollar
amounts. The the maintenance of our $5.5 billion dollar of property that this district owns is costly to maintain safe, dry, warm, and modern school facilities. And so, um, these are all these these pieces that normally come to the board related to capital
investments. Um, and then you can also see in April a preview of your education of your, uh, agenda items. Board members, any questions? >> Thank you, Superintendent Derland. >> You're welcome. >> The final item on this evening's agenda
is committee reports. Um, this is where we can talk about the work on advisories committees. Um, we have 25 minutes to discuss and the time is ours. Um, would anybody like to add or share anything on committee work that they're doing?
Director Minnian. >> Uh, so I attended the FAC meeting this past month and Superintendent Dorland was also there with me. Um, she shared some exciting new information about the the dashboard that's going to be coming online. I forgot the name of it
specifically, so apologies. Um, but feel free to chime in and correct me on that. uh but it's going to be able to address the funds that are be that have been spent on mental health for the regarding the 2018 mill levy override. So I'm really excited to have that coming
online and being able to share that with the community. Um and yeah, that's all I have for my committee. Um just to add on to what Director Moenian uh said, thank you for highlighting that we are going to be uh pulling together an oversight group, a Milvie override committee um in
early April where we'll be doing a look back at the investments from the 2018 Milvie override. This has been a request of um many stakeholders in our community. So looking forward to that. And then all of those materials will be public uh for everybody to consume and check out and have transparency around.
So thanks for highlighting that. We shared that with the partnership last night as well and it was wellreceived. >> Dr. Aravaria, >> thank you. Um I attended the capital asset advisory committee meeting on February 19th and a big part of the
discussion there was the partnership for fiscal sustainability um and how it's going to impact our schools from the building perspective, not the people perspective. Um the committee gave updates on work in progress. So a lot of what we saw on the consent agenda was
discussed at that meeting. Um HVAC systems, the roofs, the abatement um all those things to help keep our students learning um in safe. What did you say? What did you say, Superintendent Jordan? Safe, warm, and modern. >> Warm, safe, dry, and modern.
>> There you go. Um that was also brought up there. Uh they also brought up the the ribbon cutting at Fletcher Miller and we've all been invited to that. Uh and then finally they discussed the property disposition information uh that was shared with the board last month.
And then just a quick note, the JCO Schools Foundation uh I checked today there's 72 general um event tickets left. So if you don't have one for our listening public, grab it now. Um they are these are tickets to
help celebrate student success in the district. Um this the Jeffco Schools Foundation is huge partner in helping our students thrive. Uh they're just over 50% of their fundraising goals right now. So this is my personal invitation to anyone
listening in the community to donate at jeffcochoolsfoundation.org. Thank you. >> Thank you Dr. Dr. Kenworthy, Director Given, Director Kinworthy. >> Uh, I attended the EAC on February 11th. They are planning to do a community
conversation um as outlined in article 22 on April 28th at Kraton Middle School and um they discussed the structure and content of what that would offer to community members who chose to attend um
with a focus on what are people going to actually show up for? and it's probably not um a presentation about article 22. We want to make sure that we're engaging our community in conversations that they will, you know, want to want to engage
in, taking the time in the evenings to to get together. So, they're having continued conversations about that plan and I'm really excited. I think there's a lot of good conversation about community engagement, especially when it comes to diversity and inclusion in our
community. So they will continue that work uh next week at their next meeting. I also attended the DAC on February 17th where they talked a lot about bylaws and structure of their organization. Um they also talked about the SAC
kickoff and it's an event that happens every year in August the beginning of the year and um there's been a request to kind of adjust the structure. It used to be one huge meeting with everybody alto together. Um, and now I think
they're considering trying to do it either by articulation area or by director district area to have it be a little bit more personal and connective for smaller in smaller communities. Um, so I think that's an interesting
conversation and I'm trying to remember what else we talked about. Those were the two main things that I'm remembering at the moment. So, I will say that's it for me. Oh, also I attended the partnership meeting last night and um great turnout
and good conversation and I I really think you answered a lot of um questions, rapidfire questions from the floor um with honesty and humility and um just grace. So, I appreciated your your work,
>> Director Gibbons. Well, I at the last committee meeting gave the honor to Dr. Etchavvaria to attend the capital asset advisory committee and I instead was down at the capital which was its own >> which was its own story. But I sounds
like Dr. had as good a time as I did um at her first visit with the CAC and that she probably found it quicker than I did as well. So maybe not. Okay. >> Wonderful. Thank you. Um I'm excited in a couple weeks we have a cell phone
policy committee meeting and a TDPAC committee meeting. So looking forward to those and then attended the wheat wheat ridge urban renewal authority meeting this week as we discussed earlier. That's always um it's always great discussion and a good representation from our community. Um they did actually
bring up that we had surplus the schools. They're very excited about that. I know um Mr. Gatlin has has spoken with them so they feel um very excited about that. And so I look forward to a couple meetings in a few weeks.
And with that, that brings us to the end of our agenda. Thank you to our presenters um who participated in our study session. Our next meeting is a regular board meeting on Thursday, March 12th, 2026. With that, we stand adjourned. Good night. Heat. Heat.
Heat. Heat.