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e e e good morning everyone and uh on behalf of the administration and finance committee I call this meeting to order may we have a roll call please Mr Appel Mr Appel is not present he's yeah
he's in the back he's coming okay Dr Armstrong here Dr Armstrong is present Mr Birkin here Mr Burkin is present Mr Castile Mr Castile is not present miss champan here miss champan is present Dr Clark Dr Clark is present Mr Harris Mr
Harris is present Mr Hollis Mr Hollis is present Miss Holloway Miss Holloway is present miss meline m meline is present and Mr Mars Mr moris is present you have a for thank you um this first item
please the consent agenda is ready for approval adding item 7.1 okay I have a motion Please Mr Harris Mr Hollis second any objection hearing n next item please your first
item is on page 18 item 4.1 consideration of the minimum Foundation program formula for 2025 2026 motion Please Mr Harris Dr Armstrong um Dr Brumley uh yes sir Mr
Burkin thank you uh for that first of all I want to thank the members of uh the mfp task force uh including uh you Mr Burkin as chair here uh for the time that you all have given over the last year to look uh intently at the mfp um
and really really take time to better understand it and uh I feel like that that was really important and um I also feel like uh that that took a lot of time for people to drive into those meetings so I just want to acknowledge that uh yesterday the mfp task force uh did meet uh I thinkk Bessie staff for
turning around uh some of those minutes pretty quickly uh this morning um but my recommendation to the board is is pretty simple um I am just trying to align this mfp with Governor Landry's executive budget which calls for base uh per pupil
to remain the same uh and essentially the entire mfp to uh hold status with the exception of three areas which are already funded uh uh thankfully by the governor uh in his executive budget uh one has to do with employee pay and
offering uh differentiated compensation out to uh systems in the form of a block grant we would take 17.5 million block grant out to school systems they can use in one of four areas which is um uh High
um need schools those schools that serve student populations that are 90% or greater economically disadvantaged uh hard to staff content areas presently those are K12 special education high school math and science teacher leaders which are those teachers who are willing
to Mentor other teachers and finally performance pay Merit pay uh so school systems would get their percentage of that 17.5 million and within those four categories they can use that as they see fit I do think that that has been important the last few years as we've
reduced um the the teaching vacancies across the state from 2500 uh to right at 1,000 uh plus today so we would we would ask that we would include that 17.5 million in in the mfp uh next is around Workforce Development so uh the
governor included 2 million in his budget at our request um for internships and apprenticeships to provide additional funding for the uh field uh to help serve as a catalyst for those um within that uh formula we do give
additional weight to the rural school systems recognizing that um sometimes internships and apprenticeships cost a little more in a rural area than an urban or a suburban area that's 2 million uh and then final the final additional add to the mfp has to do with uh tutoring uh our
accelerate model during the school day aligns to uh the act from last year's legislature which was carried by Senator McMath that calls for every student in grades K through five not proficient uh in English and math to receive a certain dosage of of tutoring uh we were funded
at 30 million this last year as an appropriation and so we're trying to roll that $30 million into the mfp to lock that in uh this year uh that too is uh delivered to school systems via block grant uh based on the the needs of of
the students they serve um so what you have is requests for a status mfp um with the additions of items that in working with the governor and his team and want to recognize Dr Sabre kingham who is uh here with us today who serves
as his education policy advisor uh we have asked added uh these three items 17.5 million for differentiated compensation which is teacher pay 2 million for apprenticeships and internships and 30 million uh for our accelerate uh tutoring model for a total
of 49.5 million uh happy to um take any questions you may have uh Mr Burkin or other members we also have minor technical adjustments around resident teacher funding uh and the addition of Eco point of Shan uh School
thank you Dr Bry I also wanted to take the time to thank everyone who came for these mfp meetings and especially Beth Sho for uh putting all of that together and uh giving us the schooling on that that was greatly appreciated uh helped
my understanding as well uh one of the things with regards to the mfp uh is for the second time we were short of a quorum yesterday so just to kind of let let people know that at our next proposed meeting which will probably be
in August we're going to look at uh what is going to take to tweak those Quorum requirements and um uh just try to make it to where we can get people who uh can be here want to be here uh so that we
can have a quorum for this meeting um having said that are there any questions or comments to the board Miss shampine thank you Mr chairman um really just a comment a couple comments I'd like to thank Dr Brumley for working so closely on this mfp with the
administration our governor and also Dr Kingdom as our Lea's on as well as the U helping us out all year long when we when we de dwell into the mfp and thank all the members that attended and offered their input uh I believe that
this budget aligns itself with our Bessie priorities and actually influences our student outcomes in a positive manner so I want to thank the governor for allowing these three uh things to be included in the mfp and
then in the next year we've made a commitment that the mfp what we're going to do in the next year is we're going to look at the formula so I'd like to thank everyone involved in that effort and thank you Dr Brumley for bringing this mfp forward today thank you Miss sha Pine and I'll I'll likewise acknowledge
uh uh Deputy superintendent of Finance Miss Beth C and her team for all the technical work that they do to get the numbers accurate I mean she is constantly in that office crunching the numbers and I just want to thank you beath for your preparation we do have any other questions comments from the board we do
have a couple of public comments um Mr Michael Faulk who's um the Louisiana Association of school superintendents wishes to speak on this item as well as uh Dr Richard Baker Louisiana Federation
of te teachers wishes to speak if you'd both come up please thank you Mr chairman Michael Faulk executive director of the Louisiana Association of school superintendent uh we
appreciate the inclusion of these items into the formula because what that does it provides sustainability for a programs that are working that are helping teachers and are helping students we all also will
continue to advocate for the recommendations that I submitted yesterday on behalf of the superintendance we will continue to Advocate going to have to Advocate with the legislature and see if maybe we can't get some movement there but we do
appreciate those things being included in the formula so we can sustain those efforts it also helps the districts as they plan the differentiated compensation not to worry about well is this a oneandone thing is something that
can continue and can be used by districts to help teachers than good morning best members chairman Burkin uh superintendent Brumley Richard Baker Louisiana Federation of teachers and School
Employees in our most recent survey respondents were given 8 to 10 items to identify what was their most important issue they were not limited in this item in that they could select everything as most important across all job categories
salary and raises were their most important issue yesterday the mfp task force we heard about a reduction in vacancies part of that is attributed to the number of persons teaching out a field another
Point raised about the mfp formula was the importance of keeping fairness of funding Central to the formula there was discussion about increasing the dollars to districts to help with operational costs of electricity Heating and Cooling property
insurance there is no doubt that the cost of running schools and districts is going up Louisiana citizens are also experienc Rising costs of food Fuel and the various insurances that we must carry Educators have not received a pay
raise a pay increase increase since 2023 and where then and still are some of the lowest compensated Educators in the South and the nation they have seen their cost for groceries insurance and
utilities Skyrocket in the last two years with no increase in Pay lf's concern is that this proposal includes other initiatives that were funded in last year's budget but does not include a cost of living in
for educators the funds used in last year's budget for the one-time stien should be included in level four of the mfp as a raise if we want to meet the goal of having an experienced qualified teacher
in front of every child every day and not rely on teachers who are teaching under aat or out of Area Teachers and School Employees rely on this board to help them with those costs as well it was pointed out that
the last increase to the mfp was in 2018 2019 in 2019 the average teacher salary was $ 49,3 that salary would need to be more than $61,000 for them to have the same buying
power this year lft wants to see every educator making enough that they do not have to work second jobs to make ends meet we are asking for a cost of living adjustment for teachers and School Employees our children deserve more
thank you thank you Dr bck Mr Morris yeah thank you Mr chair just a couple of comments uh wanted to share with the board and the public uh some of the conversation yesterday at the mfp uh task force meeting U that was
my personal concern for the lack of uh uh chemistry teachers and Math teachers in our schools today and what that looks like going forward uh from my career and professional experience I can really appreciate the trillion dollars of investment in the infrastructure in the
prochemical industry uh in the manufacturing south of I 10 and there's no doubt in our mind that that infrastructure is going to be there for decades to come but what there is a doubt in my mind is who's going to operate that equipment who's going to
manage that equipment who's trained got the skill set uh to appreciate the the safety concerns and and the technical advancements and so forth and if we don't have uh qualified chemistry math physics teachers in our high schools
then students are not going to consider those career paths so today there are hundreds of jobs that are outsourced to other countries because we don't have the the the engineering staff uh in in our community and it's only going to
compound itself if if we don't uh recognize this as a priority and and and look ahead to the Future for who's going to operate these vast resources uh so I I uh very enthusiastically support the
recommendation for the differentiated compensation I've heard numerous stories where it's drawn uh students I'm sorry teachers to these uh to these jobs um and uh just wanted to raise that level of awareness uh also wanted to uh make
sure we raise awareness about the the election on March 29th uh that that uh appreciate the governor and his his effort uh to reduce the debt uh so that we can uh raise teacher salaries and and it's a coste efficient thing to do and U
but it's going to depend on voter turnout uh supporting this this ini itive uh so that we can get this into the mfp and uh put put more dollars in the future into differentiated compensation so that we can fill these
gaps and ensure that we do have a future of Louisiana citizens operating Louisiana equipment in Louisiana thank you thank you Mr Morris uh just a also a point of I'm sure most are aware but uh
some may not it is this body's responsibility to put forth an mfp proposal to the legislature and it needs to be to the legislature by March 15th which is this Friday so um
we're right up against the timeline U and the legislature will then at some point look at the mfp and give it an up or down um they cannot change it if they vote it down which is what has happened over the last two years then it reverts
back to the previous uh mfp uh which is from three years ago so um just to get give you all the update or education on that for those who may not know the process if they do vote it down it comes
back to us for change and then it goes back so um that's where we are uh any other comments sir yes sir uh just one uh point that thank you for making that um uh information making the public aware of that March 15th deadline just
one point um the last couple of years uh they actually just chose to not hear it yeah they just um didn't necessarily vote it down they just chose to not hear it so uh we want to make sure that you know and I think it's not the best president and uh Mr Harrison I've talked
about that a few times we want to make sure we put over there a solid mfp and uh I would encourage Bessie members and their advocacy uh to help us get it across the finish line anyone else Miss shampine thank you Mr chair uh I'd like to make one other uh
I'd like to aile motion that we allow uh lgoe to make technical adjustments if necessary okay so we have a um motion on the floor everyone understand the motion any other comments to the motion any objections to
the motion hearing and seeing none that motion passes next item please your next item is on page 19 item 5.1 consideration of LD contract regarding Administration and management of an education savings account program the
recommendation is to approve Dr BR you want to get a motion oh I'm sorry yes motion Mr Hollis Dr Armstrong um yes sir thank you so before we go into this particular item I just want to remind the board that in the um U the sit
agenda later we have an actual item to to discuss the analytics around applicants for Odyssey so this is really not the time for you know um application questions we we will we have an entire agenda item for that later uh this is simply around the
contract itself I'm going ask uh Deputy superintendent CNO to to come to the table she's been working along with our legal staff and and our choice staff to uh make sure that we're in a good place on this amendment to The Odyssey contract um what what I will share
before Beth gives some information Andor adds any any answers any questions is that um we we can't launch Gator without a contract for a program provider um it's it's not possible um and so what
this amendment does is it allows for the funding for the 25 26 Academic Year essentially uh for us to get started uh with this process and so if we are going to successfully launch uh a program we have to have a program administrator uh
and uh we have been working uh with Odyssey around the amendment that would make the most sense moving forward and uh Beth you may want to provide any additional Clarity on what this particular item handles yes sir Beth CN with the Department of
Education um the contract is uh has several purposes one of which is to extend the contract for one year through 6:30 of 2026 as Dr Brumley said we need this system in order to implement uh the program next year it also uh
incorporates a couple of uh additional deliverables that we felt would be good to add to the work that we do one of them actually develops has the them program a system to offer users the ability to um comment on the usefulness
of the system uh we think that that would be valuable going going um forward it also provides for a detailed plan a work plan for next year we we have implemented many systems in the pro programs in the department and you know
it takes a lot of coordination and and uh as we move into the real implementation phase for 25 26 we want them to help us uh develop that work plan the last thing is um the training
videos we found that the the training that we have right now is good but that we would want you know a little bit of an enhancement to those videos maybe very specific tasks so we've asked added that to the deliverable is one of the things we'd like them to do for us
before we begin next year as well uh lastly because of the governor's budget currently reflects the $93 million for the program we have Incorporated the ability of the contract for us to be able to pay them for the funded accounts
we will know those funded accounts once the session closes es and the legislature decides on the amount of money that's available for the program and their fee will be based on the number of accounts multiplied by that
per account cost of $43.50 so um so that's the things that are in the amendment we feel like they're all necessary to get us moving forward questions comments yes Dr armstr
and so I'm not sure if it goes here here with the extension of the contract or if it goes in the application section but I do know that I want to commend the Department of Education and odyssey that when we had the hiccup per se um on
March 1st and we had so many millions of extraneous applications and hits coming to the network that within just a few minutes it was all resolved so I commend all of you working all day that day making sure it was a smooth trans
transition and odyssey for ensuring that we were able to continue with the application process anyone else any objections to the motion thank you Mr Beth appreciate it any objection to the motion hearing seeing none um
that passes uh next item please your next item is on page 23 item 5.2 consideration of federal state grants and allocations to leas type two Charters type five Charters approved non-public schools and Community Based
organizations competitive and other the recommendation is to approve a motion Miss Holloway miss millerin any discussion no discussion any objections seeing none that motion
passes next item your next item is on page three uh 31 item 6.1 consideration of AG program and budget revisions on Statewide Grant programs for fiscal year 2024 2025 the recommendation is to
approve a motion Mr Appel Mr hullis any discussion Miss cim you have anything okay hearing none any objections seeing none that passes next item please that concludes your agenda
awesome so we're 11:37 um Mr Hollis what time I mean Harris what time you want to do it now
okay we will do it now