The schoolboard work session begins in one minute. Please take your seats. Again, the schoolboard work session begins in one minute. Good morning. I now call the August 6, 2026 administrative briefing and work session of the Marian County School
Board to order at 900 a.m. Please silence your electronic devices to avoid disturbing others. Mirroring and modeling how our students begin each day, I ask that you please pause with us for a moment of silence. Please join me. I will now read our board commitment
statement. We are the Maring County School District Leadership Team. When we come together to work, we are effective, efficient, and productive. Our three most important characteristics are dedicated, transparent, and individually responsible. To work well together, we must demonstrate respect, confront
reality, and be accountable. We will always put students first, and we will leave a legacy of success. I would like to ask our schoolboard attorney to explain the rules for this public workshop. Good morning, Attorney Powers. >> Good morning, and thank you, Madam Chair. This work session is a public meeting as defined in Florida Sunshine
Law. The board is dedicated to full transparency in its meetings and its work. In compliance with the Sunshine Law, the board has adopted uniform meeting procedures which include the right for citizens to participate. The board will allow public comment regarding any work session item listed
on today's agenda at the appropriate time. Speakers must fill out a request form located in the lobby and hand it to the board clerk. After the board and superintendent have completed their discussion on a particular agenda item, the board clerk will call the speaker's name in the
order received. Each speaker will have three minutes. As required by Sunshine Law, the board must maintain orderly conduct and proper decorum throughout this meeting. Speakers may criticize subject matter and decisions in a respectable manner, but not people.
Finally, speakers must be very careful not to violate the privacy rights of others, especially students and their family members by mentioning their names or other identifying information. Thank you for your attention to these important rules. Madam Chair, >> thank you, Attorney Powers. Uh, Miss
Martinez Young, can you please provide the proof of publication for today's meeting? >> The notice for the August 6th, 2026 administrative briefing and work session was published on the district website on July 31st, 2026. Proof of notification has been attached to board docks and to proof of publication. >> Thank you, ma'am. I will hand it over to
Dr. Brewer to start with her administrative briefing. >> Thank you. Good morning. We have a a very lengthy agenda today, so I won't um be too long, but I do want to just share that we've had an exciting week with teachers returning and all of our
transportation, our food service teams. They had their big orientation. So, it was exciting to be a part of those and to walk some campuses this week. I also just want to remind our parents that the app myride K12 is available and so
parents can go to that app, download it and they can determine their students routes their for transportation using that app. So that's an important tool that our parents need to utilize before Monday. Um and this weekend we have an
education day at Mary Sue Rich sponsored by the NAACP. So that'll be a fun day with lots of school supplies and other resources available. So I encourage our families to attend. And at this time, chair, I'll turn it back over to you. >> All right. Well, then we are going to
kick it off with item 4.1, which is graduation 2027. So I welcome, I believe, Mr. White House to the podium to enlighten us on the plan for graduation. >> Thank you, chair. Good morning. Good morning, board members and superintendent. Uh, as you all know, we
do start school on Monday, which is the perfect time to start talking about graduation because we're going to blink and it's going to be May. So, uh, here we are to share our update for this upcoming graduation season. So, just a recap of last year's graduation. We had
eight high school graduation ceremonies that we used the new open gate um, weapon detection system at each of those. um we had six different venues that we set up for and we appreciate our safe schools team for um navigating what that needed to look like for the
screening process at each of those different venues. Uh with that we had almost 32,000 total guests screen which is a a ton of students to walk through those open gate systems but we did so uh very efficiently and effectively. Um, we were able to celebrate 3,000 plus
graduates last year. Um, and unfortunately or fortunately, however you want to look at it, we did intercept quite a few weapons prior to entry. And so that shows the weapon gate system was very effective at what we wanted it to do, which was to make sure we had the safest um, graduation possible for our
students and our guests. And 88% of our guests entered without any secondary screening, which means they breezed right on through and kept on going. And so we are glad for how that worked out. and the success that we had um trying out that new process for the first time last year. So, moving into this year's
graduation season in May of 2027, we're going to now have nine high school graduation ceremonies with the addition of South Marian High School. Uh we will continue using Open Gate at each of those as we've again saw success with that and and we'll maintain that process. Um, high schools will also use
them for any other large scale events they have on their campus. Football games, um, basketball games, volleyball games, anything where they anticipate a large crowd, they can utilize them. Uh, we have seven different graduation venues this year. We will be live streaming our ceremonies. We did that as
um kind of a necessity. When we shifted our final two graduations indoors and we had to limit the capacity in there, but we got a lot of positive feedback from having the live stream option. And so we've asked all of our schools to go ahead and budget for live streaming this year. Uh we again anticipate over 3,000
graduates. We will continue our noag policy and start communicating that immediately when we announce the graduation season. Um and then we are going to have early communication about locations, ticketing, and I'll talk about that a little bit more and the use
of our open gate system. So, you'll see our graduation schedule uh listed on here. These are all of the graduation um dates and times as we have them set at the moment. Uh Hillrest graduation of course will take place in
the Hillrest Gymnasium as it has uh in years past. The Denellan High School graduation will again be at Denellan High School. We had great success and a lot of positive feedback from the community about bringing that event back to the school. um they have about half
as many kids this year, so it should be a much faster process for graduation. Um so we're excited to get that venue going again. Westport High School and Forest High School will remain at the World Equestrian Center. Uh we had a great follow-up meeting with the staff from the World Equestrian Center just to talk
about how things went and to start planning already for this coming year. So we are going to not use the outdoor venue. We are going to start with the indoor venue and stay with the indoor venue. We've found good success being indoors. The the staff, the students,
and and especially us appreciated having air conditioning with those um very heavy gowns on. So, we're actually going to be using arena number five, which is a larger arena style um instead of that flat level. It's actually built as an
arena. Um it usually has horses and dirt floor, but they can cover that up in a jiffy. Um and you won't even notice that there's dirt floor underneath. So, they set up the stage and uh the chairs for us. We do obviously have limited seating in those venues. I think the capacity is
3,000. And so, we are going to have to ticket those two venues so that we make sure we don't have an overcrowding issue like we did um at the event this year when we forced everyone indoors. So, we're going to start communicating that process early. The way the ticketing will work is that we provide the
tickets, the set amount of tickets to the graduates and the graduates decide who they give them to. That way we're not dealing with does mom get it, dad get it, grandma, whoever. If you're graduating, here's your allocation of tickets and you you give those out as you see fit. Um but again, for those who
can't make it, we will have the live streaming option available for um for those for all of our events, but especially for the two indoor ones. Lakeware High School will again be at the Lakeware High School stadium. Again, we had a great community feedback from that event taking place in their
backyard again and um had good success there. North Marin High School and Vanguard High School will both be at the Livestock Pavilion again. I think we had much better success last year and um in managing that facility and and so we will continue to use that for those two
um high schools. South Marian High School of course will be our first graduation at South Marian in their football stadium. So we're excited to start a new tradition there um and looking forward to that event. And then of course Belleview High School will remain at Belleview High School um for
the last graduation of the season. And then we have Marian Technical Colleg's graduation of course listed on there and our summer graduation which we had a great turnout this past summer and um we hope to get everybody across the stage in May but for when we don't and it's nice to have that summer graduation
option. So that is the schedule and I'm happy to answer any questions you all may have. >> I think that's a good time to pause. I know I have a few questions, but does anyone want to get started? Reverend Cummings, >> I do. Um, good morning, Mr. White House. Just a question and and Dr. Campbell
probably can help on this. Normally the MTC graduation always conflicts with the FSBA summer. >> It does. It does. >> Is that is it are we in the same boat? Because most of the time we're away and trying to get back to come to that graduation. I think most of us if we're
on the board, we want to be we want to be to that graduation. >> Yes. If you all know the date and it does conflict, let me know and I can work with >> Mr. Small. >> I I'm sorry. I already checked that and and it does conflict for sure. >> Certainly. I'll I'll work with Mr. Smallidge and we'll see if there's a way we can shift that to a different date. >> Thank you.
>> Preferably the week after >> even if it was I think even if it was that Friday. >> Friday and the evening would work. Yes. >> We'll be back. >> Should be. >> Yeah. All right. Well, we'll check on the church's schedule and then we'll follow back up and let you all know for >> Thank probably the barrier is Fridays aren't a work day
>> for us because the school district office is closed on Fridays in June. So that would just be something to consider. >> So the next week would be great. >> We'll make it happen. >> Thank you. >> Sure. >> Um I have a few things I'll share. Um I
did some back of the napkin math. If Mr. Rios Walsh was here, he would chuckle. um based on graduation graduate numbers which we know are going to shift that's four tickets per graduate for Westport and Forest and I would venture to guess that almost all of us would disagree
with that number. So, um, I don't want to speak for everyone, but I think we've had, if I reflecting back on this graduation season and the barriers we were facing and the fact that more than 50% of America is divorced, four tickets
doesn't seem to cut the mustard. I think we even did more than four during COVID. If we didn't, we did four. >> We did six. Correct. >> I think the number is 5,000 including graduates >> for that expo. >> Correct. Yeah. So it's 4,000 then basically if you were to I mean if we
have 700 graduates and if there are 700 graduates that's what I was going off of just as a a rough number if you take some kids away from Westport right >> should be probably less than that probably more like 600. >> Yes. >> Okay. We're still at four maybe five
tickets a kid. Um, and so I guess my my question is we were able to fit more into expo one or two, whichever expo we were in. And I realized that the seating may have not been the vantage point may have not been better, but the the participation in person
because I didn't hear any complaints about what people could see because they added the jumbotrons and all of the the the TVs. So being there in person is what I think people really have value attached to. and limiting people's ability to
attend is going to be it it is going to be a thing. And so I'm going to just say my personal take would be that I would rather be in a larger venue that can accommodate more people and um they have less ability to see the stage. >> Sure. I will comment and during our
meeting we were told that we were over um we were out of compliance with the code for the county. So, we cannot if we did go back to Expo 1 or two, our number would still be the 3,000 um and or 5,000 including graduates.
>> I just don't think that works then if I'm just being honest. Um that's my take on it. I I can tell you right now as soon as this gets they find out they're going to get because they're not paying attention right now because they're all at work working. um when they find out they're only going to get four or five tickets for their their child's
graduation. The amount of emails that this board is going to get um complaining about it um is going to be a lot because to me that is I mean that's less than we did in CO. So uh that's my thought on it. I don't know if any of the rest of the board wants to provide input on that but
>> so I will just add and Dr. James, when we met with Wet, what they told us previously was that in all of our prior graduations, we never exceeded 5,000 people in any of our graduations. And so that's why we felt comfortable. So even though we're saying five tickets, some students may only have one person show
up and then they have tickets they can give away to their friends. Some >> But that's not how it works though. That's never how it works. So that I appreciate that in theory. And some kids may only have one kid come, one person come, but there's not this pool of tickets where then there Johnny can go
get three extra tickets because Susie only used one. That is just not the reality of like what will actually happen. >> So I've done ticketing at North High School for years and that's actually exactly how it worked. Um the students took what they needed and then they brought back what they couldn't use and then we asked for students. We did a
last call students who need extra tickets and they came and picked them up. >> Okay. I feel confident we are going to get overwhelmed with communication from families. >> Madam chair, I think um as long as we have these conversations early enough um
the senior um counselors or whoever advisors for those kids, if they message this right, um it should work. And but I'm thinking you're going to need more than four tickets. I think it's probably going to need about six um to kind of
accommodate. Um if there's a two two parents that's divorced, you you got those the the parent and the the u the other the other parent and their spouse and parent grandparent. So I'm I'm looking at it that way. But I think it has to the conversation has to be early
with those kids. Um the same thing happened with my daughter and um in Hernando County. They had to do the ticketing thing and it it worked. It worked as long as the conversation was there early. >> Yeah. Six is a much more palatable number for me than four for sure.
>> Yeah. >> Um I have something else but I can if if anyone else wants to go >> or member well this fits in. Um good morning Mr. White House conversation for um with the principles. What was their take? >> Their preference was to go indoors.
>> Okay. to stay indoors and with a fewer fewer number of tickets. >> Yes. Because we obviously we run the risk every year of that same situation where we're going to have to call it at the last second and then shift indoors and then it becomes a scramble drill and so we would rather just be in front of that and stay out. Um they felt that
they could accommodate it with ticketing um and limiting the number of guests that were attending. >> Okay. Upward member. I'll I'll weigh in as a more as a citizen that I'll be at that point. Um
there's in some respects it would be great to be able to say whoever wants to come can come and there'll be a ticket for everyone. Uh that would be pretty hard to accomplish. I think the key here it's two things. Having the live stream
just hands down is really great. Uh I got a lot of calls about that. you know, I I think we were doing it where if the school could afford it, they would do the live streaming. I think just having that across the board is is awesome. Um, as far as the tickets are concerned, I
love what you said as a former principle of, you know, communicating that out early so that it the culture is established. If you know for sure that you're only going to be using three tickets, then make sure that the other that you don't take the other three,
that to me is just establishing the tradition across the county. I do know this, no matter how we do it, we're going to get you're going to get phone calls. You're going to get complaints. Uh I saw the ones about in the expo, people were still complaining about not
being able to see. We're never going to get 100% approval on anything that we do. And if if we continue to roll it out early, explain the expectation and and try to establish this tradition, then we're still going to get grumbling. But
at least if you know, you know. So that's my feedback. Dr. Kimell. >> Sure. Thanks. So I I'm just kind of thinking about so what's the alternative, right? So, one alternative
is to go back to the arena uh that we had always been in, not the closed arena, but the outdoor. So, what does that look like? And it we know what it looks like. We've done it multiple times. Another alternative is to have them at their high schools. Well,
Belleview tickets obviously for the one side of the stadium, but not for the other side. I I don't know that we could uh accommodate all of the people that might want to go at their stadiums. And that's clearly not something that the schools are interested in doing either.
So I'm just kind of thinking all of the pieces out because if we aren't indoors then what are the other options? And so I mean I'm if the schools want to do it and as long as we have live streaming
that's being paid for and that's not going to be something when I when I think of last year. Yes they had the jumbotrons. Yes they had the stadium seating. All of that was paid for by community support and the public ed foundation fundraising at the last minute. And that's not a scenario that I
think is ideal for us. Uh the the better that we can have it planned out now before school even starts. Everybody can start at least having a conversation about it today. The one thing that I wanted to address that hasn't been discussed, absolutely that there's going
to be the no bag policy, but can we have a conversation about no balloon arrangements, please? >> I've got that on my list, too. >> Please, at all graduations, not just the ones, but the livestock
pavilion. Do you want to talk about viewing challenges? You can see it. you can see the families that are not able to see these massive balloon arrangements. So, it it was interesting to me last year how we had a no bag policy and so they were obviously screened going through and not but
somebody had to hold that balloon arrangement on the on one side and then some handed around to the other. So, um if we're able to to have that conversation now and say no, then I'm >> support that >> in favor of that. So, >> well, while you're talking about
balloons, you need to talk about those those loud noise things where I have two hearings horns in >> names being announced. Um, I think that's a tragedy where you you're there to hear your kid name and you can't
because the air horns and the the bells. >> Well, board member Thor, do you have a take on balloons and air horns? Because it sounds like the rest of us are in full agreement on cancelling air horns and balloons. There will be no festive accutrants.
>> You can keep it in your after the ceremony. >> After the ceremony, celebrate with your voices. Um, try to be quiet when names are being announced. I think that there's could be some good work around some of those expectations. Um, I did
notice this year it was greatly enhanced the amount of talking that was occurring throughout the whole ceremony itself. Um, it's a hugely celebratory times, but I think there should be certain points within the ceremony that celebration
should be occurring rather than just a lot of chatter throughout the whole thing. It it makes it difficult for for people to to really hear. And, you know, in in the old days, everyone was virtually, you know, silent and and very
polite. And I'm not saying going back to that is optimal either, but again, maybe some pre-work around that is to to what the expectations are. Kind of what we've gotten to when people come into the lobbies of our schools and and our other
places. You know, what what we value about the ceremony is making sure that everyone's child's name gets heard by the people that are there and the ones that are watching on the live stream. So just a little more work around around that I think could be really helpful
especially in the livestock pavilion where in the past the sound I haven't really had any complaints about the sound. This year it was a little tougher. Did anyone else? >> It's tough every year. >> I I can't hear anything at the livestock pavilion. >> Yeah. I really couldn't kick about it in previous years but this past year it was
harder to hear. >> And m Madam Chair respectfully and thank you um Mr. or it's it's like this um in certain venues much harder to hear. Much harder to hear. The livestock pavilion is one of them, especially if the the
sound system and stuff is not up to par. Is extremely hard to hear. And there's this constant um under rowing of of of noise that you're hearing. And um I even even the students couldn't hear as and they were
right there. They couldn't hear their names being called. So, I don't know if that needs to be something that they put on the program. You know, this is a part where people we're asking everybody to be silent or whatever. And we're not trying to stifle anyone's gra uh celebratory joy for their kid, but this
is the one time that these kids are going to do this from high school and we want the parent to be memorable for them and their parents and their family. So, um there's a certain level of respect that you want to have in these u graduation ceremonies. So for me, uh, I
want to hear their names. I want to I want to be able to hear the program. I want to be a There are certain points I couldn't even hear the speakers, >> right? >> And they were two feet in front of me. So >> yeah, it was different. >> It was just different. So we want to we want to honor I I want to be able to hear these these student speakers and be
able to celebrate and say, "I heard what you said." But if I'm sitting right two feet behind you and I can't hear it, that's that's a problem. That's a problem. Speaking of programs, if I can real quick, a QR code for a program is not acceptable in my opinion. Every school needs a printed program. It it is
a it is a memorial thing that people take home. It's a keepsake. And so I don't know when we did that transition, but um I believe strongly that a printed program is a requirement for graduation. um board member there. >> Maybe I'm channeling a board member
Campbell here who is such a good singer and knows how to talk into a microphone, but that might also truly be helpful. Most of our principles and and others and the kids that are chosen to speak, they're not they're already really
nervous. So, having some some tips to really be able to be heard can help, too. We do it all the time here, you know. Can you pull the microphone a little closer to you? Yeah. >> Yeah. We have to remind each other up here to do that. So, I think that there
are some little tweaks that can be made that can really enhance the overall experience. And and I can't remember the guy's name that does the announcing for the rodeo, but if we could get him and get him to bring his sound system, I don't know what that would cost or who might help support it, but we all know
who fell off that bowl and who made it for all the seconds. So, I think we need to get that guy. >> Yes. I still would love to know why the rodeo can sound so loud and graduation can't. I just can't haven't quite figured it out. Dr. Campbell. >> So, just to speak to that, I believe
whenever you think about the rodeo or other events at the livestock pavilion, the people on you're never in the arena floor. So, the people in the arena floor, you don't know what they're able to hear. So, the people in the stands absolutely they have trouble hearing
too. But we're actually in the perspective of the arena floor and that's why it's challenging for the graduates to hear. It's challenging for us to hear. Yeah, we understand that it's also challenging and I don't know why um in the stands, but for us our perspective is very different than any other rodeo scenario would be because
there's not no one from the floor that's actually paying attention to that. So >> respectfully, I would disagree with that. I mean, the rodeo clown is pretty important to hear what's going on. He's trying to get into that barrel before the bull comes. But anyway, I think
we're all saying that maybe with a few little tweaks and enhancements, maybe we can. >> Yes. >> I I can honestly say from my perspective where I was sitting and I'm specifically talking about the livestock pavilion. >> I felt like I was in a Charlie Brown
cartoon in Charlie Brown in class. That's all I could hear. >> It feels like that every year. and and and >> I want to I want to be able to tell this the the validictorian that I heard everything you said. To be honest with you, I couldn't. >> I couldn't. It it's just it was a blur.
It >> was different. >> Yeah. >> Mr. White House, one of the challenges um for me, particularly in the livestock pavilion, is the constant movement. You know, people don't really get settled and they're tromping around on those
metal risers. Um at wet we closed the doors at 5 or whatever graduation start time. Was there any talk amongst your team about saying you know u a last a final time for people to come into the
livestock pavilion so people are not you know just coming in at you know 20 minutes into the ceremony. >> So the the wack when we closed the doors was really because of capacity. So if we reach capacity in any of our venues, we're going to shut it off and not allow
any more guests to come in at that point to any of the high school venues to livestock to anywhere. Once the MCSO um staff feel that it's gotten to an unsafe condition, they're going to say no more guests. And we ran into that. Um Dr. Camel, back to your point, when I was at
Westport my last year in 2013, we had to we had to shut all the gates and stop folks from coming in because there was too many people and we couldn't fit in the venue. And that's when we had 500 graduates. So you add to that another 150 graduates and Westport would never be able to accommodate the number of
people in their stadium. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Board member s >> while we're just talking through potential things to enhance the experience. I I wonder if you know having like an MC you know or a master of ceremonies or something you know
ladies and gentlemen please take your seats get settled get ready for this you know whatever. um the the folks that are all professional and maybe someone will be willing to donate their services >> kind of like what Kevin does for us practice >> kind of like what Kevin does for us. prep sister say you got two minutes and
they need to be in >> take your seats let's get ready you know something along those lines so that folks have a better understanding that you know all that movement is distracting it creates noise um and it takes away from from the overall
experience which is truly focusing on on the graduates each and every single one of them so that their grandma can hear just as well as someone else's. I am I just had a date recommendation or question rather I guess school is ending on Wednesday um the 26th this year which
is great. Um I'm wondering why North Marians is starting at 7 p.m. I heard from a variety of individuals they felt that was late. Um and so why is it starting at 7 p.m. if it's not a school day? This year it was a school day so it was a little easier to rationalize but
that's not a school day today. So, um, this year, so >> they they have requested 7 p.m. The school has requested. >> Why? >> It's their request. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Because we changed a couple years ago to
six and it was a hardship for the North End families. >> Okie dokie. >> That that Wednesday for Lake Weir, just for reference, is an early release day on this year's calendar. We are finishing the last day with an early release. So, we'll have students cleared out much earlier than we did this past
year with Lake where we were trying to move kids and move people in at the same time. >> Okay. Um board I I mean I know there's more slides. Oh, that's it. Just superintendent comments. Is there any further questions or comments on
and we've shared lots of feedback so take our feedback as you will. Uh is there anything else from the board? >> Thank you. This out very very early. Um, I just think these conversations have to be had early enough and and and we need
to also start again reiterating to these parents and to these students. Um, you can't walk if you don't have we're not we're not we're not going to do that. So, we need to make sure that they that message is out there early. Um, I I I I
pray that the uh senior adviserss keep stating this to these kids that you can't wait till the last minute to try to get your ducks in order. that stuff needs to be done prior to because I'm sure probably all of us probably get phone calls that last couple days before
graduation trying to get some kid over the over that that goal line. And at that point, if they haven't passed the test, they can't do it. We can't we there's nothing we can do about that. So, >> all right. Anything else? Any public
comment on this item? Mr. White House, did you have >> Just to recap, make sure I've got everything. So, we're going to move the MTC graduation away from that date so that's not conflicting with FSBA. We're going to make sure we communicate with our no bag policy. No large balloons or
air horns as well so that they know to leave those things in their vehicles. Uh, and we're going to work on improving the sound of livestock. >> Perfect. And I'd say no balloons, not large balloons. I'd say >> no balloons, no air horns, >> remember?
>> Yeah. and and just the kind of the general order of of the ceremony and the expectations of the ceremony itself to enhance the experience for everyone. Hats off to you guys for getting this out there so soon. That's the majority of calls I've gotten through the years is, you know, we have out of town family coming. We love to know when is
graduation and I'm thinking it's months away, but but people do try to plan and and they have to with everything they have going on. So, that's just amazing work on all y'all's parts. >> And I do think with the live streaming that's going to help with the ticket. >> Oh, yeah. Yeah, >> I really believe that's going to be a big piece of it.
>> Y and I I I'm overlooked this, but I want to just thank publicly RNL Carriers who was the donor who covered all of the costs attached to the enhancements that were required to make graduation happen. So, I just wanted to publicly give them the recognition um for supporting and making sure we were able to make it
happen. So, so any public comment? All right, hearing none. Thank you, Mr. White House. We appreciate the graduation 2027 presentation. We'll move into the cops presentation from Mr. Rio Welsh, our CFO. >> She did.
>> I already did. I did it twice, actually. >> Sounds. >> Hey, good morning board chair, board members, Superintendent Brewer, and members of the public. So, um, today I'm actually going to do an
introduction for Laura How. She is the director for PFM financial advisors who's going to be briefing us um on our cop's u request as it were. We're not quite over uh in terms of a decision
point. So she's going to talk us through um some of the ins and outs, some of the trade-ups, trade-offs. Uh and so with that, I'm going to ask Miss How to come up and provide her presentation. >> Thank you, Mr. Rio. Good morning.
>> Good morning. Good to see you all. Um, thank you for having me here this morning. So, just want to walk through um some of the items um that have been discussed at the board to allow you to see your options. Um we always like to >> Can I get you to lean into the microphone or
>> is that better? That's good. >> We're all practicing. >> Is this good? Okay. Um we're going to start with a market update. go give an overview of the potential issuance of a certificates of participation series 2026 as well as a master vehicle lease.
Um so for the market update, we just like to give you this as a sense because I know there's a lot of things that are happening out in the news and oftentimes people equate it with what's going on with your home mortgage, but the MUN market is different. Um, and so I just want to point to you the graphic on the
left hand side that has those bar graphs with two lines going through is showing you where interest rates have been on average over the past 10 years from the one year out to the 30-year on the AAA curve. The light blue line is showing
you where rates were last year um in mid July and then the dark blue line is showing you where they were um this year. And the graphic on the right is just showing again the current one week, one month, and one year ago. And so the
yellow line is the one year ago. Um rates on the shorter end have remained pretty stable um and have dropped a little bit on the back end. This next graphic um is showing you on a week- toeek basis how the market has
moved. Um, and so this is probably going to continue for a little bit throughout this year. Um, really what's been driving up until March, the market was pretty stable starting off this year and the conflict in Iran is really what had started um making the market bounce
around a little bit more, a little bit more volatile. And so we've seen this where we have, you know, the rates are increasing and then they'll decrease back. Um and this is a trend that has continued um up until even this week. You know, we're starting to see rates
improve again. Um so just to give you a sense, they are still bouncing around, but as a whole, rates are relatively attractive still for municipal borrowers. So before I move on, any questions on just the market in general?
Nope, I think you're good. Um, so now we're going to talk about the potential new money issuance. And I just want to remind again of the current capital funding sources that are available to the district. Um, you have your 1.5 mills, your capital outlay
millage, um, that you can levy. Um, you can use those for payo projects for maintenance. I know that also districts are now allowed to use some of that to to move into the general fund to pay for um, bus drivers and such. And you can also utilize that to make less lease
payments or debt service payments. Legally, you can borrow up to 75% of that 1.5 mills um which is 1.125 times. We typically like to keep it around 50% though. Um partially because of the rating agencies and then partially just
to make sure that you know you're not overextending yourself just with debt. Um if something was to happen in the market and taxable values dropped again, you would remain stable. um and allow just for general maintenance uses going on through the year that are necessary.
Um as I'm sure you all are aware as well, the school capital outlay sales sir tax that was voted by the voters um that is going to be in place through the end of December of 2034 is available as well for payo projects and for debt
service. Um, and you also have impact fees and then always, you know, there's sale of assets that, um, if that was an option for the board. So, the current lease payments, just to remind you of where you're at, um, the current taxable assessed valuation of
22.6 billion. Um, with the current debt service payments, that's showing approximately 0.54 mills usage out of the 1.5 mills. um with your maximum annual lease payment of 11.72 million.
Um some of the debt the series 2020 2015b's uh will roll off next year. Um the series 2024 is the only other outstanding long-term debt that you have. And we did delineate on this to
show um it is was all issued with the cops with the 1.5 mills, but there was the intention to utilize the impact fee. So that's the difference shading on this graphic is that you'll see if impact fees remain stable that portion of the
debt through the expiration um will be paid for by impact fees. It's secured by the 1.5 mil though. So if impact fees drop to zero tomorrow, you still have plenty of coverage to pay that debt service.
So, the potential for this series 2026, I know that there's still some discussions um if a financing is to occur about what projects um you might borrow for, you might pay cash for. But in this case, we did just want to point out when this was pulled together, there
was discussions for North End for 45 million, Booster Stadium for 25 million, and a new administration building for 35 million. Um, again, we understand that this is still an ongoing conversation of what the direction would like to be um,
if there is a borrowing, but this was the numbers that we utilized that I'm going to show you in the analysis. Um, just to be proactive, we did get an underwriter RFP in place because the one we had done previously had expired. Um,
so PFM handled that, sent that out to our list of underwriting firms in May. Um, we did move forward with the selection in June and we went with JP Morgan Securities as a senior manager with the co-managers supporting this
transaction for Jeffrey and Raymond James. Again, nothing's locked in here. Doesn't mean you have to borrow, but if you do decide to move forward, we have that team in place to support the transaction to bring it to investors. So based on the projects that I just walked through, if we were to do the
financing, we looked at a multitude of options. Um, and so in this again, the blue bars, both the shaded and the solid are representing your current debt service that's outstanding that's paid for with the one and a half mills. Um, and we were looking at the projects
moving forward. um and just the capacity and felt that for the 2026 it might be best to utilize both some of the sales tax and 1.5 mills. Um that way it just continues to have the capacity there for the 1.5 mills. Um this is not set in
stone but in the analysis that we were looking at this was favorable. It amortizes the debt. So the shaded red bars are what would be paid for with the sales tax. Um, and by doing so, that's amvertising a lot of the debt on the front end, which reduces your interest
expense. Um, and then the the dark red bars is what's the one and a half mills. Um, and so that would be interest only on that piece. And then have those big block sizes and 24 um 45 and six that would be the principal portion paying
off there. And so it kind of gives you a mix um keeping the debt advertising quickly on the front end, keeping the usage of your 1.5 mills relatively low um in case the impact fees do drop off. If impact fees remain, it's you know a
different story, but we always like to be conservative when looking at this approach. So, next steps on this um is if the board decides to move forward, we would bring this back for consideration in September um work with the rating
agencies to pull together a rating. Um probably have the sale in November and then close in December for this financing. So, I'll pause on this before I move on to the next portion. >> Thank you. board questions, comments,
who wants to start? Bo, >> I'll just say so far so good. I'm following. Okay. >> Okay. Anyone else have thoughts or comments right now? >> I mean, I'm certainly following along. Thank you for for what you've brought to us. Will we have conversation about our
thoughts on this at the end of the presentation or when are you wanting us to to weigh in on >> Yeah, I mean, there's not much left. So >> yeah, I can continue. I just didn't know if there was questions before I moved on to the next topic that you wanted right now, but I can we're almost wrapped.
>> I I I can ask a question that kind of is related to to this specifically. So with the conversations currently about property tax going away and the current ballot language just being ruled unconstitutional and so all of that's going to have to change. uh where do you
see the 1.5 mills being impacted over the course of 20 years here with potential property tax changes in the Florida future? >> Yes. So, um obviously I can't predict what the legislature is going to do. Um,
I know historically for school districts, you know, you were allocated two mills and that was cut to 1.75 and now the current 1.5 as well as a sharing with charter schools that wasn't previously in place. Um, and so those
are some of the considerations that we're looking at that we don't like to over overlever with debt service. Um, and historically when there's been changes that have impact specifically school districts, the legislature has um, built that in. So, you know, we
looked at when it was 2 mills and you could only use 75% of that. There was this waiver period. So, debt that was issued before 2009 could essentially go to the full one and a half mills because that's where it was before. Um, same thing with the sharing of the charter
schools. your debt that was outstanding as of March 1st, 2017 was backed out before you, you know, calculated. So, I can't say with obviously the proposal that's out there now um for cities and counties, you know, they allocate that
debt service and essential needs and services would be covered. Although, you know, as pointed out, it's not really clear um the path forward if those revenues dip. um with school districts, you know, only having very limited source of funding and revenue ability,
it's it's very hard to say. Um it's curious to see. I mean, obviously, I don't know the sharing with the county, even with services with the school board, how that could impact as well. And so, those are things that we kind of always keep in mind and try to have a conservative structure for you
all so that all the unknowns that we don't know. So, I know that's not a very good answer, but not really sure, you know, where um where the legislature is going to move and what the voters are going to do in November. >> Thank you.
>> Okay. Um let's have you wrap up. Okay. And we'll we'll have a comprehensive conversation. >> Sure. So, the next part is the master equipment lease. We did enter into one of these for the school district several years back. um we decided that it would be prudent to go ahead and reissue an
RFP as well just to make sure that the the rates were competitive um what we had previously in place. Um so we did issue it for uh a master equipment lease for $40 million um when we sent this out to the bank. So that's just them going to their credit
committee approval saying that this is potentially what the district would want to borrow over time. Doesn't obligate you to do so. Um and we stated that the initial one would be for 4.8 million um to eventually replace the whole bus fleet for the school district. Um each
schedule would be amvertised over 10 years. We did request both eight and 10 years which you'll see. Um so we did release this RFP in April with responses due back in May. Um and we received four responses. Um,
all of them were actually very close, kind of on top of each other, very competitive. Um, and so we looked at, you know, prepayment provisions, if there were any additional expenses, um, in this. And so in talking with staff,
it was the decision that TD equipment finance had provided the most attractive rates um, and would lock these in. So, I know this summary, which was the init initial summary, um had said the rates were locked until the end of August. We understand that it wouldn't be brought
to you all until later. And so, we have talked to the providers to see um and they're willing to they did say that they would be willing to provide an extension for us if the board wants to move forward. Again, nothing obligated in this. Um but if you do decide to move
forward, we would recommend that um TD equipment finance would be the the one to move forward with. >> Okay. >> Okay. Thank you. Um I I mean I have a question. I I guess I'm um a little confused and maybe not questioned. Well,
the question to you would be what is our annual payment um for the TD equipment financing? What would be our what would we annually be paying? So the annual payment is
um for the 4.8 million it is $612,000 a year annually. Yes. For how many years? >> For 10 years. Okay. So, um I am reflecting back on conversations this board has had and we just had a
conversation about allocating $4 million for new buses in um our capital plan. I thought that as a board with leadership we had decided we were allocating four million annually to refresh our fleet so that every five
years our fleet we had every every no bus was older than five years old is the narrative I'm remembering can someone help me that is correct >> yes >> so then help me understand why we need this you
Oh, >> I don't know anybody. I just I don't know why we I guess I'm confused because I thought we started allocating essentially almost $6 million between the four million for the buses, the million for the hardware for safety and then the auxiliary stuff. I thought that's the trend we got into and so
we've been doing that for two or three years now. So I'm just trying to figure out why this is necessary. That's all. >> Yeah, I I think this is a additional funding option for us to keep the bus fleet um refreshed and I know Mr. OSIC um has provided some information uh to
that end and so we're we're we're monitoring that, but we want to make sure that we can replace our buses regularly. Um as you guys know, a lot of our bus fleet is older. Um they have a lot of maintenance uh cost associated with them.
>> I guess I'm just confused because I don't think the majority I'm unless I'm missing a chapter in the book. I don't think the majority of our bus fleet is old because for two I think this is the third fiscal year and if the board if you can have memories and help me that we are giving four million to buy new
buses. So three three fifths of our bus fleet would have been within three years old because we're it I was told over five essentially there'd be no bus older than five years old by allocating four
million annually. >> Yeah, we can certainly check on that. I'd have to talk to Mr. Oanic to make sure that we have that bus schedule um really ironed out, but I think this was to provide additional funding to ensure that we have a refreshed bus fleet and I
know this request did come originally from Miss Usher um previously with us and Mr. Oonic. >> Yeah, I just I don't understand the necessity. I guess Dr. Campbell, >> thank you. So I if I'm if I may I I I think what's happening here is we
previously have refreshed our bus fleet through a lease and that's what this lease option is here and while we have our you're not our council you're I was going to call you bond counsel that's George Smith but like whatever your title is and however you're related to us u our consultant what what have you
uh is coming to present us all of the different funding options that we have so yes you are correct chair James that have allocated 4 million out of capital over the last three years. However, if we were to take out this additional funding option, that would free up that
4 million to be used on additional capital expenses. Whereas, this borrowing option would just be dedicated to transportation and it would be dedicated to that for the duration of the of the lease, whether it's 8 to 10 years, we would have dedicated that money. Whereas any board in any budget
cycle can say, "Yes, we know that was our plan. However, we need to add another wing at whatever or XYZ project we were in the middle of now is costing additional three and a half million. We're going to have to reallocate those dollars we originally had planned." So, if I'm not mistaken, I think that's
probably the purpose. Whoops. The purpose of why we're having the conversation. Now, how we feel about it is completely, you know, different, but I I that's what I believe is the reason this was brought for us today. And I don't disagree with that math. I totally agree. But but if we buy $40 million in
buses, we're going to have to I'm assuming 10x the million that we just per we just approved two meetings ago for the security software because for $4 million of buses, we approved $1 million worth
of security stuff. So this four this $4,800,000 initial and lease investment is actually I'm I'm just back of the napkin mathing here. 15 million because we're going to have to frontload $10 million in security expenses for those buses. Does
anyone have an answer for that? >> Well, I I think the way to to to think about that and I I think board member Campbell is correct. We want to make sure we have all of the available options uh to us. And I know we've been planning to make sure that we have security cameras and all of the other features um on any bus that we purchase
regardless of the funding source. And I think that's really the lynch pin here is having the options available such that if we need to pay from it from a different source to free up money because we have such a large amount of deferred maintenance, then we want to be able to rely on options available. But
yeah, there will likely be some um additional cost what we typically plan for that. I think the way I see it is it's which bucket is it coming out of? >> Well, we don't I I don't think we have any bucket with 10 extra million dollars in it. I mean, I could be wrong, but I'm not aware of a bucket with an extra $10
million in it. So, >> I can't comment on exactly um Chair James, but we can certainly uh run an estimate for what those additional cost uh may be, but we're not going to be adding like 10 more buses, more than we
need. Um the needs are what they are, and the facilities department decides how many buses and when they need to be refreshed. >> Correct. I'm just looking at the total lease funding which is $40 million. And if that math, it's really easy because we did four million in buses two
meetings ago. So the math is super easy because the numbers are exactly the same. So I mean I'm even if this made sense and it was what operations wanted to do, we don't have the money to do this. We don't have an extra $10 million $15 million to do this without taking
away from the majority of our delayed maintenance that is on the capital work plan for this year. Unless I'm missing a chapter in the book, I don't know. >> Do we have an extra $15 million to do this? >> Like I said, I think we need to um take
some time to look at the estimate to find out exactly how much more money it would cost for those additional uh features, cameras that are required as part of the larger the larger plan. >> I do. Do we even have an extra $5 million? Because we just signed a
contract, inked a contract to buy $4 million plus a million dollars in security for buses. >> I would say that um certainly the board would and I certainly would not advise that the board go into any contract if we do not have the funds available. And
so um I think the answer to that question is is is yet to be seen because we need to know exactly what the what the cost out is going to be. This is just providing an additional option uh to make sure that our bus fleet is refreshed in a timely manner. >> But we would then carry these buses for
10 years. So right now the the way that we're approaching and I'm sorry for monopolizing it. I'm just really like confused by why we're I don't see this as a viable option, I guess, is the best way for me to put it. Because right now we're refreshing our fleet every five years. With this plan, we refresh our
fleet every 10 years because we're not going to have e excessive money to be able to refresh our fleet while we're still leasing for 10 years. No, because we're going to be making almost a million dollar payment annually on this lease. So, I'm not certain of the additional
expenses that you're talking about. Um, and so how this is set up, the initial lease would be for $4.8 million, which that's at 612,000 I had mentioned to you. Um, you could, what the banks have approved initially is to go up to $40
million for additional buses. So, say it was every year or two years that you would bring more buses into your fleet and say then that's the other, you know, 600. Um, and so that's the diff. I'm not sure the other 15. I'm not certain of that, but so it would be layering on
top. And if it could be helpful, I could show you. I know back when we did this several years ago, we had talked, you know, and there was some graphics. If that's helpful to see kind of how it would break out year-over-year, how many buses would be coming in versus how many would be going out, we can do that analysis for you if that's helpful. I
mean, yeah, to me, it only makes sense. Right now, we're allocating four million a year to purchase buses. So, if this is go if we can get the same amount of buses every year and spend less money, sure. I don't think the math maths on that, but that's just my perspective. I guess I'll open it up to the rest of the board.
Re Cummings. >> So, Madam Chair, um Mr. Dorm, you may have to help me with this. It was in 20 I guess 1920 >> 2019 >> that we did this um agreement to start
doing the buses. We did this big >> thing. So, I didn't When did we get to We were going to refresh them every five. >> We're doing it. Three years ago, we started approving $4 million every year and that refreshes a fifth of our fleet. Every five years we were taking buses
out. Is that what I >> No buses older than five years old. That is I mean Dr. Campbell, you remember that conversation, right? Is that what I heard you say? >> I I don't know that I remember that conversation exactly. What I would love to have happen I don't know if we can put a pin in this conversation and get
the actual information from transportation and find out from whoever knows whether it's Mr. Oonic or Mr. Jacobs or somebody. put a pin in the transportation conversation and let's have the conversation about the rest of the bonding that we're because there's a much larger conversation for us to have
on and if we can get the information on that bus. >> Yeah, I mean if you can bring it back to the next workshop that would be by 828 deadline. I mean >> certainly certainly and and just for clarification I did check my notes and the goal is to um replace the fleet at
10% of the fleet each year which would be about 28 buses uh per year and that would cost approximately $4.8 million. If we've allocated $4 million and we're talking about an additional $660,000 in payments for this particular option
um then then that would be within the realm of possible. Uh but again, this is certainly just looking at options and I think we do need to go back and talk to Mr. Oanic, flesh out the details. Um but again, this is just looking at what is possible and not necessarily what is going to occur.
>> And and Mr. Rios, please because I I don't really remember about I don't remember hearing where they're saying that every that basically what I'm hearing now is that we won't have any buses older than five years old. >> That's what I had received. But if I'm wrong, I'll take I'll own being wrong. I
don't remember that. >> I did just confirm with Mr. Sonic while you all were talking. The plan was 10% of the fleet a year. This coming year 2627, which you all have not quite voted on the capital plan yet. That's going to come with the full budget. Even though we gave the overview of what that would look like, we have dedicated 4 million.
This year, last year we only had three million for buses. The year prior was only 2 million. So, we've we haven't we've just now this year getting to the point where we're going to really be able to replace 10% of our fleet a year. So, it would be a 10-year cycle would be on buses. Okay. So, a 10ear cycle. So, I apologize. I can be wrong for that. So,
that's fine. Board member Thor. >> Thank you. And it's important to talk about the why. Why are we having this conversation? And if my memory suits, I believe our typical buses out
out mileage their warranty within the first two years. Is that the magic number? Two years. That could easily be >> less than that. I think it's like a year and a half. Yeah, that could easily be fact checked. So, beyond those two years, it's all on us, you know, all the
maintenance, all the tires, all the everything. Not to mention that if, god forbid, a bus gets in an accident. It's looks better on our side of the uh jury to say that at least it was a much newer
bus. Uh I've ridden in plenty of buses that were 26 years old and pretty ratchet. Um, but we did what we had to do and and we've kept them rolling. So, that's a really important piece of this conversation.
It's pay now or pay later. Um that's why I'm so interested to really dive deep and ensure that I completely understand this investment because we have heard we have heard directly from our own student board members and anecdotally from lots
of students that because of difficulty with transportation. There's been a lot of mised instruction and some of that is traffic related with the opening of new South Marian High.
There will not be that giant commute from Marian Oaks to Denellan and even to Westport. So that should help those routes that we essentially gave up on because there was nothing that we could do at that point to get them more timely. I even stopped asking which
should say something. So this is an investment no matter where we end up landing on that is critical to the success of this district. If we are going to continue to use the yellow
buses, the cheese wagons, uh unless someone else has a way to apperate kids everywhere, then we better make sure that what the buses that we're putting them on have the right drivers and enough routes and a good bus to take them there. Those are the kinds of
things that are foundational to the success of this district. Yes, we have to have the money to do it, but I think we really do need to get a a refresher of of how how this could potentially make sense. I see where you're going with this. It is another opportunity and
then that frees up other money for other things, but it makes it very very clear that this is a priority for our transportation fleet. Is is that somewhat distill what you're trying to say here? >> Yeah. And I think the the point here is that the the 10% is aspirational. I
mean, we went from spending about three a little over $3 million for 18 buses last year and going from, you know, that 18 to 20, that's another 10 buses. So, as far as facilities perspective goes, um they really want to be able to keep those buses fresh. As you guys know,
there are many times we come before you for for various items, many of which uh have to do with either bus accidents, buses that have been taken offline. Um we have and not just talking about buses, we have some of our uh fleet that have been around since I think I heard
1979. We have a truck that's still in service. So, we have a lot of older vehicles that we do need to replace. And we want to make sure um that if we can get to 10% by using some uh creative financing to do that, uh then it's just
a matter of uh going through the the detail of what that's actually going to look like. But as far as uh the projection goes to meet that 10% goal, the $4 million and um the estimated amount in payment for this particular option would fall within a little less
than $5 million uh a year. So again, I think it's an option, but yes, we do need to make sure that we are uh continuing to refresh buses at a good clip because oftentimes buses um are in accidents. um they get hit and they have
to come offline and then we have to figure out ways to reroute students uh and that can cause a lot of pressure in terms of students ability uh to get to school and learn. >> Well, and and if I may, the the buses
come out of warranty so quickly so that anything that happens to the bus is on us to have to try to repair. And as great as our folks are, they can't fix everything that that could go wrong. I I wanted to focus on technology on our buses um for a moment because if that's
really required to do the job right and and the making sure that the drivers are able to utilize a turnbyturn just like we're able to do in our newer cars and things like that. To me, that would just seem like something that could be ne negotiated if these Bluebird, you know,
companies and whoever else is making buses these days, they also need to get with the times and that should be in my mind kind of included. You know, I know when I bought my Kia Soul, the screen was already in there to tell me where I need to go. So, I just think there's
opportunity there to negotiate some of this stuff and and and ensure that our buses are as modern as we can possibly have them be. And and just as a reminder, we all know that we're the state of we're our county is the size of
the state of Rhode Island. So, there are other counties and states that don't have this problem, but but we do. And I'm remembering that we had a great long-term employee that's now a superintendent down in Charlotte County. And that was not a situation that he was
having to face as a new superintendent just because of the size of the county. What do you mean you don't have transportation issues? You know, but we do and if we can fix these, it's going to go a long way. >> So, is there room on the workshop in two weeks to have a further discussion about
this particular component? >> Okay. >> Yes. So, I know when it comes back, I would like to understand what our all-in amount that we would be responsible for paying every year, including all the auxiliary costs that come with purchasing buses because it's again, if it's if it's all a cart, we can't just
say it costs four million when it doesn't. It costs, you know, an extra million, then it costs an extra million. So, um, in two weeks we'll have a a more detailed conversation about this specific item, but we'll circle back and go to, >> um, the original, I think the bigger
conversation here, which is, um, the cops. So, board, what questions, comments do we have on this? Actually, let me start with um, what is your expectation of the board today? Well, I think the expectation of the board today um is to make sure that you
all have all of your questions answered uh and that we are being totally transparent about what the need is here. um trade-ups, tradeoffs. Um I have some prepared comments um that I will share um after uh discussion, deliberation
with the board, but really it's, you know, looking at everything contextually uh all of the various plans that we have, our capital improvement plan, future focus plan. Um the district is on the move and in order for us to be able to dovetail things uh within four five
years for our strategic plan. We're going to need to make some decisions um as it relates to our facilities because there is a domino effect. I think Mr. White House has has talked about that and I'm going to talk about it a little bit today and I'm going to talk about it even more uh next week. So I think it's
just to make sure that we answer all of your questions. Um and then of course there will need to be uh a formal vote at some point. Uh and then of course a lot of this is timing and so we talk about these projects um in terms of cash on hand and being able to um get things
implemented. But there is a domino effect because if we're going to open in open a school on the north end um regardless of where that money comes from as you guys are well aware there are some movement um throughout the district that are kind of predicated on our ability um to do that. So timing
becomes important. >> So I guess I don't mind kicking it off by just asking some clarifying questions. and I appreciate you being here today to be able to provide um the you used the information you had to then create a presentation for us today. The way I understand it is the North End
Elementary School were asking for an appropriation and if the appropriation doesn't hit then we have sales tax um savings from other projects to cover the gap. So the other component I know is that your bond rating is better. You get a better rate the bigger it is um is
kind of what I've heard before. And so can you elaborate on that? And then if if we're not including the north end school in this ever because that's what I've heard is it's either appropriation or sales tax then we're really just looking at the 60 million and so does
that change our ability to bond and and what that looks like. So, um, your credit rating is based on the health of the economy, how the district is run, um, you know, how much debt you
have outstanding. And so having a $5 million issuance if it was to go out versus, you know, um, a $300 million issuance doesn't impact other than if you're kind of overleveraging with a really large issuance. Um, so that's not the case. there there are some nuances
in the market where you know um let me just go back to this slide to kind of point this out. Um part of the structuring on this you know with the piece we had delineated that would be sales taxes on the front end. Um and obviously that's because that's when the revenues are set to sunset. Um, and on
the back end there are those bigger block sizes. And sometimes when you're actually selling in the market, the larger block sizes can attract more investors as opposed to having, you know, say a million dollars of principal each year that they would be buying. Um, so that might be sort of what you're
hearing out there, but the underwriters would be able to sell successfully. Um, same as the racetrack bonds, which are very old. I mean, that's a $3 million issuance. It's 30 years, so it's very small. Um but those will still get executed and so um the the rating
agencies that's the size of the issuance should not impact your rating. No. >> Okay. Well, thank you for elaborating on that. Um I appreciate that. I think the for me the clarifying question I have is if we're using sales tax to fund this, what are we not funding with our sales
tax then? Because we have a sales tax plan um internally for how we're going to use our sales tax funds. Um, we understand it's come in a little higher than we thought, which is great. Um, and we haven't really overbudgeted because we've stayed conservative, but I mean,
we're looking at 10 to$15 million a year in sales tax funding that would go to cover this. And so, my my question is, I'm just kind of looking at the graph and saying that, but yeah, what are what are we internally taking away from the sales tax plan to be able to prioritize
this? Well, here's the reality is that um the funding that we have from all of these various buckets for capital funds there there will likely need to be some movement around. So yes, um we would be
looking at these particular projects um in order for us to accomplish various goals that we've talked about in terms of future state. So we are always looking at the capital uh plan deferred maintenance and what needs to be moved
around at any given time. So I can't say definitively right now which projects would come off or which ones would come on. Um, I will say that, and I'll talk about this during uh next portion of the presentation, that because the property value um in Marian County has increased
year-over-year, we do expect to receive more revenue uh for those meals that we do levy. And so, we do expect that in the future, we would be able to have those proceeds come in to help us to figure all of that out and make sure
that we can keep things on schedule. Will things come up um in the future uh that we don't plan for uh or what things need to be moved around? That is a highly likely scenario as that occurs every year. Uh and you guys see a lot of those actions for various projects that
we have in terms of change orders uh GMP uh and the like. >> Okay. I know for me to feel comfortable, I would need to understand from operations what we're what we're cutting. I mean, we don't have an extra 15 million in
sales tax this year projected. Like, we we're we have it all allocated. So, what are we losing? >> Yes. So, just a couple of things to note on there. One, within the sales tax 10ear plan, we do have $15 million allocated for this campus here. So, certainly, if we're borrowing funds to
build the new central office, we can remove that from the equation, right? That no longer needs to be a part of the sales tax plan. Um, the other side of that, which Mr. Welsh alluded to is that with property taxes coming in a good bit higher this year, our 1.5 mills are coming in a good bit stronger this year
as well, which gives us more leverage opportunity of what we can do to um be flexible and move funds around to cover the expenses that we have. So I I think what she had shared too is that this is a way that we can do the funding, but not necessarily the only way that we can do the funding. It just depends on if we
want to be more aggressive on the front end um to be able to pay this down faster, >> which I like. I mean, I I like that especially with the guarantee of sales tax to pay it off when we know we have the revenue stream. I think that's the most responsible way to approach the debt. I'm just I would love to know in a
future conversation what would be on the chopping block because I think everything that we've talked about for the sales tax allocation at Denella school in Denellan um which is like the next big project essentially for the sales tax I mean that's a very big project and so what do
we do then? So those are that would be a ling green question I have that I would need to get answered board. >> Okay. What what are you what is the actionable item you're looking for the board to be able to make today because I don't think this was a conversation for theory. I assume you guys are wanting us
to get somewhere. >> So I think the direction I mean obviously as was said this is one if the desire is not to use any sales tax we have run that scenario. Um, I think that the discussion is still, you know, what projects you would want to move forward with and actually finance if a financing
does occur, which projects should be included in that financing. Um, and then the team with bond counsel and disclosure council and your underwriters, we would come back to you at a future date for official approval at a board meeting. >> Dr. Campbell, >> I'll go ahead and and get us kicked off on on the conversation because it seems
like we're all just kind of waiting for someone to speak. So, I think the biggest question that I have coming in that we I think we probably all do is how much debt do the five sitting board members here today in August of 2026
want to encumber upon this district? What is the debt position? H how we made the decision, the five of us chose a $330 million loan so that we could get started building schools. And I'm so grateful that we did. The community probably still doesn't fully grasp what
that looked like, but we did. And we did that ahead of impact fees and sales tax. Super grateful that we have both of those funding streams now, but we did that with the expectation or even thought
that 1.5 mills may have been all we had to pay off that debt service. So, we can see how that lays out on this chart. And so we we can see what that what our existing debt looks like. And we're still well under that half of the 1.5
mil. So uh the the question before us today and I think that we need to answer today is how much more debt do we want to take on? We have major major issues. We've already kind of I felt like whether it was consensus or majority
that we were willing to take out about 20 million for Booster Stadium. That's the conversation that I remember us having. I think that it was consensus. It was at least majority for 20 million for Booster Stadium. So, I knew that's what we were coming today to talk about.
Uh adding on the north end school, my recollection is similar to yours, Chair James, that I disagree with putting a north end school at all on a new cops. If we can't get that done with sales tax or an appropriation or something, we're
just going to have to continue to work on other creative ways we can we can get that funded or reallocate and add it ahead of a Dunellan school that we had already. Anyway, I I just disagree with cops on North End School, the admin building. I I understand the
need. I I understand the need. I think that's where I am right now. How much are we willing to leverage? How much are we willing to to put forth towards that? Um from the perspective of debt because there's two different buckets that we're
talking about today. So we have this hundred million, you know, or or so a little more than 100 million that we're talking about in cops and then we're also separately talking about 40 million in buses. So that's another let's just
call it 150. We already know we're 330 million that this board, you know, the the previous board that chose to do the the lease on the buses, that lease is almost paid off. It's not was close. So, the previous boards chose to do that.
This board chose to do 330 million. And before us today is another roughly 150 million. And the question before us really is how much of that 150 million are we willing to to say yes to? We understand that the 40 million for
transportation's kind of got a pin in it for another couple weeks, but that needs to be a part of the overall thought process on the rest of the conversation. So, that's I I just wanted to lay out where we're trying to go and then I don't know that I want to weigh in on anymore. I I know that I'm completely on
board with Booster Stadium. 20 million was the number I was saying on 20 on booster and we got to find that other five. That's that's my personal thought. Um, North End, I would take off of this uh
cop for sure. And then admin, I'm open for conversation. That's where I sit and it's all I'll say for now. >> Okay. Well, I'll just I'll just I agree. So, uh I don't think we should fund the North End school out of cops. I do not. I disagree. I think it needs to be sales
tax or it needs to be an appropriation. We have to figure that part out. Um and with the reality that closing two schools and merging two three schools into one is going to save us $20 million
in operational costs in less than a decade. So it it all but pays for itself um over the course of a decade with de delayed maintenance and the consolidation from operational costs. And so I see it as a it's something that needs to be done um and prioritized.
I agree that booster stadium the number we said was 20 and that we were going to raise five in the community and I'm comfortable there and do not want to go any higher than that and I believe that we have to address our district office. I do not think the number the number in
the presentation last week was 45 million. So I I don't think the number needs to be anywhere close to that. Um, and I think that until we have, and I've heard whispers that Geotech was doing some ground work here to try to figure
some things out, until we actually have an idea of what it's going to cost to either build here or build somewhere else, I think we're shooting fish in a barrel right now. And I want to understand how much it's going to cost to build a county office that is going to house all of our people, where the
plumbing works, and it all makes sense. So, but I also understood that there was a timeliness requirement for booster stadium and the goal was to do it all together because if we did it together, at least that was the theory I had heard before that if we did it together and we
didn't just do the 20 million now and then we do another 20 million in a year that that is a better scenario. So, that was the idea of trying to loop it all together. So, I think there's a lot of operational work that needs to happen to figure out what the county office looks
like before we're just saying 35 or $45 million and that's what it is. I don't want to borrow that money because if we borrow it, we have to spend it. Is that correct statement? >> Yes. >> Okay. I don't want to I don't want to I don't want to borrow more money than we need because we don't need to be tasked with spending the money. So that's what
I think is operations needs to provide us a little bit more specifics on what a district office is going to look like financially um so that we can understand how much it's actually going to cost. That's my take on it. But I'm not against the idea of borrowing to build a district office. I think we have put
students first consistently for the last four years. And we when we run out of uh juice here at the district office, we are going to be backed into a $20 million decision either way. So, I would rather be proactive than reactive. That's my take on it. Re uh I almost
called you Reverend Cummings. Mr. Ria Walsh. >> Reverend Cummings, I deferred to you. Yes. >> Do you have something? >> Oh, no. No. You're the Reverend today. So, >> well, I listen, I can appreciate um all all of the debate and I did prepare uh some comments um because I think this is
really important and obviously there's there is some work that we do need to do um but a lot of these things have to do with timing and being able to get folks on site. Uh so no we don't have uh vignettes or renderings to show uh today. Um obviously we have done some work uh as it relates to booster stadium
but we do know as far as finding an appropriate site for the central office is something that is currently in play and uh we have been looking at various uh property that we own and the board's aware of that. Um but I did want to make sure that um we make the point that
listen we take the fact that the debt long-term debt is a serious commitment there there there's no doubt about that and it should not be taken lightly. Um but I really I really think the question before us is is one of of strategic investment. Okay. So it's really about you know is this going to create a a
greater value uh today than waiting down the road. And I think if we look at the history of um resources available uh to the county, whether we went from two mills to 1.5 mills, we had the sir tax and we didn't have the sir tax. We
implemented impact fees and we took them away and we put them back. And the reason why we have the cops is because boards um at that time made decisions in the best interest of the district with the information and the political and economic environment that existed at
that time. And so we and you are tasked u with trying to create a scenario that future boards um and really our future students um are going to be able to live with and benefit from. With that being said, we do have significant growth. Uh
we do have capacity needs in the north end and we do have $2 billion in deferred maintenance, aging facilities and we have hundreds of portables and um we have a plan in terms of um multiple school replacements that have already been identified in that master
facilities plan and an operations plan designed to eliminate aging campuses and reduce our cost over time. So, I think as far as what we're asking and debating here today, uh whether it's strictly talking Booster Stadium or a school on
the north end or central admin building, uh we really want to keep that um focus. And uh speaking of focuses, that future focus plan identified 11 aging facilities, eliminating 86 portables, and we have approximately $150 million
in avoided deferred maintenance and $2 million in annual savings um through consolidation of four campuses over 5 years. And this is the point I was trying to make earlier that when we look at these decisions and what we're doing, there is that that domino effect because
we have all of these other plans in play and they interact with each other. So I think the nuance is where does the money come from? We can certainly uh look at that and figure out the best option for us. But what PFM has done uh in
consultation with staff is to look at what is the most stable um option that we could have that will that will get us there for the three projects that were initially um we were told to look at as far as um
projects and so that is that is what we did. there is a risk of waiting. Um, and I would say that I fully support um, a legislative appropriation for the North and Elementary School just like I do uh, for an early learning center. Um, if we
receive the state funding, that's a tremendous benefit to the taxpayers. Uh, however, appropriations are never guaranteed and uh, timing is a concern. Uh, and really, you know, there's a there's a cost to waiting. So we have construction cost that will continue to
increase. We have deferred maintenance that will continue to increase. Uh we spoke a little bit about that earlier with this particular building here. Uh that we have uh potential uh sinkhole situation, terracotta pipes that could cost uh $20 million at any given time
and of course um operational inefficiencies that would continue. portables that would remain in service and consolidation savings that would be delayed. And so that future focused um estimate of $150 million um in avoidance
and reoccurring operational savings through modernization, that's that is a plan that is that's real. And of course, we can't predict if that's going to exactly happen, but in order for those things to occur, uh we have to have things in place. So how we pay for it I
think is ultimately the question. We want to have those details and we will come back uh to the board to have that discussion. Uh but I just wanted to provide some additional context. Uh this is this is not uh debt that's being used to cover operational deficiencies or
recurring expenses. This debt is being used to build longive assets that will serve students for decades. >> Thank you. Um, board member Thur, >> thank you. Thank you for just distilling
it down um to the facts because I was thinking along those same lines is the good news is is that we are in a very strong financial position. We have a AAA bond rating. Is that correct? >> That is correct. >> Okay. Um it took a lot of years.
>> I'm sorry. Double A minus. >> Double A minus. Okay. But >> correct the record. >> Regardless, it's great. >> Yes, it is. It is a strong position. However, uh even our rating agencies have have realized and and noted that we do have a structural deficit in terms of
our revenues and expenses and we are actively working on that and part of us working on that is all of the the plans that we have been discussing over the last year uh to get us to to this point. But please continue. I'm sorry. >> Thank you. Um, so I still maintain my
point that the good news is is that we are in a pretty solid position to be able to do this where over the years the the funding just wasn't available. We didn't have sales tax. We didn't have impact fees. You know, uh we were doing
the best we could to keep everything functioning. And now we have still close to $2 billion in deferred maintenance. I don't know that we'll ever be in a position of trying to figure out what to spend
borrowed money on that doesn't need it. Um, I ag because I do agree that sales tax and hopefully an appropriation will will help us, you know, with the North End School. That would be great to
get an appropriation and then the money could go towards other things. But if we specify in here north end booster admin, then that's what that money has to go to. we we can't get the money and then decide that another maintenance or new
item uh needs to be a priority. >> Um so bond council speaks better to this but there are situations that projects can be changed out after an actual issuance. Um and so in this case the
timing we were talking about is you know in December of this closing. Um, we typically like for projects to be solidified, but there's been situations where we've had to swap out projects where money's left over. Um, a lot of our clients have actually been seeing
such a positive arbitrage from the investment in their project funds that they've had a significant chunk left over that we've had to add projects to the cops as well. Um, so those are it it can be done. Yes. >> Okay. And what I'm hearing is there's some uh flexibility there and it's not
really frowned upon. And it's it's relatively common. >> Yeah, we try to avoid it, but it things change, so we understand that. And there are ways to shift projects around. Yes. >> Okay. Um, the way I see it is, you know, booster
stadium is is for the community and yes, we started at 20 and I would love to keep it at 20, but I just found out in my own household, what I thought we were going to install for a capital project is now increased by 8%. and that was in just a few months. So,
Mr. Rio's Welsh point is well taken that I'm not ready to say, you know, wrap up this conversation, say yes to everything today, but but I do believe wholeheartedly that that we need to get on this. The only reason why we did a
third $330 million bond to get this ball rolling is because we had to get this ball rolling. and thank God to the community that they saw fit to provide the other funding. So now we're in good shape and there's something to be said on striking while
the iron's hot and and the admin building. I would love to believe that there is room to collaborate with our other um elected partners and municipalities on something that could
benefit again the community like booster. uh booster is we're not talking about boostering boosting booster for all this money so that Vanguard has a a football field to play on. I mean that is a great thing and and happy to have that happen but that's just a tiny
sliver of what we're really talking about here. So just to wrap it up, I really think we need to keep the number in mind of two billion and growing still in deferred
maintenance and aging facilities that we are fortunate to be in the position at this time uh to do something about it and and make a big dent and every board has different things that they have to face and this
is something that we have to face. So, I guess I'll just close my comments with that. I I really appreciate the presentation. I really appreciate being able to see that we'll be able to spend to pay down the debt service early and fast.
That really resonates with me. I I really don't like debt, but sometimes you you have to go into debt to be able to do what you need to do as long as you know you can pay it off and be happy with the result. >> I know there's future uh further conversation. I just want to say I think
if we're going to have a part two about the buses, I would love to hear just a part two on this. I know we're asking you to get some information together. And so I don't know if there's enough time for that by next by two weeks from now, but if there is, I would welcome a conversation to be able to hash out some
of the questions we've asked because we do, I think, all understand urgency related to this, but we have lingering questions too. So absolutely availability for that. >> Chair James and I do have um our bond council uh Mr. George Smith available. I think he is going to try to speak to
some of the the questions that were just raised telephonically if I may. You guys are open to that. If not, we can we can pause. Uh but he is available to answer any questions or just speak to some of the nuance around the money being spent, projects coming off the list so that we can get that part of the conversation
out of the way. Is that okay? >> Yeah, that's fine. >> I think that's kind of critical. All right, >> Mr. Smith, I'm going to put you on speaker. Uh you are live. >> Thank you very much. Okay. >> Um, I hear a little echo, but I hope you can hear me well. I've been monitoring
your uh meeting. I apologize I wasn't there in person. Um, I think it has been discussed that once you borrow the funds, you need to you need to spend those. I'll continue the and so when we close a bond deal, the IRS uh requires that we
expect to spend those funds within three years and your facilities department will provide an expected draw schedule for those various projects, whatever you may decide to do. And so then we know that's going to change. There might be
supply chain um disruptions. There may be something that speeds up, something that slows down from time to time. You have um a hurricane in Florida or other uh activities that change your priorities. But we need to expect on the
day that we close that we'll spend um all the funds within three years and provide a draw schedule of our best expectations. What we're not able to do, and I don't think anybody's proposed doing this, but we're but we're not able to do is say we expect to fund an elementary school
someplace in our county or we expect us to to fund um you know, whatever facility without designating what that facility is. From time to time, we do have a situation where you describe where we expect to finance a elementary school in
this instance and then the legislature approves an appropriation at their next session and we say now we have those funds available. What do we do with those? In that situation, we would determine what you wanted to do with those funds and then continue to p to
continue to spend those and we need to spend those still within that three-year period or do our best towards that goal. Um, and in that situation, we may be able to use it for some of the deferred maintenance that's been described or or you know, other new projects that have
been identified. But spending the money within the three years is a very important uh milestone to hit. Mr. Rios Walsh, is there other um discussion points that you'd like for me to discuss? >> I think that covered it um from my side,
but I do think the board members may have some additional questions. >> Well, I think that's a critical the the three years is the critical it is the critical component. And when I looked at, and this I brought up I brought this up when I met with staff and I said this
and I we were in disagreement at the time. So I appreciate him being available to clarify this. If we take the loan out on January 1st of 2027, which I heard December somebody mentioned, so let's say January 1st of 2027, all of the money has to be spent by January 1st of 2030. Is that an
accurate statement? >> Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. So, uh, that would mean to me that our forward focus, future focused operations plan as presented is not reflective of that because it has in begin construction of the central office
um, a board meeting space and the central office in the 2930 school year. Well, we can't begin it that year and also have spent all the money. So I would say that there has to be a change in the future focused operations plan if we are in fact going this way which
we're voting on that on Tuesday night. Uh I appreciate the question and if I can just um just underscore a point when we selected the underwriter for this particular uh financing project. One of the things that we considered was flexibility and the fact that we
understand that the board uh may decide to go another direction. And so, um, although I understand the three-year, um, requirement, that does not necessarily mean that we're going to we're going to do everything we can to put everything into play, but it could
be a little later. Um, and so when we look at the future focused operations plan, what I like to think of it is within 3 to 5 years, depending on when we get the cash, when projects are done. Uh there's so much more into it as you guys are aware in order to be able to
fully fund a GMP and then have those projects actually have some dirt moving around. Uh so I just wanted to to make that point that we did take that into consideration um when going through this process. >> I Yes, I can appreciate that. Um I have
um reservations about knowingly having a different plan that would be board approved um that is not in alignment with what our bond council has presented. So that's what I will say to that. Dr. Campbell, thank you. So for attorney Smith, if he can still hear
this question, uh my my question in that three years and and I do believe this still aligns with the plan as presented. As long as we have committed to spend those funds and have approved a GMP in that three years, we know those dollars
are even if we don't close out for we say we have a high school that we're going to be building in that time frame and we have the GMP committed but the closeouts two years later. Does that count in that three-year window if it took, you know, two years to build a
school but we approved it within the three years? it it does count. So, we we need to expect to spend those funds, >> right? >> Um if it's pre if it's premature, if you will, on the three years is a weird way to say premature, but if we're in the
middle of design and engineering and architect work, we typically adopt either a reimbursement resolution so that you spend funds available and then you reimburse yourself. If you take those out of your capital fund, you can pay
them back into your um your capital fund, replace those so they're available for other projects. But from time to time, we can issue a what we call bond anticipation note um and we can roll that up into a permanent financing. What the IRS doesn't want us
to do is issue the funds, invest them, and just sit on it for a three-year period. >> Sure. Right. Understood. And that's what I this is the clarification I'm looking to make sure because the community deserves the transparency of knowing what what we are going to do with the money and our timeline for spending
them. So if the answer is we have a max GMP and we're in a contract with a contractor by January of 2030 and that's the answer for quote unquote spending the money then that is in line with the plan that's presented. So I would agree with that but and that's why the
clarification is important. And just to reiterate that point, we don't have to enter the contract on day one, but we do have to expect to spend those funds within three years. >> Yes. Yes. Thank you for the clarification.
>> Yes. What other questions do you all have for the council? >> Okay. I don't think we have any further questions. >> Thank you, George. Yes, sir. >> Okay. So, what other further questions do we have for Mr. Ria Welsh and the team?
or comments. >> I was gonna say I don't I don't have a question, but just my my comments. >> Sure. >> Uh Mr. Rios Wells, thank you for the presentation. Um you keep you know, you're referring to the domino effect and I guess for me that visual is I want to know what the dominoes are. So, you
know, uh, the North End School, if we're looking at that and we want to use sales tax, um, and we're working on a referend um, some on a allocation, sorry. And then I want to know, you know, a sideline there, what would go in its place?
>> Yes. Yeah. >> Booster Stadium. Um, I do, uh, remember the 20 million conversation and participation from the community at 5 million. Um I I'm open for further discussion on that. Um my concern for
the admin building is I don't think 35 million is going to cover it. We know that um I believe we have estimates that just the plumbing is going to be 20 million. And so my concern with the admin building is I'd really like to see something more physical um on what
really that's going to cost us because to me right now I look at 35 million million in the admin building and we're halfway done. Like I I just I can't I can't buy into that um scenario um that we can get it done for 35 million. So I
just need something more concrete um for that. That's where I stand on on the first section. >> Absolutely. And I have those those questions and we will circle back and I think next week um during the other funds presentation of course a lot of that is dedicated to capital and so one
of the slides that we will be presenting we'll look at that we'll look at um the pros and cons how much debt we have and our capacity. Um but one of the things I did want to mention is that you know I think the district isn't really asking here you know can we issue debt? We know
we can issue debt. We have a great credit rating. Uh the board has done a great job of managing finances such that we're able to take on debt and that's why we have the cops now. But the real question is whether or not we want to use a portion of our available debt
capacity to accelerate projects that would ultimately reduce long-term cost. And I think that is ultimately uh the crux of the issue. I believe the board should aggressively pursue every available state appropriation opportunity. However, I would caution
against building our long-term facility strategy on funding that we do not and cannot predict. And if an appropriation is awarded and can reduce our borrowing needs or accelerate additional projects, that's great. If it is not awarded, our students still need seats, our
facilities still age, our maintenance needs will continue to increase, and construction cost will likely be higher. The greatest financial risk may not be taking on prudent debt. The greatest financial risk may be postponing needed investments until they become
significantly more expensive. I think this helps to frame the larger issue around cost of delay, student needs, and long-term stewardship beyond simply taking on more debt. >> Thank you, board member Thur.
>> Thank you. Thank you again. um having prudent debt really resonated with me and also you shared about non-recurring costs. Uh obviously and this is something I'm sure
is going to be in in the community that we're talking about again big money here uh going towards capital projects and again just for the community's knowledge and to emphasize we're not looking to borrow this money
for recurring costs. So salaries to borrow this money to help pay everybody as much as we wish we could pay him is not a possibility with this money. Is that correct? >> That is correct. >> Okay. Thank you for
making sure that that is a solid no. Um we have to find other ways to support our employees. I don't know that anyone would argue that having safe facilities where everything's working uh on the regular
is also very important. This gives us an opportunity to do that. Where we end up landing remains to be seen, but I sure appreciate it as a board member being in a position to even be able to have this conversation. Thank you, >> Reverend Cummings. Madam >> Chair, and uh thank you, Mr. Thor, for
that clarification. Um I think sometimes the community gets it misunderstood thinking that because we're talking about these large sums of money that those funds can be used for salaries and they can't. They are restricted funds. Correct.
>> That is correct. >> Thank you for clearing that up for the community. >> So, Dr. Campbell, >> thank you. So, I I know that we've kind of left some of these things on the table, per se, where we're going to get more clarification over the coming
weeks. However, I'm just curious from the board's perspective where that leaves us with our agenda item coming up to vote on Tuesday evening, the future focused uh plan, because we are putting that up to vote. And so, uh, are are we
going to go ahead and move forward with a vote not knowing how we're going to fund all of the things that we're going to say we're approving to do, or I'm just curious where that places us? Because I feel like we have definitely put some things that we want more information over the course of the next
couple of weeks before we're willing to do what what we're saying we're going to do. >> Madam Chair, respectfully, um, if that is going to be on the agenda for Tuesday night, I would not be willing to make a vote. I would not make a vote or take a vote on that night considering that we asking for additional information.
>> Well, I think that the idea is if I can elaborate and certainly Dr. Brewer can as well. I think the idea is that we are presenting we asked for a plan of action. It's pending funding to be able to make it happen just like anything is. We make a five-year work plan and then
the five-year work plan gets jostled around based on the availability of the funds. And so the plan as presented is to solidify for the community what when we planned to do things when we have agreed to do things and then and
with with consolidation because there are many people impacted next year by this plan um with consolidation efforts um at Forom and Wina Park and Orest and so action needs to happen so that um Mr.
heirs can start resoning. But I think it's all pending funding just like anything is we I mean the five-year capital work plan is pending funding. I mean if the AC blows at a school and it's 10 million there goes the carpet somewhere else because the AC
has to happen. I mean that's how it always is >> if I may but absolutely that's how it always is but it's always presented as this is what we're funding in year one and in years three four two three four and five these are projected and that's
the way it's always presented I I actually was going to try and pull up uh before the floor open to speak to see how the uh agenda item is worded because it's all gonna how that motion is presented is how it's really going to and the motion currently the way the
script reads right now because I pulled it up a motion to approve the future focused operations plan and the future focused operations plan doesn't have any wording on it at all that says contingent on funding contingent on the board's plan for structuring different
cops plan none of that is out there which we always understand the five-year work plan that we do is year one we absolutely are approving those are the projects we're doing the state requires it that way. But the rest of the the followup to that is all of that can be in flux and change. But the state does
require that year one, we we don't deviate from that unless we get an amendment with the state. So that's how if we were to rephrase the wording or rephrase or even recreate the documents that we're going to vote on, then there might be an opportunity for a vote. But
the way it's presented right now, I hear board member Cummings and certainly I am not really comfortable with us leaving some things in limbo from a funding perspective to approve a plan as presented. >> Dr. Bird, do you want to >> Yeah, thank you. Thank you. We can
definitely revise our documents. As you know, that August 11th board meeting agenda has already been published. So, we can revise the documents. I do want to allow Mr. White House to expand on some comments especially about the central office staffing plan locations and work.
>> Certainly. So again and I know we talked about this previously at the work session but outside of the central office which the only um funding source we would have identified that would be cops. So the board would have to agree to to do a bond for that. We have funding available for all of them. So
the the operationalizing of the plan allows us to do a number of things. One we have to do obviously a lot of design work. we have to start having conversations uh with what this looks like um with a number of different people. And so having the plan approved allows us to go ahead and start moving
forward. It allows us to start work on an appropriations for the North End Elementary School that we would love to be able to get for this budget cycle coming up in um the start of the fiscal year for 2027. And so that's going to take time to develop and we need to know that that's a a green light. But again,
as I shared in the presentation, if we don't get it, we still feel comfortable we have sales tax funding to be able to cover that cost. So outside of booster and central office, which the board's already given consensus on booster and and doing um a bond for that, then
really there's only one other question on the table, and that's if we're willing to do the bond for the central office. Um and if not, then that would be the only thing that would have to come off of that plan in the future. Well, and I guess what I would ask is is it almost just appropriate would the board feel more comfortable with an
asterk next to those two bullet points, one in 27 and one in the 29 that said and there's a a key that says asterisks indicate, you know, pending funding sources from cops because you are correct. All of the rest of the plan, we shouldn't just just, you know, just throw out the baby with the bathwater.
The entire plan is is built and funded already. The only pieces in this plan that don't have a funding source yet are Booster Stadium and the central office. >> Right. >> Okay. That's good. >> And a potential south end early learning center. So I mean we don't have that funded either. So I mean I know that so
so that and we're not saying that we want to take out cops for that. So we may be getting a federal earmark for like a very very small portion for the design portion potentially for that. But that also is included in this plan and we're not talking about how we're even going to potentially fund that at all.
So we would demolish buildings at Lake Middle School, but then how we build them back up is is not a part. So maybe that's a part of the plan with the mills and and all of that, too. And and maybe we can reallocate some funds elsewhere. But uh anyway, I I can absolutely move
forward with some changes to the document ahead of the vote on Tuesday evening. I think we can vote on it with changes to that. I had pause and trepidation on the idea of of even approving it. We we talked about that in in the one-on-one briefing. Just there's
some changes that have already been adjust adjusted. So, thank you for that. But, uh, nevertheless, I I think I Reverend Cummings, I don't want to speak for you, but I could move forward if there were some changes made to the document. For sure. >> As long as those um we just need to be clear of what we're voting on, right? That's my thing. I
don't want us to to have any gray area any ambig amig ambiguity about what we are approving and what we're pushing forward. So that's I can move forward as long as there's those changes. >> Okay.
>> I agree. >> Okay. So then in two weeks we're going to revisit this conversation with some additional answers to questions we've posed. Um certainly we don't need to rehash the whole conversation but really putting into some picture maybe potentially. Um and then we'll obviously
have an additional finance conversation today and next week ahead of two weeks from now. Is there any more comments or questions from the board on this item? Okay. And any public comment? Okay. Well, thank you for being here.
Thank you team for um putting this together. We're going to take a five minute break and we'll come back at 10:58 um five minute recess. Thank you. >> So do you plan on breaking lunch
at all or not? >> We're not. We're still on. >> Yeah. We are back at 11:02. We are going to move into our budget presentation part one with our CFO back at the podium, Mr. Riaz Walsh.
>> All right. Hello again. Uh hope we got a little break. It's it may be a little time uh here at the podium. So, we're going to get into it. I'm just going to orientate the board to how I will move through the presentation. We have a I
think a little over 100 slides uh to go through and so I can't promise you we'll be done by lunch. Um but at any point you have a question or need me to stop, I will do so. >> Okie dokie. >> All right. So, the way that I'm going to
move through the presentation is I have some prepared comments for each slide. I'm going to identify the slide number I'm on. I will orientate the board members and the public to the schedule, table, bar chart, or graph. Uh, and then
I will work through that information and um ask for questions. Uh, we do have staff here to help us answer uh any of the more detailed questions that come up. And I also have uh quite a few notes. So if you see me flipping back and forth or I need to take a moment to
get that information, um please be patient. >> So just as a point of clarification, we will just ask questions as they come up. Is that what you'd like for us to do? >> Yes, that's fine. Absolutely. Whatever is the pleasure of the board. All right, we'll go with that.
>> That works for me. So um Rios, there's also you gave us a lot of stuff to put in the folder, >> correct? >> Yes. >> Um I'm sorry. Sorry. Could you repeat that? >> There's some stuff that we need to put in the folders. Correct. >> Uh yes. So you Yeah, thank you for that. So we have uh quite a few handouts. They
should be uh labeled with the slide number. They should say tab three slide whatever slide they refer to. So as I move through the presentation again there'll be multiple documents and these will be uh uploaded to board docs as well. Uh and so we will move through um
through those documents. So there will be some ebbing and flowing. So board, what I will say is if you can't get my attention and you have a question, please just shout out. >> Thank you. >> Okay, >> floor is yours. >> Well, thank you. All right, so we're
going to jump into it and I'm going to start with some opening statements. Okay. Uh so today I'm going to present the FY2627 tenative budget for the general fund. This budget is balanced.
It includes the general fund operating budget, adult education, and voter approved referendum. While this presentation contains a great deal of financial information, the budget is more than just numbers. It is about how we support our students, how we invest
in our employees, and how we manage taxpayer dollars, and position Marian County Public Schools for the future. This year's budget was developed at a time of transition, continued growth, rising cost, facility
pressures, workforce needs, and long-term planning. It also aligns with the district's broader strategic direction for our 5-year strategic plan, including fiscal responsibility, workforce sustainability, safe schools, highquality teaching, and
long-term, excuse me, high quality teaching and learning, and long-term operational efficiency. As I move through the presentation, I want to focus not just on the numbers, but what they mean. Um, this budget represents
one year of financial planning. Um it lays the groundwork for the district for the next 5 to 10 years. And you know going back to last year in the fall when we began this process, we implemented sitebased budgeting and we worked uh
with all of our staff making sure they had the appropriate training and tools available to them to understand the information. And not only were we able to implement um sitebased budgeting at the direction of the board, but work with our principles and school leaders um so that they understood their
information that's available to them um and make sure that they are getting the support that they need and have the autonomy that they deserve in making decisions for their individual school. With that being said, I'd like to thank our budget team, our budget director, Michelle Markhamm, our senior
accountants, Thomas Dikeke and Gio Dilla, our consultant, Latoy Garry, Sher Simmons, Will Mary Feliciano, of course, Mr. White House, Miss Morant, now known as Mrs. Taylor, and of course, Dr.
Brewer, who has been involved in all of these discussions um at a very detailed level. And then also want to thank all of the district staff. Um district staff um have worked alongside with uh our budget team to get our projections, work
through sitebased budgeting. Um and so I would be remiss if I did not give a shout out to all of the principles um and other um senior managers uh coordinators uh and staff that helped to
bring all of this information together. So with that, I'm going to jump into the topics that we're going to cover today. And you can see on the slide here, slide one, we have um our all fund summary, uh
followed by our property values and millage rates. We're going to walk through the Florida Education Finance Program or FFP. We're going to talk through the general fund operating general fund adult education general fund referendum and then we will talk
about some historical data. So the general general revenue uh excuse me general fund budget shows a total you can see that there at the top of this slide here of 1.2 234 billion.
Now, I can assure the public that this is not intentional. Um although that number sounds uh really nice and neat, was not planned. It's just how the numbers worked out. So, it's actually a bit of rounding. Um and so with that,
the general fund operating budget shows a total beginning fund balance of $592 million moving um up and down, left to right on the schedule. uh with the dot education uh totals approximately 13.9 million referendum at 61.2 million.
Capital projects total approximately 310 million which reflects our major facility capital work occurring across the district. And these funds are critical because they separate the general fund from the operating budget and are governed by different legal and
policy restrictions. I want to emphasize that today's presentation primarily focuses on the general fund because those are the funds that are most closely tied to daily school operations, instruction, student services, and referendum supported
programs. Any questions on this slide? Okay, so property values and millages. Um, we're going to move into this section here. This section is important because local property taxes are the major component of school district funding and at the same time it is often the most
misunderstood areas of school finance. Property values, millage rates require local effort, local discretionary mill, capital mill, and voter approved millage all interact with one another. Uh taxpayers may see property values increase and millage rates decrease and
still have questions about why total revenue changes. So, I'm going to walk through all of that today and we're going to talk through the truth and millillage process, which is where um this process really begins uh
and in terms of being able to levy taxes. And the trim process is established by Florida law and governs the Florida school districts must advertise, approve, and certified rates and budgets. um if approved deadlines um it in excuse me it includes um deadlines for the property appraiser to certify uh
taxable values and for the district to advertise tenative millage rates for the school board to hold public hearings uh for the final mill rates to be certified. And so we had several meetings over the last few weeks and those will uh coincide in September when
we uh do uh final mill rates to be certified. Um and the process is really intended to provide transparency to taxpayers so they understand um that the public has an opportunity to comment um on the millages and the budget before final adoption. Uh for this year, the
timeline begins with the certification of taxable values which happen on July 1st and then it continues to move through as the flowchart indicates um to the final uh to the tenative budget and the final budget hearings um and the final budget hearing scheduled within the statutory timeline uh before the
millage rates are certified. So right now we're kind of smack in the middle there. um that round uh oval there. Uh that is where we currently are. And then we will move to the next box there in gray and on down the line until we get to the uh final uh final dance as it
were in September when we provide the budget to the Department of Education and the rates are certified. So this next slide walks through our property values and millage rates. This slide shows the importance of financial trends affecting
the district. Taxable values continue to grow in Marian County, which I think most uh property owners um would look at that uh with a smile. Uh but the chart also shows the taxable value increasing u from approximately $22 billion in
2021. So if you go back in time um and then moving um into today to 46.7 billion which is a um large increase. It was actually um pretty astonishing how much the county is growing and um how
much uh taxable value has increased over the last five to six years. Um at the same time the total millage rate has generally declined over that period and that's what this graph is really representing. So for the 2627 total
millage is shown at approximately 6.294 compared to the 6.320 mills in 2526. Um this is an important taxpayer message. Um it helps explain both sides
of the equation. the taxpayers um their the taxpayers rate and taxable value to which it is applied. And so we have to make that distinction there because folks typically like to see their property values increase um but they can also see a decrease in the millillage
and we see that we are getting more money than we previously did last year and I'm going to get into that in the next slide. So here uh we're talking about um the required local effort which is the uh basically the skin in the game or
maintenance of effort um that the county um has to put up established as part of the state FF formula um and in order to draw down all of the additional FEFP dollars that we get from the state. And so in this particular case this year the
required local effort decreases from 3.0580 580 mills to 3.028 mills and the ARA RLE which is the acronym for required local effort adjustment slightly excuse me adjustment
increases slightly from 0.014 mills to 0.18 mills. Together the state required subtotal decreases by 0.026. The local discretionary operating millillage remains unchanged at 0.7480
mills as indicated in the middle there. And then the local capital improvement millage remains unchanged at 1.5 ms which we've talked about a little earlier. And then the voter approved additional millage also remains unchanged at 1 mil. Overall total
millage decreases from 6.32 to 6.294. 294. And at the same time, taxable values increased by approximately $3.76 billion or 8.75% as indicated at the top right corner of
the table. Um, so the key point here that I want to make is that the overall tax rate is going down, but the tax base is growing. Marian County is wealthier more today than it was last year. So
let's talk about how we convert these uh millage levies into revenue. Okay. So this table indicates um how that calculation is done and it converts those millages into actual revenue. Um the table um value increases from excuse
me taxable value increases from approximately 42.9 billion to 46.7 billion an increase of 8.75% as indicated in the last slide. And even though the total millage rate decreases total Avalorum revenue increases
approximately 260.3 million to approximately 281.9 million an increase of 21.6 million. the required local effort and prior year RLE adjustment increase uh by
approximately almost $10 million um and the local board millillage revenue increases by approximately 8.1 million and the voter approved millage increases by approximately 3.6. So you can see that change on the right side of the
schedule there um with that total at the very bottom um bottom right of the schedule. Okay, slide nine. So, impact of millages on property owners um with no increase. So, we'd like to provide examples to the public.
Um and so I'm going to go move through two of those. Um this slide shows the impact on a sample homeowner if there's no increase in assessed value. So in this example, um you look there, you see assessed value of $350,000 with the
homestead homestead exemption of $25,000 and a taxable value of $325,000. In this case, because the taxable value stays the same and the millage rate decreases from 6.320
to 6.294, 294. The school tax bill decreases from $2,54 to $2,455 and that is a decrease of 8.45. Um, this is a helpful helpful example u
because it shows that assessed value does not um excuse me let me go back. So this is a helpful example because it shows that assessed value does not increase. a taxpayer may pay slightly less uh due to the reduction in the millage rate. I think that's sometimes a
hard concept uh for taxpayers uh to wrap their their their brains around. And of course um the save our homes in terms of looking at um 3% or the CPI cap will play into it and I'll talk about that in the next slide. Um but all told here um
if there is no change in assessed value a homeowner um property tax payer may see a lower tax bill. The flip side to that is the next example on slide 10 which goes through the impact of
millillage levies on property owners with an increase of 2.7% in assessed value. So in this particular example we have the 2.7% increase in assessed value. moving from 350 to 359450
and then after the homestead exemption taxable value increases from 325 to 334450. In this example, even though the millage rate decreases as in the previous example, the total tax bill increases
from 2054 to 201105.02, an increase of $512. This is a very important point for the public to understand because a taxpayer can see a lower millage rate and still see a higher tax bill if the taxable
value of the property increases. So when we talk about impact on the taxpayer, we have to consider both the millage rate and the assessed value. I'll pause there. Any questions? I >> think we're good. Mr. Welsh, keep going.
>> Okay. All right. Next slide. So, we're going to talk about the Florida Education Finance Program. Now, as we transition um here from local property taxes to the uh FFP program, and that's what it's commonly referred to as, um it is the primary
funding formula used by the state of Florida to fund public school district operations. This is where state funding and local required effort come together to determine the district's primary operating revenue. The formula is complex, but the basic concept is that
funding is driven by students, student needs, program weights, and legislative funding decisions. You can see there the history started in 1973 and it's calculated five times a year.
And you can see that it is that primary u funding mechanism for most school districts unless they are fortunate enough and wealthy enough that they don't need FEFP which I think the state has one county uh that does not participate in the program.
>> I think that's Martin County. >> Monroe. >> Monroe. Thank you Dr. Brew. >> So let's talk about the funding components. All right. So, we have our high level here. We talk about it begins
with student enrollment. Um, and from there, we're going to go through and talk about the uh the weighted basis on which the programs deliver services. But as you can see, uh we have several components here that make up that formula. In the next slide, we'll go through and and and walk
through how complicated it is. Um but effectively the formula um is then applied to the base student allocation, the comparable wage factor and other adjustments such as categoricals, prior period adjustments, prorations and funding um and supplemental funding that
this state sometimes uh provides or not. I think the main issue uh that I want to drive the main point I want to drive here is that it's it's student driven um and that it's highly uh dependent on legislative decisions and statewide um
public education funding policy. And so that's an important point because we don't we don't necessarily control all of the pieces to the puzzle. Uh here is the uh formula uh that everyone uh loves to hate, but it does
do a very good uh example um of explaining um how the uh revenue for the district is generated. So I'm going to walk through that. So the district's projected unweighted FTE um for this year is approximately 54,38954
students. Um and we're going to move from left to right and you see those areas in blue there. Those are all of the categoricals. And I'm going to walk through walk through that. Um so after applying the program uh cost factors weighted FTE is
approximately 58,631. The base student allocation is 5450 excuse me $5,457.60 and Marian County's comparable wage factor is one and that produces a base funding of approximately $320
million. Um after adding the various allocations and adjustments, um we go through and we show that the gross state FFP uh somewhat kind of in the middle there is approximately $44 million and the
required local effort is $135.6 million producing a state FEFP allocation of $268.4 million. The slide also also shows the family empowerment uh scholarship funding at $77.3 million and the
adjusted fees funding of approximately $62.6 million. Uh the total state and local funding of approximately $497 million. The total general fund operating
uh amount is $514 million um after other federal, state, and local sources are included. You can see that at the bottom left hand side of the schedule. Uh it is a complicated formula. Um it's been it's been in place for quite some
time. And I did want to point out uh the definition there at the bottom. You'll see um there's a definition that we do want to bring up which is related to fees. uh because this amount is only
provided when the projection for fees is um higher than the state had expected and we get those funds back. So we see that $77 million coming in um and then we see that amount reduced and you see that as 14695 million. It's on the left side of the
formula and that's the state funed discretionary supplement. Um, and it was created to replace the local tax revenue that would otherwise be associated with the fees students. Okay. To the next slide here. We're going to
talk about weighted FTE. All right. So, as I mentioned earlier, um we start off with the process and then we quickly move into um the weighted FTE and and there's a way that we get there. And the total total unweighted FTE
increased from approximately 41,741 in 2021 to approximately 54,390 in 2627. So quite quite a bit of growth uh during that time period. And then um
I do want to mention that approximately that the 45,5 four 45,57 um uh is related to just Marian County because we have to back out um about 8,833
FS related FTE. And so it's an important distin distinction that we want to make uh that we do have to separate that out. And later on in the schedule, um I will put a further pin in that with the request that we got from Dr. Campbell last year um to show that um in our
presentation in a little uh different way. The next slide, program cost factors. Um so different students and different programs receive different weights because uh different programs have different cost uh to operate and so
basic education uh grades four through eight has a factor of one while other programs are weighted above or below that amount and we have um I think a document that kind of shows the change there um over time you the state usually
makes adjustments to that um I think for the most part we've seen that say relatively flat with the exception of some of the uh Esau related factors but for example basic education K through three has a factor of 1.107 107 um Esau which was our English speakers
of other languages has a factor of 1.161 and then our ESE support level has a factor of 3.515 and this is important because every student the formula tries to make sure that we provide the level of service
individualized for every student. I know that's kind of a hard concept for the public to wrap their brains around. U but that is the way that the the formula works. >> Mr. Walsh, if I can interject here, and this is important because when we look at the 254 and 255 um students with
disabilities, these are for our extreme needs. Our basic inclusion students do not receive additional funding. So I think that message is important just to remember and for our community to understand as well. Absolutely.
Um and this is another reason why um we are working diligently with Dr. Anna Williams Jones and and her team to make sure that um all of our IPs have proper documentation and that we're looking back uh not only looking for it but
looking back at what we can do to improve um how we operate um that particular book of business because if we don't have documentation for those students, we don't earn the revenue. And so there's multiple factors here that play into our overall financial picture
and that is one that we cannot um just gloss over. Okay. Any other questions on that slide? Okay. Okay. Let's talk about wage. Okay. Funds per pupil. Next slide.
So this slide is showing the base student allocation increasing by $85. Um that's an increase over last year from 537260 to 545760 and state funds per pupil um increased
to approximately 9 $9 9,14187. Um as a side note typically uh the cost to educate is around that 12,00 12,500 figure. And so, um, just by those two pieces of information, you can see there, um, that even the funds, uh, that
we get from, um, uh, the local Marian County and the state, um, is not enough, uh, generally to cover what it actually costs, uh, to educate a student regardless of where they fall as we look at uh, numbers overall. Um the slide
also notes for for 2324 the base student allocation included funding items that were previously uh separated out including instructional materials, reading, teacher classroom supplies, um classroom teacher and other in instructional uh personnel salary uh
increases. Um and this is important uh because you know those things had kind of been previously separated out and sometimes they make changes uh every year and so sometimes they carve them out, sometimes they don't. um or they can choose the state the legislature could choose to fund another categorical
um or increase the base student allocation which would be another way that we could receive uh additional funding. So while the per pupil funding has increased those dollars uh must support rising cost in salaries, benefits, utilities, insurance, uh
transportation and instructional needs. Chair, if it if I may, and I'm not trying to derail us or get us off on a different tangent, but I am curious to know what all of the buckets of information
go into the calculation of $12,000 to fund a student. So I when I think of of what that might look like, you can think of food costs and transportation costs and all of that, but and obviously the power and the funding
the teacher and there's there's lots of different things you can think of, but I'm having a tough time reaching a $12,000 number myself on 180 days. and knowing that obviously the food is
something that we're getting from the federal government because of our rate of poverty level students. And so that's something that we fund, yes, but it hasn't always been funded. And then transportation we fund, but certainly not all students take advantage of
transportation. So, I'm just I'm struggling with all the I'm not trying to derail us and I know we have a lot to cover, but just making a statement that it costs $12,000 to to educate a student. Can you help me with that? >> Yeah, I think to to unpack that, I think
you kind of hit the nail on the head. Yes, uh funding does come from FEFP, but when we look at and local when we look at the total amount driving $12,000 figure, yes, it does include all of those other items, not just what's
happening in the general operating fund. So, transportation, which uh we will talk about a little later on in the presentation, and then next week we'll talk about those other funds, which include things like uh food service, for example. So, we have to provide all of
those. So, it's really a uh taking all of those things into consideration um in terms of instructional cost, facility maintenance, capital, all of that plays into the larger picture of really what it cost. I think the distinction is how
much of that is related directly to classroom instruction or could be considered instruction versus other areas uh that we know we have to do and it costs money uh to pay for buses, pay for diesel, pay for gas. um and and the like.
>> So to back into that though, and this is the last comment on this so we can move on, but to back into that, $12,000 is the cost factor that we're using when we're considering sitebased budgeting. Is that correct? >> Yes. So we have several reports
throughout the year where we have to provide uh DOE um cost cost reports. And so right now that information for the previous year is still being worked through. Um and so once we have and we close the books um finally uh this information is through I think the 16th
of July we would be able to uh give you more detailed information uh about that but the ones from prior year are are out there and that's typically what we we point to to say this is what it it actually cost us to provide an education to a student.
Yes. I' I'd just also like to add if it's an average, we also have our students who, you know, it may cost us $40,000 a year. You know, there's two students in a room with severe disabilities. And so the cost for some of our students is extremely high and
some are lower. And so if we're looking at an average um our most um >> significant >> Thank you. um students, you know, the cost to educate them and
meet their needs is is high. I don't have a number on that what what that looks like. Um but I know it's significantly higher. And so that may be driving the average up. Can I say something? >> Yeah, that that is correct. And um on the previous slide, we talked about those program cost factors and and
weighted FTE. Um and I have a schedule here that kind of goes through and it talks about for each kind of category. Uh but yes, for those that have medical um medical necessity or other u very acute issues, yes, it does cost more and
the state does provide more funding. But I would u what I would say is that even with that those dollars attached to that to those particular uh categories of students um it is likely that it cost more than what the state provides through the FFP formula to cover the
cost even for those students even though the amount is greater than let's say a basic uh basic student. Um >> Dr. Ber >> yes I think what Dr. Campbell's asking is the um when we give when we assigned the dollars for the sitebased budgeting,
we based it on the FTE earned from last year's survey 2, but then there was an indirect cost percentage per level that was added. So, Mr. Welsh, can you explain what's included in that? How the schools were um differentiated between the levels for indirect costs?
Well, we did three different uh applications for elementary, middle, and high schools. And I believe it flowed from the lower end to the higher end. And I'm going to refer to Miss Markhamm or the staff if we can pull those numbers. And we may have to to get
those, but it did have kind of a tiered effect where I think for the high schools it was the largest indirect cost rate and then for middle schools slightly lower and for elementary schools uh a little lower than that. And that's really a function of the the size uh and the amount of staff that it takes
to run um a particular school, but we can we can get that information for you. >> Is that what you're looking for, Dr. Campbell? >> Sure. I I mean I I'm again I'm just trying to to get it. We we made a blanket statement about it costs $12,000
uh to educate a student. I'm just wanting to make sure the community is aware that's the number we're using or that we know that it costs. Certainly that's an average. Certainly that you know if you look at the overall I I guess my my question is is that $12,000 the same number that everybody's using
around the state and and if if not is ours higher or lower than everybody else's? And so if other people are using a different number why is that? And these are philosophical questions that do not need to be answered today. I would like for us to continue to move on
because there's a lot to cover here. But as we proceed in these budget workshops over the course of the next couple of weeks, I think it would be very impactful if we were able to unpack what that looks like because we're using that number. But if there are other districts
in the state that like size, like community, like lots of things that are educating students for $10,000. I'm interested in knowing what that looks like. Maybe they have fewer students with the significant ESSE needs. Okay. Maybe they have fewer ESOL students.
Okay, but those kinds of things are are important as every district on the state is challenged with funding right now. We we know what that looks like. U but they're also having to make very challenging decisions and uncomfortable decisions, but some of that is then
reducing their cost per student. So I I'm just I'm trying to weigh out thinking future focused as we've talked a little bit today about what that really looks like. Uh, and maybe there are other districts that are doing 13,000 a student and that's their okay.
Um, so I'm not necessarily trying to say everything about my conversation is is comparing us to others. I think that's just a a tough number for some people to say, okay, $12,000 and the student is in school 180 days. And so when you're
talking about transportation of food, all all the different things that we cover, seven hours a day, 180 days, roughly 667 a day per student, how how that works out because then
you're because a student is it just one lone student. So if if a person is getting $66 to educate that one student, $66 a day, okay, for one student, but we have a classroom of 18 or a classroom of 22 or a classroom of 30 or whatever the
number is. So it's I think it's helpful, too, and I I know that they're going to expand, but when we look at what the state has designated for even family empowerment scholar scholarship students, those families are receiving a little over 9,000 for Marian County. So that really only gives us about three
3,000 if we're using the 12,000 number to cover those indirect costs. So that it will be and they might have the numbers right there for you for a comparison. >> Yeah. So just for awareness, the Florida Department of Education on the know your
schools portal actually posts per pupil expenditures. Um and you can download which I've done for Miss Rios Welsh um the ESSA um table which provides all district per pupil expenditures for the state of Florida. So you can look at what the school expenditures are versus
the district. So right now they only publish 2425 because obviously we're still reporting 2526 data through survey 5. Um, but looking back at 2425, Maring County per people expenditure was at $10,860. And if you want to look at similar size
nearby, Lake County, um, Lake County was at $10,772. So, we're right in line with our peers, but the numbers go as high as 17 $18,000 per student. just depends on the size of
the district and and potential costs for a number of things. >> Thank you and thank you for that pathway. Maybe if you wanted to share that one more time, Mr. White House, just so the community can understand how they can find that information. >> Yes. Florida Department of Education, they have a data portal called know your
schools and you can pull up information, all kinds of data about each district. You just search for the district report card and then it provides you um data about student enrollment, student achievement, financial expenditures. Um I'm happy to email all of you this
report that's available through ESSA just so you have it for your fingertips. >> Perfect. Thank you so much. >> Thank you, Mr. White House. And to uh underscore the point as far as sightbased budgeting goes and budget development, we we base sitebased budgeting and budget development for the schools based on what the schools are
earning, not necessarily uh what it cost. And so when we get into budget development this year, uh that is the way uh that we look at in terms of earned revenue and then we build the budget based off of that. But of course, as the cost report indicates, we have
various inputs and the cost is higher than the money that we receive either raised locally or funded to us through the state. And so I think that's an important distinction to make. But as far as our individual um budgets go for schools and different organizational
units, it's based off of the dollars that are earned by the schools, which is a function of FTE, um weighted FTE, uh comparable wage factor, and all of the other variables taken um into consideration uh from the
formula. There any other questions on that particular slide? Okay. If not, we're going to move to uh the next slide here and we're going to talk about the district's primary operating fund and we're going to delve
into the details here. Okay. All right. Uh so we have a pie chart here in front of us and we can see the total revenues at $592 uh million dollar. Um and this is
important because it's made up of major uh categories including federal, state, and local transfers in and beginning fund balance. Um and so we really want to highlight um the large picture here. But what and I've said this in previous meetings um that it's really important
that the public understand uh that the general fund operating is really just one of the funds that interact with each other in order uh for us to provide the financing to operate the the district. And so you can see there the largest
source of approximately 316 or 53.4% um is local. And then you can see there the local revenue um uh local revenue is approximately 186 million or 31.5 and we also have a beginning fund
balance of 78 million which I'll talk about later on in the presentation. And then we have transfers in approximately 9.4 million or 1.6% and federal revenues approximately 1.8 or 0.3%. Okay. And then the way that it follows
we then go into the detail for each of these. Okay. So you see our revenues on the left side and we have budget actual tentative budget to budget and actual to tentative. So this slide looks at the total uh
revenue in increases um and we can see there um from approximately 497.8 8 to $514 million, an increase of about 16.1 million budget tobudget. The largest increase is local revenue,
which increases by approximately 14.4 million. State revenue increases by approximately $2.1 million. And then we have smaller shares for federal and federal uh pass through revenue decreases overall. Um, and I'll talk
about uh the other federal entitlements next week uh in greater detail, but we can see that the increase um there from other financing is right at $460,000. The key message here is that as revenue is growing um that's certainly a good
thing, but much of that growth is tied to the taxable uh value uh uh growth and the state formula calculations. And at the same times we still have expenditure pressures that continue um to rise. So we can't get away from that. Even though
we can see that we are getting um more money uh we do have um expenditures that are outpacing um the that growth in revenue uh year-over-year. And I'll talk about that more excuse me during the fund balance portion of the
presentation. The next slide here, general fund operating revenue. This is going to go through federal and federal pass through the state. So we have at the top of the schedule um federal revenue consist of the RTC reimbursement. It's budgeted at $556,43.
This is an increase of $111,000 uh over last year's budget. And then we have a federal pass through um at approximately 1.28 28 million which is about $910,000 less than the prior year. And then the largest um item in this category is
Medicaid budgeted at approximately $1 million. Um I will make a point about our our Medicaid piece. We are and have been working um diligently um with Dr. Annie Williams Jones and and the team that really handles that to make sure um
that we put a couple of things in place. uh we know our reimbursements have not come in as high as we uh would have liked and there is an 18-month lag in terms of when we receive revenue and so we're still waiting to get final numbers uh for the 25 26 year. Uh but one of the
things we have to continue to work on is uh making sure that we do proper documentation so that we can bill Medicaid for all of the services whether they're uh fee for service or direct um that we can bill uh to Uncle Sam and then also making sure that we're talking
with parents and and if and if possible where possible um get permission so that we can um build Medicaid um through parental consent um through that program which is uh which is difficult But that is something that we are currently
currently working on. Slide 26, general fund operating uh revenue. We're going to talk strictly about the state revenue. And so total state revenue is budgeted at 315.95 for 2627. This is an increase of
approximately $2 million over the prior year. And you can see there that the largest state revenue source is the basic FEFP budgeted at $268.4 million. Um this is the main state funding allocation generated through FFP. And so we certainly want to
highlight that the second largest amount is the class size reduction budgeted at approximately $45 million um that supports the constitutional and statutory requirements related to class size. And I believe there was a comment last year and I want to emphasize that
um and I'll talk about it a little bit later on is that this money comes from uh lottery funds and the state has change the way that it uh funds class size reduction. Um and so I'll mention a little bit about that later on. Okay,
any questions on this slide? Okay, next slide 27. This is going to be our uh local revenue. And as you can see there, the total revenue is budgeted at $186.6
million for this year, which is an increase of $14.37 million. The largest source um is of course school district taxes, uh budgeted at $169.9 million, and that line item increases by
approximately 12.6 6 million budget to budget primarily driven by uh growth in the property tax values. We also have investment income um which we get uh really good rates of return uh give or take about 4% uh for our portfolio
managed through PFM asset management and we usually budget about $5 million um for that. Um extended day fees for the MAC program are budgeted at 6.38 and we do a great job of uh keeping that program um in the black and keeping uh
the fees to parents as low as possible. And then of course rounding us out with miscellaneous revenue um approximately $4.8 million. Any questions on this slide? >> Mr. Walsh, I think you can just continue on because we we still have over I think
a hundred slides and they will stop you if they have a question. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Next slide 28. Um this is other financing sources. So you can see there the schedule the funding sources approximately uh budget is $9.43 million
um which is primarily the transfer in from the capital fund which again I'll go through in greater detail next week. And then we can see there um that the transfers for this particular uh pot of money will certainly help um certain
operations cost but legally permissible under Florida law. Uh 2526 actuals the district has recognized approximately um $1.9 million. This was the sale of the warehouse there that you can see. Um and
so as the board continues to look at um a real estate um uh a broker for any potential sale of property in the future, uh we could see um revenue come in. Um but we're not budgeting for that because we don't have any plans for that in this year.
And then lastly, the 204,471 for insurance loss recovery, which I have a breakdown um of that, but that's usually, you know, acts of nature, uh things that happen in schools, off hours, um it kind of runs the gamut, and that's where we we book that that
revenue. Um and of course, those are onetime revenues given a certain year, so we don't budget for that. Um so all told we are looking at three $514 million rounding up u for general fund operating
revenue for 2627 which is an increase of $16 million over the prior year. Now, we've talked about revenue, and now we're going to get into the expense side by object. Okay, next slide. So, you can see here
we have uh budgeted expenditures at uh 12.5 million more than the prior year. And we have a breakdown of what makes that up. Um and you can see there that we again are talking about a $563 um million dollars uh in terms of um our
expenditure budget uh compared to $550.1 million um in the adopted budget last year. And that's an increase of that 125. And you'll see that breakout there for salaries and benefits at 2.5, purchase services at 9.5, energy a million, materials and supplies
at 3.4, for and capital and other expenses rounding this out with smaller amounts about $800,000 and $3.8 uh million dollars there. And you see the comparison uh from year uh to year there on the left side of the of the slide.
>> Mr. Rios Welsh, uh what would be some examples just briefly of purchase services? That's the highest number in this bulleted list. >> Uh let's see. That's usually going to be our contracts. Um, I can tell you now that a big portion of that is going to
be the FES, which I'll talk about in a later slide that's broken out. Um, let's see what else >> the curriculums and all that stuff being there. Okay, one second. Pull that up.
Slide 36. Okay. So, slide 36. Yes. Let's see here. Okay. I think we have in here. So, we should see it. That's kind of hard for me to see. Um, >> I see it now.
>> Hold on one second. Blow it up. >> Do you want to just address this slide when we get to it, Mr. Rios? Rush. >> Yeah, I think so because it's it's kind of confusing to jump around a little bit. It's throwing me off. >> Okay. Board member. >> Yes. Yes, that's fine. And now that I'm seeing the slide again, I'm remembering
uh reading it. Um, it just caught my attention because it was so much higher, but now it breaks it out in this slide. So, yeah, when we get to that, that's fine. Thank you. >> One second. Let me get my place back here. Okay. So, we should be looking at slide
32. All right. So, general fund operating expenditures. I Let's just go into the salary detail here. Um, go back. Okay. I do want to talk about u the salaries here because this is the largest expenditure um in the budget as
we all all aware of and this includes all of our classroom teachers, school administrators, certified um instructional staff, pair professionals and support personnel, substitutes and other groups um that support our school um operations.
And uh this is important and you should have a separate attachment um that has all of the units for the general fund um that you can see if there's any questions on that. U but it is an attachment that we include
separately. Okay. Okay. So, total salaries and benefits, excuse me, total salaries budgeted at approximately $275 million. Um, this is an increase of almost $4 million over 2526.
And you can see their classroom teacher salaries budgeted at $147 million, which is a decrease of $1.72 million. and other instructional increases. Uh for those staff at $1.2 million, pair of
professionals at 1.6 and support staff increasing by 3.21. Okay, let's talk a little bit about the the benefit section here. This includes our retirement, social security, health insurance, life insurance, workers comp, Medicare, uh, and employment
compensation for all employees. Uh, these costs are directly tied to staffing levels. Um, and so as staffing levels fluctuate and change, we do see changes here. Um, so we try to manage our salary growth very carefully because it places uh pressure on the operating
budget. And this is why we must always consider the full cost of employment and not just the salary. And this is why we also come to the board regularly with those changes uh to show the board um how much our salaries and benefits es
and flows based on units which is tied to the schools and needs going on um on the ground. And this slide basically walks through the exact same information on the prior slide. It just breaks out what I just mentioned
and gives you that detail. So you'll see there benefits budgeted at $106 million which is a decrease of 1.4. And then we have retirement budgeted approximately 38.4 and social security 16.8, health
insurance at 44.2. Um and even though the budget here decreases budget to budget, it remains the largest expenditure cate category in the general fund. That's u that's pretty important outside of of our salaries.
Okay. Expenditures by purchase services. So this is an area that we were just talking about. >> Perfect. Thank you. Okay, Mr. throw. We're going to get to the nitty-gritty of your question here. Thank you for your patience.
All right. So, here we have um our pie chart there. You can see how how it all breaks out. Um and so we have try to have a representation of where all the funds um are going. And I have some detail for some of some of those examples. Um, but just generally
speaking, those purchase services include a wide range of of expenditures, including our professional and technical services, our insurance, bond premiums, travel, uh, repairs and maintenance, rentals, communications, utilities, and other contracted services. Um, and then we do a breakout for FS a little later
on. And so we'll see that there in the next slide here. And I think yes, this is the slide correct. So um on this particular slide um it's really important uh that we
break out um the fees and you can see there um at the top of the schedule. This was a request last year I believe from Dr. Campbell uh to kind of show that and so that is our attempt uh to make sure
um that we carve that out. And you can see there the budget at $50.4 $4 million and now tenative at 62.4 million. And this represents uh change from budget to budget of a almost $12
million uh and change from actual to tenative of $62 million. And just so I can tie back to the formula, if you take that amount that I mentioned earlier in the FFP formula for the state discretionary
related to fees, this is the uh adjusted amount that we show here. Okay. And I'll pause there in case there's any questions on FS, but I know we wanted to carve that out. We also have other areas like u object code 3100
um which is our professional and technical services which include things like our professional services uh attorneys. Um we have a mental health um our ESC contracted services uh services provided to us uh by JD Pro. Some of our
SRO contracts are there. Um some of our safe school uh supervisors are in there. Um and let's see other enterprise um applications related to technology are also included particularly those related to athletic trainers and contracted
through the University of Florida. And so those are some of the examples of things that are in purchase services. And then we're going to move into energy services. And so you can see here this includes things like natural gas, bottle gas,
electricity, heating oil, gasoline, and diesel fuel. Um we are seeing some uh increases uh due to the war in Iran um and other external factors. So we are are planning for that. Um and so you
know because the district operates a large number of of schools and support facilities. Our energy costs remain um a very significant portion um of our expense and of course the size of the county um you know requires uh that we have those buses and that we provide
transportation to cover a lot of ground uh to get our students uh to and from school. Um we've also included in here for energy services uh an increase for South Marian. So as we bring schools on uh which doesn't happen all the time um we
have an increase um in the budget there which is uh nominal u but we do try to plan our best for that. Next slide is materials and supplies. Um and this is just really important because you know this is really uh has a
direct u effect on teaching and learning including textbooks um and other materials. So you can see here in the pie chart and then the next slide uh goes into the breakout of that and you can see $21.3 million. That's an
increase of $3.4 million year-over-year. And you can see our textbooks there budgeted at approximately 9.5. As I move into the next slide there going from um top to bottom left to right which is an increase of $2 million.
And then we have uh general uh materials and supplies of an increase of about $2 million um and supplies increase of uh by approximately $264 million. So um very important because we
have to have those materials and supplies in order to provide instruction. Um that's key. Okay. Capital outlay. All right. So, this is important because um capital projects um uh fund supports
major construction and capital improvements. And this slide only reflects the capital outlay expenses charged to the general fund. So, next week when we go through um uh the capital fund itself, we'll go through in very uh grave detail what that looks like. So, this is only the portion charged to uh the general operating
fund. And you can see the pie charts there uh that will break out where the line share of the dollars are going. And you can see there the total amount is 700 excuse me 7 million. And that's a slight decrease of approximately $77,46
from the prior year. We also have furniture uh budgeted at 4004 million there. land improvements at approximately 1.1 million uh including uh library books at 612 and we have an allocation for
buildings at approximately $465,000. The next slide walks through those numbers and just kind of breaks breaks that out in more detail so we can see it. And again, this is not uh the district's entire capital program. It's just the portion of capital outlay
reflected in the general fund. Um the broader strategy here is uh addressed through the five-year capital plan, the future focus plan, um which makes sure that we can put ourselves on firm footing for facility modernization,
replacement of schools, defer maintenance, and long-term operational efficiency. Next slide 43. I think we're making some good headway. other expenses and transfers out.
So, this cover covers other items like dues and fees, other personal services, miscellaneous expenses, and transfers to food service, which I'll talk about next week. And this category uh is one of those that doesn't really fit neatly um into salaries and benefits uh services
or other materials or capital uh outlay. And so, that is the reason why we have it carved out here. And the same thing here follows the same format uh where we go from the pie chart to the table and you can see how those all those numbers are uh fleshed out in
detail. So we have total other expenditures and transfers budgeted at 22.98 million for 2627 and that's approximately $3.9 million um a decrease of $3.9 million compared to the prior year. Uh this does um
include some uh okay this does not include uh carryover funds. And then we have there on the left side of the schedule looking at dues and fees are budgeted at approximately $2.3 million. Other personal services at 571
and miscellaneous expenses um at 20 million. And then next week when we go through food service, we'll talk about um that transfer um that goes to food service to help support that particular fund. Okay. So transitioning here
to general fund fund balance. Um so uh this is obviously an important uh topic and you should have two handouts. um one for current year, the previous year 20 526
um and then you'll have one for um the current projected 2627. And so this is really important because um this portion of the presentation uh really represents um the district's overall financial stability. Okay. So,
when we talk about fund balance, it's described as a savings account. Um, but in school district finance, it's more it's a lot more than that. It's really how we deal with our shortfalls, enrollment changes, emergencies, timing issues, uh, hurricanes, uh, economic
downturns, and other unforeseen events. Uh, one of the things that you'll hear a common theme, and I think you heard it from our predecessor, and you'll continue to hear from me, um, the allure of fund balance is something that we have to be very cautious of. Um, it's important for stability, but it should
not be used as a long-term solution for recurring operating cost. And so, you'll hear that u from me times as I think most of the staff have already come back here. So, you can see there the access of the
entities or district's assets over its liabilities. And then we have here that the total um res uh reserve requirement at 3% via Florida statute. And I would point out the auditors um as kind of touched on a
little bit earlier usually recommend 5 to 7%. And then uh rating agencies typically recommend um 10% or greater. And this is you know fund balance is important for many reasons. Um, but like
I said, it's it's really looked at as uh kind of that savings account that helps us to to weather the storm. And then I'm going to give you a breakdown here for our fund balance classifications.
So, we have our non-spendable, which includes things like inventory and prepaid items, our restricted fund balance. Um and all of this is restricted by the way um in terms of uh by law or external requirements. And then we have our committed fund balance
which is the set aside by formal uh board action which the board has taken action in the past. And then we have the other uh two areas there for our assigned and unassigned which um assigned for very specific purposes or unassigned fund balance which is the most flexible portion um of the
district's reserve. And um with that, I'm going to talk a little bit through uh the current ending fund balance for the year that we just closed or in the process of closing and how things look prospectively um as we get um and present this
balanced budget. So in the slides that you have um in the handouts uh you'll see there that the 2526 year the estimated ending fund balance is 78.1 million or 17.4%
of revenue based on um the updated fund balance summary um that portion that was assigned to help FY2627. And so, um, I'll be remiss if I didn't mention that even though that number looks very large, a large portion of
that is going to subsidize, as it were, operations in the current year because we don't earn enough revenue through local and state or federal to cover all of the expenditures um that we have. And so you can see for
2627 um the projected budget for ending fund balance is 28.6 million or 5.57% of revenue. And this is important because it certainly keeps us over the
3% requirement. Um, and I will say that this past year there was a lot of trepidation and um, you know, discussion internally about how fund balance would come in. And I was certainly doing my share to make sure that was reviewing all requisitions, asking folks to look a
little deeper, try harder, don't spend as much money, uh, because we didn't know what this would look like. And I think during my previous one-on-one uh, briefings with the superintendent, Mr. White House with each of you. Um the main concern here is not just looking at
this year's budget, but it is looking at uh the next three years, that next three-year outlook. And so it's important um and I'm actually proud that the district uh did a good job of uh not spending as much because u from our projections, we will certainly uh need
it. And that plays into um a lot of the larger calculations that we do as far as um raises go for staff, changes that we have to make um to our insurance uh plan design, which we talked about a few short weeks ago when the board voted
to make uh some changes. And so uh all of these are taken into consideration. Uh and so right now I can report that um obviously the district's uh fund balance looks very healthy. Uh but we are going to continue to monitor that throughout the year because we know that we have to
do some continued um right sizing of the district. Uh and also the district has our strategic plan goal of 10%. Uh which would mean that you know for the this past year we would certainly have met
that at the $78 million uh uh figure. Um but moving forward we would really need to maintain that at about $51 million give or take. uh every year. So remember that this is not just a one-year situation. The fund balance and legal
requirement is 3% every year or greater. And so yes, we look at it um at a point in time u but we are constantly monitoring u to make sure that we're we're making good decisions so that we can plan for the future. And so those two slides that you have kind of break
that out. You'll see the restricted for categoricals there. Um, and I'm going to speak directly to uh the $78.1 million uh this year. You can see how all of that breaks out.
And then lastly, um if you look at 2627, you will see that we have uh an assigned amount there on the right side of the schedule for $2 million. And this is usually dollars that we put to the side to deal with our FTE uh audit
adjustment. If you guys remember last year, we um had to basically um have a reduction or an adjustment to our FFP allocation about I believe $500,000. And then the last thing I'll mention on this portion um of the slide is the financial condition ratio. Therefore,
total assigned and unassigned at almost 4%. Um and so um that may be um cons a little bit concerning, but I can tell you that last year we were right about 5%. So, we're about a percent lower than we were last year during the adopted
budget process. But, as you can see from the previous slide, uh fund balance came in uh much higher. And so, uh that is certainly a good thing. And so, we're constant constantly monitoring that. Uh but we do have to be transparent in terms of how we do our projections and
assuming that we're going to spend most of the um object uh classes outside of salaries and benefits at 100%. And that's what pushes the projection for um financial condition ratio a little lower than we would prefer to see at this
point. Uh but again, as time goes on throughout the year and we continue to have our uh surveys and recalculations for FFP, that could change. And of course, we're constantly um in money saving mood. And the board has done a
good job of um scrutinizing all of the items that we're buying uh and pushing back when the administration um may be making a purchase um that it feels like we could do uh maybe do a little better or get a better deal. Um,
and so with that, um, I'll I'll pause there for any questions just related to those last two slides because that does conclude at least that portion of the presentation before we jump into adult education. >> Going to take a quick um pulse of the
board, we probably have about an hour left, hour 15. We're halfway through. Do you want to break now? Would you like to power through and break when we're done? What is your perspective? Keep pressing on. >> Keep pressing on. >> That's for me. >> Okay. Anyone else?
>> Fine. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Okay. So, adult education. So, we're going to do an um an all all revenue sources um summary here. So, let's look at that. federal, state, and local.
And so you see there almost $14 million um for the uh entire kid in Kabuto there uh for adult education. And this includes fund balance. And you can see there that the largest revenue source is 5.6 million in state
funding followed by local revenue of $4.1 billion and an ending fund balance of approximately 4.2 2 million with a very small amount of federal pass through dollars um that we receive. Um and as the board is aware, we offer many
wonderful programs at Maran Technical College, including items that are really geared towards workforce development, career readiness, uh technical training, um and adult learning opportunities in Marian County. And I know Mr. Small Ridge um keeps things pretty tight over
there and so we certainly like to help him to do that. This is a further breakdown of all of our revenue sources that I just went through. And you can see there that adult education uh revenues are budgeted at
$9.6 6 million which is a a decrease of approximately $724,000. We have a state revenue decrease of approximately $390,000 and I believe a good portion of of that reduction uh is attributable to the
workforce development capital incentive grant project uh for adding the West Bay um the West Bay remodel at MTC. Um also um cape revenue um will be um added back in this particular um area or category
uh during the adopted budget. So I anticipate that once all of that is fleshed out um those numbers will change uh once we get into the adopted budget. Okay. Slide 53. Federal through state. So you can see there that federal pass
through amount is very small $3,400 there uh minimal impact and then we have our state revenues at approximately 5.6 and the largest item there is the workforce development which is budgeted at $5.5 million which is quite quite a
large amount of money. Um and then slide 54 we have our revenue local and other finance sources. So you can see there local revenue budgeted at $4 million and this is primarily driven by Mary and Technical College fees. Uh
it's budgeted at right about $4 million. And then we have some other areas there where we have lease revenue um budgeted small amount there at $47,000. Um these are things like uh school course and class fees um associated
there. Um we have another $5,500 small amount and rounded out by $89,000 and local revenue uh budget is down by approximately 335. there will be uh an adjustment there. But I will say um I
think there was one program that is um ceasing which is I believe the barbering program. Um and then of course the aviation program I think we were expecting that to come online um this year and there's there's some um delay there. So as that continues to uh
become operational um we would like we hope to see more um revenue generated there. And then lastly, we are expecting to see at least actual to tenative hopefully more students in our cosmetology um and CNA program uh and radiology
program at Marian Technical College, which will impact this particular line item. So, that's always good news. And as I stated, Mr. Small Ridge and and the team there do an excellent job of reaching out uh to the community and encouraging um adults to to continue
their education through the wonderful programs that we offer. Now, we're going to get into the expenditures after talking about our revenues for adult education. Okay. So, you can see here the 2526 adopted verse the 2627 tenative budget.
And the way that we um explain this, you can see there in blue and in gray you have the budgeted expenditures 5.7 million less than the prior year. Um so we have a breakout of that. Uh you can see there a decrease in salary and benefits at 2.3. Uh purchase services, a
smaller decrease there at 17,000. Uh energy up which is not surprising. materials and supplies, which is just a little increase there at about $100,000 in capital outlay and other expenses um are down. Um as I mentioned, there will
be um a change um from tenative uh to adopted and so be on the lookout for that. And then here um we're going to talk about the salaries um related to adult education.
And so you can see there the the the charts um clearly points out there for 2627 you got the the largest share there and you can see 3.23 million and that is a decrease of about 1.85
million compared to the prior year budget. And then we have a decrease there. Um the largest of which is the classroom teacher salaries that include $2.73 million to approximately $1 million. And
then we have other support personnel decreasing by $196,000. And again there um there will be a correction here as I believe we had an issue with uh Skyward um and a double entry for part-time employees that was
not included which will be added back and you'll see this number increase which will have an impact um on the next slide which is our benefits which I'll jump into. So again, just like the general
fund, it tracks uh similarly with retirement, social security, health insurance, life insurance, workers comp, Medicare, and employee benefits uh all included here. And so you see that large section there uh in blue.
And you see that we have uh benefits budget at approximately 1.190 million is a decrease of $421,000 from the prior year. And I'll walk through the next section here on the next table, which includes a retirement
decrease of $266,000 and their social security decreasing by 116 and Medicare decreasing by 31,000. And then our health insurance remains relatively um stable at approximately 462 notwithstanding any changes that the
board has previously um approved and would be implemented in January. And we're going to talk about purchase services here. Okay. So this covers things like our technical services, insurance, bond
premiums, travel repairs, maintenance, rentals, uh communications, public utilities, and other purchase services. And so you can see there that uh adult education services purchase services are budgeted at $1.1 million. I'll round up
to 1.2. Uh this is down $17,000 um over the prior year. And then we have our professional technical services increasing by $25,000 for rentals. uh excuse me. While rentals decrease by $45,000, our out of county travel increases by
$30,000 uh likely reflecting program related training and certificate programs and workforce development needs overall. And of course, we're always monitoring travel and usually and I see all of it and Dr. Brewer signs off on on a lot of
it as well. um that we try to make sure that folks are not doing any unnecessary traveling if it's not needed for energy for Dota education. You can see here that we have energy services uh budgeted at $184,000
and you can see there this is an increase of about $4,000 with electricity being the larger component there at $156,000. So we may expect that this would increase uh given the current global climate.
And this is the next slide is a breakout of that same information as previously shown as a pie chart. And then here we have our adult education materials and supplies. And you can see here that these um examples of these items include consumable
supplies, textbooks, um oil repair costs or repair parts, excuse me, um tires and tubes and other related um materials and supplies. You can see they're coming in at $1.1 million, which is an increase of $99,837.
And that's indicated in this next slide here, 66. And that $99,000 is uh an increase compared to the prior year budget. Um this is mostly driven by a carryover in Kate funds
and we've done a little bit of an adjustment there um so that it's pretty much in line with where what we would expect to see at this time of the year. We have supplies also budgeted there at $250,000. textbooks at $27,000 in materials and
other supplies at $860,000 to round us out. And as in the general fund, it tracks the same. We then look at by object capital outlay. You can see here a pie chart um that represents that. And we
have various items that are included here. And so I'll go through and do a little explaining on the next slide. So you can see there we're budgeted at $850,000 and uh that's a decrease of about $3.3
million over the prior year. Um and I think a big portion of what's driving that decrease is the new mechanic building um that is complete. Um we also had a set aside for the aviation program. As I said, it's um not
yet fully implemented. And so we have that included in there as well. And then I think account 6,800 includes carryover funds for other projects. Uh but overall you see that decrease of $3.3 million year-over-year. And then the uh largest
item um there is uh furniture, fixtures, and equipment at $455,000 um and remodeling at approximately $388,000. So we're doing some good work over at MTC and that work will continue.
And then here we have adult education um other expenses. And this is a smaller item. So we're including things like dues and fees, other personal services and miscellaneous expenses. And see how that breaks out from year to year.
And again, this breaks that out even further. So you see there we have other expenses and transfers. So, 575,000 which is a decrease of almost $300,000
or $278,000. And then dues and fees budgeted at $572,000 with other personal services budgeted at about $3,000. Um, and miscellaneous expenses now budgeted for 26 uh 27.
And then uh all told we have therefore adult education expenditures at approximately $ 8.36 million which is approximately $5.76 million less than last year not withstanding any adjustments that need to be made between
now and the adopted budget. So let's talk about fund balance for adult ed as we do for the general fund. Uh it is its own fund and um has a restricted fund balance. And
you can see there uh the growth over time started off very small less than $100,000 and has gradually grown as uh programs have grown. So you can see there adult education ending fund balance is projected at $5.5 million.
And you see there it's going to be used to continue to support the workforce training needs and program um equipment and future operational needs. uh for MTC and I've been in discussions with Mr. Small Ridge about uh fund balance and
one of the things that I'll mention or I like to underscore is that we don't want to look like we're hoarding money. So although it's good to have fund balance of course for the general operating and adult education uh we don't want to make it look like we're you know we have money and we're not doing anything with
it. Usually that money is spoken for and we have spend plans uh operational plans that uh we have in place to spend that down within a certain amount of time and sometimes things come up where we can't get that done as quickly as we'd like or there are other reasons why uh that
money is uh being carried over from year to year. I'll pause there before we jump into the next section which is general fund referendum. Can't believe we're already at slide 73. >> Correct. >> You're cooking with gas.
>> We're making a record today. >> Shall I keep going? >> You shall. >> Okay. Well, just pause me if it it's a little dense and I'm trying not to read every number, Dr. James. Uh, >> all right. Great. All right. So, let's talk about
referendum. Um, as most of the public knows, if they've been keeping up and, um, tuning in to YouTube, uh, as it were, uh, we have our quarterly, uh, meetings with our iRock committee and so we go over this information in grave
detail. Um, but just to put a pin in it. Um, this is related to our 1M Avalor property tax, which I talked about a little bit earlier in the presentation. And then we have uh, started in November and voters uh, will be coming back to the ballot here pretty soon. um because
it expires in June of 27th. So we have our estimated revenue at $44.8 million. And then you can see the allowable uses uh for all of these funds which we've gone over um during those IROC meetings which include physical education, art, music, library media, vocational
programs, safe schools, class size reduction um and of course the retention of state certified teachers and paraprofessionals. So this is going to flow the same way. We're going to go through the general fund referendum revenue and then we're going to go through expense. So we're
going to start with the federal and state and local. So we see here we have a total of $61.2 million including both current year local revenue and beginning fund
balance. You can see that large share there uh in the deep blue and then you have the grayed out area there. So, local revenue totals approximately $45 million. And then you have that beginning fund balance totaling $16.4
uh million. Uh the fund balance of course helps to maintain program continuity and manage the timing between tax collections and expenditures as time goes on. And you see that breakout even further here.
Okay, so we have our local revenue increasing approximately 41.19 million and 2526 to approximately $44.79. And this is an increase of about $3.6 million. Again, as in the case um with
some of the other funds that I've discussed um earlier on in the presentation, uh this increase is driven by growth in taxable value, not by an increase in the referendum millage rate. The referendum millage rate remains 1
mil. Okay, slide 78. Uh we're going to talk about the local revenue here. We can see that at almost $45 million compared to approximately $41.1 million in the prior year. So we expect that trend to
continue. And I know that the district is working um not necessarily with or on behalf of um but I guess in kind of partnership loosely with um C so that we can uh get the information out um to the public um in terms of um the good work
that the district is doing but cannot take a position one way or the other uh on the vote. But that that work will continue and I think uh we'll be kicking some of that off um in short order after we get through the budget season
and we're going to jump into expenditures now that we've talked about revenue. Again, you have a handout um that includes um both the previous adult education units
uh and then we also have um all of the units funded with the referendum and I believe we also added historical uh documents as well. So you can see that growth um and see how we've been maintaining uh over time.
And then you can see here that uh where most of the money is going. And let's look at that largest area physical education, um music, safe schools, art, class size reduction in media services, and
vocational programs. Um you can see that, you know, we've had some things that have shifted over the years. And of course, um, with the new referendum language that we've included for the vote in November, we hope that, um, the next fiscal year, if we're able
to move some things around, um, in order to fund other priorities that the district has, uh, that is something that we certainly, um, want to do, particularly as it relates to, um, early learning. I think we've talked about that quite a bit.
If I can just um add one thought here. It's been a topic of conversation in the community. Reverend Cummings and I were somewhere on Tuesday night where this came up quite a bit. So, I'll just take it as a point of privilege to share. Our referendum language as it's presented.
Can it be used for teacher pay increases? >> It's not a trick question, but >> correct. >> Yeah. The answer is no. >> Answer. Yeah, that is that is correct. The new language we're basically swapping out correct >> uh swapping out language. Dr. James.
>> So, as our referendum language exists now and as it will exist after the election in November, if the voters approve, it will not allow for us to use it for pay increases. Furthermore, all of us who lived with Terresa Bosnellis
will say it is not safe to ever put something that has a finish line with a reoccurring expense. And so we see other districts in the state like Charlotte County as an example who uses their referendum to pay teachers salaries more. However, those are costs that
expire presuming the referendum is not renewed. So, the way our referendum is set up, as you pointed out, slide 80 does a great job of demonstrating how that money is used and separated amongst the buckets that it can be approved for,
none of which are teacher pay. So, I just wanted to make that as a point of clarification because it has come up. and and also can you add to that that it is the voters's vote for the referendum that determines these buckets
that we have put out there because again as you stated the other night there is a perception that we could just pull this money and put pay for whatever we wanted to pay for and pay salaries and that is just not legal. It's not true. Um it
goes against uh what is on the ballot. >> Correct. >> Absolutely. And I would always reinforce that message. Um I know this is a uh touchy issue coming out of the TISA conversation uh related to our collective bargaining for our teachers.
Um and just way of background so that the public understands um that in this year's appropriation from the legislature as part of FEFP the state uh decided to be much more prescriptive than they had in previous years or have changed um the prescription as it were
and that meant that uh we had a finite amount of dollars um that we had to negotiate with the unions uh in order to provide increases for them. And so I think what I'm hearing from the board is, you know, in the community, there may be a narrative out there that we
have this extra referendum money, so why can't we use that to pay for teacher increases or give them more? Um, but I don't want to conflate those two things because the state carved out dollars for those teachers. And I'm glad to report that we were able to meet the deadline to get that done and over the finish
line uh by the July 31st um deadline that the state gave us so that we did not enter uh in pass with uh MEA. >> And I Dr. Campbell had her hand up. I just want one more point and then I'll pass it to her.
teacher pay keeps coming up, but this the conversation would be greater than that. If we were to use our referendum money for pay in my world, it wouldn't just be for teachers, it would be for all of our staff. Um, nonetheless, we
can't use it for any of that because that's not what it's voter approved to do. So, Dr. Campbell, >> thank you. So, I I do want to clarify, our referendum does pay salaries. >> That's what I was going to say. >> Our referendum pays salaries. >> It pays Allow me to continue, please. It
pays the salaries in full for our art, music, PE, and select number of our CT, our career and technical education employees. If this referendum is not approved, we do not have budgeted
for fully funding any of those employees. So, the referendum cannot be used to enhance salaries of anybody. cannot be used to reallocate for salary increases. But it does pay for the salaries of we have the exhibits here of
exactly how many employees more than 400 500 more than 500 employees full salaries are paid out of the referendum but I just told you what they are and who they are. So, I think that further
explains the need uh and the voters have the opportunity to choose whether or not they want the district to continue to fully fund art, music, PE, and career and technical education in our schools. >> Thank you, Dr. came for that clarification because you're right, it does pay for those positions. But again,
as you just stated, should the referendum go away, those positions would not be funded and we would have to figure out something else. >> Yes, >> absolutely. And I can certainly uh appreciate that, Dr. Campbell. Thank you for pointing that out. It's a great
transition point because that's actually the next slide. So, thank you. I know you weren't trying to steal my thunder, but I'm going to continue uh with this section. And this highlights exactly what what you just mentioned, right? That we are paying um most of the money for the referendum is going towards
salaries for all those different programs that we just talked about. So I hope that the public does not get things misconstrued. I know there is a lot of misinformation uh that can be out there on the internet, but I would advise the voters
to get it directly from the source. With that being said, the next slide indicates that we have $5.39 million that we are using for class size reduction. And you can see there uh that we are supporting 149 pair of professionals to put a pin in that. And
then we also have a charter school distribution. Uh and Mr. Cummings, I didn't forget about your request from the last meeting. So I'm going to I will eventually get to that. And Mr. Thrower, I have some notes for you as well. I'll follow up. Um but we do have to pass through some of that charter school uh
money um as well for class size reduction or from referendum to charter schools and that's what's indicated there. Uh so you see how that breaks out with the bar charts um in terms of uh where the funds are going and then the next slide we do the same thing when we
talk about physical education uh which is receiving the lion share there and you can see 110 uh physical education uh teachers there. We have 27 PE techs. You can see their materials and supplies at
201 171 in terms of the distribution to charter schools, capital outlay at 150,000 and purchase services at 86. So if there is a misconception out there that we're not using referendum to
support teachers, that is not correct. That is where almost all of the money is going. Uh, and I cannot um overemphasize that enough. Same here for our vocational programs.
You'll see there at uh budgeted $2.7 million. That includes 19 vocational teachers including equipment, technology rentals, materials, and supplies and diesel and other uh miscellaneous technology.
And then we also have our media services that are covered here in the next slide at almost $5 million. And you can see there uh 51 media specialists covered throughout the district with capital at
332, materials and supplies at 32,000 and rounding us out with purchase services and dues and fees at 6,750. Lastly, oh, I have two more. Two more. Oh, three more to go. Uh, we have our art programming. So, you can see that
there. Approximately $5.5 million. This supports 57 art teachers uh and 13 art pair of professionals. Uh, and if you've ever been to any of the schools, um, I hope that the parents and voters and folks that are really connected uh, with
our students, if they get a chance to tour some of the schools that offer these programs, um, it would really blow your mind. And I know we're constantly trying to uh, toot our own horn uh, and let the community know the work that we're doing. Um, but it's it's pretty
awesome when you walk into those those rooms and you see all of the great artwork that the students are doing. >> Can I just real quick? >> Yes, ma'am. >> Because of the referendum, every school has art and music. So, it's not some of the schools. And I just wanted to clarify that because of the referendum,
every school has art and music. That was not the case prior to the referendum. And so, I just wanted to make that point of clarification. >> And they're not shared. >> Yeah, that's what I mean. A full-time art and music teacher that are not shared. um that that was not the case prior to the referendum. >> Yes, this is this is a critical
investment and um as I understand it, years ago, the district had financial difficulties uh and had to pull back from providing these services as part of its regular general operating fund. So, um quite naturally when we talk about the investment and the necessity for the
referendum in order to continue to provide that level of support, uh this is where the rubber meets the road. And so the voters have been gracious enough, generous enough, uh, and the wealth in Marian County has increased enough such that we hope that in November the voters
will continue to approve affirmatively um the reinvestment uh for another five years uh for not only this but other areas that will be coming up to support our students. uh which is music to my ears, which is a good transition to the next slide uh
which shows that we have approximately $6.5 million invested in our music programming supporting 57 music teachers and 13.5 um music paraprofessionals. And of course, we have the allocation to the
charter schools that is included here. And then we're going to move on to the next portion here, which is the professional development piece, which is the smallest piece of uh where these dollars are going, but nonetheless very important at $920,000
with of course uh an amount uh distributed to the charter schools at 22704 and about 80 $87,000 uh provided for purchase services and supplements at $630,000
there. And this is mostly for um uh teaching staff to engage in those type of activities that help to support their professional development and training. And again, if you go back and review any of the uh ICROC meetings, we have our uh
coordinators and subject matter experts uh that come before the committee and provide very detailed information about what that looks like. That information is also available online. Last but not least, we'll talk about safe schools, which is also included um
in referendum funding. So, we see here $6.6 million is allocated to safe schools and that is used to help support our school resource officers, materials and supplies. And of course, the charter school um gets a a portion of of these
dollars um as well as capital outlay. Uh we do provide for one access control specialist and provide salaries and benefits to staff um who provide and keep our schools uh safe. I know we also
have had some discussion um about safe schools and investment in safe schools and we can continue uh and will continue to to to look at that. Um but again, this is part of uh the referendum language that was previously uh approved. And so um we have dollars
invested here to make sure that our school our schools are safe and our students feel safe uh when they are learning throughout the day. Next slide here we're going to talk about is salaries and benefits. And we're we're breezing through here so I
can kind of see the finish line. Uh so total referendum salaries and benefits are budgeted at $32.99 million. Well, that's that's quite a bit of money. Um and that's that's where most of the money uh is going uh for referendum again to support those
classroom teachers and all of those positions that I talked about earlier. We kind of walking down through this particular table. You can see here our purchase services for referendum rolled up and this is across all categories regardless of if it's music or art or
PE. We're talking about 5 point or almost $6 million rounding up. And this includes things like our professional and technical services, travel, uh repairs, uh maintenance, rentals, and other purchase services. And then we're going to get into energy
cost that we attribute to uh referendum or is funded through referendum. And you can see here the energy services um in the referendum is budgeted at 23,379. You can see there that the u this includes an increase for diesel fuel
which is not surprising given the current global climate. Uh so that's not shocking given the diesel is approaching $100 a barrel. Slide 92 um talks about our materials and
supplies and this is budgeted at 2.25 25 million. Again, this cuts across all referendum categories um and helps to support our consumable supplies, textbooks, periodicals, and other materials and supplies that are needed um for the day-to-day operations of all
of the programs that we have for our art, music, physical education, media services, vocational safe schools, and other referendum supported initiatives. We have our capital outlay. This is budgeted at almost $2 million at
1.7. This includes things like our books, our furniture, um motor vehicles, um land improvements, um remodeling, and some software. Uh and of course, these investments are uh critical uh in order to provide all of the uh services um
that the teachers are providing throughout the school year in an effective manner. We have referendum expenditures or other expenditures and transfers. You can see that here at $27,000. Okay, we have miscellaneous.
This includes our miscellaneous expenses. You can see here total referendum expenditures are budgeted at approximately uh 43. So what we do is we round everything up. Going back here at the very bottom of the schedule there, you can see that 43.05,
which is an increase of 1.19 million over the prior year. And of course, we expect to have fund balance, which I talked about a little earlier for adult education, but we also have fund balance for referendum.
Let's talk about that. So you can see here on this chart uh we have um a referendum growing over time. For 2627 the projected ending fund balance is approximately $18.1 million and of course this is restricted. um
that fund balance will help and continue to help to support the continuity of referendum funded programs and ensures resources remain available uh for these purposes as voted by Marian County voters. Um the key message here that I'd
like to leave you with is these funds are restricted, but these funds are also student focused. Um, as mentioned by members of the board, um, these dollars are going directly to fund teachers. And so we look forward to, um, an
affirmative vote hopefully in the fall. And that concludes uh, the two three big portions of the presentation and then we just have a few more slides to go and then I'm going to close uh, with some comments.
Uh so let's talk about lottery funds. Um this was mentioned last year. Um there's a lot of history here that of course I don't have. Um but I can tell you that u this has ebbed and flowed uh from my understanding over the past years. Um
and so we don't receive lottery funds um directly into the district as uh uh previous maybe in previous years. Uh and so really there may be some conception out there that um you know we're just drowning in lottery money. Uh that is not the case. The state um uses those
lottery funds to help um with school recognition and also with class size reduction that then gets put into FEFP and so that's where that money is going. So we do get lottery money but we just don't get it uh directly. It comes to us in a kind of roundabout way. Uh but that
is um uh the source. And let's see slide And I think that's yeah that's so we wanted to give that and then let's see here. Oh yes the history of our uh teacher classroom supplies. Um so this is important but to keep it brief um the
state does provide a $300 uh allocation for our um teachers and this has changed over the years. Um and so we will continue to do that. Although I will say uh that this next year unfortunately because of issues dealing with our uh
with just technology and security issues related to multifactor authentication instead of us using class wallet which was um the organization that we would usually provide these funds to teachers. uh these dollars at $300 per teacher will be funded through internal accounts
through the schools and then once we get the multifactor authentication piece worked out hopefully we can move on uh and have class wallet implemented so that the teachers can receive those funds um through that. Okay, with that um I do have some
closing comments but I'm going to pause there for superintendent comments or questions from the board. I don't have additional comments. I believe you can continue. Mr. Welsh, you're doing a great job. >> He's done. I >> think it's record time. >> He has some comments. He has some comments.
>> Yes, ma'am. >> Did you want to take the board's remarks before you finish? If there are any remarks from the board, >> please. >> Does anyone have any questions or remarks? >> No. You feel her? I feel like when
someone stood up there for the last two hours and presented just a voluminous important information obviously, you know, want want to say thank you and um clarifying what we can and cannot do with these restricted funds is so
important um for community understanding. And it's good that the community is starting to ask more questions about how can we pay teachers better? Um, it was something in the original referendum that the community had no appetite for,
believe it or not, back in the back in those days. And so now, um, we're in a different time. And I I certainly hope that future referendums may provide some room and this is not as
preferable for employees to to get bonuses but in the spirit of knowing that this funding could be finite sometimes that can be the safer route. um it doesn't help towards their some of their ultimate funding for high
as five years and things like that going towards retirement um because it's not considered recurring I guess but it but there is some ability then um if the times are right to be able to compensate people uh a little better like we were
able to do during the COVID days and when everyone got the thousand bonus that was highly appreciated and quickly forgotten. Um, but that's just the way it goes and and I feel like we we do the best we can um for everyone at the time and when it
doesn't seem like we're doing the best we can, we do our best to justify uh why things are the way they are and and look forward to um brighter days. So, thank you. >> Thank you, board member, Dr. Campbell. >> Sure. I I too want to say thank you. You
started with a statement the budget is balanced and we're ending with the statement the budget is balanced and we know that this is a a snapshot in time of what it looks like and we we understand that uh the the last two slides that we had in our copies of
things up here do show a stark picture and I know I don't know where it falls into whatever but it it the two slides I'm referencing are our estimated fund balance in 2526 And then our estimated fund balance, our budgeted fund balance
in 2627, the percentages of revenue are are stark. And it's it's concerning that we've gone from 17.4% of revenue in our estimated fund balance
to this year's budgeted fund balance of 5.57. While we're still in range, state still allows it, all of that. Those are concerning numbers that we as the board who continues to sit here talking about
budget, our responsibilities, our budget and policy. And so, absolutely, the budget is balanced. Absolutely, you've done a great job getting us to this point, but those are numbers we have to continue to be very cognizant of as we
proceed forward. Thank you. >> Absolutely. Anything else board? >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Great. I did want to take uh just a few minutes to address uh a few questions from last week. Uh so, Reverend Cummings, I believe you had asked about
the PICO allocation for charter schools. Uh that amount sits at $748,000. Um, I'm going to go through that in grave detail next week as that is not the only amount of funds they receive as they receive a portion of our 1.5 mills and also a portion of our FEFP or their
FFP, however you want to uh think about that. And then board member Thrower, I know you had previously asked about our student transportation allocation. Uh, that is actually up $123,990 year-over-year or 0.9%. and it wasn't as much as we originally had thought after
a second calculation came in, but as the board is aware, um after we've gotten through the second calc, we'll have third. We have surveys coming up in the fall and this is a uh moving target and so as we've continue to see some growth in some areas um in terms of uh FTE and
numbers of students um we do expect some nominal growth but not u a lot of growth. I would say that most of the growth or at least over the last two to three years uh that the district has had is driven by um is driven by fees. Uh so
with that I'll leave you with just a few um a few key thoughts. Uh yes this budget is balanced. Thank you Dr. Campbell. Um it is responsible and it is student centered. It provides the resources necessary to operate our schools, support instruction, um student
uh services, and maintain safe learning environments. Um and also to help us to continue um to support um all of our students throughout the county. Um but secondly, I think the budget really acknowledges um that we do have some headwinds in front of us as Dr. Campbell
mentioned and so we're closely monitoring uh financial condition ratio. Um but what as we continue to face these rising costs for salaries, benefits, utilities, uh insurance, which we've had a a lot of spirited debate about that,
um you know, some trepidation and conrnation about what that looks like. Um materials, transportation, we've talked about earlier today in our purchase services. Um at the same time, our community does continue to grow. Um our facilities um do however continue to
age and the expectations um of public education continue to increase at a time where uh maybe at least at the state level uh the priority is probably not as as much as we would like it to be. And so we have to balance um all of that
out. And so I think the important point here is as mentioned by Mr. White House and it came up in the earlier cops portion of today's meeting. Um, all of this we have to really connect everything, right? So, the future focused operations plan, uh, the 5-year
capital plan, uh, modernizing our facilities, reducing portables, um, limiting our deferred maintenance exposure and improving our operational efficiency. Um, it really helps to prepare the district for future growth.
The work ahead will require discipline and I do want to take uh just a brief moment to shout out to all of our employees uh because it is because of them and their diligence um that we are able to have a fund balance that does
come in a little higher. But I would say that we need to continue to push to be good stewards um and that this budget reflects uh difficult steps um including you know even our sitebased
budgeting that we will continue um to use this year and as I've said before uh last year when I first stepped into this role uh although it is certainly going to help us with transparency and autonomy um it's not a panacea to solve all of our problems because we of a lot
of different variables um that play into the equation. So, uh with that um I want to thank my team u budget and finance and all of the district employees that help with our projections. Uh none of this work is being done in a vacuum. Uh
this work is being done by teams of people uh thousands of people throughout the district. So with that, I will conclude my presentation. >> Thank you. Congratulations. >> Thank you, >> Reverend Cummings. Mr. Chair,
>> thank you, Mr. Rios. You said $748,000. That was PICO money. >> That is the Pico money. Yes. Yes, sir. >> Also, can you um I'd like to know what's the total money that passes through us going to those uh charter schools and
and also um that kind of goes out through vouchers as well. >> Absolutely. I we'll get that information for you next week. It's important conversation for people to understand that a lot of money passes. Our budget looks big, but a lot of that money passes through us and not to us.
>> Yes, sir. >> Thank you. >> Dr. Ber, >> I since the team is here, I just want to acknowledge Miss Markham and Thomas and Gio and Miss Simmons. They have been um working extra hard. As you know, the timeline for the budget is incredibly
tight. and I just want to publicly acknowledge the work that they have done because Mr. Welsh has an incredible team. So, thank you. >> I second that. >> Thank you, team. >> Yes. Thank you, team. Um, is there any public comment on our item 6.1 budget part one?
>> All right. Hearing none, we are going to take 10 or 15 minutes. Which would you be your preference board? >> 15's fine. >> Any thoughts down there? >> 15. Good. Fine. >> Okay. So, we're going to take a break until 1:20. We will come back at 1:20 to
do our final two items for the day. >> Thank you. All right, we're back. Uh, it is 1:20. We are back in action uh to go into item 7.1, realer process RFP. Um, Attorney Powers is going to assist and we have
Mr. Collins at the podium. Uh, and board, we have an attached draft RFP and board docs. Floor is yours. So, I uh at at your direction, I put together a draft RP um utilizing the the
scope of work um and the the rest of Bard County's uh solicitation that they put out. Um I don't know if y'all have had a chance to review this, but the the main gist of scope of work is on page eight, section
nine. >> Okay. Um I don't know if you just want to go through like ABCD um but A um is for the marketing and sale of selection of district properties which may include uh vacant properties
or properties with buildings. B uh assist the district in finding compatible collocation uses for under utilized district facilities. C included identify and facilitate acquisition of property that may meet
the needs of the district schools or operational needs and D general real estate consulting services. Um I think that that covers a good portion of what we sounds like we would need.
Um, as we discussed the previous uh work session, I think uh D is very good just to have them you kind of on standby uh to utilize as needed if to answer questions you'all may have or uh district staff may have on whether or
not we get rid of property. >> I just want to pause real quick. Mr. Christian, would it be possible for the attachment to get to page eight? Sorry. Mr. Collins, one of the things we had discussed is that uh is uh a RFP that
would call for a certain number of hours per uh month that would be available regardless of whether or not they were doing any specific project work for us. Is that something that's included in this RSP RFP as well?
>> Correct. Um if you look on page 34 which is attachment F. Um that's the pricing page that they would complete. Um the first section of that is the um adisement consulting hourly rates. So
they could they could list their hourly rates of their agent or their broker um right there. So that's that would be the fee that they would charge us as needed if we needed uh their assistance. And then below that is where they would
specify their commission percentages. And again, this is strictly just set up just like Bvard's. So we could make our own tweaks or changes to it however however y'all want to go with that. >> Okay. Um obviously I imagine any tweaks
that you thought were necessary you've already made. >> Right. I I made a few uh language changes here and there, but um again, it was seemed very well put together and covered a lot of the things that I could think of. So, >> okay. Well, then board, I'm going to
open it up to the floor. Those of you um what questions, comments, feedback do you have for this RFP um as presented the 36 page document? >> Board member >> Th Mr. Collins for bringing this to us. I
think in letter B in the scope of work. It's going to be pretty important um as we move forward. It is a relatively still new law about this collocation and shared use. So I think that having someone that already has some documented
expertise in that area maybe from who's done work in districts where this has already impacted them um could be helpful. Um, so that's was the first point that jumps out at me. I I do look forward to hearing
if there is a few hours a month or or just a certain number of hours a month that would be dedicated to just be able to have a phone call or a conversation or a quick meeting without being charged. But the rest of it looked pretty straightforward real estate
typical to me. >> I would tend to agree with you. So I think it looks pretty straightforward in my opinion. Uh it looks to do what it's what we're what we were looking for to do which is to find someone who has expert in this area to be available to
then assist us in our future needs. >> Dr. Campbell. >> Sure. I I agree. I I think it looks really straightforward and uh we had already identified Bvard as being the kind of the model of what we want to look to. So that's what this is. I I do
find it ironic that just within the last 24 to 48 hours we've received an email about something else about a piece of property that whatever and and so I was like well we're actually having conversation about it today. So those are the kinds of requests that come in
peacemeal right now that could all be funneled to one individual and then determine if those are reputable thoughts or something that we should just move on from and not even consider. So um I I think it's worth a shot to to
take a look at and then obviously the RFP is what it is. We'd still have to work out a contract whoever would be chosen through the process. So this is just one step in this. So if we had any concerns, I'm sure they can be hashed out during the contracting phase >> and I mean we may wind up we have RFPs
that are non-responsive or they don't meet the qualifications. So we may put this out, we may not get anything from it and then we can re-evaluate and adjust accordingly. >> Correct. >> We always run into that unfortunately. >> So can you just highlight a little bit what is the timeline look like for you
on this? So, it's really up to y'all as to how fast you want to get this in place. Um, ROP's timeline ranges from 9 to 12 weeks depending on, you know, start to finish with the contract. Um,
but yeah, I mean, it's it's pretty well done. 9.2, to uh we asked we're going to be asking the uh submitters to use some example properties um to then describe how they would approach selling those properties. So, I didn't update that.
That's those are the two properties that Bvard had listed, but we we would want to you I don't know what properties y'all would want to include there so that they could give us kind of a sample, but that could be hashed out with uh other staff or or whatever. But I just want to point that out that that
that would those sections will need to be updated with our specific properties >> and facilities probably can share more, but I um off the top of mind, our first vacated property will be the old Central Elementary School. That's the one that we'll be vacating in December. >> Correct. >> Okay.
>> And and again, these are simply sample properties. It could be one that we have no interest in selling whatsoever. It could be one that um we do have interest in at least considering. Um but our our
most important part of this is seeing what their approach is, how they go about it. >> Correct. >> What inputs they use. >> Well, for kicks and giggles, then you should use a central warehouse because I'd love to know how they would have done it different. >> Yes. I I mean I was kind of thinking that I I think it's important chair if
it's okay to to weigh in on that that we do not just put out a property that we have no interest in selling because that will be super confusing to the community. >> No, I was just I was just >> No, no, I understand I understand what if but we we need to consider
potentially two different factors here. So obviously the former Central Elementary isn't I mean it kind of could house a school again I guess but it it's pretty small in some ways. I mean I guess the back part of it. Anyway I So I think that obviously I would be in full favor
of putting that as one of the uh opportunities that we would have here as far as the address and all the specifics that we can give them from the building construction all the things that they had there. But I would also be open for us considering if the board wanted to put it out there
just as a thought a school site and whether that's the Belleview Santos school site or a school site on the north side or a school something that's of a larger magnitude just at central warehouse we could I mean for kicks and
giggles I kind of agree to see what they would have done differently but hindsight on that one u but I I think a school site site as large as a school site might be and the thoughts that we have whether it's the Lake Middle site like whatever we know we're vacating
properties we know the Belleview Santos property is going to be vacated we know the Lake Middle campus without having real clear direction is going to be vac so I I guess it's up to us to say what if there's a property specifically I think it would be helpful to know a
property of that magnitude what they would do >> we may wish to just have facilities weigh in on that specifically because of the fact that um um I mean these are essentially sample math problems, you know, like we would have for >> Well, yeah, not to interrupt, but like
we can say that until the community gets wind of it and then they're not going to say it's a sample math problem. They're going to think we're selling whatever we put in here. >> Bingo. And so I would and we we have said we were going to have community conversation and get input from the community about the properties we're
vacating absent from Central Elementary School because that has been vacated for a long time. So I would be incredibly hesitant to use any of the sites that we're vacating because we have we have been adamant that we're going to have community conversation and input. We can all have independent thoughts about what
we what we would like to do, but we have yet to have a community conversation about Perhaps you misunderstood what I meant by sample math problem. What I mean is if we have and I started that by saying have facilities select um ones that we know are already ones which are potentially um for sale or ones that the
board has expressed some interest in. Of course the board can weigh on that today. You have and you are continuing to do so. Um but uh in those situations I would say for example the central warehouse going back and doing it may
not be the way we want to do it because much information has much information about that sale uh happened or was information that we garnered only as a result of it and going up through the entire process. So easy peasy now to
look back and say that uh you know here's here's how I'd do it. I'd go back and do it in this way because you've already gotten, you know, a run through. Um, so, you know, I I I I certainly don't mean just pick two properties that we aren't going to sell. What I'm saying
is is that the these are not the two properties that um are the priorities for sale necessarily. They can be one that is and one that is perhaps a a one that the board has an interest
potentially in the future in selling. Um it's really up to you >> board member s. >> Thank you. Um my hesitation and all of this although I was happy to go along with a sample RFP and so on I continue to feel
it's a little cart before the horse. I think you know you're spot on chair with once this is in writing it out in the community then the immediate assumption is you're selling something you didn't say anything you know um I I would love
for the board to avoid that and and what I would love to see further is a list of recommendations from operations from facilities have it as a work session item you know what are the the what's on the list if I was applying to do this
RFP. That's kind of what I would be thinking. Well, what are you thinking of selling, you know? Um, so I don't disagree that this will be good to have on hand, but the real conversation needs to take place first. You know, what what are the
recommendations for any of our properties to to sell or repurpose or hold on to for future growth? You know, those kinds of conversations in my mind need to take place as an in-depth work session item
because I could easily make the um plea that that central elementary school is incredibly historic. It's also very rundown. Some parts of it, if possible, it would be great to see them salvaged. And downtown
is growing. People want to live, work, and play, and walk places. uh we've got a great school that's right literally across a parking lot. You know, we may need that or and be sad that we don't have it a few years down the road, especially with the
conversations we always have about transportation. You know, let's get the kids as close as possible to their neighborhood schools. So, I just think there's so much more conversation that needs to occur and also some mitigation already to the
community that just because we're putting an RFP out for bid doesn't mean we even have a list of properties yet that we've agreed as a board to do anything with. So, those are my thoughts. Well, and and the recommendation I would have is to
put um to put examples that don't exist. So, elementary ABC at 123 Main Street and just describe the parcel. Find describe the parcel whether it's you say it's on a main throw fair or it's this or it's that. It's this many square feet to give
an example to then for them to make a plan. That's the goal is for them to present how they would go about selling it. And that's what we're looking to understand is what is their expertise in selling this particular type of product. So we create a fictional school and we create a fictional district office or district place because those are the
essentially the two things that we own is outside of just vacant land is district spaces and schools. But it does I don't I don't think it's appropriate to attach it to specific things yet because it is ahead of the conversation the board has had. And um
on Tuesday night, we'll be voting on the plan. And from the plan, I think then the superintendent can bring forward a list of recommendations and years based on based on the plan that's been board approved. We can definitely be more general and
say, you know, give us an example of how you would market and sell a um standalone building, you know, currently housed by district staff located within the city limits and then do one a
school, you know, example school in the county somewhere. Um just to see how they would propose their marketing and you know, that kind of thing. Um I mean each it it may be good to give actual examples that way.
I'm just thinking they would they would be able to give real life scenarios and examples then based on the location. Um you know >> can the RFP include um if the RFP went
out could it not include as an attachment the future focused plan that would then be board presumably board approved after next Tuesday? >> Sure. Yeah. So, you could reference that five-year plan as a reference for
>> potential theoretical future listings that the board has not made decisions on yet, but this is an approved plan and this is what is vacating and being moved and being consolidated. >> Sure. Yeah, you could definitely add that as an attach exhibit attachment and
ask them to reference the properties listed there and and use those as examples of how they would >> I mean you really could put the ball in their court and say pick anything from the future focused plan and how you would tackle it. No, I mean I >> I would want I mean because they're
going to be scored on this I would want them all doing the same >> got it >> criteria. So yeah, maybe if if we list three from that list or whatever, whatever number. Um, but we would all want them to do the same comparison. I
think >> for scoring purposes. >> Board, what other thoughts, remarks? >> Um, Mr. Collins, thank you for your work on this. >> You're welcome. >> Appreciate you. I um am feeling hesitant
about moving uh forward with this. I I feel like we need to have a general list uh superintendent with what our top priorities would be and then I see the community wanting to have
conversation and I um would then I'd like to entertain doing the RFP and I know that's a slower timeline um but I really am hoping to avoid some
chaos by getting community input before we roll that out publicly that we will be selling property. >> Dr. Brer has something. >> Yeah, I I would agree at this point we our recommendation to you would would be the central off I mean um the central
elementary downtown elementary property that is being vacated at December. But other than that, until we have our community meetings, we we won't be able to give you a recommendation until we hear from the public. >> But there is a recommendation for Central Elementary. >> Yes, ma'am.
>> Which is where this came from for me for context. Board member Thor. >> Okay. So, so to be clear, operations is recommending selling Central Elementary School and the associated property around it. >> Yes, ma'am. That would be our recommendation to the board. And you've
had you've had um I guess I'm allowed to ask this publicly. You have had conversations with other m municipalities about that property at all. >> We have we have shared that. >> You have I don't mean we I mean you have. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Okay.
I feel a little better, but I don't feel great. Well, I mean, I can always I you know, it would be quick to >> really and so what I'm thinking about is and this was just a an addition, you know, when we did something when we built the new gym at Oyola. I'm sure you
heard from your family as much as I heard from my family. And so there there are a lot of people in the community, especially the downtown area, that I feel are going to want to have some sort of input um before we do something formal with that piece of
property. But that's that's just my opinion and my experience um and other things that we've done downtown >> or member Thor. >> Well, and that it sounds more realistic than the fictitious school. Um because
then people are going to be like, well, which one are they really thinking about? We might as well if that's operations recommendation, then to me that should go on the RFP and let's have some community conversations. >> Well, I would agree. I mean, I agree with that. And I this is I'm looking at
it like this. We're facing we just had hourlongs of conversations about the budget and we talked about borrowing money to be able to build things. And so we sat on the warehouse for like a year before we actually sold it and and took on that $2 million again
right downtown. We had no community meetings about that. Now granted, it wasn't as historic as Central Elementary School, but we didn't have community meetings about central about the warehouse at all. And so I I don't want to sit on this
empty asset for 12 months while we figure out how we're going to go about this. I want to get the balls and everything going so that when we're ready to start the conversation, all of our ducks are in a row. We've secured the realer. We're ready to have the conversation and we can move forward.
Just because we have a realer doesn't mean we're actually listing the product. But I mean we have to in my opinion we have a financial obligation to be as as diligent about this as possible because we need the money if we are going to
sell it to be able to put towards the next project. That is how I see it. >> Well and I don't disagree with you Dr. James. I'm just saying in in community meetings I think when we all say that we're thinking about our conversations that we've had at the for the north end
which is a lot of meetings. In my mind, I'm talking about one meeting. We have one e evening where we say we, you know, we are considering selling blah blah blah. And if you have any input you'd like to provide, maybe they just want to bring some historical. I I'm just saying I would like to provide an opportunity
to hear from our community. Um, how, you know, how long have we owned that piece of property? How long has it been ours? There's just I don't I don't even have any historical information on that property. So that's all I'm saying is I would like a little information. I would like it to be a consideration that
we have a community meeting, just one, not seven or eight. Um so that if we go to sell that property, I feel good about um hearing what with the community around us would like to see happen with it, too.
>> Dr. Campbell, >> I I appreciate the sentiment of needing to have community meetings. I disagree frankly. Um the three of us who were here whenever we had to condemn that building. I understand what the community questions
were at that time and what they were saying to us about it and historical Ocala Preservation Society and all the things. And what I can tell you at that time what the responses were were we want you to preserve it and we want you
to save it. Okay, great. on whose dime? >> I mean, and so certainly we can listen to the community, but in my opinion, we should move forward. If the district's recommendation is to sell it, I've been wanting to sell it for the whole time that we've been sitting on having to
continue to pay air conditioning in a building that's got can't have people in it. Let's just say that. Um, so I mean, I am all for selling that faster than we can blink. Uh and then it will be up to other municipalities to talk to us about who
the potential buyers are that they are looking to court to help us get out of it. Uh but that's where I stand on this because that has been a piece of property that continues to be an asset that can is an unusable asset. An
unusable asset that we need to get off of our books and get the money that's available when the market's hot. So that's where I stand on that property. >> And I would say too, it's not I mean I've HOPS has already talked to me about it. Hops wants us to give it to them. >> Absolutely. >> And we are not in a financial position
to be a charity. We are just not. We cannot continue to carry the financial burden of preservation. And I that all sounds wonderful, but that's not the financial position we're in. And so it's I my my response to HOPS when they said they wanted it for free, I said to this board member, well um I would encourage
you all to do some research on what the market price will be and that's what you should bid at because from this board member's seat I will be looking for who's the highest bidder and they said well is preservation not important to you and I said it absolutely is. So raise the community funds to preserve it. But we can't I don't believe this
board member does not believe we can sit in a position to offer charity when we are trying to $2 billion in deferred maintenance. I just don't I'm not there. and your experiences uh is pretty applicable to
nearly every land sale or even repurposing or uh that I've seen in my time here. Um from reic school to I mean there's numerous examples uh when there is what should we do with this property
is ever a question asked. It's very very common that everybody, hey, I want you to give it to me or give me a free lease for 30 years or I want you to preserve it on your dime or any number of things that don't involve a return on the
board's investment and return on the tax dollars were initially paid and spent on it and have been spent on it and will continue to be spent on it in maintenance. So, those are definitely something. Yes, of course public input is good, but ultimately it's an
operations decision. >> Member Thor, >> and my response to that would be live and learn. Um, the conversations started to go a lot more smoothly when we did have community input. Um, things started to calm down. People started to
understand the full picture of of why the recommendations were being made. They had a chance to be heard. And it's also being proven that, you know, at least for right now, we're holding on to Reic and and Anthony as as part of the
plan and look for community opportunities. So, uh, in the end, you know, whose money is it? It's it's the taxpayers's money, and they deserve to be part of the conversation. In my opinion, they should have been part of the conversation uh for the warehouse.
um we didn't do that but we learned from the situation with the north end conversations. So, you know, for the time that it would take to have a couple of community meetings, you know, one in the morning and one in the evening, something like that, you know, no more than two, uh, give people a chance to to
share and and what was shared about giving it away, that's just not a position that we're in. And that's not a position that I was approached with years ago when we were talking about uh, selling that property. There was willingness to put skin in the game for
preservation. it probably wasn't going to be near enough and now it's probably nowhere near enough because of the appreciation of of the land. Um, so it sounds to me like there's appetite, you know, to get it gone, um,
so to speak, but I would continue to, you know, caution this board. Uh, what are our top problems? You know, it's getting kids to school on time is a top problem. Getting kids access to high performing schools is a top problem. not
feeling having taxpayers shut out of a of a school that they think could best provide for their child. So before we go selling land that's already right across the street from an elementary and a middle school that are pretty great, those are just some things I would
encourage the board to keep in mind. But in the short term, I would love to see a couple of meetings, hear what people have to say, and then do whatever the board decides we're going to do. >> To board member Thor, to your point, I don't I think a community meetings are
fine. I think the realer we hire who's going to sell it should be a part of those meetings. So, I don't see those meetings happening before we have a retain a realer. The realer should be a part of those conversations to hear what the community has to say. And I think that's what that's
I mean, no, >> I guess I'm thinking that as a realtor, I'd be more concerned about getting it marketed and getting my commission and whatever the and hope that the community says, you know, in favor of selling it, which I doubt that's what we're going to
hear. >> No. And I feel like that taints the process a little bit like um you know, we got some of that feedback, you know, when we were doing other community meetings. Oh, well, you guys have already made up your mind. You've already had this conversation. And so I don't think um we need to retain um a
realator before or if we have community conversations. >> So then the question remains, does that mean that Central where that I'm sorry that Central Elementary stays on the RFP? Is that one of the >> Well, and to further your point though then we can't just drop the real after
we finish every project and then add it back. Like if we're retaining a realer, retaining them for a term of time, right? And what's the term of time? whatever y'all would like it to be at. Right now, I have it listed as three years. We could do five years. We could longer. >> So, it it it's it's not going to be a
feasible, workable plan to only retain the realer after we've decided to sell the property, i.e. Central Elementary School. We retain the realer and then we break up with them as soon as we're done selling that piece and wait for the next one and then have to do another RFP. I
mean the goal here is to streamline the process so that the person is sitting waiting for us to give them work. That's the idea. >> So Mr. Collins, there's not an opportunity to do it by project to say we would like your, you know, we know that we want to sell such and such
property. We want to retain your service. You're already approved. We start that process. He does that or she does that for us. That project concludes. The item is sold. and then say seven months later we have another item and we say okay we're ready to pick back up. Um we want to sell. So is it a
possibility to do it by project? So it's not an ongoing >> Yes. That that would be how this is set up. They're they're on contract with us >> and then as properties come up or >> But are we paying them as we're not using them? >> Yes, they'll still be on contract. We're not paying.
>> That's what I mean. I'm more interested in paying them. We're not contract. They >> I can't give you attorney powers. They would be paid on commission and then they would be paid based on if there's a number of hours and we would request they give us a certain number of hours per month free but that utility I'm
sorry um that that our department's facilities needs to reach out to them to say here's a potential consideration that might be two or three hours a month you know something like like that. Um but then they would as a result of of
their interactions with us provide us with a little bit of consultation uh that we would essentially either not be charged for or charged a fixed amount for. Then there would be a or I'm sorry not fixed amount but an hourly amount.
Then there would be um their primary payment would be based on uh on their commission. >> That's what I understood the contract to say. But what I'm saying is then we would have already retained the realer the next time we go into the next conversation. So the premise of like not retaining a realer yet ahead of this
community conversation will then be lost after that because the realer will always be retained going forward. So that's all I'm saying is you're going to lose the premise because the realer will already be retained going forward. >> I mean I understand what you're saying. I just don't care for it. How how does help me understand how this
doesn't make sense where we have a few properties we've talked about that we may or may not want to sell. The one up in Reic in front of the bus compound up there comes to mind. Couple others we've talked about. How
does it not make sense if the central elementary school is is really in play and we now have a recommendation from operations to your recommendation is to to market it. Well, I think that the community needs to be made aware of that. I think they need to have the
opportunity to give us feedback and then as a board we get to decide that that's going to be the first one. You get the RFP going. It doesn't however long would you say four or five six to 12 weeks something like that that's not one to two years
>> right um >> depends on the the contract negotiation piece but 9 to 12 weeks typically >> yeah I mean it's a pretty straightforward contract from Bvard County and then that way that the community doesn't say well it's already a done deal
you know let them have their conversation you know there's a lot of history with that school and let people let people be heard. That that would be to me would make the absolute most sense. And then we get to
hear what the people have to say. We make our final determination and we go or not. >> I'm sure I I'm hearing all this conversation. I historically
come to understand that when we don't include the community's perspective that it it blows up in our face. It it makes more sense to hear um or get input from that community
before we do anything on on moving moving that property. I understand that because it appears right now based on this conversation like it's already a done deal. Central office is gone. Um central central um school is gone. We
need to I don't say pause but we definitely need to move strategically. It's not always what we do but it's how we do it. And I think in being complete transparency with this if we move and have a couple community meetings we've heard what they
say. We always say we want to make informed decisions as a board. We make informed decisions as a board when we get as much input and data from all parties involved and the stakeholders. Um it I I just think it it will be much
smoother process if we do it that way and just >> push it down the throat. >> So, Superintendent Brewer, what I hear is the board wants a community meeting on the um what's next for Central Elementary School, right? board is that >> I think there should be not just one
meeting. I don't think that's fair to the community. I think there should be >> morning >> a morning one and an afternoon one at some point. We already have a pretty good format for listening. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you. >> So once that has completed, we'll come back the RFP will come back before us
presumably how based on how the meeting goes um with next steps for RFP to finalize or not. And that will be what comes next after the community meetings. >> And and to finish, I would I would be open to whatever is decided with Central
Elementary or not. Then at that point, I think we should move forward with securing an RF RFP to have a real estate person on retainer. They don't get paid unless they >> we ask them to sell something. So then
we have that for the future conversations. um and put them on for three to five years. We always have an out clause anyway. And then that way we're we're ready, but we're not putting the cart before the horse. I hope we've learned our lessons on that one.
>> Okay. So, that's what is going to be our next step. >> And and I don't know that we need to the RFP will need to come back to you in the future. I mean, it's pretty well done. Right. I like the >> R. We just need to select what's going in the box as far as uh which which
property they're going to be analyzing. >> Right. >> Right. So following the community meetings, the superintendent will bring the followup from those community meetings to us and in that workshop we will have a discussion about the language for the RFP if it's appropriate. >> Okay. Um and then one thing I wanted to bring up the evaluation criteria.
Um it's on page 12, section 13. I did not put score values there. I figured I would let the folks at facilities chime in on that to give the values for each one of those criteria. So those are just showing X's right now,
but >> okay. >> Just wanted to clarify that, but I can work with them. Um, >> yeah. And I think when it gets finalized, you can send it to the board and ensure that we're all on the same page or have a, you know, a quick
workshop like this to be able to address it publicly. Does that sound good? Okay. >> It'll be ready and waiting. So, >> okay. Any public comment? >> Hearing none,
uh, we are going to move into item 8.1, the board member school districts. Um, Dr. Brood, did you have anything you wanted to launch into with this? >> Thank you. And thank you, Mr. Collins, for being here. He started the day with us, so he's had a long one. So, thank you, Mr. Collins. Um, yes, board. I've
added um quite a few attachments to board docs. The last two items I just want to point um you to I included the residence area for board members that is already posted on our um school board website section. I included that just to
show the different areas where you represent. Um, but I also based on your based on your residents living areas. Then I added an attachment that included the actual schools that are included in
those areas. You will see that the numbers are not balanced. So the question at hand is do you want to represent a balanced number of student population or schools or stay within the
schools that are already in your residence area. So I wanted to open that up for conversation um and I can answer questions or allow you to kind of engage in discussion >> and for context in case anyone's following along and wondering why this
is coming up. We had a conversation about this a couple of months ago. >> Yes. >> We landed on every board member would represent every school. Following that, the superintendent spoke with school leaders and overwhelmingly they did not like that plan. Um they wanted to know
who their person was um to work with directly. So we are revisiting the conversation based on the feedback from the administrators. >> Thank you. Yeah. >> So, and I I just want to start off by saying my recommendation would be to just go back to the way it was before we
had the conversation last time and after the election when the board member seats change, we revisit it. So, the way it's been for the last five years or however long it's been, just go back to that until after the election. Um, this doesn't impact really anyone. I mean, it's it doesn't
it doesn't have any real impact on anyone. It's just where our name is on a school list. So my recommendation from this seat would be to go back to the way it was before we went to we represent everyone and leave it until after the election when we get at least one new board member and then we can have a
conver conversation as a new board about it. That's my recommendation. >> Um I agree chair I I think we should keep it the way it was before. Um my biggest concern when we had this conversation the first time was Reverend Cummings your district is just so big
and I know how hard it is. I mean Dr. Brewer was sharing before our meeting, she's trying to make her way around the district, how challenging it is. And so that was my first concern was for you and your district um because it's challenging. But even though that it evens the numbers out a bit, changing
the districts takes me down to barely anything and it puts a heavy lift on Dr. James. So we're really uh you know, we're just shuffling the cards around. So I think for now um chair, I'm in agreeance. I just um stay with the way
the um chart originally was. >> And okay, >> I think you guys already know where I've always been. I know that district 3 has always been probably the larger district. However, however, demographic
um how I travel, it works the way it tra that district works because when I look at some proposed things, when you move a school such as Dr. NH Jones to district two and it's in line with Belleview and uh Greenway and all those it doesn't
work. So the way it's lined up, it works for me. Leave it leave it like it is. That's that's what I'm always say. And when I got off the board, if I get voted off or I retire off or whatever, do what you need to do then. But as far as I'm concerned, I have great rapport with
those principles that are in this district. Um I don't think any of them would want um want me to not represent them. So that's where I'm at. >> So that's saying he'll stay in district three, which was the way it was before the last conversation when you all
decided to represent >> the way it he what he means is the way it was before we changed it. >> Yeah. >> And that's James. >> But but the the fact of the matter is it still boils down to it. We still go to any school in the county in the district
as a board member. I'm not banned from going to uh Fort McCoy. I'm not banned from going to to East Marian. So, I mean, you're just basically talking about having a name on a color basically. >> Well, and when parents go to the website and they want to email the board member,
they see our name attached and they and they reach out to us and some reach out from other districts to uh when people people go to who they're comfortable with. That's the biggest thing. >> That's they they talk to who they come
or who they have rapport with. And so we can go back to what it was. >> One one ask is when the principal is trying to build that relationship for sack meetings and school events um even graduations and back laurate it's there
is a difference in having one school board member versus five. >> Yes. >> And so that's that's where this conversation began after your last conversation. >> Um board member Thor, do you want to provide feedback? >> Uh yes. Um, and thank you, Dr. Brewer,
for taking the time to get feedback and input from the folks that are going to be directly affected um by these decisions. I think that we were struggling as a board to change the districts and who was going
to serve where. So, then we just sort of threw up our hands and said, "All right, we'll take care of everybody." Um, and and I think that that is a compliment to the board that as as board member Cummings stated, you know, we we go where we're invited and
and go where we're where we feel like we can do the most good and and those types of things. Um, and now that we've been discussing this for a few years, uh, sorry, board member Campbell. Um, we have a pretty important looming
election, you know, coming right up. So I agree it it doesn't really make sense right in this moment certainly to to make any changes. We've we've heard strongly from the folks that affects them that they didn't like our our plan. So let's just keep it as it is and then
when there's new folks in whatever seat uh it can be revisited and and go from there. >> Okay. Dr. Campbell. >> Thank you. Uh so six years this conversation has been happening and there I've
said many a time why I have brought this conversation to the table in part because should someone who is currently a parent in any one of these schools that might want to run for one of these seats, you need to look really carefully because
the board member that's assigned to you probably doesn't live in the district that you have to live in to be a part of that election. Um so that's number one. Number two, I highly recommend as this conversation does come back around and I would hope that it will
that we do actually what I did with this uh most recent iteration and Dr. Brewer and I talked about this. I uploaded all of these documents that she had associated with this into notebook LM and I said help me fix these districts
so that the number of students is about equal by district. and it gave me a list and then I said, "Okay, well that school is really a lot closer to because it doesn't know where they're located. It just because I didn't have this map. It it just had the four documents." And so
I said, "Okay, well that specific school is actually closer to all of those. So can we replace this one with that one?" And and it did that. And then it says, "Okay, well how many schools does that mean that one board member has over another?" And so then it looks at that
and and so I recommend we take a motion out of it frankly because numbers are numbers and numbers don't lie and whether that's schools or number of students or number of residents. Um, I've already recommended that we have a
conversation with Wesley Wilcox immediately after this 2026 election cycle that we will then have the districts realigned even more closely because I am certain that there are well more than the number of residents that were on this map we did in 2021.
There are well more than that registered voters in Marian County now. And I say our numbers are going to change even greater. Uh, so last time we did it based on the census data of 2020 and we have well more than than the 400 or whatever less than 400 I think was the
number that we were working off of before 400,000. So I recommend we do that for sure with Wesley Wilcox as well and potentially that will help us then align even more closely with what uh the resident livein
districts need to be too. Uh, but I definitely hear I'm still in the minority on this conversation and I will continue to be. Doesn't mean that I won't continue to have the conversation because I think it's important for parents who are in these schools to know
if they had an interest in sitting in any one of these seats that they need to be able to have that chance. And currently that is not the way it sits. Uh, if you are living in Silver Spring Shores, you are not eligible to run for district one. even though I represent all the schools in Silver Spring Shores.
So, just know that. I mean, that's just one of a myriad of different scenarios that we could paint. Uh, if you live around the on top of the world area or, you know, certain parts of of this, you cannot run for district three, even though Reverend Cummings represents all
the schools, Saddlewood, Winding Oaks, all of that. Anywhere on that side, you you are not eligible to run for those. That's all in district 4. So that continues to be the reason that I have brought this up multiple times because there will be people replace us and now
that we have term limits, there will be people that replace us even more frequently than we've had in the past. So um that has been one of the primary reasons I continue to bring it up. We'll bring it up again in December. >> Looking forward to it. Is there any
public comment? >> Well, excuse me. So for for the start of this year, am I are we reverting back to the just No, >> we never changed the website, right? The website hasn't been changed because what we said was going to
>> the website shows no schools under you under listed under you. >> Okay. So go back to the way the website used to be. That's what we're going to do. >> Board. Is that a consensus? >> Yes. >> It's not a consensus. It's a majority. >> Majority >> because I am not in favor of that. I I I
still continue to believe we need to represent the schools that are closest to our live-in districts, but I am clearly in the minority. So, we're going to go back to the way the website looked before we changed it. >> Yes, ma'am. And we will bring this back
after the re the organizational meeting in November. >> So, those are if for the community, it's the document that currently says current school assignments for 2526. Those will be our assignments. um based on the majority opinion today.
>> Yes, ma'am. We'll get we will get the the website updated. >> Okay. I think when we settle into after the organizational meeting, we can have a workshop on adjusting the livein districts based on voter data. I don't think that's a bad plan at all. Um and
so we'll have that conversation to address our zones. And then following that conversation, we would then have a conversation about this topic again. Okay. Thank you, board. >> Okay. Hearing no public comment, it looks like we're going to move on to
board member committee reports and concerns. Miss Martinez Jang, anything from the clerk's office? >> No, Madam Chair. >> Attorney Powers. >> Yes. Um board members, I am notifying you that attorney Suzanne Green or the designate of the GH DGH legal law firm
has informed me that advice is needed regarding case number 25ca 816 styled Tika Johnson and Lewis Johnson Jr. as natural parents and proposed co-personal representatives of the estate of Lewis Johnson third, a minor
child uh versus the school board of Marian County. Pursuant to 286.011 Florida statutes on behalf of attorney Green, I'm requesting an attorney client session with the board for the purpose of discussing the evaluation or
compromise of said matter. Um, I have asked the board's clerk to cause reasonable notice of the public notice of the time and date of the attorney client session and the names of the persons attending it to be published. It's suggested the attorney client
session be held beginning at 9:02 a.m. during a recess of the August 20th administrative briefing and work session u or as soon thereafter as may be heard. As required by the statute, only the following individuals will be present.
Dr. Sarah James, board chair. Lori Conrad, vice chair. Dr. Eric Cummings, board member. Dr. Allison Campbell, board member. Nancy Thrower, board member. Dr. Danielle Brewer, superintendent. Daniel Blackman, staff
attorney. Jeremy Powers, schoolboard attorney, and Suzanne Green, Esquire or designate of the DGH legal law firm. I've asked a court reporter to record the session. Also, is required by statute. Her notes will be fully transcribed and filed with the board
clerk upon conclusion of any litigation or settlement of all claims arising out of the matter. The transcript will be made public record. >> Thank you. Attorney Powers. I recommend the board hold an attorney client session pursuant to section 286.011
Florida statute to discuss the pending matter. If there are no objections, the attorney client session should occur during a recess of the August 20th, 2026 administrative briefing and work session starting at 9:02 a.m. or as soon thereafter as the matter may be heard.
>> All right. Anything else from your office? >> I do have one thing. Uh based on some of the discussions we had today, um uh when it comes to third-party assistance in writing or publicizing any ballot language, um it is important caution just for the board to keep in the back
of its mind. Um that uh that needs to be crafted from a legal perspective. Uh its wording needs to be aimed at increasing um it'll be closely scrutinized. So any language that's aimed at increasing
voter understanding or acceptability by voters needs to be first and foremost um legally sufficient language. Uh we're the authors of our future use. So just because we make it sound a little bit
better would be not necessarily always the right outcome. Uh we will be held to what we write. uh it has to be written within statutory guidelines and therefore a small change in language
that makes it sound uh perhaps more understandable can also make a large change in what we're permitted to do. So we always need to keep that in mind when we're assessing the ballot language that we use for either sales tax or referendum matters. And that's all I
have. >> Thank you, Attorney Powers. Dr. Brewer. No, just one one more item is we have I have shared this um with individuals, but we are hoping to have all of you sign a proclamation
to recognize Mr. Lori Johnson. There will be a family member that will will attend our board meeting on Tuesday, August the 11th. And we're hoping that um I don't know if we have that. >> Okay. We um I think we need to have that
signed today before you all leave. So Elena perhaps we can do that today. Um and then we will re Mr. Christian will read that proclamation during the board during the board meeting on Tuesday and then I will present it during the actual
adoption of the road in Evston next Saturday. >> All right. Thank you. That's all that's all my comments today and thank you for this very thorough long presentation but it was very um the finance team did an amazing job so thank you.
>> Great well we will make sure we hang out to sign that if we conclude before Miss Martinez Jang comes back. Uh board member thrower. >> Uh great. I will be brief as well. Um covered a lot of ground today and thanks again to uh Mr. Rios Welsh and your team
for the comprehensive overview and delving in. Um, in the meantime, I know that there's a lot of schools that are having their orientations and really getting wound up and ready for school to begin on. When does school start? >> August 10th.
>> Monday, August 10th. >> 10th. All right. Be there. Be square. It's all I have for today. Thank you, >> Reverend Cummings. >> Thank you. Very, very, very, very, very lengthy meeting today. A lot of stuff got accomplished. I do
have requests to this board, the superintendent and to our our board chair. Um, many of you know that u Mr. Whitfield Jenkins passed away on last week and um his funeral is going to be this Saturday. I'm respectfully requesting that this board provide a
funeral resolution for his um homegoing celebration for s for this Saturday. Um many may not know, but when um the schools became uh integrated, he was one of the first African-American teachers
that taught in uh the segregated school system. Um he's taught here in the integrated system at Oyola. So, um I think it'll be a testament to u his his legacy and uh he really was a path uh
true u path um blazer for many of us trailblazer for many of us. So I ask that of the superintendent and our chair. >> Okay. Dr. Brewer, do you have any comments or >> um I I I don't have any comments and I
don't have a reason to decline that request. Yeah, agreed. Uh, attorney powers, would you go about drafting that or what does that look like? >> A a proclaim what what are we under proclamation resolution just a frontal resolution. >> Can you help them?
>> I could I can do it so they know what that means to be >> and that Mr. Christian has done them before in the past, but um I can send something to whomever you tell me to send it to and on our behalf. >> Do you um Mr. Christian, can you just
give a head nod? Are you okay? Okay. All right. Um, prior to Saturday. >> Need it tomorrow. >> Need it tomorrow. Does it need our signatures on it? >> It doesn't. >> Okay. Okay. Is everyone on board with that? >> Yes. >> Okay.
>> All right. Anything else? >> Thank you. >> Um, Reverend Cummings, that's it. >> That's it. >> Okay. Dr. Campbell, >> thank you. I had just a couple of quick things. So, I am curious to know about South Marian High School as we start school next week. Um, and so maybe this is something you can get for us for
Tuesday evening. I was curious to know the number of bus riders, like the routes, how many buses we have for South Marian, um, and the percentage of the total enrollment will be riding buses because I I think that number is probably lower than we anticipate, but
I'm I'm curious to know those numbers. Secondarily, I was also curious to know uh about our kindergarten data collection that I'm certain is going to start next week and if we have crafted those questions in such a way that they're going to be a little bit more scientific and and that we can actually
be producing our own real data. Um so you're head nodding. I >> terrific looking forward to seeing because I just copied last year's and went back over last year's and sent it to someone. So, I thought it would be helpful, especially for us to compare year-over-year data that we can have,
but also uh continue to get the most concrete information from this the families and students that are coming in to us, those that have had VPK and those that haven't, the numbers of students and what they know when they come to Marian County Public Schools for the
very first time. And then finally, board uh for your understanding and and um helpfulness, we will need to be discussing legislative priorities and FSBA legislative priorities are due September 4th. So that means we have to have
conversations sooner rather than later. We have a couple of work sessions coming up that are already really full. So Dr. Brewer recommended we have our legislative priority conversation on September 3rd. So you guys know that sometimes we take some time and usually
a couple of meetings to hash that out. So if we only have one meeting and we only have one day to get that in, we got to be really tight and and understand what it is we're asking for this year. So if you want to add something to your board comments over the course of the
next couple of weeks so that we can publicly at least hear what your thoughts are and we can start crafting some information, I think that would be helpful. Uh we have led the state in the past several years of legislative priority platform development and I
think we can do it again. We just need to make sure we're all on the same page. >> Why don't we see about um adding I think it's already published but could we add an agenda item for the 20th? >> No, no, the 13th.
>> The 13th is a budget workshop, but the only item is the budget. So it would just be a great intro conversation. We don't have to come with a bunch of data, but then we could at least throw some spaghetti at the wall, craft up some ideas, and then that would give us two weeks to then mull it over. So then when we talk about it on the third, we're a
little bit more direct. >> That's fine with me. I may be participating in that meeting telephonically. I'm not certain yet, but I can still help the conversation over the phone. >> And I can also add it to the August 20th if we have time in that agenda to have further conversation.
Have we published the work session for next Thursday yet? >> No, we No, today we Thursday. Yes. Yes. >> So, we'll just add an agenda item for um legislative priorities. It doesn't need any attachments and then that will give the board opportunity to have the discussion. >> Okay.
All right. Is that it, Dr. Campbell? >> It is. Thank you. >> All right. Or member Conrad. >> Well, we have some priorities um that really haven't had a lot of movement. So, maybe we'll start with some of those. transportation's been coming up and up and up and up around and around. Um, so that's something to look forward
to. Um, thank you for your work on that. Um, I don't I don't have a lot. We've been here a long time. Had a little lot of great conversation. Uh, thank you Mr. Rios Welsh for a presentation today and your team. Um, that's a lot of information that the board and district leaders have heard over and over. Um,
there's a lot of conversation online about our budget. I wish there um the auditorium would have been full today so everyone could get a really great um baseline uh understanding for Marian County Public Schools budget. So we continue to have those conversations.
Thank you again, Mr. Welsh, because there is a lot. Um and with that, I just want to wish um all of our teachers and students good luck um next Monday uh off to another school year. Very exciting. Be safe.
>> Thank you. Thank you. I think we've um you guys all have said it really well. So, I'm going to wish everyone a happy and healthy and safe first day of school. Uh on Monday, I know that our families will be um having lots of great conversation with their families about
um how we should behave in school and what the expectations are in the schoolhouse versus in our own house. Um I want to just go over meeting reminders. August 11th at 5:30, we have a special a regular regularly scheduled schoolboard meeting. And then August 13th at 9:00 a.m. we have the special
administrative briefing and work session we just discussed where we'll talk about the budget. Uh and then um there is uh Dr. Brewer, I believe you are the speaker for the NAACP meeting on Sunday. >> I am Sunday evening at four o'clock. >> So um board, you may have seen that calendar invite come to your calendar
and wonder why. So Dr. Brewer is the speaker at the NAACP meeting. I will not be making it. I'm going to prioritize being home with my family before school starts. So, I will not be there. Um, but board, I wanted to make sure everyone was aware that Dr. Brewer will be speaking at that meeting. Um, and then
obviously on Saturday, we have the family event at Mary Sich. So, if you'd like to stop by for that. Um, with that being said, and there being no further business, I will adjourn the work session at 2:23 p.m. Thank you. >> Oh, yeah. I know.
Don't