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right uh we'll call the meeting to order here at 8:03 a.m see everybody uh we will jump in uh first time with the old business uh was wondering if we haven't done an update on the water bill
situation so if administrator mentioned it uh committee meeting great um in terms of the number I know we had asked you s question last committee but can you just provide that yes yes apologies because I received an update um it was
actually last week that we received the update so um there was an error on the meter at the high school and so um they they calculated what the refund
was going to be and so the total amount due to the school department um was just over $80,000 um of the total 62,000 related to fiscal
year 25 so that will just be a a credit directly to the water bill account for the high school so that will impact our balance for this year which is a positive thing and we had been using
that as one of the measures to try to close that um the deficit um and then a portion of it it's um $25,73 actually relates to prior years so that money um because it is a prior
year credit that goes to the town's general fund um and then at the end of the year because it's revenue that was not originally projected to be part of the revenue received during the year it would essentially close out um and be
certified as free cash in the upcoming year um so again the total is just over $88,000 it's 88149.98 um and that the other portion that will help us for this year is that
we were carrying projections for the last two quarters based off of the billing that had already occurred and so we're able to adjust that to um show that the outstanding expenses are going to be more in line with the
bills that we had paid for previous fiscal years so that's a good thing as well so do you have a sense between the the credit we'll receive and the reduction in the projections what total impact to the project because I think you've had
72,000 we we had 72,000 what came back something about that I don't have the exact number I can build that for you um so I am at the same time working on the quarterly
report as of March 31st and so that information will be in the quarterly report um so when I actually have the numbers those specific numbers I just don't have the spreadsheet in front of uh I can provide that detailed
information as a part of the quarterly report so so I think for that member um and for that line specifically the water line at the high school originally we were projecting that we were going to be
um I I believe it was $100,000 over budget but now given the credit and the adjustments for the the next two quarters we should be within budget so it could essentially be $100,000 that
would be um the delta of the adjustment which would again reduce that deficit projection for the end of the year one very good um do you have the only other thing for
FY2 do you have any other updated information from the state so I actually just got an email this morning um and I'm just going to pull that up as we're sitting here i can um I don't have really any documentation
to share other than the than the bill um but I received an email from the executive director of the Massachusetts School Business Association um late Monday House Ways and Means proposed the supplemental budget and two
key pieces of that are the circuit breaker funding for this year um and so and then there's also continued funding for fiscal year 26 so there could be a positive impact for us for this year for
the circuit breaker funding for the transportation piece specifically and then there could also be a positive impact for next year um maybe so right now um for transportation we
are only receiving 44% of the reimbursement for tuition we are receiving 75% which is the max that you can receive according to the program for
next year they are allocating an additional $190 million for fiscal year 26 to make sure that those programs can both be fully funded meaning that the total reimbursement will be
75% and not an amount less than that and so again this year for transportation we're currently receiving 44% of the reimbursement the hope is is that that is increased to 75% of the reimbursement and then the
corresponding adjustment would be the 75% reimbursement for next year as well um so that it was just news as of Monday um and so as I receive more
information I'll definitely pass that along could you forward that email i think there's some go into Richard and that there's definitely some urging
too from the associations from the executive directors from everyone just saying like we need to keep this momentum right this is a great this is a great kind of this is what we were hoping for right this is the action that we were hoping to be able that our
original advocacy was pushing for but we need to make sure that we continue um because that was a huge piece of um looking at some additional funding to be able to help offset the deficit for this
year as well so yes I can absolutely thank you um and then last bit you said the quarter three report um you were working on this maybe gets fed into discussion next meeting agendas is that something
you think we would talk about Monday or Wednesday next week if you could do Wednesday that would be great just to give me a little more time to make sure I have everything question all right uh FY26 we're going to jump first into the fee proposal
reminder this is the second round we looked at the athletic fees this is kind of the remaining piece to try finalize this here to then bring the next one day up the date i'm sorry just ignore
that on this page um so if it's okay because Karen is here um but we've been working together just looking at the fees really specific to um the high school so if it's okay can we skip through um community schools we can go
back to that but we'll start with the middle school high school student activity fees so we've already for the high school and the middle school so at the secondary level we have already looked at the athletic fees
knowing that increasing the fees would be able would allow us to bring in some additional revenue to offset the cost for next fiscal year um during that process we looked at a
number of um comparable districts and we truly wanted to make sure that um when we updated the fee that we were kind of in line with other districts and that we were charging an appropriate amount to be able to increase that revenue knowing
that the cost of um the officials increases every year the cost of transportation increases there's uniform needs there's just a whole host of expenses associated with the program so that was already done
so in a similar fashion we looked at the middle school and high school student activity fees and through the course of that work we as we reached out to other districts as we tried to look at the data to be able to make a proposal based
off of all of that information we really it's not as um there isn't as much data available as there is for athletics so schools handle student activities in a variety of different ways and I think that's for a variety of reasons um and
so rather than doing a blanket increase for the upcoming fiscal year just based off of the information that we had we are proposing to keep the
student activity fees for the middle school and the high school as they currently are but I think one area that we've looked at and that we've talked about is um our theater and our drama
programs and we talked about potentially adding in um doing a 100 so adjusting the user fee to do to be reflective of $100 per production rather than just the $25 user
fee and the reason that we did that and Karen please at any point in time let me know I don't want to misspe but really just in looking at the time commitment the resources the material everything
that goes into the productions at both the middle school and high school knowing that our um students that are participating are doing I mean they are the state champions right and so there is so much time and effort that goes
into this and so we were just being trying to be mindful of that and saying does it make more sense to do a $100 user fee per production knowing the costs that are associated and the time commitment which we're
seeing is in some instances similar to the athletic programs um and anything else no you're right i mean I think the Steven Karen who have seen the theater program have done a phenomenal job
um with the program the students we we all know um they do a great job but it's been a lot of work to get where they are as far as the materials and the resources that they're using as well and scrapping things together and making it work and with the increase in
the fees hopefully we'll be able to streamline that process and and how we we're using those materials so I support this um wholeheartedly i mean that students that they spend as much time here as many of us do and um they're also
chosen i mean having one of our kids here now it's his career you see the um it is a huge month and my time in it but I mean they they're there a lot and if you do compare it to being on the team's
board it's the the time commit and you know the the coach director it's even more right and so um you know I think it I think it does make sense and so this would be um would there be a family cap on this
note so say they're M that's one thing I would ask is like is there a family cap similar to sports if you had multiple cases you high school that is or would it be I don't think it would get up to that same cap level that would at this point I would
say it would be $500 family cap just thinking um and I can look at that more but that would be more in line with athletics we're doing the 1,200 so I'd have to look at the number like associated with that but that would
essentially be if you had two students that are participating in each one of their productions well there's the spring and the fall and then students also choose to participate in the winter festival which is what they just won right
the state cup the state cup um not every student chooses to do all three productions some are more prone to the musicals versus the drama that's why they've been doing more musicals as well because the more students and um whatnot so it really I don't have a good answer you know yeah i happen to work with
Katie yeah i mean if that if that seems uh I guess question I have is uh it says theater fee for the high school does not pay one for so the one at Pierce players would just remain I believe it's the
same as the activity fee at 3750 and again the proposal leaving it at the current rate just gives us the opportunity to do more work to see looking at the comp districts because when we looked at comps it was more based at at the high
school and not at the middle school and so um and then being able to look at right now like looking at the revenue levels versus the expenses that are associated with the programs i think for the
upcoming year just leaving it um the same it the same as it is knowing that we've made a number of different changes in other areas with athletics transportation um doing some adjustments to the fees and then that will give us more time the
fees also um I think a part of the intent of charging the fees is to be able to offset the stipens that are paid and so I I think we do need to kind of um do a
deep dive into um what the stipens are what they represent what the frequency is and so that's all work that needs to happen and that's why at this point in the year that work hasn't happened yet and so I don't necessarily
feel comfortable being able to make a proposal based off of that data um similar to other things is there I mean we always you know we never want students to I'm about to do it double negative we want all students to be able
to participate so if there if it's a financial issue that's we can students come to you parents there's a means for addressing that so that we're not always has been always okay just Mhm
and just to talk about that process just briefly because it does impact when we talk about fees it really impacts the fees at every level yeah um because the school lunch program has been federally funded and state funded
for the past couple of years so it's essentially a free school lunch and breakfast program we still are encouraging families to fill out the forms that are associated with free and reduced lunch because
that filling out that form there's um a portion of the information that allows us to share that information within the district and so if the family signs off that they are okay with us sharing that
information that allows us to see which families are um maybe on the free and reduced list and then that gives us the information to be able to say okay these specific families are on the free and
reduce list so they do qualify for reduced um fees and a reduction to transportation so there's a whole host of it's not just the school lunch program yeah that you that the families
are kind of filling out the information for it's actually all of our feebased programs and so we just encourage our families to continue to go through that process just so that we can we have the
ability to share the information and make informed decisions on the fees and um we don't want to over complicate the process we already have a way of identifying families that may qualify for any reduced fees so um that's
something that we're continuing to work through even though school lunch is um and has been free for the past couple of years and are we doing any kind of communication about that like just toally encourage families to do that so
that they know like it's more than that it sort of gives us that information so they don't have to go back okay so we've we've done very targeted like reached out to specific families that haven't filled out the form just to remind them like please fill out this form it may
benefit you um in other areas rather than just specific to service may I add something to to that that also holds true for advanced placement exams and SAT and PSATs as well because the College Board asks you know for that documentation fee wavers for college
applications and everything really does benefit the whole student and we encourage it high school the students to fill out those forms to make sure they get those benefits as well what what is our current I know this fluctuates a bit but I'm curious what our
percentage and it probably differs from athletics to AP exams right like it it's probably not a constant but what percentage of the student body is requesting I I can't speak to all that it goes
because it goes through food services i don't really see that i mean we do have students who are asking for those wavers for a lot of those things and we ask them to questions this um do you want to jump back to sure so for community schools
um so this year for our after school and before school program we are looking at that 17% increase for the fees um you can see here we've included the historical information of the amount
that we're charging um as well as the proposal for the upcoming year 2526 um 17% is a significant increase um but when we look when we break down the fee that we're charging so you can see we're
providing information at yearly monthly weekly daily and hourly um and we're still um extremely competitive we're actually one of the lowest districts um
it's or the program is charging one of the lowest amounts and so um although it's a a significant increase we do feel comfortable that the actual amount that we're charging is not
um unreasonable so and the reason that we are looking at the 17% increase um is because we want the program to remain solvent so community schools is a
self-funding uh program and so when we look at our projections of expenses and the projected revenue with the fee increase
um we would need to increase the charges by the 17% to make sure that we are remaining self- sustaining in future fiscal years what's the what's the kind of threeyear so if you go to the next slide maybe so
you can see yeah so right now the end of year surplus um we're looking at 895,000 and that is so the assumption here is that we're using
$250,000 as that chargeback that we've been talking about for the operating budget um with the 17% revenue increase we're making an assumption that the cost increase will be about 6% um our surplus at the end of next
year will be 225,000 and then I didn't include it because um we would have to be making kind of like a an assumption for the revenue increase for 2627 but we if we did another 15%
increase our um surplus would be $60,000 and then the following year we would actually be operating in a deficit and so we'll have to every year we'll have to revisit what our end ofear
surplus is um just to make sure again that this is remaining a solvent self- sustaining uh program and so the other piece of that is we built in $200,000 as it's listed
as overhead on this but it's essentially that chargeback that we talk about it's community schools is covering expenses associated to their program that are currently hitting the operating budget and so for next year we have $200,000 in
there um but as that amount fluctuates that obviously has an impact on what the surplus is for the for the program and so a large piece of that surplus was um drawn down last year um
we used over $500,000 um of a chargeback to be able to cover expenses from the operating budget so that did have a pretty significant impact on the community schools balance which is
essentially between that and kind of the program expansion that is resulting in the need to increase um the fees that we're charging and so there's one other slide that provides some more information this
is just the comps so you can see it's um we're providing comps for before school and also after school um and I clipped in we plugged in the numbers for this year or I'm sorry the
projected um fees for the upcoming year so you can see we're we're low we're on the lower side even with the the large percentage increase
um and so this is work i just want to Martha Sandable the community schools director she has done so much work just in looking at these numbers and looking at the fees overall the program making sure that the program is continuing to
provide this amazing you know amazing enrichment opportunities to the students but in doing that making sure that she truly is operating kind of in a way that her program continues to be self-
sustaining um and when we look at it they're really we truly need to make an adjustment to the fees in order to do so in the long term there's still no projected impact at this point
the district's operating budget next year correct even the potent start move number we're going to have to make a dramatic correct increase in a couple years mhm and the dramatic
increase either to the fees or to the program and so I think um just looking at we had in an effort to increase that capacity we did a lot of hiring and we did increase capacity
but we would essentially just have to scale back on the program just to do some cost containment if we were not able to increase the fees kind of in a manner to keep up with the expenses is
salary increases were significant last year can you share the the 6% cost increase is that just based upon assumed standard raises for
employees and operating correct yeah I'm reading it correctly it operates currently yes yes and so the only reason so we had a surplus render maybe because the difference that we weren't able to
fill positions that sort of thing yes so then now we've drawn down on that surplus and but in reality but in reality the co program costs more to run correct [Music]
um is it typical for most programs like I think about camps and those things like often times outside of maybe community camps and I might not be but like there's typically like I'll see with kids camps there's a rate increase is that similar do districts similarly
for their programs adjust the rate and and you do that so I think with community schools there wasn't there were a number of peers that we didn't increase just because the surplus was significant um which makes sense um
but because I think many of the changes to the program kind of happened at one time and then we drew down on that surplus for the chargeback at a rate that was significantly higher than it had been in the past and I think doing
all of those things at the same time that's why we're right now we're kind of with the increases we're kind of playing catchup a little bit but in the future we we should as our costs increase because it is a self-sustaining fund
our tuitions should be increasing at the same time just so we so we're not doing this okay no fee increases huge fee increase right and we did a 3% increase by
24 no increase last year because we've been gaining money we're growing surplus i do think it'd be helpful um to see kind of the longer term like fiveyear
like how share that sure yeah just you know what is our long-term plan essentially to kind of get this to um stability um and then also I think just some more I'd be
interested to know what our current weight lists are and just like are we actually looking still looking to expand capacity potentially to fill more need within the community and what impacts would that have maybe that's
more of a conversation for for next year or not necessarily fees um be for next year but still I think what are the implications that we still have 80 kids on the wait list that
would serve all those families that want this I know there's been a lot of work um that was done through increasing the not only what we were paying our employees but increasing the number of employees kind of through the
course of last year into this year um and changing the model so instead of just having the 5-day program having the 5day and then the three and two and so I think we've been able to really address
the need for um or address a majority of that capacity i think there are still schools that may have originally that had a wait list but we're still enrolling families kind of on a rolling basis throughout the year
and so we have the registration period there originally was a wait list we are able to address the families on the wait list but then families are still kind of registering on a rolling basis and I think at that point in time we are in
some instances we will have a weight list just because of that rolling enrollment um but I I don't think that the weight list is nearly as large or as long as it had
been in the past um but we can absolutely get more information i can talk to again Martha does a wonderful job of keeping track and making sure that she is trying to accommodate all families that would like to have access
to the program um so I can ask her for some of the updated numbers i know registration is going to be opening soon uh for next year and so we'll have a better sense of kind of what the numbers
are looking like even in looking at our school enrollment too that definitely has an impact last year we had this really large kindergarten class and so um our enrollment in our programs increased or the need for enrollment
increased but we should see a corresponding you know adjustment next year because our just our class sizes aren't as large um but we can definitely I can ask Martha and then I don't know if it makes sense to do like a almost
more of like a program update fuller program update rather than just kind of specific to the fees and the financials that would be good um did we do one we did one last spring
there wasn't one in the fall not sorry i've been here yeah um after budget in this step it it was I mean a big piece of it what is kind of that tied to that overhead cost too and so I think when we look at when I look
at the operating budget just saying when we're building the operating budget we need to build it in a way that reflects the utilization of the funding from community schools so if we're saying we're going to take 200,000 from
community schools that's what we're taking and that's how the operating budget is built and not just kind of using it as a balancing mechanism at the end of the year that will help us more in looking at the numbers and looking at
the long-term financials um because I think that's been a variable for the program as well had the funds left to do it and that would be down yeah
yeah mark relative to the expansion I I do know and I don't think anything has changed since I've talked to Mark last but she feels like the current size is at max capacity so it would
require some something different than she's feel like with even with hiring all the hiring she's done and and with administrative support as well that the current size is kind of what
what our space but all the other considerations is kind of where we're at yeah I think I mean again to your point is less financially driven financial implications are important just our goal that we started talking about last year of how do we serve the community better like how do we expand this because it's
so important for working families and there's such demand maybe we are about as good as we can be uh also as we've expanded this program we're expanding costs for families but it makes it harder for them and that takes away some
access potentially for some folks um so those are all balances but I think just getting the perimeter off you know that those details and to your point like there's also things that even if we're hiring more staff we just can't change which is the footprints of a building and like safety
in terms of number of kids we can put into those spaces um and I think that's been a big concern is just Yeah I space right where the kids are going and there's kind of we do have a number of programs that have that are competing
for the same space um so that makes it tricky i do think that when we talk about program expansion Martha has been wonderful about almost like looking outside of the box too and in saying
like she um expanded the summer program to include Camp Tucker this year and so I think even though it may not be specific to numbers for the wraparound programs of before and after school she really is continuously trying to say
like how do we better serve the community how can we look at our programs and make sure that we're being able to provide access to whomever may want to come and participate so I think
that was one really good example of you know it's it's not tied to this but it is a part of the program um but she can she speaks of course she's being the director she knows so much she's doing
so much she sees so much and she really tries to connect with other programs too to kind of bring in what she's learning and bring it back on the plan someone should she'd be happy to share update um do we have
a there's no family cap we talked about the cap thing it's just it's a tuition discount for 30% correct question um it's just one other question just going back to
this are so I have it right the middle school the 3750 we are saying you know for clubs like that is essentially mostly covers the cost of there is a cooking club the fees that
students pay to participate in that school help cover that cost mostly of what the sting would be for that on the teacher There's no reason that we need to update that i guess I just look at that like could we just increase that
$250 to gain some additional revenue i'm looking at the old fee schedule we haven't changed and I know we've talked about we don't want to change every fee every year we want to try to work on this is like a cycle
desire cycle all the needs can be adjusted um I guess my question and I don't I don't I think we do need to look at it i'm thinking about what you said a couple minutes ago which is around I think it would be helpful to know um the
stipen piece of it sort of how like is it does is the stipen the same for every program and are some sort of more are some are some programs after school programs more involved either
from a material standpoint or from a instructional standpoint if you will so and then do you look at after I just don't have a I don't like we've done all this for whether they're right for Exactly and so and so is
there is the is the the research around sort of the stipen piece does that drive the fee piece because do you know what I mean like so like sort of saying we could raise them but I feel like we need to know the what's going into it to
understand So if we are raising it what's the realistic what's the more like doing it with all of that information first because I don't think that I have a good sense of that of it i don't really
um if you doing that might and then to look and so I think saying keeping it at this level for next year but then whatever we're coming forward with as a proposal it's based on I think that I we just feel better knowing the why behind
it and that's what I think that's the work that needs to happen that hasn't happened yet is that right now all just are kind of just listed out it's just this long list and even the statements that we have we don't necessarily always
run all of the programs that's listed and when I say they're listed they're all defined in the unit A contract and the um gardening agreement and so we know what those rates are we know what the clubs that run the piece that we
don't know that you can't tell is the frequency and the material cost and kind of if it's some of the clubs and activities they there's such a wide range of kind of the time commitment and
um some of them you know we go from having we have coloring club and kazoo club and we have those types of activities but then we also have robotics and death and student gov and and those activities and I think right
now it's just this long list and there's just different rates and it doesn't necessarily group them in frequency so the expectation is you're meeting once a week and you're going to meet for 45 minutes whereas theater you're meeting
every day and you're meeting for 3 hours um and so I think and that is something that Karen and I have talked a lot about like how do we look at this how do we make sense of it how do we have the stipen truly reflect the expectation of
the time commitment of the the size of the club some of the clubs may have five students participate some clubs have 80 students participate that's and so we just we've had conversations we know that that's a need of work that we need
to do we just haven't done it yet and so I just want to make sure that we're doing all of that because we may come back and say "We really think we should increase the clubs to $50 but only for these clubs." And so I'd
rather just do it in a in a really thoughtful basis um rather than just saying "Okay I'm going to my proposal is to increase by x amount." I just can't base it on
anything right now and so that was just my thought process and looking at the student activity fees i'm happy to I think we it is reasonable to adjust it knowing that costs and regardless of kind of all of that information we know
that the stipens increase by a percentage every year um so that is also one way to look at it but there's there's work that we need to do and I think we recognize that um and hopefully the proposals in future years
are are going to be reflective of that yeah I mean I think a more detailed and I I more detailed look at it would be great um and I agree with you it's work we've struggled with at my own high
school when you don't have control number of kids that participate how often they participate if they get in and do well at a competition then it's actually more time and more cost but how do you compensate if they do poorly and well then there's not as much cost and
you know how many staff are like you have two teachers doing it versus one what's the like what's the rate at which you need the second teacher like club maybe because of safety and cooking you got gas and so you want two teachers versus coloring and so all those things just make it very complicated um so it's
not not easy work i do think just as I look at the fee schedule like none of these fees related to clubs have been adjusted since FY18 based on the data that has been shared and so you know in
my mind $2.50 $2.50 increase even just for next year like maybe that's not enough and it needs to be high i would hesitate to do something significant for all the reasons you're talking about but to do like a a $2% increase on the pierce that's a 7% increase essentially on just
something and shouldn't I don't think be an undue burden on families but it's something and then same thing if you do that on high school fee that's a 10% increase um so that's percentage- wise somewhat significant dollar-wise not super
significant um I think in the moment we are in everything every little thing probably helps um and absolutely and then Yeah sorry no so I No I think that I mean you can do both right so if you were absolutely so doing the work
that you're talking about with um with Karen would that be something that could impact next year would you do would you say do we do kind of what Mark is saying recognizing increase like what's that percentage increase and then have a look
at it next factor so we can definitely do that and so that is really you know so not to rush it but to do the work around it but then to also to your point recognize it's six years yeah eight years eight years
and it's a comprehensive look right at both fees and the statements right it's looking at holistic yeah yeah in the high school $50 that would
be more so I can definitely do that i could do update middle school to $40 and I would I think it that would be consistent with activities pierce players
um because everything right now is 3750 when I'm thinking about the list um and then high school we could update to 2750 55 for a cap um and then for the therapy we could do
the $100 per production with a family cap so I can make those adjustments mhm um and then for the final kind of documents that I'm voting on it should be updating that the list chart schedule
up and we'll do that is that at school committee next assume next Wednesday is that something we could update and we can look at just one more time on Monday yeah absolutely take the approval with Selena being here too good and then we
can see because we have had a number of changes right so I think to have them all on that one document and then I think it also if we could potentially just say like what's next is there anything else that we I know we had said
that this was kind of going to be it for this year um but I have heard from just a few other people just in talking about the fees um on that list and so if there's
anything else that we need to kind of look at and address for this year for the upcoming fiscal year we certainly can or if not then um I can just update the fee schedule but we've made a number of changes but one a couple that was talked about when you did the the piece
on looking at um the cost and determining some of them are well I can't but is there one that we should it I think it would just be helpful to look at what the cost of other program is and
see if that's something that we need to to adjust yeah not necessarily adjust but to know what it I mean I think we've talked about it and I know but I I I think it would just be helpful to know that are there programs that we're running that
are running at at deficit just so that we never do that we still might do that we might yeah but just to just to know just to know which programs are self- sustaining and which ones there's funding from the operating budget that's
yeah the only other ones I'm also just looking at the schedule the rentals there's still a lot of like the rental fees that haven't been changed since 2015 16 14 17 some we updated last year
but so those obviously are money that revolving fund is a chargeback so it's covering we sign up to cover the costs of state districts and then the other one is the high school security
fee which has not changed since July 13th so that's a small just it's a $10 rate exactly that covers other than says the security for adult and music lessons
and I see that nice gentleman every time I bring my kid in for music lessons they're probably being paid more than $10 that time given that below we wage but yeah I don't know that's structured that's $10
or just $10 to the program itself anyway those are the only two that stick out to me but I think both of those probably more impact the facility revolving account so maybe that's something that we just delay to next year because we're already significantly drawing down on that account so I don't
feel like that's one that it's like negatively impacting our operational budget uh I guess too much of a crutch um any other related things uh
uh all right um another FY26 update just go right here I guess um for the recording is the warrant committee approval uh that was received last Tuesday this point so there was both a warrant committee on a lot of the
warrant articles um uh but schools was one of them the school budget and so that was approved by the warrant committee or recommended I guess it's recommended that town vote in favor of the water not overriding
um so that's yeah one day one day last week um so so that is a step forward the next step for the budget is appeal I hope and then town
[Music] meeting another step forward um any questions or comments on that uh I know you sent the email on the just some questions on the non override budget cuts so let's jump to that so
couple of questions one was and um is with respect to the extracurriculars know saying that there would be right and it was like um and just want to make sure that I understand the number so right now we have in the
12 we have $12,000 in there is there anywhere $12,000 that $12,000 was just residual from the initial That's why I was asking like what's the other So is there so the the
original was to reduce I I guess it's 200 so then the whole so the extra 12 did what was Essentially it was 12 of the two 212
is the what's the total number as the the exact figures here for middle schools and high schools yeah so the original reduction um on the original kind of reduction list we had put for athletics theater
and club stipens reducing that by 200,000 for athletics we have a number of different accounts in the operating budget and then for our clubs and student activities we have one budget line that represents the stipen payments
the majority of the stipen payments and for fiscal year 26 that was funded in the original level service budget at $212,000 and so our first kind of overall budget reduction we had said
we're going to take $200,000 from that clubs and activities line and potentially from athletics so it was kind of the combination of those two areas in the operating budget we also had put stipens for
extracurriculars at $25,000 so that essentially is in that that's 225 from those two buckets and then as we were looking at that further round of
cuts we added another $12,000 which would be a complete reduction of the extracurricular line um so the overall when we look at the complete list of cuts and I think about it from two
buckets athletics and then clubs and activities the total reduction is $237,000 so we can look at it in two ways we can either completely eliminate the clubs and student activity funding
line or we can take a portion from clubs and activities and a portion from athletics and so there are a number of clubs and activities at the high school that I believe were supposed to be
running to keep our mask accreditation um and so I think saying that we're just cutting everything we there are activities that we may need to keep and so I um in
talking to Karen about the fees and kind of just clubs as a whole and all of these programs that our students have access to I think it will be important for us to determine which one of the clubs and activities that we are supposed to keep
for the NIA accreditation and then we would have to make a corresponding reduction potentially to athletics to be able to come up with that $237,000 reduction to the operating budget
and so when we talk about athletics we're looking at it from um right now for some of the teams we run freshman JV junior varsity and varsity so we're looking at it saying
okay what would it look like what would the savings be if we were just running junior varsity university next year and not having a freshman team looking at the numbers would our students potentially
be able to play junior varsity or are we essentially saying we're eliminating that and there'll be further cuts to some of the teams in upcoming years so that's a portion of kind of what we're looking at in the work that would need
to be done when we determine exactly how much would have to be cut from athletics i mean one of the wonders I think you know should be in this situation if there are certain
activities that are cost neutral right um and I think that goes back to what we were just talking about previously in terms of again at a little bit greater granularity what our revenue and expenses are for all these different
activities because it would be a shame to not offer activities that are costable right i don't see any reason why we wouldn't do that um so the other question I had is around and this has come up it's come up in
some of the meetings and um and it has to do when we're looking at some of the um the nonvi pieces um you know there's been a lot of discussion about
um special education and a number of the you know and recognizing that um all students are being 100% like that's not to be understated um I am
just I I just want to be sure that as we're looking at these non-overrun cuts that have been proposed around things that impact special education recognizing that IEPs are written with service providers in there not the name
but the service are we confident that we [Music] can meet all of the students IEPs with these cuts and and I have to ask a question i'm trying to ask it in a sensitive way that doesn't diminish the
role of anybody that I'm asking about but we are I I it's difficult for me to understand how we can meet a student's IEP but then I'm looking at one of them
which is the I think it's the 10 instructional assistants which is a pretty significant number and so I don't know how else to ask it other than to say if we can cut and still
meet students IEP needs then have we over do we currently have instructional assistants who um whose roles might have changed
and how do we have more in the district than um the current IEP needs warrant i I so I'm not nobody nobody is dispensable so I don't know how to ask that in another way but like typically they're tied you
can have IAS in the classroom for other reasons i understand that and you have IAS written into an IEP but 10 is a big number right and so I guess that's that's that is just a question so
I think the bigger question is and it's I just want to make sure the work is being done in some regard that we are looking at the IEPs that are in the system and that we're able to support those students and not putting ourselves into a compliance issue not meeting
their needs and then I guess second thing you know that that is a big number so so I can speak to that and then I've got um so I didn't double check with Daniel and talk through this with her um you know she mentioned that the
10s are primarily students that are kind of aging out of or no longer need a um instructional assistant it is work that I think over the last two years Danielle's been working on in terms of
IEPs and and looking at you know various kind of oneto ones that maybe don't need to be oneto ones you know and there are certain practices um I think in every district I mean it's
something that is a national um conversation too around the role of so um I think that work in terms of all the work she's done over the last two years looking at IEPs and working with
the team to to to look at what is the kind of instructional and and support role for those physicians so that combined with what she's she feels confident
that we'll be able to sustain them i think it is a greater question like going forward we also do have changes at the middle school with the the neck program as well that will result in a reduction
but I I think this is not a this is not the last time we'll be talking about what is the role of IAS and that's part of the work that she's currently leading on MTSS and in that framework
IAS are integral yes to that framework but in a very targeted way not in way that I think sometimes and I can be used and there's lots of research on that thank you i was just going to say I I do think I
know you got to go i do think in Danielle's presentation next Wednesday if talking about like what programming looks like next year under a non-override budget is something to speak both on the neck the neck program I think in general but yeah
in terms of like the loss of two BCBAS a 504 coordinator inclusion specialist like there are lots of impacts that like you know what does that mean are there you know to that point made at the community meeting like any wise pound foolish Yes mhm
so we just I'm looking at List it's kind of listed in separate ways but it says there's four instructional associates which one are you so I'm just on so on the district
website under the budget page there's that chart like the almost like an infographic there's it says there's four AVA instructional assistants um 10 special education assistants and then there's also two preschool instructional
assistants that's tied to one of the preschool classes so it's really 16 instructional assistance um and then it's also a reduction for our kindergarten yes instructional
assistance from 1.0 to 1.8 meaning that they're not they essentially won't be there for the entirety of the day so the classroom teacher will have a period of time where um they're in the classroom with their
however many well that's the other piece I would just like two things thinking about that one is making sure that we're meeting the numbers because I know for especially for kindergarten like there's a certain number of certain number of staff in kindergarteners and then if there are
kids who are on an IEP in that kindergarten class that changes that so I just want to like um make sure we're doing that but I do I just do get you know I just am concerned that we
are for lack of a better way of putting it mapping it you know because that is a lot of support and I just would love to maybe talk a little bit more in that in our meeting about Peter's answer around the 10
because if kids if it's being planned because kids are leaving then that's like kids and kids coming in I just you know what I mean i just and it could be we will have to figure it out regardless because our number is our
number but I just more because the the ramifications of not doing it are you know we have to meet it and it's much more expensive and it's just not the right thing to do or not so I think it's when we of course going back to the
budget when we talk about the budget and thinking about we're always living in the three budgets right when I think about what had happened in fiscal year 24 a portion of the deficit for fiscal year 24 was
tied to the fact that we had added a significant number of instructional assistance and I think that we all just need to be mindful of that because we can't be living in fiscal year 26 in the
type of scenario where we've cut these positions from the budget but then there's a need right there's an identified need it may even be a need that we don't know about right now could be a student that hasn't even registered
yet but um when that need arises we have to be able to address the need we can address the need in the fashion that we've done in the past because that in some instances has led us to have that deficit and so that that's just has to
be the recognition of yes we say that um we're federally mandated to deliver the services on the IEPs but we also are going to have to live within that budget and so I think it's just
um I just I just want us all to be and I say that more from like that's from my perspective right and the school side saying that's going to be a piece of the work that we do to say yes of course we we'll have to deliver the services but we're also having to live within
appropriate I think this is a conversation that we'll we've talked about having but again it's that like every year calibration like that recalibration of sort of like across like this one year you know population
moved or we got across Not just in special life but I think that that's to that point like in 24 we were well short of those we needed about you know students move things change just looking at looking at them like how can we
reallocate services or resources that we have to where they're needed if they're not needed yeah i think to your point though it's just critical work that district staff have to be doing like the wins that you
and I are going to be able to have i think the question's good and so I think Daniel they gota make sure that what we need to do like we cannot what we need in order to find services for so
expectations that sounds but we talked about like just being you're raising here being being conservative somewhat within our expectations around special education costs because we know they have been unexpect But it's we talked about building
assumptions that we are trying to yeah not anticipate the best case scenario that not religious kind of courtesy all right um move down um on the uh meeting minutes approvals uh I
sent out meeting minutes in the last two weeks so we had March 24th March 26th March 31st and April 2nd um any will make a motion uh to approve the finance committee meeting minutes for
March 24th March 26th March 31st April 2nd is there a second um all in favor and then our next meetings are 414 416 and 4:30 so next ones for the rest of the month
um 416 we've already talked about we're going to do the quarter 3 report uh 4:30 we'll debrief the override um at that point we'll know if the override passed or not and so we can at least have have some conversation
on moving forward um there's not much by a little bit that morning together um uh 4:14 we talked about uh kind of the final fee schedule uh review where he goes for that
next meeting um so we'll do that again on Monday to vote on that um anything else you should talk about i'm sorry did you say the quarterly report next
Wednesday sorry all right and that's it then with that I will uh make a motion to adjourn the meeting at 9:15 all in favor thank you so much [Music]
rip it rip it