Good afternoon. Buenas tardes, and welcome to the June 26th, 2025 meeting of the Fiscal Management Committee. I would like to begin by giving my colleagues a moment to introduce themselves. Good evening. A student member of the board. Good evening, Laura Stewart from
district four. And Miss Zimmerman will be joining us shortly. I'm Carla Silvestre, school board member at large. We will begin with the approval of the agenda with the revision to move item 7.1, Fiscal Management Review up on the agenda to the
first item. Following the informational summary. Can I get a motion to approve today's agenda as revised? So moved. Second, all in favor, raise your hands. Thank you. I would like to acknowledge that the informational summary for the
committee's March 20th, 2025 meeting is posted on board docs. Any questions on the summary? No questions. Okay. This summary summary can be forwarded to
board staff. Okay. We will begin with the fiscal Management review item previously 7.1 as this committee builds out its work plan for the 20 2526 school year, one of our goals will be to dive deeper into the academic
return on investment of some critical programs and initiatives using the newly adopted M.c.p.s. Future Ready Strategic Plan as a guide, we will work with the Office of Shared Accountability, the Finance Office and other appropriate departments to
answer important questions on the effective use of our financial resources relative to the board's established goals and priorities, and need to support and sustain successful programs with a high degree of direct impact for students. As
we move, as we move, this prepare. As we move. To prepare for this work over the next year, I would like to ask Doctor Keisha Addison, Director of Office of Shared Accountability, and Miss Yvonne Alfonso Windsor,
Chief Financial Officer, to share any initial suggestions or resources you may have with us or board staff as we prepare for this work. I would also like to turn to my colleagues to see if you have any specific comments or questions to offer as we work
to develop this framework. Miss Stewart. Oh, Mr. Sivana. Yes. I mean, I just want to say, when we come up on tough budget years, we always have to think about what are we doing for our students? How can we make sure that our students are getting
the best education possible for as many students as possible? So when it comes to academic return on investment, I mean, I've been through multiple programs in my M.C.P.S. Career. I've been to six different schools across the county, and, you know, there are different programs and different places that do different things for different students. And so
having a really solid evaluation system and being able to come back and see it at some of these meetings to have a better sense of where we put our money will be really, really critical in my opinion. Thank you. Thank you. So you want to stay on another year to, if only Miss Stewart
and I will take his lead and continue that work. I think it's important that we be data driven in our decisions. We get anecdotal stories, but sometimes we don't see the full picture. And so it's really important
that we kind of color in the lines so we can see the full picture. So we know that we are aiming our dollars where they make the biggest impact for our students. So thank you. Yeah. And I wanted to say that first and foremost I want to elevate
the work Doctor Addison and her team does because it is critically important. Every year the board approves the program evaluation agenda for the year. And I think it's important that the public get to hear more about the results that are that
are coming out of that office to better understand how we, as a system, are evaluating the effectiveness, again, that return on investment for the educational programs of M.c.p.s. So I'm looking forward to working with you both to select,
as I like to call, some key levers, some programs that are going to make the biggest impact. There's we could look at many things that you have evaluated over the years, but I think we want to focus on the things that are key to improve our academic achievement of the of our students in M.c.p.s. So
if open it up to either one of you, if you have any comments or to share. So thank thank you for this opportunity. It is exciting, you know, moving in this direction. You know, we've had nobody knows better than everyone here the tough budget
years that we've had and the intense need that our students have. But as good stewards of taxpayers money, it is upon us right to evaluate the programs and to implement, have clear goals and eventually metrics
that were measured, the success of the program. And I know that's the work that Doctor Addison has been doing with the strategic plan. And as she moves forward into the fall, you know, to establish those metrics and for us for in finance, it's return on investment for academics is different. So we
don't measure success in our school system in terms of profits like most companies do. So we have to look at, you know, the, the program itself, you know, the investments that we made in our, in our personnel and then the students, the populations, the needs that we're serving, you know, and
then looking through that, how, you know, what is really our return on investment in here, because here is all based on a student success. And I'll and if I could add, I think we are ripe for time right now in terms of the program evaluation agenda
that you mentioned. Miss Silvestre, we typically by now, we would have sent out our request to offices regarding which programs they wanted to have evaluated and intentionally so delayed that because of the
adoption of the strategic plan, because our formalized process is one where we connect the requests for those evaluations to what's identified in the strategic plan, and so that information and that request will go out to executive leaders early next week. In terms of
what are the programs of interest, we can definitely connect it intentionally to our budget. And what we did this past school year is ensure that there is a fiscal component to our program evaluation reports. I think the one thing that I am excited about for this upcoming
year is being fully staffed. And the Office of Shared Accountability, that's been our challenge going forward in terms of just the capacity, right, for the size of the district that we have, the number of programs that we have, we've been limited to a certain extent in terms of how much we can evaluate. And so
when we think about academic return on investment is not like the business model, it really is program evaluation studies that provide us the opportunity to understand the effectiveness of programs, the extent to which that they are allowing us to meet the needs of students from
an academic perspective. And so we really are like, this is that sweet spot. I would say that we are working towards doing that and preparing for this upcoming school year. Thank you and welcome, Miss Zimmerman. We were just starting with just
introducing the concept that for the upcoming school year, we will be devoting part of our meetings times to look at program evaluation and return on investment, on education. And, you know, just highlighting the importance of both the budget
office and the evaluation and how important, I think is for the public to see that we do have a very robust evaluation program evaluation system, and we just want to show our public that we are using our public dollars responsibly. So thank
you so much. Look forward to working with you to pick some programs that are key levers and having an impact on academic achievement for our students. So looking forward to the work. Thank you. Okay. We will begin
further discussion on this framework. Back to the committee's next meeting in September. Next on the agenda is item 3.1 Operational Workflow Study and Analysis update. Miss Alfonso Windsor, if you could just give us. Yeah. Start out
with some context for our our new members. Sure. So this is the work that started, you know, early in this school year. And it I want to make sure we're going to look at the work flow study and analysis of our contracts. As you know, we have
a struggle, you know, to make sure that contracts are managed timely, you know, and that that that we get them done in a timely manner so that our programs can be implemented. So we're hoping that this help us, you know, support us through
that process so that we can move through them quicker. I want to make sure that it is important for all of us to understand that this is not a public facing. Database. This is only an internal database. Right now.
What is happening is that, you know, an office. My introduced a contract and it has to go through several steps. It has to go through the procurement office. He has to go through our legal counsel. It has to go through several areas before the contract can be executed and move forward. So this is a tool
that is going to help our internal audience know the contract that they started, where it is in the process, that they can respond to any comments and so on in a timely manner so that the contract can move through the process a lot quicker. So this is not public
facing. This is an internal database that has been established based on our workflow to move that contract, you know, through the different offices in a more effective and efficient manner. Okay. And I have the Director of Procurement, Angela McIntosh,
here, and she will walk you through our process and what the workflow will look like. Good evening. So to recap, this is an overview of the contract life
cycle process. This was discussed a year ago. And these are the main areas of activities that occur as the contract moves through until it is finalized. So as a quick review, it begins with, you know, a submission of a number of forms depending on
what the responsible office is requesting. We ask that, you know, receive a completed scope of services or scope of work. The documentation that's required from the contractor in preparation for our contract agreement. And these these
pieces initiate in procurement. And then we share it as an upcoming task with our legal department so that they know what's moving forward once it's reviewed by legal. Any other questions that arise are addressed by procurement and or
legal. And then simultaneously, we're obtaining a review from our data team, because there may be data privacy issues or data that is being shared with M.C.P.S. Or with the contractor. So we have to make sure all of those pieces are covered and
should, you know, the request. So warrant, you know, the project manager gives it like another once over. And if there are any further negotiations needed, any terms and conditions required to further negotiate this will occur before moving on
to finalize for signature the next slide. And so this is sort of the timeline that it goes through or that we went through. I'm sorry for this tool to. To come into fruition. We briefed
this committee, like I said, a year ago, and we began looking at how we would develop a tool to assist in the internal tracking of contract documentation. So we reviewed with the committee back in June of 2024, we started coming up
with something to create with our technology department and with our legal department on what this could look like. So we settled on a Google tool that we're utilizing. And there was there's been communication
between different departments going through how this should work. We've provided some updates recently, or we indicated that we would provide updates with the fiscal management Committee as this was
moving forward. So we have quote unquote, launched a pilot program before 2025. That was what our task was and that has been completed. We've gathered some user feedback, made those adjustments that were necessary.
So right now the full system rollout plan is in progress. There are a few other tweaks that we were making, more so on the legal dashboard side and making sure we were in alignment
with the other departments on just, you know, where a document document flow, making sure it's flowing, moving. Everybody's getting the notifications as needed. And that's what was really important in this new tool is that people were being
notified when something was ready instead of emails, you know, and transmitting documents back and forth through email. So our goal is to implement by the start of this school year. So
August, September and more. And then just to give you an idea of what the workflow dashboard provides, these are highlights of the features for those who will be using this tool. It's an intuitive dashboard. It features
quick look monitoring, better known as the smart status monitoring, document tracking, quick action options, and document management. And that's it in a nutshell. I just want to
add that we are targeting August so that we can move through, you know, through the process of the contracts a lot quicker this year. So could you, could you just reiterate what what's the
problem we're trying to solve? So the problem we're trying to solve is that sometimes contracts, you know, take months to go through the process. And part of that is the communication aspect of the contract. You know, an office might be sending the contract to
procurement or the documents to procurement, and then they go to the next step and no one knows, you know, that they have gone to the next steps. They don't know that there's different information or documents that are required to be able to complete the contract. And then
once nobody knows what stage of the contract is unless there's a communication via email. So this tool will allow everyone as they log in to know their specific contract where it is. It allows offices that come later on into the process to know that these contracts are coming through,
and we'll need to have a look, you know, be on the lookout so that we can process them as quickly as possible. It will also contain all the information for the contracts. So everything is the documents are all stored in one place. Do these include grants? Are you considering grants contracts? Yes. Yes, yes.
If we if we create a MoU for a grant or we have some professional services agreements as well. But yes. And how many are we talking about in a year for example. I'd say 100 for sure. Okay. I think can I just
say something really quickly. But not not the grants applications though this would not include grant applications, only contracts that might be paid with grants. But these are specifically to contracts okay.
So. Our MOU also, I mean back to because you said it's just the contract, but the part of the contract is the MOU. Right? We have different kind of contracts. So you know, so we have you know memorandum you know you know yeah we have
professional agreements. You know, we have contracts you know for services. Yeah. There are different kind of contracts. Absolutely. Great. Because I did hear that sometimes it would take up to a year and a half to go through the whole process.
Meanwhile, we're losing time to get the services into schools and then some, I think, just give up. And so we lose opportunities. And my question is, how did you look at the
average time it took to get through the process before? And then what is the goal? And are you I know you're not fully up and running, but were you what the work that you've already done has that have you seen
improvement? Well, I think that we have seen some improvement this year. You know, in terms of we understood we identified the problem, you know, and we understood that we needed to resolve it. So I think offices have been in more communication, you know, to try to track the
contracts. Our goal is really to have the contracts as soon as possible. You know, sometimes we have a contract that is finalized, you know, after the work has started. Sometimes, you know, because we're moving forward, you know, in full disclosure. So we're avoiding
we're trying to fix that problem. You know, moving forward, sometimes the procurement office finds about a contract that should have been, you know, revised six months before. And it was never revised because this also applies to contracts that we are currently implementing. Right. That might
need an extension. And, you know, we need to make sure that we're fulfilling those extensions as well. So it's all these issues that were identified that, you know, that came, you know, in front of this committee that we are trying to solve to make sure that we are in compliance, that, you know, our contracts are, you know, on
a timely fashion. I would say that in order for us to be successful, it would be 3 to 4 months, the longest that a contract should take at all. You know, just to get through the entire process. That would be my goal. I would love to see that improvement on paper. And just
so that, again, I know the system probably costs money. Right. And so this is again the return on investment issue, right? To say, okay, we spent this money, but this is what we got out of it. And this is we were able to get this much better. And so I love I would
love to see any kind of analysis on that. Thank you. Absolutely. And I just want to say that this has been an effort again between technology because they are developing this tool for us. It's not an outside tool. It's a tool that they are developing for us. But it's people's hours,
right? You know, we're talking about the people investment. And you know, as well as our general counsel and the procurement department. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. And also thank you to both my colleagues who asked some of the questions that I was curious about as
well. I have one remaining question, and it is about, especially as it is painfully hot outside and we're seeing a lot of storms. So I'm curious, how does this process change for any of our emergency
procurements? I don't think it would, because again, that is that is more of getting the expenditure approved so that they can move forward with purchasing the, you know, a lot of the times, you know, when a
lot of the times when we bring items to the board is expenditure approvals. And sometimes we already have those contracts with the contractors. We just need the authority to spend so that it doesn't really impact that process. I think that's yeah, in one way that's really good to hear that. You
know, we're still being as thorough. So thank you I appreciate that. Thank you. Yes. Thank you again. Thank you guys for your work on this. I know procurement can always be kind of a look what's happening in there. I mean I know that's when I came into the board. That's
kind of how I, I felt about it. I didn't really know what the process looked like. So having this in front of me really, really helps, you know, even clear up some of some of the misconceptions I might have had till now. So I appreciate that. So you mentioned it was it was a Google tool, right. And that we're creating it internally.
Like that didn't make sense to me. So if it's a Google tool and we're creating it internally, like are we talking about like Google Sheets or like like something else like that. Like, I mean, that's that's the first thing I think about. So, so just kind of want to ask that. So we
have yes that can, you know, walk you through this. Good evening. How's everybody doing. My name is Ali Hosseini. I am the legal transaction specialist, work with OGC. And
so to the to the question regarding the Google. So we're using a system called Google Appsheet. It is an internal tool. As if we're using the Google suite that we have access to. So it's connected to like internal Gmail accounts, outlook accounts internally. And so the
Appsheet is just kind of a foundational tool. So we just build the software on that. It kind of optimizes a lot of the features. So it's been really helpful. Got it. Perfect. Thank you I appreciate that. Yeah I think that that's basically a question. So then one more
follow up question. So does that mean that anyone inside M.C.P.S. Right can go back to procurement. Can ask like, hey, where are we with this contract? And we can then go back and say, this is where we are. This is the estimated timeline to completion. They can come to procurement, but also the end
users. The user offices will have access to their own dashboard, and they'll be able to see where their contract is in the flow. Okay. So and then I'm going to follow up to my follow up. But when we talk about, you know, everything in our system being being publicly
accessible. What what a what a user outside the system be able to go back and say, hey, like I like I know like we like like we have a contract pending with the system. Can I ask like, you know, just just asking the system where where are we in that process? Right. Sure. Like, would they be able to go back in
and like just get a very clear response from, from M.C.P.S. Now? Yes. All right. Perfect. Absolutely. Thank you. So I think this is also very helpful because the superintendent can look for bottlenecks or hey,
what's happening here? This has been sitting here for too long or or you want to. Yeah, definitely. So a really cool feature that we heavily emphasized on was the superintendent's office having their own dashboard. So they'll be able to access all of the back end side to see where
exactly the contracts are. In the process. We added a feature that allows the superintendents office to generate reports that will automatically pull all the data from X time frame to Y time frame, and provide you with how long it's been sitting in who's
office and what hand where. Like, you know, the delays were we've been able to implement like a tracker that kind of indicates, you know, how many days has this contract been sitting and with the data team or with Office of General Counsel or with procurement? And so that way there's a lot more
transparency and accountability when it comes down to, you know, us trying to figure out and analyze like where are the issues in the contracts themselves and where is that time taking? Okay, great. Do you see this after you roll this out? Do you see this maybe being applicable to other areas of the
system? Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I'm super excited about this. But yeah. So we definitely see. So right now at the moment we have like MoUs, professional service agreements etc. Grants that you mentioned is something that we've been kind of like
brainstorming around being able to copy paste this model and introduce it into different, you know, fields of like processes was definitely a goal. And it could be done. So or it can be done. So definitely great. Thank you. Yes, I was really excited when you asked that question
about grants, because that is not the purpose of this one tool, but it can be duplicated, you know, for that same process. Okay, great. So you said launching August. Yes. August. All right. Fingers crossed. Yes.
Mr. Yes. So I just had a question. I mean, we said thatyt program before, like around January ish. So what did the pilot program entail versus the full launch? Just so I have a clearer picture. Now. There just
were a select group of end users that took it through the process and pointed out all of the issues that we needed to, you know, if there were any tweaking, there was any tweaking that was needed. They provided that feedback. Okay. Got it. So what we needed to fix, like a limited number of offices. Yeah,
absolutely. Makes sense. Thank you. Yeah. And, Mr. Lockman, if we could just make a note to look at our agenda for the upcoming year and maybe have you come back to give us an update about how how it went this first
year and the plans for growth in other areas? That would be fantastic. Will do. Okay. I did want to give a shout out to former school board member Lynn Harris, who I know this was very important to her, and I think she'll be happy to hear that it's starting to implement. So
shout out to Miss Harris. All right. Thank you. So now we are going to move on to one last question. Yes. Yeah I just want to want to say I won't be on the board. But I would love I think the community at large would love to see the efforts of your work in a, on a screen when it,
when it's fully implemented. So just would like to throw that out there.hank you. Next item is 4.1 fiscal year 2026 operating budget Miss Alfonso Windsor. Can we get the
PowerPoint up? There we go. So I know we have talked about the operating budget before. So this is just a recap of where we are, because I know we haven't come to the committee with a final year operating budget. I won't take a lot of time in this aspect, but I just want to
remind everyone, you know, the public, that there were a lot of changes this year that were, you know, after the governor submitted his budget that the General Assembly implemented or did not implement the thing that really benefited M.C.P.S. And other school systems was the collaborative planning time that
the governor had recommended pausing and not funding for this year. And that would have in meant that M.C.P.S. Was going to lose about $14.4 million of state funding. But luckily the
General Assembly did fund it again. That will be picked up in FY 29 as year two of the implementation. But there's going to be a pause. We're going to get the same funding for collaborative planning time in 27 and 28, but we don't have any
commitment commitment based on the funding to do collaborative planning the way as meant by the blueprint. We're also we also know that we had decreased funding from the state in terms of special education for our nonpublic students, you know, and that is something that that
has a potential up to $4 million impact in our budget next year, which we already know that it could be a difficult budget year. And then the shift of the teacher's pension, the state's portion of the teacher's pension from the state to the local governments, which is about $20
million. So those were the final updates from the General Assembly after the Board of Ed meeting met in January. Now, following the, you know, the Maryland General Assembly, we did decrease the request from
the county council by $14.4 million. Since that we were receiving that funding from the state. And earlier this month, the board and the county council, the county council appropriated the funding at the end of May, and the board adopted the budget at the beginning of June, $9.5 million
less than originally that the tentative agreement was, but that has already taken place. And then, just as a quick recap, you know, the local funding decreased by $73 million based on the request from the boards from the board's tentatively
adopted budget, state aid increased by 14.4, like we recently mentioned. And then we are getting one time funding of Opeb, which means that we are, you know, that help us support our employee benefit plan that we've been talking about for
months, that the impact that the increases have had on, on, on that trust. But we know that we're going to have to make a significant investment in the FY 27 budget just to, you know, to be where we need to be. So that's something that we're going to have to consider as we move into the FY 27 planning
process. And I know this was a decision that our stakeholders and our taxpayers, you know, had a lot of interested in. And I just want to make sure that everyone understands that this did not mean that we took
funding out of our fund that is managed by the county. This was just decrease the contribution for next year. The fund has about $140 million, and it's really a risk management strategy to make sure that if anything were to happen, an M.C.P.S. Were no longer here,
that our retirees will be able to still, we would still be able to fund the M.C.P.S. Portion of their employee benefit plan. And then this is a review of the decisions that had to be made by the board and the
superintendent. In terms of the $9.5 million reduction and the majority or all of this reductions, with the exception of one, was not a complete elimination of those resources. It was just a decrease on what was proposed and tentatively
approved by the board. So, for example, the equity add on partial reduction, we were originally had budgeted 5.4 million, so we decreased it by 3.2. Our schools are still going to you know, we're going to start that pilot program for next year. Our special education
teachers, we had budgeted an additional 188. We decreased it by 30, which leaves us at 158 teachers. New teacher positions in FY 26. Maintenance the pay as you go. We've all been hearing, you know, the needs in our in
our buildings. You know, to fix some of the items like HVAC and so on. And those emergency you know this is that emergency maintenance you know, funding that we now have to, you know, to support anything that comes up. And the three teams that are new for next year to, you know,
to make repairs as quickly as possible or to go into a school and do what they need to do, those are still in place. That was not reduced. Stem curriculum for middle schools. That is a full reduction. That was brand new in the budget, but that is because the state is coming up
with a new Stem guidance, and we just wanted to hold for one more year, you know, to know exactly which way, which path we need to take. Chromebook repair parts reduced by 500,000. Again, our budget is about $4 million, so that is a reduction of 500,000
security assistance reduction by seven of the 52 that we originally were recommending. Adding the academic program study as part of the boundary study, that is, we're doing that in house. You have heard, you
know, that at the latest board meeting, that work continues. We did have to reduce an additional almost million dollar from an insurance, self-insurance and employee benefit plan. That is really not so much impactful because luckily, right before this happened, we got the bill
for next year for self-insurance, and it was going to cost us $600,000 less than we had budgeted. So it was really, you know, just screwing up the self-insurance and a reduction of 300,000 for our employee benefit plan. And then we restored ten positions in central office that are really
there central office positions, but they really support our students, you know, like the, the X, the EML transitional counselors, the AP IB coordinator, and a position in human resources to help with our
operations. And then last but not least, we added $600,000 to the budget to really assess the needs of our special education areas and talent management to see how we can move forward, you know, in with new initiatives and improvements in those areas.
So overall, that was a $9.5 million reduction from the original budget. And then I turn it over to you for discussions to the board. Could you go back to the last slide? Yes. And colleagues, please turn your light on if you have any
questions, could you explain a few of these for me? Again, the last one, the assessment of special education talent management. What does that position do or what is that. Where does that money go. So it's going to be money to look at our special education areas and determine, you know, what
improvement or what changes we need to be to be done. It's really going to conduct a study so that we can plan budgetary wise for the future. As you know, we had several. We some
issues with special education this year. We had to add additional funding. And we know that our schools tha was that was what kept coming up at the superintendent as he met with our stakeholders, the special education needs. So it's really to do a review of our services, you know, and how we can
improvement. And the same thing with talent management, how we can improve our recruitment and how we look at that department as a whole to see if there's any changes that are needed. So these will be external contracts. External contracts.
Speaking of okay. So both special ed and then HR talent acquisition okay. Thank you Miss Zimmerman. Thank you. I just wanted to say that I really appreciate, especially for the
viewing public, the extra explanation of Opeb. I think that there has been some confusion about that and additionally letting us know what implications we might see in future budgets based on that. So thank you for that, Mr.
Sivana. Yes. Thank you. So just to be clear, I mean, when we add when the county adds fund funding to our opeb year over year. I mean, part of that is to combat inflation and the rising cost of anything associated with like because it's an actuarial
risk management. Right? So every year, you know, we might have the same amount to cover what we already had, but the amount of people will cover will go down. So that's why we add funding. Or is there a different reasoning. Well, the system you know, the county took over the OPEC fund, you know, combine all the OPEC
funds for the county and all the agencies. And I believe was back in 2012, you know, when this happened. And so there's $840 million right now. And that only funds about 60% of our retirees. So if M.C.P.S. Were to close this year, we would only be able
to fund for the remainder of their life cycle 60% of their, you know, of their healthcare funds. So hopefully M.C.P.S. Will never have to close. So that's why we call it a risk management strategy specifically for a school system the size as ours, but it is part of the
inflation. But also to make sure that we are fully funded eventually. The goal is that we are completely funded, just like in our investment fund that M.C.P.S. Holds for, you know, the pension. Our goal is to be fully funded. So if anything were to happen, our retirees, you know, are covered, you know,
for their life. Got it. So it's like planning for the future. I mean like like at a certain point we'll fully fund it and we'll just only have to add like dribbles versus like 50 million. Right? Then we will only have to add the inflation like you mentioned. Yes. Got it. If we ever get to that point. Yes. If
we ever. And then again, I just wanted to reiterate that all of the things that we cut out of the budget were cuts from our additions. So not actual loss in service, just a loss in our additions. But again, thank you so much for the kind of the breakdown of everything and for
your work on the budget. I know this was a very, very difficult budget year. So getting to this point, we do appreciate your work. Mr. So I just wanted to point out that the Stem
curriculum, yes, that money is gone this year, but obviously we will have to invest in that next year. Right? Like we can't punt this another year. Okay. So we have to be ready. Correct. Once we get guidance from from the state on how they're going to move forward with Stem
curriculum, we will have to. This is a planning for the FY 27 budget 100%. Yes. So that's you know, it's a chunk of money. So we have to be ready as a board to prioritize that. And then the
50 million out of Opeb like how much. Do you think that we need to plan to put back in there this next year. Do you have that kind of plan? So we have a three year plan to get our I'm sorry,
our EVP, our employee benefit plan up. Right. You know, solid so that we don't have any deficits. So this year we were planning to invest $40 million of the operating budget into,
you know, the EVP fund. We're no longer doing that. This 50 million supports our retirees, a portion of our retirees, so that we could invest those $40 million in other things. But remember, this is one time funding. So when we put in those $40 million, it was going to be
part of that base budget that is no longer part of our base budget. So we're going to have to continue making those investments. Originally we were thinking 40 this year, 60 in FY 27 and potentially 50 to 60 in FY 28. So we will have to make a
significant investment. Luckily, I do want to say, you know, we worked as we said, really, you know, with with our association partners. And they came through and we have, you know, we have savings. You know, we have made changes to the plan that is going to reduce some of those,
some of those costs. So that is probably going to put us in a much better place than we were anticipating. Additionally, we have worked with Cigna, our healthcare provider, and our drug CVS Caremark, the
prescription drugs provider, and we have negotiated additional savings, you know, for the future. So they're going to give us for next year, they're going to give us a six month holiday fee on our premiums. And for the next two years, an additional three months and three month
holiday fee on our premiums. We have also asked Caremark to do a market research to see where we fall. And they have if we stay with them for the next two years, another 11% savings in
the cost of prescription health care, and that is from year to year. So we don't have to make a commitment for 2 or 3 years just from year to year. Same thing with Cigna. Additionally, Cigna has agreed to provide us. We just met her today with a consultant or a contractor that
they will pay for to help our employees, you know, move through this new health plan, you know, the care management. So she will be sitting here in our Department of Employee and Retiree Services Center to support our employees to answer questions. She will she's fully
dedicated to us for the for the rest of our contract with Cigna to provide continued support to our employees. So we are working with them to reduce our costs. Those are some of the initiatives to reduce our costs. In addition to the, you know,
the items that we reached agreement with, with our associations. And we hadn't shared that before because we were just able to, you know, finalize that. But we're continuing looking for ways to, you know, to save, you know, I'm continually exploring ways on
what else can we do or differently to get us to a better place, a more financially stable place with our employee benefit plan. So I kind of interpret that as hopefully, you know, we did take this chunk out, but we're also going to
save some in the future. So then we won't be hurting quite as much, like when we take this over three years to try to get to the funded place where we're funded, that we might not have
to pay back all that 50. I'm trying to understand because I'm thinking, you know, instead of saving 40 million, we did 50. And so then we'd have to put that over into three years. And
then you mentioned all these savings. So I'm trying to understand how does that work on the scale. So we probably will have to we still going to have to make a significant commitment because again the 50 million is just a one time savings. Right. But instead of maybe having to invest 60 million next year and
then another 60 million next year will be a little bit better. You know, we'll be at 45 and then in the future years our commitment will decrease substantially, maybe going to 15 and 10 million. It's just a matter of sustaining because to
be honest, except for FY 25 where the FY 25 included $40 million for employee benefit plan, the previous years, we really didn't make the investment that we needed to make in the employee benefit plan. Well, thank you for that. That gave a lot of great
context. And maybe in a future fiscal management meeting, we can have a slide so we can see all of that broken down. And I think it's a story of
cooperation as well. And that we're all on the same team and we're trying to get better and reduce some of our risk. So I appreciate that. Yes. Thank you. I had a question about the just helping me understand the
special education reduction. So the original projected position number was based on what we expected to get in terms of students. That is correct. It was based on the projection through January of FY 26. But as
we build a cushion right when we build this budget, because we know that we get additional students throughout the school year. So we, we built an allocation of 180 teachers. We right now have about 60 to 70
teachers on reserve. Prior to this, 3030, we had about 60 to 70 teachers and reserve that we had not allocated to the schools because the enrollment wasn't coming in as we were seeing, and we really wanted to keep the para educator allocation that we
did, you know, intact in the budget, because those are the people that work one on one with the students. So by reducing the 30 teachers, we were we didn't pull anything from the schools. We still have a reserve to be able to allocate more to them. You know, if they get an
increase in enrollment. And at the same time, because we kept the para educator allocation, then we can, you know, allocate those to the schools if needs be, you know, for, you know, to add additional resources to a class. If at any point we don't
have the teachers, we do know that once it gets to the middle of the year, it's a lot harder to add a teacher because you don't want to split classes, you don't want to pull, you know, teachers from one class or another. So the para educator allocation was, you know, a solution that will provide the
support to our to our students, yet, you know, not disrupt the education or their environment as much. Okay. So if it comes to January and you don't have the students, I mean, we never you will get more students and
you'll have to allocate some of these positions to schools. And we still have about 20 in reserve right now as we consider. Yes. And then in terms of vacancies, that's another variable right. Your positions. But you have people to fill those vacancies. Correct. And in
terms of the teachers, I know our talent acquisition department is working, you know, really hard. I know they're working on a, you know, recruitment campaign and so on to make sure that we have the teachers. But as we know, the special education teachers that
we hire, a lot of them are coming from other school systems because there is a national shortage of special teachers overall. But special education teachers more than anything. Okay. And do you have the breakdown of the central services position restoration? The ten. So eight of them.
Sorry. So eight of them are the transitional counselor, therapeutic counselors. One is the coordinator of AP. B is the restoration of that position that supports the schools. And one of them is a director that
was eliminated in human resources to support their operations. Specifically, bless you with the specifically with the human capital management. You know, we're moving into the other phases, the recruitment tool phases and so on. Okay.
Thank you. All right. If there are no other further questions, thank you so much. I think it's always it's always helpful to me to see, after all said and done. All right. What how much money did we get, what got cut what got restored. And so that's I appreciate that presentation,
Miss Stewart. And what we might have to do next year. Yeah. Yes. It begins the day after the budget is approved. Right. Yeah. Process for next year. All right. Transitioning from the recently approved fiscal year 26 operating budget to item 4.2,
planning for fiscal FY 27 operating budget. Mr. Alfonso Windsor. Yes. So we have started that process. You know, as you know, we have talked about some of the items that we'll need to consider for next year. This is an interesting time for us
because we're we just approved a budget. We're closing one school year, we're planning for the following school year and how we're going to. And then we're going to have to start spending FY 26 as well. So it's that crossroad where we have three fiscal years really colliding, right? 25 closing out 26 starting expenditures and 27
starting that planning process. So the Department of Budget and Management is working on the technical pieces right of the budget because by the end of July, before blackout period begins for M.C.P.S, you know,
for the employees, we have the kickoff of the budget for central offices. And at that time, we released the budget for them to start working on submitting their request in September. One of the biggest pieces, again, that we're doing this year, which has been a
change for us, if you remember, halfway through our budget process this year, we determined based on our needs that we really needed to go to a zero based budgeting system. And we did that. And we're going to continue that, you know, year after year. So right now really
is we're working on how that process is going to flow for next year. We're making some tweaks so that the offices start making those requests. And we can really look at how the money is going to be needed for FY 27. What are the ins and outs of that funding that the offices are going to be requesting? That
is going to happen through the end of September. Additionally, in the next couple of weeks, we already started planning for the staffing standards workgroups because our goal is to have a draft finalized for the
superintendent and then the board eventually for the end of September, so that we can plan ahead for next year. We don't know where where that work is going to take us. We know that the staffing at the elementary schools, you know, it's not as
robust as we would like. We know that middle and high schools are in a lot better shape in terms of staffing that elementary school. And so once we establish baselines and what the equity funding, you know, might look, you know, the funding at a title one at a community school, you
know, at all levels might look like, is that something that we're goi to be able to budget in one year? Probably not. It's probably going to have to be a phased in approach, but we want to have the entire recommendation of what we want to move forward. And we're also going to be looking it's not
going to be just elementary, middle and high, but we have extended the scope to really look at special education, EMS and maintenance and every, every single position that touches our school. So our new deputy chief
of financial oversight, Alan Francois, you know, he just came right at the right moment. He is going to be leading some of this work, you know, with the work groups and so on, to get us, you know, to get us moving so that we can be done, you know, by the end of September, you know, give
or take. So that's, that's, that's part of our process. And then as you know, we start we at the end of October, sorry, at the end of September, we get what our official enrollment is going to be for FY 27. In, in
terms of how the state builds, you know, our state aid. So as we get that, we can start working through some scenarios or what our state aid might look like. Of course, there's other, you know, factors such as, you know, the relative wealth and,
you know, the revenue that is coming in into the state. But we can start at least working on projecting some of that for us for the superintendent's budget. So that's really the work that we're going to be doing over the next few months, you know, before the budget is released.
And then we start the process with the board again and so on. Great. Thank you. Never a dull moment and always critically important work happening all the time. I mean, the staffing guidelines are so important to teachers and families and students of course. But yeah,
looking forward to seeing that and coming to the Fiscal Management Committee to give us some updates on on how that work is going. And if I may say, one of our goals really is to make our staffing standards very transparent, that anyone can
just look at our staffing standards or determine, you know, what that might look like at their school. Okay. Any questions? If not, we can go ahead. Mr. I was just going to say that I look forward to that. I ask about that a lot, a lot of
different meetings. So that's exciting to me. Okay. All right. Thank you. And moving on to item 4.3 Montgomery County Public Schools categorical and object transfer process. Miss Alfonso Windsor, what do we need to know? And I do hope that next
year I have a more variety of people up here than just me. You're going to get tired of my voice. But for today, you're stuck with me. So this is a very technical, but I think it was important for everyone to understand, you know, the oversight of the board in terms
of, you know, how we spend our money and how we move money and, you know, the requirements that are upon us, you know, for Maryland law, you know, county law and so on, that we have to, you know, guide ourselves by. So I just want to just a brief
overview. Our state categories. They're you know, they're set by state law. And they required all our, you know, our school system to budget based on the state categories and to the to record also transactions on the object of expenditures as well. So
those are the two areas that we have to report to the state and that we have to report to the Council as well. And they have to appropriate our budget based on the categories. So here you have a listing of our state categories. And I'm not going to go through all of them. But obviously our biggest category
is always instructional salaries. You know two thirds of our budget is sitting in instructional salaries. When you look at category five other instructional costs, those are our contractual services. A lot of them sit there. You know, when we have a contract with a vendor that provides services to
our schools like college tracks and so on, those are our instructional costs. Every special education support has to be in category six special education. And that is extremely important because a lot of our federal funding is based on the
maintenance of effort for special education. So that's how we track how much we're spending in special education. Student personnel service. This is our this is our social workers. This is you know, that's what's sitting there. And then our second largest category is fixed
charges, which is our employee benefit plan. And any benefit, you know, for our for our employees. So that is our budget is broken out. Then within the categories you have the object of expenditures. So for example
you have a category one which is administration where you have the salaries for the employees. You have any materials that are spent at the administrative level are sitting, which is object three which is reported as part of category one. But then you have a few categories
category three, category four, category five, and category 12 that only some objects of expenditures applied to them. So if you look at category three, obviously you can only pay salaries. So you're only going to have salaries and wages sitting in category three. When you're looking at category four
you're only going to have supplies and materials. Category five you're only going to have other costs fees, benefits, no sorry contractual services and furniture and equipment in that category. And when you're looking at category 12, you're
only going to see other costs, fees, benefits and so on. So it's only one object of expenditure that applies to that. Other than that objects of expenditures, you know, impact every other category, all all objects. So that is very technical. But that is that is
just to give you an example of how the Msde and our county sort of looks at our budget, you know, and because I know the board looks more as how we're spending the money and so on, other than our monthly reports. So category transfers, category transfers have to be approved by
the board and have to be approved by the county council. So there's two ways that we do category transfers and two processes. One is for grants and one is for local funds. When it comes to grants, we have to align the grant with the approved grant award. So and we
have to spend the grant within a certain amount of time. Right. So we it's not like we can wait three months to change if, if we determined that we have $600,000 left in grant and those 600,000
were tagged for contractual services, but the contractual services are going to cost us less, we can submit an amendment to then say we're going to spend 500,000 in contractual services, and we need $100,000 for materials, and we cannot wait because we want to spend that
grant, right. We want to utilize our resources. So we submit an amendment of that grant to our grantor, whether it's msde or another grant, or when they approve that expenditure, then we bring it to the board quarterly to approve those transfers. And that's where you're seeing the quarterly
grant category transfers reports. Once you approve it, that is transmitted to the county council and approve and is they don't take any action of it is automatically approved after 30 days. That is the agreement that we have with the county council in terms of the
grants. When it comes to local, we can't make categorical transfers during the school year. We can. So what we have to do if we have an emergency, we have to overspend a category. If that's where the expenditure is happening, you know, we have to overspend the category at the
end of the year. We do the reconciliation within the categories, and it's part of the auditing piece that happens, you know, between July and September as we work through our auditors. And then we bring to the board in August when we close our books, the categories transfers
that are needed. And those includes as well all the category transfers for the grants that you already approved that's built into the category transfers. Then we send that to the county council and then they act on the category transfers, usually in September, and they
approve them. And we have to finalize our act for our annual comprehensive financial plan, you know, based on those category transfers that are approved by the council and in collaboration with our auditors that are reviewing all our documents to make sure that
we're following the law. So that are the two different processes that are taking place. You know, there's the grants and then there's the local that is that is happening with our categories. Then last but not least, the object transfers. Those are a little bit different. You know usually we
don't we don't do object transfers outside of categories. They have to stay within the categories. But if over 100,000 we always bring it quarterly to the board to approve that, that transfer. If it's under 100,000, we do a report that is transmitted monthly to the
county executive and the county council. And I think we had a conversation where we're not sure if the board is really receiving that transmittal to the county, to the county council and the county executive. But we'll make sure to include the board, you know, moving forward. And it's not
they don't approve it. It's just an information item for them. In terms of the less than 100,000 object transfer. So that is the first I know this was a technical presentation. Yeah. I think when we were planning for this meeting, I had questions
about I'm always astounded by like emergencies. Where is that money coming from? Because. The budget is the budget. Things are allocated. And so I was curious about what flexibility or lack
thereof you have of moving money around, around in categories. Could you talk about that? So yes. So we have to spend appropriately based on the category. So let's say we have an emergency in maintenance
which is usually category one or category 11. And there's no funding for that in that particular account that is reserved for that specific emergency. So we have to overspend that account. Right. So we cannot move money. We overspend okay. And then we and
you saw it this year right where our budget was so tight. We have to find other areas of saving specifically in operation in operating budget so that we can offset that overspending. So we have to have surplus in other areas to offset that deficit that we're creating, because we
have that emergency. And so that happens throughout the year, and we reconcile at the end. So we reconcile at the end of the year. And that movement of categories after the board has reviewed and approved it, and then the county council appropriates our budget by those with those changes. Okay. And
the $100,000 threshold is for the objects of expenditure. So it's let's say that you have category nine transportation. Let's just use that one as an example. Let's say that they had a lot of substitutes because they had a lot of bus operators,
you know, that were sick, just as an example. And so we have to overspend or we need more money in those salaries, but we know that we might have $100,000 savings in fuel. And it's two different objects. So in that
case we can move the money. So we transfer the money from category nine fuel let's say for an example to salaries and wages. And then we report that as a transfer as an object transfer within category nine.
And each, each I of the 12 areas of the budget, they have multiple things in there like it's only transportation, it's only there's a lot of different things that fall under that. Correct. So in different
offices. Yes. So different offices will have different categories of expenditures and different objects of expenditure. Is that is that what your question or was it within the category. No. Sometimes I think in years past there's been like like how can
you have excess money in materials when teachers don't have enough materials in the classroom? How is it possible that there's money sitting there and it's not going? But it's not only materials, there's other things that maybe we can't
spend. Correct. But and also we are working on that because sometimes the schools don't spend all their money that are allocated for materials. So we are working on that. And I think when we hear those concerns from the teachers is what you just
mentioned, sometimes the budget is not allocated, you know, in the correct category, because we're doing the planning a year in advance, right? You know, and we're looking at things that year in advance. So let's take for example the equity add on that we're doing this year. We
understand that some schools, not all of them, have more supplies and materials funding than they spend. But we have been talking about this. They might need money for field trips. They might need money to pay for busses, or for the fees for the students to get into the
field trips. So what we're doing with that equity allocation is we're not putting all of it in materials. We have conducted work groups with the schools, you know, through our advisory groups to determine the three highest levels of needs. And we're going to allocate that
money to the schools based on those levels of needs and where they need that money. It's our first year, so it's not going to be perfect. You know, as we see the spending and as we, you know, do an analysis of the end of the year, then we will resuscitate it next year to see, you know, what is the
appropriate spending level for field trips or for if they want to bring in a professional learning opportunity for their teachers, you know, to support students and so on. So sometimes, you know, the budget is rigid in some areas, and we're trying to find ways that we can support the schools with
the needs that they have by budgeting, you know, in different in different ways. Okay. Thank you. Miss Stewart. You mentioned advisory groups. Which advisory groups? I don't know if I've ever actually seen a list. That's what I'm asking. Yes. No, no. Absolutely. So we have several. So for finance we
have several advisory groups. Well we have the budget Advisory Committee that involves all kinds of stakeholders. Now, as the Chief financial officer, I also have advisory group, which means members, administrators sign up to be part of the Finance Advisory group. And we
meet 4 to 5 times a year and includes administrators from central services, from schools at all different levels and all areas. And there's several of them of those advisory groups and then those advisory groups bring, you know, our questions
to their peers, you know, to get, you know, feedback from them so that they can bring back to our group. We also put out a survey this year, since it was our first, the first year that we're rolling out that equity add on, we did a survey to all our principals, all our schools
to see how they felt that that that funding was more was needed so that we could collect that information. We brought it then to the advisory group, and we made determinations on the best ways to allocate that funding. Okay. Mr. Sivana, yes. Thank
you. I mean, I'm just going to go back to this equity add on for, for a second. And I mean, just say this is something that, you know, when I was back in, in my sophomore year of high school, this is something that was was kind of like floating around out there in some of the
meetings I'd been to when as it relates to like the Board of Education and the student member of the board. And so, again, not to kind of go back to old budget points. So this is something that it's nice to finally be able to see in, in our actual
budget. And then just, you know, as we, as we go into future years, really, I think a very strong substantive evaluation like, like we mentioned about how this funding is going for schools will go a long way into proving its efficacy in the long run and showing that, you know,
this equity model does really support schools and clears up some of the systemic inequalities that we deal with within our system. Ms. Zimmerman, thank you. I just wanted to add to Mr. Serrano's point that I am also looking forward to seeing the analysis, and I appreciated the way you
explained the breakdowns in the categories and the ways that the money will be spent as well. I think that will be really helpful for as we look for return on investment to see where money is going. Thank you. Okay. Well, thank you for that.
And now we're moving on to facilities so you get a little break. Our next updates are items 5.1 Facility Condition Index and 5.2 heating, ventilation and air Conditioning
program. Mr. Mamoon. Welcome. Good evening. We're here to talk about a couple of the items that are on the agenda. We'll start
out with an update to the facility condition index work that has happened so far. So just a quick reminder. We came before the committee and also talked about the facility condition index in front of the
board. And we're essentially release the scope to the contractor to complete the facility condition assessment. The goal is to calculate the current replacement value and facilities needs index. So as for the first part of the scope
of the work. We originally started out with 50 of our facilities. We added two more to that. One of those was based on a comment we received from the board to include New Hampshire estates. So that is being assessed as well in the first
round. And then we also included the former Rock terrace building in the first group. So just a quick reminder, the assessment will include all the buildings that were built before 2023 were, you know, we didn't see a
need to go back and, you know, obviously assess brand new buildings and then that would also include our holding schools and any other Board of Education owned properties like the CSC, any former operating schools where we have central services staff or lease tenants, just to
get a full picture of our facilities. So the goal was to, you know, assess the, you know, 52 of these buildings by the end of this summer. And then the remaining facilities will be evaluated in the second phase of the assessment, which will be
completed by the end of next summer. So things that was considered were ranked. So we started out with this list and I'll go back over the list, you know, in the next few slides
were ranked. We started out with the Maryland Conditions Index MDC that IAC uses, because those were the most current numbers that we had that allowed us to identify, you know, the worst buildings based on those
numbers. And then we also picked schools that had approved feasibility studies, planning dollars and or placeholder construction dollars in our CIP program, and then school that hasn't received any major capital projects in the past 35
years. And then obviously, schools with critical infrastructure and holistic management and maintenance challenges, schools that have other issues such as Ada site challenges, and then schools with capacity or other programmatic challenges. So just
a quick reminder of the first 50 schools. These are the secondary schools, the schools that are highlighted in blue that do have approved feasibility or planning dollars in our CIP. And those
schools. The Eastern Middle School is currently undergoing a feasibility study out of those blue ones, and we will obviously plan to have feasibility studies for the other schools that are highlighted in blue. Based on our CIP conversations, and for
the elementary schools that were included in the first 50. The schools that have currently feasibility studies going on are Burning Tree, Damascus Elementary. Piney Branch,
Twinbrook and Whetstone currently have feasibility studies. When we do go over the update for the capital projects, we'll talk a little bit more about, you know, what these feasibility studies stand, but these are the schools that were included in the first 50 schools
that were under the study. So status update, basically all the actual school visits by the consultant has been completed. They have gathered all the data and then have, you know, they
have shared the initial raw data with us for us to start our review, we plan to complete the analysis and sitting down with the vendor going through this data. Over the next few months, we will then update our website
has the previous data from the previous study that was done in 2019 and 2022. We plan to have those updated for the, you know, these 52 facilities in the fall. And then the you know, as I
already mentioned, that the remaining schools and facilities would be assessed by the end of the summer of 2026. So the results of this study for the first 52 schools will help us inform the next CIP that we plan to bring in front of the board in November. So that's a quick
update on the FCI, and I would then turn it back to you for questions, Miss Stewart. So for the FCI, we went through this back in 2018, 2019. And you
you've seen the data and the way it's presented color coded etc. What can how are we going to be can you give us a preview of how we're going to be able to digest the data? And part two of that
is. Was, is there a precedent that you used to evaluate these schools, like did is there a standard like an industry standard that you used to? Come
up with how what you actually evaluated and then how that is shown to the public? So that's the conversation we're having with the vendor. So this is the same vendor that worked with the state of Maryland when state of
Maryland rolled out their program. So I mean, they're using industry. So industry standard to essentially look at all the components of the building, like they will look at all the infrastructure components, the plumbing, even
they will go out to the site and look at conditions of any challenges on the site or any, you know, issues with the facade, the windows. They will look at the roofing, they will look at all the, you know, HVAC components. They also are looking at, you know, our data
based on the work order, history and all of those. So I mean, they're following the industry standard to look at all the data points. So the reports we're receiving, the raw data is absolutely huge amount of data. So that's what we're working with the vendor on to make sure
that we're able to present it in a way that, you know, is more digestible instead of, you know, sharing a report for each school that is 150 pages and a lot of, you know, the it, you know, the folks will not be able to, you know, go through the data to understand, you know, what's in,
you know, presented in there. So we're working with the vendor to come up with that. You know, that not a dashboard, but more of a concise report, but it just goes through and points out the critical factors based on the,
you know, the, the building components, the space specifically, like the building systems, which would include your, you know, indoor comfort, HVAC, lighting, Ada roofing and
facade. So that's the work that we're doing with the vendor currently. And I'm curious, how do we know that this data reflects the real world experience in the school? Because I did notice the last time when I looked through some
of it, didn't really track from what I was hearing or experiencing. And so is there any cross-check, like, do you talk to the principal or the teachers to say, you know, is
this what you're experiencing? Does this track because maybe there's an area of the school that has an issue and it's not being reflected. So the work of the vendor is strictly based on just the industry standard
practices of what they're looking at for the building systems and looking at replacement value. We're again, as I said, we're also looking at the work order that that exists in those schools. That also helps us inform whether what we're seeing as far as
conditions, because sometimes a condition of an equipment, if it says it's only 7 or 8 years old, may not necessarily reflect how it's operating. So we're going to be cross-checking between, you know, the information that we're seeing on paper, which is a calculation versus actually
what's being, you know, what's being seen both by the work orders we're receiving from either the teachers or building service folks, as well as obviously, our maintenance folks who are very familiar with the building, because they're the ones who are, you know, working
on those work orders. They will be looking at that data as well. My last question, do you expect that there will be a numerical value assigned to like a score? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Okay. And
so this is super important as we build out the next CIP right. We need to can you talk more about how they connect. Yes. So we wanted to make sure that we're using the data as we are because this is we're in the, you know,
a new cycle because, you know, the previous CIP we just went through was a revision year. Obviously, this is a year for, you know, for us to present a new six year CIP. We wanted to make sure as we're building that CIP, that we're prioritizing the schools based on actual data.
And this is going to be very helpful and help us inform that. And part of the study includes that replacement value, which also allows us to see, as we are planning and identifying which schools to renovate, what is required for that renovation,
which would allow us to build that budget out more accurately. Okay. Thank you. And even if there is a numerical, there's always never enough money and more need. So there's always decisions that have to be made
and priorities, even if they are ranked. Mr. Did you have another comment? I just want to say that we could make this as a deck of cards. 52 schools, but anyway, that's my own imagination.
Running wild. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. And actually, could you introduce yourself? We didn't get a chance to do that. Good evening. Hi, everyone. Andrea Sueoka I'm the new deputy chief of facility management. Welcome. Thank you, thank you. Okay, so let's continue with our
next item. 5.3 Capital Projects update. Mr. Mahmud. Yeah. Sorry. There was one more item about the HVAC systemic, so I wanted to go over that very quickly, so wanted to share a little bit of
how the HVAC projects are determined as well as, you know, what's involved in, you know, the planning process and, you know, the time frame it takes for us to like from planning to actually, you know, changing our HVAC in a building. So the HVAC systems are, you know, the
schools we select for these projects are based on age of the HVAC system, as well as work order, history and other metrics. And then once the schools have been selected, what we do is if like for example, we just talked about our next CIP
cycle, if we determine that there are other HVAC projects we want to put in in the CIP, we will apply, you know, we will present that to the board. And based on that, we will be applying for state funding as well. Because if a an age of a
HVAC system is more than 15 years, we can apply for local state funding. So we will go through that process once the state and local fundings have been approved for that particular project, which typically happens in May, we can then start, you know, issuing
design contracts to start the design process that typically usually takes about a year to, you know, design a replacement for an HVAC system. And then once that's completed, you know, and then we go through the
bidding process and then we, you know, go through the permitting as well as ordering long lead items, because sometimes these equipments can take, you know, upwards of 35 to 40 weeks or more in order for us to get it. So typically by the time funding
is approved for a project and then we go into construction, there's almost a two year period that we have to wait before that project can start. And as far as doing the construction of these replacement hvacs, typically an elementary school could be done
over a summer break. But if it's a middle school or a high school. Middle schools typically at least would take two years. High schools can take, you know, four years or, you know, in the case of, you know, certain high schools, it could be even more than that. So just a quick, you
know. Visuals of the timeline, you know, so summer 2025, we will be identifying schools based on a variety of factors. We just talked about October and November. We will be applying for state funding through the state CFP funding process. And
then we will also apply for or request local funding through the local process. And then May of 2026, we will be, you know, we will become certain whether the state's actually approving our CIP award, and then the council will action on the CIP
will ensure whether we have funding for those projects. And then, you know, during school year 2026 and 27, we will be designing that project and permitting. And then 27, 28, you know, we'll finalize the
permits, award the bid and procure the equipment. So anything we're planning now, essentially in summer of 2028, we're going to be starting that construction. So just wanted to share that timeline. So the committee understands that, you know, between planning and actually starting construction, there's a long, long time that
takes place. And then just a quick update on what we're doing currently under construction is Gaithersburg Middle School. That's in its phase two. Sligo Middle School will undergo phase one this summer. White Oak Middle School phase one this summer, harmony school, Harmony
Hills and Monocacy are just one summer project that will take place this summer, and then currently in design is Springbrook High School. Whitman High School, drew and then Matsunaga, Longview, and then
also, even though it's we don't have a CIP funding allocated for New Hampshire Estates for an HVAC replacement. Like we informed the board earlier that we are, we have issued a design contract because we know that there are known issues with the HVAC system there because
they're having moisture problems. So we do have that design underway. And once we have that design completed this summer, that will allow us to consider that and include that money request in our CIP. And that's all the update we had for
HVAC. Are there any questions? Stuart. So I'm just going to use one example, Monocacy Elementary School, which is now being done, which is great, but I believe that was delayed three different
years. And so I don't have a sense of how often that happened at all, because we've never received a report of this. At least it's not tracked. Right. Like if you do this every year
and then the next year, you're like, oh yeah, we didn't have those funds. You know, even though it was planned for the next year, because then the summer will come and then the principal would be ready, like, oh, we're tell, tell the PTA, oh, we should get the funds. And
then they don't get the funds. And maybe some of that's communication. But I think it's really important that the public knows what to expect and also knows that when we can't fund these projects, there's real
world consequences and includes delays. And then. The condition of the school can actually get worse through time. So is there any plan to track this? Issue?
Thank you. So your particular question about Monocacy, I willt what what happened with those projects. So again, I think what we've been talking about this evening is kind of all ties
together. I believe that with having that condition assessment completed allows us to really understand the replacement values. In the past, what we have seen on projects, and I can't particularly speak to Monocacy, so I don't know what the cause of that delay was.
However, we do have, you know, a funding allocation, say of $40 million for HVAC projects, and we are planning to do a certain number of projects. But as you remember, right after the pandemic, the market, you know, started really swinging upwards as far as cost of work that had
gone up. And it could have, you know, sometimes, you know, probably not. If the projects were not properly budgeted, then it had to be moved out for a future year, because, you know, that HVAC funds that was allocated was not enough to do the projects that were originally planned. So those
could be some of the reasons. And again, I can't speak specifically to Monocacy, but I think as we're doing these conditions assessments, what it allows us to do is to, you know, identify the systems properly
and then putting in the current replacement value. And then as we are planning, if we know that the project would start, say, in 2028, having that proper value of that current replacement allows us to put the inflation factor that we can on it to
budget these projects more accurately. So I think, you know, going forward we can plan better. But obviously the piece of communication, I think is also important that when we do understand that we're facing a challenge, whether it is due to a delay in equipment, which has recently happened on certain
projects that, you know, we were, you know, ready to replace some HVAC equipments. But then we had an issue because we were not able to get the equipment from the manufacturer in time. I think, you know, we can definitely, you know, do a better job in communicating that
with the, you know, the principal as well as the school community. So we'll, you know, definitely taking your, your your point about that. Thank you. And just to have some kind of way, a transparent way to track what happened. So then as
board members, we can even see those patterns and we can help communicate with the community as well because we, you know, go out to the community and we hear about these things and we don't have the tracking. So for me, it would be helpful just to be able
to go back and look, okay, so this is what happened in this year and this is why we are where we're at. Thank you. Thank you. Did you want to add anything to chime in on one? I think a good example might be like White Oak Middle School where that was actually funded in FY 23. And so if you look at
the timeline that we were showing, making sure people are clear just because their HVAC in their school is listed in the FY 27, doesn't mean that the construction will actually happen. So figuring out a way for us in the CIP to make that clear that you're not going to actually get construction, depending on how many phases. If
you're an elementary, middle or high school, when would construction start and how many phases do we anticipate? Because I do think people we probably gotten people excited when they see their name in the FY 27. And then when you look at that timeline, it does take multiple years before you actually see
that impact. I always think about. Star Trek. The engineers always, you know, building in that cushion. Anyway, people
should know that, right? So then it just helps us all have set our expectations. Right. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. I have asked previously that I think it'd be helpful for us to see
which schools are consistently to warm, you know, 80 degrees or more that we're getting those reports. I know that that's like our OSHA guidelines. But, you know, I also think about the ones that are just below the threshold and the, yes, like
OSHA guidelines, we're thinking about our staff, but I also think about the children in our schools, too. So. I'm also curious about schools that report varying temperatures. You know, sometimes there's a section of the building that's
much too hot or too cold. I can think of one specifically, I have a teacher friend that always wears shorts to work because his room is always too hot, even when it's January. So I'm I'm wondering if that's something that's maybe it's just
this building specific, but is that something that we hear about schools across the county? Not not building specific. Just going to chime in there? I agree, but I was wondering if the experts had something to
say. So typically, and again, without trying to get too technical in that, you know, trying to explain sometimes the reason for that happening and without knowing that particular building. So there are certain systems that HVAC systems that
are better at controlling temperature, specifically when there are what we call shoulder days, meaning that days that are not too hot or too cold. So there are HVAC systems that can operate throughout any
temperature range, regardless of what the outside temperature is. But there are certain HVAC systems that can only operate in heating mode or operating in cooling mode, and they can't adjust when the outside temperature is, say, 5560
degrees, where you don't need as much heat as you would on a 32 degree day, if that makes sense. So that in those cases, those buildings, you know, would typically suffer. That's what, you know, my experience has been so without, you know, knowing that particular exact building.
But yes, those kind of issues can exist in certain buildings. You know, we try to adjust by in our maintenance folks what they would go in and is try to adjust by, you know, adjusting dampers and try to move air between different rooms and see if that
that helps. But sometimes it's basically if the system is already installed and that's the system that we have and that was installed 20 years ago, then essentially we can only do some certain adjustment and not make that condition a whole lot
better. Yeah. So then to follow up on that as we're, you know, maybe adding or updating our systems, it sounds like perhaps as you described the two models, model one is maybe the better option there. Are we consistently choosing model one? Yeah. So when we do replace
that's why we do the hiring of the engineers to make sure that we're upgrading the systems to meet current codes and whatnot. Because a lot of these buildings, you know, that those systems that we have in there, you know, they met the code at the time they were installed. But obviously, as we upgrade, we
have to meet current codes and standards. So we upgrade the systems. Great. Thank you. I have one other question. You're describing this long timeline. And sometimes there's a situation where a school is untenable right now. And we've
heard that, you know, from the community, especially as things have started to get warm. Can you describe like also for those that are watching, what happens when you know something? It's untenable right now, but it's going to take some time for us to replace the part or something
like that. What do we do to try to make that situation better for the school in that moment? So yes, those are obviously very challenging. It depends on, you know, what we need in certain cases that in this year, when the days were getting very warm
in certain schools, we did supply what's called the spot coolers. They, you know, help, you know, bring the temperature down. They're not going to, you know, make it down to 72 degrees on a very hot day. But they, they, they help. So that's what we've been, you know, trying to supply just to make sure that
the classrooms don't get too warm. In case of Magruder, for example, their chiller fail, which is a large equipment, we had to actually bring in a chiller and we hooked it up. And it's a, you know, smaller chiller, but it was able to at least, you know, temporarily help cool the building down. So
those are the, you know, certain things that we have that our maintenance department can do up to a certain extent. But as you know, if it's if the, you know, problem is, is massive, then, you know, we typically have to, you know, contract out the repair as soon as possible,
supply those spot coolers just to help them, you know, continue, you know, being in that building for the days it requires for the repair. But those are the things that we use on a temporary basis, whether, you know, bringing in rental equipment or supplying with fans and coolers. Thank you. Yes.
Thank you. So I mean, when we when we think about, you know, some of these emergency scenarios and I have two questions actually I say that now but I might have more. But let's keep it brief because the capital and policies and we've got 20 minutes left. Yeah. So
when we think about like some of these emergency scenarios and going through like, like when we're talking about bringing in like rental chillers or things like that, are there any assets that we that we own that we just that we keep in kind of storage for situations like this or that, like it makes it makes
fiscal sense for us to keep and hold on to versus the ones that, you know, the cost is too, you know, substantive for us to hold on to it just for in case of an emergency. No, that that is a great question. I mean, that is something we do think about. However, you know, in case of,
you know, having those rental chillers for emergencies, the issue is if we don't need it and it sits somewhere and then it becomes another maintenance problem, and then when we might need it, it may not operate properly, which is why those
things have been historically been contracted out, because those contractors are keeping those equipment up to make sure that they're ready for those rental periods. So typically we don't, you know, maintain or keep large equipment like that
in our portfolio. Got it. Got it. Okay. Thank you. And then going back to kind of the earlier sort of message about, you know, some some classrooms being super hot, some classrooms being super cold. Is there is there anything that we can do, like barring a full system replacement like in some of
those areas? I mean, I've had multiple schools, like virtually every single school that I've visited. I asked them the question, right, are your do you have issues with your heating and cooling systems in your school? And every hand goes up, right. So like when I think about that, I mean, I think about, you know, it's more
systemic problem than just, you know, the ones that need their HPC replaced versus the ones who, like, maybe a classroom is too hot or classroom is too cold. Like, what can be done around that? Like, is there anything that we're looking into, or is that also a budget concern that we need to look into as well? No. Typically to
introduce outside air? So there are things that could be done. So we try to manage it through the work order process. But and that's or again in a we talked about you know bringing in spot coolers and or you know sometimes you know we look at
you know some sometimes we would find there are certain issues like you know, recently there was a classroom we found was getting too warm. And when we, you know, when we got the work order and we started digging in, figuring out there was a piece of insulation that kind of was covering where the air comes out. And that was a simple fix.
But understanding or getting those work orders in allows our maintenance team to, you know, to be able to look at those and provide some temporary solutions. So just like work orders, is that what is that the solution I'm hearing? Yes. Okay. Can I just say this. The schools
we presented tonight are all the big replacements, but the team is also working on much smaller ones, although I would argue equally as important and big. So like we have a boiler replacement at Northwest High School and East Silver Spring Elementary School this summer, as well as a cooling tower at Richard Montgomery. So there are
things happening besides, just like the larger ones that were presented that do have a significant impact throughout the school year. Okay, can we move on? That's it for me. Yeah. One quick question, Miss Stewart. We can get into this later about the kind of
technology that you're putting in our new schools and also what you're doing with these new systems. And I wanted to dig into zoned HVAC systems. And because I've been hearing that there's better technology, newer technology where you can actually have more
individualized targeted temperatures based on, you know, sun exposure and all different kinds of things. So I just want to say, can we get a report on that later? Thank you. Okay.
Thank you. If we could move on to the capital. Great. I'm just going to give a quick update. I'm going to start with the feasibility studies. So this spring we have had seven feasibility studies underway. They're all in slightly varying
states. So just wanted to give a sense. But all of them have had at least three community meetings plus an additional staff meeting. Three of them. The communities have already received a presentation on the final options, and those are Eastern Middle School, Cold Spring Elementary and Whetstone
Elementary. I should say one is doing it to this evening and Whetstone will be in July. So those three will have received their final presentation. Piney branch will receive their final option presentation in July. There's also an extra meeting on
Monday to discuss other topics of that one, and then final options for Burning Tree in Twinbrook and Damascus will be in September. Again, they've already had three community meetings to date, where a number of different options and drafts have been shared. The design
teams will be sharing final reports with M.C.P.S. This summer, which is important for us as we take those into consideration during our CIP planning for the FY 27 to 32 and then Springbrook, as you guys are all aware, was just approved on Tuesday by the board, so we
will start to work with that design team this summer and kick off community meetings in the fall. I'm going to move into then the additions and the replacements and the construction. So this summer we have the Greencastle addition that will open this August.
Neelsville we have the building has been completely demolished and we are wrapping up the site work there. Poolesville. Most of it is open, but we have the main gym that will open in August, which is looking great and exciting for that to open. And then the media center and cafe
and dining space will open in October. They already have other spaces that they have been using this school year, and final site work will wrap up at the end of this calendar year. Silver Spring International Middle School the gymnasium will open this August and then a slightly
smaller one, but a concession stand and stadium will open for this school year as well. Then, as we think just a couple about upcoming school years for school year 2627, we have lilac that will open. So a complete replacement. So that one is well
under construction. Wooten has a smaller project, but the bus loop and parking burtonsville the full replacement. So the new school site is under construction and that is scheduled to open for August of 2026, as well as part of the classrooms for the Early
Childhood Center at the Old Burtonsville and then Woodward High School site. Amenities in the back behind the new school that was built. And then for summer of 2027, we'll have Crown High School. So the new
replacement will open Northwood High School as well. Brand new construction happening there. And then for Woodward, it will be the auditorium and the auxiliary gym that is being built on the site right now. And those are the projects that the team has been working on. Great.
Thank you. Yeah. Any questions? Just one quick one. I mean, when it comes to the Northwood project, I and then we just talked about Woodward, the auditorium opening up a little bit later. If Northwood is also
phased phased in right or north would be opening fully. Okay. Yeah. I mean there's just a concern for a second if, if we were having a phased approach that Northwood would be without its auditorium for, for upwards of 4 or 5 years at that point.
So just wanted to, to elevate that. Yeah, I know 2027 Northwood. The entire project, all three phases will be completed. All right. Sounds great. Sorry. Two phases. Yeah. Perfect. Thank you,iss Stewart. Silver spring
international, can you remind me? Because the new gym's opening. What's the old gym like going to be? I believe, and I might have to get back to you on that. I believe part of that is
remaining because there are restroom facilities in there that are being used. But I can get you the details on what's happening with the rest of that structure. And as you know, that building is such a challenge. And so I think I had some
questions at our last meetings about what can we do in the next piece. So I'm looking forward to that, because quality of life. Unfortunately, the new gym doesn't really do anything for the quality of the everyday
experience in the school, so hopefully we can take a look at that in the next CIP. Thank you. Okay, no other questions. So thank you for the both presentations. And finally we
have updates on three financial policies related to Fiscal Management Committee's work, which have been presented to the Policy Committee for consideration. And we will be presented to the full board in September. I will ask Miss Alfonso Windsor to walk us
through in a really high level, the updates to the policies for fiscal responsibility and Control, operating fund investments and funding of retirement pension systems. As the fiscal management committee, I felt like we need to have a
better understanding of about what these are about and how will they make things better. Thank you. So in the interest of time, I, I am going to say that we did have a stakeholder
engagement for all these revisions. And we also consulted, you know, some of our consultants that work with us in investments and so on as part of the engagement strategy. So for the first one, policy, Da fiscal responsibility and control, the
last time that we revised this policy was in 2002. So as we know, the Maryland law requires county governments to adhere to a specific fiscal accounting procedures, and county boards of education are required to follow those established procedures
that the counties have in which they are located. So the suggested revisions to this policy include language reference to our M.C.P.S. Financial Manual. This manual was developed in 2007, and we update that regularly for
technical changes and for M.C.P.S. Organization and reporting structure changes, as well as changes in law, policy and procedures. According to Kumar, when we implemented the M.C.P.S. Hub and so on. So that's why in this policy, we are redacting a lot of the
language because it's all contained in the M.C.P.S. Financial manual. So we're referencing the manual as part of the policy, as a place where people can access, you know, to look at all of our financial processes, in addition to the direct reference to the manual, we're also including in the
policy the reports that we submit and that the board acts on, you know, every month, our monthly financial reports, we're including that as part of the policy, the Policy Management Committee, Ms. Silvestre, made the recommendation to make sure
that we include language referencing the audit, the yearly audits that we undergo. So we're making that change to the policy as well. Or we're suggesting that draft language in the policy as well. So that is the summary of the changes for that first policy. If
there's any questions, continue please. So then the second policy is policy D I g operating funds investments. And this one was last revised in 2011. And this policy needed updates just
to bring in line with our current processes and to bring greater clarity to this document. This policy establishes the criteria for the investment of Unexpended appropriated, appropriated operating funds and designates the Superintendent of Schools,
or designee, as investing the funds consistent with this policy. And I just want to make sure that we are all understanding that this is about our operating funds, our daily funds that we use to, you know, to make, make, meet our commitments. M.C.P.S. Only makes
short term investments for our operating budget. And because of the magnitude of operating budget, those modest investments over the last few years have given us returns of 5 to $7 million. You know, the ways that we are investing, but short term
means that we is our agreements that are less than a year, and it gives us the flexibility for cash in, cash out as we need it. And we will also add language as recommended by Miss Mr. Silvana, at the last meeting to add the Policy Management Committee
meeting to ensure that the core values of M.C.P.S. Are part of those investment strategies. So we will add language to that. And the new language also states the objective for investment activities and emphasize the value of prudent judgment,
discretion and care, and foremost, maintaining the safety of this capital as we make those investments. And that is the summary of that policy. Thank you. Then last but not least, we have policy g g the funding
retirement pension system. So this policy was last revised in 2009. We the and we also sought recommendations for this policy from our consultant, the firm that contracted to do our audit
for the Pension and Retirement system. And those recommendations are part of this revisions. We want to make it clear that there's two policies that to that are similar. Sorry that in this policy, we have two boards that are simultaneously addressed, you know, referred to
in this policy. The first one is the Board of Education and their intent and responsibility to provide retirement and pension benefits to M.c.p.s employees. And the second board is the board of Investment Trustees, to whom the Board of Education
delegates responsibility to oversee the investment of funds assets. The Board of Education delegates those powers through a trust agreement that we have with the Board of Trustees. The policy also assigns to the Superintendent of Schools, or designee certain
responsibilities, which include the contracting with a credential, credential, actuarial firm. The GRS that we've that I prior referenced, and they prepare reports that are required by the Board of Education as part of their oversight. Those reports are brought yearly in front of the
Fiscal Management Committee to review any recommendations. And then finally, those recommendations go to the board again for Mr. Recommendation. We're adding language to ensure that our investments meet the core values of M.c.p.s. There's
also redacted language in this policy. We're taking out a lot of the terminologies that are very technical, and we are are in the process of creating a new regulation where we incorporate those terminologies. That's thank you. The summary of the
last. Any questions. All right. Well thank you very much. Thank you. Are there any final comments or new business to bring before the committee this evening? Okay. If not I'll give
you five minutes back of your lives. That concludes today's fiscal management Committee meeting. Do I have a motion to adjourn? So moved second. All in favor? Raise your hands, and we
are adjourned. Let's go.