##VIDEO ID:4ngaXc-oKpw## e e OG I would like to call this meeting of the narrog at Regional School District school committee to orderan everyone please rise for the pledge iedge to the of the United States of America and to the Republic as a reminder this meeting is being live streamed and recorded is available to watch on YouTube um theenda today is the main focus of our meeting is um an initial look at the budget for the school committee um that said we do have a few items of business to make our way through and so we'll make sure that we get through those as quickly as we can um starting with minutes um I would entertain a motion to approve the meeting minutes of January 16 2025 spring motion by Hank second second by Danielle any questions or comments on those minutes seeing none all in favor opposed abstained and I say yes so that is unanimous um we also have a few B bills and pay rolls um pay those bills and I would recommend a motion to accept the bills and payroll warrants as presented motion by Jeff second by Hank um any questions or comments about those bills to payroll seeing none all in favor opposed abstained and I say yes so that is also unanimous our student rep is not here this evening um so we will skip over that we do not have anyone from the public but NDA is here Mrs Parker what do you have to share with us this evening not much to share um back from break everyone's U Been trying to get in their mid year the middle of the Year assessment so STAR testing we're trying to wrap it up this week we've had a lot of kids in the middle school I don't know about but so many kids out with stach bugs and flu and that kind of thing so hoping to get this wrapped up in the next few days and probably about it yeah well stay healthy lots of yes absolutely all right well thank you um all right so we are going to um get into our FY 26 budget initial discussion um and so Dr C shall I hand this over to you to start or am Marie yes I'm sh I'm just gonna read sorry I'm looking for s okay um so last week the last 10 days we we were our Chapter 70 preliminary everything's always preliminary of course until it's not um and the state you know with with our state choose it sometimes our budget is never approved until like the 1 or second week of July which is a point of contention with a lot of us but what we do have um are at least the beginning the numbers in order to move forward and this you know is obviously the time of year in which we start to project what um what the budget will partly what the district will need in terms of a budget so um this will be a pair down version um quite frankly just because um this is just what we have right now but as we of course move down the road in terms of the months and we'll we'll be expanding the information that we share so uh Chapter 70 which is how we are funded um it is student enroll or at least foundationally student driven um and three out of the last four years we have been not Health harmless which means that we have increase the number of students um that we have in that in our district now again we won't go into we won't go into all of it right now but there is a distinct difference between the foundation involvment and of course um our are enroll the students who are actually in the you know in the building every single day but we uh the state drives the money that we receive by the number of students so last year we were NE we were negative eight we had eight fewer students than we did the year before um which put us in the held harmless category in which we received the state minimum and I believe in the end um it was $110 per student it was roughly little over $100,000 right exactly so it's always the it's very the very minimum that you could possibly get well this year there we are we are plus roughly 13 now there are multipliers and I want to stay on this just for a bit um there's some things here we want to discuss so first off we doubled the number of elll students that we have in our district year over year so last year rer take we had 10 or 11 and this year we have 25 so this is one of the reasons U and we've talked about this in previous meetings that when the department of Ed comes out to evaluate all of our programs we did not have enough services for that um that increase and we were and we were cited um so and we've taken care of that sense but um that's a multiplier so the students that we consider that the state considers in need what our elll um they are our um special education students and and low income and so when you have which is unfortunately Le certainly for the low income you have more of that you're it's a it's a multiplier in terms of the money that you receive we discuss this every year but we have gone up in low income we've gone up in special education and we double the number of students in the ell now 25 is that a big number no we have districts that are around us that well they're they have 100 or they have 50 but we doubled literally and mostly at the elementary level in one single year so from last year to this year which um in terms of services need that need to be provided you know that became problematic because we weren't ready for that we didn't know that necessarily that was going to happen until the year started if you notice that so if you look at the upper right hand corner you'll see that you know the total number of students Le Foundation is 1,347 we'll get into that a little bit about over the next slide um and that's an increase over last year so that means that we are going to receive money from the state in U as as it applies to chapter 7 in the lower corner you're going to see another Circle and we were looking over our last PowerPoint from last year and you know we had definely missed again this is a great thing it is what it is but we we were I don't know maybe 8.9 uh shy of being a level eight in terms of low income well we Sur past and we are now in um a low income group of of eight so that is an increase um that obviously you can see we're at the year so it all told when you look at this that our foundation budget per pupil is $1 15,23 per student in terms of foundation okay I'll stop there for a second does anybody have any questions about that no okay so the next slide which is a I think a little bit easier to read um this really kind of give you your comparison it's called the summary sheet when um if you you know want some light reading if you want to go on and download the um the spreadsheet for every District but as you can see that we are baring 17 so we increased 17 students in terms of foundation enrollment um and once that happens you're going to see these numbers tick up especially in chapter 78 so you you can see when you look across that we are uh given that increase in students that they represent that we uh realized 561,000 $748 increase through chapter 7 and which represents almost a 5% increase in chapter 78 um there's not really much more to say about that although the foundation budget of course increases and what also happens is that you see that the required District contribution also increases because again I'm want to keep going back to the fact that it is student driven so as more students come into the district or the town it makes sense and I use quotes for that but it make does make sense that you're going to see your Lo your minimum uh local contribution or required District contribution um increase you so this is the page that everyone is I think customed um to seeing uh it's certainly what the um what the towns are accustomed to seeing I'm going to let an Marie because really she is the author of the of the um income sheet and I'll just have her just kind of hit some of the highlight um of of what we're looking at here so as he explained you can see the Chapter 70 increased um this year for FY 26 over FY 25 561,000 attends um our transportation is dead down that's a number based on 80% um we really don't know what the final percent is until everybody knowes their end of the year reports next fall and then they can calculate the math at um Department of it EMD you'll notice that I increased it by 45,000 for the line right below on the Medicaid I decreased because our Medicaid the past few years we've anticipated getting 245,000 in receipts oh we haven't hit that so I thought since we have a little extra D and D this year we just try and like balance it out um so that's all of our like State money the town's contributions went up quite a bit but that's to be expected because of all of the increased enrollment so Templeton minimum contribution went up $397,500 and that's the amount that the state calculates that says based on the number of students in your town that's what you have to pay um their transportation went up as well because as we've noted before we have a new contract that starts July 1 and the price is $300,000 more than it is this year and part of that is because this contract reflects that addition of two buses that we've had to add over the last couple of years and the contract we had before was written before Co and a lot has changed since then um so templeton's overall so the term of the contract just ended last year we just put one contract Contra yep so they overall with the additional appropriation that we always calculate in for whatever we need on the expens side gives them a total increase of $965,000 which is 11 and A4 per increase over last year Philipson's minimum went up by $ 68,4 and again their transportation has gone up their numbers are significant to them but compared to Templeton it's quite a bit smaller but it's still an increase um over what they're used to by 65,8 194 and that gives them a full overall increase of 8.14% and it doesn't show on this SE sheet but we take these expenses and divide up based on the per pupil for residents and Philipson's residents drop below 15% we've been hovering we usually go 8515 8614 back back and forth and this year philson hover they went fell right below 15 they're at 14.89% of the population of residents and Templeton went up till like just over 85 I think it's 85.1 so that shift in students also affects these numbers between the two towns um so our overall budget increase for the general fund is we're we're asking for 1 600 1,686 78 which equates to almost a 7% increase for us um our school choice numbers as we have been talking about um that Revenue the Cherry sheets estimate that it's going down 144,000 over last year in Grants and revolving funds are up 499,000 but those are estimates it's not in stone it really depends on how we close out this year and what grants are available next year for us to apply for so you know here are the details right um here are the numbers um they're they're very high U obviously you know well we'll get into kind of the forecasting of this here in a few minutes but some of the important numbers they're all important mind you but the school choice number is something that we're gonna we're gonna h on just a a little bit here in a few minutes so the challenges that we you know are facing and I and I I got to tell you what increased involment I always hate to say that as a challenge because want to move here people want to go to school here those are good things um but the fact is that with the increasing R there's an increase need and you know need lot of but the increases of course curriculum costs more buses are needed we talked about that more space is needed again I make sure that we're not you know sky is falling we're full we are we're you know comfortable how I put that we're not sitting on heaters and stuff like that like we did you know back in the day but we are it really starting to get to the point where just don't have any other qu unquote swing space there no you know kind of things that we can kind of do differently in terms of space um it you know increase Staffing I you know someone asked me Point Blank well where you know you say increase Staffing but for what well for a lot of things but mostly it's it's to support our special needs students and um our elll students and some of those specialty populations that we talk about when we're talking about the the multipliers um because they generally they are quote unquote protected classes and they have they have conditions right in order for that we need to meet whether it be an IEP whether it be LL etc etc etc so there's there are some things that are just kind of built into sub those costs and the state is trying to they recognize that that's what the multiplier um you know talks about but um The increased need for specialized services and transportation of course so this is we say this every year every District says this over you know every year um but it's it's becoming a serious need and we talked about the level and the need and the numbers of special need students that are coming into our district or are here okay and um and that we must provide those type of accommodations or modifications the hard to fill positions you know we've had to increased contracted Services mostly around the areas again special need Services speaked special education Etc there's there's a lot of reasons why or two main reasons is one we've had a had difficulty hiring them um and two uh that they there's a lot of them and we are especially in the area of speech and we had to you know we had to do the right thing and and provide them with services but we are you know it's we haven't seen this type of increase I don't think in a very long time and of course sped transportation they're being you know if they're outplaced Etc and of course the increase the the long-term substitute teachers and what I mean by that is that we you know if there are openings then we're paying other we're paying people to fill those spots and um and just or just in general and that's always something that we're keeping that we keep an eye on um moving forward you know just again people appreciate just the numbers please just give me BR P okay here it is you know Water and Sewer cost have gone up 20% um yellow bus transportation has gone up 30 $31,000 increase that's the case of Transportation has gone up 34% P to Regional retirement has gone up 14 Group Insurance Commission 12.5 general liability insurance has gone up 10 health insurance 14% hold on here for a sec is that um we're actually lucky and love when folks lucky that you're only have a 9% increase and we are because there are other entities that are you looking at a 14 or 15% increase we actually we're much better than some well we've also seen a 5% increase in folks hopping on our insurance as well so we were looking at well in grand total 14 right% so there's the 9% increase which we're which I guess we're having and and then we have more people are hopping on to that insurance because you know it's proba more affordable than the insurance you know either you have more people or it's a better deal than significant other um and of course the staff cost of living we know that the Ina you know we settled the contract we talked about that a lot it's a 3% increase next year FY 26 generally what we do is that whatever the the largest body in terms of receives for increase that's what everybody receives including your troop so so we're it's a it's easier to calculate that way but so we of course that's what we're looking for um in terms of um a cost of living increase but it'll be a 3% um okay so this is not a a new slide it's not unfamiliar I don't think um you know every so often I take some years off the tops in other words because it gets too large right it gets too you always you know you go back all the way to fy20 it just you know just becomes to big but so just as a reminder or a refresher what the plan has been is to re not to replace the number of school choice students whom leave right and mostly it's through graduation so if you remember I would always say we try if we lost 20 to a graduating class across the district try to replace the 20 and then look at how many kids who were School choiced here in the first place went to Mony Tech or yeah went to Mone Tech and then their towns be paid for that but we Tred to replace both of those kind of those main areas of of kiddos who would go move on and not be you know considered school choice we've sto that process a long time ago um given that we were at first you know there was this this idea that there was overcrowding and we had we had cut teachers way back but It ultimately the plan should have worked really should have right what happens is you don't take as many school choice students that number goes down it was according to the trend report that we actually got for this District because we built a new school that that was projected to Trend down as well and it would have looked like two lines you know heading down but it would been a controlled fall so to speak that has not happened at all so as I do as I as we do not replace the number of school choice students leaving the district we have more than doubled the number of residents who have moved in so again these are numbers that are that are again they're concrete they're they exist can be you know that looked at research we are 100 we are plus 185 since F we have reduce the number of schent choice students just in that time frame that I think going back s right well obviously we're not able to we're not able to reduce it's we're doubling more than doubling the number of residents it should again so I used to have a slide that the um the foundation looks like this and the enrollment almost look like this a little bit but now they're both trending you know they're both trending foundation and our enrollment St en are going the same rate so that that's a good thing it it really is uh because you want students who live here to go to school here you want parents to feel Comfort comfortable enough to trust you in terms of their education um and they do so in rate numbers moving forward a little bit there's the infamous line we talk about this a lot there's our enrolled yeah dips a little bit but if you look at it the other way I'm doubling the number of of residents this is me saying outwardly because I'm going to show you another line here matter of fact I'm just going to move on to the next see just easier is that there's your school choice line so for someone who watches this number like the stock market because it's very interesting because I school choice says a lot about your district and it says a lot about what people think about your District what about the parents think about your District Etc but the receiving school choice has gone down by our right we have done so on post control fall right the number of sending can do a lot of different right go up or down depending on that is continually I I think I have to go all the way back I don't I think since 2017 we have seen or well in 21 right that's a little bit different that was Co but it has dropped every that's great right you don't want kids to tracing out because you that's first off going to care about money get the full you're going to get the full $15,000 that I talked about earlier right and um it's a good representation for your District but that yellow line that differential we talk about in a lot that's at 43 that is too close I that we I see no other option than to next year is to put is is to increase the number of school choice students across this District to include the elementary which is a conversation for another day I understand that but we're going to need to increase our school choice in quickly why the graduating class has 20 school choice students so July one comes they're off okay so all of a sudden that number drops to receiving like automatically now down to you know almost you're now you're around a 100 Kids G or di right depending on what else happens and if you're sending doesn't keep dropping then oh gosh and I think there's like 12 kids who are um school choice now who are seniors this year too so there's always this natural kind of like adjustment but that's way too close 48 students because when you start looking at the money of it okay is so that that important line there's a lot of important lines here there's a lot of lines just I believe I am correct but I just want to ask part of the sending is still because we cannot support some of the services for some of the students is that correct some of the students still no both oh in school true don't we have students that go to other schools because we can't support some of their services that would if if not other schools maybe other programs okay so on the special completely different they're not considered school choice they are cons have that's not this line by the way we get the full for those students there're ours and we receive the foundational amount okay for example just you know um but if you look at this and you look at how we were okay we Dro below a million dollars for the first time I think since I don't know since I don't know I'd have to I'd have to go back back s years but um the differential has dropped now you said chis the differential went up how can that you know you made money and you dropped all these kids well look it it really does when you're the difference in terms of sending and receiving there's what they call sped increment and and sometimes students who are School choic in or out they receive what's called a sped increment because they receive services so but the dollars themselves though the big the important line is the yellow line that receiving because we have nine teach that are that are dedicated or come out of school voice Revol that happened a very long time ago um and you know and by the way as I've said it's not uncommon there are a lot of districts who do that because it's it's a it's a way to get the services you need without the general fund right your your school budget um but what happens is that you know just like the insurance you know conversation that unless you keep a healthy balance unless you're able to really you know keep that differential you have a liability there that that can't be supported you should go upside down by that I mean school choice out versus school choice in so you know we so so there it is and that is why we we talk about this a lot but it is the first time that we've dropped that you know below a million dollars and we're going to and that's year again it's always in the rears right it always kind of moves forward so yeah so there that is why again when the conversation does you know come up with school choice you know we're gonna have we're gonna probably need to make or at least discuss some some you know some some different ideas in terms of um school choice and students anywhere so moving so what have we done we got sitting here on our hands right um you know I am recommending although I fear that this is you know it's one of these situations where you I'm going to have to add than one if I get an influx of students you know whatever happened a couple years ago but you know we're we are recommending a level of service in terms of what we' what we've created so um and we right but that's as long as everything stays status quo the on we see a really big spike in students I think we'll be okay on that end but if we receive any if we we start increasing the need for um either special occation services or if we double in elll that's a whole other those are things we won't know until it actually happens and again that's that's how it goes right um we think we should foro the opad stabilization contributions because we need to put every dime into just what we're providing and what we want to provide um we've well we've we'll propose or we are proposing that the rule a money that we received that we had planned to redo the driveway and parking lot so that way we wouldn't need to B burden the two member towns you know given a lot of other things that we're dealing with that we would forego that and that we would hold off on the Middle School ventilation work which is really the Middle School ventilation we're talking about the middle school office um main office so that way we can put a better option for heat and air conditioning in there because it'll save electricity you know all the things that we've done at the uh par me at the Middle High School main office um and so those are the things that we've thought of thus far right that we have in essence under our control um and I don't think there's so so ultimately going all the way back if you can just to the uh slide income slide in terms of the money right so you know there it sits what I did um I think Che I know that you're on the email um I think I apologize but I did send basically you know up letter to both T and philon as to everything we talked about here and actually added at least in the body email some of the drivers that are you know that are causing this increase I would say though for the record needs to be said um this is not a surprise we knew within and I'll tell you the one thing we didn't know and we never know until at least October November is that would we be held harmless you never know and we were hoping that we would not be held harmless um and we we were able to identify quickly that we would be out of H heeld harmless and that we would receive additional chapter C we just didn't know by how much but during the conversation last year we talked about when I was asked plan what do you think you're going to need and I said a million dollar what do you mean how do you know that I need 500,000 this year and things just magally stay the same you think about a a growth of of that and on top of it and we but we didn't expect that our transportation contract was going to come in so high we had a good idea what we wanted to at least offer the um the N because you know we think about that early um and that happen so we were off about 1.5 or would have been but because we uh were not held Harless we had those 17 additional kids year-over-year that gave us the 560,000 so we're roughly a million dollars so um the last part I would just add is that we added positions last year and the towns were were very you know supported of that because we were able to show that we had grown so much um so being staying at Baseline right now although we've we are we are we continue to have boots trickle in um you know it's there's really no way back there's really no back because we didn't lose 30 kids somehow or move or whatever so obviously a lot more to discuss um but as of right now that is the preliminary you know look 30,000 foot view I guess they say at this point given the numbers that we have and these are numbers that we've never had this early too so we we feel confident a lot better than we normally do because we're like well yeah I don't have this number we don't have that we have all the so that's that very much for running through that so at this point I'd love to open it up for questions um but I'd also like to give a nudge that there is something if there's additional information that you would like to see in the budget presentations that we can prefit uh please please do also ask for that at this point um as we do you know have some time to to continue to prepare before our multi-board meeting next week um so I'm very very open to anything that you all might um want to see in this presentation um or like I said if there's questions please ask I there really isn't anything else that I'd like to see this isn't like in the years past when we've been asking for additional positions or this is pretty cut and dry we're just looking to keep the services and you know staff that we have now um and this is not surprising I think we all knew that this is what was coming um yeah I'm pretty satisfied with what just presented one of the things that be looked at last year is um whether or not we're continuing to see growth in the towns and I think we also had the attention to look at at this year and the reason that I bring that up is because you know yes that this is what we're asking for this year but I think the ongoing trajectory is still in growth mode or that's what I'm suspecting based on the new houses I see being built um even just the number of students we've um continue to see come in over the course of this year that are not yet represented in these numbers um so I think that we're still planning on including some pieces to that out to both town templon is working on it I haven't heard from philipon um to get me the numbers of building permits for new houses okay yeah I just know that that was a really interesting piece of information and I know that neither of those include um the um condo housing or apartment housing I'm sorry I don't know which term to yes the elementary former elementary school project yeah I would um to be perfectly honest I would hope that those would be that's information and that the town both towns are actively uh locating and and putting in their own Pres ations because that is something that they need to worry about across all of the Town departments um I know last year we sort of took that on as our role to educate the public but that is something the town needs to be including in their conversations that they're having yes other questions or comments I mean I would I would just vocalize that I know last year there were some efforts made to get to a certain lower budget Point um which we were successfully able to do um also a lot of vocalized caution around the fact that you know that these needs would still exist and while I'm happy to well I'm certainly I want what's best for all of our CHS and I want what's best for not only the school but so for fire for police for those safety services and also for Community Services as well um so these are all things that we're taking into consideration so we don't don't lean into level service slly um certainly there are a lots of thoughts and you know discussions around what we need to do to do what's right for our towns and then we have to come back to what's right for the kids and what's right for the kids is not to cut back on any services any teaching staff and as a matter of fact you know even the state is coming in and saying you know you have to service the population that you have you you need to add that deal of position at the elementary school um so you know I really want I I want folks to understand that we know you know things feel tight while it's feel tight um and yet you know this is this is the budget that we need in order to continue to educate kids have the standard the quality standard that we've um and so this is you know we certainly would love to hear more from the public you know I definitely think there going a further conversation about um school choice as well um but you know we'd love to engage with you or hear from you about what's important to you um as far as what's funded in your CHS I think mam chair that the the other parties that we not know we don't know for example um where we sitting in terms of Grants being froze you know for us it's that would be Title One you know thank you so again I you know not to cast like you know a PA or you know already kind of you know disappointing budget presentation that they'll there very well could be some changes you know moving forward but you know right now I'm not we're not focusing on that at all because there's really no way to do that like if someone said what would you do if they C to one well we wouldn't have time one I mean I don't this I hate to say it that way but there's no other mechanism I don't think for any Town very frankly but there are some of these Grant you know that um opportunities that that are very specific and they're only going to you know but I we're not sitting here worried about I don't want that not sky falling type of but it's something that we do kind of in the back of our heads think about just like well geez if all of this and some of it's fed related and some of it's you know um you know we we'll figure that out as we go but the entire state or country would have to figure that out as they go so I again we're just really taking this as a qu M typical budget Year we're not think much more past that at this no I think good to bring up because a it shows you know yes we're paying attention to what's happening um in our state in our country Etc when it comes to budgets and you know it's we're not we are neither panicked and trying to come up with a plan nor are we you know looking so far ahead because we know that you know we can't there's no crystal balls predict the future so we're really you know focusing in on what we do know the services we need we know we need to provide right now and the kids that are sitting in our buildings today um you know this is this is the budget that's needed just that the only other thing I would bring is it's far of every year it's every year since I've been here is that is there any way we can collaborate with another District dot do and so the answer to that is yes um there are you know there's opportunity if you find one um you know in general we have there are you know there are districts that we have reached out to I think that it around this time of year I think that people really do look for for better different options in terms of providing service I think there it's it's hard it's intricate you just can't say oh we'll just combin SP par you can't do something like that but you know but I think a formal conversation with you know other districts is important I think because I I think we do need to at least um look under those rocks as well like or at least you know verify that it can work you know just verif I say look this is just not doable because of you know um whatever I want to say that on too you know we we've reached out change of leadership in a few districts have prevented a I would say a Continuum of conversation right but I think that that is I think that is sett quite properly I hope and um I think that that might be something that the committee would want to think about and um you know potentially discuss further or reach out for a bigger discussion but I think that that you know Works Le consideration because there's got to be something right that we can share off at some type of cost it would take a of course you know conversation back to our regularly scheduled programing anyone know please any other questions comments requests yeah so I guess we've all heard this before all been here before I want to say it falls on death I think you know what we really need to work on this year is I remember the P we used to have a full audience here we need the support of the community here we really do we need to get this out to the community because you know I don't think anybody sitting at this table um doesn't understand what we're doing doesn't understand what we've done in the past really need to get this out so I think one of the things we really need to work on this year is getting more engagement from the community so that when it come to for this budget know we have the support so I think that's one Le work on done um whether we do it through our subcommittees or you know whatever whatever else it is we just need to be J in the community so I I I think we need to figure out do that we need and I I absolutely agree with you and I'll add to that that there are certain certain restrictions to what we as a SCH committee are allowed to do in order to reach that I think we need back in the L what we we truly need is someone from the community who is willing to advocate for what the school needs um because there are not the restrictions on parents and community members that there are on school committee when it comes to advocating for Budget um so you know happy to speak to anyone who's curious about that and wants to know more it's you know a little bit complicated and it makes sure that you know we're giving equal opportunities to everyone to be heard um but certainly you know I I agree with you Jeff I I agree that we need you know folks from the community here and representing and speaking up for the things that matter to them I think one way we worked around that last year was through that that budget um questionnaire um I think that I just uh but yeah I mean curious to hear what you would add well I would say that when we put the show out last year it was very well you know received it made had 340 some OD responses um you know we talked a lot about this last year is that you know these these surveys really kind of spend time time it's not like you do one every single year because it takes time to kind of you know see you know difference but you know want to go through the fact that you know teacher student ratio and staff compensation and um you know you know we we we've we addressed that um now whether or not it's to to anyone's complete and total satisfaction that's hard to that's hard to know but I I I think in those two areas that we've made you know steps forward I I would also say this just about you know the TS you know last year we went to them and we provided them the information I think we did a lot better job providing them the information that they that they needed to to see and they supported five position six positions last year you know overall last year um I I want to make sure that I don't lose cited that because I don't think a lot of districts did do that last year um um now granted we're we're growing at a rate that's maybe again in districts our size we're probably growing at a rate that's probably a lot you know a lot faster than others you know the these are not trickling in necessarily we're seeing you know jumps of 10 1 saw that so so the point I'm making is that clearly there was you know there was they they understood that the issue they the of our R they know this because they're living in it right houses being built Etc um you know I think that the bigger question is that I don't know that the town Town's Flor alone can handle this growth meaning that there's something's going to happen need to happen at the state level right which okay you know which upon a start um but you know there were questions of and I I had no problem in saying this because it was brought up in town meeting last year that there there's a conversation that needs to be had about an old there's just if we continue growing we just have continued to grow if we were dropping students at this rate at the same rate but they were going I would expect people to be upset because we wouldn't be able to support that with the number of students that we either had but we're in 187 over bu of residents right these are not you know we're not we're not padding with school choice so I think that I you know I appreciate the effort I think it's going to be this is a huge kill at this point we knew it was coming just because we knew the one number we didn't have was the transportation cost that went out to bid but we follow the rules and that's that's what that's what came out you know so and by the way the other districts locally we start at 30% I think I think it was Ash West or at 202% these we're not we're not the only we're not the only one I think adding buses is one of the bigger issues over past couple years we have two bus RS folks that travel 60 miles a day no no 30 that go out in PH yeah I mean that that's all some folks be like can we do two buses but no because there's there you know the cost of it so we're doing what we can you know what I mean but it's we're just again we're growing at a rate that we just can't you know seem to you know keep up with yeah I mean all all good topics really appreciate the engagement and you know Jeff certainly agree like yes we we definitely need our our community speaking up and um yeah looking forward to digging into with the town learning more about what they what they're hoping to do this year but also hearing from them where the struggle is and and how they're planning to overcome those struggles so um looking forward to that next Thursday at 5:30 all right so that was really the focus of the meeting tonight so we're GNA um skip over some of our our regular items on the agenda um business management report I'll do a quick reminder that yes we still have a vacancy in Templeton um and we're also skipping over curriculum instruction um so our our two um we have two big big things to focus on um one is the msba schematic design um and the other is some out of some imminently pending out of state field trips um to run through so to start with msba um Dr C did you want to introduce that at all you want language yeah so essentially what this will allow us to do is you know we've had a few different conversations about the roof project that we're asking for some State funding for um and what this vote will do is Will official officially appropriate monies um in order to get um schematic design uh done um so that we can figure out what is the estimated total cost um as there you know needs to be a town vote related to that so we need we need this in order to continue proceeding with the project essentially absolutely yeah you would add I would just simply say that the msba is very prescript um we had to send them language about what this vote would say they had we had our attorney take their their example um which did not fit a regional um they word he word Smith and went to msba Legal they made some changes where had to send back the the corrected copy and so before you is the approved language that needs to be read and voted on just so we also know that this vote when we when we it happens one way or another we have to certify it with the seal signature and so I can send it to the msba so they know that all of this happened um and um just just kind of give you a background like this is what it's this is what it it has yes so please bear with me as I R this motion I would entertain a motion that the Nar anent Regional school committee on behalf of the Nar anent Regional School District transfers and appropriates from the district's fiscal year 2025 operating budget the amount of $70,000 for the purpose of paying the feasibility study and schematic design cost for a potential project related to the narraganset middle school for partial roof replacement project and at the nanson Regional High School for roof replacement project located at 462 Baldwinville Road Baldwinville Mass 01436 including the payment of all costs incidental or related th to and for which the district may be eligible for a grant from the Massachusetts school building authority msba set amount to be expended under the direction of the naric anet regional school committee the district acknowledges that the mba's grant program is a non entit ement discretionary program based on need as determined by the msba and any costs the district incurs an excess of Any Grant approved by and received from the mspa shall be the sole responsibility of the district and that the amount authorized pursuant to this vote shall be reduced by Any Grant amount set forth in the Project funding agreement that may be executed between the district and the msba mov motion by Heather second second by H any questions or comments see none all in favor opposed abstained and I say yes so unanimous okay um Dr C um I know there's the out ofate peel trip under are yours is there any other information you wanted to go through should we just skip to that skip yeah no problem um so so we have so these are all as I recall related to um a class that's run at the high school can you remember outdoor education um and so there's a number of different uh trips described here in um there's ice climbing in Key New Hampshire that you could do ice climbing in Key New Hampshire um more ice climbing in ke New Hampshire um but this time on well the first was on uh 214 this is on 228 um and yeah so both those both those trips are upcoming um there's a variety of information available um as relates to chaperon and um you know Transportation description of the project or or of the event so any questions on those nothing says Happy Valentine's Day like cling nice yes said 100 you're thinking of a gift questions I would ENT a motion to approve the two out of state field trip requests for the NR nrhs outdoor education class ice climbing on February 14 2025 in ke New Hampshire and again on February 28th 2025 also in ke Hampshire motion by second second by Heather last chance for any questions or comments seeing none all in favor opposed abstained and I say yes um and I believe uh since we are skipping um most of our regular business um we don't have any subcommittee reports this time around and we do not have executive session so our um I apologize I just realized in the agenda I forgot to update the next meeting but our next meeting is Thursday February 6 at 5:30 p.m. um as noted in the homepage um and that will be as a reminder a mly board meeting so again we'll be we'll be now our focus on discussions around the budget we also expect to have uh representatives from the town of templon here and hopefully as well so we look forward to welcoming them here so we can help this discussion otherwise go entertain a motion toour motion by second by another all in favor ear