Very good. Um, okay. So guys, we're going to head into executive session. If you're not named, you can step out. Yes. >> And Jackie, >> yes. >> Excellent. >> I also vote yes. >> Oh jeez, Scott, you got bumped off my
off my um tiles. Hold on. Going to expand here. There you are. Are you guys hearing that playback? >> Yeah, that was so weird. >> Cool. >> That may have been >> in like
>> access feedback >> the multiverse or something. That was awesome. Uh, all right. So, we're going to move forward here with the next item on the agenda and it is our student representative report and Ryan is here to inform us. Hi, Ryan.
>> Hello. So, um, today me and two other students went down to the center school to talk to a fifth grade and a second grade class about the stove food pantry and some of our like volunteer work there. Um, as well as like volunteering
in general, um, and kind of like high school life. So, I thought that was super cool to kind of see the little kids asking away on all their questions. Um, and then we're going back for an all school assembly. um March 20th. Um so definitely looking forward to that. Um
boys hockey won their first playoff game earlier. I just got home from that. Super fun. Um girls hockey plays tomorrow and boys basketball plays on Friday. Um the yearbook the yearbook club has started like taking pictures of
all the different clubs um and for senior superlatives. So, they're going around um and getting the yearbook ready, which I thought was cool. Um, is Maria in here? >> Yes. Hi, Maria. >> She will. >> Guys,
did you finish your part, Ryan? >> Yeah. >> Oh, okay. So, next week our counselors will be meeting with the freshman, the sophomore, and the juniors for the course selection um selection. And next Wednesday we have an advisory group
meeting. And our spring musical Big Fish is happening March 13, 14, and 15, which is a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. All right. Thanks, guys, for that report. Uh, does anybody have any questions for Ryan andor Maria?
All right, not seeing any. I hope you guys are acclimating back from your vacation week and snow days and I hope you have a great rest of your week. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Bye. >> Thanks, guys. Bye.
>> All right, everybody. On to our next agenda item and that is the superintendent's report. So, I'll turn it over to Kirk and his team. >> Thank you, Madam Chair, for your recognition tonight and thank you to the committee and everyone out there who was watching the meeting this evening. Um, I'm toggling across screens. means I left my hard copies on my desk at the
office. Forgive me, Alita. Um so u in the uh meeting materials today, you have the Aspet Valley Collaborative uh report number three. Um this is the annual report. Um I would encourage the
committee members to take a uh some time uh to go through this report and and read through it. It gives a basic summary of the programs, the relationships with the school districts. Um it shows the benefits, the purpose of each of those. You also get a sense of the mission and vision of the Alphabet
Valley Collaborative. Um we do utilize the collaborative not just for transportation but also for services. We have some students that are in the reach program uh specifically to that. Um and so uh this uh report was accepted by the
board at Asabet Valley Collaborative which is the superintendents representing the districts in December. We offer it you to you tonight as update number three. And then moving on to the NRSD CD policy and local graduation requirements. I
tipped the committee off to this previously, but now we're officially putting it into the record that our local graduation requirements and competency determination policies have been accepted uh by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Uh
so that's good. uh we know that's happening there. Now, we do know that that the state is going to continue to move forward on the graduation requirements. This is a conversation that we're engaged with our state leaders right now. Uh we met with the Worcester County uh representatives
today, the Worcester County superintendent had um uh just about 10 of our state legislators, both representatives and senators attending. We have our Tri County roundt on Tuesday. uh where will we also be
talking about the graduation requirements and um we're anticipating upwards of 25 senators and representatives in that meeting. So we're happy that those policies were accepted so we've met that requirement but certainly there's more still to come
on the conversation around local graduation requirements. Um and madame chair that shall conclude a brief superintendent report this evening. >> Indeed. Uh, any questions on those two items? I am not seeing any.
All right, guys. We're going to keep moving the agenda forward. Thank you for that, Kirk. >> You bet. >> Uh, the next item here is new business, and Kirk is asking for a vote this evening on the transportation coordinator position job description.
This is one of those rare instances where we will hear about something with some specificity and then be asked to vote on it just because of the timely nature of the item. We did kind of prep the committee at the last meeting that the and the community that this would be
coming. So um you know we don't normally do it this way but that is what we decided at the last meeting. So Kirk will present it to us and then we'll ask for a vote. >> Great. Um so madam chair last uh meeting we did present to you our strategy for
managing uh the escalating costs of out of district transportation as well as our in district transportation for special education services. Uh so I won't go through that uh process again as we have already put that into the record. Uh but to make execute that
strategy, we need to uh have the job description for the transportation coordinator approved. It is in the meeting materials for this evening's meeting. So I would encourage our members to take a look at that. But I would like to bring forward uh Miss
Rowan Dem um uh to speak to that and Miss Mastersonson if you can bring the job description up to the screen. Um and Miss Deanch can speak to that. So the floor is yours. Rowan. >> Thank you, Superintendent Downing, School Committee. Um, tonight I'm going
to uh go through the proposed job description for the transportation coordinator as we discussed at the last uh meeting. Here we go. Great. Thank you, Alita. Um so what you have for the job
description that we kind of went through we vetted through um multiple job descriptions uh across the state and really then designed it to uh Nishoba. So you have a description of at the top of what the coordinator's
responsibilities are and for the purposes of this position they will only be coordinating all the aspects of the student services transportation including the in district and the out of district. uh busing um communication with all the personnel
and families regarding um that transportation. Um based on our research um that uh Jessica Murdoch uh conducted, we anticipate the recommended salary range to be 72,500
to 78,000 depending on the person's background and experience. That position will sit directly um within um the director of student services office. So I will um oversee that position um on day-to-day
operations. But the overall responsibilities for the position is to really coordinate all of the transportation services. uh to work with uh individual vendors on contracts,
to organize roots, to assess roots, um to work with central office to provide information on a regular basis about the rooting and um what students are on the routes or the number of students on the routes. um to look at
the budgeting aspects of it and to really um work uh with in the constructs of the IEP process along with um identifying the the best transportation
uh service for students and that could include working with other districts on shared routing. Um, it could also work on uh asking vendors to um change routes uh that we feel might be more efficient
and to keep in mind all the safety aspects that we're um requesting to make sure our students are safely transported. Um they'll also manage all the communications with families. That could include any concerns parents or
families have that will then come to um myself or the superintendent um depending on the issue and really working on the budgetary aspects overall of transportation services. Um we're looking for someone to really
have the experience either a bachelor's or an associates. It depends on their background and experience. We're more looking for someone that has the background that has worked in this type of um field before and we're really
looking for them to be very efficient and uh communicate um very well with not only my office but most importantly families in the community. So I'll take any questions about the job description or any suggestions.
>> There's one element I would like to add, Mr. De and it's related to a question that the committee asked at the last meeting and that is if this person would also be the transportation coordinator for our uh large bus transportation that we have in the district. um that is not
our intention today, but the job description is written broadly enough that if we learn that that is a n natural synergy for the position in the future that we will be able to pivot that way. >> Does anybody have any questions? Amy?
>> Yeah. Um I've got two questions. The first is I I didn't see anywhere that this specifies if this is a 10-month position or year round position. I saw something about needing to be available before and after school
days, but is this just like while school is in session? And does that need to be clarified on this job description? >> That's a great uh great point. It is a 12-month position uh because a lot of work happens over the summer to
get ready for the school year. So, yes, it is a 12-month position. We'll make sure to to point that out. >> Okay. And then my second question had to do with um item or responsibility number
seven because like I guess when the need for this position was brought to the committee last um at our last meeting, I thought a lot of it had to do with being able to put someone in charge of trying to find the most costefficient
solutions to transportation. And I don't know that that comes across in this job description. So I was wondering with item number responsibility number seven if we just added should we consider adding the word cost into that sentence where it says managing the most
costefficient routes or am I >> yeah miss >> I'll take that question. Uh the coordinator won't be in charge of that. Miss Deanch will and Mr. Meraren will. the coordinator will be in charge of executing that strategy. So, but the
coordinator will will be there to communicate and shop and do the things and bring the information to those leaders, but it's it's our leaders that will be doing that work. >> Okay. >> Any other questions? Uh, see Jillian,
>> thank you. I just had a quick question about the hours. If you go back to page two, um I believe it said that. Thank you so much. So I will not remember the exact wording. If you go all the way down to
uh the bottom of education experience. Thank you. So the coordinator will prioritize completing the necessary tasks and set hours accordingly. Is there just an expectation of minimum hours per week? Um or you know if the coordinator says I can you know do this
in 90 minutes you know before and after school is that sufficient >> uh for these positions um all of our folks that are in our support positions at the central office um they have eight hour positions with half paid half hour
unpaid lunch. So, it would fall in line with all the other um uh support staff positions we have at the central office. >> Thank you. >> And Kirk, just as a followup, um the
before and after would not disrupt or go beyond the hours that everybody else works. >> Yeah. I know this position can be executed within the same hours as our other 12-month employees that are support staff employees.
>> I only ask because I know some of the special education transportation roles at like, you know, 6:50 a.m. >> Yeah. But then it can also like the last kids who might be kindergarteners might be rolling at 400 p.m.
>> So I think some of those nuances Miss De Manch will work on with her team because our team is also trained and coordinated in helping because that's part of the bench building that we've talked about in the past. >> Okay. >> That she'll be able to coordinate in that way. So you make a good point. We need to be available in the morning
hours to support when needed. Um, you got to remember our coordinator, we will still be working directly with the bus companies. So those issues about pickups in the morning will still be handled directly with the bus companies as
somebody goes to pick up a student. Um, and then we help facilitate any issues that arise through that. >> Got it. So it's a team effort. >> It is a team effort indeed. >> Any other questions? It is indeed a full-time job though is
what we're saying for the money. >> It is a full-time job. >> All right. I don't think we have any other questions before the motion. All right. So, Amy, do you want to move this issue?
>> Yes. Um, I move to approve the transportation coordinator job description as presented tonight. >> I'll second that. Is there any further discussion? >> I'd just like to enter onto the record. I know that Kirk, you said we talked
about the causation of this last meeting. It's probably important just to state that >> Yeah. Although we are adding what appears to be a potential $78,000 increase in salary, it is a net savings
of maybe the same. >> Well, I'll tell no. For the agency fee we pay for our transportation fully utilized, we would uh anticipate next year it being uh $170,000. So this pay position bringing this
internally uh is just a direct net savings in terms of transportation coordination of $90,000 and that's reflected in the cost of transportation line. >> And I would also say that in addition to the agency fee that you spend there's
also a lot of manwoman hours in your main office managing the manager. Well, that is exactly right and which is why uh and that's not to it's complex running 13 school systems in one cloud well for 13 towns in one school system.
So yes, we've had to to jump in and coordinate some of that as we we speak. So it's going to help us with e time and effort of our current employees. It's going to help us in terms of cost. Uh we we see lots of uh uh positive impacts of
of of this position. >> Okay. So that's for the record. Any other discussion? All right. Let's take our vote. I'm going to vote yes. Amy. Oh, Amy, do you had a hand up? >> Well, I guess my only question is that some of the feedback we gave on this job
description about this being a full-time position, will that be incorporated into this job description? because >> um yes. Yes, we will make sure that it's noted as a 12-month position. >> Okay. So, do I need to amend
I'm not trying to get too technical or anything, but we said we were approving the job description as presented with the Do we need to add language to the motion? >> You can amend you can amend your motion to say as presented and discussed this evening in the meeting?
>> Okay. I'd like to amend my motion to include as you just said. >> Yeah. And I seconded the motion and I accept that amendment. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you. So then >> yeah, >> Joe Gleason would be so proud of us right now.
>> I was thinking the same thing. >> We miss you Joe. Um, so good to go everybody. I vote yes. Amy, do you vote? >> Yes. >> Uh, Shandor, >> yes. and Matt. >> Yes. >> Jillian,
>> yes. >> Scott, >> yes. >> Hi, Lindsay. Lindsay, >> yes. >> Uh, Jackie, >> yes. >> And Sharon, >> yes. >> Excellent. All right, so Kirk, good luck with that.
That might be the easy part. >> All right, everybody. Uh, let's move the agenda to the next item here. Um, and that is the finance and operations update. And we're going to hear a proposed budget update number two. So,
I'll turn that back to you, Kirk, and your team. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, yeah, we'd like to bring the budget update number two to you. Uh, we're very hopeful that you were going to approve that job description. So, in the construction of the numbers you'll see tonight, we
included an estimated cost in that position of 80k. Even though that's a little bit different than the job description, uh just the timing of those, we'll make sure in the final iteration of our budget, it matches the limit of what that that salary range on the job description says. But, uh want
to thank you all. Uh we can go ahead and bring the presentation up um that uh we're going to bring to you uh the updates that we have tonight. These are primarily fiscal updates as opposed to programming updates. So, the lion share of these
slides, you're going to hear from Assistant Superintendent Moaring. Um, and uh, I will just turn it over to you, Ross, to uh, bring us in here. Thank you, Superintendent Downing. I was just shuffling my slide deck uh, onto
the correct screen on my uh, workspace here. So, thank you, Superintendent Downing. Uh, good evening to the school committee. Um, look forward to, uh, moving through our update slides and answering your questions this evening. Uh, so, you know, routine and
predictability here from me. So, we, as we present our updates, we'll check in on our timeline uh, for this budget season. We will certainly go over uh, sort of where we were at at the end of the last meeting and the last update. Uh and then we'll talk about our updates uh
for this evening which comprise of expense adjustments and then we'll uh present to you the updated uh overall budget and how that impacts our town assessments and then get into our next steps for the remainder of the budget season. So here we are this evening budget update number two. Um we will
move on to our joint fincom and advisory meeting tomorrow evening. Um you will notice uh at the end of this slide deck are the fincom slides for tomorrow. We wanted the school committee to have a preview available to them and we'll share those with the town of Stow who is
hosting this year so they can post those to the meeting materials as we begin tomorrow. Here's where we ended uh budget update number one. You'll recall that we had some significant changes uh not only from the governor's budget and state aid, but superintendent Downing and our
director of student services uh Rowan Demanchch presented the extent of the work that they did revolving around special education transportation, which ties into the approval of that job description uh that you just did a moment ago. So again, here's where we landed at the end of the last meeting.
Moving into the budget update uh for this evening, we're going to be focused in on uh we got our verbal rate increase from Maya. Um this includes also the specialized transportation coordinator in the update of the budget and we've updated some offsets as well. Um in
addition to uh some salary changes that you'll see. So here's an increase and that's the only increase that we're bringing forward this evening. There's that $80,000 number that would increase the operating budget. uh to account for that transportation coordinator for
special services uh for student services that was just approved. I want to uh we're going to go through the expense reductions. Uh Superintendent Downing is going to begin uh as these uh composed of the salary based uh reductions. So, Superintendent
Downing, >> thank you. Um, so what you'll see with these reductions here are we brought forward a kindergarten and Mary Rollinsson uh center and Mary Rollinsson kindergarten position this year. We
currently are operating this year with three sections of kindergarten in both of those schools. We added the fourth section to the budget because we never know what our kindergarten enrollment will bring. What I will tell you is what Excuse me,
Madam Chair. I had a cough there. Um, we're experiencing what the entire state is experiencing and that is a decline in kindergarten students enrolling in our schools. Is a phenomenon that's happening all across the state as the
state is uh has reduced 15,000 students year-over-year and it's mostly graduating seniors leaving and kindergarteners coming in. right now. Um, two of our schools, Mary Rollinsson and Florence Sawyer, we have captured,
uh, uh, 56 kindergarteners, and I mean in all the best terms when I say captured because we can't wait for those little folks to join us. At center school, we are at 43. These are low numbers. These are historically low numbers for us. Um, and
that doesn't mean people aren't choosing to show. It just means that's the number of students that are in our towns uh that are school-aged coming to us. So at this point I feel secure in reducing two of the kindergarten positions. Just know
if for some reason uh so Florence Sawyer would stay at four sections but if for some reason let's say M uh moved over our three section threshold into four sections and Florence Sawyer did not we
would shift that position over to uh M. So, we're going to keep one of the one of the three kindergarten positions there uh so we can continue to watch enrollment uh throughout the springtime. Next is a salary adjustment. So, as we
look at our salary rates uh for next year, we've made an adjustment which is a reduction of $188,000. Uh, I want to take a moment to acknowledge that we are currently in negotiations with both unit A and unit C
for the next contract. And it's likely that those contracts will not be ratified and approved by the associations and the and the school committee until after the budget season. So that 188,000 is subject to change based upon those negotiations. But we
have to build a budget today. And so the budget we have uh ready for you uh has has the the salaries in it. And so Mr. Mo Karen, I'll turn the second half over to you. >> Thank you, Superintendent Downing. Uh so further reductions to the operating budget for FY27 that we're presenting uh
within the technology hardware line uh $91,000. Uh that's for the smartboard uh section of that budget. between the state earmark and some other adjustments within this budget, we feel comfortable that we're able to purchase what we need
um in uh smartboards, those projectors uh this year. So again, thank you to the efforts of um Senator Kennedy in getting that excuse me, Representative Kennedy in getting that uh taken care of and moved forward. Um that earmark is uh substantially helpful not just uh for
for right now but also for our next budget. We did uh meet with our Mayer representatives. Um our health insurance rate came in at an 11.5% increase. Uh you may recall that the cap of the range was 14.4%.
Which is what we had budgeted um as of the last budget iteration. So changing that brings it down another 218,000. The dental uh comes down a little bit as well. We also looked at where we could potentially offset more of our costs. um
circuit breaker as we are spending more money uh on those uh students, you know, we'll get more back. The governor's budget signaled uh in a good direction that we'll get more back um at a higher level. So, we feel comfortable increasing that offset, therefore
reducing the budget uh by another $200,000 in special education transportation. Lastly, uh we're going to use additional athletics user fee uh to offset the athletics transportation. So our total expense reduction is just over a million
which will bring me to uh the next slide. I just want to briefly we did something similar uh with school choice last um budget update two weeks ago. So we have six uh athletic revolving funds. One is just called athletic revolving
fund. That's our tickets and gate receipts. Uh we also have uh athletic user fees for the high school and the three middle schools and an athletic donations. The athletic donations account is uh not up for any sort of discussion or presentation. I just want to make sure that we're clear about
which ones fall under athletics. Um and then we annually present the balances, expenses, and revenue at the uh typically November uh school committee meeting as part of the FY uh closeout from the previous fiscal year. And it's linked here in the meeting materials
from November if anybody wanted to go back. So, um, expenses from athletic revolving accounts. So, direct expenses are the athletic ad admin assistant, uh, that is housed in the athletic office at the
high school, um, and does those duties. Um, and we also pay game officials directly as well as pool and ice rentals. Um, and you know, apparently that ice rental is going to good use as the hockey teams are are moving forward in playoffs. And then also we have
offsets to the operating budget in the form of transportation for athletics and then the track and field debt that has been a long-standing offset um uh of $25,000 uh annually as part of the structure of the budget.
So diving a little bit deeper into the operating budget offset we've presented this evening. This is just a quick screenshot of what was presented in November as far as balances um and expenses and revenues that you can see from FY25. So based on those balances at the end of last year, uh we're
increasing the offset from the athletic user fees uh to athletic transportation in the operating budget. So, we're going from $45,000 last year to 105 $45,000 this year uh to $105,000 offset next
year. Uh in previous uh the previous slides, you saw that only went up um approximately $45,000. That's because we had already increased it to 60 and our first iteration of the budget. So just going back to the summary of our
expense increase of that salary position for special uh education transportation coordinator those expense reductions as presented our net change on the budget for FY27 for update number two is just under 950,000
which brings us to our operating budget. I want to point out that the change percentage is 3.72. You may recall at the end of the last budget update, we had set a target of under 4% and we met that target and that's the resulting um
assessment to the towns. other operating budgets. And then finally, just bringing us to our next steps, uh we're meeting with the joint fincom next uh tomorrow and then we have the public hearing and your final update next week. And then finally, your vote uh in two weeks as
well as the town meetings uh moving forward from there. So at this time, I can take questions, go back. I know that Superintendent Downing is available as well. >> Thanks, Ross. Uh what questions do we have? Trying to make sure I have everybody on
my screen here. >> Okay, there we go. Uh, Scott, take it away. >> All right, so as far as I've gotten in the budget, I've got three questions so far. Um, so you talk about an insurance increase of 11% but as I look at the
slides in the budget presentation it looks like it's 3.6%. So I'm trying to understand what the disconnect there is. >> No, absolutely. Uh, Mr. Pal. So you may recall from the budget workshop we presented all of the detail on our
insurance counts which are actually down from last year when we budgeted. So FY26 to FY27 January counts are down. So we budget based off of the January counts. So there's a differential there. There's
also uh a differential because some people have chosen the opt out uh which brings them out of the insurance headcounts. And additionally we've increased our offsets. So the total increase that you see yeartoyear uh may
is not as big as the full uh 11 12%. >> Okay. >> I like to think of the the 11 and 12% is the increase of a single plan whereas what you see in the budget is the total aggregate of all plans.
>> So let me see if I can restate that and and you can correct me if I'm wrong. So the rate is going up by 11 12% in this budget, but the number of people covered by insurance from last year's budget to this budget has gone down, which is part of the reason that it's only up by 3 and
a half%. The other part of the reason gets me to one of my other questions, which I think is on slide 18. Um, let me get there. No, not 18. 19. So 19 talks looks like
there's before offsets and after offsets. You'll have to explain to me the offset P. Not your presentation. I'm sorry. I'm looking at the budget budget update deck. So I'm actually in the weeds at the
numbers here. >> Update number two. Scott, >> sorry. >> The slide deck for budget update number two. Slide 19. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> So that's that categorizes some before offset and after offset numbers.
>> Um so looks like so it says so for example the health insurance line says there's a school choice offset. You're taking all the school choice money and putting it towards health insurance. And then you're taking some food service money and putting it towards health insurance and extended learning money and putting it towards health insurance. Can you
explain the rationale behind why all those offsets go towards insurance specifically as an offset? You're muted. My apologies. A couple things, Mr. Powell, on that. So, traditionally, that's how they've been applied. And
when you start shifting offsets around, then you start really throwing off the school committee and the public with regards to what the costs are. So, we're we're applying traditional sources. The increase on the school choice is because of the decision by the school committee to increase our school choice slots. We
are comfortable with where that is it where that is as well as where the balance was at the end of last year. Um so we know that we can carry that amount in the offset for school choice. >> So do you happen to know if the offset amounts for health insurance were similar magnitude last year?
>> No, last year it was lower. I believe last year we had it at 300,000. >> Okay. Um, so that's all I wanted to know about the insurance component. Um, in looking at the teaching and learning section,
>> it looks like headcount is going up there. Is that correct? >> Uh, what do you mean by headcount, Mr. Powell? I'll have to just as I'm pulling this up, go ahead. >> Well, so teaching and learning administration is going from 234 to 355. That looks like a person to me.
>> That's the Oh, go ahead, Mr. Superintendent Downing. Yeah, that is the curriculum coordinator position that was in the workshop that we presented to you. >> Okay. >> So, that was the position that we put on timeout for a year and didn't have. That's the director of ELA and social
studies. >> And then looking at all at the schools that have deans, those are all increases from last year's budgets, but we've have the deans currently, correct? So refresh my memory about how we're paying for that in the current budget such that it
looks like an increase in the fiscal 27 budget. >> Mr. Mo Karen. >> Yeah. Uh yep. So certainly we because we had a postbudget adjustment from the insurance from Maya, we use that money towards uh that. So you'll see a surplus
in the insurance and benefits line uh month over month on the operating reports that pays for the deans uh that are within the building budgets right now. So we didn't budget for it. However, we know that we have that surplus which now offsets the them
coming back in postbudget. And I believe Superintendent Downing did that update in May of last year. Um and then we reiterated uh those changes at the beginning of the school year and uh likely during the budget workshop if memory serves.
>> Okay. And then one more question for now. It's related to slide 16 which is the executive summary that shows the total budget and it's just a presentation question as much as anything. So like the fourth or
fifth line says debt service and then a few lines down you have a section that's called debt service. Why are you breaking those things out like that? Uh we break it out like that to show the principal and interest um so that the
public is aware of what the principal payment is and what the interest payment is on each of those instead of having to go way back into the systemwide detail slides. Um when we present uh the assessments to the towns, we do the operating assessment as well as they get
notice of their debt assessment and it breaks out the principle and interest there as well. Okay, I I understand the presentation now. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Great. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thanks, Scott. Any other questions?
>> Madam Chair, if I may jump in. >> Sure. >> Um, Madam Chair, I might recommend to you as the chair that I know our hearing is scheduled uh for next week for the public. Uh but we can always schedule a school committee meeting to follow the hearing to afford the committee more
time to ask questions recognizing that they just received this budget update in the booklet as well. >> Yeah, I think that that is how we have historically done it. Um that school committee meeting just so everybody knows the school committee meeting to
follow is one item and it is >> an opportunity for you to have any deliberation really related to what you hear at the hearing and so um I actually will ask you to
schedule it that way Kirk so that because that's how we normally do it. >> Okay. So, we'll go hearing and then we'll convene an Ashoba school committee meeting um open for discussion because the committee can't really deliberate at the hearing although I I allow a little
bit but it's really for the public. >> Yeah. >> Okay, Amy. >> Yeah, thank you. Um, so with this budget update, the proposed percent increase on the operating budget compared to last year is 3.72%.
For the district, correct? But, um, I am trying to figure out the reasons for I think I understand the reasons, but I just kind of want to make sure I'm understanding correctly. Trying
to get to the right slide, too. But my mouse is not cooperating. Um the slide that's showing the assessments per town because it >> slide number 12. >> Thank you. Um
it's slide number 12. I went way past it. Let me get back up to there. Okay. So 3.72% increase on the operating budget as the as a whole district translates into more than that for two of the three towns.
And so when you're trying to understand the basic reasons for that, it's because the towns have different minimum local contributions that are >> correct >> at the state >> and different enrollments at the high school. Are those kind of like the two? >> It does not it does not tie back to
enrollment at the high school. You're thinking of the debt assessment which is tied to the regional the regional agreement for debt says that that uh October one date for the high school enrollment if it's debt related to the high school which we that currently is the case. So when you look about look at
the operating assessment for the towns that's encompassed of two things their minimum local contribution and then the variable assessment. The variable assessment is everything after uh state aid revenues uh you know the
the minimum local contributions that variable assessment is divided up based on the 5-year rolling average of foundation enrollment. So the reason why you see a different change for each one is because that assessment that has the minimum local contribution plus the
variable assessment their minimum local contributions change differently based on lots of different factors but essentially uh with regards to the equalization the wealth factor as it's commonly known for each of the three towns. So just to give you a sort of
sketch of what that looks like. So for both it went up approximately 450,000. Uh Lancasters went up uh approximately 420,000 and then Stow's minimum local
contribution went up approximately 410,000. So while they're close they are different and it splits out different even more differently when you apply the variable assessment uh 5-year rolling average from the foundation uh enrollment.
>> Mr. No, Karen, if I may jump in for a moment as well. Um, I know we didn't we added the um slides for the joint meeting tomorrow night. Uh, and Mr. Mccarron, I think it would be possible on slide 40 perhaps that's titled town
assessment calculations. It might be useful for the public for us to hyperlink uh the video that we had created to explain u how the budget is made through the minimum local contributions and variable assessments um as a way to help our
public understand. >> Uh Superintendent Downing, you and I are on the same page. That is two slides ahead on slide number 42. >> Oh, well there you go. >> All right. So we'll point we'll point people to slide number 42 to understand
why those assessment percentages are higher in two of our towns. >> Okay. Thank you. And then the other question I had was um related to the slides showing the
offsets. >> Um sorry I'm having trouble navigating to that one too. My mouse is being problematic. Sorry. Was that before this one or after
>> slide slide 19 of the spreadsheet? >> Of the spreadsheet. Thank you. >> Which is titled budget update number two. >> Okay, getting there. Sorry, guys. See if I can scroll down to it.
Okay. So, is this the right for for this? I find this this um summary very helpful. I don't know if this has been presented in prior years. Um but I guess
one question I have is the cost after offset. That's the far right column there. That's the number that's showing up in the operating budget. Is that correct? >> That's correct. Yep. >> Okay.
>> Yep. That that is the cost to the budget. Yes. >> Okay. The I think the only thing that would I think help me and and maybe other members of the community and the school committee understand
how these office sets can reduce our total operating budget would would be and I don't know if this is something to give to budget warrant like next year. It's like how how do we make judgment calls about how
much money we're we're using, you know, to to um as a lever to reduce our operating budget each year? And like should we be thinking about how much money is
left in those revolving accounts? um kind of like think like to me I'm I'm I don't know if it's um appropriate to think of it in the same way as like we've developed some guidelines around the use of END should should we be doing
the same with the revolving accounts >> I think when we look at these revolving accounts Miss Cohen >> um that's why we present them in November is to show our committee what those balances look like >> um so we can certainly expand on that
conversation when we look at those balances in the November meeting. I think that's a excellent uh practice for us to to do. Ross, what's the value of
putting using the offset so early in the spreadsheet as opposed to just like putting the all the offsets off it at at the bottom so that the numbers at at the top remain pure and then at the bottom you almost treat it like one of the revenue sources although it's not
revenue. >> No, I understand your question. I think we've done it sort of based on how it's been built in the past. We've actually updated this uh offset table uh I think a couple of years ago.
I worked really hard to make sure it was clear about what the source was, how much it was, and then sort of like the before and after on here versus just a list of there was a prior there was a little bit of a list um sort of a summary list of what the offsets were
versus this way. Um I would have to potentially just do some double-checking with my finance mentors on that one. So, the purpose of the executive summary is to really sort of like boil down uh what the costs are, what the total budget is, and
what's going out to the towns. Um, so I I understand your your visual on that, Madam Chair. Um, I just would want to do a little bit of of digging on uh how that fits in. So >> yeah, I mean, >> yeah,
>> this is a a humongous work in progress that has just gotten better and better every single year, Ross. So I look forward to watching you make it better and better every year. Um, so yeah, I think Amy, budget and warrant should probably
um consider this or maybe um I'll leave it to Scott and how he wants to manage it as the chair. But did you have another question, Amy? >> Just one last question about this. So any grants that flow through to the district would be captured here.
>> No, this is just grants that are offsetting operational costs. Uh Miss Cohen, so we have other grants that do things. Um so for example, um you know, if we think about our our our pathways grant, so that doesn't that doesn't
necessarily offset Miss Hanigan's portion of her her work. Uh it directly pays for it. We wouldn't have the pathways program without the pathways grant uh at least starting position. So uh for this purpose we try to show them
um especially when we get into these major categories. >> Okay. Yeah. I'm not sure I followed that but I I will follow up with outside of this. I don't want to spend too much more time on it. >> Yeah. I would I would say it this way. every year um I think that you've been
on the committee we've had you approve the ESSA grants that title one is part of that there's a title one teaching position in that that we would not have without that position so it's not an operating budget position um necessarily it is only in existence because of that
so >> and that one position that title one position does not land in this spreadsheet anywhere >> correct it's nonoperating it's strictly from the grant yep because that position is journaled, accounted directly from the grant to
that employee, not through the operating budget. >> When the grant goes away, that position goes away. >> That is correct. >> Got it. Okay. >> Yeah. Um I have a quick I have two quick questions for you. Question number one,
on the position that we just approved, that is the transportation coordinator for special ed transportation. I know that um there's a range for the salary, but wouldn't you agree that the cost of bringing somebody like that in is a little bit more than the salary?
How do we account for um the benefits piece? >> So, we we budget benefits based off the January headcount. And I I understand your um your position and your your your question.
um we'll have people come off of our benefits and join our benefits. So for one position, it's not necessarily um something that we would add the benefit cost um when we don't know whether or not they'll take our benefits. And
again, we'll have people come off of our benefits as well. So >> to go to keep it apples to apples from year to year, it's the January headcount that we use. Um there's different schools of thought on that, no doubt. Um but that's how we've done it.
>> That makes sense. Uh my second question is about the school choice dollars. So from what I gather, correct me if I'm wrong, we are going to use that money that's been sitting there that's been
acrewing for a couple years to offset next year's budget. But wouldn't that be a problem two years from now when we've expended all of that and that that offset is no longer there? >> Uh so that's not entirely uh the
picture. So we finished last year so FY25 with a balance of approximately 300,000. We anticipate that we'll bring in approximately depending upon how many slots are are added, bring in
approximately close to that $500,000. So, um, to your point, uh, I just want to go back to where I was. to your point about the offset of $500,000. If we fall short of that $500,000 mark
coming in, we have a $300,000 balance still available that can help uh go towards that. >> So, the offset, the only offset that we're using in this next fiscal year is what we anticipate bringing in to school
choice. We're not we're going to leave that cushion there if we can. we'll have a little bit of a delta on that that will use up some of that balance. Um, but I know that, you know, Mr. Powell has has I think reiterated my thought that I'm going to give right now is that
we always want to leave some balance in our accounts and not all accounts are the same. um you know, we try to leave some level of a balance in there because you don't want to be fiscally irresponsible and say we're going to have a million dollar offset from the X, Y, and Z
revolving fund next year when we can't be sure what's going to happen. And if we bring in $800,000, we've already created a $200,000 deficit in the budget um before the budget's even started. So, we don't operate that way. um most of
our our offsets that we know that the balance is already there or year-over-year it's either increased or held steady on revenue where we're using some of the some of that uh anticipated and maybe a little bit of the balance but we we're cautious not to run balances all the way down.
>> Yeah. Because I mean ultimately you only want to use an offset that you expect to get within one fiscal year because otherwise that would then be using one-time money for operational long-term cost.
>> Correct. And if you start running revolving fund balances down to zero, you're now uh sort of beholden to what you may get in and you can't guarantee that either. So you can think of the sort of the the fiscal implications, complications and um impact of the
budget that way. >> Okay. Uh Sharon. So um my question I think what I'm wondering about is how
the grant various grant monies that we have intersect with the budgets because we approve on a fairly regular basis the re uh grant monies that have been received. So
like the pathways program is one. There are others that we've received through um DESIE for >> um the highquality materials or uh implementation of of various um programs
but that money does is not reflected in the budget. >> Is that correct? >> Correct. Correct. With the exception of those special education grants. So because those offset operational costs.
So typically if we're going to set up a grant account within our our part of accounts for something like pathways and it's the supplies and materials right for the pathways account. Um those are charged directly to the grant line. We
then have to seek the reimbursement from the state and show them sort of like here's what we expended under this grant and you know we have to prove that we use that for the grant as it was set up and then we get reimbursed for that uh directly um to the district.
So, but there is through the re um the work towards getting those grants and receiving those grants. We have um benefits that come to
us such as the pathways program or >> um such as some of the training that's happened or the positions that we've received or that we've funded through um grant money >> that those are benefits that we are
getting for our system for our children, right? that are paid for through grant money that we have actively sought out and that is not reflected in the budget. So that is not
something that our towns then are paying for I guess through budget. >> Yeah. I I think what you've done uh Miss Carlson is create a page in the upcoming budget book that shows how we've benefited from grants because they you
are right they are outside the operating budget but there's a significant benefit uh to the school district and most of that credit goes to our assistant superintendent for teaching and learning Laura Friend and her department and the various teachers that work with her to
bring those in. I would love it if that really could be um >> something that's really clear and highlighted because there's a huge benefit that um our families are getting that is not apparent that it happens
behind the scenes and and I think it's worthwhile for our families to know >> Yep. >> how that's happening. >> Agreed. And I think it also sets us apart as a school district. So correct. We'll we'll look at that. Absolutely. >> Thank you, >> Miss Pac. If I if I can just insert
something for a moment um and it's not to correct you but just to point out it's not that it happens behind the scenes because we presented all these things publicly to the public eye. What I hear you asking for is to show the relationship of the grants to the
operational budget and to show their independency of the operational budget. Is that accurate? >> Yes. I'm sorry I misspoke. I I behind the scenes wasn't the right way to describe that. I I think what I was what would have been more accurate is to say
this is adjacent to the budget, but it is a benefit that we are getting >> outside of the cost that's included in this budget. >> Absolutely. Thank you. >> Thank you. I would also say Sharon to
your point is that we approve these things over long periods of time and you know 10,000 here and 75,000 there but like when you add all of the grants up it's a whopping number and so there's a little bit of
um celebration that this document could provide to remind everybody the sum total at the end of the year and not just this peacemeal approach that we need to do to be within and the pol our policy. So, it's a great point, Sharon, to try to highlight that somewhere here.
>> Absolutely. I think that, you know, we always come down to this point again and again where the costs I it's expensive and the costs are going up and and we're having to say to the towns, you know, we're trying to keep um
you know really work with the towns to keep them the budget increases into what the towns can afford. But I think also there's a lot of work that goes into getting these these other monies
that are direct benefits and I think it's important that that is known. >> Excellent. Any other Oh, Laura wants to weigh in. Yes, Laura. Oh, you have a little visitor. >> Never I never I'm never able to find my way into these conversations. It's
exciting. Thank you. Um I I would say that we approach um the privilege of of seeking grant funding to help supplement and accelerate the work of our strategic plan. Um and where we wouldn't be able to see as much intensity and ability to
support our teachers with implementation and resources with the operating budget. Um while um the the operating budget is is functional and uh important and and are
we're thankful to our community members. The seeking of the grant funding is working to help support, strengthen, and accelerate the work of our strategic plans. And we would be happy to um provide information on the connection
as well as my furry friends. Um and and it it is having an impact and we would be excited about the opportunity to celebrate that with our community. Thanks, Laura.
I'm not seeing any more golden hands, >> Madam Chair. Perhaps the grant summary is a good parking lot item. >> Indeed, Alita, would you mind putting the grant summary in the parking lot for us?
Thanks. I just don't have it up. Or maybe I actually do, but you're probably faster than me. Uh, all right, guys. I think that brings to an end the finance and operations update. Thank you to Kirk and Ross and Laura. Yay, you got to
weigh in today. Um, thank you to all of you guys for all of your endless work. It is such an enormous undertaking. I've been here for now what seems like a dog's age and um, it's just gotten so much better. And not
not to disparrage anybody before you. I think they probably made it better than the people before them. Uh, but Ross, the level of detail and transparency is exceptional and we appreciate you. So, thank you. >> Thank you.
>> All right, guys. Moving the agenda to the next item here. We have no unfinished business because we like to finish our business. Uh but we do perhaps have some subcommittee report outs and I wonder if any of the
chair people would like to raise their golden hand let us know if they have anything to share. >> Um school building committee is going to be the same update for the next couple of weeks is that our next meeting is March Thursday March 19th is it? Uh
please hold. Yes. uh March 19th of which we will be uh taking the recommendation vote on the PV systems. Uh just want to let the committee know we asked you to to make sure you're attending and watching that meeting. Um we should be
receiving the contract uh here very soon of which we will review with attorney Melo and that contract will be presented at that meeting as well. So, just want to make sure you'll have all those things because we know that a week after that we're asking you all to take a vote
on the recommendation of the school building committee. >> So, just to follow up on that, uh the contract will be in the meeting materials of the SBC and in the school committee meeting on the 25th. you can attend that meeting and chair
Sakansky has um assured me that if you want to ask questions at that meeting even though you're not a member of that subcommittee you can certainly weigh in raise your golden hand he's happy to allow you to ask the solar is select going to be at that meeting Kirk
>> that's a good question I'll ask him my planning meeting on Friday >> yeah that's probably a good idea as the contract would be with them so you guys will have an opportunity to review the uh contract and hear from the consultants and even ask questions at
that SBC meeting on the 19th. >> Um, I would just uh if we end up having a majority of our school committee there in form of a quorum, you can just do a simple call of the meeting after the school building committee calls and that'll take care of any issues with
uh open meeting law. I think >> should we post a joint meeting? Is that what you're saying? >> Yeah, that's what I was thinking. >> That's probably fine. I was actually leaning toward just um avoiding deliberation, but that's probably hard to do.
>> Yeah, I it wouldn't hurt to do that for just to be careful. >> Well, at the Try Town, I know that that's what they did because they were going to have so many quorums present. So Alita, maybe we can in addition on the 19th, in addition to posting the
school building committee, we could post a school committee meeting hoping that six of us would be there and if six of us don't show, then we can just call it off at the moment. >> Okay? And that's virtual. Uh keeping in mind guys on the 25th
we will have on the agenda in our meeting that recommendation from the school building committee. That is all that it is is a recommendation. So you could you could take their recommendation, you could go against their recommendation, whatever it is. And um you're going to be asked
to vote whether or not we should enter into this 20-year contract to do a solar lease. Okay, so more details on that to come. Thank you um superintendent and all the people who have kind of weighed in to make this process as smooth as possible.
It is a big deal and we're trying to be as thoughtful as we can so that everybody feels comfortable about making this long-term decision, a decision that will exist probably long after all of us have hung up our Noisha hats. So,
um, it's good. Any other subcommittee shareouts? Okay. So, not seeing any. Let's move to items for the next agenda. Can I have any anybody want to add anything other than the grant summary? I see Scott.
>> Yeah. Excuse me. Um, I think it would be worthwhile for this committee to review our I don't know if it's a protocol or a policy, but with respect to public comments at meetings and in particular at um subcommittee meetings so that we
can both all become re-educated and about what those protocols are and deliberate if there are any um revisions that we feel are appropriate at this point time. Okay, very good. So, public comment and
public participation at subcommittee meetings and the procedures. It's a good idea to revisit that. I feel like we haven't done so in a little while. Any other items for another agenda, future agenda?
Thanks, Alita, for putting that in there. I am not seeing anything, but as always guys, if something comes up, just let me know and I'll throw it on my meeting list when I chat with Kirk on Wednesdays. >> Looks like Jillian's hands up.
>> Oh, is that Jillian's hand? I miss you. I missed you. Go ahead, Jillian. >> That's okay. No worries. I was just wondering if you know sometime maybe toward the end of the school year we could get an update on sort of how the AI rollout has gone um in the high
school. Great idea. Any other items? All right. I'm not seeing any golden hints. >> That's the March um the second >> the next meeting. >> Yeah.
>> And make sure that the communication subcommittee has a report out on the website updates or was that going to be in April? >> Uh website reveal is on March something or other.
>> Okay, perfect. Alita, will you scroll up really quickly? And I just want to make the committee and the community aware that there are three March meetings. Lucky us. Uh so that that hearing that we were talking about required by law and our
regional agreement is on March 4th. Not only will we have the budget hearing, but we'll have a very brief school commit item school committee meeting right afterward. And then we'll have just our regular meetings for March on the 11th and the 25th. the 11th being
the big budget vote. So again, required by our regional agreement that we bring um or that we put forth a budget to the towns by this before March 15th, I believe it says. So that is going to be
a big deal, the March 11th votes. So hopefully everybody can make it. It's in person. And then we'll just um after that we'll turn our attention to all the other things that matter in a school district that are not the budget.
All right. So with that said, I am going to move to ajourn. Second. Ah Jackie got it. Good job, Jackie. Um I am gonna vote yes, Jackie. Yes. Sorry.
>> It's okay. Shawnor, >> yes. >> Scott, >> yes. >> Matt, >> yes. >> Sharon, >> yes. >> Amy, >> yes. >> Jillian, >> yes. And Lindsay, >> yes.
>> Excellent. Yay. Not a record, guys, but not bad. See you all next time. Thank you.