--------- Welcome. I call to order the May 7th, 2025 special call budget workshop. First up, we have the pledge of allegiance and a a prayer. We will be opening the meeting with a brief moment of silence or prayer and the pledge of allegiance to the United States flag. No
one is required to participate or be present for any of these and being in this portion of the meeting is completely voluntary. Please stand. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to
the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I ask you to please bow your heads for an unspoken and silent prayer. Thank you.
We do have two meetings backtoback tonight. So we are going to have a brief recess at the adjournment of our budget workshop for five minutes and then we will call the second special called meeting into order.
Take it away Dr. Sullivan. Sorry board that I'm sitting over here. It's just easier to be able to connect. Oh maybe I may have just spoken ill will into the world. All right. couple things that we are
going to go over first. Um, just to kind of give everybody an overview of our budget process and then we'll we kind of have a 55 minutes roughly to go over this. You don't have any of this these documents yet and I'll kind of go over
where how we're going to go over our process. So, this is just a workshop. Our board had a retreat back in March to where we covered um all of this information. There are very few changes. Transportation of course has been updated. We have updated as revenue came
through just some fine-tuning of our positions and with our local revenue and with TISA again that's been updated but we'll go through uh this in in detail and then we have a board meeting on Monday and then a board meeting to officially or board work board work
session on Monday and a board meeting on Thursday at 3:00. Notice the time difference because we have a different Oh, was that you? Yeah, but we have graduation that afternoon. So, notice we
have different times um for Thursday, but that'll be when we officially pass the budget. So, let's talk about our budget process first. Our budget process for our school system begins in December and ends in June. So, it ends with the county commission officially passing the
tax levy and the overall budget on June 23rd. They do have until June 30th to pass it. Our process starts with our principles. We have a principal meeting in December to where we go over principal requests. They have areas that they have to by statutory requirements
make requests such as positions, instructional technology, software, structural supplies and materials, professional development, and some other areas. They make those requests. We then have meetings. They our staff then has input with our departments. They make
requests and then meet with our leadership team here. February and March, we compile all of those. Then we have our board retreat. We then from our board retreat compile our overall budget. We then wait on our revenue to see what works and what doesn't work and
basically start cutting because people make lots of requests and you have to see what's feasible with your budget. That gets us to today for our budget workshop. And again, we will have Monday to where we'll discuss the budget again. And then next Thursday to where we'll formally by our private act have to pass
a budget. And then in June, we we have a actually May 27th a combined meeting with health and edition to where health and ed usually passes. Budget waits a couple days and usually passes after that and then the full commission votes on June
23rd. Couple highlights for us to look at. We're going to look at three different funds. So, for our general public, we have three main funds that we operate. Fund 141, which you're going to hear us talk about a lot. Fund 141 is our general purpose school fund. So, for
us as a school system, that is basically how we operate. That is teaching and learning, getting kids to school, everything we pretty much do as a school system except feeding students and building buildings. Fund 143 we're going
to talk about which is the general cafeteria fund and then fund 177 which is capital projects. And so we're going to start uh talking about fund 177. And so that is a figured we'd start with a pretty easy one. So board you guys have
a copy of this is the first document that you have. It's the first two actually and you're not going to notice much of a difference between the two. So, let me pull that up for everybody to be able to see. This
is a better copy. But what you guys are going to see me present today is going to be the Excel working documents and copies of those that we then submit to the county courthouse. It is a huge turnaround for us to submit these
numbers. We just got them about 30 minutes ago into the budget documents you're used to seeing. So, as soon as we are done tonight, I will email you the Forbes that you are used to seeing. Um, but we'll go over it so that you exactly what you have in front of you is what
you're seeing. Some good news. You will see this is again fund 177. The first and second page there, revenue and expenditures, but we have this is next year's budget. So, we haven't spent anything yet. So the numbers are going to to look similar, but the big thing to
focus on here is the bottom right hand number is 19,344,516. And so that is an increase from this year's budget. Fund 177 has to be utilized for capital
projects. So big projects at schools such as HVAC, roofing, um just different items that we are looking at and we'll look at our individual project list next Monday. But you will see this current
year if you look at prior the original budgets the middle column you'll look at the prior year. So that would have been 24 19,600,000. Then this year we had 18,900,000. If you go to actual April
2025 and just for the um community that's watching, so we're kind of looking right here, 19,600,000. Then our original budget this year was $18,9. What we've actually already collected is 20
million4. And then what they're recommending is 19,3 for this coming year. So, $300,000 increase, $350,000 increase. We have not changed any of ours for the board from our retreat of
177 requests that we talked about. We will increase about $350,000 into LED lighting in our buildings is what our um request is going to be. Just to take that extra 350,000 and put it towards LED lighting in the building. So, that's
what we're looking at. Any questions on 177? Um, and again, just so that you all can see kind of what it looks like, this is what you're used to seeing to give you an idea. And again, we'll go into further detail about this on Monday. Our here's our major things we
look at. This is our capital projects. This is deferred maintenance that we're no longer getting necessarily further behind like we were. Um, but every pretty much school system and in America has this issue. Uh you guys do not have
a copy of this today. I'll make a new copy for you. But this is again HVAC, bleachers, roofing, all those different types of things. Major things we're looking at to take care of next year. You're looking at major a HVAC,
Blackman High School, Chiller, continuing Central Magnet, Leverne High School, OS Annex, um attacking some of Rockville High School or Riverdale High School's annex, continuing to knock out some Smyrna Elementary, which we've already started
doing a lot of that because we did an amendment. Smrna High School, and then when we start getting to bleachers and seats, we start looking at some different ones. Seagull High School, Blackman High School, gym floors. We
recote various years, ADA requirements, McFaden, plaster and wall, Smyrna Elementary. Uh we have different asbestous where we're removing every year that's in the floor. Then we go through our paving and ceiling major roofing.
Roy Waldron getting I think they were on roofing. And if there are projects that we need to take care of that are not highlighted, that means the funding just kind of rolls on to the next year. This is something we talk about a lot. Restroom renovations, track
resurfacing, playgrounds. Uh we had a year where we didn't have to do any, but now we're getting back to doing playgrounds again again. And you'll see that we had on the original one you all saw at the retreat it was three million and we've increased to 3.9 on this one.
Um that'll make that come up to 193 which is matching what the county commission or what right now is being proposed to the county commission. You all know just as last year on the floor of the commission they can pull this fund at any time and last year that did
happen to us to give an extra raise. So, we're going to advocate to keep all of this and so hopefully we can. So, any questions on 177? Miss Maxwell, Miss Rosales. Thank you. You kind of answered my question because I was asking um I was really curious about the amount
because last year that did happen. They took money away. Um so, the LED lighting is that for the amount that was needed to put all the LED LED lighting in all of the schools. It's a three more three more year to continue. Okay. We're doing
this in in a three every three four year four year cycle project. Okay. Yep. Depending on what continues to happen with cost at least three more. So what are the schools that are going to get it the first? We're in the middle of doing our they started did they finish schools Trey yesterday visits or last week.
They finished their assessment on the last school yesterday and we sent them our current billings for them to begin to do the calculations on what the savings will be. Okay. Great. Is that going to be presented before the board once we get it? Yeah. Okay, great. Y I'd
be curious to see that. M. Yes, Mr. Tidle. I was going to ask actually ask the same question about the LED lighting. Uh my other followup question to that though is did we get all the athletic fields done? Is that all finished up now or are we still going into the summer on that? We are still going into the summer because
there's a couple of the schools that um it's a very major undertaking to move a lot of their existing features so that we can get to the lights. So, they will all be finished this summer. Uh the few that we lack um we did we were able to
get in the middle of a new TVA program where we were able to get some funding back. TVA is actually going to give us additional credits uh on our electric bill. Um and I sent Dr. Sullivan a list of those schools. Um
but we will also apply the program will still be operational this summer so that all the schools that we will go into, we will sign them up as well. And not only will we get monthly savings just based on our
reduced electrical charge, TVA will actually give us additional funding each month based on what their current usage is. And I'll let Dr. Sullivan tell you the rest. Yes. So, we have decreased even though we're opening a school this
year um to get our without spoiling it to get our budget deficit to where our county finance director was comfortable um which is 8 million in the deficit to get it there. We lowered our electricity payments um by $400,000 for the year
utilizing some of this savings. So, wonderful. That's great. That's great. Yeah. Um yeah, the feedback on that has been really really good on the especially like the softball field. They had those uplightings now. So from a safety standpoint, it's been all around well received on top of savings.
Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. And that's very conservative. That's truly just all we did was use the rebates we were getting back. We didn't actually start budgeting this electricity savings yet because we haven't seen it. That was just the rebates. Great. Awesome. Madam Chair.
Yes. Mr. Vaughn and then you he's he's giving you the floor. Thank you, Mr. Vaughn. Um, can we have a report of that? Just like the print out of what where it is. Y'all don't have to come and report on it. Can we just have a sheet? Yep. Look over to review. Thank you. Can you get that? Mr. Vaughn, did
you have something you want to say? That includes all the baseball fields, right? Are they going to be completed by the end of school year? They'll be completed by the start of next school year. Okay. And if you see anywhere where they have flashing lights or blinking lights or
anything with athletics, the schools paid for those. The district did not. That was something we saw on social media. That was a miss. It's going to help our baseball team see the baseball a little better. Right. All right. Anything else on 177? Any other questions?
All right. Let's go to fund 143. So that's your third page. Let me pull that one up. Let me expand that. Sorry, I'm just expanding it so people can see it. Whoa. Whoa. Dogs.
All right. So, here's fund 143. Fund 143 is our centralized cafeteria fund. This fund does not have a tax base connected to it. It is truly runs like a restaurant would. And so, this again does not have tax revenue connected to it. This is going to look a little weird
because we run it into the deficit on purpose. And we are running it into the deficit to try to spend down our fund balance. You are supposed to have an operating budget of about six months. Anything more than that, um, the USDA does not like for you to have. You're
supposed to be spending it on the program and the students that you were serving. So, you are going to see that we are continuing to keep our expenses similar while lowering the revenue because our revenue is decreasing, especially with our USDA reimbursements.
But if you look at what our fund balance is, so I'm looking um and I've highlighted it on the screen. It says 2024 fund ending unassigned fund balance and we're projecting it out 25 and then currently where it is even though we are
spending into the negative each year. We're increasing our fund balance and so we're trying to spend down but we're not actually spending it down. Um, part of that is we are still receiving more than we are anticipating,
but the bigger part is we were not we were anticipating doing more projects, buying more equipment, and we weren't actually going through and purchasing and buying it. Um, and I I'll kind of leave it at that. And so, we are going through and we need to upgrade our
kitchens. You guys have approved some new kitchen upgrades. You've approved some renovations to some of our kitchens. And so we're truly spending the money that we've said we were going to be spending to spend this amount down. So you do see a $6.6 million deficit and that is to try to get that
down and it's still almost at $16 million after that. The only position um that you will see and you'll see growth positions later on. This includes a two and a half% increase to the table which we have across for all employees. And
then you'll see revenue decrease in USD USDA reimbursements. It was 145 last year to 14 this year. And then the rest of the funding comes from student payments and visitor payments. And so that's how all revenue comes from
143. Brian, anything else you want to add to 143? Brian or Trey, anything else you'all want to add to 143? I know it's pretty self-sufficient. We run a centralized cafeteria fund. So we have a centralized cafeteria nutrition director and then we have satellites at each
school and then they all report back to the centralized county department. Mwell. Yes, Mr. T. What is the target goal if the USDA is asking us to months? What what would that look like? Somewhere between 10 and 12, but I wouldn't necessarily want to really get
that low. So Miss Maxwell, it's Mr. Zels. Is this where we count bad meal debt? Where is it at on the line here? Throughout our whole lines. Oh, okay.
It's just not thrash just in operations. Okay. Is there been any mumblings about the USDA grant uh being cut at the federal level? Has there been Yes, there's been rumors and everything, but nothing that we've seen in actuality
yet. Any other questions? I do. What is the board of education $72,000 on 72130 expense 72130 board of education? $72,000. What
is that? It pays for our annual audit for our schools whenever they audit the schools themselves. So that that goes into um one we actually move that into 141 whenever we have to pay for the audit for the audit services for schools.
Well, I'm glad that you clarify that because it looks like board like we're getting $72,000 to go out to eat out of 140 $72,000 in cafeteria school lunch. I know I've not been going out. We haven't been going out to these really like the
school pizza, right? Yeah, exactly. coconut cokes. That's right. Any other questions on 143? All right. See why we started off with the two easy ones. All right. Now, let's go to our general purpose school
budget. And so, this is fund 141, which is our large operating budget. We're going to look at revenue first. And so, this is the one our
revenue. you will see revenue for this year and I know the numbers are large but I want to also put it into perspective for everyone that watches. So our revenue is $573 million for next year for per pupil expenditure and we
talk about this quite a bit. This previous year we were 126 out of 143 school systems um in Tennessee. We are behind Grundy County, Cumberland County. We are a large school system and so when you're a large school system the numbers
are larger but per pupil expenditure in 141 we are 126 out of 143. Brian where did those numbers come from last year when you got them? Like who gave us those numbers? Oh that come from the state? It came from
Mary and Derki Tennessee Department of Education. And so their true numbers straight out of their I don't know what report we do an annual uh per pupil expenditure report where we upload all the expenditures by school and then they calculate it and
break it out and come up with an overall per pupil expenditure amount. So I just think that's that's good for the public to know that we do a lot with less per pupil and just throwing money at kids is not the way to have a good school system. It is good to to know that at
some point a breaking point does happen to where services start to struggle. You're going to see where a lot of revenue increase this year and a lot of it is state, but we do need to of course and I'll talk about where the rest of it came from in a little while. Everything in yellow is
maintenance of effort. So maintenance of effort is the local requirement of your local funding body. And again, this is all dependent on county commission approval, but the mayor and the finance
director set what the budget requests are for revenue. We don't set revenue requests and then this is what will be presented to county commission hopefully to approve. So, this is what we take our revenue from. And so I'm very happy to
report of being able to to talk through this and have lots of conversations. We had a lot of and it connects to the parent responsibilities zone conversation we're going to have in a little while. Um after all those conversations we talked about we need
more local revenue to not have a parent responsibility zone. We need more local revenue and a little bit over 2.7 is that correct? 2.6 2.7 above maintenance of effort. How much extra was it? Can you calculate that? Yeah, I was right at
2.7. So, above maintenance of efforts, $2.7 million above maintenance of effort. And that's a big deal because once a funding body gives you that funding, that funding doesn't go away unless you shrink in students. And so,
that is why it's so essential for me as a director and us as a school board to have a good relationship with our funding body. And so I'm hopeful that we can advocate this through the the finish line because that is why the one of the reasons for the recommendation later is
to to go and reconsider for the board to reconsider the PRZ is because we have the funding now that was kind of offsetting that reason in the first place until we can reconsider it. So, I'm very thankful for that partnership to look at. And you'll see the big
majority of it is in line 9 right here. Local option sales tax is an increase of 2.5 million and then a will tax increase that is not increasing the actual wheel tax rate because I know there's been discussion that that's just in
collections 188,000 and then investment income of 150,000. So, those are those are huge increases and again I thank um mayor and our county finance director for proposing that but that truly is up to the county commission to pass those
tax rate tax rates for us to see that to fruition. Any questions on the local revenue aspect of that? Miss Maxwell. Yes, Mr. Tidwell. All right. The difference in the current property tax it was only 29,6600 y.
Really? Does that not seem low? It does seem low. I don't have the act. Is it on the other document? The penny? It's not, is it? This does not involve the act. So, this is not what is collected. This is what
is projected. So, you never is from a from the county's perspective, they don't project it 100%, they project it 90. I don't know what their rate is. Yeah. Somewhere in the 90s of a projected rate. We historically have been collecting above and then that goes
into our fund balance which makes our fund balance higher. It's a conservative forecast. Correct. Uh this also looks and I don't know for certain um but looks like there's going to be a movement of a penny or so around and so
I know that'll have conversation but again we don't necessarily set revenue or those different types of things. So yeah, Miss Maxwell. Yes, Mr. Ples. Maybe you explained this earlier and I just didn't figure out that that that that's what you were talking. So there this is
there is about um about approximately $7 million difference between the fiscal year projected and what we're proposing to Yeah. That's the deficit and I'll get to that after we go into expens. Well that's the $8 million that you're talking about the difference. Got it. Okay. All right. Thank you.
Any questions on the local portion and again that's what's in yellow. All right, let's look at the other big increase, which is TISA. So, line 26. So, TISA is a $27 million
increase. But then you will see one of the big decreases right behind it is Tissa on behalf. That is what goes to charter schools. Um, that's that $8 million decrease. Early childhood education.
This is where as a board we are very used to having that as an amount. Um, and again, this amount right here, let me make sure I go back to this. These are students they've actually served. And so that is not a a controversial statement or these are students that have been
served by our charter schools. And so they generated these funds. This is not a projection. Those are students that they generated our three over the last year. And so that is what that amount is. Voluntary prek. This is something that just so our board knows, we usually use our val voluntary prek grant money
to fund growth positions that we come back with in August, September for new students. Last couple years, it's been a lot of times some of our ESL positions and then we go in and use a midyear cleanup and that's why if you see in
that first line there's a blank and in the second year we've already budgeted 1.3. we are going ahead and having to budget that as revenue this year to try to lower that deficit. And so there's not going to be any funding available for us to go back and add growth
positions, at least using that money like we have been able to in the past. And so there's much less of a cushion like there has been in the past. The next one I want to call everybody's attention to is line 30 because this one
skews our budget big time. It is 46,590 is the number you're looking at. So for people watching it is this 9.3 million. One year was 400,000 then it was 9.7 million. Brian was that
the ISM grant that 9.7. So the governor gave 9 gave more than that but one year it was 9. This year is 9.7 million for innovative school model grants any for high schools and middle schools. Anytime the state gives extra grant funding, it runs through our 141, which makes it
look like your school district budget is exploding when really it's just state funding that comes down to you and then goes away. That is the same with this 9.3 million as part of the education savings account that was passed by the legislature this year. Every teacher in
the school system this year will receive a $2,000 bonus check next year. Um, if the board passes a resolution that'll be on the May 15th board agenda that goes that is calculates to
about $9.3 million that we will get sometime in July, but it does have to be included in this um budget. So that's the additional $9.3 million that you see there. It'll be one-time funding and then next year it will not be there. And
so that's not reoccurring funding. It's a one-time bonus, but it does make your budget look like it is a lot higher. That's why that number goes from 538 to 573, $9.3 million of it is new state
revenue. And a positive portion is two lines below it. The governor two years ago passed paid parental leave for certified staff. And so a teacher now has the option that if they've been here for a certain length of time to have leave
paid. And so that is a big deal. And so that's 1.2 million in revenue as well. But that is again additional revenue that's coming to us um that makes your budget increase. So all of those things together, revenue is
573,385,000. That's an increase of 34 million. Again, 9 million of it is the one time. 8 million will be deducted to go to um charter schools for students they served this year. And so you're looking at 17 of that 34 million though
roughly that we never see for operation purposes. questions, comments, anything on revenue? Yes, Mr. Tidwell. Yeah, I got a question about the volunteer uh prek. You said it's 1.3 million. We get more than that,
but we budget that just to not know what happens to the state grant until we actually see the revenue. Okay. Yeah, I think that was a little bit higher. Yeah, it is higher than that. Any other questions? Okay. All right. Next, let's move to
expenditures. And this is going to shows you some percentage increases and decreases. Uh depending on which account it is, the percentages look high or low. Again, just based on what the number is. Um this does incre
include the 2 and 12% increase to the table. You will see regular instruction has the big it has an increase of 6.9%. That does include the $9.3 million for ESSA stipens. And so that number gets skewed because of increasing 9
million. So without that, you're at about a $10 million increase. And so I appreciate Dr. Chastain and her department working non-stop. The number of positions. Any idea how many positions we have moved around? You think it's triple digits? I would say it's in the triple digits for
sure. And so when people ask why don't you if cut positions and those different types things as a growing district we don't necessarily cut positions but even when I was in Dr. Chastain's position you have to we it's in education you move positions around to where the kids
are and so that's what we do we move positions around to where the kids are. The other ones and we'll get into more detail. Alternative instruction look is a 30% increase that is new classrooms at Simon Springs Community Schools or Simon Springs Community School. We have open
that alternative school wing and then moving of positions from f from federal. So we've moved some of our instru our educational assistance from federal 142 which is a different one and moved just switched some kind of codings and
replaced coding for other positions there. So it looks like a a huge increase, but that budget that line was only 3.5 to now it's 4.6. Special ed is a
4.6. Vocational ed is a negative.5. Attendance is 5% uh even though we have a movement from Skyward to a new vendor that's still going through an RFP. And so that's where you talk about different
movement of people with a 2.5% increase. People getting an additional step of increase. That 5% has people moving around as well. Health services has an additional three growth positions. That's three school nurses. Uh they've
requested more than that. We've granted just about everybody's requested more, but we granted three. The other thing that is in here still and I believe and Brian correct me if I'm wrong. We have a lightning detection system. Is that correct or is it Yes, it's the Perry weather. Yeah. A lightning detection
health services and coordinated school health are both in this. Is that correct? Coordinated school health and health services are both in this. So that's what you see the 16% increase. Other student support additional growth positions for Popular
Hill. Anywhere you see PH3, I know that's a weird coding, but that's just our budgetary coding. You have two school counselors, social worker, additional increase to SRO's. So, when they're increase um pay, we increase our school security, an additional cost for
contracted services that were previously paid by the state security grant. State security grant is gone. So, some of our systems that we paid for there are now there. Instructional support is 5.8% increase. You'll see some smaller ones. This is where you start seeing us move
positions around. This is where we moved four positions to federal and it starts to offset some of these other positions we moved around in alternative instruction. So, it it comes off as you start moving things all over the place between positions. We moved more to
federal than we took out of general purpose. And so, trying to to be conservative with our budget. Vocational eds 8%, technology seven. Um, board of education is a huge increase. So, I know you see that and you're like 66%. What in the world did
we do to increase 66%. Uh, that is coming from our auditor and Brian, do you want to explain that one? So, the comprollers's office um wanted us to originally the charter school payments were coming out of 99100
590 which is which is a transfers um out account. They wanted us to actually uh put it in an expenditure account and so they suggested we put it in the board of ed 72130 or 72310 312. So that's where the
charter school payments will be coming out of now which was a $5.7 million I think increase or $5.2 million increase. So that's the reason why it's it's jumped up to 60 66% plus we also put a another
contracted service in there. [Music] um that cyber security. Yeah, cyber security contracted service in there. So, uh that was $230,000. So, you're looking at almost $6 million that we additionally added to
the board of ed expenditure line to cover those two two things. So, just I know that one looks weird. Um we are the largest district that has a charter school that is audited by the comprollers's office. So, this one may be a moving target because
it was that's not something that they necessarily have a lot of experience with either. So, it it takes time to get questions um answered. So, your other big districts are all audited by private agencies and so that's something the comproller always has the ability to do with us as well. Uh I don't expect that
right now because of some other things, but that's something they always have that option. So, I expect some more conversation around that in the future. Office of the Superintendent. Um, we're requesting to add a records person just like we talked about at our budget
retreat. Office of the principal. The only addition is an additional principal AP and secretary for Popular Hill Middle School. That's not its official name. We have to that's just what we're calling it. We have to do the is required by policy the naming
of the committee and all those different types of things. principal will not start till February. The AP has 10 days budgeted and the secretary will start in February as well. This is for the middle school. Okay. The next two are a
tradeoff. We moved benefits from human resources to fiscal services. So Brian's department took on uh human resource took on on the benefits department and that is no longer in human resources. So that's why you see those two numbers. the maintenance of the plant.
We moved uh reduced contracted services to schools. And so we're going to have to really watch how much money we spend on custodial supplies and those different types of things at schools to try to get that deficit down to $8
million. Transportation, you'll see it was a 22% increase. Uh community services, we keep $10,000 there. It's one that we use if we need to do something in the community. Early childhood education of
minus.4 regular capital outlay. If we have a chiller chiller, I wish that it would cover $330,000 now, but it doesn't. But if we have an emergency that we need to cover without going to the county commission to go into fund balance, we like to have that. And then we had two
accounts that the loan had been was paid off, so we didn't have those anymore. And then this last one is you see transfer to other funds. This is what the controller's office requested us to move to where we were paying those out of different funds and we now have been asked to move those into different
lines. So any questions on expenses just the main general categories. Yes, Mr. Salis. Okay. So, um, these positions that have been moved out of, um, GP funds to federal, are we keeping
track of these positions? We have an we have How many have we moved? We have an extreme stickler, Kathy Meitter, who will um, hunt you down if you do one period wrong in the wrong spot. Well, that's good. It needs somebody like the nicest compliment I
could give Kathy and she would appreciate that because Kathy is an amazing human but she makes sure you are in line with everything you do. That's great. So yes, how many positions have we moved? I have no we'd have Kelly you'd have to give with Annie and all the different Yeah, they they cover several different categories. So for
instance, Dr. Rosson's worked really hard with idea funds to make sure we're balancing all we can in that funding source out of GP. Um then we've got the innovative school model grant. Well, that's state. So that wouldn't be the the federal, but there there are types
Perkins Perkins grant with CTE, but mo most of those will fall within special education between teaching positions, school psychologist positions, EA positions. Okay. So it's it's a mixback between state funds and federal funds. Okay. And
then sometimes it changes if we get hit with a federal like disproportionality is the one that hits the most. in the middle of the year shifts how you have to do a budget amendment, shift your funding that we got off the list a year, then you get on a list. So it it's a moving target. All right, let's look at vacant and
growth positions next. And so again, kudos to our instruction department for we are opening a new school and only really have four growth positions. And so four growth positions for Popular
Hill, two instructional coaches, which is standard at all of our schools, two academic interventionist, a behavior interventionist, Popper Hill. You'll see we have 11 open EA positions. Uh we have more than that, but that's just what we're using for budgetary purposes.
not hiring additional not hiring additional alternative school 33 special education EAS the three school nurses we talked about two school counselors for Popler Hill a social worker for Popular Hill two sped EAS um in this portion
it's a different line code that's why you see two sped EAs in two different spots a speech pathologist because we're opening a school a behavior specialist media specialist for Popler Hill library EAS So these are for our high schools,
our comprehensive high schools to help with the 1:1 devices. So that was one of the big complaints that we had at the high school level is our media specialists and librarians had the 1:1 devices and all the the library book issues that they had on them. And so one
of the things we prioritized was to try to get them a library EA. Middle and high middle and elementary have library. high school did not cuz they had a second uh media specialist. So those were growth positions that we had. Um we
do not have six through eight ELA specialist is not in there. So I'll remove that. Our records clerk is the position with Monica. I talked about principal. Again, this is a halftime principal for Popular Hill for the middle school. bookkeeper for the
school, Popler Hill, which will be the one that starts, the assistant principal, secretary for the school, and then attendant secretary for our school that we have for Proper Hill Elementary School. And accounting tech for accounting, custodians to open our new
elementary school. And you see we have eight and a half vacant sped bus aid. We have four vacant. We have more than that, but we're accounting for for budgetary purposes. an admin assistant for transportation. And then we have five VPK EAS. And so you'll see total
growth is 37.75. Most of those for Popular Hill and nine of those are library EAS. And again, this is a draft. This will change over the next couple days. And I'll have a final copy for you to to present through Thursday. Miss Sharp. Madam
Chair, Dr. Sullivan, how many um sped bus aids do we have approximately now already? Can you pull that up, Brian? You can pull up exactly how many there are. There's a lot of vacancies for sure. You anticipate getting those filled? No.
I mean, I wish we could, but that's a hard position to fill because it's part-time. Yeah. Um the the job's tough, too. The next one's for the sake of just time so everybody can kind of see where they are. um you have and these are the
documents that you're used to seeing. Let me pull this up. Pull up the one I'm used to seeing. So, you're used to seeing this in a much different format. Um the format you were used to seeing them in looks like what I showed you with 177 a little while ago.
uh to where it shows you the fund at the top and then has how much it was in the previous budget and in a PDF format. And again, I have those. I just got them right before they came. So, I'll send those. I appreciate the county getting those to us um so quickly. So, you'll have that. You have them in this format
for you. But you'll have on each line, it shows you what the teacher line was in 24, what it was when we amended it the year, what it was this year, and then again what it is this coming year. Again, as a reminder, that big one for
teachers includes that um teacher bonus. Teacher bonus. Um and we have it all going into this line this year just for to be easy for us. Um that's kind of where the big one is for textbooks. So you guys can kind of see this is the
biggest line that we have it's $297 million in this budget. The big one that you'll see textbooks is $600,000. We used to budget $89 million in this line at 600,000. And then computers because
we are doing one one out of our fund balance that is only 150,000 to where we used to budget 4,000. So, we those are the areas that we cut to be able to get to $8 million in the deficit to be able to support the other things that we
needed to do. And then we keep track of all the different positions. All of it calculates like social security 6.2 based on the number of positions we put up here and it all feeds um from different areas. So, I just moved over to alternative education, but you guys
have all of those um different ones beside you. any ones that you want to look at in particular because I know we were running up on time for the next meeting as well because I wanted to hit the deficit real quick to to look at
that on your summary sheet kind of going back to where we were that shows now let me show you the document you're used to seeing that is Brian sent me this just a a couple minutes ago
So, here's what I'll present to you on Monday and on Thursday. So, this is the format you're used to seeing when we do the budget. Again, you don't have a copy of this. Um, I can print it before we leave for everyone. So, this is an overall
proposed budget. This is showing all of the accounts. You'll see 141, 140, 30, and 177. 141 has a general fund revenue of 573 million, expenditures of 581, and we
have it at 7.9 million. And talking with several commissioners and our county finance director, we feel confident that that can get hopefully through with enough votes going above that, then you start running the risk of it getting sent back to us to make cuts and send
back by June 30th. And so eight was kind of our threshold of this is where everybody felt confident to make sure that we could get it through the county commission. Um with the understanding that hopefully you don't ever actually run 8 million into the negative because
as you operate throughout the year revenue comes in higher. 143 is 6.6 million. Again we're trying to to spend some of that money down. I sure wish you could take 143 funds and roll them into 141. uh we already do that for some things for like uh when we are doing
custodial services we already pay for those things out of 141 we we do that everywhere we can and then 1771 19.3 million and here's the form that you're used to seeing them in. And so I will send this to you all as soon as uh we're done to where it
has all the format that you're used to seeing the teachers, the actual, the budget, the amended, and here's where it says mayor board recommended. That's the format that you're used to seeing it compared to the format you have right here. So questions, comments, anything
you want me to prepare for Monday. But again, nothing has really changed since our border treat either. I have a question. Yep. Um, the T of funding that we received, the 30 the $27 million when at the retreat you went
over it, the big chunks of it where it went. Where did it remind me again where the $27 million went to? You huge chunk goes to charter school. So the um Rford Collegiate Prep comes off the top. It never actually comes to us. And so
you're seeing it in revenue right here because a large portion of that one it'll be deducted in July before it actually comes to us. We're just showing it as revenue right now. Okay. Then the next almost five something million that
is in the board of education as an expense will be the other portion. So you're looking at over 10 that will go for charter schools for the students they served last year rightfully so. Then it has um the 2.5% increase to
the table was eight or was a little bit over 9 million. Um 2.5% increase to the table was a little bit over nine. And then as we talked about with the rest of your increases, whether it's insurance,
transportation, it's it's gone. So just looking at that, you'll see. So the 27 million, the big chunk, a good portion is includes the charter schools. It does. Yes. How much does the one from the state receives?
Yeah. RCP is it like 8 million million according to what we had to budget this year in 2425 it was that 8 million 56,000 I believe uh that we had to budget for that this year um I don't
foresee us you know spending that amount or that amount but some of that it will be coming back to us for whatever but we have to budget it up front and that's what makes it a little bit more difficult also I do have your number for the um bus aids. So we budget them at
five hours and seven hours. So the the seven hours are considered full-time. The 20 hour or the five hours are considered part-time. There's a total of 26 positions when we say FTE, but there's 14 full-time positions and 20
part-time positions. And then there's four part-time vacancies right now. So 30 40 40 positions total 40 body positions but like I said 26 FTEES if
you do it by full-time equivalent. Thank you. I have a number for you too. So 74 certified positions have been moved around. That's not counting our special education moves and our EAS. So special education still certified but not on that list of transfers within the
county. Awesome. Um, is this one you said we can also ask about the different line items on this? Yeah. Okay. So, I have a question for um the account 71 150. Yep. And the line is EA's
educational assistant. There's a big jump. Yep. For the fiscal year of 25 versus 26. Can you elaborate on that? Yeah, those are the ones we talked about on that big that was the 30%. Excuse me, increase where we recoded them from federal to
here. That's exactly what you were talking about from the ones going from federal to general purpose. Oh, gotcha. Showing over there, this is exactly where they are. Gotcha. Okay. But they're not going to be showing on that other They are. They're showing on the
30% increase. Let me show you where that is. Yeah, it is on that one. the expenditure right here on alternative school education. This one. Okay. It's this right here. Got it. 71150. Okay. So, those are this is the that's where
it's feeding into. Okay. But they were coded to the federal. They used to be and now they used to be coded to the federal. Then we moved to general then we moved some down here. You'll see in 722 we had four positions down here move
from general purpose to federal. Okay. Okay. Well, that was just a big conference. I was curious about Mr. Tidville. Um, how many positions did you say were open on the sped EAS? I just missed that number. this uh the
bus sped EA bus 4. Okay. Um do they require additional training? Is that why it's so difficult to Yes. And there's realistically probably
more than that. Do you remember we pulled this back in March and that is just the like a snapshot in time and that's using to budget from at that point. Okay. And I also have a question. I know that several of us brought this up with the board about having a grant writer and that you potentially had
somebody in mind for that. Have we is that something we're pursuing? We haven't posted yet because it was during the middle of the year, but we post it in June. Okay. Thank you. We do. We have a teacher in mind for it and I don't want to mention the school because they'll not be thrilled. But yeah.
I have one more question. Miss Melis, thank you. As a thought um have we thought as now that we kind of talked about the bus um spedier um the the sped bus aids in that then require a special
certification. Have we thought about um our already um sped EAS offering them an incentive to be a bus aid after hours? You run into over these run into overtime. You run into overtime.
Yeah, we'd love to, but you run into overtime and hour wage laws, too. Okay. Yeah. Oh, I was just n thinking we've authorized it for a few on some I can think of two that I've author maybe
three that I've authorized just because the bus was so so so challenging and we had a kid that truly had a great relationship with a with a bus aid. Will those positions be part-time? Some are and some it truly depends on the
person but usually a a spy are usually full-time. No, the bus aids. And again, just depends. Some are part-time, some are full-time. Okay. But if they're full-time, then we have to find somewhere for them to be
for the rest of the day, too. Okay. There are questions. They're our hardest, one of our hardest, if not the hardest, to fill in the district, for sure. That is a good question. I asked that about two years ago. Was that to use the
EA? We use Yeah. But it's the overtime over time or if there's a possibility of bringing them later in the day, then you miss your morning route. So, you're going to miss one of the two. That's that's the problem. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it is the most difficult. That is sounds
like it. Yep. Yeah. Any other questions? What can we do to encourage people to take that position cuz they're important? I'm telling you, it's tough. Need to pay them a little more money.
possibly. But I I one it's a tough it's a tough position very similar to even our structured setting positions or that's our hardest certified position to fill our structured setting teaching position to fill.
Any other questions? Okay. Y thank you guys. You have questions of course contact me. Happy to meet discuss it all. Thank you. We ended up four minutes ahead of time. Y I'd like to call at this in recess and uh adjourn this and then we'll be back in
five minutes. Part: 2
Welcome to the May 7th, 2025 special called meeting of the Rutherford County School System. We will be opening the meeting with a brief moment of silence or prayer and the pledge of allegiance to the United States flag. No one is required
to participate or be present for any of these and being in this portion of the meeting is completely voluntary. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and
to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I ask you to please bow your heads for an unspoken and silent prayer.
Thank you. First up, we have approval of the agenda. Any comments or questions? Move to approve. Second. Thank you, Mr. Vaughn. Thank you, Miss Sharp. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion
passes. We move on to public comment section and we have four who have signed up for public comments. First up we have Mr. Charlie Felts. Charles Felts, I'm sorry. I'd like to start tonight thanking the
board for the opportunity to come here and speak tonight. Uh my name is actually go by Mike Mike Feltz. I'd like to speak about the concern of myself and several parents about the PRZ zones. I know at first glance it seems like this may uh encourage parental involvement. When you look closer at it,
it raises a lot of concerns that I've heard from many members of the community I've spoke with. First, it it's going to disproportionately affect low-income families. Many many families have households where both parents work or parents work multiple jobs. They don't have flexible schedules. They're not going to be able to transport their
kids. You expect them to meet the additional requirements and seems like an unfair unfairly punishes those that are already stretched thin. They can't get time off work. They can't flex their schedules around. Second, the second thing and the
biggest concern to me is the safety. A lot of these neighborhoods don't have, you know, sidewalks. Some of these schools are on roads without sidewalks. Uh I think everybody here knows how the traffic is in Murphy'sboro. I mean, it's it's not not it's not good. I see horrible driving every day. Hate to have
my child walking through that. And the third thing I I'm concerned with is it seems like it'll deepen the divide with the divide in education for the students. Students could arrive late or be tired from walking in or just not show up at all. If it's bad weather,
kids not going to get want to get out and walk in the rain or the cold. That just it seems like there should have been more thought put into this. And I'm sure there can be a better solution found. And another thing with the safety, most children go to school for
roughly 11 years before they're old enough to drive, transport themselves to school. In the last 11 years, there have been 538 pedestrians hit in Rutherford County. That's the fifth most in the state. And most of those are adults, full-sized grown adults walking down the street getting hit by cars. There was
unfortunately a gentleman struck and killed last week in Leverne. It's just not a situation I feel comfortable putting the children in. Thank you for your time. That's all I've got. Thank you, Mr. Phelps. Our next speaker is Mr. Jason,
Mayor Jason Cole. Good evening, board. Little different for me to be on this side uh compared to our meetings, but I'm here to represent the residents of Leverne. There's 42,000 residents who quite frankly many of them felt uh blindsided and betrayed with the
be with the PRC. They felt like it was unplanned, unannounced, and it was thrust upon them suddenly. Um I personally reached out to everybody on the board. I got four responses back and I want to thank everyone who responded back to me with those concerns because it was a collective from our
residents. I want this board to look at the PRZ and consider delaying it. not just for a year, but until a comprehensive safe routes to school study is done that looks at all of the schools that are impacted to see where
the areas are for concern for our students because like the gentleman before mentioned, we just had a grown man hit and killed on Old Nashville Highway. One that many people have seen walking back and forth for months going
to and from a bank to go out to eat. If somebody can do that to adults, our children, we don't want to put them in that situation. Um, on top of a comprehensive plan, y'all should consider doing parental meetings in each
district just like y'all did with the uh school resoning. Get the parents involvement. Get their buy in. This is something that's going to be successful. You have to have the parents buy in. Looking at some of the maps, you have um students that have to cross multiple highways if they're going to be on foot
or on bike. Uh for Leverne alone, uh the Lever Middle School, 80% of Lake Forest, which is the largest subdivision in the state of Tennessee, is is in that PRZ. You're looking at a neighborhood of 7,000 homes. Imagine that that volume
for kids. that that's just that's that's very very very concerning to me. Um, and I still stand by the comment. I think that with the the PRZ, you can still have, you
know, raises for our bus drivers and you can have kids going to school. It's not just one or the other. It's working through the budget process and finding those solutions. So we need to find something that works for parents, for
schools, and most of all for the safety of our children. They are the biggest biggest investment for everyone in this whole nation. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Miss Elizabeth Atkins.
Good evening. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak. My name is Elizabeth Atkins and I'm here tonight as a concerned parent and community member regarding the PRZ. I understand that this policy was approved due to budget concerns, but I'm asking you to seriously consider
tableabling it, at least until real safety measures are in place. In our county, many students who live within the PRZ would be forced to walk along roads with 55 to 65 mph speed limits, roads with no sidewalks, no crosswalks,
and short school zones. These are not safe walking routes. A majority of these are on highways. My daughter is 5 years old and she weighs 35 lbs. That is who this policy is asking
to walk to school along these dangerous roads. An example of this is my daughter's own school, Las Casses Elementary. It sits right on Highway 96, also known as Las Cass's Pike. I drive that road every single day and I have
almost been run off it more times than I can count by drivers who have no regard for speed limits, school zones or the children nearby. This is not a safe environment for pedestrians, let alone small children walking alone. The reality is not all parents have the
option of driving their children to school. Many are working jobs that don't allow them to come and go freely. Expecting every family to manage this without transportation support is unrealistic and unfair. And let's not forget what happens during inclement weather. Snow,
ice, and tornado warnings. Children will be expected to walk in dangerous conditions, often in the dark, and we are setting them up for tragedy. This policy, in its current form, is not ready. Until sidewalks, crosswalks, and extended school zones
are in place, we are putting children at serious risk. I respectfully ask you to delay the implementation of the PRZ and prioritize student safety above all else. Thank you. Thank you. Lastly, we have Miss Ashley
Hail. Good evening, members of the board. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Ashley Hail and I'm an active member of this community and I poured hundreds of volunteer hours into my children's elementary school just this year, all while juggling a full-time career. I
come to you not just as a concerned parent, but someone who is deeply worried about the safety and equity of our children that would be affected by the PRZ in Rutherford County Schools. While I do appreciate the board's recent intent to pause the parent responsibility zone for one year, I want to be very clear, a temporary pause is
not enough. It may buy time, but it does not solve the real long-term problems this policy would create. The PRZ would limit bus transportation to children who live within 1 2 and a half miles from school. On paper, this might seem like a reasonable way to help with the budget,
but in reality, it's far more dangerous. Some children will be forced to navigate high traffic and high-speed roads, some up to 55 mph, cross unsafe intersections, and walk along the highway and or stretches where sidewalks are inadequate or do not exist at all.
PRZ is not just an inconvenience. It's a risk to some of our students lives. And even if one child is severely injured or worse because of this policy, that cost is far too high. When we say parent responsibility zone, we must remember this is not a walk zone. It's a warning
zone. and a deflection of liability. And if tragedy strikes, the responsibility will not disown the parents and a grieving student body. It will rest with every decision maker who voted for this to move forward is a reasonable solution to a budgetary issue. We also cannot ignore the threat of child predators.
For some of our youngest students, children as young as five, it would be asked of some of them to be alone, vulnerable, and unprotected. These are not hypothetical risks. This is not the world our parents grew up in. These are known dangers, and they are preventable. This policy also places heavy and unfair
burden on underprivileged families as well as single parents. Not every parent can work flexible hours. Not every household has access to reliable transportation. PRZ disproportionately affects low and single inome families, punishing those who are already
struggling to make ends meet. These parents often lack flexible work schedules or reliable transportation, making it nearly impossible for them to consistently take their children to school. It's a policy that unintentionally prioritizes budget convenience over compassion. And perhaps
most importantly, PRZ stands in direct conflict with our county's stated commitment to educational equity. How can we say that every child has an equal opportunity to learn when just getting to school safely would be a challenge for so many? I urge you, please don't just table this policy for a year. Let's
show our community that we are serious about student safety and equity. Let's make the bold right choice and take PRZ off the table permanently. Ruford County's children deserve better. Parents and taxpayers deserve fair and equal access to bus services that put
safety first for all. Let's not kick this can down the road. Let's pick it up and deal with it. Thank you for listening and thank you for having the heart to fight for what's right. Thank you. I'm ready for some comments, questions before we vote on
the We have two motions before us, but we're also we can also make our own motion. Yes, Mr. Tidwell. Yeah, I think that we've heard I know that we've all gotten emails and phone calls and text messages and every other form of communication possible about
this. Um, and that it would only make sense at this time to rescend it. Um, take a look back, figure out how it if it if it even could work here, but what that would even look like, giving parents more time to make plans. Um, at least that's been my experience. So,
that's why I'd be making a motion to resend. Second, Miss Sharp, that was a motion. Yeah. Oh, I didn't realize that was a motion. Any comments or question? I do have a comment though.
I do agree that we do need to involve the parents and asking them questions just like we did with the reasonzoning um to get feedback from them. Um, when we had talked about this back in April, I thought we were going to
have a study that we were going to look at because that was what we that was discussed back in April of 2024 that we had tabled this PRZ and that it was going to give time to come back to the board to bring in recommendations of
where it made sense or didn't make sense because a lot of the board members had the same concerns that we're hearing from parents about the safety issues. So, um I understand that they're budgetary issues and this may be a cost savings, but at the same time, I I think
that before we make further decisions on it to have a study conducted and see where the true savings and costs are. Would you like to Mr. Tidville, would you be would you like to amend the
motion to call in for? You have to rescend it first. Okay. Okay. Okay. We're good. Yes, Miss Darby. Um I agree with Mr. Zalis. I do believe that that was brought up about a study. Um, I know when I've talked about this in the past,
we've talked about the difference between Rock Springs Elementary School, Rock Springs Middle School, and how some of our schools have lots of sidewalks and subdivisions that are literally next door to the schools, and then we have other schools that are not in that same situation. Um, so I do
think I appreciate that we heard from so much of our community because there were a lot of things that were raised that I think didn't get brought up and didn't get discussed. So, I think this is a smart move for our board to look into this further, do some of
the study and the work, maybe identify places where it makes more sense than others. Um, so I just think it's a good idea. Okay. Any other comments? Did you add that to yours? So, if we resend the
vote, does that mean we can go back to getting the study done? Yes. and to see if this is a true cost savings because I don't know. Yeah, I'm just going to leave it to that. Yes, Dr. Sen, I don't think it'll be worth um if you're only doing in targeted
areas, I don't know that the it'll be worth instituting. Um but I already have we're working on that already, but I don't know that the recommendation would be to institute it in certain areas for a cost savings measure if you're only eliminating three or six or eight buses.
Um, but yes, we can do all that. I'm just saying long term. If I'm projecting out in 8, nine, 10 months, um, what the disservice that would do to some parents in certain areas, I don't know that that would be worth $3 to $350,000
in savings to only not provide transportation in a couple targeted areas when I may still be sending a bus for high school, but not be sending it for elementary. I'd still I think Rock Springs was the one we looked at, for example, because it got brought up, we
may not send a bus there for the elementary or the middle school, but I'm still going to be sending a bus for Leverne High School or Stewart Creek High School. That's that's going to be tough when parents see buses still going there, but their kid can't get on it. This is definitely definitely good
conversations and this it's a real problem and uh I've spoken with several and we're trying to work on this in the future. um if we build a school in developers will come around and build houses.
That's that's their priority. That's her right. But at some point we have to ask, hey, how about some sidewalks? How about some sidewalks throughout your entire neighborhood? And how about some sidewalks? If you're within an a mile, mile and a half, how about a sidewalk to
the school? And I think there is quite a few quite a few people that are on board with that. Uh that's the future. Uh by delaying this and not killing it. I think that we give ourselves time
to I know we have to target some of them, but I think this would help with the new schools and such. Can you also say the recommended motion to says until a later school year? It doesn't say next year. It doesn't say one year. Yep. Miss Maxwell. Yes. Um, Murphus for City
Schools implemented PRZ, but it's not, it wasn't implemented to the entire city school district. It's only like four schools that have the PRZ. It's scales. Mitchell, Nielson, um, the Salem, and Kasein Lane. So, um, and it it's with
the areas that had sidewalks. So, a lot of our schools do not have sidewalks. I know. And so, and even like for example, um, Blackman Elementary School or well, really Blackman Middle and Blackman High School. Yes, there's sidewalks leading
up to the school, but on the other side of the school, there's a four-lane highway. So, we're going to have to think about if it's hypothetically being passed, we need more crossing guards. We need it's it's we're going to need a lot more resources in trying to even look at
the safety aspect. So, I don't feel comfortable in just saying we're going to do a blanket PRZ through the out throughout the whole entire district when we haven't seen a study of where it does make sense, doesn't make sense, or even if it's the cost savings are there.
To be honest with you, Madam Chair. Yes, Mr. Arby. I do think um I think Dr. hers and has a valid point that it may not bring the savings that we're thinking of if we end up having to kind of peacemail it together.
But I do think we have to be cognizant that for our community, some people might be okay in some areas and some people may not. But I do think it's our responsibility. Let me first stop and say thank you for going back through the
budget and finding the money in other places. Um, part of the difficulty I think of our budget is it's an everinccreasing budget because we have salaries that have raises every single year. So, we're always going to be kind of chasing that
down the road. We're always going to be looking for more funding to make sure that we can keep up with what is automatically in the budget without adding anything. But we can, I think, have discussions and look at combinations of things. So it may be
that it's only the board could decide next year, five years from now, it could be an entirely new board to implement it in certain areas and maybe they'll combine it with deciding not to service the alternative schools anymore or combinations of things that can amount
to a larger budgetary item that can be put back into the budget. So it may be something where standing by itself doesn't look like a lot, but sometimes it is kind of getting those multiple smaller pieces together to find the that
bigger amount. Miss Maxwell. Yes, Mr. Rosales. I do agree that the one or could save money is not providing transportation to the alternative schools. Um, and I'm some parents may be upset with me about saying that, but at the end of the day, if you're, and I'm speaking from experience because my
daughter was recommended to the alternative school. Um, my oldest one, my other two didn't, but the parents were the ones who had to I had to take her at 6:00 in the morning and meet at a destination spot. I had to be there with
her from a particular bus, came in, picked her up, and then took her to school and then be there. at two o'clock and do the same thing. So I feel as though that is the one area that I'm in agreement with that if we want to save cost that um there will be no
transportation provided to the to the turn of schools or if there are they there are at least modify it where they have to meet at a bus destin like a bus like a destination stop and that's where their bus is going to be to collect them all but not for the kids to ride their
their zone school and go to the school they're at and then another bus is waiting for them to pick them up. Um, I feel like there should be some I think that's the area that I will be 100% in favor of. Mr. Did you have something to say? This
is uh a little bit off subject to that, but uh a frustration of mine. I don't think that the catch 22 and Dr. Sullivan can correct me if I'm wrong here is that we'll then be hit with absenteeism stuff which we have no control over. I don't understand why the school system is
charged with this as if we have any control over whether or not a student can come or not. Uh but yet we are penalized. Am I on the right path here? We're penalized if they don't come. And I agree with both of the comments that have been made here on this subject. Um I absolutely don't think we should be
providing transportation. Then the other side of that is then we get penalized for it. So it's it's very frustrating for me. Agree with the comments. U just wanted that on the record. Miss Sharp, did you have something? You look like you were ready to say something. Thank you. Let me go ahead
and say uh and maybe you know we have a survey application that we can send out to our parents and say you know what what would be an alternative to having a PRZ zone? Would a community drop or something like that? Would would that
would that work, you know, in in some of the areas? because obviously um Rock Springs Elementary with all the construction going on over there, there's just there's no way. I mean, there's act there there's an active
construction site over there and you on Waldron Road, you're lucky if you don't get pitched over to the side where they're building the new houses because the road is so narrow. So, um I think we we've got some things that we need to look at. I definitely believe that I agree with Miss Darby. If we cobble
together, we could do a survey with our parents. And if we cobble together the cost savings of not providing to the alternative school and targeting some of those campuses where it is okay to have the PRZ zones and then
in the future, I don't know if I can say this any louder. In the future, we will make sure or we put pressure on the builders to provide these these sidewalks and away safe access within a
mile and a mile and a half to the school. That is the only way we're going to be able to go forward or we're going to be stuck in this. That's why I would like to not just resend it, but to to postpone on this and but not implement it until many many years till we can get
this done. It may be two years, maybe three years, but we're going to need the PRZ's. And I do feel like if we study this some more, talk to our parents, we could work out something and we can get some cost savings from it.
I don't know. It's going to be enough. Any other comments? Okay, we have a motion on the floor. We has had it seconded by Miss Sharp. Would you like to do a roll call vote? No.
Okay. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Okay. And you don't necessarily need another motion because I bring it back unless wants me. We'll bring this back if if somebody wants to bring it
back. Okay. Good. Any other questions, comments? Okay, miss move to adjourn.journ.