--------- [Music] [Music] we're going to call The Joint meeting of Silver Lake Regional and Union 31 to order um I'm going to start with a roll call though for the meeting for Silver
Lake um let me see Jean here Michael here Lucas Jen Paula yes Amy here I'm present and I'll call a
roll call for Union 31 Johnson johnon waren here pberry here Trish ARA here Megan Hannon here Jean Coleman I'm here
Robert just going to note that this meeting is being recorded and that if anybody else is reporting it please bring that to notice of the chairs at this time um with that I will I am looking
for a motion from Silver Lake to return to Executive session I'll make a motion to adour to Executive session pursued to NGL chap a section 2183 discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining for contract negotiation heral specialist
executive assistant superintendent accountant compter technicians floer assistant school business manager second accountant slpa full-time school resource officer special education program Ott and mgl chter 38 section
2187 approval of executive session minutes of October 17th 2024 and November 14th 2024 return to open second call please Jean yes Michael Yes
Lucas yes Paul yes Amy yes yes motion I'll make a motion to J for executive session General lawter 30 a s 21 A3 to discuss the IDE with respect to
Collective proping contract negotiation her specialist executive assistant assist superintendent accountant computer technician floer assistant school business manager second accountant slpa fulltime school resource
officer special education program OT PT and mgl CH 30A section 31 a 7al of executive session minutes of October 17 2024 and November 152 second call Warren all right Kaitlyn
yes John yesen yes Katie yes chisha yes Megan yes yes all right um we don't have those DES in place but so uh members who are are people here who are not members of the school
committees we need to um exit at this time and we call you back and then ex s I'll call your attention to a couple of things first of all there is a big blaring fan right over our shoulders over here makes it difficult to hear so
if you are called upon to speak at some point or you um you know need to address something you're going to have to speak up much in the same way that I'm doing now and so if you think you're talking too loud you're probably not
um there is supposed to be a silver leak regional meeting to follow this meeting it is supposed to start at 6m we will continue with that meeting um we will continue in session at the conclusion of this meeting but we will do this meeting
first we may take a brief adjournment um depending on how much further we go with this present meeting okay um with that um we will proceed with the remainder of the
agenda um so we are on item number two the approval of minutes of the last couple of meetings motion from the union to approve the Open Session and that's of November 14th and January 16th
okay second by waren CN yes Robert yes John yes waren yes Katie yes ch yes Megan yes from Silver Lake do I have a motion to approve the minutes of the last two meetings so moved second Jean yes Jason
yes Michael Yes Lucas yes Ken yes Paula yes Mark yes Amy yes I'm a yes all right we need to discuss the first student which is the bus contract year six option for FY
26 we I turnning that over too [Music] um the contract so Silver Lake and Union 31 entered into a fiveyear agreement with first student uh we are in year five with a fiveyear agreement there are
two option years built into the contract year six and year seven and Silver Lake has already voted to um exercise the year six option what I will tell uh being 31 about the year six option in
the contract cont ract in general is the contract was settled with her student it went out to bid and um and the bid was received and the contract was signed in the summer of 2020 and the um the
percentage increases year-over-year are significantly lower than anything anybody is seeing now when they go out to bid for contracts so we were at I believe uh we're in single digits as far as cost increases exercising the year
six option with first student so I respectfully request that Union 31 approve the year 6 option all right is there a motion from the union for the year 6 option for the firsts I make a motion to exercise our
year six option for the fiscal year 26 uh First Student Bus contract thank you John uh Caitlyn yes Robert yes John yes Warren yes Katie yes
Trisha yes Megan yes and I'm a GU he for clarity of those in the audience the silver L committee has previously voted in the affirmative on that action so we only needed the union vote um let's discuss the movement of food service leadership salaries to a
raling account Mr chair I'd like to make a motion to move the Food Service supervision from the shared account to the revolving account is there a second Caitlyn yes Robert yes John yes
Warren yes Katie yes chisha yes Megan yes and I'm a yes those in the audience of interest that moves that out of shared cost contract and into line that is dealt with by grants and so it is advantageous to the budget all right um let's discuss uh
shared contracts um the cost and we will um look at a possible vad from [Music] there is there a motion from Union to approve the contracts that we have discussed so what we just voted on guys
oh sorry it it's voting this in Open Session discussed in executive to be negotiated yes to move to negotiation so I'd like to make a motion um that we allow Administration to move to
negotiations for the shared cost contracts that were presented to us this evening second Caitlyn yes Robert yes John yes Warren yes Katie yes Trisha yes Megan yes and I'm yes I have a similar
motion from Silver Lake I need the motion so I would like to make the same motion for the silver side do need to okay second okay any further discussion see none Jean yes Jason yes
Michael Yes Lucas yes Jen yes Paula yes Mark yes Amy yes I'm yes all right shared cost budget for um those of you who yes sir
sorry for committee members I've made those changes um that were discussed in executive session to the shared cost budget and I have uploaded a new version to your fers
okay um for the clarity of those who um are uh interested the positions of float nurse assistant school business manager second accountant slpa um special education program and
otpt were not included as part of the shared cost budget coming out of executive session so the shared cost budget does not reflect any of those positions naturally at some point what's that I'm sorry the
float nurse um actually oh I'm sorry the float nurse was included it was the positions after that um and the uh full-time school resource officer was not to be a part of the shared cost budget because it is strictly a silver L
position it included as part of the assessment just for current clarification I don't believe he voted to approve the forer's salary it's the budget Bud that the budget
change it is in here it's the change I believe I believe the amount is not V I believe didn't V V we voted The
Matrix yeah but we just voted as part of the budget it's in the budget that looking to yes yeah so by voting the budg you V or
am there's an amount so if you have a position was at One Rate the rate has gone up in the share cost budget so if we vot the budget we V and we're not Curr getting exist the amount for it has gone
up are there questions from the that here sorry I'm not suggesting my point is it's already in the budget a higher amount so if we V to the budget then that higher amount will be part of the budget someone didn't want that higher
amount wanted the higher amount you have to amend that in the budget [Music] and did everybody follow that can I get a general noing of heads okay so the shared cost contract we originally had a budget for a float
Nurf we have been unable to fill that position and so there was a and we have been using contractors instead so the um proposed budget for this
coming year increased the float nurse budget with the idea of actually getting a float nurse and diminishing or eliminating a substantial portion of Contract
Services so if we vote the budget as it is present with the positions in it that are in it we would include that increase unless somebody were to vote to amend the budget to keep it at
the same amount in which case we're likely to incur ongoing contract expenses so at this point we just need to either discuss it or vote it one way or the other any discussion from the union or
motion actually yeah I have a question for Sarah in the updated budget like why did it go up which like Kingston well I'm looking at Kingston specifically it went up $10,000 from the prior
version so there are three versions of the budget there's the one that was in the folder on February 20th there's one that was in the folder at 4:46 this afternoon and then one that I just put in at 6:03 p.m. which one are you
looking at I guess I guess we're just wondering why there's a change in the numbers what do they reflect from version one to version three so I see version one two went down a little bit and then two to three went up again per that's what
confus sorry I didn't label from version one version two version three Etc even if you just go from two to three like take out of it so version one which was put in the folder
um last week had uh there was an invoice that came in for a software that we use that I had to add in the budget so that would be the increase between version one and version two but you're saying is an increase
from 2 to three for the budget that we looked at um in early February had $990,000 place value placeholder today's is just at a million I have Kingston at 9 $49,444 right now you but then there's
an updated one to million from 6:00 you go to sorty most recently modified and look at the time stamp not the
one says okay y got it thank you sorry no that's okay looking at the updated updated so the changes between version two and version three is the removal of the um
Food Service supervision moving that into the revolving account it is the changes that were discussed uh for salaries that we discussed in executive session
um I made those changes and then put it back in the bo so the 949 for Kingston is the most accurate yes thank you he from Silver Lake do we have any motions for the shared cost budget uh motion to accept Shar fost
budget um as presented by Administration I have a second second Jean no Jason St
Michael Yes Lucas [Music] J PA yes Marain Amy
yes is there motion from Union in regards to the share cost budget I'll make make a motion to accept the budget as presented share cost budget is there a second Kaitlyn no Robert
John laen Iain waren no Katie no Trisha obained Megan St I'm so we need to fix what we're tring to vote so we can get enough votes to
pass yeah is there any motion or discussion from the union regards to Shared cost budget so someone from Silver Lake is either going to have to propose to fully eliminate the float NES or to um revise
down to present number so I'm still confused maybe this will help all of us with the vote the new number that we're proposing for the flat nurse would that be less than what we paid this year in agency fees for the
[Music] substitute can I ask for a point of clarification less than the total that we paid is that the correct number that you're looking for not the per day C no I don't want the per day C the amount of times we've actually we want to know is
it make sense to remove that do what we're doing it or go the other way we don't [Music] know so the agency costs are part of each individual
town because the flo course is not part of the shared cost budget right now so to get you the numbers for that and and then again the nursing costs were not separated out in the FY 25
budget as nursing costs so it's built into the um contracted Services of some line I don't know what so in order to get this information for you Jason I'm going to need to go into the financial software and search all the vendors that
we would use I don't think I don't think that's necessary do that tonight I think actually the complexity of this position trying to be a shared cost and shared between Silver Lake and four other buildings um for
me I just want to abandon the idea this NSE do I have a motion then into the budget and the pl I make motion um that we remove the flers salary out of the shared cost budget for sever like
do we need to vote to remove it first and then separately vote the budget since that motion was made I'll second okay Jan yes Jason yes Michael yesus Yes J yes Paula yes Mark yesy yes
how many yes is there motion from the union I make a motion to eliminate the float from the shared cost budget second okay yes Robert yes John yes laen Ka yes
Trisha yes Megan yes I'm yes now I need a motion to approve the sheriff cost budget so move second Jan yes Jason yes Michael Yes Lucas yes Jen yes PA yes
Mark yes Amy yes yes from the union motion to approve that Kaitlyn yes Robert yes John yes laen no Katie yes Trisha yes Megan yes
and I'm yes okay D I think we're ready to adjourn this meeting and then we will continue to Silver Lake meeting um motion from Silver
L second Jean yes Jason yes Michael Lucas Jen Paul Mark Amy yes Gordon yes is there a motion from the union to Katie uh Caitlyn yes Robert yes John
yes Lauren yes Katie yes chish yes Megan yes and okay The Joint meeting is concluded [Music] Part: 2
[Music] we'll now proceed to the Silver Lake Regional school committee meeting let me uh open with a roll call
vote Jean here Jason sorry a second just to clarify Union can stay at table if you'd like but sorry all right we will open the Silver Lake Regional school committee meeting
um with a roll call uh Jean here Jason yes Michael here Lucas here Jen here Paula yes Mark here Amy here and pres and and with that a reminder that this
meeting is being recorded and if anyone is intended to make an audio or video recording of this meeting they should notify me at this time um is there any public participation hi all my name is j I'm the president of the slea I just want to say thank you to the school committee
for not moving forward with the central office positions at this time um as I stated in my letter earlier we certainly appreciate the need for these positions um but to hire these positions without ensuring the security of our current Staffing to provide services and programs to our students would be detrimental for all the slea looks
forward to continuing to work together to uh push for funding from the state and securing more stable funding in the future so thank you very much any other public participation all right seeing none um can I get a motion for approval of
minutes or a discussion of minutes from 13 these are very minor points but um is a sophomore one of the teachers wants to correct me on and I
believe um Jennifer aing um I believe her last name is e r r i n g I think just one on okay have any motions containing to the minutes make a motion to approve the minutes from
February any further discussion sorry second seeing none all in favor I I I any opposed any exensions all right so a budget discussion um
Sarah as we go through this what I would like to try to avoid is reciting each uh figure that's on each slide and really focus on the content of the slides um and give uh committee members
a chance to ask for clarification and make sure that they are able to compare app so I assume it's going to be so The View P updating I have one more slide to update after the one I'm updating right
now so if you could give [Music] me that's live no have to refresh really yeah cool let me know you're ready I can do that do you want to take 10 minutes do you want to do a brief I don't think I need 10 minutes
but I just have one more slide to update total cost of Education I thought you might like based on what's just happened make comment ladies and gentlemen as a member of this committee um this particular
meeting was uh supposed to uh take place based on us having information on our uh end certification and that information from what I understand came in uh yesterday or today and the meeting
was put back on I'm also um as the chairman of the uh safer committee concerned that we have yet to discuss magnitude and scope of our Capital plan and we have uh as of Friday
we received our facilities comprehensive review so we can actually start getting into the I mean the uh Capital plan up building maintenance that we need to do on the four buildings here on the campus so uh going forward it's going to be
difficult to make decisions based on a budget getting these numbers at the last minute I understand there's deadlines and other people involved um but in the sake of trying to get our towns numbers so they can make decisions on override I'm willing to go forward but I want you
to understand that as a Committee Member I'm very limited by the information that I'm getting at the last minute to make reasonable sound good decisions for the benefit of Silver Lake and I think I'm speaking for my other fellow committee members that we need to
really try so get this material let me stop you well I'll I'll take responsibility for today I think uh since you made that point earlier in the year the Administration has generally had almost everything posted within 48 hours in this case um I did not want to
go forward with the meeting if we do not have a firm EMD number because it's pretty critical to how we assess the rest of the year um I'm traveling on business all next week if we postponed this meeting then um this meeting was going to be run without me and I wanted
to have um you know management of the meeting and my input into it things like that particularly because of how much I've gone over this um the Department of Revenue certified the number this morning um I did check to see if we could possibly have meeting on a
Thursday um didn't work for the administration so it was pretty much this or um not being available next week I think in general the administration's been pretty responsive about trying to have all of the information in place um a couple of days ahead of time and in
this case it's not their fault it's my fault and I support your decision Mr chairman to have the meeting this evening and move it forward for the leas since I stated the town need's numbers but we we sent our end off on the 31st of December to get certified and I don't
know if that was particularly the best time to Senator should could have been sent sooner but um highlighted as well as our Facilities Review study that waited two weeks before we actually asked our contractors p and when this committee thank you okay Sarah you want
to go ahead thank you Mr chair so the um this brief presentation there is is a$ 42655 57 uh
$557 change to the Silver Lake budget since we last met on February 13th um there were two students with changes and placements uh that require an increase of
$140,400 to the tuition line there were two movein that require an increase of 233,000 tuition line reive information from a transportation vendor they're increasing their costs by 10% for next year and
that required increase of $33,750 to the special ed Transportation line um we also did receive information from um representative latra that there is an
additional $260,700 estimated potential emergency assistance shelter funds we had already allocated some uh the first payment of sh shelter funds towards the um offset of the Silver Lake Budget on February
13th this is an additional again estimated potential that the school committee chair asked me to put towards the Silver Lake budget all that being said the 2% in increase on the fi25 budget which was
what was asked for would be 4 mli 4,564 44 the level service bu budget as adjusted tonight after the changes to um
the shared cost is 42,2 46,6 64 after deducting anticipated grants and revolving totaling 3,446 , 728 there's a difference of
1,235 496 to be addressed the next just point of clarification um the number 1,235 496 to be addressed would get us to the
2% increase that school committee had asked the administration to devise right yes all right thank you um Sarah to be clear as well we had had Christine propose uh different scenarios for
special education with the idea that um succeeding at that may uh mitigate some out of District costs and possibly also turn positive to us if we attracted students from other districts um I think
that there was a a proposed cost for the height to do so at the high school at about $320,000 is that number included in this number or not number is not included in this okay the next slide is just a repeat
from the February 13th slideshow this was the possible revenues that were discussed with the safer committee so on the next slide is the uh operating assessments so these are uh what the operating assessments would be to
Halifax Kingston and Plimpton a 6.3% increase to Halifax a 3.8% increase to Kingston and a 1.1% increase to I'm sorry Halifax Kingston 1.1% to
fting on the next slide this is there is no change to this Slide the exempt Capital um there's no change there won't be any change this is our debt so this slide is the exact same as the previous presentation the total
assessments which is the operating assessment plus the exempt Capital has an increase to Halifax of 5.5% an increase to Kingston of 3.2% and an increase to Clinton of 4% on the next slide these are the town
operating budgets this is what um Halifax and Kingston voted in the light tan the yellow is the Clinton current operating budget with the adjustments they made last night which is not yet
voted and so with these numbers um the total cost of education for each town for Halifax it would be an 11.3% increase Kingston a 5% increase Clinton a 7.3% increase for
total overall 7.1% that's number okay Jean did you have a did you have your hand up earlier and I missed you we did um do we have the total that D&D certified at is it 2.2 we do have the total let Sarah get
it pull it up right now sorry I printed out a lot of things and they're sitting on my desk right now so my question also relates to as I was hoping we do have more than the 5% allowable by Statute I was wondering
if the assessments you're showing us for Silver Lake right now are you accounted for the mandated seven uh $ 79,80 we must use to offset they do not okay great that's great news the certified end number is
2,1 143,000 $74 as Jason noted by Statute we cannot have more than 5% of our budget um be in end so we have to um reduce the end
amount and distribute back to the towns an excess of $9,450 C40 point of clarification does not have to be returned to the towns it is to be used to offset the assessment for this coming
fiscal 26 okay make sure people we going to apply it to the numbers you're seeing up there it's not just going to go back to the town okay so that number without us voting so to speak would
automatically cut into the 1.2 million that is the present budget Gap that we're discussing how to deal with Okay um so I have a number of things on my mind
related to different things that I'd like to get clarity on um I have heard various concerns from different people saying is it sustainable to depend to end um are we you know putting off
something that is inevitable um that is a fair concern um it's not a great plan to um keep to go to end on the one hand on the other hand generally speaking for about you know 10 years running we have
been able to administer 500,000 to a million dollar from our end to um to inject into a capital plan and so we've been very judicious with that end um our
thinking is that we don't suppose that end would suddenly go to zero um um that we would still have something you know sort of coming in if you will um would it be as large as what we're presently
seeing um you know I I don't think anybody here wants to plan on that um some of what we have our eyes on are that uh debt related to the construction of these buildings and the creation of the district as it is constituted would
come off um in the next two years um there sort of two big debt payments left one I think this may and one the next May unless I'm getting that wrong maybe am I right about that SAR is it this may and next May or is it following two Mays
this may and then next May is the last payment for the middle school and then the following May would be just the high school 750 approximately $1,000 so two years out um you have a
complete retirement of debt um some of what we have to consider about that and what the towns will have to consider about that is that uh we have we have invested a lot into the envelope um meaning the school buildings we've done
a lot each year to keep up with them and that sort of thing but we have had a contractor prepare um additional estimates of things that kind of could be done should be done must be done um and the costs on that are pretty
significant and would range Mark what would you say between four and but we had the scope of uh of expense just for the high school middle school without our sewer plant and Admin Building Maintenance in the 50 million range and
I'm throwing that number out um just to give you the scope and the debt that we have currently I would think would be prudently invested in your Capital plant to keep the buildings you have so you don't end up replacing as we had to do 20 years ago okay a substantial amount
but I understand it will be a a godsend to have that debt not going forward so those are scenarios we have scenarios that are as low as 4 million and as high as 50 million there's no scenario there that would that from a a school
committee perspective would we attempt to take on through operational funding those each of those scenarios are something that um to our way of thinking would require um you know bonds and uh Town votes and
things like that um so we are looking at that sort of time Horizon and keeping that in mind as far as how um end goes that sort of thing um so um little bit of good news also Mr
chairman yes sir that um we are going to be due and nobody has any idea of the scope but uh some uh rebates on the air conditioning project at the middle school so we can't spend that money because as the potic political situation
is in flux we may not see the the the scope of those rebates but at this point it's good news I spoke to uh facilities uh I mean comprehensive Facilities Review gentleman today and he is focused
right now trying to get us a firmer number and we'll share that with this as soon as you can come up with the okay so one of the things that um if you're following last time I had asked Dr panes to prepare proposals related to special
education um with and we had looked at the idea of having um about a $320,000 investment to set up um services that would potentially keep um I think we have is it eight or nine
uh high school out of District placements what's that we have most of our district placements are high SCH okay so with the idea of trying to reduce that number just a reminder those out of District placements which are um
you know one of the hugest challenges related to our budget um run at more than $100,000 a piece and so the idea of H trying to keep as many as possible um
in our district is both an advantage to the student when they can be with people that they are growing up with and an advantage to us in terms of our budget management um so right now that none of that neither the cost nor possible
savings are factored into any budget Jason Mr chair can I just suggest that we trying and get to that 2% number or even perhaps as far below it as possible and then consider potentially including
the SRO y that be discussed as well absolutely so I just kind of wanted to set the table of the different things that were in play and to help people understand yes we are looking at the long term yes we're conscious of the fact that salaries go up and things like
that we have our eyes on a lot of different factors so all that said that's the playing field and with that um committee members um we have a $1.2 million gap we've got to deal with if we
want to get to that 2% or as Jason suggested even below that PA can I just ask a clarifying question the um the estimated potential emergency assistant funding there that the 260 some thousand it's up there it's
I guess we're baking it in are we really that comfortable we're going to see that to bake that in Jean I did um attend the meeting last week with our state representative as well as our state senator and they did clarify that those numbers are anticipa
both sub Lake as well as $550,000 to Kingston and that would be checks in May and August and from what my chair for Kingston was told by our town administrators they are allowing us to
use those figures for our FY 26 budget I'm not saying that it's smart idea but Keith hickey very strongly suggested that we add that okay into the budget Jason so starting with the 1,235
496 can we just take off the top right now so we have a clear number of the $ 79,80 um I've actually already done that okay um I've got 1,156 n you I'm sorry what's the $79,000
$79,000 is the money we're mandated to return to offset the assessment because we're over the 5 thank you and that was just to clarify that was 79,000 79,80 is the number that we had so I just subtracted that from and 40 cents
and 40 cents okay so that would be 1 million 156,000 uh and $860 stay whole dollars okay so $9 so um one of the proposals we had last time we were together just to consider increasing fees there was some
discussion amongst ourselves between 90,000 and potentially 100,000 that the sub committee came up with recommendation of 90 that I'd like to go back to discuss those fees at this point to how much we canet the revenues Sarah
can we uh pop back to the slide on the [Music] fees there we go so I think what I think I think what people have been Rel about was the $100 per student who participate in clubs because some of the clubs have a
staff stipend and some do not and I think there was discussion about would we charge everybody who is in a club in order to pay staff stiens for the clubs that require that would we charge just the we don't we kind of thought it
seemed unfair to charge this the kids who are in the clubs with the staff stipend attached just charge them but not the others um that sort of thing and so I think the difference between the 100,000 and the 90,000 is that $10,000 at the
top so I make a motion to accept the $90,000 as presented by the subcommittee's recommendation okay do I have a second on that second am think 87,000 around 87,000 okay these are all
estimates all right so we have a second proves with the change in numbers and let you know that these These are estimated numbers going forward based on participation in these activities so um and remind me I think we said in
subcommittee what would we do in the case of students who had an inability to pay the Contra Administration okay okay all right take that into consideration percentage
for okay all right yeah be noted too that there's still a cap yes yes yes so in other words um we're not going to roll up to a single family $3,000 of fees or something like that because they
happen to play three Sports and do three clubs so um any further discussion of adding the fees in seeing none all in favor I I any opposed
okay that's what does that bring our number to are we am I using 87,000 or 90,000 87,000 you should be okay um
1,69 oh hold on 1,699 so 1.07 there okay the next one is something that I'm not necessarily favor of but I think we're obligated to look at the budgetary situation um we are replacing two
teachers who are retiring we do have savings there by hiring uh lower on the pay scale with less education um however I think we're obliged to look at those positions and whether or not we absolutely need to fill those or not
um to maintain the structural Integrity of our educational programs our okay so I think I'd be looking for a comment from um Administration in reference to that is it an official retirement
that's [Music] official correct yeah there one official retirement that I've received confirmation from the employee and then we've acknowledged okay so in the budget
presentation on February 13th I saw a cost Savings of $120,000 or so for two retirements was a retirement and a res there was a resignation okay and at first I thought we were
saving that much money because we weren't replacing them I was thrilled to find out we were saving that money and replacing them I wanted to know what kind of operational hit would be to our educational program not to replace those
and what cost savings would they do and I'm not saying I'm in favor of this but we're obliged to invest so when we met with the with the principles we discussed uh Cuts in what would have the least greatest impact on student programming and impact of
student learning and at that time we presented to you some uh some proposed positions that the principles um concurred would have the least amount of
impact of all possible negative things um there will be an impact if this position is not filled and I'll let I I just want I just want the committee to know that there was a process involved where we sit down
multiple times to debate and discuss the potential impact students in their programming so while we recognize that there are um benefits to laying off someone who is retiring because then you don't have to pay unemployment there are in fact more programmatic or student
impacts that would result right and I think when we originally were having those conversations we were looking at the potential for multiple staff cuts and so when you're looking at the wide range of cuts across multiple Apartments it is
easy to say well if you anticipate this retirement that's one of the cuts right but when you're having to make a decision about one or two cuts it's not as easy that decision recognized so in this particular case it's certainly
impact class size certainly limit our program offerings within that department um could be that seing cost I appreciate that I have some more
so I know that we have placeholders in for homeless transportation and thein vento I just wanted to compare the placeholders to expenditures from this fisal year I'm sorry I was it's okay Sim similar
question to to last name um I wanted to compare our mckin VTO and our homeless Transportation lines proposed for f 26 versus the actuals for f 25 please yes um talk about utility spreadsheet
[Music] Mr chair while you're finding that can I just point out that our state did let us know that some of the um shelter students will be gone by August the end of August they're anticipated to be gone
by but there is a possibility that through mcken vento that we are still going to be responsible for some of those students so I would caution again um decreasing that amount until we know what we are responsible
far but I think if we're if we're paying a certain amount for a certain volume of students and we have a budget that is up here for that and then we have we believe that there would be no
more than certain volume of students and likely less based on that knowledge I don't think that we would continue to include this amount in the budget I think that's what Jason's point is so I think well even f okay depending on what's are coming back
in it's with for numbers and acts versus expected so let's say we would do low ball we could always back fill it with the funds y when we actually Cur instead of putting them to the budget having a higher number right now right so last year's homeless
Transportation at the middle school um that was 489 the expenditure is $489512 do you want me to go back I have three years in front of me no the the high school transportation Homeless was $1
38,8 74 and there that was what was paid out of the operating budget there was also a um a transportation grant that we received and that was uh about another
$50,000 in homeless Transportation but the state isn't fully f it as theyve alluded to in several past budget Cycles right where the expenses that we're occurring locally are far in excess of what the governor and the legislature
put in bus um so with those numbers that's where the that's where we are with the estimates for this year as well yes okay all right so those those were the the lwh hanging gr for me that got us to
$1,700,000 or so that we need to deal with the % if anybody else has any other ideas before I throw out my my big one ask a program question sure go ahead
so um Michaela I wasn't sure if this the present level of discussion included or did not include the schedule change you had originally proposed this is not includ the schedule change so that if we had to kind of pause that anticipating at one point you
had indicated our budget discussions precluded you from continuing are we at that are we at that point with with it now that we could not keep on my teachers I can make it happen what's that you can make it happen I keep on my teachers I can make it happen okay good
to know thank you very much and then before my colleague who is well prepared to uh to uh make a suggestion um U conceptually within your plan if you could include where our capital plan for this year is going to
be because we're not going to be able to secure the revenue sources we talked um think that part of your presentation I appreciate it like to hear if anybody has any low going for the big
stuff okay so um last year I proposed a radical idea for this school committee um that was my ninth c l Regional School budget um I have been a steward of this
committee for a decade at this point of the end fund of the capital plan um as the chair alluded to earlier end is not supposed to be used to offset operating
expenses because it's often looked at is onetime revenues we have we have proven year after year that these are not onetime Reven last year we drew d& down to less than
$400,000 between using $750,000 for operating and using close to $500 something change for the capital plan and yet it did replenish this year and I'm not predicting that we will have
a year where we will come back with a $2.1 million certification I don't think people will be back to that next year but if all of the work of the superintendent the school committee members and the teachers of
Massachusetts pushing on the legislature to get the house and the Senate to increase their budgets all of that money is an excess of what we're basing our budget on tonight all of that will flow directly into the
all so we need to keep fighting we need to keep pushing so those dollars do come in even after tonight because that's what's going to replenishing for next year because the amount of money I'm going to propose to use tonight is even
more than last year and I think we're probably going to have to lean ourselves from ring D in subsequent years in order not to imply a fiscal cliff for our tree community so um tonight I'm going to
propose that we used 1 million $250,000 of our certified DND of what's left over of the allowable 5% cap of [Music] 2,642 201660 which would leave in end
$84,200 that would have to account for this year's Capital plan and to leave ourselves some sort of cushion for unexpected expenses and I only make this motion with the understanding and communication with
the three town managers that if Silver Lake has a catastrophic physical plant occurrence that they will need to convene a special Town meetings to help us address that issue because we won't have the means to address it ourselves because of how low we are
the and I did get assurances from all three town managers that they would be willing to do so got a motion I think clarification the $1,250,000 does that include or is that
over and above the required $ 79,80 and above over and above thank you going to get a second discuss well did you motion I did motion you did yeah I I'll second but then can I yep go comment question you question first and then I'm going to comment uh 1 milon2 50
so we're going below the 2% that's corre okay I'm I'm in favor of that I'm in support you indicated you've been on this committee for 9 years i' s double that or close to it at this point I'm going to be brutally honest here first
of all I'm I'm all for trying to get us fully funded from any Avenue that we deserve that really should be coming to us however I'm very pessimistic um I I don't think we can Bank on that especially in the turmoil
that we have you know in the state and in the country right now it is a slippery slope in all the years I've been on this committee other than last year we have never touched end to fund operating budget um we as a committee a
number of years ago whether it was motioned or whether it was just kind of thrown out there have sort of agreed 300,000 no less than that and so that's sort of been the floor that we've looked at so that can see leaves about half a million dollars this year and
um having said that I'm pessimistic and seeing where some of the E monies came from to get us to this number this year I don't believe will be anywhere near 2.2 million or or whatever the number is
so I am fully in support of what you have proposed only because I feel like we're between a rock and a h place and these towns cannot handle overrides and don't even want to hear the term override and for those
reasons I support what you're saying I think next year may be a very brave repeat of this year unfortunately and will be even in a more difficult place I'm happy to Kick the Can I'm with
you Jason I because my feeling was always give the kids what you can for as long as you can no pun intended after year on this I'm doing my job and we' kicked the can together for quite a few years yeah we have we have and I agree I don't foresee us having $2.1
million me be certified next year but that's where I really think it's important how much we focus on the capital plan as an entire committee for the next year and how we start transitioning paying for our Capital expenses here from an excess and
deficiency fund into bonding things up over time I don't disagree Mark well a capital plan is though no different than every other party your operating budget and because we have decided to prioritize it with what we have in E IND
after we get our program budget put together I don't disagree with that however things cost a lot more than they have in the past the numbers that you have put out um half a million dollars today in in the cost of things that
buying HVAC units for example doubled tripled so we cannot keep looking at that same number you have to look at that as a percentage so I think the capital plan should be funded within the operating budget that we should have those numbers firmed up before we have
this discussion last year and if your plan is to take it out of end we ought to have a pretty good idea what we're going to have in end to do that so um I'm reluctant to support thinking of something under $800,000 for your Capital plan this year
if you're not going to be even further in the whole next year when you come back to do this that's my my reservation with all of your proposals So to that and through you Mr chck for several years now I've worked very closely with our state senator at
state representative to get ear marks in the state budget that have brought Capital dollars to our district and they've come through and so far this year I have not been made aware of what
our needs are um you know we we put some money into the the Arts last year with 8 compliant risers for the middle school and some money for work on the stage here at the high school as well so if maybe you want to WRA me into some of
the items I could potentially get taken care of to take out of the capital and be happy well again we are insufficiently informed yet to go forward with a capital plan and that's it's not not a big discussion but we do need to to make sure that we have funds available for
that in in your proposal Jean I just want to Echo what um Jason said at our last meeting which is there's no way that any of us on this committee I believe want to make any of these cuts that would proposed to us knowing that we have potential Revenue source of $2.2 million now it's only $2.1 million and
and I think we're all in agreement that this is a bandaid again this is not a fix this is not correct our budget deficit that we're seeing and I want to point out that we're seeing all of the district and all of the cell Shore we're not a unique we're not in a unique situation here um I think you know I can
speak for Kingston that we're very lucky right now with what we're able to offset with the budget deficits because it's going to help our elementary potentially and I think for Halifax as well with um Jason's potential 1.25 instead of just
the million dollar difference um that's going to help substantially to all three of the elementary budget and what they're going to be asking or needing from their towns to meet a level service budget but I just want to repeat you know I know that we all know this but if
we kick the can down the road in regards to what services we're providing then we're just going to pay more for them and so while we're kicking hand down the road and patching our budget together we're going to be paying more if we decrease teachers or staff or positions
um or programs that we can offer to um keep Silver Lake where it needs to be um with what we can do so I would support um Jason's motion of the 1.250 and just hope that next year em does recertify at
least a fraction of that because you know that that it will most likely repl and if it doesn't replenish then that's the state's way in my opinion of saying you've used it too long now it's going to run out it'll eventually run out but if it does
replenish then I think it's there for us to use so um I would support your motion and I think that the best that we can offer our kids at this point is to fund what was um requested of us and hope
that towns can be supportive one question um part of our end uh replenishment is our Revenue sources and the power purchase agreements that we have is part of that and when we originally entered
that power purchase around $100,000 annually we were getting that number changed when I came back on the committee was around 300,000 projected for last year next year I believe we are looking at 400,000 I've seen now that was a number that changed even during the slides we've looked at during this
process Sarah could you give us a little bit more more of a a number of what our past year was that we saw in a revenue source and what we could expect going forward I budgeted $400,000 as a revenue Source from the
power purchase agreement to off as as Revenue to offset the assessments so anything over and above that 400,000 that comes in goes into e for the next year okay do do you have the number we I had for get that to you
tomorrow morning it was close to 300 call so I'm I'm going to sound like a broken record here I just want to point out that once again talking about kicking the hand down the road we did not add to our accounting
staff and it's hurting us day in and day out with meeting deadlines and having budgets um you know created and updated and presented to towns you can only get
so much out of a handful of people the audit is what is it now 3 years four years at least 3 years they have come to us in writing in the audit report saying we should and we need to update that
that um that area with some more staff so once again the audit report when it comes out again is going to tell us so at some point we cannot not continue to turn a blind eye um I know we're not
talking about adding it this year it's we're it it's a very um weak spot in our process overall at Silva Lake and I don't mean that offensively to anybody I mean you can
only get so much work out of so many people we need to look at that at some point I just I know I'm a squeaky wheel but um we we're really hurting ourselves by not Staffing that area
correctly all right we have a motion on the floor and I and I think I seconded you did y good so like to take a vote all in favor I any
opposed any exensions okay motion passes um yes sir so my amount has that at $1,991 below our goal for
2% so at this point I would make a motion to add $80,000 to the budget to fully fund a full-time SRO for the middle school second okay any further discussion see none all in
favor so I I I just need clarification the operating budget is a is a number and the E and D is separate from that and offsets the operating budget in the assessment process right
we just need to play with it our way but you can do them M your way that could be the quote of the night it'ss it comes out the same yeah so in order for me to play with the math I need to understand what you're so you're thinking differently about this
the 87,000 in the additional Revenue that gets counted [Music] um do it that way Revenue gu right difference
$7,000 over by n all right all in favor any opposed so that still lands us after we do all the map put corly for the assessment $100,000 below our Target for the
2% and we can finally get our full thank you all right do we need to take a vote on a final number then that take to get the final number get the you want to have that final number
next week for the meeting yeah all right would ask Sarah Sarah do you feel okay about that Jason if you could give me your [Laughter] notes I can give you mine too I will watch the meeting again um respectfully
the um kingst Bo s meeting is the same night it's also March 6 so if we could vote a budget tonight so that K Elementary potential to look at additional
lby okay we need a number thenar show myth grade teach [Music] is this the original and we offset it with the Mandate money access of the 5% for me and D to get to this right but you're
offsetting expenditure like I'm sorry I'm having a hard time wrapping my brain around the way you're doing it because I the operating just beinging would had my Bo roling
yep I know I know y so yeah so this is the number that we need thank you for bring up to screen what's this number I believe that number right there is the less
the number right there right and this number was us taking away what 87,000 I don't [Music] priority I know I didn't do it act expenditure
world if I talk that language to my scho committe so Theus 87,000 I don't well it did require email actually let me explain the numbers that I did see sense and then we have to go back
do so this 4564 440 is the 2% this number here to these two which is circuit breaker this is Grant and revolver which I didn't touch at all I just used your numbers well I put the
87,000 so we're going to do that's okay because y absolutely number 2% plus this gives us this as the total
budget okay but what you're saying is we're going to take talk to me about 80,000 little so I believe we have to increase this by $80,000 and then take it out okay that makes sense to
me no yes no it's 100 I'm the 2 you're getting I understand what you're saying and I understand and I believe that adding the 80% the 80,000 here gives us the authority to spend that
money so I think that has to get added here alienating can I battery I'm embarrassed about that oh my God your batter it's the budget
number specific time when you approach the this number this number I'm expecting the final [Music] number [Music] [Music]
yeah these numbers are different than what we have so that was like and my vision Sundowns so I'm like what does it say no he's not going to be here much more than
yeah but at this so we're here okay let's come back to order so if if you take a look at the language for the motion the
4,644 $40 at the top is the 2% budget plus the school resource officer the middle number the $3,533 th000 is comprised of the $2.5 million estimated circuit breaker and
the $1,330 is the the 240 Grant the um emergency assistance shelter fund and the $87,000
anticipated revenue from um fees from fees thank you that gives a total final expenditures for 44,1 77,4 40 the first number on that slide the
4,644 440 will then go into the assessment formula and in the assessment formula there will be 1,329 9,
48740 put in as revenue from E and D which will offset the $80,000 that was added to the 2% yes sorry it's at the wrong time I was asked to bring to committee if we
consider any the special education program can't hear you I was asked if we had included any of the education programming with these numbers [Music] no
so Sarah are you asking us to vote these numbers but the assessment numbers are what is going to what are going to be updated for the towns based on what the E and vote was yes I and I can do that now if
you want to wait another 10 minutes okay we don't mention the assessments just the have them when they're available that would be appropriate okay
um so do you want to just you can send them out to the towns tomorrow next day something like that is that okay all right um are we generally okay with that having Sarah send the updated
assessment numbers out to the towns okay copying us yes copying us please yeah all right so in Le of the fact we don't have the assistance of the accounting which I think I would fully have supported if I was here that she had some assistance getting these numbers
ready so thank you um so with that said I think we need a motion for the budget and the language as stipulated on this slide I moved that to Silver Lake
Regional school committee approved 4,644 440 is the fiscal 2026 educational budget the operating budget and further that the total appropriation of 40,
56444 yes I missed that second number should be the same as the first one sorry and further that the total appropriation of 40 million 64444 is in compliance with the education Reform Act of 1993 and
recommended by the superintendent of schools and further that the school committee directs the superintendents to allocate the following additional funding sources which total 3, 533,000 FY 26 anticipated circuit breaker
special education reimbursement of $2.5 million and and anticipated FY 26 Grant revolving account funding total $1,330 the final approved expenditures for the school will be 44 m177
440 second any further discussion seeing none is this a roll call vote it should be at needs 23 for approval just to make sure yeah okay so Jean yes Jason yes Michael yes Lucas yes
Jen yes Paula yes Mark yes Amy yes I'm a yes come to all right and I think with we also need to vote to use the EM we already did oh sorry the number you y
okay yeah that was previously voted so I think with that then um Sarah will send out the actual Assessments in the next day or two I think we're in a position to adjourn so can I get a motion for
adjournment so moved second um Jean yes Jason Michael Lucas Jen yes Paula yes Mark yes Amy yes I'm a yes all right
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