call this meeting to order and let's uh stand for the flag salute. 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. >> Welcome everyone to the Wednesday, March 18th, 2026 board of school estimate meeting. In accordance with with the requirements of the Open Public Meetings Act, I wish to announce that the New Jersey Open Public Meeting Law was enacted to ensure the right of the
public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meeting of bodies at which any business affecting their interests is discussed or acted upon. Notices announcing the date, t time, and place for the special meeting were sent to all concerned individuals, associations, and posted on the district website in
accordance with PL 2025 chapter 72. At this time, I'd like to take the role. Mayor Fagan, >> present. >> Miss Landman, >> present. >> Miss Lar Lasserosina
>> here. Miss Conn >> here. >> And Miss Kelly here. Okay, we have a quorum. >> At this time, I'd like to turn it over to Superintendent Huff for a presentation of the budget.
Got it. Good evening. Good evening. Welcome to the board of education, to the board of school estimates, and mayor Fagan, to the Summit public school leadership, Summit Public School staff, and Summit
residents. I am proud to be here tonight to present the fisc year 27 tentative school budget. Why am I proud? because this process started back in October and it's the collective efforts of various
stakeholders who understand what it's like to be fiscally responsible, efficient, and provide our students with the best experience in our schools as possible, commensurate with past times and future endeavors.
Whether I was asking my administration throughout the last several months to drill down and really take a hard look at their budgets based on need. Whether it's the board of education and their support and understanding what makes Summit public schools special, specifically the operations committee
who has done their due diligence, has evaluated data, trends, problem solved and to the support of the community who want to maintain the excellence in our schools. The work has been done and this proposed budget satisfies all of that and it really
boils down to our collective mission as a public school and that is to prepare all students to thrive in an evolving world. Throughout this process, we kept this in mind because we wanted to maintain the excellence and we wanted to make sure that we prepare our students for the
future and we don't compromise in anything that we do in this budget process. We did embark on our strategic plan this year. This is our five-year mission statement. And we do have a facilities and finance goal. And as a a committee, when we developed our finance goals, we
had value statements. And I've shared this the last time, but I think it's important to note that we reflected on this and we kept this in mind as we developed our budget. We believe a robust and innovative curriculum and the needs of students should drive the budget. We believe facilities need to
meet the students needs while creating a welcoming and warm learning environment. And we believe there needs to be a thorough and transparent budget allocation process and analysis with fiscal responsibility. And we believe in recruiting and retaining top talent. It's essential for
student success. And this budget does all of that. So who are we in Summit? We enjoy our high ranking schools. Just a couple of years ago, one of our elementary schools was ranked number one in the entire state of New Jersey. And all of our schools, including our high school, are
consistently ranked in the top or five or 10%. We talked about our quality staff. That's so important to us. That's really what makes Summit Summit the essence of who we are is the great educators and people we have in this community to support our schools. And once again, without saying, and we say it over and
over, but it is its commitment to excellence. It just doesn't happen by chance. We are committed. This budget allows us to maintain the strengths things that we do that our students define who they are. Several AP courses, opportunities for honors
courses, national merit scholars, you know, comprehensive curriculum, and of course, our co-curriculars in the arts, which we have many offerings that so many percent of our students participate in and grow and thrive in. So, going into this budget process, we
knew it wasn't going to be easy. There's going to be challenges and hurdles. It's not unique to Summit. The econ economic climate has changed. And this is the work we've been doing the last several months. And you've heard me say time and time again, the health benefits are one of the biggest drivers in this budget. Budgeting 19% increase of the health
premiums. But we did our due diligence. We talked to our insurance broker. We had them shop around, see if there are alternatives to to realize more savings than that. Same thing with property and casualty insurance. We don't just accept the rates. We dig deep. We talked to the brokers. We talked to consultants
similarly the way we did with our energy costs to see where we can make savings in the futures. What plans can we have to realize savings down the road as well? And this year through responsible budgeting salaries and benefits which we know often are out of our control. We
really pressed and took a hard look at when people are leaving through attrition whether it be retirement or moving on. Do we really need that position in the budget anymore rather than just giving it as a granted position? things change, enrollment numbers change, subgroups of of of
students change for services and the like. So, we did that in this budget and that's a very helpful way to realize some savings and be efficient in our decision-m continuing on our homework to supplies and resources. This year, I pressed the administration very hard to budget based
on need, get closer to that zerobased budgeting process and our special education. We're making some innovative decisions to provide programs in the schools that are realizing savings to the to the board of ed and the school district by having programs in school that otherwise would cost a lot of money
to send them for out of district tuition and transportation. And as our goal uh tells us to commit our facilities multi-year maintenance plan and facilities plan, we know investing in our buildings and our facilities will pay in the long run and save us money down the line as well as
all the other operations and and products that we need to do to to uh cooperatives and potential shared services to realize savings in a budget. And with that, I'll turn it over to Kathy Sarno, assistant business administrator. a little shorter.
>> Thank you, Mr. Huff. So, as you can see here, the history of state aid has been in incline in the past couple of years. However, the last two years, we're experiencing a little bit of a decrease. Um, it's a testament to our hard work that we're able to make this budget as
efficient and as workable as possible with our decrease that we're starting to see. Hopefully, this is not indicative of what's to come, but this is based on the state uh the state's um school funding formula and it's loosely based on enrollment and some other factors.
However, it comes down to how much money Trenton has and how much they can give. So, you can see the patterns here. We did experience a 3% reduction from the prior year and um we'll see what happens going forward. So, that represents 5
million dollars which is up. And next is the history of health benefit costs. So, as you can see, that's been sh um there's an incline in that trend as well as with every other school district and every
other place in the in the state in and in the country. Health benefits is a big big component of this budget. we have a significant cost this particular year and it's it's only trajeing to be even
you know higher and and going up. So as Mr. Huff mentioned we had shopped we had asked our brokers to do their homework. We've asked um them to find other quotes. We've asked them to compare ourselves to the state health benefit plans um see what it looks like and and
in um in doing so this is our increase. We had done other things throughout the years too. So you know we talk about this year however in the past there's a couple of things that have happened historically that's impacting us today. One of the notable things include
chapter 44 which was implemented in fiscal year 2021. And what that is is basically the state said you school districts have to provide certain plans to employees. They have to provide the plans and actually anybody who's a new
employee has to be part of these new plans. The plans are the educator's health plan and the Garden State plans. And those plans although great um they are less cost advantageous to the district. So what has happened is
chapter 44 has restricted us from experiencing more contributions from the employees and we have seen um stagnant employee contributions over the year when we should be seeing increases. It should be based on premiums what it
previously was based on and now it's based on salaries um a percentage of a salary and they're in single digits. So it's very very small what we're seeing as far as contributions because of chapter 44 and those and those health plans. So
with that hurdle and with um you know we've been doing other things. So in 2023 uh fiscal year 2023 summit joined the shift. So that's the school health insurance fund. So um we shopped around and we said hey okay what
can we do to better minimize our risk and and during the shift part of the shift is other school districts are also pulled with summit and what we can do is we can find savings and minimize any types of spikes that we have although it
seems like it's trajecting up and it does seem like a spike so to speak really that's the normal um that's the normal market right now and it would have been higher should we have not been joined the shift. So that was a good thing for us. It's helped mitigate as
much as we can. Health insurance is a huge portion of our budget. So it's a big factor. So any increases deeply impacts this budget. It's 16 16.5 million and um that represents 18% of
our budget. our revenue sources. So here represents all our revenue sources from our local tax levy which is our largest portion to our state aid um which is another large component of our
revenue stream. What those represent is pretty it's pretty straightforward. Our local tax levy um with this budget is proposed to go up 3.7 million to a total of 79.8 8 million. As you can see here,
state aid represents 5 million as provided by the state and as I mentioned it was a 3% decrease from the prior year. And some other noteworthy revenue sources includes extraordinary aid which we get a a large portion. We've seen a
decline in the trends of collecting from extraordinary aid. So that's why you see a decrease in there and what that represents is funding from the state with respect to our special education population. Some other noteworthy sources of revenue include capital reserve and maintenance
reserve. So what those numbers represent are withdrawals from our reserves in the tune of 850,000 for capital reserve and 50,000 for maintenance reserve. Those reserves are what uh uh the 850,000 a
big portion of that represents the hot water heater replacement um and um new generator um over in the my middle school and the high school. So those are reserves that represent not
only um monies for in case there's something that happens unexpectedly or emergency items, but they also are representative of planned expenditures that we have in the future that are too large to absorb within our regular general budget.
And um as you can see at the bottom, the total budgeted revenues for this upcoming year is 90 million and uh 90.5 million. Our fiscal year 27 expenses breakdown in terms of the general fund. Um here it is
represented in the dollar. So 85% represents salaries and related benefits. So that's a large portion of our budget. And even though it just says salaries and benefits, that means so much more than just salaries and
benefits. What that means is classroom teachers. What that means is classroom aids. What that means is support staff for our students. What that means is not just support staff, the guidance counselors, the custodians,
all of those people that make Summit who we are. So even though it just looks like a dollar and it just looks like 85% that represents so much more. It represents what our district is made of and it's it's very important. So it
represents every single person that works so hard, administrators, like I said, classroom teachers, custodians, maintenance crew, um secretaries, you name it. It's what makes Summit Summit. And it's it's great
that most of that our dollar is going towards that. And you can see the smaller buckets on the bottom. You can go ahead and read it's 5% facilities, capital projects, etc. So those smaller pieces make up the rest of our budget. Um special education tuition is
noteworthy as a an expense and the other 3% and 2% you can see here. So the numbers now this represents our tax local tax levy in the current year as well as the last fiscal year. So in
the current year we are proposing uh 4.93% increase which is um I mentioned before 3.7 million which brings us to 79 million87363 for our new local tax levy for the
fiscal year 2627. what that means to the average home and the average assessed home based on our calculations is $445,100 as an average home. Based on that, the annual impact is $344.
So you can see there I'll pass it on to Mr. Hub. >> Thank you, Kathy. One more quick comment about the uh capital reserve and the $850,000 for the generator at the middle school. Um it is critical that we replace that. All of our it is located
in the middle school and in addition it's also a warming station station station. So when we partner with the city during, you know, emergencies, it's important that we have that backup power and it's it's time to replace it. So what's in that 4.93%. If you take a look at this graphic, it clearly details it.
2.88% of that is due to the healthcare premium increase. And quite frankly, that's a pretty good rate compared to some of our colleagues around the state. Um, you certainly don't want it to be that high, but it is. And then if you take a look at the right side, all of our other expenses
and operating costs are 2.05%. Which is even very close to that 2% that a lot of people are have in the back of their mind about how we're supposed to increase a budget. Um unfortunately as we have these discussions and we've seen the trends over the last several years uh it's likely that we're not in that
environment anymore and we probably haven't been for quite some time. Um so this graphic certainly tells you that we've done the work. All of those stakeholders that I've mentioned to you have done the work to present this 4.93%. And some of the highlights of this budget in doing so is we're able to
reinstate the summer program at the high school summer school. So students who need credit recovery, they can have that credit recovery course taught by our own very staff, which we know yields the best outcomes. This will be a tuitionbased program. If parents need their child to take a credit recovery,
they'll pay a small tuition and we'll be able to deliver that that course instruction with our own staff. We're bringing back PSATs in the school. I know that's going to make a lot of people very happy. So we're able to do that in this budget. We're also to ext able to extend our ABA program into the
high school. By doing so, we'll have several students that and the benefits are this. They get to stay in their neighborhood school with their peers. It's the least restrictive environment which is required by law. And we will save over $700,000 by not having added tuition out of district tuition and
transportation costs by creating this program inhouse. And new coming up this year, continuing with our rigger, we're going to be implementing a new phonx program, K to2, that'll be part of our instruction and professional development next year.
And in closing, again, some details about how we enjoy the successes in school here. Our seniors take at least one AP exam. 73% of them, 70% of our seniors scored a three or higher on at least one AP exam. and 9% of seniors took five or more AP exams. Talked about
we celebrated last month 25 national merit scholars. Very proud of that. And just last year and then again highlighted today in the department of education. Our elementary world language program was named a model program by the state department of education. They came out, they did an audit, they did a
visit, evaluated us against many other districts across the state and named us a model district. And of course, as you see every year with our assessment report, we're proud of it. 80% of our students scored at or above grade level and standards which far exceed some of our peer districts and certainly the
state. So, in closing, very happy to present this budget. I thank everyone for all the hard work that went into this. You know, common goals, common values, and common objectives allow us to present this budget to you and maintain the excellence in our schools
that we expect for our students. And at this point, I'll invite Bose back up to the to the DEA so we can have a discussion if there's any questions. Thank you, Superintendent Huff. Thank you, Kathy. Um, at this time I'd welcome discussion from the board of school
estimate. Uh, Deis, anybody have questions or comments? No questions or comments? I've got a couple. Um, so thank you. That was a terrific presentation. Um, couple of
things. one I you know I think for years for several years prior to last year um we talked about this a little bit last year uh the budget increase was kind of under that 2% that we talk about a lot um and I just for the public p
perspective I think it's important to talk about you know in hindsight would you say that you know that sort of maybe overly conservative um maybe it was the conservative
perspective of going under that 2% would that maybe have contributed to kind of what we've talked about the past two years where the budget is increasing by more than that 2%. >> I'll definitely comment on that and Kathy certainly jump in if you want but yes amongst other variables not
maximizing your budget year-over-year will have a compounding effect that eventually will cause you to have to elevate it larger in one given year. whereas if we in realized those increases in the budget for the last several years, the increase today wouldn't be as large. Um but as you've seen, there's other variables and
drivers in the budget that also contribute to the current climate that we're in. >> Of course. >> Thank you. >> And and and if I add, um it's a it's a very different landscape. You know, my myself, I've been here for nine years and I've haven't seen such large increases in health insurance. the
salary negotiation levels are at a different level than it was in those years that we all could remember when it was below the 2% and and and even at 0%. So it's it is a very different landscape. The costs are so astronomically different postcoid world
and even though it was 2020 the effects don't take place until you know a couple couple years after that. So we're seeing it now. Health care has changed dramatically from the the drugs that are offered and the level of health care that's tapped into. So um it's it's very
different. Thank you. >> Um happy to see that the PSAT is back on a school day. Um I know a couple residents actually came to council last night to hope uh express their interest in that returning into the budget. Um so
happy to see that. I did have a question. um that's related, you know, the PSAT coming back into school. To me, that's an access issue and it's very important that we give our students that access. I'm concerned about the recovery
uh for credits over summer school and just getting a sense of how much that's going to cost in terms of tuition. >> Well, the high school administration did an analysis and we modeled after some other districts who already employ this model and I don't have the numbers in front of me. It's somewhere between $3
and $400 for credit recovery and there is a minimum number of enrollment that we have to have to run that course. All of that will be communicated through the high school administration actually in the very near future so families can make plans accordingly. >> And just to build on that, is there um a
discount if you will for free and reduced? >> Yes, as as we do with everything we offer, there's a discount for free and reduced students who qualify. >> Any other questions? Jacqueline, >> thanks very much, Superintendent Hup and
and Kathy. This is, I think, finds the right point of productive tension between acknowledging that the tax levy is potentially an affordability issue for our taxpayers and making appropriate investments in the school. So, really appreciate the work that you and your teams have done and and all of our
school leadership. Um, in addition to the PSATs and summer school and speaking with neighbors, two of the other cuts from the last budget cycle that kind of rose to the top on the list of concerns was with with respect to mental health supports for our middle school and high school
students in particular. Um, as well as with computer science um, just thinking about artificial intelligence and and a tech forward economy. Uh, and I I understand that there has already been work that's been done for the current school year to to try to be proactive
and investing in creative ways in those areas in particular. So, wondering if you could just speak briefly about what has been done and what may be planned for the next year. >> So, last year's budget did require some cuts, so to speak, for staffing and um getting that tax levy down and that did
include the mental health clinician. So, what we're doing at the end of this year, I'm going to be asking my team to evaluate something like the mental health clinician and anything with computer science or that we weren't able to reintroduce with this bud budget to determine if we can in future budgets.
We recognize the value, but in in the interim, we have skilled staff and our counseling department, our child study teams who have picked up those services. So, that's the evaluation that we're going to have. How much more help do we need in that, which is a ch changing climate as well. Those needs and demands are growing.
Um, interestingly with the AI and computer science, we are in a push right now to take a look at screen time and what is the healthy balance of having students use the technology in the classroom, um, including AI, which I don't think anybody has the answer of where that's going yet. But we have come
together as an administrative team and talked about what it looks like for us now and in the future. And we recently passed an AI policy with our technology that I'm sure will change multiple times over the next couple of years. >> Great. Thank you. Just one additional question at the moment. Um I believe the
answer is no, but just to confirm the proposed budget does not include any cuts to existing headcount. >> Correct. >> Correct. >> Um there's no reduction in force. It's only through attrition and through need. If there's a need based on changing enrollment numbers for subgroups or
services, that's just efficient and responsible budgeting. >> Great. Thank you. I want to just add one piece um because the ed committee has been looking at this technology screen times as superintendent mentioned as well as AI. There's there's a lot of mixed evidence on the benefits of these things and so we are being really
cautious. I know the ed committee is doing a big evaluation on this before introducing any new tools especially to children. We want to really validate that. So, I don't think we're going to have a an answer tomorrow or this year, but there's probably some creative ways we can pilot things, but we certainly aren't going to, you know, make an investment in the budget until we're
really certain that the effects of AI are going to be positive on our children. >> Thank you. Any other questions? Um, I'd like to go back just to talk about the summer school and PSAT. Um, so why was
that removed last year? Why couldn't we have done is there a reason that we couldn't have done a tuition based summer school as an example last year and so what's the difference between last year >> last year if you recall the timing of when we had to lower the tax levy in the budget there wasn't enough time to
create our administrative team have spent many many weeks developing this not anything we could have just stumbled into last year with success right everything we do we want to be effective and successful um so it wasn't an an opportunity last year but it is now moving forward
Thank you. Um, so a couple things on that. One is I want to thank the administrative staff. I know a lot of you are here and I know that um Scott asked you to sharpen your pencil many times this year and and I I'm grateful and I think that the process led I think
by Rick Hanley as the chair of ops um was was a longer more um transparent uh more interactive um and and sort of earlier onset discussion. So I think that that led probably to a a
better outcome. So, I just want to say I'm very grateful to that. Um, and to Rick, thank you. Um, Scott, I know that this was not easy. I know last year wasn't easy, but I feel like the process this year was a was a better process. We learned a lot last year, so I think this outcome is is as a result of that.
>> Agreed. >> Good. Um, and then I guess one other question I have, and we talked about this, and I I already warned Scott I was going to ask this, so I'm not putting him on the spot, but um, uh, what would it look like, um, for us to have a
budget that was a 3% or a 4% budget as opposed to where we are right now? >> So, going into this budget year, um, I actually created a good six or seven scenarios on what that impact would be for our community. not knowing where state aid would be, um not knowing where the health insurance would be. Um and if
we had to take that next step, for example, one percentage point in our increase is about $870,000. And the only way everybody knows that you're going to make up that 1% of over $800,000 is through staffing. And with that, that would probably have realized at least a good 10 or 12 additional
staff, which would impact programming, which would impact the experience that our students have in the classroom. And all along, as I said in my opening, that our goal was not to do that. You know, that's not who we are. If you know, in in very dramatic times, if we have to, we have to. This year, we didn't have to. We're able to put the hard work in
to maintain what we deliver, and that's that's what that would look like. >> Thank you. And I think just in when we spoke earlier, a couple weeks ago, um you mentioned sort of evaluating cutting um programming as well. So, not just staff, but also extracurriculars and
things like that. And and I want to say that obviously quality is and excellence both are tied to what we offer not just in the classroom but also extracurriculars. I think that is what makes summit so spectacular. I three you
know all of my kids all four of my kids have gone through Summit public schools. I know that the mission is um as stated um it you guys are successful at it. Uh I had three I tell this story a lot because I think it's really important. I've got three kids that have gone off to college and every single one of them
and they they went to competitive academic schools and every single one of them would call me they called me within the first month and they said, "Mom, we're really really well prepared and we're really grateful to Summit Public Schools." So for for those of you who haven't heard me say it, it we we do
have something really spectacular here and you know doing being efficient and being uh you know fidiciary fidiciary responsible um is is obviously it's a really really
hard balance. So I'm really grateful for um all the hard work of the people in this room and particularly you Scott. Thank you for your leadership and um you know I I think I know that it's not easy and I know that um that we don't want to cut but we also don't want to raise a t
raise people's taxes you know 15% every year because people will leave and that will also affect the quality of our education. So >> thank you. >> Any other comments? Yep. >> Your question made me think of another question so I apolog I did not preview this with with superintendent or with
Kathy. Um, so certainly find if if you wish to think about it a bit. The original draft budget that was was posted on the budget development website anticipated a a conservative 5% decrease in state aid. Picture came back slightly
better. Still not great, but slightly better. Uh, but we we had been prepared for an increase in the tax levy as much as 5.1%. We're able to get that down. I'm wondering if you have had conversation or if you had an idea of if we were to
hypothetically maintain at 5.17% what where would that marginal dollar go? What would be the next thing that you would wish to fund? >> That is an excellent question. Um when we propose the budget we get it to the point where we feel it's responsible and it's meeting our needs for the coming
year. Um, and if it didn't make that first draft, just by virtue of realizing some savings, doesn't mean that we would necessarily have the need to add to that. Um, without going through our evaluation process for new roles or past roles or new programs or existing
programs. Um, just by waking up and seeing the difference in the number doesn't mean, okay, we're spending, right? We we do things very thoroughly. We do things that are evidence-based and database and and we would take our time to realize that. Knowing what we know now with this year going into next year, um we'll we'll run our scenarios again
and we'll be prepared again for either better or worse news. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Go ahead. >> Um you talked about extending the AVA into the high school and how that actually saves us money. >> Um I think this was also considered last year but ultimately didn't make it in.
But can you talk a little bit about how much we're saving as a result of that investment? Yeah, tuition and transportation costs for an average, which there's no such thing as an average, um, add a district placement is anywhere in the neighborhood of $150,000 up or down. Um, and we have four students who are
metriculating into the high school from our ABA program at the middle school. So to send them out with transportation costs and tuition, we knowing where we would send them for the various tuition schools, it would be about $850,000. Um, so by hiring a new teacher and an
aid and rolling the program up through the middle school, and these are students who will be with us till age 21. So we're not talking the next four years, we're talking the next seven. So you compound that and do the math over the next seven years by running a successful program here at Summit High School, we will be saving the taxpayers
a lot of money. >> Any other comments or questions from Okay. Um, I would like to open it up to public comment. Anybody in the audience have anything to say? >> I'm just going to read the rules on public comment if you don't mind.
>> Got to keep you in line. >> Here are the public comment rules. Anyone wishing to speak shall first seek recognition by the presiding officer. Please come to the microphone and state your name and address in a clear audible tone for the record. Please direct all comments to the board president and not
an individual member of the board. Please remember to conduct yourself with decorum and respect when speaking and addressing the board. Unless additional time is granted by the board president, please be respectful and keep your comments to three minutes or less. In addition, please note that this portion of the meeting is for public comment and
not meant to be back and forth. Upon closure of public comment, information that is avail Oh, that's it. Thanks. >> Thank you. Anybody would like to say anything? No questions. Okay.
Yeah, Mr. >> Is coming out. >> Yeah. Okay. Don't all jump at once. >> Don't worry, I'm not Mr. Anonymous. Okay, >> not a chance. >> Good enough. >> Yes. Good evening, members of the board
of school estimate. I'm Jim Bennett. B E N TT uh 38 Fair View Avenue. Comments. >> Thank you. >> First of all, I'd like to congratulate you on your hard work on getting the
increase down to 4.93%. I know that was a lot of hard work. Uh the number I'd heard was 5.17. So, uh again, congratulations. My remarks tonight um don't really address anything here in the now, but uh
they're the macro national picture. And why am I taking your time on that? I think that uh they merit some attention for the coming year. Now, the graph that I prepared uh shows the median annual property tax payments in the entire
United States by state. uh the left are the 15 lowest and to the right we have the uh the 15 highest. Now you note the very gradual projection until we come to New Jersey
and then New Jersey jumps up by 40% or nearly half again as its nearest contender New Hampshire. Now, New Jersey also has uh income taxes and sales taxes, and uh New Hampshire has neither
a personal income tax nor a general sales tax, and still manages to be lower. And among the top 15 states, neither Alaska nor Texas either has a personal income tax, nor does Washington at the moment, but is about to get one.
Oregon has no general sales tax. Among the bottom 15, Tennessee and Wyoming have no personal income tax and Delaware has no p general sales tax. Median national annual property tax is about
$3,000, but the median tax rate for New Jersey by some accounts is 9,358 and Summit residents would be happy to have that median rate. Now, three years ago, the annual property tax bill in
Summit was per house $18,357. And the average would be higher because we have some very big and expensive houses in Summit. And the school district owns much of that number because its tax constitutes more than half of the property tax bill. Now, I
really do appreciate tonight that you have to deal with the here and the now and uh not with the uh macro uh situation, but the questions that need to be asked over the coming year is how do other states manage to keep their
property taxes lower and what do Summit schools provide that other state school systems do not? So, do New Jersey schools uh get the results that are over six times better than Tennessee's? And do Summit schools get a result that's 12
times better? Now, this exercise of a um adjusted comparative analysis outside of the is thinking outside the New Jersey box, but it could be instructive and the results could be actionable through this board at the state level. Thank you.
I'll give you that. >> Sorry. Thank you, Mr. Bennett. >> Um, I'm not going to talk about taxes in other states except to say that we have the number two state in the nation for education and I'm happy for that. Um, so Mayor Feran, it was great to hear about
your kids doing so well. I think that we all agree that we should preserve that kind of schooling. And before I get into what I want to talk about, are is Olar only in the middle school or do we have a backup? And if we don't, we should look into a backup. Um, and I agree with
what Miss Kelly said about AI use. There are studies coming out of Stanford and a bunch of other places that suggest that AI stifles creativity and critical thinking and we need to understand that better. You talked about the mission to prepare
all students. And you talked about how we have essentially three schools, academics, athletics, and the arts. And I for one am thankful for the academics, for the
athletics, and for the arts. My kids partake in all three of them in various capacities. But I want to go back to last year's cuts, 3.3 million. Um they impacted entirely academics and the arts. Uh
specifically, we cut 27 teachers and classroom staff, the district mental health clinician, a school counselor, four technology coaches, library aids, weekday paping, and summer school.
Um, so I think that we can think that perhaps voters chose in November that that aggressive cutting of academics was not in their best interest.
Uh, we have Summit is known for proximity to New York, a good downtown, and our schools. And I would submit to you that what anchors our property taxes is our schools. We have concerns about uh ratables going down much as two years
ago they were going up and so we do need to be fiscally responsible but we do need to make sure that we fund our schools the academic portion and the arts portion as fully as we have been funding the the athletics portion so far. Thank you.
>> Thank you Mr. Huck. Hi. Uh, Carol Pactang, 2347 Avenue. Um, so I'm glad to hear Oh, my voice is loud. Um, I'm glad to hear that the PSATs are put back in. Um, but I I had that same question uh, Councilman
Councilwoman Lar Sarasina had about if we were already budgeting for a 5% decrease and we were should be honestly glad that we got only the 3% decrease, you know, then I'm like thinking, okay,
well, so we already planned for this 5% decrease and in a awkward way there's some cost savings there that we could look at spending. spending actually in a year that we kind of the the summit residents were already expecting a 5.1%
tax levy increase which is as has been discussed under the adjusted cap. So then doesn't need to go through a an additional reapproval process. Um, I can think of a lot of things that uh, for example, we invested both at the middle
school and the high school in a room to have a dance course offered. I I you know, we had this wonderful play this past weekend of Matilda at the middle school. We had Big Fish a couple weeks ago. And these are our I'm proud to say
our middle and high school are one of the most awarded theater programs in the state. This is a this is one of the differentiating factors that we can be very proud of in Summit. However, the arts program is significantly
underfunded, mostly self-funds and in addition to that, people were very excited that dance was going to be a possible offering um at the middle and high school with this infrastructure. So, we we spent money on infrastructure that is being unused and untapped. Uh I
know that they last year they were trying to find a dance teacher. Um couldn't. I can tell you there's plenty of dance folks around here that would love to have a job at at Summit High School. Um, so I think that there in addition to that, looking at this
tuition based I I I understand it's a solution that you guys had that other schools are using the tuition based summer school. But to me that causes an access issue yet again. These kids like yes people at the top that can afford it
and that their kids need it, they're going to pay whatever it takes. people uh for under the free and reduced lunch that are going to get the discount are they too are going to take get taken care of. But yet again the people that are in the middle income in this town
that are already looking at an increase regardless um based on their home values. I mean $3454 an average of 250k um value home in Summit. Most most of the homes in Summit are a million plus,
right? And so you're talking about these and and these are families that have bought and invested in Summit and um are going to already have their tax increases. And so now in addition to that, if their kid needs summer school, they're going to have to pay an additional $300 to $400 in a year where
we know that gas prices and food grocery prices are going through the roof. Um to me that that's an access issue. If I were to be looking at this and talking about where could we have used that difference, that delta of the 2%
decrease that we were expecting and had the money for, like I would be looking at summer school. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any further comments or questions? >> Do I have a motion to close public comments? Second.
>> Okay. Thank you. Uh, do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> I'll take the role. >> Oh, sorry. >> For that. Um, to close public comment. >> Sorry. >> To close public comment. Um, Miss Landman. >> I. >> Miss Leserina. >> I.
>> Miss Conn. >> Miss Cole, can you hear us? >> Yes, I can. Thank you. She said I. >> I. Okay. Miss Kelly, >> I. >> Mayor Fagan, >> I. >> Okay. >> Now, may I have a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved.
>> Second. >> Second. >> Okay. >> Okay. All in favor? >> I >> I >> I. >> Any oppose? Any abstensions? Okay. We close at 6:47. Thank you.
That's okay. The flag salute. 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.
Welcome everyone to the March 18th, 2026 Summit Board of Education meeting. In accordance with the requirements of the Open Public Meeting Act, I wish to announce that the New Jersey Open Public Meeting Law was enacted to ensure the right of the public to have advanced notice of and to attend the meeting of
bodies at which any business affecting their interest is discussed or acted upon. Notices announcing the date, t time, and place for the special meeting were sent to all concerned individuals, associations, and posted on the district website in accordance with public law
2025, chapter 72. At this time, I'd like to take the role. Miss Conn, we're looking for a roll call. >> Okay. Please don't please I am here.
>> Okay. Vice President Kelly >> here. >> Mr. Cho, >> Mr. Gunderson, Mr. Hanley >> here, >> Miss Justice >> here. >> Mr. Mitcha >> here. >> Okay, we have quorum.
>> Okay, great. Thank you, Mrs. Sarno. Before we begin the annual school budget discussion for the board, I want to just take a few minutes on behalf of the entire board and once again echo all of the appreciation we have for Superintendent Scott Huff, the business office, particularly Kathy Sarno, the
principles, the administration, and really the staff throughout the district who spent countless amount of hours with rigor and diligence as they do every year. It is a really tremendous partnership for the board, the mayor, the city, and the district to work alongside the students and staff, excuse
me, the students and parents to really come up with a budget that is appropriate and affordable for the entire community. Um I also want to uh just mention to the board that you know 4.93% as you all know represents a lot of diligence that the ops committee in particular working with the business
office and the superintendent took um really great I think we had great efforts in establishing a strong process that will be a foundation for years to come in an economic environment that continues to be really difficult to maneuver uh particularly with still inflation um you know occurring and of
course as has been mentioned countless times the health and benefit increases that we've seen. Um, but the 4 um 93% tonight uh continues to really drive an output of excellence in this district. It it it really highlights our strategic
goals. We had to do a lot of prioritization. I think we did that um under superintendence uh Scott Huff's leadership really well this year. So, I'm going to hand it off to Rick Hanley, ops chair, and I want to congratulate Rick for really being an absolute amazing leader, and we appreciate all
the, you know, momentum that you brought to the ops committee this year. He's going to echo some of Superintendent Scott Huff's um presentation, as well as share some more details for added transparency. It's over to you. >> Well, thank you, Madam Vice President. I appreciate the nice comments and uh good
evening, everyone. Um, it's my pleasure to report that the operations committee of the Summit Public Schools DI District did uh hold its most recent meeting Monday, March 16th. Uh, the meeting was held at the district administrative offices, and we began it at 9:30 a.m.
The meeting lasted approximately 45 minutes. Attending the meeting were Superintendent Scott Huff, Assistant Business Administrator Kathy Sarno, myself, Carlos Maha, and Eileen Kelly representing the board. Uh during the meeting, the committee was dedicated to reviewing and discussing the two key
components of data that came in that we were waiting on for the budget. And they include numbers that you've heard about that I will highlight again. Number one, the final budget number for healthc care services and premiums collectively, which was originally projected to be up
19% in our budget, came in up 16.1%. Uh that is obviously slightly better. The final projection for state aid came in at minus 3% a decline that was slightly less than we had forecasted it down 5%. Recall that prior to this
committee meeting our last official estimate of growth in the total budget and that is growth in the total budget of 5.17% and dependent upon the aid and healthcare outcomes. As a result of these numbers coming in slightly better,
as we've discussed, we did as a committee in this meeting vote unanimously to approve growth in the district budget for the upcoming 2026 27 school year of $3.7 million, representing a 4.93%
increase over last year's fiscal budget. As Scott mentioned in his presentation, the board and the committee have spent numerous hours ensuring that his budget and this district's budget aligns closely with our goals established by the focus groups and the ongoing
communications between the superintendent, the administration, the community, the staff, and our leaders that was generated during our strategy and focus groups. This budget delivers a financially sustainable and high quality and extremely broad product offering for
all families and children to take advantage of. And this committee made sure that the superintendent's proposed budget continue to focus our investments and our financial evaluations of our investments on delivering great student
outcomes that Summit has historically been known to deliver and that we expect in the future. The community and especially the board's confidence in this budget process should be high as the operations committee worked tirelessly spending almost 25 hours in
committee meetings in the past 9 to 10 months and added additional count hours of work by individuals through the work the committee and even more importantly the superintendent the business administrator's office the
supervisors our principles our staff they worked worked so hard. They came through worked tirelessly on a new budget process and they really committed to several steps and really came through with flying colors. As a result of their
efforts, this board and our committee committed in May of 2025 and into June when we reported out our postmortem budget review of last year's budget. We committed to conducting and reviewing detailed budgets of comparable districts and their historic spending and
investment patterns to better understand the district's challenges, our goals, their goals, and how we stack up. The business administrator's office then constructed multi-year budget forecasts for better financial and capex planning and stress testing that helped us to
better prepare for the external shocks and factors that impact our budget that are clearly out of our control that we've discussed so de in such detail already tonight. We've deployed zerobased budgeting and contingency planning into the budget process and accelerated the pace of the budget
schedule and data gathering that did put more demands on our staff. Given this accelerated calendar and process, our goal was to have a stronger picture of our overall financial outlook in February that could lead to better, more frequent communications to the community
and city leaders to further educate the community and respond where possible to your questions and your concerns, including those expressed tonight. So for these reasons, we can believe we've conducted the proper supervisory oversight on this budget as a committee and the
superintendent we we believe we have great confidence that he has delivered a very responsible budget and one that adheres to the objectives and the goals of summit in the community for the years to come. So with that said, I will only add one
additional note. The operations committee also reviewed in this meeting the proposal by the administration to withdraw $850,000 from the capital reserve for the following allocation of projects and they were highlighted briefly earlier tonight. There's $100,000 for architect
and engineering fees for districtwide projects in the coming year. There's $150,000 to replace the hot water heater at Summit High School. And there's 600,000 to replace the generator at LCJS SMS. So there is also a $50,000 maintenance reserve allocation that we
approved and that is for spending on the LCJ SMS VCT replacement. So the committee voted unanimously on these two items, the maintenance reserve allocation and the capital reserve allocation. We voted unanimously to recommend that the full board also
approve these items. So with that, I'm going to stop there uh and and stop highlighting what's in this budget and not. There has been extensive review of the details of the various categories of the budget uh that have been read out throughout the uh committee notes
throughout the year that the public should feel free to reference because there's a lot of detail in there, but I can certainly come back to that in Q&A tonight if that's necessary. Other than that, are there any other uh additional items from members of the committee that you think we should add?
Thank you, Chairman Hanley. I do have a statement to make and um as a member of the operations committee, I want to thank the administration superintendent Huff, assistant business administrator, Miss Kathy Sarno, operations committee chairman Rick Hanley, and fellow
committee member Miss Eileen Kelly for the hard work that brought our final uh fiscal 27 tax levy increased down to 4.93%. That is a meaningful improvement from the draft numbers we saw earlier. Even so, one line item continues to dominate
our budget pressure, health insurance. This year, shift premiums, have we heard, as we've heard, rose 6.1%, adding over 2.5 million to our costs. That single increase is responsible for the vast majority of the amount we had to go
to above the 2% levy cap. Without it, we would have much we would have been much closer to the state mandate mandated limit. Let's remember there is a statemandated limit, right? There's a law. We don't just choose it. So, um I
thought there was a lot of great work that went to to get us to where we need to be and still delivering um what needs to be delivered to our customers, which is our students, which are our students. Looking ahead, the same double-digit pressure is already built into future
years unless we act. New Jersey State Law, Chapter 44's temporary contribution relief expires at the end of 2027. That creates a real opportunity in the coming years to make structural changes that put our healthcare plan on a more
sustainable path. These changes are essential if we want to protect classroom programs, keep class sizes reasonable, and ease the burden on some taxpayers for years to come. I encourage everyone in the community to pay close
attention to how we manage health costs in the years ahead. Your understanding and support will be critical as we work to keep future tax increases in check while still delivering for our students. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Matcha. Is there any other discussion from the board? I I just I do think it's important to highlight this uh question because it came up during a parent um coffee last week regarding the budget, healthcare obviously being the biggest expenditure that's gone up is what our options are.
We are in a consortium called shift and maybe Mr. Hanley and Mr. Huff, Superintendent Huff, excuse me. We could reh highlight that the the landscape of not just this year, but the years to come as it relates to our insurance um options
on the healthcare front. Yes. So, uh number one, the national industry trends are important. Uh there's pressing healthcare premiums. Prescription costs are going upwards. It's not likely to abate. I read this out in our December meeting on December 18th. Um number two,
Summit Schools is is participating in this healthcare premium uh pressure and our prescriptions. Um for history we we will touch on and I'll be very brief. In 200 in I think it was
2010 chapter 78 was enacted that gave us legal uh ability to negotiate higher contributions to healthcare. However, that legislation was reversed in 2022 by chapter 44. Now by state law the employees contribute less and less to
their total contribution of health care. Therefore the district is required to pay more. In that same law, chapter 44, it it eliminated our ability in many cases, not entirely, but in most cases, it
eliminated our ability to negotiate through collective bargaining any changes in health care that would be uh around prescription co-pays, emergency room co-pays, etc. There was no, they took the state by law took away all flexibility in the negotiating process
between um the district and its staff. um that was new by the way. So the factors those are key factors that have changed in healthcare. In addition uh in December I read out some key fundamental trends.
GLP-1 drugs are now 20% 20% of all prescriptions in a few short years. They have no competition from generics. they're getting broader applications through AI technology
and they're being applied to more and more um uh drug to to diseases and as a result we're seeing huge pressures with no ability to find relief in prescription costs and so you're seeing
many districts up 35 to 55% in their prescription costs so you're seeing across the country you're seeing in the state of New Jersey and you're seeing it here and that is not going to abate anytime soon because those drugs are simply on new on the horizon and going to continue to grow in terms of their applications. So these are a number of
the fundamental pressures that we see. Um there's a number of healthc care pressures in terms of experiences postcoid and the hangover of health. The public postponed a lot of their tests so they were not getting uh colonoscopies. they weren't getting uh different kinds
of screenings and so they postponed it and now the treatments are costing more to catch up uh because the treatments are more invasive etc. So these trends we see in our pressures in healthcare uh I fundamentally do not see any changes coming anytime soon. As a result though,
we did we do change or we look for competitive bidding in healthcare. And it's important a slide earlier tonight noted that we changed our healthcare provider in July of 2022. And again, we changed a healthcare provider in the summer of 2017. So, we have to be very
cognizant of changing health care providers to seek a better or more competitive rate in the short term while disadvantaging our staff and our employees by constantly changing programs. So we're very cautious and cognizant of the pressures that puts on our our working families in the district
to serve in in in our staff as capa in their capacities. So those are a lot of the pressures that we highlighted that are not going away that I hope give some color as to these pressures in healthcare that uh you know we're just going to continue to see to see and and as we represented healthcare was 3%
2.88% of our total 4.93% increase. So uh and for that matter I would go forward and say and I'll then I'll stop talking. I do think it's important to start dispelling the use of 2% budget cap and our measurements of whether our budgets
are successful or not. In 2007 it was 4% by law. It was lowered by 2010 to 2% cap by law. inflation subsequent years you can see one 137 one two one nine you see a lot
of low inflation years the last time we had inflation below 2020 as measured by CPI in this country 2020 the next year 7% the next year it just keeps going it it it's been up significantly 7% 6 and a half% 3.4 for
this past year, 2024, last year, 2.9%. So to think that we as a district can get anywhere close to 2% increases, it's it's a those days are gone. So I want to make sure that's fairly clear to the community as you start thinking
about our our challenges going forward. >> Thank you, Mr. Hanley. Mr. Do you want anything at least? >> I'll just close by, you know, personally and on behalf of the administration, the parents, the community, the staff. Um, I think everybody involved in creating
this budget. You've heard so much detail around the efforts that go into it, the challenges, and the bottom line is student outcomes and we're going to maintain and continue to grow in that area with this budget and future budgets because we have the right people in place to to develop the budget and apply
the budget in the classroom. So, thank you all for your efforts. Um, one last thing, the next part of the process is that this budget will be sent down to the county as soon as closed and we adjourn at this meeting. They will review it in the coming days. We will
return here at 6:00 on March 26 for the final budget hearing. The final budget will be approved by the board of education as well as the board of school estimates. >> Thank you, Superintendent Scott Hoff. Last call for any other discussion among board members. Uh I do have one question for Miss
Sarno. The difference in dollar value between 5.17 and 4.93. >> It's 100,000 approximately. >> Okay. So that was the incremental difference. Mr. Huff, I think it would be instructive to talk about the fact that we did not actually take all the
differential that we gained between state aid wins theoretically in the community's view tonight and this and the healthcare wins in lower numbers. Certainly the delta between the 5% state aid that we budgeted for and the 3% actual decrease was about
$103,000. Within that um we realized the money that was needed to return to PSAT that allowed us to return PSATs and it also allowed us to fund a a student who was in our budget software required by the state. Okay. Okay, so that was approximately over $30,000 of that
$100,000 that was used and applied back into the operating budget for the PSAT and a required tuition student. So I think for the BOSE question, I think it's fair to say we have that list that she was asking about of things we could
go what would we do next and we did some of those given the advantages that we were provided by the outcome. >> Yes, we use the remaining $70,000 or so for tax relief. Okay, we will now move on to we're there's going to be public comment. We're gonna move on to public comment
now. Um C M will read the >> Absolutely. Um some public comment rules. Anyone wishing to speak shall first seek recognition by the presiding officer. Please come to the microphone and state your name and address in a clear audible tone for the record. Please direct all comments to the board president and not
an individual member of the board. Please remember to conduct yourself with decor and respect when speaking and addressing the board. Unless additional time is granted by the board president, please be respectful and keep your comments to three minutes or less. In addition, please note that this portion of the meeting is for public comment and not meant to be back and forth. Thank
you. So, um I understand it's not back and forth, but I was surprised by the proportion of the insurance and pharmaceuticals cost that's coming from GLP1s. And I guess it's probably not a bad thing that there's been some
negotiations down on the price of GLP1s uh coming up in the next year. So hopefully we can take some of those savings. Um, the other thing I'll point out is that there's a lot of talk about property taxes in New Jersey, but we don't talk about the cost of u
homeowners insurance. Um, I was doing some work for something else. And it turns out in if you look at Florida, for example, you compare it to New Jersey and you add up property taxes and homeowners insurance, um, you end up pretty much at the same
point. is just that we pay more in property taxes and they pay more to the insurance companies. And we're talking about it's been 15 maybe years since a category 40 or five hurricane hit Miami date county. Um and so insurance rates
in Florida have been adjusted for the Gulf Coast a lot more than for the Atlantic coast. Um because you know people seem to forget that hurricanes do hit the east coast of Florida, Cuba, all those places. So perhaps we need to look
at the overall cost of ownership. Um I also would like to remind everybody of the numbers I rattled off earlier. 27 teachers and classroom staff, mental health clinician, school counselor, for technology coaches, library aids. These
are all significant human resources that were cut last year. Um and I understand that this is not the year to put them back in. I totally get that. Um, but I cannot possibly imagine that we are better off now without those resources that we were before with those
resources. So, as we look into the years to come, I think um, we need to draw a path that takes us from here to there. We're a very diverse
district. We have homes that are worth $5 million. We have homes that are worth $250 or $300,000. We have people who make millions upon millions and never fly commercial. And we have people who have never left the state of New Jersey.
We have people who uh we have one school in particular, as you all probably know, for which 25% of the student body qualifies for reducing free lunches. And um I think that we do need to keep
that in mind um as we develop uh our plans. Um and also keep in mind that um you know depending on what lifestyle what stage of your life you might be in
people who come into summit tend to be people who have young kids who want their kids to be participants in a summit education and not have that education cut by whatever uh is you know make it make it less diverse make make
it less inclusionary make it less equitable. Thank you. Any more public comment? >> Yes. Good evening, members of the board of uh education. Jim Bennett, BENnet, 38 Fair View Avenue. Uh Mr. Hanley
anticipated my next comment. I want to respond to the uh speaker who suggested that uh because of perceived windfall from the delta between the 5.17% which was the figure we were operating on last week and the 4.93%
that the delta should be spent for more programs and I commend the uh operations committee for the hard work they did in uh getting the rate down and I say this as one who wants to have excellent public school systems in summit even though my kids have long since
departed. So, I just wanted to leave with the thought of urging the board to hold the line at 4.93% of an increase. Thank you. >> Carol Pang, 234 Summit Avenue. Um,
I I'm an emergency physician. I'm also a physician that advocates and um you know lobbies as a as a just a physician that's involved in the hero healthcare system. And the comment that ompic is
the reason that the cost of the health care for the teachers went up I think is offensive not true. Um the health care costs are going up because we decided in um 2022
and at the urge of the teachers unions that the healthc care like the our school district wasn't being competitive with the amount of health care we were deliverers were getting. We were getting better retention and recruitment of teachers
because we were providing a higher level of healthcare. I am in support of any tax increases to cover adequate health care for our teachers because that's how we retain excellent teachers in our district and that they don't use us as a stepping stone to a better job. Um the
reason that health care costs are going up across the board is because healthc care is pocketing more of that money for themselves and they are um doing a vertical integration and keeping a lot of those costs. So the PBNs and all these things, yes, the cost of pharmaceuticals are going up. It's
because the pharmaceutical companies are keeping a lot of the the the the revenue in their pockets. So I mean, I don't think we can point to the fact that teachers and people are taking OMPIC more. Um I I think that's just a a poor
correlation to be brought up at this type of meeting. Um, in terms of the comments on the budget being done with the parents and student communities input, I I honestly like I think part of it is that so I'm helping to reinvigorate SpeakUp Summit, which was a
parent and community group that understand that the quality of our town and the value of our town is highly based in the quality of our school district. And we all here all of you, you know, you're pro providing an amazing service and and I can thank you
for that. But I think that there could be a lot more efforts to have the parent input um be a part of this continued budget conversation, especially I think it was a wake-up call to many of us with the cuts at the end of last year. um
that we really need to engage and and and I'm putting that on myself as someone who is starting to help reinvigorate this so that you all have a way to communicate to us and we have a way to communicate to the rest of the community, both the parent and the business community that's very invested
in this town. Um but you know, I encourage you guys to have more of these coffees that you had the other day. It was literally my birthday so I wasn't going to come have coffee with you on my birthday. But um the you know I think the more the more number of times you
put out communications even highly invested people that are helping me to reinvigorate this group of speakups summit didn't know that the budget meeting was tonight. So our communications you know I know you guys are putting them out there. They need to be pushed out like so many more with all
all the noise that we're getting. Um, so I just encourage you guys in the coming year to reach out even more and and put it on us as well as parents. Thank you. >> Is there any other public comment? >> Do you need a motion to close? >> Yes. >> Can I please have a motion to close
public comment? >> Roll call. Mr. Mr. Matcha, >> yes. >> Miss Justice, >> yes. >> Mr. Hanley, >> yes. >> Miss Kelly, >> yes. >> And Miss Conn, >> yes.
>> Public comment is closed. And now at this time, I'm going to read the school budget resolution for >> Kathy. Before um just because it was the end of public comment, I think um some of the comments made during this meeting would probably be helpful for us to just just touch upon a little bit. Um I just I just want to highlight all the
different ways from a communication standpoint that we did reach out to the public. Just to reemphasize once again, I think we can't say it enough. We can't say it enough. So um we do have obviously at every board meeting since October, we've brought out the budget and we hope that you know more parents do come out to board meetings because it is an opportunity for public comment to
hear from the public clearly of parents and residents and otherwise on what what's important to them and what they're thinking. So every board meeting is certainly an opportunity. Um Superintendent Scott Huff has spent tremendous amount of PTO meetings. I think last week 25 parents attended. So him him and his staff, I just want to commend on how excellent their
communication is. Um their infographics, they've been so thoughtful this entire budgetary process. And Scott, I I know I hear such positive remarks about how willing and um consistent you are with your engagement with the with the residents and with the um the students and parents of our of our district. Um
and then coffee with parents, we do try one a quarter. So we will certainly, you know, we can try for more than that. We did a morning, we did a night. I'm a working mom as well, so I you know I I we all do what we can, but I really do think we we've made a valiant effort to communicate and be really transparent on
this process. But certainly if anyone has any ideas, I'm happy at the end of this meeting to be open to more ways on how we can improve on that communication. Um the other thing I just I just want to also really mention about the budget as as a whole. We are adding $3.7 million this year. This is this,
you know, this is a growth budget because it's going up. And I appreciate that some people in the community, some residents have, you know, the ability to spend $300 easily a year. There are other residents that don't. And I treat every single dollar that goes into this budget as if it were my own. And I know
there are a lot of residents that have, you know, $500 a year is a lot for them. So, it is a really important balance to strike. We talk about equity, talk about access. There are a lot of people in this community where $500 is a lot of money a year. So, I think the strike's the right balance. And we've done a lot of diligence to look at really what are the priorities that we have and then how
do we meet those priorities where are things not making sense because maybe that class is no longer relevant. Right? So I think superintendent suffice with his with his um with his staff his principles they do the hard effort to make sure that our outcomes remain consistent and that each year we are
striking that right balance. So again, I want to commend you, Superintendent Scott Scott Huff, because this was a budget of $3.7 million added, a taxpayer increase of about $400 annually per household. Um, and and that's, you know, going to be reflective again of
continued strong outcomes. Thank you. Okay. Now for the approval of the 2026 2027 school budget resolution. Resolved that the tenative budget be approved for the 2026 2027 school year and sent to the Executive County Superintendent of
Schools in accordance with the statutory deadline for review and approval. for 2026 2027 total expenditures under the general fund 89,672,896 plus special revenues 838
$838,949 for a total of 9,511845 less anticipated revenues under the general fund of 979 I'm Sorry. 9,799 $9,799,533 with that special revenues $838,9449
for a total of 10,638,482 for the local tax levy to be raised of a total of 779,873,363 and to advertise said tenative budget in accordance with the form suggested by the state department of education in according to law. Further resolved that the public hearing be held in the Summit
High School library media center on Thursday, March 26, 2026 at 6 p.m. for the purpose of conducting a public hearing on the budget for the 202627 school year. Further resolved that included in the general fund appropriations, the Summit City Board of
Education authorized the approval of withdrawal from Capitol Reserve in the amount of $850,000 as follows. 600,000 LCJ Summit Middle School new generator, $150,000 Summit High School hot water
heater, $100,000 architect/engineering fees for districtwide projects. Further resolved that per NJAC 6A23A-14.2D 2D included in the general fund appropriations. The city Summit City
Board of Education authorized the approval of withdrawal from maintenance reserve in the amount of $50,000 for the LCJ Summit Middle School VCT replacement and further resolved that the Summit Board of Education includes the tenative budget the adjustment for increased cost
of health benefits in amount of $2,227,161. The additional funds will be used to pay for the additional increases in health benefit premiums. Note figures subject to change up to the time of adoption of this resolution should there be any changes in stated
figures or other adjustments by the state and our approval of travel and related expenditures reimbursement for 2026 27. Whereas pursuant to NJAC6A23 cola a-7.3
a board of education must establish a maximum dollar amount for travel expenditure as defined in NJAC 6A col23A-7.1. Be it resolved that the Summit Board of Education approves establishing the MA maximum expenditure for the 202627
school year not to exceed 1,100 1,500 for regular travel pursuant to policy number 6471. And further it be resolved that the Summit Board of Education approves establishing a maximum travel expenditure of 200,000 for the 2627
school year. The maximum travel expenditure for the 2526 school year is 200,000 of which 30 uh 34,392 has been spent and $5,586 is encumbered to date. >> There you go. >> You deserve a round of applause for
reading all that very well. Do I have a motion to approve everything this >> so moved? >> Thank you, Mr. Hanley. Yes, >> Mr. Macha.
>> Yes, >> Miss Justice. >> Yes, >> Vice President Kelly. >> Yes, >> Miss Comb. >> Yes. >> Okay. Motions carry. >> Thank you very much. Do we have a motion for adjournment? >> So moved.
>> Second. >> Okay. All in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? Any abstensions? >> Okay. We close our meeting at 7 7:25 p.m. >> Thank you.