As far as I'm concerned, you should be gone just because of that because you're violating ethics. Again, I can't wait to see what happens when all this finally settles down. Half of you, again, I don't know why you're on the board other than to just
landlast him and prevent him from doing his job. Uh, Terry, I appreciate you stepping up last week. It was great seeing you as president. No offense, Miss Bloom. You weren't here. Terry, you did a great job. I will say that. But this budget, I
can't wait to see these numbers. I can't wait. I'm scared to death that my taxes are going to go up again exponentially potentially and you're still going to cut. I can't wait to see these numbers. And I want I want to hear anybody's explanation on the other side that voted
for that contract. Granted, I get it. Everybody deserves a raise. In this environment, maybe you should have renegotiated the numbers a little bit better than just giving a blank slate to everybody because when the numbers come in, nobody has the right to get mad that voted on
this contract because if numbers if these numbers come out that I'm thinking of off top my head, I think we're going to face an $8 million deficit even with the increase in state aid. We got to cut it from somewhere. Where's it going to cut from? You can't cut administration anymore. That's already down to the bones. So guess what? staff
and teachers are potentially going to get cut again. And when it hits the fan, those of you that agreed on this negotiation with the contract, I don't want to hear a word from you because you agreed for these these exorbitant contracts. Granted, I told you certain amount of money is is
great for a raise, but in the financial distress that this district and other districts are in, for you to agree to that, now you're going to see what's going to happen. And as a taxpayer, I'm already furious because my taxes went up last year and we still cut. So now we're going to do it again. And
then we're going to do it again probably for the next three years because of the contract that wasn't agreed to. So I don't I don't know how much time I have left. So I apologize cuz I didn't see a clock. But uh in closing, um yeah, I I hope that the people that are on this board that are doing the right
thing for this district, keep doing what you're doing, keep fighting it. and the people that aren't here for the right reasons just step down and resign. You have more parents out there that would love to do this job and make this district better. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Lindsay. I want to assure
you that we do know about the curriculum and that will be taken care of. It's not that we're not going to take care of it. So be assured that that will be taken care of because everyone up here knows it's an important position and we are working as we did in just now in our um
executive to have that solved for the district. So thank you. Anybody else? I guess >> okay. Motion to close to the public. So move. >> Second.
>> All in favor? >> I. >> Okay. Motion carried. Now we'll begin the budget retreat. This is new for I think a lot of us. I think a lot of us have never had one of these before, but we're happy that administration has worked with us to get this for us to be
able to hear everything together. So, thank you to the administration for that. Okay. Um we put together um a couple of slides mainly to go over timeline to go over some of the the major projections
as far as revenue um talk about um surplus and fund balance so you know where we are um moving forward. Um and then when we and just for the public um when we go back into executive session the focus would be on uh personnel
related items that wouldn't be able to be discussed uh in open session at this point. Um so this is just a quick agenda. We have budget timeline. Um it's fast and furious this time of the year. Um state aid that we just got last week a couple
days ago. Uh we'll talk about local share fair share the revenue projection which obviously drives the expense side of the budget. Um I wanted to talk about fund balance and food service um mostly because um you know you'll you'll see
that in the in the revenue projection and it does affect the budget moving forward. Salary benefit increases and health benefits. Yeah, sorry. Which um you know drives the majority of our budget 75 to 80% is
salary and benefits and um you know that's a big budget driver and then just finish with enrollment before we get into the personnel items. >> Question. Yeah. >> The health benefits,
have they changed it or can you still do a waiver and it goes outside of the 2%? >> Yes, you can still do a waiver. So, I I'll talk about that with you guys. And the way it works is it's a it's a it's an adjustment. It's a tax levy
adjustment. So any any portion of your increase that's over 2% but under the state health benefits increase you're allowed to add to your tax levy. So in essence you can go above 2% for that dollar amount. Uh this year the state
health benefits increase is 31.8 or 31.9%. We're well under that but still not in a good spot. So, um, we should be able to take a good portion of the increase, which again, it's depends on how you
look at it. It it to me it's good because if we can cover that increase, it's less that you have to cut, but I know other people um might not see it the same way. Um, so I'll but I'll definitely go over that with you. um and then get a consensus on if if that's
something you want us to work into the budget. >> Last year, >> last year we did not and that was mainly because um even though we had an increase um in our health benefits, we were still under the state health
benefits because of the cuts and reductions. It didn't equate to anything. The year before we did it was about 833,000. Um, this is a a budget timeline. I just wanted to go over this again because it's a little bit fast and furious. On the 10th, the governor had uh the budget
address. On the 12th, we received our state aid figures and I have some slides on that. You probably have seen it already, but I I do have some slides. Um, next week is when our committee meetings will be more focused on the budget. So
there'll be um you know we can dig into just for the board a lot more of the details. Um anything that you talk about today that you want more details we can certainly add it to the agenda. Um and then let's see March 24th is the work
session. That's when we'll have our tenative budget presentation. All these dates are a little bit later than they've been in the past because the governor's budget address was later. Um March 27th is when the tenative budget has to be submitted to the county office
and then on April 28th will be the public hearing and final adoption. Just keep in mind that the tenative budget we do the presentation and then we have to submit it because it a tenative budget has to be reviewed and approved by the county
superintendent before it can be publicly adopted. So we do have changes uh sometimes between the tenative budget presentation and the public hearing. Um last year we had the tax levy incentive.
Sometimes it's just we get final numbers on health benefits and things like that and then so you can change the budget but at the public hearing you have to present what those changes were because the tenative budget is what gets advertised. So I just wanted to make
sure we go through that. So, we do still have a whole lot of time to to to do this. This is um a slide you're used to seeing every year. It's state the history of our state aid. Um I added 2627.
We did um see a a net increase of 1.5 million. Um there you you probably saw a different number advertised and I'll show you that on the next slide, but these are the main categories of state aid. So you can see um transportation
aid and special education aid increased um oh no wait I'm sorry transportation aid decreased slightly um special education aid increased for those categories they are calculating it um relying more on the actual enrollment
you have which is good for us um transportation aid decreased a little bit I think mainly because that's calculated off of the number of students and also So um the miles and the length of our routes and it gets kind of technical but
um the good news for us was where the equalization aid is in the past that's the category that has been reduced as a result of S2 from all the years that um we were considered overfunded and then
um last year we got penalized because we were under our local fair share. um we still are this year which I will um explain that as well but we did get an increase in our equalization aid for this year. So again the net just in
these categories was 1.5 million and then um obviously you can see the loss over the past 10 years. >> Yes. >> The enrollment numbers that they go off of for the calculation does that include prek numbers?
>> It does not. So when you and I our resident, it goes off of resident enrollment and you have to be careful with that because um resident enrollment removes preschool because our preschool aid is based on per pupil for those
students. So, so they're taken out. It also doesn't include um students that um are received because they pay tuition. So obviously we wouldn't get state aid but um you know a lot of those those um you have to figure into your enrollment
and your actual costs. Do you want to go to the next one? >> Um and that's the money you get every year. >> Right. And that that is on this slide. So this is just a quick recap. So what I did was I just summarized the top part is what was on the other slide. And you
can see where it says total state aid, the increase is 1.1,765,000. That's probably what you saw advertised. But the reason why you'll see 1.5 in our revenue projection is because the part in the middle, the other aid, last year,
we received 252,000 in additional aid as a result of taking the tax levy incentive. I don't know if you guys remember that, but they gave you like a small percentage. So, you know, the net figures, I just wanted to explain why you'll see 1.5
um in in um the condensed version of our revenue. And then our preschool. I wanted to make sure I showed this too because a lot of times um there's a misunderstanding that we're getting, you know, a windfall of additional aid, which it's great news that we're getting
additional preschool education aid, but that's based on the increase in the number of students we're expecting next year. So remember, we um for next year, we hope to open another building. Um so the application we submitted was for additional classrooms, additional
students and that funding is a strictly per pupil basis. So that increase as a result of new students and new expenses and new staff. >> Can you explain very quickly why? >> Yeah. Um so the preschool aid we can't
rely on anything else. It's only to fund your preschool program. it doesn't include um the special education costs related to the students that may be um in those programs. So, it can only be used to pay for their supplies, their PD, their staff, anything within the
preschool week. It cannot help our general fund in any way. and and over the course of the last few years when we opened Kindle and then hopefully when we successfully open walls it it's it's the additional creation of jobs for us as well. So
obviously if we go back to this slide you can Janine if we're talking about the S2 reductions we're talking about it's the equalization aid. >> Yes. >> Right. So you can see >> and the adjustment aid. >> Yep. So when you >> that went away >> when you take a look at that. So if you go all the way back to 17 and 18, you
can see our equalization aid was approximately 38 million and then the adjustment aid was about 2.5 million. Well, clearly you can see in 1920 all the adjustment aid went from 2.5 to 1 to nothing all the way through. And then you can see that our equalization aid
was at 38 and worked its way all the way down in 2526 into the $28 million range. All of those were were cuts for us and and you know it started off where we um you know we lost money and then we had
to lose vacant positions that were attached to money and eventually it worked its way into staff cuts because there was nothing else left to cut. So the opening of those buildings has allowed us to have a a safe landing spot for some of our employees if we had to
cut from one area to allow them to move to another area. Yeah, sometimes. So, if you go the 252 was a result of when we um used the tax levy incentive going all the way back to 1718, that was just some other kind of
um you know, oneshot infusion. I can't remember what it was back then, but it was just another category that was added just for that year in particular. >> And if you take a look at the the increase decrease, Janine, the the line that you're talking about, the 1513 844,
sorry, progressive lenses under 2627. That's the difference between the the extra 252,000 that you're referring. >> Yeah. >> Are we okay? And then, okay, just some information on our local fair share. Um, last year
when, um, we were 10 million or so under our local fair share, um, we did increase the tax levy and we used part of that and this amount was left unused. Um, for this year, we haven't heard
anything about um, you know, getting to our local fair share. one of the reasons why we spoke to our legislators and tried to advocate not only to allow us to use it um but also we asked to be more timely with it. I don't know if you
remember from last year we it it's devastating to submit a tenative budget and have cuts and have to give people notices and then suddenly you're allowed to fix it in some way. Um and then the
other reason we advocated for it is because um last year because we were under our local fair share um we were actually penalized on our state aid. So we lost the maximum 3%. Um, so I I to be
honest, I was surprised that we didn't get penalized because I assumed now the local fair share is calculated by a number of um drivers that has to do with your um um the income of your residents and your
ratables and those kinds of things. And it's an average of the past 3 years. So, I assumed there was going to be a little bit of a change, but I thought we would still be under by around the 5 million. Um, I think the difference is just that
there was more um funding that was worked into the the formula this year and moving toward a a better reliance on the actual number of students. Um, I just really want to be clear for the
public because the way it's phrased >> last year left on the table what that the local fair share is what is what the state government believes we should be taxing >> our neighbors >> and we didn't tax we didn't ask for that
money from correct the community correct >> so when it says left on the table I just want everyone in the public to be clear it's not that we were saying we don't want this money we increased taxes 7% and we're cringing the entire way we were doing that. Um, we could have added more tax is basically what this means.
So, I just want to be clear to everyone who's watching and listening. Yeah. So, last year when we um were given the opportunity to increase it and obviously we had devastating cuts as a board, we sat down in committees and developed a bunch of scenarios of different areas
where we felt like we really needed to add back for safety, for security. Um, so we came up with the dollar amount that we felt would be the best for the district and you know with the least impact to the taxpayers. So this year go
ahead >> that that 5.2 would have been about another what 4% four or 5% on >> um >> like if we were at seven right >> yeah because it was about half we took about half >> um so we we we don't know what's going
to happen. We did hear from one person who seemed to think we were not going to have the opportunity at um the tax levy incentive for this year because of you know the governor doesn't want any new taxes which I understand. So we don't
know that yet. That's you know um still a question mark. >> I just I just have a quick question. So when we increased or when the board increased the taxes last year um by the percent and there was um you know more opportunity and we to make sure we
didn't raise taxes right stayed there does that become the new floor if you use any part of the incentive so even the incentive becomes become part of the floor that's not a one-year thing that moves the okay yeah so it becomes part
of your tax base that you calculate your 2% for the following year. So yes, it definitely helps because it increases that amount stays. The only thing that goes is the amount that we didn't use, it doesn't carry to the next year. So
that that causes confusion um for some people because if you look at um the details of our budget document, it shows that it's available for the following years. That's just how that works. But when you actually they tell
us it's one and done. like now's your only chance. Obviously, it gets recalculated, but for last year, we we had the opportunity. We picked what we wanted and then the rest was off the table. Um that but and then what happens is when you go into the next year and go
into the budget document, it does not carry forward. So, we're not able to use the amount from the year before. >> So, so go ahead. >> Like it's the term you often hear is bank cap, right? So that doesn't go into bank cap and there is no bank cap available to >> tap. >> Correct.
>> And this come this comes up every year it seems. So >> Julie is completely right. You know the 7% tax raise was a lot. That would have added pro probably 4ish% to that. That money was not utilized. It is no longer
accessible. Bank cap we have zero. There's there's it is quantifiable. It has been uh cooperated and confirmed by the executive county superintendent. Uh it has happened in Janine's meetings and my and our meetings that that that
leftover money is not accessible. And for us, we don't have access to any other bank cap, not a dollar. Correct. >> No, we don't have any from previous years. So the only thing we'll have this year is what they call what's generated. It'll be what we generate in 2627. So,
for example, there's only going to be two possibilities. When I enter um health benefits and get all that squared away, it'll most likely calculate an adjustment. So, that'll appear as something created in 2627.
If we you use that, then it's done. If we don't, that will carry forward for the next three years. The only other option we would have as being created in the current year is if they give us um the use of the tax levy incentive and
then that will appear as being allowed to use as well. But right now we don't have anything carried from the year before. >> So for this upcoming budget year the difference that we think right because we don't know the local fair share or is that the >> Well, we do. So I was just going to get
to that. So, where I have this year's information, the local fair share is on our our state aid notice. So, I don't know if I circulated that with you to you guys, but I can. Um, because the one page gives you all the the multipliers
to come up with that. So, the local fair share on our state aid notices says our tax levy should be 112 million that you see up there. If we take last year's tax levy, which was about 105, and add a 2%
increase, that brings it up to 107, which means that difference is what we're under our local fair share as of right now until we do something else. >> Does anybody have any questions on bank? We want to make sure we explain that all the way.
>> Okay, moving on. Okay, our revenue projection. Couple things I want to hit here. When you look up at the screen, it looks good. There's a actually a $10 million change. What I want to caution everybody, and I'll get more into this
on another slide, is fund balance. So fund balance is at the when you close each budget year, it's um the total of any excess revenue revenue you have and any unspent appropriations.
There's a calculation that's done um for a minimum amount that's in your unassigned fund balance that you're to keep. It's 2% of your operating budget. For us, that's only between It's usually falls again because it it it depends on your operating budget, but it's anywhere
between three and a half and $4 million. >> You have no option. >> Yes. And just so you know, too, just to give you some perspective on that, again, if it's around $3 million, right? You get to the end of the year in the summer, you're trying to make payroll,
the state does not give us our state aid payments in June. they actually withhold them and they don't give them to us. So, we're trying to get through the the summer without that cash flow. And also, just one of our payrolls is $4 million.
So, having that safety net is critical. Um, and then so the fund balance you see up there, that is a result of our 2425 budget. what we had left at the end of the year when you again when you collapse the revenue and the
appropriation side of the budget. It's what we had left over and above um the 2% that we're supposed to keep. Now, that is good news in the short term because you can use it you well you have to use it you have to use it in your
budget. Um what's risky about it and we've learned this from the past as we've spent down our surplus. if you don't replenish it, then when you go to do next year's budget, if that number isn't there, it's an automatic deficit.
So, we have to be careful. And there's a couple recommendations we have. And I also want to show you the total fund balance because um you have to understand our picture as a whole. So, our fund balance as a whole is still declining. Um that's why we
have to be careful to replenish that >> and as is our credit rating. Correct. >> Correct. Our credit rating did get downgraded. Um so last year I think in in the fall maybe I had talked about this at a meeting. I went on a couple of
um meetings with S&P to discuss our finances after the 2324 audit um was filed and you know our as our surplus has been declining. Um they told us that they were looking to see our surplus numbers increase and would possibly
downgrade our credit. Um I had to go on a couple of more meetings as a result of the EIP that we just did and the borrowing. Um, in early J early to mid January, we were finalizing our 2425
audit. So, even though this was good news because it did give us money to use in our budget, our overall fund balance still decreased almost $3 million. So, the S&P decided to um not fully downgrade um a rating, but they gave us
a negative outlook. um that did not that wasn't enough to affect um the borrowing that we just did. But if we they were pretty clear if we don't start increasing not that doesn't mean having excess that we can use it means
increasing our overall surplus it it will get downgraded and that could affect us in the future. So, um, we have to be careful. We have to think long term. We have to think about, um, ways to replenish that and and, you
know, just ways to make sure we remain fiscally healthy. >> I think before Scott jumps in, that's some of the recommendations we made in the past have been aimed at at doing just that, of making sure that we ended up back in that positive space versus in
that negative space. because right now we don't put much into maintenance and capital. We're going to talk about how we're actually going to have to utilize some of that fund balance to to make sure that we're okay moving forward. But again, that's the risk that Janine talks about when you're in that zone. You have
to make it up the following year or it's going to be a budget cut then. Correct. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> And the year-over-year trend on that fund balance, that fund balance number is close to last year, a little lower than last year, but >> no. So for the so you see for 2526 it
was zero >> zero >> and then prior to that >> prior to that it was around 10.5 million >> 10 and a half right so it went from 10 and a half to zero >> and now we're back to 74 75 >> right so when and also I wanted to point out when we were up to the to the 10 and
a half it was from two different budget years and again just and this is where we have to be careful when you get when you get to a low amount like we are um you know you we're cutting
um operating expenses which is a small portion you if you figure 75% of our budget is salary and benefits and then the other 25% you have categories like tuition transportation utilities things
that you can't necessarily control it leaves very very little um for the buildings. So over the years we've dwindled down supplies. So obviously they're going to spend most of the supply money. They're not, you know, you're they're not going to leave any as
a savings for the following year. Um so that's just why we have to be super careful. Um you don't and then go ahead. I was just going to say um for people that are trying to understand what all this is, can you explain again just very
clearly like briefly um why you would not be able to take 5.6 million in the gap of local fair share from the fund balance. I'm not in favor of doing that. I just want to say for people that are sitting watching again the fund balance has 7.5 million. the
the state is saying the gap in what our taxpayers should be paying and what they're actually paying is 5.6. So someone might say, "Well, just take it out of there. Don't raise our taxes." Can you explain again why it's important to keep that money to keep the surplus money? >> Yeah. I mean to So first of all, it's
two different buckets. They're going to look at that 112 million that was on the other screen. That's strictly based off of our ratables and our um income, our area income. Um, and then this is fund balance. So when I was talking about
things like cash flow and you know what if you have emergencies in some of the years where we dwindled that down, not only did we have a budget um that you know was very lean and we were worried about just handling basic price
increases. You can't handle emergencies. You can't handle you know a huge you know what did we have last year with the chillers? the $70,000. Did I >> saying Jim for $4 million? >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Jim. >> Yes. Yes. Thank you, Julie. That That's
you know. >> So, I think Julie, it's not just the public. I'm trying to learn my first budget season, too. Right. So, the difference between those two buckets of numbers, right? So, um the 7.4 million is um you budgeted conservatively and
when everything shook out the end of the year, there was 7.4 for after that budget cleared that we have >> that doesn't right your savings account it doesn't change our tax base right so if say it's a $100 not $7.4 $4 million.
Someone gives me $100 in cash, that doesn't mean I can afford an ongoing $100 expense every year because my income didn't really change even though I now have this new like one time influx of >> So, so if you think of it this way, too, and I I will get more into the fund
balance. And I just want to touch on a couple of these other categories, too. Think of it like, you know, you make a certain amount during the year and you have your bills and at the end of the year, let's say it's $100,000 and then at the end of the year you have $10,000 left. You go into the next year and you
still have your bills and you're saying, "Well, I'm going to use that money for a new roof, right? So, you're going to spend more. You're going to spend that savings in the next year on the roof, right? But you would want to spend that. It's leftover money. you would want to
spend it on something that you're not going to have to spend every year. You wouldn't want to go out and buy, you know, a yacht and have to continue to pay for it if you know it was it was a oneshot infusion. And you don't know at the end of the following year if you're going to have $10,000 left.
>> Yeah. And it's it's two very different things. Fund balance is exactly what you said. It's it's normal for school districts to have money. If they didn't have money, that would be a massive issue. There would be state intervention where our fund balance goes to. It will
go to funding our next year's budget in some portion and a teeny bit will go hopefully to capital upon your, you know, our recommendation to you. But we're nowhere near where we should be. The difference between that and the local fair share is simply that is the
number right or wrong that they are saying that we could conceivably tax the residents of Washington Township and that would be what their local fair share is. Now as Janine mentioned it's about 4 plus5ish million depending for the local fair share that we're not
taking and we might not have the access to take and that would of course be a board decision but they're two very different buckets. So, for anyone to say or look at that number and be like, "Well, you had $7.4 million. You're awesome." No, we're not. Because millions of that are going to have to go into the next budget to offset to make
sure that we're okay due to all of our contractual increases and other increases that we have, tuition, uh we took great steps with the energy audit, um transportation, the rising costs of everything. So, we're we're we are in Janine's example, we're relying upon the
extra and we're buying a whole new car payment that's not in the budget or roof as you gave the example of >> Janine, how does the state come up with a fair share? Can you explain how do they come up with that? >> It it it um they take the last three
years of your ratables, so like the value of the property in town and then the last three years of the income base of the town. And like I said, I I can share that state aid notice. There's a whole page on that. It and it it's how
our um equalization aid is calculated. >> So, we get notified by the state, but that's the one where no one actually knows like the hard numbers that goes into calculating the local fair share. >> Yeah. I think what you hear sometimes is that um
when you sometimes when you ask for where the numbers come from, that's not always clear. I'll say that >> because like you said it's based on the ratables and the income, right? So even though it's affecting our ratables and our property taxes, it also takes into
consideration the income in the area. >> Yes. Yes. when we did last year. It's hard to say um because like I said we did get closer to the local fair share obviously because you know when you add the they're st they're saying and I believe
if I'm not mistaken last year it was around 112 million that they were saying our local fair share was. So we're getting closer by what we're doing. We're not there yet. I I think it's the amount of money that was put in to run the formula and just the fact that
they're getting closer in some areas. What was happening for years is that like transportation aid and special education aid, it just remained flat for everyone. Everyone's got the same for like 10 years. And the equalization aid portion was the one that changed. Last
year, I believe where we got the increase was the first year that those two categories increased, but we still got hit with a bigger decrease in equalization aid. Um, it it netted out
to only a 3% decrease. So, you know, definitely good news. The formula is the same, so we don't know what they will do doing going forward. Um, but obviously it's it's, you know, a blessing for this year because if you look up there, I'll
just go through the other categories real quick. You know, obviously we have the fund balance. So, we're utilizing our savings, the local tax levy. Right now, I have 2% in there. We, like I said, we will have the opportunity to take an adjustment for our healthc care
increase, which I'll get into that. Um, I don't know if we'll have anything else. state aid. I explained why it's a net increase of 1.5 because we did have that little portion that as of right now we don't have for this year. Uh but that
obviously is an increase we haven't had in the past. Extraordinary aid is um we're budgeting a little bit less this year. that is something that um we get reimbursed for special education students that have a certain um cost
associated with them. We c we we never know the amount because we can't apply for it until May of that school year and we don't actually get it until August of the following school year. But what's been happening is um we've been getting
less and less due to um the percentage of our totals that we get. And so in the 2520 no 24 25 budget you'll see if you took a look at the audit we budgeted um 2.5 million which seemed sufficient
compared to other years but we only ended up with um I believe 2.2 2 million um again and it's just a result we submit the total costs and then the state only has a certain pot of money and then based on the applications they
decide the percentage that everyone gets. So we can't again when you don't have a lot of surplus and your surplus is declining you can't afford to be under in any of these projections.
Um and then the only other uh fluctuation kind of worth talking about is in restricted miscellaneous. And this is basically because that's where our um gate fees are for
athletics. And because of uh you know what we've done so far, we are increasing that um a little bit. Okay. This is a recap of our fund balance. I wanted to go through this. Um, and first
I'll point out if you look at the bottom um, and for those of you in the business committee, you probably remember this um, because the auditor went over this with us. If you look at the totals, when we closed out 2324, we had a total of se
uh, over 17 million. And then at the end of 2425, we're sitting under 15. So, that's one of the things that when S&P saw our um 2425 statements, obviously, you know, I knew that that was going to
be a concern, you know, I was slightly optimistic because we did have some left over and I knew it would help us for our budget, but it's not a long-term um fix at all and it's something that we need to keep our eye on and and do
something about um some of the categories that you see up there. So on the on the left hand side you see the 7.4 million. That's what was generated in 2425 over and above the amount that we're allowed to keep. So you have to use it in the next budget
which would be the 2627 budget that we're working on now. Uh the next one down uh the prior year excess surplus that that's what would have been generated in a previous year but was used in the 2425
budget. That's the same for the number that you see almost at the bottom, the 4.2 million where it says used in current budget. That was also used in the 2425 budget. And remember in 20 526 when we built that budget, we didn't
have any excess left. We had unassigned, but we didn't have excess. Um, and then capital reserve, uh, we were able to put a million dollars in the capital reserve. So that helps. If you remember, you know, over the years, first of all, even the 2.2 million is not sufficient
for a district our size that wouldn't even cover a couple of boilers for us. Um, and in the past, it's the past couple years, it's been so low, we couldn't even um take advantage of some rod grants because we just didn't have the
local fair share. So, aside from building up our surplus, we really need to build up um our reserves. So, we have them moving forward. Um, and then you have reserve for unemployment, which looks like a big
number, but that we're required to set aside and reserve the employer share for unemployment. And then when we get claims, which we do, we have to um pay it out of out of those accounts. And then the unreserved and undesated is
that 2% unassigned that I was talking about. That's the minimum that we have to keep. Okay. So that's that. Yes. >> That is just um so we have to set whenever you have a capital reserve account
um any interest acred on that money has to stay with the capital reserve. So if you look within our audit document, you always take the, you know, the balance from the previous year. Did you make any deposits? Did you earn any interest? And
then that's how you come up with what's left in there. So that um for budget purposes, we just have to separate that out as a different line item. So, even though it's a minimum amount, I always separate it on here so people can match
it back up to um we do earn more than that, just so you know. I don't know if that's why you're asking yet. Yeah, we do earn more than that. You just have to kind of have like a placeholder like an account so you can separate it. >> And then we budget. So in the other um
no you don't have to miss and then in other interest just goes into miscellaneous revenue. Yeah. Um you can go and then the next slide I just wanted to go over because there was questions about this. So I wanted to make sure everyone understood because um you know
there it it does the way it's presented could be confusing. So this is our our food service fund. Um, food service funds are supposed to they operate in a separate fund. They're supposed to operate like a business and support themselves. Um, in this district, our
general fund supports the food service. But if you were looking at the financial statements, you might have thought there was um net income. Um, there was, but because of our contribution from the general fund. So, I just listed out the main categories that you see on the
audit statement just to kind of condense it to make it easier. Operating revenue is what they bring in when kids pay for their meals and they have catering events. Operating expenses is all the expenses it takes to run. The nonoperating revenue from state and
federal sources is all the subsidies that we get for um you know, whether it's a paid meal, a free meal, or a reduced meal. um you have interest and then the 801,000 it was is a million is what was a thousand I'm sorry is what
was transferred from the general fund. So if you look at the statement overall it looks like there's net income but they were they actually had a deficit of 479,000 had it not been for what we sent over from the general fund. Um so moving forward
um one of the things we can do if they have um there's there's a calculation that you do with the cash balance. You're supposed to have a certain cash balance that would cover about 3 months of your operating expenses. So, we do keep an eye on that and if we budget a
certain contribution at the end of the year when we're closing out, we can look if that's if they have sufficient cash um and we can kind of adjust that and we do that with with the auditors at the end of the year. So, I just want to make sure
everyone understood that. >> Yes. Uh it's it's it's salaries, benefits, and food costs is is the majority a majority. Yeah. Yeah. >> So do you think it's more food costs at this point because we have reduced benefits or being how do we how do we
change this because every year this is an issue. >> Yeah. So um the number has come down over the years because of um restructuring we've done with um the different positions and reduction of
benefits. Um you know salary increases you know impact a lot because you obviously you can only increase the meal charge by you know 10 cents whatever it is and then you have um salary increase. There are some that still have benefits
and then obviously um food costs are increasing as well. >> How about when people don't pay for lunches? Have >> you been working on that? >> Yeah, we've been working on that. That's an issue um that I think pretty much it's it is separate. It is separate. Um
and that's one of those things where it's very difficult. We have been working with families to um pay down what they owe. Um I think a lot of that that's skyrocketed for a lot of districts and much of the reason
happened after COVID when meals were free and then you know the relication had to be done. You know there was just things weren't some people didn't do it and then they racked up charges and
>> we can't deny giving a child lunch. So >> yeah, just but just to extrapolate this this was a question that happened in public. It's about a half million dollars per year. You project that over several years. You can you can do the math on that. But we're operating definitely in the red. >> I guess my concern with that is years
ago you got a little card and your parents paid and they punched a card. I wonder how much of an impact it is that now they just have these accounts and kids are charging and it's not your kids for free and reduced lunch that I'm
concerned about. It's the ones who have this card and are just charging and parents aren't keeping track of it and all of a sudden they have this large bill. Have we ever thought about going back to a simpler system where again you
have the little punch card as opposed to the technology that allows them to spend what they don't have? >> Yeah, we we and we can flush this out through policy because there's a clear policy on it. I don't know if the punch card would address that because the reality is we're not talking about
snacks here, but if a child comes in and doesn't have money to buy lunch, we cannot deny them that. So, if they go into an inner rear, that's just that's where they land. And I I will give a massive shout out to uh Angel at the high school who's done a great job and the team. We've really worked hard to
try to wrap our head around some of this debt. But the reality is is that if if if a if a child comes in and they don't have money, we can't deny. and whether they get whatever that lunch is. We're not talking about snacks, whether it was a punch card or whether it was an
electronic system, it wouldn't matter. It would still tally into the rear a rear. >> And I think we all agree with that sitting here that that's a priority. I guess my thing was that the extras that are charged or I also hear and again when I my kids went to school, it was
ancient. We didn't serve breakfast. But that's another area where kids are I know for my own grandchildren are taking breakfast. Mom doesn't know that they're taking breakfast because they ate breakfast at home. And all this is going into this data.
>> I can I can say too from my experience having a young man that eats a lot, a young teenager, and him and his friends always had have had a massive lunch debt. one of his friends had like $2,000 lunch debt and his parents didn't even know until he wasn't permitted to go to
homecoming. that um program that we use school is it do we use school pay schools you I hate pay school sorry that program that we use I was about to say school bucks because that's what they use at GCIT and is much easier but in pay schools there's nothing that
notifies the parent like hey your child has a $100 balance or a $500 balance so it might just be as simple as they send an email as like an alert early warning you know what I mean your kids getting up there in a in a balance so you're not just slammed with that. Oh my gosh, what
did you spend all this money on? >> Warnings go out all the time. >> Yeah, >> 100%. >> Emails. >> So, so I think we probably we'll we can talk about this in policy because um we do send out emails. We are meeting
regularly on this to see how we can address, you know, and work with families individually. So I think maybe this is a good topic for policy so we can go over the policy and then some of the things that we've been doing internally >> but that's
your weird >> yeah this is strictly operating. So if you look at your obviously your balance sheet it does affect your balance sheet and at some point we're going to have to get to a point where are we writing it off? What are we doing? But it's it's
not something that's happened in schools a lot. So, um, we're trying to tackle and get it under control and we can definitely, um, get >> I I don't >> I'm not sure. >> I don't think that was in the address. Uh, I don't think there's
>> I'll follow up with you, though. Jersey school boards has that in their lobbying agenda for this year that all kids get free lunch. So that would help a lot, but I don't know if any how that's moving. >> I'll check in on it. >> Uh the amount that we transferred, I
think it was around the same. I think it was in the 800s that we did last year. >> Yeah. And It was what we transferred was about even. Yeah. >> Um well, let's let's do that. Let's do that because we're getting into like the
benefits and stuff. Can I update you guys in like business committee on that? >> The only other question I have Oh, sorry. Go ahead. >> A sec. We the monthly food service report we get in the monthly that now
has a loss or profitability component to it, right? Is that a reliable number? >> The only thing that you have to consider with that is that is like a budget to actual statement. So at any point in time like in the beginning of the year
when when school gets underway and all of our employees are falling into place, we encumber all their salaries. So on the expense on the appropriation side you'll see like this huge amount that looks spent. It's really just obligated because we have a contract with these
people. So it looks like you've spent your whole budget but then on the revenue side as you're selling the lunches as you're getting so that's the only thing you have to be mindful of you can look at other areas and that's something that that we do and that's something I have on the list to go over
with you guys in business committee. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. >> Yep. >> Outside of the uh benefits and c like the costs of running the program is like utilization decreasing? Do we know like
are fewer kids like buying lunch and snacks? Like is that part of it at all? >> So I can put those numbers together as well. >> Just curious. >> Okay. Yeah. Um, okay. And then, you know, you'll
probably if you look at any school district and their budget presentation, I'm sure they're going to have stuff like this in here. So, obviously when you have on the revenue side, you can only increase taxes by a certain percent. You may or may not get
additional state aid. That's, you know, 2 3%. But then you have salaries that are increasing. Um benefits that are increasing. I want to make sure everyone understands what you're seeing here though. The salaries is our total salary
budget. So this includes additional time, this includes overtime, but they're all numbers that are increasing as your salaries increase obviously. So this is if I run the budget, all the salary accounts this is the total of our
budget. Um and then when you look at benefits, you have to keep in mind I'm going to talk about health benefits separately. So you understand that because we have the um possibility for the tax levy adjustment. But this is
overall benefits. So when you the other on the other side with benefits, you have health benefits, but you also have workers comp insurance that's calculated off the salaries of your employees. You have your pension liability. It's
calculated off your uh peers pension wages, um FICA, all those good things are calculated based off of salaries. So when they're increasing, your benefit increases as well. So you know the struct it it causes a structural deficit
and I'm sure like I said many districts have these problems. You know this is what ours is right here on paper. So the the largest portion of your budget have increases that are outpacing the increases that we're allowed to have on
the revenue side. So it forces you to rely on, you know, that $7.5 million we have you we're relying on it to close the budget, but money like that we really shouldn't be using for operating expenses. we should be using it to, you
know, replace whiteboards and replace furniture and um >> capital >> capital projects that, you know, if that number goes up and down, you can adjust accordingly and not have to cut operating expenses. So again, this is
just one of the structural problems that we have. And then on again I talked about the other side of your budget which is a very small percentage only 25% by the time you remove you know um transportation tuition you have you have
to maintain your buildings you have property insurance it leaves very little um to rely on to to to run things. >> Can I just ask so when we say so 2526 right that's our current year. >> Yeah. some of the contract changes are
in effect right for for this year. Is this is this 2526 number reflective of those contract changes or what like actual you know what I mean? So not all of them and I'll tell you why. So what
happens is when you run and this it it's going to make it a little bit diff difficult when you're comparing when you look at the budget. Um what the budget software does is you have to enter your first of all it populates your adjusted
budget from the audit and then so 2526. Um then we have to enter our adjusted budget as of February 1st. So that's just a number that's picked because you're most likely entering your budget. And then and but what it does is it
allows like if you had a certain account and you had a budget but then for whatever reason you had to transfer money into it, you can adjust that so it's more comparable to what you're projecting for 2627. Okay. So at this point in time what you're going to see
in our budget is that we have staff moved up to their correct salary but we're still calculating the retro. So it's kind of like an in between right now with these numbers. >> So the this number somewhat accounts for
the new salary changes that went into effect this year but not >> not necessarily the retro some of that $5 million difference is right is >> yeah somewhat captured but not totally yet. >> Yeah. And then just so you know what we
do for the 20 when we're for the 2627 budget um because we have settled contracts we know what you know except for the non-unit staff which is a small number of employees we know what the 267
26 27 guides are so it's a lot easier to project. Um, so what what we do is we pull what everyone that's on the payroll right now and what position they're in and then it moves them up the step for the next year, >> right? But when we're and again like if
we come back whatever months from now, right? And we take a look at this presentation and say, well, you said our salaries for 2526 was 82, but really it should have it was really only 80 or whatever. Like we're just picking a point in the sand and there Yeah. Yep.
I'm just wondering it for extra time. I've been going to the board meeting for years now and I noticed more and more
that people are being extra money. >> So there it depends. There is additional time um like stipens. So we budget for that. If we know we're going to have a certain number of six period stipens,
they're budgeted in the additional time accounts. If we budget for um you know a certain amount for PD, our summer PD that we do, we budget additional time. We budget additional time overtime for sure. So that you know that's going to
increase as the base salaries increase obviously where we don't have a budget and this is where you know we tap into our breakage and that kind of thing is if you have um you're paying two people in essence. So, some of the additional
time that you approve where, you know, teacher X is um writing lesson plans for teacher Y who's out on leave, that kind of thing that comes out of when you're paying two people at a time.
>> Oh, yeah. >> Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh, you mean the I thought you meant the budgeting practice, the the addition. >> Well, I'm saying that the teachers will be the in the agenda that what kind of people
responsibility that I was we had a certain in there they did it >> it's a lot of that is all contractual now Connie >> in what >> it's in the contract that you negotiated
>> well what I'm saying is if a teacher goes on leave you have somebody a long time person in Okay. They they do all that. >> Long terms longterm's different. Long-term people will do those types of things, but they're everything is is contractual. I don't think we should
probably conflate this here because I think that that's this is something we can definitely just pull for you. >> We'll definitely maybe in personnel, Connie, we can >> but it's that's all contractual at this point. There's >> I think Okay. We'll do that in personnel.
>> I mean $90 that >> that kind of stuff. So that one specifically dates back to 2020. What? >> So when a counselor would be out over
the 20-day mark, uh what would happen going back to 2020 is that they would take the at that time the practice was to take the sub rate of 180 and divide it either by two or by three uh so that that they could split up the case load.
So to answer your your point that generally people paying people to be doing hourly wages to help out with people not whatever. I'm just wondering is that
that number getting bigger each year because you see a lot of it on the agenda. >> Yeah, >> we can we can we can certainly pull that for you. No problem. >> I think that's a good personal discussion though, Connie. It's a very good question. >> Yeah, I'll go get to that next.
I >> Yes. >> Sorry, I'm not familiar. What's the vacation >> like what's that benefit? Yeah. Isn't it capped? I think everybody Yeah, it's capped. >> Okay.
>> Jine, isn't that capped at a certain amount? >> It is. >> Yeah. Here. >> Isn't that for all of us? >> That's for all of us, though. >> Well, it was it was it was it was capp before. >> It was capped before. I think we lower the cap for new employees, but that's
all that's all contractual. Sure, we can do that for you. No problem. >> I I just have to pull down the details. And Janine, the benefits, that's just an approximate until you get the correct number in. Is that correct? >> Yeah. So, so right now, um, well, do you
want to go to the next slide? This is what I have right now. And so, a couple of things I just want to explain. First off, this is the premium only. So, I wanted to show this because this is what I got directly from
our broker. So, it goes off of the people who have health insurance right now. >> So, you take you take everybody times the premium the and then we have the projected premium and obviously the
increase. it doesn't include the employees um contribution but I do have that calculated because I have to reflect that in the budget. So this number this is the higher number that you won't actually see in the budget because I have to net it with the
employee share. But I wanted you to see the percentages. Now for us this is this is high. It's it's much higher than it's been. However, state health benefits is 31.9%. For most districts, it's prescription
that's super high right now. Um, and health is better. Um, so this is the renewals that we're getting right now. Again, there's still some negotiation going on, but from the where we are right now. So, for health insurance, we're in the HIF. We're in another kind
of fund for prescription and then dental we're on our own. Our broker is also trying to get alternate quotes. Um so sometimes this is what you see like you know there was leftover from when I did the final adjustment for healthcare so
we added this or we did whatever. Um but again this is something that we we talked to our legislators about like this is just you know untenable for districts to have and this is good like if districts saw this they'd be like oh
that's not bad and and for us it's kind of devastating. Now we will be able to take um a tax levy adjustment but again it's not going to be the whole thing and nobody wants to do that. Nobody wants to
increase taxes to cover expenses like this, but it's another example of an expense that's going up a significant percentage and we only have certain percentages we can increase our revenue. So,
>> so it's it's the difference between a 2% increase and a 31.9. So, so there is going to be um um so they give you because you have a 2% tax increase, they pretty much say
you should be able to absorb a 2%. They don't give you an adjustment if we only had a 2% increase. It's anything over and above 2%, but it also has to be under the state health benefits. So, in other words, Yeah. So, we're in between. We
>> a good portion. Yes. Yeah, >> it calculates it. I can't say the exact number and I did I I actually put it in and then kind of like took it out because I wanted you guys to see the bank cap, but it could be around 4 million.
>> But that includes that's why I go back to the >> So I wanted to make sure. So this isn't just health benefits. It's benefits in total. So it includes employer taxes, workers comp insurance, it includes includes healthcare waiverss.
>> Question are we get to 16% as long as we're under 39%. Are we allowed to go? >> So So roughly 14.2. How's that? >> Does that work?
So what >> only only what it gives us for healthare insurance >> over and over and above 2% of this we can take >> so like 14 I think I think you're complete I think what I I think I'm following you. I
think you're completing the percentage and the dollars. So the percentage we're allowed to increase taxes to marry the benefit. Okay. >> If you're adding it to your tax levy that for that.
So the 18.64 how much of that is the next slide and how much of that you subtract to get the true number less 164. >> So the tax levy adjustment is going to be around 4 million. I think this
doesn't represent what the individual teachers have to pay percentage-wise because >> correct. >> The more years you're working, the higher percentage you pay for the same coverage >> you make, the more you make. >> More you make, the more they take. >> Yep. >> Even if it's the same coverage as the
other person, right? >> Okay. My question is benefit. >> Yes. >> Yes. If we choose >> if we choose to increase our tax levy,
it'll give us, you know, that has to stay in our budget, but it'll give us an additional around $4 million in revenue if we choose to do it. So, it'll offset some of that increase. >> Say this though, that we're going to have a budget hole no matter what. Even
taking all of that, you still have a budget hole. Just want to make sure we clarify that. >> Yes. >> Yes. million would be about a 4% increase to the tax levy. >> Yeah. >> It's almost exactly the same as the last.
>> How much was left on the table? >> Yeah. >> How much we didn't use the last >> cuz 2%'s about 2.1 million, right? Two the 2%. >> It's 2.1 >> about 2.1. >> So if you can increase it another four, you're going to be increasing another four million. It's gonna be about
another 4%. Correct. So, if you took the 2% plus this, you're going to be looking at about a 6% tax levy increase. Is that getting to what you were asking? >> I really what I wanted to know was on the last.
>> So, it's going to be about 14 14%. >> The 18 Yeah. >> Yep. >> That's okay. That's okay. >> I'm just going to make this point like cuz Scott's making a good point
like now the local tax levy has to cover this. In my view, just like on my soap box here, this is how the healthcare industry subsidizes their expenses, right? Because now we have to increase taxes to pay for this stuff.
>> So, it's just like in a general sense, this is this is what we're we're all stuck with so that these people can be enriched. >> And and and this does not I mean, this goes towards staff, which is very important, but we have to cover this. This is not any educational conversation
that we're having that we are then going to have to >> have to figure out. And I, you know, in sitting I I had a meeting with uh some other school districts and um the legislature from Camden County a couple Fridays ago, they the the recognition is
there that the state health benefits, you know, uh system is is not working. They they totally get that and there needs to be a massive revamp of it. I just it's it's just an enormous undertaking. >> Just to kind of play this out a little
bit more. So 2% is the normal cap, right? So that's the uh 2.1 millionish. If we took what we think we can get from the health benefit, that's another 4 millionish, which would be >> another 4% that's at 6%.
>> Yeah. And if by some reasoning the governor allows you to take makeup of the local fair share, right? Like what we left on the table last year, that's probably another five if I remember
correctly. Four, five, roughly five. So we're looking at like another 5%. So we'd be around 11% if we took it all. >> And and you would need all that to make this that would still not probably make your budget from the red to the black. Yeah. >> Yeah.
>> Okay. >> And and they did say that as of right now they're they're not entertaining that conversation. I I think that whether that decision is fully yours, but I I think that we should ask our legislators to advocate
for us because I think that's, you know, they didn't penalize us this year for not being at local fair share. Correct. >> They did not. >> They did not. No. In the past they had last year was about 1.3 million. >> Yes. >> So they were that would that's great that they did not do that but it's still
you know and and while it affects t the taxpayers you know we're we're in a spot where our contractual increases are outpacing our ability to raise by it's not quite double but it's almost there. I mean to to use >> we did. Yeah.
>> I did. Yeah. Yeah. They were they were and they were great and they said they would. Um, now I don't know if they have the ability of doing that or not or of winning the argument. Um, but you know, when you look at a district like ours where, you know, I'm going to round in terms here, contractual increases are
about 3.7 million and our ability to raise the levy is 2.1. That's it's a real problem. It's it's just a real problem. And then if you extrapolate that over the next like three, four, five years and just say to yourself, okay, every year we're starting out in a $2 million deficit
right out of the gate that you know, we need to be able to raise that and there's not much we can do at this moment. We are where we are. But that advocation should come so that if you do decide to make that call, you at least have all the information. >> I think what again, I know I'm new,
right? Like even towns that have tried to really stop like the taxes from really increasing a significant amount year-over-year, the state has then come in and said, "Nope." And then like overruled and increased people's taxes really significantly. >> Yeah. There's there's been a few
districts where they they honestly they they forced they forced the race. Yeah. And I I think it happened in just a couple last year. Just a few. Um but yes, >> and and they're they're extraordinary circumstances. Okay. So, um when you I the So, I also
have enrollment up there. Again, this is our resident enrollment. So, it does remove students we're receiving it. It removes um preschool students. Um so, the actual number in our buildings is higher than this, but this is the
resident enrollment that our state aid is calculated off of. Um, so I know that with the board we need to get more into some of the um, personnel items that are
for executive. But, you know, again, I hope that you at least got a feel from some of these slides just the issues why we have a structural deficit. why, you know, when we put our numbers together this year, just so
everyone knows, we were looking at about a $7 million deficit, um, we did get additional state aid, um, but we're still, you know, have a a significant list out there that we're going to be going over with you so we can
prioritize. Um, but hopefully you understand some of >> what caused it and what we need to fix in the future. Are you prepared today? >> Well, and it and that would be I was
just mentioning um that's where an executive because it's all personnel. >> Yeah. >> No, no, because that's okay. This is res this is resident enrollment. It gets it actually gets backed out because our
preschool aid is is Yeah. Yeah. So >> So 7 million deficit was before the additional 1.5 of state aid. So we're looking about 5.5. >> Yeah. So we Yeah. So we dwindle down our
cut list a little bit. Yes, we do that. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. So, if the whole building is is preschool, it can be 100%. If it's if it's not and there you have to figure the if there's special education
programs, you can't do a full 100%. Um but you know all the teachers, all the assistants and certain other professionals. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> There's legal there as well. So if you
decide to say elementary The amount allowable. Yeah. You would have to uh if you were putting something in the grant, grant is only prek. You could only put the percent of realistic prek in there. Yes.
>> No. So like you could, for instance, if you take a look at like um I'll use positions like um the vice principal of Kindle, you know, and and not all of it would probably be allowed because there's special ed kids in the building as well. So you you you'd have to
operate under their parameters to put as much in there as possible. So yeah, it is subsidized. I'll pull those numbers for you. So you >> use we use percentages based on like the number of students or you know back when we were just all at Grenlock for example, we would go by like the number
of classrooms in relation to the building as a whole, things like that. >> You do? Yeah. So, so let me say it this way, but correct me if I'm I'm going wrong. So, I'll say yes out of the gate, but then also remember, too, that for the grant,
their special ed costs that are not covered, and because we're bringing in more children, the special ed costs go up. So, it's it's a it's a hard answer. So, you're you're doing great things for kids. So, yes, you definitely get some of your admin costs subsidized, but not
all the special ed costs are subsidized. There's a local fair share. >> Oh, that's different. >> It it it's districtwide. So, and >> that's a reimbursement that we get. Um, but that's not that's not what that that that's not the issue that you're talking
about. >> And and >> I'll pull out extraordinary aid and explain it for you too. and that >> on that. And the thing is is that even if we didn't have preschool, we would still have special ed cost in preschool
because we're required to provide special ed preschool. So that really is a wash out. >> We may be identifying more kids now because of the preschool, but we would have to pay that regardless of preschool. Right. >> Yes. And be careful about the the
wording though. It it might not be completely equal, but we would absolutely have special ed costs that we would incur. They definitely rise. And Janine, make sure I'm speaking accurately. They rise as we open more
buildings and put more prek in. >> They do. But the reality is is that that's an amazing thing for our children. It's great for our community. It gives us more jobs that we can placehold. And then that's outside of the whole educational system piece.
>> Yeah. So just like the pea funding is based on the number of students, as we increase the number of special education students, our local fair share increases. So that's actually a line item in our budget and then we move it
over to to to work to add to the grant funds, I guess. >> Can you say that one more time? So, as we um our preschool aid increases as we add students because it's a true per pupil cost that you get um and then
the local fair share is what we pay for the special education students. So, as we add classrooms and there's seats allocated to each classroom, our local fair share increases. Real quick, Jud, does the pea grant cover any of food
services for preschool? We can charge the workers there. >> Okay. >> That covers the workers. Yeah. Yeah. >> Not the van. >> Not right. Not Not the >> Yeah, that's that's the only I'm downside I would say is there are certain things that like you really need and it and it doesn't cover. But um
>> does it cover like any of the food costs or is it just the workers? >> It's not food costs. No, >> no, it's just >> Okay. So I think in my opinion I have more slides for you guys but it's the it's the personnel
discussions that we have to have and um you know the the position reductions. So, we need to go into a second executive. >> Yes, correct. >> Before we before we go into exec, are there any >> non-executive
cuts that we should discuss in public? Like for instance, >> clubs, sports programs, you know, things like that that >> Yeah, that's >> yeah, paytoplay type stuff. Um, is that going to kind of remain the way it is from this year to next year? Is that the
vision? My recommendation and the board can drive this. I I believe that we should utilize paytoplay. So that was about the I think the 150. I think that should go into the budget and we communicate it fast and furious that start start
budgeting for what you need. Um we already have the framework. Uh as far as sports go, we are not recommending eliminations to sports and clubs uh out of this. I think that there are going to be recommendations for eliminations That's not going to be some of them, but
if the board wants to talk about the merits of that, we can certainly talk about it. Um, does that answer the question? >> Uh, just because I I wasn't part of those paytoplay, would that mean even though we're introducing pay to play, we would be bringing back things at the
middle school level? We are as of right now middle school sports is not okay is not brought back in here for the sheer standpoint of it would be you know it would cost money and then there are avenues for those kids to to play sports
in town and other places. >> Can you look at the paytoplay? It seemed like we got caught up last year because of the amount of money that was due, wasn't in October for back to school and this and that. When whoever looked at that, can we kind of look at that
differently to have it be maybe throughout the year? I don't know what I mean. Just to not have this hard amount at one point for the families. >> We can and I think that would involve just communicating early. So obviously I
think that the final budget adoption was end of April. Correct. End of May. Um, >> middle of May. >> Middle of May. I mean, we should be communicating with families >> as long as the board is in agreement. Listen, we are pay to play. This is what the appropriate the approximate cost
would be. This is when the approximate due dates would be. I think we just got into a spot where we got we got pressed for time. I think the time issue will solve that, Pat. >> So, we've learned from our mistake last year. >> It was a mistake. I think we had a lot
had a lot going on. Okay. Um, that's good. >> Yeah, I think I think we can just communicate it. >> That's good. >> Early and and then look, there's going to be there's going to be issues there. There are and we're going to have to deal with what happens when kids don't play and you know and what are the rules and don't not play when they when they
are not paid for if that makes sense. >> So, with the middle school um if we're not bringing the sports back, would it be feasible to look at a payto-play model for that as well? Just so they had the option. We could we could flesh out all the costs. When we did this last
year, correct me if I'm I'm wrong. I think the the pay-to-play model for middle school sports did not make it run effectively without really charging a a high number to parents. >> Transportation. >> Now, that doesn't mean that you can't do things differently. Doesn't mean you
can't do inter murals that might cover that paytoplay, but it might have to look a little different. Or, you know, you as a majority could say, Eric, we want middle school sports in here. Come back with a budget that has middle school sports.
A lot of people in But um but I think that you know one after another after another even if parents don't have to participate >> is is there is there I'm assuming part of the plan is accommodations for folks
who have financial Yeah. that would be entirely up to um I would think the model for comfortable that you know I Is it? >> Is it activities and and sports or just
sports? >> Was last year wasn't it? It didn't matter how many sports you played. Played um tennis and b basketball. I'm just It's still that same amount. That's what we >> Let's we can pull that out and talk about that in in committees this week.
Is that okay? And it probably would be crossing. Yes. You know, people who can't afford to be at 25% of our population and I think that number was built in to that overall number knowing that it's
it's a guess you know we don't know will will it sty participation maybe, you know, will it not? We'll have to we'll have to navigate it to live it. I think for what you know my partial thought that we can talk and committees right is like if we're not giving kids the opportunity to try even if there's a
cost associated when they're in the younger grades elementary and middle then they're not going to that's not going to be what they're driving to. over even if it's not the ideal scenario, right? We're focused on education. Just there isn't an opportunity even if it's not the ideal one, you know,
>> while we're on the topic. I forgot about um these kids that the homeschooled kids that are playing sports, are they paying to play? if you uh so currently there's not anyone I think going yet or maybe there's one but yes if you implemented
paytoplay they would have to adhere to any and all rules set forth >> if we didn't implement pay to play do they still >> no >> okay >> yeah they wouldn't because no other child would pay >> okay I'm going to make them we need to make a motion to go back into executive
so move all All in favor? >> I >> resolve that pursuant to section 8 of the open public meeting act, the public shall be excluded from that portion of the meeting involving discussion of the of of personnel items. Further resolved
that discussion of subject matter in executive session can be disclosed to the public if any action is taken by the board either at the resumption of the public session at the conclusion of the executive session or at a public session
at some later date. The executive session will last approximately we really don't have an idea say an hour or two hours. Let's say an hour and a half. An hour. Okay. No action will be taken
at this meeting. It's just for inform us. Okay. So motion. No, we're ready to go. Thank you for those who came out or spoke. Thank you for coming.