Board of Education, Regular Meeting

1. 0:12Here here here here Walker here you like to make a motion to accept the agenda as presented second All In favor that brings us to our student representative report.
2. 0:35Mck trial has concluded their competitions while over April break track has their opening meet today uh student council is in the progress of preparing for their movie night um tomorrow is the first eat off in Hudson which has been positively received by the students and Multicultural Club is still doing their bun cake fundraiser Victoria.
3. 1:01Thank you Victoria thank you for being here um at this time we do have a need for an early executive session uh for the purposes of discussions regarding proposed pending or current litigation uh make a motion to enter executive session at 6:06 p.m second all in favor e [… repeated text trimmed] brings us to uh budget presentation number three okay.
4. 21:39So good evening everyone Miss beain and I will be giving you a preview of um the current budget that we prepare the preliminary budget um please keep in mind that when you see this budget it is based on us not getting the 2.8 milli milon do from the state department we work very hard into making sure that we are preserving programs and so as a result we're going to um now um give to the board um what our Pro our preliminary um budget without without the state aid.
5. 22:21So as you can see we're basing the budget basis of The Bu budget is the vision to create an inclusive learning environment that honors many passions cultur talents of students as student staff in the community we commit to learning exploring and achieving together our mission is to embrace all students and Inspire them to achieve their personal best as blue Hawks and Beyond and together we can at high SCH.
6. 22:51We uh the purpose is basically based on the six keys to school Improvement that I discussed so um strengthen in the instructional leadership capacity strengthen the instructional core improve datadriven practices promote a positive inclusive School environment for all stakeholders increase monitoring and accountability and to create a tiered approach to school support and intervention.
7. 23:19So um I will um have um Miss beain now take over to talk about the budget um starting with the budget at it glance.
8. 23:32Thank you Dr pennyman um as she stated remember that we're looking at um a loss in revenue of $2.8 million um our budget's balanced by our expenses being covered by our revenues um state aid is a large portion of our Revenue stream that we really rely on as this district and we want to make sure that we're maintaining those student programs maintaining our staff level levels and supports for students so that's our main goal on this.
9. 24:00Um this will also in this budget here that we're presenting is going to present that we're going to go from that 2% we had originally hoped to go out at for the tax levy to in going right to the cap so the cap at 3.42% is based on our governor not giving us a $2.8 million 3.42% equals $850,000 in revenue for the district it's a good amount of money that we need to cover all of this that this all this loss.
10. 24:32So I'm going to talk about this budget this is our historical level of expenses uh over the years starting in 2021 all the way down to currently you will notice uh in previous budget presentations we were presenting a 2.2% increase in expenses uh we spent a lot of time working on looking at every single budget line every single payroll code every single Bose service and we de decided on things that we could decrease and remove to decrease the amount of increase that we're looking at year over year to cover the Gap.
11. 25:09Our expense codes are distributed in these different categories uh just as I presented you before again remember now uh the presentation is showing you that we're only looking to increase our expenses by $600,000 again we're looking at a $2.8 million loss loss and Aid and we're looking to increase by $600,000 so you're compiling that it's about $3 million we have to make up in a gap okay.
12. 25:39Um before I go into the line by line budget which was requested to be presented I want to go over some vocabulary points because when we look at a line by line budget the way we do things in the district may be different than how you would have seen it elsewhere um budget accounts SLC codes on each of these lines that is a structure of coding that is required by New York state law it is a governmental accounting um category categor categorization of um function so what is the job um location where is the job being done and who's doing it.
13. 26:16Uh contractual requirements you're going to see I listed a few times that were're increasing a budget code due to contractual requirements based on the language and different contracts that we have there is a requirement of increase it's already preset so that's what those mean.
14. 26:31Then there's this big swinging of numbers that you're going to see and I'm giving you this preliminarily because it's called the restructuring of codes um over time as people have left the district or come into the district the code in which they were designated as a payroll person um into may not have matched the person that left therefore the amount of money budgeted in the different codes didn't match the amount of people within it therefore in order to make sure this Bal this budget was balanced also gave me an opportunity to look at if there were um any efficiencies in a specific code we restructured through those codes so there'll be some uh District codes that'll be decreasing by 100% and there'll be some codes that'll be increasing by 50% here or there it's just a realignment of what's actually happening it's categorizing everybody in those proper codes where they're located and what their function is.
15. 27:29Here's our first set of categories so this um the next two or three slides is going to be all the items that are covered in that first chart under General support um the board of education is this top code uh the 1010 code no this is not what we pay the Board of Education the board of education does not get paid these are items to support the board of education so uh meetings papers um association dues conferences things of that nature so that's what sits in that code we kept it flat year-over-year which means we're expecting to spend no more this year and next year.
16. 28:05The district clerk is the position that sits over here U Missy noblin is sitting there today um this is their stien that they receive but it's
17. 28:15Also the excuse me the amount of money to support the Board of Education through the district clerk the next line down here is going to be our board meetings this has to do with um the budget budget vote uh advertising and things like that all those areas are staying flat we're expecting it to go no higher than it was this year.
18. 28:37Then we go to the chief School administrator that's going to be your superintendent this is not the total amount the superintendent makes this is a total of the codes in which she sits so the superintendent is also the superintendent secretary contractual requirements materials and supplies all of that together has an overall increase of 2. 59 but the only increase in there is those salary codes for the superintendent secretary and the superintendent contractually required.
19. 29:06Then we have the business administrator again this is not how much money I make um this is everybody who is paid within the business office except except for the treasurer so the accounts payable clerk the payroll clerk myself um in addition it's going to be all of our Bosey services that we utilize to support the business office materials supplies and contract ual requirements um contraction contracts would be things like um um I have to think maintenance of our printers or something like that so different types of contractual things that we do as a district to support business functions within the district.
20. 29:47We're seeing an overall decrease um because primarily to the Bose services so we're going to decrease some POI services that we're utilizing this year that have to do with financial planning and forecasting um those two services are necessary but those are areas that I could we could do without for a year to in order to cover that Gap.
21. 30:10Next you'll see the auditing Services those are all our vent our external auditor um both for internal auditing and for external auditing so the risk assessment done by Mike Wolf his his cost is in there as well as Scott prer who is our external auditor his cost is in there I'm ejecting that it's only going to increase by 3%.
22. 30:31Then we have the treasurer again this is not just the treasurer salary this is the treasur salary Material supplies and contractual all these areas is the summarization of that specific area not necessarily just salaries I just want to make sure that that's clear.
23. 30:50And here's one of our biggest swings so we're going to see this increase due to contractual 3% but this is that 100% change right so this is um a change because we did increase two people however we just used utilized clerk funding in a different budget code and put it up here in addition to reallocating and properly accounting for any services that are categorized in that area so this is also going to be any of our materials and supplies or contractual requirements.
24. 31:21Then we have the in public information services this is not en enely our bosei service this is our communication Services any kind of Publications the Facebook monitoring the Website Maintenance all of those things those are categorized in that area we're only looking at a 2.6% increase on that area.
25. 31:40Here's where we these two codes kind of work together operations of plant and maintenance of plant that is all of our facilities um maintenance our utilities our equipment all the things that go behind the scenes to make this building stay working and safe and clean um are within these two codes a lot of the staff has moved within the two codes so this is one another one of those areas where you're seeing that restructuring there wasn't a 10% increase in salaries it was just a change because we had too much in here not enough in here.
26. 32:17And then the central data processing we're still in general support just point out now this is the last few areas that are General support categorized this is our un um unallocated insurance this is going to be our liability insurance from muta National our cyber security insurance and things of that nature I'm projecting at no increase um School Association dues speaks for itself judgment and claims those are going to be small claims against the district not true lawsuits uh change and uh assessment or things of that nature and then we have the 3% increase on our Bose's administrative cost this I can't do anything about this is automatic it's given to us by bosis.
27. 33:07Now you're going to see in the curriculum development we see a big decrease in supervision we see an increase those are again those restructuring of codes and moving people so they're categorized in the right function area.
28. 33:20Again down here we're seeing another decrease in our teaching and regular education I will point out that the 2110 code those are all of our general Ed supports that's teaching salaries that's teaching assistance salaries that's teaching AIDS that's all the materials and supplies the support all the different programs that's all the contractual programs we also offer so this is our one of our biggest areas where we have salaries but we also have other things it's actually three pages on our um budget size report.
29. 33:51Then we have the 2250 codes which is all of our special ed pro programs um out of District placements private placements uh teachers uh occupational therapists things like that that's also one of our biggest areas of salary and I will point out that we are now in the instructional category and that big that main table.
30. 34:15Then we have occupational um education that's all of our CTE programs VCH New Visions this is currently what we're spending and I'm I'm proposing or expecting a 3% increase in those Serv Services that's uh also run and generated by bosis.
31. 34:31Um Employee Program prep uh that has to do with students that would be incarcerated would be 18 years or younger uh would they raise the age for incarceration uh students that would have normally been in jail now go to a juvenile facility we are still required to educate all students until they graduate whether they're our students or not and we have to give that money to the GD programming within the jail we're seeing a decrease because of the rais the age so we reduce that amount for the bosei services.
32. 34:59Then we have our school library educational television that's all of our online type learning um we have our computer assisted instruction this is another big area I will point out that that is not salaries within the information technology department that is all of the programs that support information and uh technology within the classroom also included in there is our um copiers and printers um any purchases long-term purchases our e rates in there um things like that so it's not just
33. 35:35salaries that is mostly almost entirely Bose's um programs not programs but Services then we have the guidance Department that's a restructuring that is not how much we increase the guidance office payments um we have increased how many social workers we had over time and they weren't properly coded um accounted for in the budget buting Total Health Services that's obviously not really a decrease it's just been reallocated um Psychological Services we have social work co-curricular activities that's going to be all of our extracurricular activities that are done outside of school we also restructured that and then we have our intras Scholastic Athletics that's going to be as you see all of our sporting programs that pays for referees that pays for
34. 36:26Association that pays for the coaches um things like that chaperon now we're on to the transportation category of that big table um transportation is an area that is difficult to predict um because not toally difficult but it has to do with the special ed programming and where we might be transporting students outside of the district in the current year um the actual budgeted amount is less than $4 million however we have to do some reshuffling to account for what is actually the cost so the amount you see here is what the actual cost of transportation is this year it's $4 million and I'm expecting it to go up by 2.8% maybe a little bit higher hoping
35. 37:11for a little bit less but that we don't control CPI uh generates how much that increases year-over-year also the availability of transportation software um companies to provide us transportation to places that we need to bring students um Recreation is all of our pool expenses including maintenance CET goals then we have employee benefits also one of our biggest line items the most expensive part of a district is payroll and benefits then we're looking at our debt service which actually had a decrease in our interest payment this yearo $4,000 and then um the final line in our budget is going to be we are transfer to other funds this has decreased by $100,000 uh because we removed a planned
36. 38:05$100,000 project for next year it's an easy area to remove um costs and expenses for the district and maintain Pro um programs and Staffing the 75,000 however has to remain uh school districts receive payments back from the state for offering summer programs for extended school year students it's called 445 but the state only reimburses the district for 80% of the cost of those programs so the district has to support 20% of the total cost within the federal fund which is our special Aid fund or where we have a lot of our grants that has to be maintained because we have to put that in every year to cover the cost of educating the students that need to
37. 38:46be educated all year round now let talk about the tax levy moving into Revenue again I'm we are proposing that we're going to increase the tax levy from 2% which what we were presenting before to the full 3.42 which is our cap it's our allowable amount how much we can Levy from the taxpayers based on the formula this will generate the most amount of uh revenue for us in order to cover the Gap and loss in $2.8 million in Aid when I pres when we presented it last time this is what 2% meant to a taxpayer in these different towns based on the current um rates Mill rates at an an equalization without Equalization rates and if your house is worth
38. 39:35$200,000 so it' be more or less depending on the value of your home as it's assessed 3.42 we're looking at on a monthly basis about a $10 increase so over 12 months you'll pay $10 more a month to support students and programs and maintain the education that we're providing currently how does that fit all in as you can see um another note to say the 23 24 budget line all of those figures are what was presenting presented to the public on our budget newsletter at the end of our 2324 budget season the I'm pointing this out to you because the projected Aid at that time was less than what we're actually receiving so we received a
39. 40:20little bit more than what you see on that line right there which is why you're seeing that there's only a 2.2 2.2 million difference in actuality it's going to be 2.8 sorry that number is a little bit higher than what we actually are receiving we're receiving less the decreas is in our ex excess cost and our private um education so those two areas are where the money decreased from what we originally projected to receive that's based on students being enrolled in private placements or having um High needs graduated or left the area anything like that could change that figure um everything else the other big thing I want to point out uh the assigned fund balance line this year we
40. 41:03only proposed to put 1.1 million in the 23 24 budget my our proposal is that we are going to put $2.3 million excess funding into next year's budget from this year but it's not all this year's money so at the end of the 23 school year the um audited financial statements showed uh everybody that we had a 7% fund balance which means we had $2 million more than we were supposed to have on the books the state allows for a 4% fund balance we had seven I want to take a million dollars of that excess funding from the 23 year and a million dollars that I'm projecting we will have because we stopped spending money in this year and
41. 41:48apply it to next year this will reduce how much we'll have left over at the end of this year keep us below that 4% required amount and we will help us to maintain programs and support the students without having to um change any kind of employment situation for people uh we're also going to use some reserves that's for our employee benefit AC crude liability uh we have four retirees this year um uh each of them qualify for an incentive payment of about $20,000 that does come out of our budget I'm taking I'm we are planning to take it out of our reserve for the types of expenses additionally we're going to use our workers comp uh out of the workers
42. 42:32comp reserve and we're also going to utilize um the Employee Retirement payment that's due in December out of a reserve all in all we were able to fill that Gap have a balanced budget with an increase in our overall revenue of $665,000 without extra money from the state aid just as a reminder this is what the
43. 42:59state Governor put out as her proposed budget um in January with that 2.9% change in just our foundation Aid and if it was restored this Resto restoration is probably our best bet um I'm hopeful for this or anything close to it um this would put us at hold harmless so we would get the same amount of foundation Aid as last year which would bolster our Aid and our revenue and actually give us an increase of $15,000 so these scenarios that I'm presenting what I presented today in this uh line by line budget is uh projected Revenue loss of $2.8 million was what we were we were faced with we're going to fill that Gap with $2.3 million in fund balance by appropriating excess funding that we are finding that we will most likely have in projections we decreased our overall year-over-year budget as through retirements um I also during our line by line evaluation saw that there was two potential um positions that could be funded through a grant so we're going to move those positions into a grant funded um area which will relieve some of the expense to the budget and then we're tightening other budget lines like I said removing some of our Bose's programs um across the board to help support that Gap.
44. 44:27if so right now the budget was due April 1st there was an extender to the 8th now there's another extender to the 15th that means that the government is going to meet and go over and evaluate and decide what kind of programs they're going to facilitate and support in their budget um there is still talk about increasing the state aid runs and giving schools more money. if that happens prior to our April 23rd board meeting the intention of myself and Dr pennyman is to go back put back things that we took out in order to um cover or provide the better programming right so the better supports to the different areas um we will also look to replenish our reserves with any excess funds that we have this year instead of using it as fund balance into next year's budget we will um take that extra money and put it in reserves and we will look to decrease the tax levy to that 2% um and then we also will be considering a $100,000 project but I can only we can only do that if we're provided solid budget numbers prior to that April 23rd um but board meeting it is required by the state that we adopt and approve a board the Board of Ed adopts and approves a budget for the 24 25 year by the 23rd of April um so if we get what we need prior to then we'll pre present you a budget in between the budgets I was presenting to you before and this budget I presented to you here relieving some of that Revenue pressure on the district and in increasing some of the things we're offering within the regular budget if we don't this budget will be the budget we will propose to be adopted by the board on the 23rd of April.
45. 46:17still some unknowns that Foundation Aid Improvement which I just talked about um and all these still things are still outstanding because they happen at the end of of the Year any one of these things could change a budget line um very drastically. what happens if we go out and we have a vote and it's voted down um a contingency budget would then be an option or we could go out for another vote we could um really implore people to come out and vote and support their District um if that still is defeated and we have to go to a contingency budget contingency budget means we cannot increase the tax levy from last year so we can only Levy the same amount as we got last year um and it would mean cutting a lot of things out of the budget.
46. 47:08so a contingency budget is not favorable in any scenario but especially in this scenario if we weren't to get the aid we needed uh from the district and we had to or from the state and we had to go out of that 3.42% it's the only way that we can fully fill that Gap in Revenue that we're losing from the state so please Food For Thought think about budgeting think about uh voting yes to your district and supporting students.
47. 47:35so we're past the April 1st in our timeline um we're on April 9th the 22nd is deadline for petitions we don't have any and there's that 23rd it's very important that we vote on the budget that day and the uh Board of Education adopts that budget on that same day we'll be voting uh the board will be voting on The Bose's budget um and then we will have to also adopt the property tax report C which tells how much we're going to Levy uh and all that kind of thing uh voter registration uh the report card is due on the 29th but we don't have a board meeting between the 23rd and the 29th so we're going to adopt the rep card on the 23rd May 1st is when nominations are due May 7th is when we're going uh the district will have a public hearing on the proposed budget that will be the budget that's approved on the 23rd and then May 21st we're going to have a uh a vote on the budget that's been accepted by the board of B here's that revote if it gets denied the first time and then if it doesn't pass then we immediately go to a contingency budget contingency budget doesn't include uh Athletics does not include equipment does not include any of those extra ancillary things that we do for students here any questions.
48. 48:54I have a question um in the past we talked about I don't know a couple months ago we were talking about the um like kind of redoing the curriculum particularly I remember we had the presentation from the elementary school is that already considered in this budget or would that be contingent on like the increase of changing the way that our curriculum.
49. 49:19so yes it's in this budget we and we're using a lot of grant funding to those type of things instead of using our general uh budget for that um so you know that can be done from our professional development that can be down from our P budget so we do have plans to start looking at things like the Junior High um literacy um curriculum but we are hoping to now spend our grants um on more curriculum type things instead of going to the general budget for that we also sent in for um some great grants that we're getting um also
50. 50:03our school Improvement Grant and District uh Improvement um plan money that has to go all to curriculum and materials so yeah so so um M and I are really trying to think Smarter on what we're using our general points for and making sure that we do exhaust our grant Monies.
51. 50:27I noticed in the um slides you mentioned that um the budget would be based on a Home Cover costing about $200,000 but that's like really dated in this area I don't think the median average value of a home is under 300,000 I think it needs to be updated to be more realistic for people when they they come to the votes and they come to look at the numbers they want to see a real number that's prevalent in the area for the time.
52. 50:49oh absolutely I'm happy that I increased it from what was presented last year but I'm happy to increase it more I just try to find a a middle ground where it's easy to increase or decrease based on your assess value you just multiply that first line by um the 3.47% and then increase it by the amount but I'm happy to make another chart with or even put it on our website what it means that what means at a $300,000 house what it means that 200 what it means at 150 happy to do all those charts it's not that's not a problem thank you.
53. 51:21so in the case of a contingency budget you said no Sports so no sport no after school activities no clubs.
54. 51:30contingency budget is a skeleton budget instruct just's.
55. 51:36will there be a copy of this available to the public.
56. 51:39this is just preliminary but this goes on the um up on the website thank you all this is uh as soon as I'm done presenting um tomorrow um our Communications person Poes will put it on the website all presentations I've done to date are on that website.
57. 51:55if we sold jna would that help towards any of the balance of money that we needed for.
58. 52:01not necessarily because of um the timing of closing and the applicable usage of the funding from any um revenue generated from that.
59. 52:18as far as the timeline of the governor may be restoring some of the aid do you have any I guess indic.
60. 52:27yeah like what think well they're telling us by 15 I had with and my mentor and she over the weekend and she was telling me that she spoke to two senators so she thinks it's going to be midweek next week so that's what she F.
61. 52:43I mean based on L's been in the news and uh the press releases the Governor from her mouth saying that she was going to look at that reinstating stum side was increase with the understanding that next year there will be a her calculation giving schools more time to plan for that change and a right now she just pulled it all away and uh didn't tell anybody ahead of time right she's giving warning so the likelihood of it being less next year is very high uh based on different data but there's also a push which is great by you know all the superintendent Association all the legislature this formula that was back in what 2002.
62. 53:24so we all and been pushing to get a new formula so now what the governor said okay she's going to just do what you need to do this year but she's working on an for so um hopefully it will be to our advantage because our district is totally changed since 2002 and so yeah.
63. 53:48and this this current plan um does maintains all of our full teachers and full-time employees.
64. 53:57yes we have work we work really hard together um to make sure that we're be status quo and maintaining you know every single body in had now we' got with fun caveat we do know that human capital is the is the largest percentage of any budget however this begin and I we I was very careful to say let's do what see what we can um you know to make sure we save jobs so that was first and foremost besides making sure we're not taking from instruction um at the top um of our mind while creating this buet.
65. 54:41that includes the four teachers who are retiring we are would replace them as well yes.
66. 54:45so the projected uh replacement is though at a lower salary so there's breakage early teachers.
67. 54:57is there any kind of a um idea of um a way forward in terms of getting the messaging out besides what's on the website I know a lot of parents and people who vote don't tend to go on the website is there anything any kind of printing or any kind of slogan something to get people's minds you know aware of what's really happening CU I mean it's not it's not just that you know there's been inflation but it's that we've got Aid pulled right now as a possibility.
68. 55:21so we're going we're going to present next week at the the fire station um we're also I know Tracy was making some a schedule for us to go around to different areas to present across the district but we we will um make sure that we're pushing out flyers and mind we we'll create some U some marketing around that uh between uh FOC media and uh most Services we'll make sure we have some of that that we can uh push out Contin to to theity but we're going around anding some PR teaching we're going to be at the priate station.
69. 56:06and regardless of how the final budget looks when that's adopted we do need people to come out and vote because if if you just think it's going to happen because you don't go and then and only people that come out say no it's just as bad as if we went out a 3.4 versus 2% it doesn't matter everybody has to come out exercise their vote and put their word in uh to help support the district so it's irregardless of how what budget we present we do need to have more voters.
70. 56:33and I'm going to put a charge out to our high school seniors who are 18 years old um you are eligible to vote I'm not trying to tell you which way to vote I'm just asking you to exercise your voting rights because you're 18 and if you have a registered to vote there's a voter registration that's happening at the high school that we talked about tonight and so um you know if you're 18 you're eligible to vote I'm just asking you to exercise your voting rights I'm that telling you which way to vote but um just making a plea to our high school students who are.
71. 57:1218 okay thank you very much thank you um I'd like to make a motion to accept person agenda items a through J all in favor um Miss see anybody sign up that brings us to the superintendent update
72. 57:38so we've had um hopefully everybody's had a great spring break we've been um hard at work um on the budget really and and um but I was able to go to um a play a couple of plays um for our students at the high school I don't know if I mentioned that yet um we are also having um our MBK um uh fellow or MBK fellows are really getting some great Spotlight um across the state um also um just uh continuing to um oh our students are now are no longer our junah high students are having recess in the front par parking lot we have moved to have in recess on that nice expensive feel and turf that we pay for um it was very important to me um for the safety of them but not only that I just want to let you know how important student voices are to me
73. 58:40I had been you know trying to figure it out all year having conversation but we had students who took matters into their hand and during my you know who sent me emails and doing my um superintendent advisory team they said Dr pennyman why do we have to have recess out there and so I said yep you've got it so went right into motion and we're now on on on the um fields and the turf it's really important student voice is so important um and I want our students in the district to know that I understand clearly who I serve and that you are you are very important to me
74. 59:20so always um never be afraid to come and uh let me know know um what you need in your needs so that's my update for tonight amazing thank you
75. 59:33um brings us to consensus agenda make a motion to accept consensus agenda items 8 through H second all in favor me see nobody new sign we public participation on the last no sorry the last one no okay somehow um brings us to important dates
76. 59:58the following meetings are scheduled Tuesday April 23rd 2024 policy committee meeting 5:00 pm in the high school library Tuesday April 23rd 2024 regular Board of Ed meeting in 2024 2025 budget adoption and approval of the 2024 2025 property tax report card rcg Bose's budget vote and member election 6 p.m. in the high schol School library
77. 1:00:27Wednesday May 1st 2024 nominating petitions due to board clerk by 5:00 p.m. Tuesday May 7th 20224 uh Board of Ed meeting budget hearing 6 PM in the high school library
78. 1:00:41um at this time there's no need for a second executive session um so I make a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:06 PM all in favor he thank you all for coming thank you thank you e e

Timestamps link to the corresponding moment on YouTube. Auto-transcribed, contains speech-recognition errors. Not an official record.