Coraggio Consulting
Manassas City School Board Budget Work Session - January 20, 2026

Date: Tuesday, January 20, 2026
Place: Manassas City Public Schools / School Board meeting, Virginia
Length: 1h 38m (video)
Official meeting video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGAdSTArB0s

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-17. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:05] To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one

[00:00:41] nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Arthur, would you please call the roll? Yes. Chair Paul. Chair. Vice Chair Jones.

[00:00:57] - Here. - Mrs. Seabour. - Here. - Mrs. Stevens. - Here. - Mrs. Grecia. - Present. - Ms. Brown. - Here. - Ms. Miles. - Here. - Thank you, Madam Chair, we have a forum. - Are there any additions or deletions to the agenda?

[00:01:15] - Chair, I move that the school board of the city of Monash is approved the public meeting agenda. - That's it. - I have a motion by Ms. Stevens and by Grecia. Is there any discussion?

[00:01:31] All in favor? - Aye. - Aye. - All opposed? The motion carries. So that means that we're all together.

[00:01:52] No, we don't have any. Did I ask you about the notes? I asked you about instructions or the links. So, yeah.

[00:02:16] Sorry. Yes, housekeeping. Good evening, Chair Spall, Vice Chair Jones, School Board members, Dr. Newman. Anyone here? I feel like we were just here, but this is the end of my world. So welcome to a budget discussion.

[00:02:28] Mr. Kelly's going to do the actual most of the presentations, Alba, you can pull up the year-end, yes, that one, but before we get started, just to set the tone, in the finance world, we live in three years at the same time, right, so we're currently in FY26, we're going back to close out FY25, so we're presenting it to you tonight, the FY year-end documentation and everything, and then you will put on the consent agenda for you to approve that, as well as the auditor's report, these things that are very pro forma and then we will be talking we will jump over 26 and jump into

[00:03:04] 27 to be talking about um what we know um from the state in terms of revenue and some ideas we have now what i want to tell you is that we built this slide deck based on what we know from the original now former governor's budget proposal what we've known in the last few days is that that's going to be completely upended because the new governor is already by way of executive orders and some and legislation that's in the works, this is going to be completely changed, right?

[00:03:35] So we're going to talk through, at the big picture level, that's where we are to set the stage. To let you know-- and I think I mentioned this once before-- also, when you see-- and I'm just talking about both things at once, so that once we turn it over to him, you don't have to come back to me.

[00:03:52] What you're going to see for FY27 is going to be super exciting to you in terms of the budget materials you're going to get. And that is all due to the work that's ongoing from our senior budget manager, Tamika Levitt-Miller, who's behind you, came to us from Arlington. So you're going to see books that look much like books you would see from every other jurisdiction in terms of budget materials. And so you'll get that the night that we present to you at the end of February. That's why we then have another work session after that. That's why we have public, that's why there's time between that meeting and the next meeting, there's another chance to look in. You're going to see a lot of detail about every school positions and the budget and then things by fund and code, all sorts of things

[00:04:31] in an easily digestible manner, hopefully. And so it's taking shape. But what we don't have is the exact dollar figures yet to put in there. But the structure is there, and you're going to be really, really excited for that. So I know it's really, really – we're very, very lucky to have her, and the work that she's doing behind the scenes will be in front of the scenes very soon.

[00:04:54] Okay. So I'm just going to take us to the next slide, and then it's going to be Mr. Kelly.

[00:05:12] So for this first agenda item, we're jumping back in time to FY25. We're going to just talk about the end of year wrap-up for that and then the carry forward. So there's always money that carries from one year to the next, and we'll talk a little bit about that. So you have in your materials that are in board docs, the slide decks, as well as a summary of actual revenue expenditures and fund balance by fund for FY24-25.

[00:05:39] Because even on a big screen, that can be little. That's why you have it as a separate attachment. So the bottom line is that the current uncommitted fund balance at the end of FY25 was about $9.8 million across all funds, but excluding food services. because we can't touch food services for anything other than food services right and so as we've talked about before the best uses of fund balance are for one-time expenses um an example is the purchase of this building right that was a one-time expense that is a use of fund balance it doesn't have an on the building has ongoing costs but we didn't use the fund balance for those ongoing

[00:06:13] costs an example of something that's coming up as a one-time expense is new mathematics textbooks utilizing fund balance for this purchase um doing it in fy 26 would allow and free up um the materials to be able to be purchased earlier than the start of fy 27 which could be beneficial to the schools so that's just kind of setting the stage um after tap goes through these slides if you've got questions of course about the details on the fund balance please um on the details on on the chart let us know thank you dr quesada and again just um as i mentioned there is a summary of

[00:06:51] actual revenue and expenditures that was provided uh the breakdown across all funds in terms of the functions and these are the videoe functions uh that we have to report on uh are are as such so 62 of the expenditures were spent on instruction which is what you would expect uh the next largest is going to be facilities and that's going to be 11 percent keep in mind we we started some work on some buildings during that year and so that's kind of come into portion there uh technology five percent operations and maintenance seven percent administration attendance and health six percent uh people transportation four percent food services three percent and debt service

[00:07:31] uh two percent and then moving on these are more traditional categories we call them character codes and units which that we utilize and so 56 of our expenditures again across all funds uh 56 of that was used for salaries there's 19% for benefits again that's very standard most most of our expenditures and most full division expenditures are going to be on salaries and benefits we didn't spend 13% on capital outlay six percent on purchase services one percent of other charges

[00:08:03] and then one percent and other use of funds so with that and you will notice as well on the summary of actual expenditures we do have budget carry forward and this is budget that is carried forward from FR25 into FR26. And so as of June 30, 2025, the outstanding purchase orders were as followed, $431,432 in the operating fund, $921,000 in the grant fund, and then we have a couple of projects fund we're going to carry forward for $44.5 million. Obviously the majority of that is going to be for the construction of Nadine. We also have the connector because again,

[00:08:42] and this is taking from FY25 and the 26th, and then the Osborne roof replacement. We are entering phase three of that project this summer, and so we are gonna carry forward that funding in order to pay the expenses associated with those projects.

[00:09:01] So that's very quick, but any questions you all might have regarding summary of actual expenditures or any of the slides that we've shown before we move forward to the next presentation. - So we skip forward, jump forward in time to FY27. The fund balance mostly is when we don't fill a position, that is what gets swept into that.

[00:09:33] So I recall last year when we were discussing with the Alt-Ed program and whether or not to put that in fund balance, part of what I was concerned about was that it would leave us with almost no fund balance after the purchase of $8,700 and then that.

[00:09:50] now suddenly we've got nine point eight million dollars in there so I'm just wondering wait like yeah at this basically at this point last year I was thinking we were gonna have nothing in here by this point this year but now we have some kind of supply so can we shed some light on that sure so in some cases if you have vacancies or anything like that whatever savings you have from that is gonna roll into fund balance additionally we did get some additional revenue from the state that wasn't anticipated and so if that's not budgeted or you can't spend it and those kind of things and so that if that money came in late in the year and so at that

[00:10:28] point in time it's kind of very difficult to maneuver and so all that together added 4.5 million which is about 3% of the operating budget so it's not 4.5 million is a lot but 3% of the budget that means we spent 97% of our budget that's not a terrible target and forgive me if I am you know elementary here but so the ask for the math textbook that's just an example but how

[00:11:06] much will that be it's like 1 million to like 1.2 million dollars and then there was a debt service 2% and I'm sorry but who do we owe so we have as far as debt service we have two what i would say two large leases one would be the electric bus and then the other one is the energy management agreement that we entered into several years many years back um that we were paying still paying on that's going to add to our debt service can you go back to those slides i just i cannot actually hear that underlay there's something oh

[00:11:45] the capital outlay 13 um can you can you expand on that for me and i'm sorry again if i'm being elementary no that's why we're totally fine so the capital outlay um is expenditures that we're going to spend on capital projects and so we spent 19 million dollars that year uh in 2025 again most of that funding most of that most of that expense is primarily for new people so last year i'm sure that percentage was way down we typically spend about 2 million 53 million dollars on capital outlay but because we have indeed coming on board that number is going to be probably

[00:12:24] consistent in 2026 as well okay that makes sense and so that's across when it says across all funds so that's the operating fund plus everything else so if you look at just the operating fund the capital outlay wouldn't be there okay thank you that makes perfect sense okay good question the math textbook purchase that's enough that we have to and how is that it's a percentage of what our fund bail like because I feel like the Osborne connector was about the same amount we did not we actually did we did budget for that we didn't do it separately it was part of the budget request to them that we put

[00:13:02] budgeted for that use of fund balance and so that was when they voted on our budget when they voted on our budget they did that and so this would be just rather than we can do it in one of two ways we could do it as part of the FY 27 budget request a suggestion would be to use to do it separately and use that money before FY 27 so that the orders of thing once you approve the textbooks that could get pulled started earlier so that was just that's a suggestion

[00:13:35] yes it could be at the same time as the other budget it just would be a a separate request because it would be using it in FY26, not budgeting for use of it in FY27. I do have one other question for someone else.

[00:13:55] Smile. No, go. You go. Everyone have a turn. Come on. I have a question, though. It's about the salaries. I know when we were asking for money from the city, we had specific positions that we wanted, you know, funded.

[00:14:14] Could those, could we use the funding that we have in the balance to be able to add So the issue with using fund balance for positions is that the positions become an ongoing expense, right? And fund balance is a one-time infusion of money, right?

[00:14:31] So once it's gone, it's gone. And then you have, so that is not the recommended way to put in positions. Okay. So it's more of like an idea or something that we have, like a project or something, not necessarily something that we want ongoing. Correct.

[00:14:47] Non-recurring expense. Okay. So the purchase orders, can you go back to that? Can you explain that a little bit more slowly? Sure, absolutely. So because we have these on-one projects, a lot of the projects are incumbent, right?

[00:15:05] And so we've encumbered, I think we did $50 million for a new deed. Well, we didn't expend the full $50 million on FY25, and so in order to spend that funding in 2026, we have to carry it forward and get it approved and all those things so that we can spend that funding in the current years. better I guess I think the smiles just probably already understood but just so

[00:15:35] everybody knows there is you know we don't spend all the way down okay so moving on to part time traveling forward right we skip over 26 and they're jumping to what we the prediction for 20 so no app on the next item on that yeah there we go

[00:16:06] thank uh yeah i did that thank you all right so we're going to talk about the fx 27 budget again this is just kind of a high level overview uh mostly of the state budget and what's been presented so far and as dr kasada mentioned we're anticipating there to be significant change to the budget and so we didn't put any numbers up here because at this point in time it's it's it's not we don't really understand what they're going to be we don't know if they're going to remain where

[00:16:41] they are currently. And with that being said, we will start by, Governor Youngkin presented his initial budget on December 17th. It's the 2026-2028 biennium budget proposal. As Robert Sala alluded to, the former governor is no longer there, and Governor Spamberger was sworn in over the weekend. And so we do expect some changes to the initial budget, hopefully for the better. I don't anticipate it being worse, but we shall see.

[00:17:14] Along with that, this happens every biennium and every year, there is a update to the current budget, the 2026 budget, they call it the CABOOSE budget. And that's mostly comprised of technical updates and two direct aid programs.

[00:17:29] And what I mean by that, essentially, for every biennium, they're gonna always reassess the local government's LCI, which is the local composite index, as well as the ADM, the Adversary Membership, And then they sort of all student enrollment with the goal being to make sure that they can maintain the level of funding that was provided before.

[00:17:51] But that's all driven by your enrollment numbers as well as your local economy's or local county's ability to pay, which is the LCI. If you recall, back in December, we talked through how the LCI was calculated and how ours changed. Exactly. On the 18th, so the next day, which was better than last year, they actually released the video e-calculation template.

[00:18:11] template is a spreadsheet that every school division uses to determine what the state contribution is going to be for the year and again we have preliminary numbers but because it's so early and that we know there's going to be change we're waiting to get the updated version once the money committees have a chance to have their amendments. Moving forward so state budget at a high level education remains one of the one of the larger areas of state spending It accounts roughly 42% of the total budget, and that's K-12 as well as higher education.

[00:18:49] Within there is the required cost updates or re-benchmarking. That's the reassessing, the LCI and the ADM and those things. There are some compensation actions within the budget and then some targeted program support. And so K-12 funding and school construction.

[00:19:07] So there is an increase from the general fund, about $544 million. Statewide. Statewide, thank you. not for us that would be fantastic wouldn't it just for k-12 funding most of that is due to the required benchmarking that that happens so it's not policy driven it's due to whatever localities enrollment numbers are as well as their ability to pay moving forward with that there's also 300 million in new state support for school construction when the last item came out there was money set aside for a school construction assistance program and they are

[00:19:45] They are planning to continue that program, at least in the initial budget, and adding some additional funding to that, bringing the total capital funding to about $519 million. That brings total K-12 investment to about $22.8 billion, and I believe that's a record.

[00:20:00] I believe that's where that's at right now. So, again, hopefully that will go up, which will help us get a little more funding from the state, but we shall see. Within the budget so far, there is teacher and staff compensation, so about $1 billion for compensation across all state employees, which includes educators.

[00:20:19] There is some language in there for a one-time bonus in FY26. That language right now is a bit confusing for many of us in the finance world. And so we are hopeful that when the amendments come through, there will be some language in there or at least something to kind of help quell some of the questions that we all have, what that's supposed to be.

[00:20:42] And so that would be effect for FY26 if it makes it through and gets approved. Additionally, and this has caused some contention amongst many school divisions, there's a 2% salary increase slated for FY2027 and FY2028.

[00:20:59] In previous years, it's been about 3%, and so you can imagine there's not a lot of happy folks in the education world right now. And so we'll see. We'll see if that stays the same. I anticipate that changing a little bit. I'm hopeful that it'll change a little bit, but we shall see.

[00:21:14] And so what does that mean for us? So for now, we, as always, we're going to plan to have competitive salaries within our region. That's always been our goal. I presented at the Ford meeting last year, what we've done over the last five years, and so we will continue that effort moving into FY2027.

[00:21:34] We are evaluating targeted adjustments to select salary scales and hourly rates just to improve more competitiveness over any areas that may have been addressed in other areas and perhaps we haven't met those yet and so we're going to take a look at that and see if there's anything that we need to do on our end also assessing opportunities to manage health care insurance calls while introducing new or expanded benefits again all this is dependent upon the revenue if we have enough revenue to do some things that we would like to do but we are trying to assess where opportunities are and see if there's things that we can do

[00:22:09] to help relieve some of the stress on our staff and then as always we're going to utilize the the latest calculation tool to determine our anticipated state revenue. We've already started doing and analyzing the state budget to see how we can utilize funding that's set aside so far.

[00:22:26] Here's the budget timeline. I'm sure you've seen this multiple times. So this is the second work session on January 20th. We are prepared to present or planning to present on the 24th. So we have about a month out to present the subcontinent's proposed budget. We will then have a public hearing on March 10th for the proposed budget in the CIP. As Dr. Sada mentioned earlier there will be a work session in between there for you to give you time to digest the budget book that we're going to provide to you, have any questions and then bring it down to the work session for a final markup.

[00:23:01] On the 24th we will hopefully adopt the school board budget and then we turn around very quickly and on the 25th we'll be presenting that budget to city council. So with that I will take any questions you may have so in the past when we've had these big changes to the budget it's really impacted the speed it the radar budget process goes it do we have any any knowledge yet as to whether or not this is going to be a quicker

[00:23:34] process or a slower process however we are under we are under like legal obligation to have a budget adopted right so you go through the process we will go with what we have and then as has been the norm unfortunately in the past several years there may need to be amendments if there are additional you know revenue as things get reconciled and so um i don't know that it'll be slow it's been so slow the last few years the the change in administration typically makes it slower but it's been so slow because of the back and forth with

[00:24:14] the general assembly and the governor the general assembly and the governor may be less contentious with one another now, so that part may be faster. So we might get more changes, but earlier on than we've had in the past few years. So it's a little hard to tell. Yeah, I'll be happy if they get an approval in March.

[00:24:30] That would be fantastic. And then slide, I think it's slide four, the funding for school construction in the state budget. Have we ever, do we receive, have we received funds? If I'm not mistaken, we received funding about $2 million or so for New Dean a year or two ago.

[00:24:49] we utilize to offset some of the costs for the planning and the and so um this cake at the school construction and state budget if there's more money available in the school construction in state budget we could get additional funds through that you do a grant grant okay I'm worried you would put in and apply and they have different priorities within those inside you would be would work with facilities and the superintendent of district color to figure out what the needs would be to put forward um based on what the prescriptions are right so this is very general

[00:25:27] they would then put out okay here's what the school construction grants are going to be for next year and here's how you apply and sometimes they're very prescriptive and sometimes and with a very narrow scope and not everybody fits into and sometimes they're more general and it's cool so certain projects have a higher score uh cte things like that because they are trying to expand some of those programs throughout the state all right thank you especially kind of piggybacking off of that people might be reading in the news about the one percent sales tax that they're debating allowing localities to impose for school construction and it's different that is different

[00:26:03] from this and that's also going to be you know they could allow that to happen but this the the localities will also have to do it as well. - They would have to decide whether to do it, right. So, that's, people are seeing that in the news so I want to make sure that it's that pretty good.

[00:26:20] So, my question, I have another question. You said the fiscal year '26, like right now where we're living's budget, there's something unclear about the bonus wording. Can you say a little bit more about what's unclear about it? - So, typically they would give, you know, an amount.

[00:26:38] We're gonna do 2,000 or 3,000 or whatever it might be. And in this case, they did a percentage. And so that, to me, would lead to inequity, because obviously then everybody's salaries are going to be even across the board. And so I can't imagine that that's something that's going to stay, because I just, you know, obviously people who are at a higher salary are going to then get a larger portion of that.

[00:27:01] And I don't know if that's the goal. And so, again, I can't speak for the former governor. But at this point in time, we haven't received a lot of information in terms of if that is going to stay the same, if that's going to change. And I just can't imagine that they would keep that in there, knowing that it could lead to some inequity in terms of who gets the budget and how much of the budget they get.

[00:27:21] Because it's a bonus. Yeah. Right. Which is a one-time fund. So that is something that, if we needed to, may have to go into our... I should add, at least in the current proposal, there is a match, a local match portion of that as well.

[00:27:37] That has not been the case in the past. And that's with the bonus? With the bonus. There have been questions put out, I'm sorry, there have been questions put out by us and many other jurisdictions. the state to get clarity and we haven't gotten them this may be related and not related again i really need to understand it so the support for school construction that's just for new school construction but could that be something that we could benefit from to bring this building

[00:28:12] enough to code so that we are able to use it as intended for the audit program? So it is not new school construction. It could be individual projects. It would depend on whatever guidance that they put out. So it all depends on which area they want to go in. Like I said, I think a lot of projects like the CTE related to those audit programs, those kind of things, potentially could get higher weighted scores and so it all depends on the guidance. There are a lot of rules to it so sometimes it has to be your CIP already so you can't just add

[00:28:51] something and then try to apply for it. So again when the guidance comes out we will always assess that and figure out there's ways for us to take advantage of it because we want to get as much funding as we can and we certainly want to get help with any of our construction projects. - Andy, remind me in refreshment was there $4 million to bring this building up to close the fire?

[00:29:10] - Closed, yes. - $4 million. I know that Senator Donna Caballon was going to advocate for us last year for that fire. And we're in session right now. Does anybody know if she could bring it forward?

[00:29:29] Okay, we put it in her ear that there's $4 million that could be invested in this building for us to me to have the All-Bed program here, where it belongs. Talked to some city councilors who believe that she is trying again.

[00:29:47] But I don't have any confirmation of that. But I also don't know that we haven't kind of moved on how that we bring it back.

[00:30:05] 4 million dollars. Ms. Seberg, then-- Back to the bonus thing. Has it been clarified? Is it all state employees? - It is all state employees.

[00:30:20] - Teachers and the staff. They typically provide funding for when there's a match to the SOQ funded position, the new fill in the gap, but the details beyond that have not been spelled out.

[00:30:36] - Going back to Danica and Rome and the all-tech history, very burned in my brain, I remember this very well. The idea was that Senator Rome was asking to fund the pilot program, two million dollars from that, And it was my understanding that when, you know, it died in committee or whatever it was, didn't move forward, that that was just the end of the state.

[00:31:01] Yeah, that was the end of what she was trying to do for us, for that program. And that my understanding is any expenses related to the program going forward is our response. So, I mean, we can always make an ask, but it's not, you know, it's not necessarily, we're not funding the pilot program at this point.

[00:31:24] We would be jumping tracks because it is about building maintenance. Now we're asking for help with a specific building, you know what I mean? And if we want to, or we're going to need to address the future location of all that at some point in our CIP because there's no turnkey place for it to go, and I don't think staying in Old Marsteller is the long-term solution.

[00:31:45] So at some point, we need to add this to our CIP and figure out how much we're willing to spend on that If it's a successful program, which actually leads me to my next question, unless somebody has a different take they'd like to be different.

[00:32:00] Did your question get answered initially? Well, not really, because it goes back to the CIP thing. I just think that we started something. It will be successful. It's something that our kids need, our students will benefit from, and we're just at a stop for $4 million.

[00:32:22] So either we advocate for our legislators to help us get that money, or we figure out a way to fit it in the budget to get the billed and approved, because that was one of the intended purposes of applying this bill.

[00:32:44] I agree with all that, but I don't think we have a clear path. No, that's okay. I just wanted to run into the forefront. We all want to see it happen. We all want to get it through. We have a couple different ideas on how to get there, and one day we're probably going to have to have a meeting for mine.

[00:33:02] But right now, the program has launched, and so, you know, results are also a big part of what's going to help us decide what the next move is. I didn't have a question.

[00:33:20] Speaking of building, have we thought about what our next steps with the old Jen and Dean building is, and whether or not we can ask them to use our fund balance to restore parts of it? I don't think that that's come up yet, but I mean, we're all kind of dancing around the same kind of ideas.

[00:33:39] Could maybe be the new location for all day, you know, in five years. There's a lot of things that we do need to put some things on. Even if we call it our 10-year CIP instead of our five-year CIP, we should all have a clearer vision about, you know, where we're going.

[00:33:56] but i think we need to put some you know we need to have input but we need to have some a lot of minds on it as well with a brand new governor we we just need a time to settle too just see how fast it fails just issuing a reminder that a 10-year cip for jenny dean is not going to work because currently um our cip state would be demolished next year so we've got to change but yeah you know um yes we've we've gone back and looked at some film on some previous meetings and

[00:34:33] you know we're we're trying to really nail down what promises actually were and weren't made and um and move forward once we're sure of the exact work anybody else yeah please the elephant in the room oh the moment that we touch one brick to do anything we have to

[00:35:04] raise that building up to current code you want to turn it into an ed program you also you have to change the zone zone of the elementary school and so you have to the special use permit special use permit is for an elementary school which was so you would have to well it is an r1 zone which is for single family homes actually honestly that's what it is though special use is

[00:35:42] for elementary changes secondary and you have to I know they spoke about a museum though. Is that something that would take as much time, effort?

[00:36:00] I mean, right now these are our decisions to be made, but we need to state them in such a way that we bring people along and they're buying. So could a museum be on the table? It could be, but no one's really able to tell us to do that.

[00:36:18] And all this needs to be handled with finesse. But, you know, I don't think it's terrible for us to be thinking about ways that we think it could be used because we are going to have to lay out some vision sooner rather.

[00:36:39] And I don't say that to discourage ideas, just this is our reality. Bringing it up to code would be more than $4 million, I assume. $18 million. $18 million. We can't find that.

[00:36:56] So, you know, but it's good to have this discussion and it's good to know some of these numbers, you know, and we do have to have a good vision about where we're headed with this. And, you know, we've got solid history on our side. So I see a lot of possibilities, but this board is going to have to be pretty clear and mostly in agreement about how to go forward in not an insignificant amount of time.

[00:37:32] I don't know if it was specifically on anybody's radar, but it hadn't dropped off anybody's radar either, so yeah, I mean, with head nods from staff, I think it's pretty near future work session, something you'd want to know about as you're going through this, is that not right, you guys?

[00:38:02] It is an election year, so we have three seats that they can for city council, so those who are running, they need to be able to support this $18 million, or at least meet us halfway.

[00:38:17] Well, and I do think there's appetite, you know, in theory, to help us, but there's a lot of information coming out of that body that, you know, they're strapped for money as well, so it's going to be interesting to see what the new governor can bring to table, and that's, you know, going to tell a a real story and not too long i mean well we could talk about it now i you know we part of our budget development process now i'm also going to put it out there if i heard the word museum you uh that

[00:38:57] we could always sell the historic portion of the building to the city and have them they have a museum system like let them operate it because we are and if that's the way for the taxpayers writ large to avoid paying for a code update and all this other kind of stuff and preserve the history of something that we can, I think, should seriously consider because I don't think it's just going to, yeah, this is a very, this is turning into kind of a complex thing because are we going to, for a 50-kid alternative program, save a 600 seat, you

[00:39:36] know, the entire 600 seat building, demolish only part of it, and what we do with the part we're saving we can't use it you know it's going to be preserved as a museum I don't think we should be the ones to do that like I don't hear that's not our we're not the museum business and we could offer um okay well this is a little bit of uncharted territory for me but I mean I'm ready to if we're allowed to just have kind of a shout out you know I mean I've heard CTE Center

[00:40:10] robotics center, you know, do you guys want to just go through all of the ideas and start at least ranking them? Do we have more we need to do on this? Yes. Oh, yeah. What about staff providing us with what our division needs and then us setting priority? That's a good idea.

[00:40:38] it seems like a really wise thing to do yeah I mean we wanted the right we're gonna come up with yeah I want to know what we need construction if everything was ideally with a magic wand the construction budget the grant that we would possibly get could cover the 18 million dollars is there a way to get

[00:41:12] funded so i will tell you based on past experience where the share we would be eligible for would not come close to 18 million dollars i mean it it's small it's smaller amounts because that the debt 500 million dollars is statewide and it's proportioned out by size so um the last time yeah okay thank you for putting that the largest the current in its current structure 30 percent would be the most that they fund for projects we would have to fund here with 70 percent

[00:41:49] just want to make sure i'm clear with what i type you uh but when you say a list of needs for the division that for the use of old deeds it's cip things like fixing this building fixing dean or not fixing dean and cte center robotics competition oh i see i thought you meant like district like what we like the school they do provide well yeah but this would

[00:42:24] just be mostly in relation to how we could up portion the space that be well with some mention of this building and future school and I want to cover the record we say on 50 students for the all-good program but it's not just 50 students it's 50 students for the initial pilot program but this is a program that we want to establish here so in the next 10 years in the next 20 years is going to be way more than 50 students that we will be serving um i mean i think it there could be some ebb and flow there you know

[00:43:03] we have nine schools you know i don't imagine 20 percent of any nine schools you know are going to albeit all dads, we'd have a different kind of problem then, but there would be some level up.

[00:43:19] We would also be here also our hope is that we'll serve more than 50 students this year because psychokism now, so we hope that we'll touch more than just 50 students, make the students that are fine, but as they become successful and move back to their base schools, then that we move back and then a new student can move in, so we're touching more than that.

[00:43:42] It's okay. We're all just, I mean, correcting each other to talk the same language. So that is something that you think that you would give us some parameters.

[00:44:00] I also think you need some community input. I mean, I think a lot of people are thinking, or asking, what's going on with Dean? But, I mean, we're not tapping people to fall off. And with the community, don't make money. I mean, I don't know if you don't know.

[00:44:15] we're feeling like this portion is wrapped up I've got like another it which does everyone feel like we need to do the summary of revenues and that was the FY25 well it's really it's actually related to all that because you guys are

[00:44:53] this is now our responsibility it's going into our operating we have fund balance infusion was FY 26, which is now about FY 27. So here's my question. This is a pilot program. We're supposed to be deciding whether or not to continue it depending on the results of the program.

[00:45:12] However, we are going to be voting on this budget by March 24. So how are we-- The issue is we weren't able to start on that. So personally, it's too quick to have a turnaround on day 24.

[00:45:34] It's successful.

[00:45:35] that's the question is you know if it's going into the operating budget seven

[00:46:17] seven hundred fifty thousand is almost a one percent raise for everybody so or it's almost like it is paper is putting it out there but we're making the decision now whether or not the program okay um so what is the typical timeline

[00:46:50] for when the division is adding a new program such as this to determine whether it's accessible or not I would think it would need to be more than a year I mean That's my personal opinion, but how long does it take to know if something's successful?

[00:47:08] I think a couple years, but we don't have a couple years running. You've got to make that decision. Superintendents proposed budgets will have it in there. That's our code.

[00:47:26] Don't mess with it, but when it's presented, I believe in the program. Leave this ground. Have a positive. We have to see it. I was just going to mention about, I mean, Dara was talking about paid parental leave, And I also mentioned about the staff positions that we wanted to add, but we didn't have the money to do.

[00:47:50] I would like to circle back to those things when we're, you know, looking at the budget from our perspective, because it wasn't that we didn't agree with those things, we just didn't have the money. So it might be something that we need to make sure that's added if we're able to, especially pay parental leave, because I believe that will be a boost in, you know, with our staff and them staying.

[00:48:15] And I know some sentiments were the reason why they looked elsewhere for other jobs. It's because we did not offer enough paper or anything. Right. And I feel like that may come with the FY27 budget update, assessing opportunities to manage health insurance costs, excuse me, introducing more expanded benefit offerings with paid parental leave all under that category.

[00:48:46] That is one of the things that we are assessing. see again all this is right right because I remember we we we've had quite you robust conversations about it and I think conversations definitely been paid parental leave and the cost of health insurance and you know expanding benefit offering because we know things at the federal level assistance with

[00:49:21] insurance is dropping off whereas community individual need doesn't so i just it's so fortunate that it we're mentioning two things that are really important for us to cover but separately saying that we can pull the funding or that we should be thinking about the funding that we already were promised or committed to doing with the open program to pay for parental leave

[00:49:59] it's just saying that we need to allow the kids to absorb the cost and i think that it's not just unfair but it doesn't show that we are putting forth accountability if we need to make decisions we need to make decisions but not at the cost of students who need the most help the most helpful service i i think there was a miscommunication there because the money that i was saying was i I just wanted to make sure when we talk about budget that obviously Alt-Ed, I'm very in

[00:50:35] support of Alt-Ed, but in addition, making sure we're taking care of our staff as well. I think that's a fair consideration, but not in lieu of. No, definitely not in lieu of, no. Not at all. Clarify my own position.

[00:50:53] I am also still currently in favor of the Alt-Ed program. I was attempting to clarify for the group the timeline of things that were happening and questions that might come up in terms of well pilot programs so hard you know I want everybody to think about those things are accountable to our public and need to be able to explain why things are happening the way they are I'm happy to continue it for fiscal year 27 but every budget decision you make no separate tax and authority is a decision that means we don't do something else and I

[00:51:30] I do prioritize our students, so I continue to prioritize all that like the many upsets house this program has taken in its short lifespan.

[00:51:46] But that's something we all need to keep in mind all the time is that we have no separate taxing authority. The revenues that are handed to us are handed to us and we've got to just move it around and make do. uh i would also like to see a paid parental leave scenario gained in you know what we consider next if that was something that came up last year and it does seem to be basically back the market uh but that would be doing that does come at these you know because it comes at the expense of something else so let's just make sure we have all of our options thank you i appreciate everyone

[00:52:23] clarifying um you know we've had some close start with all debt but i think we all are committed i still i don't want to get beat up too bad but you know i still believe that it's something that we could if it was one ask that's something that we could still ask the council to help us with funding of second half of the year for all fed you know i i realized your recollection was a little

[00:52:55] different than mine but um still my understanding that whether it was at a two-on-two meeting maybe not in front of the whole board maybe not at a joint session but words were spoken that if you bring me a program if you bring us a program that you guarantee will work we will find the money for it those were words that were spoken um and i'm trying to figure out if it's never been documented that way um but you know to me this is a can't fail proposition and so um it's a finite

[00:53:33] amount of money and it buys a little extra time and it's you know less than what they've given us extra in the past um but i'm not gonna go forward with that no matter how strongly i feel about it without the approval you know board so um we can try the danica route we can try the city council riot i mean i encourage us to try every route that we can because we have valid needs and to me you know it's about uncovering that money you know and making justifications for it over other

[00:54:12] people because that's what it is when you go to city council they've got the same you know they've got social services they've got fire and rescue so you know we have to make our case but um we've done it before and i think we could do it again if we're reasonable um but you guys felt really strongly against that in our last meeting that came up so i i'm gonna try one more time to get you on board but if you say no that you don't feel their responsibility to help us with it then you have to honor what you say i'm sorry i don't miss that who's not responsible well it was just

[00:54:51] the last work session we met our retreat at our retreat thought that four people said that they understood it to be solely our responsibility that we were allowed to use fun balance to start alt ed and that their understanding from city council was that it was our job then to absorb the rest of the program going forward and that was not my my my understanding was that they were allowing us to use two two million from our fund balance but that they wanted to see regular updates because

[00:55:26] they were interested in and felt a commitment to helping us see it through i feel like it was a little bit of vote well i've heard that i really do because i know i i heard what you heard but i also heard a little bit of what you heard that well right now it's in our hands but we want you to keep us appraised of what's going on because maybe if we can hold really well yeah i mean there is a cost to asking though in terms of we have here you know building that we purchased for

[00:56:02] 11 million dollars that not everybody was happy that we purchased that we can't even use for the purpose that we represented uh purchasing it for the actual right we have that fully utilized right we did have some measure of public dialogue and there is not going to be the only person out there i'm not going to be the only person out there who remembers it this way that this was a one-time permission to use the fund balance because the fund balance is is we're not supposed to keep

[00:56:36] going back in there to fund salaries and ongoing expenses that's for fiscal management and discipline and i feel like it's just gonna especially if we are going to need to make an ask for four million dollars out of that fund balance to upgrade this building or you know help with getting the jenny Dean's site up to snuff to host the program permanently we have a lot of asks in front of us here and each one I mean we're not gonna get everything we need to be strategic and I just think it's a bad I just think it's a bad idea

[00:57:15] for us to turn around and try to ask to fund our salaries again through the fund balance like that it's a fiscal no-no and I just don't I don't want to do it I want to be accused of doing it and being bad at fiscal management like i think that we should reserve our asks for what we're really going to need it for which is finding a permanent home no i'm asking for i mean uh in in the past they have given us three percent plus x and you know

[00:57:51] we're hearing that there's probably not going to be a plus x issue so to me this is a legitimate you know lower cost ask that it's that they have committed to believing in this program you know and helping us see it through it's not a permanent home it's you know it's a shared responsibility or a shared realization that we got started mid-year and now we have to you know we're not going to stop a program in the middle of next year so it's a help to get us through

[00:58:25] a full year to make sure that we can then make assessments on the efficacy of our plan which i think is going to be stellar you know but we do need time dr jones sorry oh no you're fine you know i think it's something we have to do so it has to be whether document is getting budget and you know they'll be there and that's you have to pay for it we have to pay for it but i don't think it hurts to ask them for money i mean you can ask all over half of it but there's no problem in asking them will you help us do this because like i said it is something that's needed but we know

[00:59:04] it's something that will be successful i don't think it hurts to say well i mean there could be a cost to it but you know the question is what what would be the other priority if it wasn't that this month um so i know when we were talking we talked about it wasn't necessarily that we didn't want to ask city council we wanted it to be embedded in our budget so that way it was an ongoing expense and so i thought that we were all in agreement with that and it was more of like we are in agreement we want to support this and that they ask of us being able to use our fund

[00:59:43] budget for that one-time payment or one time was just to get us rolling get it started um but in in addition to that if we are really like some of us want to ask why are we not asking for that four million if we want to use this building at you know for the intended purpose i mean that to me would make more sense um we you know we will take care of the salaries and all of that but no pointing fingers but it definitely was something that we intended to use and we were not able to because of technicalities and all other kinds of thing um but as you mentioned um and i wanted to go back

[01:00:23] to this because i know miss stevens had mentioned this when we were kind of dealing with um funding with taiwan and all of that have we thought about the food insecurities for our school district because we still don't know if we're going to get all the money that we normally get for you know feeding our students free and clear with lunch and dinner so that could be also something we need to think about. I know it was 750, I think you had mentioned the last one we talked about it, but I'm thinking about that as well.

[01:00:54] So all that is definitely important, but we have to also remember those other things that we weren't able to tackle or put aside last time. If I could just respond to that. Who's first? Okay. So, alright, so I was perhaps misinterpreting what the ask was.

[01:01:12] I thought we were going to ask for something else. Okay, so we're not. The ask is for operating, additional operating. So this is what, close my eyes, what we are, well, not me, but is being envisioned, is that the superintendent develops a budget without all of that in it, and then we go to city council and ask for an operating, for an additional, above the 3% in order to continue, and then

[01:01:47] if they say no, we have to go, then we have to revise the budget and put that in and take a raise or something else away. That's how that's going to go. If they say no, which they very well might. Are you asking? I'm asking. And are we okay with that change? So my vision is that we do keep it, we put it in our budget, but we let them know that it offsets other needs. And the reason that this particular project is different than any other project that we have is because of, again, some

[01:02:25] keywords that were spoken, you know, we went and looked at other sites initially for where Altec could be before it ever seemed conceivable that we could buy this building. So this talk, behind the scenes talk, you know, I tried to draw out a joint session as best I could, you know, and got a lot of confirmation about their understanding and agreement with this as a priority but um when we went and looked at these other places i mean there was just so much there's so much talk about data center money and money that could be coming down

[01:03:02] the pike and you know envisioning so i mean a lot of this stuff isn't on the record but but the gist of the of the of the situation was you bring us something that is sure to work and we will find the money so this isn't this does not you know convey to any idea it conveys to me to a very specific idea that there is a commitment it's not just a willy-nilly you can ask for x y or z they're never going to give us more money for this building there you know i mean there are

[01:03:38] things i just don't see but this is a reasonable amount of money for a project that was conceived but between essentially both bodies there was buy-in for both bodies and there's a i believe a reason that we need you know help to keep it going and and so no we would never leave it out of the budget because we need to do it but we can make it very clear to them that these are the other three other things we could fund if they could find their way that's my thought

[01:04:20] So this is just a thought that there's no anything behind it right now, but we do have a space that has been deemed to be of historical importance. We know, and I'm not saying anything should, just something we can think about, we know that in the past, the city has desired that property.

[01:04:49] In other places, deals have been made between governing bodies to offset costs by selling something to one party in exchange for something from another party.

[01:05:05] Because we know Jenny Dean, portions of Jenny Dean are of historical importance. They're of historical value. We, as a school division, do not have and will not have funds to restore that property.

[01:05:23] said property to be restored appropriately the city would need to do that i'm wondering and this is just very high level in my head i'm wondering about the potential to work with the city to make it so they can have use develop a jenny dean working museum a jenny dean industrial school living museum and it offsets our cost for however we want to continue with all that

[01:06:04] i mean that's just food for that i'm not saying it's good i'm not saying it's bad it's something to think about because we have a lot of moving pieces here and we have a whole lot of unknown we don't know what the budget's going to be we don't know what kind of grants are going to be available for construction we don't know how city council is going to respond to an additional ask. We don't know exactly. We're going to present a budget that's based on Governor Youngkin's budget, but we don't know how much that is going to change and what we'll have to pivot, what we may have to exclude, what we may be able to include. So in some

[01:06:41] ways, having a long-term conversation can be a little bit difficult when we have so many unknowns. Okay. I can appreciate the conversations we're having about all these other things that are important, but shouldn't we wait to receive the budget presented by the superintendent before we go making decisions about what's more important?

[01:07:11] Well, I think you've already worked. Aren't you already doing the $750,000? I think we were wondering. No, because I think we were wondering whether or not we were going to ask for more money from the city about specifically halt ed.

[01:07:29] I think that was kind of the discussion. not necessarily whether or not you add it to the budget but that's what at least that's what i was under the understanding um it was proposed i think it was you chair and i think it was you that said let's put it in there 750 and just ask when the time comes just ask so that if there are things that we need to offset they can help us with that i think that's a fair um fiscally

[01:08:07] responsible thing to do because it is a program it's what we believe in and in the long term I think we really need to think about how much support are we going to need it for a pilot program if we're a pilot program I think you will need another first year we can get data but really if we want to know how something works I'm just telling you my experience is a cycle of at least three years if you asked we really need to know so we need to perhaps consider covering this for the first three years to see if it worked and asking every year for

[01:08:46] assistance that way they know they they want assistance for at least three years and then we can run on our own so that's my thinking and then the other part of this is I don't know again very elementary today I don't know what's happening to me today but as far as I understand the City Council is gonna demolish that building so I don't know if we need to get don't know if we're going to need representation i don't know where we are with our jurisdiction of what say we have in the outcome that is going to be for jenny dean um because i was not there when

[01:09:21] the deals were made um so and i tried to dig through all of the notes and all the meetings but i haven't found a place where either body agreed to do or not do something with jenny dean so that was conclusive so i don't know if talking about jenny dean and buying a museum giving them a museum half in the building or what have you is even something that we need to consider because i don't know where we are with that as far as do we owe do we own it we did the property yeah the school board the city of manassas owned it if i may just one moment i saw miss brecha then i saw

[01:10:00] but Dr. Newman, I think, can weigh in on this answer just to get everybody on the same page. My brain's a little clearer. SUP, when we first started, the stipulation was put in that it had to come down.

[01:10:18] 18 months of the new building opening, unless you could come in, I think it was September of that year, to present to them, to get their approval, to run something in that building. that building then they put a historical study study came back that the building does have historic value then at that point they put the ball back in your it's our building

[01:10:56] i mean they want us to do it back to you it's now so demolition is off the favor unless we decide we can still do that yeah it's up to us but whatever happens it's power building yet again um and and just to reset it'll be miss breja then um seabird but i do want to acknowledge that they helped move us into a space you know there has been no one's going to say we haven't already been assisted by the city for this program you know so um it's not like they've been hands off

[01:11:30] they helped us get started as soon as possible um and so you know i just want to make sure for all the record here in the bar that you know we acknowledge that we have been helped by the city already but um you know they're and and for a nominal fee you know they have not asked us for anything um so there is skin in the game can you tell me how much about building what is the value

[01:12:03] that we're operating under with respect to Virginia Dean's like contained many contradictions and unbeatable deadlines in terms of like you had to come up with a plan by September but there was also that historic review and blah blah blah blah and the ins and outs don't really matter so much as now that it is and they made it clear in the last joint session we had that it was our

[01:12:42] decision. I was just going to remind everybody if you don't remember from last year but generally when the budget is presented you know the budget's all presented but then there's sometimes a few slides of unfunded needs. Right. So yeah the 750 is in there I like that but then we can spell out all the unfunded needs. Well that's what I was mentioning because the things that I've been mentioning are unfunded needs that we weren't able to cover. Do you mind if we take a risk?

[01:13:15] How much more do we have? Okay let's just hear from Ms. Brown and then we can decide. I just want to know the value of that building if anybody has an idea. talking about selling parts of it i'm not saying you should i'm just saying that you know to put more things out on the table i'm meant to ask dr newman i would love your advice or wisdom about what you think about all that the you know the direction is should we even consider you know

[01:13:54] spending that four million to come back here or are you thinking that more stellar or what was your thoughts on that I would like to yeah and so do you think though it would be wise for us to ask for money so that we can come back here or is that

[01:14:33] something we shouldn't even really think about i don't feel comfortable telling you what to do okay all right i i just wonder what you know because you have more information i think about the ins and outs of this of course we are going to make decisions but i would like to know and we have asked for a staff list of cfp right yeah i mean cfp projects that could yeah this is a job Yes, I'm $4 million, and I can have the excuse this year.

[01:15:07] That's what, and I, no, I, well, you know, $4 million to come back here, because that was the original reason why we all voted yes for this building. But one of the main reasons, obviously, we wanted our own building, but for that. And so I feel kind of sad that it didn't happen, but if it's $4 million, maybe that is something we should consider asking maybe city council for.

[01:15:28] I'm still, I'm still saying that. I am, I am, so, or even half. And we were not ever planning to stay in this building. I mean, once we scaled up, is that correct? This was the temporary home. It wasn't for long term.

[01:15:45] Okay. So we've kind of already, the ship's already sailed. Okay. And there's more room, you know, to scale up. Is that, I don't want to speak out to turn it at the community center. We're not supposed to stay more stellar anymore. If you go back to the March 26th joint meeting, you see that, yes, we started talking about 40 to 60, but the goal eventually to expanding the program.

[01:16:14] The 40 to 60 program was going to be here, and if we could expand it, it couldn't be here, basically. 40 to 60 is where we were.

[01:16:35] Okay, that was our point. And I'm sorry, I still feel like I'm missing something here with Jenny Dean because I remember them saying that it was going to cost so much in the next 10 years to keep the building running and that the cost was too much.

[01:16:55] And that's why demolition was the best fiscally responsible thing for us to consider. So I think before we start going, like my grandmother used to say, running like chickens without head, we need to know the value of that building.

[01:17:10] We need to know whether or not it's feasible for us to even have the $18 million to bring it up to code to run anything or if we could sell parts of it to us that cost and whether or not in the budget for the next two years there might be some pockets of money based on new monies that come that we could put in place for fixing.

[01:17:42] So I think I just need the full picture to see what can be done and what can not be done. So I want to give you a little historical background. When we were going through the different options, the board was going to make a decision to present to you.

[01:18:03] We had put in an order to have an appraisal of the building. Once we got the SUP that said it's coming down, we canceled the order. so we would just have to redo the order but that is what you said. We have Downey, but Downey it's got from July 18th 2018. Yes, you still have it, but you might even have it.

[01:18:37] Send it back to me. It's not there for me. With this Virginia Tech study, though, like, everything changed about the way everybody thought about the building, so there was a moment in time where what you're saying was a hundred percent true but then they found you know an immense amount of historical

[01:19:13] reference to this building that made it you know of interest to you know historian local folks you know it it magnified the need to keep the building and so the need was demonstrated it was magnified it was laid out before us by the city staff and then the building was gifted back to us to make it metaphorically yes so you

[01:19:47] know now it all of the threats to tear it down are negated but there there's you know everybody's going you know you pay for it you pay for it and that's in writing somewhere i don't know you know elementary i just i just i like clean business i agree uh i don't know what's in writing i mean they're not going to demolish that it is ours to do whatever The last thing in writing is actually the SEP, who is verbal.

[01:20:21] Yes, I recall a series standing at the top of the room saying this is the school board's building. It's in the minutes. It should be in the minutes.

[01:20:37] Well, it's in the video. In the video. Oh, no, that video didn't happen. That's the day that they had difficulties with the video. I think we need to get this in writing and notarize this. That's the day that the public was upset because it wasn't televised.

[01:20:57] They had issues with the video. I'm trying to remember. I know. A lot of people called me and I'm like, "I thought we were being recorded." Like, I didn't even know. So, you have a regular standing meeting. Oh, boy. we can have another one yeah it's totally fair point yeah I'm sorry that we

[01:21:25] didn't dismiss does anyone else have anything else so the state you guys have access of DECAM. Our enrollment fell, but our LCI went the correct direction.

[01:21:53] Our LCI went the correct direction. The LCI change is beneficial to us. Our enrollment was not beneficial. It's not beneficial. Our in-house Monassas City enrollment was not beneficial. So how how how big of a how did we work out in the end we put in that campus? Did the increase in our the decrease in our LCA or did our favorable LCI outweigh the balance of the unfavorable enrollment or are we looking at

[01:22:30] a situation where our state what we qualify for for the state so so with the current calculation tool when you take all things into account including the decrease in enrollment but the change in LCI there's Boba pass-through money because you get some money that goes right back to them. It wouldn't be below what we would have anticipated, but with the current projections it's not much more. So we're hoping that there would be changes that would lead to increased balance.

[01:23:05] So it's kind of a wash, if that makes any sense. So we're not getting, and if our enrollment had increased and our LCI had been favorable then that would have been more safe, but we're not in that situation. But it's not devastating. If they put, but if in the budget, in the new, like you heard talk of that the budget only included a 2% salary increase from the state, the more that, you know, that if that increases with the new governor's budget, then those things would have anything to direct aid, the balance of the impact of the change in the LCI gets magnified.

[01:23:40] Correct. What I went over was just, again, what's currently there for K-12. There are also tax cuts in there for businesses, things that can be adjusted by the new governor that would, if that funding didn't utilize for K-12, would increase allocations for all schools.

[01:23:57] And it's magnified by the fact that our LCI improved for us, slightly. But if the governor's budget includes additional funds for us, and like raises, that's for SOQ-funded positions, and that usually requires us to match.

[01:24:18] So we would then still have to pay additional, have more in the budget to cover. Like, let's say they went from 2% to 4%. What we cover would go up as well. Correct. So they kind of offset each other regardless.

[01:24:33] Yes, he said it better than I did with the other things that could be magnified by the LCI in terms of other pieces that impact your update. So our enrollment is not an issue this year. Long term, if we were to continue to drop enrollment, because it takes time for those things.

[01:24:51] Remember, he talked about the re-benchmarking, so it sets kind of a new baseline. And so if enrollment were on a downward trajectory and a steep downward trajectory, which it is, I would not say it's anything steep, then that could have an impact long term. but in the short term it's not a there wasn't a cliff has the enrollment hit our schools i feel like it it might be impacting our schools differently because when i went to visit haven they told me 89 versus like 130 fourth graders and that's that's a cliff to me that's a huge cliff so it's different in different it is different in different schools in different

[01:25:29] grade levels kindergarten was lower this year kindergarten was lower um and so we will see what that does for next year there's birth cohort things that um are um you know are like trends right both birth cohort trends but they don't hit all of our because of where they live it doesn't hit each school um the same so hayden we know was that our for kindergarten this year i mean i guess it's not our problem with this year 27 but just something i guess yeah it's something but what we would do is the way we would project for that we become more conservative with the projection

[01:26:08] of what you would um for finishers that would decrease your teachers though as well so that's a huge decrease i mean 89 kindergartners unless they are placed you know a 600 seat school turns into a 400 seat school i mean that's a huge huge yeah and speaking of that she just said it's not hidden that way across the board that one school one grade level is not looking the same that's what

[01:26:39] And that's why you look at the staffing things over time, and you figure it, and then the expenses, if there are, when there are vacancies, if you don't need to fill as many, then that does offset the salary component also. So it is a very real thing to be paying attention to. I'm not trying to minimize it. It's a very real thing to be paying attention to.

[01:26:58] It becomes a bigger thing over time if you see more than one year of a blip. Yeah, but we take that into consideration when we're considering what to be putting into the budget. I was just going to ask, with building the new school, are we seeing that there's going to be those changes when the students transfer over to the new school?

[01:27:20] Like, are we going to be able to fill all the seats at Jenny Dean? No, we were never. Okay. Are we doing, like, rerouting then? I mean, how is that? Redistrict. Redistrict. It was built to be 300 students. Oh, 300 more. Oh, that's a lot.

[01:27:41] Right. I guess we have to wait there until we see how our building, like we're doing that whole building study. Right, the building study. Yeah, that's going to tell us a lot.

[01:28:07] Anybody else? Do I miss any hands? I just have questions on, I think it's slide six. So salary increases that remain competitive within the region, good.

[01:28:27] then the second slot the second bullet was kind of interesting to me because traditionally we don't and we kind of go back and forth every year in terms of how we could or should approach this because do we just give everybody the same right you know to give every give all instructional the same people you have been the same or are we going to break it out by bands and things like that so use so what sounds like we're deciding on targeted this year what we're looking at is making sure as mr. Kelly said that if you recall back two years

[01:29:02] ago we made we caught we made some adjustments to parts of the scale to be competitive so looking at that looking at different groups taking everything into consideration and looking to see what other folks have done what other folks have said they're going to be doing to see if we fall further behind in particular areas to to address that if possible like we did a couple years ago so targeting is the way it is the direction but it would never be taking away the concept of universal like this is to look at ways to catch things up

[01:29:39] yeah and that was the frustrating part about those conversations people saying things were different because we realized that our bus drivers had one before right so we addressed that but while addressing that we also had a standard for sitting back that everyone could see um we fixed steps one through four and one but excited but kept the

[01:30:13] razor this just in writing what we had been doing well i mean going back back i mean going back back I remember it was, no, we're doing, I feel like this has kind of evolved over time, because I remember my very, I feel like my very first budget cycle, it was a certified scale, like everybody gets the blanket percent.

[01:30:39] I'm happy to target, I have a target, but just want to get it. Another question I had, is part of the calculation you guys are going to be making, our retainer that we pay to Sands-Anderson, calculating that against the cost of hiring an in-house attorney, because I feel like we used a lot of our retainers.

[01:31:05] San Sanderson this year to the point where that might we might be crossing yes in the last two years there's been a increase but is that going to be the law it's not it's not in the budget that is being presented to you right now I mean it's not worth it I do think it's worse it is worth the

[01:31:40] conversation we can get the information out about it if you don't add it this cycle I don't think hard quiet anyone else have anything else I think it's been pretty productive

[01:32:09] and it shows you know I mean can I just make sure I am on the same page with the all the thing so seven hundred fifty thousand is staying in the budget to continue the program and then what's happening next with respect to four million here Jenny like I'm not really clear like I'm not really on a page at all about it. I think we're closing the door to having the event here and that would mean we

[01:32:44] wouldn't ask for the four million because we're not yet. So we're trying to find a permanent location. That would be like our next thing. I don't think you guys came to an agreement. Yeah, that's what I mean. I don't think that's still on the team. I just, I mean, if we're using the guidance that you said that like the four million was for this was only a temporary location so it does make sense to not come back here because it was only going to be temporary anyway so i don't

[01:33:20] know how long we were going to live in the 40 to 60 right right to be able to afford to branch out so i don't want that's tough to say okay what is your your vision though like um more what is the top or the max that you're looking for this program to materialize right now you're at the 40 to 60 right but like let's say 40 or so now what is your idea you think that it's going to max to do I have funding for a new building

[01:33:58] yes just say you have the funding for the building with how many kids I could envision another 40 to 100 I'm just writing it down just to hear you you know what I'm just It's good for us to hear that, you know, especially if we're proposing them helping us so they know where our vision is, too.

[01:34:21] It's also, in my perfect world, we would grow the program to a place where we wouldn't need independence, but that is way down the road. Right, because this is an addition to independence, so that means more like 125.

[01:34:38] And we're so new, we just, it's hard to, you can't bank on who's going to need special. And even if this wasn't the, I don't know, $4 million for this might end up being our best option.

[01:35:02] Like, and that might be just something that we have to deal with. But I don't really know what we settled on in terms of, I mean, is the facility study we're doing, is the old bean building included in that? we made decisions based on information we had it the OD was in we got a price tag that was not something that we can bite right now so it came out and then

[01:35:41] we were going to break up the study over several years to manage the funding pizza so I guess I don't understand how we are supposed to make a decision about it like I feel like we have to figure out we have to figure out something with Jenny Dean right like whether it's coming down or not or if it's feasible and all that site or not or something I'm just gonna say with the formula and we're using to do the upgrades needed here the reason those upgrades are

[01:36:19] needed is because there's a school in the building but we're not gonna have a school here a long time why would we spend four million dollars doing oh no I was saying if we were gonna bring it here that was what I was saying I was talking about the 4 million to bring it up to code so that we can bring it here but if that's not on the table at all yeah that was just my thought was if we were going to go to the city we could ask them for that so that we could bring it here but i've said it a couple times i will we only made 4 million kids are in the building right right that's because we spent so much money on it it's like to me like a waste i'm sorry i don't i didn't see it that way i saw the purchase

[01:36:55] of this building is making a permanent home for our central office having the pilot program here was just too extra good it wasn't the reason why i would not find a good one but i know we spent money on remodeling it so that was where i was i was thinking yeah the time and energy we spent if i'm not mistaken you can envision other ways to use that they just turn it out or use it

[01:37:25] no kids can be no teaching kids only five kids right five kids motion to adjourn

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