e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e for e e e e e e e good evening hollon and welcome to a special uh March uh was it 27th 2024 meeting of the hallson finance I'm sorry the hollon school committee wow it's going to feel like the finance committee um we are here mainly to uh go over the budget uh just to by way of those uh curious why we're having this meeting uh today um due to scheduling of when we present to the finance committee and have some other things going before the select board we need to get this um meeting in before we uh meet again next week on on the 4th so and just for those at home I'll remind everyone later the fourth is our budget um hearing so um for anyone with any questions about the budget after tonight uh we will email this out as also uh next week is is the week so uh let's move in do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda um I have a question is is there anything for Grants and gifts that we needed to approve for tonight Mr buay no you can Sho are you certain of that Mr yes not nothing made it in before the meeting before the deadline so we'll do it next week is it is is there something you that's going to be problematic week okay we take a break before wej and we'll see we can always take okay okay um so I just got a call today so I just asked them to call Mr guda to check to see whether or not so we will approve the consent agenda except for the grants and gifts and we can return to that if we get more information thank so a motion to approve the consent agenda as amended go ahead by second all in favor that carries six to nothing uh thank you all me individual comment yes Amanda um I just wanted to say that um we the school committee are having our third office hours tomorrow night at 700 p.m. via zoom and um anyone can join to ask questions about the budget follow from tonight or anything else um or if you have a non-budget related question that's fine too um the zoom the zoom links can be found on the school committee website as well as I will post them tomorrow on hollon happy and hollon bulletin board or you can always email one of us okay and it is 7 to 8:30 and it's you me and who you me and Minnie okay are you going text Minnie she already is aware okay anyone else I uh I will be attending a the legislative breakfast tomorrow with Dr Kusa uh and we'll be asking and begging and pleading for for money um so um looking forward to to that also just I think on to next uh last week but uh Newsies the Rams production starts April 5th um I believe they may be sold out or close to sold out but if not please buy tickets um and I I am biased um so any public comments no public comments so moving on uh Dr Berard You' had something about the student Opportunity Act that we need to vote on before we get to the main event good evening everyone let me get to this let's see here I'm [Music] sorry you bear with me just a second how do I send this again sh it's how do you present in canand yeah how do I sh share okay present yes okay thank you sorry for the technical difficulty I have a really short presentation for the school committee tonight um it's about the student Opportunity Act let's go over so just give you some background the SOA was enacted in 2019 and they were really having districts focus on students with the greatest needs and in Holliston those students are students with disabilities and multilanguage Learners um this s SOA also had a provision in it that every district has to set clear targets for improving those disparities we're required to implement evidencebased strategies and I'll get to that in just a little bit in order to meet those targets and these supplement Chapter 70 funds okay there is a difference between a district strategic plan and an SOA so that strategic plan is the full set of strategies that the district is going to implement to support all but the S SOA plan is addressing a subset of students and how you're going to improve their um educational opportunities okay so desie now is requiring us to have ebps which stands for evidence-based programs and those are used to drive the improvements for that group of students and D's also provided recommended menu of metrics that districts can choose from to include in our plans and I will talk about the ones that fit hollon we're also looking at outside input so we looked at strategic plan just to remind you guys that that committee um was consisted of Select board chair um Town manager parents students school committee memb members District admin and then teachers and there was also focus group feedback we're also looking at Audits and reviews conducted by desie um we had a curriculum review there was feedback n ask the re review our tiered Focus monitoring reviews as well as our Equity audit and then finally the parent survey from the math curriculum uh review Taking that all into account we looked we are looking at two f areas the top part of both of these boxes are literally word for word from the Desi document so I do want to read this and make sure um you understand if you have any questions so one Focus area is Select and skillfully Implement high quality and engaging instructional materials that support culturally and linguistically sustaining practices and Foster deeper learning so that is all currently taking place in our curriculum review process and it will o be taking place in our curriculum adoption process remember we're using that curate rated curate rated also includes those items in there um we also would be meeting that with our early literacy screening and support so those would be our evidence-based programs for that Focus area another Desy Focus area that hon um would like to look at is implementing a multi-tiered system of supports mtss you've heard Jerry El talk about that a lot and just Speedy that helps all students progress both academically and in their social emotional and behavioral development Jerry El's talked to you um about this so we are looking at using that data dashboard uh Dan McLoud has to to identify student strengths and needs matching students with appropriate supports and mentoring progress so that would be the evidence evidence-based programs we would use to meet that Focus area I will need a report out on it also get feedback from community members and Comm and uh School Committee Member uh members every year which is different than the process was in the past I did not need to get community feedback or school committee so what I'm looking at tonight is for the school committee to vote in support of these two Focus areas that were identified by desie but I've given you the examples of Hollis how Holliston would meet those Focus areas any questions for okay people ready to make a motion and vote in which case I would entertain a motion to approve the focus areas um and PS uh as per the presentation by Berard for the uh SOA the um the student OPP second all in favor thank you very much one more thing the yes um while you're looking at dat I know didn't mention I don't know if you were looking at it but we still do all I know it's a couple years old now but the Strategic plan data is a pretty like meaty set if you ever wanted to look at that too absolutely thank you for bringing that up again remind everyone that it's there yes thank you thank you for your support thank youbody starting late we 7 minutes ahead of schedule on on the uh schedule what I dve to do um we will move on to the budget good bring that up um so tonight we will be presenting the H School commit budget subcommittee's fiscal year 25 recommended budget uh I'll say before we we get into it um that um this is not where I was hoping that we would be I uh this is this is not the budget that I was hoping to to present with uh some really difficult choices that we're going to have ahead of us so um it's uh this is tough so um moving forward um just to put our budget in a little bit of context uh if go like it's picking up a different FR screen I'm going to reshare you know what do you what you know what I'm just going to get out is that screwing you up I don't know I'm just leaving let me just open it up again there I'm off totally out of it why do I have two different things showing up here let me try the other screen that's weird because I'm not even I know I don't know why it's doing that I just had it and open it up twice I don't have the right presentation that's what was in the folder so let me go back present in the folder is the FF right f p 327 24 this is it right 3 mhm that's 414 Yep this is what I have in the folder I don't know why cuz you're going side to side don't go side to side okay it's coming up sorry about that it's also a power it's also a PD that's why I think I thought it was a PowerPoint so all right pull back up okay there we go full screen I think you have to download it too I think that's [Music] probably I'm going to stop that's what you get for not working in Google ducs right [Music] um need to comply any Google platform you're going to have to do that I know now it should be better I I subscribe to that other devil I understand it's just you don't have to assimilate holding on to my I know but [Music] like okay but is there do you have you know options to make it full screen pull the whole thing down up to [Music] percentage can't you just go to this percentage my computer but it's not show at sorry good down my finger shifted so hold on go [Music] back to percent pull it up again I don't know which tap oh there is okay now now share First share first I've done this many times why am I having trouble this time okay now go up to there and hit the box that's as biggest [Music] here um so close that down [Music] then yeah can you hit fit yeah there fit the page immediately to the right there you go at least that'll be okay so share that okay see the whole thing um so just wanted to quickly bring us uh back in time um looking out through sort of the past 10 years and even back 20 years uh the states um has has supported the house of public schools with chapter 78 that has grown at 2.3% over the past 10 years and 2.2% over the past 20 years meanwhile the the town itself has funded the the the public schools with a 3.2% uh annual increase so over the past 10 years and really further back than that the um the town has been putting in more money into the schools than the state has been providing putting more of a of a burden or more of a sort of not burden I would say but more of a sort of funding source from the taxpayers rather than than the state next [Music] page um at the same time um for for a variety of different reasons since 2016 on a net basis we've also lost about $700,000 of funding um from school choice so more students have been going out less students have been coming in um though those numbers have stabilized uh a little bit more more [Music] recently um this is something that people at home can can can look at when we send this out a little bit but it's just kind of comparing hollison versus some other districts uh next slide we'll just go through the sort of the highlights basically hollison has a lower average student rate student teacher ratio um than our peers um in neighboring districts um which is good uh our English language Learners and economically disadvantaged composition is lower than our peers however at the same time our students with disabilities is is higher our chapter 7 defunding on a per student basis is right around average um however the town relies more on Chapter 70 uh to pay for it schools than many of it of our neighbors and peers so um it's it's more impactful to us when we don't get the increases that that we need for Chapter 70 um and then while hollis's uh you know budget allocation for the schools on a percentage of the tax levy uh is is well above average Our Town funded spending per student is well below [Music] average so looking at the sort of high level challenges Don you sure so looking at fiscal year 2025 it's been challenging for a number of reasons there's a a reversal in New Growth there was a cannabis grower real estate reevaluation um and uh and that impacted Us by a significant decline what was the amount exactly that was $400,000 $400,000 decrease there um um ke Tech uh our contribution towards ke Tech is expected to rise to about 300,000 um we're seeing uh a kind of a pretty significant increase in enrollment there at 177% in additional 12 students um you know to speak again to Chapter 70 the governor's budget uh that was proposed what back in January right um again it's significantly underfunding um at 0.9% right so as Dan just went over uh in the last 10 years it was at 2.3% but for this year 0.9% right um I apologize auga which is unrestricted government General government Aid which is just the town's sort of General state aid um which is much smaller than Chapter 70 um is is up slightly more but bring the overall net increase to about 1.5 uh% um and then the town has set the non-union Cola at 1.5% I will also add that our new property tax uh growth was significantly slower last year which if you look back sort of on the last four years uh sort of on that average implies another sort of $400,000 hit sort of below sort of average so it's $800,000 less of funds available for appropriation you want to talk about the N sure um this is just just briefly going into the governor's budget um she announced about a billion dollars in in Revenue shortfall in the State uh which then uh resulted in her the need to do nine c cuts which is basically powers of the the Massachusetts Constitution gives to the governor to make interyear um reductions in budgets uh the the impact for for Lo for uh for local earmarks was actually relatively minimum at that time however this was setting us up for thinking that we would see bad uh a bad budget year which a few weeks later we we learned that we did um so so the governor's budget is out 9% increase for Chapter 70 the house and the Senate have yet to sort of weigh in uh we are hoping hopeful that they will work hard but you know even if they double it that's only $80,000 I mean that's not nothing but it's it's uh certainly uh not what we were hoping for um and in light of this of course there's no deficit spending so we will have to do a balanced budget you want to do long-term final challeng so just for hollon long-term Financial challenges are you know towns like us with low Comm commercial industrial and personal property taxes which are CIP um will continue to face you know fiscal challenges absent New Growth uh you know you continue to rely on the T on the residential taxpayers and that's really tough holl's Board of assessors has been very clear over the last few years that we're running out of buildable Lots so that's going to have a negative impact on on on New Growth as well um and then you know historically hollison has just not been a very friendly place for businesses to try to come and grow and you know we're sort of starting to see the the impacts of that now uh Turning Away these new growth opportunities has consequences and honestly this this year we're really you know seeing that come to to full fruition so um people over time build the town that they they want or advocate for the town that they want and um I'm hopeful that over time people start to realize that we we need to accept some new growth uh if we really want the strong public schools and other services that everyone says that we want I think it's it's hasn't been as clear to people the the ramifications to certain decisions that have been made as far as what the impact is longer term this year I think it's clear about that so on for summarize a high level um the state's been chronically underfunded Chapter 70 uh state aid for smaller more affluent and I call it sort of more affluent because we are like the 42nd richest town in in the Commonwealth but I think there's a huge dis difference between us and some of the the the the mega Rich towns if you will and I think that you if you ask most people here that certainly are not don't feel like they they are AFF and I think it's a it's a tough position to be and we are we do well but we are certainly not you know have have money coming out of the trees and so when you only give us $80,000 of additional Chapter 70 it it it really bites um and it continues to shift the the tax burden onto the residents um again we've allocated you know we've only gotten 2.3% average over the last 10 years for Chapter 70 uh and then this year the 9% is just frankly insulting um holl's residents continue to experience a greater burden for supporting the school system uh due to our reluctance to accept new growth opportunities and then finally you know there was a re sort of a strategic plan put out by the envisioning future Holliston and it it called for 80% um residential tax bur down from 88% today we have about just under $4 billion in um in sort of value res property value in town and then just sort of based on the math it would be that to get to 80% we would need about $400 million of increased commercial industrial and personal property growth with also sort of keeping um residential the same we know that that'll grow a little bit but but but not a ton so it's about 10% of the time property values now I don't want to NE put this in this is this is a hard one to put into context but I think it's important for people to just realize what 400 million really is that is equivalent to a about five to six 555 Hawking projects five to six so 400 million is a massive number um so but it's a great it's a great goal it's a stretch goal but we wanted to provide an update on the collective bargaining contract negotiations because obviously that is impactful for the upcoming um Year's budget and as many are aware back in February at the end of February we were um pleased to settle and ratify the contract with um the PA professionals hft Unit B um then that contract provides for increases in wages as well as increase flexibility for administration um you know as a goal to both attract and retain par professionals um and to hire continue for administration to continue to hire qualified applicants and to um um help get them up to speed there is a we have been um uh we have on goinging negotiations with the teachers unit a um that is still ongoing uh we started back in November so in the last four months we've met 10 times we've met for over 20 hours unfortunately we have not yet reached an agreement um the school committee's top priority uh in reaching that agreement um continues to be increasing the rigor and Equity of the hon Public School Educational offerings for everyone um and we are also committed to keeping the community updated as we uh continue with negotiations so our last session was just last week last Wednesday um and it's ongoing but we do not have a a deal so uh slide 15 a recommendation moving on to slide 15 as you recall uh the superintendent presented her recommended budget um in February uh we build off of the fiscal year 24 appropriation of 4,529 1934 um building into that uh drivers of it uh Personnel costs other operational costs special education costs and what you see down there as a 1.0 FTE bcba there is only one item from the extensive list of priority needs that our principles came to us back in January and advocated for so both our central office administration and our building based principles met with us for several hours after a number of meetings that they had and and advocated for um a multitude of things and we'll go through that as well but in the light of the very difficult budget year that we have before us um budget subcommittee is really only putting forth or recommending that we go forward with the one request and that is for the bcba um you can kind of see as a percentile uh how that impacts the budget the superintendent's recommended budget was an increase of a little over 3 million to 43 mil 592 951 now in budget subcommittee we've been wrestling with that um and uh you can see that we have presented an increase of 2,445 627 and uh the really the the only difference here is the Personnel cost line item going uh down from the 4.11% to the 2.59% and that is a reduction of about 67,341 um and then also as we go forward with collective bargaining uh and contracts are settled or contined negotiations we've changed some of our underlying model assumptions um for that as well um along with a few other [Music] things kind of broken it down with some additional uh detail you'll see under our budget drivers some of the things that um that have built into that sort of what's what's causing this increase uh we have transportation special ed costs going up by more than half a million so we're seeing an increase of 5389 um we're seeing an increase in tuition um Regular transportation and the cost of those contracts going up 144 355 some of these items you'll recall were things that we had identified last year as as on the horizon as things we were really concerned about um and we'll go into that as well but if you recall last last year the state approved a 14% increase in special ed tuition and transportation costs in addition to that we've seen our numbers go up so that's kind of what's driving um on um on some of those additional costs uh I just want to also highlight the norfol agie number 5284 we're assuming some risk there because as of February 21st there were 10 applicants um to norfol agie so if all 10 applicants are in fact accepted and enrolled our um cost would actually increase by almost 140,000 and not the 52 you see there no 140,000 additional 140,000 additional sorry I made the same mistake again um so we are assuming some risk right there right so again they may not all get accepted they may not all enroll um but that that's just an area I want to highlight as concern so looking so normally at this point I just remind people you know s before uh Travis of Hearn took over his Town Administrator and started coming up with coming out with 120 page budget ta recommended budgets he really is incredible and this it's a ton of information uh we would sort of not have an idea at this point uh where the school stood versus where the finance committee was going to uh come out obviously I was on the other side of the time but we hadn't really gone through and and sort of finalized other things at this time though we do have a recommendation in travis' budget of a 3 and a/ qu% increase uh for the schools um which is not nothing but but based upon all the different factors and where we stand we still even after reducing our our uh budget request uh from from where Dr Kusa uh presented her numbers based upon what she knew a month ago um we still have a $1.1 million gap and so that that's where we're starting and yes that that does include the additional 750 75 sorry 75,000 for the for the bcba but obviously well that's not nothing it it would not change the the picture all that that significantly even have we not included it so what are the risks to our recommendation well Don sort of uh mentioned one of the biggest ones uh but then there could be increase continued increase special education costs uh that we we don't know about yet um it's always a risk but it's one this year that's uh particularly uh pertinent um also we we have unsettled collective bargaining contracts and you know you know the financial sort of final Financial settlements may be different from what we are assuming within our in our budget uh request and then I I feel like I'm I'm writing an SEC filing but uh we also have aging buildings that could need significant maintenance uh and repairs uh some of which uh you know could be structural and need to be done quickly so there's always uh that um take this one and again I I I just want to go again in a little bit of detail uh the for % increase in tuition and transportation costs um that gets charged to the district while there is circuit breaker funding it's not at the same rate I mean we highlighted this in reaching out and advocating last year to um to uh Representatives about this right and it's it's an ongoing problem this is an ongoing problem for a number of districts youve probably caught some of the articles in Boston Globe about how this uh many districts are are facing this right now um at the same time that there is this uh 14% increase in tuition and transportation costs we also saw our numbers rise and I know just B was has come in um at various times over the last year at least three or four different times but just again to highlight quickly we've seen um an increase of about a little over over 10.6% in the last two years of out of District placements we've seen an increase in the IEPs and 504s um just under 10% um so that is definitely part part of what's driving those numbers um it's just one piece of this though so what are we going to do so um you know I think we can all say that we're committed to working with the Town Administrator the finance committee and the select board to close the funding gap before town meeting as best we can what are the different options um you know we can we will and we can advocate for increased funding uh from from the town I think that's going to be challenging specifically this year but it's certainly a conversation that needs to be had um like the legislative breakfast tomorrow we're going to continue to uh uh advocate for additional increases in Chapter 70 funding or and I I should have put that on here or changes to the special education funding to help help if if the whole state is seeing what we're seeing that the whole state is seeing uh you know the state really needs to to to pick up the pick that man and that frankly will be far more impactful than anything they do on Chapter 70 um so um we'll continue to to advocate for that um unfortunately though we really are looking at a situation where and and this was in in Dr K's presentation from a few from a month ago but we really are looking at the need to reduce costs I don't think I don't see a solution to this problem that's viable that does not include uh staff reductions and we're probably looking at four to five 00,000 of cuts maybe more depending on um some other things like the special education stabilization account and whether we can can go forward with that um but it's going to be a really tough year we have we are talking we have been talking in budget about different cut lists we have been working through different areas where we we think that there can be reductions but there is there is really over the years I've seen from from from the finance committee side there that most of the fat has been has been cut there is really not a lot of fat there there's certainly areas where we can Target to limit or not impact student learning but it's going to be a really difficult um some really difficult decisions around the Horizon for us over the next month or so um we've also discussed things like school choice increasing school choice and fee increases but I mean just to be clear increasing fees is not going to get us out of this Jam we saw a $1.1 million differential that we have to meet um so you know even increasing fees by 10 or 15% is not going to solve our problems okay and so just to be clear to the community um that have to double even more double it that would only be a couple hundred it would be you know a step that would be a step but that would but then you'd have people not and and it wouldn't be I don't think that would be Equitable either so um so just to be very clear with the community because we have had conversations and talked publicly about the potential need for an operational override you know at this time the budget subcommittee is not recommending that we request an operational override uh we believe an operational override you know apps on a contract a sort of a signed tentative agreement uh memor of agreement is just not a viable option there just there's there there are too many unknowns we could undershoot overshoot shoot it's just it's just not an option I I just don't see how how we can go forward with that so um that is that is despite the fact that we still have a large and significant Gap to fund um it it just it it does not seem like it's The Prudent decision to me um do we qualify for any extraordinary relief in terms of special education costs any extraordinary relief that we would receive would have to be spent this year so it wouldn't be a benefit to to our budget next year um we want to go over a little bit more on the FY 25 priority needs again the principals the administrator or the central office administrators advocated for a number of things that our our school does need um it's important for the community to know it's important for everyone to know a lot of time was spent on that and these are things that we still feel strongly that the school does need but we're walking away from them at this time because again we have a$ 1.1 million deficit um so I just want to go over um at the high school a dean of curriculum which would have been a one um FTE position that is not something we're putting forth this year asking for um at both Rams and the high school we were uh seeking a custodian if you remember uh the it was the neas report is that correct the nas report highlighted it's an area that the schools needed Improvement on um you know and suggested that we uh look to increase custodial staff so again that's part of why that was there and we're not moving forward on that because has been a request of Mr bu for many years um how many years Keith have we asked for that at least I know I think it seems like the easiest one to say no to but at the same time we continue to have issues with the maintenance of the buildings right well um and then the district bcba as we discussed and we'll discuss further on why we find that need compelling um you know principal Jord Dr Jordan came forth and made a very compelling argument for a Rams adjustment counselor one FTE um that meeting was held back in January and I I have to say I I was really moved by that I mean you were talking about the increased hospitalizations the kind of behaviors they're seeing what what's going on at Rams now um and and and I it's very upsetting that we can't move that forward this year um it's not forgotten um and an additional placentino special educator that was also on the list um increasing an administrative assistant for the athletic director um and I understand that there was some cost savings associated with that uh as well because if he was moved to that 05 position um right now he's doing a number of other positions so I I know that was put forth um D McLoud talked to us about the cyber security data privacy uh that is able to you want to talk a little bit more about that the data privacy and the cyber security I think I don't have the I think you're going to be able to fund that through Grant through some grant funding um the world of difference training some soft the uh Rams seal software the high school mtss software basically the priority needs amounted to 460 463,000 um and and we're really only pushing forth the 75,000 for the um bcba um and we want to explain a little bit more why Lisa do you want to touch upon the bcba um I don't have that slide open and I can't read it from here I'll say just off the top of my head without reading that I think it's important to know that the whole district is affected by the increase we've seen in mental health and behavioral issues particularly since CO as we all know you know our rates of anxiety and other um really difficult issues were going up for our students even before Co but [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] um so it's really it's a way to support not just kids but also teachers and the whole school Community we have bcbas right now but we don't have enough this will bring us up to one per School correct two so three we have two and this will put okay two at one point we're I think we were trying to go up to four but okay this will take us from two to three and it it will allow a lot more time to support um teachers in terms of dealing with difficult behaviors the other piece of it is that when a family wants to get a functional behavioral assessment that's kind of a common thing with or not uncommon request with IEPs when a child is having significant behavioral problems a functional behavioral assessment can be performed but only by a bcba and what happens is if we don't have enough bcba hours to do it which right now I think it's fair to say all of our special education staff is pretty well tapped and exhausted but if we don't have enough um bcba hours to cover that functional behavioral assessment then we have to contract it out at a much higher price per hour so it can help us save money on that front and hopefully some students in District and not have to pay for out of District placements yeah I think a lot of to mean my daughter-in-law happen to be in bcba as well but a lot of the work they do is then support and train power professionals special Educators and do consultations in the classroom that Direct Services until the child can manage within without the bcba support so it's always tough when you're talking about you know cuts to then also be talking about an ad but I think that you know as difficult as this budget year is we need to still be investing in the areas of the district that uh you know are seeing the most um difficulty and and positioning the students and and and you know as best as we can for for future you success right and as you just started to say it can also save money by avoiding out of District or did you say that out of District placements or a higher you know especially well even in District a higher level of need if you can figure out what's going on with a kid behaviorally and address it then you can save money and someone who's actually in the district will be probably more efficient at working with that student since they're within the district they're not somebody that we're hiring from the outside so they'll be more efficient at actually making those assessments I think and and then that would save us money so in the end it's like we're probably spending money on specialist that is outside of our district versus someone who works for us yeah and you can get those build those long-term relationships so that you have people in the district who understand kids who are struggling having particular struggles so moving forward we I think that if anyone has any other questions I think the office hours tomorrow would be be a great place for that or you know send us send us emails but um we work you know we we struggle a lot over that and I think it's a it's a it's a valuable uh place to look that we're moving on to Capital so everything we just talked about was the the operational budget um and these are the the capital requests I know we had approved these back in February um and just again the district has been undergoing a math curriculum review for some time um and it they had come forward to us with K through or pre through 12 math curriculum materials um there is science materials World Language um and a number of diagnostic tools um the you'll see staff laptops on this um and again I think we can talk a little bit about the why on that um the current uh staff laptops that we had had are at the end of their uh life expectancy and there's something available to us up until what is it June 1st Maybe um that with a with a rebate and so that's one one of those compelling reasons why we did not want to put it back so um was a net of $86,000 rebate um technology infrastructure came in at 10,000 so the total uh May town meeting Capital requests as approved by the school committee back in February total is 4817 we feel like it is important to highlight how many other Capital requests and needs that are compelling that we've you know they're on the list but we're not moving forward with them at this time um the high school track replacement you've probably been hearing this now for years right so in 2015 it was resurfaced um that had an estimated life expectancy of 5 to 7 years so whether you think we're four years behind on it or two years behind on it it does need to be done and it's something that needs to be done the summer so getting um estimates on that looking towards athletic evolving um it's on the list but again we're not putting that forward uh through as a as a May Capital request at this time the elementary school playground uh repairs maintenance um and we're talking about all three playgrounds we this has come up at our budget subcommittee meetings multiple times throughout the year and Mr bdet is working on getting estimates uh we know there's work that needs to be done on on all three um and Auditorium lighting uh that is comes in at a quar million that was is deferred due to the cost of it and the potential for a new high school um at one point when we were trying to address some of the ongoing um leaks and water infiltration in the high school into uh like the band hallway in that area of the high school again that's that's being pushed and rep prioritized as we move forward on other projects um I know we were we were asked by staff by families um to look at uh pre K through 8 school air conditioning to look at some sort of Remedy I I know it's awfully hot in here guys in August September May June um we heard you we we did ask for estimates in different um ways we at this point the costs are very significant and I just we're not in a position to be pushing that forward at this time um placentino Miller parking lot um you know it it needs repair right and we'll do some small repairs but a repavement and working on that it's also on the list um and as we brought forward to you before the uh Woodland Street all of the buildings at Woodland Street we have roofing issues right the atams uh flat roof requires resurfacing at that 2.5 million right um placentino and Miller those repairs are 3.5 million and the way we are looking to address that was that msba SOI which was submitted again back in February I think um um so if we should get approval there um then the state would pick up a portion of that but these are real needs um and we're seeing we have aging buildings and we're seeing water infiltration um but at this time for purposes of May Capital requests we're not putting those forward and that is the basically the there's just I put in Keith slides from earlier um that's more for the the finance committee or anyone sort of wanting to to look at things just to sort of see the numbers from last year to to this year for the um operational costs and and um special education costs so well we can certainly we should can have any you know some discussion now uh what we need at the end of this is a vote on our recommended budget uh and with the um budget subcommittee's recommended budget that we vote tonight of 42,900 3% increase and if you go back to sort of the beginning of our slide presentation and you look our average aage increase has been 3.2% over the last 10 years so we are seeking essentially a double increase from what the average has been and more than we have received in any one year over over the past uh 10 years yeah true so questions comments um well we're going to I mean this is just the beginning whatever we vote for now it's not like we're not going to come at right before town meeting to have like our most accurate numbers before we actually vote because these numbers are fluid they can keep changing so on negative and positive so I'm hoping for more favorability and that's on the other side of it to see something really benefit our budget I either but I mean um that's the hope as we move towards town meeting but it's even with the 6% just it's so Grim yeah yes even with asking for 6% yeah it's not it's not good um and so after we vote on the budget we're also going to to to vote on a warrant article that we're going to discuss with the the S board next week to seek uh sort of a special um a special stabilization for special education special education stabilization account I just want to be clear anyone who knows something about this Hopkin has a specialed stabilization account that is a different mechanism and a different process that what we're looking for so the M Massachusetts Municipal modernization Act of 2016 they allowed for a stabilization account to be sort of um uh adopted by town meeting they call the stabilization account is really a reserve fund and so the town can put money into that and then a vote of the school committee and they believe the select board can free that money up during the year by that what I mean by Reserve fund is it's really for unanticipated costs here we're talking about known budget issues and so what we're talking about for town meeting is asking for an actual stabilization account that would require a vote by town meeting um but to sort of essentially probably be funded in October with with free cash more than likely to help offset what we believe to be a extraordinary extraordinarily and hopefully onetime increase in special education costs that right now based upon the numbers it looks like we should be able to get back most of in the following year and not have that ongoing expense and so we'll talk about the the the the um uh how large that's going to be but the the plan is that this is sort of a a onetime thing that you can sort of say we can use you know free cash for it not rather than sort of actually supplementing an actual operating budget establishing the fund means we'll still have that fund available to us the fund will be around in subsequent years if we fund it correct okay and so if we don't spend all the money you can sit there tell mean you take it out or move it around but it it would be there and it's specifically for special education costs only not for like other operating costs special education transport special education Transportation cost clear about what it's for yes this is this is not a little kitty for us to sort of not for us to pay for our you know whatever our pet projects are it's for correct yeah um and so uh that is one way that I hope that we are going to be able to bridge some of the the the the difference um but we still looking at Cuts so any are there any questions yeah I think the only other thing we should explicitly point out is that if you take out the bcba we're still talking about a six or a 5 86% Gap or something like that we're we're basically talking about a 6% Gap um in level services so just to do exactly what we're doing we say this we always talk about level services with the budget budget um just to do exactly what we're doing this year y um we're talking about an almost we need almost 6% to do that and while you know what the town was proposing is really is generous compared to some prior years can't fault them for that um the reality of the situation is that a level Services budget is usually what we think of as kind of our point and you know a 6% Gap is is big and that it that just says a lot about where we are and um it's it's not a place any of us are happy to be in but um I think it's important to know that this isn't you know due to some kind of extravagant new program development or something we we wish that we case MH unfortunately it is not because yeah this is why I started this office this is if I had a way to spend 6% this you know there would be many other ways but we are where we are and um we're going to work hard to to to mitigate it but uh it's going to be painful and just leis it wasn't a 6% Gap it's a 6% increase M sorry I know just just 2.75% G yeah yeah [Music] um yeah 6% gap between no Gap no g% change 6% change change okay yeah all [Music] right do we have a so so is there a motion to approve uh hallson school committee uh requested budget for fiscal year 2025 of 42,900 [Music] nobody wants second all right all those uh in favor say I thank you [Music] um I this will not be the toughest V we are going to take over the next month or so it will so justce yourself brace yourself for that um so then the only another Act of business that we have to do tonight is again I had asked uh Town Administrator and the chair of the select board to put it on his placeholder we're speaking with them on Monday but we do need sort of an official act to request this special education stabilization account uh to go onto the warrant being sponsored I believe we would be the sponsor of it but um so so we need to vote on that we need to vote on it so is there any questions concerning anything we want talk about want to vote on move to request a warrant article regarding a special education stabilization account as presented second by Don all in favor all right thank you very much can we Circle back to the grant request from the consent agenda can I just want just so under the information we have a couple yeah we will y y sorry I saw Kathy so I assume that was probably what that was about um so we have a couple budget uh budget sub commit minutes that are in your packet and I emailed out um are minutes from uh 32024 uh for the uh collective bargaining uh those are approved but not for release yet um and then Al we had a public meeting on 3:14 to approve sub prior other prior minutes those are public minutes and so those can be released um but so we we've done that and we may come back to you to to release those minutes at some point in the future but yes we can now go back to um a request um what great so um I can I ask Kathy to come up to she she had spoken to me about an hmap request for um for us to accept a a grant from hm sorry a gift Grant we have this new process around grants we have to accept like every single thing and Mr Bud puts together a spreadsheet I think the first time we did it was like last last time so it's a new thing yep so um I think we're still trying to work out the Kinks of how that's going to work and I think there's time crunch around needing to order certain things and if it's not approved by us then they can't order what they need microphones and such so I'll let can I let you speak to that that is correct so I was a was made aware today of the new policy that the state has pushed upon you um so I am Kathy Walters from hmap hollon music parents Arts Association and with the fundraising and dues money that we collect we then in turn award grants to teachers in the Arts and Music Department for items that they need that Unfortunately they don't have a budget for um so in this case uh Miss Hecker the Rams theater director had asked for a microphone there's a specific sound board down at Rams um so it's very difficult to find this you can't go to um Best Buy show is next week so we ha did an emergency Grant meeting last week to approve this request and then come back find out today she's not able to have it ordered um because of this new policy okay so so how much is it it is $749 a purchase order has already been signed by Mr Jordan okay show show and the show is next week so I'm going to entertain a motion to approve this I just just do you have a second one though or is that just the one the one there is a second one but we will have that on the 44 okay perfect let's just do the one can be filled out she's got the it's just we have to approve gifts and grants so I I am I will inter I will say I am I am in favor of this but my daughter's in the place of just for for all reasons I want to abstain but um sove by Lisa second second go ahead and so all favor and I'll obain so so going for we all kind of have to understand the new process which means and we' and Kathy and I've already talked about it it's just another piece and again it's something new and we just did this first process I don't want to be micromanaging how the gifts get I just want them to come in and be able to be disseminated as they need to be but it's oversight that we have to have our it's our fiscal responsibility and that's what it comes down to it's not something I want to be micromanaging so thank you you Kathy for your flexibility for coming in you so much so just I want to say haa we have one Grant meeting we approve it all and then it all gets ordered this was a special case and and we welcome it we just have to go follow the go please push that button now and don't pay extra for exp shipping come on Amanda Amanda Amazon let's go thank you thank you very much um with that uh can we adjourn is there anything from the administr administration did you want to follow you good okay so with that I will entertain them but we do not have a need for any additional executive session so with that I will entertain a motion to move by Cynthia second by Lisa all in favor up all right with that we uh we stand adjourned and we will see you on April 4th thank you very much next week yes e for