okay I will call to order this meeting of the somerset Berkeley Regional school committee at 602 due notice having been posted pursuant to the open meeting law any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or Transmissions may be made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and redeemed acknowledged and permissible we'll do a roll call of members present Mr Fen maker here miss Ferrera here Mr Mado here Miss O'Brien here miss Solomon here Mr is and the chair is present also with us this evening our superintendent of schools Mr Jeffrey schover our director of business and finance Mr Ronald Taro our director of curriculum Miss Elizabeth hasell and our principal Dr bford is here and also our recording secretary Robin vakaro could I ask you if you're able to please stand for the pledge I pledge ALG to the flag of the United States of America to the stands na indivisible Justice thank you everyone the next regularly scheduled meeting of this committee will be on Tuesday April 23rd 2024 here in the somerset Berkeley Regional High School library um the first item on the agenda this evening is our public hearing on the 2024 2025 budget so I will officially open the public hearing at this time and I will turn it over to Mr tarell Sure for the presentation sure so um since the last meeting the presentation on the plary budget I did share with the school committee that there was some adjustments made to this budget that we were able to reduce it by $19,000 not have been reflected throughout the slides and that was really related to uh the Summit AT heal group setting the new medical rates for next year was lower than we had put it as a placeholder for the budget so that was somewhat good news so I will go through this there's not a lot of things that were changed um and we'll just kind of go through the see if there's any questions and I'll be happy to answer them or Mr scho over so um as we as we mentioned and I think one of the things we we neglected to say if I didn't but if I did I going to repeat it anyways um we developed the budget both both the K budget and this budget it's a zero based budget we start off with a zero dollar amount we figure out what staffing needs are what the enrollment is going to look like and what's going to drive this budget discussion and how we how we need to get where we need to get at this point in time so it's based B on student enrollment and based on needs uh obviously uh the budget is is directly in line that's what drives our budget decisions is tied to the Strategic plan and that that's been our primary focus been my primary focus when I'm developing budgets in the years that I've been doing this so it's critical that we we have this document we have this information that helps drive and make good decisions um I'm not going to read this to you but you know basically there's a lot of process that went into this we we submit the budget to uh the building principal um we and also content coordinators content coordinators put a lot of effort in putting this budget together they gather the information they need and then on a regular basis throughout the budget process we have continued conversation with the building administrator um we actually then we meet with our content coordinators we get feedback from them we figure out what they need within their programs with the assistance of Mrs hasco and M Ashton we'll look at what the needs are what we may be able to purchase this year versus putting it into the operating budget and make sure that they're getting everything they need within the classrooms uh we look at projected Revenue what revenue is coming in what does that look like for us because that's going to be another factor that we have to kind of take into consideration we building the full budget uh Chapter 70 as you're aware we we're not getting a lot of money this year we're getting minimum of $30 a student somewhere around $28,000 increase in Chapter 70 revenue and you'll see that shortly when we go through this um I know Mr scov spends a lot of time with Mrs hasco and and Mrs um BR Dr bford as far as the program of studies what does that look like and what we can offer what's working what's not working so that's a lot of consideration into that we review operational efficiencies what we can do better an operational efficiency not just from a finance perspective but actually what we're doing in totality around the school district and then um part of the factor part of the discussion is facilities how do we make sure that we maintain this building and keep in the condition it is to make sure it looks new as you walk through the building and outside the building uh we we do a pretty decent job maintenance crew does a pretty decent job as far as making repairs right away to the building and making sure the areas that need to be repaired are repaired right away so these are just meeting dates that happen throughout the budget cycle we have a lot of meetings it's but it's good conversation you don't get a good budget without having conversation uh labor contracts right now uh we have uh codal contract expired in June but right now there's a t tenative agreement on the table so we look like we'll be wrapping that contract up and then we're looking at teacher uh teacher contract par professionals and um calf workers that's on going right now like last year and the year before and actually probably I think it's probably the past three years since is going over with the doent opportunity starts in 2020 oh okay so so you know that's again still a factor that do we have to take into consideration with developing these budgets uh prary budget considerations of as I said anticipated Revenue cost and Roman and Staffing levels uh looking at onetime expenditures as I mentioned analyzing the impact on school choice because that's a factor of how many students be coming into Somerset Berkeley Regional School District how many students are going out and what does that mean and then the fiscal impact of the member communities assessment um and then the last one really I think we talked a little bit about is the Essa funds the funds are expiring in September of 2024 um the superintendent did a really good job of making sure that we didn't frontload positions because a lot of communities are having just that problem is that if you have a budget crunch you also have to take into consideration what we call the fiscal cliff when when grants dry up and there's no more funding for those particular grants so unfortunate there not a lot of positions that are front loaded with these grants that we have to make up it will be even more challenging during the budget cycle um just an overview total gross budget is uh 2,624 94 that includes the assessment that's set the assessment for capital is set by the bonds that are issued and that's that's an a slight adjustment this year over the previous year the total operating budget the net operating budget is up by 3.23% looks relatively good on the surface when we get to the assessment she I'll go into a little more detail and keep that keep that number in mind relatively modest increase of 600,000 um but you'll see how the assessment shifts we talked about uh uh competitions transportation we look at all types of areas within this budget where can we say what are we doing what can we change there's continued conversations about uh out of District placement how many students do we have right now what students are we monitoring are there students that are graduating or age we call it aging out if they've met the age requirements they're no longer within our operating budget for AO District tuition those are all taken into consideration um in addition to that we look at using circuit breaker funds and idea uh those help offset the cost of our district tuition um we contining the implementation of innovation Pathways and those areas uh again we talked about revenue and how we use revenue and what the differences are within our budget school choice revenue for FY 24 I'm sorry FY 25 is be down by $668,000 compared to F by 24 so that's a little bit of a hit uh in the regional transportation bonus is going to be increased by 27,000 so we got a decrease in 100,000 for circuit break a increase in school choice and an increase in uh Regional Transportation the net of all those adjustments are about 94,000 or $997,000 to the negative so we already our NE our Revenue net is going to be about $97,000 less than what we had FY 24 this is just a high level of the operating budget showing the 3.23% of the $63,000 increase um Capital ass is there as well uh in addition to that I go back to this right here there is a slight decrease in the capital assessment and that's just the way the bonds are structured have a little bit less of principle and interests that are reduced over the year they did a pretty good job when they they structured the bonds where it's pretty consistent throughout the year so 20 $21,000 is 1% adjustment within the budget it's not it's not a minor impact to the budget so they did a nice job blending uh Medicare contributions which is one 1.45% of the salaries uh there was an admin software piece that we eliminated superintendent used we cut that out as well so the total recommended reduction was 445,000 from the previous uh budget request that's that's a 2.76% increase over the FY 24 fiscal year question so far this is just a high level summary of of how a district tuition is trending and this is is basically looking at the uses of funds as I mentioned the circuit breaker funds Ida funds the ones in blue are from our operating budget the ones in red are circuit breaker funds which is the state funds and then the Ida funds of federal funds which are in green so basically you can see that this there some spikes we had some we were there was it was topheavy with circuit breaker funds back in 2020 fy22 uh we had a we had an increase in circuit breaker funds it's going to be leveling off and decreasing as student population moves out and out of District tuition goes down the circuit breaker funds will be going down as well Transportation um as you know we went uh we went out to bid for transp ation so there is a significant increase in the regular transportation we had a a slight decrease in the out of District transportation and that was because we were utilizing our vans that we have in District so we're taking advantage of those vehicles and they do a great job in District this particular line item out of district is contractor Services line so this is something that we would hire typically would be Fisher bus under their contract and in some cases if they can't service it may be another third party vender providing specialed transportation services the IND District transportation uh special ed is really the in-house cost that's $180,000 it's a $133,000 increase it's related to keeping an extra van to service the transition program at the high school so it's a a little over $6,000 increased cost Associated to that that particular line item to support that program uh then the regular regular yellow buses to and from schools is increased by 123,00 homeless is just about level and then the regional transportation bonus is um increased by 26 almost $27,000 this is The Debt Service that I mentioned and you can see the decrease of 21,000 over the FY 24 approved budget again it's just the nature of the principal and interest payments over the years the items that are in red are what we use is when they issued the bond they received the premium for the bonds and we what they we've done is we Ed those premiums to reduce The Debt Service payments over the life of the bonds and that's an appropriate use of those funds you typically can either pay off the debt or you use them to to kind of uh reduce your annualized payment for principal and interest payments and that's what that is you see that every year so I just wanted to point that out and then on the right hand side is just the allocation uh to the member community where somerset's contribution will be a million eight and Berkeley will be uh just just under uh just around 572,000 the percentage uh allocation that you see that 75.1% and 24 29% is a percentage based on projected enrollment next year and those data that data is just pulled directly from desie desie provides that data as we do our calculations and so that is a factor throughout the assessment sheet and that is based on the October 1st 2023 enrollment um this is the prary revenue so us it shows you that our total increase is going to be $552,000 as far as um the member communities we have $28,000 in Chapter 7 money as I said and that's the $30 per student and then we have other miscellaneous revenues that we have we have uh Essa which is a Federal grant program which is a title Grant Ida Grant um I think last year or the year before there was a couple of these title grants that weren't included in this budget presentation I I added them in this year to make sure we're showing all the grant allocations um obviously past couple of years there were some reductions in student fees for either performing arts or parking fees those are reflected in this particular budget based on our best estimates based on participation the next slide is really just is just a Desy calculation it's it's a formula they use to determine what we're going to receive for uh additional funding also dictates to us tells us what the base Foundation is for for Education uh it'll give us also what the minimum local contribution requirement is for each of the member communities and that's part of our Factor when we have to determine the assessment sheet so that goes all into the calculation so here's a portion that I I was mentioning this is kind of gives you the foundation budget it gives you your minimum contribution of $30 if you look and I'm going to see if I can increase this a little bit so you can see it so this area right here oh it does it show okay the minimum contrib the minimum Aid which is on the left hand side you'll see $28,000 that's that $30 per student that I mentioned and there's the increase in our Chapter 70 funding and then it'll give us what the minimum a adjustment is if there's a decrease or increase so I have to basically do this for both suet and Berkeley it tells us what the contributions are those those that information is plugged into our assessment sheet uh factors that go into the uh community's uh preliminary assessment which is the minimum local contribution as I mentioned um right now Berkeley was decreasing by about $112,000 for the minimum local contribution and some assets minimum local contribution is increasing by 359,000 um Chapter 70 as I mentioned is a factor of as mrov said the factor of the October 1st enrollment Somerset has 17 less students and Berkeley had will have 26 less students based on the data provided to us the slight enrollment decrease uh will also have an a factor as I said into the um how Chapter 70 is allocated to the member communities communities within the assessment sheet it also has a factor on the assessment sheet as I showed you for the capital payments so that percentage is actually decreases uh Berkeley's by 39,000 increases sumerset by 177,000 uh the prary assessment for Berkeley will decrease by 231,000 or 6.46% where Somerset will increase by 83,000 or 8.03% keep in mind that is with the budget that's only increasing by 3.23% the other Factor within the assessment population is the out of District tuition it's a fact of what students uh what community reside in so the number of students that reside in Somerset versus number of students that reside in Berkeley and if they're attending out of District out of District to out of District placements then their tuition course is factored into that assessment sheet so here is basically the assessment sheet uh there there were number of factors this this is something we have to go through each year we look at what the allocation is we first start out and I'm going to try to make this a little bit bigger but I think everybody's got a copy but those that are trying to look at it on on on TV may be difficult to look at uh see if I can do it this way so basically we start out top right hand corner we start out with the total operating budget of 2,624 095 four then we back out the tuition cost we back out the capital assessment we we back out the AO District tuition in total and then we back out any use of a and money which is the excess and deficiency fund it gives us a net adjusted budget of 16, 920,000 then we determine what the minimum local contribution is basis of percentage of the state those numbers are plugged into the sheet here on this line right here I wish I could point to it but I can't um right hand side where has 7,512 th000 there's a minimum local contribution by to by member communities and then we calculate what the assessment is per student I'm going to just reduce this a little bit I can see if I can get most of it on the screen so the base operating assessment is 16 million $920 $92,200 Community as you you see there is 12,695 515 for Somerset and Berkeley is 424 th 4,224 611 then we look at the C Chapter 70 calculation again a percentage based on what we're going to be receiving that's the increase of the 20 uh $228,000 I just seen the St here that should be the the same number I'm going to have to recheck that now but the the minimum uh the Chapter 70 should be up by 28,000 and I have the same number then I'm not sure why it's like that and I can't tell you how many times I've looked at this okay why did I have to see it [Laughter] now well I'm glad I saw it okay the the the amount is going to be nominal won't have a significant impact and I don't even know if it's going to be changed in the percentage but I'll take a quick look at if we take a break afterwards to make sure that we're you're voting on the right dollar amount they give you the total operating total operating assessment is allocated is going to be 9 9, 795,000 and that's a percentage based on those formulas um the contribution for each of the member communities is going to be $7.3 million and $2.5 million for berly for the operating assessment then the factor of taking into consideration on the next page is the um special at out of District tuition that's allocated back to the member Community Based on the students that are participating in those programs and then um we factor in the capital assessment which is a 2,1 158,000 that's allocated based on a percentage and then um we get a total assessment of 14,299 456 and then the allocation is 10,941 610 for Somerset which is $813,000 increase or 8.3% and Berkeley is 3,357 846 or a 2319 51 decrease which is a a decrease of 6.46% for birth R and then the the numbers on the bottom are a factor calculation that go back up into the top of the the worksheet this basically just shows you the net operator budget year over year that changes from one year to the next just shows you that this year other than fy2 three um with probably one of the lower years next closest one was an fy20 at 3.23% which is interesting it's close to the same percentage this basically just shows the breakdown of the operating budget versus the capital assessment piece by member Community as a percentage tells you the per pupil expenditure and the increase per member Community um for the operating assessment Su assets um per pupil expend is going to increase from 11,502 to 12,874 and Berkeley's per pup is going to go from 11730 to 12,212 um as I mentioned e and D is part of a factor of the calculation currently right now the excess acccess and deficiency and stabilization funds uh have their respective balance the excess and deficiencies is certified in June of 23 we have to go through the Department of Revenue to get this certified that was certified at $89,900 and currently right now the stabilization account has $ 45845 the stabil stabilization account can be used for various things to and include such things as improvements to the building this is just a summary of what I talked about instead of looking at all those numbers and going cross side this is basically we're looking at the net operating budget and and the adjustments and what the member communities will be seeing in in changes within their contribution in the percentage change you see a dollar change and percentage change and that is presentation for fy2 Budget you Mr ter I just have a quick a few questions um the percentage of 75.7 one and 24 uh 29 is that Somerset and obviously Berkeley students where are any of the school choice students involved in that in that number no they're not they're not no and which is what I assumed um school choice the students that we bring that come into our district and students that we send out um if they're from I'm what I'm trying to figure out is one is it still $5,000 it is who should we as a school District petition because as you can see our school costs are going up every single year but yet in last year was $5,000 the year before that was $5,000 the year before that was $5,000 the year before that was $5,000 and you hate to say this but the year before that was also $5,000 I don't see how at some point us taking in students and sending out students and I understand we're forced because of the whole Berkeley uh K8 side but what I'm looking at it is I understand bringing more students give the students more benefit more choices and things like that but at what point do we see are we losing money um because right now we're currently keeping programs as is and we're bringing and we elect to bring students into this District up to a certain amount of number but are we just bringing those numbers but it's just costing us more money because it's still $5,000 so I I don't know if this is something that we have to petition to the States you know uh and I know it works both ways we send out kids and we're paying $5,000 but we could be paying in x amount of money but I'm having a hard time continue to be a school choice and I know we have no choice but to be a school choice because of our business our partner but $5,000 it's tough to see our student cost going up about $700 but yeah our school choice stays the same so that is something that is um extremely it bothers me and then the other thing with a $30 per student again it goes back to those $30 per student it's based on our enrollment not the students that are coming in from other districts I'm assuming right so these students are get not only are they coming here for $5,000 but that neighboring town is also getting an additional $30 that we don't so that's why I'm I'm kind of getting saying to the state almost like I understand you're coming up with these figures and it's way above my pay rate as a school Committee Member but as a business person and I'm looking at this it doesn't make sense to me uh that I'm absorbing all the extra costs and the neighboring towns or the towns um because it does kind of bother me next in a couple of weeks when we're coming in here and hearing your recommendation I want to accept x amount of students um so that is another piece and the other and as I mentioned last meeting obviously you know um Somerset is seeing an 8% uh increase Berkeley seeing a 6% increase that is just based just so the people in the Somerset world aren't saying wow our assessment is going up Berkeley's it's just basically it's happened before in Reverse so um that was another question I had for um us and the last thing about the school choice how many students in our district in this proposed budget are going elsewhere how many do we have going out for school choice yeah we have the amount for that um that actually was about a 10 student difference or so 10 to 15 student difference so we have uh so I want to make up a number how many school choice students we have coming in mid-50s or so yeah um and then we would have about 45 or so going out it was it was getting to the point I know I made that reference I think last week at our meeting um has that there well I have a dollar amount but it it's we still receive more than what we send out but that Gap has been closing over time as I think I I mentioned this earlier when Somerset Berkeley first started school choice about 10 years ago we were the we were the only District in this region who did it uh and then since then most other high schools have started accepting students through school choice so then that we're still is we're still getting more Revenue than we have expenses but that Gap has been closing over time well and and the other thing the other reason why I'm mentioning this because I know like there are districts that did accept Stu uh school choice like Swansea and now they are not they might be doing it again for all I know this is just based on a couple of years ago what I'm looking at it is because we are a school choice what are we doing to campaign what kind of campaign can we do to encourage other students to come in here to increase that Gap because what I'm afraid is that we're accepting school choice granted we're only getting $5,000 and we're not getting any more but at some point if that number goes down what kind of programs are we are about to lose for our students so those are I'm wondering what type of campaign we can do because I know Diamond does a great job campaigning you know um and there may be other students out there that a might not know that we're a school choice but um and are we at a point where we may have to start revisi I know last year we revisit sophomores we allowed a couple of sophomore classes is that something that we're going to have to do more often and accept freshman and sophomore because obviously you don't want to go Juniors and seniors because they're not they're going to either be behind or two ahead of our students so that's those are my only concerns when I'm looking at this budget obviously uh transportation is up there's nothing we really can do about it and uh um we are making some major Cuts in Staffing uh which also concerns but I'm sure that you vetted all this through with the administration so um I can approve it um as it's been presented so those are my only comments and questions thanks Mr Mado anyone else Mr do you want me to respond to I mean I could I I know school choice as you said is going to be a topic that we are talking about next month probably um as you as we consider you approve whatever the amount will be for next year uh it is something uh well I guess there there are several things so before I get into some of Berkeley just generally uh few years ago desie sent a memo out to all school districts uh letting us know that there is I think in Mass General law um a cap on school choice whether it's the funding or the number of students but I think it's the funding and I believe the $5,000 amount is also part of I not sure if it's mgl or cmrs but it it's dictated by the state and I think it's always been $5,000 since it's a conception um but it's what because school choice has become so popular in the state they're reaching the cap for the amount of money um that is allocated for school choice even though it's just the sending districts sending in receiving districts who are or really the sending District who are paying for it uh but there is a Statewide cap and if the enrollment increases much more then it's it's going to cause the $5,000 to actually drop a level rather than going up so we we I know the state and that was probably three or so years ago where they were uh about to hit that threshold uh so I am expecting unless something changes in the legisl that the $5,000 could begin to go down uh for some students who receive special education services uh we do receive more than $5,000 but generally speaking it is $5,000 per student um as for Somerset Berkeley we have uh about 950 students currently enrolled which is the lowest number that we've had we've been fortunate to always uh his we've been between 1,50 uh but we're at 950 today and we talked last time we we expect to have uh next year's ninth grade class maybe 200 students including about 15 or so school choice students uh so it's going to be our smallest freshman class it's going to be about 30 students smaller than our exiting seniors so next year unless some other major shift in population occurs the high school probably have about 920 students so now we're getting to the point where we do have the seats available so do we look to expand school choice even more to try to maintain a higher level uh but then then it starts reaching the point where uh are we hiring more staff to maintain that and then the $5,000 does not you know we're losing money right now as it is I don't think we are even though it is ,000 averaging 10 to 15 students per grade level they're really occupying extra seats that are already open in our classroom so it's not like we are we have to offer more sections uh in order to accommodate the students that we have we've been very mindful about maintaining that 10 to 15 student level per grade um so that we are not forced to open up other sections or classes uh and having those 50 60 extra students uh also allows us to maintain some of those AP classes and and so on U uh so I don't think we're at that point where I would really want to step away from it because it is benefiting us and no matter what we're still going to have 40 to 50 students who are going out so that that would just be a loss of$ 250 or $300,000 annually uh let's see school choice sending 207 uh for next year $27,000 is what we're sending out and bringing in 200 I'm sorry 289 uh so it is was that 82,000 difference between the two um but anyway that's just that's where we are right now with with school choice so but we are uh it is going to be interesting what we we approach this next year Dr preser and I need to sit and figure out what our plan is for next year's freshman class do we want to go above that but then once you start going too high you know I don't think school choice students I don't think we should have more than 10 or 15% of a of a class being school choice because at that point you probably are um adding more sections than what you would actually need if you didn't have them at all your uh your last comment about the staff uh so there are there were 6.2 staff identified here and I just want back we had a couple of par professionals that have been unfilled all year um they're still vacant they haven't um we've talked about the library power professional being unfilled so there is a need that's there um but we we haven't um we haven't filled them and we really haven't um lost any Services as a result of that uh there is we have retirement we have a couple of retirements but one of them would not be filled uh one of uh one of our instructional staff positions as Mr Tara mentioned earlier about not using a lot of our Esser funds for Staffing we did have uh a PE health teacher uh who was funded through eser for the past two or three years um so that position uh rather than putting into the operating budget uh would be eliminated as as we've said all along uh um there is a point two that's on there for the support staff professional that's really a correction uh that's a um an occupational therapist assistant where there's currently there's a02 of that person's um workload is is in this district and the rest is in Somerset the need isn't here um so it's just being really shifted and um another elimination is the um the second at the high school as I mentioned uh last week and that was really looking at our um our numbers our our visit logs to the health office and seeing an average of 20 to 25 students per day um we just didn't think that warranted having two full-time nurses uh to do that so I think that's a a quick summary of the positions that are identified up there question the only thing I would maybe add in terms of Staffing is that although it's not reflected in this budget per se um if we look back over the past few years um at least my memory won't be exact but we have added positions multiple positions right so we've added an assistant principal at least one adjustment counselor adjustment counselor guidance counsel or last year those positions came in par um some special education we've been uh expanding our last year I think we added either last year's the year before another job coach to help with our transition program uh school supension yeah in school suspension uh that's a position thank tarot yeah so we definitely had a bathroom monitor in the co so I just want to say like you know this is one year right and I think one of the things that um has been done very well is to look um at um what the needs are at the moment and in in some cases that you know we've I think focused a lot and for good reason on um in District special education is re fortifying those programs there staff and program and hat tip to miss Ashton for doing that so I think that although um you know the word cuto is never one that anyone ever wants to use these are very these are thoughtful in some cases we're operating without them being filled so the cut is to the to the budget but not to present services that students are receiving and I think we always just have to be mindful that along the way um even with very responsible budgets in the past that we have made a a a concerted effort and I think we've um added um several positions that directly impact teaching and learning and student support um being cognizant of in particular coming out of covid the um increase social emotional um and health needs of our students so I just want to sort of say that we always have to be mindful of what has happened in the past few years in particular when we're talking about Staffing because I think um we are actually I said this I think at the last meeting if you look at um some of our uh neighboring towns um who are looking at really significant cuts um some of that is that they leaned into as our funding um for um Staffing so I think we're relatively fortunate um I think because the superintendent Mr Taro and their leadership team have been very uh Mindful and deliberate about planning for this so that we're not facing a fiscal cliff that's other folks are and we haven't built in structural deficits that other folks are facing so I just want to point that out thank you and to Mr mado's comment about um I don't maybe selling ourselves or or you know uh like some other schools do and and I when I say that I can hear Mr Pierce talking about that he's been he been he was talking about that eight years ago um how the just the the market um the competition is just growing all the time and right now really affecting us we have an expanding Bristol agie expanding Bristol Plymouth and expanding Diamond um and those schools open up more seats to our students from Somerset and Berkeley that's just going to further decrease our enrollment as the somerset Public Schools Enrollment is already decreasing uh so we we I likely we will see in the next five or so years the the enrollment of this High School could very well be um 850 students 800 students it it it will drop and if maybe not five certainly within 10 unless something significant changes and then when that happens you said we don't like to look at Cuts but when you lose 20% of your students over a 10year period um there is a significant reduction in the programs that we can offer students or just in the the Staffing and all those positions you just alluded to um we' we'd have to look at those to see do you know do we have a full guidance office uh that we currently have if we have a 800 students uh you know do we have three assistant principles with a school of 800 students and we'd have to look at all of those positions that we've added as well as the Staffing and every Department that's five to 10 years down the road but that'll be here before we know it unless something changes maybe our Middle School will help you know um increase enrollment bring some more families in and then help maintain some of that but we'll just we'll see that in the next couple of years as well as the project that's happening in Berkeley as well well hope to be happening in bir as well do anyone have anything else um in that case what I'll do is I will close the public hearing on the FY 2425 budget at this time and I will uh open the floor the next item on the agenda is public input um if you'd like to participate in public input please just come to the podium here please state your name and address or affiliation and then we ask that folks limit their remarks to three minutes please give or take does anyone wish to speak public input going once twice okay I know some of you folks are tired here me talk but we love you was that we love you um hi I'm K I'm a high school teacher here orinal High School um my question is my first time I've been to one of these things this is this is really cool um I really I agree with a lot of what I heard I think there are some really good points here um my concern is just as a teacher you know um like you know Victor and Mr scho were saying um is that it seems like you know going up in a lot of areas uh enrollment is down you know but then obviously that that makes it very difficult um for the budget to work um but my concern you know as as a member of the faculty and kind of representing members of our our school district um is it feels a little disheartening that it feels like while the costs of everything are going up the district is almost treating it like the cost of teachers are going down because if we look at like just looking at the last few years the teachers have been effectively taking pay cut after p pay cut after pay cut and I know on like the first few pages of this cool packet um you like objectives one and three are to you know deliver engaging relevant and authentic learning experiences and to maintain healthy secure and safe facilities for impact teaching and learning and it I'm I'm I'm curious what the district's long-term plan is to make these things happen when we are pretty consistently lowering our standards for for for for for our teachers you know we're offering less and less you know in these budgets for them um we're asking more and more from them um you know when you have a district that makes where like when you have a district whose teachers make less than 85% of the state it's it's really disheartening because it it feels like it's going to be very difficult to make those things happen you know when we're giving up these electives when we're giving up uh you know all these courses when we're giving up these positions and you know like Mr said the CL the class sizes are going down um so can you know that kind of goes along with cutting positions which to to some extent I do think makes sense but also that almost seems like a good thing because now we're reducing our class sizes right and we have all these research and studies from years past that show that smaller class sizes help with student growth and we want to be a school that kids choose over going elsewhere right we have all these kids in Somerset who are choosing to go to Bristol AGI or BP we want them and their families to look at suers Berkeley like it's a great option and it feels like we're really kind of you know selling ourselves short by not being competitive with the other schools and districts in our area because we can have the beautiful the most beautiful building in you know 20 M radius but it doesn't mean much when you don't have faculty that are skilled and um trained to fill them so my I again my my question is just what is the district's plan because I'm I'm looking at all these numbers and it's like you know the budget's gone up up 45% since 2016 it looks like teacher salaries have only gone up like 19% and when you account for inflation it's like an 11% pay cut for the teachers so just what does the district have a plan either for this year the coming years or anything um to to combat that because things just seem like they're getting worse and it feels like we're going to end up in a position where it's going to be really hard to get teachers in here when everywhere else is a better alternative thank you this is the point where we listen thank you is anyone else for public input I have something it's not budget related um I know many of you are members of uh Pac uh but last yesterday I got my uh renewal from Pac but what I they had this report of the community and what was great is actually seeing Somerset students throughout this book uh when they were performing at Pac so it's just always nice to see our uh students uh being acknowledged even in a uh theater World from Pac so kudos to the kids uh I don't know if you I I get extres but uh feel free so that's fabulous thank you Mr Michelle okay the next item on the agenda this evening under business and Financial would U be the approval of the use of the alternate assessment formula um so just to clarify the alternate assessment formula is the formula that is codified in the uh revised Regional agreement um as opposed to the standard State formula um I think everybody has the information on that um and this is something that we vote each year so I would entertain a motion to use the alternate assessment formula as indicated in the revised regonal agreement for the 2024 2025 budget assessment so moved second we have a motion by Mr Mado and seconded by Mr Fen maker is there any discussion hearing none all those in favor I opposed so voted thank you everyone um Mr tarot you indicated a question during your presid presentation about the um I think it was line 22 yes if you give me a minute I'm actually just taking a look at that right now to see give you all the minute for me if you can you go out to the next yeah we can a lot of pressure we're just going to sit here and stare you no um um so let's move we'll going to pause that because the assessment um figures are in there and want to make sure we have everything correct so we will come back to that so the next item on the agenda under new business is the approval of the 2024 2025 school calendar Mr scoon over okay so I um hopefully everyone's had a chance to review this uh I won't deliver a sort of month by Monon review of this uh but just highlight some things particularly uh perhaps some changes uh so first of all the uh the first two professional days of the school year as we've been doing um fairly historically now uh would be the Monday and Tuesday before uh Labor Day so that Monday and Tuesday our teachers come back which will be August 26th and 27th followed by the two initial days of school uh for students uh in grades 9 through 12 um unfortunately uh it it it's now been a problem for several years in a row I would say here or at least it seems that way um where the first Tuesday in September is a primary election day and with the uh election in November this September 3rd is a primary election day uh so this um we we don't want to not have school for students already that day for the high school and that sets them apart from the teachers on the prek to8 side and and we like to keep those uh those teachers and within that same unit um together so anyway that that would be an early release day um for students uh but then you can go through and and um I can't remember if it was with this committee or the somerset committee where I highlighted uh uh the early release days contractual early release days and was that a Somerset Somerset okay that was sorry I remember so um here there are a number of um contractual days uh for early releases but there are four that are not that are uh deemed here for early uh early release for professional development and those occur at the end of September uh the end of October in January and then in March and we've been working with that schedule now for several years along with having the full day for professional development in November which you can see is November 5th uh let's see a big change for this year is around the Christmas New Year's Break um we are going with or my proposal is to have a two week break at that time instead of returning historically schools come back on January 2nd January 2nd is that Thursday so rather than having the Thursday Friday my recommendation is for teachers to return the following Monday which is January 6 um so that does allow um for two full weeks for for families for students uh between the holidays and just moving through here I think the only other real change that we have is um just last week when we identified with the members of the STA uh when the um parent teer conference would be it's a it's uh up a little bit sooner than it typically is it's usually around the thir week of October third or fourth week of October this year it's on October 8th and it's going to be a no school day for students uh and conferences will exist from roughly 12 to 7 we'll have an afternoon window early afternoon window for U virtual conferences and then uh a three-hour window in the late afternoon early evening for inperson conferences uh and by doing that we eliminated two early release days for students um I know that was a concern that Mr Mado has raised a couple of times um eliminates the the need like this year we had an early release day the day of conferences and then the Friday of that same week after the conferences uh for the teachers time if they had at night so I think that's a that's going to be a positive move there um for our teachers we're not trying to cram everything in in one day you know teaching students followed by six uh uh hours of parent teach conferences after that it also uh creates more more fluid environment for our our students not having to break it up with two early release days uh with that the last day of school would be on the 180th day of of school for students would be June 18th uh five snow days would bring us out uh to June 26th uh and graduation would be on June 6th does anyone have any questions or comments you know my question my comments usually have you shared this with the SDA and other um I've shared highlights of it with uh with them but until it has a school committee approval it does not go out broadly broadly okay um obviously June 19th federal holiday one that I completely support but obviously that date always causes an issue because of the where it falls in the month of June um my only uh my only concern about having the two weeks vacation and obviously I think it's great for the students to be off for two weeks probably parents maybe uh big maybe uh but I'm just wondering do you I think because the school year is falling on the 18th of June we do have enough days for the snow but I'm just wondering if that's going to interrupt the school year largely because they're going to be out for two weeks that would be my only concern um because I know when students have a week off and they come back they're pretty much useless the first couple of days teachers words and kids words uh but I'm just morning now two weeks um but I I've shared that part of it with many teachers and I went around to students as well um and teachers from I know it's the sumers Berk but from all three levels uh I didn't find anyone who didn't support it I went into some classrooms here at the high school when I was I was struggling with a couple of things on here whether or not to start after uh Labor Day because of the uh the primary day and um so I I got a lot of student feedback on it as well um and then looking what you know whatever whatever questions I would I would ask them you are they in favor of this and I would tell them what the and last day of school would be and then a couple times they you know oh no you know uh and at one point we're looking at a June 23d ending which is literally the last day that we could schedule because we have to have five snow days after that which would bring us to June 30th and obviously we may go beyond that uh so we we were looking at that and whether or not those two days if we brought kids back on June uh January 2nd and 3rd then Janu uh June 16th would be our last school day um giving a little bit more of that flexibility in June um what I do recall and I don't have the information now but the last time we had this situation which was about eight or so years ago um attendance student attendance on those two days in January were quite low there were lots of families I mean just it wasn't like 50% but it wasn't our typical 93 94% attendance across both districts um we had a lot more students who were absent because families took an extended vacation and kept their kids out of school just wasn't the way it felt so that's another thing that was uh kind of motivating me to to really look at these two days and figure out if it's worth it or just come back there following one day all right and the reason why I was asking is you know one um because of that primary election day in in September I was just wondering if it made sense making up those the 28 29th making it up on the third fourth well the third having like freshman's in on that day and then regular school on the fourth and removing those two days from that holiday but if you're telling me that the attendance after a school vacation week is difficult then it might you know what it was only those two days yeah yeah that's it was it was much lower than what it typically that was those were my only observations and comments and just wanted to know how you came up with the schedule that was it any else I just wanted to thank you for including the um the notations about the holidays so that I'm mindful that I know that's something we've talked about so I wanted to thank you for that rashash Ramadan Passover Etc and I would and thank you for that but I would thank M pararo thank you robt um my only other question was um and I know this has been tricky in the last few years with the primary falling as it does um are there thoughts about uh is there still an ability to do freshman orientation on that early release day or or is it we do the Summer Orientation or I'm just curious if what the thoughts on that are Dr prer and I have talked about that and just how that could look I I think it'll be something that we really need to look at and figure out exactly how it should be but um we we did because I think this year was one of those where we had the delayed transition day on that on the primary election day and I I asked freshman how that was and they most of the kids I talked to said we're already here for two days we already knew the building we already you know it didn't make sense to have it on the third day like right that's what we could kind of considered that too but it was nice to hear it directly from freshman saying yeah it wasn't wasn't very meaningful after they were already here and had to lay layer the land and everything else um so we'll have we have to figure out what we can do for our freshman because we do know that the transition to high school is a key day uh and how we can make it easier for students you know if we if we can do something to make that trans easier we go well it's good to hear that they feel comfortable after three days that's that's good feedback and I think there is a step up day over the summer right has there been a step up Day from the Middle School to the everyone's been yeah yeah so there's okay okay thank you all right um if there are no other questions then I would entertain a motion to approve the 2024 2025 school year calendar as presented so move to uh moved by Mr Mado and seconded by Miss O'Brien any further discussion hearing none all those in favor oppos so voted thanks everyone um next item on the agenda is the approval of the threee plan for the student Opportunity Act Mr SC over sure uh thank you as Mr Taro uh mentioned in his U presentation about the student Opportunity Act this was enacted in 2019 the first time we had to develop a plan was in the spring of 2020 uh and it was supposed to be a three-year plan at that point but it ended up being more of a four-year plan and now the threeyear uh extension is is now in and uh the state did change the process a little bit this year they they I would say simplified it a little bit for us so you have uh the plan in place and this was developing This was um based on several conversations with stakeholders uh one I sat down with Dr bford her administrative team and our content coordinators and other teacher leaders um you look at the data that is behind all this the the state created a uh data dashboard for all school districts and you can really dive in and and see rather quickly what subgroups of students are struggling the most and there was no surprise uh for us as students with disabilities um are uh consistently the group that is um has the larious achievement gaps for mcast uh our students with disabilities have uh a lower graduation rate a higher dropout rate a higher out of school suspension rate uh the chonic ab numbers while improving significantly over U the previous year are still uh significantly higher than it is for all students so anyway you look at all of this data and it just points to students with disabilities this is the sub we need to focus on uh so we had that discussion and we we talked about you know why is this happening what what are some things that we can do uh and I and in addition to that I gave a presentation to uh some parents uh about this as well as the CPAC missha and I had a meeting with um uh parents from the CPAC group and between those different conversations uh there were a few common themes that came forward uh one of them was about uh expectations that low expectations that students have of themselves perhaps lacking self-confidence lacking perseverance uh so there was it was that and then couple baby with some uh some low expectations uh for teachers of students with disabilities as well so if they have low confidence in themselves and and maybe not being uh pushed as hard by the the teachers then that could be creating the achievement gaps um there was also a discussion about the uh the SST process the student support team process that's happening here and really the focus historically has been on social emotional and maybe not as much on on the academic needs that students have uh so you'll see in the plan here a couple of the key things that we're going to be focusing on are uh implementing High leverage practices in our really in all of our classrooms because if F the students a student with an IEP is going to benefit a student without an IEP as well but focusing on those High leverage instructional practices uh but with a particular lens on uh classrooms that have uh the integrated in classrooms with students with IEPs uh as well as looking at our mtss structure the multi-tiered system of supports and and really putting more of a focus on academics and so really developing the plan and then once the plan's developed uh how do we Implement that and then what resources will we need so those are going to be the two key pieces that are identified in this plan uh and then it supposed is connected to increases in Chapter 70 funding it doesn't say that every single dollar that you got in Chapter 70 has to be extra money from Chapter 70 needs to be devoted to this but it's really based on the previous years's Chapter 70 funding uh for fy2 24 um and just identifying you know what can we either add to our uh existing staff or whether it's professional development or what that we're going how are we going to support those two evidence-based programs uh and one of them uh you'll see is it's really maintaining the reading specialist position so that was a position that we added not too long ago so we're going to maintain the funds that was the original SOA plan as well so using funds to maintain that position uh as well as offering some professional development over the next three years related to the things that I just talked about that's kind of a high LEL overview of the plan um if you have specific questions related to that or if something else that you would you know like to see included or something but um well I'll leave it there thank you Mr scov does anyone have any comments or questions I just have a quick comment who typed everything in to this did did you find a lot of Errors no no in this in this day and age everything I type is automatically saved I don't know how nervous you were when I saw every page you must hit save to save all your work you know did you lose it time I didn't lose anything it times out every hour yeah I was noticing that that's no matter that's brutal right when you go into the program it just says that um make sure you save frequently so I would not let the timer get really below 30 minutes before I all right that was my only comment when I was reading it this afternoon I was like no no no I wouldn't call you during the meeting okay if there are thank you for we can see how much fun that submitting that document once fortunately we had a really rainy Saturday this past [Music] weekend okay if there are no questions then I would entertain a motion to approve the student Opportunity Act three-year plan as presented by Mr skover so move second motion by Mr Mado and seconded by Mr Fen maker anything on discussion hearing none all those in favor I opposed so voted when don't we we'll finish out this section and then we'll Circle back so the next item on the agenda is the approval of the district payment of the DECA student registration fee for um International competition you may recall at our last meeting um we were happy to hear that there are I believe um three students um who have qualified to participate in the DECA International competition which is in California this year um so I would entertain a motion to approve using District funds to pay the registration fee of $194 per student for each of the three students attending the DECA International competition chair be before I approve um the advisor mentioned that there may be a fourth so I'm wondering if we should just change motion up to four up to four yeah just in case if there is a four individual please hold I was just looking in our folder there is an invoice for the registration and it's for a it is I think backup last meeting had 194 so we do have three students it's confirmed not to be the fourth right um and there is uh the the total registration for the three students and the advisor is 155 per person for a total of $629 so so with that amend that motion so with that I'll make a motion that we um approve the Massachusetts Deca ICDC invoice for $629 for the registration fees for one advisor and three student competitor I made motion M uh motion made by Mr Mado second am M O'Brien anything on discussion just what was it is it three three student three students anything else on discussion caring none all those in favor I I opposed so voted Ju Just for clarity so when you had agreed to cover the cost uh we have to capture the expenses in the particular line items that are appropriate for that so that line item may be over if they have other expenses but we'll cover any overages I just want you to be aware I have to capture it where it should be charged to thank you Mr tar okay all right next on the agenda we'll Circle back under business and financial item two approval of the 2024 2025 budget thank you Mr Taro I missed a $28,000 for the chapter the money was so large that know right thank you of Massachusetts so okay so you have in front of you the um revised numbers so give folks a minute to look at that I would um entertain a motion to approve the 2024 2025 gross operating budget in the amount of 21 million $624,900 637 of which 9 M 286,000 39 is assessed to the town of Somerset and 2, 82659 is assessed to the town of Berkeley a separate Capital assessment in the amount of 2,1 158,159 will be assessed as follows 1, 63388 81 to Somerset and $524,999 to Berkeley the total assessment to the towns of Somerset and Berkeley being 14,270 of which 10,919 n920 will be assessed to the town of Somerset and 3, 350,000 886 will be assessed to Berkeley so moved motion by Mr Mado seconded by miss ferera anything on discussion hearing none all those in favor I I opposed so voted so Andrews uh I I know there were some percentages that were shared earlier about what those assessments would be so maybe it's just is it worth noting the the two new percentages sure to the to the towns Somerset is 7.82% and Berkeley's assessment is down 6.66% that's a bad number I'm sorry 6.66 that's a bad number that was an [Laughter] accident so just to repeat that so summer say uh assessment compared to FY 24 would be up 7.82% and Berkeley's assessment compared to FY uh 24 would be down 6.66% thank you for that update and I know we have said it before but I will say it again thank you very much to Mr tarot and to the entire team for the incredible amount of work that goes into um building a budget that uh serves our students our teachers and um is as fiscally responsible as possible keeping in mind all the obligations of Our member towns okay the next item on the agenda uh other other matters informational topics not anticipated by the chair 48 hours in advance of the meeting the chair has none um the next item on the agenda action items for future meetings have anything I did have a conversation with Mr skover this week but um I would just like to know what our District's responsibility is for School nurses in a school um the reason why is in the past I've had uh former nurses like M Melo would come in and said that that it was very important to have a part-time nurse because of case loads and all of that but um I do have faith that the 20 25 average is doable for one nurse but I also would like to know if that nurse is out who who fills in uh if we can't you know I know that some schools in in cities they actually share a nurse between schools and things like that I'm just wondering if we are going to go with one nurse and if we can't um have a nurse would it be possible to have a Somerset K8 nurse cover the high school as well and maybe making an agreement with you know both between both districts so that's that's what I'm looking for for the next meeting nothing more than that okay anyone have anything else okay um in that case then uh I would entertain a motion pursuant to Massachusetts general laws chapter 30A section 21A through three to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares American Federation of state county and Municipal Employees ask me custodian cafeteria and Par professional units custodian memorandum of agreement and Somerset Teachers Association and the committee will return to open session I have a motion so M motion by Mr Mado and seconded by Miss Ferrera anything on discussion we'll do a roll call um of members please uh Mr feny Maker hi Miss Ferrera hi Mr Mado hi Miss O'Brien hi Miss Solomon hi and the chair votes I and again I'll reiterate we will return to open session return to open session and the next item on the agenda is the approval of the memorandum of agreement agreement with the custodian unit for the period of July 1st is that right 2023 okay sorry through June 30th 2026 motion by Miss Ferrera and seconded by Miss O'Brien all those in favor I I opposed so voted and I see nothing else on the agenda so I would entertain a motion to adjourn second motion by Miss F and seconded by Miss Solomon all those in favor I opposed so voted thanks everyone have a great evening