I would like to call this meeting to order this is a budget public hearing and a regular session of the bo Township Board of Education held for the purpose of transacting appropriate board businesss compliance with chapter 231 laws of 1975 the notice of this meeting was advertised to the Mars County Daily Record copies of the agenda of this meeting we perly posted that may available to the public Mr B here Mr Brandon here Mr here Mr Chen here Mrs hermy here Mr Johnson here Mr McBride here Mr Mills here here this is no wi here not see our representative we have a thank you please stand for the pl of [Music] allegiance iedge alleg to of the United States of America to the rep stands under God indivisible and justice for oh thank God you're not rush he rushed last time [Music] at this time we have our budget public hearing for the 2024 2025 proposed budget presentation this will be done by Mr Murray our school business administrator board secretary and Mr Murray [Music] thank you good evening everyone um start by saying that nothing's really changed in the budget since the last presentation however this is the public hearing and it's the last opportunity for any Board of Education to make any changes um I'll preface by saying we had a meeting with the county superintendent was the superintendent and I and the superintendent and business administrator from Mountain Lakes uh as you know from the other discussions both of our budgets were together there's a discrepancy in the tuition amount the county office um the main job was just to improve the budget they wer in Balance so they approve the budgets uh for Mountain Lakes and ourselves um and the tuition amounts are not in Balan but we have a balanc budget our budget is f so this is the proposed school budget look the sign there so I have updated uh a little bit of the timeline Administration and staff have inut December through January putting the budget together we have a number of meetings with the finance committee Governor's budget message they releas theate a and the public bring through public hearing today uh the election on November 5th we have three four candidates uh seats that are up so always when we're putting budgets together we look at District goals budgetary goals to make sure that we're aligning with that all the way through the air and continually look at U these items to make sure that we're in line so I won't read through those but you know we see them on our agendas every uh every board meeting budgetary goal is to maintain all of our quality programs maintain appropriate class sizes keep up with the facility and so forth and maintain uh all of our technology Replacements computers for M Bo Etc so considerations in budget development we look at uh enrollment we look at Staffing projections um the tax loading cap which approximately 90% of our budget state aid is another 6% so those are the largest portions of our Revenue sources and then tuition small tuition for a pre program as well as a budgeted fund balance that we use from the rainy day fund to to balance the budget so on the expense side we look at our BTA and other non-affiliated salaries benefits all those approximately 54% of the budget and then Mount lakes and then other out of District placement tuition about 33% and then some of the other items like transportation and other discretionary items so again budgeted considerations we look at RVs enrollment uh in conert with a demographic study that we had updated a couple years ago we've been in line with that for a couple of years the tuition rate as I mentioned we have an additional $182,000 um going to Mountain Lakes as we have in the budget um current enrollment is about 187 we're looking at 198 for next year the best estimates that we have state a funding we re received an additional $69,000 this year and we're at the 2% cap so it's 291 approximately 291,000 of new money from the township to fund our budget additional consideration we look at health benefits cost 10 to 12% increases salary increases for all staff and we have one additional teacher in the Elementary grades and you'll see how we go through the chars later on so some of the Cost Containment measures that we've had over a number of years with either shared services with the township shared services with other districts other townships for things like uh bus repairs fuel from each of the towns our class three officer in in concert with the township and over the years we've Consolidated a number of positions administrative positions so there are a lot of hats being worn by several people uh and some other Cooperative purchasing we're always looking for additional share services and Cooperative purchasing agreements so the remote enrollment you've seen before currently we're at 405 as of interjecting 413 this year we projected 418 so we're kind of on target but We unexpectedly have eight students either move out or being placed out of District so we're sort of in line with a demographic study and we're on track but some things like that happen every year and just the history over the last few years of our enrollment Trends we have currently free placements over $100,000 one student AG of G and we're projecting five students next year individual amounts in tuition of over $100,000 and that could change from year to year we could have somebody move in so those are the things that you always want to keep a rainy day fund handy for in case some of those things happen District places we have preschool multiple disabilities program and there a high school enr as I spoke about Staffing projections uh this is reflecting the additional staff member in the uh let me let me back up for that so you can see where the as the enrollment and the grades move down we're going to add an additional section in one area and then reduction in the third grade level so as those bubbles move through eventually when you get into the the upper grades you always have to maintain the three uh sections as children move around than stamping uh and in the capital outlay portion we're looking to replace our cafeteria tables of Aging we've done everything we can possible to keep them going we welded them replace Parts but it's time to replace all the in in wall con structures that are in there looking at replacement of Chrome books technology and our digital series of textbooks each year we budget allotment similar to this um for textbooks so the tax levy at a glance we're at the 2% cap so that represents the current 14.5 million we're receiving from the township next year we're planning on balancing the budget with 14.8 so there's re 2% Revenue cap comp each of the few years we've had other adjustments that were El I for that we didn't chose not to take because we were very cons conscious about what the effect is on the taxpayers we have our 2% cap we try to live with it each year so in the following slide you'll see that again we have we're eligible to take $68,000 in adjustments to go above the 2% would have been 2.47% choosing again as we have in the last several years to not go above 2% a little bit of our state aid hist um the bottom slides you see were much higher it dipped for a few years and it's starting to climb back up again so when I originally put the budget together I put the status quo hopefully you don't lose any the lot of michan lost s1,000 SE million we're fortunate to get addition 69,000 so this this slide is a particularly new one you can see where the the tax L is almost 90% of the budget um tuition is a very small Fe miscellaneous Revenue state aid is the other larger portion budget fund balance and then state and federal grants um this presentation will be up on the website tomorrow you'll also be able to see the video tomorrow to to recap in case you just end and then on the expenditure side the largest portion is really had a district tuition regular instruction which includes all the salaries for all the regular programs benefits special education programs and then as you work you day your way down trans some of the other smaller expenditures so this is just a numerical representation of those pie charts you can see item by item how those have changeed so additional budget change of about $23,000 current year the project and then on the expenses side same thing so general fund operating Valance you see that over the last few year we've been relatively stable there was one anomaly in there when we did have capital reserve withraw that we did for a ro project so that was the only jump but generally the expenditures have been relatively stable over the course of this so you hear a lot about administrative spending limits and so District all districts have to be within a couple of below certain limits the state sets the regional limit those are schools that are in our areas what the uh cost for people would be that level is $2,700 approximately and we have to be below that number or our current years adjusted limit which is 2655 the proposed budget is coming in at 2544 which is couple1 below what those maximums are each of the last few years we've been bumping right up against that so this year you know thankfully the regional limit has changed a little bit which which we're able to not sweat it out so much but we are again approve budget butow the administra so what does it all mean in the end you look at what the current uh tax values are the estimated home values in the township um increase of a little bit so all in all it's about $161 change per average household and you can't really estimate your taxes by looking at the tax you have to look at the tax rate you also have to look at what your assess of value is and compare what you paid last year to what the estimated is based on the tax rate of 1.68 so that's pretty much it um again we uh we always look for ways to save we look for ways to uh um share some of our cost do some shared services and so forth but um putting forth the budget that we feel Dr Angel my feel will help us maintain all those programs also going forward with our technology making sure textbooks are and so that's pretty much it if you have any questions to answer um so for the state I appreciate you showing us the change over time how and I feel fortunate that we're at 1500 for student here uh can you um speak a little bit about why some districts are losing and why we are receiving this like what is what is and how do we make sure we don't lose it we really can't basically it's it's the states funding formula which nobody has really been able to figure out how they're doing it this year they had some adjustments we we were in a kind of a holding pattern a whole harmless area for a number of years where in the past we probably should have lost some but we haven't you know enrollment is stting to go the other way but again um some districts lost Millions um I guess in the next couple years they're going to try to reenter everything hopefully we stay either status quo or or you know get some increase again I can't answer how the state calculates that I think my my State Association has asked the state several times for how you come up with those calculations and uh and get the right answer so question piggy backing on that um there's been a lot of talk about the the legislation that passed it said if you're decreasing state aid in District you can go above the 2% cap not that we'd ever want to here but that doesn't even apply here because we're going up I wanted to be very clear on it okay absolutely um I was curious in the pie chart when you're showing expenses um where does add a district placement plan is that in special ed services for the 9% or is it in tuition for the [Music] 33% the add District placements that's that's all in well it's under U special education yeah special education special education and so the tuition is just the mountain lake student oh I'm sorry here I was looking for the other piece of the pie chart no it's all that's all of our tuition that's out of District placements that's votch that's m l okay so tuition that we're paying somebody else is about 33% of the budget sorry misund no that's fine thank you do you have a breakdown of that number I think is what we're trying to understand too like is it 15% Mountain Lake 8% well the line share of it is Mount Lakes that's that's over almost $4 million as opposed to 1.2 for district placements and the vot tech is probably in the again I don't these numbers off the top my head probably in the 50 or 60,000 the line shares really M we're paying for 190 you know so much okay and I appreciate it that represents that represents special education in our district and you can feel blue about that I have and um oh I was just curious of the five um students that are going out of District which well there more more going out of five were over 100,000 so I was representing that you know one child can cost a district well and and a couple of them are well over 100,000 not including busing so I was wondering are those primarily um High School age students or it it's a it's a mixed it's mixed so those include RVs as well as um school okay thank you okay any other questions by the John just a quick question if you go back to slide nine and it was the um with the class sizes all maybe it was [Music] nine seven yes so that class of and and you were saying it has to remain three sections well down here because the nature of it you have you have classes that not Chris could speak more on that or Dr lendis but they switching class you have a math you have a math dedicated math teacher you have different you know at those grade levels you're moving around so you can eliminate sections so I mean that 29 is a tough number with only 10 yeah this is in the class this is one of the first times I think I've seen so many thre right when been here 17 years when I first was here you had threes in every right then it dropped and then it started to pick up and now we're you know there the last few years have been a shifting around as the as the classes go up you know obviously you would see there's a you know there's a a number over here and then they move down diagonally so the two now becomes a three based on the on the enrollment numbers so I you know hopefully if we're trending that way you'll see no three sections but and you can't guarantee anything you can't guarantee people moving in it's not going to skew things or moving out I question to main the roof with 5% being set aside for specifically how are we going to be able to address the the well one of the things we discussed with the architect is that because of the nature of the timing of the referendum we had a roof project in there there wasn't enough time to put together for this summer so we'll make do with our maintenance program and then in the next budget we'll plan on and again unless we go forth uh again as the board's decision with a larger you know project referendum we'd have to fit it in the way we did the last couple years use rainy day capital reserve money to do a section of the roof we can't do the whole roof but you know I have to pick and choose the square footage we can fit in and our estimates and but nothing will be done this summer no not not not as far as the roof go other than other than basic maintenance and we've been pretty good with the with the repairs we did we haven't had any links in The Replacements so that's sort of sealed things up but it's going to be an ongoing issue any other questions from the board I guess we'll move into thank you very much we'll be posted tomorrow and you can review everything on the on the video thank you and thank you for you know delivering a balanced budget last year question John is just so when will this if it gets approved tonight when does it get submitted the budget it's well it's already everything's done electronically and all I have to do is show them the resolution and give them a copy of the budet to make sure nothing was changed and then we're done we're done okay just perent that's exactly what you did yes and that brings us to the public hearing on the budget um the public hearing the public hearing period will be limited to discussion of the 2024 2025 budget only please state your name and address for the record and all comments relateded to five minutes does anyone have any questions about our our budget our budget presentation uh at this time okay if not we will move into Finance motion number one may have a motion please is there a second second are there any other questions comments or discussion not the questions on the adoption of Finance motion number one this is a roll call Mrs Bardock yes Mr Brandon yes Mrs caban yes Mr Chen yes Mrs hery yes Mr Johnson yes Mrs McBride yes Mr Mill yes Mrs L yes thank you very much thank you because we have a closed session on our agenda tonight to discuss some other issues uh we had to advertise our meeting as a regular meeting which also requires us to have an open session for any matter but rather than have you wait around till after our Clos session where we're not going to take any other action and uh we will re re um rearrange our our agenda so that we can have an open session now so I will you'll go through that portion portion the public comment period will be open to any topic please be mindful that public comment periods are available to enable the public to give comments and feedback to the board personal matters and day-to-day operations are not appropriate subjects for the board meetings these can always be most effectively resolved with the appropriate staff members or administrators according to the chain of command cont concept questions may be directed to the appropriate School Personnel or board through email please state your name and address for the record and all comments will to 5 minutes anyone from the public wish to address the board on any [Music] matter and if not um that will bring us to a motion to enter into executive session um may have a motion to enter into executive session to discuss issues that are confidentiality as the permitted in the open public meetings act chapter 231 of the laws of 1975 these matters may or may be made public when the board reconvenes they will be made public when the confidential confidentiality of the subject is no longer warranted we have two items to go into close session for uh one is our superintendent search and two is the Mountain Lakes agreement and there will be no action taken when we reconvene other than adjourning our meeting and also before I enter into that motion I want to thank all of you for coming to our budget hearing and also for anyone that came to our uh Community input meeting before the meeting uh thank you also for coming to that your your your uh input is very important to us and we value it greatly um the board intentionally did not come so that it was the community's session to to give your input without us being there as a distraction so we you know we of course we'd love to listen but we want to we wanted it to be your time so so you know thank you very much for coming to that if you were for that as well and also I think I neglected to mention at the staff input meeting that it's teacher appreciation week so we I would like to say we absolutely appreciate our teachers in this school and and of course all other schools that are kids go you know that we are involved with so I'd like to also say that and now entertain a motion to go into executive session I'll move is there a second I'll second all those in favor say I I and thank you all for coming it is 9:37 p.m. we have just returned from close session that we have no other board visits to conduct may have a motion to adjourn I'll second all those in favor say I I thank you very much for coming