again this will be available for review on our website once our budget is approved good yes all right that's good to hear some Key Driving data points that make up our budget that's important for people to know and understand currently we have allocated certificated staff members of 350 have allocated budget resources for 350 certificated staff members that's your teachers social workers administrators and non-certificated staff member makes up 287 staff members now Doc iOS and I will jointly have conversations around our district Revenue Dr ien Holz will be able to communicate some of the areas that highlight how our state aid has been received and if there's any questions around funding formulas or any of that nature he'll be able to also jump in and take that for general purposes our state aid or Revenue comes in our state re our Revenue District Revenue excuse me comes in three forms it comes in our local tax levy New Jersey state educational Aid and federal Educational Funding what you have in front of you are the previous three well two previous two years current year we operating in the proposed total operating budget if you notice if you go back to 2021 to 2022 compared to where we are proposing to be in 2024 2025 we have almost increased our total operating budget by $20 million that's a able to happen as a result of increase in state aid you also have to remember during that period of time excuse me you had cares and AR funds that also were injected into our system but once you start to build your budget your operating budget around those resources sustainability is what we have to always make sure you also will note that this has done been done mainly without a tax increase across those four years there was one but over the five years it's only been one five years correct Dr that's right total revenue sources not net of transfers you'll see that our operating budget simply matches to where we are proposing that our operating budget will be 74 million roughly $75 million next year with our total revenue and our sources of n of transfers 83 million to the residents of Hillside once again we're doing this without increasing taxes two consecutive years four out of five years with no tax increase you will see that there's a the tax levy the tax levy for the town will remain at 31,36 31,1 136,000 $524 I think that's important for people to know I'm going leave this screen and it may not be easily seen But for our board members and for those it is the same as it was in the 2022 2023 school year is the same as it is in the current 2023 2024 school year and it will be the same next year so residents you are not seeing an increase in your taxes based on the school district when you look at the other areas where revenue is generated from that goes into our general accounts from our local sources you'll see unrestricted miscellaneous revenue of $420,000 interest earned on capital reserve funds $99,100 giving you a total from our local sources of $3,565 six Lord what am I doing this evening 31565 , 624 not good for a math person this next slide speaks of our state aid which I think is important to highlight everything that is highlighted in yellow for this current for the proposed school year denotes an increase in state aid and in some spaces a significant increase but I will say state aid is not guaranteed to be this every year so we're trying to definitely be ficially resourceful understanding that we may not see the same level of increase in state aid categorical Transportation Aid which traditionally takes care of our students who are receiving special services however we did see an increase for the first time in several years not just the three that are noted here where we went from $460,500 categorical special education Aid we saw an increase from where we currently sit at $1,849 2133 to where we will be at 3,443 443,000 [Music] the equalization Aid which Dr E may talk dros may talk about in a few this is where we saw another substantial increase in state aid approximately $2 million where we went from 31 m567 1882 to where we will be at 33,44 1976 categorical security additionally saw an increase from 1, 89,4 65 it's $1,432 1084 where we now have a total revenue from State sources of 38,8 180421 this next slide speaks to our preschool carryover Aid and our preschool Aid preschool carryover we just received recently and we're at $2,812 395 our preschool education Aid which I must speak that I'm really proud of the direction our preschool is going and we're hoping that over the next few years couple years really we can add to our preschool footprint we have a waiting list of students and I think that's attribute to the work that we're really doing in our preschool classrooms we have approximately 17 classrooms right now that we are supporting in our district we hope and we have a waiting list that could actually fill up two more classrooms so hopefully we can get to a point where we have 20 classrooms in our district there's some work needs to be done to make sure that can happen the preschool education Aid next year is proposed to be at $3,758 614 lot of fine print here but this really just speaks to revenue that comes from our federal sources our primary Federal sources that we have are Title One title two title three title four Title One title two title three title four but with that understand that those areas I'm sorry an Ida but with those there's a lot of restrictions on that money can be spent so those who want us to dig down a little further would be happy to answer questions but just understanding when you start talking about title Revenue sources that come from the feds you're really specifically looking at targeted interventions or targeted resources for students who may have in the in the area of Ida that's disabling conditions when it comes to Title One students who may be in need of additional supports for academics when you talk about title two you're talking about professional development you talking about title three you're talking about our ESL and bilingual population students and title four Alli in the technology infrastructure space but it's very specific around professional development and supports teachers and that's how you can see the allocation look a little different being that our district is also a title one District which is based on our free and reduced lunch application that's why we always stress please get those applications builded out because that generates additional revenue for us to support our students we are proposing this amount of 361,662 only because we have not received our allocations from feds yet that doesn't need to come out right now so we do know that it will not go left what we're at currently as we allow align our work to our priority goals if those who remember our budget presentation last year we're still in that same vein we always want to strengthen our academics we always want to make sure that and we've done a really good job of looking at school safety and what does it mean to create a safe School environment both from the physical resource resources but also social and emotional resources operational excellence and making sure that our facility continues to grow our previous board meeting last month in April we made a significant announcement in the direction we're trying to do to grow the footprint of our school buildings an Engaged Workforce and in this day and age where it is hard we have educational schools that are closing or reducing the number of applicants that they're seeing come through their doors at higher ed we want to make sure we're getting the best and the brightest and I think that's part of making sure that we have something to offer our teachers that make them want to stay here and our Partnerships our Partnerships are growing we have a variety of Partnerships that we've added this year and looking forward to add additional so let's talk about where we're trying to go one of the things we started as a result of the AR and cares funds was our summery happy to say that we're going to continue our summery we've made a significant investment thus far we have over 350 students who have already almost 400 families I take that back who have already registered for summies um we think about when we first started the numbers were a little slow at this time 400 families and they're still um registering on a regular basis if you have not thus far please look forward to that coming I want to announce that you'll see a flyer coming out we also have an ESL bilingual summer program especially Target our students and our families for our incoming bilingual families and students so that's another part of our summer academies where they'll have specialized activities and courses classwork for them we're going to continue to invest in stem I'm happy to announce that our bands are growing here in Hillside we're going to make a significant investment well over close to 75,000 minimum of 75,000 it may come close to $150,000 in our Middle School and High School bands I take that I'm going say that again because we're increasing the footprint I'm happy to say that we just received a proposal to order an additional 100 band uniforms they look real sharp too that's a former band member they're clapping and those uniforms are just part of not just just one part of we also have invested in instruments that's over a $40,000 investment this year and we're also making sure that we continue summer training for band students so we're trying to make sure that our band continues to grow we have great great leaders Educators who are leading our students and our students are dedicated to showcasing their talents we are definitely going to continue to make sure that our students in the area of language AR continue to grow we see struggles in some spaces but we see significant gains and growth in others so we're going to continue using research based methodologies to make sure that we are supporting students and giving the teachers the necessary resources that they need we're going to do the same thing as far as math goes we recognize that our students are still struggling in math and it's a little bit past just that that period of time when they were out due to the covid virus this is now our students need to re days in the classroom a different way many of our traditional methodologies are not are not working for our students today and so we need to make sure we're investing in resources that keep their attention but also keep them engaged and excited about learning we are happy to talk about our design and construction and our dual enrollment programs around maple wood shop that is one of our areas that we're trying to build a stronger foot footprint we have our Middle School pre-academy that we're trying to make sure we solidify around design and construction and next year our students in the high school will be participating in a dual enrollment program with Thomas Edison State University in which we're also doing the same thing that they will learn in the Middle School piece they'll out walk out with college credits in this case at the high school level continue to invest in our high schoolies and make sure they are prepared for college or careers we have demonstrated and shown the preliminary Esports Academy we're going to hopefully move forward with that we have some good things that we will be adding to that to make sure it's a diverse space for not just the students here but also for the community we were a district that was able to Pilot the African-American studies AP African-American studies program course and we will now have to invest in that and continue to strengthen that there are several clubs that several students have come and ask us and we think it's the time for us to start seeing how we can invest in these clubs that align to the school day that doesn't mean every single one but we're going to look to see how we can open up that offerings for our students especially in our middle and high school to keep them out of trouble and maybe redirect their energies in a much more healthier way when they leave our school space our NE our science scores took a little dip last year disappointed us but we recognize that our partnership with Stevens Institute for example and students of science we need to Contin to grow Liberty Science Center is a partner of ours we need to make sure our students value the importance of Science and we talked about the expansion of IDE Bal program we've had some ongoing conversations about what does our security systems look like and our V dat and we need to Sunset some of those areas and increasing others we have done a major major upgrade of our Securities technology this year happy to say we have additionally probably added about 60 new cameras across the district new technologies and we also have a Central Central monitoring space at the high school where we can see the whole district and every school and every camera training for our school security Personnel is ongoing we're making sure that they are well prepared um folks will understand that in this day and age when so many things are happening at the blink of an I we need to make sure our Personnel are ready to respond accordingly Mental Health Resources we invested in so additional social workers and we're going to continue to make sure they are trained and able to work with our students mental health needs do not change in fact they have increased and we are definitely keeping a track of who's being supported we have two New Jersey Department of Education grants going on right now one that is districtwide and one has targeted just a high school when it comes to supporting the mental health of our students which also have some our staff members taking advantage of it as well I say this with a smile because I was actually over at De G teller Academy last week I walked the grounds I talked to some folks I went back a second time just to make sure I wasn't seeing something that was a false you know Vision in front of my eyes the preparation for the the detailer expansion has begun we are hopeful that by the first week in June you will see the modular structure that will be in place [Applause] but contractors are on site so we can finally see some of that that great work starting to happen we have talked about also creating Outdoor Learning spaces and and improving the footprint of other other school areas Ola Edwards is a space that we also have received some preliminary drafts of what that space could look like and how we can be not just a space for our students our staff but also the community and when you see what we're trying to do there it will be I believe a bright Jewel for the hillside Township as a whole we have to continue making sure we meet our American with Disabilities Act ADA compliance work that will be taking place at the high school also here ination Academy correct we also several board members have been clamoring for this is making sure that the the Cool Breeze of the auditorium begins to flow through in a more natural and fresh way fresh way fresh way we also are trying to create a space where our our future actors and actresses can be on a stage that actually matches the industry standards of today so we are looking to increase and improve our enlighting and audio system we spoke about the eorts center there we will continue our Hillside window project that's what we call it and this year W mle school will be that space food serving lines at the high school will be upgraded this summer as well as AP mois and just finish a conversation a little while go a little while ago today where we will be investing two new school buses all right energy efficient but not electric cyar electric probably cost us more so we start and so we still just to kind of high the things we did we still want to make sure that we um there's some work about increasing our TV Production Studio we want to upgrade that the track resurfacing took place but there's also the bleachers that were added the beautiful bleaches that are in our so we can have additional fans on our side and you know the visitors can continue to stand got have so we also are looking to upgrade the center Courtyard at AP Morris for our babies that Center space is starting to you know look a little dis shoveled Network upgrade cyber security upgrades we're continuing to look at that and of course our maintenance team which is definitely doing a great job of making sure our building stays well gr new flooring paint and things like that engage work force we are I'm happy to say we've actually tentatively enter into some contract conversations with newest ESL teachers we recognize the shortage of science teachers across the board but we're we're actively recruiting we will continue our partnership with our national teacher Network known as NTN it's been a great partnership helping our teachers with math and our University partnership continue them and work with them and that concludes my session Dr ien hold if there's anything you want to add just to solidify some other points before we turn over to questions and comments from the board I just want to take you through the motion as uh Mr Glover stated if you look through the motion with me please it it does reflect the figures on the next page that were up on the screen the tenative budget was approved and when you do this motion for the final budget any changes between that time and this are reflected on the next page and this is a good change the good change is we got a word from our auditor after the preliminary budget talk that we have a $2.8 million carryover from preschool so what preschool budget is extremely healthy part of the uh motion must reflect our travel expenses this is what we' been into for this year going forward it's a huge exposure as far as the doe concerns itself with the District so we've certainly been very conservative in that and they asked in this motion that we reflect in that last piece the uh the uh capital projects that we have the good news with the audit coming through and you'll see the audit and the corrective action plan in the main meaning is you always try to do the best you can to come out of June 30th with a little pot of money uh we don't really know that for sure and definite we have a pretty good idea but until the order to state so at this point $2 million was rolled out of the uh June 30th 23 budget and that rolls into this year and much of it goes into capital reserve so it can continue the good work that we do behind the scenes on these buildings the windows the roof most of what we've been doing so far hasn't been all exciting now it's getting more exciting with things that you can see but when the playground pops off and places like that new windows are opening and closing and heard look in places like that you start to see just what that savings at the end of the school year can roll into in the following year our capital reserve is very healthy at $6 million and we looking to tap into that a new order of $2.3 million this year so the it's a sound situation it's a sound situation before we go into public comments does the board have any questions or comments regarding the presentation I just PowerPoint yes I just wanted to to ask this budg does lay off so this budget doesn't include any layoffs no RS okay performance it's not a riff it's a release but yes we are still in a position where we don't ever want to get to that point and uh we are conservative in our ways to make sure that we don't get to that point that's a dark day when we get there thank you just to make sure the public heard the question that was asked by board member was do we have does this budget include any layoffs or reduction in force and the answer is no may I have a motion to go into public motion second all in fav I residents are requested to say their names addresses and subject matter in the event it appears the public comment portion of the meeting May exce 15 minutes the presiding officer limit each statement made by participant to three minutes duration issues raised by members of the public may or may not be responded to by the board all comments will be considered and a response will be forthcoming if and when appropriate the board asks that members of the public be courteous and mindful of the rights of other individuals from speaking specifically comments regarding students and employees of the board are discouraged and will not be responded to by the board students and employees have specific legal rights supported by the laws of the state of New Jersey the board Bears no responsibility nor will it be liable for any comments made by members of the public members of the public should consider their comments and lighted legal rights those that affected or identified in their comments and be aware that they are legally responsible and liable for their comments I'm fine fine hon I'm good thank you angel angel 54 stre um I appreciate uh the presentation it was very detailed um I do also appreciate that there are no or uh layoffs as it comes to Staffing which is always great to hear um I would just like to know is this presentation going to be the PowerPoint going to be on the website um and if I could get a copy of the detailed budget okay thank you once I get the budget to the board members we will make sure that it's cleaned up and ready for public than motion sorry prior to this meeting it must be published in the newspaper I'm not telling you to go look it up but it's out there it's very well versed out there so you never have to worry about it being a big secret so at least four days prior it went into the paper last week I believe the Star Ledger and it shows the detail line Ops that's what I'm going to post to not the advertisement but the actual I appreciate that thank you Mo to close public motion second all in favor would you like to make the motion for our budget motion to adopt the final budget for the school year 2024 2025 as presented by superintendent and AD second second you yes yes yes Mr Howard yes Mr L yes M parks yes Mr Shapiro with great appreciation for the work of the superintendent business administrator yeses best yes thank awesome thank you all for coming out tonight all four of you and everyone and everyone that's watching yes well well done job by our super and our business administrator and everyone yes and everyone involved all of our staff um our board members we appreciate your dedication um and before I turn it back over to superent Clover just wanted to um also send him and his family condolences for his recent loss in his family and we have you in our prayers superintend thank you thank you for that I appreciate that um I want to say first and foremost on behalf of Dr ik hos and myself and the rest of the central office administrators thank you to the board members you are the ones who going have to walk into the community members in the Community member many times and articulate our goals our vision our thoughts and and and you ask us great questions and I appreciate that I'm a Believer in the work that we're doing but it's also good to have your your thoughts in our ears and so I appreciate you and I appreciate you passing this budget tonight with this many great things going to happen for our students and so it's about our student students that makes us stay up the night late nights get up the early mornings get excited about projects because we know that it's going to benefit our kids in the long run and make them prepared for what's going to happen in this future this is a special time of the year but it's also a beginning of a special week so I want to take the opportunity to say to all of our Educators our teachers we appreciate you we appreciate teacher appreciation we but we we need to appreciate teachers all the time it's the most underpaid job and I'm a you know I'm an athlete at heart I miss my calling probably in one of those trials but it disappoints me when I see $50 million contracts being made by some knowing that every single one of those folks who have those contracts it's because of an educated it's because of a Community member somebody that laid hands on the the rec center that groomed them got them ready we don't sit here with those salaries but we applaud and salute you when you go out there and make them abely but teachers this is your week and your time to shine We Salute You we thank you and we want you to let know Hillside respect you it's now always about the dollars and cents although it's very important it's about that feeling that you get when you see that child succeed thank you for what you do for us students thank you they have a motion to re motion [Music]