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okay Well we will s time So order at 8:33 um first order of business today is um looking at the 26
um that's the primary order business We also had the warrant committee and a review but given everybody who was at that meeting we're spending any time on that Save the full school committee
on it It makes sense Okay You can jump through the schedule Sure Is the presentation in the for Okay So today we are going to focus on um the fees associated with athletics
and so um there is a fee for the middle school as well as a user fee for the high school So um our proposal is to update the base fee for the middle school and high school athletics So for
the middle school we'd be increasing the fee that we're charging families by um or for the student participation by $25 And then at the high school we would increase that ba base fee by $50 And so
the fee is charged per student athlete per season So for whatever um sport that they participate in they pay a fee for that season The fees are
capped by family and that cap is for um applies for the entirety of the school year And so we are also proposing due to the increase in the base fee um for each one of those schools per season
we're also proposing to increase the family cap um to $1,200 a year And so I didn't put it in the summary up at the top in the proposal but we're also proposing an increase um to the hockey
or swim fee and that would be um an increase of $50 for both hockey and swim So it would go from $350 to participate in either one of those sports to $400 to
participate And again it's $1,200 family cap So with the family cap regardless of the number of students the number of sports the most that that family would have to pay for the entirety of the year would be 12 $1,200
Um so as a part of the process when we um discussed increasing the applicant fees um we met um with Karen Karen is here as well So if there's any questions that
you may have um with um the athletic director and with the administrative assistant that supports um athletics we met to discuss the fees We looked at the user fees that are being charged for a
number of comparable districts and that was broken out by um kind of the region that they participate in or the I don't know if you call it the division or whichever like grouping Um and so just looking at
what they're each one of these comparable districts are charging not only for the um participation per sports but also looking at the family cap if there's any individual cap So there's a number of different factors
um that are taken into account when looking at the fees And so we did feel that um by increasing the fee we certainly are not going to be the lowest but we're
also not charging the most Um so kind of we would be within that range um for the upcoming school year And this again would um go into effect for the
for fiscal year 26 or for the 20 2526 school year What is the TVLSC is that I think that's the the division division They do Yes The division that they participate in
and so but can so when you look at the middle column I'll start in the middle column district 7 So say for Franklin 1006 350 I mean 1,600 350 is that like what's that
breakout um I don't so I can find out the details I'm not sure I would I believe it would be the differentiation her sport but do you
know I want to talk um I believe the Frank um is I can't see that far away the cap and then some of the sports that require that additional fee due to like swimming and hockey the outside a you know outside venues and so forth
Okay Um and there's no cap says for a great lunch And then so Milford there's absolutely no well that there's no fee but the family it says it says um used to be first for
both of those categories I think it says used to be 125 and then used to be 375 Okay So they must have recently eliminated the fee And I think for some of these communities too um they're going through a similar process
that we're going through where they're looking to either change the fees or um I know some communities are definitely thinking about um having conversations about increasing Could you sorry can you just go back to
our comments and then um when we look at the number of students that participate just based off of the numbers for this year and then if we were looking to increase the fees for the proposal we're um estimating that we
would be bringing in about $45,000 additional revenue that we'd be able to utilize to offset um expenses to run those programs
So that number changed from our crazy assess Okay So we talked about this before and I don't I think we're finding any So do we know as a total what so it's it's contributing
towards the cost It's not it's not neutral So do you know how much it costs us over and above the food so I know um there's a number of different budget lines in the operating
budget um for athletics the stipens alone I believe are over 600,000 Okay For the fiscal year I didn't have it before Um and so I don't have the total number
just for that specific area of the budget but it's only it's a fraction of the of the cost And so just like this all that we use in it's like the univer that typically that they pay So
if it's like if they're going to a tournament if anything everything's included Everything is included And I think for some of the sports if there's if they're going someplace and they may have to if they're staying overnight or if
it's something where they're traveling a longer distance I know that um many of the teams do fundraising to be able to cover those costs the boosters certainly are contributing and
helping to be able to provide um different just experiences for the team So that's um definitely a part of it too But yes the user fee does cover the transportation the any like entrance
fee Um it covers the rentals for us to be able to use certain facilities Um the stipens for the coaches any of the equipment that we have to purchase Maybe I'm just curious um from Karen if
you want to talk a little bit about kind of process for this comes up for students that can't afford these and kind of what percentage of students maybe come forward and request some kind of reduction or are unable to pay these
Um I I don't have that number but um I know um the athletics department works with students who we can't afford Um we we had a conversation about the frame reduced process you know to identify those students who are reduced versus
free and how they fall into that category Um we don't deny any student access to participate in athletics if they can't afford it like anything we do here Um but I don't have
I was just just talking about that Uh one question I had was we historically have had a different two different caps right the family cap with oxygen swims with family cap without thinking around why
that was a higher capital the cost of well I think that was the rational for why there historically was a an extra $100 on their cap now there is not recording So again I don't know if that was for
clarity sake to have one fee or So when we talked about it on Friday we had talked about um just looking at the numbers of um students that participate in kind of who would actually have to
um pay their purse for or the number of families that would actually hit that family cap And so um when we had looked at it it was um with the $900 family
cap with the rate increase it essentially would be like 1 something students would hit that family cap And so um we thought it would be
appropriate to almost just align the family cap so it would be consistent And by increasing the family cap it's now closer to um you essentially I don't know if you want to
I don't want to call it a discount but you essentially would hit that family cap um having the two students that participate in multiple sports regardless if it's one of the kind of
the higher um feebased sports or not And so we just when we had talked about it last week we just thought that bringing those into alignment seemed to make more sense than having two different family
caps I think also looking at the administration of the fees and um we're charging at different times throughout the year and so just I think it just made more sense to us administratively
to set one family cap rather than having different family caps that kind of just become um difficult to to manage and keep track of as help Um I don't Karen I don't know
if there's anything else from our conversation that no was kind of important to we already felt that the students that were doing faculties from were paying that additional fee already because of the pool or the rank or whatnot you know that differential and that's true with a lot of communities
they have we have to pay that difference So we wanted to be consistent with the fee just for that reason of they're already paying that extra to do the sport So let's have the cap be,200 for everyone Um and we felt it balanced out when it came to transportation and how many buses certain people take to go to
you know some teams take multiple buses where some teams take one bus or just take the van or we felt in the end it really balanced it out with access for all the different event sports 38% of our families hit the
family cap this year So it's a pretty big number And our participation is I mean our participation is excellent Athletics I think is a pretty significant part of
the experience for students in some instances at the high school So again this is just a seasonal fee So they get this gap for fall sports spring sports The family cap is for the year
It's for the year So family cap is for the year If you have two students that play um a fall sport and a winter sport you could potentially hit that family cap by
the winter if you had like two hockey players and two football players Um and then the spring is is free per side There's no fee associated with Yes that's for the year It's not for
season Any other questions folks have on the thieves on the agenda to discuss on Wednesday i think so Yeah seems reasonable to me I mean it is fairness to families that'll be
impacted A 25% increase on most feed is a better be 3% increase on the cap So these are not small small jumps for for families who also got whatever impact of the right passes of that tax bill
seems seems reasonable in line with the other data you showed comparison communities So are you voting are you voting these fees out of finance uh I guess yeah we can vote to recommend
these Are there other fees beyond athletics that you want to bring forward for next year um not today The ones we've already Yeah Um not today I
do think that we had talked about potentially looking at um the extracurricular participation fee similar to the process that we went through with athletics Um but we want to again go through a similar process So we
didn't we haven't yet collected the comp data Um so we want to do that and then right now the extracurricular extracurricular participation fee is just one fee um for the high school And so we had talked about potentially
looking um at certain activities and seeing if as we do for swim and hockey it would it make sense to potentially have kind of the tiered approach for extracurricular So that's something that
we'll bring to a future meeting Um and then we also at a future meeting will have to set the rates for community schools So I'm meeting with the community schools director tomorrow just so we can finalize what our proposal
would be for that Okay Um given we're I mean I think it would make sense to vote on any and all changes kind of as a as a hold Yeah Yeah
Um so we Yeah So if it is not on the agenda on Wednesday Okay So we can try to have those proposals ready maybe for um finance sub commmittee for next week
Next Wednesday Next Wednesday And then you'll be voting them all on the 16th I'm going to add that in right now so it doesn't get sense because I think that would be great because we'd be able to do community schools and extracurricular and then I think that's it We've already
done transportation the summer programs We have athletics and then we should be scheduled for 26 should be pretty well set So we'll discuss in finance on the 9th on the night and school committee on
the 16th Okay Uh anything else on these all right throw that nice and quick Um so still on the agenda we have FY26 um updates Now that couple more members are here we can kind of jump back and do
a brief update on um the warrant committee presentation which occurred last week as well as the community presentation that occurred last week Both of those were on uh Wednesday Uh and um so we had the on last Wednesday
the community group uh or community presentation at Pierce Um appreciate Bill Fish Dr Fish for showing up and attending as well as all the the residents of the town who came We had about it's a small handful of folks about six folks around there um come
It's good discussion U feel like questions were asked questions were answered Everybody seemed to walk away with a good understanding kind of what was going on and positivity about the direction forward We have another one of those community presentations Is it tomorrow
night tomorrow morning Tomorrow morning Tomorrow morning and tomorrow night Yes So tomorrow morning at 8:30 at Cunningham uh and tomorrow night 6 o'clock on Zoom there any reminder not I know of all the
school weekly we're going on yeah budget updates I think we just need to um we talked about this you know briefly just as we were concluding that but I think we just need to really get the presentation tighter and more
concise so that we have at least half the time for questions more more than half I would say like yeah cuz we were we have about 15 we skip questions yeah so I'm not sure we want
to take any just the the plan for that um I think we just need to watch the clock and it needs to be by 20 pass like the presentation is is done and we can just go quickly through things and say if you
have people have questions about these topics we can spend more time in the Q&A Okay because we certainly have a lot in the appendex and a lot of additional information but I just think it's we we ran we could have kept we ran out of time We could have kept I mean it was it
was good I think it was sufficient but like had there been more people we would not have had time for uh more questions So I think I think we have the the slide deck has been slightly condensed
Do we want to look the version we made made a copy that says 4125 and I think we condensed the introduction and put a couple of the detail slides into the appendex that won't be necessarily addressed in the
presentation Do you know where that is drive Sorry it's Yeah Um Selena and Anna say "Do you look I'll put it in the Zoom chat
walk through what what we consolidated or what we removed So I mean I just that the things that we consolidated were to those top few slides just kind of combined and those again can be pretty quick but the two
things that moved back to the appendix I believe were the specific information about more detail on the ELA curriculum and the neck program redesign I think those are mentioned in the context of FY26 and the changes Um there are slides
with detail in the appendex now So I think that you know it's just if folks are looking for further detail on those they can ask the question we can speak to it But um those were the changes and then I I
think it's just a general tightening of the whole um know it's a lot or just less yeah less because we have um we have at this point
like shared this information multiple times in multiple ways So I think it's just um that's true I think it's always just understanding what level obviously each person attending actually has engaged previously with the conversation and so
like assuming that they know something I think that can be the part of the frame It's just like thank you That can be the framing is you know all right Thank you Karen Sorry Uh if if people have you know if anybody here today which is perfectly it's great if
it's the case but if this is your first time like learning anything about this you know we are going to go through this overview pretty quickly please like ask your clarifying questions and we can go into more detail on anything but I just think error on the side of
going quickly so that we can get through the questions Yeah I mean I think from the questions that came up presentation I mostly covered all the questions that were brought up there were multiple questions on
there Um I think your point of where audience changes do you know what I mean like so for some people that might not be So if you touch on it and then there are questions then you have a slide to go to for say any if anyone has questions on these we can come back to them in more
detail And I would say similarly for the best practices you know and the changes we've made I think we can really overview those and you know say we're happy to provide any further detail especially like tomorrow morning
people are going to trying to go to work likelihood is most people coming to the forum presentation are going to be people who have been engaged to some degree not just coming not having read or seen anything
I don't think we should assume that I mean I think the audience we're driving at is people who maybe are like oh yeah let me learn about this I don't because we haven't been out to the schools yet But I think the point
is you know we can spend as much time we can like keep presenting like if the questions are calling for presenting Yeah first but we first need to like
set it and then you know what we can't have is we have like five minutes left and 10 people who haven't gotten to ask their question or even two people without a gun because we're going to have to go
Is there a way that if um a community member doesn't have the opportunity to ask a question during that time can we say to them either send us an email or I don't know if there's a way in not only
just responding directly to that email but would it make sense for us to like almost answer it in during these meetings or during a school committee meeting where That's a great that's a great idea Yeah I mean I think we could implement that for both of them somewhere Sure We could
say if if you don't get to ask your question submit your question and we can try to respond to it in Wednesday discussion It's good I mean that's like a back stop You know if we end up with like a lot more people than we
expect Um that's what's also hard about it is like if you're someone who comes to one where there were a handful of people you have the benefit of like a really like a nice back and forth conversation which is if if there's a I
don't know maybe are we going to have like 20 people come then by definition you're not getting that same dynamic and that's fine you know So the one tomorrow night is there a
way do you need is there a way to capture questions in the chat that we don't get to and then it doesn't necessarily be like I just went back to so it's a Q&A so there'll be two ways people can ask a question they can type it into the Q&A
which is good because then it's captured there and somebody can um one of us will be able to like read out the question and that's nice because then people they don't feel like asking their own question but they don't think that's an answer providing that
opportunity Um alternatively I think people can raise their hand and be you know allowed to speak to if they would prefer to speak to their question and that one we said would be recorded tomorrow night Um so the presentation element of
it gets shared you know as something people can watch Anything folks think uh is missing from the community presentation Is there a place and maybe
it's so I'm going to go with the override scenario The question keeps I think the question has come up is is this enough or will we be coming back in a year is there or will you specifically say sort of I
think in a way what we said is it has to be like this is if this is the over budget that we're given the we will work to this budget do you know what I mean like explicitly say that so if there are things internally because it's I think there's been a lot
of I think with you know having earlier like the needs based budget and some of those things that if we're coming to the town asking for the people to approve this override just I think explicitly saying that this is what to do will work
to this project for next year for next year but it and in future years you're talking about 27 we're talking about 27 but I I guess my the question comes up is so the town is projecting this override will carry us through
to we are we making the commitment as well to do that you know so we're saying this is our budget we're you know we we have built this so that we will with uh that we will not be coming back our intent is
specifically to not come back we recognize that the special education costs are the are the ones that tend to be the most fluid We've put something in place to address the unanticipated costs So outside of
anything beyond that that is our intent Does that make sense i just feel like people need to hear Yeah The intent is not to come back for another override request
until 30 and soon as it's the current the intent is to put practices in place that will not help us do that I think it would be question Yes Creating sustainable
sustainable Yeah Selena Yes Uh I appreciate sort of what you're saying Aantha Um Amanda Um and I I do think that it's important in terms of the language that we use I think our
intention is to live within the budget the proposed budget and to I think manage costs as much as possible I guess what I am a little um or a bit
apprehensive about is the fact that there is so much going on at the federal level and so much that we don't know and we have yet to have a conversation as to what you know we just
don't know what the impact is going to be on school districts overall And so given given that uncertainty at the you know from uh in terms of um external factors I think it's important for us to
um just manage those expectations obviously right we're going to do everything possible internally um to look at our costs look at our expenses um and make sure that uh we're being
strategic and even more thorough than we've been Um but I I just I guess I just caution us There's so much that we don't know right no I agree on this I I agree I mean I think the federal question is a big question and how it impacts state funding Um
well if we if we see increases as we've seen over the last number of years on services I mean living within the budget and not having means
probably yeah I I did add um so there was a the town context slide I'll just slide that I did update that slide Um it's further down Uh yeah that No
sorry No that one SC Yeah Okay So I ch I updated it I kept the prop two and a half information there just like sort of sum more concise but it's bigger than the
town fiscal reality It's the town and the state and maybe what we should add here So there's prop 2 and a half is an important piece of context I put the piece of context there around you know the fact which we haven't emphasized
very much We we didn't emphasize it at all last week in the session is just so many other districts are facing very similar challenges And I I I think it's not you know we have unique challenges here but we we should be reminding people actually that you know this is a
widespread issue So I added that piece there and just like let people know for this coalition was created to call on our state officials So that's an important piece of it I don't know if to Selena's point we want to add one more bullet here And these are not things
that need to get talked through like but they're just here Are there pieces of information that people have maybe it just uncertainty you know about the uh direction of federal funding for education is something we'll need to
manage going forward Something you know and then it's just like this is all context that is outside of Milton but that does affect us here on Saturday night I don't think I have that all going like I didn't realize
[Music] either there was some that you hear that a lot but too like even if there was yeah I'm not proposing we add this to the slide for the community session but I'm actually
wondering if this would be help important or helpful for us to Yeah like what's the slide of all the towns that are doing overrides this spring like might provide a little
like perspective It's a quick slide to something you think you might I could try Yeah I mean I could I think I had a um business association meeting just a the regional meeting last week
and it was a very similar conversation for some communities that even if it's not this year it's potentially next year that they'll be having someone's conversation I can get some information Not even counting the ones
who sleep last year Sorry can I ask one question back to the federal you say federal funding for education i just guess my other question would be around look at we get Medicaid funding like if there because I think
there's also a question on funding for health programs I think that there's I think there is a question around both that might impact us So I don't know that it's just like it's like education and is it like health programs or
um health and human services I think you can just say how to do services You think there's no Well there's definitely more things that could impact But yeah maybe it's just Maybe you say that impact school funding
Excellent So oh I feel like it can't be exhaustive obviously but maybe if it's even helpful to have like this is a couple from FY25 couple
from I think um because that is we have to work through right now Hover over brain tree like a number of places nearby were just lost a year ago Which could have been us Um
Other thoughts questions um I just had a question on slide 13 uh where we talk about other districts are doing overrides Um I personally see this as a negative to include this because I think it opens
us up to scrutiny as to why one-time funds arr knowing that we would be in this bind And we've talked about the Arper Cliff for a couple years Um I'm just not I think when we go in it's like because everybody's doing it we should do it
also is not really a good strategy in my opinion Um I think you know what we need to really focus on is here is you know obviously right sizing the budget but then also what are we going to do i mean
Selena brought up the point of federal funding and um you know how to and also you know how to live within our means um going forward with all of these other things implications that can completely affect the budget And I think that's where we need to show some sort of
strategy to build confidence in the community that they're we're asking them to invest but what are we going to do if all of these other things happen right like where we lose you know potentially
um lose federal funding uh that could impact state funding and so on and so forth Like what are kind of our plan to live within our means right like are we looking at you know we talk about um you know special ed increases and so on and
so forth like what can we do internally to create programming uh so that we're referring less less students out of district and so on and so forth It just seems like we still have you know holes where we're we're
bleeding money from because we don't like how are we going to get control over that i think that's what's kind of missing for me Like I I know we've uh talked about improving practice but really when other things are going to impact the budget down the road that we
don't nothing about at this point like how are we looking ahead and making sure we're planning for it a few years out instead of just kind of living in let's just get through this year or let's just get through next year and then go ask for more if we can't um figure out how
to balance the budget I think I think really we should we should be focusing on like this is why you have to trust us um to invest in the schools and we know like from we have a good grasp on what's
going to come down the line and we have a way to kind of weather those storms going forward and um we are thinking ahead not just for next year but really thinking ahead of all those other implications that could
potentially happen I mean I'm not I don't I don't disagree with that I feel like the budget for 26 was built with that in
mind and to carry us forward I think the only place where we're talking about unanticipated costs which which I I understand what you're saying I just don't know how from the federal stamp like I don't know and maybe there is maybe maybe
there's there's thoughts that we can can put to it I think that that's such a of um an unknown Um but I do think you know I know that I think I know I do believe we need to think about the programming
in some cases maybe like are there things changes that we need to make or training or other things that we could do to to support the special ed piece of it Um I hope we're talking about things beyond that so that you know so that
that doesn't always become the area where we're talking about where we need to look at at cost savings or programs So I think no absolutely I think we just need to kind of look at it holistically and see what you know what do we kind of
have in place you know if unexpected fund we lose funding or unexpected costs come up like where can we kind of you know still be able to you know live within our means I think that's that's the that's kind of
the confidence piece that we have to give to the public in order for them to support it versus you know if all these things go wrong then we're going to be back asking for more money you know and it just I think that's the part that I think
however we phrase that um you know I think that's that's a key factor in trying to um just get more support behind it Selena Yeah You know well I think I I follow
your comment Um I do think in in many ways these um the circumstances that we find ourselves in this year have forced or maybe expedited sort of that
process by which the district has had to look at itself and look at every line item and determine where there are opportunities to reduce cost that has
definitely been done In addition to that I think we've have had we've had to um look at the budget and the development of the budget in a much more careful way which now positions us to do better going forward I think what I
don't or I want us to sort of continue to keep in mind is that I think as a district we are pretty efficient uh in terms of our costs in you know when I think of that quadrant that that uh scatter plot you
showed Mark and where we are in that scatter plot that is very telling in terms of what we do uh we've been able to invest much less per pupil and still achieve pretty good results Um and so
that tells me that the efficiencies are in there Now of course we're going to do everything possible to continue to um live within the budget that you know we get every year um knowing that there are
external factors we can't control but we're going to try to stay on top of those factors so that we can be proactive So I I just I guess I I just push a little bit in terms of like where else are we going to find efficiencies
and also the fact that space is not something that we have a lot of to be able to say you know we're going to create more pro uh programs and we're going to be able to have the space for those programs I think we need to think
about the future and how the town uh how we set up our ourselves up as a town so that as a district we are able to keep more of our students here and I think that's something we will get to uh over time Um so that's just something that I I just want us to
to be a little careful um because I think there there are a lot of really great practices that we're putting into place we're thinking ahead and we're being forward uh in and and also I think we need to be transparent of what we can and cannot control I think a lot of the um concerns
that Anna has raised for me are captured actually in bullet two here implementation of budget recasting to make adjustments for impacts you know just we have articulated there that is a major shift which I expect should be
informing all the work that's going to be happening starting in July of FY26 and going beyond So I you know maybe we can just further emphasize that um because Anna
what you articulated a need for I believe is it's here It's just maybe not um like very detailed there But yeah I think that kind
of because I think it does get lost I mean it's a pretty topic heavy slide but uh I think really needs to be articulated that that's something that we're going to practice because I think again it gives um I think it gives the community just
the reassurance that you know um that we are going to do everything we can to kind of stay within budget even with unanticipated costs right like
we're going to like you know have to get creative in some of these things And I know uh we don't have all the answers to what that might be but that's something that we're going to continue to refine and improve our process and um you know
just kind of um look at and you know I mean I get space is an concern and um all of that stuff but I I think really just like hey we're kind of you know we're going to
really looking through and and seeing where can we make you know and are some of these positions can they be combined like all of these things I know um this year was kind of late to look at like kind of reconfiguring some of those but going forward um you know where where
can there be some um is there any overlap between positions you know where they can you know they can be um um uh between um so that we can kind of just look at look at all of that and see like so there are a lot of factors that
go into you know what um or a lot of different ways and I'm glad that we're kind of getting into that mindset and that really needs to be established um and kind of emphasized I think in the presentations to say that that that is going to be something that we're going
to continually look at and then just kind of annually as well and then obviously looking at the budget um you know as soon as um July 1 or whenever um the the new the
new year starts um just so that we are ahead of it and so that we're not um surprised by it come January One other thing I was going to say in response to your other feedback is slide 13 Maybe that belongs in the appendix
too Like so we were talking about tightening not lengthening the presentation So Mark can you move that down because I do think it could be helpful if a question comes up about well what other like are other communities dealing with this then it
would be great to be able to share Oh yes Like these are some communities that are but maybe not including that in the main presentation Yeah absolutely And I think again you know I like I think there could be I
think it's good to have it if it comes up as a question but I think we just have to be careful of scrutiny if if we kind of lead with that Um one other thing and I think it kind of goes to what you were just saying Lizzie and it just I know it just keeps sticking with me when you said it Katie
and maybe it's a place that just what Anna just said is that sort of like you're always working through the way you're thinking about it like last year's the current year constantly evaluating and then next year So that so I think that that thought process that
idea is helpful Um it might be something you you talk to as you're saying it but I I think it's not that you're just focused on this year and you're like "Oh we'll look at next year next year or or the like as more information even comes in now about the impact of the previous
year's fiscal year." Like I think looking at it with that lens um that you're constantly taking in data and adjusting based on that's just for you if you're talking who's talking but just just that piece I just found very helpful I don't
would that um maybe up in even like the history or somewhere in there just talking I think with the history that's a big piece of why we even are addressing the history right right because of the impact that it has on the future right
and saying this is what happened and this is the impact to not only this year but the impact to future fiscal years right even so even now you're looking at looking at that through like so next year you will look at this year as
you're building for the following you know what I mean I just think it's just a a a mindset that's important for people to know that it's just not like books are shut we're on to the next thing you know or that was last quarter right it's not that that's a huge piece of it when we talk about any of the
shifts that may potentially happen in the future just having that lens into upcoming fiscal years knowing that even though we're not dealing with it within the current year's budget administration that it is something that could
potentially come up I think even when because you've even talked about when we were and Danielle was here last week for this year looking at next year recognizing like oh in the fall we had a lot number of referrals
um more than we typically do when typically in March April we'd start seeing a lot of referrals so recognizing okay is this a trend is this something we need to keep in mind next year so we're anticipating contracts or just that sort of thing so I think that's really helpful
So I don't want to believe right I just think that that was I think it addresses the questions Um last point I'd like to echo I agree with Selena's point on because I agree and I think people have questions on right impacts of federal actions and u
those things I do agree with Selena though in terms of the need to be just honest of if it really depends on what happens at that level and like the ability to plan for just an elimination of all federal funds is one scenario Partial
funds is another scenario Does what does the state do to increase funding if that goes away like there's there's so many impacts potentially of that um outcome that I think it's very hard to clearly state that within a a
presentation I think it just kind of takes us off on a place that we're not going to have time for And so I think just stating like you know if if the federal funding were to be eliminated that's a question that kind of comes up then like that is a reality that we will need to deal with and the state will
need to deal with and every town across the country will need to deal with uh because every single educational department in the nation depends on that funding Um and you know it it might I'm not sure like in terms of speculating
that might be is is just challenging Um I think really it comes sorry I just want to jump in Um just to clarify I really think it needs to come back to our ability as a committee
to you know do our job as elected representatives um to kind of hey we are going to be whether it's working with other towns to figure out like you know if there is some sort of change in funding like what are we going
to do like instead of kind of just you know throwing our hands up and saying "Oh well we lost federal funding We have to you know like what?" Like and that's something that we just we just have to be very clear on is that we are going to do everything we can you know and working with other towns or you know
creating bre best practices internally to kind of you know just help make that impact like you know like make um like least affect the students and the district as much as possible like we
are going to do everything we can you know and I think it's really just the reassurance to the community that the school committee is committed to that you know from like we will do everything we can We understand we're going to stay on top of it We're going to continue monitoring it We will work with other
towns um you know just to kind of figure out like best practices like what can we do um to kind of work around that as best as we can Same thing I think you know when we uh get into the override like we're you know if there isn't an
outcome that you know we want there to be like same thing like we are going to have to figure it out Um and I think it really just comes back to just having the the school committees presenting this Um giving the community the
reassurance that we are equipped to you know kind of lead this charge and continue to do what's best for the district Uh need the pool here I know they need the room not just He's going to leave
Um any last pressing things before we we wrap so anybody's watching or listening to this between now and tomorrow morning please uh attend tomorrow morning at 8:30 at Penningham or tomorrow night at 6 o'clock on Zoom I'm excited for that
Um one more next Monday night at the high school We have one more following Monday night Uh all right We will move down to uh our next meeting is this Wednesday at 8 o'clock not 8:30 and then we have another one on the 9th if we
don't have one on Monday meetings Uh I will take a motion to adjourn Uh is there a second i will second it I'm not sure Uh all right I'll second it All in
favor um that's it Thank you everybody Thank you Bye [Music]
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