##VIDEO ID:oSBPzFjDC0A## e e good evening I call this meeting of the pelis County School Board September 10 2024 to order I would like to note that we have a Time certain public hearing at 6:30 p.m. this evening should we have to adjourn this meeting in order to have that meeting on time we will and then we will resume this meeting this includes resuming to complete public comment if needed with that we will begin our evening's proceedings with an invitation led by Pastor Keith harome of Palm Harbor United Methodist Church followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Vice chair Carol cook and the national anthem colors will be presented by the St Petersburg High School jroc Air Force Color Guard under the leadership of chief Master Sergeant Frederick Fowler the national anthem will be performed by St Pete high school students Juliana and Joselyn of the pitchforks under the direction of Kevin Pina please stand and remain standing until the colors have been retired Pastor harome good evening good evening thank you miss hin my name is Keith H I'm the pastor of palm hobby night Methodist church and it is a pleasure to be with you here for the invocation of pelis County uh board meeting I want to say that we reach down and ask pelis County what the largest need is in the school system uh throughout penales County which my children have been involved in over the years and they said food insecurity my church and many like ours are NOS with panelas County and we have provided food for penal County students and we provide 244 at last count children 34 weeks a year and we are proud to be a part of that and that's kind of where I want to start our prayers tonight let us pray let's pray together gracious and heavenly father thank you that you have provided all that we need you provided places for us to be fed and we pray Lord that um through the school system through the teachers through board members through all that are gathered here that we would always be aware of those who are in need we thank you for the many programs and many NOS that are around in pelis county that help those who have food insecurities guide us and show us and give us wisdom of how we are to be your vessels to those children who have food insecurities uh may you be with us tonight in our meeting guide the wisdom of those who make decisions and help us to glorify you in them we ask this in your precious name amen thank you for Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible withy and justice for [Music] all say can you see by the dawn early light what's so proudly we ha at the Twilight last gleaming who brought stripes and bright stars through the per fight or the r parts we watch were so gently streaming and The Rock red glare the bombs bursting in air gave Pro through the night that our flag was still there oh say does that Star Spangled Banner yet way or the land of the free and the home of the bra [Music] [Applause] please be seated Mr Pina would you please introduce the second song yes thank you uh Joselyn will be singing times are hard for dreamers from the musical amaly it is a song about a young woman going to Paris France the big city with Big Dreams in her heart [Music] they say times are hard for dreamers but they won't be hard from me I saved up everything I know to take that step beyond the law keep walking till I see the station and then see it go inside the train out through the glass my fingers tracing all of these towns I never heard of racing [Music] past off the train in Paris half a mile from sacor the city's waking up for [Music] me a Sciences an apartment's vacant on the second floor and suddenly I hold the key I turn un lock the rooms appear and all it takes is one more step and then I'm here just me behind my door it isn't what I have it's only what I have in store that matters now the past can only fade as everything I'll ever need is here this is how my world gets [Music] made they say times are hard for dreamers and who knows maybe they are people seem stuck or lost at sea and I might be a dreamer but it's gotten me this far and that is far enough for me look out my window there's a view of other windows my own museum full of paintings I look through where everything is clear it isn't where I am it's so where I'll go from here that matters now and I am not afraid has everything I'll ever need appears this is how my world gets [Music] Joselyn that was so beautiful thank you thank you so much now we will sh share a video about a night Foreman at seminal Middle School who's leading by example by showing commitment to growth and Excellence let's take a look earlier your path might not always take the way it wants to but you got to persevere and live out your dreams your dream will never find you you have to find those dreams exactly what Miss Heidi did yesterday graduated 9 years ago I went back to get my GED and I wasn't motivated enough so I went for a little while and then I just stopped going the position here at simal mle school the night Foreman position came open because my HBO retired they told me I had to go back to get my GED it took me 5 months to get it my kids also motivated me because I want to show them that no matter how old you are you could still follow your dreams at any age they're just so proud of me and everything that I have accomplished because I never thought I could do it and just having them as support saying Mom you can do it you know and it's hard going back to school at 37 is very hard my team is absolutely amazing here I want to be here every day because this is family the principal is amazing it's just easy to come to work every day I love this school when my HBO retires I want that position like this is my school I love that it is your school Heidi and I just want to say thank you for your commitment and congratulations from each and every one of us on your graduation thank you for what you do every single day item 1.6 is Introduction of professional and Community organization Representatives Isabelle mascarenes public information officer good evening Madam chair members of the board Mr Hendrick and staff it is my pleasure to introduce the following representatives of community and professional organizations from the panila classroom Teachers Association Lee Bryant president repres presenting the north pilis League of Women Voters Vivian posy from the pilis arts for a complete education Coalition Maria cantonis today we have a presentation from the student rights and responsibility committee please welcome students Ryan Lang and Kai Preble from St Petersburg High School and their principal Darlene Libo good evening thank you for having us hold I think the yeah all right coming up all right yeah I'm Ryan Lang I'm Kai Preble and we're I'm the senior class president at St be high I'm the vice or senior class vice president at St be high and we're honored to represent the school here tonight so to start we want to report on some academic our Legacy IB Program had a successful year last year with a 96% graduation rate to follow that Sage Summers one of our fellow seniors is a semifinalist for the National Merit Scholarship one of the most prestigious Scholarships in America following that s High was reported to have the highest college R this uh ranking in penel County by US Weekly now we want to move on to report on some of our clubs and programs as everyone just saw we're we have a new uh Air Force JC program and they're going into their second year additionally we have a new athletic training student program where we have a new athletic trainer and a new program for students to um be experienced in the athletic training profession and we're excited to report on a unique aspect of St beat High actually Joselyn who just sang Here created this in her freshman year it's called the club fair and at the beginning of the year couple first weeks during lunch all of the clubs from around the school will have a you know a table out in our main Courtyard that had been renovated a couple years ago and people will go sign up and get recruited for the clubs and it's a way to get people involved and we're very proud of it it's part of our identity here at St Pete high and to move on student government to talk to you about what we do we started something last year called the public forum where at lunch once a month we'll host students who will talk about their questions or concerns for you guys as part of the student rights and responsibilities committee my goal is to bring those questions to the school board when we have our meetings uh we're also closely connected with the historic Kenwood neighborhood association in fact next Saturday we have an opportunity to help a Community member paint their house and Landscape so now to go over some athletic and sports information so our football team is undefeated currently three and0 and last year they started the season off uh with three losses but they won eight games straight and we're just building off of that season hoping for a great season and the volleyball team is was defending District Champs last year and also hoping for a great season this year yeah and we're basketball players and we we wish we could we could talk to you about that but we're talking about the fall Sports now but when I come back for student rights and responsibilities I'll give you guys an update so our cross country team they're the defending pcac champs for the boys and for the girls swimming our other fall sport we have the returning uh state runnerup so we're hoping to build off of what we did last year and have great seasons in all of our fall Sports thank you everyone thank you [Applause] thank you Ryan and Kai for that presentation I love that public forum idea Gathering input from your uh you know fellow fellow St Pete high students to bring to us thank you I look forward to seeing you at Sr srnr back up here the next item on the agenda um are there any amendments to the agenda Mr hendrik yes Madam chair there are three amendments to tonight's agenda all were post posted last Friday night for the board and public to see the first is item 8.3 request approval of the negotiated agreement with the pelis classroom Teachers Association the second is item 8.4 request approval of the negotiated agreement with SEIU Florida public services Union and item 8.5 is a request approval for the salary increase for administrators professional technical supervisory and non-represented support staff thank you board members any amendments no as board chair I find good cause to amend the agenda as described by Mr hendrik may I have a motion to adopt the agenda as amended move for approval thank you a motion by Mrs Caine and a second by Mrs Peters all those in favor say I I any opposed carries 7 to zero on a special order agenda tonight we'll start with item 4.1 presentation of the Proclamation designating September 15 to October 15 2024 as Hispanic Heritage Month may I have a motion to approve this item second motion from Mrs Edmund and a second from Mrs Meyer Mr Hendrick would you like to introduce please yes thank you madam chair we're excited to bring this Proclamation forward to the board and our community and I'm going to call up Michelle Anderson our K8 social study specialist to tell you more about the proclamation and some of the ways in which we will be celebrating throughout the district Mrs Anderson Madam chair school board members Mr Hendrick and staff good afternoon each year Americans observe National Hispanic Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15th to October 15th by celebrating the histories cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain Mexico the Caribbean and Central and South America the observation started in 1968 as Hispanic heritage week under President Lynden Johnson and was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to cover a 30-day period starting on September 15th and ending on October 15th it was enacted into law on August 17th 1988 on the approval of public law 100- 42 President George H W bush issued the first Proclamation for National Hispanic Heritage Month on September 14th 1989 the day of September 15th is significant because it is the anniversary of Independence for the Latin American countries of Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras and aragua in addition Mexico and Chile celebrate their independence days on September 16th and September 18th respectively also Columbus Day Oria de la RZA which is October 12th Falls within this 30-day period within penel County Schools 20% of our student body and 8.6% of our staff identify as having Hispanic and Latino Heritage pellis County Schools celebrates the vibrant diversity of our community and supports and promotes Hispanic Heritage Month our teachers have received support through a variety of means we look forward to seeing our school's cultures grow in support of all ethnic groups as they highlight the contributions and achievements of our Hispanic and Latino country women and men thank you for your support of this annual event thank you so much Mrs Anderson Mrs cook would you read the proclamation thank you the proclamation for National Hispanic Heritage Month whereas National Hispanic Heritage Month mon offers honors the contributions of Hispanics have made throughout our history and the important part the community plays in the lives of our students and whereas the month honors the countless ways in which the Hispanic Community has contributed to our nation's success and affirms our commitment to expanding opportunity and building a brighter future for all and whereas Congress has authorized the and requested the president to issue annually a proclamation designating September 15th through October 15th as National her National Hispanic Heritage Month now therefore the Panels County School Board hereby recognizes September 15th through October 15 2024 as Hispanic Heritage Month and urges all citizens to join in a national effort to recognize the contributions made and the importance of the presence of Hispanic and Latino Americans to the United States and to celebrate their heritage and culture signed this 10th day of September 2024 thank you board members is there any discussion no we have a motion on the floor in a second to approve this Proclamation all those in favor say I I any opposed carries 7 to zero item 4.2 presentation of the Proclamation designating the month of September 2024 as American Founders month September 17 is Constitution Day September 17 to 23 is Constitution week and the last full week of September as Celebrate Freedom week May I have a motion in second to approve this item make a motion motion from Mrs long and a second from Mrs Meyer Mr Hendrick would you please introduce thank you madam chair obviously there's a number of proclamations all combined into one here and we're excited um going to bring up our new social studies our high school social studies spe specialist Jessica hassa and she'll explain how we'll be celebrating and honoring each of these this month thank you uh good evening Madame chair Schoolboard members Mr Hendrick and staff uh September is a month of many observances we celebrate nationally and here in Florida I'd first like to take a moment to recognize that tomorrow our nation commemorates Patriot Day as schools hold remembrance ceremonies beginning with moments of Silence to remember the victims of the terrorist attack on September 11th 2001 we honor the courage and selflessness of our First Responders service members and fellow citizens who served our nation and its people in our hour of greatest need in Florida we also observe 911 Heroes day as we rededicate ourselves to the ideals that Define our country and unite us as one and as we commemorate all the heroes who lost their lives lives saving others on this day students study topics involving the history and significance of September 11 2001 including remembering the sacrifice of military personnel government employees civilians and emergency responders who were killed wounded or suffered sickness due to the terrorist attacks so today I am here to share pelis County School's proud support of American Founders month during theth month of September Celebrate Freedom week in Florida during the last full week in September and Constitution Day on September 17th which kicks off Constitution week each year Constitution week is a commemoration of America's most important document it stands as a testament to the tenacity of Americans throughout history to maintain their Liberties freedoms and inalienable rights the celebration of the Constitution was started by the Daughters of the American reol ution in 1955 by petitioning Congress to set aside September 17th through the 23rd annually to be dedicated for the observance of constitution week that resolution was later adopted by the US Congress and signed into public law on August 2nd 1956 by President Dwight de Eisenhower Florida was one of the first states in the country to officially recognize Celebrate Freedom week in 2002 during Celebrate Freedom week students study the intent meaning and importance of the Declaration of Independence we are proud to share that the social studies Department ensures each student enrolled in Middle School Civics and high school US Government receives the full text of the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence as well as facts about our nation's Founders and information on Landmark Supreme Court cases while social studies teachers guide students through in-depth lessons throughout the year on the founding of our country this month day and week serve as a special time where we continue to educate our students and Community about the sacrifices made for freedom in the founding of this country and the principles on which this country was founded thank you for your support of these annual events and our continuous efforts to enhance Civics education and in honor of the sacrifices made by those who have served and continued to serve our great nation thank you Mrs Hassel it was a great presentation Mrs Kane would you please read the proclamation sure American Founders month Constitution day and week and celebrate freedom week September 2024 whereas during the American Founders month Constitution day and week and celebrate freedom week we focus on better understanding the nation's Founders and the sacrifices Made For Freedom that hold a special place in the history of the United United States of America and the State of Florida and whereas during the month of September all Civic fraternal and religious organizations as well as public and private educational institutions are urged to recognize and observe American Founders month Constitution day and week and celebration Celebrate Freedom week through appropriate programs Services celebrations in which state C County and local government officials are invited to participate and whereas during American founder month schools at all grade levels are encouraged to dive deeply into the history of our nation's Founders and the intent meaning purpose and importance of America's founding documents and now therefore the school board of pelis County hereby proclaims September 20 24 as American Founders month September 17th as Constitution Day September 17th through the 23rd as Constitution week and the last full week of September as Celebrate Freedom week signed this 10th day of September 2024 thank you board members is there any discussion seeing none we have a motion and second on the floor to approve item 4.2 all those in favor say I I any opposed passes 7 to zero item 4.3 we'll have a presentation on our district strategic plan and our district annual report Mr Hendrick would you please introduce this item yes thank you madam chair annually prior to this year we always brought the district strategic plan at the same time we brought our budget and it was an annual uh process this year our board because we have a three-year District strategic plan now there's nothing to vote on tonight but one of the things that the board wanted as part of that plan was an annual report and so tonight for the members that are here in the audience uh and certainly our board here uh at the dis and for the public online you can see our second annual report of this District strategic plan and we're excited to produce this for the public for a number of reasons but I'm going to hit on a few of these tonight first a little bit about our district strategic plan now in its second year it was developed through a series of public workshops with both our board and the community that included listen and learn sessions with staff families and teachers it included our annual stakeholder res uh results the pcta vision for penel County Schools focus groups with staff families and students student leadership Summits and input from our district and school leaders and this strategic plan is monitored throughout the year by departments and staff who create and execute quarterly reports to go over and share with the public and the board part of what makes us special as a school district last year we launched this first district annual report and we continue with that each year and this fall at the request of the board we will start having a district Community dashboard where you can see quarter by quarter updates on this and even run some of your own queries for some student data and P that are a key part of the 16 objectives of this District strategic plan tonight I'm not going to go through each of uh each page in here but it is uh certainly chalk full of highlights but I do want to just hit a couple in each of the six major priorities that the board determined and for the benefit of the public the board did look at this again this year in fact just in a work session that we had about two weeks ago we reviewed each of the priorities each of the focus areas and recommitted ourselves to make sure those areas that we haven't yet achieved success in we are ready to do so in the next two years from our Priority One of academic Excellence through innovation of course uh we did achieve an a district rating but there's so much more to look at in here including how we've worked on early literacy and career dual enrollment expansion for our students priority to safe and respectful climate and culture again so many things to look at but in particular a continued focus and renewed focus on addressing student behaviors through a multifaceted approach in our schools in priority three Equity with Excellence for all we're proud of school grades across all of our schools but in particular student performance proficiency uh for students in are Bridging the Gap plan our black students who had a six percentage Point increase which is the largest proficiency increase we've seen in the now eight years of the Bridging the Gap plan in priority four positive staff experiences so much to celebrate including the opening of our employee Child Care Program this year and a new teacher apprenticeship program in partnership with St Petersburg College priority five strong connections and communication we're so grateful of the 25,000 volunteers who put forth uh over 500,000 hours in our schools this last year and last but not least in priority six fiscal and operational responsibilities we continue as we'll see tonight with our budget uh to have a solid fiscal operation for a school district but perhaps what is most important in this highlight is that this month is the end of all of those pandemic era fundings from Esser and ARP which expire this month and we need to make sure we are sound without the benefit of those pandemic era funds and this outlines a little bit of that the community dashboard which we'll launch in just a few weeks will show you a lot of this in more detail but we're excited tonight to share this annual report with the public and with the board and I want to thank the board for their continued engagement in the district strategic plan in particular our work session a few years a few weeks ago thank you madam chair thank you Mr hendrik um you know we have people ask us regularly so how's it going there are so many things that it's hard to know where to start and so I'm very glad to have this annual report and our strategic plan and I just want to encourage you if you are curious about what's going on in our schools what we're focusing on these are the places where you can find so much of that information we're all happy to answer that question we'll probably mention the first few that come to our mind but again there is so much amazing work going on and I would and I'm very I'm very grateful to have these documents and I look forward to that dashboard that's coming out as well it's taken a significant amount of work to get there and we look forward to announcing when that's available to you um I'd like to thank Mr Hendrick of course but also thank Jennifer dull our strategic impact officer as well as lyanna Eis our director of um strategic planning so thank you so much for all the work that goes in goes into this our next item is public comments on agenda items Mrs Hal do we have any speakers to agenda items today yes Madam chair there's one speaker thank you please go ahead and call that speaker our first speaker is Lee Bryant he's speaking to item 8.3 good evening chair Hine members of the board superintendent Hendrick and staff uh my name is Lee Bryant I'm the president of pcta uh and I'd like to take a few seconds to recognize the work of my bargaining team and your bargaining team and coming together for a a fairly quick negotiation as far as uh the salaries went uh to the surprise of many of my members uh it went it went very quickly uh and I'm I'm happy to get to the point where we are able to look at the books find the numbers and come to an agreement uh in a in a fairly congenial way I it worked out very well uh I'm very happy about that although next year is an open book year so be prepared uh we do need to understand one thing real quick and that is in 2008 Florida was 26th in the nation in average teacher pay now we're 50th if we want to improve salaries and working conditions in this classroom we need to change the way Florida is being run right now and that's all I have to say on 8.3 thank you for your time thank you on the consent agenda tonight may I have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda move for approval second motion by Mrs Kaine and a second by Mrs long all those in favor of approving the consent agenda say I I any opposed passes 7 to zero our non-consent agenda tonight item 8.1 setting a public hearing and authorizing the advertisement of the public hearing to consider the amendment to policies 0164 meetings notice of meetings 2120 School Improvement and academic accountability and 2414 accreditation this is the first reading may I have a motion to approve this item make a motion motion from Mrs long and a second from Mrs Meyer Mr hendrik would you please introduce thank you madam chair as is the case often this time of year we are updating our policies in response to legislation from last year and so that's the case in this first public hearing request tonight and I'll pass it to our director of strategic planning and policy Lanna Eis to explain Mrs E good evening Madam chair board members superintendent Hendrick staff and Community each year the district reviews the school board's policies in alignment with State legislation and the state Florida the Florida Board of Education rules and those Updates this year 35 District staff members reviewed 64 Schoolboard policies for compliance with the bills from the legislative session and we are proposing amendment to three policies at this time first policy 0164 notice of public meetings is being amended in response to Senate Bill 70002 the policy simplifies the process for posting public meeting notices on the district website 7 days in advance of the meeting policy 2120 School Improvement and academic accountability updates the outdated language about the state accountability system and policy 2414 accreditation updates that policy in regards to districtwide accreditation and the regional accrediting body we recommend setting a public hearing on October 22nd 2024 for these amendments thank you board members is there any discussion seeing none with the motion and second on the floor to item approve item 8.1 all those in favor say I I any opposed passes 7 to zero thank you item 8.2 setting a public hearing and authorizing the advertisement of the public hearing to consider the amendment to policies 1140 discipline of Administrators 3140 discipline of instructional staff 4140 discipline of support staff and 8405 school safety this is the first reading may I have a motion to approve motion motion from Mrs long and a second from Mrs Meyer Mr Hendrick would you please introduce thank you madam chair similarly updating from legislation this one specifically around employee discipline as it relates to school safety I know we workshopped this we also did a number of check-ins with pcta with teachers groups and others to make sure the recommendations we're bringing forward are consistent with everyone who will have to live with these recommendations and I'll ask Mrs Eis to take us through that process again the recommended amendments to policies 1140 discipline of Administrators 3140 discipline of instructional staff 4140 discipline of support staff and 8405 school safety align with new legislation and House Bill 1473 most of the requirements of House Bill 1473 regarding school safety are procedural and do not require substantive changes to policy 8405 school safety policy 8405 however is amended with technical edits regarding the threat management terminology in District safety specialist position title the new school safety law requires school districts to adopt staff discipline for knowingly violating school safety requirements therefore the proposed amendments related to House Bill 1473 are for policies 1140 3140 and 4140 the proposed amendment adds an offense for knowingly violating school safety requirements with an Associated Progressive penalty range of suspension through dismissal for each of the three policies we recommend setting a public hearing for October 22nd for these amendments thank you is there any discussion yes Mrs cook thank you for bringing these to the workshops all of these policies not only the ones we're getting ready to vote on but the ones we previously voted on it helps us make sure that we are actually implementing the policies um that the law has um passed during last legislative session and it also helps us to answer any questions and get those answered ahead of time so that we have a chance to kind of percolate them and let them think about it so thank you for your work and thank you for bringing them to the workshop thank you we have a motion on the floor in a second to approve item 8 point2 all those in favor say I I any opposed passes 7 to zero item 8.3 request approval of negotiated agreement with panella's classroom Teachers Association pcta may I have a motion second to approve this item I make a motion I have a motion from Mrs long and a second from Mrs Edmund Mr Henrick would you please introduce this item happily introduce this one in the next couple uh as we talk about agreements with our different labor unions and this one with the panel's classroom Teachers Association uh our chief of Human Resources Miss Paul Texel is here to explain and I want to Echo the comments of Mr Brian and we're grateful for all sides in our bargaining uh to reach this agreement uh our board members routinely ask questions of of us about the agenda and they submit those in writing or they call us but typically submit in writing and one of the questions from a board member uh on this particular item and others was is this the earliest the district has ever been finished with negotiations with all of our bargaining groups and uh Miss Tel's answer was we think so uh at least in the last decade for sure and and the rules on bargaining and things like that have changed but uh very early and I want to thank all of our groups because we want to get our employees their money as soon as possible uh and as Mr Bryant mentioned the money is what the money is we we see that and and so let's get it out and so miss Texel I've stolen a lot of your thunder how about it I think you've said it all Mr hendrik but good evening Madam chair um Schoolboard members Mr Hendrick and staff I am super excited to be here on September 10th to present this uh agenda item to you for the approval of the tentative agreement with panel's classroom Teachers Association again I will echo my thanks to Lee briyan our president of pcta for his work during this entire process just give you a summary of the agreement with pcta as average salary increase of 3.25% for employees in this bargaining group in addition to the increase in the referendum amount of $639 they already have started to receive as of July 1st raises will range anywhere between 1,500 $12,000 for employees rated either effective highly effective on their valuations from last year I'm also very excited to uh share that our beginning our starting teacher salary is now $54,000 and so that we have worked very hard on that over the years you will notice in the agenda item the agreement with Healthcare um school board will be picking up 80% of that increase in healthare employees will um contribute 20% of the increase you'll also notice in pcta that we have um contributed additional funds to continue to increase our supplement positions and that is a whole separate committee that looks at that and makes those recommendations and very excited about that um the employees represented in this bargaining group ratified this agreement last week with 83% in agreement uh with this um in favor of the agreement and if approved this evening uh employees in the spting group will receive their uh retroactive pay to July 1st 2024 and their increase es and raises in their September 20th paycheck I do want to thank uh not only Dave Richmond and payroll but also my compensation team um they have been working very diligently very long hours over the last week or so to make sure that this could get to the employees as soon as possible so September 20th which is right around the corner very excited about that so on behalf of the superintendent staff we are recommending that you approve this agreement with pcta thank you is there any discussion I would just share that since we're first presented with the budget in June of each year for the following school year one of the very first questions that we have is what about staff right it's the biggest component of our budget and the most important impact on our school day every single day and so I too just want to Echo thank you for you know we start in June really when we have those numbers and and you start your negotiations and discussions and so thank you to getting to this agreement and I will also say very very clearly I wish it was more and thank you for pointing out those numbers and statistics Mr Bryan and we will continue to work on making that happen so thank you very much um any other discussion with that all those in favor say I I any opposed passes 7 to zero thank you the next item on the agenda is request approval of negotiated agreement with the SEIU Florida Public Services Union fpsu um may I have a motion and second to approve this item second motion from Mrs long and a second from Mrs Caine Mr Hendrick would you please introduce thank you madam chair I Echo the sentiments that I shared earlier about I appreciate SEIU and their bargaining team uh for coming to the table so quickly of course we already approved pespa uh several board meetings ago and so uh this is the second of our support employees and we appreciate their work each and every day and I'll to miss Texel for the details so I am very excited here uh to be here to uh request the approval of the ATT tenative agreement with seciu fpsu and employees in this group um covered employees in the group of SEIU will receive the hourly rate increase of 75 cents per hour and that is um uh does is the same as what pespa was approved a couple of meetings ago the it is retroactive to July 1st 2024 the same contributions will be made for healthcare for this group as I just mentioned with pcta additionally agreement was reached with this group to increase some shift differentials for some employees in this group as well as increasing the amount for Footwear allowances and some tool allowance um increases for our um mechanics who we rely on every single day uh we also came to an agreement on various contract language changes which um are noted in the agenda item this passed a couple coup of weeks ago with 95% of um the group voting in favor of the agreement all increases approved today as I mentioned are retroactive to July 1st and if approved today employees will be receiving their raises and retro pay in their September 27th paycheck so on behalf of the superintendent staff we are recommending approval of this agreement thank you board members is there any discussion no seeing none we have a motion and second on the floor to approve it it 8.4 all those in favor I any opposed passes 7 to zero item 8.5 request approval of the salary increase for administrators professional technical supervisory and non-represented support staff may I have a motion and second to approve this item move for approval Mrs edman did I hear you make a motion thank you okay motion from Mrs edman I heard m Meer second thank you Mr Hendrick would you like to introduce this item please yes ma'am uh the board has now approved three of our agreements with our our Union groups the fourth is with the fop the Fraternal Order police who we have a tentative agreement with and they'll be voting on the next non-student day uh but this is the the last of the five groups really but one that does not have a bargaining unit for it or non-represented administrators and other staff Miss Texel will explain the details of each group uh we're excited to bring this to you as well so the final agenda item is to request approval of the salary increases for our administrators professional technical supervisor employee as well as our non-represented support salary staff some details regarding that exempt support staff employees will receive an hourly rate increase of 75 cents per hour consistent with those employees represented by both p pespa and SEIU that range is anywhere between 2% to 4.7% depending on their hourly rate currently professional technical supervisory and administrators will receive a salary increase of 3% all of these raises are retroactive to July 1st 2024 the same um information regarding health care and and and uh retirement is also effective in these groups as well and all increases approved today as I said are retroactive we always like to make sure we state that and if approved today the support employees our non-represented support employees will be receiving their raises and retro pay in their sep mber 27th paycheck all pts and administrative employees will be receiving their raises and retro pay in their October 18th paycheck um so on behalf of the superintendent staff we are recommending you improve you approve these salary increases thank you and thank you for those dates too those are important to people absolutely for certain board members is there any discussion seeing none we have a motion and second on the floor to approve item 8.5 all those in favor favor say I I any opposed passes 7 to zero on to new business items introduced by the superintendent Mr Hendrick thank you madam chair I think uh Mrs hassa very much summed up the Patriots Day tomorrow uh I did want to mention just a few other things one is that all of the students in our K12 classrooms none of them were alive on September 11th 2001 and so it is our duty to teach uh that history and to help remember and honor all of those who lost their lives on that day the next time uh the board or the public visits penel Park High School encourage you to take a look as you walk into the school at a memorial that was put there by our First Responders program it's it's uh very touching it's been there over a decade and certainly symbolizes uh Our Hope for the future and also our remembrance of those that lost their lives I thought tonight's video was fantastic of our employee who earned uh her high school diploma but also the other 150 graduates that we had at the uh countywide graduation ceremony just a few weeks ago want to thank the board for being there uh all graduations are great the countywide graduation ceremony with graduates from 17 to 70 years old the stories that they had we had two people bring their children across stage with them it was just another great evening and I want to thank our adult education programs who uh so often we focus on K12 but they are doing work with all kinds of adults in this community and it's a night to celebrate them as well and I want to thank them for their efforts we continue as we uh start this school year now it look for mentors for our students and I want to thank the city City of St Petersburg and mayor Ken Welch for reupping the mayor's mentoring program in the city of St Petersburg just a few days ago we kicked off the mentoring matters program and he kicked off his new Citywide employee volunteer policy giving every city employee 30 minutes a week to volunteer in our schools last week we had 50 employees who came out to the initial orientation at Sunken Gardens and I want to thank him and his staff for launching this back up in our schools last week we also broke ground on a highp Point Community Park very excited to offer for that to the community in the High Point neighborhood a collaboration between penel County government the city of Largo and the school board to build this park which will also be available to our students during the school day the project uh will begin shortly and is set for completion in early 2026 on Friday last week with the penel Education Foundation we celebrated their annual change makers breakfast honoring those who make a huge difference in our schools and the community the Education Foundation hosted over 380 different individuals it was a great uh highly attended Affair including local uh legislative officials County government uh City uh government as well and our own board members I want to give special uh shout out to three individuals who received the change maker Awards Beth Rollins who was named the champion of Education award uh for her efforts supporting the referendum our own executive director of Elementary education Mike feny who was surprised with the impact and Innovation award for his leadership in early literacy and the foundation also recognized a 2024 appropriately enough St Petersburg High School graduate uh yes or shayana Paris who was a takestock and children recipient as a changemaker award uh it was a great performance by some student performers as well from Lakewood High School and John Hopkins Middle School Dance Ensemble we thank the foundation for their continued support a few upcoming events we have our next listen and learn Community session on September 18th next Wednesday evening it's will be at thur Good Marshall fundamental Middle School the community is invited to come out 5 :30 we'll be giving a little bit of a state of the district We'll be asking for input on the upcoming High School start time changes that are still legislatively required by 2026 we look forward to community conversation around that topic also coming up soon in this very building on Tuesday September 24th is the annual pelis County K12 openhouse reception for our artwork in this building we have over 500 pieces of work it's one of the largest artwork exhibitions in the State of Florida and the building will be in undated with children their parents grandparents taking pictures all around on all three floors we look forward to that and it's because of the penel County Schools referendum that we're able to have this and 25 other exhibits across the county in museums galleries art centers and art festivals in our community our penel our district application program season is kicking off today families can start to explore magnet fundamental and career uh Academy application programs with school-based Discovery nights and at the request of the board we started some of those earlier one of them is actually tonight uh and they continue all throughout this semester at schools across our community coming up in just a few days on September 24th the district will host a YouTube Facebook live to provide an overview of the application process you can log on to our website pcsb.org dap for more information and also coming up soon on September 26 is one of our two annual College and Career Fairs this one is at Countryside High School and will take place from 6 to 7:30 on September 26 featuring more than 100 colleges universities Career and Technical Schools and business professionals you can find information about that on our website as well and finally tonight's superintendent standout is a social studies teacher at panels Park High School Mrs Khloe Buffington and one of her colleagues wrote about her Mrs Buffington is truly a standout educator whose Innovative approach to teaching has left an indelible mark on her students her commitment to creating and engaging and Hands-On learning environment is nothing short of inspiring her ability to connect teaching content to real world applications ensures that her students not only grasp the material but also see its relevance in their lives her creativity and dedication Foster an atmosphere where curiosity thrives and makes learning both fun and enjoyable Khloe's work is a testament to the profound difference that passionate and thoughtful teachers can make every single day thank you to her and each of our teachers for the impact that they make every day thank you madam chair thank you Mr Hendrick items introduced by the school board attorney I have no report thank you ma'am thank you items introduced by the board Mrs cook school safety is obviously very important to us you have heard us speak of it frequently um from board meetings as well as in our workshops um since the beginning of the school year um um board the boards uh received several email about some of the things that have been implemented some of the laws that we've had to um adjust to and and follow and I think we've all also received individually some email what I'm going to ask is that if you have already contacted us or if you are going to contact us I'm going to ask that you also copy our legislative delegation we don't have the authority to change many of the things that are put in law but they do and it's important as they go back into session that they hear what the thoughts and concerns are with some of the um parents or the implementation of some of the laws so while um we may or may not agree with the um things that have come forward to us or the information that we have received in email it's important that our legislators hear both sides of the story and what our thoughts are I'm not saying do not contact us don't hear that feel free to write to us but also please also get in touch with the legislators so that they understand the same things that that we're hearing Mrs Edmond thank you I just have a few updates um at the last meeting I shared that we had a legislative platform request from fsba as well as the Consortium that would be due early September and I just wanted to share with you all um that it has been submitted so thank you all for your feedback and dialogue as well as Miss Eis and Mrs do and superintendent Hendrick and staff for your work on those efforts I'd also like to just highlight the teachers the 20 teachers that transition to teaching their career backgrounds range they vary from army to being substitute teacher interpreting Social Work technology cosmetology Woodwork and last week we celebrated them if you are looking to transition to teaching I encourage you to look into penel County Schools TTT program it is really a great opportunity to learn about the profession and get that support that you may need as you transition or change careers and last but not least I'd like to share some information about cosba I had the opportunity to attend the federal advocacy conference and it was extremely informative the topics included cyber security demography education food and nutrition um polling and so much more the impact of the federal government locally is significant so I encourage you all to stay um informed regarding things such as title 1 Ida even the E rates which is currently in Jeopardy um colleagues you'll have an email coming to you with additional information um on my behalf from Mrs Hal so thank you thank you there any other board comments tonight the uh system isn't working I'll just let you know so I'm not seeing anybody's name so instead of pushing your button just let me know thank you Mrs Peters thank you madam chair U and thank you Miss Edmond for all the work that you that you put into the legislative platform for all of that she did um a lot of work uh spearheaded a lot of that so thank you for that um I actually wanted to tag on to what Miss Cook said um we always want to hear what you have to say but so much of what we do as Schoolboard members is vote policies into place that the state has told us we have to vote into place the state makes the laws we just put them into into our policy and practice anytime you email the school board please email your legislators people underestimate the value of communicating with your legislators I don't know if you all great example is what just happened with our state parks it didn't take a lot of communication but it was very vocal very persistent and um I personally seen just within my own Community how much imp that can have so please do not underestimate your voice please copy your legislators on any email that you send to the district if it's not law it's not law but more than likely it is and um so I I thank you for bringing that up and um please make your voices heard with your legislators and your lawmakers thank you thank you okay thank you so much um Mrs Woodford review of board requests thank you madam chair I did note the request uh for the safety concerns to be cced to the state although that is not a request of us it's something we can discuss to see if there's any way we can support that thank you with that and seeing no other business before us I will adjourn this meeting and we will move to C to public comment um Mrs Hal um how many speakers do we have this evening uh we currently have seven speakers signed up seven speakers okay so we should be good for the 6:30 time certain meeting I'm going to read the statement that we read before public participation and then we'll get started if we do have to adjourn for that 6:30 meeting and we usually adjourn about 6 about 6:25 to take a moment in between again we will come back if if if needed so we are now receiving public comment on the general business of the district please note that the views and comments of the public speakers are their own and not endorsed nor sponsored by the school board or District we cannot ensure the accuracy of statements made but will review concerns that are raised and take appropriate action which may include clarification or the referral of speakers to the proper staff member for assistance the board is committed to a standard of Civility in De Quorum and conducting our meetings this includes refraining from clapping or making audible noises during or after a speaker's comments we appreciate you insisting assisting Us in maintaining this civil and constructive environment additionally please note that although board members or superintendent Hendrick may leave the Das briefly there are speakers in the back room and we will continue to be able to hear your comments thank you so much Madam chair board members Mr hendrik we have uh the first two speakers are Lee Bryant and Dr Vivien posy good evening good evening chair hind members of the board superintendent hendrik and staff my name is still Le Bryant my pronouns are still he him and is and I'm still the president of the pcta alone we can do so little together we can do so much well here's an opportunity for us to come together and do so much tonight I would like to bring you the opportunity to volunteer with reading opens the world our first book event the PCT office PCT pespa office wrote the grant for a first book event in cooperation with pelis County Schools we would like you to join us join the pcta pespa pier the AFT FAA the PTA the Florida Freedom to read Foundation Alpha Delta Kappa the women's Educators sorority uh and others uh to join us for the first book event St Peter pburg is one of the only five loc one of only five locations in the United States to host this event this year we need volunteers to help us get ready there is a lot of work that needs to be done before we open the door to John's John Hopkins Middle School uh Saturday morning the 28th we need help sorting organizing preparing books and bags for all the participants if you're a middle or high school student looking for service hours a community group looking for a way to get back to the community or anyone else that would like to help your welcome if you have a volunteer application completed and on file with penel County schools and I'm pretty sure that all of you uh on the de are qualified to help out so I hope to see you there uh on Wednesday the 25th over 30,000 books will be delivered to Walter panell service center with much thanks to Mr herbick and his crew we will begin the process of getting things ready Thursday the 26th between 10 and 6 and Friday the 27th between 10: and 3: we need help sorting organizing and getting ready for the event Friday afternoon Mr herbick and his crew will be delivering the books to jhop for our final setup Saturday is the big day we will have a huge Community event between 6:00 am and 4 pm we will be uh giving away books to the entire community of students teachers parents in pelis County the first book initiative focus is on giving teachers and School staff the Tools in professional development that translate the science of reading into usable resources to help students read and read well giving parents and caregivers fun and research-based tips to support literacy building on and forging new connections among families communities Educators and schools to be partners in the students literacy giving children and young people free books to read to love and to keep because reading opens the world thank you and I better see some of you there good evening good evening Madam chair superintendent Hendrick Schoolboard members thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak with you this evening my name is Dr Vivien posie I'm a retired educator former School principal and University professor and currently a member of the League of Women Voters of North pelis County the league is a nonpartisan organization whose mission is to promote and preserve the precious right to vote of all eligible citizens in the United States and to see that every voter has the information they need to understand the voting process and can confidently cast their ballot on Election Day we are excited to learn about the district's plan to recognize Constitution Day on September 17th as part of constitution week and celebrate freedom week at the end of September each each of these celebrations is a powerful expression of your commitment to ensuring that young adults in our Public Schools appreciate the important contributions of those who have gone before us to preserve and to um this system of government that we all enjoy there is one additional celebration that takes place on constitutional day Tuesday September 17th that should also be recognized and observed by every American and that day is National voter registration day National voter registration day is a nonpartisan Civic holiday that began in 2012 as a way to bring attention to the importance of registering to vote in time for local state and national elections since its kickoff the the holiday Founders and a team of thousands of par of Partners in communities throughout the country have worked to get over five million Americans registered to vote young adults aged 18 to 24 make up the largest block of eligible citizens of citizens who are eligible to vote however despite their numbers the vote voting participation has historically been one of the lowest uh and well behind the other age groups who vote this is not because young adults are lazy or unmotivated to vote quite the opposite they are passionate about the issues that impact their present and future lives and they want to be a force for change in fact research has shown that lack of knowledge about the voting and the election process is the single most important reason that young adults choose not to participate in voting this is where Educators come in teachers and school administrators and school board members can play a pivotal role in in preparing every graduating high school student College Bound or not for uh becoming an active participant in the governance of our country by promoting the um the completion of their pre-registration or their registration to vote by graduation day thank you the next two speakers are Brandt Robinson and Carol Robinson good evening good evening Madam chair members of the board superintendent hendrik staff thank you as always for the opportunity to address you and thank you all so much for all you do for so many every day uh my name is Brandt Robinson and I have to make sure I get this right I'm a teacher at pellis high Innovation and you know that I just spent 26 years teaching at Donan high school but I just finished my first month at a brand new school and I'm sorry to get emotional but it's the greatest challenge of my life time and I'm all in for it guys we're an a district I can't tell you how much it means to me to address the board saying that especially in the presence of superintendent Kevin Hendrick because I've been describing this man for years and years we've been doing this for a long time Mr hendrik for years as a person of immense Integrity we once taught together for five years and I say all of this because I want to invite you to come to our school it's because were in a district that I want you to come to paneli Innovation because our school is one of the places where we model that we care deeply for all students my school exists because otherwise these young people might fall fall through the cracks and you all know how passionate I am about teaching and how much I believe that public schools are the foundation of our democracy but at our school we have so many students who have experience such trauma who are so vulnerable and it would mean so much to them to know that you are coming to our school not to walk around and and just kind of see things perfectly but come into our classrooms I want to invite you to come sit in on a lesson by the way our lessons are an hour and a half long please say whoo because that's new for me as well but come prepared to sit and talk to these young people what they've experienced um for those of us who've been teaching for many years we know that for every one or two of our students who we know what's going on with them there's always four or five in a classroom that we don't know um I'm only a month in but what I know is that I'm surrounded by faculty and staff on our campus who are committed to this mission that we're on it's the same Mission we're all on but I think it would be so fitting and wonderful if you could join our campus um so that we could make sure we model for our students that we truly do care about all students so guys thanks so much for all you do I appreciate it superintendent chair Hine and members of the board I uh am a recently retired math and science teacher with pelis County and I'd like to propose something to be added maybe to the next strategic plan and this is a specific assessment instrument for all assistant principles and principles of pelis County now this is different from the general question that's on the present school resource and school climate questionnaire which just asks what's your opinion of the administration at your school this is s more similar to the question that are asked of our Public University professors at the end of each course by their students these assessments must be H given to all teachers and support staff that are affected by these assistant principles and principles because while I was working for the penel County School Board I was also a union representative and I witnessed during my 30 years violations of the County's own policy on bullying harassment threats and retaliation Against The Whistleblower policy and once you get all this information from the teachers and support staff you'll get a better picture of each individual assistant principal and principal I think it will help validate teachers concerns and support SCA staff concern and improve the climate on our schools thank you so much thank you the next two speakers are Ramsey Aziz and Brennan picket good morning members of the board or good afternoon I should say I'm I'm tired uh I just want to spend a few moments regarding my concerns about uh our school's AC units last week at my site the AC was not functioning uh for a few days and this made teaching extremely difficult many of my middle school students have conditions that make them quite sensitive to heat and my classroom is a classroom that's in in the middle of the hall no windows so I had a little fan but you know still it gets so hot in there so many of my students were very uncomfortable I did my absolute best to get their minds off of it but it was very difficult to teach in those types of environments so I think it's important um for the board to look into the conditions of the AC units across the county to ensure that our students and staff have a safe environment to ensure learning continues in the classroom and that we're able to remain in a district thank you very much for your time I con seeed the rest of it thank you good evening um hello um just I have a couple cool things to say um first of all uh Kevin Hendrick thank you for everything you're doing for our district um we're an a district and I think it's a large part of everyone in this board and I'm really excited to be a part of this District it's my eighth year now um the foam policy it's working at my school um it's awesome we have authority now to actually focus on learning um congratulations to Laura Hine congratulations to e long for your elections uh super excited to have you guys still on the board continue to keep us in a district again I have I have really high uh prospects in mind for this District I think we're going places um I didn't plan to talk about AC but that came up so I'm just going to bring it up this has been a conversation having a few of my colleagues at my work site um just for example uh to my understanding I might be wrong that uh the AC units are turned off over the weekend and they are brought back on Monday morning and that's like playing CCH up all day and I anyone who owns a home knows that you know you probably set the AC a little bit higher you don't turn it off completely so I would just question what money are we saving by turning it off and then I would also question the maintenance that goes into it when they break because they're running in overtime now so I just want to kind of bring that in because again what Ramsey was saying you know it's hard to teach when it's hot kids don't want to focus when it's hot you're not going to get anything when it's hot that's basically the only complaint I have otherwise uh yay keep it up thank you the next speaker is Tracy McConnell good evening hi I'm a third grade teacher my school uses the clustering model two years ago I volunteered to teach the ESC cluster I wasn't sure what to expect I had no idea how I was going to meet the needs of my students who were either already ESC in the mtss process or retained I had more kids reading at a kindergarten level than I had ready to start third grade that year was challenging but also one of my favorites I played learning games with the kids while they ate lunch I talked a past indd teacher into doing small groups with my needest students in the morning the ve resource teacher and stars assistant and I came up with a great small group plan so that the kids could get Reg small groups as well as their groups for their ESC minutes every day I also talked a good teacher friend into tutoring after school with me four days a week for many of these same students As Time passed my students started to change they no longer hated school and learning they started to love assessments because each one was a chance for them to see how much they had grown those kid kids didn't just grow but many of them had two plus years of growth those kids inspired me to be a better teacher I learned a lot that year but the most important thing I learned is that it truly takes a village for us to help our kids with the greatest need now I'm facing an even bigger challenge I have 16 kids in my classroom eight of them already ESC two of them are getting access points four of them are retained from last year and seven are in the mtss process two of which are coming from another District and may also need access points they don't know all their letters and one of them can't recognize their written name our school lost our IND unit and the Stars assistants were cut too I don't have that support anymore and we lost half of a ve resource unit so I only have ESC support for two and a half days that makes no sense we know to make the biggest growth students need frequent groups even the PMP says tier three should have intensive intervention 5 days a week so why are we trying to cram a students ESC minutes into two days I have come to the board before asking to move students through the mtss process quicker to get students the help they need it is still broken and now my Village is gone too helping ESC students makes our district better we can increase our graduation rates because our neediest population will know how to read and have the tools they need to be successful before they get to middle and high school please re-evaluate this process teachers need help there are limits to what we can do alone lack of support hurt Madam chair there are no more speakers thank you and thank you all for being here tonight we will return at 6:30 to conduct the public hearing on the proposed 20242 military and the District budget and the public hearing will be aired after this board meeting the public is invited to stay with us for this important hearing we'll see you back at 6:30 thank you e e e e e e e ni e e e e e e e e e e e e it waiting on Sean's watch oops sorry good evening I call this public hearing to order tonight is the second of two public hearings on the 2024 2025 budget we are here tonight to review the proposed property tax rates and budget for the 2024 25 school year hear comments from the public and approve the proposed millage rates and budget the order of business and actions taken tonight must follow specific directions set forth in the state statutes and we ask for your cooperation as we go through this legally required format there will be two opportunities for you to speak this evening first you may comment on the proposed millage rates second you may comment on the proposed budget if you wish to speak you must register separately for each part of the hearing with our staff member at the entrance to the board meeting on behalf of the school board and superintendent I thank each of you for taking the time to be here tonight and share your views with us item number two adoption of the agenda are there any amendments to the agenda seeing none may I have a motion in second to approve the agenda I make a motion motion from Mrs long and a second from Mrs Meyer all those in favor say I I any opposed passes 7 to zero for items three and four Mr Hendrick and staff will make introductory comments and provide information to to present these items and then we will hear comments from the public Mr Hendrick thank you madam chair and welcome for the public to our second and final of two public hearings on the 2024 2025 millage rates in The District budget I want to thank the board members for their interest specifically over the last four months uh diving into this budget and the millage rates but really the entire year but uh specifically through public meetings the last four months as you know the millage rate and the budget presented tonight reflect our priorities as a district they are tied to our district strategic plan as well and as we consider the millage tonight one of the things that you'll see in our online version of the plan is the history going back to 1970 of millage rates in pellis County since the Inception of the ffp or the Florida education Finance program tonight's overall rate is the lowest of any of those years since 1970 including the lowest rate ever for the required local effort as prescribed by the state also in our budget I would like to thank the citizens who have support supported our local property referendum since 2004 which is part of the millage rate that supports teacher salaries in penel County schools with that I will pass it to Mr Jefferson for the introduction of the budget the millage rate and his staff to present it to the public and the board Mr Jefferson thank you Mr hendrik as mentioned this is our second and final hearing regarding the millage and budget for the 2425 fiscal year the format of tonight's hearing presentation is prescribed by chapter 200 of the Florida statute and must follow a specific order this budget is the culmination of a thorough process that began late last year has included two board workshops and numerous conversations with each of the board members at the most recent board workshop on August 15th District staff met with board members to review key elements of the budget and to answer questions we received valuable input from the board and tonight's final proposed budget reflect many of the insights gained from that Workshop this budget continues to prioritize CH classroom instruction student support services and essential essential Staffing while also reflecting our efforts to improve operational efficiency we will continue to examine our budget to maximize the effect effectiveness of our spending decisions and to strive to maximize the increases in the salaries of our employees at this point I'd like to turn it over to miss Samantha Chastain our executive director of budget and allocation Samantha has had a substantial role in developing this budget and she'll walk us through the details of the final proposed millages in budget thank you Mr Jefferson good evening Mr Hendrick Madame chair board members and staff truth and millage also referred to as trim requires school districts to advertise their proposed budget and millage rates annually the district's 2425 millage is comprised of the general operating millage which includes the required local local effort discretionary and local referendum the Florida Department of Education determines the maximum state required local effort millage rate that must be levied by the school board to generate its local share of funding for the district the local referendum of half Mill was initially approved by the voters in 20052 2006 and was approved for the fifth time in 2021 for a 4-year period the proposed millage also includes a 1 and a half Mills for Capital outlay a mill refers to the rate of property tax commonly paid on the assessed value of homes and business per properties a mill equates to $1 of taxes for every $1,000 of taxable property value the roll back rate is the millage rate that would generate the same amount of Revenue as last year if applied to the current tax roll after adjusting for new construction the 24 25 proposed millage of 5.82 two is higher than the roll back rate by 4.1% pelis County's gross property tax value of approximately $150 billion is an increase from last year's value by 10.3 billion or 7.4% the proposed millage rates for 2425 of 5.82 two represents an overall decrease of 1.9 9 5% when compared to the 2324 total millage rate of 5938 the required local effort millage has decreased by 3.64% the property tax revenue comparison reflects an increase in revenue of $42 million over last year's proceeds this is the result of the increase in our property tax volume the required local effort proceeds are increasing by about $14.8 million and the proposed discretionary millage will generate about $7.4 million more the referendum will yield an additional $4.9 million and capital Outlet millage will generate $14.9 million more than last year under the proposed rate the owner of a $250,000 home after the deduction of the $25,000 homestead exemption would pay $139.95 in school taxes this averages out to $358 per day the rle is an appropriated amount set by the FLD dooe the school board must Levy this amount in order to receive state funding it is used for the day-to-day operations such as school staff and utilities the discretionary millage is used for General operations of the district and to meet additional costs due to inflation local referendum funds are used to recruit and retain quality teachers preserve reading art and music programs and provide up-to-date textbooks and Technology the capital atlay millage is the district's primary funding source for maintenance Renovations new Construction and Equipment as advertised on July 28th in the Tampa Bay times at this time I will turn the meeting back to the board chair to allow for public comment and for the Motions necessary to adop adopt the millit rates thank you Miss Chastain item five millage to support the budget we will begin with public comment on that item Mrs Hal do we have any speakers no no Madam chair there are no speakers for this item thank you for item 5.2 may I have a motion in a second for approval of the discretionary local millage effort I move that the board approve the levying of a discretionary local effort millage of 0.748 Mills as part of the total millage to be certified to the property appraiser and the Florida Department of Revenue thank you Miser a second second second from Mrs edman is there any board discussion I have a motion in a second to approve the levying of a discretionary local effort millage of 0.748 Mills as part of the total millage to be certified to the property appraiser of Florida Department of Revenue all those in favor say I I any opposed passes 7 to zero item 5.3 may I have a motion in a second for the adoption of the total millage rates I move that the board adopt a millage rate of 5822 Ms to be set and certified to the property appraiser and to the Florida Department of Revenue the millage rates are as follows for required local effort 3. Z 3.74 Mills for discretionary local eff efor 0.748 Ms for local referendum 0.50 Ms for Capital outlay 1.5 Mills total millage 5822 Mills this rate is 4.10% higher than the rolled back rate second thank you a motion from Mrs Edmund and a second from Mrs cook is there any discussion seeing none we'll take a vote all those in favor excuse me I have a motion in a second to adopt a millage rate of 5.82 two Mills to be set and certified to the property appraiser into to the Florida Department of Revenue the millage rates are as follows for required local effort 3.74 4 Ms for discretionary local effort 0.748 Ms for local referendum 0.500 Ms for Capital outlay 1.500 Ms total millage 5.82 two Ms this rate is 4.10% higher than the rolled back rate all those in favor say I I any opposed passes 7 to zero for item six we'll go back to miss Chastain for a presentation on the proposed 2024 2025 budget this portion of the presentation covers the district proposed budget for 2425 the budget calendar is ongoing throughout the year and during the course of the Year budget updates are provided at board workshops and monitoring is performed through budget analyses and forecasts in the spring we typically have a better idea of what the legislative budget is providing for us whether we can expect an increase a decrease of State funds budget steering committee meetings are held during this time frame primarily for Capital outlay request and in July and September we hold two public hearings regarding the budget and millage tonight is the second of those hearings the first was held on July 30th certain parameters guide the budget the building of the budget we strive to and have been able to maintain a 6337 ratio this means at least 63% of all expenses are for the direct instruction or in the classroom and 37% are related to other areas such as instructional support plant operations and administration in short at least two-thirds of all funding goes toward expenditures in the classroom we also budget to support our Core Curriculum and strategic direction we are required by Statute to maintain a minimum 3% contingency while District policy states we are to maintain a minimum 5% contingency the budget maintains our compliance with this District policy the majority of our budget is in our general fund this year it is proposed to be nearly 1.1 billion the second largest funding source is capital outlay at $359 million and the district's self-insured health fund is anticipated to be approximately $188 million and represents the district's thirdd largest fund the total proposed budget for All funds this year is approximately $1.8 billion looking at the budget summary for all revenue sources you see that about 61% of the total budget comes from the general fund capital outlay accounts for approximately 20% the combined total of these two funds comprises nearly 81% of our entire budget this new year brings several legislative changes the base student allocation or the BSA increased to $ 5,330 198 this is an increase of1 9125 or 3.7% over last year's BSA Statewide funding increased by 1.8 billion or 50.9 million to pelis which includes funding related to family empowerment scholarships changes in the Florida retirement system contribution rate are projected to increase District expenditures by $300,000 and the teacher salary increase allocation increased $22 million Statewide and represents 39 .3 million to pellis County Schools a $40 million Statewide increase has been appropriated for safe schools and the increase to pelis is $1.3 million and a state funded discretionary supplement of $616 million has been obligated to mitigate the impact of family empowerment scholarships on District funding this is a non-recurring funding source the total operating funded resources are anticipated to be nearly $1.1 billion of that about $668 million comes from local sources which includes the half Mill referendum and 282 million comes from State sources the Florida education Finance program or ffp is the general funds primary funding source the ffp funding formula utilizes a combination of state and local resources to fund education looking at the operating Revenue budget graphically you will note that the local sources represent about about 61% of the total operating budget and state sources account for 26% the remaining 133% comes from transfers and fund balance the operating budget is used to fund the day-to-day oper operating expenditures of the district it pays for salaries benefits supplies and materials textbooks student transportation utilities maintenance and repairs viewing the distribution of our operating budget by object there is little change from pre previous years about 57% of our budget is spent on salaries and 23% on benefits in total 80% of our operating budget goes towards Staffing Capital outlay funds include revenue from both state and local sources this fund reflects the revenue and expenditures for construction and renovation of school buildings and grounds the majority of these funds are generated by the local Capital Improvement millage which is set by law and limited to one and a half Ms these funds may not be used for for operating purposes rather they may only be used for Capital outlay purposes as advertised additional funds have been provided through certificates of participation or cops bonds the lease purchase financing of Capital Improvements through the issuance of cops bonds is a technique frequently utilized by Florida school districts to finance school facilities our proposed capital outlay budget is approximately $359 million which consists of initiatives from the 5-year Capital plan and prior year projects in process the special Revenue budget is comprised of two major categories of federal funds contracted programs and Food Service the total contracted programs budget is approximately $44 million this budget starts the year off low and builds as the year goes on as we do not recognize the revenue until it's received included in this category are the remaining balance of of balances of the ARP grants which will conclude at the end of September food service is a self-sustaining fund as it receives no financial support from the operating fund Federal reimbursement and local collections are the primary revenue Source the proposed food service budget is approximately $72 million The Debt Service fund is used to account for the payment of General long-term debt principle and interest this 8.5 million doll budget represents the debt service for cops bonds issued in 2017 and 2021 the proposed self-insured workers compensation and liability budget of $5.4 million accounts for the premium revenue and expenditures associated with the district's self-insured workers compensation and liability insurance programs the self-insured health fund accounts for the district's premium revenue and claim expenditures with a budget of approximately $180 million the proposed budget and all supporting documents are on file in the office of budget and resource allocation this information can also be found online at this point I will turn the meeting back to the board chair to allow for public comment and the Motions necessary to adopt the pro proposed budget thank you thank you Miss chain we will open for public comment Mrs ha are there any speakers to item six there are no speakers for this item excuse me thank you for item 6.2 may have a motion in a second to adopt the final budget for 2024 2025 I move that the board approve the final 2024 2025 budget as presented motion by Mrs Kane and a second by Mrs cook is there any board discussion I have a motion in a second to adopt the 2024 25 budget as presented all those in favor say I I any opposed passes 7 to Z for item 6.3 may I have a motion in a second for the adoption of the resolution determining revenues and Millies in millages levied I move that the board adopt the required resolution as presented without formal reading may have a second motion by Mrs long and a second by Mrs cook is there any board discussion I have a motion in second to adopt the resolution determining revenues and millages levied all those in favor say I I any opposed passes 7 to zero for items seven and eight are there any additional actions considerations or comments no I would just add again thank you Mr Jefferson and Miss Chastain and I know we've mentioned several times this evening that we work on this for multiple months um and I appreciate all of the work and input that's got into it uh both from fellow board members staff and also the public as well thank you there being no additional business regarding the 2024 25 millages in budget I adjourn this meeting thank you so much for being here this evening