[0:01] Next, move on to
[0:03] item five, discussion items.
[0:06] We have the presentation from District 45.
[0:24] Charlie, can we grab the screen?
[0:38] Awesome. Thank you.
[0:43] All right. Good evening, everyone.
[0:44] Thank you for the opportunity to address the board.
[0:47] I previously spoke at the June 8th meeting just as a brief public
[0:51] comment.
[0:52] During those quick comments, I gave a little bit of information
[0:56] about some of the consequences for the unsuccessful March
[1:00] referendum
[1:01] for District 45 and 88 students and the community.
[1:06] And so the purpose of this evening is to provide a little bit more detailed
[1:09] information, partly about how we got here to the point where we
[1:13] are pursuing a limiting rate referendum, as well as
[1:17] implications of a successful and also unsuccessful referendum.
[1:20] We had an opportunity to hear from Dr.
[1:22] Barbanente a couple of weeks ago at our meeting, and so of course, the purpose
[1:26] here is to make sure that we can support one another's efforts
[1:30] in informing our community about what's at stake.
[1:34] So the very first slide is a
[1:38] quick
[1:39] five-minute overview video. So this is the
[1:43] 10,000-foot view, and then I'll just go into a little bit more
[1:47] details about the information I've shared.
[1:52] Hello, I'm Brian Graber, superintendent of School District 45.
[1:56] And I'm Adam Parisi, Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Chief
[2:00] School Business Official.
[2:02] This fall, District 45 residents will be asked to consider a
[2:06] tax rate referendum to address the district's educational and
[2:10] financial needs.
[2:12] In the next few minutes, we'll provide an overview of our district, its financial
[2:16] position, what the proposal would fund, and what voters will be
[2:20] asked to decide.
[2:22] District 45 serves more than 3,100 students from pre-kindergarten
[2:26] through eighth grade across nine schools in Villa Park,
[2:30] Lombard, Oak Brook Terrace, and Elmhurst.
[2:34] More than 500 teachers and staff members support our students and
[2:38] help them become responsible, resilient, and ready to excel.
[2:42] In 2025, District 45 completed a community-informed
[2:46] strategic planning process and adopted a five-year
[2:50] student-centered plan. The plan provides clear direction for
[2:54] the district and reflects our commitment to helping every student
[2:58] grow, build confidence, and reach their full potential.
[3:02] District 45 has made important progress in recent years.
[3:06] Students are growing academically, schools are safer and more secure,
[3:11] full-day kindergarten is in place, and students and families have
[3:14] access to the programs and support they need across the district.
[3:18] In 2020, voters approved a bond referendum that funded the District
[3:22] 45 Early Childhood Center, safety and security improvements,
[3:26] and other facility upgrades. As a bond referendum, that
[3:30] funding was limited to buildings and capital projects.
[3:33] It could not be used for the ongoing costs of operating our schools.
[3:38] Adam will provide an overview of the district's current financial position.
[3:43] District 45 receives less state and federal funding than
[3:47] the average Illinois school district.
[3:50] The district has worked hard to make the most of every dollar by
[3:53] keeping administrative costs low, controlling expenses,
[3:58] and focusing resources on students, teachers, and
[4:01] schools. However, funding has not kept
[4:04] pace with rising costs, including staffing,
[4:08] transportation, utilities, insurance, and
[4:12] classroom materials. For several years, District
[4:16] 45 used available savings to help cover the difference
[4:20] between yearly revenue and expenses.
[4:23] This allowed the district to maintain student programs and
[4:26] services, but using savings to pay ongoing
[4:30] expenses is not a long-term solution.
[4:34] The district has reduced administrative positions, adjusted
[4:37] staffing and programs, extended the replacement schedule for
[4:41] student technology, and made many other
[4:45] spending reductions. Despite these steps, District
[4:49] 45 continues to face a structural funding gap,
[4:53] meaning ongoing expenses are projected to exceed ongoing
[4:57] revenue.
[4:58] This fall's referendum asks voters to consider
[5:02] increasing the district's limiting tax rate by
[5:05] 26.7 cents. The last limiting tax rate
[5:09] increase in District 45 was 26 years ago in
[5:13] 2000. If approved, the proposal is expected
[5:17] to generate approximately $4.4
[5:20] million in additional yearly revenue.
[5:23] For a home with an estimated market value of
[5:26] $350,000, the projected tax
[5:30] impact would be approximately $299
[5:34] per year, or about $25 per month.
[5:38] The actual impact would vary based on a property's
[5:42] assessed value and applicable exemptions.
[5:47] The additional funding from an approved referendum would be used to
[5:51] restore recent cuts, including reading support, advanced
[5:55] academic programming, fine arts, clubs,
[5:58] intramural sports, and middle school musicals.
[6:02] It would also help our schools maintain reasonable, responsible class
[6:06] sizes, reduce the need for additional staffing and program
[6:10] reductions, and provide more reliable yearly funding.
[6:14] We're committed to fiscal responsibility and cannot continue
[6:18] pulling from shrinking savings to address rising costs.
[6:22] Without additional revenue, programs and positions cut for this school
[6:26] year would not be restored, and further reductions would need to be made
[6:30] in future school years.
[6:33] The referendum is a decision for District 45 voters.
[6:37] These are your schools. This is your community.
[6:40] Our goal is to provide you with the information you need to make an informed
[6:44] decision when you vote.
[6:46] We invite you to visit the district website to learn much more about the
[6:50] referendum and our plan to strengthen 45.
[7:07] There we go. Thank you.
[7:09] So I want to give just a little bit of information about some of the items that are
[7:11] shared here, and obviously provide an opportunity for questions at the end as
[7:15] well. Over the last several years, there's been a significant amount of work that
[7:19] has happened in the district. We've overhauled our ELA, math, and
[7:23] SEL programs and curriculum. We have
[7:27] significantly increased support for students, especially in the wake of COVID.
[7:31] We completed a five-year strategic plan just over a year ago and implemented
[7:35] that with a new mission, vision, and goals.
[7:37] Our mission is empowering all learners to cultivate hope, build confidence, and
[7:41] realize their full potential, and our vision is becoming a
[7:45] supportive and collaborative community where all students are responsible,
[7:48] resilient, and ready to excel. This year's strat plan
[7:52] also included, for the first time ever, a portrait of a D45
[7:56] grad, which I think is pretty important to D88 because we're sending them your way
[8:00] when they graduate from us. So those are the skills and
[8:03] competencies that we're hoping they've mastered by the time they leave
[8:07] our district and they head your way to Willowbrook.
[8:10] We've seen some significant gains as a result of this work.
[8:14] This is just one example of our progress.
[8:16] These are the most recent proficiency numbers that we have
[8:20] among our comparable districts, and we've selected comparable districts based
[8:24] on geography, geographic proximity, student demographics, and
[8:28] community resources. These same comp districts will be used in some
[8:32] later slides when we're talking about the tax rates.
[8:35] But among these same six districts, we have the highest level
[8:39] of math proficiency. Bless you. The second highest level of science
[8:42] proficiency. We're third in ELA, but we are trending in the right
[8:46] direction. We've actually, over the past four years, more than doubled the number
[8:49] of students that are reading at or above grade level.
[8:52] So while we're not where we want to be yet, that is certainly the direction that
[8:56] we're headed. And we recognize that a significant part of the
[8:59] success that we've experienced over the last several years is in part due to
[9:03] that 2020 bond referendum. There's been lots of questions about
[9:07] the limiting rate referendum and how this is different than the bond referendum,
[9:11] obviously the type of referendum that D88 is
[9:15] pursuing. The bond referendum, as you know, was limited to the
[9:19] facilities and the identified pieces that were part of that in
[9:23] 2020. So it was a $30 million referendum.
[9:26] It had a very focused and narrow purpose.
[9:29] It's not something that we can use for ongoing expenses.
[9:32] A huge part of that was making room for full-day kindergarten.
[9:35] At the time, full-day kindergarten was not a state mandate.
[9:38] At this point now, it is, a year from now, that all K-8 districts
[9:42] are offering, or any district that has kindergarten is
[9:45] mandated to provide full-day kindergarten.
[9:48] So there's actually a lot of elementary schools that are, at this point, starting
[9:51] to scramble to figure out where they are going to come up with the resources to be
[9:54] able to provide this mandate. Fortunately, we're ahead of the game.
[9:58] Part of that also involved building the early childhood center, creating
[10:02] secured entryways, making sure that all of our
[10:06] facilities were up to date as far as accommodations and were accessible.
[10:09] But again, it had a very narrow purpose.
[10:11] Also, the timing of that referendum was very challenging.
[10:14] It was approved in March of 2020, about four
[10:18] days after the world shut down, and so as we moved forward
[10:22] with our obligations under that referendum, the
[10:26] costs skyrocketed. And so we
[10:30] worked very hard to still manage to move forward
[10:34] with that project in a responsible way,
[10:37] but there was no avoiding the supply chain and labor costs that were
[10:41] associated with that, which resulted in the project being over
[10:45] budget, not because there were add-ons, in fact, quite the opposite.
[10:49] There were places where things were cut back
[10:51] to try to come in as close as we could.
[10:54] $30 million is what was originally budgeted.
[10:57] We had $3 million in
[11:00] savings dedicated to capital projects, which then also went towards the
[11:03] project, and then we needed to pull an additional $3 million from our
[11:07] savings in order to finish funding that project.
[11:11] At the same time, it put us in a good position to achieve some of the
[11:15] results that we've seen recently.
[11:18] Overall, looking at those same comp districts, these are districts that
[11:22] we were performing higher than in many cases, but when you
[11:26] actually look at our relative tax rates, we are on the lower
[11:30] end compared to those same districts.
[11:32] The only district that actually happens to be lower than us
[11:36] is Addison 4. This is not one of these slides, but in the
[11:40] full presentation
[11:42] for this particular presentation, we take a look at tax base as
[11:46] well and how heavily residential District 45 is.
[11:49] We do not have the industrial infrastructure, and we don't have the commercial
[11:53] infrastructure of the other Willowbrook feeders, and so we do
[11:56] recognize that a significant portion of this tax burden is on the
[12:00] residents. At the same time, relative to these other communities,
[12:04] our taxes are lower than those same comps.
[12:10] This is another look at the ways that we do more with less.
[12:14] These are our revenues per student and our
[12:17] expenditures per student. And once again, you see
[12:21] relative to those same comparable districts that we showed the academic
[12:25] proficiency of,
[12:27] our revenue is actually relatively lower, as well as our
[12:31] expenditures per student. So once again, we do a lot
[12:35] with what we are provided,
[12:38] and are really strategic and careful about the spending that we
[12:42] do. This is just one example of the way that costs
[12:46] have significantly increased. We absolutely understand that costs for
[12:50] households have increased significantly. It's the same for a school district.
[12:54] So this is just one piece when we look at transportation, insurance, the
[12:58] cost of staffing, especially specialized staffing, and having to
[13:01] hire even through agencies. But this is one specific
[13:05] look. This is the per route rate for
[13:09] transportation. The numbers look a little fuzzy there, but you go
[13:13] from the far end in 2020-21, it was
[13:16] $262 per route. Now we are up to just over
[13:20] $450 per route. So in the course of
[13:24] six or seven years, we have a 71%
[13:28] increase in the costs of our transportation.
[13:31] Needless to say,
[13:33] revenue has not kept up, local taxes, CPI, have not
[13:37] kept up, and certainly state funding and mandated categoricals
[13:42] has not kept up with this. So these are costs that we have
[13:45] continued to cover, even though the costs
[13:49] have significantly exceeded the revenue that we've received.
[13:53] This is a look at the fund balance trend over the
[13:56] last 10 plus years. If you just take a look at the right
[14:00] side, there could be some significant and serious questions
[14:04] about the way that the fund balance amount has gone
[14:08] down from a high of just over 57% in
[14:12] 2015, to projected to be just over 16%
[14:16] over the course of this last year. And that's a fair question.
[14:19] When you really break down a couple of key timelines, though, you can
[14:23] see the work that has happened, especially over the course of the last three or
[14:27] four years. From 2015 to 2019, that fund balance
[14:31] decreased about 17%. Now, I was not in the district at that time,
[14:35] but I do know from where I was, and from other area districts,
[14:39] that there was a push at that time to make sure that
[14:43] certain school districts were not carrying excess fund
[14:47] balances. The idea is that that is money that
[14:51] is intended to be used for student support.
[14:53] So that's not to say that there's an intentional spend down.
[14:57] Let's see something, find something that we can spend money on.
[14:59] But when there are unmet needs in the district, and you are sitting on what
[15:03] could be considered a surplus fund balance, that is not an
[15:07] irresponsible thing to say we're going to take that fund balance from right around
[15:11] 57%, and over the course of those four years, heading
[15:15] into FY 19, it was down to just under 40%.
[15:18] At that point, had the district been able to stop, and let's say a pandemic didn't
[15:22] arrive, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now.
[15:25] But the reality is, over the next four years with the pandemic, and
[15:29] with the
[15:31] building project and that referendum, and that heading over budget and all of the
[15:34] things that we needed to fund to support students and make sure those
[15:38] projects were completed, again, over the next four years, there was another
[15:41] 17% decrease. This is where it turns, though,
[15:45] because from 2023 to '26, now admittedly, that's a
[15:48] four-year span, a four-year span, and then a three-year span.
[15:52] So it's not the exact same amount of time.
[15:54] But over that last three-year span, you can see there's been a decrease of
[15:59] only 5%. So it's been a significant slowdown
[16:03] in accessing those reserves, and that's been intentional, and I can talk just a
[16:06] little bit about some of the actions that we've actually taken as a part of that.
[16:11] Okay. It's a little difficult to see here.
[16:13] But you can trust me on this, and you can actually see if you look at the online
[16:17] presentation, you can see all of the boxes.
[16:19] This is our organizational chart prior to 2020, just
[16:23] administrators. So this has all of the administrative positions.
[16:26] This does not include classroom teachers. This does not include TAs.
[16:30] This does not include secretaries.
[16:32] These are the administrative positions that existed pre-2020.
[16:36] Since 2020, those are the number of
[16:40] positions that we've eliminated at the administrative level.
[16:43] That's usually one of the first things people mention is
[16:47] the elimination of particularly central office
[16:51] administrative positions. All of these positions that were eliminated were at
[16:54] the central office level. There were six positions that were cut
[16:58] out of 20 positions, so that's a 30% decrease in positions.
[17:03] I want to be perfectly clear, one of the positions listed here is
[17:06] principals. There's more than one principal.
[17:09] So I'm not saying we cut 30% of our administrators, but we did
[17:13] cut 30% of the positions that we had there.
[17:16] You notice those individual cuts.
[17:18] Now there's more than six Xs there.
[17:20] That's because there's an X over that gray box.
[17:22] There was a proposed position that we actually interviewed for, and then ended
[17:26] up not moving forward with hiring in our special education department.
[17:30] We're not saying that that is
[17:32] an elimination of a position, but it's certainly cost savings considering that the
[17:36] need was identified and we chose not to move forward with that.
[17:39] And actually, since our presentation in March, the
[17:43] X that you see right in the middle at the top, that was the assistant
[17:46] superintendent for human resources position.
[17:48] We don't have an assistant superintendent for human resources anymore.
[17:51] The person in that position resigned last year.
[17:54] We reclassified that as a director level position in order to achieve an
[17:58] additional $50,000 in savings. So you're kind of looking at the
[18:01] assistant superintendent for human resources again.
[18:04] So I'm picking up some of those responsibilities.
[18:06] So Mike, I'll be reaching out to you when we need to collaborate a little bit.
[18:09] So I'm back to doing some of those responsibilities again, that is the
[18:13] position I was previously in, and again, as cost savings.
[18:16] So I'm going to go back just a second again.
[18:19] Those are the existing positions, those are the eliminated positions,
[18:23] and that's what we're left with. So a significant decrease at the central office
[18:27] level that took place over several years.
[18:29] So this is not something that all of a sudden happened
[18:32] and changes were made within the last year.
[18:35] These are changes that have been made over the last couple of years.
[18:39] There have been understandable questions about district accountability, not only
[18:42] accountability for the decisions that have been made up to this point, but also
[18:46] moving forward. So just wanted to do just a quick snapshot of some of the
[18:49] things that have happened in the past that are occurring right now, and also moving
[18:53] forward in the future. We have consistently, across the past, had a low
[18:57] per-pupil spending and revenue.
[18:59] We have, over the past couple of years, reduced administrative
[19:03] positions. Of course, you know there's a requirement for annual
[19:07] audits, so when there are questions about whether or not we've been audited, the
[19:10] answer is, by law, every single year
[19:13] our finances are audited, and those results are published.
[19:17] Currently, right now, we continue to make targeted
[19:21] revenue and savings decisions. We've made some adjustments to our
[19:25] fees. We actually modified our school lunch program at a
[19:29] couple of our schools so that we can continue to provide the lunch to
[19:32] students, but being reimbursed in a different way, at a different rate.
[19:37] Those are steps that we're taking, as well as some targeted
[19:41] cuts and reductions. But we're really trying to look at anything, energy
[19:44] efficiencies, lunch programs fees, those types of things.
[19:47] Another piece that we did recently, as far as accountability, is when the
[19:51] referendum was not successful in March, we did move forward with
[19:55] those identified reductions. Those were not easy decisions to make,
[20:00] to cut 17 and a half staff. In fact, over the last couple of
[20:03] weeks, we've reduced two additional positions as we've looked at
[20:07] enrollment heading into the current year.
[20:10] So that's 19 and a half positions that have been reduced, as well as those clubs
[20:13] and activities that we've talked about, reading support for students,
[20:17] and advanced academics. So we did follow through with those,
[20:21] and
[20:22] now that our finance meetings are actually being recorded in the same way that our
[20:26] regular board meetings are, that's a step that we've taken over the last year.
[20:30] Moving forward, we'll continue to have those audits.
[20:32] We're dedicated to reasonable and responsible class sizes.
[20:36] We're looking at not
[20:38] trying to have the smallest classes possible.
[20:40] We know that that's not fiscally responsible.
[20:42] We also want to make sure that our classes are reasonable, and that we're not
[20:46] talking about 30, 35 kindergartners in a classroom together as well, so
[20:49] balancing that reasonable and responsible.
[20:52] We're moving forward with the data dashboard, not just academics, but finances as
[20:56] well. And we're talking about at least annual, if
[20:59] not semi-annual, special kind of state of the district presentations
[21:03] speaking to our finances.
[21:07] So this is kind of the
[21:09] most challenging slide because this gets to
[21:12] the reality of what would happen if there is
[21:16] another unsuccessful referendum, and if we need to continue making cuts,
[21:20] and it's something that we're prepared to do. We did it in March.
[21:23] We can do it again this fall as well if we need to.
[21:25] But if a referendum is not successful, those reductions
[21:29] that were made previously would not be restored, those classroom teachers, reading
[21:33] support, advanced academics, extracurricular activities.
[21:36] We'd be looking at additional reductions.
[21:38] This past year, we made about $1.7 million in reductions.
[21:41] We'd need to make at least that amount heading into next year,
[21:45] and additional for the following year.
[21:46] If we actually wanted to get to where we need to be as far as fund balance, we're
[21:50] looking at an additional $4 million in cuts.
[21:54] So that's not something that we're going to be doing in a year.
[21:57] But certainly, over the course of a couple of years, even staff
[22:02] retiring through attrition, things like that, making some of those changes, but we
[22:05] would be prepared to make at least another $1.7, probably
[22:09] closer to $2 million worth of cuts heading into next year if it's not
[22:13] successful. That would include teaching and
[22:17] programming reductions, additional extracurricular activities,
[22:21] and also looking at some significant redistricting, and probably school
[22:25] closures as well. The alternative to that would
[22:29] be increasing revenue,
[22:31] and so the proposed referendum, as we talked about, 26.7 cent tax rate
[22:34] increase, $4.4 million annually,
[22:38] and that would be the impact as listed there.
[22:43] The graph on the left, once again, that's a repeat of the graph that was shown
[22:46] earlier. That shows what our current tax rate is as compared to our
[22:50] comparable districts. The graph on the right shows what it would be
[22:53] if the referendum is successful. So we're still in the same
[22:57] spot in terms of relative to those
[23:01] peers. The idea here is that the district is not
[23:05] trying to get as much money as possible.
[23:07] The district is trying to be very sensitive to the financial
[23:11] situation of our families and our communities, but also make sure that it is able
[23:15] to obtain the revenue needed to restore some of these cuts.
[23:19] So this is what we'd be looking at in terms of a
[23:22] successful referendum.
[23:24] We know data shows and studies show the correlation
[23:28] between property values and funding towards schools.
[23:31] Every dollar towards schools increases the aggregate value
[23:35] of homes by $20. We would be avoiding those additional
[23:39] cuts, knowing that we have more predictable financial future,
[23:43] looking at those class sizes, and then restoring those pieces, reading support,
[23:47] advanced academics, clubs and activities, as well as the fine
[23:51] arts. So our goal is to make sure that everybody has the information that they
[23:55] need to make an informed decision.
[23:56] So at the very least, we've planned 10 town halls,
[24:00] one for each of our schools, plus a virtual option.
[24:03] The first one has passed already. It was actually last week at Westmoor.
[24:07] Our next one is Wednesday night, but you can find the dates for those
[24:11] on our website, and we'll also be open to any
[24:15] invitations that we have so that we can provide information.
[24:17] We'll be providing a presentation to Chamber of Commerce, to
[24:21] Rotary.
[24:22] Actually, just as of today, we're going to be there on Friday night
[24:27] at Willowbrook for-
[24:30] Is it blue and silver? Silver and blue? Silver and blue night.
[24:34] Just to provide that information and just make sure this doesn't come as a
[24:38] surprise. We did receive a tremendous amount of feedback
[24:42] from community members saying that a lot of people
[24:46] were not aware of what was at stake.
[24:48] And so
[24:50] this is what would be voted on actually tomorrow night at our board meeting, the
[24:54] referendum. So that's it. That's where you can find more information.
[24:58] There are videos, there's a significant FAQ,
[25:01] and there's lots more information about the implications, a tax calculator, and all
[25:05] those pieces. So thank you again for the opportunity to
[25:08] present.
[25:10] Any questions?
[25:14] I have one.
[25:14] Yes.
[25:17] I have to admit, maybe I should know this, but with the
[25:21] mandate for the full
[25:24] day kindergarten for-
[25:26] Yes
[25:26] ... kids coming up-
[25:27] Mm-hmm
[25:27] ...
[25:28] has the state provided any additional funding to cover that cost?
[25:31] Not at this time, no. And I don't anticipate that there will be.
[25:35] There has been nothing attached to that specifically to say that that's going to
[25:39] help support that work. So there's actually a number of districts talking about
[25:42] bond referendums specifically for that purpose.
[25:45] So at least District 45 had the foresight to do the
[25:49] early childhood to be able to
[25:52] make the adjustments within the buildings to be able to accommodate.
[25:55] Correct. And that's a great point, because a lot of times because the early
[25:59] childhood center was the building that was built, there was the thinking that the
[26:02] referendum was entirely about the early childhood center.
[26:05] We had an existing early childhood program, it was just in the buildings.
[26:08] So in order to create a dedicated space, then we were able to pull those
[26:12] classrooms out of the buildings, and then that made the space for
[26:16] full day kindergarten at most of our facilities, and then we needed to do some
[26:19] building additions. But even that was very strategic.
[26:23] That was intended to be the first bite of a pretty
[26:26] significant facilities plan. And the reality
[26:30] is, we've foregone everything since then, because of cost.
[26:33] So we were able to take the first bite, and now any other pieces are just
[26:37] waiting for us to be in a financial position where we could move forward with
[26:41] that, and that's not anything that would happen for several years.
[26:44] And
[26:46] I'm sure that District 45 is like most districts, where
[26:50] you're not getting your full funding for your categoricals like
[26:54] transportation, special ed transportation, and all the rest.
[26:58] Correct. Yeah. The percentages are actually decreasing while the costs are
[27:01] increasing. So yeah, we're not anywhere close to that.
[27:04] We're at about 83% adequacy, so we are
[27:07] regularly operating with $7 million less than what the
[27:11] state says we actually should have in order to function.
[27:15] That doesn't mean we're running a $7 million deficit, but when the state looks at
[27:19] our needs based on our student population and programs and those types of
[27:22] things, they say that we should be operating close to $50
[27:26] million, and we're regularly operating at $43 million.
[27:30] So...
[27:31] So underneath evidence-based funding formula,
[27:34] is District 45 a tier two then?
[27:36] We're a tier two.
[27:37] Yeah.
[27:37] Mm-hmm. We're one of eight tier one or tier two elementary
[27:41] districts in DuPage. I believe there's 42 districts, and we are one of
[27:45] eight that is at tier one and two. Compared to some of our area districts,
[27:49] we're operating at 83% of our adequacy.
[27:52] Some districts around us are operating at 140%,
[27:55] 160%. We're at 80%. So we're still operating
[27:59] very lean, even as it is.
[28:02] Because I was at a meeting on Friday.
[28:06] We were talking, or it was, I don't know, maybe it wasn't
[28:08] Friday. One day last week.
[28:10] Mm-hmm.
[28:11] We were talking about the evidence-based funding, and the
[28:15] fact that even though when the state says they quote "increase funding for the
[28:19] state,"
[28:20] they're not talking about tier two, they're not talking about tier three, they're
[28:23] not talking about tier four. That money is going to tier-one
[28:27] districts only.
[28:28] Okay. Yeah, I did read just recently that despite
[28:32] increases at the state level, I think significantly because of the
[28:36] increased costs that districts are facing, even though
[28:39] the state is increasing the actual dollars that
[28:43] they're providing, more and more districts are falling further and
[28:47] further from adequacy just because of the actual costs of
[28:52] operating a school district right now.
[28:53] Well, because the school districts are limited to CPI or-
[28:56] Mm-hmm
[28:56] ... 5%, whichever is less. So in most years, we're lucky if we're getting
[29:00] 2 or 3%, whereas our costs are going up 5% or
[29:04] more.
[29:04] Right. Absolutely.
[29:05] Just like homeowners.
[29:06] Absolutely. And the transportation is a perfect example,
[29:09] 70% over the last seven years, so an average of 10%.
[29:13] Obviously, CPI is not keeping up with that.
[29:15] Certainly, state funds aren't keeping up with that.
[29:17] Insurance has been very similar.
[29:20] And the specialized needs of students and just the costs of supporting them.
[29:23] Staffing costs have gone up significantly, not because we're giving monumental
[29:27] raises to staff members, but because we are needing
[29:30] to
[29:33] get the participation of more and more agency hires that are
[29:37] coming at a premium cost. So just the overall cost of education.
[29:41] Supplies, materials, everything is becoming much more expensive, the same way that
[29:44] they are for homeowners. Right? So we know that we're not in a
[29:48] unique situation. It's just compounded significantly when you're talking about
[29:52] a $50 million budget.
[29:55] Okay.
[29:57] I don't have any other questions. Is there any other?
[29:58] Thanks.
[29:59] Okay. Thank you so much for coming.
[30:01] Awesome. All right. Thank you very much for the time. I appreciate it.
[30:05] That's yours.
[30:09] Okay