The time is now 5 p.m., and I call the november 11th meeting of the eanes isd board of Trustees to order.
madam secretary, do we have a quorum? Yes, we do. Thank you. We will now move into closed session pursuant to texas government code Sections 551.071 and 551.074.
we will reconvene in open session at approximately 6 p.m.
thank you for coming and see you in a bit.
the time is now 6:02 p.m. And we will now reconvene in open session.
good evening. I'm james spradley, president of the eanes isd board of trustees.
on behalf of all of the trustees and the administration, welcome to tonight's meeting.
those who are in the room and on video, either live or watching later.
the purpose of tonight's meeting is for the board to deliberate and vote on matters Listed on its agenda.
the district is committed to treating everyone here with respect, and we expect the same In return.
please refrain from outbursts or any other form of disruptive behavior.
applause is welcome, especially for recognizing someone during the superintendent's Report.
but we don't have a superintendent's report tonight. There will be an opportunity for public comment very soon, and I'll touch base on that in Just a minute.
you are welcome to stay for the entire session. We have finished our closed session. We are now in open and the public is welcome to be here and stay for the whole meeting.
if you decide to leave before the end of the meeting, just please do so quietly and step Out the back.
take your conversations outside so that we can continue. Thank you for joining us and for your interest in our community and our schools.
we are very sensitive to the importance of these topics we're discussing tonight, and That is the purpose of tonight's special board meeting.
we will now begin our agenda, and we're going to start tonight with open forum.
we have 11 people signed up to speak, so I'm going to read a real quick blurb here as we Get started.
some some legal mumbo jumbo and just some process stuff. Here it is. Now time for the open forum portion of the meeting.
we have 11 speakers signed up this evening and each speaker will be afforded three Minutes to speak.
I'll call you forward when it's your turn and let you know when your time is up. Once you are notified that your time is up and the timer will be on the screen and it Will count down, please finish your sentence and then stop.
as a general rule, texas government code section 551 prohibits disruption of board Meetings by the public.
this section also allows for any public complaint of specific employees to be heard by The board and closed.
what that means is that if you're going to name a name of a student or a teacher, please Don't do that.
let me know and we can go into closed to talk about specific complaints about people.
if any speaker wishes to name a district employee, let me know and we'll hear that in Closed, specific factual information and recitation of existing policy may be furnished in
response to inquiries, but the board cannot deliberate regarding any subject that is not Included on the agenda.
that's again, kind of language that we're not going to respond to what you say there Directly.
we may talk about some of those things later in our meeting, but we don't have a Conversation back and forth.
just it's just the law. It's just the way it is. Please be aware that the audio and video of this open forum portion of the board meeting Is recorded as part of the recording of the entire meeting, and is published on the
district's website without alteration. Persons who choose to speak in open forum are consenting to the online publication of Their comments.
thank you again for taking the time and making the effort to share your comments. We are ready for the first speaker.
let me also say that if you didn't get a chance to sign up and you want to share your Thoughts with the board, you're also welcome to send us an email.
we we receive email at trustee at eanes isd arnett and we will have more meetings in the Future.
you're always welcome to come and speak. So my first speaker and I'm not sure if she's here is ashley kirk.
okay. My following speaker will be jenny chang and then catherine walker.
jenny, welcome. Thank you. Members of the board.
and thank you for allowing me to speak tonight. My name is jenny chang, and my daughter is in the si program at vde.
and like many parents, I've accepted that valley view will maybe close, but I urge you to Keep the spanish immersion program open.
my family moved to cuernavaca just four months ago, specifically for the eanes si Program, and now, with the current instability, I admit that I've started researching
austin isd's options.
you know, this is disheartening for me to see that austin has all these different Immersion programs, and westlake is thinking about closing its one and only.
you know I think it's such a disservice to the community and our children.
I think that not having it will not make eanes as competitive or desirable for Significant number of families.
families like my own. And honestly, I am embarrassed telling people that eanes one of the top districts in Texas, the one I chose and moved my child to, is considering ending spanish immersion and
the program I think was under-marketed. And yet I think it remains a profoundly valuable asset to attracting new families.
I firmly believe that when we talk to people, even people who are not in the program are Like, can I sign my kid up?
but it is too late. I think being bilingual and biliterate is a valuable qualification that prepares students For an interconnected global future.
and you may know this study. In 2021, the american councils research center study found that about nearly 15% of u.s.
schools offer dual language immersion programs. And it's on the rise in states like texas, california, new york, utah and north carolina Lead these programs with spanish immersion, representing 80% of all those asian
dual language offerings. And eanes should be part of that charge forward if not leading it, I believe this District should lead it.
so how do we support this program? Speaking with many parents as parents do.
many of us in the spanish immersion program are willing to help promote it and also Contribute financially to sustain it.
and I'm asking the board to consider establishing a dedicated fund. I know you've been probably asked this many times before.
personally, I would fully support a 7030 split with 30% of the funds raised for si going To the general fund.
I've contributed to valley view's booster club, and I'm prepared to donate to the eef if My child remains in eanes spanish immersion program.
I think many parents feel the same, and they're ready to financially support this Valuable program.
because we deeply value children learning two languages, it benefits their cognitive Development, social skills, and ultimately society as a whole.
we are all interconnected, increasingly so, and language opens doors, enhances our Perspectives.
and I think we're in an era now where cultural competency and language skills are Increasingly critical.
eanes needs to uphold a standard and set an example among the other leading districts in The nation.
and so, with so many families ready to support the program or urge you to preserve the Program at eanes and set us up for future generations.
thank you. Thank you, jenny.
we'll now hear from catherine walker, followed by elizabeth johnston.
members of the board. Doctor arnett. My name is catherine walker. I'm the parent of two students at bridgepoint and one at hill country.
all three of my children receive special education support from our schools, and we are Also a spanish immersion family.
I'm here to address the budget deficit, and I realize this is a tough conversation, so I Appreciate the time that the board and administration are dedicating to this issue.
first, the good news. I'm sure you all read the governor, greg abbott, recently committed to fully funding Texas public schools along with the proposed new voucher program.
this commitment suggests that eanes may not face the projected deficit by next school Year.
however, we must plan as if we may not receive a large enough increase to cover the basic Allotment for all maintenance and operation costs, aside from the year over year
enrollment decline, which suggests we need fewer elementary schools, I encourage the Board to prioritize reversible cost savings options.
these are measures that can be rolled back if we do receive additional funding.
it is also disheartening to see spanish immersion listed as a cost savings measure when It's a revenue positive program.
with nearly 700 students enrolled, transfer students covering much of the operating cost.
spanish immersion actually benefits the district financially. Instead, I would encourage administration to boost enrollment in spanish immersion and to Explore additional destination programs for our elementary schools.
finally, I want to address the declining enrollment in our lower grades. Each year, we see enrollment jumps in the sixth and the ninth grades, likely due to Competition from private schools.
this competition will inevitably increase and intensify with new voucher program.
yes. Our high school is a destination school, but the elementary level can be as well.
spanish immersion is a powerful countermeasure, and similar programs like a stronger stem Curriculum could attract and retain more elementary students.
if we don't think beyond what we've done in the past. We risk further elementary enrollment declines that the state funding increases alone may Not offset.
thank you. Thank you, catherine.
we'll hear from elizabeth johnson and then lindsey east.
hello, members of the board. My name is elizabeth, and I'm a parent at barton creek elementary.
I have a third grader and a first grader, and I have a kindergartner there next year. I'm also a spanish immersion parent, so I really appreciate and echo what others are Sharing about that program.
I want to talk a little bit about the merger, and I think the lack of information about How it's going to work long term.
the materials we've been provided present a short term solution, but it's not clear to me What improvements will be made to ensure that there will be an equitable learning
experience at barton creek when it is merged, or if it's merged with valley view.
the school will need infrastructure improvements to house so many students safely, and to Give them the same types of experiences students at smaller elementary schools will have
and that we have now. One thing I noticed is that there is a proposal for portables.
they look expensive and there's nothing in there about when they'll go away, or if They'll just be there forever, and how it will determine which students are going to be in
the portables, which portables are obviously less desirable, but they also feel less Secure, as we can't have a two step entry process to get into a portable.
I'm also a little concerned about student events. I just went to the veterans day event. It was amazing, but there's already insufficient parking space and it's pretty crowded in The auditorium.
so I'm curious if the kids at the new school will be able to have these types of events. If we're going to expand the auditorium, make the building bigger in order to accommodate Everybody.
like the parking, the traffic and pick up and drop off is already pretty bad. So I'm curious what the plan is for when there's over 200 more students attending the School.
I'm also worried about specials. My understanding is the kids are together with their grade during specials, and I was Wondering how we're going to accommodate so many more students in the space where they
have the specials and whether or not we'll be hiring more teachers, or if our kids are Going to have specials less frequently.
we are excited to have more students at bce. We're going to welcome them with a really nice community, but we just want to make sure That the experience can stay as similar as it is now to how it is at bce now and how it
will be at other schools in the district. I'm interested to know why rezoning wasn't on the table, to maybe make the elementary Schools of similar size, and I hope that if that's not something we're considering, we're
at least forming a long term plan to ensure bce has adequate facilities and staff for our Kids.
thank you, elizabeth. We'll hear from lindsay east and then jenny manuel.
hi. I'm a valley view parent. I have a second grader and a fourth grader.
many of my concerns were just addressed by the previous speaker, but one of the things That I wanted to just make sure the board keeps in mind is that this has been a roller
coaster for us. It's the second year we've been on the chopping block. And. Excuse me.
sorry. It's just it's really hard to see your kids and not be able to tell them where They're going to be next year, and also to see that the merger is considered a
solution. But there doesn't seem to be any feasible plan of how that's going to Realistically work for our kids and for the teachers at valley view.
one thing that I was pretty apparent at the meeting at valley view with doctor arnett was That there was a lot of talk about the cuernavaca community.
I just want to make sure it's really clear that we're not just the cuernavaca community. We're the valley view community that includes the bluffs, bella lago, all of us.
we're incredibly tight knit, and I would like to think that the board would strongly Consider keeping us all together.
thank you. Thank you, lindsey.
we'll hear from jenny manuel and then paige greene.
hello, everyone. Thanks for letting me speak tonight. My name is jenny manuel, and I'm a parent of a kindergartner and a first grader at barton Creek, both in spanish immersion.
we're also a transfer family from lake travis. So tonight, I wanted to raise two points.
first, I wanted to press on the anticipated $600,000 savings from elimination of si.
the savings really needs to take into account not the possible loss of transfers, but I Think the probable loss of transfers.
I think it is safe to say that many si transfer families have enrolled in the district for One reason, and that is simply because the district offers psi.
we are zoned to an excellent elementary school in lake travis and chose to go to barton Creek solely because of the spanish immersion program.
I don't know what we'll do next year if we are forced to leave the district. We may go to a private school.
we may continue in lake travis, but I really don't want to have to face that decision.
and I know a lot of my friends from barton creek do not either.
stated another way, I also think the data would show that the district would attract far Fewer transfer families in the future if si were to be eliminated.
so I think surveying the current families in si could help add certainty to whether the Si elimination could bring any savings at all.
second, I wanted to commend you guys for helping change the program to 9010 this year.
as I mentioned, I have both a kinder and a first grader, so I've seen the first grader go Through the 94 through the 5050, and then the kindergartner in 9010, and the
change has been so fantastic. You have hired a wonderful teacher at bce and the kids are thriving.
these are five- and six-year-olds who in three months are now like going home and being Completely fluent.
some things I hear that we don't even see in kids coming out of elementary school in the Past.
the one bce class is now fully enrolled at 21 students with a smaller student population.
so I would hope that you are considering, with the merger to make sure that we continue To have perhaps two classes, or even more when we add students into the population,
I think it would make sense to add a second si class as we merge for the first incoming First graders, and then add two
for kinder for next year. And in my little time left, I wanted to remind you all that the transfer experience has Not been ideal for any of us.
last year, my first grader found out a month before school started that she had been Admitted, and I thought it couldn't get more stressful until this summer, when we found
out two weeks before school started that we would be able to enroll.
so as you're thinking about the many options the district, the district I think is Definitely losing out on potential students who need to make enrollment plans sooner in
the process. Aisd notifies kids in the march april timeframe, and so does private school.
so thank you guys.
thank you, jenny. We'll hear from paige greene. And then next on deck will be eric oswald.
hi. Members of the board, dr. Arnett, thank you for having me here.
so my name is paige greene. I'm a parent of a first grader at barton creek elementary and hopefully an incoming Kindergartner at the same school next year.
I'm also a westlake graduate who was raised in the eanes district.
my eldest daughter is currently an out of district transfer student and in the spanish Immersion program.
I witnessed the early days of recapture when I was at westlake high school and have seen The negative effects over the years as I've followed along with the district since our
daughter started in eanes, we've been and continue to be active supporters of the eanes Education foundation to help to support these challenges.
personally, the language education I received from my kindergarten days at eanes Elementary through my senior year at westlake high school has set me up well for a career
in international business. I know that personally, the more I know personally the importance of early access to that Language instruction.
since graduating from westlake, I've had the chance to live and work abroad in multiple Countries, becoming fluent in both german and spanish.
when we moved back to the area in austin during the pandemic real estate rush, we were Lucky enough to find a great home that works well for our family.
however, it is just over the district line in lake travis. While our while we are zoned for an excellent school in lake travis and comparable to Barton creek elementary in most ways, we chose to apply now for a transfer to eanes based
on both my personal positive experience in the district, but mainly for the unique Spanish immersion program.
our time at barton creek elementary within the eanes community has been fantastic.
the bilingual education our daughter has received is truly impressed us, and we're Grateful for the opportunities that it has provided us.
we're eager to continue this path for both our children. However, with the proposed changes to barton creek elementary and the potential loss of The spanish immersion program, we may be forced to evaluate other educational
opportunities. And I do echo a lot of the other thoughts as well from some of the other Parents.
I think one thing that the program could be marketed, even both transfer and spanish Immersion, much heavier.
it's something that when we speak to others, they're not even aware that they can Transfer to eanes.
so I think this is another opportunity that can be looked at as well. Thank you for taking time to consider my thoughts.
thank you, paige. We'll now hear from eric oswald and then jennifer strachan.
all right. Good evening y'all. Thank you to the board, dr. Arnett, for letting us come and have the opportunity to speak to you all.
my name is eric oswald. I'm the parent of two current students at barton creek elementary in the spanish Immersion program, with hopefully a third entering kindergarten next year.
like the two previous speakers, we are also out of district transfers.
living in north dripping springs. We love barton creek elementary.
we love the teachers. We love the administrators. We love the staff. But the si program is the reason we drive our kids back and forth from dripping springs Every single day.
I know in the presentation we're about to see, the board has identified a possible Savings of up to $600,000.
if the si program is eliminated at the end of this year. But it notes that there's again, as previous speakers have mentioned, a possible loss of Out-of-district transfer students.
so again, to repeat what a couple of our other presenters have, our speakers have Mentioned.
my main point in speaking to you all tonight is to confirm that that is a very likely Possibility.
I mean, between my three and the previous speakers, that's 10% of the 87 expected out of District transfers into the si program.
so I would argue that any budget analysis that doesn't account for the loss of 4,050% of Your out of district c transfers is overly optimistic.
and so as the board really willing to nuke the entire si program for a realistic savings Of 2 or $300,000.
and again, aside from the budgetary impact of losing a bunch of your current si out of District transfers, I'd also argue that for a district that prides itself on academic
excellence and preparing students for lifelong success, to become one of the only public School districts in the area without an elementary dual language program would
be shortsighted and antithetical to your stated academic goals.
thank you. Thank you, eric.
we'll hear from jennifer strachan and then jordan dixon.
welcome, jennifer. Good evening, board members. My name is jennifer strachan.
I have a first time kindergartner at valley view.
not to totally resay what everyone has said already, but we are also out of district Transfers from.
we are zoned for dripping. Would have gone there if they had a spanish program, but we found out about the spanish Program that was at eanes.
and of course, the reputation of eanes proceeded itself. We also felt nervous about waiting and the whole transfer process ended up getting in.
we're so excited. We love valley view so much. Devastated to hear about the closing.
and the potential closing. But again, you know, ready to kind of work with what we can.
but the si program would actually be something that would be the straw that broke the Camel's back for us as far as, you know, where we're considering.
so we would be leaving. We're already looking at austin isd options just because we have to.
I want, you know, spanish is very important to me for my daughter, for all the reasons That people have mentioned before.
and then I would just say, I echo the, you know, when you are looking for options and you Do want to consider transfers and let's play it out and say that
the spanish program stays. Please think about where transfers fit into the puzzle, because we do feel like a part of The community, but it feels a little bit unknown what will happen
to us as, as that kind of cohort at this point. So that's even kind of aside from the spanish, I think.
jenny, we've talked to a lot of people. Jenny chang, about how, you know, if there was an option to donate or to promote it more, That we'd be happy to do that.
as others have mentioned, I didn't know about the transfer option until parents told me.
I've had many people that I've talked to, that I've said that we are in there and they Ask how you can transfer in.
it's really simple, you know, so happy to also be that kind of voice and promote it.
like she said, I think the parents in valley view are really reared up and ready to be Supporters of this, if that's possible.
so yeah, that's all I had to say tonight. So good evening and thank you.
thank you. We'll hear from jordan dixon and our last speaker after that will be christine curry.
hello, jordan. Hi. As you know, I have two girls at valley view, and my son is in spanish immersion at Barton creek first grade.
my, my first thing I'd like to say is, after reading your agenda, I want to note that I Would never vote in favor of the copper pennies.
and I will actively encourage every neighbor and fellow parent that I know also not to Vote for this plan.
I would rather give directly to the portion that the district would keep, then raise my Taxes every year and travis county keep a good majority of it.
oh no. It's working. There's just not enough return for you guys, and it puts a huge Burden on us as families.
also, you're making the district less affordable, right? Raising the tax rate. And we're already struggling to get young families in.
your plan to cut si feels like your way to finally justify the elimination of the Program.
some people in this room are new, but for anyone with older children in the program, to Us it feels like you finally found your way to kill si and have a reason to
justify it. Which is kind of ridiculous because it's the one program at elementary level That could actually be making you money if you marketed it and put in the
effort that it deserves.
let's see. You have one program at the elementary level that can actually generate revenue, if any Real effort was put into it.
and you're not doing it. As parents, we have done the math, and there's hardly any worthwhile savings cutting the Program once you account for everyone leaving.
also, sorry, I get nervous.
okay. Next. We'll just. Okay. So parents have been speaking to you in this room for years now.
the si program matters to us. Having a stronger si curriculum matters to us.
having the administration and the board actually caring about the well-being of the kids In the program matters to us.
and it is so important that so many ci parents are in favor of donating more to ief.
if it specifically went to fund our si teacher stipends, I'd happily donate more to keep My kid in the second language program.
lastly, you don't hear any traditional side parent here speaking tonight going on and on About how great the program their kid is in.
I've been living it for six years with my girl. It's nothing special, but spanish is something special and it deserves more than everyone In this room has given it.
the 9010 I have heard amazing things about 9010. It's going great.
our kindergartner, our first graders deserved it this year. They truly did.
and why not put the effort in and make it what it can be?
and you're going to raise money that way instead of losing families and transfers?
anyway, on valley view, you know, we all knew last year we were in a budget crisis.
okay. We deserve to be communicated to. And it not feel like a last ditch effort that we're scrambling.
thank you. Jordan.
hi, christine. Dear board of trustees and doctor arnett.
I'm here to address the budget crisis facing our district. The situation could have been minimized by closely monitoring enrolled enrollment trends, Decreasing schools, and making more strategic contract
decisions, particularly with the wacc and the aquatic center. I recognized that our primary funding challenge stems from the state withholding funds Until their voucher bill passes.
there is no justification for this action. However, today I want to talk to the community.
this is one of the most well attended meetings I've seen since covid, so about five Years, so I want to take advantage of that.
texas funds public schools at $6,160.
I'm from chicago in illinois, and they received $16,227 per student.
and new york leads the nation with approximately $24,000 per student.
texas ranks 42nd in the nation. Our district faces financial crisis with real, lasting impacts for all of our kids.
last year, our teachers received a 2% raise. They were already only at 98% market value.
they are the lowest paid teachers in austin and surrounding areas, and most of their Insurance went up 13%, so they basically got a
-11% raise this year.
and we are losing some of our best teachers simply because we cannot afford to pay them.
we are also attracting very green teachers. We had 87 new teachers last year.
43% of them had zero years' experience. Now there's nothing wrong with a brand new teacher, but that costs a lot more money to Try to support these new teachers, and it puts more stress on the more experienced
teachers. So this costs our district more money. So what can we do?
we could wait. Hoping governor abbott will address public school funding, or we could Take control of the district's future ourselves.
our community has home to many multi-millionaires and even some billionaires in our District.
passing a vote to receive just nine copper pennies in funding is financially impractical.
passing a vote to receive basically homeowners would be paying $1,500.
this would all the homeowners. This would equate to about 20 million, and our district would be keeping 4 million of That 20 million, and the rest would be going to recapture back to the state.
so I would prefer that my $1,300 would stay directly with the school.
or I have three children in the district, one of whom received special education. Educating children with special needs requires specialized staff, many of whom have Master's degrees, and this is expensive.
so to help keep our special education program one of the best, we have created a Restricted endowment.
this is the eanes first restricted special education endowment.
most people don't hear about it because it's very hard to advertise to a group of people. You don't know who they are.
so I would just ask people to look for the special education endowment and please donate.
thank you, christine.
we will now move into our budget workshop agenda. Dr. Arnett, I'm going to ask members of the leadership team if they'll join us at the Table this evening.
we have a variety of topics that they're prepared to discuss and also answer questions.
I do want to reiterate that tonight we're not asking the trustees to take any action.
this is simply a discussion, a workshop. More importantly, I think we're looking for some direction from the board.
not action, not a formal vote, but direction so that we can gather more information.
and eventually you will be asked to take action on some of the items that are presented To you tonight.
we can delineate which those which of those will require board action and which will not.
but all of these you may have additional questions and we'll try to answer some of those This evening.
but if there are further conversations at some point in the near future, we'll need to Know what your direction might be in terms of additional information that you're looking
for. We also want to discuss with you tonight the timeline for considering some of these Items, because some are more time sensitive than others.
and so we want to provide that context for you as well. But we have a number of cabinet members and members of the leadership team who are with us This evening.
I'm going to turn it over now to chris scott. Mr. Spradley. Is there anything that you wanted to add?
yeah, I just wanted to add real quick before we get started. First of all, thank you to everyone who's here and again on the video tonight and watching Later.
as has been discussed by by some of our speakers tonight and doctor arnett, the state has Put our district and many others in the state into this very difficult financial
position. We have been closely monitoring our finances for years, and some unfortunate Changes that the state decided to make over the summer helped dig us
deeper into this hole. We have never faced a budget shortfall as big as the one currently in front of us.
I spoke with a former trustee who was actually president of the board years ago today.
and he was like, gosh, I don't envy your position. It's very unique.
in preparing for this meeting, the board and dr. Arnett asked that the team prepare options that are $500,000 in larger.
as doctor arnett said a couple of weeks ago in our open meeting, you know, it's not, we Don't want a thousand band-aids.
we really need to focus on where the big opportunities are to make these decisions.
roy disney said decisions. Decision making is easy when your values are clear.
and I want to say that the board will be focused on keeping eanes isd an exemplary school District.
we will focus on our students, our educators, and our community.
as dr. Arnett said, board tonight's task is to decide what the board.
if there's anything on this list that we may want to say we don't want to bring forward.
we can bring it all forward. But at a later meeting, probably in january, we will be looking at taking votes on Whether we want to move forward with these items.
specifically, evatre copper pennies would require a vote program changes like spanish Immersion would require a board vote, and a school blending would
require a board action. So some of these will need decisions by the board or support from the board, but don't Have to be voted on in the board meeting as an official action.
the other thing tonight, as we go through these topics, we need to let admin know if There is additional information you will need to know before you could vote.
so please ask those questions they may be able to answer tonight. It may take another packet of information that comes to us later that would be publicly Available, by the way.
or we may get it at that meeting that we hold in january. I did want to say, as we go through these, and chris is going to walk us through each of These items.
I wanted to ask the board, do you prefer to stop at each one and ask questions on that Specific item, or do you want to go all the way through and then ask all of the questions
at the end? What is the preference?
is there any? Kim. My preference would be to go through everything and save our questions only because I Think
that some of the topics later in the evening are going to get short shrift if we do not.
I could go either way, you know. So I think it's the preference of the board. But my thought was I would like to hear the presentation if there's more outside of the, You know, the slides and then be
able to ask all of my questions. But again, I can be convinced otherwise.
any other any other thoughts. Okay. So we'll go through the presentation and then we'll ask questions.
plenty of time for questions. We're not going to cut you off. I'm committed to taking a break every couple of hours all the way through 2 a.m., so We'll.
we're not going that long. Thank you very much, dr. Arnett. All right, mr.
scott. I'm going to let you begin.
good evening, everyone, and I want to start this by just saying that we as a leadership Team, recognize that these are difficult
conversations. And the fact is, there's no painless way to find the kinds of money that We're looking for.
and as we've heard tonight, you know, there's a lot of passion involved and Understandably so, because these are these touch upon the things that are most
important to them as families. And we recognize that.
I want to talk a little bit about the budget trends and why we're here.
I won't go into much detail on this because we did that at the last meeting, and anybody Who's really interested can go back and watch it.
but there have been a number of things that we've been watching for a long time that have Been long term trends that were leading us towards.
I don't want to say crisis, but but have have been concerned for all of us for a while if They didn't get addressed.
some of these things actually were, were enhanced this year and were were bigger than What we thought they were going to
be. Among those would be the enrollment. And so our our projected enrollment from our demographer was more than 100 kids higher Than what we've actually come in here this year.
investments. So the projection on what was going to happen with our investment Environment has changed since you passed the budget back in june, to the tune of a we're
estimating about $700,000. Some of these other things have been happening for a while.
we knew about them. We prepared them, nonetheless. They've hit us and we expect these trends to continue.
one of those trends is, of course, the lower enrollment. We expect the trend to continue for the foreseeable future anyway.
one of the things, you know, we've had to incorporate as well, which was included in the Budget you passed in june, was the fact that since the pandemic, we've had lower
attendance rates than what we had before, about a one percentage point, lower attendance Rate than what we had, you know, pre 20 2020.
and that corresponds to more than a half $1 million a year because we're not actually paid On the number of kids or we don't, we don't earn revenue based on the number of kids,
but on the number of kids who are in average daily attendance. And so lower attendance means less money to work with.
and so the long and short of that was back in june, we projected that we were going to Have a slight deficit this
current year and then a larger deficit next year, as you see on there.
and then we really started getting trouble in 26, 27, which is where you've got that Highlighted.
what we're looking at as a district is trying to keep that number above 25%.
and what it is for those listening at home is we're looking at our fund balance as a Percent of our expected expenditures for the year.
and so 25% is not just a recommendation from the state, although it also describes the Point where it starts
getting harder and harder to, to make things work. And so if we drop below 25%, we start running into cash crunches in the fall of that Year.
so we really want to keep it above 25%.
and so back in june, we thought, okay, we've got enough runway that we can see what Happens in the 25 legislature before we have to
make any big decisions. After these changes, most notably the lower attendance and also the investment issue Coupled
with a change, well, not a change. So, as you know, and there were a bunch of special sessions recently where, where our tax Rates were lower.
we were given a hold. Harmless. In fact, a series of hold harmless to make sure that districts weren't losing Money.
but the tier did not tell us how to calculate that until after the fact.
and so the, the, the projections on how to calculate it, the standard assumptions we were All using were
wrong. And they came out with clear guidance after you adopted the budget in june.
and that affected us to the tune of about $1 million. And so all that coupled together changes what the trajectory looks like.
and now, absent any changes we're looking at having gone below that 25% threshold after The 25, 26 school year.
and we're looking at a $6.3 million deficit, give or take. I mean, we're still a year and a half out about $6.3 million deficit next year, which is Pretty significant.
and what we're really looking for here is a way to eliminate that deficit, to keep us Above the 25% threshold.
so based on conversations with you at our last meeting, based on conversations we've had In leadership, these were the standards that we were looking at
and how to make these decisions. Like jeff said, we're looking at bigger things, not a bunch of band-aids, but a Tourniquet, I guess.
we're trying to find options that impact students as little as possible.
student and staff on all of these. And I want to be clear about this, the where most of the savings is coming from.
and you all know this because this is where we spend our money is in staff, you know, Lower staff, lower staff requirement.
and so it's already out there and people have talked about the fact that we're going to, We're going to recommend closing an elementary school and
where the savings comes from is that is that there are things that you have when you have An elementary school that you have, no matter how many kids are in it.
and so it's a staff savings. However, we're not looking at firing anybody, letting anybody go.
so we're going to get this by. We would make any savings by attrition.
and we think that that can happen in a relatively short period of time, most of it in Year one.
probably 99% of it by year two. And so we're not looking to to eliminate people's jobs or eliminate their ability to have A job with the with the district.
and of course, there are some time constraints on some of these.
so here are the solutions that we've identified.
I'm going to talk about the first one, and then we're going to, we're going to move Around, and different members of the leadership team are going to talk about different
ones here. So the first one I want to talk about is the copper pennies.
so for a number of years I've mentioned this. And to be on the record every time I've ever mentioned it you've all said that you've got Absolutely zero interest in copper pennies.
but this is one of those break the glass type scenarios. And so I want to bring it up again.
and the important thing about the copper pennies is it is the largest single either Savings or money generating idea that we
have $4 million. And so that gets us two thirds of the way to where we need to be this year.
and we'll just go ahead and we want to lay all the cards on the table. And so it is an extremely bad deal for district taxpayers.
and so the way it would work is you would adopt a tax rate above what's known as the Voter approval tax rate.
and if you went for all nine pennies, of course you wouldn't have to go for all nine Pennies. You could go for a lower number.
but if you went for all nine then that would automatically trigger your need to call a Voter approval tax rate election.
and so that would happen in august of 2025.
and then you would have an election in november. At that time, the community would go and they would either vote it up or down, and if They voted up and then, then our tax bills would go out at the new higher rate.
and if they voted down, then they would go out at the lower rate minus the $0.09.
so without including those, those nine, nine pennies in the first year, it would raise Approximately $20 million in additional tax revenue to
the district, of which we would keep about four and about 16 million of that would go to The state and recapture.
this just shows what our tax rate has looked at over the past couple of years.
and you can see that over that we've been going through a lot of compression since the 20, since 2019.
and if you added in the copper pennies, we would still be at a relatively low tax rate Compared to historical standards.
we would be higher than what we were in 2324, but lower than what we were in 2223.
my estimate would be somewhere around 0.95 $0.05.
based on on current estimates, that could be higher or lower depending on the amount of Compression.
and that's a function of how much our tax base grows.
for an average homeowner. And so if you look on that second bullet, it says the average increase or the average Increase in taxes for a homeowner would be $1,331.
that's based on this year's average home price or average appraised value and taxable Value.
and so of course, we're not paying taxes on the appraised value, but on the taxable Value.
and it's lower. Of course, that would go up next year more than likely.
and not everybody's house is the average. Some of them are higher. Some of them are lower. But you could use this as a guide to kind of see where any individual taxpayer might be.
again, 16 million per year and increased recapture.
and again, all the cards on the table, the amount of money that we would get to keep is Going to be a function, actually, of our water, which is our weighted average daily
attendance. And as our enrollment declines, that's going to go down a little bit.
and so from year to year, I don't think it will go down significantly, but it would Probably go down a little bit.
and, and like it does with tier one and the basic allotment, that would only change when The legislature changed the yield rate per water.
and so we wouldn't expect that each year that $4 million would grow.
one other thing I want to acknowledge is that we currently have the long range facilities Planning committee working, and there's an
expectation that they might make a recommendation for some facilities upgrades and Changes coming up in the next year or so.
and it's been your intention and it's been my intention that that would be done without an Increase to the eanes tax rate.
the eanes rate, for those of you at home, is the part of the tax rate that is only used to Pay for our debt service.
and so we've all along assumed that we were going to be able to do this without Increasing the eanes tax rate.
and I still believe that that's possible. However, I think for a lot of people and a lot of people's minds, it's going to be Difficult to separate if you actually go out for that
bond election. The fact that you increase my taxes six months ago, and now you want to pass a bond, and You say, it's not raising my taxes, I think there's going to be a lot of
confusion in the community about that. And I just want to lay that out there at the start of this discussion as well.
okay. And that's that now. And I'll let claudia take over the next section.
okay. So one of the identified solutions that we decided to present to you guys is Involves naming rights.
and this isn't anything new to you. All you've heard people bring this up over the years, but we wanted to at least include It in here to be able to show
that we're not just looking at things that we could cut. We're trying to bring some solutions that could possibly help with the deficit.
so all of those points on there are pretty standard of what we've said before.
it is an untapped potential revenue source because currently we don't do anything like This.
we do have certain facilities, as you know, or certain rooms sometimes that are named After people, but those
have been honorary. And there hasn't really been a financial attachment to those.
so, this would be something new. And the way it is done in most districts that I've seen, maybe all that I've seen it's Led through their foundation, their
education foundation. So I've had several conversations with dana over several years about this.
and eef is definitely able to help with this endeavor.
the problem is we it does have some uncertainty in terms of what we would put out there To be named.
and if, you know, if there are some stipulations to that, because, you know, there are Some school districts do put some restrictions on
naming rights. And then the amount we don't know what we would get.
for example, in highland park they, they put out naming rights, bids for their stadium, And they didn't get one.
however, they did get a $10 million donation for naming rights for a leadership center.
so prosper, just another example.
prosper high school named their stadium, and it was a $2.5 million.
and it's a ten year over ten years, so they get about 250 grand a year.
so there's all sorts of examples around the state and the nation, frankly different ways You can do it.
but we did want to just bring that up as a possible solution.
this is me. We were charged with looking at what logistically could be done for blending Two elementary campuses.
the recommendation from the work group was to blend valleyview elementary and barton Creek elementary for reasons that one,
they fit under the same campus. They fit in the same space allowing for the same class sizes, the same services, the Service level
agreements or the service agreements with the capacity of the building the committee was Charged with.
are we able to transport them to school safely? Or can we able to provide breakfast and lunch for the students?
can we educate them and can we keep them safe? So that's where this recommendation came out of.
the analysis is a smaller campus would be more cost effective. A smaller campus is more expensive to run.
we have to have the same amount of services, the same amount of staff, regardless of the Number of students that are on the campuses.
blending these two campuses shares communities that they're already sharing.
when we looked at the enrollment numbers, we had more than 50 students from the valley View community who were already going to barton creek, for
whatever reason, that they had chose to do that, that they were already attending at Barton creek.
blending valley view and barton creek makes sense geographically.
that close proximity lessens the bus routes, the time on the busses.
it also honors the desire of the valley view community to stay together. That was one thing that we heard tonight, and we've heard numerous times from the valley View community.
move us together. Let us be together. We acknowledge that this is going to be a change.
it's going to be difficult for some families to get used to, but we are confident that Both of the communities can work together to
merge, to be one community and take care of the children.
this is going to require additional portables for temporary classrooms.
the number of portables will be up to your decision as to far as if we do this or not, And what the enrollment looks like moving forward.
transportation can make this happen. We've worked with the transportation department.
they're aware of the possibility. They've looked at the enrollment.
they have measured the bus line. They've measured busses, and they know that it will work in the existing bus line so they Can make that work.
we're starting a traffic study this week. They will go in and make sure that we have a better understanding of the parking of the Traffic on patterson.
we know that there are some new additions to the patterson road that will have to take Into consideration.
they'll look at the bus lanes, they'll look at drop off and pickup. They're going to look at a specific assembly time or an event where there's a lot of Families on campus so that they can help us better
utilize what we have to better support the traffic for that community.
so we'll have those results within the next couple of weeks.
we have worked with food services. The cafeteria right now holds 216 students.
our food service director, richard mallard, said that he could support the students and That we would add a third portable lunch line to break up the lunch
time being served. Each line would serve 25 kids per grade.
and he did not have any concerns whatsoever about making that happen in the existing Amount of time provided for lunch for the students.
additional analysis blending the campuses would make. We would have to make some decisions, or you all would need to make some decisions on how You want to handle the enrollment.
we have taken into consideration taking every student who wanted to go to barton creek From valley view.
we have taken into consideration those si numbers.
what happens if we only take the si transfers? What does that look like as far as capacity for the building.
and then we've looked at the numbers for no transfers to barton creek. We know that the building capacity is 819 with a 22 to 1 classroom class ratio.
so staying with the standard that we have now, we logistically believe that we can make This work.
we would need a decision from you all on what you want us to do relatively soon, because We have to start making changes to the campuses to make
sure that it fits. Temporary classrooms will have to be ordered, installed, set up in place, security Fences, security cameras, all of those things will need to be taken into
consideration. And we're going to add additional staff bathrooms.
which was already part of the bond workshop or the bond planning. But we want to make sure that we get that done.
to support the additional staff members if this is to happen.
we would rely on national attrition. As chris said, we're not trying to fire a bunch of staff members.
we're hoping that as a position comes open. If they want to go to another campus, that we can accommodate those needs based on what Their roles are, and the enrollment numbers will help us make it a more
efficient campus as far as what it's cost, a savings and preparing for what we could do With that space moving forward.
the class sizes and the services will be equitable. One of the concerns that we heard from the teachers at barton creek is now I'm going to Get more kids.
how am I going to do this? You're still going to have the same classroom size that you had before, and you're going To save the same number of parents that you had before.
so we're trying to make sure that all of the things remain as equitable as what the other Campuses with a larger enrollment would have.
and then if this blend happens, it also gives the district flexibility to repurpose Valley view for the
planning for the long range facility committee. So if the long range facility committee comes in and says, we need to add onto barton Creek, we have a space.
if they say we need to repurpose a specific wing for something, we have a spot for Potential for students to attend.
while the construction or the remodel is happening on campus if need be, again, we don't Know what long range facility planning is going to come back with, but we wanted to have
that flexibility. We would utilize that space during all of these activities if needed.
all right. I am now going to talk about the next proposal, which is to eliminate the Dedicated plc period for our core teachers at the secondary classroom.
for everyone, the plc period is a period of time during the day that is dedicated for our English, math, science and social studies teachers to engage in collaboration,
learning and planning during their workday.
oh, you got the clicker. Nice. All right. By eliminating this, we're estimating that it would yield us a $2 million Savings over time.
it's important to note this is done through attrition. So how quickly we get to that 2 million is just going to kind of determine where we go by The attrition rate.
it does get us equally or more equitable in practices with our non core teachers and our Elementary teachers, which both at this time do not have the designated plc
planning period that the secondary core teachers do.
one thing to really think about is our plc periods are highly recruiting and retention Tool that we use at our secondary campuses.
a lot of our teachers will tell you that they stay because of it. Even though I think even someone in the open forum mentioned, you know, we're one of the Lowest paying.
and this does help with that at those campuses. It also gives us time to plan, to learn from one another, and to work on that gvc that I Know is important for the board.
ensuring that all of our kids across the district have equitable access to quality Insurance.
our middle schools the last two years have actually worked to align their plc times, so They collaborate across campuses now.
we have monthly plc periods where west ridge and hill country work together.
reduce. The thing to keep in mind is this is not a reduction in work, but more of a Reduction in time to do work.
and a reduction in time for the planning and learning to happen. That is normally done during the school day.
we also want to recognize that this could be possible, a reduction in time for our Special ed teachers to collaborate with the gen ed staff.
our a lot of times your conference period is used to but with our special ed staff, that Is when they do a lot of that kind of paper work, the writing of the ards and the and the
goals. And so these plc periods allows for them to push in and do that collaboration with The the team, the grade level team or the the core team.
next.
hi. I'm going to speak next about our spanish immersion program.
so when we looked at our different options in terms of spanish immersion, there's lots of Combinations and permutations you can do with the
program in order to reach the threshold of the $500,000, we would have to look at Eliminating the program.
there are certainly other options we could consider that would maybe get less money of The reduction and we could look at that.
but we specifically, we didn't model all of that out because we were looking at what Would be that $500,000 threshold, which is to eliminate the program.
currently, the program has around 780 students.
we did look at our estimated out-of-district transfers for 2526 to be about 87 students.
there has been some questions that have come to us, you know, why are you looking at Spanish immersion at the elementary and maybe not other programs at the secondary level?
spanish immersion is the only enrichment program at the elementary level.
if you start looking at programs at the secondary level, you're possibly looking at, you Know, competing sports and looking at one sport versus another sport or one fine art
versus another. You know, in terms of spanish immersion, it's our only enrichment program.
so that was an area that we looked at in terms of in terms of the program, as we Mentioned, it would
yield 600,000, say, $600,000 in savings if the program concluded prior to the next school Year.
this would increase staffing efficiency and allow more balanced class size and equitable Distribution of students.
one of the things that sometimes it's hard to see is when you're looking at our section Size in the elementary school, often we are having to hire additional teachers because
our traditional side is becoming unbalanced. We typically in every grade level at every school, your spanish immersion classes are Smaller.
even if we kind of start where we do in elementary school through attrition, they become Very small.
and so we see a lot of imbalance. We see imbalance even during the school year.
I've met with several principals this year. We have students moving out of the program, and right now in the middle of the year, it's Very difficult, even if you've started the school year with 22, and then you have students
who ask to leave the program. We never require a student to stay in spanish immersion, and so they move in the middle Of the year, and that makes it even more difficult also.
and so that that that equitable, inequitable, the inequitable size class does make the Program difficult.
we would reduce costs in terms of the spanish immersion stipends and then instructional Materials, however, and there's a lot of parents spoke tonight
and it is you know, it is something a flagship program right now in our district, we Would lose that early language acquisition and the benefits of learning a second language.
and we know a lot of families really value that. And they spoke to that this evening.
it's possible that we would also lose some of our really great spanish immersion Teachers, who would go to other districts where they can get that bilingual
stipend. It is a pretty robust stipend, even in eanes, and some of our teachers would opt To use their skills, which we of course wouldn't
blame them, use their bilingual skills and go to another school district.
also, you know, in terms of what the program has brought in terms of richness around Cultural awareness in those global competency opportunities.
those would be, you know, reduced if we ended the program.
and then, as was spoken to this evening, there could be some out of district transfer Students who are here only for spanish immersion who might choose to leave.
I think some of our families who are here for spanish immersion, while some might leave, I think some are very happy with eanes isd education in general and might stay or would
stay even in the traditional traditional section.
I'm not sure if this. Yeah, I was going to say I'm not sure if this flipped forward or.
there we go. Okay. So I am here to talk about anything under human resources and number one would be Freezing salaries.
can you hear me? Hear? Okay, so as this is not a long term solution, as we had mentioned Earlier, somebody had mentioned earlier, you know, we are one of the the lower paid
districts in the area. And so obviously that is a negative impact on our staff morale and our employees personal Finances.
it makes it really harder to recruit our staff. I did want to speak with you about a conversation that we had had with trs active care Earlier in october.
trs is going to the state for an amount of $450 million to help offset the the health Insurance that we provide to our
employees. If that is not provided to them by the state, they do anticipate that they Will see a 20% increase to health insurance premiums over the next
two years. So that is another piece that, you know, lays on our staff to have to to pay For the health insurance for their families.
so this is really in conjunction with or can be set aside.
you'll see probably later on some considerations of you know, combining some of these Solutions that we're bringing forward.
but if we are doing staff reductions in conjunction with plcs or the blend, then we would Be asking the board also to make any
you know, recommendations of anything that they made to see above that. So with the blend and plc, you would be looking about 30 fte for both.
so a total of 60 fte that we do through natural attrition. Obviously that would be you know, we feel the blend may happen within the next year or Two.
plcs you never know. That could be longer. We I looked back for about three years.
we do hire anywhere from maybe 1 to 3, 1 to 6 core teachers per year, depending on the Year.
so that kind of gives you an idea of how long it might take us to reduce that staff.
you know, we would want to definitely keep that.
it would typically fall on the secondary level because our elementaries are, you know, Held to that 22 to 1 standard.
and we are really good about doing that. So that really does put the burden on our secondary level.
and that really would impact their classroom sizes. So it's really hard for that natural attrition when you're looking at targeted areas.
you know, we've had conversations and I know that you've all been at meetings where we've Talked a little bit and the staff has even asked about maybe early incentive resignations.
obviously, that would be putting money up front to do this, but it would give us an idea Early if we thought that we needed to make some large staff reductions to get a
good idea of where we're going to see these resignations and where we would be doing Staffing later on.
thank you. I'm going to reinsert myself here just to remind us of the standards and the Thresholds
that began this conversation. We were looking for options that would net or yield more than $500,000, either in savings Or additional revenue to the
district. So we were really focused on those bigger items.
secondly, we wanted to give priority to the proposals that would least impact student Learning and staff retention.
clearly, some of the things outlined this evening do have an impact on instruction, on Student learning and on our staff, but we felt like these were the
items that had the least amount of impact that the board might want to consider.
as lori and others have said, we're trying to achieve savings via natural attrition.
this is not a reduction in force. We're not purposely looking to lay off or let staff go.
we're looking for natural opportunities when we might achieve attrition and savings.
and then we also wanted to understand what might be feasible even as early as next year.
realizing that there are time constraints around each of these proposals.
and that's why we're sharing these with the board tonight. So before chris proceeds, I wanted to kind of focus in on what we would strongly Recommend the board consider when you look at all of the
options that have been discussed this evening. We think there are these four that sort of rise to the top.
and I'll begin with the first one. This is not easy for us to recommend.
there are numerous disadvantages to considering a voter approved tax ratification Election, or the nine copper pennies that chris described to you
earlier. We understand all of the downsides to this at the top of that list would be the Potential impact on
resident homeowners and taxpayers in our district. We understand that nobody wants to have to pay more in taxes.
we also understand that this seems incongruent with conversations that we are already Beginning to have about the possibility of a no tax rate bond
referendum as early as 2026, so reconciling those two is not easy.
nonetheless, as chris said of all of the things on the list that we could identify, this Is the one that would yield the greatest amount of revenue to offset
the potential of a $6.5 million deficit as early as next year.
to put it more bluntly, if the board determines that you do not want to proceed with This, and we fully understand that because we are as
conflicted about this as you are, but if the board does not want to proceed with the Possibility of a voter approved tax ratification election, then it
likely means that you are going to have to more seriously consider everything else that's On the list.
this is the one that would take the biggest chunk out of that $6.5 million deficit.
so that's the reason why it's at the top of the list, because it has the least amount of Impact on our students and our staff, but it has potentially the
greatest impact on our taxpayers and our homeowners. And we understand that.
we appreciate it. We acknowledge it, but we felt like we also needed to be honest in looking at it.
secondly, as you look at naming rights, so many other school districts have resorted to That strategy and we feel like it is time for us to do that as
well. Obviously, that would require a policy adjustment by the board, but we think that There is opportunity and there is potential revenue to be gained from that, and that has
no impact on students or staff. There's a lot of gain there to be realized in terms of blending the two elementary Schools.
I would say probably up to this point, hundreds of hours have been devoted to considering This and looking at the feasibility.
as dr. Saylor said, a lot has been examined and determined about what it would take to Make one campus safe and
conducive to learning for essentially two school communities. We would not be bringing that to you this evening if we were not convinced that it is Feasible for as early as next year.
I know that you're going to have more questions about that. Certainly, the community does as well.
that's fair, and there is time for us to answer those questions and to assure you of all The diligence that has been done on that between now and january, when we would need you
to make that decision. And then finally, the professional learning community periods.
again, that's not easy for us to recommend because we know that it is a benefit that is Enjoyed by many of our secondary staff, but it is contained to
those staff who are in grades six through 12 who are our core teachers.
so we felt like it was important to share that with you.
yes. It would have an impact on the professional development and the collaboration of our Staff in those grade levels in the core subject areas, but it would not
curtail the delivery of services or programs or courses for which those staff are Responsible.
but nonetheless, it would be a change in their working conditions, and we acknowledge That.
we should also mention that with regard to that particular point not many school Districts in texas offer professional learning community
periods. Those that we're aware of are all considering reducing that as well, because There is a high dollar amount associated with the delivery of plc
periods. And I think now other school districts are realizing that as they're in a Similar situation, they have to identify similar aspects of their
programing that they may have to eliminate as well. And plc periods are one of those that we're hearing from other school districts that they Are also considering eliminating.
so I'm going to give it back to chris now because he wants to illustrate sort of the Flowchart of decisions that we would ask the board to consider.
more importantly, the information that we know you will need as you make those Determinations over the next few weeks.
and then we want to very quickly get to your questions, because I'm sure we have raised Several of them and you'll want to know our responses.
so, chris, I'll give it back to you. Sure. So we're going to show you two different options, one with the vatre option and one Without.
and so with the first one assuming that you decide to go with the vatre and it's approved By the community.
that would bring us to a $2.3 million deficit for next year.
so that doesn't get us all the way there. And so you'll need to consider other things as well.
and like jeff mentioned our recommendations would be the blending of the two elementary Campuses and eliminating the
plc periods at the secondary school. If you were to do all those three things, that would, as a top line, show a $1.7 million Budget surplus for next year.
however, because we're talking about achieving these savings via attrition, we probably Wouldn't get to 1.7 million surplus.
our guess is that it might be roughly balanced, but we think that that would do the trick.
in other words, to get you to the six and a half or the 6.3 that you're looking at for a Balanced budget probably won't get you that much of a surplus, but it's a possibility.
the other option is if we don't go with the vatre or the vatre fails.
so no vatre. So you'll need to consider again both of those things, which gets us to a point where now We're at a $2.3 million deficit.
and again it wouldn't get there in the first year. So it would be something less than, than the full 4 million that would we would recognize That first year.
and so the $2.3 million deficit is something higher.
say, if we got 75% of the way there, then you're talking about a $3.3 million deficit That year.
which means that you would need to consider other things as well including possibly the Elimination of the spanish immersion program,
freezing salaries and some other to be named later staff reductions.
and as laurie mentioned, those would be difficult to recognize in that first year if we Also did the other two staff reduction models,
because again, we're looking at attrition. And again our biggest employee group is teachers.
and so there's, there's no, there's no cutting of staff that's not going to impact Teachers in some in some way.
and so if we're already reducing all of our core teachers at the secondary level, that Means that the only savings we're going to see at the secondary level would be
teachers who are not teaching core subjects, plus any non-classroom salaries that we were Able to eliminate.
additionally, we've got some timeline constraints on the copper pennies.
we've had a recommendation that if you think you might be interested in calling a vatre Election, that you pass a non-binding resolution
prior to the start of the legislative session, there is some thought that the legislature Might alter the way that we that the
process works. And by establishing your intent to call one before they go into session, you might be Grandfathered in and be allowed to use the
the old or current rules, rather than whatever rules might be put in place later.
and and the big thing on that is possibly and they've done this in the past, they've, They've added requirements that there might not be time to
fulfill. And so the last change that they did to that was when they added the efficiency Audit.
if they add something like another efficiency audit or some other requirement like that.
it's quite possible that by the time they pass it, we wouldn't have time to do that Before you had to call the vendor, which would essentially eliminate the possibility.
and so that's one thing. Other than that, if you make the call sometime in the spring then then we can proceed.
obviously, we do have the requirement of having an efficiency audit, and I would want to Probably have the auditors come in sometime in the april
time frame. That's when school government auditors typically have time to do a project Like that.
and so sometime before, say, march would be ideal if you could make that call.
the rest of them, we've, we've said end of january for a lot of those.
and that's primarily just because the longer we wait, the harder it is to make the call.
so we're going to start hiring people pretty soon after the new year starts, unless we Know that we're reducing somewhere.
and so the earlier that you can let us know about that, the easier those decisions will Be to know whether or not we need to hire people as they leave.
obviously on freezing, freezing salaries, that decision is made in may, and you might Want to make that decision either in conjunction with
calling a vatre election or even to see what might happen in the legislature.
so if you know, make kind of make a raise contingent upon those things happening, more Funds coming in.
but that would be the same time frame, as always on when you make the call on changing Salaries.
and then the naming rights. There's really no time limit on that. Just if you feel like you want to move, we can we can start looking at those at any time.
you probably don't have any questions, so. Yeah, we can just end here, right?
okay. Let's see. Trustees, who wants to start?
could we do one, one topic at a time rather than going the whole route all the way Around?
jeff, do you want to put up the. Who would like to start on the.
I believe it's veda's first, right. The copper pennies. Who who would like to start with questions on the copper pennies?
don't all jump at once. Kim. Okay I will start and.
and I was going to. I mean, I agree that we we probably need to thoroughly go through a topic, so I'm going To reverse myself after listening to all of this.
I, I have some thoughts and they're more in blocks, but I'll start with vatre.
so I mean, obviously I'll just say this in general, there's no good solution here.
I mean, we are for for the community that's been watching now, you know, we've had Discussions about copper pennies before, and a community member came up to me
afterwards and said, you know, you were literally holding your nose when you talked about Copper pennies.
they're not a good deal, we know that. But we live in a time right now where we are, you know, it's kind of crunch time.
and what's good for one part of the community may not be good for another part of the Community.
what's good for a high school family is not good for a starting family, and that's not Good for a long term community family that has lived here for a long time,
I don't. So when we talk about vatres, I. I don't like them, but I am willing to continue to get to move forward and ask some Questions
and get a little more information about the vatres. I've worked on the other penny swap and drop, I know that as we dig into this and as we Educate the
community that people may get behind this and, and I know that we don't have a great the State of texas doesn't have
has about a 50% passage rate. So this isn't a given.
but what I would say is that this is not you know, this is not the time
when we can throw that out because it's higher taxes.
the higher taxes are going to apply to me as a homeowner in this district, just like they Would apply to everyone else.
and so in general, I would like to explore the vedas and I would like to explore
various scenarios. A three copper penny. What would that get and what would that get over the long run versus a six versus a nine So that we could have a discussion not only on the entirety that was
presented. Tonight, but how that might benefit us, not in year 25, 26, but for the next Five years.
so I don't have detailed questions, but but my my gut is that we have to look at it, that We cannot throw it out because it's because it's taxes and
because it's going to hurt everyone. In this community or a lot of people in this community, because we just can't as, as Doctor arnett said, we just can't band-aid this, and
we band-aid too much before. And we're living in a time where there is too much uncertainty, and we we can't rely on Basic allotment making a big jump to solve our
problems. Thank you. Kim. Other trustees.
diane. Okay, so I'm with you.
kim, I agree we can't not continue to look at this, and the ability to buy an option with A resolution, I think is something we should
seriously consider. I do have questions, though, because there is a cost to going out for a vatre.
so if we go out for one, I want to really believe that it will be passed.
I want to do some research on it and understand how what other vatre's have looked like In recent elections.
and not just all vatre's, because maybe you can help me out here.
chris, I know that we get a 20% return. Is that for every chapter 49 district?
like tier one of the funding system?
the the revenue per wata is the same for all districts.
so there are some districts who would actually get state aid on those, on those copper Pennies for recaptured districts.
we're all going to end up with the same amount again. Identical student population.
identical revenue. Okay. So I would I would want to, you know, dig in a little more and understand how those Have succeeded in similar districts.
we've been gathering a lot of data on that, and we can get it to you shortly.
okay. Thank you.
I think that is all that I have to say, I do I do see it as a challenge getting this Passed in this community, though.
thank you. Diane. Ellen.
I'm not there yet because because this is such a bad deal for our particular community And our particular
taxpayers. I'm willing to have it on the discussion list, because I think we need to hear If we have a groundswell of taxpayers who feel like this
would be something they would be willing to participate in. Hd just did this last week, and I found it extraordinary the margin with which it passed.
so yet it can be done. But personally, I feel like it plays into the irresponsibility of the state, and I Personally am not willing to go there yet because this is such high
stakes in the state legislature for public education, and I am not willing to play into That dysfunction right now.
if we do this and I realize this is probably asking the impossible, I think we would have A much better chance of talking
directly and transparently and getting our message across in may as opposed to november.
is there a possibility that the mail that evatre can be done in may?
no. The process for the vatre election is in august.
the state gives us our max, what's known as the mcr, the maximum compressed rate.
from that, we know what the approved or voter approved tax rate is.
and so the process then is when you adopt the tax rate, which happens in august, you Adopt a tax rate that is higher than the voter approved current voter approved
tax rate. When you do that, you you automatically trigger the need to call a vat rate for The for the community to approve it.
and so it's not possible to do it in may because it happens after you adopt the tax rate In august.
so that makes it even worse. Yes. I mean, when you think about it, that people would be the average house would be Paying $1,500 roughly,
and 300 of it would be going into our classrooms.
I love the idea of everybody pitching in $300 to eve and and us figuring out a way to Communicate how to keep the value
of the payments directly from parents into the district. I realize I realize it's wishful thinking, and I understand why you have it on the list, But this is a very it's going to
take a lot for me to get there. Thank you. Ellen. Any other trustees?
I have a lot. So if anybody else wants to. Do you have a lot on vatre? Good. Kelly or laura any.
laura will go.
this one's hard. I'm impressed, actually, with all of y'all for giving us the good and the bad.
y'all all gave very valid arguments for us not proceeding with any of these.
I wish we weren't in this position. This is.
sorry. I'm going to do a little recap. My thought on on where we are now, and then I'll give my point of view on the vatre.
we have. We have been. This is a perfect storm that we're in right now.
we have definitely had lower enrollments. We've had lower tax appraisal values.
we've had all of these things before, and it was okay.
the enrollment always gets me because when we moved to this district, we had a Significantly lower enrollment, and we were running six elementary schools and rocking and
rolling, and everything was great and there was no financial issue. We had no budgetary issues at that time.
and so when we start talking about closing or blending elementary schools I'm like, well, You know, we've done it before.
we've run six elementary schools. With this decreased enrollment, why aren't we able to do it now?
well, it's because it is this perfect storm that the state has not helped.
and if we were still funded at the same rate, percentage wise, that we were 20 years ago When we moved here, then we would be able to to run six
elementary schools. But we're not. That's not where we are.
none of these are easy. There's these are decisions that none of us want to make, and that they're not easy for Any of us to make at
all. I need the community to understand that. That if we could not do these things, that's what we would do.
we would love to have the six elementary schools we would have. We would love to pay our teachers more. We would love to have them have their plcs.
we would love to have spanish immersion. But that is not the reality of where we are right now.
okay, the vatre I'm with elon on this.
you know, our 5.1 of our board priority up there talks about efficient and optimal use of Limited resources.
I think this vatre is incredibly inefficient.
it is an incredibly inefficient use of our taxpayer funds, and I understand the need to Continue to discuss it and get a feel for what the
community is thinking on this. But I'm not there yet on the vatre.
thank you. Laura. Kelly I'll let heather go.
go, heather. Okay, so my first point is that, you know, I think we all know the state has Tried to compress our taxes.
they have compressed our taxes. That's great for all of us taxpayers.
they are also simultaneously trying to kill public education by doing that in some ways.
mainly because they're just not putting the the appropriated, already appropriated funds, Which were over $6 billion appropriated for public education back into
our schools. So that is the first thing. I think they are making us look like the bad guys.
and this incentivizes that, like, this gives them the money and makes us look like the Bad guy who is raising taxes while they're trying to decrease it.
that's my first issue with it, but that's not even the biggest issue.
increasing the average home owners taxes by $1,900, you know, gives me a lot of concern.
I think our families, in most cases, you know, if you can afford that size of a house, Great.
but we have a lot of families who bought a long time ago. And sure, I get the whole difference between appraised value and taxable value.
it's still not something that I really want to do.
and that's something that we didn't really discuss, other than to say that homeowners Over the age of 65 are not impacted because their their school taxes are frozen, but that
is a large percentage of our community. We have, I think, a large I mean, I don't have the percentage in my head, but yes, the Majority of our community is over 65.
so I would like to see how the math works on that. I don't know that it does.
and so that that gives me a lot of pause also, and frankly, to ellen's point, I know when We first moved to the district, there was messaging from eanes education
foundation that said there's a $1,500 gap per child.
I think that that messaging a $1,300 gap, you know, could per family, if that's the Amount that we're, we're proposing raising taxes for, we say,
look, there's a $1,400 gap per family that we're not or, you know, okay, not a gap, but We're not increasing your taxes by that.
would you kick in what you can? And I know we already asked that. And I know so many people already give to edf and I am so, so grateful for that.
but some messaging around that, like we're not raising your taxes for the love, please Donate so that we can, you know, do more for our schools.
and again, I know that people already give as much as they can in most cases, and I'm so Appreciative.
but with the fact, you know, that this would give $16 million more in recapture payment Back to the state, I have zero interest in giving
the state more money. I don't think that they are good.
with our tax dollars. So that's a big issue. And then the other piece that you guys put on the table about confusion among the Community between know and ins.
I sit on the long range facilities planning committee, and I have heard members of that Of that committee have confusion about that.
and if those people who are the ones that have a seat at the table helping us to make These decisions, have questions about that.
I don't know how we're going to get that education out to the broader community.
if, you know, there's issues with communication, and I know claudia does her best and she Does an amazing job.
but, you know, not everybody is always checking their emails. And the over 65 crowd.
you know, they don't understand some of that stuff that's happening in our schools, and They're not touring the schools.
they're not coming to the assemblies to see that we have some significant needs in our Facilities.
and, you know, 5.3 on our board goals is systemic and sustainable long range facility Plans.
so we need to make sure that we are good stewards of not just our taxpayer dollars, but Also our facilities.
and I think that, you know, we are just working on the long range facilities plan.
so I'm not willing at this point unless something big comes and you guys are like, but Wait, there's more that really can change my mind.
I don't I honestly don't see me changing my mind on this. And I hate to say it because I realize that it is the biggest chunk and the biggest, the Biggest, you know, saver of the budget.
but I don't know that it is. And it does give me too many other things to pause on.
so I think that's all of it I have on that. But it's just it's not my favorite option.
sorry. Thank you. Heather. Kelly. So I think we're definitely going to have to discuss the option and go Through the different the different opportunities with
the pennies being not necessarily nine, but a different amount as well.
I know we can say donate to eff, but that's always there and it's always been there.
and I feel like we lean on that in the wrong way. And I mean, if you're going to do it, do it now.
but you know, a lot of people will have already given and some of the bigger donors have Already given.
so I think it's hard to lean on that.
I feel uncomfortable not knowing where the $16 million recapture goes.
so it makes me really uncomfortable to want to support something like this.
and I know other community members have brought that to my attention as well. So they're already out there talking about it, and I would be concerned that people might Not vote for it, and I'd hate to depend on it and then end up in the same
situation. So. Thank you. Kelly.
anyone else? Yeah. Kim. Yeah. I'll just come back in, you know.
so I started this, and I said, I'm open to it, and I'm not open to it because I think It's a great idea.
I'm open to it because I can add. And I know that if we take a big chunk off of the table, then we've got, you know, six Other options that are pretty
much go. So, you know, we have to I think the way that I look at my, my responsibility is looking At all of
these, getting some more information, which I know that no one is saying kill it here.
but but we're looking deep at it and, you know, and again, I'm not advocating for a bad Deal.
I'm advocating for a better.
I'm advocating for our students and having schools that run efficiently and that have all Of the programs and taking care of our
teachers who are our secret sauce. And I think that is I think that we still need to keep this on the table.
you know, kelly, your idea of of looking at the various pennies and, you know, in very Various options, I think we have to
keep that conversation going, because if we don't, then we're left with everything else That needs to go.
because again, I'm not you know, we've I'm trying to be polite about this, but we can't Wait on someone down at the
capitol to do something on our behalf and on behalf of the rest of the public editors in The state of texas.
because they may, but they may not. And that's not going to be a decision that we see until may or june of this year.
and there are lots of things that have to go and decisions that have to be made soon, Sooner rather than later.
thank you kim. So I will say I think it should be killed.
I think it should be off the list. I'll go that far. I don't I'm a strong no on this.
our community already shoulders a huge burden of our state public education funding.
we have sent over $1 billion to help support public education in texas.
and I don't think people are necessarily, you know, pounding down the doors to complain About that.
we understand the value of an educated citizens citizenry in the state of texas.
it benefits all of us. And and I think that's okay. But to go even further, to voluntarily send another $16 million to the state is Particularly upsetting in light
of the $6 billion that they're holding and not giving back to public education.
we haven't had an increase in our basic allotment since 2019.
in that same amount of time, inflation is up 22%.
as ellen said, we would be solving the state's problem once again.
we have dipped into our savings every year to give our teachers a raise.
and once again, we would be solving the state's problem. And I'm not willing to do that.
I'm a strong no. And this idea that we would go after three pennies.
no, we would go after nine. We may only use three, but the next year we'd raise it to six, and the following year we'd Raise it to nine because.
not because. Because we'd want to give it to our teachers, frankly.
I strongly agree with that. That's what we would do. I also believe strongly that we've got a lot a large group of people on the Administration side and on the community side who are currently working on a long range
facility plan? As someone put it when we were sitting in the high school, is this facility we want our Children in in 2050.
and it probably isn't. Our facilities are older, they're old and they need refreshing.
and we are doing a lot of homework to put your kids into newer buildings.
and that helps with recruitment and retention, because a lot of our teachers drive by Brand new, beautiful school buildings to come to eanes isd.
and look, I love our buildings. I've been in every building. I've been in every building this year.
our buildings are great, but there is an opportunity to provide newer facilities that Will help educate our kids deep,
deep into this century.
I also worry in the. And related to that is the worry that if we go out for a tax increase now coming back and Asking for a large bond the size of the bond, we would need to refresh a lot of our
facilities. It would be very difficult to help our community understand, even if it Didn't require a tax increase at that time, that it's a lot of money that we'd
have to pay back. At the same time, there were also paying this increased tax, with most Of it going to the state.
and the idea of the bond. By the way, just to remind trustees, we are going to hopefully go out for a bond that Helps refresh our facilities and get us get our kids into some new buildings.
and one of those would probably be a bigger valley view elementary to take care of that Campus and the enrollment that would be there.
sorry, barton creek, the valley view kids who would be at barton creek.
my bad. Their bad slip, the problem there is that that bond would also include things Like
refresh technology, paint floors, exciting sewer pumps that we always get to talk about.
ellen. And if we failed that bond because of this vatre, it would put us years out to Getting even the most basic things that we would need.
so I'm a strong no on the vatre, and you know, I'm not. I suppose that you're right, that maybe there's going to be some conversation where I'll Change my mind, but I've talked to 100 people in our community about this in the last few
days, and no one has said, james, please raise my taxes.
I really, really want to pay more taxes. Would you please do that? In fact, every single one of them has said, please don't raise my taxes.
so that's where I stand today. Shall we move on to the next one?
naming rights trustees. Heather. Happy to kick this one off.
so I have said it before and I'll say it again I have huge concerns over naming rights.
it is not something I am in favor of. However, this is one I would consider.
I think, you know, let me just put my concerns out there.
you know, I lived in houston before where the astros play.
used to be enron. That was an issue. You know, I know of a school that was named after a gentleman who had served on their Board who was then
arrested. And they had to figure that out. So that is I don't think any of us are getting arrested.
I'm not going to. But, you know, I really don't think that that's going to be a thing.
but for us. But still, you get my point. I don't want to have an issue with names.
so we would have to have a policy, a very robust policy conversation on what that looks Like.
and, you know, and that would have to be in line with eif.
and honestly, it does concern me, you know, to claudia's point that we don't know what's Going to come from this and who is going to want to do what
and pay for what. So, you know, while it sounds great, it's still an unknown a little bit, so I need more Information.
and in a strong policy. Thank you. Kelly.
I know eif is strongly committed to this, and they're looking into building a policy to Help address what heather's brought up here.
and other things like that. But they are definitely strongly committed to it and would really like to work with the Community in providing that.
additional monetary support. So thank you, diane.
and then ellen. Robust policy is the key there.
I think we could avoid some of your concerns with that. And I'm glad to hear that eve is thinking about that.
and I would be interested in starting those conversations as soon as possible. I guess my biggest question is how quickly could we bring revenue in if we go down this Route?
because I'm in favor of it.
ellen. Well, personally, I don't particularly like you know, going to this, this corporate Thing or that corporate
thing or the other corporate thing. It is something that is doable, and it is something that we will definitely get through This.
I mean, I can remember when the video board at the high school, you know, having Advertising there was going to send our school district into irreparable decline.
and then when we put advertising on school busses. Oh my gosh, we were, you know, headed down that path.
but we, you know, we live with both of those. And so this is fine.
we will live with this too, I believe, policies. I mean, I think with the police department, we proved that you get what you want if you Spend the time and the energy to really craft fine policy.
and so I think that is doable. I do feel very, very strongly, though, about what kind of policies we may have about Changing any of the honorary
nomenclature that we currently have. I it's probably no surprise that's really, really important to me.
but I also think it's really, really important to many, many in this community.
and so I would want us to seriously consider that. And by the way, I can consider the chaparral to be an honorary member of the community, As in chaparral stadium.
I like that. Laura. And then kim. I appreciate that y'all put this on the list.
I have some problems with it, not with the concept, but as including it in a list of Items that could help with our budget issue.
it's a one time thing. You know this? Yeah. Maybe we can raise $500,000 for donor recognition in a year.
you know, is that are the donors going to want that to go to the to the current budget, Or are they going to want that to go into the endowment where their
donation has a greater impact?
so absolutely, we need to explore this. I was part of some of the discussions over the last few years.
and how do we craft the policy and that robust policy?
absolutely. I think it's something that we need to continue exploring and looking at it, But I don't see it as really a viable solution to what we're looking for right
now or viable option to what we're looking for.
thank you. Laura. Kim, this one's easy for me.
and yes, I would. I could get behind it or I am behind it. I think that just like everyone else has said we want to look at a reoccurring type of Stream coming as opposed to a one
time. So I think that is something that I would hope the decision makers are writing into The policy that there's time limits on naming rights.
they're not infinite and that there's some parameters around it.
I think that we've had a lot of that discussion already. It's out there in the community.
it's out there in the world. So that would be an easy it's an easy yes for me.
thank you. Kim, I'll wrap up and say that I do support this one.
I don't know that. I don't think any of us knows how much this would be immediately, but I do think that It's something that over time
and within our policy, that would begin to help eif in making their donation to us.
I agree with what kim said, by the way, that I would prefer time limits on some of these.
I just feel like that's the right thing to do. Having something named after someone, you know, 100 years ago that none of us knows Anymore.
it's kind of a may not be necessarily what that person had in mind, but I would leave it To eve to kind of advise us on that.
what they think about that as far as time limits go. But I agree that we do need to set a very good there's a very good, strong district side Policy that would go hand in hand with the
policy that would set on their side as well. Mr. Spradley, if I could add to that I think inevitably when we've had conversations About our budget situation,
people want to know, what are you doing to try to generate additional revenue. And so that's why we thought it was important to include this in the list tonight.
we're not just looking at this from a reduction mentality.
we did want to share one that we think is within easy reach. And when I say easy, the next step is that we do need to develop that policy.
but we just simply needed your approval to proceed with those conversations.
we've seen the benefits of this in other school districts, certainly at the college and University level, and we often compare ourselves to that type of stature.
so we're ready to proceed with this. We appreciate your your general consensus.
so that takes care of the two things that we were looking at from a revenue generation Standpoint.
unfortunately, the rest of the list is now looking at this through more of a reduction Lens.
let's go back to heather real quick and then we'll go. I appreciate that.
but in terms of revenue generation, I also want to just make mention of the fact that in The long range facilities planning committee, you know, there there has been conversation
about what can we do to increase revenue. So I don't want to forget that either.
obviously, it's not immediate, but that's part of my heartache. With vatre and increasing taxes because, you know, if we are able to do some generator or I can't even speak to that.
I'm sorry. If we are able to generate revenue through facilities as well and improve Facilities that require passing a bond.
I don't want to hamper that. So thank you.
heather. Shall we move forward then? Blend two elementary schools.
where are we with the board? Like a break before we move on?
or do you want to go on? Thank you.
okay, we'll keep going. We'll look at 10:00. We'll reconsider the break.
yeah. Okay. Blending of the schools trustees questions.
do you want to start? Thoughts? Questions? Diane moving her microphone.
that indicates you're speaking first. Go right ahead. Thank you for all of the work that you've done so far with the committee That you've put
together to look at this and try to think of all the important aspects of this Transportation, feeding the students and all of
that. I definitely trust, you know, what you've shared with us and that you believe it Will work.
I believe what I heard was that the assumption is if we're talking about the money Savings, the potential money savings here, the
assumption is that all of the students who are currently in the si program would remain As
they would be a part of this campus, and we wouldn't have anyone not enrolling next year.
so is that true that you've looked at just maximum capacity with everybody who is Currently a student at those two campuses, being on that student or being on that
one campus next year? Yes, we have looked at the numbers, assuming everybody goes to from valley view to barton Creek, everybody who is currently enrolled at barton creek and currently enrolled at
valley view, there is room. And you said the number of portables would be dependent on what the decision you make.
as far as are we blending? If we're blending, are we taking everybody.
are we taking are we excluding transfers to make it not such a large number?
are we taking only spanish immersion transfers? We have multiple scenarios for you to decide.
is it possible to see a little bit more information about that or you know, what is your Is there a recommendation there about what
is of those options? You know, does the one that puts the most students on the campus is that really tight?
is that are we really pushing it there, or should we consider not taking the transfers?
I guess I'm just really trying to understand a little bit more of, are you are you Absolutely comfortable with putting.
I had some numbers here. I did a little bit of math. The capacity of the campus you said was 819.
but if we put everybody on that campus, I think we're up at about seven, 747.
that includes projected growth. Okay. And then I know we haven't heard from the long range facilities planning
committee yet. Do we have information that can be provided?
and maybe it's not tonight, but when would it potentially be provided? The timeline in which the portables would go away?
or we talk about using another campus potentially for staging.
you know what that future looks like. So that these. Has anything been shared or discussed in the blending.
well that would be contingent on if the community were to support a proposed referenda in The future.
the earliest that that would probably be, would be, would be the spring of 2026.
and then from that point you're looking at, in all likelihood another two years for any Reconstruction on that campus.
so to be completed, to be completed. So that puts you at 2028.
so you know, that would mean that in all probability, we would have temporary classrooms On that campus for at least another three
years. And the idea is that they would serve one grade level so that for one year, Students might be in those temporary facilities.
and then I know that the committee has looked at a variety of scenarios.
I don't know that that's where we want to go into tonight, but we would ultimately leave That determination up to the campus principal to to
decide which classrooms or which programs are located in the temporary classrooms.
I think that's all my questions for right now. Do you have a feeling for moving forward with this one?
we're kind of asking.
it does, to me, seem like a logical thing to do given the circumstances that we're in.
I as with heather, I sit on the long range facilities planning committee. I've listened to those discussions.
we've been talking about enrollment for a while now. We know that the community that is valley view is not adjacent to that school.
so, you know, I wish we had a nice bigger facility there ready waiting for everybody.
I know change is not easy, but you know, we're in an unusual time, as we've said.
so this seems like a move that makes sense.
now, there's some details, you know, of course they have questions about.
yeah. Trustees.
kim. I'll start off with yes, I will.
I would be in favor of continuing to look at blending the two schools.
the concerns, just like what diane said, are around, you know, the capacity of the school And the education that the children are going to get while they're going to school.
my kids went to the largest school at that time, but it was built for a larger community.
so when I see moving that structure from if we're looking at today's enrollment, 516 to Almost 800,
that's that's a different community. So that the structure gives me pause.
and I'd like to hear more information about the various scenarios. And I'm assuming that that's coming.
that's a big part of my concern for those children.
for the staff that's there. The other thing that I would like to hear is I hope that we get more feedback, and I Think we're going to from the communities.
and I would invite the communities to, you know, I don't know if you're planning more Meetings.
should we move forward with those communities? But I would invite the communities, not just the, the, the community members that, that Like to come to these things, but for everyone to come and understand what it's going to
look like for for our children. So I, you know, I want people to be comfortable and the community, not just me to ask Questions, but the community to ask questions and get questions
answered. And, and then various scenarios around what it's going to look like, what it's Going to look like in terms of
portables, what it's going to look like in terms of the educational experience and, and Really where our concerns are and where our where we're not feeling
good about this option because you put 800, 750 or 800 kids in one building, you're Talking about maybe 7 or 8
sections of a grade. I mean, that's that's a different scenario than what we have in most of our schools.
that's where my concern lies. Having said that, I think that that's something that we need to do.
and I would not head down the road, I wouldn't be opposed to it.
it's not a hard no. Okay. We'll go to heather and then kelly.
so first I just want to say that, you know, I've had a lot of conversations with valley View families and families from barton creek about this.
I've had conversations about this with valley view families for years, honestly.
and so I have heard and learned all about, you know, the, the feelings of the valley view Community
and how things have moved back and forth, and that they were originally at barton creek And then valley view opened and they went there and then now we're talking about them
going back. I've heard a lot about families wanting to go to barton creek who go who are Zoned to valley view.
and I think we heard earlier, we already have more than 50 students who were zoned to Valley view at barton creek, some
in spanish immersion, some in not. I would like to have more information on on that, but I think I know my priority is Keeping the
valley view community together, because that is what I have continually heard from the Families that they don't want to be split up.
and so while I've heard different things about redistricting from a few people, the Majority has said, please don't divide us.
and so I would really like to honor that as my first thing, frankly, because of being on The long range facilities planning committee, I'm
actually excited about a possibility of what could be at barton creek.
and I, I think that it could be something really great.
and the fact that the commute from, you know, the the valley view zoned area to barton Creek is actually significantly
shorter than it is to to valley view. Is a bonus for a lot of people that I have heard.
and they already go there for westridge. So I think that that that actually could be a good thing for the community of valley View.
and I get it. Change is is not fun. And, you know, being uncomfortable for a while is not fun.
you know, I said before, we lived in houston, before my kids were at a school that was an Old school that was torn down and completely
rebuilt. And I happened to be the pta president that year.
and so there was a lot of like, oh, what's happening? My kids were in portables for 18 months on a temporary campus.
and yeah. Was it uncomfortable? Yes. Was it doable?
absolutely. And the outcome of what they got in the long run was amazing.
and then we moved here. And our education is better, so it's fine. But we we really have to kind of keep the, the long range in mind, I think.
and so I do want to make sure we're honoring the families.
all that being said, I do need information or more information, and I understand that We're not going to go through all of that tonight, so that's fine.
I share your concerns about, you know, who's going to be there. Thank you for that information, that it would be a campus level because I was like, are We putting cdc there like they are at valley view or at forest trail?
would it be fifth grade like at cedar creek, you know, so that that was all kind of going Through my, my mind.
and one of the things that I have heard as a concern from the community was that we were Just going to put the valley view kids there and like, no, no, that is not something I'm
interested in doing. They will be a true blend.
yeah. So I do still want additional information on the current
and future transfer students in both gen ed and c and I, I also
have some concerns about because I know we heard like that we're going to add bathrooms And yes, I know if it's a three year process that we have to spend money,
but it gives me a little bit of heartburn to spend money and then not keep those items.
so I really want to make sure that we are being good stewards of our taxpayer dollars Again, on, on those things.
so I just I really need a little bit more information on the enrollment data so we can Make sure that we're doing the right thing.
I also have a question. So it said about gaining the staffing efficiencies and that it would be equivalent to 30 Ftes through natural attrition and resigned
opportunities. How did we get to that? Was that a survey?
is that just a guess? Will we be doing a survey?
okay. Because that I just questioned where we got that number from.
so an example of that would be currently right now with valley view and barton creek as Operating, you have 41 elementary sections.
by coming together, your efficiencies drop down to 35 to 36 needed sections to maintain The same student enrollment.
it kind of goes back to those numbers where you have some lower numbers, you can then Redistribute gaining one of those sections back.
so the so the initial cut off is we started by doing just merging everybody, not moving Anybody out and then seeing like, okay, what is that section number?
then we did our traditional sexual section modeling. From there we got us down to 36.
so that's five fewer grade level teachers needed just for current even if we blended Right now.
and so from there, you kind of then go into kind of efficiencies around. So you start looking at gt models.
how many teachers do we need for the amount of kids that are served? How many teachers, how many tas do we need?
how many people within the pe teachers, music, all those type of things?
over time you start adding kind of all that up to get there. But the biggest chunk really started with kind of putting your sectioning, modeling down And then kind of figuring out, okay, we're actually 5 to 6 sections less if we went right
now together. And that saves us. That gets us down to that first five.
so you're at about 25 and then you want to jump in for the rest.
sure. So we actually went went in like chad said. And we combined the two campuses and we got with the special ed departments and, okay, Here are the special ed kids at all the different levels.
how many teachers do we need in these different categories? And they went and numbered them. So we've got a spreadsheet showing this is how many we had here.
this is how many we we have at this campus. This is how many we need at the at the new combined campus.
and so so that we were able to find a lot of efficiencies there.
and, and of course, there are some positions that you only need one.
you only need one nurse, you only need one librarian, you only need one, you know, However many counselors you need.
and so you look at all those things that are related to just having a school versus how Many kids are associated with them.
and then so most of your other savings are coming there. We can certainly show you the spreadsheet, but but we've looked at it pretty closely, And, and 30 was the number we came up with.
okay. That still gives me some other concerns. But in terms of special education, I know that our special education teachers and ptas Are
generally some of our hardest to fill. So from that standpoint, that could be good, right?
that we're consolidating campuses. But some of the other stuff still gives me a little bit of pause.
but I still see this as a way forward.
so it's definitely on the table. Thank you. Heather. We'll go to kelly.
I'm sorry. James. Can I please clarify? The barton creek bathroom additions were a part of the 2023 bond, which was approved.
so the bond oversight committee felt that there was a need to do that.
so we're just honoring that project that we were going to do as part of the bond 2023.
thank you, kelly. And then laura. So from talking to valley view families, they really their biggest thing Was they wanted to
be closer to their school, and they wanted to stay together.
and I really hear that commitment in everything you presented. So I thank you for that.
I would like to continue to explore this option. I can say that I know some people give pause to the learning studios known as portables, But at cedar creek, we use those
really strategically and made a fifth grade area. And it's become a thing there.
where at cedar creek, when the kids are completed fourth grade, they get so excited to Move out to that fifth grade area.
we put a whole extra space out there for them to be able to have outdoor learning and Stuff, and it's just been really great.
so I think there's good ways to also utilize those additional rooms.
also being at cedar creek, we were really close to the middle school, and my children Actually attended math at the middle school because it was so close.
but there is that great opportunity for the students to be able to mentor in things from Middle school over to the elementary, because they're so close.
and that opportunity is not as great when you're at valley view because it's so much Farther away.
and then I know some, some people who substitute over at the school have talked to me About the teachers and how they're feeling right now.
and so I know how good you guys are at communicating with the teachers and taking care of Them, but just making sure we stay on top of
talking to them and keeping them involved in the conversations because they were really Concerned as well as the different community members.
I love that you talked about the traffic today and the cafeteria and things like that, That, that are, you know, real genuine concerns that parents have.
so thank you so much. Thank you. Kelly. Laura I agree with everything that my fellow trustees have already Said, so I'm not going to to
go over those items. I will acknowledge that this is incredibly hard.
it's incredibly hard for the valley view community.
I know that I love my elementary school.
it wasn't valley view, but I still love my my elementary school.
and so I try to put myself in y'all's place and try to imagine what y'all are going Through.
and it's it's I'm sorry. I'm sorry that this is where we are.
I was able to attend the parent meeting at valley view, and then this past week, I Attended the staff meeting at barton creek.
barton creek, there's some there's some nerves going on there.
you know, they're concerned. They're concerned about the capacity and the impact that this will have on their Community.
and then I'll, I'll just give a shout out to their booster club presidents who spoke.
and it completely changed the tone of the conversation. And they shifted from being nervous and anxious and scared to what can we do to welcome And support our
expanded community. And they have real concerns about the valleyview community and those kids, and wanting to Make sure that your kids are taken care of.
should we move forward with this? So I want you all to know that they are thinking about that.
so I wish we didn't have. I really wish we were not having these conversations again.
I'll say this over and over again. But there's a lot of really amazing people within our community who are working very, Very hard to make this is
not it's never going to be painless. We're just going to we're going to get through it together.
we're going to work together to get through it together. Thank you, laura ellen.
well, first I want to acknowledge that that I know this doesn't feel very good right now.
that's probably an understatement.
but I do think this is one that we'll live through also.
and in my mind, I remind myself that this solves a 25 year old displacement problem that If
you go back and talk to the old timers in the neighborhood, you realize how they fought So hard for a neighborhood school.
and that was barton creek. And then they were unceremoniously taken out of barton creek when bridgepoint opened and And moved to a school
that. Certainly they love. But it took a lot of getting used to at that point.
and the fact that the distance between the community and the school is so much greater Than any of our other schools I had, I do believe, has
had an impact in a number of different ways that have played out over the years.
so if we can move towards resolution of that geographic disparity, I think
that is one thing for us to keep focused on, because enrollment in texas is based on Because funding in texas
is based on enrollment. For me personally, whenever our elementary schools get down to about 400 is when my Antenna goes up and I get nervous and a red flag goes
off. And we've been seeing the enrollment decline on some on all of our campuses, really All of our elementary
campuses. But it is to the point where it would be irresponsible of us not to act when we Have a school that is
hovering at the, what, two 7280? Point for several years now.
and the projections don't give us any hope for the future, quite frankly.
this this point was made in the discussions last year that without spanish immersion, Barton creek probably would be down in those in those numbers as well.
the problem has been when school, when both schools were larger, they didn't fit.
and what we have seen in this work that you all have done is how they could be blended And they could all fit back into that neighborhood
school that those two neighborhoods.
barton creek west. The valley view, the expanded cuernavaca, the valley view area, and the center hills, as Well as
lake lake view lakes edge.
so that they would all fit in. So I think now we do see a plan of how that would work for that to become the Neighborhood school for all.
another thing I hold on to is the fact that if I think of many experiences with both the Valley view community and the barton
creek community, I can't think of any two communities that are more welcoming and caring.
and so if there's anybody who I feel will be welcoming and caring and make this work.
I have faith in those two communities.
I do want a lot more information about how we get the 30 fte savings.
I'm still not clear. I mean, I understand how you do the math, but I'm.
I'd like to see the math, and I also. Lori, I thought I heard you say that between the plcs and the blended, we saved 30 ftes.
no. 30 each. Okay. That's a big difference. Thank you. Okay.
I would like to hear information about the cdc. That wasn't mentioned.
what we would do with the barton creek cdc. And where it fits into the plan.
the plan is to keep cdc at barton creek. And so we have 819 capacity even with the cdc.
yes, ma'am. Or does that cdc get calculated in 819?
I'm looking at the math, guys. Yeah, that's part of the reason why we need the portables.
not not saying necessarily that cdc would be in the portables, but because we count those Kids we need we need the space with the portables.
okay. And I think as we see more detail about all of these plans, I mean, it's hard to Figure out what we don't know because we haven't seen, seen the
details. So thank you. Having lived this experience in another school district as well, between my son's fourth Grade and fifth grade year I know how difficult it can
feel, especially right now. So I encourage us to do the transition planning as quickly as possible to make the Decisions and to to whatever the transition needs
to be. Do it as quickly as possible and to be sure and realize that, yes, we need to we Need to take care of all of
the academic and educational and school and student centered spaces.
but there also is the parent community that is very, very important to to this community.
and so we need to make sure that the transition is going well between the parent Communities as well.
thank you, ellen kim.
I was just following up on a question lori, for you, I think.
so when we talk about blending the two elementaries and part of the savings is or chad Also the, the 30th to ease and that gets us 2
million. But there's got to be other savings. There's structural savings.
there's, you know, not running two different elementaries. So when we talk about our next topic, which is plc, we're also talking about 30 ftes.
and so I don't know why the blended two elementary schools I'd like to see detail because I my guess would be the blending
two elementary schools. You know might be those numbers might be adjusted if plc is staff only.
and and that gets us to 2 million. And blending two elementaries is 30 ftes with additional savings.
so I'd just like to dig in to that as in our next step.
yeah. Good question. Any other trustee comment, so I will.
based on what I'm hearing from the board, it sounds like. And I don't want to jump too far ahead, but it sounds like we would like the planning to Move forward for the blending and in fact, get deeper
into the planning so that we understand exactly how this is going to work. And not just the board, but the community, the families, the teachers understand how this Is going to work as well.
I'm not sure what your communication plan is for and perhaps meetings to receive feedback And such.
that would that would be very I think that would be good for the community as well.
but we do we would like to move forward with considering this one and move toward I mean, Ultimately it would be a vote up or down on,
on a blended school. And and so I think that's the direction the board is giving at this point.
and with all of these topics, we're simply looking for a green light to proceed.
there's a lot more work to be done on this one, especially, in fact, given your approval, Then as early as this week, we're going to be adding parents and staff
to the planning committee so that we can begin to apply their perspective and their Input.
and then we'll come back to you in december. As early as november the 19th, you're going to see very extensive enrollment data based Upon our official numbers for this year.
so I think that will help clarify some of the questions that you've raised this evening.
we unfortunately have the disadvantage of the holidays in front of us and a lot of breaks Coming up, but we do.
we're already planning a town hall type meeting in january, so that the community of both Schools can see the logistical plans and how this would
play out next year. Heather, similar to how we have some current valley view zone students already attending Barton creek.
would there be an opportunity or a survey if a family for some reason, like the commute, They and they would prefer to continue to go to another school
like forest trail? Is that going to be an option for families if they would like to take That option?
so there are surveys that are being planned in the very near future for both staff and For families, so that we can begin to get a better sense of where people want to be next
year given some of these changes. Okay. Thank you. And one more thing. Actually, I also want to just thank you guys, the district staff, for trying to bring up The population at valley view over the last year.
I know that there was a concerted effort to get more transfers and spanish immersion and To add spanish immersion there.
so unfortunately it didn't go as well as we would have hoped.
but I appreciate the effort and I would just echo.
I think a couple of trustees said that it feels like I don't want to rush this.
I want to give us time to to fully bake the plan and to get community feedback.
but at the same time, there is this probably a benefit from moving forward as soon as Possible to getting the communities blended if we can,
and and getting over the decision part so that people can move on.
and I want to be very mindful of balancing that out as well.
okay. Shall we move to the next one? The plc periods trustees.
questions? Comments?
ellen I do have two questions on this.
could I don't know who the maybe you. Chad. Our secondary or at least in the high school.
our teachers have the plc planning period. The regular or the original planning period, and a lunch period, which is a fairly long Lunch period for high schools.
how are the original planning and the lunch periods currently being used by staff?
so, lunch is no duties, no interruptions at all. Matter of fact, both are so teachers by in state are guaranteed a certain amount of time For lunch with no kids, no students, no duties.
so we currently use fourth and fifth lunch. Each teacher at the high school either has fourth or fifth the full period for their Lunch time.
and then with what we call a conference period, that's when they do kind of the Individual stuff of communicating with parents, some of their individual task work.
that's when we use a lot of what we call like administrative tasks, make copies, do some Of your grading, respond to emails, maybe come down and meet with your appraiser, do
those type of things where the designated plc period is, where it is time with your team To work on your instruction.
and so the conference we technically have really never touched, it's kind of do what you Need to do to get your administrative work done.
the lunch is your time to relax, to eat, hopefully to take a break having taught there.
I also know that when I did a lot of grading, too, because you just don't want to take a Lot of work home, so you use that and eat at the same time.
but those two periods currently are what I'd consider unstructured kind of administrative Time for those teachers.
and if our teachers did not or say, schools that don't have plc planning periods in Addition to conference time, how do they do
those tasks that you were mentioning? How do they do their collaboration?
right. So what you'll find most places is then one of those conferences a week like we do At the elementary turns into a structured plc time.
that's your collaboration time. The thing that is concerning.
and, you know, all of these have concerns, so it's not anything new.
is what would be different kind of twofold. One, once you do away with that period, that's more kids.
so every one of these teachers now gains another section of students. Another section of grading two is right now most of our teachers have a minimum of two Preps.
so they're going to have to pick which plc they sit on and the other they will not be Involved in.
because if we only have one structured conference period for plc time. So let's say middle school is a perfect example where I may be math seven, math seven Eight teacher.
I may not be able to sit on both of those plcs weekly to engage because I have two.
but that is the case. And so what you have a lot of times, like at the high school, is a perfect example where Your biology team, where you have ap biology on level biology, honors biology three
levels. They may say we all meet together as much as we can and then therefore break off And do things.
or they may just have to make decisions around efficiency. We're only going to do bio on level.
and so the teachers that do that we meet discuss that honors to do that.
the reality of it is you're just you're you're taking that time away.
so they're going to have to be more efficient with their time. Are we confident that five hours of plc time a week is being used highly efficiently, by 100% of the people who have plc periods?
no, I would not say confident. Yeah. And do any of the districts that we compete with for staffing.
lori might be able to say which ones? Those primarily. I mean, probably lake travis.
dripping the ones that we might lose staff to.
I mean, if retention is is an issue with this. Are any of those schools that we might lose that staff to?
are they offering plc periods. Yeah. Yeah.
I'm not aware of any others in central texas that do this. Oh, no, I can't think of any.
yes. Thank you. Alan, did you want to comment on whether we should move forward with this one?
or. I think we should move forward with it. We've done this before. It didn't go over well, and we did reverse the decision.
but the economic realities were quite different at that point. Thank you. Alan. We'll go to kim and then heather.
so I'll start with I'm not in favor of this.
ellen, it would be interesting to to hear about or from from our panel.
you know, when we did it and why we did it and why it was reversed.
but I in talking to teachers in in listening to this board and this cabinet talk about How
we retain our good teachers, our, our honored teachers, our institutional teachers.
I think that plc is important to them. Chad, you were just talking about, you know, the pluses and the minuses and the pluses Are what grab me and and the minuses.
I'm maybe I can live with. I think that when we look at this district, when we go to that secondary, there's there's Differences and there's there's great differences.
on both sides between elementary teachers and their planning and then the secondary Teachers and the complications of planning.
I just I think that what makes our good staff here is can
is contributed by the plc and the time that they have to plan.
and in talking to teachers, I hear the good teachers if they lose something like this, They're going to take it home.
and so they're 10 or 12 hour days become a 15 hour day. You know, you're shaking your head.
and the teachers that don't have time or can't make time or something, they're going to Do something else.
and so the secret sauce of why we are, you know, the fantastic district that we are is Because we have
fabulous teachers. And to take this away from them in this environment, you know, again, I'd rather look at The awful copper pennies than take
even more away from our teachers when we're probably not going to be able to give them Salaries and when we probably, I mean, and when there are going to be
staff reductions because we've got to get even more efficient.
you know, I would hope that as we move forward with this, that we, we have survey data to Back up what
our teachers might want. And I know that you do that on a regular basis.
and I know that you know, I hope that teachers are going to be forthright in giving that, But I just, I this is this is
my strongest know at this point.
that's my feedback. Thank you. Kim. We'll go to heather.
I have a little bit of a side note before I get started on the plcs. I just want to say thank you to our feather duster students who are here tonight.
I love that our students are here and going to report out on our meeting.
it's awesome having the student voice. So back to plcs.
I, like kim, also think that plcs are part of the secret sauce in this district.
we ask a lot from our teachers. A lot.
they teach like a million different things. I don't think our programing is the same as lake travis and dripping springs.
and I mean, frankly, the amount of clubs that we have at the high school and I go, you Know, help me if I'm wrong, but I
believe that club sponsors give up their lunch period in, in many cases to help clubs.
and and for students to come into their classrooms to hold club meetings.
and so I know that they're, they're giving way more of their time than we are giving them Time to plan.
I also know that our high school, as we've talked about with enrollment, our high school And our middle schools are where people are still
coming. In larger numbers, mainly because of affordability, but also because everybody Knows that westlake is the best
high school, and I worry what taking away plc's does to that.
if we are still asking our teachers to not only be excellent, but to be exemplary you Know, you can only do so much in a day.
and if we're not giving them the time, this one's a hard one for me. And even bigger for that is the ramifications on our special education teachers and Students,
because we have special education teachers who are collaborative teachers who I believe Also are not all collaborative teachers in
just one area. In some cases, they're in several areas.
right. And so we're asking them to not only plan with those gen ed teachers, but to write Ards to
make modifications to curriculum, to honor, accommodations, to prep for, benchmarks to Prep
for. You name it. And I don't know how that will get done if we cut plc's, frankly.
so that makes me very nervous. So for all of these reasons and I understand so far haven't been a fan of any of it, but This one I'm definitely not a fan
of. I think this this hurts kids. And I get that our elementary schools don't have plcs, but they also have 22 to 1 Guidelines
or for, you know, under fourth grade. And our our high school teachers have like a million kids already.
so that's a hard no for me. Thank you. Heather. We'll go to diane and then ellen.
I guess I'll just start by saying this might be my least favorite option.
I am a strong advocate for our teachers, and it breaks my heart when we can only give Them a 2% raise.
so it's going to make me really sad when we can't give them any raise, and then to turn Around and say that their jobs are going to get more difficult just makes me really
fearful for what the educational product will be when we do that. I am afraid of staff retention.
I'm afraid of our more senior staff leaving and finally going. This is enough, enough.
this is not why I got into this profession and I'm done. They're the key. All of our educators are, you know, fantastic.
but they are so important for helping train our new educators. And we have such a high proportion of new educators that for everything that others have Said, there are secret sauce and concerned
about the sped impact, and I disagree. I do think this would curtail delivery of services and programs.
I am concerned about the long term impact. We reversed it before and and that was for a reason.
it's a wrong direction if we're trying to create equity. That's not the way I want to create equity by taking away plc periods.
so this would be very hard to convince me of voting yes for.
thank you. Diane. We'll go to ellen. Thank you. I realized I had a couple more questions.
I don't think I heard this. What percentage of the secondary teachers actually have.
I know there are a lot that don't have plc, period. So what percentage of the high school faculty are we talking about?
that's a I don't know, a percentage, but it would be all your english, math, science and Social studies teachers.
so your core teachers which kind of thing.
I don't know if I can put a number on it. I'll talk about it. I mean, it's hard for me to find that for you.
yeah, it's hard for most of us to realize how many teachers we have at the high school Because we have such a wide variety of electives and non-core things going on.
so we've got a huge number of teachers. And quite frankly, my guess is this affects fairly few of them.
so I mean, we've heard from teachers over the years, the equity or the inequities that Are perceived between elective teachers and core
teachers, world languages. Is it a core? Is it not a core?
is it in? Is it out? I mean, you know, there have been a lot of problems with the perceived equity of this Over time.
so I think we need to really think about what percentage of teachers this is affecting.
and my back of the envelope calculation is that with the $2 million, we could give Roughly a three, 3.5% raise.
so three, 3.5% raise for all teachers. Is that is that about right, chris?
that's true. We need to save the money. Okay. Never mind, never mind.
fuzzy math. Fuzzy math. But I mean, to me, it's still a on principle.
are we talking about something that could benefit or impact everyone versus a fairly Small percentage of our, in fact,
doo doo special ed teachers get a plc? Do they all have plcs or only if they are specifically in a collab core class?
actually, I think this year we've we've done some work to get like life skills and some Of them, some of their plc periods so that they can do some of that professional
collaboration. So okay, I just wanted to make sure that we understood that it's not the Whole the whole faculty.
and this is a sensitive issue within the faculty. And at middle school, is it the same thing that it's just the core?
I believe so, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. And, kim, to answer your question.
I want to say very originally we went to the extra planning period for english teachers Only because we were having we had such
issues with writing and we really we, we really priority for the board and administration Was to focus on writing.
and we wanted those teachers to be able to have plenty of time to grade writing samples And therefore require more writing samples.
so that was what drove it initially was at that point, and it was just the english Teachers, and that was perceived as unfair.
and so it kind of became a slippery slope. And it's been a rather noble idea, but imperfect system, in my opinion.
and so I and I'm not sure the last I can't talk about this year, but I'm not sure that I've seen the results
from the last couple of years that I think we could have seen.
so I'm not as big a fan as I was.
we'll go to laura and then diane. Well, ellen jumped in and asked some of the I know on your second time, james called on Me.
I know I don't like any of these.
let me just. I don't like any of these options. They're all horrible.
we don't want to do any of them, but we have to. And we're having to make really difficult decisions.
yes, I've heard the I've heard teachers talk about the inequity of the plcs, the non-core Teachers who
have a huge number of students, the foreign language teachers, the the fine arts Teachers, all of these elective teachers who are carrying these huge loads of
students and they don't have the plc. And so they've really struggled with that part that at staff meetings.
again, what ellen said is that this doesn't impact, you know, every staff member at the, At the middle schools and high
schools. And I hate this.
chad, you said you're not confident that 100% confident that these plc's are being used As effectively as as they could be.
I mean, it's a wonderful. And it is a noble idea, ellen, to use your word.
lori, you said that we're the only district in the area that even offers it.
and I understand that that is a that's a reason to come work for eanes.
but it's a different time. It's just it's it's not something that I feel comfortable continuing in this, this Budgetary climate.
so I actually I would like to move forward with looking at removing the plcs.
thank you laura. We'll go to diane and then kelly. I'd love to get more education about the plcs.
see a little more detail about who has them, the seniority of the teachers.
I don't know if we can get some feedback from teachers, but I'm just I'm still Uncomfortable with it.
I understand the inequity. I just hate taking something away from the teachers that I.
maybe it's not being used to the best of its ability in all cases, but I do think it is Adding value somewhere.
so I just would like some more information. Whatever you think you can provide me to make me feel more comfortable with this.
if this is a direction that the board decides it wants to go and the district decides it Wants to go.
thank you. Diane. We'll go to kelly. So the last bullet point reduces time for special education teachers to collaborate with Gen ed.
and then you just added the additional that life skills added a plc.
and that was this year you said or so would, would this have to be all of these Collaboration
times, or would I just get really concerned about if you just recently added it?
there was a reason, I'm assuming that you added the plc for life skills, and then so Would that also be one that you would be removing as well?
so this would be removing all plc periods. So anybody that would have a time in their structured day that says a plc period is what It's designated as.
okay. And so why did you guys add the additional plc for life skills this year?
I, matt zemo could probably best tell you that I'm guessing it's probably just for Collaboration and learning from each other.
I think the thing it's already been said is where this year and really in the last, Probably since covid, we've leaned on it really heavy.
is our own. One of our only support structures we have is plc periods.
so when you have a brand new team, the only way to push in like you would with students That need a little extra love with teachers is to do it in a
structured plc period. So as turnover happens more, our retention rate gets higher.
one of the only things we have available to us on a routine, regular basis is this Designated time.
because we can't touch lunches and we can only touch a conference once a week.
and everybody I think, you know, in education knows just like with students and adults Learning, the more repetition, the more you're together, the more you're collaborating and
learning, the faster that uptick or that learning happens. And so yes, where we see a lot of the impact would be brand new student staff with a very Experienced teacher within our life skills.
we've also hired an instructional coach, so I know that she has been a really big leader In kind of getting them together, getting them on the same team.
there's a lot of vertical and horizontal alignment for those students program alignment.
that's where all this happens. We don't have summers to do this. We don't have pd time to do this.
so really the only time we have to get aligned is through these plc periods right now.
and so that's I'm going to guess why matt and them probably went about doing this.
you might know more than me but yeah. Yeah. I mean I think just you know we've had combinations of, of plc periods with our Special ed staff in the past.
and so when it works, a lot of the times with our life skills students, it's just really Difficult to get an entire group off at the same period every day.
so we work really hard to try to do that. So this year, especially at the high school, it did end up working that they could have That period off.
we have had them in the past, but there's also been times when we couldn't get everyone Off at the same time, just because the nature of the students and what their needs were.
so we're always trying to look at that to find that collaboration time.
I've go to laura and then ellen, and someday I'll get to speak.
but y'all go ahead.
I have no idea if this would even be feasible, but seeing an option.
or looking at an option to keep this as far away from our special ed support as possible Would be great.
and I don't know. I have no idea what that would look like, but if there is a version of This that protects that time for our
special ed staff and students, that would be nice. That would be good to see that if there is an option like that.
okay. Thank you. Ellen.
one thing that was not on the list that was presented tonight were the instructional Coaches that were just mentioned.
and it could be because the dollar, the threshold value was different between plcs and Instructional coaches.
I personally am a huge fan of instructional coaches, and I think they can do I mean, I've Seen more, more academic growth in our district through instructional coaches
than virtually any other strategy we've tried over time.
but I would like to hear from the administration the value of instructional coaches and What they can do to compensate if we
don't have plcs, how can instructional coaches, how far can instructional coaches go Towards filling that need?
and is that something that we think we have the personnel and and the ability to to do.
is that clear that in other words, it's not I'm not sure it's something you can answer Off the cuff, but I'd like to know what your philosophy is between
those two support strategies for our educators.
I will try. If not, I'm willing to come back to it. I, I think the concern would be our current structure with coaches is through the plc, Because of the number at the secondary level, the
number of staff that we have. And so the way we've shifted instructional coaches at the secondary level in particular Is they are more what we call collective coaches.
they, they coach a team of teachers to have a higher impact of their time versus one on One.
if the period would go away, then it would become more of a one on one push in model.
and still trying to get them into the teams as much as we can. Where you will see kind of a drop.
a perfect example was at our middle schools we have two that float between both.
so we have a humanities specialist and we have a stem specialist. This year, the only way they can get to both campuses and all teams is we have the entire Week to work through that.
so they'll be at one campus on monday, hitting all the as as many teams as they can go Back to the next campus tuesday, kind of that float back and forth.
so if we the period time designated away where that's a designated collaboration time, Their their impact on the greater good, I think would be cut in
half. Because of the structure of time that we have with them.
our coaches only work with the core teachers for the most part. And so this would take one of their major structures away.
we would still deploy them, and we do deploy them for one on one. We do deploy them for new staff that is brand new to the profession to get kind of get Them caught up.
but our greatest impact right now is going to be that what we call collective coaching.
and so versus bringing in a brand new strategy for one teacher, we bring in a brand new Strategy and teach five teachers that brand new strategy, and they all learn from each
other. That's the the the plc part of it, the learning part of it.
does that answer some of it?
I guess I guess my bottom line is we aren't recommending doing away with instructional Coaches, but we are the plc.
so you know what's driving that decision? Why? Why one and not the other?
well, I think, you know, our instructional coaches are are k-12.
and so, you know, I think when you look at the plc period, it is just a six through 12, You know, issue.
so we are trying to look at impact. If you do the plc period I think without some of that influence of the coach would also Be less effective.
and so we don't want to if we had to look at one or the other, our choice would be that It's the plc period versus the instructional
coaches, because the instructional coaches, to chad's point, can still go in and be Effective with teams.
you know, it's going to look very different. You know, we spent $70,000 on the plc conference last year, very much set up for the Structure we have now.
but the learning and all of that can still take place in a different format, but not if You don't have the instructional coaches.
and so we would want to keep the instructional coaches over the plc period would be the Administration's recommendation.
they're both really important and great. But you know it is difficult.
yeah. Other trustee questions.
I'm a trustee and I have questions. No, I just have a couple of thoughts. I really do value our teachers a lot, and I understand the value of the plc in in the Time that it gives our teachers to prepare and what it's planned for, and also
from the perspective of being a benefit that differentiates our school district from Other districts.
the unfortunate reality is that unless we make some sustainable reductions to our budget, It may be a really long time before we can afford to give raises.
and after voting for a 0% raise, I believe it was in 2019 when I was a brand new trustee.
I swore I didn't want to do that again. And so if if we have to choose between giving some teachers a plc or giving all teachers A raise, even if it's some number
greater than zero. But I'm going to go with helping all teachers.
and the sad reality is that landlords don't accept plcs to pay the rent.
I also feel strongly that this is one that we could pull back if the state came through With additional funding in one form or another.
and like you said, ellen, you considered it one time pretty seriously and then pulled Back on it.
okay. Got more money from the state? Yeah. Yeah.
this is one that I feel like we could we could really pull back on.
and I realize that you need a decision from us soon, and you're going to move forward as If it's going to happen.
but if but if in may or march or whenever, we can get an indication from the state that They're going to increase the basic allotment.
we would this is probably one we could pull back on. So, you know, as much as I'd love to be able to keep plcs, but I think we should move Forward with at least considering this and keeping it on the list at this
point. If I could add one other perspective, too. When we meet every month with our teacher advisory group, I would say that the topic of The plcs is probably the most often
discussed issue in terms of the inequity that it creates, not only between the secondary And the elementary levels, but also between our elective and special
teachers and the core teachers at the secondary level. So over the years, when you hear something that continually comes up as a topic of debate, That's usually an indication that
it is symptomatic of an issue that we ultimately need to address. And while, yes, our core teachers at the secondary level enjoy the plcs and they benefit From it, we've got a majority of our teachers
who are on the outside looking in who don't see the same benefit.
and so I think that's why it's on this list tonight.
thank you. Doctor arnett a question for the board real quick. I know a lot of people are here for the spanish immersion discussion.
that's our next topic. I also know that we may need a break. Real quick.
what are the thoughts? Yeah, you're good because you left and I'm fine with that if trustees want to step out.
but I'd like to be here and I need a break, but I since I presented on spanish immersion, I do need a break, if you wouldn't mind.
we're going to. We're going to go three minutes. Okay. Before we go, I don't know how we ended up on plc because I think that we were Pretty split.
and I know we're not making decisions and we were kind of all over the place.
so I'm not sure I yeah, I think to, to, to address that, I think that we were either four 3 or 3 and a half,
three and a half. So I think it was very close. But you know, I'm open.
I think we would probably even at that, even if we were split four three, we would Probably take it to a vote and vote.
okay. All right. I because I think that what for those of for everyone we need more information and we I Hope we've given some direction on on what we'd like to
see going forward. And ultimately too, I don't think this is one that would need board action.
so. Right. Heather, did you have one more question? I was just going to say maybe I missed this, but you know, we just asked our booster Clubs and we just put, I think you said $70,000 on a plc conference.
like, if this was on the table, why did we think it was so worth it to spend all that Money on the conference?
so that's a rhetorical question. I'm just putting it out there.
if it meant that much. It means that much.
thank you. Okay, we're going to take a break, and we will reconvene at 908, which means Really 910, but
ten minutes. Yeah. Thank you. Okay, we're going to get started again.
wait, wait. Okay, now it's ten after. All right. We will reconvene in open session.
now we are continuing on our journey through these options.
doctor arnett had a couple of of late breaking updates on a couple of numbers related to Our last topic.
just a couple of clarifying comments to add. So, chad, I think you were able to determine that 54% of our teachers in grades six Through 12 have a plc period.
okay, so we wanted to clarify that. The other clarification is what we're talking about in terms of the reduction.
are the plc periods not professional learning communities?
and heather, your comment prompted me to to add this.
we've invested so much in professional learning communities, grades k through 12, because We think they are so important.
and even our elementary teachers, as we have said, all benefit from professional learning Communities.
it's the periods that add the cost, and those are for grades six through 12.
so molly, anything else that you want to add to that. Okay. All right.
with that we can proceed. Yeah. Let's do let's see. Trustees who would like to start questioning or.
what do we need? I'm sorry, I said questioning who would like to start with comments or Questions regarding spanish
immersion. Ellen.
I'll start. Given that spanish immersion is a program that does
draw in transfer students and has from the beginning, and that's one of its strengths.
I'm curious as to whether or not the financial analysis that gets to the $600,000 took Into account the 87 transfer students at
$6,100 each, which would be an income stream of $531,000, which virtually pays for the Program.
we did not assume that all of those students would leave.
and so we did not assume in our in our calculation that all of those students would Leave.
I think we need to seriously consider that they all came for spanish immersion, and they Would probably strongly consider all leaving without spanish immersion.
I also was curious as to in all all the years I've seen analyzes of, of never
seen an analysis that includes inefficiencies in the number of students in currently Enrolled.
I don't know how to articulate that very well, but I'm thinking that.
yes, I'm thinking that in this analysis, there was an x factor taken of every seat that Wasn't filled
in every c class, is that correct?
no, I don't believe so. What what we were looking at on the savings was we would achieve some efficiency savings If it was eliminated.
again with the assumption nobody leaves. And so we would get some efficiency savings.
so we might have, for example two c classes at one school and, and 2 or 3 traditional Classrooms.
and when you combine them, you need one fewer class than what you have otherwise. And so that happened in several places.
so that's part of the analysis. The biggest part of the analysis, though, is the, the stipends and the, the additional Spanish language materials that were that
we purchased for that. And so there's just a little bit of savings for efficiency on the program.
but most of most of that efficiency is or excuse me, most of the savings are coming Elsewhere.
we haven't seen any numbers. But during my back of the back of the envelope calculations, I get about $400,000 in Stipends and a very generous allotment for curriculum materials.
and so that would be about $200,000 in if you will, in efficiencies being built in.
that's about right. Yeah. Okay. So that means that with the transfer students, even if not all of them left, it's still More than pays for itself.
and again, the the inefficiencies are real and I'm not.
I do think we have to watch that. And I've been very concerned this year with how we had more than expected attrition out Of particularly the upper grades, upper elementary grades.
personally, I feel like a lot of the reason for that was the discord around the shift to 910 and it pretty much
self-inflicted wounds into our attrition. So I think we can build that back.
I don't think that that is inherent in the notion of a spanish immersion program, and It's not something we've seen in years, seen to this degree in years
prior. And I also will say that you know, there are a lot of other programs where we have Built in class size
inefficiencies into the program, our our ap program at the high school, which I think we All support tremendously.
as long as it has 15 in a class. It is an acceptable class size, so I am a little uncomfortable with us once again Pointing the finger
at sea.
and I'll stop there for now.
thank you. Ellen. Trustees. Kim.
I don't have a lot of questions. I'll just give feedback that with this program being here for quite a long time.
it hills and valleys with this program, but I'm not in support of doing away with it.
I think that we're going to get some efficiency if we're if we go towards blending the Two elementaries.
so now we're going down to four elementary schools.
so for us for for, for for sai is.
what did I say? Sorry. Go ahead. So. Well, we'll have five elementary schools with.
we'll have five elementary schools and four of them will have sai.
did I say something wrong? What I meant was we're we're going.
if we were to blend two elementary schools, we then have four sai elementary schools.
I think that sai for reasons, ellen, you just pointed to and what we've heard sai is Integrated into an eanes
experience. We've had it. It's now in the middle schools. It may not be what was envisioned when it was first talked about nine years ago, or However long it was, but I think that
it has it has the support of the community. I think that it has pluses and minuses.
but just like other of our programs that are unique here I would not be in support of Doing away with it.
thank you. Kim. I don't have any questions. Diane. Following up on some of the back of the envelope calculations that you were doing.
ellen, I just would like to see a little more analysis done beyond the assumption that Everybody stays.
maybe. Maybe it's not. Maybe it's one the assumption that all the transfers decide not to stay.
and then also perhaps looking at, you know, all the all the transfers into barton creek From lake travis, for example, all the transfers that we brought into the program, into
valley view. I'd just like to see maybe even a tool that we could use to to understand What's the sensitivity of this
$600,000, because I don't think everyone's going to stay. And I would like to understand a little bit more what the savings is if we were to.
you know, decide to get rid of a program that a lot of people do value.
I just want to feel a little more like, I understand this $600,000 a little bit better And and what different levers do to that number in
terms of bringing in revenue and transfers and should we lose them.
so I'm kind of keeping score here. Ellen would remove this from the list.
kim would remove it from the list. You would say need more information at this point.
okay. Kelly.
so I'm just wondering, with the 90 over ten, are we already kind of helping eliminate Some of those future inefficiencies
since it's just one section instead of two, as it was previously?
it doesn't necessarily eliminate the inefficiencies because it it depends on attrition Down the road.
and so it's hard to know where we would be. We haven't lost I don't know that we've lost any or many kinders at this point.
but, you know, we're relatively new, you know, in just starting the, the year.
and have we ever considered like being able to take in students, like, could they test Into fill our classrooms.
we do that every year. Yeah. We actually test in several students a year from magellan actually, who come into Our to our program.
okay. And then this is just a comment.
I'm just concerned with the future of vouchers that we're looking at, that if we if we Were to
eliminate this really great program, then we, those students would have the voucher Option to go somewhere else.
so that just makes me really nervous about that additional funding for that.
I think it's more likely that we would lose a lot more students because of the vouchers.
and then as I'm looking when I went through and looked at all of these, you know, I Really this one was the one that impacted the most
students to me. And the most intensely. And so for all those reasons, this one I lean the farthest away from.
laura. We've talked about this program for years, and I know we've got some families in The audience
tonight who are new to spanish immersion. And there's a seven years of history back there that with this program I
struggle with this. It is the only it's the main enrichment program we have at the elementary school level.
I struggle with the inefficiencies. I've always struggled with the inefficiencies that this program has created and the how It sort of handcuffs our principals and their ability to balance
their classrooms. We have a disproportionate number of special ed students in the traditional classes over The spanish immersion classes, and I struggle with that.
I'm not that does not make me happy at all. I have I have problems with that.
and I'm saying these things and we've talked about all of these things a million times.
we've talked about them. So I'm not going to go into detail on, on any of them.
I'm not going to defend anything that I'm saying and I'm not going to counter anything That my fellow trustees are going to are saying or going to say because of the
inefficiencies that this program provides. I'm not.
I would like to consider this keep this on the list of options.
thank you. Laura. Heather. So I also would like some more information.
first of all, I'm wondering why we put anything about an assumption for next year in Terms of out of district transfers.
like, I'm more curious how many we have this year and or was there a reason that we used An assumption for 2526?
we're just looking at what the implication would be for next year.
we actually right now we have 105 out of district transfers and we have 15 employee Transfers.
okay. And 114 in district transfers. Thank you for that information.
and I also am curious because I do see spanish immersion and the barton creek valley view Blend potentially as
two things that should be discussed at the same time. So I am curious about how any and I know we're going to get an enrollment update.
I've asked for that. But I am curious to know how many students we have in spanish immersion at barton creek.
I am curious to know how many of those are from valley view.
I, I just want to know kind of what that looks like also.
and I know we heard a comment or a couple of comments about, you know, bilingual Education and other districts.
they get funding for that and that is amazing for them.
and they're able to provide even better stipends than we could ever dream of because they Get funding from the federal government and the state, I believe.
and so I wish we could do that. But we don't have the population of english learners or emergent bilingual learners that Other districts have.
so if we did, I don't think we'd be having this conversation.
actually, I know we wouldn't because it would be mandated. But you know, so I, I want to just kind of have more information on how many students we Have in the
program and where they all are. And then I, I'm not really worried about vouchers in terms of spanish immersion, because I think, frankly, like we are known in eanes for providing
an amazing education. And our secret sauce, frankly, isn't spanish immersion.
our secret sauce is everything about our district. And so if somebody is just here for immersion, they're not.
that's not what we do completely. Like if they just want immersion, they should maybe go to magellan or somewhere that Provides a true dual language full immersion program because we're never
going to be able to offer that. And so, you know, I value language.
I took spanish my entire life until I went to college.
I, I have no problem with an immersion program, but, you know, to some other people's Point, I, I do want more information and I do
struggle with some of the inefficiencies. And to laura's point, you know, the special education impact, the dwindling class sizes At the upper grades, which ellen talked about
you know, and then what it does at the middle school level, we still haven't worked some Of these issues out.
and so there's still work to be done. And we're only on the first year of the 9010. And I'm so glad that it's going well.
I've heard that it is going better than previous iterations. But you know, we're not we're not done fixing the program.
and so I do need more information on how this would work.
thank you. Heather ellen.
I just want to add that again, having said that, I do think that the attrition we are Seeing in our upper elementary grades has a
lot to do with self-inflicted wounds. And it's the transition uncertainties moving from 50 over 50 and us suggesting that maybe That was not ideal to 90 over ten.
so I do think it is is a blip in time.
and we should make sure that we think about those things when we look at these numbers.
but I also think there are other ways to solve classroom inefficiency.
and in the same way that we've talked about having more efficiency with the blended School.
I know that it was not something that was considered or moved forward on earlier, but I Do think there are ways to look at spanish immersion and consider
how we might solve our inefficiency problems in other ways.
I still believe that a destination school for spanish immersion might be an option, or Have centers or something like that.
there are other ways. I mean, if if we feel like this is systemic and it's going to go on Forever, which I don't think is the case, you know, I think there are other ways that and
other educational models that I'd love to hear from the administration whether or not we Could consider some of those.
and the last thing I'll say is that for years we've had parents say they would help Support this program
financially, and I just wish there was a way we could get to. Yes. I mean that we could accept.
yes. When? When it's said to us. So could could I get clarification as to whether or not if, if a parent gives
a direct financial gift to the school district and respectfully ask that it be directed To a certain program, is that
legal, or do they have to go through a foundation?
and why? Why do we discourage parents from giving us gifts on a special program like this?
we we would certainly accept any donation that people want to give.
usually we do direct them if they just want to give a general donation to go through ief.
it the issue would be, you know, we're not really set up to to show the accounting being Able to track money.
if they said this money is to go to this, it. It's easy to show if they're saying here's $26,000, we want you to do this $26,000 Project.
that's that's easy enough to show. They gave the money. We did the project.
it's harder to show. Here is $20,000.
apply it towards these particular teachers. We don't have a good way of tracking that.
and so that would be I'm just worried about being accountable and being able to actually Show what it is that people are asking us to
show. And that's why whenever they ask about just giving for a program in general like That, that we would typically refer them to.
but like I said, if they said we want to give it directly to you, we'll take it.
but the the being able to the show proved that my $20,000 went to this particular Teacher.
that's harder to do. Yeah, I think if audrey were here, I think she would say that we're not allowed to use That are directly to the school district, nor can we guarantee that that gift would be tax
deductible. And the only way to ensure either a restricted gift or a tax deduction for The donor is if they're giving to eve, in our case.
I'm heather and then diane. Just two other quick things.
one, you know, we still have forest trail that doesn't have spanish immersion.
and so, you know, again, if we're talking about equity and all the things like maybe There's an opportunity to
look at it in, I don't know, it just makes me think like, okay, if it's an amazing Program, why don't we started at forest trail also, we've had that
conversation. I'm just thinking about it again out loud. But then I'm also curious about the retention from the teacher standpoint and how hard it Is to attract and retain our
c teachers. And so I know I think I've heard in the past and I don't know what this is now, but I Believe we only have one remaining teacher from the
original c cohort. Is that correct? Okay.
and so I'm curious to know how many we have even from year two or year three.
like what's our retention rate for our staff? And what.
I'm just curious about the staff and retention.
diane. Following up on your question, ellen, about donations to help support the program.
is it possible, like, in the way that we have an athletic fee, for example, at the high School, there's no way you're shaking your head, james.
so there's no way of having a spanish immersion fee. Program fee. Okay.
because it's an academic. I'm sorry, but I'm curious as to why. Yeah. Go ahead. I'm just curious as to why.
is it because it's an academic program versus a co-curricular? Molly, do you want to expound on that?
I mean, that's the that's the reason. Yeah. Thank you.
any other trustee questions? Thoughts? I have a couple of questions.
so and heather kind of alluded to this, but I want to get it like officially asked the Question with special education, the gifted and talented program and other
programs. We receive supplemental state and federal and or federal funding in addition to The basic allotment.
is there any supplemental funding from the state that supports immersion programs?
no, no. Does the administration feel that the district has appropriately marketed spanish Immersion?
absolutely. Does I can I just stop because I do hear people in the background snickering?
we have very targeted marketing that we've done, and miss mcwhorter can speak to that.
we have all the analytics about where we have targeted.
we have. And we can show you in next week. If you tune into the board meeting, you're going to see heat maps of where all our Transfer students come from.
because we do have a program now that does all of that. We have been very targeted in our marketing.
we have gone, you know, year after year to specific areas about the spanish immersion Program not only just transfers, but the
program. So I just I know that people say, you know, people don't know about this or they Haven't heard about that.
there's a lot of things that come out in the world that people miss, you know?
but we have been very, very directed and very targeted in our marketing. And we've also heard from a lot of families who say that they don't want to make this Drive.
you know, it's very it's very difficult for some families to come into the district.
so I, you know, in all next week when we do this presentation, I'll show all the transfer Data.
it's been very stable over the years. I don't think we're going to I don't think we're missing huge groups of, of students with Our marketing around spanish immersion.
so I just want to I just want to clarify that. And my next question was going to be, do you feel that a lot more marketing would Significantly change the enrollment in spanish immersion?
I don't, and I'd love miss mcwhorter. Yeah, I mean, molly, my best friend. Thank you. Yeah.
it's this. I mean, as a communications professional, I've heard this all my life.
and and I always ask for. There was. There was a gentleman at cedar creek earlier this week from the circle c area Who came up to me afterwards, and he said, we love it
here. We just found out about it just haphazardly.
how how are how are you not getting to people? And I said I would I would ask you that because circle c in fact is in dripping springs.
are areas that we really target in terms of social media ads, media buys.
and, and trying to do word of mouth as well. And that's kind of what it came down to for him in particular.
he said he's telling his neighbors who are saying, how do you get in there?
how did you do that? He's telling them that is much more powerful than claudia putting Out a facebook ad that you're going to flip
by and you may not even see. So we are always open to recommendations.
we have tried different strategies over the years.
this particular campaign that we did, because we knew we wanted to get a lot more spanish Immersion transfer children.
we were really aggressive. And and to molly's point, what we have heard from several people is traffic is a bear.
I mean, I'm driving in from dripping springs. I can tell you, it's not easy to get here.
and for someone to have to do that every single day to get their kid to school on time, Also to be able to pick them up by
250, take them to whatever after school activities they have.
it's not as easy as it sounds. You have to be truly, truly committed.
and that is what we've heard from a lot of families.
thank you, claudia and molly. I think my next question is kind of rhetorical, but like travis and dripping springs are A similar size to us.
why don't they have spanish immersion programs if it's if it's a great way to attract People and turn yourself into a flagship district?
I'm just I'm left asking myself that. Obviously there's there's more to it than that.
what has been the stipend trend over time and what is the outlook?
for stipends almost. I mean, regularly obviously.
what is the outlook? We are looking at districts that are up in the $10,000 mark for, for bilingual stipends.
and like heather had mentioned, they are districts who may get some type of funding for That, but that's not something that we receive.
yeah. So upward every year it's it's upward climbing. It is it's a conversation every year among human resources groups.
and typically they try to hold out and not tell you what they're doing. And then you find that they've increased their stipend.
you know, several thousand dollars. Yeah. So to put a bow on my thoughts we're in a tight budget time and there is no extra Funding to support this
program. So this this is a an optional program, one might say luxury program in a time When we can't afford luxuries
because of the way the state is cutting back our funding. But I would support the idea of finding other ways to offer spanish instruction in all of Our elementary schools.
I mean, we hear about the benefits of of learning additional languages and the benefits That that has on children and I would support.
I know that we used to do that. I'm not saying that it was as effective as immersion, but it would be something that we Could offer to all of our elementary students and help reduce the
inefficiencies that we've discussed. So I would support keeping this one on the list for now.
and I believe that that's for keeps and three removes.
so we'll keep this on the list for now for consideration. Any other trustee?
heather, did you have another thought? I was just going to say that I appreciate all the work that has gone into it for the Marketing, but also we are not a charter school and don't have that big of a marketing
budget. We are here to provide education, so just wanted to keep that in mind.
I did want to draw your attention to this slide that I shared earlier.
this would be our short list within the longer list of the things that we would strongly Recommend the board consider or give us feedback on notice.
spanish immersion is not on this list. It's not our preference in terms of the things that we would ask the board to seriously Consider.
however, if anything comes off of this list, it needs to be replaced with at least one Other thing.
so you you know, you're wrestling with all of these just like we are.
spanish immersion is not something that we're recommending that you strongly consider Unless you cannot consider something that is on this short list.
I did want to ask another question. And, chris, perhaps you can clarify.
there is a perception that spanish immersion generates revenue for the school district.
we do not charge tuition for spanish immersion. Can you make that distinction between what is revenue generating and how does it offset Our recapture payment?
sure. See, students get treated like any other student.
so whether they're in a traditional classroom or in a classroom. They count as students and we count them for average daily attendance.
and so and so student is not generating any more or less than a kid in a traditional Classroom.
and so for that matter, you know, if you make the assumption that, that you keep all the C kids in a traditional classroom, then you
then you save money because the c program is more expensive than the traditional Classroom.
and, you know, we've heard that that won't be the case, that we would certainly lose some Students if we didn't have the c, and so we would have to factor that in.
but it's not a money generating program.
and then also wanted to mention something. As molly said earlier, spanish immersion is an enrichment program.
it's the only enrichment program offered at the elementary level that meets the $500,000 Threshold.
in terms of what we know its expenses to be. If we have to modify the program, or if we have to eliminate the program in its current Structure, then it's been suggested that we could offer it as an enrichment
program, perhaps as part of our after school menu of opportunities, and then it might Become a revenue generation program.
that obviously entails a lot of other dynamics, and families would have to take into Consideration whether that's even within their realm of
possibility. But I think, mr. Spradley, you said that there may be some other form of the program that we could look At, and we're certainly open to considering that.
yeah, it would be great to hear that in our next discussion of this.
so our next topic, I believe. I wonder if there's any reason to discuss freezing salaries.
I think none of us likes this option. I don't think we have to make a decision on this now.
a lot of this will be, you know, hopefully will be the state will come through and help Us and this won't be an issue.
so I'm not, you know, trustees. Do you want to do you feel any reason. Yeah. Heather I'll just add I know that the governor recently did say he wants to give Increases to pay teachers and that
they are looking for ways to do that outside of the basic allotment.
and if any of the lobbyists in the district are wanting to help us teachers is actually Looking for a new lobbyist.
so you know, with the 450 million asked to the state, let's get them that.
so again, I think that this is one area where we may actually get some help from the State where I cannot say that about a lot of the other things that we're looking
at. Thank you. Heather. And then the last topic would be staff reductions again, this is probably Something that we would look at depending
on what the other menu looked like. The the other options that were decided, this would be perhaps helping to get to the Final number.
we're trying to get to. Correct. I don't know. I don't think any of us is going to sit here and say, yeah, I support Reducing staff.
I don't I don't think that's what we're looking to do here. And it has an impact on our children. But any other I mean, I'm not trying to cut off conversation.
I'm. Go ahead. Kim. Yeah, I well, then I agree with you that no one wants to freeze salaries and no one wants To reduce staff.
but I'd like to understand from doctor arnett then.
or cabinet. What are the next steps? Because I don't see a whole lot eliminated, and we're still grappling with the number.
and we're going to have to make further decisions. So we have a meeting on the 19th.
I don't want to jump in front of the rest. Any further discussion, but I'd like to understand what what we and the community may see In terms of we've
asked for additional information, but of of the six things seven, seven options here, I Don't
know how many have come off. If we're recapping them how do we move this conversation along or what is what is doctor Arnett's
suggestion on moving this along? We've got more information coming, but but then we, you know, the rubber's going to hit The road, and we need to cull this list.
so the next meeting on november the 19th, you are going to hear a very extensive Enrollment presentation.
I think that will perhaps answer some of your questions related to the blending of barton Creek and valley view, as well as spanish immersion, and how
transfer students factor into those different scenarios.
so that may give you some more clarity. I think we have notes on some other things that you're interested in knowing related to The programs.
we'll try to provide as much information as we can at the november 19th meeting.
we meet again on december the 10th, but by january we need to be kind of entering the Funnel.
we need to be making some decisions about what, if any, of these reductions are feasible For next year.
I think the one consensus we heard from this evening is, is that we should proceed with The possibility of blending the two schools.
and again, a lot of work is going on behind the scenes related to that and even more to Come over the next month.
so I think by december the 10th, you'll have more information either in the meetings or Aside from the meetings and information that we'll provide to the board.
to give you more clarity around some of these questions. Right. If I could just follow up.
I mean, what what I heard the majority of people saying was that there's probably good Support around naming rights and there's probably good support
around blending the two schools, but that's 2.5 and that's that's nowhere near what we Need.
so. We're looking so you're asking from us by december 10th to give
you additional information to move forward.
some of these are administration decisions and some of them are.
and we should have feedback by then. But some of them are voting or trustee voting decisions.
and the action on those that would require a board decision, which would be the voter Approved tax ratification election,
the the blending of the two schools, and eliminating or modifying spanish immersion Program.
we would anticipate those votes to occur in january.
if so, the others are mostly administrative decisions.
and those are those are conversations that we would have in concert with the board over The course of the next couple of months.
thank you. So I would envision that in january, probably at the second meeting, although I think there's a january we wanted to vote on the vatre before the
session started. So we would probably have a voting meeting.
we would turn our first meeting in january into a voting meeting, and we we could vote on All three of those that you
mentioned up or down, unless you tell us before then that you don't feel that they need Further consideration and that you tend to come off the list.
what is the process for getting the additional information that has been requested? Is that going to come to us in memos, or will they be board presentations?
I think it'll be a combination. We have another meeting next week. There's going to be quite a bit of enrollment data that will intersect with a number of These topics that we'll be presenting to you.
and then there probably will be some information provided via memos as well.
okay. It just isn't clear to me that we're going to have another discussion like this Before we vote.
and that may be okay. We'll have a discussion when we vote as well.
but it's not going to be this broad. But we could schedule an additional workshop as well if the board would like that.
yeah. Ellen, you had a question. It's similar to this, but, I mean, we need to resolve how the the board will give input And decisions, but I'm curious as to what our public information and
public engagement half of this will also be, because I'm sure there will be additional Questions perhaps new information
other ideas and questions that the public will have. And so I'm curious as to whether or not we have plans in place for that public engagement We do specific to the blending of the two schools.
we've already talked about that communication strategy on some of these other topics.
again, if the board wants us to proceed with them, then we'll talk about what public Engagement looks like around each of these individually or as a whole.
we're truly looking for direction from the board as to how you want us to proceed, and we Need that clarity from the seven trustees to know how
you want us to proceed with the things that have been discussed tonight.
so my question. My follow up question was going to be similar to ellen's in terms of public education.
I have not been to a community behind the scenes presentation yet.
how much of this data or could be incorporated into that?
because I would expect that as you roll this out at different schools and different Communities, that these questions are going to come up.
so the presentations have evolved over the last few weeks, and we do now incorporate a Significant amount of time to the financial
challenges that chris presented to you this evening. So that is a part of my presentation.
as we've had emerging conversations around the blending of the elementary schools, I've Also incorporated that conversation into the presentation.
some of these other topics, like the plcs spanish immersion.
we've not spent as much time on those because we needed some direction from the board This evening if we wanted to go there.
I think at the secondary level, when we talk to our staff, that probably will be great Interest in the plc conversation.
any other thoughts?
I believe that gets us through our agenda.
thank you guys very much for being here tonight and for helping us talk through this.
this has been very helpful. Thank you to the audience who has stayed and online as well.
at this point, we will adjourn this meeting. At what time is it?
952? Our next meeting is tuesday, november 19th.
until then, the board stands adjourned.