[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:00] I'm on my phone rather than my computer. Okay. All right, I'd like to call this meeting to order our board meeting on September 1st, 2026. First of all, we want to just we recognize Robert in attendance and Mary. I think that's for the board members, right? Just because not here this evening, but we have a we have a quorum. Did everyone get a chance to look at the minutes? Yes, from the previous meeting.
[0:28] Do I have a motion to approve?
[0:32] I move.
[0:35] Very good.
[0:37] Okay.
[0:37] Second.
[0:37] All in favor?
[0:39] All right.
[0:40] Okay.
[0:41] That's passed.
[0:42] Okay.
[0:42] And then the agenda for today.
[0:44] You should have been sent the agenda for today.
[0:46] Any comments?
[0:47] I guess we need to approve that.
[0:49] Same thing.
[0:50] Motion to approve.
[0:52] I move.
[0:54] Okay.
[0:55] All in favor.
[0:56] Okay.
[0:57] No discussion there.
[0:58] So we're just going to move ahead.
[1:00] We don't have any public online to make comments, we're going to move with the, I think the policies.
[1:08] What do you want me to pull up Diane the financial package first?
[1:13] Okay, that's what I did up first. Okay, yes.
[1:16] I mean, just tell me to scroll. You guys can also look at this in the package because this is little.
[1:22] Yeah, it's little.
[1:23] So, what we have tonight is the financials as of July 31st and of course we're using QuickBooks but I wanted to put a document together where we could have the budget that you guys are familiar with how we, you know, the order of the budget that we did.
[1:43] So, I built the statement of activities that has the budget by all the various categories.
[1:49] So there's a column there for budget and then actuals as of July 31st and then we have added a variance column so you can kind of see budget versus actuals.
[2:02] Now we add a column that kind of is like our budget benchmark so we're one month into the fiscal year so we're 8% through the budget.
[2:11] So we like to add a percentage there to kind of just see if we're on on track on on on revenues and expenses.
[2:19] So if you look down at the dark, darker green line, that's your total revenue.
[2:26] So we have a budget of 5.3 million in revenue.
[2:32] And as of July 31st, we have 465,000 in revenue.
[2:37] So we're at 9% of the budget, so we're a little bit above that 8% benchmark.
[2:46] One of the reasons is if you look on the school and trust program line, that is a one-time
[2:52] payment, so we've gotten 100% of that budget, so that is one of the reasons there.
[3:00] Then down below are all of the expenses, we have those, you know, by the different categories.
[3:06] the same concept where we have the actuals and the percentage.
[3:10] So if you go down to the very dark orange,
[3:13] the very bottom dark orange,
[3:15] that's our total expenses.
[3:16] So we have budgeted 4.3 million.
[3:19] We have spent 291,000.
[3:23] So we're at 7% of the budget.
[3:24] So we're a little bit below the budget,
[3:27] which is typical for a July 1st fiscal year for a school,
[3:34] because you really start ramping up spending for when school starts in August and September,
[3:40] you start actually paying for the things that you ordered in July to start school.
[3:45] Down below, so we have a net income number and that light green of 174,000, so that just means
[3:51] we have 174,000 more revenues and expenses year to date. Our beginning net assets was actually a
[4:01] negative 7,000. So we're working on the audit. That's where we ended. So if we were to end
[4:08] today, we would end with 166,000 in net assets.
[4:15] Then the next, I was just going to see if anyone
[4:21] had questions. But the other thing I was going to say, if you look at the percentages, bank fees,
[4:28] That'll even out. It's it's only been one month and we had some extra fees but now they're but now they're gone.
[4:37] The other thing that I noticed was professional development is that like 60% but keep in mind we only have two professional development events one at the beginning of the year and one at the end. So 60% doesn't mean we blew it.
[4:51] we did our beginning of the year event and then we'll do the the other 40 won't come out until
[4:57] June so just any questions or comments or anything before we move to cash?
[5:02] Great a couple of quick questions just really for clarification on the materials that
[5:12] total supplies and materials it's showing that for the month we used one percent of the budget
[5:20] And my understanding is that for curriculum and materials, we were looking at somewhere
[5:31] between 60 and 80,000 per month.
[5:35] This month that came in at 1,200, does that mean that we should expect large amounts
[5:45] in the immediate months, and then, again, large amounts
[5:50] with the second semester when it starts up.
[5:54] So, July came in much lower than we were thinking
[5:59] because we waited. We waited to purchase things.
[6:02] I wanted to make sure all the APs from fiscal year 26 were paid
[6:11] and I talked to the teachers and about, you know,
[6:14] what do you absolutely need and you know what can you teach and so yes you're going to see an
[6:19] increase in August because we definitely bought a lot of curriculum and materials and stuff
[6:27] in August and have been and sent those out and now it's slowing down in September so yeah it's
[6:35] definitely like so I think it'll end up being what we budgeted for July and August just we thought
[6:41] July would be heavier in August would slow down and now it's going to be kind of the other way around.
[6:45] Fairly typical because you order the 7 July and then you actually pay for it in August.
[6:51] So that's fairly typical for a July 1 school. Great. If I could put a pin in that because when we
[7:00] get to the other financial document, I'll have a question on that. Again, for clarification.
[7:08] The second part is with the carry-over debt and carry-over credit card debt, did those
[7:19] payments make it into the expenses on this page, or do those need to be factored, or I'm
[7:31] Does the $170,000 in net revenue need to be looked at through the lens of, there's also that carryover of the carryover debt and credit cards?
[7:46] So, this is simply revenues and expenses for this fiscal year.
[7:52] So, all of those prior payments, although they hit cash, they hit expenses in the fiscal
[7:59] year 26, but they show in the cash document, which we're going to pass.
[8:04] Yeah.
[8:06] It's cash.
[8:07] So, this is just recognizing revenues and expenses for this current fiscal year, if that
[8:14] With that, I just want to make sure that we're not looking at that 170,000 of net revenue as 170,000 that is available.
[8:28] Absolutely not.
[8:29] Yeah.
[8:29] It's just like, yeah.
[8:30] Yeah.
[8:32] It's not.
[8:32] Is it just the accounting it's just kind of, are you dead?
[8:37] Are you?
[8:37] I'm.
[8:37] Are are you.
[8:38] Dad?
[8:38] Are.
[8:39] Looking.
[8:40] Good.
[8:41] I think they pretty much.
[8:43] Are.
[8:43] Are.
[8:43] Are.
[8:43] Are we ready to get, do we want to go to the cash?
[8:45] Are you ready to?
[8:46] Are you.
[8:49] So we are monitoring cash on a weekly basis, literally, we're putting together AP schedule
[8:57] showing what's outstanding, what we're paying, we're monitoring the cash balance.
[9:02] So when I prepared this cash flow, it was as a snapshot in Tom on August 20th.
[9:10] So we had already paid a lot of, we'd already paid, you know, the two payrolls, we'd already
[9:17] paid a lot of the bills.
[9:21] So down here below, if you just look at August, we paid off, we have paid off this 41,000,
[9:34] We paid off this 19,000 and the 68,000 that we're outstanding invoices, so I like to look at what
[9:44] our cash balance was before we get our state deposits. So that's where we were, 44,000, and then
[9:51] we've since gotten our state payment at the end of the month. So we will continue.
[10:01] We're going to
[10:03] that we're going to try to pay off in September.
[10:07] And then after this cash flow is prepared,
[10:11] we got the statement for the next credit card.
[10:15] It was about $41,000.
[10:17] But I believe we're going to really
[10:19] try to get that one paid off as well in September.
[10:23] We got a couple of one-time payments in August,
[10:28] which is about $60,000, I think.
[10:30] and so that's not reflected here in this $430,000.
[10:34] We just thought it yesterday.
[10:36] We didn't have it in here.
[10:38] We don't realize we were going to get those.
[10:40] So we're hoping we can use that to kind of help pay off.
[10:45] But we are getting the prior year debt paid deal.
[10:51] Yeah.
[10:54] And I think we are...
[10:57] Are we on track with the credit card or are we one month out?
[11:00] out or one month. Okay, that's much better than we were. The thing is, we're going to have to continue to use the credit. My goal would be if we use the credit card, we pay off the balance the very next month.
[11:14] I think it's there as a tool to use because, you know, a lot of places want a credit card is like easier to do that.
[11:21] so that's the goal is to get there. We're not there yet, but Tristana is
[11:31] entering credit card charges in real time. So we're not, like last year, we,
[11:40] you know, we would put those in when we got the statement. This year we have a
[11:44] staff member who is entering into QuickBooks, so Diane can see it and Nikki can
[11:50] see it, the charges as they are charged. So we so they always have an idea of what's happening,
[11:57] they're not being surprised. And then the statement at the end is just to reconcile those charges.
[12:02] So like she said, we're meeting every Tuesday, looking at the finances, talking about what we can pay,
[12:08] and then Tristana is entering credit card charges daily as they happen. So we and it's everything's in QuickBooks.
[12:17] it's so nice. You can see everything. We can see the bank balance. I don't have to go to four different
[12:21] places. I can see everything. What's old, the bank balance, what's on the credits. I like it
[12:27] much better. A great information. Thank you. Dan, you mentioned that the, if I heard correctly, the most
[12:41] recent card statement showed activity of around 41,000. Did I hear that correct?
[12:48] Yes. Looking at the table here, the next two months payments wouldn't add up to
[12:58] the 41,000. So the 41,000? Yeah, well, we got the statement after I had already
[13:05] done this. So it's not reflected on here. This 25,000 is the credit card transactions that
[13:14] Tristan has been entering. So I know we have to pay that in the next month. So it's in there.
[13:21] But I did not have I did not have the 41,000 in here because I I didn't have it when I was doing
[13:28] But keep in mind this the supplies and materials this 93,000 and 86,000 that are accounted up here as cash.
[13:38] That's what the 41,000 is.
[13:41] So we still accounted for it, but I didn't use the bank card to get curriculum and materials.
[13:46] I got the credit card.
[13:48] So that makes sense.
[13:49] So it's up here.
[13:51] Factored in.
[13:52] That 41,000 is a lot of these expenses that are actually in.
[13:57] How difficult would it be to treat the credit card line on this as solely to keep track of that carry over from the previous year?
[14:10] And we paid off the previous year. It's not there. We paid that off.
[14:16] So it's come the the carryover from the credit card is completely paid except for this 34,000
[14:23] Okay, so we will once we pay that which we will this month. Yeah, okay
[14:27] My my ask then would be to remove the credit card line entirely
[14:33] since the amounts put on the credit card are
[14:37] included in lines above
[14:44] Yes, that makes sense which is probably which is
[14:51] But we have to do it towards the end of the month because I don't know how much exactly
[14:56] to take out of these lines.
[14:58] So...
[15:00] Um, as we close out each month, I'll be able to, I'll be able to do that. Okay.
[15:08] Great. My, my last, last, it's more a request than it is a comment. Looking at the two documents, something that would be helpful would be, to be able to see what was, uh, budgeted for a given month. And what is the actual,
[15:31] for that month so that we can track month by month what was that month's budget and what was the actual for that month that would allow us to do a look back to see where were their significant differences and to those differences need to be accounted for in next year's budget.
[15:57] So, I like your thing. I really, I mean, I like that idea. It's a little bit difficult
[16:04] for a school because they, if they had expenses that were even months to month, that would
[16:12] work. And we can absolutely do it. It's just, our budget is not built on a monthly budget.
[16:17] It's built on an annual budget.
[16:20] The reason I'm asking is because the financial troubles that happened before was because we operated using the annual budget.
[16:30] And Jessica had said she wants to make sure that if we have the budget, we're not exceeding the budget.
[16:37] And if we monitor it only on an annual basis, we won't.
[16:42] It won't be as obvious as quickly, which kind of thing would you want to do?
[16:47] But we all want to eat with you.
[16:49] That's just the person it just showed.
[16:51] The first document is what we were reviewing is monitoring it.
[16:56] Okay. That's my ask.
[16:59] Do you see what I mean, I can do it.
[17:04] I'm trying to figure out how I would do a monthly budget.
[17:06] I mean, I would just have to take the budget and divide it by 12.
[17:11] but that's what we're doing with this first document is we're monitoring where we are in the budget.
[17:16] And if we see any big expenses or if we see where we've overspent where we should be,
[17:23] because when I say the budget benchmark is 8%, that's because we're one month into the fiscal year.
[17:30] So next month it will be 16%.
[17:35] And I think that's doing what you're asking if I'm explaining it correctly, but I may
[17:43] not be.
[17:44] But it's telling us where we're on target for budget spending.
[17:51] And then if we're over, then we need to explain, you know, like she explained professional
[17:55] development, we only have two things, one of them's already happened.
[17:59] So do
[18:04] you think that works or?
[18:07] There are some inconsistencies between the two documents that what I'm asking for would help clear up those inconsistencies and allow us to be able to see month after month.
[18:22] If we added a column for each month instead of having a year-to-day column,
[18:33] not next month we'll have a column for July and a column for August or if you
[18:38] have an idea if you want to draw it out how you want me to do it because I'm not
[18:42] sure exactly there's also the working budget which is where I at the end of the
[18:47] month I actually put in what we actually got and what we actually spent
[18:54] the
[18:58] the the yellowish means it's our budgeted amount but as soon as so I haven't done
[19:05] August yet because it ended yesterday but this shows each month what we've
[19:11] actually spent in our budget. So that's yeah that's sad. Satisfied that? That would
[19:23] be the what was actually spent, but to be able to see each month as the months happen,
[19:31] what we thought was going to be versus what actually happened, then the next month,
[19:38] what we thought would be versus what actually happened.
[19:44] Okay. That's not that hard. I could even put that together instead. I just think I like
[19:53] the percentages because I'm not saying not to do that. Well no, I know, but I think for something
[20:01] I would like to be able to see. So I mean as things move, sometimes we are not exactly, we don't
[20:10] spend exactly what we planned, but being aware of the cash overall. So if something comes up that
[20:17] that is unexpected, being aware that, okay, now, you know, what are we taking from in
[20:23] order to maintain this at the right percentage, our overall spending? I guess I'm worried
[20:32] about, if we go, category by category, nitpicking about, oh, we went 5,000 over here, but, okay,
[20:41] yes, but we saved over here in order to compensate that, where we see whether it's okay is here.
[20:47] Our budgets last year, well we didn't get budget reports monthly, but when we finally
[20:51] did this was we were we were a third of through the year and we were 80% spent.
[20:59] Another reason for it is Jessica did say that the school will not be spending beyond
[21:06] the amount budgeted for each item.
[21:11] So if a certain amount is budgeted for audit services, if a certain amount is budgeted
[21:16] from marketing. She said it should not be assumed that money can be taken from another
[21:24] area to move into that. I don't want to speak for her. I do remember her saying that.
[21:34] I know, that's hard. She's not here. I just, I don't know if that's reasonable because
[21:40] things, things move, things change. We just had to make a payment that we didn't realize
[21:45] we had to pay, and then the insurance is going to pay us back. Things change, but I feel like
[21:51] and Tyler and Mary, I want to know what you think. If as long as we are paying attention and we're
[21:58] staying within the overall expenses, is that an issue for either of you? Because to nitpick,
[22:10] go like, you know, you went this much over for audit services, which, you know, this
[22:15] is based on last year's billing. But if we know we went over and we're constantly looking
[22:19] at the budget every week and we go, okay, well, that costs $1,000 more than we thought. So
[22:23] that means, you know, we have to lower our, we have some things that are movable like
[22:28] our field trip budget and our, there are different things that are movable where we say, no take
[22:33] from there.
[22:34] No, yeah, there has to be some flexibility, but the question is how do we do it? Does it
[22:39] need to go to a committee, does it need to be, I mean, you're now we're going to go
[22:47] to the penny because that's ridiculous, things change, prices change, we just, we just,
[22:51] we need to wreck, yeah. Last year, we were off by between two and four hundred thousand
[22:57] dollars. Yeah, we were, and the percentage was way off and we didn't know that because
[23:02] we weren't getting budget. Yeah, what I would recommend is very much what Tyler said is if
[23:09] If we see there's an area that, well, oh, wait, we didn't budget enough in there.
[23:14] We talk about it.
[23:16] I don't know.
[23:16] Do you all have a finance committee?
[23:17] Yeah.
[23:17] Or would it just be here at the board?
[23:19] Okay.
[23:20] We do.
[23:21] We could just talk about it with the finance committee and say, okay, where on here are we going
[23:26] to move from a line item to help cover that?
[23:30] So it's very transparent and we actually go through a process of reviewing it and making
[23:36] the budget amendment.
[23:38] I like that idea.
[23:39] Yeah, you can't just say, oh, there's more money in the bank account.
[23:42] We need to, I think, I don't mind being flexible as long as we make it very clear where
[23:46] are we taking it from?
[23:47] We can't just go.
[23:48] Oh, there's some money in the bank account.
[23:50] We need to say, no, we're taking it from materials.
[23:53] We're taking it from legal services or whatever it is.
[23:56] We need to be very clear that we're making an adjustment.
[23:58] It can't just be willy-nilly.
[24:00] And you can't just say, no, we're not going to spend anymore or no, you're not going
[24:05] to you can't just say no period yeah like if we reach a limit but prices have changed yeah
[24:12] it's something that we have to do we can't just say oh nope that was how much we but I mean a
[24:17] budget is a projection but we also what we didn't do last year when we lacked some information was
[24:26] look at that as frequently and go okay well okay that's fine either either you do have to stop
[24:33] and say, nope, we're not providing that, or we have to figure out where we can take it from.
[24:39] Like, what are we doing? Like, our lease at kiln, our current lease expires in January, and
[24:47] I'm looking at moving into a smaller space. But we budgeted for the big space the whole time. But
[24:53] things like that, we just don't need, we just don't need as much, but we do need to have a presence
[25:00] there and we need a physical office with the records and all that stuff but that's just one example.
[25:06] Well and I think there's need to be there there are going to be some things in the budget that are
[25:09] like not negotiable like we have to pay the teachers. We can always not upgrade materials or do a bonus
[25:20] or you know there needs to be some expenses that are rock solid that really can't be you know
[25:26] dug into. And then we need to kind of earmark, you know, just kind of say, well, these are
[25:30] the more flexible type items. These are these are the wants, not the needs, right? So
[25:37] I mean, I don't know what that would be exactly. I just, you know, I did paint the teachers
[25:40] I think is, you know, whatever's going to send us to debtors prison, you know, I mean,
[25:45] or the teacher salaries, I think we need to do first. And then anything else that's like,
[25:48] you know, special nice things, then we just, we need to earmark those as being a little
[25:52] more flexible. Yeah, I mean, that's what I'm saying. I'm more interested in looking at
[25:58] the overall, like overall, are we staying within? But if we're going to spend time going
[26:03] item by item and looking at anything that went over the budget, that's going to be really
[26:14] the tedious. And in the end, doesn't really impact our overall, are we doing okay?
[26:26] Does that
[26:26] make sense? Mm-hmm.
[26:41] Right, so. But Robert, I also want to talk about some kind of document
[26:45] together to kind of do what you're saying. It's going to be really, it'll be a lot of information
[26:52] if we do a monthly budget and then actuals but it will simply be taking your annual budget and
[27:01] dividing it by 12 months. We have the cash flow projection that is showing that some items there's
[27:10] heavy expected spend during only certain times so please use judgment on which items can be
[27:19] one-twelf and which items are clearly seasonal. So when we did that I mean did you did you did you? Yeah, the yellow numbers are and most of them are one-twelf.
[27:34] but like the school land trust the school land that's happening you know just
[27:41] showed up one time so it is in here and then I adjusted each month but I can
[27:46] keep I can keep what was projected and then add a column yeah I think that
[27:53] would be just work yeah keep your column and then add an action and then add an
[27:57] actual column right next to it so you can see the number side by side is that that's
[28:03] But I'm not sure. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Just just leaving that the the projected. Okay. Okay. I'll leave the projected as long as the two tables are matching.
[28:20] That is that the numbers are the same.
[28:29] I have a note here.
[28:32] I didn't look at this document, so this is not something I recommended.
[28:35] I know this is something that we went through.
[28:39] I could reconcile to this that I didn't know this was there.
[28:46] This is just a working so we can keep an eye on it and then also think for next year.
[28:52] plan for next year. But I just I still feel like it really comes down to the bottom line,
[29:02] like how are we doing with the bottom line?
[29:08] Not every individual item.
[29:15] But I do want to see
[29:16] what happens month to month because if we need to like next year's budget, we still want this month
[29:21] the month because it helps our cash flow knowledge. And so, you know, if we ended up having to pay more
[29:27] in August in the educational software because that's what we buy most of it then we want to know that
[29:31] so we can plan for that next year. So we're even more accurate next year.
[29:48] Are we good?
[29:50] I don't have any other questions. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thanks, Diane.
[29:56] Sure, they'll have a good night.
[30:00] I just really quickly, I mean, the only other thing I was just going to kind of give you an update. I'm still going through enrollments and data. We're, we're lower than I want to be, but we're still within that I went, I went, I went all the way down, what did I? I think I went all the way down to 350 and we were still okay with our budget. So we're like around 390 and we're still enrolling.
[30:29] So some of the enrollments that came over, yeah, we've gone down because we changed SIS systems and one of the things I discovered when I was cleaning up the data is that the new SIS system pulled over every student who had enrolled even if they had already exited so then I cleaned it up so we didn't necessarily we lost some students, but we didn't lose a chunk of them.
[31:00] UFA just released another block of funding and admitted more students but we
[31:08] actually had one family who left to take UFA but then we had another family who
[31:15] turned it down because they are really happy with the school and with UFA you
[31:21] get money but you don't get any kind of academic support or anything so I
[31:27] feel like who has enrolled we've gotten better at recruiting families who are a better
[31:34] fit so then even when something else is offered to them they they're happy with this.
[31:42] So the next time we meet we will have submitted our October 1st count which is what they base
[31:50] our monthly allotment on so I'll give you that and then that will and then if we need
[31:55] to adjust the budget based on that will have done that and so we can take a look at that.
[32:01] How much? So we were previously about 406. We were previously at, yeah, like 400, but
[32:13] we did multiple, like we ran the numbers with the staffing and we got down to like 350
[32:21] And we were still fine with the staffing because if we are and we're not down to 350, but if we're down that low the our two biggest expenses are curriculum and Chromebooks and those go down with the number of students.
[32:37] I thought with the Chromebooks, that number could not go down because we've already spent the money and had at 1.70 on the shelf or 50 on the shelf.
[32:49] So we had budgeted and so in the budget that she just showed us we have 30,000 budgeted in for new Chromebooks because we thought we were going to have as many as 450 and now I don't think we're going to have that many and so we don't need to buy any Chromebooks unless enrollment shoots way up so that 30,000 would not be an expense anymore because we have enough Chromebooks for like 425 students.
[33:15] So we'd have to go above that and then the curriculum and materials is directly tied to it right now in the budget.
[33:22] It's calculated for like 420 students, so that would go down by $1,800 a student.
[33:31] A question on that then with the curriculum, haven't we already ordered all of the curriculum?
[33:42] So, I'm trying to understand how that number works.
[33:45] No. So, the families have, each student has their own budget of $1,800 per student.
[33:54] If they take one of our classes, then we deduct what those materials cost from that $1,800.
[34:02] dollars. But then the families all year long can buy their own curriculum. They can take outside
[34:08] classes. We just added edgenuity because those classes are NCAA. We have some high schoolers
[34:17] who need NCAA. But as we, so that $1,800 budget, that budget is $1,800 times the number of students.
[34:26] So if we have fewer students, so no matter what, everything we spend on curriculum comes out of their budget.
[34:36] So if we have fewer students, then we have fewer kids that we're buying that we can deduct.
[34:43] So I'm excited. We're never going to spend more on curriculum than $1,800 times all of our students.
[34:50] Does the 1800 is that the amount that the family has access to and then on top of that, the school is purchasing other curricula?
[35:02] No, that's part of the curriculum that's purchased.
[35:07] So when they take our class, as a list, they take our math class, we know what our curriculum costs.
[35:12] so we deduct that from their 1800 and then we buy the curriculum and it comes out of that.
[35:21] If they decide they're going to do their own math class and they want to buy their own curriculum,
[35:25] then we deduct whatever that costs out of it. So that portion that the school buys has the school
[35:34] already bought that for 425 students. No, no, so we only buy it as they order it. We don't
[35:41] We don't pre-buy it based on enrollment.
[35:45] We buy it as the education coordinators confirm what the parents are choosing either
[35:51] our class or their own curriculum or an outside class.
[35:53] So as it happens in real time, we buy it and then we have a whole other software system
[35:58] that deducts it and keeps a running balance so the parents can see I have this much more
[36:04] I can spend.
[36:04] Great. So from the perspective of having a lower enrollment than then the previous number,
[36:14] we already have a good idea of what kind of financial impact that has on items that have been
[36:21] pre-purchased. Great. Yeah. That's my reason for asking. Yeah, we don't have anything sitting in
[36:29] storage that you know for possible future students that we're not operating like
[36:34] that this year because we can't afford to so we in fact we didn't even buy
[36:38] people said what classes they want we didn't even buy those materials until
[36:42] the education coordinators confirmed in August which is one of the reasons for the
[36:47] delay in seeing the expense hit they actually confirmed the classes confirmed
[36:52] they were attending school confirmed they wanted our class versus a different
[36:55] class. Yeah, so it's all so we can't go over that and I didn't I didn't adjust it because I'm waiting
[37:04] for the October 1 count and I'm still processing enrollments, but we'll know for the next board meeting
[37:09] we'll know what our count is because after our after our October 1 count they pretty much pay on that
[37:20] And then if we go up over the school year that helps us next school year, but it doesn't they don't raise it in January because that's part of the reason we stopped in rolling in December, besides it being very disruptive to have kids come in in March, you know with only two months left.
[37:36] Do we also, when do we stop marketing for students?
[37:41] Do we stop before the October 1 date?
[37:47] We stopped marketing in July like paying a professional marketer.
[37:55] There are still, I don't know if it would be called marketing, I just was talking to,
[38:01] I had a meeting this morning was just talking to my team who are staff but they also include
[38:05] parents and they that all of them are on social media and we're getting we're
[38:10] getting pinged all the time on social media as parents are asking what's a
[38:14] good option and we're we're coming up a lot so we're getting a lot of word of
[38:18] mouth marketing that's really positive so that's good but we haven't we haven't
[38:23] done an advertising campaign since July so and and I was just talking to them
[38:30] saying we're not so we no longer contract with the marketer and I was going to see kind of where we were financially in like January, February, and see if the board wanted to contract with the marketer again as opposed to create our own stuff.
[38:54] and so most of our enrollment has come from word-of-mouth and then next it has
[38:59] come from social media, mostly Facebook. We really we got. I just asked this
[39:07] morning the girl who follows up on all the marketing leads. She got about 160
[39:13] leads and about 30 of those translated into enrollments, which I feel is a kind
[39:20] of a low percentage. So that's why we were talking about creating our own, you know, I mean
[39:26] all they did was design ads and and then push the Facebook promote instead of just and we're like,
[39:35] do we think we could do that? So and then we go out to fares and we meet people. I mean really when
[39:41] I talk to people about why they're enrolling, you know, my friend loves your school and her kids go
[39:44] there or I heard about this and and the social media presence seems to reinforce that. But most of
[39:50] our enrollment are coming from word of mouth and from our presence at different homeschool
[39:55] events.
[39:56] I don't have any concerns with the word of mouth in that.
[40:00] What I don't want to do is spend money marketing to bring in more students after the enrollment
[40:09] counts as frozen by the state, because then we're paying money to then have to pay more
[40:15] money.
[40:15] Exactly.
[40:16] That's the only reason I asked.
[40:19] Okay, I totally agree with that. That's part of the reason we kind of pulled back is because
[40:24] yeah, after that count, now we are supporting those students. And that is fine for a bigger
[40:32] school that's been around longer because they've got cash to do that with. We don't.
[40:37] We don't. So we also have it in our parent handbook that if they withdraw before October,
[40:45] or they are invoiced for anything we paid for.
[40:51] So we make that really clear, the education coordinators, that was a talking point that
[40:56] they, as they face to face with every parent because I just, so if you have any doubts,
[41:01] you know, it's like withdrawal now.
[41:03] And we did have, we did have more families withdraw up front in like July, but I would rather
[41:11] do that, then buy them class materials and then have them leave before October.
[41:17] So I think we're doing better at managing that and that timing and I think we're doing
[41:21] better at communicating kind of what we do and who we are so that the families who do
[41:29] come, they really want this and we really, nothing like this exists and we're not the perfect
[41:35] fit for everybody but if we are a good fit, it's not like you can go to another charter school
[41:40] and get the same thing. So we're trying to be really honest with families because I don't
[41:46] want to just pull everybody I would rather have everybody happy. I don't like parents
[41:50] emailing me about how much they hate the school with a bunch of comments but well we aren't
[41:57] that. I don't like when parents are mad we're not a hybrid when we never said we were a hybrid
[42:00] but now they're mad and they're leaving. So we had one mom who blasted all over Facebook
[42:05] book that she was mad that we wouldn't buy a bike. That's why she left. No school will
[42:13] buy you a bike that's not allowable. But, you know, so I think we're getting better at
[42:19] recruiting the compatible families and the movement slowing down, which is good. But I agree,
[42:27] I totally agree with you. That's why we stopped the advertising and it's just kind of been
[42:31] Word of mouth and we're not pushing. We're not doing any fairs right now
[42:36] We're you know and everyone who is interested
[42:38] We're trying to pull them in and enroll them before October or so
[42:43] Great and Tyler what's next on the agenda? I don't have in front of me. Sorry. I was basically
[42:48] Sorry, I can pull it up on my computer
[42:50] I'm terrible. Okay. Okay
[42:56] We don't have anything to vote on you guys
[43:01] So do we need to vote? Does anyone feel like we need a closed session?
[43:06] I don't.
[43:08] Okay, then our closing items were our next board meeting to be determined.
[43:13] September 22nd, but we might change it.
[43:16] Yeah, we have it on there for September 22nd, but we're meeting today.
[43:20] And we do our report on October 1st.
[43:25] So I wanted to ask you if it would be okay if we could find a date after October 1st
[43:30] because I'm not going to have any more information
[43:33] until after October 1st.
[43:38] I'll be in Hawaii until October 13th, so.
[43:43] OK.
[43:45] Yeah, I'm happy to wait till whenever.
[43:49] Do we want to have a placeholder?
[43:51] Yeah, I mean, is there a good?
[43:58] I have to have a calendar in front of me.
[43:59] OK, hang on.
[44:01] We can leave in September 22nd until we hear.
[44:05] Um,
[44:09] I mean, even we could do it October 5th. I mean, if we're missing Mary, we'd still have a
[44:15] quorum. I don't really want to see Mary, but we could do it. I mean, I can try and join. It's just
[44:21] Hawaii.
[44:24] No, if you want to be on a boat in the middle of the ocean, but still nearby. And we have our
[44:30] fall break. And I'm going out of town on our fall break. Um, well, what if we did it on the 20th,
[44:35] October 20th. It's great. Is that okay?
[44:42] Okay.
[44:52] And then I can, we can just double check with Jessica.
[44:57] That works for her.
[45:00] Because I want to have more information for you guys. September 22nd, we'll look a lot like today, so we won't even have a new financial thing, really. Another month won't have passed, so.
[45:17] We're saying October 20th, is that what we're saying? October 20th, yeah. Great, let's do that. Okay. Okay, we can move finance committee meets in the in the interim.
[45:32] Okay, I move to close this meeting.
[45:34] Nice second.
[45:37] Mary's.
[45:38] Okay.
[45:39] All right.
[45:40] Sounds good.
[45:41] Thanks.
[45:42] See you later.
[45:44] Bye guys.
[45:45] Bye.
[45:46] Bye.