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Microphone check. Okay, you got it.

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You see a level. Okay.

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And workshop is now convened. It is 5 p.m. on Tuesday, June 9, 2026. The quorum of the board is present in the board room in accordance with Texas Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code, chapter 5, 5-1.

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We, they are Frost Prelo, Luis Galindo, Courtney Lewis, Rosa Maria Burdeja, Tennessee Walker,

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Lower George, and Jay Stigel at the present time, Mr. Ide is not in attendance.

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I'll recognize him when he shows up. We expect him.

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Ask that you please silence your cellphones.

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We'll begin by singing our National Anthem and Joshua Raga from Western Hills High School.

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We'll sing our national anthem today.

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The ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming, and the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

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Okay, proof through the night that a flag was still there.

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Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave?

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Oh, the land of the free and the home of the...

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Please join me in pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.

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I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which stands one nation under God in the visible liberty in the zest of the world.

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Join me in the Texas

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flag of allegiance to the United States of America.

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Please be seated.

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Before we begin public comment, I'd like to briefly explain the purpose of tonight's meeting. It's not a regular meeting, once again it's a special meeting. This is a workshop for the Board of Trustees that has been called for the purpose of sharing information to support the development and approval of the 2627 budget. The topics listed on the posted agenda were selected for informational purposes only. No action will be taken by the Board on these items during tonight's workshop.

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Because this is a workshop and not a regular board meeting, public comment is limited to matters

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that are especially listed on the post of the agenda.

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In accordance with long established board policy, BED local and the Texas Open Meetings Act.

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Our next agenda item is public comment.

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We truly value hearing from our community.

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Public comment is a critically important part of the operations of this school district.

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We appreciate the time that people take to be here, we appreciate the time that you invest in being prepared to share your comments with us.

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But I want to share a brief reminder of the process and expectations, and there was some confusion at our last meeting.

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To ensure everyone has a fair opportunity to speak public comment is conducted in accordance with four with ISD Board policy and the Texas Open Meetings Act

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and must be managed in orderly and consistent matter,

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and it will be conducted according to procedures

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that are long established and widely followed

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in school districts all over North Texas.

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Speakers must sign up in advance.

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There are determined process.

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You'll be called in order and will have up to three minutes

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to speak, presiding officer may make adjustments

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when necessary.

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At regular meetings, speakers may address any topic.

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It's special meetings commented or limited,

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to pardon me or limit it to items on the agenda.

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That's repeating myself at a long established practice

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in the practice that's followed all through the districts

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in our region that had some of question,

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the Constitutionality of it, I can assure you,

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it's well established and a process that's in accordance

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with our traditions and procedures.

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The board will not engage in conversation

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within those who make public comment.

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We will listen and respond if factual information or existing policy is required.

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We ask that speakers be mindful of student privacy and refrain from identifying students

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by name as student information is protected by law.

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However, a parent or guardian may identify his or her own child if they choose.

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Speakers are encouraged to avoid naming individual employees or volunteers and instead address

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concerns that the campus program or district level.

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We also ask that concerns about individual employees, students, or other confidential matters be directed through the appropriate district processes rather than during district comment.

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Please respect the procedures in place as well as other speakers, ask that everyone treat our speakers in all in attendance with the dignity and respect that we would all expect of ourselves.

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Thank you for your engagement and being a part of this process.

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Tonight we have six speakers signed up.

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The first speaker on the, to be called is Ambika Sharma.

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And Ms. Sharma will be followed by Randy Wheeler.

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Ms. Sharma, please approach the podium.

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Your three minutes will begin when you.

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Okay. Hi. Good evening.

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I haven't had enough chance, oh, there we go, can you hear me?

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Okay.

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I've been, well, you guys don't know me, so I'll give you a little bit of my background.

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Before I went into the tech industry, I was actually an analyst with Goldman Sachs, and I covered

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like the financial institutions group.

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So I was an analyst with Goldman Sachs, can you hear me?

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Okay.

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And so I used to cover like the large veins, both in Western Europe, as well as North America.

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So, if you hear about like when earnings calls happen and their analyst asking tough questions from the CEO or the CFO, those are used to be people like me.

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So, why I tell you that story is I love financial statements.

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And I await them with great a lacquer tea.

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So, I was waiting for your budget.

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Last Wednesday, I saw that you guys were going to present your budget.

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So, I called Miss, Miss Dora, I think.

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So, I'm Miss Patty, sorry.

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I call this Hattie wherever she is. She's very, she's been very nice. I've been trying to get my hands on this budget and she on one day she told me it will be available on Friday on Friday. I emailed and it wasn't there yesterday spoke to her. She said that it will be made available by the end of day. I checked yesterday at 8.30. It was still

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So I give you this whole one-minute or two-and-a-half minutes of spiel here to give you a background that, like, I wanted this ahead of time, so I could slice and dice the data.

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This morning I looked at it, it was available, but it was very, like, high level. It's so bare minimum. I guess coming from a financial industry, I'm expecting, like, pages of information.

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So, I see that you have 40 or you're expecting a $44 million deficit and 25 million is attributed to the

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elevate model school or the model, whatever that's called the program. So, that's about like

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56%. I would like more information on it. It's like how are you spending the $25 million. I

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understand there will be a public comment time. I wish we could ask questions Mr. Garren. But yeah,

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so I want more information on the elevate model. I want more information on also administrative

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like how much are you paid?

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I know you're getting through around $60,000 plus some bonuses, etc.

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Given the nature of, you know, the takeover,

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I think it will also be very helpful if we as taxpayers understood

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what percentage of the deficit is contributed

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because of the administrative pay.

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Because on the page, you've the very first thing

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on the pages, I'm making it up now.

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I think it was 15 million because of the raise for teachers,

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2% raise to regular people.

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So what I'm trying to say is like we also need to know how much our y'all paid, and then how is that contributed to the deficit?

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25 million for elevate models, let's break it down, and then I would like that kind of information.

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I need like almost 100 pages of information, not like 10 pages.

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Thank you very much.

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Next speaker is Randy Wheeler.

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Oh, pardon me.

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Dr. Lakata, if you'll pause just a moment.

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Dr. Selees, would you get her contact information so we can address a lot of her questions

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and maybe ask her if she wants a job.

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No, just get her contact information because I think she's got a lot of good questions and

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I think she's interested in making sure we're doing the right thing.

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So definitely.

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Thank you, Dr. Lecata.

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Our next speaker is Randy Wealer and Mr. Ms. Wealer will be followed by Trisha Frosai.

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Good to go. Yeah, thank you. Thanks, sure. I agree. She had a lot of great things.

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Let's talk budget. Everybody loves a good budget and a budget tells you what matters.

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It tells you what you're willing to invest in and what you're willing to sacrifice.

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In Fort Worth has an annual budget of over one billion dollars with a B.

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One billion dollars. That's a lot of money and that's a lot of responsibility.

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This board unanimously approved the superintendent's contract worth will over $360,000 a year

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when you include moving and housing expenses, monthly allowances, plus the district covers 100% of the health insurance premiums for him and his family.

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At the same time, this administration has been very vocal about budget deficits, like we just heard from Alpaca, difficult financial decisions and the need for sacrifice.

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These are very conflicting messages.

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When you tell a community, the resources are scarce, but leadership compensation is abundant.

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The community starts asking questions about budgeting priorities.

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We all know that highly effective teachers, counselors, principals, and support staff for the most valuable assets the district has.

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Excellent, excellent talent is district pillar three.

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And when you lose highly effective employees, it costs more than salary.

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It costs recruitment expenses, training time, institutional knowledge,

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relationships, stability, and continuity for students.

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But most importantly, it costs trust.

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And the trust is the deficit that no one's talking about.

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You have inherited schools that are already facing challenges, yet in a remarkably short period of time you have managed to create something even more expensive to repair a crisis of confidence.

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Educators do not trust they're going to be supportive parents don't trust that they will be heard in communities do not trust the decisions will be made with them rather than to them.

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Every time experience educators leave, are investigated or removed, every time a decision is driven by radical politics instead of positive student outcomes.

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Every time concerns are dismissed rather than addressed, that trust account gets smaller.

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And unlike money, trust cannot be restored with a budget amendment.

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One day, the state intervention will end and the board of managers will no longer sit on this day's days.

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When day the people of Fort Worth will begin to rebuild, and when that day comes, the community will remember.

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Well, budgets are moral documents, they reveal what you guys are about, what you guys value.

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And I need you to consider not only the financial deficits, facing 4th ISD, but the trust deficits that you continue to deepen.

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Because financial deficits can be solved with dollars.

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But the trust deficits will take years to repair, and I need you to think back the last time you

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sat in those chairs to win AJ was here. And AJ reminded you of your job. Your job is to

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represent the vision and values of this community. And the community has been very clear.

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I need you to ask yourself, have you been listening?

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Thank you.

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Ms. Wheeler, next speaker is a Tricia Frosseith and Tricia Frosseith will be followed by Sabrina

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Ball.

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I'm sorry to interrupt.

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I need to step out for a family child care issue.

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I will listen online to the recorded session.

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Please, not here.

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That's Sabrina Ball who will be followed by E.J. Carrienne.

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My biggest problem with this budget tonight is the 25 million budgeted for the elevate model.

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That number is astounding. I don't see a breakdown of it and I'm pretty sure it's free to

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demean educators. It is basically irresponsible to implement a model that has no real data to

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support it. A model that is driving away highly qualified educators. A model I believe

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does real harm to students. So let's talk about how it functions.

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Number one, you throw out all discretionary learning, and I urge the board to look up that

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term.

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You all certainly had discretionary learning, and you're well rounded individuals to throw

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out proven learning models.

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Think Alice Carlson, applied learning academy and W.L.I.

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Doctor, I've got a you praised W.L.I.

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You can't install, elevate on that campus without fundamentally changing it, and I know

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because my kids went there.

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3. Waste money we've already spent. We cram the curriculum. We've spent millions on through AI to align it with the

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teaks. Throw out real expertise and condense each concept down to 10 minutes lessons. 4.

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Then you drill the kids and only give them 30 seconds to process what was asked and formulate a response.

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What happens to the 27,000 kids who don't speak English in that process?

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when they don't have language experts to help them.

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Five, then you quiz the kids and throw them into groups,

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based on the winners and the losers.

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All day long, every day, under harsh lighting,

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without regard to IEPs and 504s,

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and the mental health of those students,

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a long, monotonous, grueling day, every day.

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Lastly, as a taxpayer,

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I resent that you decided on this model

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without a thorough review of what we had,

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of what works, of what kids need, and without any value given to great educators who already have

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great results. So I would ask yourself, why is this model being pushed through at taxpayer expense?

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Who stands to profit? Who stands to gain from it? Because it's not our kids. Also, I think parents

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will want to speak on this at the listening sessions. Summer schedules are really tough.

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So please consider streaming those so everyone can hear, especially working parents. Thank you.

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Thank you, Ms. Paul. Next speaker is EJ Carian and Mr. Carian will be followed by Mr. Alexander Montalva.

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What's going on beautiful people? I think I want to give context because I've got inspired by Ambica.

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My background for 15 years was an education technology. I started an ed tech company when I was 22 years old at the

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worth tech labs right there when hate and black burners running it, our company became

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in 5,021 and 2022. I stepped down as a CEO of that company and moved on because I believe

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what we're fighting today is bigger than money and it's about power dynamics and I feel like

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that is what calls me to be here. So today what we're talking about is educational expenses.

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I've been in over 450 schools over those 50 years from Nevada, Clayton County to Miami

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Dade and to think about the elevate model that concerns me about the $25 million

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perspective.

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I mean, I mean, you could give every kid unlimited tutoring, counseling, anywhere any time

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for 10%.

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Maybe 20% of that cost of the elevate.

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But I often see a lot of the expenses go to management and compliance software that's ultimately just the shove things around.

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And so, you know, this idea of elevated curriculum, elevated training, really what we need is more front line work.

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And that is things that are directly two students. That is three.

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60, that is family forward. Elevate is really, I feel mostly about you guys making sure you get your

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stamp from the boss, Governor Abbott, and it allows you to do that. I would also be careful

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just making sure what Elevate has funded, who it's funded. We just had a county commissioner,

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Recona security, just really made a big thing at the commissioners court for we wasted a million dollars on thus on them getting us officers, which they didn't get us and we did that with no contract so I also just think making the elevate partnership contract available.

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And then most importantly also it's just like M&A activity like what's the merger and acquisition process of elevate.

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where it has it been, how much money does it have behind it, who is on it, if you know

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anything about education like you guys do, everything is on a free fall.

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So what's happening to this type of organization, long term, with that ability.

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And I think that's also what's very unfortunate.

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I think the ed tech space could be a lot beautiful and better if it was ran by community.

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But unfortunately, about five private equity firms run ed tech.

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So I also just think us being aware of where that is on its life cycle is important to you see this happening all the time from the high dosage tutoring process that happened with paper.

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You know they raised a hundred million dollars and now they don't exist.

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You see now with school links this happens to everybody who doesn't actually build a real product and just provide you vapor wear it.

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Thank you Mr. Carrier and our final speaker is Alexander Montalvo.

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And,

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each of you is very nice to say that y'all knew, you know, what's up with education.

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I like it this board of managers, and I don't think y'all know anything about education.

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And I think that's a big problem of this TA take over model.

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Is that it's a model for grifters.

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It's a model for people to present.

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Thank you.

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Mr. President.

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That's please.

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Mr. Daya, please state your point of order.

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The individual's comments are not related to the positive agenda.

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So this is about the budget. This is about money.

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This is what I'm talking about.

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Thank you.

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Point of order is well taken.

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You can find your remarks to the agenda.

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The budget of the fourth ISD school district is something that is concerning because a

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TEA take over invites grifters to take taxpayer dollar money.

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Is that okay with you Rosa?

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How about UP?

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Is that sound better to you?

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Mr. Montalvo, if you don't restrict your remarks to the answer.

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It's about the budget.

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I just framed it under the budget.

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It concerns of the budget.

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I'll proceed.

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See this is an example.

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I want everyone to see this example.

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You have no clue what you're doing.

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You're here to protect your ego.

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You're here to protect your status.

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And not protect our tax dollars.

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Which is what is my concerns about this budget.

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This by chance of implement experimental frameworks, experimental curriculum, with no real evidence that it actually helps.

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This is just another experiment that tax dollars and taxpayers have to fund,

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and y'all sensitivity on us getting to the details of where this money goes,

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shows exactly why you shouldn't be in this position.

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You shouldn't be in the position to be able to help

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a district of this size figure out how this budget gets approved,

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nor less somebody from Florida, who knows nothing about our community,

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or a education system, and how those dollars are going to be

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in the next week.

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Speaker, I suggest you please yield attacks on members of the staff

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are not allowed under this agenda.

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So, Pete, they're not attacks if I am criticizing your inability to understand what's a vote

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on for an adequate budget.

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Those are not attacks.

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Those are my first amendment, right?

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Please share.

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Thank you.

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Mr. Montaule, please.

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Go to, no, you've lost.

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You've forfeited your time.

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You departed two times from the agenda.

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Mr. Montaule, please.

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Thank you so much.

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That was our final speaker for the night.

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He can remain if he will not disturb the proceedings.

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Under board policy, I'm going to issue a warning to all all presence. If we do have disruptive behavior,

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I'm going to ask that security address that, and if people who are unwilling to

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comport themselves in a way that is able to support the proceedings of this hearing

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tonight, I'm going to ask them to leave the premises.

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Now, now turn this over to Dr. Lakota for reports.

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Well, good afternoon, everyone.

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I first want to start with just showing my admiration for Joshua Raga.

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I'd heard him sing a couple times from Western Hills.

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He has an amazing voice.

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That's always a pleasure to see amazing student talent.

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And I look forward to seeing them in my old age being super famous.

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But they are just wonderful, wonderful students.

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This is a workshop.

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So I want to make sure we get in a lot of the points about the budget.

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I know all of you have met with the amazing Miss Moss, but I do want to bring up some points

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that aren't budget-related in essence.

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They are, but more importantly, it's my report, but more importantly, I will get to the

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bulk of the budget as this is certainly a workshop.

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We are entering our 70th eighth day of the intervention, while we continue to reduce our

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central office budget and move it to school leadership, there are several other things we

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engaged in and have a head start moving into next year. We've just completed several days of

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principal and assistant principal academic leadership professional development. And that has had

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some outstanding responses from our school leaders written responses anonymously. Many principals

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and assistant principals were incredibly thankful for getting a much deeper understanding of

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the academic delivery and the classroom understanding the complexity of the school grading

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system and the overall delivery of expectations next year for all our schools.

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Many express this was a new approach and appreciated the clear pathway for all our schools

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to become A's.

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We open with and remain constant that this is the entire team of principles, assistant

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principles, and district admin that are supporting side by side for next year's success.

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It was emphasized that teachers are to be fully, fully supported and principles will

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guided as well as this is our team. As state starts delivering our scores from this year and

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they're not official, I want to give some early insights and reminder that this is raw data,

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it is not official for school grades, so sir, you can't write about it yet.

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We're predicting some

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nice increases in some areas, especially in algebra, we have some nice gains and schools overall

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had some great movement to the positive.

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Again, I want to remind everyone that we have only

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been here for a couple of months and certainly

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the credit goes to the folks that we're here

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and are still here.

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However, we are predicting an additional 14 schools

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that have dropped significantly and would qualify

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for elevate status.

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Given the timing of the data, we are not in a position

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to reconstitute all those schools, and it would significantly hit the budget for next year.

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As we know, we start teachers out at a very high rate of pay in those schools where the

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bulk of the money for our Elevate Program goes.

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We have a plan in place to fully support those schools and have designated into a category

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that is similar to Elevate called Focus.

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Finally, regarding the budget presentation today, we are still reducing our budget expenses

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as of about 20 minutes ago, as we continue over the next year and we will continue over the next

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few weeks because we are hoping to bring budget amendments to reduce our deficit that we had

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when we arrived.

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The budget is all about putting student outcomes, pillar number one as the driver

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in our budget priorities. We have cleaned out this building from a lot of access and open positions

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that we did not feel were supporting schools and move them to the elevate model and into the schools.

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We continue to put in new systems and processes that will reduce our expenditures while maximizing efficiencies.

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The past allocations to schools and departments have not kept up with the lower student enrollment and purchased programs that are aimed at reducing outdated staffing needs.

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We have reduced the number of products we are buying.

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We will potentially have a loss of $25 million in FTE because of loss of students, much like every large district around the country.

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In this budget, it's one of the largest, I will repeat this.

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What is in this budget is one of the largest percentage increases to the classroom teacher salary schedule in the entire state.

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Let me repeat that one more time.

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In this budget is one of the largest percentage increase to the classroom teacher salary

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schedule in the area and the entire state.

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One of the largest.

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This emphasizes our focus on the classroom teacher of record and how important that teacher

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is when impacting student learning.

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What is also in the budget is a 2% increase for all other staff members from principal and

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low. Nobody above those status or that level will receive a 2% race. That will remain flat.

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2% is consistent with other districts in the area and as you can see our budget is being stretched

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as we wish you could be more. Also included is the focus on significant increases to the staff

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of our elevate campuses and strategic initiatives to backup teachers on those campuses instead of

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substitutes, having additional teachers on those campuses instead of substitutes.

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Excuse me, we are also taking out the operational responsibilities from the principles.

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So they can focus on being instructional leaders.

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My first day here, I reminded principles they should be the best instructional leader on their campus.

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It is a lot of pressure, but the principles to share that has a biggest impact on student achievement on campuses.

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Now they can spend more time as an instructional leader and spend more time in the classroom supporting their teachers.

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As we go through this, I want to thank the amazing Mrs. Moss who's hiding behind that pillar over there.

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We see you. Our chief financial officer. She has been tireless. She has been awesome.

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Our departments have cut back considerably, even up to today.

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I think we cut another $7 million out of the building

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and out of certain programs today.

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And we will continue to do so.

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As a reminder, we inherited a very significant budget deficit,

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because we were losing students

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and not reducing the amount of employees.

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While we still maintain being the worst, large, urban,

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performing district in the entire state.

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Over budget and not teaching children,

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This budget reflects the exact opposite.

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So, thank you and I'm going to turn it over to Mrs. Moss.

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Kind of a little bit about the elevate model and the results that similar models have shown in other areas.

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Absolutely.

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The elevator model is not unique to one city.

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It's similar.

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It's called different names that I was very successful in Palm Beach, as well as

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Broward both moving to A's.

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Not having any absentees and very few C's.

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But it's also been used around the state.

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And at this time, Dr. Solis, if you could give a quick

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minute or two. Factoids about how the elevate model has been proven to increase student achievement.

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Board of Managers Superintendent thank you for the opportunity. The elevate model is a model

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that is going to be hyper-focused on having a well structured instructional day, meaning master

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schedules will certainly be aligned across all of the elevate schools and the focus will be delivering

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high quality instruction. Those principles, assistant principles and teachers have been selected

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in those schools, based off of track record and data that show their effectiveness in delivering

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instruction. They are definitely instructional leaders if they are principals of those schools

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and assistant principals of those schools. As Dr. Lakota alluded to, coaching and supporting

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our teachers is a priority for all of our schools, but especially in the Elevate Network.

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Remember that in order to be an Elevate school, we had to have an F rating or a D rating with a

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And those schools that Dr. Lakota was referencing in his opening remarks, they are projected according to early dated to be triple Fs, meaning domain 1Fs, domain 2Fs, domain 3Fs, and an overall F. So that's really quadruple.

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Um, we are, we are pouring in additional resources in terms of staffing as Dr. Lakota and

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I'm sure Ms. Moss will allude to today and say budget presentation by providing additional

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human capital and additional resources curriculum resources into the elevate model.

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Uh, we are also making sure and monitoring our staffing ratios for students to ensure that

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classroom sizes are appropriate, and supporting our leaders from a central office

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standpoint, the regional structure. It's Sean Joseph Chief Joseph right over here

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who was leading that network and making sure that we're not only are we supporting

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them in the field but that we're also providing them with world-class professional learning

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opportunities on every professional learning day.

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Could I, would you have any follow-up questions to Mr. Solis?

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No, thank you. Could you talk about the human capital piece as extra human capital resources

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you noted in your comments? Could you talk about that and why that's so important in improving

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student outcomes? Absolutely. I think one of the things we are very confident in having had the

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opportunity to see instruction between March and the last day of school is that instructional

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variability is our primary barrier to success in our district. And when we talk about the additional

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resources from a human capital standpoint, we're looking at how can we provide additional staff

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and classrooms we call them teacher residents that are going to getting alongside teachers,

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learn from teachers, these are aspiring teachers, that can step in when a teacher is absent,

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Why is that important? It's important because we want to make sure that every day is an instructional day for our students and that there is continuity and the instructional delivery.

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And so one of the things that we will insist happen is we should never have a substitute teacher and an elevate school.

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We should always have somebody who was familiar with the curriculum knows where we are in the lesson this day.

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understands what the expectations are and the instructional delivery and can keep that continuity for our students.

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We also want to lift the administrative burden as Dr. Lakota was alluding to and making sure that our principles and APs have the support that they need to stay instructional leaders.

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Therefore, we have standardized AP ratios for our campuses, so our middle schools have at least three assistant principals for guardless of size.

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Middle school is middle school. We know the challenges that come with running a secondary school.

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And in order for us to insist that our leaders stay instructionally focused, we have to provide that additional human capital, those human resources to make sure that they are able to stay focused on

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providing improvements in the quality of instruction.

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So those are just two examples of the additional resources we are pulling in in terms of

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human capital and making sure that we are supporting our leaders and teachers in the classrooms.

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Thank you, Mr. Solics. Quick question.

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Well, just if you could expand, so we visited the Elevate School, right?

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And I appreciate the additional human capital, but what I noticed at that elevate school was just the physical resources and the kids not having what they needed to be successful. So could you give a little bit more texture around.

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I'll adjust the front part of that.

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I'm going to elevate those resources for those kids.

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As you saw last two meetings go last meeting.

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I accelerated the purchase of $8 million worth of technology for the students in these schools.

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So it is there the first day if we waited until after the first, like most school districts do.

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It's not guaranteed it will be the first day of school.

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We do not want to miss the first day of school with the technology and stuff.

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So we recognize that these schools not only challenged by so many different factors,

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but some of the factors were our fault.

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We were not in there having appropriate materials, appropriate technology.

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staffed properly. So that's been our focus for that Dr. Sleash, you want to add something

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to that, please. No, I was actually going to elude to that because this board of managers

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approved to that just as recently as last month making sure that we have the appropriate

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technology for use. Now, I will say in the elevate model, we are going to be very, very

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careful about not overloading technology.

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GG.

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In the classrooms, that is not the intent. But for example, we had some pretty antiquated instructional boards in each of the classrooms with extraordinary glare from the sun that's coming in. We had issues with students being able to even see what was being presented to them in the instructional environment.

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So, we purchased the interactive boards that are larger that have anti-glare technology to make sure that we in every classroom that is a core content area that all students have access to instruction.

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We're also standardizing the materials that are used. We are providing an excess pencils, no cards, paper, all of the school supplies that need access to every day.

437
00:45:46,080 --> 00:45:51,140
we are standardizing the access to that and every one of those classrooms in the elevate model.

438
00:45:51,660 --> 00:45:57,620
We want to remove every barrier we can for a student to experience success and provide

439
00:45:57,620 --> 00:46:03,640
as much as we can as a school system to get the alignment of instruction and the execution

440
00:46:03,640 --> 00:46:06,280
of instruction consistent across all of our schools.

441
00:46:06,680 --> 00:46:11,960
One of the other things, and I do remember this very first day I was here, students were

442
00:46:11,960 --> 00:46:18,000
having struggling logging on. Five minutes. Five minutes. Child couldn't even log on.

443
00:46:18,220 --> 00:46:22,060
Teacher had to take their time away from teaching the others. Get them logged on. We are

444
00:46:22,060 --> 00:46:26,660
backing a lot of this up with paper and pencil and handwriting. I believe students see enough

445
00:46:26,660 --> 00:46:32,400
technology during the day and we'll use it at an effective rate. Sometimes they need a piece of paper

446
00:46:32,400 --> 00:46:35,380
in front of them and they need some pencils and they need to write some stuff down so they'll

447
00:46:35,380 --> 00:46:39,460
always be some scrap paper on their desk. They'll always be there to write down their notes.

448
00:46:39,460 --> 00:46:45,860
So there's a lot involved in here, but we can't, we can't cut corners on this, it's too valuable, way too valuable for these students.

449
00:46:48,050 --> 00:46:49,090
I've got it.

450
00:46:49,290 --> 00:46:50,370
Just a one more question.

451
00:46:51,250 --> 00:46:54,870
And maybe Dr. Ricardo or Dr. Solís could answer this for me.

452
00:46:55,370 --> 00:46:59,050
But in comments we heard it's $25 million, but elevate.

453
00:47:00,350 --> 00:47:05,510
I'm sure that the parents and our community wants to know where, where is that money being spent?

454
00:47:05,510 --> 00:47:21,350
Can you break it without getting to the wage and I know we're going to get it to a more budget discussion later, but just in very rough, maybe 10,000 level, could give us a breakdown of what the 25 million dollars represents in terms of where the cost are going.

455
00:47:23,480 --> 00:47:34,580
Absolutely, a large portion of it is the teacher salary, a large portion of starting them out at so high, because we wanted the very best, and we did get some great results of people from outside our district in the area.

456
00:47:34,580 --> 00:47:37,760
to teach just in those schools actually from out of state.

457
00:47:38,120 --> 00:47:41,520
I was at that job fair and we had a couple hundred sign up for elevates.

458
00:47:41,820 --> 00:47:43,580
So, Lord, that was the biggest draw.

459
00:47:44,200 --> 00:47:51,200
There are some overhead costs involving technology, which is the new pad, the new,

460
00:47:51,660 --> 00:47:54,680
not iPads with the other ones. Chromebooks, thank you.

461
00:47:55,420 --> 00:48:00,840
The projectors, the screens, and there's also a projector in there that when a student isn't

462
00:48:00,840 --> 00:48:04,380
in class or for some reason they're not in there, they can also still see the

463
00:48:04,380 --> 00:48:10,440
teacher and interactively work with that teacher, whether they're sick, maybe they were disruptive,

464
00:48:10,780 --> 00:48:11,980
maybe several other reasons.

465
00:48:12,460 --> 00:48:17,240
They are sitting in the classroom, seeing the teacher feel like we used to do during that

466
00:48:17,240 --> 00:48:17,920
time of COVID.

467
00:48:18,760 --> 00:48:19,840
So that's it.

468
00:48:20,040 --> 00:48:28,180
And obviously, and it's in the budget, we also padded all the schools with a less, a smaller

469
00:48:30,120 --> 00:48:32,700
portfolio for our principal leaders.

470
00:48:32,700 --> 00:48:35,740
because they can't have a portfolio of 15.

471
00:48:35,920 --> 00:48:38,520
I'm coming from a place where we had portfolios of 13 to 15

472
00:48:38,520 --> 00:48:40,560
for my instructional soups.

473
00:48:40,600 --> 00:48:44,680
We're down to about five in elevate and maybe six to seven

474
00:48:44,680 --> 00:48:45,460
in the other regions.

475
00:48:46,160 --> 00:48:49,940
Is that's these folks here that are going to be supporting schools.

476
00:48:50,440 --> 00:48:53,140
And if we've done anything in the last few days

477
00:48:53,140 --> 00:48:57,180
and we will do two days of it about coaching and leading

478
00:48:57,700 --> 00:48:58,460
and supporting.

479
00:48:58,680 --> 00:49:01,260
This is our team and we have to go to bat with them.

480
00:49:01,260 --> 00:49:03,580
And this is the leaders that will be doing that through the portfolio.

481
00:49:04,000 --> 00:49:05,180
But that is some of the expenses.

482
00:49:05,680 --> 00:49:06,900
Well, there's no hiding.

483
00:49:07,040 --> 00:49:09,420
We need more leadership to help with the principles.

484
00:49:09,800 --> 00:49:12,440
So, but the bulk of it is teacher salary, if I'm not mistaken.

485
00:49:15,560 --> 00:49:15,700
Okay.

486
00:49:16,020 --> 00:49:24,340
My fellow board members for this process, now the budget process, I ask that we all direct our

487
00:49:24,340 --> 00:49:24,660
questions.

488
00:49:24,800 --> 00:49:29,260
So, Dr. Lakota and he will direct them to the appropriate staff member.

489
00:49:29,260 --> 00:49:39,900
So, again, with Director of question to him and let him bring forth either answered or direct a staff member to speak to him.

490
00:49:39,960 --> 00:49:40,600
I have a question.

491
00:49:41,620 --> 00:49:51,300
Dr. Lacotta, you mentioned about the 5% increase in teacher salaries across the district as well as the 2% increase for all non-teachers.

492
00:49:51,640 --> 00:49:54,280
Would it be possible to do a little bit better on that?

493
00:49:54,280 --> 00:49:58,320
maybe 3% is a budget able to support such an increase.

494
00:50:00,000 --> 00:50:12,480
The five percent we are very proud of, and that's for teachers that are teaching students with a class roster and a class road, roll. The two percent is consistent with many of the districts around us.

495
00:50:13,180 --> 00:50:23,480
I will commit to looking for an additional couple million dollars if we can, because I believe every percentage for every employee outside of that is about two to two and a half million correct.

496
00:50:24,300 --> 00:50:30,960
This is more, it's 4 million for the 2% but every percent after that is about 2 million.

497
00:50:36,300 --> 00:50:39,300
So we will look at that and try and increase it as well.

498
00:50:39,600 --> 00:50:44,840
We value everybody and we know that 2% covers just barely covers the cost of living increase

499
00:50:44,840 --> 00:50:46,840
and gas prices are out of control.

500
00:50:47,320 --> 00:50:52,600
So I appreciate that and I think we will all make a concerted effort to try and increase it a little bit

501
00:50:52,600 --> 00:50:54,540
without going into our fun balance.

502
00:50:55,120 --> 00:50:56,340
Because that's our biggest fear right now,

503
00:50:56,380 --> 00:50:58,040
and you'll see one slide that'll scare you.

504
00:50:58,040 --> 00:50:59,360
The Jesus said, yeah.

505
00:50:59,800 --> 00:51:00,660
Thank you so much.

506
00:51:00,760 --> 00:51:03,240
I appreciate you considering that.

507
00:51:03,600 --> 00:51:04,940
I've just had a clarification.

508
00:51:05,300 --> 00:51:08,980
Did I hear Dr. Sully's correctly that the,

509
00:51:09,940 --> 00:51:16,560
and I forget the phrase, the teacher support teacher,

510
00:51:17,280 --> 00:51:19,140
resident teacher resident, they want to,

511
00:51:19,180 --> 00:51:21,140
they're people who want to be featured teachers.

512
00:51:21,140 --> 00:51:30,920
Yes, they're just this close to it. And we don't let them go. Hopefully, unfortunately, they wouldn't qualify for the ace model because they're new teachers.

513
00:51:32,220 --> 00:51:39,300
And we would like to extract that free money from the state for ace teachers, but they required at least two years of successful teaching.

514
00:51:39,740 --> 00:51:42,160
But we would definitely find a place for them, not let them go.

515
00:51:42,160 --> 00:51:49,400
that is I mean just former teacher that's very exciting just to have that opportunity to be in the classroom

516
00:51:49,400 --> 00:51:55,280
and have a substantial period of like practicum work is huge and you you're building your future

517
00:51:55,280 --> 00:51:56,720
workforce which is great.

518
00:52:03,110 --> 00:52:06,710
Dr. Solution certainly sorry I could just because this really is exciting

519
00:52:06,710 --> 00:52:13,110
and I think one of the things that Dr. Lakota and myself have talked about at Nazium is how

520
00:52:13,110 --> 00:52:20,050
Well, there is so much potential in terms of instructional talent and what we are wanting to

521
00:52:20,050 --> 00:52:24,890
do in terms of like teacher resident being an example, also creating AP academies, principal

522
00:52:24,890 --> 00:52:30,510
academies for aspiring leaders is create our talent right here in Fort Worth.

523
00:52:31,090 --> 00:52:33,510
We want to provide them the best learning opportunities.

524
00:52:33,730 --> 00:52:40,170
We want to retain excellent educators and this is one of the initiatives that Dr. Lakata is

525
00:52:40,170 --> 00:52:42,430
implementing in Fort Worth ISD to do just that.

526
00:52:44,060 --> 00:52:50,360
I met with the Texas Wesleyan president, I think she was the third or fourth one, and that's all we talked about.

527
00:52:50,440 --> 00:52:54,980
How can we get more folks through there now that we're offering the money that makes a really good living.

528
00:52:55,560 --> 00:53:03,840
A great, altruistic career and make sure they're trained and we are excited because all of them are on board.

529
00:53:08,190 --> 00:53:12,270
Dr. Lakada, turn it over you to introduce the chief financial officer.

530
00:53:12,930 --> 00:53:21,610
Yes, this Mrs. Moss is just a special person and we are very fortunate to have her here in this district.

531
00:53:22,290 --> 00:53:28,470
She's just this quiet calm as referred to above the water. She's a duck, definitely a duck.

532
00:53:28,930 --> 00:53:36,830
But underneath that water, those legs are moving as fast as they can to get her swimming, but she's an amazing person and we're very fortunate to have her here.

533
00:53:36,830 --> 00:53:53,890
Thank you, Dr. Lakata. Good evening, President Garin, Board of Managers, so tonight I'm going to bring to you a brief presentation. It's not really a budget workshop setting. That's why you'll see the high level data that we present to you tonight.

534
00:53:54,330 --> 00:54:05,490
I have two objectives. One is to share with you the current fiscal year and an update on where we are. The second objective is to share with you what we've been working on.

535
00:54:05,490 --> 00:54:09,910
for the 2627 budget that we're going to ask you to adopt

536
00:54:09,910 --> 00:54:12,050
on June the 23rd.

537
00:54:14,560 --> 00:54:16,560
So we start with the pillars of excellence

538
00:54:16,560 --> 00:54:19,740
that has been mentioned tonight a couple of times.

539
00:54:20,300 --> 00:54:23,520
Our role in the budgeting process and finance is to try

540
00:54:23,520 --> 00:54:26,500
to look at what Dr. Lakata has brought to the district

541
00:54:27,840 --> 00:54:29,440
and compare that with the budget

542
00:54:29,440 --> 00:54:31,580
and make sure that we're building a budget

543
00:54:31,580 --> 00:54:34,680
that is on the foundation of these five pillars.

544
00:54:35,840 --> 00:54:42,360
We started, when I started with the district in January, we had another set of priorities.

545
00:54:43,420 --> 00:54:49,580
So I do want to, I guess give a shout out to my team, we've had to pivot a few times in this process.

546
00:54:49,900 --> 00:54:54,440
The budget process was already in a process when I got here.

547
00:54:54,920 --> 00:54:59,200
So we were working on one set of priorities and we pivoted to try to support.

548
00:55:00,000 --> 00:55:08,400
Please five pillars, and that's what this budget that you see is we're working towards that for the budget that we will ask and propose for you to adopt.

549
00:55:11,520 --> 00:55:25,280
So I want to start with 2526, so this is going to be the fiscal year that was adopted. The budget that was adopted by the elected board members on July 1, in June, for the July fiscal year.

550
00:55:25,280 --> 00:55:32,880
July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026, and I just have a couple slides to share with you about that budget.

551
00:55:34,040 --> 00:55:42,940
And on this table in column 1, you'll see the adopted budget. We adopted at revenue at 826 million,

552
00:55:43,240 --> 00:55:50,860
with the expenditures of 869, creating the deficiency of 43.6 million, which we've been talking

553
00:55:50,860 --> 00:55:53,900
about trying to reduce for this year.

554
00:55:54,380 --> 00:55:56,240
In column two is the revision.

555
00:55:57,140 --> 00:56:02,200
This budget was amended by the board in February of this year

556
00:56:02,200 --> 00:56:04,740
as of January 31st.

557
00:56:05,180 --> 00:56:06,840
The difference you see in the revenue,

558
00:56:07,060 --> 00:56:10,820
the increase from the adopted budget to the revised budget

559
00:56:10,820 --> 00:56:13,520
and the increase in the expenditures

560
00:56:13,980 --> 00:56:17,900
from the adopted to the revised is the TRA alignment.

561
00:56:17,900 --> 00:56:28,320
So based on our 89th legislature, there was a TRA allotment for teachers, when we adopted the budget, it was not included in there, and so about 30 million or more

562
00:56:28,320 --> 00:56:32,820
was actually added when we amended the budget for 2526.

563
00:56:33,840 --> 00:56:42,800
When you look at what we're forecasting, I don't know if you could see that small print there, but it says projections are subject to change.

564
00:56:42,800 --> 00:56:47,920
As of right now, this is what we're thinking we may land at the end of June.

565
00:56:48,380 --> 00:56:52,980
We still have some expenditures, we still have things to purchase, we still have salaries

566
00:56:52,980 --> 00:56:54,840
to pay payroll to process.

567
00:56:55,340 --> 00:57:01,220
So we're not there yet, but our best estimate at this time is that we will land at 12.6.

568
00:57:01,780 --> 00:57:05,440
And I will tell you that we are being a little conservative there.

569
00:57:05,740 --> 00:57:08,620
We really think that that deficit will be reduced.

570
00:57:09,320 --> 00:57:13,620
And you'll see on the next slide how we got to that 12.6.

571
00:57:17,300 --> 00:57:23,400
So I'm going to start on the left-hand side where you see the $43.6 million adopted deficit.

572
00:57:24,020 --> 00:57:27,220
Again, the revenue was 826 and millions.

573
00:57:27,300 --> 00:57:34,180
Of course, the expenditures were 894 resulting in what I like to call a budget gap of 68.6.

574
00:57:34,180 --> 00:57:41,900
knowing what that budget gap was. We use what at the time they use what we call a vacancy factor.

575
00:57:42,480 --> 00:57:46,340
We know that there are going to be certain positions that are not filled during the year.

576
00:57:46,660 --> 00:57:49,700
We know that there are going to be positions that start later in the year.

577
00:57:49,880 --> 00:57:54,380
And all of that will add up to payroll what we call payroll savings.

578
00:57:55,100 --> 00:58:00,400
And so I have those notes for you there. So once you take the budget gap of 68.6

579
00:58:00,400 --> 00:58:04,300
and reduce it by that vacancy factor of 25 million,

580
00:58:04,400 --> 00:58:05,420
which is what they use,

581
00:58:05,460 --> 00:58:07,780
that's how you get to the 43.6.

582
00:58:08,480 --> 00:58:10,060
On the right side of this slide,

583
00:58:10,180 --> 00:58:14,180
I want to share with you where we started with the budget gap,

584
00:58:14,540 --> 00:58:18,040
and we have now realized that vacancy factor.

585
00:58:18,620 --> 00:58:22,400
We know that we have at least $25 million in payroll savings.

586
00:58:23,300 --> 00:58:28,200
So we're back level to the deficit of 43.6.

587
00:58:28,200 --> 00:58:39,080
During the year we've had revenue adjustments, we've had expenditure adjustments, and we've had additional payroll savings that we were forecasting out through June 30th.

588
00:58:39,340 --> 00:58:48,180
And again, as mentioned earlier, we actually purchased technology so that we could start up on the first day of school with what our students needed.

589
00:58:48,180 --> 00:58:53,780
and that all nets out to the 12.6 deficit that we are seeing now.

590
00:58:54,160 --> 00:58:59,380
Again, that number is subject to change and we hope that it continues to go down.

591
00:59:04,170 --> 00:59:13,450
So now I'm going to pivot to the next fiscal year and kind of share out with you what we're proposing for you or what the superintendent is proposing for the next year's budget.

592
00:59:13,990 --> 00:59:19,830
This budget will be effective to lie 126 and go through June 30th of 1227.

593
00:59:19,830 --> 00:59:35,710
So I want to start with the assumptions that we use in building this budget, those first seven line items are going to be what we look at when we try to determine what the revenue for next year is going to be.

594
00:59:36,130 --> 00:59:42,270
The last two are what we use for the most part in determining what our expenditures are going to be.

595
00:59:42,570 --> 00:59:50,510
Our payroll and staff make up more than 80% of the budget, so that's where we where we start that's our starting point.

596
00:59:51,150 --> 00:59:59,750
So when you look at student enrollment, you'll see that adopted in 2526 with 69,021 as of May, we were at 66.

597
01:00:00,000 --> 01:00:10,140
So a snapshot last year, which is the last Friday and October, we had lost about 2,500 students based on what we had budgeted it.

598
01:00:10,660 --> 01:00:17,480
And then for the proposed budget for 2627, we're looking at 63,068.

599
01:00:17,960 --> 01:00:25,960
That is a number for finance and the budget department because we have to be a little conservative in what we do.

600
01:00:25,960 --> 01:00:31,840
On our average daily attendance, you'll see that for the proposed budget, we're at 58, 2022,

601
01:00:32,840 --> 01:00:39,840
that is determined by how often our students come to school. We're only funded based on

602
01:00:39,840 --> 01:00:47,840
their attendance at school. So we use that ADA as we call that a 58, 2022 to determine what our

603
01:00:47,840 --> 01:00:54,840
revenue is going to be and what we're going to receive from the state. Our basic allotment increased

604
01:00:54,840 --> 01:01:03,500
a little bit in the 89th legislature session, we received our estimated taxable values in April

605
01:01:03,940 --> 01:01:11,160
on April 30th of this year. And you can see that there's a slight increase over the adopted

606
01:01:11,160 --> 01:01:17,720
budget from last year to the proposed budget. And then when you look at our total tax rate,

607
01:01:17,720 --> 01:01:23,440
I'm just going to put the M&O portion of it and the INS together, add up to 1.0291.

608
01:01:24,120 --> 01:01:29,900
We have to post a notice in the paper that notice will be posted for the public hearing

609
01:01:29,900 --> 01:01:33,020
on Friday, June, the 12th in the paper.

610
01:01:33,380 --> 01:01:41,140
We are going to post the current tax rate in the paper and later on we'll have to do a tax

611
01:01:41,140 --> 01:01:52,220
A tax information survey submitted to TEA and they will calculate our maximum compressed tax rate to determine what the actual tax rate is.

612
01:01:52,700 --> 01:01:59,820
We'll bring that back to the board in September for adoption at that new rate with the compressed amount in it.

613
01:02:00,220 --> 01:02:07,140
And then the staff count again, this reflects the active positions that were in the system on June 5th.

614
01:02:07,140 --> 01:02:09,040
This number is subject to change.

615
01:02:09,240 --> 01:02:11,060
We've had some conversations on that.

616
01:02:11,260 --> 01:02:13,980
When you look at the total staff count for all funds

617
01:02:14,720 --> 01:02:18,280
for the proposed budget, the 97-21,

618
01:02:18,920 --> 01:02:20,560
that amount will increase.

619
01:02:20,800 --> 01:02:23,540
We do not have all of our grant find

620
01:02:23,540 --> 01:02:26,080
the positions in the system as of yet.

621
01:02:31,390 --> 01:02:33,050
So the proposed budget summary.

622
01:02:33,170 --> 01:02:34,610
This is again high level.

623
01:02:35,030 --> 01:02:35,450
I'm sorry.

624
01:02:35,830 --> 01:02:36,090
Dr. Scott.

625
01:02:36,370 --> 01:02:38,730
I want to cover the attendance thing real quick.

626
01:02:38,730 --> 01:02:43,470
We are paid by the amount of time the kids attend school at a certain time of the day.

627
01:02:44,110 --> 01:02:48,970
One of the things that we are very, very thankful for and I met with the CFO

628
01:02:50,590 --> 01:02:56,470
of Trinity. They provide free bus service for our entire population. As long as they do an

629
01:02:56,470 --> 01:03:02,650
application, they get it on there. And they contract, we brought to you, hopefully the 23, but definitely

630
01:03:02,650 --> 01:03:08,650
the 21st of next month because it expired July 30th. They give us free travel

631
01:03:08,650 --> 01:03:13,050
for our students, not just to and from school, but if they have a job, they want to go down

632
01:03:13,050 --> 01:03:18,510
town for on the weekend, whatever it would be, and they do it for free. They do not charge

633
01:03:18,510 --> 01:03:23,070
back to us. It's all free. We do not write a check to them. None of that. But most importantly,

634
01:03:23,290 --> 01:03:31,790
without them, we had 72,000 rides. It was 72,000 rides last year by our students. And it was not

635
01:03:31,790 --> 01:03:36,130
pushed as hard as it could be. So we want to push that even more. But think about how many times

636
01:03:36,130 --> 01:03:38,910
They got to school because the bus was there to take them.

637
01:03:38,990 --> 01:03:40,050
And there's a lot of our choice students,

638
01:03:40,330 --> 01:03:42,390
like I met with young women's leadership academy today.

639
01:03:42,390 --> 01:03:45,030
And she said, the principal there is doing an amazing job.

640
01:03:45,550 --> 01:03:48,350
She indicated that that bus service is very, very important.

641
01:03:48,590 --> 01:03:50,950
And as we look to maybe potentially moving that campus

642
01:03:50,950 --> 01:03:54,070
for a bigger expansion of it, that bus service

643
01:03:54,070 --> 01:03:55,230
has got to be there and nearby.

644
01:03:55,770 --> 01:03:56,950
So thank you, shout out to Trinity.

645
01:03:57,070 --> 01:03:58,370
Thank you guys so much.

646
01:03:58,370 --> 01:04:00,250
And I think the mayor had something to do with that

647
01:04:00,250 --> 01:04:02,090
before we arrived, it's not us.

648
01:04:02,970 --> 01:04:04,550
But she helped start that up.

649
01:04:04,550 --> 01:04:06,730
So I text in her text yesterday and thank you.

650
01:04:06,730 --> 01:04:09,370
But thank you out there, Mayor, for doing that for us, for our kids.

651
01:04:09,490 --> 01:04:11,650
That was for our kids and we don't pay for that.

652
01:04:17,000 --> 01:04:22,220
Okay, so this is again as a high-level summary of the three funds that require the board

653
01:04:22,220 --> 01:04:24,120
of managers to adopt the budget.

654
01:04:24,520 --> 01:04:29,000
It's the general operating fund, the debt service fund, and then our food service fund.

655
01:04:29,400 --> 01:04:36,300
If you look at the general operating fund, the projected revenue for next year is 854.2, and

656
01:04:36,300 --> 01:04:47,340
projected expenditures is 944 leaving a deficit of 49.8. I want to pause here and

657
01:04:47,340 --> 01:04:53,560
just thank the team, my colleagues on cabinet, my staff, a couple of them are here tonight.

658
01:04:54,860 --> 01:04:59,960
Just a week or so ago that number was considerably higher. And we've done

659
01:05:00,000 --> 01:05:09,980
And significant work in trying to get that to a place, you know, that is, is, is presentable, basically.

660
01:05:10,920 --> 01:05:24,880
There is still a lot of work to do. As Dr. Lakota said, we are still working hard. As late as today, I've had, you know, items brought to, to my office to say that here's some more reductions that we can make.

661
01:05:24,880 --> 01:05:34,920
And again, I go back to the pillars, when we reduce that, it is money that we're using and spending on our students to help us get to where we need to be.

662
01:05:36,340 --> 01:05:45,880
The debt service fund and the food service fund are balanced budgets, and I'll share more information on what that deficit looks like.

663
01:05:48,860 --> 01:05:56,400
First, I want to talk about what that deficit does to our fund balance, and on this table,

664
01:05:56,520 --> 01:06:02,560
the table on the left, I'm going to start at the bottom with the 2425 audited fiscal

665
01:06:02,560 --> 01:06:03,320
year.

666
01:06:03,660 --> 01:06:12,100
We had $854 million in expenditures for that year, and we had an unassigned fund balance

667
01:06:12,100 --> 01:06:20,440
of 284 million, which was 33% of our expenditures and four months in operating.

668
01:06:21,700 --> 01:06:28,120
Move to current year, 2526, we're estimating where we think we're going to land with that

669
01:06:28,120 --> 01:06:37,100
being a $12.6 million deficit and expenditures of $878 million, our unassigned fund balance

670
01:06:37,100 --> 01:06:44,640
is going to drop to 271 or 31% of expenditures and 3.7 months of operating expenditures.

671
01:06:45,880 --> 01:06:53,380
Then, when we look at 2627, the budget we're proposing that has the $49.8 million deficit in it

672
01:06:53,380 --> 01:07:01,780
that creates a $904 million in expenditures, on a signed at 223 and 25% of our expenditures

673
01:07:02,380 --> 01:07:05,000
and 3 months of operating expenditures.

674
01:07:05,000 --> 01:07:09,240
So I want to stop there and refer to the first report.

675
01:07:09,460 --> 01:07:16,060
We talked about that a little bit where we are required to, there's an indicator on the

676
01:07:16,060 --> 01:07:21,100
first report that says, in a three-year period, you should not reduce your fund balance by

677
01:07:21,100 --> 01:07:22,640
more than 25%.

678
01:07:22,640 --> 01:07:28,240
With this deficit, we're getting really close to that indicator and not passing that indicator.

679
01:07:29,040 --> 01:07:34,600
So that's where I put the little warning sign in for us so that we know that we have worked

680
01:07:34,600 --> 01:07:41,900
do still to get that deficit and to right size our budget so that we don't get to that point.

681
01:07:43,660 --> 01:07:50,020
Yeah, that's I've asked to have some time in this slide. We've met a dozen times in the last week

682
01:07:50,620 --> 01:07:57,080
that yellow warning sign is very important. We are still spending more money than we get in,

683
01:07:57,180 --> 01:08:02,820
which is not a good place to be. I think that's common math. I know I'm a business major out of

684
01:08:02,820 --> 01:08:09,520
but that's not good math. It's just bad math. So once we get this past next week, the next

685
01:08:09,520 --> 01:08:16,420
day is when we start working on the following years, but much like the LSD coach was speaking of,

686
01:08:16,480 --> 01:08:21,600
and that gets you guys involved as well. We know we have some school closures. We know that

687
01:08:21,600 --> 01:08:27,660
we're probably going to be around 65 to 66,000 next year anywhere in between that,

688
01:08:27,660 --> 01:08:35,840
as about a $20 to $25 million drop in income, we have a lot of schools, we have a lot of

689
01:08:35,840 --> 01:08:40,220
schools with small numbers, students in them, we have a lot of capital repairs and okay,

690
01:08:40,440 --> 01:08:43,680
you've been doing this, Spencer has been doing an amazing job trying to keep everything going

691
01:08:43,680 --> 01:08:49,880
on that, we appreciate that. But this is just the beginning, we are going to, as soon as we're

692
01:08:49,880 --> 01:08:54,020
done next week, we have to start working on cutting some more at the end of the year and looking

693
01:08:54,020 --> 01:09:00,120
how we can combine our resources to where we're not spending money on kids we don't have.

694
01:09:00,620 --> 01:09:01,800
And that's what we're doing right now.

695
01:09:01,800 --> 01:09:03,700
We're spending a lot of money on kids we don't have.

696
01:09:03,880 --> 01:09:06,660
Let's take care of the ones we do have and we'll go from there.

697
01:09:07,400 --> 01:09:12,620
But we can't keep this and we gotta stop it and we will and we will but I need all of

698
01:09:12,620 --> 01:09:17,840
your help to be involved in that as it's going to be our project for next year while still

699
01:09:17,840 --> 01:09:19,000
increasing student achievement.

700
01:09:20,370 --> 01:09:27,170
So I won't go in detail on on fiscal year 27 and 28 are 2829.

701
01:09:27,690 --> 01:09:35,250
Basically, I wanted to illustrate to you what that would be if we continue to spend at the same rate that we're doing now at the same percent of expenditures.

702
01:09:35,930 --> 01:09:44,330
You can see where the unassigned and the chart on the right kind of shows you that, where our expenditures continue to increase.

703
01:09:44,330 --> 01:09:52,510
our fund balances decreasing as well on there and then the unassigned percentage is decreasing as well.

704
01:09:57,120 --> 01:09:59,960
So on the previous slide we talked about the assumption.

705
01:10:00,000 --> 01:10:25,600
Motion slide, I believe it was. We talked about the tax rate comparison. So I want to make sure that the board is aware that the actual for 2526, which is a 25 tax year, and the 2627, which is the proposed tax that we're doing for next year's budget, they're going to be the same rate until we get that MCR rate in late July early August.

706
01:10:27,780 --> 01:10:36,080
I also wanted to share with you the revenue comparison from the adopted budget of 2526 to the proposed budget.

707
01:10:36,840 --> 01:10:42,660
We see that we are increasing just to hear if you look at local revenue.

708
01:10:43,280 --> 01:10:47,940
Our state revenue is decreasing and so is our federal revenue.

709
01:10:48,180 --> 01:10:57,100
But overall we see a slight decrease from the amended budget of 862 to the proposed budget of 854.

710
01:10:57,100 --> 01:10:58,140
And

711
01:11:02,550 --> 01:11:09,610
on this slide, I wanted to share with the board some of the drivers and why we're seeing the $49 million deficit.

712
01:11:10,190 --> 01:11:14,830
On the left side of this slide, you can see these are the things that we're investing in.

713
01:11:15,150 --> 01:11:21,790
On the right side of this slide, you can see things that are somewhat outside of our control.

714
01:11:22,290 --> 01:11:28,370
Student enrollment, once we improve our academics, we can see that increase, I'm sure.

715
01:11:28,370 --> 01:11:33,590
operational cause when you look at utilities that's something that we deal with on a

716
01:11:33,590 --> 01:11:38,810
annual basis, we see increases there and then the recapture if student enrollment

717
01:11:38,810 --> 01:11:45,770
in clients declines and our taxable values increase that increases our recapture that

718
01:11:45,770 --> 01:11:50,030
we have to pay back to the state. On the left-hand side of the slide that's what we've

719
01:11:50,030 --> 01:11:54,850
been talking about and Dr. Solis and his team have been working on. The elevate model

720
01:11:54,850 --> 01:12:00,690
we're investing those dollars into the classroom so that we can see the results that we want to see

721
01:12:00,690 --> 01:12:07,510
with our students. Again, it's already been mentioned about the 5% pay raise for our classroom

722
01:12:07,510 --> 01:12:16,980
teachers and the 2% staff raise that includes principles and the love. That question.

723
01:12:18,020 --> 01:12:26,080
Who works out in right? I can ask questions. Dr. Lecato, where? Where? I think the

724
01:12:26,080 --> 01:12:32,620
So the increase to teachers, pay is awesome staff as well.

725
01:12:32,920 --> 01:12:37,220
What does that put us competitively, like with the districts that surround us, to make sure

726
01:12:37,220 --> 01:12:41,480
we're attracting quality folks for our kiddos.

727
01:12:41,840 --> 01:12:47,400
Based on the data as of this morning, and I looked this up, feeling that this was an important

728
01:12:47,400 --> 01:12:54,440
piece, we are second in teacher salary, scale, in this area only to Dallas.

729
01:12:55,280 --> 01:13:02,800
We are only set we're second for the classroom teachers which is good. Is that what you ask? Yes, so we

730
01:13:03,460 --> 01:13:13,700
We needed to be competitive and we are now competitive we were about 7th or 8th maybe 9th in this area when we were without that 5% to the teachers of the classroom

731
01:13:13,700 --> 01:13:19,400
So that was something I saw right away that in order to be competitive we had to get our teachers paid right and get them here

732
01:13:19,400 --> 01:13:23,640
So we're right behind Dallas. They got a little head start, but we're working on it

733
01:13:23,640 --> 01:13:25,100
We're working on it.

734
01:13:25,400 --> 01:13:25,740
Good.

735
01:13:26,080 --> 01:13:26,860
Follow up question.

736
01:13:28,820 --> 01:13:33,700
And so again, pay is one thing, what are we doing?

737
01:13:34,400 --> 01:13:36,320
You and your team as a district.

738
01:13:36,500 --> 01:13:40,860
What are you doing to attract them other than the pay?

739
01:13:41,960 --> 01:13:43,180
So there are other things that matter.

740
01:13:43,820 --> 01:13:47,060
So what are those things and are you guys doing?

741
01:13:47,660 --> 01:13:51,100
I think you hit a really good point when people are happy

742
01:13:51,100 --> 01:13:55,980
where they are, they'll drive a little farther when they're working for a boss they love.

743
01:13:56,740 --> 01:14:00,860
One of the things that we wanted to make sure of, and we will, contrary to what some people

744
01:14:00,860 --> 01:14:07,580
say, or you're hearing out there, just bad information, is when we see something going on in

745
01:14:07,580 --> 01:14:12,260
a classroom that's not great for kids, we're not coming after the teacher, that's leadership,

746
01:14:13,100 --> 01:14:16,180
that's them, that's us, that's who we work on.

747
01:14:16,700 --> 01:14:20,240
We want to make sure when teachers walk into classroom, they have all the equipment, everything

748
01:14:20,240 --> 01:14:25,060
they need and when they walk in they feel as though they're in partnership with the administration

749
01:14:25,060 --> 01:14:28,960
to make sure the teacher is learning. With more administration you also have a better

750
01:14:28,960 --> 01:14:33,740
environment for student learning. Sometimes especially in middle school students tend to be a

751
01:14:33,740 --> 01:14:38,760
little active or energetic shall we say that also reduces that and I think you saw some of that what

752
01:14:38,760 --> 01:14:43,800
we were doing. So we want to make sure they're in a safe environment and we'll talk about that coming up.

753
01:14:44,040 --> 01:14:48,500
I have some things I do want to talk to you in private because it's school safety and we don't talk

754
01:14:48,500 --> 01:14:52,940
that publicly. We want to make sure teachers feel like they're a partner with us. We want

755
01:14:52,940 --> 01:14:56,660
to make sure they're compensated. But most importantly, they have all the tools in front

756
01:14:56,660 --> 01:14:58,620
of them that make them successful.

757
01:15:01,650 --> 01:15:08,810
I had a quick question or I thought I read recently and if I'm bringing this out of the field and you're not prepared, you can just get back to me later.

758
01:15:09,970 --> 01:15:19,070
I read in the employee weekly newsletter that teachers are now with young children, can you talk on this?

759
01:15:20,490 --> 01:15:27,670
Yes, this is something that I was enjoyed as an administrator in South Florida for many, many years.

760
01:15:27,670 --> 01:15:31,990
We know that the cost of daycare is incredibly expensive.

761
01:15:32,650 --> 01:15:35,570
We also know that teachers, people aren't going to school.

762
01:15:35,750 --> 01:15:39,790
Kids aren't going to school for being teachers, but we want to encourage them to be in our teachers Academy,

763
01:15:40,330 --> 01:15:43,190
where they can acquire licensure for daycare workers.

764
01:15:43,710 --> 01:15:50,680
But also have our teachers and staff bring students their children to the campus at a significantly reduced cost.

765
01:15:51,440 --> 01:16:00,440
So, you know, I heard once a couple of years ago and I think it solves true today, it was cheaper for a teacher to stay home than pay the massive day care costs.

766
01:16:00,800 --> 01:16:01,840
Now they're with their child.

767
01:16:02,040 --> 01:16:02,660
It's not free.

768
01:16:03,020 --> 01:16:06,020
We don't lose money on it, but we're getting a couple things here.

769
01:16:06,060 --> 01:16:09,500
We're getting folks that want to be teachers seeing what it's like and really getting involved.

770
01:16:09,740 --> 01:16:17,020
And we're also getting the teachers who have families of the young men and women who want to see their kids and can afford to teach while still getting a pretty discount.

771
01:16:17,620 --> 01:16:23,440
Dr. Kushner did I capture everything there because you are leading that project. We have three pilots coming out next year already.

772
01:16:24,140 --> 01:16:27,600
Thank you rainwater. Correct.

773
01:16:29,600 --> 01:16:30,040
Sorry.

774
01:16:31,000 --> 01:16:31,980
It's great death in the record.

775
01:16:33,280 --> 01:16:37,100
We look like we're going to be able to have a fine support from someone.

776
01:16:38,040 --> 01:16:40,500
Because this is key, but we do want to go ahead.

777
01:16:40,500 --> 01:16:42,440
Thanks for the end of the report to all our scholars.

778
01:16:43,020 --> 01:16:44,080
Yeah, scratch that.

779
01:16:44,180 --> 01:16:45,720
No, I was the weather report. Appreciate that.

780
01:16:45,720 --> 01:16:47,840
Yeah, it's running down into the basement

781
01:16:47,840 --> 01:16:49,920
because apparently we're having basement issues again.

782
01:16:50,520 --> 01:16:53,340
So, yes, that is something we want to expand

783
01:16:53,340 --> 01:16:56,120
at all our high schools, and that's for all the folks there.

784
01:16:58,340 --> 01:16:58,700
Good afternoon.

785
01:16:59,780 --> 01:17:00,680
Good afternoon, Dr. Kushner.

786
01:17:00,740 --> 01:17:01,880
What I miss.

787
01:17:05,300 --> 01:17:06,720
Use your cafeteria voice, sir.

788
01:17:06,900 --> 01:17:07,200
A

789
01:17:20,060 --> 01:17:22,240
three programs, it's open additional seats

790
01:17:22,240 --> 01:17:25,800
because we have approximately 400 pre-case students

791
01:17:25,800 --> 01:17:26,980
that are on the waiting list

792
01:17:26,980 --> 01:17:29,240
that want to join one of our programs.

793
01:17:29,900 --> 01:17:41,200
So that would help with that process, but in addition, we just looked at our internal process that was in place in some of our internal procedures with how we assign free case seats.

794
01:17:41,460 --> 01:17:51,680
So we've opened up additional seats for pre-K that we're going to be announcing this week to those families to open additional seats that they were just waiting in Limbo to see if they had a seat for pre-K-3.

795
01:17:52,480 --> 01:17:57,100
So through our school choice office, we've opened approximately 225 more seats.

796
01:17:58,160 --> 01:18:04,820
And that's kind of what I was eluding to or thinking about was the idea that this teacher

797
01:18:04,820 --> 01:18:10,880
can apply, and then you do apply, and go through the process, but that their child could

798
01:18:10,880 --> 01:18:13,720
go to pre-K-3 at their campus.

799
01:18:14,220 --> 01:18:20,100
So they could do that, or historically there was a procedure in our current Fort Worth

800
01:18:20,100 --> 01:18:25,980
ISD policy that required them to live in the pyramid, and that was a barrier for our families.

801
01:18:25,980 --> 01:18:28,820
So we've looked at eliminating that as one of the requirements.

802
01:18:29,480 --> 01:18:35,100
Yeah, that is a internal process, and he came to me two days ago, and I said get rid of it.

803
01:18:35,460 --> 01:18:36,420
We need to make sure we're accessible.

804
01:18:36,680 --> 01:18:42,260
Now, keep in mind, our student teachers in there are teaching children to read at that time.

805
01:18:42,780 --> 01:18:45,280
It's not just daycare, it's teaching them to read.

806
01:18:45,420 --> 01:18:49,280
So when they get to third grade, that third grade teachers in scramble and trying to teach them to read.

807
01:18:49,360 --> 01:18:51,120
Right, early literacy is huge.

808
01:18:51,120 --> 01:18:58,560
Okay. I mean, that is a huge, as a parent or a teacher that's a huge perk. That would drop me to the district.

809
01:19:01,300 --> 01:19:13,580
Dr. Lakada, we look at this chart key drivers at the budget deficit and on the left side, those are investments that the district is making to improve student outcomes.

810
01:19:13,580 --> 01:19:30,360
So those are additions to the budget, but as Dr. Moss talked earlier on page 10, the elephant in the room, the big driver of the deficit is failure to align staffing and resources to student enrollment.

811
01:19:31,920 --> 01:19:42,560
And I understand you're going to continue to make the investments that you show on page 13 on the left hand side.

812
01:19:42,560 --> 01:19:53,580
But our long term goal is to align our expenditures and staffing to the current student population.

813
01:19:54,120 --> 01:19:58,360
That's the driver of the budget deficit long term.

814
01:19:58,540 --> 01:19:59,960
And we have to face up at that very...

815
01:20:00,000 --> 01:20:01,180
Very hard reality.

816
01:20:03,850 --> 01:20:10,890
Yeah, coming into a deficit, there's hard choices. We have make hard choices, difficult choices.

817
01:20:11,430 --> 01:20:16,790
And we always look at kids as a last option of taking from them, which we're not. We're actually adding to them.

818
01:20:17,190 --> 01:20:26,190
There were a couple of days, probably about an hour and a half ago, I needed to put on a striped referee shirt and get a whistle between cabinet members over cutting and what was going on.

819
01:20:26,190 --> 01:20:27,290
But we got there.

820
01:20:27,290 --> 01:20:28,790
We got where we wanted to be.

821
01:20:29,390 --> 01:20:32,810
We know that there's going to be incurred expenses next year that we didn't think of,

822
01:20:32,810 --> 01:20:34,110
that we may need to replace.

823
01:20:35,130 --> 01:20:36,410
But it's not easy.

824
01:20:36,690 --> 01:20:40,170
It's not a popularity contest when you're cutting budgets and you're cutting positions

825
01:20:40,170 --> 01:20:45,210
and you're trying to make the budget match for kids and, you know, it's difficult, but it's

826
01:20:45,210 --> 01:20:45,930
the right thing to do.

827
01:20:46,230 --> 01:20:47,790
It is the right thing to do.

828
01:20:49,130 --> 01:20:49,310
Really?

829
01:20:49,530 --> 01:20:50,530
I was going to follow up.

830
01:20:51,070 --> 01:20:54,970
Pete, my thought was along with yours, but I think the investments were making

831
01:20:54,970 --> 01:20:58,810
I think it would kind of be short-term and you wouldn't say long-term, you know, more long-term.

832
01:20:59,270 --> 01:21:02,170
In the short-term, I think investment is in the right thing we need to do.

833
01:21:02,230 --> 01:21:05,750
And so hats off to you and the staff for doing that and the cuts you're looking at.

834
01:21:06,190 --> 01:21:09,690
But my question is more along the lines of, as we look out long-term,

835
01:21:09,930 --> 01:21:14,270
the elephant in the room is the staffing to the student population is, is that what?

836
01:21:14,350 --> 01:21:20,350
We have facilities and to facilitate many thousands of more students than we actually have.

837
01:21:20,850 --> 01:21:23,970
So can you speak to what we're doing as district to look at?

838
01:21:23,970 --> 01:21:28,510
maybe stabbing ratios that are working in other major districts that are operating on a balanced

839
01:21:28,510 --> 01:21:32,990
budget and just what that data may look like and I know this is a long term, the longer

840
01:21:32,990 --> 01:21:35,890
time of study and look at the data, but what are we thinking on that front?

841
01:21:37,090 --> 01:21:41,190
That is the number one question we'll be starting with next week, but I want to start with

842
01:21:41,190 --> 01:21:41,570
the first one.

843
01:21:41,570 --> 01:21:45,230
I do want to remind everybody, although we've been only many of us have been here 70

844
01:21:45,230 --> 01:21:46,210
eight days.

845
01:21:46,810 --> 01:21:49,570
Ms. Moss has only been here since December, correct?

846
01:21:51,690 --> 01:22:02,950
January 12th. So we got some newbies here. I've already started looking at some things and I want to thank Mr. Spencer for this because she's already reconvening the school

847
01:22:02,950 --> 01:22:11,530
consolidation team that we had over the last few years and you did an amazing job, previous administration did a good job of getting this done, but have we done enough.

848
01:22:11,530 --> 01:22:17,730
are we doing enough, we've got a couple elementary schools that are within close range and

849
01:22:17,730 --> 01:22:22,330
they're all in 200-300, that's really tough to staff because now you're talking about a couple

850
01:22:22,330 --> 01:22:27,870
guidance counselors, a couple administrators, a cafeteria staff, a custodial staff, and keeping

851
01:22:27,870 --> 01:22:28,390
the lights on.

852
01:22:28,950 --> 01:22:33,330
So those are tough decisions too so we're reconvening that right away, we're going to confirm

853
01:22:33,330 --> 01:22:35,970
for a meeting, probably in a month or two, is that correct Mr. Spencer?

854
01:22:36,730 --> 01:22:37,170
Yes.

855
01:22:37,690 --> 01:22:41,510
So we are ahead of that, but that's some of the things we want to have table for

856
01:22:41,510 --> 01:22:44,170
for this group here to start working on.

857
01:22:44,290 --> 01:22:45,690
So you guys don't have just a blank slate.

858
01:22:45,770 --> 01:22:47,250
You have some ideas of where we're going

859
01:22:47,250 --> 01:22:48,130
and what we can think of.

860
01:22:48,750 --> 01:22:49,950
But yeah, we're going to have to continue

861
01:22:49,950 --> 01:22:51,590
with what you're talking about.

862
01:22:51,990 --> 01:22:54,890
Just real quickly, Dr. Lakata, on the consolidation

863
01:22:54,890 --> 01:22:58,730
in addition to the budget savings,

864
01:22:59,690 --> 01:23:01,910
combining skills also give you the opportunity

865
01:23:02,630 --> 01:23:06,870
to provide more resources to the children.

866
01:23:06,890 --> 01:23:08,790
When you have 600 under one roof,

867
01:23:08,790 --> 01:23:13,850
opposed to 200 under three groups, as I recall.

868
01:23:14,050 --> 01:23:19,410
Did you talk to the advantages of that from the student experience standpoint?

869
01:23:20,910 --> 01:23:24,090
As a high school principal, there's a or a middle school principal, and I'll venture

870
01:23:24,090 --> 01:23:25,990
school principal, there's magic numbers we call it.

871
01:23:26,150 --> 01:23:28,510
Magic number for a high school is 2,200.

872
01:23:28,850 --> 01:23:34,230
2,200 gave you the right number of students where you had every program you could possibly

873
01:23:34,230 --> 01:23:38,630
want without overcrowding your school, manageable number, because you didn't get another AP to

874
01:23:38,630 --> 01:23:39,430
you with three grand.

875
01:23:40,270 --> 01:23:44,330
So these numbers aren't applicable here, but there are magic numbers.

876
01:23:44,770 --> 01:23:51,070
But when you had 2,200 students in that high school, you knew you could offer every AP,

877
01:23:51,070 --> 01:23:54,350
Calc, A, B, C, you know, you could offer biology.

878
01:23:54,550 --> 01:24:00,350
All the AP courses, all the A's courses, all the CTE courses, other than Votec.

879
01:24:01,050 --> 01:24:06,390
And that's that goes the same with middle schools and we want to integrate more CT programs in the middle school.

880
01:24:06,990 --> 01:24:13,410
We are looking at other opportunities. There's three buckets, remember? I'm only making this as a recommendation, but the three buckets of schools is,

881
01:24:13,870 --> 01:24:20,790
do we sell the land, yes, do we reconstitute the school for different opportunities where there are adult ed center, maybe another vocational center.

882
01:24:21,130 --> 01:24:28,690
And the third one is obviously to get back to the community, that we're losing money, but we can help the community with either housing or a civic center or a recreation center.

883
01:24:28,690 --> 01:24:34,730
So those three buckets, keeping them balanced is important because we are going to, we're going

884
01:24:34,730 --> 01:24:37,870
to acquire some more properties that are going to be in that limbo.

885
01:24:38,110 --> 01:24:42,270
We have the properties, but we have to balance that because it is taxpayer money, it

886
01:24:42,270 --> 01:24:45,410
is taxpayer property, but we can't take a deficit loss on this.

887
01:24:45,530 --> 01:24:49,550
So we have to figure that out, and that is the group, and this group here, we have to

888
01:24:49,550 --> 01:24:53,750
channel that and direct that because it's very important that we, you don't get the cell property

889
01:24:53,750 --> 01:24:54,150
twice.

890
01:24:54,650 --> 01:24:55,390
Once it's gone, it's gone.

891
01:24:55,410 --> 01:24:56,470
So we got to figure that out.

892
01:24:56,470 --> 01:24:59,630
So it's looking forward to your help on that.

893
01:24:59,650 --> 01:24:59,970
I know my-

894
01:25:00,000 --> 01:25:06,760
My experience has been good, but I really want to hear from the people that grew up here. I know I'm a resident now. I'm a taxpayer resident.

895
01:25:08,920 --> 01:25:16,000
Even have my license tags by now, too. But I need the folks that have been here for a while to help me guide me on that. So we have a historic perspective.

896
01:25:20,550 --> 01:25:31,950
Thank you. Just a couple more slides here. I wanted to just point out some of the key budget reductions we've done. Again, you talked about the campus closures. We've saw savings of approximately 15 million there.

897
01:25:31,950 --> 01:25:36,770
our vacant positions that we closed, the work that the team has been doing

898
01:25:36,770 --> 01:25:42,210
twice about 10.6 million, we've done some reorganizations in our departments

899
01:25:42,210 --> 01:25:50,950
of about 8 million expenditure reductions again, our vacancy factor of 25 million

900
01:25:50,950 --> 01:25:57,830
and unspent funds, those unspent funds, I kind of want to elaborate on that to say,

901
01:25:57,830 --> 01:26:07,370
When we looked at the 2526 budget and there were line items that had not been spent $0 for spent in 2526.

902
01:26:08,110 --> 01:26:11,330
So what we did was we reduced that for 2627.

903
01:26:11,730 --> 01:26:18,670
So that's where you see those unspent funds that helped us in reducing some of the 27 budget as well.

904
01:26:21,280 --> 01:26:26,760
And then my final slide here is just basically going over again the next steps for the Board of Managers.

905
01:26:26,760 --> 01:26:37,920
We will publish the notice of hearing on June the 12th and our public hearing is actually scheduled for June 23rd at

906
01:26:37,920 --> 01:26:46,980
At that same meeting, the board will adopt the budget and the tax rate adoption will become later to you in September.

907
01:26:50,730 --> 01:26:55,490
And that concludes what I present it for you tonight. I'm glad to answer any questions.

908
01:26:56,190 --> 01:27:00,030
I think it's fair to say that there might be some more adjustments before we present.

909
01:27:00,230 --> 01:27:01,650
This is the bulk of it.

910
01:27:01,930 --> 01:27:05,530
The adjustments more than likely will all be to reduce the budget.

911
01:27:05,790 --> 01:27:14,390
And if we can find some to increase all non-class from teachers a little bit more, we will.

912
01:27:14,430 --> 01:27:14,990
We will.

913
01:27:15,070 --> 01:27:15,990
I think that's an investment.

914
01:27:16,270 --> 01:27:17,090
We need bus drivers.

915
01:27:17,410 --> 01:27:23,350
We need all sorts of folks and they need to be paid because it's not cheap out there.

916
01:27:23,350 --> 01:27:26,810
So, this is an emphasis on making sure our money is being spent.

917
01:27:26,870 --> 01:27:28,190
We have a lot of work to do.

918
01:27:28,290 --> 01:27:30,390
This is not something you fix in 78 days.

919
01:27:31,050 --> 01:27:32,170
It takes time.

920
01:27:32,170 --> 01:27:33,710
It takes time to move children.

921
01:27:34,310 --> 01:27:40,030
You can't just make massive gains all the time, but you have systems and processes in place

922
01:27:40,030 --> 01:27:44,610
and having these extra three months and going through challenging times and making some

923
01:27:44,610 --> 01:27:49,190
big hard decisions, I wouldn't have it any other way right now because now we are set.

924
01:27:49,190 --> 01:27:56,190
Today, we had a meeting that was just so far in advance of what most school districts are doing and it was run by

925
01:27:57,650 --> 01:28:01,370
Dr. Kushner and Dr. Soly's about the opening of schools

926
01:28:01,370 --> 01:28:08,650
We have an entire spreadsheet every department cross functional looking at what every school needs, how many vacancies

927
01:28:09,190 --> 01:28:14,170
What work orders are in there everything from top to bottom and when page by page for every school

928
01:28:14,170 --> 01:28:17,170
We are way ahead of the game right now and what we're doing

929
01:28:17,170 --> 01:28:21,530
But doesn't mean we won't be scrambling a week before the school year, because that's just standard.

930
01:28:22,450 --> 01:28:27,430
But we are now able to be in front of the ball instead of, you know, on top of it or behind it.

931
01:28:27,430 --> 01:28:32,010
So I'm excited by this. It was a really good meeting to see all the departments and everyone in there.

932
01:28:32,050 --> 01:28:35,430
Ready for starting of school next year, ready to go first day.

933
01:28:35,510 --> 01:28:40,630
Because if we're telling the kids and teachers first day means first day learning, we need to provide that for them.

934
01:28:40,650 --> 01:28:41,790
And we have to be the example.

935
01:28:42,630 --> 01:28:49,610
The one last thing Dr. Lakada that I will add is as far as the proposed budget by statute.

936
01:28:49,650 --> 01:28:54,090
We have to have that proposed and posted on the website by the 19th.

937
01:28:54,310 --> 01:29:04,250
So we'll do some more work over the next few days to try to reduce that and we'll give you what that final proposed budget is prior to posting it on the district website.

938
01:29:04,250 --> 01:29:04,250
I'm

939
01:29:07,580 --> 01:29:09,620
handing it over to you, sir.

940
01:29:09,880 --> 01:29:11,000
Unless there's any more questions?

941
01:29:12,340 --> 01:29:15,320
This concludes the reports for tonight's meeting.

942
01:29:15,840 --> 01:29:20,980
I'd like to acknowledge that Mr. IDA is in attendance.

943
01:29:21,420 --> 01:29:23,460
I'm unable to count you in attendance when I'm

944
01:29:23,460 --> 01:29:24,520
read the role earlier.

945
01:29:26,640 --> 01:29:27,820
I want to thank the staff.

946
01:29:27,900 --> 01:29:32,220
I want to thank Dr. Moss for her excellent work

947
01:29:33,040 --> 01:29:35,160
and the staff overall.

948
01:29:36,600 --> 01:29:44,740
This is a billion-dollar budget. It has been noted by some. It takes a while to redirect

949
01:29:44,740 --> 01:29:52,080
a billion-dollar budget. But with this budget, you've begun. You've started aligning the

950
01:29:52,080 --> 01:29:59,920
budget. You've started aligning the incentives focused on student outcomes. And this

951
01:30:00,000 --> 01:30:03,480
This is a very important first step, and it's a hard first step.

952
01:30:05,740 --> 01:30:13,940
And you've been here, we've been here, but 74 days, so much had to be done by May 10th, and

953
01:30:13,940 --> 01:30:22,560
now we're looking to 2627, and this is a budget that's making investments in improving student outcomes.

954
01:30:22,980 --> 01:30:28,080
That's what we're all about. That's what every member of this board is here for, and I know everybody on this

955
01:30:28,080 --> 01:30:34,560
the same. So, want to commend the staff, commend you, Dr. Lakota, for turning this ship.

956
01:30:35,680 --> 01:30:39,780
This concludes the items on the agenda for tonight's workshop. I'd like to close

957
01:30:39,780 --> 01:30:45,260
about thanking the community members who joined us this evening. Always appreciate your participation

958
01:30:45,260 --> 01:30:52,820
in the process. As there is no further business, the time is 624 pm and this workshop is adjourned.