>> calling this meeting to order, please stand for the pledge. >> I pledge allegiance toll flag of the united states of america and to the republic for
which it stands, one nation, under god indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
>> checking in for public comment. We do not have any currently. So moving on to the next item and also just to note as we have changed roles.
just want to reenforce where we stand as far as public comment. So before, I would like to take
a moment to review our proceedings in general. If you plan to speak on a
posted agenda item, you should have registered electronically using the computer in the back
of the room. Registration closes 5 minutes before the meeting begins.
each speaker is allotted up to three minutes and may speak only once on the same topic.
please always direct the comments to the board as a whole. We also ask that all remarks remain respectful. Statement that's are
threatening, illegal obscene or vulgar are not permitted. It's my responsibility to
enforce these proceedings. This may include stopping the speaker if comments become
repetitive or fall outside of these guidelines. Thank you.
3.01 open. The 3.02. Is do have a motion to approve
the board of finance officers. >> move to appoint the finance officers as presented.
>> all those in favor say aye. >> aye. >> those opposed says nay.
passes. I'll now close discussion and call the question which we have
already done. All those in favor, we passed. Moving on to 3.03 board
investment and indicators. Presentation by tim brown. >> good evening, members of the board, this is our annual finance update meet ing. Part of the requirement from
the do-ab group. So sif a short presentation for you today to go over some of
the details as our statutetory require. Jeff if you don't mind bringing
up the presentation, that will be great. You okay just sliding through. Thank you so much. So part of the requirement of the annual board of finance is
to go over the investments, any interest that we've earned and then take a financial place.
I'll start with the investments. All of our money is held at credit weis credit union which
does earn a interest rate. That is not all money that goes into the education fund.
as of course money for projects or g.o.bonds those have to live in the funds by rule.
so all other liquid assets, do earn interest and that money goes into the education fund.
so in 2025, we were fnt to deposit 4.6 million dollars from those financial funds held
at every weis credit union. You can see as our interest rate is tied to the federal
interest rate, it did drop, it is still very attractive interest rate.
one popular option is trust indiana, I pulled it today and it's about 3.6 percent.
today's rate is 4.24 so still very attractive rate that's why we maintain our funds in that
fund. Part of the requirement is also to disclosure annual service
charges. You can imagine the number of transactions that go into the
credit union, so just shy of 40,000 of annual service charges when you net that out,
there is still a significant gain with where we're housing them.
another requirement is to list the financial institutions if we wanted to receive another
additional quote. We're comfortable. We don't intend to seek those
out as we're comfortable where we are. The meat of what I want to
present is coming from the distress do-ab these are the fiscal indicators that we're
required to report. So this came into law five or six years ago, where school
districts were required to layout their finances. I will tell you a flaw in what
I'm going to present, this is stuff that ends in calendar 2024. This is old stuff so. What I'm going to do is spend a little time on what I'll call the old
stuff and meet the statutory requirement and spend more time in the 2025 that paints the
picture of where we are today. So everything that I'm going to show you, ends, at least
initially before the break at the end of the calendar 2024. So when it talks about our
daily attendance, that's the 24-25 school year. Of course we're in the middle
of the 25-26, I'll highlight when I go into the presentation. We're talking about the year
worth of data here. Just some basic information from the 24-25 school year.
you see our student count, over 20,000 students. Our assessed value in the
population in our community. Moving to the first of many slides and again do-ab is the
group that puts these out. These are readily available. There is a written report that
is provided with today's presentation and the link you can search the school district
and see all of these reports. Click on the bars and the data and see that information.
but what I poipt out you see a steady decline on the information.
there is a steady decline including into the 24-25 which is on the screen but also the
25-26 school year. A we talked before, we're down to 400 students of october 2024
to fall count of october 2025. I hope to report some good news the next time we get together
with the second count hoping that number is a little higher than it was back in october but
that is yet to be determined. No new news, you heard me say this many times.
the next is a multi color graph and again if you go to the other site, you can have other
bars but I've isolated the main funds which is education operations, operating
referendum and rainy day. What you're going to see here is, the fund balance at the end
of calendar year. And so you see some rising bars there in orange in particular
which is the education fund. It was green before, cause it used to be the general fund so
is the green translates to orange if that's not confusing enough. And you see a big increase in 23-24 and I want to make sure you hear me talk about this.
if you hear at the end of the 23-24 school year, we had 29 million that should have been
paid out of the education fund but there were no appropriation to see do that and the team
that was here at the time under the leadership and partnership of mr. Maybies and sesly
current director of business, they spent hours and days really, getting this right and
closing the books in 2023 in march and april of 24. So what that looks like is an
influx of finances that really should have been expenses but then got pulled into other
funds to be able to just close the books. Then at the end of 2024, a cup
of things happen. One of those things is, we're still reeling from those
actions that have taken place before. But then we get a dump of 2.3
million dollars into the education fund that used to be curricular materials.
all schools were required to put that at the education fund. So that looks like an increase
revenue when in reality it was money that was allocated for curricular materials.
the other thing that happened at the end of 2024, we took a pause in all insurance at the
end of the december because we were waiting on the collective agreement and have open
enrollment. So roughly $200 in insurance premium expenses didn't come
out at the end of 24. There is a couple of reasons why that bar is a little bit
higher. There is a nice increase in the operation and a big part of na
is that taxable bond that we use to pay our bus leases. So one of the things that I had
done when I first arrived was to get permission to do that. And that helped to get a little
bit of support that the operation fund desperately needed.
you see that dark tealish line, that is is the lowest it has been in the ten years that are
on the page here. Keeping, going ahead, is should say, these are two debt service
fund, debt service exempt and traditional debt service, not a lot to report here.
cash is pretty stable. Obviously we keep a little cash to support the debt payment
that's we have to make. >> can I just a quick question with the last comment you made
with the bonds. So between 23 and 24 you see that's really really tiny in 23
and then large in 24, you're saying that is because we accepted a bond?
>> yes, in 2024, we sold a taxable bond to pay for previous bus expenses,
essentially to replenish the operation fund and that's why you see is the jump from the
short bar to the lower bar in 24. >> thank you for that clarity.
>> no problem. One more jeff, would be great. Thank you so much. This graph shows the comparison of revenue versus expenses for the entire year.
green being revenue, blue being expenses, the bar that you see in the middle is overall cash
balance of all funds and the, the yellow bar is the deficit or surplus.
when we look at this, there is a little bit of excitement thinking wow, in 2024, there
was a surplus at the end of the year which is a bit of positive new but the reality is s we
know woo is coming in 2025. As we'll talk about that surplus did replenishes and
the other goes away. So I want to be clear that what I talked about, looking at
december premium holiday essential, those are all factors that makes this look
artificial better than it really is. And again, what is much more important is to look at 2025 which we'll talk about in a moment.
ed next graph, if we did not receive any revenue, we would be able to pay 29 percent of
the bills. Just another metric how stable your funds are and the
necessary to pill your bills. It's not likely that we would never just get revenue even in
difficult times but this is a metric that is used to show that.
essentially comparing balance. And last but not least on the ending of 2024s these are our
various sources of revenue. The biggest line is the blue color there h that's our state
dollars, that's tuition support. The property tax, that you see in kind I'll call it a mauve
color, these are our biggest sources. Referendum and blue and you see
debt in green and then some other sources of revenue like textbooks, pretty consistent.
obviously an increase overall. But what I call sections, and those stay relatively similar
as you go through. And then actually one more, I'm so sorry.
this is all about our operating referendum and this is an interesting graph for us,
because remember in 2024 that was the first year we had our new rate. So the amount of revenue that we had coming in to the operating referendum fund was
different than it was in 2024. And what you see in yellow was the percent of all over revenue
that this fund provides. So in 2024 it was down to 3.6 percent which is the lowest
that it had been in 2016. That dropped in rate overall and then the actual penny did
impact the amount of revenue that came in to the operating referendum fund.
any comments about the ending of 2024? Questions there before I talk
about 2025? Great thank you so much. So, I think this is just
valuable portion of the discussion as any. And this is not part of the
do-ab requirement but this paints the picture of where we're at right now.
if take a look at the next slide. I want to explain what we have
here, on the left hand side, that access represents the revenue and expenses for the
six years that it are on the graph so. Whether it goes from negative 25 million to 175
million that represents the green and blue. The ending cash is the darker
blue line and it's represented with the right-hand access. So the next three
representations we're going to look at, use this same sort of strategy.
so what we talked about in 2024, that the education fund, ending cash was close in this
case of a bit of a surplus in 2024, look what really happened in 2025.
and this is the part that we want fob very aware of. So at the end of 2025, we spent
a little over 3 million dollars in our cash balance. So we dipped into our savings,
said in a simple way. In addition to that, what is not incorporated here is is the
little note that you see at the bottom. We have over 1.4 million
dollars in incumbrance, that's the high number. And the reason is we had some
textbook adoption things that took place in 2025 and without interest we differed it to a
two-year plan. So there is a million dollars in textbook expense that's we
know we are going to pay that are encumbered in the books. So if you take the a little
over a million and 1.4 that is money that is going to go out the door, we are, we are
essentially committed to spending a little over 4.5 million in cash in 2025.
in 2026, now, we go out to a more of prediction this is based on budget.
2025 are actual, those books are done. This is really what happened. In 2026, we're looking at projected budget amounts, you can see the gap between revenue
and expenses gets quite a bit wider and that cash balance projection dips down.
our goal is to try to under spend the budget. We were spot on with what we
predicted in 2025, we sure hope so under spend in 2026 but if we don't, you can see what
happens in that cash balance. >> excuse me, before you go further, can you clarify the
4.5 million. I didn't grasp that very well. >> yeah, a lot of numbers.
so to your point, I have a lot of numbers. I have another slide, with more
numbers and if that summarizes that, and after that, if it does not clarify, I'll explain.
>> okay, thank you. >> moving ahead to the referendum, same thing happened.
you see a little bit in 2024 what we just reported expenses and revenue were pretty close
together. But in 2025, real data, we did over spend our cash by just shy of a million dollars, 987,000. So there is a deficit and we've been talking about this, a
deficit in 2025 projected in 2026. Another 1.4 million if we
entirely spend the referendum budget that we would be in deficit.
so spending down that cash. This is not new information, but now it's confirmed, it's
codified in 2025 what really happened and then in 2026 what is predicted to happen.
>> okay, so I'm going to ask again, then, why did we over spend?
like you just said, we were in the deficit, how do we over spend if we don't have that
money to spend? How do we spend that? >> so let me clarify.
we have the money to spend, think of a check anding saving account, we used our checking
and started to use the savings account. We're eating into that for now.
we planned the budget within the year and stayed within the budget but it's eating into our
savings account. >> so these are expenses we had to pay, but because it was not
in our so-called quote, checking account, we still paid. >> and in our world, that lives
in one fund but I'm want to make it relatable. To use your term, yeah.
>> thank you. >> sliding over to the operating slide, operations
fund, same thing you see happen, you see that big increase in 2024, that was
taxable bond. Then you get into 2025, we over spent the operation fund as
well. So there is a deficit and we talked about this a little while. So that blue line, starts to dip.
we're really impacting the cash that we have on hand. In 2026, again we're talking
more predictions but this is based on the real budget order. We're expected to spend over
six million dollars in cash in our 2026 budget if we expend it. Our goal is to always under
spend the budget but the reality is, times sometimes it's not possible.
so I think the take away yes we talked about in 2024 but in 2025, we over spent and were
projected to do so at a more accelerated rate in 2026. So ms. Tomas's question, I
think the next slide sums that up pretty well. So let's talk the full year in
review in 2025. So you see at the beginning of the 2025, our cash balance in
education was a little over--at the end of the year. We were down to 22.6 million.
I talked about those incumbrance, the purchase, money is going to go out the
door, when you combine that in truly available cash at the end of this calendar year is a
little over 21 million dollars. So said differently, we spent 4.5 million of our savings
account in 2025 in the education fund. We knew we were spending cash, we talked about the did lemma of spending cash and the things we need today do to right-size
this, the reality is that's exactly what happened. The real spend is like 3.1 but
when you put the incumbrances in, which are commitment we were a deficit of 4.5 million
dollars. Does that help? >> yes, it does partly.
so my next question and sorry to be so blunt, but why are we spending money that we don't
have? In other words, I understand if we have a gas bill, we have to
pay the gas bill. Can you be a little bit more clarify or break down what are
some of these quote essentials that we are locking ourselves into?
and why are we not looking to say we're not going to have debt, right?
is it all employment? Is it other areas? Is it buses? Is it food? Do you see what I'm saying. >> yeah.
>> what is it that is causing us to be over spent? >> yeah.
so one thing that I want to clarify, we do have the money but we're spend iting down.
I want to distinguish between the two. Not having money is --
~>> okay so are we at a three-month. >> we're not at a three-month
saving. >> that's why I'm saying, why are we dipping in so much that
we're spending money in our every day, and I understand that things are needed, I'm not
disputing that. What I'm disputing is what we're doing to not be in that
place? >> great question. So on the education, 93 percent
of the budget, on ot expense approximates in education are people.
salaries and benefits of people. And so when you look at what things have to be paid, or what
can you do, you start to make difficult decision to see cut people.
what funds the education fund? Number of students that attend our district.
so now we got a number of students dropping, revenue dropping and the challenges of
supporting all the employees and all the things that come a long with that. Obviously we're through a very difficult collective bargaining process.
that's people costs. So one of the challenges is managing people costs versus,
the revenue that comes along with that and when you see declining students, that's a
tough teeter totter to play back and forth. >> okay, and can you share what
the other percentage is, if it's--. >> so other things part of the
education funds, these are your supplies, some of your technology things, not
replacement of devices, that's is in a g.o.fund. But these are things connected
to the classroom, supply and just the operation of run aring the --
~>> and we're committed to these costs now and we're having to pay them and that's
why we're in a deficit going forward? >> in termds of staffing, yes,
we are exited to those. >> of course but the other costs. >> our budgets for school buildings are pretty small. >> okay.
>> so we're down to some bare essentials, supporting what we need to in the district.
it's not like we're eliminating programs and things like that. >> thank you for that.
>> yes, the essentials to run the instructional portion. >> thank you.
>> question, so if we're talking about in a deficit for education, let's also talk
about the operations fund because we're over two million dollars in deficit on operations fund. >> yeah, yeah. So if it's okay, we'll do
referendum do first and then go to operations. Great.
so referendum, at the end of the year 9.1, no incumbrances there, so we're not committing
in terms of a p.o.to a vendor here. So 9.1 million.
so you see a deficit just shy of a million dollars. So again, spending down the
referendum and cash balance. So ms. Thomas point p mostly teachers and as we talked about
five different buildings. The small portion was a security portion that we included as part of the passing of the referendum. And so, I really am glad ms.
schooley, you said that because there is been a transfer. This is a teeter totter so you
transfer more than one and more than one gets out of whack. That's the official term.
you transfer less and less out of whack. That's why we're trying to find
the balance and have done so in the last three years. Moving ahead to operations as
you mentioned, cash balance here, again 14 had the 4 at the end of the year, 12.8.
there are some incumbrances, real true available cash is just shy of 12 million dollars.
said differently, the deficit was just shy of 2.5 million. So you put those together in
terms of really available cash balances and our commitment to spend on those purchase those,
those incumbrances, we have over spent the 2025, let me say that differently, we have spent
down our cash balance by 8 billion dollars. We did not over spend the budget. We stayed within the budget we predicted, the budget because
those expenses really exist. >> and did you share, I apologize if you missed, what
our new cash balance is as of right now with that negative 8? >> so I'm looking at the three
main funds. If you go one slide, you can see the actual cash balance at
the end of 2025, that's the second line. The third, fourth line is truly
what is available in cash because we committed to that incumbrance line.
so to directly answer your question, 22.675 in education and scrolling down to
operations 12.8. >> so there is moneys there but that's what we are negative in.
that's what we spent down? >> yes. So think checking and savings
again. So we spent down two million. We still have 12 million there,
but that money obviously can go pretty quick. >> sure.
>> operations and average month is 5.6 million dollars so, you can say there is a couple of
months there, so that's a decent number until until you continue to spend the way we're
spending. >> your presenttion is informative, buzz I kept
hearing red, read, but we're in black. It's not great if we keep on going. But we are in the black on that number and same with each of
them, correct? >> we have money in the savings account but we're spending.
>> just want to make sure. >> and how do you determine how much you want to the cash
balance to be? >> good percentage is 15 percent that you want to
maintain. The scary part, if I had to use that term, two are connected to
senate bill 1 activities. The declining a v is going to impact operations, the
homestead credit that is right now split between debt and operations which will likely go
to all debt in 2027, that's a bill na is in hand right now. That's going to be impactful to
this. The other piece, the referendum, the money that we thought was coming to the referendum is not because of the av drop so while you may
have a cash balance that is appropriate there, the fear is how fast are we going to
deplete that with unknown a vs. >> not only the a v, but hasn't there been a cap on how much
the referendum funds will be used with taxes? >> it's all based on the rate
with that point 1995. The challenge is the a v is schedule today drop.
so what we thought we would get with 1.995 is not what we're going to get.
so this when this district went out and thought, av is going to continue to grow, now it's
going to be a drop in some cases of 3 or 4 or 5 percent. What av may be next year is and
mr. Schumaker is here who is going to talk about our g.o. Bonds it's still a little bit
of a guessing game. >> maybe is it on the property tax cap? Is there a cap there? That there is a certain amount? >> there is individual circuit
breakers. I'm not sure that's what? >> I could have sworn there was
a part of legislation that there was a cap that we can use. So obviously, misunderstood.
>> I think it's just capped by the rate that we've established to the voters.
>> all right, voters. >> can you also clarify. I noticed uz said that the
referendum the people was mostly teachers. >> yeah, so that's any great
question. That's any thing connected to the instruction buildings.
so that would be our teachers, all other schools are there. Our instructional assistances,
technology staff in the building. That would be our assistant
principal, deans, counseling anything connected to the instruction in the classroom
that lives in the education fund. >> okay, so where do central office? >> great question. >> anybody not directly
connected to the classroom, lives in the central office. Technology staff that are not
in the building, those folks live in operation. Just like maintenance does,
those folks that are critical to the needs of the school but not directly in the instruction
of students. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. So last slide on this presentation is looking ahead to 26.
we've already through the grass see that we are scheduled to continue to deplete our
reserves. So is the on going cost saving initiatives that are well in
place and continue to be a point of emphasis for our teams will be the ways that we spend
down or spend less in terms of cash but the reality is, we will still absolutely spend
down the cash balance in 2026. So when we look to, cuts of positions, I think that's going
to be an important piece here but it's not just that, it's the operation side as well.
I will say, maybe it's continue the right way to say it. The low hanging fruit.
meaning negotiation of contracts, work withing vendors, we're doing that daily
and crazy. And when we get a contract we're renegotiating.
the biggest cuts come in terms of people and they have a biggest impact but there is a
very different component with that. But will be necessary moving
ahead to 26-27. >> can I ask a quick question. >> sure.
>> about some of those costs saving initiatives. Is there a plan to have a task
force or committee to kind of gather more ideas around those initiatives?
>> yeah, we've definitely thrown that out and what that looks like.
I'll tell you our central office team is working aggressively in that space.
and making those, you know, conversations cuts decisions, a formal committee has not been
established to brings na all entities. I know that's something that the district has done in the past. It is not formally been
established at this point. >> any further questions or comments from the board?
>> just one more, I do know that, the teacher's association brought out a list of
suggestions, to the collective bargaining and that was not included in collective
bargaining is that something that is going to be reviewed during this look ahead? >> one of the things that was really sort of, realistic in that situation is many of those
things were actively in progress and taking place. Some are amazing suggestions
that are already in place and in the work. So to say that those would all
be evaluated and considered, 100 percent. We absolute slaoe did that the
minute we got it. But it was sort, I don't know affirming to be able to go down
the list and say, yep, yep, yep, yep, those things are happening.
the hardest part is it's not instant gratification, if we do a, tomorrow are--these are
things that take time. But to answer your question, absolutely. >> was that list ever shared publicly? Is that something that tht
public is able to see? Or is that through internal? >> I think it was protected in
the collective bargaining as a part of all the offers. I do believe it was later
published, you know, publicly with some folks that were shared.
but we, to my knowledge we didn't share it publicly. Yeah.
>> I'm not totally sure I remember saying, if we can get a copy if it was public.
>> yeah. >> moving on to 3.04. Resolution for authorization to
invest. Again, tim brown? >> we don't need to purchase a
cd, interest rates are lower. So we just want to give ourselves the flexible that if
we find a cd that makes sense, that's part of this meeting, that's a thing that the board
has an opportunity to do. We did not purchase a cd because it did not make sense
but that's something that we would need support in the case that we need it. >> do I have a motion to approve this item as presented? >> motion to approve as
presented. >> do I have a second? >> second.
>> any other question or comments from the board? Seeing that there is none--did
you have? Sorry. >> so this motion is for 6.02
and 6.03. >> we have not talked about those. >> we're still on 3.04. >> so this is 3.04? >> correct.
>> I have a question. Is there a cap cost for cd or no?
>> not necessarily, you're just given the authority that we would be able to use that as a
vehicle to make more interest dollars that we are making now. I do not anticipate that we
would do it. : >> thank you.
and the updates on the interest that is paid into the cd, how often will we receive those?
>> again, I don't think we'll need to, purchase a cd but if we do, we my keepser with cds,
you do not get monthly interest it's all available at the time it matures.
>> what withs the life of a cd that you're looking at, at least a year?
>> yeah. And not even, in terms of looking at that and seeing what
is available, no rate supported the rate that we're making now. I think we would consider you
know, all options this resolution, limits it to two years.
>> got it. Thank you. >> closing the item, all those
in favor say aye. >> aye. >> opposed say nay.
passes moving on to item 4, adjourn board of finances. Do I have a motion to adjourn
the board of finance meeting? >> motion to adjourn the board of finances meeting.
>> do I have a second. >> second. >> all those in favor of approving say aye. >> aye. >> opposed say nay.
passes, all in favor. Now opening up to the regular meeting, board compensation for
2026. >> yes, so just, level setting here for the board, during the
organizational meeting, you approved a 2000 stipend for all board members.
we just wanted codify the amount that would be provided for meeting. This is the state board of acts requirement that a board action take place in terms of meet
ing. I think historically, this is what you see before you is what
has been paid. The goal is to make sure that this is approved by the board.
>> can you clarify that there is been no changes so they know this is the typical amount for
a long time. >> like you, I'm not sure how long a time but this is the
time that has been provided for several years. >> so legislature has had.
>> 2014. >> this has been in place for over a decade.
but legislation has made changes so the board has opportunity to increase it.
but it's my understanding there is not bun board member that has asked to raise compensation
in any way, so this is something that has been in place for over a decade.
>> yes, and to be clear, my role is to be compliant with the account.
so I want to make sure that the amount is approved so when they audit us, we show this is what
you approved. >> it was not directed at you, it's just that there is been
conversation so I wanted it to be record that this is compensation for school board
members. >> I didn't take it that way. >> thank you. >> do I have a motion to approve this item as presented. >> motion to approve this
motion as presented. >> I second the motion. >> any questions or discussion
from the board? >> I would like to make a statement. As we know the financial situation of our school districts has been adverse
affected by various factors including a decline in student enrollment and changes in state
legislation. Our legislation that's worked to cut costs. I believe that all of us should do our part however small in decreasing costs to the
district. These efforts support our teachers and administration which in turn support our students. Therefore, I would like to make
a motion to amend the motion on the floor that changes the to 0 dollars for the year 2026.
>> okay, do we have a second? >> we just have a motion to amend, I'll second and then
we'll have a discussion and amendment >> >> correct. >> I'll second. >> any further discussion on
the amendment made? >> proposal is, we've already aproved a $2000 stipendand
you're motioning that we reduce our per meeting, the 112 and 62 dollars each time down to 0.
>> for the year 2026. >> okay. >> so I, I am going to say I
strongly disagree and a lot of our board members here put time and time again hours into the
school district. We may not always agree on certain things but there are
many things we don't get paid for and if you look at, I've served on the board for over
five years. And biannual salaries it's maybe $20 a day if that.
I for one, I feel that each one of our board members have worked hard and it's frivolous
amount of money that I think our time is important. So I would strongly recommend
leaving it as it is, we have not changed it since 2014 and I recommend that we keep it the
way it is. >> if you look at rough averages, we've got at least
one board meeting per month, a committee meeting per month, there is 7 of us, around 20,000
in total? I think so? And that would be just if we
have one, so this month we've had two, so 20,000 out of 143 million dollars budget.
frivolous? I don't know. 20,000. I did see some comments from the community today that it is, for a board meeting, we're paid
slightly more than a substitute teacher. We're asking everyone to
tighten their belts, maybe it's more symbolic, I'm a little bit torn.
but I don't know, are there other discussion. >> mr. Maipz, can you comment
on what you've seen other school districts do? >> it's a wide variety of
opportunities. This as a first board I've ever worked for that took per deum.
I don't know numbers it's based on legislation off of ips. >> and I do know all the school
districts, mount vernon, all of them have per meeting stipends and some are significantly
higher than ours. >> I think it's really interesting how this has never
been on agenda before and it's on the agenda tonight. And then suddenly, we have an
amendment to amend it. So I think that board members should take that under
advisement on how that has appeared. >> I also believe that if, we
are professionals and we're working with a student body of over 20,000 people, and a large
corporation, this is not even taking a scalpel to the budget. We have not taking increases,
there is time, gas, taken away from our families and our own work and the number of times
many of us work for free, because we care about the district.
it may be symbolic, but it's not helping the district. What we need to do is look
where we're having deficit like operations, like referendum, and start staking scalpels to
them. Especially with the vendors, you can save 20,000 with one
vendor. >> and I would like to amend that any board member have the
right if they choose, can forfeit their compensation and then you have that opportunity
and that would be absolutely fantastic, if that's something that the board member would
like to do per meeting or per month or per year that you do have the opportunity to forfeit
your compensation and that should be per board member decision if they choose to do
that. >> I do want to state for the record, this comes up every
year, because we do have to approve. Especially since the rate did
go up last year, we chose to not increase we choose to stay the same.
this comes up every sing sl year. So this is not unique to be on
the agenda. >> yeah, I remember that agenda item too.
there is item can do ips does, and decided that no, we deserve to be compensated.
I appreciate the discussion but like, dr. Albright, I saw some discussion in the community
today and you know, to hear that out and some concerned that, you know, we're making
too much, we're paying ourselves too much. So, I think it's good to
discuss at least. But it sounds like, I don't know I guess we'll vote and see.
but it's a significant amount. >> by doing some quick math, one meeting a month for 7 is
9408 and one committee meeting for 7 is 5208 which is total 14, 616.
again I would amend the amendment to say any board member would have the right to
forfeit their compensation if they so choose. >> and for the record, I think
that's fair to say. Sometimes we get in repetitive meetings and quick meet
approximatesing, many of us have done that. I think denise can attest that
sometimes we don't turn in everything, like when we were interviewing superintendents,
where we had to short meetings. Many of us did not turn those in for pay.
I appreciate that discussion. >> all right, so following up on the motion of the amendment
that was set from dr. Albright, stating that she wanted make the amendment to remove pay for
all meetings. Suzette, I know you mentioned that you wanted to make a
amendment to the amendment. But I think you need to make a motion.
but we vote on the first amendment first and then follow through. >> so if we're just voting if we approve the amendment. >> yes, that dr. Albright
brought to the table. I'm going to call the roll call. >> susan thomas to waive fees
for meetings for meetings for board members? >> no.
>> sarah? >> no. >> dr. Albright. >> yes. >> latricia. >> no.
>> ben. >> no. >> dawn. >> yes. >> yes. >> motion fails.
>> motion does not pass. >> so then I do not need an amendment.
>> okay. >> thank you. >> correct.
>> I would like to make a motion that if a board member choose to see waive their fees,
they are allowed to do so. Anyone want to second that motion.
>> that's just standard, it does not need to be a motion, you can just do that anytime,
it does not need--that can just happen. >> correct. >> thank you. All right so moving on. --
~>> we need to vote. >> oh, I'm sorry. So I would like to do a all
those in favor say aye. >> aye. >> those opposed says nay.
>> nay. >> passes. 6-1.
okay, moving on to 6.02, 2025 year-end budget transfers. Tim brown again.
>> thank you. This is just standard practice. So when we dedicate those items
to the year, we just have to adjust those. So you have 830 pages, this is
standard procedure, it does not impact money from one fund to the other.
we're not moving dollars, we're simply saying, we plan to spend x and y.
this is again standard procedure and you see the full list there attached.
>> can I have a motion to approve this item as presented? >> motion to approve as
presented. >> do I have a second? >> second. >> any questions or comments from the board? >> seeing that there is none,
closing discussion, all those in favor say aye. >> aye. >> those opposed say nay. Passes in all in favor. >> it's a night of finance,
right. >> yeah, exactly. Moving on to next item, 6.03,
tim brown. >> again, this is standard procedure for us.
remember dollars coming in for property tax funds, meetings and operation sxz referendum
come in in may and june and december. That does create some cash flow
challenges. It allows for temporary loans so we can transfer funds to
allow for cash flow so the fund does not dip below zero. Without having this
availability, we would have to seek out other sources that would have costs involved.
this is standard practice. I'll come back to you in december just like I did last
month to say we're moving that back now. So there are three for approval.
4.5 million dollars to operations. 500,000 from debt service to referendum. And 12 million dollars from rainy day to operations and
again temporary moving the money to the fund we will move it back no later than december.
>> do we have motion to approve all temporary loans as presented.
>> motion to approve as presented. >> second. >> any questions or comments from the board. >> yes, I feel like we are
getting a lot of information post committee meetings and post meetings and administration
buildings. And as board trustee, we need to be involved and seeing this
stuff before it is brought for us to vote on. That is a major concern for me
and will continue to be so. >> I believe do we have a policy that is working through
policy committee now? >> yes, we do. But that is not part of our
policy right now. >> okay. >> but that's the one that you brought forward last time? >> correct. >> it's making its way.
but not yet pass approximated. >> yes. >> okay. >> closing discussion all those in favor of approving the three temporary loans presented as,
say aye. >> aye. >> opposed say nay.
>> nay. >> passes. Moving on information item
7.01, tim brown. >> jeff, if you don't mind bringing that brief
presentation up. This is just an information item tonight. We did get our official order. This landed like we expected it to.
so at the budget presentation, meetings that we had h you see on left, we had a predicted
budget. Remember we advertise high both from. Levee and rate.
but we know that we have a predicted amount that we're expected to get. So you see the budget amounts shift just a little bit. But the thing that I call for
attention that is most important, is we hit the rate. So you see that our overall tax
rate for 2026 is 1.5476 that is exactly what we thought we would hit.
in just a minute, we'll bring the official order up. You will see the official
dental, that's something that we do the budget for but does not fit into the official
budget order. So jeff, if you don't bring in the official budget order.
there it is and this allows it. These are all available for all public entities, you can
compare, you know where we stand in hamilton county and across the state.
one little note, this did increase slightly. I noted that all schools except
for one in hamilton county did see a slight increase in their tax rate in 2026.
so we were certainly a part of the majority in that space. >> any questions or comment frz
the board? >> yes, madam president. Before we move on, I would take
a moment that share a governance that builds on the information that we just
reviewed tonight. It is not a request for action but discussion as we continue
our financial planning work. This is my 5th year serving on the board and over that time, I
ask for and appreciated the financial administration that the administration provides. I waint to start by acknowledging the work of our cfo and the entire team.
the district has had a strong audit that we heard about in the last meeting and staff has
been thorough professional and transparent in the information that they have shared with us. Thank you. That said, I want to pause for a moment and talk about
something that feels less about effort and more about process. Even with the regular reporting
and committee updates, it often feels like the board is learning about financial stress
points after decisions have already been made or after corrective actions are already
necessary. We received information but frequently in a way that is
restro respective rather than predict I have. My concern is not that
information is being withheld it's the timing may opinion be giving the board the
opportunity to provide proactive oversight. As a board our role is not to
manage finances. We don't get into the weeds but it is important to anticipate
risk ask questions early and understand trends before they become urgent. I want to be clear that this is not a criticism of our financial team.
they have done a great deal of work to keep us informed and compliant.
however, it does feel like there may be a gap between what administration monitors
internally and what the board receives that allows us to act earlier.
I noticed this pattern over the last several years and I feel it's time to mention it.
now as we look ahead particularly with a possibility of future referendum discussion
sxz our next bargaining, I believe it is important for the board to reflect on whether our
current reporting structure is giving us the right information in the right amount of time.
my hope is that we can work together to identify what additional forward looking
indicators or context may help the board fulfill its governance responsibility for
proactively rather than reactively. I offer this not as a complaint
but invitation for discussion to be more proactive in its research to support our goals
as the board that is good stewarts of our district spending and operations.
also for conversation on how we continue to strengthen our partnership and our process
moving forward. Thank you again to our financial team and
administration for all of their hard work. >> any further questions or comments? >> yeah, comments. I've told this board for two
years almost, that had the previous administration put this budget upside down and
we're spending our cash down. >> no, no. >> and at that point in time,
we have been bringing updates from our finance team of where we're at which we know, we're
within our budget that the board has approved we have our expenditures and spending them.
but to say that we're not giving people time, we'll answer any question that comes
across your board agenda at any time, it gets published to you three or four days we get to
hear. We have finance meetings, facilities meetings.
we're as transparent as the place has ever been before. So I take offense to the
comment because the comment is directed to me. >> no sir, it's not.
it's the overall process that I hope that our financial teams can do better.
because we're in a deficit and I appreciated the hard work of our financial team getting us
to where we are today. So moving forward, I would like to be more proactive that in
our finance meetings we're not just getting a quick update that there are questions asked
of getting out in a problem instead of staying in a problem. This was outstanding that we
just got from mr. Brown and the team and I greatly appreciate it so we need to stay on top
this. >> having been in the financial committee the last year, every
finance meeting, mr. Brown brought in tracking. What we're anticipating
thinking budget versus actions. So in looking at our income streams also touching on
high-level expenses all of that was brought in all of our budget meetings, every single
one. And all of that has been brought forward and public information. So I disagree with what board member thomas has brought
forward because that has been transparent and this organization that's been open
on one on one meetings for us to have point conversation and even hours on end with some of
us on the board. So I, that has been truly more transparent been this is my
fourth year on the board having served under two superintendents, by far this
has been the most thorough. >> and I do agree but I want us to be proactive more than
reactive. >> one second. I respectfully disagree with
administration also with the tone that they took with board of trustees.
as far as reports that finance has given to tuesday, he does a great job giving us are theser.
but what is not in those reports, is contracts that just disappeared to a broker that
was not commissioned. So there are things that we are not presented especially vendor
relationship that we have to ask questions about and that is coming from the top town.
and I expect in the future that when our administration addresses the board, they do so
in a respectful manner. >> I think it's worth noting that if a few board members are
having these concerns and asking for a policy to be able to attend meetings, that there
is probably an issue that needs addressed and I agree with board member schooley that
there is no reason that that kind of tone should be taken with the board of trustees,
especially in a public meeting. >> I just want to point out, first of all, I think the
exception that there is a tone, there is a streamed and we can watch it back and how this is
going to be characterized and all kinds of places it's going to take an odd turn.
but none of this information is new, we have been presented these moments.
that's why none of us freaked out in how much of a deficit we're in.
we're given every opportunity to discuss finances and talk to people and call tim virtually
anytime or night. They all spend to emails. I cannot think of any question
that I have wanted answered that has not been answered. And again, certainly if we want
to expand, that's fine. I mentioned that there is a policy working through committee now that would expand some of our attendance in other op rayings --operations.
we are not administrators, we are governors. But if there is a question, you
just put out something about a 240 million dollars at payment that is the first that I'm
hearing about it too. If you can bring it to us. >> it should not be something
that I bring to you. These things should be brought to the board, prior to and not
after and then asking for permission after. Anyway. >> it's a 340 million dollars. >> I'm totally aware of that. You were worried about 112
dollars per meeting. >> I just voted that I was not worried about it.
>> okay, I disagree that we get the information that we asked for.
the reason that policy was brought up is because he had to dig into the weeds and how many
times have I been told no. And you can count the times that I've been told no.
so don't say that I have not been told no, because I know I have. >> I don't of any case other than attending internal meetings which we're working in
a policy about. I understand the discussion and concern, we all want to give
oversight and you know, we're all open to that. But the overriding thought that
I just want to make sure that we understand, is appreciate our team and I think they've
done a fantastic job. >> I think the point has been made and tones can be
interpreted and moving on to 7.02 preliminary public hearing, g.o.bonds.
>> thank you, board members. The final item tonight, we have matt shoe independent maker a
great partner with us as we look to secure g.o.bonds for te 2026 calendar year.
and as a reminder, they support our plan both in facilities and also in technology as well as
smaller building projects and renovations. The projection today that
you'll hear from mr. Schumaker is 40 million dollars in the sale of bonds over two
issuances during the 2026 calendar year. Worthy of note, this is down 2
million when we sold 2 million dollars to support the building projects.
certainly, I can get into specifics but I would like to hand it to mr. Schumaker, he's
kind enough to join us tonight to talk about this. >> I'm going to open for any
members of the public wishing to speak on this topic. May come forward now.
seeing that there is none. Closing the public hearing, I'm going to close and any
questions from the board? >> you want me to do the presentation, first.
perfect. Jeff, will you drive for me. So if we go to the second page
here. So matt schumaker from steve, great to be back with you
tonight. My role is to talk about the financial impact of the
proposed bond issue. You guys have seen this, this page many many times from me
before. This shows all of our outstanding debt obligations,
color coded by bond issue. As always, the majority of your debt is paid off in the
short-term. You do have long term debt but the school corporation through
long-range planning going back many many years has put itself in a position to do these types
of project and pay these bonds very quickly. The benefit of that is as we
always talk about is, significant interest kaofts savings while other schools are
doing these types of projects. They're paying these back, over 10, 15, years you're able to
pay them back in 1 to 2 years. That's a tremendous interest saving.
as we look at this page, you're total obligations is about 80 million scheduled to drop in
half in 2027 and again in 2028 which sets us up for the conversation regarding the
proposed g.o.bonds. This shows the repayment, as tim mentioned you're looking at
40 million dollars as part of this approval. This page is is not set in
stone, this is just for illustration purposes only. We have shown in the light blue
part that would be the proposed repayment of the g.o.bonds. You can see from 26 to 27 this
shows your debt service devy, the devy being the amount of property tax dollars that
taxpayers are paying. For 2026 total debt service levee just over 71 million
dollars. You can see that you can issue these bonds and repay them in
two years and keep that levee neutral. Again we'll talk about tax here
in a minute. But when I say levee, that's the amount of taxes that the
taxpayers are paying for the bond issues. The current idea is to keep that level from 26 to 27 and not increase that. As you look forward, we'll be
having this conversation most likely again next year. You'll be in the same position
next year getting these paid off quickly, giving you guys a lot of long term flexible when
you look at the bond projects. The last page is a ton of numbers, I'll walk through this
and I'll be happy to ask any questions that the board may have.
so maximum amount of the bondscious this is not a not to exceed number.
you can borrow any number up to 40 million dollars. You cannot go over 40 million
dollars number. Maximum term of the bonds, we've listed this at 10 years,
it is past practice to list this a little bit longer than what we think we need.
things change. We're not issuing these bonds tomorrow. This gives you the flexibility of issuing bonds and repay them. All of these parameters are set
up for maximum flexibility so you can make the best decision if and when the bonds are
issued. Interest rate, we listed at 7 percent.
again, we talked about this in the past this is conservatively high, very conservatively high,
if you were to issue these bonds, you would be in the 3 to 4 percent range, we're not
issuing them today. Things can change, we want to pay that so we don't have to go
through this process today. Estimated total interest costs, this is calculated based off
the 7 percent over ten years, so it's listed at 18,190. If and when these bonds are
issued at a lower interes rate and paid back, that interest costs will come down
significantly. So this is just the maximum or worse case.
the annual plus interest this is the highest payment you can have in one year.
this would be if you pay it off in one year. The maximum aggregate principal
plus interest that's the most you can pay over the life of the bonds.
there you can see you're paid 2026 current budget year combined at debt service fund
levee is 71,243, 710 that equates to a debt service tax of 8.5885.
I'm showing you the budget order that matches. As we talked about the pay 27
so next year's budget we estimate that levee to stay flat at 1,243,710.
for purposes of this resolution, it is past practice to assume no change in your
assessed value. Tim alluded to this. Changes of senate bill 1, we
think that there is a pretty good chance that the assessed value does actually go down for
pay 2027. So we've listed that the tax rate would remain neutral.
we do think that there is a chance that it actually increases. Going back to my previous comments, even if that tax rate were to increase, no one will
pay more as part of this project. If if the tax rate going up
we're paying more. Senate bill 1 is flipped that on its head.
we talked about this in the past. So we could see the levee stay
same but the tax rate go up. We have not seen the assessment value go down in this
community, likely ever, certainly in my career. That may change.
but again the dollars is going towards this project are not expected to change year to year.
and we can talk through that more if you have questions. Service tax rate, we talked
about that, and listed it at 0, it may increase but the dollars will not.
the last two items per statute, the percent debt service divide 1.06 percent and then your
outstanding overlapping debt this is your debt plus the other units that the taxpayers
will pay as a percentage is listed at 5.46 percent. Is know a ton of numbers right
there. Questions that I can help answer while I'm here?
>> any questions from the board? >> I just want to thank you for coming out in-person again.
we've had a lot of talk about vendors and trying to save money and doing that thing,
that's a good example of one of our partnerships that helps us out and helps us understand
these things. You do a great job explaining it and I'm not going to put you
on the spot and say how much does your firm charge. I know it's a significant costs
but again we're spending tens of millions it takes a ton of work to go through these things
unless you sit in your seats, you cannot begin to naj what it is.
do you know how long we've been using stevele? >> we had looked back at one
point. I think there was a bond issue, I want to say on onion squirrel
from the 1960s. It obviously has not been me for that long but I've been
doing this for 15 years and I've always, it is been my pleasure to work with the
school corporation. So I appreciate your comments. >> it's always a difficult
thing to balance, a long term relationship versus cost savings.
thank you again. I suppose there is a difficult time, there may I come a time.
we appreciate what you do. >> and I want to echo, since we had a little confrontation, I
want to say 100 percent, we appreciate your work. >> my pleasure. >> I have a question. And to this might be more directed to you as we look at
the buy down and the one to three-year repayment what is is the tradeoff between the debt
pay down and operational reserves? >> and yeah, matt, we can
corespond here. The thing that I think is most important to your question is
we're in isolated silo of debt service. So is the cost of issuance and
the bond comes out of the cost of the bond itself. So obviously, we're blessed
with stevele and the support that they provide. They're not an operation al
fund expense or educational fund expense. But to your point exactly, this
is living in its own silo and debt service. It is not impacting per se the
other funds but I will say, the reason we have g.o.bonds and the reason they're so pivotal
is they take the operational costs that would otherwise live in the operations fund and help
support the upkeep the buildings, without them, we talked about the deficit and
operations, we would not be able to do the things that we need to do that are just
recurring and you can imagine the snow ball a tech. >>--affect.
>> okay. Thank you. Anybody wish to go come forward can speak on the topic. You'll be given three minutes. Seeing that there is none,
closing the public hearing. And now, closing discussion. The board will conduct the
second preliminary determination public hearing at