 Good evening and welcome everyone to this evening's commissioners corner program on cctv We're so happy to be here this evening on Monday, February 13th. My name is Lucia Camperiello I am your Ward 5 school commissioner representative Ward 5 is home to Champlain elementary school And I am so pleased to be joined this evening by my colleague Kendra Sowers Who is commissioner of district north which is home to Flynn CP Smith and Hunt Middle School is that correct you got it. So welcome Kendra. Thank you so much for being here Thanks, it's great to be here. Awesome. Well this evening We are excited to speak with you all about our proposed budget which taxpayers will have the opportunity to vote on On town meeting day, which is really just around the corner. I think it's three weeks from tomorrow Yeah, March 7th March 7 right up. Yeah coming right up quickly In fact, I think ballots will be arriving home to mailboxes any day now Yes, so for folks who are voting by mail keep an eye out and if you prefer to vote in person You've got plenty of time to visit the city's website and make a plan To show up on town meeting day at your polling location and hopefully cast a yes vote on the school budget So Kendra before we dive into the content of our program today I'd love to give you a moment to introduce yourself and share with folks What inspires your service on the school board? How long you've been serving? Tell us a little bit about yourself. Great. Thank you very much So this is my third term coming up on the school board and I have really enjoyed it it's been it's been a great experience and I really feel strongly that all our kids deserve an amazing educational opportunity and so I have been really blessed with three kids going through the Burlington School District And my youngest is now a senior so I can't believe it's gone so fast, but I've always been part of school so from preschool where I served on the Board of a local preschool all the way to serving in the kids classrooms and PTOs and being you know Helping out with plays and everything that we parents do all along the way And so this has kind of been this natural progression to me for me to be in school board and I really love Working with BSD. I love working with my fellow commissioners. I love talking with teachers I love being with students and I'm just I enjoy helping to set some of the vision and The goals of the district so it's been a pleasure to serve That's so lovely and I can say as a brand-new commissioner It's been a pleasure getting to know you in your service and I love the way Even just between the two of us our families bookend the district I've got a five-year-old who is in kindergarten midway through kindergarten and an eight-year-old And so it's been really lovely to learn from others who we serve with whose students have Children have moved through the system as students and so I have a bit of a preview Of what's to come which is really helpful and it certainly You know adds a layer of context for me as a new new parent to the system and new New commissioners so that's been fun also Also want to acknowledge that you are running again and your name will be on the ballot On-town meeting day and we are so lucky that you've chosen to run again So thank you so much for your continued service and for continuing to bring the levels of enthusiasm and thoughtfulness to the role you do it beautifully and we're excited to Continue to work together and I think you along with three other Community members two of whom are current commissioners are on the ballot to be elected for four roles so four people four roles and looking forward to casting those votes in your favor and Continuing to serve together. Thank you very much. Yeah, absolutely Great. Well, so I think what we're going to do is spend the majority of our time together on a Conversation about the proposed budget and so really want to make sure that we've got an opportunity and of course There are so many opportunities for community members to learn about this budget through a variety of means including neighborhood planning assemblies PTO meetings communications from our district Particularly our superintendent. I think even on this show with Lauren Glendavidian earlier This month or last the superintendent was here talking about the budget and then of course all the ways in which we are community members Moving through spaces hanging with people Chatting it up and inviting support. So this segment we really want to navigate for viewers sort of the Shape of this year's proposed budget as it relates to the current budget Want to make sure that we are Specifying for folks what the tax impacts are and then really articulating the board's role in budget development and so Really no one better to do all of that with than you especially In the additional role that you hold as co-chair of our finance and facilities committee And you have been shepherding budget conversations for a number of years and so excited to dig into it with you Thank you. Yeah, so with that take it away Kendra Yeah, tell us a little bit about this budget as it relates to our current budget Yeah, well So one of the roles of our school commissioner one of the most important roles that we do is to set a budget every year and Have the voters vote on it So it's a really important process and we work really closely with BSD leadership on this and so it is a It is a role that we all take really seriously. We start months in advance In fact every month when we have our facilities and finance committee meetings We start talking about things that we want in the budget for the upcoming year and so usually the board gives some guidance to BSD leadership so the guidance that we have are the guiding principles on this form We have created a one-pager, which is an excellent thing if you want to talk about the budget Understand what the budget looks like it's on your screen right now And this also can be found on our district website and the district website if you click under budget You can see a one-pager here and that also will give you some FAQs Which are really good and just some of the simple language So if you can see on your screen the guiding principles are really what the board has said to BSD When we were starting this process of what they should keep in mind So the boards is really on this high level of kind of creating a vision and a direction and then this the District itself is the one that really digs in and works with the principles and looks at staffing and resources and You know, what are the needs at each particular school and then they come back with recommendations for us So let's go through the guiding principles because I think it is important And so one of the principles was to recognize that our staffing Levels need to be responsive to our enrollment changes and our enrollment has been going down for the past five to eight years it is a Steady decline that we have been seeing it is not like a blip You know over one or two years and I think that's important because we never want to make any kind of staffing changes Year to year we really want to look at the long-term Staffing implications and we certainly didn't want to touch staffing during COVID So we really looked at that this year and that was a big principle that we wanted to look at and address the second one is to Limit our budget growth growth because we were looking at things like increase to wages We took care of our teachers and gave you know great raises of 6% raises and health insurance Increased by like 12% this year, which is statewide all schools are facing this This is not something that we do And you know, we're starting to pay down some VHS BTC bonds So we had that and some of the federal funds were going away So we had some of those pressures to think about when we're looking at a budget Other things that we wanted to look at was to being sure that our funding met our strategic objectives so we made this wonderful strategic plan and It's a five-year strategic plan and we want our funding to always be in alignment with our strategic plan The next one is to continue to offer the robust program programmatic changes and offerings that we always offer in our schools Like we have such great programs in kindergarten all the way through including our tech center And I don't want to forget about our tech center because it is amazing program and it is part of our budget As well, and I just I can't speak highly enough about the services that the tech center offers as well And then lastly again, we kind of cover this a little bit But it was to consider the multi-year impacts of these changes and to minimize and minimize any disruptions So if we're going to make any staffing changes if we're going to make programmatic changes How do we minimize that and be sure that each school has the resources they need to continue providing the education For every student there. Yeah, so those were kind of the guiding principles And then BSD kind of takes those the leadership with Tom Flanagan at the helm our superintendent at the helm took those guiding principles and then worked with Principles at each school worked with his leadership team to think about What changes and what's working well what we could need to tweak And they came comes back to the board with some recommendations for us. Yeah, and Kendra. I know you mentioned the Wages for teachers and staff and I think importantly and due to a lot of work by Colleagues of ours as well as district staff and others Those contracts are multi-year contracts for the first time in a number of years and so Not only does that mean that our teachers and staff and and we as a district or we as a board But our district are in agreement and alignment on On those contracts for the next three years, but it also gives us line of sight From a budgetary perspective, which is really helpful And so we're in we feel like we are in an excellent position and really good about the way We were able to support teachers and staff In this in this contract cycle and particularly pleased that it that they are multi-year Contracts, which just gives everybody a bit of space to do the work And feel less precarious about the future and so I think that's really important to acknowledge here and a lot of work goes into those Negotiations and so feel really good about everyone who is sitting at those tables and working hard through those conversations Yeah, and I would say this budget process is is one of the hardest things that we have to do because There's one pot of money in the middle and you want to take care of all their The teachers and the administrators and the students and be sure the students have the resources that they need Knowing it's a you know finite pot of money and also taking care of our taxpayers and Being sure that we're presenting a budget that is really fiscally responsible So it's always this balancing act, which is very very hard But I think that this budget really has done that and I'm super proud of this budget And I think everybody really came together the collaboration of creating this budget was Amazing to see it's been it was a joy for me to participate in and to watch So I know people want to get into the details of the budget. So Let's go through the budget at a glance which is also it's part of that one pager and you have it on your screen as well So this year's budget you can see the total. Let's start with a total It's ninety eight point two million and that includes about six million dollars that we get in federal grants And funds so that went up by about six just over like six and a half percent this year from last year and Then we have our insurance our debt service utilities kind of the normal thing, which is about three point eight million BHS BTC borrowing so we are going to start borrowing from the bond and that is all included in this So that's two point one million And I think it's really important that taxpayers understand that this budget has the money for the bond in it So we're starting to pay for the bond and in fact when we look at this budget It's nice to know when the tax increases come how much of this is part of the BTC budget Which will explain in the tax impact Estimates on the next one. Yeah, well and before you go on from that point I think I just want to like linger for a second because I think it's really interesting when you think about where we were Just a few months ago having a conversation and inviting support for the bond Back in November and so the support that the bond received overwhelming support 76% of community members voted to support that bond was to support permission to include that in the annual budgeting process and so each year You will see a line item within the budget that is related to that bond that was passed in November of 2022 And I think that's that's important and as you mentioned especially important to call out continually Because budgets will increase in scope and size based on that bond and so the transparency I think of that cost in particular as a piece of the entire budget will be really important Yeah, and I love that you use the word transparency because that's what this process should be It's a complicated process the education funding formula is complicated process and we can talk about a little bit about that when we talk about tax Impact estimates taken me a while to kind of fully understand this and that's where I think it's really important that we Explain to the taxpayer what each and every line is and what we're doing To kind of minimize taxes, but continuing to offer these robust educational experience for our students So the next paragraph on there is about tax estimates, which is really what a lot of people want to know So how much am I gonna pay? Okay come the new tax season? so If I'm not sure if you could show the next one on the slide of the tax impact estimates But it is really for the taxpayer There's a it's about a four percent increase and some people have this question Well, how can you get how'd you get four percent when your budget went up by like six and a half percent? And so that's always such a great question because it was one of the being like one of the things when I was learning like What is this so there's four? variables that kind of go into the education funding formula and this year our Education fund the state fund that we get our money from had a big surplus so that helped us to take down the amount of of taxes that we require our our Decline enrollment hurt us a little bit because we get paid per student So those four variables when they gonna go into the mix of the funding formula with our budget ended up with a four percent Tax tax impact for our taxpayers That being said we have a lot of people in Burlington who are income-sensitized And I think it's really important for those who are income-sensitized to understand also how their Taxes are impacted and we give an example of somebody who has a $50,000 income and basically there's going to see a point oh seven percent increase which is about a dollar a year and We there are charts where you can kind of find your income and also see the tax impacts So that's really I think important to know yep, absolutely, and so within that four four percent taxpayer increase that includes again about two-thirds of that increase is related to the bond and so I think that speaks to the points that you've already made on mitigating costs and really looking to align costs to enrollment yeah staff to enrollment because So much of our budget is driven by that foundational Foundational cost which is driven by enrollment. Yeah, and so that is the far majority of the budget And then you've got kind of general stuff you need books and materials to run your school and then I Thought it might be useful actually to talk a little bit about the last portion of the budget So there's three portions of the budget Foundational kind of big block of the majority of the funding and then sort of I don't know what I would refer to as like indirect Yeah, like the non-personnel non-personnel way to think about it books much better way to think about it Absolutely, and then we've got our rise allocations And so these are allocations that enable individual schools to make decisions on discretionary spending effectively And so each school receives an allocation that is weighted based on student population and then those schools under the leadership of their individual principles Have the opportunity to interact with community members to help shape that spending and so in that way schools have really their discretion on Additional services they want to provide to students based on need. Yeah, it's really I think it's really exciting This is our second year of the equitable budgeting model It's exactly what you said it really gives that kind of the baseline or the core staffing Then plus the non-personnel and then this rise allocation. So really it's an it's an equitable allocation to each school And what do we mean by student waiting? You know some students require extra resources. So you may be an English language learner and need extra resources Students who are living in poverty need extra resources. So they we look at the enrollment at each school And we also look at you know the different Factors and and waits for each of those students and that's how we come up with the number for each school So every school gets a different amount of money Based on the needs of the school and I love that every school community gets a voice then and how they use that rise allocation It's pretty exciting and it mimics the state model, which is a pupil Waiting that is being changed at the state level which Berlin the Burlington School Commissioners really thought for because it hadn't been updated in 20 years But we've kind of took that state model for student waiting and applied that in our rise allocations And it's really so I think it's really exciting and and cutting edge. Yeah, absolutely Well, I don't want to move away from the current proposed budget I do want to get to some of the future Opportunities and that's a great one to talk about because the equity equity pupil waits will Find themselves in our budget conversation this time next year And so that will have an impact that we can talk a bit about but just to repeat So that it's crystal clear for folks and again the one pager that the content that you're seeing on your screen throughout this program can Be found on the BSD website, which is WW well, it's right there on your screen right now BSD org backslash budget and actually on that budget page. You're also Welcome to take a look at past budgets and additional information that's relevant to the budgeting process But the budget that you all will be asked to vote on I believe it's the first ballot item on town meeting day March 7th has the budget total at 104.1 million dollars and again, we are really confident in this budget and feel like it Both does what it needs to do as far as supporting our students To receive and access the level of programming that we have fortunately been accustomed to delivering within the school district while also Being resourceful with the limited resources that we have and so That's a difficult task and certainly as a new commissioner It's been really fascinating to be a part of it and also to understand again the board's role Distinct and different from the superintendent's role distinct and different from the principal's roles And so each each kind of person or group of people within the process have a very particular role and when put together produce for us this budget so Look forward to seeing you at the polls on mark on March 7th. I'm sure we'll be out there Standing inviting your support in person, but again, please consider and consider supporting the budget It's really important in order for us to support our students, which are our future so thank you in advance for your for your support and Yeah, so back to some of the things that will come into play for us in the coming year because I think we started the conversation Noting some of the guidance that we had put forth as a board And so some of that that information and therefore funding will be changing and most notably is the equity people rates Which again you along with many colleagues worked hard on over the past couple of years Because Burlington was Burlington and many other districts were not receiving the level of funding To accommodate this the attributes that are diverse students bring with them into the district So can you talk a little bit about what we might expect to see in future years? Yeah, I mean it was a huge it was a huge advocacy effort and it was a coalition of really Schools from around the around the state who have all been underfunded because if you haven't changed this formula The formula looking at poverty and looking at English language and looking at small rural schools Like how much it costs when those variables haven't been updated in 20 years You can imagine that your formula is is not really giving you the amount of money that it takes to educate our students So it was that's really exciting that last year the legislature decided to do something about it and they passed some changes And so some of the new Ratios and rates will be coming out so that we can budget it It's going to be for the 2025 budget so that when we are planning for next year. We'll be planning 2025 They will be updated and for Burlington that means more money from the state And we have been underfunded from the state for a long time So that's really exciting. It's it's an exciting initiative for Burlington and for a lot of the school districts Around around Vermont. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yep And I think we will obviously look to reinvest that funding again in the programs that will best meet our students needs And we will also be mindful about how it interacts with other costs That will continue to increase so a good opportunity there to kind of take Costs that that might rise in one area and additional revenue that we might receive and put those things together in service of students and taxpayers alike Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely Awesome anything else about the budget specifically that we haven't touched on that feels important to cover in this moment I think we've done a good job in covering it But I always want to just say to people your school commissioners are always accessible We are on email our emails are under there are a school district website under the school board and We welcome your phone calls sometimes we meet at the bagel and have meet and greets at the bagel And so please ask any questions that you have we really want to answer your questions And we want you to feel comfortable with voting for this budget or any other questions that you have along the way I think it's I think it's helpful I think sometimes people are a little bit hesitant on reaching out and so I will just ask people to Really reach out to your any school commissioner. We're really here for the whole district whether we're in your district or not We're here for all of Burlington So true and thank you for saying that it's so important Great. Well, I think we we've got just a couple of minutes remaining and maybe we'll just share a couple of announcements Kendra I know you had mentioned just as we were briefly chatting before Before we sat down at the desk here the winter ball happened. Yes, which is exciting. It was tell us a little bit about it I know you're close to it We had some I saw some lovely lovely pictures of all these wonderful students And we there was a great kind of dress and suit Drive that people donated their suits and dresses and a lot of students came in and found some wonderful Party wear and everyone was dressed in excitement the students the excitement on the students faces were wonderful And I think they all had a great time It was at the Hilton and it was just wonderful fancy thing So it's just nice to be able to socialize again. Yes have these kids come together So that was a wonderful event. Yeah, awesome And it was so great that so many people were able to donate items and appreciated the Committee of students who put that call out to the community and invited those donations and and happy that it worked out Yeah, awesome Just a couple of other announcements. I know we talked about this together last month But kindergarten registration is live right now. And so if you've got a student who will be age-eligible for kindergarten I hope you'll visit the school the school district's website and take a look at what that process is like Lots of information for info sessions and school visits all of that is happening now But you're not too late at all registration is open through the end of March And so again do visit the school website to understand what that process is like We do have the opportunity for school choice in this district. And so Parents are able to visit multiple schools if they're interested and really get to know principles and get to know the kindergarten programs at each of the schools and then there's a bit of a matching process that happens and so You know ideally folks who choose a school that is not their home district There'll be space in that school and then if not you will hear from folks immediately To make sure that you have your second choice available But really worthwhile to check out all of the schools if you're new to the district or a parent for the first time with a student entering school and so do do register before the end of March and then lastly wanted to Just PSA for folks that there is an LGBTQIA plus equity or workshop series underway right now The series kicked off last month with its first session January 18th hosted a session entitled words matter that focused on new vocabulary lots of cross-generational Dialogue with students school board commissioners staff community members. These are Series that are open to the public and we would encourage you all to attend the next workshop is happening this Wednesday It's from 6 to 7 p.m. And it will be hosted at the integrated arts Academy library The conversation will will revolve around how schools can do more than just provide safety for LGBTQIA students and staff so Look forward to discussing recommendations from the BSD's LGBTQ plus task force And how they pertain to curriculum and again these are sessions that are open to the public You'll see commissioners there teachers staff students etc. And we welcome participation in these workshop series and would encourage you to come check it out Anything else coming to mind for you? I know we just had a just as we wrap up in this last minute that you'd like to kind of share or reflect on I'm just really excited to have the new BHS BTC Drawings they're coming out We continue to look at what could be for our high school in our tech center And so stay tuned for that and I know we're gonna be getting demolition soon So that I just feel like it's a really exciting project And I think we're all gonna be watching with baited breath as their Institute Road campus is transformed. Yeah, it's exciting such a great point The demo will happen and then it will feel so real right and that's a major milestone for this project Yeah imminent and major milestone exactly. Yeah fantastic. Well, I think we are ready to wrap up Thank you again so much for taking the time to tune in this evening I hope this was helpful information in addition to reaching out with questions About the budget or anything else more than welcome to provide feedback on this conversation and its utility as well as anything else That's coming to mind for you So we will sign off this evening and look forward to being back in fact I think next March is also going to be on a Monday the 13th So hopefully that's easy for folks to remember although I'm sure most of our viewers watch this not live But recorded and so we look forward to sharing that link out as well though Don't want to discourage anyone from watching live. That's right as I say that Anyway, great to see everyone. Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next month. Thanks everyone