 All right guys, so we will call the meeting to order at 6 0 6 Are there any adjustments to the agenda tonight? I'll prove the minutes of Tuesday, November 28th was a regular meeting Do I have a motion? I have a second All right, is there any discussion on the minutes right hearing none so moved Um board correspondence, do we have anything does anybody know any anybody have any correspondence we need to talk about? Okay Public comment. I don't think there's any public on is there? Nope and reports to the board Jamie So you you have my super attendant reporting ham I Just wanted to say that our inservice yesterday was great We had received a lot of really positive feedback From our faculty and staff that did work Yesterday with Dr. Van Lent And we were able to differentiate PD We were all together faculty in the morning and then there was some specific Director of professional development for our middle and high school faculty In the afternoon and then also some elementary teachers were able to work With Dr. Van Lent and then some faculties did break off and went back to buildings because they had specific work That they were focused on at the building level in the afternoon. So it was it was a good day That's why we receive really positive feedback In regards to that and then what I wanted to Add it's just kind of like just in a little overall update a little bit about Act 127, but Also just talk about the legislative session open today and kicked off and just some of the things that I think that we should Be prepared for them to start to take up in regards to education and so In regards to Act 127 I say I would say the big news that we received here in the last 24 hours is our common level of appraisals for all the towns across the state and the 10 towns of WRVSU of which in general I would say I haven't looked at all the towns in the state by quick glance Certainly over 90% have seen pretty significant drops of more than 5% In each town and certainly all of our towns have seen over that 5% drop In common level of appraisal. So I think it is it's important for everyone to understand that when we talk about education tax rate being capped It's the edgy. It's your equalized tax rate prior to the CLA That's capped. Okay, it's not the it's not your tax rate after the CLA runs through That common level of appraisal is specific to each town to ensure That each town is paying tax at attack like they are paying their fair share of taxes Based on what houses are selling that and being valued at Versus what they were appraised for whenever your last appraisal occurred. So they they're not capping those Okay, the tax rate that's capped is the equalized tax rate that final number Prior to running through the CLA so I will say one of the things that I think Probably all my colleagues and business managers and I think most board members are a little frustrated with I would say that I don't think any of us necessarily could have predict the CLA's to drop as much as they have I will tell you as I start to look at tax rates Across the state and talking to fellow colleagues now that have run these new CLA's through even with that five percent Cap on your equalized tax rate when the governor starts saying things like 17 and a half percent and things of that nature For for some of our towns. That's going to be true just on the CLA alone You have even if we had a flat budget Okay, so I just what I'll say to you is is that it is going It's going to be one of these things we had to do it last year in some of your towns But in all your towns this year, we really have to have folks understand that their Their taxes are going to be impact greatly due to not having appraised In our towns and some of our towns in a very long time And so I plan to actually talk about that in my letters To the to the public. I think we're going to need it in our presentations Because that is one of the driving factors and I'll give you an example as I was talking to someone today is like In the district. I was I worked previously. There was there was a property that had been pretty run down That you know, I would have never thought would have sold for a hundred and fifty thousand just sold for a hundred and fifty thousand a couple weeks ago And I just share that with you to say That is that is what's the driving force of the CLA dropping is that that property would have probably been appraised for prior when they Initially did appraisals and for some of our towns. It's it's prior to 2010 Even and so that if that property would have been appraised at seventy five thousand It's ensuring that they are now paying for what that property would have been worth without having been reappraised so If let's say you went through reappraisal your tax sheet would actually show that your tax rate may Go down because the COA went up and anytime the COA is over a hundred It actually will drop the tax rate off of that final equalized tax rate Um But you be paying at a tip you're at the tax rate at a higher value in the home Right, so when they reappraise everyone's homes values are going to rise And so yes, your tax rate may have decreased But you're going to pay that tax rate at a much higher value appraised home Just remember that tax rate when we give it to you we say this is based on your property at a hundred thousand dollars So budgets that we've looked at so far we've used last year CLA Right we had nothing else to use right so a lot of what we talked about last night Well, we're our budget with that Could be really it's not going to be different. So here's the thing all I can control is the equalized tax rate In order for us to drop our taxes down past what some are some of our five percent caps are We would need to be looking at cutting budgets from flat Meaning no increases like in some districts. I would need to like decrease your budget From this current year to next Which would mean significant layoffs, which is not something we had talked about No, no, I was I just trying to wrap my head around it couple other shoes One is the yields and you were very pessimistic about Well, how those are going to come in and Well, we've got the five percent we've got the the tax cap We got a cat we got yield, right? So they did drop the yield But the yields not going to raise any more funds if you stay under the 10% threshold Which we've been trying really hard to do that's one of the reasons we did that right? So the yield did drop significantly as long as we stay keep our per pupil spending From FY 24 to FY 25 under the 10% Then your equalized tax rate can't go up more than five Meaning we were able to we were able to combat the yield that way The yield is figured out in your equalized tax rate. The last thing is the CLA If you remember to that that that act 127 sheet I put out and we color coded what's in our control What's not in our control? The CLA is not in our control And so the you know when we're looking at things like eight percent That would mean, you know, we would have to combat that by dropping taxes by eight percent and you know for us to do that You're typically looking at us Decreasing budgets by quite a bit unless you're a district that gained tons of tax capacity And the only district that really gained enough to possibly look at that would have been White River Unified District and we'll meet and talk that through next week with them Yeah, and that's kind of grim. The other thing though is the new What do you call it the assessments are Equalized Formula for equalizing student costs And we haven't seen that yet and uh, have we oh, yeah your last budget had those new numbers run through it Long-term weighted average daily membership. Yeah Okay, thank you. I'll go back and I thought we were still waiting for those We're they're not finalized. We're on version four So the budget that you'll see for your meeting next week will be version four of the long-term weighted average But yeah, well, we've been using those numbers Under the new formula So really at this point Our budgets are what our budgets are. No, I mean we're known. None of you are putting your budgets to bed yet Right. I mean, we're going to come to you based on what we last talked about And we're going to say to you here's where your tax rate is now with the CLA And you're going to have to decide like, all right Where do how do we feel with this if you're at If you're benefiting from the 5% cap already Meaning what we control with the equalized tax rate, right? What we're spending All right prior to CLA We will have to do We'll let you know what what type of cuts we would have to do but they would have to be deep cuts And an example I can give you right now is that We have a district in the su Whose budget Is up just over 3% not much bottom line budgets up just over 3% and because the CLA Has dropped so much. They're looking at tax rates that are up over 20 cents So they would have to cut to get those down like 400,000 from this current year's budget yander So everything else being bold, which of course they're not usually if the CLA goes up That means the yield would go like if the CLA is up everywhere the yield would go down because they'd be generating more Revenue for a given equalized tax rate Do you know when they were generating the current yield that they put out if they'd Fully take into account how much the CLA was going up In which case la went down now that Yeah, that's what I meant like the amount of revenue that they would bring in because of the CLA levels What I meant by it going up So is there any chance that the CLA is not supposed to Ensure that we collect enough taxes for the Ed fund. I will just tell it what I will say to you know If they need to generate 60 million for the tax For the Ed fund and then they set the yield What they think they're going to need to have it at to bring that in And the CLA influences how much they actually get so Well, I think yes. So Andrew, I think we're we're thinking similarly what I would say to you is The yield I think what they've realized is the yields really not going to help increase what they collect in taxes Because of the five percent the five percent cap right And so in order to collect what they need for taxes They could diversify what they the revenue is into the Ed fund or possibly they took a really hard look at CLA's Yeah, okay, so there's no chance of it Being more generous than what it currently is probably I don't see it Yeah, I will say what I'm seeing is tax rates Coming in now similar to what the governor was talking about Not in every district, but certainly in some of our districts So I don't yeah, I wanted to talk this through with with all of you. I'm going to put information out now tomorrow And encourage board members to reach out to terrorize so we can walk you through this stuff um, and then we'll keep You know Again, just because we said we hope to adopt a budget for some of your districts in the next two weeks We we really don't we really have until the end of january So if we need to keep working and having meetings to get this what we want it to be Dialed in wise that's what we're going to do But what I what I would hope to take away is for some of you is that In some of our districts our clas have dropped so much that I'm there's not that We're going to have higher taxes than what we've been accustomed to I saw that number that's That's frightening I mean, yeah, I mean it used to be Well, uh, you know, I've been building budgets now for for Going on 15 years And Usually like the 80s on a coa. We would think was low We're seeing in the 60s I looked at stock bridge 68 Your district might have been one of the ones I was talking about Chelsea's in Chelsea 69 And temperatures wasn't a lot better Yeah, I um reading the uh weekly standard they had um letters from our senators Windsor county senators and they were talking about their priorities for This legislative year and not one of them mentioned school funding and and the impact of this on On the education of our children they kind of as a footnote. They said I know by the way so Seems to you we all have to work Through our organizations and and separately to get the word out that this is huge They were talking about global warming, which is real. They talked about flood relief for our communities that got zapped So, I mean they're talking about real issues housing is huge But this affects the outcome Outcomes of the future of the state. That's our children. So Sounds like we've got some work to do Yeah, I mean I would say to you like I haven't been talking about the cla as much because some of us were already so low And and like I said like Often people will reappraise towns even after it gets under 80 and some of you were already under 80 Um, so I didn't see it bottoming out as much as it has bottomed out I know I've been talking about the yield a lot. I knew that they could just set that I did not see the clas across the state old dropping by that much And again, you all received this information from the vsba You're emailed it this afternoon. And so just take a look and you'll see from 20 from, you know f y 22 to 23 that Almost every town has dropped significantly any other questions about that guys What else you got jimmy Oh, sorry, um So, uh in regards to the legislative session Um, I do think I mean, I do believe I do as far as the vpa the the vsa the and the romans school board association that um That they have been doing a much better job of coordinating their efforts in regards to what they are discussing In lobbying for um in mob failure. And you know, I think priorities certainly for that group I know at the vsa anyways is um Education financing and act 127 um, you know, I think a majority of superintendents have spotted concerns about this for a while see um And so there's that the years the The other piece to this um in regards to karson v macon Um was there was a bill that came out of the house if you remember Last year in regards to independent schools collecting public funds That got to the senate And it just it after a crossover. It never was taken up by the senate I suspect that there will be some momentum again Based on this recent um suit that was brought from mid vermont christian towards some uh neighboring districts And the vermont principles association and the agency of education in regards to ed funding um, and That they have a right to public dollars Um, even though they haven't met some of the current standing criteria from the vermont state board of education In regards to accepting those public dollars I suspect that that will go to the vermont supreme court. Um, and then certainly possibly even to the us supreme court um in regards to That my I don't know if that means that the senate will reconsider taking up law Um to deal with that or not So that's one the other one to know is that um, my sense is is that pcb's um across the state that there are uh numerous schools coming back with uh rates that are above the threshold um our we've had we've had uh Bethel and royalton assessed prior they were under the threshold The most recent schools we have tested is rochester stockbridge. We're waiting on those results um And I why I say I think that that needs to be taken up is that my sense is that there's not enough Funding that's been put away for remediation in order to um deal with that Um based on the bill that they passed last year is that there's going to be some Some more needed funding um to deal with remediation of pcb's Um across the state. So that's another bill to just that we need to be paying attention to That's all I got for now All right. Thank you. Jamie. I don't think I have anything uh much to add to the report. Um There isn't uh this Just bring your attention to we there was a some slight adjustments to our board meeting calendar of reports Uh due to some changes in the when the assessments are happening in the spring Um such that our spring academic benchmark window moved from april to may So that it wouldn't be at the same time as the state testing and so therefore those reports will come to you in june um and For those really paying attention to detail the ninth and tenth graders who take the fast bridge Assessments, they'll be actually taking those both in february not in january and february again to avoid Some exam making sure we have some space between The exams at the end of the semester, uh and these Universal kind of screeners that we are doing so That that is what I have. I also um like jay b was with uh our faculty yesterday with um, Dr. Van Lent And had the opportunity to attend a couple of the different sessions and it was really it was um The calendar worked well to have it was a great day to be with faculty as they got ready for students coming back and um I think it was just a high level of Learning together um being really intentional around their planning thinking about kind of resetting expectations and Each of the buildings did the thing Like you know the the activities that they really need to do Based on where they were in the year So it was a really successful day And I just think it's always important to to emphasize that Because we do know that you know having a day Where families need to figure out their their childcare can be hard And these are but they are really valuable for our teachers to be really ready for the students coming back And meet their needs so we appreciate All of our families Nice, thank you. Any questions ronda? All right. Thank you very much um Director of special services Oh, and that's um not here tonight uh due to a family thing and so you have a report in hand And I'm more than happy between on tonight to entertain in questions folks might have any questions for Um And that's report Oh, okay Yeah Hi everyone, you have my report about winds what's happening in the business office in addition to budgets for the month of january In addition to that you have as an attachment to your original packets our annual financial management questionnaire Which provides to you who does what at the su level at the treasurer level So I'll answer any questions there If there are any otherwise I do need you to accept that and authorize kathy to sign it On behalf of the su board That's the correct one. Yep Perfect Okay, any questions for terra So under action items, we're going to approve this in a little bit That was my question. You know, we're approving this as a as a full board not as a local board Correct. It's full board All right, all right, you're up Thanks as I uh Try to think back to uh three weeks ago your take um, so in my uh monthly report updates on edgy climber and uh our second year of our su wide elementary report card and some uh projects we did with uh title for funding And then we're still waiting a final uh update from nezdek about population projections Unless there are any questions about that or anything else in my department, I want to jump over to the enrollment adm and tuition report And uh the only actual update Um since that report came out is that our adm actually went up two points Uh, excuse me our adm went up two numbers to 1695 and the points went up to 1671 now when uh When you hear terra and jamie talk about long-term weighted average adm and the Significant increase there has been in some uh districts that relates to the uh the individual weights So sparsity or how rural an area is English language learners uh national school lunch program eligibility and Despite the difficult CLA, uh though those benefited many of our districts and I would be happy to uh Answer any questions relating to this report Yeah a couple um so raid uh The new formula the weighing formula. Um, you're saying you applied it and and It impacts the the adm Both account end points So, uh, yeah The the adm average daily membership is is the number of our students so to speak right doesn't include students who For example tuition to the high school because their adm flows back to the town that come from So if we have a student joining us from uh pittsfield will be my example um The adm is just uh A number based on when those students were with us for that specific window and it's the uh The weights that are applied to that afterwards to become the ltw adm which replaces equalized pupils So in prior years, there was some uh adjustment for the Age of the student the grade that they were in this year. They're just more factors that are adjusted Okay, and the numbers that reflect this new way and are what where I'm staring at them You don't have any of those in front of you tonight. Okay, but the results of those Are embedded or not embedded. That's why I got confused your how many kids you have in your district Real bodies. Yeah That's what this is today. Okay. So this report From last month comes out before those numbers are official It's version four from yesterday today. Yeah, uh, not yet final of long-term weighted average But uh, so well you it's been relatively consistent version one two and three There was a slight dip at two but three and four have been the same long-term weighted average numbers So we have an update once we got them Yeah, yeah, you've been getting them in your they're on your tax sheet every day. Yeah, and I and I please excuse me No, that's all right. We'll show it to you. I'm absolutely Blind on this so I'm going to go back and do my homework But and and we'll send them to you so that you you understand what they are for Rochester Stockbridge Yeah, because I thought we were on the initial projections. That was one place where Stockbridge was going to really be helped. Well, you gained some students and everyone did But the drop in the yield Undid some of that game So they dropped the yield so much that That it undid a lot of that tax capacity Which is what I said in my letter to the community December 1st Like some of the tax capacity we thought we were gaining has been undone But these these are your real member of kids in your building or your district The other distinction is so this number is down slightly from last year. It's a two-year weighted average. Yeah To go into long-term weighted so Not at all complicated The just so the boards don't I mean the the biggest better The the districts that have benefited the most In regards to their long-term weighted average daily membership Um Thus far the biggest gains we've seen have been In first branch White River Unified District and in our Rochester Stockbridge you have gained some The problem that we had is that you did not gain as many pupils from FY 24 to FY 25 As first branch and White River Unified District has and part of that reason they've gained so much Is that um, they're free and reduced lunch numbers have increased significantly from FY 24 to FY 25 and a big reason for that is I think that actually our free and reduced lunch numbers across the su now are Are much more accurate Because of direct serve via Medicaid data that the state's using now But these these numbers here it's important for the board to know this is what the agency starts with And then they start adding in the the weighted factors from there based on what that each one of these pupils Their grade level whether or not they qualify for free and reduced lunch Whether or not they're considered ESL um So that's when those weights start to apply Is after this raw data Any other questions on that stuff guys okay Policy committee update who wants to roll with it. Sorry. I wasn't there guys tonight. I caught the tail end Do I have a taker? I can talk to what we did or frankly didn't do we uh looked at one policy the alcohol and drugs in the workplace policy and Discussed a couple of important Sort of splitting points Or road ways in which the road splits and um took the The consensus of the group and we need to come back with another draft of the policy for consideration So there's more work to be done on this policy The second thing that we talked about is the harassment and discrimination policy And we talked about it for about two seconds because the long the short of it is Our lawyer is drafting or given us a draft that we will have And and before the next meeting for us to consider that's all we did All right. Thank you Eric any questions guys Okay So we have two Action for policies Um, we're visiting the policy b1 substitutes b4 drug and alcohol testing for transportation employees and b7 tobacco prohibition Um, you want us to Take action on those tonight So we need to take action on those three policies tonight Just stays here Eric is I just do either one of you want to just comment on what we worked on or For these three these three are so far in the past All right, I can do it if you These are mostly language, right? It's pretty much cleaning up the introductory sentence For the policy so that it doesn't state. This is the policy of um, that it just gets to the policy and um, we dealt with pronouns and we um There might have been a little language cleanup or typo if there was but that's it Yeah, there were no real substantive changes to any of the three policies as I recall It was all only a matter of language Lena Do I have a motion to approve the three policies? They move to approve Do I have a second a second it's michael. Thank you michael All right, so the motion's on the table to approve and accept provisions to policy b1 Substitutes b4 drug and alcohol testing for transportation Employees and b7 tobacco prohibition Is there any discussion on those policies? Hearing none all those in favor say aye Aye Are there any nays? Are there any nays? Hearing none policies passed Right river valley supervised reading in 23 24 board goals um, I worked with Andrews daisy and bill and we came up with some board goals that you should have found in your packets Did everybody have a chance to take a look at them? Do I have feedback thoughts questions? These guys are an easy crowd tonight Kathy it's michael could they ray could you scroll back down or back up to number one on thank you on Goal three of first bullet review test scores and achievement data. I mean that's the basis for that whole document jamie that the Vsa is or vsba sending out to the AOE and the state board of education. I mean how I know we need that data, but it's it's not been reliable. It hasn't been consistent. It's not been timely Can we actually use that as a goal kathy? Well, this isn't just the state data. It's also our track my progress or whatever other Assessments that we are doing Yeah, just the state stuff And it doesn't have to just be at you know, I guess it is just the educational data for that one Yeah, I think we were cool looking at all of our ways of tracking it michael um Yeah, no, I mean that that makes sense. It's just that it's been quite a frustration and it's tricky to respond Well, it's a separate conversation, but it's tricky responding to the public when you're talking about a state system that's so flawed Agreed Yeah And michael good point. That's one reason On the agenda is whether or not our SU should join forces with other school Districts across the state to form a task force to try to Identify more clearly and forcefully the weaknesses shortcomings of our state board of education and state department of education And one of the the promises we're not getting viable useful educational A performance data from the state what we do have and I am talking to other Board chairs and vice chairs is that We're blessed that we've got a very good Measurement system that we've been using for over time that gives us solid information relative to the performance of our students academic performance um and also In a format that can give real-time support to our teachers And our principals so that they can fine-tune The individual approaches to the children so that they can Um, they can move along so What we have here on goal three is of the strategic plan as well That's a huge thing. We We're basically pledging ourselves that we're going to monitor that and determine how we're doing and just a comment on the board goals in general, um You know, we have our strategic plan and we have the Supervisory union or superintendent goals. We kind of have a bunch of different things but the point of this document is What are we as a board going to do to further kind of those overall organizational goals? So That's one of the lenses to kind of look at this Through and you know people have ideas for what we should be doing as a board like this is where we want to put him in and and try and you know Abide by them and whatnot If I might just add another thing what gives me Confidence is that we've the document in front of you the draft is very ambitious I'd suggest again, there are a number of boards and other districts or other unions that Might not even have goals never mind a means to measure them We've got ambitious goals, but part of the The flavor of this is that we've got an administrative team led by Our ceo And his administrative team That has been tuned to this and already doing a lot of this. So it isn't like a surprise January they've got five months to go after some of the things as a board that we want to do These things a lot of these things are already happening The other thing is the goal about the superintendent's Or is it negotiate the superintendent's contract that's already done And that took I'd suggest under Kathy and Sarah's leadership a lot of work, but We're already doing a lot of this right now And I just want you to share that sense of What's the term confidence that we can do it even though they're Challenging and we're not going to necessarily do everything But we can do it and and we're already doing it underway Yeah, any more discussion on the goals guys any more ideas we didn't want it for action We didn't want it for And I think that gives a little bit more time for feedback too Because we can warn it and adopt these that are And we're meeting again in a few weeks so if people Sometimes I like to like go back and think about oh, this would have been a good idea or how to question So maybe if you think of things email Andrew stacey myself or bill and we'll do enough to answer if you have more ideas For this that would be great Any more discussion on it No good, okay Draft number three the 24 25 budget possible action So you're all really excited to see this after all my positive news You warmed us right up to jimmy. Good job. Good job. Well on the positive note the assessments that are reflected in this budget Are what are reflected in your budget? Uh, so to go over the su budget I mean the the biggest change that you've seen since November remember you were going to see this in december Was that the data manager physician that we have been talking about And it was removed from this budget mostly around just My sense of some concern From some of our district boards in regards to making certain we stayed under that 10 cap Of their equalized pupil Long-term weighted pupil from one year to the next so that we would cap that equalized tax rate, which Frankly many of our districts are betting fitting from prior to the cla And so it was to try to decrease the su budget to help districts manage that Um And then uh, additionally from there we played around a little bit in regards to um, some of our line items, um, like Under the superintendent's office, you'll see some reductions. Um, like Contract is service in legal fees based on just prior years um expenses Terry do you want to go what else So I corrected the community services. That's our uh, that was the benefits weren't reflective of the 0.5 FTE and then we made some adjustments to the stipends leadership and coaching stipends on the curriculum And that are the primary adjustments that jayme already discussed So we've got the supervisory union down to an increase of 168 thousand 75 dollars Which equates to an 8.5 percent And we were over 10 And then the third page in your packet is the assessments that you all are seeing in your Budget drafts And here I think it would be good. We've got um Several members that are just in their first or second year just walk them through how we do our assessments So our assessments are done at the su central office level Based on your average daily membership And enrollment And they are The average of the two and then we take it and divide it over the entire su enrollment So that's how it's determined. So obviously if your average daily membership and your enrollment has increased Then you will see an increase in your percentage of the assessment And that's not arbitrary. Just so everyone knows the su board adopted that in 2015 As their approach to How we assess yep that by statute the su has to have a formula So this will give you a sense of what each what you all pay percentage wise as an su assessment And then it'll show you based on the proposed budget what that assessment amount has changed by And then the green column is the difference between last year and this year Any questions on that how that works? Clear as mud right guys You guys have any questions about the budget? I guess I have one question To what extent is the phasing out of federal support Impacting us do you have enough on on this on our su budget? We haven't really been leveraging So I know one of your goals jammy was that we're not walking up this office Plank and they removed the plank and we've got some sharks down there. So It should be fairly but that Is impact us in some ways the only the only added Cost you're really seeing that's not being offset by the revenue that was prior Was our our community school coordinator? Because we had a three-year grant for community schools And so that's the only position that all of a sudden now you're That's that you're paying for that was grant covered. Yeah, and I think that's extremely important position Thank you But it wasn't like all of a sudden we brought in a assert position that had been being funded All right, guys Potentially to action on this before we move to sped because they're two separate budgets or how would you like to handle that jammy? Let's let's do both. Yeah, and you guys can decide what you want to do We're gonna talk about the special ed budget next That we changed anything in the special ed expenditure budget The only thing that changed in the sped budget was we got an adjustment for our Revenue so that's the only change that you'll see in this is based on the the revenue And so that's reflective in your assessment so that sheet right This one So same same functionality except for the special education assessment is purely based on the average daily membership And again, that was decided by the board. That's that's something that when we did they decided there how they would assess that And that's why you'll see that the percentage is a little different in special ed versus the Essentially the rest of the su office All right any questions guys I'll be I'll just say In regards to the special ed budget I just and that's not here, but this is really When we talk about our multi-tiered system of supports And All the work we're doing around universal instruction and strengthening our curricular documents and providing target interventions And a networking hard with anda and mackayla and our principals and our teachers to ensure that like We are doing early intervention and responding to intervention. I will tell you That one of the things I I hope we really celebrate as a supervisory union Is the fact that our our su budgets in regards to special education have been going up at a Very sustainable rate As I will put this our su budgets in regards to how much they've been increasing over the last three years up against Anyone in the state? I know of some su special ed budgets that are going up over two million this year So I just want to give some perspective to the board That all that work we've been doing around early intervention and things of that nature Is paying off um Because I I am in I personally am incredibly proud That we're able to service our students with fidelity get the supports they need to them have intensive programming for them And do it in a way that I believe is very fiscally sustainable And so I just I really wanted to highlight that tonight There's some huge celebrations of the work we've been doing around early intervention Investing in pre-k investing in intervention in pre-k that I believe you can directly then look and look at your special ed budget and see that that Is benefiting All of our kids, but then resulting in us not Essentially having to Remediate after we've already failed students And which all the research shows costs significantly more So I just wanted to just point that out to everyone And keep doing so because some of us have faulty memories, but that's phenomenal That's um less than inflation by my measure. So 3.18 percent That's um and we're doing that That's a demonstration. I think that we're doing it Or we're not we're not looking the other way on this thing at all. Thank you All right, so that's our special ed and our regular budget any questions discussion suggestions changes Before we move this to a vote. All right, so I have a motion to approve the budgets. So I have to have the specific Okay for each one you have to do them Okay, are we ready for motion guys? Say both budgets Do you have a motion? Tara will give you the magic numbers. Yeah, we've got um We got the Yeah, okay, I'll just give the motion The motion is to accept the fiscally year 24 25 budget for white river valley central office In the amount of 2,146,501 Dollars in the special education budget for fiscally year 2024 2025 in the amount of 8,031,312 dollars No, I shall move that Do I have a second? Is this Sylvia all second? Thank you, Sylvia. Is there any discussion on the budget? On the motion All right, so we'll do a roll call vote Oh Eric So Here's um, I think a question And a comment on the approval of the budget I understand that as boards we have the responsibility to approve a budget It is incredibly difficult to approve a budget when we don't know how we're going to pay for it Um, and My perspective is That there is a little bit of the heart before the horse kind of exercise that we are undertaking not because We shouldn't undertake the exercise but because we're being placed in this position to act in this fashion um, I um I am feeling Like it is irresponsible to approve a budget When we don't understand What the implications of that budget are going to be to an individual taxpayer um, that's uh That's the way that i'm feeling right now, and I just I wanted to make that comment Um before we we take a vote But we do kind of know we know what our assessment is because it's been in each of our budgets that's gone out I I hear that I hear that but the letter that we got This afternoon Puts into a significant question What that's going to mean for the individual taxpayer in each of our towns And as a result of we we don't understand whether we should be um engaging in a incredible, uh, you know budget cutting Spree because we have no money Or whether we ought to be going in a different direction So I appreciate that we have to do this I I am not feeling confident um That that we are headed in a sustainable direction I would agree with that eric, and I do understand where you're coming from. I don't I do know we need to approve our su budget in order for each of our individual boards to move forward with their budgets so we we have a kind of a We have to get from point a to point b Definitely not with a lot of help from the state this year so Is there any other discussion or suggestions or Talk about the budget Jamie can I ask you a question it's michael? Yeah um So if eric if I understand you correctly then it What's happening here a little bit is in a time of incredible uncertainty in terms of Tax rate and increases and what's going to actually end up happening to our individual district budgets we will be Pre approving if you will approving in advance um The special the special ed budget and the su budget Which doesn't allow us to go back And change or manipulate that should things really go To heck in a hand basket eric is at your point Yes, and I will add that When I look at budgeting, right? I look um or the overall financial health of an institution I don't just look at what I am expecting to spend next year But how i'm going to pay for it And the how i'm going to pay for it part of this discussion Is uh is missing by virtue of This letter that we got today Because we cannot tell um any of our taxpayers right now What adopting this budget will mean to them on a personal basis? period we can't Which is simply can't I argue with that a little bit eric because For most of you you're under the you're under the 10 cap In an order unless you're telling me as a board member that you plan to gut programming locally There's there's not much that our local districts are going to be able to combat the cla Because so that gets back to the conversation that we were having earlier jamie where I could I I'm I still don't understand What the cla does to the 5 cap? nothing the fight so the cla is it is the state's way Of making certain that someone who owns property in rochester and owns property in stock bridge even in the same district That they are paying their educational tax taxes on properties that are valued appropriately So the cla adjusts to make certain that a property in rochester that was originally valued at 150 But should be appraised at 300 Is paying at the 300 rate essentially Which means that our tax rates Will be impacted by the common level of appraisal correct correct And i'm telling you that And i'm telling you that in most of our towns There's not a budget that I could stand behind and put forward to you to combat it because it's dropped so much Could you repeat that i'm sorry That for some of our districts your clas dropped so much that if you wanted a flat tax rate That I couldn't stand behind a budget that I was putting forward to you So for an example, I did an exercise today in a district There's clas dropped so much That their expenditure budget Would have to go down by 500 thousand dollars In order to have a flat tax rate Yeah, sorry, you had a comment. Yeah Yeah, the other point I would make is if your town Happened to have done an assessment last year And it made it so that the clas, you know was 100 instead of 80 percent Like people would still be, you know, it wouldn't It would look like the tax rate was going down But it doesn't impact the amount people are paying because their assessed values are higher So the clas percent isn't really something that's under our control It's based on property values and property values going up isn't really something that we can control or have Should really have an impact on what we're doing in my mind because it's kind of separate from It it does have to do with how it gets paid and how what the rate people are paying but You know if if we did an assessment it makes it look like tax rates go down But they don't as far as what people actually pay. So it's not really something that I don't know. I I mean you pay attention to it and it matters, but I don't think Like really we should be looking at the equalized tax rate and not the common level of prison rate because it's kind of You know, it does have that extra kind of factor, right? It's not something we can control and You know, can arbitrarily go up and down And it doesn't really have anything to do with what we're doing as a as a district or supervisor or whatever understood Jamie I'm gonna I'm gonna ask another question here. So To try and get back to my point. So I'm in Sharon. We go before the voters. They're not happy Ultimately with you know, I'm just making this up, right with what we come forward with with the budget. They want us to cut I can imagine As you can certain criticism Because we've already voted For 10 million dollars in expenditures with these two budgets, right? So we can't go back and make any adjustments there They'd all have to come out of local budgets. Is that correct? And we're and we have to adopt an SU budget Before you go to your voters with a budget Because that assessment is what is in your budget and has to be approved at the central office and special education level It is I actually I would have to dig into it. I believe by statute We have to have a budget approved. I can go pull it Before before we finalize our district budgets So this order has to happen like we can't finalize district budgets And then adjust because potentially board and the reason for that might would be You know boards could possibly be budgeting to deficit spend Like that number has to be real Yeah, and please don't misunderstand me. I hear you. You know me well enough. I want to clarify that question. Yeah I'm not suggesting that the SU or special ed is padding their budget in any way at all. It's just that I I'm literally listening to Town members constituents who are you know, the the only thing that's that is tight on this is that Essentially within the next three weeks We need to approve this but these budgets these two And I need to have for your districts approve And so what I would be looking for from the board tonight is if you weren't to approve this I need some real direct feedback on what you need it to be to finalize it Because we need to have this approved before the other four can even take action Yeah, I'll only speak for myself here, but I wouldn't even know where to start with that given the fact that I can't You know, I I don't know Where this funding is going to you know, this model is going to go this year I can't anticipate. We haven't had the full discussion at the district yet about our own budget So, you know, I need to give you as you've asked us, jamie I would need to give you a number and say you'd have to reduce this by x amount and that's based on No good reliable data at this point, right? So I can't ask you to do that. That would be just ingenuous it would be You know, I just I just find is that we're sort of between a rock and a hard spot particularly this year because Revenue was so unknown And dicey and and it isn't just education that's going to be looking for dollars this year No, so I um, I'm talking in circles. I apologize. I I could I I couldn't look at this and tell you what to do with it I I you know, you're at a what three point um 3.18 You know increase In special ed in special ed, you know, I know what you're dealing with in special ed given given what you're dealing with That's a very very small increase um Yeah I mean, I think if as a board if you weren't going to take action tonight Then you have to somehow commit That we're going to come back together after a certain date and for example first branch in strafford The earliest date we got on the calendar was the 15th So if if those if certain particular boards want to look at this again Then just know we're going to have to look at that commit to a full board meeting Shortly after and then get those other district boards back together again swiftly That could be the strategy All right Well, we do have a vote on the floor right now. Is there any other discussion on it? Um Just moving back to this point if We did want to ingest this for a while and come back to it. Would that vote need to be rescinded or we would just would we vote it Down hold it down. Yeah, you got a motion. Yeah, you got a motion. So we got to hold it down Jamie do you feel that this budget you've put forward? Um is uh For what you're trying to do and move our district forward, but um that it is Paired down as much as it could be Yeah, I mean if you were asking me, I think we need a data manager I I wanted to have added it last month if I didn't think we didn't need it And I've got administrators that are not happy that I removed it Well, it's in there as a stipend though, isn't it? There's a stipend but we were looking at a full-time data manager To help make certain that that we were lessening the load on our su-office staff And making certain that our teachers had real-time academic and behavioral data they could use That that is already a cut that I made that I just felt like we needed to make I will tell you that Um to speak genuinely, I don't think everyone necessarily supported that cut I certainly understand the concerns about kind of the order and the way things happen I do think it's just the way it is structurally you know It's kind of the side effect of us all having individual district budgets and having to come together as a group to approve the budget Separately from that and that has to happen before all the individual district budgets happen So, you know, we're kind of going to be In the situation where we're having to approve before we know exactly what our district budgets are doing Anyway, you know like the districts that are Aiming for a march vote certainly have more information probably than the districts that Do may or something No, you're all pretty much in the same place actually Andrew. We've been We've been walking you and the other ones at the same timeline Well, I mean in that case we should have a pretty good idea of what's happening in our individual districts um but speaking from our timeline like we're supposed to have a meeting next week to finalize our budget because where um You know, we need to have our mailers go out and at the end of the month in order to end the warning at the end of the month to um To get it out in time for our town meeting or school board meeting So, you know, if we are going to push this back It's really going to put pressure on our calendar as far as getting everything that needs to happen for that to happen so I think everybody for march is in that boat What's that? I think everybody who's got a A vote in march needs to get this this done rather sooner than later So if people have specific things that I can see kind of I'm sure we could discuss that but you know I think we need to Rather than just saying let's wait and see. Let's have specific suggestions or Let's approve it or you know Yeah Yeah, I just I want to be clear. I don't have a My issue is not with the budget My issue is with my inability to forecast how I'm going to pay for it That that's that's where I'm having some dissonance here Because because I don't know how I'm going to pay for it. I don't know how Reasonable or unreasonable the hikes and the budget are Said differently if all of a sudden I I come to realize that I have a one million dollar short war In in revenue that then I then this budget Sounds incredibly unreasonable And we would be directing jamie and others to cut the budget To meet the one thought one million dollar deficit and I just I don't know what our revenues go look like But I think you know, we are kind of setting our revenue by setting the tax rates, you know like if you If you have some sort of cap as to what you're willing to allow the tax rate to go up to then you have a limit but You know Agree And I absolutely agree the the The difficulty is as I am sitting here right now. I can't translate This budget into what the tax rate will look for our town I can't say a one dollar increase in the budget Equals a one cent increase on the tax rate for the town and I can't do that because the The the new information has tweaked Um, the tax sheet for or will have an effect on the tax sheet on our town That's that's the That's the the stress that I'm I'm dealing with My sense is eric and if I can't run those numbers right here Is that because you're benefiting from the five percent cap? That you are proving any increase is probably Not going to impact your tax rate Because it's capped at that five percent for your equalized tax rate. What's going to impact your tax rate is the CLA But also with this budget With our assessments to really make a difference in our individual assessments It would have to probably be changed significantly to have Any more than a you know one or two percent change in in our assessments I was actually thinking that what what what was the amount of the data person jamie What was that adding to the budget that you pulled out? Uh with salary and all benefits in It was you know We always budget for like if they take a family plan, which a family plan now is I want to say it's like a hunt just shy of a hundred just shy of a hundred grand I don't have that budget printed in my book I mean because the family plan's up to what 29,400 almost Personally, I'd like to see us put that position back in because it feels like Aligning with our board goals and everything we just talked about and worked on is Something we need although. I know We're also going to be battling with some tough budgets You know, I think we're going to battle that anyway I I also thought Just to be frank that a important number for us at the su level was to not have our expenditure budget Over 10 percent. I do think I think our voters vote. You've all heard me say this I think they vote on lots of different things I think they vote on the tax rate. I think they vote on your overall expenditure budget We try to educate folks, right? I think some of them look at the su budget and say that's up too much I think everyone has a little different flavor of why they vote Yay or nay And for some folks, I do think there are certain factors that they look at if they they possibly can get turned off on And one of them is I do believe based on just Talking to constituents in the past Seeing the su budget up over 10 could be a challenge for some folk Absolutely agree jamey Are we saying that? For every dollar we cut In the su budget because of the cla The tax impact of the dollar cut isn't a dollar It's something to significantly less than that. Yeah, and remember it's less than that Because none of you pay a full dollar Right, it's it's assessed out six different ways that dollar And the reason I raised that question it's kind of a powerful thing that That we're not get the benefit it's far less that in other words, we have to cut Maybe five times as much to get the full impact On each district yes specifically, I mean in our smaller districts It impacts you less, right? I mean if you look at your assessment, you know, it It ruds at 39.85 in first branches at 21.05. I mean they're they're the so on for every dollar White River unified districts essentially paying 40 cents And then we've got first branches covering the other, you know 21 and then it goes from there So essentially to have any factor on the tax rate, which is what the cla what we're talking about We'd have to cut huge here and huge in our own budgets, which is something none of us I think are looking to do really that's what I started with because The cla comes in after your Your your equalized tax rate your actual what we can control the cla comes in after that And because many of us stayed under the 10 cap and we're benefiting from the 5 percent Equalized tax rate in order to actually Make an adjustment to undo the cla. I just gave you an example. I just ran numbers for a district That we have that's their overall expenditure budget even when this figured in's only at 3.8 percent the budget We're going to give them next week, but in order to get their taxes flat We would need to not go up at all. We would need to actually cut 400,000 And that's in a little district Yeah, and I think before we have our Our school annual school meetings that we need to have graphics that we can explain that As clearly as possible Because that's really dramatic and it kind of And then we tell them again, but if we can tell them as clearly as possible with some examples of that That will help the the propensity of people have and we'll just we'll just cut and the key is it's what Andrew just said We control the equalized tax rate. We don't control What the values of people's properties are in their town? and the cla drops to ensure that you're It's supposed to be the equalizer to ensure everyone in the state Is paying on an appropriate value of their house Just because you're not reassessed What they say is when your cla drops is No, you haven't been reassessed, but your home's worth that much more So if bill was going to sell his home, they're saying well, you might have been re you might have been assessed at 250 eight years ago But you can sell it for 354 They're saying well, you should be paying at 354 So when we're talking about trying to adjust our budgets to combat the cla What we're what you're asking us to do Is to combat the fact that properties are worth more That's what you're asking me to do that. We're going to cut from kids Cut from programs in order to keep the tax rate low so that people aren't paying Taxes on their actual value of their home Andrew did I get that right based on what how you Yeah, sure. I mean, I think one way you can think of the cla is it's a way for the state to keep towns from gaming the system by You know assessing lower than they should So, you know, it kind of makes it independent of the town's assessment Um, so that you can't have one town assessing at a lower value in order to pay less into the ad fund Um out of curiosity, how many towns are or which towns are at the 5% or yeah 5% cap Uh, that are benefiting from it First branch is benefiting from it white river unified districts bad and freedom from it strafford's benefiting from it Sharing their tax rate will benefit from it and rochester stock bridge is actually under it And The cap like we're not Looking at a 5% right. You're not you're like arson. You're not benefiting from it, correct But for the town's fact For the other towns you listed basically approving this does nothing to the local Tax rate. That's what I'm trying to say. I it won't change the actual actual equalized tax rate Because we're under the put another way Put another way cutting this wouldn't benefit their local tax rate at all Not unless they're willing to gut their budget All right guys More discussion. We ready to call the vote What's the term for call the vote? Do you call the vote? Yeah, all the vote. All right. We'll do roll call. I'll Um, I'll look if you're in favor say aye. Andrew. I I Amy said aye, but I said roll call this. Yeah, as I did Andrew say aye. He said aye Michael Michael Oh, I Amy Eric I Stacey Sylvia I Dustin And Kathy's an I So it passes unanimously All right. Thank you guys Vsba resolution I love your privacy signing on to the vsba resolution Yeah, um at the Vermont school board association annual conference One of the major agenda items was to look at Resolutions that they wanted to put forward Um, and one of the most important ones was the dissatisfaction and the pain and hurt that Each of our districts and supervisor unions are taking Through inadequacies at the state's educational leadership Uh, that means the board of education and um actual education agency itself and in this resolution that, um forest was that This can't go on because it's hurting the ability of the educators and the educational team to feel fulfill our Moral requirement to take care of our kids and make sure that they can get the best education possible within limits And so this resolution basically if we Join forces is to team up with other su's and districts To form a task force and that task force would also be complemented with The vermont super tens association representative the principles association this special education association representatives to come up with a Uh a series of recommendations that they would uh, and we would forward to Our legislative leaders and to the administration And sure, I think there's a real feeling out there that One big problem is that the board of education and the edge The vermont school board Agency has been underfunded and understaffed for years. And so we're kind of getting what You know, it's it's it's phase it's false economy that They can't do what they're set out to do and If they do it right, we believe that it'll ultimately save money for the state and the taxpayers So this resolution says do we want to join that effort if we vote? Yes, then I assume Somebody or people from the su will join that task force and And see where it leads. I see there's no harm to this. I do think Boy, we need better performance at the state level Any questions I mean, I don't I don't disagree with it. I I can understand the frustration. Um, that's uh, You know to Provide the governor no later than january of 25 with recommended actions means that any any action that might be taken I mean, this is Pushing this way down the road. Jamie. Are you frustrated by that timeline? Yeah, a little but I get I mean, they're trying to they're trying to pull a committee together to study it Is my sense Yeah, I mean Montpelier is famous for study committees. Um Um, I'm sorry if that sounds cynical, but um, I think last year they set a record number I mean, uh, Jamie if you think that this might actually lend, um or lead to some Uh positive action or response then I would vote for it. I'm just curious your I mean, obviously you've got this in front of us I'm assuming that you're in support You know when I I mean certainly when I read through it, I was happy to see that the group was the vsba was looking to Take some action And just like put a call out around concerns Um, so in that sense Um, I certainly support it. I I'm a little curious to why I guess they're looking just to get in front of the next letters legislative session Um I was curious about the january date too. I don't think it means that we couldn't sign on but Emphasize that we believe it should wrap up sooner I would be in support of it if if you were willing to push that timeline I mean, certainly the board could move it with the You know with the revision of you know, november 2025 and we could let them know we're signing on but that that's our take on it Bill you I feel like you're a little in more in tune with this Would they when were they hoping to form this committee? Did you have a sense? I haven't I wasn't at the conference So I just when I read this I'm saying we're seeing the The bad results the substantive results that would not be acceptable If we were in charge quite honestly happening at the state level again and again and I personally thought that it's time for the Our board association to team up and to articulate be very specific about what is needed not only for For this governor, but future governors And uh, so it's easy for policy people saying well, we should do Generally, well, I think we have some expertise at the state At the local levels to say well starting with xyz And again, so I I think sooner the better I totally agree with that thought But doing it I think is going to possibly whether it's immediate or down the road it can't help but It can't hurt That's kind of how I'm feeling too like it's not doing it. It seems like Seems kind of foolish I agree with you Michael doesn't might not go Very far, but at least it's worth We're I think that's voting yes for it is also us saying that we see there's a problem And maybe they'll realize the more boards that get on you get involved that That everybody uses a problem You know, I mean like it's making a statement that we support it So you need a move you need a motion? Yes So I would move that we that we uh support this uh Proposal and that we asked that they pushed the timeline forward To expedite this as much as possible Do I have a second second second? All those in favor say aye Hi, hi Is there any nays? Right here, none. It's passed. Thank you guys um annual financial management questionnaire So we talked about that earlier and said it would come up for So I just need a motion if you if it is your Pleasure to accept The financial management questionnaire Great. I'll do it. I'll don't have that motion So move Do I have a second? I have a second second Is there any discussion? All right, hearing none all those in favor say aye Aye Aye Are there any nays any nays All right, you're hearing none. Motion passes. Thank you. Thank you I will sign off for all these terms All right, so that puts us to public comment. I don't have any public comments at all Resignations Is there any exception? There is it's uh, it's on a contract in regards to our Has to do with has to do with electric Okay, okay, is there anything Okay Do I have a motion to go to executive session session Kathy, I think you meant Tuesday, January 23rd Sorry 23 I haven't done that yet Do I have a motion to go to executive session session You do I just don't recall That's uh, Ralph Ray and Tara and I thank you. So moved I can all right. All right, so okay. Okay. All right, so we're out of executive session. We need to take action Um, we need to make a vote um, of what we need to have a vote to um If the motion to come out, um, okay motion to come out of executive session So moved all right All right, so we're out of executive session Now, could I have a motion to reject the bid from Pxt for the electric charging stations infrastructure solutions So move I second it. All right any discussion All those in favor say aye Hi Any nays? All right hearing none so moved. Thank you guys and We're gonna have public on we did executive session And our next meeting is january 23rd 24 tuesday All right guys, I'll take a motion to adjourn So moved Second All right guys. Thank you