 Order the Orange Southwest Unified School District annual meeting. My name is Peter Nowland. I'm the moderator of the school district. And I will invite everyone to join me in a Pledge of Allegiance to begin the meeting. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I will ask each of you to join me in just a moment of silence so we can reflect upon the need for civil meetings in good government. Thank you. And unless there is an objection to anyone at the meeting, I will dispense of the reading of the entire warning and I will simply read each article as it comes up. As if, as a preface to reading the warning, I will tell everybody that the meeting tonight is only for articles to be taken up by the floor. Am I doing okay? That articles to be voted on by Australian ballot, which are articles seven through 11 on the warning will be voted on in the town where you are registered to vote. If you are registered to vote in the town of Braintree, it'll be at the town hall, all polls will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. If you are registered to vote in the town of Brookfield, the voting will be at the elementary school and the polls will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. If you are registered to vote in the town of Randolph, the polls will be at the town hall and will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. For that being said, I'm going to begin reading the articles for the items to be taken up by the floor and we'll take one up as I read them. Article number one, to elect a moderator for a one-year term beginning July 1, 2024. The current moderator is me, Peter Nowlin, and I will not be a candidate for re-election. What is the pleasure of the meeting? Lane. Come on, I first thank you for your years of service that I nominate Kelly Green. Thank you. Kelly Green has been nominated, zero second. One second. Then seconded. Are there any other nominations? Hearing and seeing none, I'm going to hold that nominations are closed, all in favor of electing Kelly Green as moderator of the school district for the term beginning July 1, 2024. Please signify by saying aye. Aye. Contrary my state nay, the ayes appear to have it, the ayes do have it, and Kelly Green is elected. Article number two, to elect a clerk for one year, for a one-year term beginning July 1, 2024. The current clerk is Linda Lubow. Are there any nominations? Lane. I nominate Linda Lubow. Zero second. I second. Are there any other nominations? Hearing and seeing none, I state that nominations are closed, all in favor of electing Linda Lubow for a term of one year as clerk for a term of one year, beginning July 1, 2024. Please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any contrary minded state nay? The ayes appear to have it, the ayes do have it, congratulations Linda. Article number three, to elect a school district treasurer for one year term beginning July 1, 2024, and this current school district treasurer is Linda. What is the pleasure of the meeting? Lane. I nominate Linda Lubow. Is there a second? I second. Are there any other nominations? Then I declare nominations closed, all in favor of Linda Lubow for a school district treasurer for a term of one year, beginning July 1, 2024. Signify by saying aye. Aye. The ayes appear to have it. I'm sorry. Contrary minded please state nay. The ayes appear to have it, the ayes do have it, Linda is elected. Article number four, to fill any vacancies existing or occurring on March 4, 2024. The moderator is not aware of any. There are no vacancies. We'll pass over article four to article five. To hear and act upon the recommendations contained in the reports of the officers of the school district. The reports of the officers of the school district are contained in this booklet, the town report, and I will take them up in the order they appear in the book. The report from the school board, which is on page three. Are there any questions or comments with regard to this report of the school board? It's the report from the school board as it's entitled in the book. No comments, no questions. All in favor of accepting the report as published, please signify by saying aye. The report is accepted. The report of the superintendent which is entitled to superintendent's letter is contained on page four of the booklet. And the superintendent is in front of us. Who's got questions for him? Who's got comments for him? Check. Hearing none, seeing none. I would invite you, I'll ask if you will report, we will accept the report as published. All in favor, please say aye. Any opposed? That report is accepted. Beginning on page eight, and going through page 11 are the reports of the elementary schools. Are there any questions or comments with regard to the report of the Braintree School? On page eight, the Brookfield School on page nine, the Randolph Elementary on page 11. Are there any comments of the report as a whole? Any questions? Then I would invite the report to be accepted as published. All in favor, please signify by saying aye. Any contrary minded state nay? The report of the elementary schools is accepted as published. The report of Randolph Union High School begins on page 12 of the booklet. It's 12 and 13. Any questions or comments with regard to the report of the Randolph Union High School? Will the meeting accept the report as published? All in favor, please say aye. Any opposed, say nay. The report is accepted as published. The report of the Randolph Technical Career Center, which is found on pages 14 and 15. Are there any questions or comments with regard to that report? Hearing and seeing none, do you accept the report as published? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed, say nay. The report is accepted as published. Article 6, to see whether the school district will authorize the school board to borrow money pending receipt of payments from the member towns by the issuance of notes or orders payable not later than one year from the date hereof. What is the pleasure of the meeting? Make a motion. The motion has been made to authorize the school board to borrow money. Has that been seconded? I'll second it. Are there any comments on the motion? Just so folks are aware, this is the arbitrage that happens every year. This is because we don't get tax payments from the towns until after we have to start paying bills. And that's true of pretty much every district in the state. When I was a young man, serving in the SLEC board in the early 1980s, there was a temporary on the board with me named Robert Simpson. And he said every year, arbitrage is not illegal, but it's immoral. That was his thought. Okay. Have I called for a vote? All in favor of authorizing the school board to borrow money pending receipt of taxes with the issuance of payments from the member towns, please signify by saying aye. Any opposed, state name? The motion carries. Articles seven, eight, nine, 10 and 11 are to be voted on by Australian ballot on Tuesday, March five, which is tomorrow, at the polls and the respective town in which you're registered to vote. I remind you once again, brain tree voters vote at the town hall on brain tree from nine a.m. to seven p.m. Brookfield voters vote at the Brookfield Elementary School from nine a.m. to seven p.m. Randolph voters vote at the Randolph town hall. The polls are open from seven a.m. to seven p.m. I will now invite the meeting to bring any other business forth if it has any. The budget is published on pages 24 and 25, a summary of the budget. It's time to put Lane on the hot seat if we want. So we've actually on the school side in terms of the budget, we have actually increased spending for the last three years, but our revenues have exceeded our spending for the last three years. So on the school side, two years ago, we were asking for seven cents less for $100 of assessed value. One year ago, we were asking for seven cents less for $100 of assessed value. And for next year, we are asking for 14.9 cents less for $100 of assessed value on the school side. So again, our revenues have been growing much faster than the additional spending that we've been doing. Folks can expect a moderate increase, not because of the schools, but because of the increase in property values across the state to become a level of appraisal. Probably depending upon the town, anywhere from $188 per annum to $340 per annum, depending upon. But again, that is due to the CLA, which is beyond our control, the rise in property taxes, and a little bit due to how the state reset the education funding with that one for the summer. If I'm understanding just the public news, they're talking about setting a higher level this year. The state tax. Yeah, so compared to the state as a whole, we are doing very, very well. The governor was predicting anywhere from 18.5 to a 20% increase. Our increase is depending upon the town. Actually, I think I got him right here. And again, due to the CLA's, brain tree is 8.7, work field got the biggest hit was 12.2 and Randolph is 4.8. So much below what the state was predicting for the majority of the state. Any other business to come before the meeting? Any other questions for Lane? I would just like to on the record, publicly thank Lane for his service to our district and wish him well in his next position. Thank you. And I will join you in that. Thank you, Lane. Hearing nothing else, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. Motion's been made. Is there a second? It's a non-debatable motion. All in favor, please say aye. We stand adjourned.