Hello, my name is Corey McIntyre, superintendent of Anoka Henipin Schools and this presentation is regarding the phase three budget reductions and realignment process. In this presentation, we will cover factors impacting the district budget, the phased approach used for budget reduction and realignment, the phase three options and considerations, the timeline and key dates for the process along with how to provide communication and feedback throughout the five community meetings held in the district this fall. Some key themes are part of the presentations. The school board values community input and engagement in this process. Community meetings were also held as part of the phase 2 budget reduction and realignment process last year to inform the decision-making that occurred. And finally, a link to the feedback form will be provided at the end of the presentation. Community members are of course encouraged to populate their thoughts and ideas on the feedback form for review of the entire schoolboard and district administration. Some basic information about the district. We have a student enrollment of nearly 37,000 students. We have over 253,000 residents in our school district. We serve 13 communities in two counties, which includes seven high schools, six middle schools, 25 elementary schools, and a number of other specialty sites uh for services from early childhood up through age 22. The district has nearly 8,000 employees and runs the district budget on about $700 million annually. how we got to this point in needing to make budget reductions through phase one, two, and three. Our enrollment has been stable. It has not dramatically increased or decreased, meaning our revenue has basically remained flat. As well, there was the elimination of the pandemic relief funds no longer available to us, which were one-time short-term dollars. are employee contract settlements, increased costs of transportation operations, and additional requirements from the state where considerations as well as no additional revenue from state or federal resources or sources are anticipated. We also take a um consideration approach with following our district priorities and also considering things like enrollment, our continuum of programs, what reductions have been made in prior phases or in past years, our fund balance, finding operational efficiencies, looking at our instructional schedules, staffing allocations, teacher schedules within the levels, and finally ensuring we're in legal financial compliance with the rules and regulations that school districts must follow. In the spring of 2024, we completed phase one reductions. Those consisted of $5.1 million at the central office and district administration, which included 40 positions that were reduced and nearly eight others that were realigned. So nearly 50 positions impacted. This was at a time where we projected our original uh target for reductions to be about $30 million. So phase one was meant to minimize the impact on school sites we knew we'd have to make in phase two. This information was shared widely with district staff and community community and um district outlets. Phase 2 reductions happened in the fall of 2024 and started this past July of 2025. An additional $9 million in central office and district administration reductions and realignments impacting about 176 positions occurred. Those were realized in nearly every department at the central office which are listed here including senior leadership, buildings and grounds, finance, technology, transportation, human resources, communications, special education and student services and community education. Our phase three reductions process has recently started with planning occurring over the summer months into the start of this school year. These will be implemented in July of 2026. So to start the process on September 8th at the schoolboard work session, some initial considerations to start the process were discussed. First of all, the school board reviewed the pandemic relief funds and positions that were funded through those pandemic relief funds, knowing that those were short-term, one-time dollars that were given to all school districts. There's $ 8.6 million of COVID relief funds that have now expired. And there's a list on the left here of all the different uh district and school level positions that those dollars initially funded from elementary literacy intervention staff, high school support teachers, middle school instructional coaches and pair educators to student supports around K12 social work and student support and counseling as well as additional administrators. On the right hand side is additional considerations beyond the assert positions for the board to have discussion and consider as alternatives for reductions. Those include a middle school schedule change, some adjustments to elementary, middle, and high school staffing allocations, restructuring the instructional and academic coaching model in the district, as well as additional student supports at the school level. Three key themes came out of those discussions on September 8th. Primarily remaining with a focus on literacy, keeping a focus on class size and student behavior and safety. In addition, the board discussion included themes of providing flexibility where possible at the school level and also the option to restructure the K12 instructional coaching and intervention model. As a result from that September 8th work session, the initial first option was developed. So on the screen on this list of options to toting the $8 million target included the remaining non-iteracy intervention and academic support students positions that were originally funded through ESSER's funds or COVID relief funds. Then considering a restructuring of the instructional coaching model as well as reductions in the administrative support model at the schools with additional central services and districtwide reductions in staffing and service reductions and also non- staffing areas such as professional development and supplies and materials. An additional second option was also developed after additional work with the school principles at all of our sites. And option two was brought forward at the September 22nd schoolboard meeting. These are additional considerations for discussion amongst the school board. Included here was an elementary technology support redesign, reducing engagement coaches uh at the elementary level, an adjustment to the high school staffing allocation, and again a district-wide review of the K12 administrative interns and student support roles. Continued on the next slide is additional considerations for the board to review. These included central services around staffing and service reductions in central office uh departments, a review of the special education workload staffing model aligning to student needs as well as a reduction in professional development supplies and materials. And lastly, a review of the middle school schedule with the potential option of moving from a seven to a sixth period day. The intent would be to maintain class size while making budget reductions. The schedule chain change also increases instructional minutes and core academic areas, reduces transitions, and aligns instructional minutes to the elementary and high school schedules with a review of elective offerings continuing to uh be evaluated for those student choice options. This also um achieves a goal of $8 million of reductions. So between option one and option two, there's about a dozen different considerations or options as a starting point to the final decision for the reductions that would be made by the school board at the December 8th schoolboard meeting. Here is a timeline on the process. Again, the process uh started in the summer with the target and for the reductions of $8 million um being set and approved um by the school board at the September board meeting in August. Prior to that, the timeline was shared publicly at the regular schoolboard meeting at September 8th work session was the initial conversation as alluded to earlier with additional information coming at the September 22nd board meeting. We are now in a public comment and board review window of time. We have five community meetings scheduled through October 8th. By the October 27th schoolboard meeting, additional information will be provided. Any adjustments to the options or considerations will be made and brought forward for board review at that October board meeting with the final approval scheduled to happen at the December 8th schoolboard meeting. Implementation would begin July 1st of 2026. We are having a series of community meetings and open house uh feedback feedback opportunities. First one was September 23rd and the following meetings are September 24th, September 30th, October 1st and October 8th. One at each of our cluster areas in the district. Lastly, we are asking everyone that is listening or have the opportunity to to submit feedback online so that we can include that in the final report and recommendation of the school board. Here is a QR code that can be used and we encourage everyone to participate in that survey and offer up their perspectives on this process. Thank you for being informed about our phase three budget reductions and realignment process. We look forward to hearing your feedback.