Okay. So, uh, Rachel, thank you for joining us. Um, I'm I'm assuming you want to share your screen to walk us through the program and services budget. So Rachel's here to share uh with the finance committee uh the program and services contract from the IU uh that is on our agenda later in this meeting and will be on our agenda at the um committee of the whole meeting on the 24th. Okay. So with that I will turn it over. Thank you very much. >> Great. Thank you. And let let me know I'm going to just going to share my screen. Um, and I'll make sure that you can see the presentation. So, just give me a moment and you can let me know if it's coming through. Okay. >> Are you seeing a presentation now? >> Yep. >> Okay. Perfect. All right. >> One second. >> So, Rachel, you just went into full screen, which is so great. We do see ourselves as well. You I if you're able to move your me like your Google Meet side panel off of Thank you so much. >> Oh, no problem. >> Just the way Tom likes it. >> Very good. All right. Well, thank you so much for uh letting me come to to your meeting this evening. I'm sorry I can't be there in person, but I'm happy to do this as an alternative and and certainly address any questions after this uh this presentation as well. So, um, please stop me at any point if you do have questions as we go or I certainly can entertain questions at the end. Um, for those who may not know me, my name is Rachel Holler. I'm an assistant executive director at the Bucks IU and I have the uh privilege of facilitating and leading the programs and services division of the Bucks IU. And so, uh, what I'm going to be sharing with all of you is the 20 26 2027 budget overview um, that will be up for your board approval. All right. So, let me advance the next slide. There we go. So, just as a opening slide, it's always nice to to mention and to share that certainly we have a very longstanding uh partnership with the Centennial School District. We value that partnership and I wanted to begin with that because it's always great to celebrate when we have a wonderful thing going. And so, we I I wanted to share that we certainly value our partnership with the Centennial School District. to just give a a brief overview because sometimes people wonder what's why are we approving this budget? This is a little bit different or or confusing. So, I'll give you just a couple a little background slides. The first one that you see on the screen or that you're viewing is that what is an intermediate unit? And so, you may or may not know that that the Bucks U is actually one of 29 intermediate units covering the state of Pennsylvania. And we are really our our mission is to operate as a regional education educational service agency providing cost-effective management efficient programs to not only your school district but to all the public and private K to2 schools, school districts and community of Bucks County. And really one of the major charges that that are that we follow as an intermediate unit is to support the implementation of federal, state, and local education policies as well as creating new services as determined by local need. And just as a quick example of what that might what new services might you be talking about, I've been in in at the Bucks IU for 10 years. And when I first got to the IU, just as one example, steam was kind of a new thing. steam or STEM kind of programs was not necessarily something that was it was just coming to be an acronym that was much kind of starting to become popular and since that time you know you well I'm going to talk a little bit more about some of the things we've been doing in your district but that the idea of you know what what the mobile Fab Lab program that we have and this the Fab Lab center all those things have been created really because of the local needs that we saw and heard from districts throughout the county and that's just one example of what that might look like when you see that slide about creating new services and how we try to stay um in touch with everything that's going on in the county and the needs and be being sure to fill those to to the best of our ability. And so why the the uh budget needs to be approved just it might be a question you're you're wondering and based on the uh Pennsylvania school code a majority of the school districts that comprise our intermediate unit will vote annually to to approve this particular budget and it's a subset of the overall IU budget and the other services as one major example that you might be familiar with because we have as we support special education programming throughout the county. Those types of services are actually purchased separately and they are not included in the budget that I'm going to be going over with all of you. So, this is a screen that that goes over just what's what's the programs and services budget as part of the actual Bucks IU comprehensive annual budget. And so, we're going to be looking right now at 2526 amounts because the 2627 Bucks IU budget has not yet been finalized. So we're comparing like apples to apples in the sense of both of these budgets show the 25 26 amounts. But just to give you that point of comparison, the Bucksai used budget is um over two over $257 million and the programs and services budget is $2.2 million thereabouts uh during this current year. So you can see that as a percentage of the the IU overall IU budget, what you're approving for the programs and services budget or what you approved this past year that we're functioning under right now is about 08% of the IU budget. I would argue that we are a small but mighty group. Uh we do a lot of great work throughout the the county, but we in terms of the scope of that work in relation to the Bucks budget, it kind of gives you a sense of of where that what you're approving and how that stands in relation to the full BucksU budget. And so some fast facts by the n numbers for the this upcoming 2627 budget that's under your consideration that I'll be talking about for to all of you. The total budget for this upcoming school year is going to be 2,58,82. district contributions that are that that go toward that budget is $1,76,000 approximately half of the overall budget. Um so the overall increase in the amount of the district contributions year-over-year from 25 to 26 school year to to the this upcoming 2627 is $15,861. And of that $15,861, the Centennial increase is $937. That gives you a little bit of a perspective of, you know, where the budget is and what the increase for Centennial is in relation to that. So that in the the previous circle graph for that that we took a look at a couple slides ago, you saw that blue sliver was the programs and services budget in relation to the overall um BucksU budget. So now we took that entire blue sliver and that's what we're looking at now is a 2627 budget. So if you think about the full circle really being the programs and services budget, I carved out via this visual the centennial contribution and you can see there that the centennial contribution of that you know roughly $2.15 million budget is $72,860 which is about 3.4% of the overall programs and services budget. So just a a summary and pictures. You saw the overall BucksU budget. Now we're looking at the programs and services budget and that's the sliver that would be essentially Centennial's contribution towards that $2.15 million. So what do you get for the the the amount of money that you contribute to the programs and services budget? I know that there's a full comprehensive budget package that um that that we sported to for all of you to review that is that's certainly not light reading. There's a lot of information there, but we always include it so that you have all the information that kind of summarizes each of the areas that you see on the screen here. I'm not going to go over every single one uh with all of you unless there are specific questions, but I'll highlight a few on this slide and then I also will have a few others that I'll highlight on subsequent slides. you can see a little bit more about what what does it what kinds of things is Centennial taking advantage of in particular this year just so that you can kind of see that I I feel that that we have as I mentioned at the very beginning we have a strong relationship with the district and as a result we always are are working to to be responsive to all the requests and things that come in from your district. So, a couple highlights for you. Um, one of them is that we facilitate a number of advisory councils and your team members are active members of many of those advisory councils. Some advisory councils meet on a monthly basis such as the high school consortium and the high school assistant principles and I know I have the pleasure of seeing those team members on a monthly basis for those meetings. We have our programs and services advisory council which Dr. Zackin serves on and that's something that we you know we regularly have those meetings on a monthly basis as well that that he's able to attend and those types of meetings give an opportunity for districts to come together across the county to share information to ask questions of each other to learn information that because we end up um we becoming a conduit for a lot of new initiatives and information coming from the Pennsylvania Department of Education. So it's a I think these are a really important service that we provide to our districts in terms of making sure we are responsive to what's happening and are also able to the economy of scale of bringing everyone together and talking through things is very powerful. Um, another one that I'll I'll highlight is that we offer a number of student programs. And so when when we have student competitions and those kinds of opportunities, we know that Centennial students are often participating in those and those are we are always a always a pleasure to be able to provide and support those types of programs. So those are two highlights from that list um of all the different things that we provide, but I'll give you a couple more specifics and then certainly we'll entertain any questions you might have as well. So, some highlights for the current school year that we are, you know, it's always great to to kind of take stock of what happening and what what your district is doing and how we're supporting the district when it comes to things that come through the programs and services budget. We are always happy to have participation from your district in the leadership development fellowship. I would say that your district has worked very hard to identify people to go through that program that are able to then expand their leadership capacity within your district and grow their their leadership skills. So, that's something that you do have uh several amazing participants again this this current school year. The mobile Fab Lab, you may have heard just actually finished up last two weeks of residencies or uh last week there were actually two sites visited within your district. Um, so we've done three, all three of your elementary schools have received a full week residence from the um, mobile fab lab and I know that was a highlight most recently that we heard great things about that that students really enjoyed seeing the mobile fab lab um, in their within their building. Um, supports with steel's standards implementation. This is the first school year where steel's standards are actually in full implementation and will be assessed during the PSSA and biology keystone window. So we have done not only work across the county but some specific customized work for your district to support the steel standards implementation. Um one of my team members has also supported some social studies curriculum renewal. We um have the pleasure of having some chief science officers from your district. This is student leaders who are working on STEM projects for your district and so we support that program and are happy to have your students participate in it. We've also been supporting the development of the comprehensive plan and that seems like it's I always joke that it seems like almost every year you feel like you're doing it but this is the year that you've been really rolling up your sleeves and working on completing that plan and it comes again every three years that we'll be back and doing that work. And then finally, we have a an instructional coaching initiative and you have some participants in that initiative and who have taken advantage of that opportunity to come together with instructional coaches across the county. So, those are some highlights for you um when it comes to specific things that we've really had the pleasure of being more intensively involved uh with in your district to date at this point. And this is just a a summary. We had we had one visit earlier in the fall for the mobile fab lab and at the conclusion of that visit we give a little residency snapshot. So I thought that would be fun to share with all of you as our when we had Davis earlier in the school year on in the week of October 20th. You can see a little highlight of what that looks like. And we just had the the final two visits last week and the schools just received a similar report of of the summary of the work that could be shared with with families. From a timeline perspective, you can see here that this is we are in the throws of of the actual budget season. Back in December, uh we reviewed the budget and and were it was given preliminary endorsement by the Bucks County Superintendent. And then on January 20th, the next step in that process was to to receive preliminary approval by our Bucks IU board of school directors. So from right now we're in the the middle of budget approval times for our school districts and we hope that you will vote to approve the budget by the end of February and then it goes back to our Bucks IU board of school directors for final approval on April 21st at our April meeting. So that's the timeline when it comes to our budget. So, I believe that's my last slide and what I will do is stop sharing so I can address any questions you might have. Um, and I again I'm happy to entertain anything that might you might be curious about when it comes to the budget. >> Oh, that's a great question. So, um, what we do is every spring typically we come out to the districts, um, and sometimes it's summer. It depends on districts and their, um, their availability. And we actually meet with districts to say what what is on the on the horizon for your district? What are the initiatives that we can support? And then from there, we are we don't say I always tell them at the end of that meeting, this is not a speak now or forever peace kind of moment. uh meaning that if something comes up next week, next month, uh you know, three weeks from you know, months from now, we will add that to the list. But that what happens is we do try to have those meetings to uh to identify in partnership with the district team members what we can do to pro provide that support year-over-year. >> Any other questions? Uh can you Rachel can you talk and I think more to Mrs. Kger is that student student counts are a part of the allocation right so there's there was a handful right a small couple of uh I think on that like slide 37 to 38 right the the pie gets split in two different fashions if you could comment on that. Sure. Absolutely. So there are two different ways that we um we work on on the budget end of things making the calculations. One of them is a fixed contribution and that fixed contribution is something that has stayed steady for many many years. The other one is a uh contribution per student enrollment. And so what we do is get the October counts from all the districts and that's our opportunity to to essentially account for the fact that um based on size some districts like a central Bucks pay significantly more because they're looking at a much larger student count than a district like Centennial. So that's the other piece of the of the calculation that we we do to to to make an a determination on each district's allocation towards the overall budget. There any other questions? >> All right. Well, Rachel, thank you very much for joining us. I know you're busy down in Nashville, so uh I appreciate you taking the time out to join us today. I think that was very helpful. >> You're very welcome. And as any other questions arise, please don't hesitate to reach out. >> Thank you. All righty. So, uh with that, let's uh let's start our uh our agenda. Uh welcome everyone. Mrs. Cross, we're glad to have you here. I'm glad to start at 4:45. Um and uh and we'll get going. So if we can have a roll call. Mrs. Kriger, do you want to start that? >> Crossson, >> Michael Hartley. >> Okay. Thank you very much. There's three and all all in attendance. I will give a shout out to Ver who is participating in that leadership development fellowship that uh that Rachel spoke about. Right. There's a a handful of uh centennial employees uh who uh who are given that opportunity is doing a great job participating in it. So that's that's real life real time in the room. Certainly worth it. >> I I also think um it's important to note for the comprehensive plan that is something that the IU charges other districts outside of Bucks County to do. Um, so it is, so if somebody from Montgomery County or Burks County or whatever wants to do a comprehensive plan through the IU's systematic process, it is something that they will charge for that is included in our programs and services. >> I think you know based on last on Tuesday's uh board meeting, right, you could see what went into that effort, right? That was a real real doozy of a workload. And one of the things I don't think they shouted out, but you know, a couple years when I first got here, we had a comprehensive plan. I think it sat in the box and and uh I think I still remember Mr. Martin commenting on the comprehensive plan saying, you know, what does are you doing it right? And I think that that very next comprehensive plan that was rolled out, uh Dr. Bon drilled it into us, right? We were doing it day in and day out. Uh and and I think the same is is going to happen with this latest version of comprehensive It's really a good anchor uh for the district. Every one of us play a different part in it uh to to connect all together measurements some terms of how successful >> we we certainly measure ourselves against the academic uh standards that we do right we do that uh we do that in assessments and we do that in in real achievement scores. >> Absolutely. I mean, that's one of the things the board needs to hold together um the superintendent to as we do the annual superintendent reviews, those types of things. Uh it's also important to note that the comprehensive plan procedure, the dates and the timelines on those are like hard fast with the state and the IU keeps you on that schedule. They, you know, it's it's just like, you know, Mr. Greenwood does with the budgeting process. you start back from the um from the primary date and you work your way backwards. The comprehensive plan has a set of dates that have to be met and that are hardcore. Um and they they do a really an outstanding job in keeping you on that. I mean, it's only a process every three years, but you figure 13 districts in Bucks County, so they're doing four every year. >> Thank you. U so next on the agenda is approval of the agenda. >> The agenda February 12th 206 committee meeting. Are there any changes or corrections? >> Second. >> All in favor? Please talk into the microphone though when it's when it's not placing you right. >> I just want to make sure it's it's it's working. >> Next is the approval of the minutes from the January 15, 2026 finance committee meeting as per the attached. >> All in favor? Hi >> extensions comments to be made from the publications. We just had the programs and services budget. So Mr. Greenwood, it's now yours in terms of financial update. >> All right, here we go. Um so we will uh we will jump right in. Um I haven't had a meeting Mrs. Crossing with you in it. I tend to use the PowerPoint as as a discussion guide as well. Uh so just a look at our agenda uh and we'll jump right into uh into the financial uh financial update. Uh we have collected uh 12 million dollars so far through January 31st. Um this slide shows uh the total revenue um where we stand against our budget. So that first bucket, that first dial on the right, total revenue, we are 71.74% to our budgeted total. The historical trend would have us at 75%. So, we're a little we're lagging a little bit uh in the total revenue. Um and I'll get it out on the public now. As we see in the bottom, our state revenue, right, and our basic ed funding has been delayed. We were expecting it. Uh we got the first two payments when the governor signed on. We got them bang bang real quick and we've been waiting for this third one. I'll tell you, I was up last night and I said, "If I don't hear something," and I look every day. If I don't hear something, I'm calling. So, I'm searching the web trying to find a phone number to call. I'm like, "If I'mma call them before I do, just let me check." And dog gone it, it's on the list. So, we will be getting that payment on the 26th of February. So, it's queued up uh that we'll be getting uh just over $2.1 million in BEF funding, which will be the third installment. Uh we'd expect two more of those. Um and when you got that, then it begins to level off the playing surface. So, you if you see the revenue by source at the bottom, we're at 14.8, it's 12.8. We add $2.1 million, we're sort of back in the in the game there. I think the rest goes uh well as well across the the schedule there. Uh local revenues, we're at 89% of our budgeted local revenues. That's sort of right on top of a local trend. Um and the state revenue uh is is delayed really because of that um the BEF being late would be 38%. So still a little bit behind uh but we are working through those. Okay. Uh and then it just lists the the top revenue sources. Obviously, uh real estate taxes is is the number one funding source walking away um across the across the board, right? Re you know, local taxes in in total represent the lion share of federal of school funding, public school funding in Pennsylvania. Uh followed by, you know, 30 35% from the state or two from the federal government. >> So, how are we looking with the act 511 earn income tax versus projected? >> Mr. Har read my slides. >> I say because I can't I got to get bigger better glasses. I got to go to the the twos now away from the one. >> So, this this slide just shows the highlights. It shows the fiscal year-to- date amount for last year, where we are this year, and where we stand against the budget, and then the percentage against that budget. So, the earned income taxes uh we are uh year to date through July, we're at $2.7 million. Last year, at this point, we were at $2.6 million. Uh so, I think we're trending uh very close to being right on budget, right? I don't think we're not expecting today any anomalies. Um, I reached out to uh Keystone who does our tax collections. They provide not only an estimate uh that I use to incorporate in the budget for the next year, they also give you a snapshot of the the second half of this year. And I think you're uh sort of trending in line with all of those expectations. >> I got mine. >> Lucky you. your accountant might think different. >> One one to two call out though is interest in investments. >> My next question the boy crying wolf. Uh but you know last year interest revenue was $1.7 million. Now it's $1.5 million. I think we will begin to see uh interest revenue uh move down. Right. I don't think it'll be like it was uh during the COVID window of you know 2020 when we had $70,000 in interest revenue. Uh but I I think it's as a source of revenue um I think that is a a dwindling source of revenue >> but it does does look like we're going to meet our budgeted expectation. I do I think I think it'll be you know it could be two two it could be a little less it could be a little more but yes I think we're we're in certainly in in range there and that's what we're projecting it uh to be okay and then you'll see the other boxed item is that basic ed funding uh and I'm glad that they glad that they paid up or was a drive to Harrisburg. Um and so that's those are this that's the the look at education or at our revenue. Um summaries on the side. In terms of expenses, total expenses so far through um through January 31st total 78 78,134,000. Uh that's an increase of just over 1% compared to last year, right? So I think we're working very hard to manage the costs that we're spending today. um while we're sort of working on the budget for the future at the same time. So, we're sort of pushing pushing these numbers as well as we've done year after year. Uh but making sure that we are we're responsible for that. Any any qu and if you have any questions certainly feel free to jump in. Uh the overall expenses are 49.9% historical trend is 49.3. So again I think we are on track. This shows salaries and benefits combined and then the all other category of expenses which I think we are a little bit ahead of but the overall expenses are beginning to decline you see 15.7 other expenses compared to 13. This just calls out similar to the other chart uh our general fund fund expenses uh year to date uh through January 31st. Um just over 1% more than we were last year. Year-to- date salaries and benefits totaling $2.7 million. Uh that that variance I think is is beginning was going to be begin to get offset um by purchase services. Right. So I think some of the areas where we are where we are paying more for our staff such as transportation. We're going to rely less on the IU for transportation. So the salaries and benefits may be higher than anticipated but we'll look at purchase services where the IU transportation lands in our statements that should begin to decrease. We also continue as we've started last year looking at at um student out placements and we are trailing the budget relative to student uh placement out placements as well by you know roughly 30 kids today right that math is actually done on an ADM average daily membership so it's it's not apples to apples but I I take a period in time and reach out to the student services team looking for numbers of students. We have 111 kids out or yeah 111 kids. I think we budgeted 130 kids 133 kids out. So I think those are positive variances similar to what we found last year. I think we're able to identify them quickly. The IU hasn't come back with their mid. >> Can we get a breakdown of salary to benefits? Um, most particularly I'm looking for like healthcare because I know we're saying we're looking at, you know, 14, 15, 17% increase. I'm just trying to get a a wraparound of how much that's actually going to be. >> Yeah, certainly. >> Thank you. >> Some of that can't be changed, >> right? The contract spells out very specifically what what what the plan is. So the amount of changes that can be done to it to your point. So >> took a hit. >> Well, we we actually went with a cheaper health insurance plan. >> No, I I think the plan the plan and this prescription drug part of the plan, right? While we did create some some movement, right? The prescription drug plan continues to uh to be very expensive. Specialty drugs uh are are over half of our prescription spend and that is that is for less than 40 people, right? employees and the use and by no means belittle you know when people are taking these drugs because they're many times life saving and critical to them but that's sort of the dynamic that we have working we are as I mentioned one of the last couple of nights been on the phone with Steve at the health trust trying to push him to find better ways for us to manage that expense continue to work. What's that? >> Nobody wants to pay the commercial assistance to help >> these things all should have been thought about. >> Yep. N >> where they signed that deal. >> Totally agree. I totally agree. Working towards those for a period of time until until we work. So, you know, I think reaching out and I brought raised that back up to the health trust as well, right? How can we get ahead of that in some way, shape or form, right? So, that was we talked about that a year ago when I was there and it seemed sort of one-sided. The employees would be getting all the discounts and districts would still pay the lion share. I said that doesn't sound right, but let's let's stay on the phone. continue to work to address that. >> I appreciate that. Uh this comparison just looks sort of collectively uh prior where we stood uh year-to- date against uh the fiscal year-to- date end of year actuals and then um where we stand on the on the budget side. So again in total revenue we're sort of trailing um where we have been in the past uh on the expense side we're trailing uh a little bit on the um you know 49% of the budget being used almost 50% compared to almost 52% this time last year against what ultimately was the actual number. So again I think we are we in good in good order right now. like to say that too often because we still have a number of months to play. Um, but that's that's where we stand. This uh this uh last slide is sort of our projection. So, as those have been in the room, right, we use we continue to manage a an update a real time forecast that looks at with every year. Uh we use by month spending to to educate that plan and be able to look at at trends that we have as a district. Then we map those out to come up with a fullear forecast uh which is that columns that we look at when we get to a little further down the road on the budget cycle for next year, we'll begin comparing it to the forecast, which I think is a critical piece because the budget is just what it is. It's a point in time. Um, I want to make sure that we're always relevant and comparing our next year budget not to something that happened a year ago, but to what current expenses are are in play. U and that shows you a half a million dollar positive surplus at this moment forecasted it's not in the bank something to go south but that's where we're standing in revenue just over $100,000 positive >> is that taking into account the um differential in purchase services that you were talking about with those students. Okay. >> Absolutely. >> Beginning to but not necessarily in its entirety. >> Correct. because we still have four months to go. >> Okay. >> And as I said, student service team all of those various areas made a comment about the lag in students coming outside districts. >> Uh there is and and we're actively doing that. We're actively we're actively identifying them. We're actively invoicing them uh and making those bills. It is a a complex process because we got to we need to identify the the student. Then we need to we need find their home school, right? They don't they don't come necessarily with a label that says, "Hi, my name's Tom Greenwood and I'm from Upper Dublin." Right? It it really takes some effort, right? We need to send letters to the school. The letter doesn't if they don't respond to the first one, we send a second letter, we send a third letter. Um, and there's a lot of back and forth between that. We're talking about students who in some cases are there for literally a couple of days. Uh and there's some students that are there for the majority of the year. So it is a a complex sort of timing process uh that we are working on. We I thought we had completed the uh 2425 year. We had that locked down and just the other day because we meet monthly to go over that uh those numbers. We had five new students added to the list. Five students are generating a bill for those additional five students. So we're probably over north of 30 in terms of students from 242 and we have a list of 10 or 15 that are this year. So continue to kind of push that process. Our billing I think is going to lag just because of of what it is. Uh but I'm I'm my goal is to be sending out invoices on a quarterly basis and uh and push that number. We're including uh in the current year budget right almost a half a million dollars for those students. >> Pardon me. >> Yes. I mean mo we we we do in terms of not getting the money first. Yes. I mean we are we are anticipating billing that much. Um so uh my expectation is we'll continue to do that right. I think it's a variable uh for sure. Um we'll continue to push to get it uh and we'll continue to push to uh to make sure that we're hitting that goal. Is that amount 20 24 25 26 or is that your anticipated amount of refund for the 2526 school year? >> Well, the 25 26 this current school year, right? We'll see a lion share of that because that's what really pushed, you know, took took the level up a notch. >> Okay. >> Right. And really trying to solicit those funds. Um and we'll continue to see how it plays out over the next couple of months, but I I think that that will continue uh in in uh in our process to make sure that we're hitting those numbers. Uh just a couple of general financial updates before we get into the the budget piece. Uh we have a refinancing that should be happening towards the end of this month, the beginning of March. Um it's a relatively small refinancing opportunity. The market's a little bit uh scattered at the moment. Um so we'll we'll see how that plays out. Um we are wrapping up thanks to Vera and her work with our auditors uh wrapping up the u 2425 audit. Um, and I expect uh a draft uh this week or early next. And my intentions would be as we have in the past uh to have the auditors here um and present the audit to the finance committee at our March meeting and that they will come back again and present that to the board at large at the committee of the whole meeting. Um, I've always uh provided time in that meeting that management steps out and you guys can uh pepper the auditors with other questions. Um, but I think that's a good step and and a good thing to be doing. So, we're intent on doing that. I think that'll wrap it up by March. Um, we were talking to the team um, I guess two weeks ago and uh, Ver and our push is we want them in sooner and uh, and that's what we need to do. I think we have a good team today. Uh I think it's it was a new group that sort of picked up the audit uh in the middle to the end of middle of 2025 um and and got it done. Uh whenever you change auditors uh it takes a little bit of education on both sides, right? So we're both get back to a common language. Um but I think it is so far so good this year. All right. Any questions on the financial update? All right. And we will uh we will jump into into our budget. sort of just the opportunity to reiterate our goal, right, is to ensure that fiscal responsibility through a comprehensive examination of district expenditures aligning fiscal re financial resources with strategic priorities that advance highquality student outcomes with a focus on efficiency. Uh that is the message that came out of our early December meeting and going to continue to play back to that. Um we had talked about a series of focus points. Um and I think we are working on each one of those uh to varying degrees. Right? The the budget cycle I wish it was shorter and and uh and and a little less painful, right? But it is it is a process, right? It will take us uh certainly four or five months to get everything in line. uh because there's a lot of things we just don't know at this time relative to enrollment, relative to student needs uh that we go through. So that process is uh is time consuming um and uh and will work hopefully to our uh our betterment as you all took place. Yes, >> I know Davis and the 17 kids. There was a second thought was also out there. >> I'm sorry. >> In terms of the transfer of the entity, >> the Yes. the two autistic support classrooms that we were talking about, >> correct? Yep. No, so the transfer of entity is still uh is still very much in play. Um in uh Dr. Hopkins discussions uh in the end of January, she talked about transfer of entity. Um, so I think that is certainly something that is going to play a part in the IU contract because currently those kids we are paying through our contract. We would change we'd switch that. They would leave, purchase services, their salaries uh would move into ours, but we're we anticipate significant uh an opportunity for some significant savings, you know, the $500,000 range. That does that answer your question? Perfect. When would the transfer of entity take place? Um the transfer of entity would happen sort of the going into the end of the school year. So we have to offer the opportunity to the teachers who are teaching those classes to come on board with Centennial. So there's some uh negotiation there, right? We'd have to have it in advance of the IU contract that you know is due sort of at the end of May. So it's a you know April May pin that thing down kind of event um to to understand okay this is the staffing we need to pick up because they are providing additional services uh as part of their fee um and then that would that would impact us as well as impact the contract with the IU because today we pay per student right so we pay anywhere from you know 7675,000 to $110,000 per student in those classrooms. Right? So, we have we have eight kids. We have two classrooms with eight in each. That's 16 kids. Um that's the number we're looking at, right? And if if we have those kids in there, that's that's where we're going to hopefully, not hopefully, but that's where we would recover uh some money. >> That's a annual net an annual each year it's going to be because otherwise we would >> absolutely absolutely right I mean special education costs uh as long as I've been here right they have continued to escalate right so not only has have the number of students increased uh but the cost for the services have increased right so it is it is a it's a double it's a it's a one-two punch if you will right that we are really you have both of those things going on those costs are going up you know 10% % 15% uh year after year um to provide those services and it's not just the IU but it's at any one of these outplacements right that cost escalation um as we look at it is is certainly impacting us keeping in mind too that it's based upon the number of students so if we get an increase obviously the number might go up decrease and then there's also going to be fluctuations pardon me based upon um the number of teachers and staff we have to have per student. So, kind of like we do in the elementary schools when you hit that tipping point, you add an aid or add another, you know, full-time FTE to the group. So, there's a fluctuation up and down in that. But, you know, as our special ed numbers continue to go up >> by BCIU as well or >> at this current time, yes, that that whole classroom is all inclusive of the IU. Correct. as I think uh Dr. Lucaba refers to it as a classroom sort of within a classroom I think is his uh uh his wording. Um it is an IU classroom, two IU classrooms that operate independently of the greater Davis Elementary School, right? So they would become incorporated into Davis, right? They would do all of the Davis Dolphin kind of things. Um, and they would be taught by suspend. Um, they would be taught by by district students. >> Thank you. >> Is that is that answer good? Okay. Um the preliminary budget has been posted as we mentioned uh earlier this week uh on our website and special meeting has been uh advertised for Tuesday the 17th uh to approve that preliminary budget. Um and as we as we mentioned um during that meeting, right, the the preliminary budget is is just that it's not the final budget. Um it's just a pathway to the final budget. >> Which one are you presenting with? >> The 3.5% budget is what is listed as the preliminary budget, right? So we the preliminary budget has shows revenue of $154 million uh expensive expenses of $161 million and a $7 million deficit. Okay. And then just a a look at some of the steps that we have gone through. You know, some of these we've talked about Dr. Hopkins meeting with the IU. Uh the opportunity to do a transfer of entity whether it's just those two classes at Davis or if we look beyond that. Um student course selection is wrapping up and we'll begin working with school admin administrators to review scheduling and if there's opportunities to create some efficiency. Um there we have a a we're completing a vendor review. Uh Mrs. Kger was uh instrumental in uh sort of breaking down our numbers uh by vendors provided some great information and insight. Let me see if this works. I'm sorry. Unable to open the file. I can pull it up at a later at a later time. But what uh Mrs. Kger was able to do was to identify by vendor uh the top vendors that uh that we have and we're utilizing. Um and with that uh begin to look and say, "Hey, if if we're using this vendor across the organization, hey, are there ways to consolidate that billing. Um, and I think those were were very critical, right? The one short list uh that she showed uh totaled 22.3 million uh in our top 26 vendors with contracts over $100,000. That 22 is, you know, 85% of our total other expenditures. Um, and but when we break them down, right, between student services is 32% by themselves of those contracts, right? So 32% of those are with the IU. Another 36% of that expense is debt service. So debt service combined represent uh 68% of our shortlisted vendor list and they represent combined 60% of all all other costs. Right? IU or special student services, tuitions, etc. IU are all in there and debt service really eat up a lot of the numbers. So when we look at it, it it it is it is that's where our challenge is to continue to try to find ways to reduce uh costs. charter tuitions which are sort of out of our hand. Um they represent a million dollars which is 5% of that total list that was looked at. The Middlebox Institute of Technology right that's $1.5 million uh on that list. Uh that's another 7%. So I think there's these things that are a part of our educational plan u that we need to continue to uh to be evaluating. Have we gotten a first look yet at MBIT's budget? >> Um, we have. We have our first look. Uh, we were on the phone earlier this week. MBIT's budget uh is is between a 4.6% increase and a 5.8% increase. Uh, should they be allowed to? They have two options. One is adding a teacher uh to the program. Um, and that's where their their budget is at the moment. So, I think they are continuing to to review it and to uh to make those trying to make those tweaks. Um, you know, the the MBIT that's it's a challenging one, right? And really, we really need to focus on open and clear communication with them, right? Because, you know, things like facilities upkeep, right? the sending districts all sent a decent amount of money their way. Uh that ran out with the end of this year. Uh so we're not we're not today hooked on that. But again, I think they will have ongoing facilities needs that the sending districts will need to find a way to to fund. Um the other so the other we had the meeting on the 17th for the preliminary budget. Um as noted on we're seeking uh approval to request a referendum exception from PTE. Uh we're looking to do that as part of this meeting to move that forward should uh should you desire. Um we did share the retirement incentive that was approved at the January 27th meeting. uh a note went out from HR to uh professional staff sharing that information. I think we've had a an upswell of of people making that move. Uh and again, I think with Tara uh joining us, I think that's something that we should be looking at sort of long term uh trying to figure out on what that what that number is and how we can uh how we can move those uh that area forward. >> Target year. >> So like you had originally said that 48% the teachers are in that lower >> in the quadrant where they've hit all their stepping increases. >> Is there a target so that you don't all of a sudden lose 48% of your teachers in terms of how many you're going to try and attempt to do each year? >> Right. We have over half our teachers in the bottom box, right? Over half of the teachers. Um which is great, right? It's it's great to have a tenure teaching staff, right? Um it it it creates some nervousness I would think in in the teaching administration right that eventually you know they're all there together right you know they could retire together right the ladder is only a 15step ladder so in 15 years you could all be at the bottom and that there's a wide spread right there's years between individuals at at 50 and 55 who have been teaching for 15 years that's that could be a norainer If you got out of college and you're 21 or 22, you know, 20 years gets you to 52, 42, right? You're like, "Okay, it's still a lot of time, right? Still a lot of time on the clock." Um, so it it it takes some further breaking down. I reviewed the numbers with Dr. Rukaba uh back in January, really just not using the step, but using ages and dates to try to segment the group as to when we could begin to see them retiring. Um we have a number of of teachers uh that are p over 65 that are you know still working and still enjoying teaching and still still in the game. Um so I I think it's it's a complicated process. It's a personal decision uh in many regards. Um but that's that's a target. So I I think to your point as and I think Dr. Luke mentioned as well, we'd rather have a a slow drip, right, than lose, you know, 40 teachers one year or 50 teachers at one year. Dr. Bolton believes the the district in in his time here could could hire 40 in a summertime window, right? If you had 40 retirements, he thinks you you could manage that. But that's that's that's a challenge. >> We understand the negative impacters when you have all these people these teachers who would retire bringing in younger staff who would be contributing less but you still have to cover the retirement cost for the people who retach who retired. You don't you don't we don't pay I think we've talked about this in the we don't pay for teachers who retire right the peasers plan pays for them so we pay in employees and employers pay into the fund right when you retire you you you're you leave the district uh and and your pension is funded not by the school any longer but out of the peaser's plan >> keeping in mind that >> new teachers coming in are part of a hybrid plan now where it's not a a straight peasers, there's a a 401k hybrid that goes with it. And then also keeping in mind that once they've retired that the statewide increases, we pay for the retirees in Beaver County just like the retirees in Beaver County pay for the ones in Bucks County. So that kind of averages out in there. And then you have your actuarials of you know people that pass away and move out of the system all that. Um you also have the ones that may have worked as a school teacher for 10 years moved on to a second vocation who are now retiring from that and they are now collecting their portion of the peasers which would be obviously significantly lower than a 30-year teacher would be. Uh but as far as like targets for for teachers retiring, we really have no control over that. That's not something that that that's you know, we're not trying to force anybody out. We're just making it financially advantageous if they'd like to to move through. >> And and the the the split is on the employee side, right? So, new employees have that split plan, the defined benefit plan, uh defined pension plan, if you will, and then a 403b style plan. U the employer side continues to pay the same amount, right? The employees, the employer pays 34% uh salaries on all employee payroll, right? And all employees need to be participating members in the pension. >> And then that number changes every year. there's a a chart of the anticipated just like you have the act one index there's an anticipated chart as to how much that goes up and down it actually trailed down for three or four years but has gone back up um it is and then we get a 50% reimbursement from the state as long as the state continues to fund that should the state stop funding that um there'd probably be anarchy in the state >> be a bad day >> it would be a bad it would be a bad Okay. So, that's that's sort of the update. Um, again, I'm trying to pick out the highlights that, you know, I think the budget is going on every day in everyone's mind. You know, whether it's uh Dr. Zack and his team, whether it's Dr. Hopkins uh within special education, whether it's Kristen and technology, right? We are we are looking at it uh every day. uh just the calendar uh that we looked at, you know, hoping that the deadline to have an adoption of a preliminary budget is next Wednesday the 18th and our meeting on the 17th. Uh it has been posted since the beginning of February. Um and then we need to submit it. So there's the the work to get it uploaded into uh the Paser system. um other dates, uh a deadline to publish notice if we intent if we intend to request approval for a referendum exception and how those dates work. Um and then really the adoption uh April is sort of a quiet month relative to uh to interaction with PTE uh on the budget and then we really end up May and into June uh where we have the June 30th deadline uh to to implement to pass a a final budget. >> Uh I have not I have not heard I have not heard. We we advertise we have it posted but in all honesty I'm not sure we have the online they could be looking at it right. Uh my first couple of years I had it printed. I had a little at the counter ready for use. People could come in and look at it, but I don't think I got a one. But it is it is available online. We try to present it. >> What are you doing? >> Not yet. >> Can we get a hit count? >> Can we get a hit count? Yeah. Get We can get a hit count on the page. >> Those those calls come in uh in July. >> Yeah. >> Or or August when the tax bills go out. >> Right. Okay. Any questions with regard to the presentation portion of our meeting? Okay. Looking at uh items to be presented uh as information. Um we have uh the PSTLAF monthly reports, sort of standard reports that look at uh at the district interest, bond rates uh and and the like. Um and I guess I you know in the formality and I for we forgot this last time which was my mistake uh I didn't get approval to to carry uh the prior two items forward. So um if we can have approval to uh present thisformational item. >> So moved. >> Okay. Second. >> Second. I >> I >> oppose her contract. >> Mr. Kger, I'm going to buy you a microphone that go >> a lavalier. We'll get you a lavalier. >> I got to get you a lapel mic or I'll stand there with this in case, you know, wear like a dark hood or something. I can just hold it over. Okay. There's three items uh that we are looking to present uh to the committee uh of the whole meeting. Um the first one we have Kristen here, she suffered through a finance committee meeting to to be able to share her thoughts on on number one. So why don't you uh >> Yeah, Mr. Hartland did a great job teeing me up I feel like trying to explain co-stars out. So we are unfortunately the last two the last two budget cycles fortunately or unfortunately you know we are we try to be responsible and you get a cheaper rate by buying a three or a fiveyear deal. So the last two budget cycles we've have posted nice happy zeros for these two products which is great. Um but guess what it's three-year renewal time for our firewall and our cyber security technologies. Um so we do where possible try to use co-stars which is the state um group that allows us to get a kind of reduced cost a consortium pricing from the state is what co-stars is that is available for Palo Alto. Unfortunately it's not available for Arctic Wolf. Um but one of the reasons we're bringing this to you so early I know you know we're not going to renew this until July but we're seeing this across the tech industry prices are just going to start exponentially increasing in March. So we are doing what we can to get ahead of the curve. Our vendors are willing to lock in our current rates if we commit before March 1st. You can see 10 to 15% increase after that. Um so anything that we can kind of lock in, we're trying to bring forward now. These two products are our two main cyber security products for the district. So whether it's a firewall stopping an initial attack or it allows for network monitoring, um we do try to triangulate with cyber security. So the idea would be that if Palo Alto was compromised and we had everything in Palo Alto, guess what? You're compromised. That's why we do bring together multiple vendors. Um it's not represented here, but one of the place we have been able to realize a little bit of savings um with cyber security is on the very back end. Um so by wrapping Palo Alto around a little bit, we can get rid of a third vendor we had on top of this to do a little bit of backend work. Um it doesn't save us a ton but it does save us a little bit and we are slowly trying to look for savings everywhere we can. >> Is this both hardware and software or is this >> um >> this is different for us. This is all software. >> We have not traditionally brought this before to committees >> the number was so large and our budget being what it was. I wanted to bring it to you all to have the chance to explain so that when the whole board sees a large number, you can speak to it with understanding of why our software prices are quite so large this year. >> Are we looking at any increase in or any new hardware in the coming couple of years? >> Sure. So, the big project for this year that's been going through operations is our switch project. >> Um, again, we do try to very thoughtfully divide projects up. So, switches this year, VX Rail, and then APS. So, we kind of do that over a three-year cycle as well. Um, the other big hardware project that we'll be working on is a computer lab refresh at the high school and support staff devices. Um, so just like we try to divide up teachers, students, whether or not that works or doesn't work, that's kind of how we divide up as well as support staff as the final group that needs to be refreshed. It's been four years for their devices. >> There any maintenance with either of these vendors? So these are both software agreements, right? >> We you won't see other expenses with them. We will be bringing kind of hardware expenses to you for our VX rail and for our switches going forward and those do have maintenance. We had the rubric on last um week's budget that went through that was a big maintenance piece that we do as well. Um so they're just a little bit they come through in different channels as well. All right. The on the um on the switch side, right? That's that's an expense coming out of our capital budget, right? So that's will come out of the capital >> as opposed to the general fund. Thank you. >> Yeah, the general fund. But >> and I do have the answer to how many hits we have on the budget on the website. It is 29 visits. >> 29. I know that me has been a dozen at least. I click into it every day in review. So, I can't I we haven't filtered between internal versus external visits, but >> 29. >> So, figure eight school directors, nine school directors, and >> I I thought I thought I was all 29. >> And and how many Mr. Greenwood has done? >> I was all 29. Is it still there? Is it there? How about now? All right. Uh the second item seeking to uh carry forward to the full board is approval of the Bucks County Intermediates 2026 2027 programs and services budget in the amount of 2,158,82. Um the district's allocation of that as uh as Rachel shared is $72,860 and increase of $937 or just over 1% last year. Actually, I should probably let's take them one at a time. Let's the ARC the uh the technology one, right? Can we have a >> So moved. >> Bring that forward. I I motioned I >> All right. Uh the second one, the IU uh programs and services budget. >> So moved. >> Second. >> I for two. Um the last one is uh seeking uh a referendum exception. It's part of the preliminary budget experience. Um one can uh seek uh an exception from the Department of Education uh for a handful namely four different categories uh of expenses. Um the that we would look at is a special education exemption and that exception allows you to go above uh the act one index um for that next budget year uh attached to the document um sort of advertisement language that we would need to do. We need to post that as we do all things on the newspaper. I I'm 29 people are looking at it online. I'm not sure there's a single person who finds it on the newspaper, but >> I was going to say probably less than that in a newspaper >> to uh to post these announcements in the newspaper. >> I thought there was a law that changed that we didn't have to necessarily do newspapers or but I I forget what it it was. It's weird. >> You know, and I say that, but I'm old. I get the newspaper delivered to my house. I walk down the driveway every single morning. I pick up the newspaper. I read it halfway up the driveway. I eat my Cheerios and read the paper. I come to work. That's my That's my uh process. >> You need a dog train to go fetch your paper. >> I had a dog. She She couldn't fetch many things, but she was a great friend. >> Yep. >> So, uh this is sort of this is a draft of what that special exemption would look like. What it does is it compares one year to another year and it looks at the cost escalation of that. Um and it would calculate, you know, you could have an additional 3.47% roughly uh added to the act one on top of that. So uh you don't again it doesn't it doesn't mandate a number it just allows the district should the district want to consider that option uh to go above the act one. That's sort of where we were um at our meeting in January when we opted out of the the quick resolution the early adoption. So uh any thoughts relative to this? >> Are you putting in numbers or are you I I I would love to understand how you're presenting it to them that you're asking for the exception. Are you putting in actual numbers in the system and saying this is what we're presenting? >> Yep. So, so what this worksheet looks at is the 2024 AFR which is our annual financial report uh compared to the FY25 annual financial report right on special education related expenses. So the function codes are those 1,200 codes right. So it it walks you down through that process. This is just a draft. It's just a spreadsheet uh that that you can use as a tool, right? The real submission should we choose to submit is done online. It's done in the PTE uh system. Uh we would enter this same information or it would pop up because they would know it because that's where it gets sent and it then compares those costs for the year to year. So, $36 million in special education costs in 24, $41 million in 25. So, it takes those things into account um and it calculates uh what that difference is and the schools index um and the potential change that could be approved, right? Doesn't mean it's going to be approved. Um, it just is an option should should we choose to do that. >> So, I think I'm still missing something. They're 24 and 25. We're talking about the year, >> right? The the world lags, right? So, so, and I don't mean that sarcastically, right? So what they are looking at are the a the AFR is is the uh sort of the bible if you will to some extent in terms of school expenses. Every school in Pennsylvania uses the same chart of accounts. Every school in Pennsylvania submits the same annual financial report due by the end of December uh at its latest. So we all go through that process uh to make sure those updates are done and then we utilize the the PTE utilizes that data to measure changes in in that special education costs right which get total down here at the bottom. >> It's extrapolating out for the 2026 school year and expectation of the same type of increase year-over-year. And you can see as we've talked about, right, it also looks at special education revenue was 3.4 million. It went to 3.8 million, right? While expenses uh went from 36 to 41 million, right? So the ability to to keep uh you know, that number hasn't changed in in >> in 15 years that I've been here. Uh so the the the growth in special education costs isn't keeping step uh with the revenue uh from the federal uh side or from the state side. Um and uh and that leaves sort of the burden. So >> yeah, our special ed costs went up 10 times what our state funding did. And if you look around just the the Bucks County area, if you look at Central Bucks, Council Rock, Mishamin, Ben Salem, Pen Ridge, Pensbury, they're all in the same boat. Some of them are looking at 8 9% as opposed to 3.5% total in, you know, act one. They're looking in the eight and 9% increases. I think some of the school districts have a different number, right? So, Nish has a different makeup than Warster. Uh, their act one is, I think, 4% 4.1%. >> A little different. >> I think Ben Salem's also in that boat. I think they have a a higher act one number. Um, other than that, uh, I think they're, you know, I'm not sure of all of the schools, uh, I'm aware of two other school districts, uh, that went the preliminary budget way instead of the opt out. Uh, everyone else went the opt out. >> Says, hey, listen, this is just not sustainable. not inund well let's say public schools started in 1859 in Pennsylvania >> I mean it is it it is a a fundamental challenge >> I mean you do occasionally get so uh a few years ago there was the the sale of the liquor control and then putting that money into peasers to and Sears I mean the state pension as well uh never really went anywhere you do get occasionally stuff that does come through. You had Act 76 which wanted to take all tax revenue, put it to the state, and then the state would give it back to us. Um, that did not pass on a tiebreaker by the president of the House at the time. Michael uh I forget his last name began with an S, Steel, I think. Um, so there are some things that do come through, but the model is not sustainable, but you have to keep in mind that there are school districts on the western part of the state that are on the receiving end because of hold harmless. They have dwindling student populations, dwindling um personnel, but they are still receiving the same amount of money from the state. So where we're in a giving position, they are in a receiving position. So they are not going to want to upset the apple cart to help us. >> So I think I included that in one of the weekly updates, right? 150 schools don't receive any additional funding, right? So the the lawsuit that came through the state uh and to the state supreme court, I think maybe not the Supreme Court, but the state ruling that said we needed to balance the funding, right? Those those areas uh don't have the same tax base, don't have the same assessment value. um weren't able to to fund their school districts, right? So there is 500 million dollars going towards that, right? But to the 150 schools who uh out of the 500 that don't qualify for that funding, we're left with, you know, relatively flat funding coming out of the state >> and most of them are in this area. So it's been a misnomer all these years that always said lottery funded education. Clearly not the case. >> No, I I you know gambling does does uh afford us some money, right? >> I say we do get the homestead. >> We do we do through the homestead farmstead agreements, right? You know the district will pick up, you know, $3.3 million that the state will fund and that'll reduce property taxes. So that aspect does, it just doesn't eliminate it, right? And that number has actually grown uh due to the the the increase in gambling, right? Sports betting and yeah, >> that goes to it. Sports betting is is blown off the charts >> and that money also goes towards emergency services, fire department, rescue squads. There's some police funding in there. So there is some other side of the road funding that does come out of that as well. Um you know, Ben Salem does really well. I mean, Ben Salem having Parks Casino, they get a little higher cut than some of the other areas do. So, having in your backyard pays, but you also put up with it in your backyard. >> All right. Motion to move all three of these forward. >> Second. >> I >> All right. Thank you very much. uh brings us to uh to the close at number nine and I'll pass it back to you Mrs. Kger. >> I don't know if Dr. >> Have we gone to 30 on the count yet? >> Mrs. Kger asked the the exact same question. Um, >> yep. No, no, she asked the exact same question um before you before you came in and and as I shared with her and as you you well know uh part of it is is a process. There's a series of things that need to happen um such as things around scheduling, right? Student scheduling. Uh we need to have course selection before that happens and that has always sort of been a push and pull. Um and you know what in every meeting so far this year. We started talking with uh the high school back in December. We met with middle schools in January. Um we need to do that sooner, right? We need to do that. That process needs to move closer to the beginning of the school year and it can't it can't be allowed to sort of fall towards the end because it really hinders our ability to assess uh and uh make efficiency uh plans around that. So uh to answer your question, I think that will uh sort of towards the middle of February and I think then we will begin as we have to walk through these. We're continuing to work uh to shore up the transfer of entity, continuing to try to follow up on our um on our special education costs and those students involved. Right? So it is a there isn't a window that it will all go away. But I'll tell you, you know, under Dr. Wukab's charge, right? we really pushing, you know, much harder uh and looking at things much more closely uh than we have uh not that we weren't doing them in the past. I think we had done a lot of work around that other group of expenses, right? Continuing to try to whittle down department budgets, but you know, as I've shared, department budgets make up a very small portion uh of the overall expenses, right? Labor is the key. >> What's that? redistricting. >> The idea of redistricting >> students in >> Yep. I mean, I I I think the idea of redistricting uh is is one that we can certainly uh dig into, right? That that doesn't that that's a long-term uh plan. Um, and I and I think it's, you know, it's something we could certainly uh begin to look at and perhaps we, you know, perhaps there, you know, again, sort of on my own here, but that that's something that maybe we we put a group uh sort of a board subcommittee on that looks at redistricting uh because it's complicated and it's sensitive uh as a as an issue, right? Uh but we could begin to look at that. the >> research on that. >> So we and that's I mean I guess a month ago we had brought this up at a regular schoolboard meeting and we had talked about looking at to see how those numbers if they're coming to fruition on the the study that we had done redistricting having been through it before the cost savings is not substantial because it's more of a balancing. So you have seven classrooms at this school, five at this school, now you have six at both, but you still have the same personnel. >> Okay? >> Instead of hiring more teachers, just move them to where student needs. >> You you don't always have that. In other words, so if and we'll pick on Davis and McDonald. If the average class size at Davis is 22 and the average class size at McDonald is 25, the movement of nine children is not going to come is not going to to drop out a teacher necessarily or allow a teacher to be reassigned. So it there's a lot of I don't want to say a lot of math that goes into it, but there's a lot of balancing that goes on. But we need to look at I think they we did a hey groupoup study and we need to see how the Bucks County numbers and that are coming into um what our our enrollment is. And I believe Dr. Lucall we when we asked him about it he said that they were waiting to see what their um kindergarten and elementary school registration is that they have started early on that this year already. So they've already started the push for it. Um, and then we're going to wait to see what those numbers are. It's uh I mean I want to say the last time we did it, it took two years realistically >> and it was and there was a significant misbalance. So we did have we did have one or two schools where the average class side size was significantly lower, but it was also done in um with the closing of the schools. >> Right. was that that coincided >> co thank you coincided with the with the closing of the >> schools that we eliminated right you're almost forced to >> to about it right yes >> so is a >> even though it was one school in each district or in each region there still needed to be a rebalance >> are all a little bit different right >> so I think that's what spurred that um we can certainly look at that I will take a to-do uh from this and uh and do some uh comparisons on where we had that study completed two years ago. I think it was presented. Um and I think we can look at that and say okay that was projecting uh another you know a lot of a lot of early enrollment um at the kindergarten ages. I know we are seeing enrollment in the uh kindergarten ages. Um I'll tell you Thomas is doing a bang up super job in really making that's happening a whole lot sooner. Um, you know, a couple years ago we were we were enrolling kids in September. That was not a good thing. Um, last year we were really on top of that. I think the numbers didn't change much from the middle of May uh to where we got to uh the opening day. >> I see. That's why I'd said, you know, with Southampton days is the perfect spot to put up a have you enrolled your child yet booth and say, you know, because everybody from the community >> is there >> is there. I mean it is I mean so I mean I think we did do I want to say this time last year we had also did did a breakdown of average class sizes in the elementary school across the board. So we may want to revisit that as well to see where we're at year-over-year certain that as well. >> Not to make too much work for you guys. I'm sorry. >> No I I you know I think we can certainly compare it back to the study that was done. I can push the study out. Um, it's in a binder. It sits on my credenza. I can pull it out. I can, you know, that's easy to do. I can share that. >> I think there's a PDF already out there. You may just have to copy it over. >> Okay. Anything else? Any other questions? >> Motion to adjurnn. Hey, >> thank you very much.