Good evening and welcome to our regularly scheduled schoolboard meeting. At this time, please rise as you are able and join me in the pledge of allegiance. >> I aliance to the flag to the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. Good evening, board members. Um, as usual, our first item of business is the approval of the agenda. There are no additions or deletions to the agenda today. Is there a motion to approve the agenda as outlined? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Robin, seconded by Jackie. All those in favor of approval say I. >> Those opposed. Motion carries on a 70 vote. That brings us to our recognition portion of the agenda. And at this time, I would like to welcome Brett Kosidowski to the podium to introduce the adapted soccer state champions in the CI division. Good evening, Chairperson Johnson, school board members, and Superintendent Balsone. Everybody in the crowd, we are super excited to be here and we're still wondering how many goals Nolan St. Saver scored at the state tournament about a month ago. Uh we are back-to-back champions. We completed it by beating the team that absolutely steamrolled us earlier in the season in the first game. That first game wasn't pretty. In fact, it was so rough that our goalie over here looked like someone had just told him the season was switching to underwater basket weaving. He was frustrated with good reason. At times it felt like he was facing the opposing team and a stampede of his own defenders all running in the wrong direction. But here's the beautiful part of the story. We didn't stay that team. We learned. We grew. We dug in. The defense led by Miles Johnson stopped giving our goalie heart palpitations. The communication improved. The teamwork tightened. And little by little, we transformed. Not into the team that people expected, but in a team we knew we could be. Remember that we graduated six, maybe seven uh seniors last year. >> Oh boy. >> Got you guys. We graduated a lot of seniors last year. Uh we've heard uh it's all about the numbers. It's fine. But this is tradition at this point. We graduate kids and other kids step into these roles. People thought we'd take a step back, but instead of rebuilding, the team reinvented itself. Everybody took on bigger roles. Everybody stepped up. Everybody became better. The state tournament was so much fun. There were no expectations with this fresh young team and our defense showed out. At some point, we're pretty sure that the scoreboard operator needed a water break because of Nolan's scoring spree. But here's the important thing. None of those goals, none of those victories, none of this championship run happens without the entire team. Every defender, every Hawk that was subbing off the bench, who fought for the ball, every family member who showed up to cheer us on. Soccer in the adapted world is unpredictable. The ball bounces weird. Uh the plays get wild. Sometimes things happen that don't make sense. Not even the referees can understand it. But we leaned on each other. We trusted each other and slowly became something special. By the time we reached the championship game, we weren't the team that struggled early on in the season. We weren't the team that got beaten badly. We weren't the team that people doubted. We were team that fight, that grows. The team that never quit. The team that won when it mattered most. And now we are champions again. So let's celebrate the improvement, the unbelievable scoring, and the defense that became a wall. And the goalie that stuck with us through the chaos and the legacy we added to this. We are who we are. This is what we built. United we fly. Up here for the Dakota United Hawks, we have Jacob, Amando, Casey, Miles, Molina, Remy, Moosey, Puchi, Aiden, Parker, Jackie, Alex, and my right-hand man, Coach Scott. Thank you for having us tonight. Congratulations. Awesome job. Congratulations. >> Congratulations. Amazing job. Congratulations. Amazing job. Congratulations. Congratulations. You're welcome. Congratulations. Awesome job. Congratulations. Congratulations. >> Thanks, coach. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> I like the one kid put on. >> All right. Next, I'd like to welcome Apple Valley High School girls volleyball coach Hannah Spectre to the podium to introduce the AVHS girls volleyball team. Good evening, chairperson Johnson, board members, and superintendent Bolson. I'm Hannah Spectre, the head coach of the Apple Valley volleyball program. I first want to thank you for your continued support of our students and the AAA philosophy of academics, arts, and athletics that make our district 196 so unique. The athletes in our program are leaders in all three of these areas, and the opportunity to be involved in all three is a large part of what makes them so impressive and successful. In addition to the accomplishments my athletes have seen on the volleyball court, our program is filled with multiport athletes in track, softball, lacrosse, basketball, dance. We have stage actors, musicians, national speech semi- finalists, academic all-state recipients, youth volleyball coaches, and leaders who regularly volunteer their time and support the youth of our district through our AVJo program. As if that isn't enough, our team had numerous highlights over the season. We had a team GPA of 3.83, earning us a gold academic award with one of our athletes being named EP academic all state. We punched our ticket to state for the second consecutive season. We were ranked within the top 10 of 4A for three consecutive weeks. For the first time in recorded history, the number two seed up upset the seven seed in the quarterfinals of the state tournament and went on to take third place. As individuals, we have two allconerence recipients, one all-state recipient, two 4A all tournament team athletes, and an athlete selected for the Star Tribune all Minnesota team, just to name a few. In the growing landscape of athletes transferring from their home community to chase wins and clout, our program's athletes are a true representation of how years of hard work, loyalty, and dedication is turned into unwavering grit and resilience that becomes the most satisfying successes and rebirths a legacy of wins for Apple Valley that will exist long after they graduate. Tonight, I'm here to recognize their outstanding accomp accomplishments and would like to introduce you to my talented varsity team. Sophie Monson, Sophia Cowan, Elsa Lee, Lauren Greasescrabber, Bin Greasgrabber, Grace Mandel, Emily Metiger, Finley Rymer, Jenny Gors, Kirsten Denell, Maya Broman, and Emily Plamer. And my very talented coaches that I don't think I could do this without, Liz Link, and Jeff Groves. Families, please take a stand so that we can recognize all of your accomplishments. Thank you for the opportunity to highlight these student athletes on their exceptional season and congratulations to the honores. We're very thankful to be here. Congratulations. >> Congratulations. >> Congratulations. >> Congratulations. >> Congratulations. Oh my gosh. Thank you so much. Congratulations. Congratulations. >> Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Thanks for being here. >> Of course. Thanks for having Thank you so much. >> Congrats on it. How cute is that? Give it to my girls. Put it in their butt at >> Yeah. >> That's amazing. >> Fantastic. >> Are you gushing? >> I just I know, right? I'm so proud. >> Next, I'd like to welcome Rosemont High School principal Pete Robach, who will introduce us to the RHS band drum majors. Good evening, Chairperson Johnson, school board members, and Superintendent Balsone. My name is Pete Roach, principal at Rose Mount High School. It's my privilege this evening to present the Rose Mount High School marching band for special recognition. Before we celebrate the accomplishments of this past season, I think it's important to understand the four pillars that make the pride of Rosemount so successful year in and year out. First, District 196 ban for all commitment, ensuring that every student, regardless of means, has the opportunity to participate in the arts. Second, our families whose vision and volunteer hours drive this nearly 200 student ensemble. Third, our expert and uber talented directors, Taylor Elias, Kevin Leetsky, Scott Palmer, and Leon Se. If the four of you could please stand and be recognized. Thank you. And believe me, there's no better group to work with. And we're so fortunate to have you all a part of our community and we hope you stay for a very long time. And finally, our amazing students who have invested over 200 hours of rehearsal time since beginning their season at band camp at St. John's University in July. That dedication culminated in their performance of Raps City. While the band achieved national acclaim, winning the Iowa regional and placing ninth among 65 bands in St. Louis, our focus tonight is their dominance at home. At the Youth and Music Championships, the band was named class 4A champions and grand champions. This victory secures a historic legacy. For the 18th time in 19 years, Rosemont High School is the top marching band in the state of Minnesota. And yes, there is a story behind that one year. But we've taken care of that because we did hire away one of the directors from Eden Prairie who happened to beat us that year. Thank you, Mr. Palmer. Uh here to represent the legacy are Ford drum majors, some of the finest students and uh and uh athletes and others that represent the AAA philosophy at Rosemont High School, but just all around great people and great leaders in our community. So please stand forward or please step forward when I call your name. Isabella Dling, Aya FKO, Grayson Hurley, and Ari Page. Please join me in congratulating them on an outstanding season and another state title. Thank you very much. Congratulations. >> Amazing job. Congratulations. You're welcome. >> Congratulations. >> Congratulations. >> Congratulations. >> Thanks. Good to see you. >> Thanks, Pete. >> Thanks. All right. Next, I will turn it over to Superintendent Bosone for recognition of students and staff. >> Okay. Thank you, Chair Johnson. I want to take a moment to recognize all of our students who are performing or getting ready to perform in our winter band, choir, and theater programs. This is a special time of year in our schools filled with music, creativity, and moments that bring our community together. Our students put in an incredible amount of time rehearsing and preparing and it truly shows in the quality of these performances. I also want to thank our dedicated performing arts staff for guiding and supporting supporting our students. We are fortunate to have such talented students and educators in district 196. This week is National Inclusive Schools Week, a time to celebrate the work happening across our district to ensure that every student feels welcomed, valued, and included. I want to recognize our staff, students, and families who help create learning environments where all learners belong and are supported to succeed. This commitment shows up in many ways, from our united unified sports programs to our school buddy partnerships that build friendships and connections across our buildings. Thank you for the daily commitment to inclusive practices and to lifting up every child in district 196. I'd also uh like to congratulate Mila Dominguez, one of our district's cultural family advocates. Milka has been selected for the Friends of Youth Leadership Award. Milka was one of only four inducted into the Youth Intervention Programs Association's Youth Worker Hall of Fame. Milka was nominated for her extraordinary dedication to supporting young people. This honor reflects Milka's hard work, compassion, and unwavering commitment to helping students thrive. Congratulations to Mila. Lastly, I would like to acknowledge Jill Coyle, who after 25 years of committed service as the general counsel for district 196 has announced her retirement. Throughout her long tenure, Jill has supported our schools through complex legal, policy, and governance issues, playing a critical role in keeping our district stable, compliant, and responsive to the needs of students, families, and staff. We are deeply grateful for her dedication, institutional knowledge, and steady leadership. Her contributions have made a lasting impact on District 196. Thank you, Chair Johnson. That concludes my comments. >> Thank you, Superintendent Bzone. We don't have anyone signed up for special communication requests tonight. So, that brings us to our consent agenda. Board members, we have 20 items on our consent agenda tonight. Those items include the minutes of the November 10th, 2025 regular schoolboard meeting. The minutes of the November 20 25th, 2025 special school board meeting. Advertising revenue, gifts, quarterly gifts, grants, treasures report for October 2025, summary of claims for October 2025. Schedule of investments for October 2025, revenue and expenditures report for October 2025. Pay rates for substitute, temporary, and part-time community education. Employees, personnel, employment agreements, additional FTE. Agreement for student teaching with Auxburg University. Agreements for practicum experience with Sy Cooperative. Memorandum of understanding with cultural family advocates regarding conversion of sickly from days to hours. Memor memorandum of understanding with teams local 320 regarding conversion of sick leave from days to hours. Egan high school activity center and renovations. Joint powers agreement between district 196 and the city of Egan and fuel purchase. Are there any items on the consent agenda that board members would like to pull tonight? Seeing none, is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So second. >> Motion by Leah, seconded by Robin. All those in favor of approving the consent say I. >> I. >> Those opposed? Motion carries on a 70 vote. Next, I'd like to welcome Rachel Hughes to the podium and Rowan Ellour to go over our AI framework. All right. Good evening, board chair, superintendent Bosone, and members of the school board. I'm Rachel Hughes, director of instruction achievement, and tonight we'll be sharing anformational update on how district 196 is ex continuing to explore the role of artificial intelligence or AI in our schools. This presentation isformational only and does not require any action this evening. This work directly aligns with our strategic roadmap and advances all four of our strateg strategic priorities. For achievement, we're building AI literacy as a core competenc competency. For equity, we're ensuring all students have access to these tools while teaching them to recognize and address AI bias. For well-being, we're teaching ethical, responsible use that protects student data and strengthens critical thinking. And for resources, we're carefully vetting AI tools and guidance to meet our safety standards. While AI impacts many areas of our system, tonight's presentation will focus specifically on instruction and achievement. This work directly advances our mission, educating, developing, and inspiring our students for lifelong success in a world where AI is increasingly present. I'm excited to introduce Rowan Ellour, our technology specialist, who's going to share more about this important work. Hello and thank you for having me. Um, I want to start by sharing four statistics that highlight the reality we find ourselves in. First, the World Economic Forum projects that 170 million new jobs involving AI will be created by 2030. These are jobs that our students will be competing for. Second, essentially all Fortune 500 companies, 99% now use AI in their operations. AI has become standard in the business world. Third, 86% of students globally are already using AI tools. Many of our students have these tools in their pockets right now. But nearly half of students globally say they do not feel prepared for an AI integrated workplace. Our AI guidance framework addresses this gap, preparing students to use AI responsibly for their future careers. I want to emphasize that we do this work alongside other organizations across the state. We're a member of the Minnesota Generative AI Alliance for Education. We gain and share expertise and experiences. All of us learning from both successes and misses. Our work is directly informed by other districts and by research from the university level. I want to share two elements of our district level AI guidance with you today. The first is our AI guidance document. You'll notice four principles that drive every decision we make about AI in our district. First, critical thinking and achievement. We're equipping students with digital literacy skills so they become discerning users of AI. They need to understand how these tools work, when to use them, and when they'll get in the way of their success. Second, equity and diverse needs. We know that AI systems contain biases and we're actively working to ensure every student can utilize these tools while teaching them to recognize and question those biases. This is about both equity of access and equity of preparation. Third, academic integrity. This is crucial. We use AI as a supplement to human thinking, never as a substitute. Our goal is to rely on human intelligence and creativity. Students must do their own thinking and learning. AI does not replace it. Fourth, ethical use. We're committed to protecting student data, ensuring transparency in how AI is used, and teaching students to use these tools responsibly. These four principles ensure we're preparing our students for an AI integrated future while maintaining our commitment to developing their own thinking, judgment, and creativity. The second tool I want to share with you today is our AI expectations poster. Before we get into the poster itself, I want to zoom out and look at what the research tells us about AI use and misuse in classrooms. Stanford's research around AI use and academic integrity has informed our approach to how we guide students in our secondary classrooms. They've found that AI that students are more likely to use AI responsibly when the work is meaningful and they find purpose in the assignments and understand why they matter. when clear connections are made around how AI limitations relate to the learning a student is doing, when students themselves evaluate the learning they are trying to do, and when AI use is aligned to that learning or when and how it might get in the way. Our AI expectations poster facilitates conversations in classrooms aligned with guidance from this research. Here's the poster itself. This is up in all of our secondary classrooms across the district. It establishes five levels of AI use from level one, no AI assistance at all, to level five, using AI as a co-creator. Here's how it works. Teachers choose an appropriate level based on their learning objectives for a particular assignment. For example, if a teacher has students using the design thinking process to design a solution to a problem, creatively brainstorming might be a core part of the learning objective. In this case, they might specify level one, no AI assistance. For a speech or presentation focused on the skills of delivery, a teacher might allow level three, AI supported drafting. In this case, a teacher might allow students to use AI to help organize their main point or suggest a structure, but ask that the confident the content, examples, and delivery are entirely their own. The key requirement across all levels where AI is permitted is transparency. Students must make clear what is their own work versus what came from AI. This teaches accountability and academic integrity. This framework gives a consistent experience for students while allowing teachers the flexibility to make appropriate choices. Students know what's expected and teachers have a clear tool for engaging in discussion and communicating those expectations. At most of our site, secondary most of our sites, secondary teachers received an hour of professional development around the poster and engaging students in the process of evaluating the learning they are doing and what level of AI use is aligned with that learning. We're working to complete the professional development at our few remaining sites in the coming months. Developing the skills of our teachers is just one side of the equation. Um, I want to show you a video that was shown to the advisory period at the high school level. It features our students and staff talking about their AI experience and giving guidance for students. I think AI we often think of it I like to think of it as a tool a resource to supplement my learning um not be the sole source of the learning or replace learning but as a way to help me further my learning in a lot of aspects >> I use AI um almost every day honestly I usually use chatbt >> our challenge is teaching students to use AI as a partner in learning without replacing the creativity curiosity and critical thinking necessary in life beyond high school. >> It's not bad. Using AI is the same as looking something up. >> A lot of teachers, they just ask you to use discretion in how you do it. Just like knowing that you're not supposed to copy and paste or have it do your whole assignment. >> Teachers really want you to use, you know, your own writing, your own ideas. We want your thoughts on it. Even if your grammar is just not good or anything like that, like it doesn't matter. it's your idea. >> I think it's definitely important to be open to your teachers about it. Be like, "Hey, can I use tragic PT for this? Can I check something or just make it clear that you used it and as long as you don't abuse it?" Then I think it's okay. >> Sure, it might be easy. You're going to say 5 10 minutes, but in the long run, it's not going to help you. So, I would say always start with do it yourself and then maybe turn to the AI, maybe see if it can generate a few ideas. Well, I'm definitely worried about plagiarizing just because it's such a big thing like zeros. Like you hear a lot of the words zeros and like no grades because you use AI and it's like the parameters and like consequences of that are so much bigger than just like doing work yourself. If you're exploring AI, keep looking into it, but just don't get too like caught up. AI is like a gateway to get to where I'm trying to get to instead of just asking it for the information. like pull up um links to articles that I can click on and then I'll just go and be like, "Oh, this is the Washington Post. This is reliable." >> One of the goals for our students is to have them leave high school with a good grasp on AI. Uh we have lots of resources for them. We have a syllabus information. We have it in our student handbook and we have a lot of online resources as well so that they can go out into the world and have a good grasp on AI. >> I think my English teacher had a lot of emphasis on it especially when it came to doing assignments. He had like different levels of AI usage like level one you do the wording level two you ask it to write it and level three you just copy paste it something like that um he could understand it pretty well so he would grade you based on that sometimes you I would use it for like getting information for CIS fizz physiology and that you could use it and then go back in and make sure it comes from a valid website and then I would go explore that website use AI to generate sources is for you, but always make sure to like click on the link and double-checking it, cross referencing. I think that's always how you ensure that it's giving you viable information. >> Just because identity theft is such a big thing now that it's definitely important to keep your information to yourself. >> My personal information because like you know there's like things where it's like they can recognize your face or your voice. AI can take your voice and like make it like you're a whole different person in the artificial intelligence. I wouldn't put in any of my social security information, any of my personal details that are really important to me. I think AI is great, but I think sabotaging your creativity, intelligence, and like academic integrity is definitely not the way to go about AI. >> Uh my biggest piece of advice is to not be afraid of it. It's to learn about it because, you know, whether we want it to or not, it's going to be a huge part of our lives and it's important to be knowledgeable and even if you don't want to use it all the time, that's okay. but just know about it and know the dos and the don'ts. >> I want to finally give you an overview of our implementation process. Last school year, we formed our AI guidance committee. This committee is made up of administrators, classroom teachers, media specialists, and digital resource teachers. This group developed our guidance framework. As the year went on, we created our five level poster and established our approved tools list. This year we presented secondary teacher professional development. We've also heard feedback from our teachers that the needs are very different at our different levels. Um the classroom experience in elementary is very different than that of high school. To best support our students across our systems, we've formed leveled subcommittees to carefully meet the need at elementary, middle, and high school. These committees will be building a process to gather feedback from students, families, and teachers to inform our process as we look to the future. Looking ahead to next year, we plan to roll out professional development for ed elementary teachers, focus on elevating their instructional practices and knowledge of AI. Our elementary students will not be using Core AI tools. Most these tools require that students are 13 plus. Um throughout this process, we're committed to ongoing feedback and revision based on what we learn from our students, teachers, and families, as well as regular evaluation and updates to our approved tools list as the technology evolves. We're committed to a phased, careful approach, learning as much as we can, and adjusting our approach when needed. And I'm happy to take any questions you have. >> Thank you very much. At this time, are there any questions or comments from the audience? >> Seeing none, questions or comments from board members? >> Robin, >> um, I just want to say thank you for this presentation. I thought it explained everything very well. It seems like this process has been very carefully considered and well thought out. Um, and as I talk to various parents in the community, um, I think, you know, the more knowledge we can give parents about what we're doing is going to be to our benefit because they're kind of afraid of how, um, maybe afraid is the wrong word, but um, hesitant about how AI is being used. And I thought this was really well done. So, thank you. >> Wonderful. Thank you. >> Other questions or comments from board members? Katherine? Um, on a similar note, um, I do think it's important to just keep in mind how we do educate parents on this and keeping that in mind as we move forward. Um because in talking, you know, we were out door knocking this fall and I heard a lot of people that were very hesitant about this and then talking about the tech levy, it came up that many people have the misperception that all school is done on the iPad now, especially those community members who don't have students in the schools. So, I just think it might be interesting to keep in mind maybe doing some future presentations on exactly how we do balance it in the classroom because we hear about some really cool stuff here um about AI and technology because it's new and exciting. But I think the community might benefit from being reminded that we still have kids writing paragraphs with pencils and paper and just demonstrating um some of those ways that we are incorporating both types of learning um I think would benefit those of us those who may be watching this or or wanting to learn more about what it is like in the classroom um today. >> Thank you. It was a great presentation. >> Thank you for that so much. Yes. No, I I think we just like we when we're setting our AI expectations, we're evaluating the right learning to be done. >> Yeah. >> With that particular piece in mind, we're we're doing the same thing when it comes to like technology best practices. And sometimes the best use case is somebody to be on a paper and pencil. >> Um frequently that is the the use case, right? Um and yeah, we can definitely do a better job of communicating that. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Other questions or comments? >> Hey, one quick question. When when did those posters go up in all of our rooms? >> Um to start the school year. So that they were in all of the buildings to u before workshop week began. Um workshop week is when the um presentation happened for the majority of our buildings. >> Excellent. I I love hearing that. And here's why. I learned in well not really that interesting of a statistic, but kind of interesting when you reflect on it. I learned this month chat GPT turned three years old. And that's it. >> We've only had it for three years. So, I love hearing how ahead of the game that we're getting. We're not waiting years and years and years. We're trying to um we're trying to get ahead of it. We're trying to educate students on how to use these tools as soon as we can and learn about it. I love seeing I think our learning curve and our implementation of giving guidance for AI was almost at record speed when you think about something this big and how it really is only three years old even from and it's already grown so much in that three years and changed so much in the three years and we're still having all this great guidance on the proper way to use it how to learn from it how to use it as a tool not use it as a crutch so to speak um I just think it's just fantastic work that you've done with this so thank you >> wonderful thank you so much it's it's not just me we have a large team of folks that are are doing a lot work on this and it really when we hear how quickly industry is being remade with these technologies it it's kind of absolutely imperative that we're on top of this quickly. >> Um so no thank you for that. I appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Yes. >> All right. >> Right. Perfect. We're good. Thank you so much. >> Thank you all so much. >> Y All right. That brings us to our old business portion of our agenda and I would like to welcome Christopher Anyango Robshot to the podium to go over our truth and taxation hearing um payable in 2026. >> Good evening Chair Johnson, school board members, superintendent Bzone and our public stakeholders. I am Christopher Rob and I am here to discuss the payable 2026 property tax levy. Uh this presentation also serves as our as district 196's truth in taxation hearing. Today's presentation is focused on the provision of resources needed to continue engaging our students with opportunities in academics, arts, and athletics. Today's presentation also marks the final step of our annual levy timeline and that's the certification of the 2026 payable tax levy. For context, uh the property taxes make up 22% of the overall revenue the school district receives across all funds. More than 56% of our revenue is come comes from state sources while local and federal sources make up 18.5 and 3% uh respectively. The pie chart on the right depicts the proportion of property taxes as distributed across the funds. Uh you will note here that the general fund receives a majority of that at 76%. We will have a more detailed budget presentation later in the agenda of tonight's meeting. Today's presentation is also focused on the taxpayers perspective. When we spoke in September, we were looking more on the district side. Uh but today I will just try and stick to what the taxpayers are feeling uh and experiencing in terms of how they're making contributions to uh what we are doing in the school district. Um, usually in November when the tax notices go out, I start receiving a number of phone calls and so I'm going to try and um pass out some of um what what what we're answering uh when those calls come in. Um the timeline for taxpayers begins in March uh when the county sends property valuation notices to our taxpayers. Um, and I would say at this point in the spring and early summer months would be the first opportunity for a taxpayer to say, "Hey, um, I don't like something." Uh, so you can go in and appeal. Um, so if the county says your property is valued at $200,000 and you think it's supposed to be $150, you can make an impact right here. Um, so they'll have those hearings and may make an adjustment in November if following an election like we had this year. The county then mails property tax notices uh to all property owners uh taxpayers in the in the district and then in December we as part of the jurisdictions that are taxing uh the public have to hold truth in taxation hearings such as we are doing today. Uh we will have a portion uh later the agenda where the taxpayers are allowed to come and give public comments. In March of next year, our taxpayers will receive their tax statements. And so at that point, everything is set. Uh but then in April, when they file the taxes, this is another place they can impact how much they pay. They can request for property tax refund. So valuation, voting, and then the tax refund. Those are three places where our taxpayers have agency on the tax that we are collecting. There are three main components that come into how the taxes are created. Uh so the first one is the estimated market value which is established by the county assessor as I indicated earlier for residential properties either the homeowner or the neighbors actually influence how this happens. So when I make improvements on my $150,000 house and makes it up to 200,000 well that valuation increases the estimated market value. If I do nothing but my neighbor two streets down sells their house which is exactly like mine for $200,000, the county assessor will say, "Hey, we think your house is also worth that much." So you can either do improvements and that changes the market value or somebody else can do something and that will change your market value. Uh the second component uh of this is the properties valuation or classification. This is established by the legislature. So this is whether you are residential uh or uh commercial property or argand. So those tax rates are set by the legislature and that does influence what the actual tax is. And then the lastly it will be the tax levy from the jurisdictions such as we are doing. So for us um what we are asking the public to contribute for our operations for next year or the city the county what all those valuations come into is what makes the property taxes that we would be asking our taxpayers to pay. So for us district 196 the levy for next year is 168,815,699. Um, our voters have been very generous and that's the 67% of what we're collecting is based on their actual saying yes uh to supporting the mission and vision of the school district. Uh, in 2019, voters approved the operating levy and that helped maintain class sizes and provide for mental health support in our buildings. uh in 2015 voters passed the first uh tax levy and we asked and in November they said yes to the renewal and increase. So that's the second component uh of um the levy. And then finally in 2023 uh for the debt service for building bonds. Um this has to do with the improvements of our facilities and the construction of new ones. Emerald Trail being uh the latest to come online for us. Uh we go around the the district. You see we're constructing activity centers at all of our high schools and then also the Rosemont Middle School uh which is taking shape um over in the uh previously Yumo Park non voter approved portions of the levy 32.9% uh statutory in nature and all of these as we discussed in September have an aid and levy mix. Um and together uh between um both the voter and the non voter uh we're proposing a levy of 168 million. So how is this defined? How do we make this pie? Uh the tax is derived from two main components. Uh we have the net tax capacity. Um nearly all non-exempt actually all non-exempt properties pay this portion uh of the tax. Um so and this is the amount of tax they pay is based on the classification. So different types of properties will pay a different tax rate. Uh the referendum market value which is a second component of this has exemptions. So for a land seasonal properties cabins those are exempted from paying this portion for what else is left all property taxpayers would be paying at the same rate. So this graph now we're going down to the home again back to the home owners level. Uh depicts this graph depicts the proposed and previous five years of the school taxes on an average valued home. So I'm going to make a distinction here. We're talking about the average value home within the district. Uh the trend line of our taxes tends to follow what it is that um our property values have increased over time. There was a jump in 23 based on what the vot has approved for the for the bonds and then a slight increase um again in for 2026 that's a upcoming year. This next slide looks at the same data but differently. So we have two measures of average. So there's just the average which I depicted earlier and then there's the median. So when we in the runup to the uh election in November, we were using the median valued home. And so I bring this back just to close the loop. Uh we said uh during the campaign that a $47,600 house would pay an average $7 more a month. And when I compare the last two um uh what are those things called? Charts. Not charts. Um graphs. Um the one on the far right if there was no increase and the one right next to it is what will be there. And so between those two, $85 would be the increase between um for a 400 and $47,600 house uh in the district. So in summary, 168,815,699 uh is the amount of levy that we will be uh asking the board to approve. This represents a 12.8% 12.8 8 million increase from prior year or 8.2% uh increase. When I look at this from the different funds, the general fund is increasing by 12 million or 10%. 30% of this is based on the inflationary increase included in the operating levy. The rest of it is attributable to the technology levy which the voters approved an increase of in in November. Community education is decreasing by $197,000 or 11%. uh all the amounts included here are statutoily calculated and that uh is what's reflected here. The debt service fund or portion of this is increasing by 946,000 uh rate calculations are based on our anticipated needed debt service payments in the upcoming fiscal year. As I indicated at the beginning of the presentation that um at this point um the recommendation of the administration would be for the board to allow for public comment uh in keeping with statute and then approve the certification of the final levy amount. >> Excellent. Thank you very much. Um this is an action item for the board tonight. So before we go into public comment, is there a motion to certify the maximum total levy of 168,815,699 for taxes payable in 2026? >> Move approval. >> Second. >> Motion by Jackie, seconded by Robin. At this time, are there any questions or comments from the audience? Seeing none, other questions or comments from board members? Excellent. All right, we have a motion by Jackie, seconded by Robin. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. I. >> Those opposed. Motion carries on a 70 vote. Thank you very much. You >> all right. Next, I would like to welcome Joel Miltier to the podium to for the second reading of the 2026 27 and 202728 school year calendar. >> Great. Thank you. Good evening, Chair Johnson, members of the school board, and Superintendent Balsson. I am Joel Miltier, director of human resources, and I'm here this evening to present to you the second review and reading of the school year calendar for the 26 27 2728 school year for your consideration and action this evening. The school year calendars were first presented at the November 10th schoolboard meeting and re revisions have been made based on feedback during that meeting and from our stakeholder community as well. We're asking that the board consider this these changes this evening and take action on the approving the calendar. The school year calendars are aligned with our strategic priorities of well-being, achievement, equity, and resources. We have gathered significant feedback and information to ensure we are focused on our students, their academic achievement, and their well-being as our top priority. We have also given consideration to how decisions impact families and our staff. In addition, we have explored and made revisions to the final draft to achieve a more equitable approach to how we honor all students in the creation of our schoolyear calendars. In looking at the top four key considerations, we began our process be by beginning draft calendars and examining these considerations. State laws, student instructional needs, family planning needs, and staff developmental needs. These four elements provided the foundation for conversation, planning, and the development of the final drafts we will review this evening. In addition to the four key elements, we explored and discussed many other considerations which re which we reviewed at the November 10th meeting. Since our last meeting, we gathered additional information about high student absence days to determine any patterns or trends in student absences on specific days within our school year and whether or not those days correlated with any holidays that are not currently identified in our school year calendars. We reviewed the importance and impact of our data analysis days for teachers, specifically the day in each year previously placed in April, and determined that this day would be better placed in March to allow for staff development and the analysis of student data to have the greatest impact on student learning and testing during the spring. We also listened to feedback from our community and staff around the long stretch of full five-day weeks between spring break and Memorial Day and explored solutions to provide the greatest opportunity for learning while also honoring the previous school year's calendars where there is traditionally been a Friday in the third week of April where there is no school for students. For review, we have five primary steps in our school year calendar process. Oops. The first step uh in our calendar process is for the calendar committee to meet and we had four different meetings where we reviewed the calendar process. Our cabinet team reviewed recommended calendars and considered implications and impact districtwide. Parent and teacher leaders reviewed the recommended calendars and provided feedback to cabinet leaders and calendar committee members were informed of any potential modifications. Draft calendars were presented to the school board on November 10th, 2025. and we gathered input from the board, district, and community stakeholders over the last few weeks. In addition, we further researched student attendance trends and potential solutions to explore ideas shared by our constituents. Finally, we are bringing forward tonight the draft calendars for the 2627 and 2728 school year for your consideration and action. It's important to call out specific dates on our calendars for families and staff. We have incorporated both colors and shapes related to key dates we want our community to know about. We understand that the calendar, excuse me, we understand that the calendar may not always be able to be printed on a color version, so the addition of shapes helps to ensure families and staff can still identify the meaning of key dates. The green blocks with a flag emblem represent the first and last days of school. The pink or rose color represents no school days for all students in grades K12. The blue color with triangle represents no school days for students in grades K through 8. and the yellow color with the circle represents no school days for students in grades 9 through 12. So in looking at the key changes for the 2627 school year calendar, August 31st is the start date for all students rather than September 1st. We moved the teacher data analysis day to March 10th and spring break moved one year one day later or one week later. We also added April 23rd as a no school day. And looking at the first one, April 31st to September 1st. The reasoning behind this was that starting on a August 31st aligns the first day of school with the start of a week and allows for a midApril break later in the year, which I will talk about more in just a moment. On the second one, moving the April data day for staff moved for for staff moved to Wednesday, March 10th. Moving this date earlier provides staff more time to use data ahead of state testing and creates a non- studentent day on a date that has historically had high absences due to the Eid holiday. For the third one, spring break adjusted to March 29th through April 2nd. Moving spring break a week later maintains consistency with regional districts and keeps spring break in the last week of March, which has been a consistent time frame families and staff can rely on for their planning. And finally, Friday, April 23rd is added as a no school day. Adding this day in April offers a planned break during a long stretch of five-day weeks during the third trimester. We were able to add this no school day for both students and staff by starting school one day earlier in August on August 31st. In the 2728 school year, the key changes are August 30th is the start date rather than September 1st. There's an 8-day winter break starting on December 22nd. Teacher data analysis day moved from April 7th to March 17th and added the April 21st day as a no school day. The reasoning behind this on the first one, the start date starting on August 30th aligns the first day of school with the start of a week and allows for a midApril break later in the year, which I'll talk about more in just a moment. Wednesday, December 22nd was added to the winter break. Adding this day extends winter break to eight days matching the previous year and supporting family travel and scheduling needs. We were able to add this day by starting school on August 30th. The April day moving to the Friday, March 17th. Moving this day earlier provides staff more time to use student data ahead of state testing. And finally, the April 21st added day is a no school day. Adding this day April off in April offers a planned break during a long stretch of 5-day weeks. We are able to add this no school day for both students and staff by starting on August 30th. And with that, those are the changes that are recommended for the 26 27 2728 school year for your consideration and action this evening. >> Thank you very much. Before we move into questions, this is an action item for the board tonight. So, is there a motion to approve the calendars as presented? >> So, move second. >> Motion by Jackie, seconded by Katherine. At this time, are there any questions or comments from the audience? Seeing none questions or comments from board members? Robin. >> Um, first off, I want to just again recognize all of the work that goes into the school calendar and all the various input that you have to take and create a cohesive product. That's no small task. So, I just want to give some recognition for that. Um, with the moving of the start date, um, I talked with some people in the community and it seems as though moving it to a Monday, um, and creating an almost full week before we have that Labor Day break was really preferable to having sort of a truncated week of two days and that if we're going to start before Labor Day, having that full week makes it almost feel worth it. Um, you know, it just felt sort of haphazard before. So, I think that's a good change. So, thank you. Great. Thank you. >> Uh Anna, >> uh thank you. Um what I was going to say is uh yeah, I appreciate you showing all highlighting all the considerations. Um that's super super helpful for our constituents to understand. I appreciate that. Knowing that you used uh data for um any trends for high school absences is really super helpful, too. I think it's important for it's important for our constituents to understand that too that we're not just um consulting uh using anecdotal evidence. We're also using data around it too to support some of our ways of thinking um which anecdotal evidence is still good and still uh collaborating with other uh teachers and students and um you know other staff. I think that's great. I wanted to highlight that I appreciate that you are also looking at um uh non um uh licensed staff too to make sure that we're not extending excuse me we're not going too long without um employment >> um to take those uh those employees to into consideration. So thank you. Um, and as someone whose kids are now long gone, well, maybe not long gone. Um, but yeah, starting and having a full week is worth it. And so, yeah, I think that that's a huge win for the district and a win for maybe not for the students, but definitely a win for the parents. So, thanks. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Other questions or comments? Katherine? Um, also echoing appreciation for a very hard puzzle that you've put together. Um, I wanted to just bring up the the move of or um the observance of Eid on March 10th and having that be a Wednesday um which is in the middle of the week and just asking for consideration of um that Yam Kapor uh for the Jewish holiday is also um on a Monday this year and wanting to just identify uh the possibility of doing the data day that's right now on Friday, September 25th, moving it to that Monday the 21st, which would allow a similar observation of a holiday of a religious holiday that um students do celebrate. And just also recognizing very much appreciate um basing this on attendance data um and knowing that this was based on full um absentee days. um and wondering if we might look into partial absentee late arrivals of students also who may be observing religious holidays um but coming to school late that day and just seeing if that perhaps also is can be um incorporated into our consideration for the calendar. >> Absolutely. Thank you for those ideas and we will absolutely look into those pieces in the late absences especially to gather additional data there. Um, and looking at Yamapour and the start of the school year, we did check into that a that September date on the 25th this year and looked at the number of weeks we have to analyze student data and found that there's really two weeks to analyze student data and then additional week that it takes our staff to put that information together and get ready for that day. Um, there are ways and there are alternatives and options that we could potentially consider to recognize that day. I think leaving that data day on that Friday might be the best in order for to get the student data in. But I think there's another alternative. If we looked at moving that April day uh into September, we could do that as an alternative potentially for the calendar this evening if that's something the board wanted to consider. >> Um can I just clarify? So we would be taking away that day in April >> to make that happen. Yeah. >> It would be open for discussion. >> So do you So we have a motion to the calendar right now. Is there do we want to have discussion about a change? Is that what I'm hearing board? >> Sure. >> And I I need some help outlining the change again if we're going to have that discussion. >> Sure. We'd be looking at moving the April 21st, I believe April 23rd day and September 26, 27 to September 21st, Monday, September 21st for that alternative. And I guess I should clarify that um perhaps this is just a discussion about precedents and and just the idea of looking at other religious holidays. M our ability to be flexible with moving dates that we know we need to have like these data analysis days which are super important and just being aware on the calendar. If we're moving it for a religious holiday, are we then able to do that with all religious holidays um to allow for >> I do remember precoid we started on a Wednesday because of Rashashana landing on a Tuesday and you know so I know we have accommodated some religious holidays. I also think of Dvali happening you know in sort of later October and so I guess my question would be like what's the order of operations for deciding you know how do we decide is it purely based on attendance data is it you know because um there are a lot of holidays out there >> right right yeah >> exactly we did use attendance data as the foundation for moving that Eid holiday from the idea of March 17th that Friday to the middle of the week on March 10th looking at significant in days throughout the school year and looking at kind of those top 10 attendance days, absence days for students and March 10th consistently in the last few years, five years is the span we looked at came out um to be one of those higher absentee days for that particular holiday. So that's why we decided to move that day to the 10th in the middle of the week to try and honor student uh presence in our schools during that time as well as moving our day-to-day earlier. It was a previously I believe April 9th moving it earlier so that we can uh make sure that we're assessing the information that we need for students and their success. >> I'll just say I I appreciate using that as our foundation. Um if we're talking about student attendance and success, I think that is the gold standard of how we look at our calendar. I get concerned about making exemptions for re holidays, especially religious holidays, just because there are so many of them. And I don't know if this board wants to be the decider of which holiday is more important. Um because obviously there's no way we can accommodate all of them unless we want to go to through school to August. But um especially if we're using attendance data as that foundation that makes a lot of sense to me. >> Sure. >> So is this a conversation? It sounds like the board still has questions about this. I'm wondering if maybe uh as a p uh if we continue voting on this calendar and maybe use this as a topic for a future board workshop to talk about how we're using, you know, input into that calendar. Would the board feel about that as a possible workshop? >> I would be fine. >> Yeah, I'm okay with that. >> Okay, perfect. Add it to our workshop agenda. Good. >> I do. Yeah, absolutely. I think that's worth exploring. All right. Any other comments or questions from the board, >> Jackie? >> So, just so I'm clear, we're going to go ahead and vote on this as outlined. Then we will come back and have a discussion which may lead to changes in this calendar or in we're looking at future calendars. >> So, if we have a board workshop, I mean, the board can could decide in that workshop to make a ch change at any time. I don't think at least we'd want to even consider making change to uh the 2627 calendar right now because of communication with families. But if the board did want to that is that's the board's prerogative to do at a future workshop. >> I just wanted to make sure we're clear on what our expectations were. >> I think we need to have this calendar at least approved today though. So because I know >> families are already starting to ask for it and we're a little behind the curve. >> Yes. >> Good. All right. So, there was a motion to approve the calendars by Jaggy, seconded by Katherine. All those in favor of approval, say I. >> I. >> Those opposed? >> Motion carries on a 70 vote. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> All right. Next, I'd like to welcome Rachel Hughes back to the podium to go over the second reading of the 2026 27 middle school and high school course reisions. >> All right. Good evening, Chairperson Johnson, members of the board, and superintendent Bosone. I'm Rachel Hughes, director of instruction achievement. At the November 10th board meeting, the instruction achievement department provided an overview of the annual course revision process for our middle and high schools along with a preview of several proposed new courses for the 2627 school year. Each year, courses course revisions are prepared and reviewed to determine which courses should be added, dropped, replicated, restructured, or renamed. Once approved by the board, these revisions become part of the registration materials shared with students and families beginning in January. This evening, I'm presenting the proposed 2627 course revisions as old business and I'm recommending approval. Happy to answer any questions. >> You This is an action item for the board tonight. So before we move into public comments, is there a motion to approve the proposed middle school and high school course revisionessions for 2026 27? >> So moved. Second. Motion by Robin, seconded by Anna. At this time, are there any questions or comments from the audience? Seeing none, questions or comments from board members? I think we made all our comments last board meeting, but always love seeing the good revisions. Um, there was a motion to approve by Robin, seconded by Anna. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. I. >> Those opposed. Motion carries on a 70 vote. Thank you very much. >> All right. Next, I'd like to welcome Kaia Bruce to the podium to go over the second reading of our 202627 connection preschool fees. >> Good evening, Chairperson Johnson, members of the board, and Superintendent Balsson. Tonight, I'm sharing the second reading of the proposed connections preschool fee increases for the 2026 2027 school year. The proposed fees reflect an inflationary adjustment resulting in a 3 to 4 and a.5% increase from the current year with all figures rounded to the nearest dollar. This adjustment is necess is a necessary inflationary measure to help cover the rising costs associated with running the program. We will maintain our commitment to accessibility by continuing to use a sliding fee scale based on federal poverty guidelines for tuition as outlined in regulation 507.2 2 AR a family's tuition rate is determined by their family size, annual income, and the chosen course. Since this is the second reading, action is required tonight and I request approval of these proposed preschool fees for the 202627 school year and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. >> Thank you very much. Again, for the board, this is an action item tonight. So, is there a motion to approve the proposed fee addition? >> So, moved. Second. Motion by Robin, seconded by Jackie. At this time, are there any questions or comments from the audience? Seeing none, questions or comments from board members? We have a motion to approve by Robin, seconded by Jackie. At this time, all those in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I. I. >> Those opposed? Motion carries on a 70 vote. Thank you very much. >> Right. That brings us to the new business portion of our agenda and I'd like to welcome Danny Duchene to the podium to go over our 202526 final budget. >> Good evening, Chair Johnson, members of the school board, Superintendent Bos Sony, and our district 196 community. My name is Danny Duchain, coordinator of finance here in District 186. Tonight, district administration presents the 2526 final budget for first reading and review. We will bring the final budget back to the board for recommended approval at the January 12th regular school board meeting. Before I dive into the budget content for tonight, there are a few acknowledgements that I'd like to share. First, accompanying tonight's presentation is a draft of the final budget book, which is included in your board docs. The budget book includes a wealth of information about our district, our various budgets and funds, as well as the budgeting process. The content shared over the forthcoming slides are a highle summary of the information and details provided within the budget book. Secondly, we'd like to thank two groups for their contributions to the final budget. The staff in both our finance office and in schools and departments across the district for their time and collaboration in developing tonight's final budget. Sec. Additionally, we'd like to thank all the students who provide the incredible artwork that really bring our budget books to life from a creative and aesthetic perspective. Grounding ourselves in the district strategic roadmap, the final budget focuses on the resources priority as this process allocates financial resources in the form of FTEEs or dollars and cents throughout the district, which makes all of the other components of our strategic roadmap possible. The final budget is the third stop in the district's budget cycle after completing the levy certification in the preliminary budgets during the 2425 fiscal years. After approval of the final budget in January, the cycle will continue with the spring budget adjustments this coming spring and the annual financial audit which will commence in the summer. As we transition from the preliminary budget to the final budget, we update many of the key assumptions and input inputs used in the preliminary budget based on new or finalized information. Some of the key updated variables for the final budget include we have previous year actuals from our annual financial audit for the 2425 school year. We have data that is nearly finalized as far as what our final enrollment calculations were for the 2425 school year. We have our actual enrollment count as of October 1st for the 2526 school year. We have new contract employee contracts that have been settled in the time be between the preliminary budget and the final budget. Um our two biggest groups were settled in the course of that time frame with our teachers union and the clerical unions. And we also have information regarding school and restricted carryover calculations that are not part of the preliminary budget and are inserted into the final budget process. A few quick a few quick statistics related to the final budget. The 2526 final budget is based on the October 1st enrollment count of 28,934 total students, which was presented to the board at the October 13th meeting. This number drives the school allocation calculations and helps us estimate what our year-end um state aid calculations are for various funding programs. The final budget also includes over 4,000 budgeted FTEEs district-wide in various positions. A few anecdotes about our teachers in district 196. 66% of our teachers have been with district 186 for 5 years or longer. So, two out of every three teachers have been here for 5 years. And 85% of our district 186 teachers have an advanced educational degree. Now diving into the actual financial data for the final budget. The final budget consists of total revenues of 76 million in expenditures of 96 million. At 526 million in revenues and 536 million in expenditures, the general fund accounts for the largest share in both categories, which is very common in school districts as the district's main operating fund. Additional information about individual funds is going to be discussed over the course of the next few slides. Continuing our focus on the general fund, the total general fund revenue budget of 526 million includes 375 million in state aids, 120 million in property tax revenue, nearly 12 million in federal aid, and just shy of 20 million in other revenue sources. This chart also compares the final budgets to the 202425 actuals for each of these revenue categories, showing that our proportions for each of these revenue sources is well aligned with previous years. Crossing over to the expend expense side of the equation, there are two primary ways in which we analyze and cross-section our expenditures in the general fund. The first is by program, which refers on the slide that you're looking at to the table on the left. The program classification helps identify expenditures that are student related, support related, or building related. The student instruction and student support services programs account for the highest percentages of general fund budgeted expenditures at 68.8% and 17.7% respectively, which results in over 86% of our general fund expenditures planned for programs that directly impact students. Another way to look at expendages is by the object classification or the what are we purchasing, what are we buying. And this refers to the table on the right side of the slide. As is typical in district 186 and school districts across the the state, the largest majority of our expenses stem from employee compensation and benefits at over 81% of our general fund expenditures. So what's the big takeaway from this slide? Education is a people industry, a relationship-based industry. So, this shows that District 1 sense is not only committed to programs that are going to directly impact our students, we're delivering those programs by investing in the people that make those programs possible. Let's take a look at a couple more uh funds, an in-depth look at a couple of funds that need some additional context. The Nutrition Services Fund projects $24 million in revenue against $28 million in expenses for this year's current final budget. As explained at the November board meeting during the annual financial audit presentation, the district has a surplus of nutrition services funds that needs to be utilized. This spend down that you're seeing on this slide is a strategic deliberate plan to utilize that nutrition services fund balance focusing on equipment enhancements in district kitchens across the district as well as food and supply costs. Food and supply costs have increased based on the market lately, but the district is also making a very concerted effort to source higher quality products whenever possible, leading to higher prices for foods. The 2526 fiscal year is slated to be the largest year yet for the building construction projects approved by voters in the May 2023 bond referendum with $26 million in construction expenses planned for this current fiscal year. As I've mentioned in a few presentations previously, the second bond issuance uh for these projects is tenatively slated for the beginning of the 2627 fiscal year, providing additional revenue for the building construction fund to finish the construction projects included in the bond referendum over the course of the next couple of years. The internal services funds include the district's severance and self-insured health and dental funds. Overall, the final budget plans for $91 million in revenue against $87 million in expenditures. A few items to note regarding the health insurance funds specifically, which accounts for the majority of activity within the internal services funds. Significant insurance premium rate increases went into effect for all employment groups for the 2526 school year, which results in an increase in revenue for the health insurance fund compared to previous year actuals. The district continues to monitor industry trends for claims costs and anticipates health insurance claims to continue to rise, which is why we're seeing a result in higher budgeted expenditures in the self-insured um in the in the health insurance fund for the 2526 school year. And lastly, just as anformational note, this is uh the 2526 school year is a hit a year, which means that our full health insurance plan will be reviewed um with our consultant agency. This all nets out to a total projected ending fund balance as of June 30th, 2026 of $235 million with the general fund accounting for $109 million of that ending fund balance. The district special special revenue funds which include the nutrition services and community education funds account for 12.6 million of projected ending fund balance. The building construction fund is projected to end the 2526 fiscal year at $20.6 million. The debt service fund, internal service funds, and our fiduciary fund which is our OPED irrevocable trust account for the rem the remaining $90 million in fund balance. No action is being requested for the final budget this evening. As I mentioned, the final budget will be back on the agenda at the January 12th meeting for recommended approval. And at this time, I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have. >> Thank you very much. At this time, are there any questions or comments from the audience? Seeing none, questions or comments from board members? >> Leah. Um, so I'm I'm still trying to get up to the Sakowin and still very far from the Christopher level of understanding all this, but um, can you help me see what kind of what might have been major shifts from the uh, preliminary budget to the final? I I can see some things. So, I know the spend out on nutrition that you already talked about, salaries seems to have moved and related to contracts being finalized. I'm guessing, but are there any other kind of headlines? >> Yep. So, there are I would say there's about three different main components that can transition us from preliminary to final. >> Salaries being one of them. Salaries being one of the main ones. We try when we know, especially in a year like this year where we have our two biggest groups that are going to be up for contract settlements, we're trying to project those out even during preliminary budget. Yeah. >> And so that's not as much of a change um if we're decent or we're within the realm of what those contracts settle at. A couple of things that for this specific budget cycle that come into play. Um number one, our to our October 1st enrollment count was a little bit lower than projected. >> So that's going to impact our bring our state aids down a little bit. Um secondly is more of just a budgeting philosophy that our district has where we are trying to be conservative on both sides of the equation. So on the revenue side we're trying to be very conservative as far as the amount that we're bringing in so that the hope is our actuals that we realize is going to be higher and going to be a net gain for the district. On the expenditure side we're trying to plan for that worst case scenario. And so the goal is that the actuals end up being less than what we had planned for and that's a gain to the district as well. The third thing that I would say really impacts final budget is that we have carryover that comes into play. So we allow schools to carry over various um funds from from year to year. The district has received that revenue in previous years and so that money is sitting in fund balance and it's only hitting the expenditure side of the equation during this particular fiscal year. But because the previous year isn't closed out when we do find when we do the preliminary budget, a lot of those expenditures aren't being accounted for on the preliminary side. >> Does that help? >> Thank you. >> Other questions or comments from board members? Thank you very much and we will see you back on January 12th. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> All right, that brings us near the end of our agenda for this evening. I will turn the meeting over to Superintendent Bosone for district updates. >> Okay, thank you, Chair Johnson. If you hadn't had the chance yet to attend a District 196 theater production, I encourage you to make time this season. Our high schools are offering wonderful shows this month, including at Egan High School, Frozen running through December 14th. At Eastview High School, they are presenting Newsies running through December 13th. And Rosemont High School is presenting their onstage production entitled I Wish, which runs December 11th through the 13th. I have seen all three and they are fantastic. These performances highlight the opportunities students have to explore their interests and really shine on the stage. I also want to remind parents that the application windows are closing soon for enrollment in one of our magnet programs for the 2627 school year. Magnet schools provide a concentrated focus through a particular theme. Families can find more information and application links on our website www.dist196.org. I also want to encourage all parents and guardians to participate in the survey being sent out this week through Parent Square. Parent and family feedback is incredibly valuable as we work together on improving the daily experience we would like for our students. The survey is open for the next two weeks and we appreciate everyone who takes a moment to share their voice. Finally, there is no school for students beginning Monday, December 22nd, and we'll welcome students back on Monday, January 5th. I hope all of our families enjoy a peaceful, restful break and find time to connect with friends and family. Thank you. >> Thank you, Superintendent Bologone. At this time, are there any um board me board members with items they'd like to share? >> All right, that brings us to the end of our agenda this evening. Our next regular school regularly scheduled school board meeting is Monday, January 10th or January 12th, excuse me. At this time, is there a motion to adjurnn? So moved. >> Second. >> Sometimes we just want to stay here, but motion to adjourn by Leah and I heard Anna first on the second. Um all those in favor of adjournment say I. >> I. >> All opposed. Motion carries on a 70 vote. We are adjourned.