Most of you are already here. Um, it is 4:30, so good afternoon and welcome to the May 5th, 2026 Committee of the board meeting. The time is 4:30 p.m. If you would like your name to be included in the meeting notes, please sign in at the table near the door. This meeting is also recorded and audio streamed. As a note. That's not the note. As a note, the North Star Policy action presentation on the cost of charter schools for SPPS is planned to begin at 5:00 p.m. and the American Indian Parent Advisory Committee report is time serving for 6:00 p.m. We may need to take a short break or pause a presentation to accommodate the timing of these items. We will begin with introductions for those at this table. Director Ward and Director Carrillo will be absent from today's meeting. And I will start. Erica Vallier, vice chair. Carl Franco board treasurer, Brandon Lou, director. Sarah LG board secretary Paula Anderson, director Katie Bergstrom general counsel, Stacey Stanley, superintendent. Thank you. Next, I move to, um, approve the agenda. Is there a second, seconded by Director Lowe? Comments or discussion All right. All those in favor, please indicate by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed, please indicate by saying nay. All right, motion passes. The agenda has been approved. Next, we'll move on to the superintendent's announcements and I will turn it over to Superintendent Stanley. Thank you, Vice Chair. Um, so Saturday, we had an amazing time at the Cinco de Mayo parade, um I was just talking to Director Franco. I parked a little bit away from where our float was, probably about 2.5 miles, but, um, got my husband to walk really really fast, and then we actually found somebody to like. So first, um, it was fantastic. Oh my God, there were so many people there. Kids were excited. Our float was absolutely amazing. Shout out to the Office of Family Engagement. Um, there was nothing like having 35 kids on the float, and they were so proud to be there, but um, it was just what we needed, I believe after Having a community under siege for so many months and um also downstairs, if you did not come in the front door, I'm going to encourage you when you go down to go out in the front, it is Asian Pacific Islander Hmong, and there are beautiful Hmong, um, artifacts that are down there among um where, I mean they're not artifacts because folks would use them today, um and they're absolutely beautiful, so I encourage folks to take a look at that. Thank you. All right. Thank you. Are there any comments or questions? OK, I will comment. The float was beautiful. I was looking for a school bus and I saw the float, and I was like, What And then my son was like, what? It, it's all, it was fun. It was a lot of fun. All right, next we'll move on to the 2025, 2026 Gender and Sexual diversity Parent Advisory Council, GSD PAC board update presentation and I will turn it over again to Superintendent Stanley Thank you very much, Vice Chair. Um. Uh, Director Dana Abrams is going to provide an overview of this information, and I think it is important to have on record that members of our GSPAC said that they want to share information with us, but quite honestly, they do not feel safe coming out publicly right now, and I think that that um is a horrific statement in and of itself, and, um, Director Abrams, I'm really grateful that you are willing to come and share the information on their behalf. Thank you. Thank you so much. uh Vice Chairman Valiant members of the board, Superintendent Stanley, and to my colleagues and community members thank you for having me. Um, one of the things I'm hoping to get, um, in the next few months is a more in-depth report that is actually written by our members One of the things I wanted to do today is to make it kind of twofold, especially we have a new director on board and so that we can start scheduling in the future. Um, last September 9, 2025, we were here and our board agreed that they would like to hear from our parent advisory council. Um, as Superintendent Stanley stated that there are some groups that wanna present or have me present and or they submit something in writing or board members can attend a PAC meeting And so, looking forward into September. Um, we are going to work with, um, Tai Ying and with Sarah on getting on the schedule so we can start getting folks on a regular basis. Um, one of the things, uh, Superintendent mentioned, um, we kind of put a stall on things because this past spring our Latino consentre PAC was supposed to, uh, present, but due to safety concerns as mentioned we weren't able to move forward with that. And so uh, all of our packs are excited to know that they've reached the level of the ear of our board and of our superintendent, which that says a lot. So on a personal level, I say thank you to you all for having that ear and wanting to hear from our parents. Um, So, our GSD pack or our Gender and Sexual diversity Pack is our newest pack under the Office of Family Engagement It initially started in our Office of Equity and through staffing changes and the fact that all other PACs were under the Office of Family Engagement, it became a part of our group. Um, It was started because we have students who are experiencing um a lot of things in our schools, um, and we have parents who are wanting to know how can they support their students. And so we do have um a collective group. We have what we call a community and we also have the actual member Now I'm excited to hear for them to be able to share their voice in their initial report. So I'm gonna be very transparent. I am not speaking for them. I am bringing awareness to the GSC PAC, um, because they are newer. You've heard of all the other ones But I wanted folks to know about them too. And again they will uh be a part of the rotation as we start bringing them regularly to our COP meeting. So Dana is not speaking for them at this time. Again, more so informing you all of what we have going on. Um we were fortunate in that we had a team member who graciously accepted to leave the work of the GSP PAC Um, they meet monthly. Um, they have become, um, have had a presence at different outreach opportunities which is brand new because for about a year, once they were in, we weren't, we didn't have a presence We didn't even know how to become involved. So our project coordinator who leads the work, worked really closely with the members to make it happen. They had the table, Saint Paul schools, GSD pack and we're able to have a presence, presence at an outreach um event, which is important because folks see those tablecloths with those names on it and it's like a Relief. I can go to, to a place where I'm accepted where it's a part of my school district, makes parents feel a lot more comfortable. Um, Going back to a little bit of the history, the DSVPC had their first uh meeting back in October of 2014. Um, it started, kind of lost leadership, came back, and so we're going really strong now, actively looking, um, or creating a space for access for parents to come and join the group. Um we have Roughly when you look at our high schools because as we're entering graduation season, um, our members, students who, um, Who will receive a rainbow tassel. And when we look at our numbers, we were told before it's roughly about 10% of the graduating class will receive a tassel. What we further looked at is that that number is actually higher. We're looking at about 13% student population that our members are rising sexual diversity community. So numbers are rising. Um, they need to have a voice, they need to have a stand. Um, and trust me, parents and, and folks are wanting it. Um, we know we have a policy, we know we have, um, we have support. I can tell you last year, um, I attended the meeting right, right after our administration changed in, uh, January. And you know, some of the statements and the mean, cruel things that were coming forward. Um, I attended the meeting um, at the time, Doctor Tyne had put out a statement Doctor Stanley wasn't here yet, and I attended the meeting and assured the, the group that, hey, Just because this came out of that office, it doesn't mean that it's coming from Saint Paul's Schools, and we're gonna continue to support you all and the students and continue to move forward. I can tell you that it meant so much to people. Um, after that, I received a couple of emails from folks thanking us for taking a stand and, and saying something publicly, um, meant a whole lot to the community, a whole, whole lot. Um Any questions? I feel like I'm talking fast and uh I know that you all have. A sheet that has some of the statistics that's on there, that are on there Um, so numbers are real folks. These are our students that must be included. For the 2526 school year, the um the council created priority areas of focus for their group. They're looking at membership and recruitment They're looking at strengthening core responsibilities And they're looking at strengthening collaborations with other departments. One of the things in working with them right now, they are very proud that they created a pronoun poster. Right? And this is actually an opportunity that I can get input from you all. They created a a a um pronoun poster, and we have it in English, and they also wanted it in Spanish and in French to ensure that it was gonna go into the emerging programs. One of the huge challenges right now is the fact that the way in the Spanish language in order to change the pronouns, changes the way The language is taught. And so if and we have a parent that is feels extremely strong about this and so this is where I, I won't be the decision maker here. I look forward to connecting with perhaps Doctor Yowsky along with Doctor Sarah Smith Kotwa. Esperant to look at what are we following, what are we obligated as a um learning institution to put on the pronoun, um posters for the Spanish language. Um. So we do have them in English and I tell you my, the group is uh very firm in their beliefs because they've asked right now that we hold off on even sending the English ones out until we can figure out the, the language piece for Spanish So that is something that um They feel strongly about I feel strongly about because to get the pronoun posters out there is a big deal. It's a big deal. I've connected with the um director Becky Schmidt, who has agreed to allow posters to be in the nurse's office and hopefully when I connect with administrators that it can also be displayed in the school office. Um, They are very proud of the work that um Saint Paul has done when looking at inclusive restrooms. Um, they created their bylaws and approved them during 2025, and we're gonna continue to work with our REA department to figure out Or to make sure that we're not missing any of our students. And so, my ask today is that you open your mind and be prepared for when our PAC groups come and present or share information, or they make a request for you to attend a PAC meeting. Um, it is at that time, they'll do a more intensive report to you, um, with data that they'd like to share, requests they would like to have heard, um, and share the great work that they are doing so much. I'm very proud of my team that works directly, boots on the ground, right with our families, and it shows. Um, but I also felt compelled to bring the issue of the poster piece up because that's a huge piece for us right now and to know that they are working on real life things that affect our students and can be a resource for them So with that, I'm open for any questions you may have All right. Any questions how much been doing on this Well, oh yes, few questions just to say, you know I think the GSD practice does really needed a wonderful work. I had the pleasure of being able to be with them a couple of times and find them to be Incredible staff and parents and clearly advocating not just for their own kids but for the whole school communities right, when we understand and are um unified and our education is equitable and happy inside but I, I really appreciated there. Willingness not only to to think about their own kids but our entire school. Thank you. Well, I certainly look forward to um standing beside whichever techs choose to come forward and present in person and or reading their reports if they would like to just share it in written format So with that, I thank you for your time. Thank you All right. Yes, um, do I need to announce roll call that I'm here? You need to let people know I'm there Allen has arrived, everyone. No, you know what, it was in my head to say that and then as per usual, it went this way something else came in. I was tired Would you like to say your name since you're at the table? Oh, I'm Director Alan, uh. All right. So, are we ready for the OK. All right. Next we are gonna move on to the analyzing the cost of charter schools percentile public schools presentation, and I'm gonna turn over to our partners at North Star Policy Action Lovely. Well, hello everybody. Good afternoon. I am Aaron Rosenthal. I am the research director for Northsota Policy Action. Uh, we are a think tank dedicated to improving the lives of working Minnesotans. I'm presenting a report today, uh, co-authored with Doctor Hilary Wething, who's an economist at the Economic Policy Institute. I will also say I'm a graduate of Saint Al's schools. What was Webster Elementary, uh, now Brock and Michelle Service Learning, Ramsey Middle School, now Hidden River, and, uh, Saint Paul Central Thank you, um. Uh, and I apologize for my voice, uh as I'm sure I need to tell nobody in this room, kids bring home more than education with them. Uh, so my 13 month old has brought me a cold that I'll be battling tonight as well. So, um, yeah, I'm here to present this report, um, Uh. I just There we go. Oh, there we go. Perfect. OK. Um, so just to walk back to the sort of purpose, uh, for the study that I'm presenting today. In September, we presented a proposal to the board for a report on the fiscal relationship between charter schools and Saint Paul public schools. Uh in November, the board unanimously approved this report I just wanna, uh, underline that this is a very narrow report. We are focused exclusively on this fiscal relationship between charter schools and district schools. We're not looking at educational superiority of one over the other, um. Whether one is better or worse or how this financial relationship may be beneficial or not. Uh, what we are looking at is this conventional wisdom that money follows students, right? So, under this conventional wisdom, if a student leaves one school to go to another, the funding goes with that student. Now, the former school has less revenue, but also has one fewer student to educate, theoretically creating a net zero cost for that former school. The reality is actually a little bit more complicated than that conventional wisdom. First, there's an indirect cost that's created, which essentially uh sits with the reality that schools do not shed costs as fast as they lose students. And so, uh, when those costs remain, certain costs remain with the former school it creates an indirect cost for what we refer to in the report as a fiscal externality. Second, there's actually a direct cost between charter schools and district schools, which is that charter schools bill resident districts for certain services, especially in special education. So our report in essence looks at both of those kinds of costs and to do so we look at the movement of students, so how students have shifted between district and charter schools in Saint Paul. The movement of those students is actually what dictates what kind of indirect cost exists in Saint Paul. So what does the movement of students mean for these fiscal externalities that we're talking about and then we look at the direct costs, these direct bills that charter schools, uh, put onto, uh, Saint Paul public schools. So to walk through those points uh, what has the movement of students looked like in Saint Paul? So, uh, the headline here is that charter enrollment has really surged and district enrollment has declined. So the dark bars there show you. The decline in district enrollment over the last 25 years or so. The light blue bars representing the growth of charter school enrollment and then the yellow line showing the share of total public school enrollment in charter schools in Saint Paul. This is perhaps best understood by just looking at the fact that in 2001, 2002, roughly 1 in 13 public school students in Saint Paul were enrolled in a district in a charter school. In 2022-2023, it was more than 1 in 3 students So over this time charter enrollment has grown by about 655. Students per year, uh, while, uh, while district schools have lost about 630 students per year and so this is the movement that we refer to when we talk about a fiscal externality or an indirect cost being placed onto district schools by charter schools and I'll go into what that looks like more in a second. Um, we also looked in this report and I'll just talk about this very briefly, the populations being served by district schools and charter schools roughly the populations do look the same. Uh, the biggest gap is in students receiving special education services. A little bit more than 18% of districts uh, students are receiving special education services Whereas fewer than 13% in charter schools are receiving those same services, so about a 45% greater share in district schools that get special education services compared to charter schools, but otherwise racially economically, the student populations look quite similar We then looked at where charter schools are located in Saint Paul. Um, for the most part what we see is that the neighborhoods in which charter schools are located look like the rest of the city again, both racially and economically. You'll also see a map here that shows the locations of charter schools throughout Saint Paul. Again, uh, you know, relatively wide distribution through the city, notable neighborhoods that don't have as much charter school, uh, don't have as many charter school locations, uh, Battle Creek, for example the McAllister Groveland neighborhood, Summit University um, but there is wide distribution and again the neighborhoods do look similar to what the city looks like. OK, so now let's talk about the meat of the report, which is this fiscal relationship. So the basis of the uh fiscal externality is understanding that when a district loses students, it loses revenue but doesn't shed costs at the same pace and an easy way to understand this is to think about school buses. So if a school bus carries 20 students. And then one student leaves it now carries 19 students, so the district that that student was in has fewer resources, but if the bus is making the same stops and running the same route it costs the same amount of money to operate that bus. So the school now has fewer resources but is spending the same amount of money on that bus. So that means basically the, the school in which that bus is running has to provide a a larger share of its funding to maintain the operation of that bus That money has to come from somewhere else, perhaps from a. Teaching budget or something of that nature the same logic could be applied to heating a school building, right? It costs roughly the same to do that if you have 100 students in the building or 90 students in the building. So those are what we're talking about when we're talking about a fiscal externality, the gap between the revenue lost and the costs that stay the same. Now to actually apply this, we break down the costs uh within Saint Paul Public schools or within within uh education I should say into three different categories, and this is based on a methodology that was developed by Doctor Wething who's the co-author of this report, um, so basically we, we utilize these categories to look at what are different ways in which school districts can adjust to lost enrollment. So the first is instructional costs, teachers, classroom staff, we assume that this is the easiest to adjust in relation to lost enrollment, that it's easier to bring down the number of teachers when students leave so we uh assume not a 1 to 1 rate where you could adjust perfectly for loss enrollment. But a 0.8 to 1% rate, meaning if 10% of students leave, we would assume that instructional costs dropped by 8%, so that 2% gap, that's the fiscal externality we're talking about there. For service costs, things like clerical and administrative staff, where there's more limited staff numbers, we assume it will be more difficult to bring down costs. So there we talk about a 0.2% adjustment rate, so 10% decline in students, just a 2% decline in administrative or in service costs so that 8% gap in the fiscal externality. And then for capital costs, uh, you know, maintenance facilities things like that, we treat those as fully fixed in the short run, which is to say if there's a 10% decline in students, we assume capital costs remain the same right? And that basically follows the logic that closing a building right after students leave, uh, you know if 10% of students leave is quite difficult. I should note this just represents one year, right? And I'll talk a little bit more about how we might think about projecting these into the future, um, but this is just what happens in the short run. What is an indirect cost look like for one year. So we apply these two numbers in Saint Paul Public Schools. We look at three different scenarios for student enrollment declines The first is a 1.7% decline in students. There we go, uh, 1.7% decline in students. That is the historical average. So since 2001, 2002, Saint Paul Public schools have seen about 1.7% of students drop out into charter schools. Um, if we take that scenario, the district loses about $218 per remaining student or about $7.2 million total. If we look at what the post-pandemic average has been for enrollment shift, 3.7%, that would be $484 lost per remaining student or $15.6 million and then if we take the largest single year decline, which was uh 2122, that would be a 4.2% shift uh, $552 lost per remaining student or $17.7 million total. So I said that I was gonna talk about this is a one year drop, right? The totals above are not necessarily anticipated losses that you could use to project what it would look like next year, and that reflects the fact that at the same time that this enrollment decline is happening, districts are trying to make changes to account for this, right Buildings will be closed, for example, transportation options may be consolidated to reflect enrollment shifts. But at the same time you're doing that on top of ongoing enrollment declines, so it makes bringing this fiscal externality down to zero very, very difficult It's why we don't try to project out into other years but it's why it's also likely that these exist every year, especially given the consistent decline in students OK. And then direct costs, so, um, charter schools like every school, uh, are required to serve special education students when state and federal reimbursements for those services do not fully cover their costs charters bill 80% of the unreimbursed amount to a student's resident district now. Uh, this can be for things like special education instruction, specialized transportation. Going back to 2020, uh, district schools would get 2.6% of this back from the state. That increased to 44% in 2024. From 27 forward, districts will get 50% of this cost back but will still absorb 50% of the cost into their own budgets. So, can you? Yeah to say that again. Like I just, I think I might need to hear that again just to like let it like get the numbers and the math going in my head in private schools So, uh, yeah, I will repeat it. So charter schools bill 80% of any unreimbursed amount for special education services to the resident district school, the resident district rather, right? So wherever those students are coming from. 50% of that amount from 27 forward will be reimbursed by the state and 50% will be absorbed by the resident district providing services for students who are not at their school. Or not in their district I should say. So what do these costs look like? Uh they've increased substantially over time. In 2023 2024, it was $13.6 million billed to Saint Paul Public Schools. If we look since 2007, 2008, which is when the data that I could find goes back to, uh, it's been $125 million in nominal dollars. If we adjust that for inflation, it's over $150 million since 2007 2008. Now you'll see that this is a trend line going up. Most of that actually comes from just the increased number of students, so on a per student cost. Uh, since 2011 or 2012, 2013, it's generally been between $7500 and $9200 billed per student receiving special education services at charter schools in Saint Paul. For comparison the state provides about $15,600 in funding for special education services, so the district is providing a little bit more than half of what the state provides through these direct bills. So to conclude, uh, right the top line is that charter schools are placing a financial burden onto Saint Paul public schools through both indirect and direct costs. A lot of this comes from, especially in the indirect costs from student movement. Uh, the average annual increase in Saint Paul resident students enrolling into charter schools has been 450 students per year. That has created this indirect cost which we estimate to be between 7 and $18 million on an annual basis, though again not projecting forwards or backwards. The direct cost of $13.6 million in 2324 or if we look over time $125 million since 2007. Again, I'll just note something I said at the beginning. This report is only about the fiscal relationship We are not assessing whether charter schools are educationally better or worse. A fuller assessment of the value of this financial relationship would ultimately require an analysis of student outcomes. That's not something we did in this report, but we believe would be valuable for assessing, uh, the financial value of this relationship in future research. OK, that is all I have. I'm happy to take any questions. Thank you. Any comments or questions from board members? No Interesting. I. It's OK. I just wanna, just for the record to be clear um, we are, we cannot bill for students, special ed that are not enrolled in our school district. So we're even though we're paying that 80% out, we are not billing for those students, correct. That's my understanding Um, yes, I. Heidi. So, so just to be clear, I just wanna put this out there to be clear, we are not billing for those students that are enrolled in charter schools We are only being, we are only paying out for their services, uh, through the charter, that is correct When a family enrolls their child in a charter school the charter school makes all of the decisions, and they bill us. We have no Ability to consent or be part of the process about making decisions. Thank you. That was, that was my one question because I just wanted to make that clear. Can, can I just add one point, I, I think clarification, I'm gonna defer to our guest now what comes back to the district is the unreimbursed amount on the charter school. So the charter school will take care of something, something and it's the part that's unreimbursed that we get the bill, not the total, the total, right? Yeah, I mean, my understanding is that 80% of the unreimbursed amount is what's coming back to the resident district right? So the charter school is also, I, as I understand it, absorbing 20% of that cost on their own, and then 80% will come to the resident district. OK. I would also differ heavily. This all comes from MDE experts so, um, there are a lot of other people that I would reference to for trusting everything that I say on this. And then if we could back up to, um, a couple slides ago where you were looking at like the 2023 20 and, uh, no, if it was forward, right there, I think OK. Or this. No, dang, I should have wrote down the slide number, but I couldn't see it. Yeah, yeah yeah, 2023, and you were looking at like the, the amount of adjustments per year. Did that take into consideration ARP funds at all? And that so the drop in in um revenue per student, I think, I don't think that that was the slide this one. Yes, yes, that, that slide. And so they did take into consideration the ARP funds that existed. So it just looked like a. So this only reflects the amount of money per student that is going it was being billed by charter schools to Saint Paul Public schools. So it doesn't have, it doesn't at all account for any changes on the revenue side for what the district was bringing in during that time. OK, yeah, and then I'll hold the next question because I think it's for the administration. Any other questions or comments? I have a question. I, I think that this is. Important information to have, to have on hand, um, would remind board members that while there isn't necessarily an action item that we can take on this, I think it's important for us to be able to share this with decision makers who can take action on this. Um, it's not to shame or blame or um cast any sort of judgment on the Areas of choice that we have across the city, but instead to name that if the goal is to continue to invest in our public schools, and we actually need to understand all of the different places and ways in which we are losing revenue and that there are actions that can be taken Um, I'm sure that there are future conversations that we can have as individuals about what that might look like, but it's also a piece of We started this conversation Because we understood that we were asking our taxpayers for, for more money and to do so we said that we needed to understand all of the different ways in which um Decisions across the city, across the state, and across the district have impacted our financial picture, and this is an important piece of that picture. Um, I think that there's also opportunities to have conversations with city leaders about what this looks like and what this means for not just us but for our city as a whole And so I would encourage folks to, to think about that and to think about um how we continue to talk about the reality and the reality and the impacts it has on the students that are in our buildings. Um so I've been over here trying to like think about how to word this question, and it may or may not come out in the way that I desire, but, um, so I guess I'm just like trying to like get a thumbprint on Like what the actual like. Basically, like what the dollar amount that's coming out of our general fund to like offset these like costs to our district are or become and I think like. Because I know that there are several different revenue or there's several different expenses that come through that are reimbursed that like we just manage the costs on, right, which like, I mean I'm curious if we have like an administrative reimbursement for just processing those fees and like what some of that looks like, but I also wonder. Like if our general fund is picking up the tab on any of these The um, the bill from the charters, like what that solid dollar amount becomes, um, because I think that's for me really helpful, um. To like really understanding because I know, like, again, I just know that there's some things that we pass dollars through for because that's how the state allocates it. And I know that I assume that we have additional hard costs whether that be processing the reimbursement payments, um processing or just like absorbing costs in general so like I don't know if anyone has. A dollar amount or, and that may not be something today, but. Any questions to, um, for those costs, the special educational costs. Can you just like give us a general understanding of Um How that impacts the revenue that you would receive, or is it completely An expense. Um, through the chair, all of these students do come into consideration when the state is, um, Calculating our special education aid, so we do receive, they go into our special education funding formula in a couple of different ways. Those expenditures where it really comes out at the end is as was described with those tuition billing, and there is a lot of indirect costs in processing this Every student who enrolls in a charter school, that charter school has to send a tuition agreement to Saint Paul that we have to. Sign and send back. So there's costs associated with that. They also have to send us copies of the IEP and evaluation report because we're the resident district, so that we can confirm that this is a student who has an active IEP So, there's a lot of processing that goes in, um, to supporting the students in charter schools, um, even outside of the direct tuition bills that we received Doctor in another just one example. To share with The chair, um, trying to think of one example on direct costs similar to Doctor Rosenthal, um, shared is transportation So for instance, um, One of our, um, schools, one of our middle schools, we share, um, bussing with one of the charter schools because we are, um, liable for bussing all the charter schools if they elect to use our system. And so this particular charter school has elected to use, um, our service for that school. We pair the two buses, the two schools together because of the close proximity, and without that, um Busing those charter school students, we would be able to save um. Two, this year, two routes, or two buses, and our buses, each bus costs about $879 a day to operate. And so over the course of 170 days two routes, it's about $300,000. Um, and that's just in this year. Um, we have considerably went down. There was a time when we bused probably anywhere between 6 and 8 charters, although when we made the decision to go to move our Secondaries changed that impacted uh fewer of our charter schools elected, and then also we as a district did more um decision making around uh we can elect. To have our charter schools go at the time we decide, and they can get a ticket or not. And there was a time when our charter schools were getting um our top tier 8:30. And so, um, we made a very conscious decision several years ago that if you were going to bus as a church school, you either have to be in close proximity like this particular one, or you had to take the 4th tier that starts at 2. That's one of how you elected to be. That's helpful I appreciate that, and I just assume that there are many more of those. And I know that this report is like looking kind of at the big picture of what, um how that those dollars follow, um, students, which I, I appreciate and anyone who knows me knows like the granular nature of this is where I really get um, interested in seeing like what that. True cost right, cuz I think like if like. Related to the revenue we receive, like what, how does, I mean, this is just me generally speaking, like how does that revenue um, increase based on the charter enrollment or decrease and like really trying to get an understanding of like how big of an impact possibly, um, you know, something like the, um, like Doctor Nistler mentioned, like how does that. Cause I, I guess what I'm trying to say is I assume that there is still a gap, right? A big gap in the hard costs that were required for, um that we're unreimbursed for, and I think if, if we can get a dollar amount of that at some point, I think that would be really helpful, although I know it's like. It's, that would be really helpful, so. So like Chief Turner did for buses, and you're also talking about like HR costs. How do we figure out what are those HR costs as director, assistant superintendent talked about. Right, or like finance, right? Like I'm sure finance takes time to be able to process payments and like, and and I know that this isn't I've assumed that this isn't something that we have historically tracked because it's all kind of baked into the overall education. Kind of formulas that exist, but I just think if we like pairing something like that with a report such as this, I feel like is that that anchor that would really allow us to go to our partners and say, this is, because, you know, they all like that like kind of causal data or like the real like. All of that, right? And so um, I just. I feel like pairing those two things together would really be. In addition to everything that they've presented. You know, if I just may add as well, you know, um, that this is why this topic of the cross-subsidy is so important because we know that this year we'll expense about $190 million in special education. OK Round numbers will get reimbursed by about 58% of that. It's usually 2/3 of salary, but not all benefits are covered. So, you know, about 58% of 190 million Then add to that the revenue that we are now receiving that helps a little bit more and that's, the cross-subsidy aid, OK. But nonetheless, there remains an enormous gap. So that's, that's a big part of this, I think conversation. Um, and I just want to share also that Heidi was so, so, uh, uh, efficient. She had shared with me the actual expense that comes to us from tuition billing. Only from charters. Um, this is, uh, right from the MDE report, uh, you know, it's, it's $10,230,000 So that's the part where they're providing 20% they're paying for 20%, the 80% that they're not, um. We're not uh covering that comes to us, that comes to the 10 million. Of that 10 million, then we'll try to claim some reimbursement from the state on that. So big numbers. And, um, you know, big impact on our budget and our budget planning. One other super technical question that kind of shift, but in, while like kind of doing this research, was there ever any like, is there an assessment of like how many seats exist? Like how many available seats there are in across charters um in our, in our city, um, cause I, what I've like understood is, I mean like I know some of our schools are underenrolled, right? I also know that that is not unique to Saint Paul Public schools that there's just significantly more chairs and uh seats available in our school buildings and we have children in our city, and so I'm wondering, do you guys have any insight into what that looks like for charters? We didn't look at, you know, potential open seats. One of the things you'll see, um, so we provide this map. Of um, the locations of charter schools, we provide that also over time so you can just see charter growth so you'll see the number of schools growing in addition to the number of students, but whether those are aligning appropriately where the schools are filling with students that was not something that we, we looked at. Mm Can you tell me, and I think maybe this was Part of a question that I thought we had started and I don't know where we landed on it. Um, what happens to, maybe this is more for Heidi, to spend costs if a student were to go to a charter originally and then return post-October? Numbers. To like, no. I can just say I had a conversation with MDE on this topic. Um, my our original understanding when we started this report was that students transferring after the October 1st date or or the 12/1 date for special education students when those censuses are happening was important that it would shift money. The conversation I had with MDE suggested that the money actually does track students more often than that. And so those census dates are important for a very small group of costs, but for the most part, the funding will follow the student regardless of when that movement is happening. That's my understanding based on a conversation I had. Through the chart that December 1st child count date is what is the date that really goes into calculating some of the special education funding formulas and different aspects to it. There are some funding mechanisms that are strictly adhered to as a result of that December 1st, but especially if the student has some higher levels of services and that. Student is no longer there, um, we wouldn't give the services, and we do I have tried to work really hard to build relationships with many of the charter schools in our community so that when a student might be needing a higher level of service that they would have to either build a program themselves or we already have a program. I have tried to build relationships to welcome students back to Saint Paul. Thank you. Any more questions or comments? Mhm OK. Well, thank you. Thank you. All right, so Uh, we've got our TAC conversation scheduled for 6 o'clock and it is 5:22. Do we want to amend and move up the budget conversation? Ok, so Um, do we need to vote because it's sometimes certain at 6. Can we just move to the next part of the agenda because we've voted approve it. All right, I've moved to amend our, um, agenda today to move the, um, community the fiscal year 2026-20207 community budget meeting um, agenda item. To. Precede the Tribal Nations Education Committee and AIPAC resolution response. Um, is there a second? Seconded by Director Franco, um. On Thursday ay ay aye in your polls say nay. All right, so, we are now going to move on to the FY 27 budget update presentation, and I'm gonna turn it over to you so we're intend to down. All right, um, last week we had the opportunity to engage the community, um, in alignment with the, uh, school board's policy, um and, um, Chief Sager is going to come and provide OK Mhm All right. Well, good afternoon. Vice chair and other members of the board, Doctor, uh, what we have here tonight is we wanted to review with all board members and the present, uh, the information that we had shared last week, a week ago tonight, uh with our community and our community engagement team A couple of our board members were able to be there Uh, not everybody can make it, but that's all right And so we wanted to just make sure everybody has, uh this information, um, as we move into. Uh, in May um, so what we talked about, we gave a quick overview of how school budgets work. We also gave an overview of anticipated FY 2627 budget. We, um, answered questions about the budget shortfall as it pertains to the referendum OK. And how, uh, budget decisions are made, school district, uh, and school reductions for 27, 26, 27 year, and then the next steps in the budget process So here we talked about the importance of creating a balanced budget. And uh the expenses on school districts uh from various funding sources. The, the graph on the left is all funding sources, and you can see there um, they're all important and especially important to state aid. Property tax, federal, and then all others. And then our general fund budget, we always break that up into three buckets. We have the administrative support services. We have, uh, student, uh, school and student programs and services and then maintenance and operations and the one thing that we'd like to highlight here and point out and we did this last week was these percentages here, like 7% for administrative support services, the, uh, statewide average on that is more like about 8.6%. So we're below state average in that area. Conversely, um. The school and student uh, uh, programs and services were at 80%. State average is about 77%. So putting more, more resources into school and student, uh, programs, fewer resources into administration, administrative support services So, uh, here you can see our budget shortfall for next year. Um, we're anticipating the, uh, expenses to be at the 828.8 million. Our revenues. 814.5. The difference is that 14.35 million shortfall that we've been talking about, uh, for quite some time. Um, and that does represent 1.7% of our total, uh, budget That number would be much bigger if it weren't for the successful referendum. So, we, we went into the budget season knowing that we have to make some reductions that will be necessary both at the school and district levels to balance the budget for the next year. Here's our funding gap, um. chart that we've used a lot and you can see there the amount per pupil uh on base formula and what it would have been if it just kept pace with inflation over the last 20 years. And that gap for school districts in Minnesota right now, not just ours, but this is true for all, uh, is 1470. And when you can put that against 34,000 students, that gap is about 51 $51 million. So, I'll pause here and just as an aside, in the previous presentation, um I thought of this graph. Here, this chart, because that one chart he had that showed the expense related to um charter schools, and there was a range in there I think it was from 9 and up to 17 million or something that would be in addition to this. That's pretty staggering when you think about it. OK, so that's why we went and asked the voters, um, for help, for help and their support. And there you can see the other part to this um, if we had a funding gap just based on that previous slide of the formula allowance, compared to what we brought in on the operating referendum, the difference between 51 and 37 is 14. That's not a coincidence you know, it's just, it kind of the arrows are pointing in that direction as to how we're getting at this funding gap, in addition to a decline in enrollment um. Well, the referendum revenue stabilized. To avoid uh bigger cuts, it, you know, it didn't completely solve all of our championships. So, we did ask for 37 37.2 million that did put us in line with neighboring districts and well staying under the legal limit um that we could request. Asking voters to approve more funding would have overburdened. Uh, residents and to exceed the legal limit. And last, last week, what we reminded people who were present was that remember the survey that we went out with in the spring and we got a really uh dialed in a number of what could be supported and what would be supported, A, and then B, what the legal limit was. So we have had a number of questions of like, why didn't you just ask for more? And the reason was because survey said that this is gonna be kind of it, and we couldn't have asked for much more because we're almost really at that limit. We're, we're slightly under, but we're we're there, we're already there. So, um, and as we explained that to members in the community like, oh OK, that's why you didn't ask for more, OK. Mhm Um the other thing that we're, um, we're up against a little bit or have been, and you've seen this before so starting this year, we started off the year with 500 fewer students that we originally were planning on. Then from there, moving into next year, about another 400. So over the course of two years, and that's what's happening as we move into FY 27, we're really making a two-year correction. So we're making a correction for this year, and we're also making a correction for next year, and that's why uh this is a challenging circumstance, and that's what we're working through. We also pointed out because people have asked again, why didn't you know more? Well, when you all had to decide, we all decided, you ultimately did, uh, what the number was going to be on the referendum that was well before we knew what our enrollment was going to be. That's the other part of it. And the survey was telling us what, what we would have a good chance of passing. Um, we talked about this, how are decisions made. Um, we start with the district vision and community values. We move into board parameters Then we do some budget decisions where the district leaders make decisions on funding and reductions based on the parameters and community values, and then budget implementation where principals and department leaders make choices around staffing and contracts and, and uh, programming. Um, the other thing we, we, we point out, and it's important, is that a lot of the Expense that we incur, we don't have a lot of flexibility over. You know, so we put that in there, um, we know that that those types of things fall outside of priorities but must be funded with our resources, and these things are like utilities and we have to keep the lights on, we have to keep the buildings, um, insurance, state and federal mandates, staffing ratios, and, and other fixed costs. So, um, there is a lot of constraints that are built into the process before we even start making decisions. Here we did some community engagement um, on the far left. You can see those are the groups that participated. Um, in the middle, you can see the, the, the number of participants totaling over 6000 people had voice, uh, into what these priorities and values should be. And then we have the dates, and that's what we did back in December to help drive our work through the spring. Our community, um, priorities we defined these actually a couple of years ago, and we went back to the community to say, these are the ones we've been using. Are they, should we keep them or should we do something different? And overwhelmingly we got feedback that no, these are good, let's stick with respectful and reflective schools, uh, literacy and safety and a sense of belonging. Also, we found out that it was reinforced strong support for arts and music, mental health, required course offerings building upkeep, facilities, college and career readiness and language and cultural programs. Parameters that um our board gave us uh to guide our work, which were helpful, was to maintain. Our commitment to a full day pre-K, uh, and that includes all the seats that we serve that aren't being funded. So our board said you all said, don't touch that, keep that rolling So we did. Um, and then retain at least 95% of our instructional support services. That was achieved demonstrate a commitment to language and cultural programs that was referenced earlier, and of course the uh budget policy requiring to land our unassigned fund balance at or above 5%. And this is how we got there, um, we had. Uh, school-based FTEs and that was essentially aligning, uh, school staffing with enrollment and if you remember that, that grid that we worked on, um, that, you know, um, in the workshop and the, uh, we're gonna have no splits in pre-K through 1 specialists rounded the 5 middle schools, um, retained staff of 4 or below class size. These were, um. That was the uh the one we landed on. I think we ended up saving about $5 million with that. It wasn't the most um extreme and it wasn't the most um loose either It was kind of the one in the middle. Um, and then we had district uh FTEs and central office staff, reduction across all central office departments, reduction in carryover, cutting that in half by 50%. Uh, staff attrition, again, we have about 850 employees leave the system every year, and if we just don't hire back 6 of them, we'll save about $500,000. Now, we may end up with more than that, um, we'll see, but it's kind of a case by case basis, uh, depending on what the position is. And then we wanted to continue to maximize kindergarten enrollment. So this is, um, we explained this and, and Chief Turner, um, helped out uh, I guess that was the last month, was when during the summer or spring and summer, um, what this means is we're going to continue to allow a roster of 3 over the cap. And what happens is when by the time school comes around, There's some students that don't come and don't show up, so we, we don't go 3 over the cap, but we end up landing where we should be If it turns out that we're 3 over the cap, that's where we use those resources to set aside for fall adjustments. So we have a plan for that. Um, and then um, there's our fall adjustments, we talked about that. Um, 2% increase on supply budgets, uh, instead of a 4% increase. That's a $12 million budget. We're gonna allow those to go up by 2%, not 4. We save a couple 100 $240,000 there. And then finally we did keep in um a maintained partnerships where grants are needed so we're gonna use we could use some general fund dollars to replace lost grant revenue so that's why that um that number is a negative where we actually take away at that point. Yes, 14.2. If we took that out of there, that would be 14.65. Uh, a couple words a little bit about where the reductions came. Uh, school-related services will make, uh, $10.5 million of reductions and that represents 1.5% of the reductions in the school's overall budgets. OK, so. Next part was non-school services, make $3 million of reduction, that is 2.3% reduction in administrative areas. 130. So in administrative areas a higher percentage came out of that budget and a lower percentage out of the school-based budgets Overall you can see, no surprise there's your 1.7%. So 1.7% is the average overall, but a little lower on the school side, a little higher percentage in the administrative side of of the deductions and what Our budget priorities, I referenced this earlier, and this is what we came to in our board work sess, uh board work session, and then applied that to allocations And the main part here is that we wanted to, uh, retain current levels of instructional support staff and demonstrate a continued commitment in language and cultural and adhere to class size averages in all schools. So, um, Again, as that enrollment went down the applications went down, the ratios generally overall remained the same. And here's our budget timeline Uh, later in the month, um, 2 weeks from tonight, as a matter of fact, the SA will move over to the month of May, and, um, we'll provide the proposed budget We'll go through that and come back in June to, uh recommend approval for the adopted budget. And there's May 19th. That's two weeks from tonight, and then the board meeting, uh, POE in June on June 23rd, and we are providing, if you're interested, um, we are providing, um. Uh, updates on our website and people have been going there, um, to look at things and answer questions and it's a nice referral. They say, we got this question, let me show you where that is. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any questions or comments from board members? Uh, this, thank you for this. I sat through this presentation last week but missed a couple parts and so it was nice to get some of that Um, just one question around the feedback that was collected there. I know that that was just last week so is that feedback that we're gonna be getting maybe at the BOE meeting as compiled and, and just shared with the rest of the board around. Um, what community members had to say. Yeah, because that's, um, I thank you, my director Aco. So each, um, each room had a note taker, and so what we're gonna do is compile all those notes and then we, you know, summarize everything report them back out to all of you so you can see what that feedback was for sure. Because of the feedback from what I understand, I wasn't in the other rooms I was in our room, right? Um, so I heard that feedback but I wasn't privy at the time. Because what was being said in the other room, so we'll have to compile all that here. Any other questions or comments from board members? All right. Thank you. OK, OK. So next we have. Our. T neck, um, an APAC resolution response at 6 o'clock. So we are gonna break until 6 o'clock It's 5:41. Please do what you gotta do. See y'all in about 15. But. couldn't be happier. Turn that off So turn off like that. I'm so short, You can, you can introduce yourself so people know who you are and then just talk through you slides and it's all the good stuff. Um, good evening, um, Tian, Doctor um, Stacy Stanley and our school board and our head learner team at large. Um, uh, I'm gonna introduce myself traditionally just because, um, that is something that I continue to practice each day. So, um, I will say I mean, um, I'm Doctor Miganupwe, um, in, um, indigenea kwabaremonica in Dujaba Makwendodam. Um, and my name is Regan Kluger. I'm the director of American Indian Education here in Saint Paul Public Schools, and, um I'm gonna talk a little bit about our timeline and um, what I know about this process to share with you that, um, would be helpful. Um, and so as, uh, executive Director Green mentioned, um, this is not only the right thing to do because our American Indian students are our lowest performing demographic of students we also have an obligation through state statutes to make sure that we are doing. Everything that we can to support the education of our American Indian students and so part of that process, um, and again this is the world that I live in is is American Indian education. So, uh, Minnesota State statute 124 0.78 subdivision 2 is. That part is I, um, you know, if we have, uh, 10 or more American Indian students in a school district that we are required by the state to have an American Indian Parent Advisory Committee We proudly serve 1,167 students here in Saint Paul um, with the longest standing, um, uh, recognized American Indian education program of over 50 years in the metro area, which is really amazing. And so part of that process, um, written into state statute is the, the process of compliance and what that timeline looks like. And so, um, our parent committee has those unique laws and regulations and has those opportunities to speak with you all and to share and learn about our district in a way that's different than other PACs, um, because it's written into our law. It is you know, in, in a really strong way, it's sovereignty in action, um, and the work that we have all done up until this point through this. the school year and even being here today speaking to you all, we are working on our indigenous sovereignty for our students and our nations too. Um, and so that compliance happens usually in the spring, um, happens every single year, uh, but we, we start our school year, you know May and June with the previous year, looking at the areas that were addressed by our AIPAC. Um, we work in current way back in 20. 17, um, and we've been non-concurrent, um, since then and since I've been here for about two school years now, um, but that letter helps inform the work that we do as a district Um, September through February, we are providing our American Indian pack with information about how our students are doing, especially in the areas that they've identified as that need the most support and our attention Um, in our case, it is in the areas of attendance behavior, curriculum and development, and, um, curriculum instruction and, um, human resources and retention uh, and recruitment of American Indian staff. Uh, we provide them information throughout the school year In March, we start that resolution process and our parents get to vote. Our parents voted non-concurrent and it was not unanimous. And at first we're like Oh, that's, you know, that's a win, it's great. But there was a really good dialogue and discussion that parents said, this is, you know, I will quote one of our parents, she's not here today, but she's given me permission to share that, you know, she's had students with us for over 23 years and this is the most she's ever felt change for her for her for her kid who is still here. Um, and so that was huge. And it was a good conversation of we really can see what we've been doing, we've been hearing from principals, we're hearing from area leads in these departments. We just want to make sure it continues. And so, um, and we're reminded at our TNEC that, you know, if we ever do receive a vote of concurrency, it shouldn't be taken as a negative or a positive. It's not net positive not net negative. It is, um, a non-concurrent vote solidifies that we have the opportunity, our parents have the opportunity to bring forward formally to a school board meeting their biggest concerns and advise how we move forward. To address those um concerns that they have and so we voted no concurrent this year. Um, one of our parents presented at the March 17th school board meeting and um throughout this whole timeline process um and based in state statutes, the district has 60 days to have a formal response to our parent committee of how they're going to address those concerns and that kind of puts us at where we are, um, now we had a little bit of a, um, we typically Quickly try to vote and have our decision as an AIPAC um, me supporting them in that role in January, February but given, you know, what our communities were facing and up against, we had a lot of families that were out doing what they needed to do and we so we postponed a little bit. So our timeline for this year is pushed back ever so slightly, um, but we have a great relationship with MDE who helps us keep compliant and so they're they're right along with us in what we're doing. Um but yes, I know I kind of talked through this a little bit, um, I got ahead of myself, but, um, you know like I said, um, just a reminder for us, even just this past Monday is, um, no matter what happens through our votes, it allows us to have an open dialogue and to con to continue the conversations and to care for our American Indian students. Um, I'll briefly touch on the structure. So, um, you know, how we go through this vote and how we do this process and communicate with our families, um, is we have our PAC, um, our chair, vice chair, and our members. Um, illegally both federally through Title 6 and through the state of Minnesota, our AIPAC has to be made up of 50% American Indian identifying parents. It can also be made up of grandparents, community members, Members of your Canadian teachers and non-native commu or teaching staff within SPPS, um, we have a really amazing AIPAC Um, a lot of folks get to get along, we're able to talk and have good conversations, um, and our AIPAC here in Saint Paul is very strong. Our core team, um Creta Green, executive director, um, and myself, we support, we're always at every single AIPAC. If one of us can't be there, the other is, um, being. Able to be that liaison between our area leads and their departments and when data is ready to be able to provide to our parents and say, OK, they're gonna be on the agenda at this time of year because we know graduation data is now available so let's talk about it, um, and so and again we have the rotating principals and the district leadership that attends those meetings, um and the area leads too, um, Kathy Kamani, Craig Anderson Nancy Paez, Lauren Bakin. In ours in India, um, and those that support them in this work. Uh, with this structure too, when I look at it, I'm a visual learner I'd like to just make a comment and note that this does not silo our communication at all. I know for a fact our co-chair calls her her principal all the time over at Capitol Hill to be like, What are you doing for my kids? And they have a really open communication and a dialogue. And so this, I don't want the visual here. To say, you know, we have these certain channels that we go through. I think um working with our AIPAC and the, the building of an even stronger relationship we've started to adopt some of our ways of communicating I think that that's, you know, I'll speak for myself and that um we've kind of, there's still a processes but, um, you know, any type of hierarchy kind of gets met at the door with with how we communicate with each other, which I think is a really great thing Um, so it's a little bit about our structure and how we do this work and how it funnels back into the APAC and um, it's an ongoing, almost corkscrew process I'm gonna turn it over to Kathy. Thank you. Thank you. You too. Valiant members of the board. I'm here to um talk a little bit about the district response for areas one and two, which are attendance and behavior So, first of all, for attendance, um, we just know and acknowledge how extremely important it is to really um, make every effort and work to increase consistent attendance, school attendance amongst, um, all students but specifically, um, focusing on American Indian students. Even though we've seen, um, progress over the last couple of years, um, in rates of consistent attendance, um, American Indian students as a whole group. Um, continue to have the highest rates of absenteeism And one thing we did a few years ago is we did add uh, American Indian attendance Specialist position to our school attendance Matters team. And I was really happy to, thrilled actually to welcome Jenny Bush to um our team, and we are really committed to sustaining that position. So Jenny is back with us again next year and um really is going to build on the work that she has really started up, which I can't really say enough about. Um, her passion for it, her commitment um, towards serving the American Indian community and actually to, um, also one of the exciting things we've started is really, um, building a community partnership with several American serving, um, community agencies in the, um, in our Saint Paul area so that we can, um, try to get, um, outside our school walls support also for attendees. Um, so excited to continue Jenny's work and, um, working closely with Regan Kluber and her um team of people so that we're aligned and have some intentional connections with the American Indian Education Program. Um, and Also, I have to say this is, it's all of our jobs. Maybe some of you have heard me say that attendance is not just Jenny's job, it's not the job, it's not just the school attendance Matters team's job, but everyone's job around attendance And so, um, for this effort, we, we really, um, want to work with school attendance teams. So Our whole school attendance Matters teams out visiting school attendance teams. And when we're doing that, pulling out, which is our ad hoc reports on campus, which they created so that we could look just at our state identified American Indian students and pulling those reports up and using those regularly with school teams so that Um, they can monitor the attendance of their students, celebrate successes, and, um, do outreach to families when kids are, they're noticing are missing school. And like Reagan talked about working closely with the AIPAC, we're really trying to have two-way communication. Jenny and I were just there at the last AIPAC meeting to provide some information about attendance and get some ideas from, from the AIPAC OK, move on right now. I could talk about attendance for a long time, but we'll move on to area number 2, which is also an area that the APEC did identify as an area of, of concern, um, that our American Indian students are overrepresented in our, our data, um in our office disciplinein referrals and in suspensions and dismissals. Um, so we have done a few things already about how we monitor that data, um, make sure to add state identified American Indian, um, data to the quarterly reports that come out of, um, our research evaluation assessment department, which allows us to really look school by school and, and see where our students are. We know there are large groups of students at American Indian Magnet and at Harding But we have to also look at the schools where there's 5 students or 3 students or, you know, smaller numbers of students and, and, um, you know, and, and monitor that and see, uh, is there other things that we could do to support those students in those schools. So um, and Jenny Bush is also helping us work with that as well, so we've done some work on that together Um, we are aligning with, so out of my office, our team is aligning with, um, our Office of Specialized Services. Um, they have hired an American Indian cultural specialist recently, um, so we're excited to, to partner with them, and, um, they also have, um, begun the Dreamcatcher program with, um, the Department of Education um, are actually well into that work right now, and um, And so some of that outreach just again trying to really align it with um between different departments um, including some of the restorative practices that that is coming out of our Office of school support so that we are um using restorative practices in community building, which I believe can also help with attendance and that sense of belonging, but it's how we're also responding when there is some harm that happens. And so how, how we can use those practices. And then, um you know, professional development, I think crosses all the areas, but really, um, took some intentional time at Leadership Academy, um, to talk with principals and assistant principals about how we pull up these reports, how we are really monitoring how the students are doing and what we might be able to do differently And we also have done some training with our mental health support teams just on um cultural practices how to Indian education staff, um provide a session that was well attended for um Or, um, sorry, my phone started ringing on my wrist there. Um yeah, so just you know, doing that professional development so that You know, staff are ensuring to embed kind of culturally relevant practices and all the interventions that they do. And with that, I'm gonna turn it over to Executive Director Anderson. Good evening. Cheerful Superintendent. Um, so this year the instruction area is a continuation of last year's and we're going deeper And so last year the families came to us and um requested that we really do a database of state identified American Indian students and Um, a team out of Office of Teaching and Learning built that database with the FAS data and the HMH data and the SASS data, and attendance data, and then what we were gonna do about what the data was telling us, just for the American Indian uh state identified students. And um through that process, every principal then had a professional development in how to use that database, um, and then they took that back to their school and leadership teams and and did that with the teachers who served those students and asked, what are we gonna do about how the kids are doing? And they did that over time because we get fall data, winter data, and spring data. Um, and so the three areas we're focusing on is leadership development and having the principals and really involved at Leadership Academy. Adult professional development which I'm gonna introduce, uh, Jason Brissett, uh to you are uh indigenous TOSA, and that position was created during the pandemic, uh, and we've been able to sustain that, and it is uh Solid, and I believe it's now even in the A&I plan. And moving forward uh, we will, um, continue to have this position and it's the only. position of its kind in the state, so it's uh TNEC really appreciates that, and so does the AIPAC, and all of the teachers really appreciate it too, when they have that professional learning series from Mr. Brissett. And then the data-driven instructional support is that database and the ongoing use of that database. And we started the database again this year, but we decided to be a little smarter and work more with REA and work more with the campus team and get, and actually even have more sets of data in there. So we added all the data that was, is part of Of the response. So there's the academic data in reading and math, there's the attendance data on an ongoing basis, and then there's the office referral data. And so we can see what, what the ODRs were for those kids, because sometimes when you look at the academics, that might be, we need to look at attendance because. If they weren't here, how could they get the learning? Well, what are we gonna do about attendance first and then get, get at that, those learning targets And then what if, what if we were out of the classroom for ODRs too frequently to get the learning? And so what are we gonna do about that and just that specific group of students? And so we're gonna continue to work in, in that way and um there. Rooted in our commitment to um Improving academic outcomes for American Indian students. And the feedback from the parents and the TED is that this is essential and um and they're, and appreciated. And they've, they've seen examples um at the meetings when we bring that data. Little celebration at the end of last year, um, and I believe our intentional focus on these students was a result of this. We had 4% gains in MCAs in reading and in math across the um state identified American Indian students in Saint Paul. So And I'll introduce Jason Burset, and he's gonna tell you a little about some of the professional learning and things that he's done with our teachers on the ground. Um, one of the questions TEC always asks is, how do you continue to support all of the native students in the district, and this is our response to that. Um, and he does beautiful work, and if you ever get a chance to hear him speak, you'll be happy you did. Uh, thank you, Chair Valiant, Doctor Stanley board members, uh, Migwich, uh, Buju and Dinoue Maondo uh, Jason Brissette and Dijnikaz, Kamsquaakkang and Dunjaba, Mog and Durum. Um, my name is Jason Brissette I said hello, uh, friends and relatives. I'm from the Redcliffe Reservation up in northern Wisconsin Um, I'm from the Loon clan, and, um, I've actually been here in the district for over 15 years. I'm a former middle school teacher at the American Indian Magnet School. And I feel very lucky and grateful that I get to step into this role and really help as much as I can. Um, these two bullet points are a lot of what my work is, what I, I focus on. Uh, this year with, uh, leadership development. I've had the opportunity to go to Leadership Academy, um, and work with all the different principals in the district Um, one of the things that we've been trying to focus on is creating land acknowledgments for each school site, um, even though, um, we're working to standardize things with standards-based learning this year and last year I got to visit all the schools and each school has its own culture. So we felt it was appropriate that each school when they create their land acknowledgment they do it with intent and meaning and really connect to the land. A lot of the teaching, uh, that I try to provide is how do we connect to this place? How do we learn from this land and the stories of this land. Um, I've had the opportunity to work with counselors and the big question that they brought to me is how do we reach our students that we might be struggling with. And so I provided resources on how to indigenize lesson plans, how to approach our students, um, kind of in a different way, how to really establish that trust right away because without that trust, uh, we're not gonna get anywhere so we try to start with that foundation. Um, with the adult professional development I've been able to work with all of the content areas in the district. So, and I'm reluctant to say this and hopefully it'll be my next step, but the only content area that I haven't had professional development in is music. But everywhere else, all grade levels I work with everybody. I'm a resource for everybody Um, every time we have a session, uh, we try to indigenize everything we're doing. Um. And so to back up our teachers with re-licenser, I've created courses for teachers. I've had schoolology courses. Um, I try to make everything accessible for everybody, um, trying to bring a comfort level to everybody so they can you know, take a risk, try something new, try to do these things to meet our students. Um, a lot of my focus has been indigenizing, uh, lesson plans to meet all the updated standards that we're facing. Um, and so I, I really, um, use, uh, Zorretta Hammond's framework Um, I try to create lesson plans that everyone can understand, some consistency. We really like the Ignite Chung Chuu review, uh, format. It seems to work really well with our students. Everything that I try to bring uh to our educators is trying to change people's thinking Um, for our students, we wanna try to bring everything into more of an inquiry-based framework. We wanna help our students to have a good foundation with vocabulary with that vocabulary. They'll have the confidence to be able to speak more in class. They'll be able to have conversations, they'll be able to uh participate and engage in class, and at the same time, they won't be afraid to try new things. They'll be hopefully able to know that if they make a mistake, that that's OK. So we try to teach that, especially with the counselors um. Really like changing the idea to embrace making mistakes, to actually find the sacredness in mistakes because that is actually how we learn, how we grow is from our mistakes and if we don't, if we don't try, we, we won't know and I try to, you know. Uh talk about the analogy as educators, you know, we're we're having our students, we're teaching them how to ride a bike. We are the ones with the training wheels. Hopefully, we can help them become independent take those training wheels off, and then they will become independent learners. If they have a, a foundation of inquiry, they will become smarter, um, and, uh they will raise their intelligence. So we really try to work on that. Um, the data-driven instructional support that really guides my work. Um, I'm a social studies teacher, but with my, my work right now, I've really found out that literacy is the, the main foundation Um, I feel without a foundation of literacy, our students you know, we want them to do well in math. They might not do well in math if they, they can't read it, right And so, Everything I'm doing starts with literacy um, you know, and, and there's been times when I thought you know, maybe my, my role would not be here. What could I do to leave a sustainable impact on our district Something that our district can take and something that will hopefully be there forever. And so with that idea of literacy. I've really updated our website Saint Paul Public Schools website, and the indigenous integration website, and I've included so many resources for all of our contents, pre-K through 12th grade um, to help people do that. At the same time, while I was doing that, I was working with our ELA, uh, coordinators And our AIPAC and trying to create like a feedback loop for our parents, our community to really understand what are our students learning. We hear a lot of things about our students don't see themselves in the curriculum uh, they don't. Don't see themselves up in the, on the hallways, on the walls, in the classrooms and so we're trying to change that thinking and trying to make that a part of what we do as a district, trying to include everyone here into the indigenous community because we are on indigenous land and if we don't teach the truth about being on this land, um. Negativity will be perpetuated, and we want, we want to change that. And um so I do a lot of that with my work. So Um, I created honoring our indigenous community. This is a a literacy program that will be all year long Um, I don't want these things to be just a one-off thing. I definitely do not want these things to be an add-on for our educators, something that they have to take on and takes more time because as a teacher I know how those things are. So I try to create a way for them, uh, to just. Incorporate it and uh make it part of their their education culture. I work with our librarians. So I will be sending out save the dates for next year on how to get ready for things like Indigenous Peoples' Day, all of our seasonal events that happen, uh, with our native people as a way to support what is happening in the classrooms The other point of view that I bring into this is that, you know, I don't believe that our content areas are in silos. I think for our students to learn, we need to bring all of the content areas together and to do that, we do that through the indigenous. And so I'm trying to provide resources that are real and vetted. I work with all of our, our tribes, community members, elders to make sure things are the real deal and so teachers are comfortable with that. They don't question, oh, can I use this? Yes. And I try to vouch for teachers all the time. I say take a risk. Use my name, Jason Brissette. I will back you up 100% So through that work, I've developed a partnership with the Minnesota Humanities Center. We are working on um a literacy project through the Native American Lives Series books, and these books are so good. They're elementary and middle school, and through our partnership with the Equity department, we are able to next year get e-books of all the Native American Lives series for every elementary and middle school in our district Um, and we're just, we continue to grow with that Um. I work really closely with Como Planetarium. We try to indigenize all our lesson plans. We have lesson plans from 1st grade through 6th grade. And it is so incredible. I was there once with the German immersion school, and they were speaking Ojibwe. They were talking about our star knowledge and constellations. It was so amazing, and that's the kind of impact I'd like to make. We continue to work with our Badote field trip, learning from this place, this place of Dakota uh, Makoche, Minnesota Makoche. And um you know, at this point we've had over 5000 5th grade students in our district participate in this field trip and you can ask any sixth grader in Saint Paul Public schools anything about Hodote, about the US Dakota War of 1862, and our. Our tremendous educators in the district are teaching that and when I was a kid I did not get that. And so as a team we are, we are doing really great things and so, um, again we're just trying to vet everything through the community and do it the right way and, uh, grateful that I got to share that. So thank you. Good job. I I I just I can go home. Good evening, to uh, Doctor Stanley Ford. I am Lauren B Hopkins. I am the talent acquisition manager, um, with the HR department for Saint Paul Public Schools. I have the response for Area 4 for staffing. Um, the AIPAC has, has continued to mention wanting a second principal at AIMS, and, um, Assistant Sue Paez continues to watch the numbers to see if that's something that's doable. Uh, the current enrollment looks like it's projected to be a 598%. Next school year so we're seeing improvements in terms of recruiting um, our, my team and our recruiters, we, we have two we have a lead and a specialist. Uh, they continue to do intentional recruitment efforts across different universities that we have partnered with for student teaching as well as different organizations within the communities. Um, they're trying to establish an American Indian career pathway and make more community connections. Some of the job fairs we have attended this year have been at UW Eau Claire. We've attended La Crosse, the twin, uh, UFM Twin Cities, uh, Bemidji State, um, and then for some of our organizations actually, we have one coming up next week with the American Indian Opportunities Industrial, um, Industrialization Center or the AIOIC. You say that 3 times fast. In Minneapolis on Franklin Street, they are having a Founders's Day Career Fair on the 14th, and our recruiters will be attending that event. Um, they have also started building a relationship with the American Indian Family Center in Saint Paul. Um, they actually hosted an uh, an employer in residence day, and our staff was able to attend and give a little bit about why Saint Paul and the different positions that we're, we're looking to staff at that point in time. Um. In regards to our hiring numbers as of late March, we have 35 new staff members to Saint Paul that are self self-identified American Indian staff members. That is up from last year's actual 19. Um, overall in the district, we have 146. Self-identified American Indian staff members they are in, and I gotta look at my numbers here, they are in over 39 of our different builds, um, schools as well as 4 of our admin buildings, um, in classroom specific positions, so teachers, EAs, um, and TAs they are in 30 different buildings. For 30 different schools for us. Um, since January 20th of this year we have attended over 20 different hiring events, trying to continue to recruit, and we are actually starting our schedule for next year's recruiting and making sure to add to our list an event in uh South Dakota that um brings in a lot of the Native American and American Indian population. Um So, and then in terms of retention, our retention team, um, Lyle is working very closely and having exit interviews as well as state interviews and talking and asking people why do you continue to choose Saint Paul and a lot of it is the support that they get from these wonderful people that I'm up here with tonight, um, and so that's basically what we do, um, pass it back to work. All right, to, to close out, um, as you can see, so Jason talked a lot, and one of the reasons, no. One of the reasons is because our AIPAC said they really want us to focus in on instruction, and it's just amazing all the things, um, that are, are happening and, um with, with the vote they also said that they want us to continue to work in these key areas. We don't wanna change anything. I said, uh things are working we want you to continue to go. Deeper and do and do the work. So I'm just very thankful for the team. I'm grateful that we've seen improvement and we've we've listed some numbers, but there's even more numbers um that we can share and just really appreciate um anyone's time and I will stand or sit for questions Thank you. Any questions or comments from board members I'll go. I'll go. I'll go after you. It's like a pattern I tag team. So it, they said that you said there was like 30 buildings that had representation of staff and I'm just wondering how many buildings do we have that have representation of students that identify as. Don't mess this up. through the chair. Rivers Thank you. All right. We have American Indian students at 68 of our buildings, and that includes our online school and our alternative rooms. OK, well. Thank you. I, I just wanted to say I appreciate um. This conversation and the district response or really the AIPAC and all the work that they do to really support their students. I had an opportunity to join one of their meetings last year and um. Just seeing everyone in that space committed to better outcomes for students and um it's really inspiring and I will say um it's also great to hear that we're making some progress and um. Getting out of a space of not only non-concurrence but really what that means is that we're supporting our students in the ways that uh improve their academic outcomes. I had a question really related to areas one and two, so like attendance and behavior and. Um just wondering if you could provide some insight into what, um. Like knowing that we're providing like quarterly reports around attendance and um behavior, um, what does that look like for staff in buildings, 68 buildings that have American Indian um students in them? What do they kind of do with that to really start, um. Kinda hyper focusing on interventions for students and that might need higher levels of support even if they're not in uh receiving office of specialized service for us. Support. Sure, thank you, um, through the chair, Director Franco, um, appreciate that question and I really appreciate the question of where, how many buildings have students in them, because what has happened around some of this attendance work is We will actually go, so a member of our school attendance Manners team will go to a building attendance team and we'll say, OK, where are your, what's your attendance looking like? And those teams usually meet, they can be weekly, biweekly, mostly biweekly or monthly, those teams will meet, say, how is your attendance for American Indian students? They'll say, well, we don't have any. We'll say, Well, no. So that was the beginning of our work. It was visibility. No, you do. As a matter of fact, here's how you pull up the ad hoc report on campus. You have 5 American Indian students, and 3 of them have been attending school inconsistently So Like who's called the family, who's made a home visit, who's reached out. And so that's the type, kind of how granular we want to get with that is so. Maybe I look at the quarterly reports, but we're trying to get school teams to look at those reports much more regularly. And so when um Executive Director Anderson talks about that data sheet for state identified American Indian students that has the reading, the math, the um attendance right there, so they can be looking at that regularly. Um, the other thing is every one of our secondary schools, so middle and high schools, they all have, um, an attendance specialist um, an EA 2 off the school attendance Matters team that is assigned to their school, so each of them have like 3 or 4 schools, but they go to all those attendance teams, and so I supervise them and have worked hard to get them to say, to get them to know how to pull up those attendance reports on campus and say. In addition to all the attendance things you're doing about, OK, who's you're gonna referred to for this step in SAM or who's got an attendance letter, I want you to pull these up and a little bit of hyperfocus, like you said, on these students, so that we're doing things more proactively, um, we're reaching out, we're finding out why, what's in your way. Thank you for that and um just appreciate that and then I know executive uh director Anderson kinda made that kind of connection to um you really can't do any of the literacy or any of the um learning unless if you are physically there and feeling safe and so um I appreciate that and I know that um. With our attendants really across our entire system, right that there is. Never enough, um, kind of uh those wrap around supports and services, but I know that the team works hard and it sounds like there's a lot of progress in the kind of systems building of how um, how folks are, um, accessing those reports more regularly and actually acknowledging. What is the reality, of course. Yeah, then there's a lot of work that education team does on attendance as well, of course, she's the chair director Frankville. So in addition to those pieces, um, I hope that it's been shared to you in some form or fashion this year, but the entire district CLC focus for our counseling team is American Indian attendance, and that's been that this whole year. And so I've had the pleasure of supporting their professional development throughout the school year. Different times, um, to make sure that we're first starting with relationships, right? You can't make attendance calls in, you know, with integrity if you don't know this kid very well and expect to get a good response from, you know, whoever's at home um, but it's also been professional development to not mystify the experience of working with our American Indian kids, um, uh, you know, I've gone on record to say, you know, don't you can't be putting on flute music and doing all this because the kid's going to say you're chopped and not want to. Talk to you. And so, um, to know, you know, we've got our American Indian families, they're into heavy metal, they like tattoos, they have, you know, there's such a bigger picture of the intersectional identity of our kids They're athletes, they're artists. And so, um, being able to meet um with intention throughout the year um, and I know that the um counselor leads that we have, um, um, all of the counselors will be presenting on their PLC focus. Which has been American Indian attendance at the end of this year, so there should be some data coming out to see how the intentionality has has shifted a few things, and we're really excited about it, um, and our our office does things too, we make calls, we do home visits, but I just wanted to add that in there too, that that's a preventative before, before, you know, getting that call or a student is at risk for attendance and worth mentioning, so thank you. Any more questions or comments? Thank you thank you, thank you. um, I just had a comment that was just a lot of good news. I mean, we were not concurring but it was still a lot of like good news and you know I was smiling, not that I was proud, but it's just like oh it's just so good, you know, so thank you you're not hollow, but alright, um. Yeah, that's fine Before we reserve a point of clarification, I'm not the chair, I'm the vice chair. Come here for you on this flight. Miami Vice. They only get dark when I eat pasta. Maybe it'll help. But I do appreciate the compliment. All right, um, let's call for questions and comments. Related to this that's that's it. It's a wrap. All right, well. Next is the adjournment of the meeting. Sorry. Well, not, it's not related to this item. I was just wondering if there was a space Oh, OK. You weren't. Are there any comments or questions from board members? Yes, yeah. So, uh thank you for the budget presentation earlier. I just want to put on the table that, you know, I, for one, continue to get emails about the ELL, um, model, and so I just just wanna make sure that that is on everyone's radar that as we move into the kind of the next phases of the budget, that that is. A continued concern. That is a continued concern. That's all. That's, I just wanted to put that on the table. Can you provide some time just for you to about high-level update of what you've been going through related to that. Hi. Sure Um, I've been in many conversations over the last couple of weeks with SPF leadership and Lauren did a presentation earlier, and I and Brenda, um, actually met with, uh, several people from SPFE on Friday. We met for over 2 hours. Um, and we, um, have some agreements on a couple of things. Um, one of the things that I've said, I said at our meeting as recently as Friday is, you know, a decision's been made. I have to move forward based on the decision that's been made. And so the goal is for us to be able to work together Um, and with that goal, um, it's really about us trying to do everything we can to minimize disruption at schools. And so we've made some procedural changes um, as an HR team to try to help to facilitate minimizing the disruption at school, um, at the school level Um, we also had a meeting. A pop-up meeting with principals on Monday morning to give them updated information One of the concerns that we had was that there were when people signed their forms previously, that they didn't really understand what it meant, and were they really taking a voluntary reduction, or did they still have the ability to go to make themselves whole. We made significant changes, which we together agreed on what that updated form would look like. We've shared that form and the process. The process with principals yesterday. Principals started meeting with um both licensed and non-licensed staff who got any kind of FTE change yesterday, and Thursday is the deadline date for them to then submit to HR any updated forms so that everybody is really clear about what they're agreeing to in terms of either retaining uh a partial FTE at a building and having the ability to go someplace else to make themselves. or the ability to fully displace themselves and um be able to retain their 1.0 FTE We also talked about the fact that we're working with Doctor Schmidde Carranza who is then going to be pairing positions together um and one of the things that we specifically requested was that 0.2 positions not be posted in the interview and select process, but that rather, um, Doctor Schmidt Carranz. We'll actually be able to pair that with the existing 0.8 and make sure that schedules match so that people would have the ability to remain at their current locations. We also talked about the fact, um, legal and I had conferred and agreed that there was no reason why we could not move up the notification date to probationary teachers that we would need to release, um, because we would need to release them for budget reasons in order for us to create vacancies to make. Those teachers who've been displaced whole. And so we will be notifying them between the 2nd round and 3rd round of interview and select. We'll send them an informal notice letting them know that um they're gonna be recommended um on the June 9th board list for um a probationary release due to budget reasons. Um, we'll also be informing them at that time that they will not be eligible to participate in the interview and select process. And then The vacancies that we create, um from those releases will then be all posted in the 3rd round of interview and select, so that the teachers then that are remaining will actually then be able to the interview and select process to be, most of them to be able to secure a position. Those individuals who are not able to secure a position through the interview and select process will then come to placement with HR with the date that we've already shared, um, and then we will then By seniority order, um, have them claim positions So we've been in dialogue for multiple weeks. We've been working through a number of issues, um, and, um with SPFB and like I said, we met on Friday, and, um I think we're, we left our meeting, I think at a very Positive and a very good place. The only thing that's I'm still waiting on a decision on is for the points that we requested not to be posted, but that we can simply pair those people up, get them taken care of and then just take care of the rest of the people who are still displaced. So hopefully that helps. Yeah I mean, there was, I think it's fair to put on the table and just. Share a pet, but there was a concern that there would be 5.2. In a building making up. 15 different. 2s in the building making up a 0.1, no a 10, sorry. Is what you're sharing about preparing is that. Prevent that from happening. I can't say that we can 100, 100% prevent it from happening, but I want you to know that that's at the very top of our list. That again is a shared interest that um the district has with the union, and our goal is to try to mitigate that um from happening, which is another reason why it's so important for us to be able to pair positions together in advance rather than people trying to get a piece, get a piece, get a piece. So I think that's really important for administration Um To know is that if the board is going to Um, request that we move away from where we're at right now, that I, I will request from you. I'll just request from you that we know that as soon as possible because it is very difficult to go through releases, unrequested leaves of absences, and all of those things, and then have to turn around. And change that around. So I just request that if it does change its parameters that we have that information as soon as possible Hmm. Um, I will also say that I do realize, and I've said this to many community groups as I've been out speaking, that it seems like this $14.35 million reduction has had a greater impact than even the 160-something million that are before, and I completely acknowledge that, because people are really filling this in our buildings, that coupled with um The fact that we did overstaff for our EL ESL teachers in our buildings Uh, I think that I heard one board member say it seems like a double whammy, and I honor that as well, that it, it, it does seem. I just, and I can't believe I'm explaining the meaning now, but can I just offer I think that's real and I think that's true, and I'm not surprised by that sentiment considering that over the last few years, one of the repeated requests that we've made is to keep cuts as far away from the classroom keep them as far away from the classroom, and now we're at the point where the cuts are, there is really nowhere else for them to go. So I, I, I think that is a real reality that folks are feeling. And I acknowledge that there also isn't a lot of space for us to move one way or the other. Mhm. It'll, that's what I'll say. That's what's my thoughts and feelings on this Yeah, and I think like for me, ensuring folks are whole is really important. And, and so the update around how you all have been conversing about that's really helpful, so I appreciate that and I think avoiding any opportunity where young people's. Young people's learning is more disrupted because there's maybe different teachers in front of them at different points in time I know it was a, a fear that emerged that I think um I would imagine um it's just not the best. Um, Practice in a lot of ways to have different teachers on a day as opposed to a B day in the secondary or something and then I think um. Really mitigating the like like really understanding how much. Um, possible staff time it would take to really be itinerant and moving from building to building and is that gonna detract more so from our ability to like have more time in front of students and I mean like I know that those are all things that you all are considering and I think um having a full understanding of. That grasp or that impact, I think is, will continue to be helpful and I, uh, I know that those conversations are happening with SPFE leaders and, um. And if, yeah, anyway, I'll leave it at that, but, um, I think those are things that are really still sticking in my brain. Um You know, I guess my main concern would be impact to students you know that I have students and I are here. From them. What it's like when they have different teachers when their teachers change or especially in the middle of the year or just on different days, how difficult it can be for them to like catch up or maybe one teacher does it one way and that's just another way or you know, sometimes they're just on completely different pages. So I just, that is a worry. Um, Because that is the most important part is to, you know, make sure that we are. Teaching and supporting the students um, more so than anything cause that, that's, that's the whole point. So that it just, it just worries me, you know. A lot. But I personally, I'll, I'll speak for myself. I, I don't necessarily anticipate like requesting a change in direction or anything like that. I, I sincerely appreciate the intentionality with which you're, you know, you're operating and all of these factors like we're talking about transitions midday, we're talking about, you know. No. 0.1.1.1 no 0.2 0.2 0.2. I, I, I appreciate that a lot. It it does this, I mean this has been kind of a long time coming, I think is your point, and, um, and still it feels really hard to make this decision at this time just having come out of Metro Surge, just, you know, being where we are right now, it feels really hard to make, to have to, you know. Make these decisions at this point and I just wanna acknowledge and honor the The community input and, and, you know, the teachers who've been reaching out. This is a hard, hard time to do this, and I know that no one. And the administration here takes it lightly. I, I know that, yeah. Oh. That was heavy. Are there any other questions or comments before we, uh, adjourn? All right, well, That concludes our committee of the board meeting for May 5th, 2026 As a reminder, our guest regular meeting of the Board of Education will be on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Public comment will be included as an agenda item in the meeting. Um, thank you, everybody and our motion to adjourn. Is there a second? Seconded by Director Henderson. All in favor say aye. Aye. I I say nay. All right, motion is approved. We are now 6:58. Have a great night. 5. I'll see some of y'all I Next month. Next month I'm gonna go. Is it because oh, I'm ready. I'm ready. I am ready. Ready to be done with all of y'all. No, no, it, it. Only when it's time to adjourn or when we're asking too many questions. Well, no, I can't be with you forever, but I can be rid of this. Not quizzing, not quizzing the audience. I see your lobbyist. I want to offer some pro bono hours to end slavery? Yeah, you know, I'm just saying. You know, Harriet Tubman, she can't complete the job and it's kind of up to us to wrap it all up I know you've seen yourself in Harriet Tubman's shoes before. But it could be you, Hana. You could be the 2026, 2027 Harriet Tubman. that,