Welcome everyone. Um, if I could beg your indulgence before we start tonight, um, uh, we had two members of our team, a longtime custodian, uh, Jim Anderson and a long time serving schoolboard member, Marge Kenny, uh, both passed away recently. Uh, Jim was a member of our staff for 24 years. And Marge served faithfully on this board from 1972 until 1997. and I had the pleasure of serving with her uh very early in my schoolboard career. She gave countless countless hours and uh to to this district and was a tireless worker. So, if I again convey your indulgence, I would like to observe a moment of silence in honor uh of those two individuals. Thank you. If everyone would rise and join us in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the republic for which it stands one nation indivisible for all. Okay, all members are present. We do have uh member or director Atinson attending virtually this evening. So, first on the docket is Laker Pride, Dr. Thomas. Thank you, Chair White, board of directors and community. Um I would like to invite Holly Bartholo and Nathan Dapper forward. um they do a lot of work around um our National History Day with seventh grade students at Tom's and uh we are going to recognize them for their outstanding leadership. And you could just stand and Nathan or are the staff coming to speak? [Laughter] Where do I have to stand? Um, if you want to stand. Yeah. Yeah. No. Well, I I thought you would talk a little bit about the the the the recognition first. Um, a little bit about the program and and then we'll have certificates that we'll give to you all that we can distribute to the kids. I was not part of the deal. I'm on summer vacation. Okay. just I got your back. Um, so these are some of our students from Twin Oaks Middle School, 7th grade, who participated in um the state history day. So they went from having an idea way back um in October to making that idea into a project about rights and responsibilities in history. And all of these ladies standing here did a phenomenal job. Um we got one step closer to my bucket list of taking a group to nationals um with a group who got third place. Um, but they all did an amazing job and we're so proud of all of them. Absolutely. And and I want to thank the two of you for your leadership and supporting our students and to our students tonight. You are doing an amazing job demonstrating leadership here within our community. And um in honor of that, we want to give each of you a certificate. And um I'll come forward and see who I have here. Thanks. Oh, let's see. Berkeley. Okay. to order. Ariana here tonight Lucy. Nope. All right. None recognize anyways. Emilyn Fox. Nope. Genevie for Um, Zarasha, Sahara, Sahara, thank you so much. You're welcome. And then Cassandra is not with us tonight. Well, so these are our award recipients, our phenomenal students and our staff. [Applause] I have other certificates. Congrats. [Applause] Thank you. Thank you both. And that's our uh recognition this evening. All right. Next on the agenda is the superintendence report. Dr. Thomas. Thank you. Okay. Just a few quick things. Uh just want to recognize uh our commencement and our last days of school. Uh we had a perfect night for our graduation out on the field and just want to say congrats to all of our seniors. Um also a huge congratulations to our families and our communities who were uh supporting them along their academic journey. Um, and last Wednesday was our last day of school and we graduated our our seniors Thursday. 693 Prior Lake High School graduates, 56 Bridge Bridges ALC graduates and 19 Lakeron Line graduates all happened at Dan Patch Stadium. So, it was a beautiful night minus the last 30 minutes where the Nats decided to start flurring around a little bit. Um we also had our end of year celebration um which we do annually last Thursday. This is our ability to celebrate the successes of our outstanding teachers and support staff. It's also an opportunity for us to recognize the uh many staff who are uh retiring and moving on um in in their life to do their next best thing. And just ironically, the cumulative years of retirement last last week that we recognized was 719, which is our district number of 719. So, I just thought that was kind of ironic that that's where it landed in terms of cumulative years. So, thank you um to all of our fantastic staff who have dedicated so much of your life and thank you to your families for sharing us uh sharing you with us. And then also our phenomenal staff that we recognized at elementary, middle, and high school. um by your colleagues as well. Um much much deserves uh of of appreciation. Um then uh this week we are closing down the year with our big kids, our other big kids and that would be our learning leaders. A lot of our principles and executive directors and directors come together at the end of the year and we do some reflection um and and we spend some time um to think about you know our uh journey this year as well as starting to plan forward for next year. And um we are looking at uh ways that we'll roll out plans to support um our goals and our strategic plan as well as looking at our annual survey results. Really digging into the wise and kind of what's behind some of the data uh that some of our our schools and departments are seeing and then start setting forth uh various strategies and and goals that uh will help deliver uh outcomes for um our multiple stakeholders. And then lastly, um we'll do another shout out for some of these later on in July, but we do want to put this uh placeholder, save the dates, uh coming up. U we'll be putting uh official announcements out, but be looking um for volunteer and signup opportunities, um this summer. So, we will uh participate in Dan Patch Days and Prior Lake Days, uh weather permitting. We've seem to, you know, battle mother nature every once in a while on that. And then we will do our second annual back to school celebration. That was a huge hit last last year. And then of course we'll continue to do our annual night to unite event in August. So we'll be sending out official dates to our community. So be looking out for that. And just thank you to everyone in our community for a great year together and uh look forward to the work that we have ahead of us uh for next fall. All right. Thank you, Dr. Thomas. We have no proclamations this evening. So, next on the agenda is the open forum. This is a 15minute period of time set aside for the board to receive citizen input. Uh we do have five speakers tonight. I would ask that you would uh respectfully keep your comments to 3 minutes or less. And the first speaker on the agenda is Bennett Gillespie. Hello, my name is Bennett Gillespie. Four days ago, I graduated Prior Lake High School with the class of 2025. I was a senior leader on the speech team. I played the flute in the wind ensemble, pep band, marching band, and little shop for Horse Pit Band. I was the president of the student club. I was a member of the strategic planning team. I took AP classes and scored a 35 on the ACT. I am also very concerned about the implications of reviewing the equity resolution. I was at PLHS for all four years of my high school experience. And during that time, there was no indoctrination. There were no litter boxes in bathrooms. There were no teachers encouraging students to become gay or transgender. And there were no lessons that taught white students to feel personally responsible for any historical events. What equity did do was give me and many students like me the resources we needed to have a fair chance of success. For me, equity was my 504 plan, which said that because I have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD, I get to wear headphones during work time to prevent any possible distractions. Equity can also look like students getting an elevator pass after having knee surgery or having meetings with a counselor due to some mental health concerns or attending gifted and talented programs within our schools. Equity does not mean indoctrination or unfair advantages. It means students like me will have the same chances to succeed as our peers do. Removing or weakening the equity resolution will not increase test scores. It will not improve any attendance and it won't magically solve the budgeting issue. All it will do is make students who are already strug already struggling with the weight of an intolerant society feel even less safe and welcomed in a place that is supposed to be preparing us for our futures. [Applause] Thank you, Bennett. Next speaker is Brian Fleming. Good evening, Chair White and directors Atinson, Bullion, France, Johnson, Mason, and Olstead. My name is G. Brian Fleming. I've been a resident of Prior Lake for 23 years. I served as chair of the city's planning commission for 10 of those years. Currently serve as president and CEO of Groves Learning Organization St. Louis Park and sit on the board of Henipin Healthcare. I've spent 37 years in the K12 profession in various teaching and leadership roles. I know what effective school boards look like and I know what strong, high-erforming, fiscally sound, and forward-ing organizations and school districts demand. I understand you've heard and you'll continue to hear well beyond tonight from a wide range of voices on the future of the resolution. Earlier this year, the American Indie Indian Parent Advisory Committee raised serious concerns about the district's equity efforts. I am here to echo those concerns and urge you to confront these shortcomings, not by retreating from equity work, but by affirming it. That starts with preserving the equity and inclusion resolution or at the very least adopting a bold and principled alternative that centers a diverse array of perspectives. Please don't allow this district's direct in direction and the minds of our children to be shaped by politically charged narratives, misinformation, or ideologies rooted in fear rather than fact. When the board adopted the resolution several years ago, and thank you, Director France, for being part of that historic moment, it was a historic values-based commitment to the students and families of this district. That commitment deserves more than symbolic language embedded within a strategic plan. It deserves action. The resolution aligns squarely with our city's formal stance on DEIB, which rightly states, "Diversity is about the inherent power of the collective and the benefits different perspectives bring to the performance, effectiveness, and well-being of our community." The truth is simple. Not all students, as you just heard, experience our schools equally. The resolution acknowledged that reality and charged this board with ensuring that every student feels safe, supported, and respected. Now is not the time for silence, retreat, or neutrality. It is time for moral clarity, courageous leadership, and structural followthrough. Abandoning this work not only risk reversing years of progress, but it erodess community trust and damages your ability to fulfill your fiduciary responsibility. I'm sure you're aware that the last referendum failed, and your budget is in a major crisis. You cannot claim to serve all students while alienating the very ones who need your leadership the most. Given the budget, you literally can't afford to alienate even one student or family. I urge you clearly and unapologetically to maintain the resolution and lead in a way that reflects its values in every policy, practice, and person in this district. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, Mr. Fleming Fleming. Uh, next up is Victoria Schultz. Good evening. Thank you board members and our distinguished superintendent for this opportunity to speak before you. My name is Victoria Schulz. As you've heard, I'm a proud parent and community member of this um Par League Savage area school district. Our school district is one of the main reasons why I chose to move here. I was intricately involved in the creation of the equity resolution in my capacity as a parent and as a community member. I could not be more proud of our community in how we rallied collectively and pass this resolution. This was indeed a monumental day in the height of the CO 19 pandemic. I'm here today because the board has decided to sunset this resolution. We cannot undo this work that has been done over the last seven years. As I was preparing for my remarks today, I reviewed our mission on the Parallel Saber School's um website. Our mission is to inspire and to empower each student to reach their full potential. Our mission is to inspire and to empower each student to reach their full potential. I ask that these words resonate with you today. So I stand here today during my resolution when I was in the committee when we passed res resolution. I'm a registered nurse in the height of the pandemic. This room was full. I was sitting there with my mask on with my scrubs coming from my nursing uh uh career coming from work coming here and I remember how this was such an emotional moment for me because as a nurse I don't get to choose who I serve. I don't get to pick if I don't I don't want to serve a gay um patient. If I don't want to serve a white patient, if I don't want to serve u a disable disabled veteran, my responsibility as a as a registered nurse is to care for that patient regardless of how they identify regardless of how they treat me. So as student as uh u teachers and staff members and as a board your primary role is to ensure that every student and regardless of how they identify their religious affiliation, if they are disabled, if they need accommodations, if they're in special ed, we are in a crisis right now. Our budget cannot afford to lose one more family member. Our students cannot afford to come to school and feel unsafe. I don't care how the color of their skin is or how they identify. They need to come to school and make sure the the the main role of the teachers and the staff is to serve them so the barriers can be removed. Equity means to remove barriers. It does not mean to give us a hand up. It does not mean to treat us differently. It means to remove any barrier that is whether it's a language barrier, whether it's a disability, whether it is how you if you need headphones, the students spoke eloquently. So your role as a board is to ensure that all students in Praik school districts are helped that the staff members who these students are coming to as a safe heaven in their districts are not punished for ensuring that these students get what they need. So these students I urge you today that please ensure that our students this the staff the teachers their parents here they have what they need. I cannot I can tell you today that I'm I don't identify everything that here stands for. We have disagreements on our political ideology on our religious affiliations on where we go to to to shop on what our um our recreational activities are. We do differ in that but that is not what we come to school to do. Our students come to school to learn. They come to mission that they feel heard. Their voices are heard. We are going to be gone tomorrow, but our students are going to be here. So we cannot and uh parents here have stood firm and teachers saying that we cannot afford to go back. We are not going back. The work has been done. Parents need to be heard. Teachers need to be heard. Students need to be heard that this work cannot be undone because when this is work is undone, our students are going to be underserved. They're not going to perform any better. Students are coming here. They're homeless. They don't have meals to eat. They need academic um accommodation so they can improve and do better. So I urge the school board, we cannot go back. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, Victoria. Next on the agenda is Michael Nelson. Dr. Bullian, are you keeping time? I am. May I ask is the first alarm the end of three minutes or an alert? It is the end. The one alarm is at three minutes. Thank you. I should reset it now because I see All right. Very good. Good evening. I am a 20-year Savage resident and a former PLSAS parent. I currently serve on the district's equity committee. And I am a former PLSAS board director who served on the 2020 equity and inclusion resolution committee alongside 25 others, students, staff, parents, and community members. Months of work went into that process. I'd like to think that sharing the history and powerful stories from that time together on the committee might prompt you to be extra thoughtful this evening as you consider resending rescending the resolution. But I suspect I know how the votes will go and I suspect you know how the votes will go. So instead, I'll use my time to offer these questions for you to consider discussing. Why is the board skipping its usual process of holding at least two public meetings before voting on something major, for example, as you do for all policies? Did the board directors listen to the entire equity resolution discussions from both the November and December 2020 board meetings to understand the full context? When you talk in absolute such as everyone I talk to wants is this gone or all of my constituents think this is divisive. Do those groups you reference include people of color, people with disabilities, LGBTQ plus individuals, people from low-income communities, and so on. When you say everyone is exhausted by the politics of this resolution, have you asked people from traditionally marginalized groups what their exhaustion actually stems from? How many members of the 2020 resolution committee were invited to meet with the board before deciding to resend? How can you be sure you have the votes to sunset the resolution when you haven't held a public board discussion about the decision is required by Minnesota's open meeting law? For those of you who campaigned heavily on board transparency, does this process feel transparent to you? And if you knew months ago you had the votes to sunset the resolution, why did you wait until 4 days after graduation when families and students and staff are least likely to pay attention to a board agenda? Many other districts this board holds up as examples have both strategic plans and public statements supporting equity. Why wouldn't we? This board let the resolution gather dust. It is only now an issue because certain people in our community clamor to remove any mention of equity. Moving to resend this without prior public discussion nor opportunity for community input sends a message that meaningful discussions around equity and inclusion are not welcome here. Will you also be swayed by the people in our community who say that DEI is taking over academic achievement when the entire first page addresses academic achievement? The action you take this evening is not on the administration. It's on you as a board, those of you who vote to remove it. The optics aren't great. Tonight's action is too important to be informed only by cocktail party chatter or golf course conversations as it will impact generations to come. our community, staff, families, and most importantly, our students deserve better from you tonight and in the future, and I look forward to your discussion. Thank you. [Applause] Thank you, Michael. And the last speaker is Dustin Smith. I promise I'm not going to make a habit of this. Be our guest. Haven't overstayed my welcome. Uh, good evening and thank you Dr. Thomas Chair White and directors of the board for allowing me to speak tonight. My name is Dustin Smith and I am the parent of two kindergarten children in the district. During the May 19th study session, the administration put forth a proposal on site consolidation for the district. There were many questions and suggestions made during this meeting and I would guess there have been additional questions since then. Before I address the site consolidation, I do want to acknowledge that I am surprised and disappointed to see the equity and inclusion resolution included in tonight's agenda. I don't know what the board's intention is in including this in the agenda and as an HR professional I understand that no policy will ever stand the test of time and needs to be adjusted every now and then. However, it seems to me that there are bigger issues currently facing the district that should be the priority right now. Not debating whether a resolution that advocates for the learning success and safety of all children is an issue. What does need serious discussion is the school board's response to the site consolidation proposal put forth. Of course, barring any new information, I strongly urge the board to approve this proposal. As I said in my last comments, this is not an expense issue. This is a revenue issue. And it seems there is one thing that we can all agree on. That this issue is not going to solve itself. Some sort of action will need to be taken. And one of the suggestions from last meeting was that we have enough capacity to close two schools and that there were 2,300 seats available that could absorb those enrollments. I pulled the financial reports from where some of these numbers were cited, not taking into account Greenwood, our elementary schools have 4,90 seats available with an enrollment of 3,130 or 136. If we were to close and sell Westwood and Five Hawks, we would be looking at an overall elementary capacity of 2773, leaving us with a utilization rate of 113%. I hear a lot about fiscal responsibility, but what about just plain old responsibility to give our children the opportunity to succeed? The math from the capacity standpoint does not work if we want to close schools. Heck, just closing Westwood as a neighborhood school leaves us running at 92% capacity. And while not alarming, taking into account some of the other programs and special education's needs, uh this might be something that causes problems. Well, let's talk about f fiscal responsibility. Our district budget is 123.2 million. Of that budget, 97.8 million is in salary and benefits alone. That is just shy of 80%. Going a bit further, if you add purchased services, supplies, that's 117 million, 95% of the budget. Operating costs do not go away if we close a school. If we want to cut from the budget, we're looking at staff. And if we're already worried about class sizes at this round, it's only going to get worse from here. This is an expense problem, not a revenue problem. We need to get serious about this. all of us, there's community, our school board, and if there's anyone out there at home, wherever the camera is, uh, that wants to discuss actual problems and real solutions, I will be around at this board meeting and would love to exchange information with anybody. Thank you for your time. Appreciate it. [Applause] Thank you, Mr. Smith. That concludes our open forum portion of the meeting. Uh next, I will entertain a motion to approve the agenda. Before we do that, Chair White, I'd like to make a motion. Okay. Uh I'd like to make a motion to remove uh new business item 15A from our agenda tonight and at the very least refer it to a future study session as it needs more information and public discussion. Can I get a second? Second. This needs more and a second. Is there discussion? Yes. I think this needs more public discussion for the sake of full transparency. Uh something I know we all value on this board. This resolution was created from community. So the community including families, students, and others should be included in its future. This resolution should be open for discussion before we as a board are forced to cast a vote on it. Any other discussion hearing? None. Uh we'll have a vote on removing 15A from the agenda. All in favor signify by saying I. I I opposed. No. No. Jess, no. Lisa, I couldn't hear you. Nay, that motion fails 4 to three. So now I will entertain a motion to approve the agenda as presented. So made by Director Johnson. Second, second by Director Mason. All in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. Nay. Motion carries 5 to two. Next on the agenda is the consent agenda. These are routine in nature and unless a board member wants to pull a particular item off of the consent agenda, we will vote on it as as a whole. Does any board member or member of the audience for that matter want to uh pull an item off of the consent agenda? All right. Then I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda as listed. So made by director France. Second. Second by director Johnson. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. opposed. Motion carries 70. And then moving down to uh resolution for acceptance of gifts. Tonight, we will be accepting with gratitude a gift of $500 from the VFW for continued support at Hidden Oaks Middle School. This does require a uh roll call vote. Dr. Olstead, I Dr. Johnson, sorry. I I Dr. Bullian I Director France I. Director Mason I. And Director Atinson. That motion carries 70. Chair White, point of order. I don't I can't hear Director Atkinson very well. Lisa, could you just talk and see if we can hear you? Uh, you're very light. Can you turn yours up? Yeah, we can't hear you at all. We have reinforcements coming. Think we have someone coming to see if we can remedy this. Yep. There you go. Is that better? Yes. Yes. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Sorry about that. Thank you. No problem. I was an eye on that. Thank you. All right. Moving down to uh personnel director Herman memor excuse memorandum of understanding chair white members of the board tonight we're bringing forward a memorandum understanding um that we uh negotiated with MSEA bargaining unit um as we discussed during budget cut um it was the understanding was the will of the board to not have a negative impact on benefits for reducing student contact days and in MSA's contract it specifically refers to 170 days in order to be eligible for benefits um so this MOU addresses that and brings it down to 168 um to ensure that our um employees that are falling under that that unit do not have their benefit eligibly impacted. Is there a motion to approve theou as presented? No made by director France. Second by director Olstead. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. That motion carries 70. additional staffing for the 2526 school year. Director Herman. Thank you, Chair White. Members of the board, um tonight we're bringing forward a request for next year um a booster funded head girls wrestling coach um based on the continued growth in the wrestling um uh sport that they need an additional head coach. They already have um written documentation that the boosters have agreed to fund the position. Okay. Just want to be clear. I was on letter B, which is the staffing for the educational support staff. Are you taking them as as a whole? Chair White, um, members of the board, I apologize. That was removed from the board packet. Um, that is no longer a request that's being made. Okay. Okay. Then is there a motion to accept the additional staffing for the uh, co-curricular coach? So made by Director Johnson. Second. Second by Director Bullion. Any s uh discussion hearing? None. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. That motion carries. 70. There is no unfinished business. Moving on to new business. The chair will entertain a motion to sunset the equity resolution. Is there a motion to sunset the equity resolution? So made by director Johnson. Second second by director Atinson. Before we uh start with the discussion, I'd like to start with a statement. Four and a half years ago, our school board passed this resolution in large measure to help address the achievement gaps that existed within our population of minority student groups. We receive over $1 million per year in dedicated funding specifically to address these issues. Fast forward to today and those gaps have remained largely unchanged and in some cases have gotten wider. We as a board have to do better. In the winter and spring of 2024, a broad cross-section of our community gathered over a period of five months and came to an agreement on a new strategic plan prioritizing academic success and unity. The current resolution requires the board to view all of our work through the lens of this document. It has not produced the desired outcomes. The question before the board is whether it's time to sunset this resolution and thereby begin to filter all of our decisions from the boardroom to the classroom through our new strategic plan. Resolutions certainly have their place, but the board shouldn't we be much more concerned with results? every student in this district, every especially those that have the unique educational needs that this resolution has failed to properly address are counting on us. The community has spoken loud and clear. The question before us is have we listened? And having said that, I will now open uh discussion. Is there discussion? Yes, Director Olston. Uh, Chair White, members of the board, I will not be supporting this tonight. Um, as our director of equity and inclusion, Sam Oak, has said many times, equity work is our work. All of us every day. In fact, it's written in our strategic plan. As you've mentioned, when we approved it a year ago, I was very pleased that one of our four priorities was fostering positive learning environments, a welcoming, inclusive, and safe environment. And I'm glad this is in there. It should be in there. Here's my question. Why can't we talk about equity in more than one place? Is there harm in that? I hear that our district should be focused on academic excellence, and I'm going to be very frank, that's like saying the sky is blue. Of course we are. And actually, if you look under our academic excellence priority in our strategic plan, it says we provide relevant instruction for unique learning needs. That is equity. I've heard people say, "I don't need a piece of paper to tell me to do the work of equity." And I think that's fair. But I don't need a piece of paper to tell me I'm married, but my marriage license is pretty darn important to me. I don't need a piece of paper to tell me I have a college degree. But that diploma in a nice frame in my office is very important to me. And this piece of paper took months to create by 30 or so people in our community, not a handful of people in a dark room somewhere. This group was made up of students, families, and community members who poured over every word and every comma. And this resolution was born out of a need to put this on paper and say the quiet parts out loud. My fellow board members, we have spent more time in the last few months months talking about our own board policies and how we govern ourselves. That's more time than we have talked about this resolution. And please don't misunderstand that those policies are important, but so is this. And we are looking at the possibility of closing an elementary school. We have had to lay off very amazing, talented staff. We are scraping by with our budget. And this is the time that we think it's appropriate to do this. I am skeptical. And for the amount of times this board cries transparency, and I am in full support of that, this is not transparent. This feels like it's being bulldozed through with zero discussion, zero plan, and zero forought into how this looks to some members of our community. I fear this sends a message to students and staff and others that we really don't want to send. And what happens to the dedicated people who sit on our equity advisory committee? This was born out of the resolution. Does all that work go away? Does this mean an entire committee is dismantled without any discussion? I know this isn't a board committee, but it is a district committee, so it warrants discussion. And since the resolution is now a 5-year-old document, instead of dismissing it, is there room for revision? Taking another look. We do this with our policies. We do this with other things in the district. What makes this any different? Back to the strategic plan, which is also revised every 5 years or so, as it was last year. It is no doubt an important document. It guides our district's direction, and it took a lot of work and a lot of people, but it is not a weapon to use against our kids. And one of our core beliefs is about supporting each other and cultivating a sense of belonging. This does the exact opposite. So, I urge my fellow board members to vote no on removing this resolution. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Any further discussion? Uh, Chair White, uh, I am I have been contemplating on whether to say anything or to not say anything because regardless of what I say, my vote um, one way or the other people will be extremely upset about. And that is that is the reality of sitting here having to make votes. I've listened to um the speakers tonight and the all the engagement, all the um emails that have come in. I've had several conversations in the community myself um listening to uh Director Olstead. Um I hear everything that you're saying and and many of the things I don't disagree with. I think when I if I were to say anything, the thing that challenges me is the divisiveness when uh the divisiveness of um viewpoints regarding the resolution. There is such strong opinion from one side to another. And um when I think about um the need for students to be um heard, accepted, seen, that role happens in the classrooms. It happens with their teachers. It happens with the staff around them. Our teachers are who do this wonderfully to our students, with our students. a resolution by the board. While I understand and I hear the um the please for it and I hear the please against it. Um the the the challenge that I am stuck with is how I guess my my question that I I've I've asked myself all the questions all the questions that our previous board director shared tonight. I' I've sat and asked myself all of them. um contemplating this vote very very seriously because I know people that I know and care about are going to be affected regardless of how any of us vote, regardless of the outcome. And what I do trust is that the equity work which our superintendent and our teachers stand for do not lie only in a in a resolution. It is work that is done day in and day out. Um so uh that's I guess that um the question that I I ask myself has been boiled down to is this um resolution does this resolution in and of itself serve the whole in a unifying way? Um, and that's the that's how my vote will go. Thank you for the time. Any further discussion, Director France? Um, so I was on the board. I was not on the committee uh when this resolution was um started and discussed and I went back and looked at all my notes and there were approximately 40 adults, 25 on the committee and 40 total from different parts of the district that actually came together. Of those that were sent the draft, there were 75 people on the distribution list. Um, so I don't know how many other people redline the draft, but as I've stated, I did redline it quite a bit. Um, and I was impressed that when I counted, um, my updates and changes, uh, there was about 60% of my red lines accepted. Um, I don't agree with all the language in it, but I agree with the core concept of what it represents. Um the number of people involved was actually greater than those in our strategic plan and the time it took to develop it and the inception actually started and lasted longer than our strategic plan and the actual resolution was designed to be updated. It was not designed to be thrown out. Um to wipe it out completely now without a studied group and a full discussion to understand uh everything that was in it and what it went for. I think does a disservice to the people involved. I think it does a disservice to the students. Much of the student council actually backed this and was involved even though they weren't part of the actual group. Um, and by the way, the resolution came as a result of years of issues here in which just stating a statute means that we're only doing it because the statute's there. So, they the the group uh given the circumstances at the time and the circumstances that led up to it felt it was necessary for the board to take a stand and I'm glad they did. Um, even excuse me, even though it mentions mentions the academic gap, the real purpose was actually to state where the board stands on letting every student know that they are welcome here, every student know that they are safe and secure. And uh, again, mentioning the statute or putting a couple words in a strategic plan, which really isn't a plan, by the way. It's our district mission, vision, and priorities. and it only has meat when you actually add resolution and policies etc underneath it. Um as evidenced by our discussion on the strategic plan when even the concepts of equity and uh and inclusion were mentioned that well that's a liberal statement or that's a conservative statement etc. That's what this is not supposed to be. Um and hence um why I do think it does need some revision. Um, I I want to say, you know, most importantly that that the most prominent issue that we see with district constituents is they think that there's an attribution or a direct correlation to this equity resolution and academic outcomes. There is not. There's no data to support that our district got worse or better because of the resolution. There's no data at all. Matter of fact, um a lot of the numbers being passed around aren't even relevant to um our actual standing. Um our actual numbers have have improved and yes, the whole state went backwards on CO. Matter of fact, the whole nation went backwards on CO and if you look at the whole national numbers, our nation has gone backwards in education in general for a variety of reasons. Um, I don't believe you can just tie something with a simple meme to say, you know, we're going backwards because of DEI. We're going backwards because of our equity resolution. That's propagandist. It's taking a a very complicated topic and trying to direct it towards a simple meme or whatever to say it's not our fault, it's that fault, it's their fault, it's the resolution's fault, it's this fault. has nothing to do with reality. Um, and it's basically an avoidance topic to not deal with the real issues of our funding, of our issues with staffing, of our issues being able to afford certain things, of our ability to update the curriculum to meet the standards, to meet the needs of what hiring people really need. It's a complicated issue, something that requires community involvement. Furthermore, for those who who, you know, again, who try to say, well, the strategic plan is all-inclusive. I want to emphasize this isn't a plan. There's no plan in the strategic plan. The definition of a plan is actually creating an implementation. We don't have that. We've got four pillars of priorities. One of those pillars is academics. One of those pillars is operational efficiencies. One of those pillars is community engagement. And another pillar is I have it here, but I'm not reading my notes. Um um they're all codependent. You can't have academic excellence without having community involvement because communities need to fund the schools. Communities also come in to give a wide variety of services for us as we aim our kids towards post-secondary careers. Okay? We can't have one without the other. You can't have operational efficiencies, cut back your curriculum, cut back your staff, and expect to have academic excellence. And you can't make children of any age feel uncomfortable and safe in the schools and expect them to learn. It doesn't work that way. That's why we have four priorities, not one. We have four priorities. And all four of those priorities were spoken about and discussed at the strategic meeting for all the community. So, I urge everyone to, you know, the I I'm totally for revising the resolution. I am not for throwing it out as it is because the the message it sends is dangerous. It's more divisive to throw it out. far more divisive than to sit down as a seven adults and have a full discussion about what it is, why we need it, why we don't need it, what it should say, and what it shouldn't say going forward to support our new priorities, vision, and mission. Not to replace it. Again, the priorities, vision, and mission, ours are no different than any other school districts in the in the nation, not just the state. Everyone says academic, everyone says, you know, economic efficiencies, governance, every one of them says community involvement, and every one of them talks about creating a safe place for students. It's what you do with it and the meat underneath in our policies, procedures, resolutions, and statements that actually define those terms. Otherwise, we're going to have what you saw if you listen to last year's board meeting about the terms even be being partisan. And if you don't have a clear definition of how we plan on implementing this, you're going to have chaos. We're just going to spin. So, we need to have that discussion. We need to have a professional, respectful discussion amongst the board on what needs to go into this resolution, not just throw it out. Thank you. [Applause] [Music] any further discussion? Um, yeah, I I would just like to say thank you to everyone that has reached out on this topic both for and against. We have received a lot of information and emails and um I appreciate that. Um, I think, you know, we sit here as board members because we all care deeply about this district and because we care about every single student in our district. We wouldn't be here if if that wasn't the case. Um, you know, I think regardless of a student's background, gender, ability, sexual orientation, all students should feel welcome and supported as individuals and in order to meet their full academic potential. I personally believe that real change comes from our actions, not something on paper. Um, it comes from how we implement things. It's a daily commitment from our staff, our students, our board, and our community. That's what builds um an inclusive environment for our kids. And while I think this resolution was really well intended, um it does predate our stu our strategic plan. Um which I think really well reflects our mission to inspire and empower each student to reach their full potential. Um I also think, you know, we have policy in place that um ensures that we uphold a safe and respectful learning environment and it holds us accountable in preventing harassment and violence. Um, yeah. All right. Thank you. Any further discussion? Okay. Uh, Director Atinson. Yeah, I just want to add a few comments. Um, also appreciate everybody reaching out. Um I just you know I I just want to say like as an as a board you know we are tasked with um we were putting a new plan in place and um as we saw our community together to come together there were two very common themes that came out of those meetings. One was academic excellence other one is unity. And I would just say like as a parent in this district and now a board member um there is one there's things in our district that are divisive and just the show of emails for and against this whole topic of this equity and inclusion resolution just show us how divisive this topic really is. And I went back and I watched the board meetings um where it was adopted and there was a board member who brought this concern forward. she brought it forward that having this equity equity resolution in place would have a negative impact on our academic excellence and would create division in our district. And I can say um along with what we've heard from other directors, it has not improved our it hasn't closed our achievement gap. And I just I have a hard time pointing to what hasn't helped in our district to be honest with you. parent. I've seen um yeah I so you know as a board like I said we are tasked with reviewing our policies, our curriculum, our professional development and assure that the money that we do receive that we allocate to the budget and the choices we make at the board table align with the views and the values of our community and our strategic plan. for parents and community members who have voiced concerns about ensuring and their concern about having a safe and welcoming environment. I wholeheartedly believe that by focusing on unity as Lakers and on academic excellence by setting our expectations higher for all students will have a positive impact on all students while also ensuring every student has the resources they need to succeed. all while feeling welcome and inspired to learn in our district. Thank you. Uh, director France. Um, I encourage everyone to watch the board meeting of when the resolution was actually um, adopted by the board and the comments by all board members because the exact comment from the board member that um, that is being referred to and you will hear it point blank is that they felt the resolution was indoctrinating our children. That is the reason why the vote was no and that was very emphatic. um the rest of the comments um I listen to it also but in order to validate that I encourage all of you to actually listen to the board meeting that that happened and unfortunately the language of indoctrination is what we've been fighting for a long time because it seems to be a catch-all. It's like a dog whistle and it is inappropriate here at the board. [Applause] And for those of you that might be interested, I believe it was December 14th of 20120. If you are keeping track, if you want to go back and watch that meeting, is there any further discussion? Um, I would like to make a motion to move this topic of the equity resolution to a future study session as it needs more information and public discussion. Absolutely. [Applause] [Applause] Just like to remind everyone that while we do have this meeting being held in public, it is not a public meeting. I would really appreciate it if you just sit there quietly and uh watch us go about our business. Uh we have an amendment to the uh motion on the table to move this discussion to a future study session. Is there a second? Second by director France. Any discussion hearing? None. All in favor? I would like to say something. Go ahead. Um moving it to a study session doesn't necessarily change the outcome of everyone's vote. So, it does give though the option to fully discuss it and I would encourage that highly. If it doesn't change your vote, it doesn't matter. So, please consider that. Any other discussion? Hearing none. All in favor of the amendment to the uh motion on the table signify by saying I. I. Opposed. No. No. Motion fails. 4 to three. So we have a motion and a second on the table uh to sunset the equity resolution. If there is no further discussion, all in favor signify by saying I. I. I I I What are we saying? Uh we we're voting on the motion on the table to sunset the resolution. Okay. The vote we're voting to sunset. Yes. I opposed. Nay. Nay. Motion carries 5 to2. Moving on. The next item on the on the agenda is the 2526 final budget. Director Frederickson. Chair White, uh members of the board, we have um presented this budget several times over the past several months. Um there is no changes since the last study session that we've had. So the resolution in front of you is the general fund revenue of 122 193 283 plus the restricted uh revenue of 982,438 with expenses of 123 175721 which will then create a balanced budget. And then you will also see on the resolution fund 247 uh the trust fund, the custodial funds, the internal services fund and the revocable trust fund for a total revenue of 174,412,799 and expenses of 175,170,790. We're asking you to approve this resolution tonight. We are required to have an approved budget prior to June 30th. All right. The chair will accept a motion to approve the final 202526 budget. Is there a motion by Vice Chair Bullion? Is there a second? Second. Director France. Discussion or questions. I had several questions that I sent. Director Mason. Yeah. Thank you. Um, and I think you just sent a response to these, sorry, right before the meeting, so I kind of just pulled it up, but um, if we could just run through them. Um, I guess, you know, my first question was just trying to still get comfortable with the 2526 budget and and still kind of struggling to understand the reasoning for the sudden increase to the budget kind of starting point. Um, it feels like we moved the goalpost a bit. Um so when I you know look back at the starting point I think in November um the basis for which we were um discussing the $4.1 million in budget cuts required um we had expenses forecasted at 124.9. Um that's also in the budget book. Um and that stated it already included expenditure assumption assumptions. Um so the salary increases at 2.5% health insurance etc etc. Um in January again we saw in the study session that our budget uh forecast expenses were projected at 124.72 million again showing a a need to cut about 4.3 from the budget. So, we made these decisions based on the starting point and I and I think that um where I'm struggling to understand is is why suddenly now, you know, we've only reduced the budget about 1.7. Um and and what that kind of additional 2.5 million in expenses are for. Um I tried to, you know, marry the two kind of categorical expenses and and came up with what I where I think they are. um but it's you know difficult to follow in the different format. So wondered if you can just kind of comment on that and increase and and why we're suddenly using the starting point of the budget as you know the expenses plus 2.5 from from I believe this year right um instead of our forecasted budget that we've been talking about for several months. Sure. Um I've explained this several times but I'll try to go through this one more time. So when we build the budget there is a forecast there is a um budget and then there are actuals. When you build the budget you are looking at your uh what you know at the time and then we have forecasted future revenues and projections. When we forecasted um the what we're calling the original forecast, we were basing that on what we assumed was going to look the 2425 school year. So again, it's projected. Now that we have actuals, we can go back and revise all those numbers because we have actual numbers rather than just projections. So when you are looking at your forecast for the future, you're going to redo your actual numbers that you currently had a projection in. And in that projection, we had all of those assumptions built in. So those are already built in. Now we have actuals. So the next year when we have a projection, we're not looking at we have to look at the real actual numbers. So we take that projection and then for 2526 that becomes the forecast that we have to add those additional assumptions on. So by revising what we thought was going to be 124.9 million expenditures in fiscal year 26 as a forecast, we actually go back and look at an actual budget um of 124.9 for FY25, which was over the 122.8 that we originally projected. So now if we take that 124.9 actual add in our forecasted um projections for increases you have to increase your actuals now which makes it rather than 124.9 it now becomes 128. We've also adjusted all of the revenues that again as we know more and we get um better numbers, we have final enrollment numbers, we have final numbers from the state, we can readjust our expenses. And the whole point of the forecast was to say if there is nothing changed, what do we look at at the future? And what we decided was if we were looking at our revenues and expenses, we were going to have to cut 4.1 million. So taking the actual numbers and redoing to reflect the actual amounts, we still needed to cut 4.1 million. Your starting point just becomes the actuals that you were using um that in the previous original budget was a projection. Yeah, I mean I understand that um from a high level I guess you know trying to understand the categories of which you know some of these are known expenses and so we know what those numbers are and others are obviously a forecast. Um you know when I looked at this I think most of the large increases were in special ed services which is very explainable with our increased population. Um but then largely in our sites and buildings which was like 1.9 million in fiscal and fixed costs. So um you know I guess I don't and then I was later looking at the LTFM budget and and it doesn't actually match to the number in here. So, um I don't know if that's explainable also, but are there specific things that we needed to pull in budget for next year for sites and buildings, for example, that we suddenly needed to, you know, update or include in budget that weren't there before? Or I mean, I I guess I would imagine we're using the LTFM forecasts and and numbers that we know pretty closely um to get there, right? in and that we've also had this conversation that the LTFM dollars that um we get in the district, there is a specific formula. You have to spend it for what it is. There's a 10-year plan. Um when we started this year um with a brand new director who wanted to re-evaluate all of the needs in the district rather than start just spending that LTFM fun money, they did a whole new analysis and we had previously kind of borrowed from the future LTFM, which is allowed by statute and we knew we had some things, especially when we were um re um when the road was being reconstructed in front of the high the middle schools, we decided we have to drain the pool anyway. We'll do some repairs on that. That was not in the LTFM for that year. So, we did them anyway because it was convenient since we had to drain the pool. So, we borrowed money from the future LTFM. So, then we have to pay that back. You're allowed to borrow money, but you have to still live within what your LTFM. So, we had some um additional reserved revenue that we've already gotten that we applied to this year's budget, which is why the LTFM is higher than last year because we're taking those reserve dollars that we didn't spend last year and or this year and applying them to next year. So, that's that increase. Um, we also had capital dollars again that we were re-evaluating what our capital needs were and repprioritizing. So there was some capital dollars that didn't get spent that we again have to put in reserve and that's included in next year's budget. So that line is going to look like it was more than this current year because uh of those issues. Um special education I've said for the last year and a half that our special ed costs are going up. Um when we made reductions to the budget for this year and for next year um we did not cut special education teachers. So all of those teachers got their step and lane increases um in their salary. So it's going to be increased um compared to the current year. Um we also have transportation that we've talked about um several times also that our transportation costs are more than what we had originally anticipated. Um we will be going with um sending out an RFP in this fall to try to get a different rate. Um a lot of that increases due to special education transportation. So we knew that that was going to also be included u in some of the additional cost. So other things we've had to reduce to try to make up for those differences. And we've given you the $4.1 million uh reductions that we've made. those are included in the budget. There was 22 staff that are going to be reduced. Um we've reduced contracts where we could. We've um made whatever reductions we can um in school supplies, schools um wherever we can cut some contracts, we've done that. But ultimately, when you build a budget, your expense budget needs to equal your revenue budget. And regardless of what um the additional needs or uh additional things that we're going to have to look at spending next year, the bottom line is we have to live within that revenue. Um there every year your budget is going to look different. We have different students every year. We have different needs. Every year there are different priorities. Every year your budget is always going to look different. um utilities. We don't know what utilities are going to look like depending on if you have a snowy winter or not a snowy winter, if you have a hot um spring. However, the utilities are going to um be affected by the weather. Um and also just generally supplies are costing more and I think everybody has seen that. Um utility bills are up, insurance rates are increasing. we've had to pay um in increased insurance for our health care um is increasing 5%. So all of those increases means that we have to cut something else and that's what we've always tried to do in in building this budget and I fully appreciate that and I think that's where my question came in because those assumptions were built into that November and and stated on there, right? So we increased transportation by 8% and supplies by 2% and all those things were already in there. um from what I see. Um and then I think you know you know agree the the 2.6 6 million extra in revenue is great, but um I guess you know as a board it would have been nice to be able to look at those funds and say, "Hey, you know, we made $4.1 million in cuts. Are there things that maybe we can revisit from those cuts that we could use that extra revenue toward?" Um so I think, you know, just a lot of it's very difficult to understand the the changes that have happened over the last three months, but um Okay. And then um can you make sure we covered everything? Um I think I mean I think that's generally it for now. I have your responses. Thank you for sending them. Any other questions, discussion? Um I just I just want to say that I know that last June when we passed the uh 2425 budget, the explanation to capital expenses and a few other things were in that meeting. there repeated November sped in and transportation I believe came up in February with the increase and of course we don't have any control over that uh and that was the majority of the difference um as well as the approval last year of the reduction of fund balance um I appreciate you reexplaining everything um um my only concern is of course we're facing another year of reductions And we also and I and I assume you haven't had a chance to look at the final u uh approval from the governor uh what I understand came through or at least it's on his desk to sign with the education budget and if that's going to do anything to us that we need to plan for going forward in 2526 or 2526 there were very few changes. I think the biggest one was in the pension bill. The TRA employee or employer portion is going currently it's 8.75%. So TRA is the um teachers retirement association. We have to as employers make a match um for whatever the employees have taken out of their paycheck. Right now it is at 8.75 in the pension bill. Starting July 1st, it's going to be 9.74%. Um, which is a significant increase for us. Um, but right now, most of the changes are going to happen in 207 20 26 27 and 2728. There might be some issues around um redact. Um, but again, we did not spend our redact money this year. So, we do have it in a designated reserve fund. Um, so I think we're going to be fine for next year. It's the year after that we're gonna um have to make um some additional decisions. Okay. Thank you. Yes. One question. Uh, Director Frederickson, you said our expense budget should equal our revenue budget. Is that correct? Did I hear you correct? That's your always your goal. Okay. Can you just explain why ours doesn't match? So um for next year there is a um we so there's four parts to a fund balance. You have the unavo unavailable which you can't spend. So it's inventory things like that. You have restricted money which is money that we've already gotten into the district. It's money that the state has sent us for very specific purposes in categorical funding. The intent of categorical funding is that you spend that money this year for this year's kids. That's always the state aid um revenue that you get in is intended for the students that you have in the district that current year. When you don't spend it that year, you are required to put it into a restricted um reserve to spend on those categorical items in subsequent years. You can't spend it for anything else. it must be used for those uh categorical statutory items and the risk you have if you don't spend them is the state will assume you don't need it and take it back. So we always want to make sure that we're spending those restricted dollars in however they're intended to be spent. In our case, the largest amount is LTFM and I've explained that we didn't spend all the money. We'll be using it for next year. Um capital dollars is in there. professional development. The the REAct money is in there. We did not have to spend Reedact dollars for the teacher training because we did teacher training during duty day. So, we have money that we have to spend on teacher training. That's the only thing we can spend it on. So, it's in a reserve. So, those are the money that we're putting into this proposal for the budget. We're not touching unassigned fund balance. We're not touching assigned fund balance. we are merely using the revenue that we've already got in the district for categorical designated items. So the um unassigned fund balance the policy now states um this year was revised that we have at least 8% um fund balance for unassigned and I'm fairly certain at this point from what we can see that we will end this year with at least 8% in our fund balance for the unassigned. Okay. Thank you. Any other discussion or questions? Director Atkinson. Um, thank you. Can you hear me? Okay. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Um, so um, Director Frederickson, um, can you tell me the the enrollment number we're using for this um, budget? I know enrollment is a huge driver in um, predicting what our revenue will be. Can you give me the exact number of units that we're using for the um revenue calculation for the 122.2 million? 8560. 8560. Thank you. Um, and then I would just um I would like to add um so I know there thank you for explaining how you came up with the 128 million and um I like um what director Mesa said was confused because it's not that's not how we've done the budget in the past and so I think you know when we came off of was it I apologize for the year but I believe it was 24 we knew that they over went over our expenses. Um, so my question is as we went into the November time frame, I'm just wondering why that concern wasn't raised at that time that um you would be using the actual numbers versus the forecast that you had in the the budget book as as well as in the binge forecast because if you recall the audit was just finished in October and presented to the board. So by the time we had all of the documents ready for the board for the budget, we did not have a final audit yet. So as we get final numbers and get closer and look at the legislation and kind of get ready for our enrollment numbers, um the October 1 enrollment is not final until January 5th, I believe. Um so budgets are constantly changing. Every month a budget will look different or what our projections are going to look like. We have different needs coming up. We have things that we hadn't planned on coming up. We have contracts that we um have to re view. I mean there's always something. So um I've tried to give you the most up-to-date information every time we present something. Um, but it is constantly changing and um, I don't know how to just give you one number and then have that carry through for the entire year when we don't even have all of the information or all the pieces of the puzzle. Um, and then so I have a question. So we have 8560 enrollment. Um, so what I'm trying to really wrap my head around is, um, just like, you know, we know we have more revenue than we've had in the past. I think in the last four years, if my number serves me right, we have about a 9% increase in revenue, but yet we've had a 16% increase in expenses. And I understand there's more expenses. But what I'm really trying to understand is we have less students. So, you know, how how can we I feel like as we're working on this process, it's really all about priorities and we went through several sessions about talking about different cuts and I think I was pretty vocal in saying that I wanted to see I would have liked to see more zerobased budgeting and working from the classroom up um so that we could have you know allocated more resources to the classroom and so you know I'm a I'm a little frustrated with that because here we are um less students but we're still seeing increase in expenses. So as a board director like I said that doesn't make a lot of sense to me because we have less students to educate um which should mean less expenses. Um so and then the other thing is um regarding the restricted funds have we received or can you give any I understand that TFM funds can be used for curriculum. Is that correct? No. No. No. Cannot. It's long-term facilities. I apologize. I thought that was the case. No, it's long-term facilities maintenance to what the $300,000 of restricted funds would be used for. So the LTFM plan, if you look at that 10-year plan, the revenue that's coming in is actually less than what the expenses were. So again, he's using additional um restricted reserve dollars to make up some of that difference. So, this board has approved the 10-year LTFM plan. Um, we'll follow what's in that LTFM plan and any adjustments. Yeah. And I was a little confused because the board when we approved the LPFM plan for 2526. I was under the understanding we're at like 1.5 million and in this board packet under the big spreadsheet you gave, it says 2.1 million for 2526. So, what would be the expectation of what are we spending LTF on funds for 2526? It's all on that that 10-year LTFM plan. So, there's things like loading docks at Hidden Oaks. There's replacing the fire alarm at Glendale. They're seal coating all of the driveways. I mean, he's it's very the plan is very detailed. No, I see that trying to understand why we're overspending if we don't have the money. There is 984,000 in the restricted reserve. So, he's using those restricted reserve dollars to help supplement the LTFM plan for next year by 300,000, right? 280 or 294 or something like that. Uh, correct. Then there's also the money from the difference. Could you say that again, Director Atinson? I don't think the rest of the board Sorry, I think the air turned on in here. Um, where do the where's the where's the rest of the money come from? So, there's a difference of I I don't have a calculator in front of me, but you know, 2.1 million minus 300. Um, that doesn't get us to a million five. You following me or not? The plan was originally million5. I think it's the LTFM column on this 2.1 versus the 1.5 this year plus the 300. So the 1.5 that we're getting in revenue is you have to add in the LTFM um additional restricted reserve and then he has redone some of the um LTFM priorities. P if you want to come forward. Sorry, director accent. I didn't have my mic on. I'm calling director Powers to come forward to articulate. Thank you. I'm just going to mute myself because the audio is better when I mute myself and then I can I have one other question. So, he's done. So, so essentially trying to find the delta of the or the difference between the um LTFM and how you're looking at um future LTFM projects and advancing them up similar to what we did when Fish Point Road was closed down. We had to drain the pools for it. We pulled all that future pool maintenance and we did it that year. So, can you just again walk through um how we're taking other projects in the future going into the 2526 school year, please to get to the uh true difference? Sure. Dr. Thomas, um Chair White, members of the board, the uh the LTFM fund um as director Atinson was mentioning, we typically we get around $ 1.5 million every year from the state. It's a part of a bond that we do. We had about $900,000 left over from the previous year that was not spent. So of that money, we're going to be spending some of that this year. The goal is always to end up with a zero, a net neutral on the money we get in and the money we spend. So right now, we have uh a lot of money sitting in there in that reserve that we really need to start spending some of that. So like Dr. Thomas mentioned, I will be pulling some of those projects forward so that we can get them going this season and get that balance down again to where it should be. We shouldn't have a carryover balance in our LTFM fund. That's not what it's designed for. The state gives us that money to spend in the current cycle where the kids are actually in the stu or in the schools. And hopefully that answered. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Um I appreciate that. So, was that consideration made when we were talking about the swimming pool though about extra money in the fund balance? That wasn't a part of the conversation when we were talking about the swimming pool. We we did have two separate parts we were talking about for the Twin Oak swimming pool. Um, one of them is the recurring costs that we have for utilities and other maintenance needs that we have. And then on top of that was the LTFM funds that we would need to allocate for the swimming pool. Now there again we can look at the priorities for other different types of projects and where we look at them versus the work out the el twin uh twin oaks pool. So I mean we can look at all sorts of different um scenarios for getting that fund balance for the LTFM back down to zero. Um but as we were talking about for the Twin Oaks pool situation there was definitely two completely different you know related but two different pools of money. We were talking about our 01 fund money that we spend doing all the utility work and everything else and our general maintenance that we spend on the the facility and then that LTFM money. Thank you. I mean I think my my concern is is that um just like in our fund balance policy 701.2 too. I mean, the whole point of the the policy is to ensure that we have economic stability with our fund balance. And um I just, you know, my concern is is that with looming talks of recession and and I I just I have big concerns. I mean, how long will it take us to build back this fund balance and and are we putting ourselves at a big risk by spending it when we you know, it's just it's just concerning to me. Um I just want to make sure that balance like this. I think the board needs to be clear and I I I think we're still talking apples and oranges. Maybe we're never going to get there. Um this is already received revenue that we just for a variety of reasons didn't spend. Fund balance is a set of money purposely set aside for a rainy day, a savings account if you will. This restricted money should not even be termed a fund balance. I'm sure it's just the vernacular of your industry. Correct. It's already received revenue that for a variety of reasons was not spent. Correct. I do not and I don't think the board should look at these two piles of money in the same way. It's revenue that we're going to spend eventually. It's almost as if you should take the year you received it off the table and it's it's just there for when you need it for a particular reason, not any reason. And I think the board needs to be careful trying to equate the two. Respectfully, we define that in our policy. We have it very clearly signed. Um, it's spelled out in 701.2 of the different fund balances and non-spendable, restricted, and committed. It's all it's all spelled out and this is restricted fund balance is my understanding for a specific cause. So, you know, I I just I'm concerned about that. I would I wouldn't be spending big chunks of money out of my own savings at this moment in time given the economic um forecast that I'm seeing. So, all right. Julie noted. Is there any other discussion? One final question. Director Frederick, I'm sorry. Director Frederickson, can you tell me how you came up with the 8560 number that you used? I'm I'm just looking at the the enrollment data that you gave us and then everything else. Can you just Yep. So, we have presented an enrollment projection. We um have had numerous conversations at the finance advisory committee um on what methodology we'll use for uh projecting enrollment. We've all agreed on a three-year weighted average. So you take um your previous actual enrollments, take it as a three-year weighted and by grade level put that um as your projection. Okay. I know you've said that before, so thank you for clarifying. Any further discussion? Okay, believe we have a motion. Second on the table to approve the final 202526 budget. All in favor signify by saying I. Can we get a roll call vote on this, please? You're right. I'm sorry. Well, I'm too late. No, no, you're not. Uh, I'm sorry. What are you saying? I thought I on the agenda roll call vote, so I apologize if I didn't chime in fast enough. Okay. Are you requesting a roll call? It's a resolution. We have to do a roll call. So, Got it. Yeah. Fair enough. All right. So, all in favor, uh, we'll start with Jessica Wolstead. I, uh, Charles I, Amy, I, Mary, I, Jessica, nay. Lisa, nay. And I, that motion carries 52.