- Welcome to the February 24th meeting of the MCCSE Board of School Trustees. We ask that you come to
- order. We'll start with a celebration of success. This is a time set aside to celebrate members of our
- school community. Ms. Harmon? Thank you, President Cooperman, Dr. Winston, Board of Trustees, and community
- members. It's my pleasure to share this month's excellent spotlight, and we have quite a number of people
- to honor tonight.
- This is a feature of every regular board of school trustees meeting, and we look forward to honoring
- the excellence occurring every day through the dedication of our MCCSE employees, students, and volunteers
- who make a difference in our school community and foster environments that reflect the MCCSE mission,
- vision, and core values. For our February excellence spotlight, we are honoring Mr. William Harper,
- Clear Creek lead custodian. We're proud to recognize Mr. William Harper, Clear Creek's lead custodian.
- Mr. Harper collaborates daily to enhance the Clear Creek grounds and facilities, taking exceptional
- pride in his work and in our school community. His initiative, strong work ethic, and dedication make
- him a positive role model for both students and staff. Mr. Harper was instrumental in bringing the Clear
- Creek Reading Hammock Garden to life. His reliability, creativity, and team-centered spirit continue
- to make him deeply valued and inspiring member of our school community. I do not believe he was able
- to attend tonight, though. Is that correct?
- Thank you. In addition, we are honoring quite a number of our students tonight. In November, the Indiana
- American String Teachers Association South All-Region Orchestra brought together for the first time
- middle and high school string students from across southern Indiana for a full day of intensive rehearsals,
- sectionals with instrumental specialists, and a public performance under the direction of distinguished
- guest conductors. This experience promotes advanced musicianship
- collaboration, and excellence in string performance. MCCSE is proud to recognize students from
- the Bloomington High School North, Bloomington High School South, Tri-North Middle School, and Jackson
- Creek Middle School who were selected to participate. Directors nominated students based on skill and
- readiness for the demands of the ensemble, and these musicians represented the district with dedication
- and artistry. We're here to recognize them tonight. From Jackson Creek Middle School, Sadie Evans,
- Quinn Hightower, Juniper Seek. From Tri-North Middle School, Samuel Ospina-Mateus, Daniel Ospina-Mateus,
- and Newhours Sibai. From Bloomington High School North, Aralyn Olivo, Francesca Samoroto. And
- from Bloomington High School South, Edward Che and Hai-Yoon Him. And I believe they are here tonight
- to be recognized.
- Would the students who Ms. Harmon just called please come forward? Their collective faces all at the
- same time.
- Thank you.
- Thank you. A couple of you come in a little bit.
- Thank you.
- Thank you so much. Any member who is recognized tonight is free to go unless they'd like to stay for
- our full meeting. Thank you.
- Earlier, I was like, there's a lot of people here. Wow. Thank you, Ms. Harmon. We will now receive our
- quarterly update on the activities of the MCCSE Foundation from Mrs. Helm, the foundation director.
- Dr. Demuth and other members of the school board. So we've been busy as always. The big reminder is
- if you are graduating senior or you're a family member that wants to push them in there, scholarships
- are open. So we have over $25,000 that we will award this spring. Application and descriptions are available
- on our website, pretty easy mccsfoundation.org.
- have until March 31st to complete those. There's a series of them that you apply into through an application
- and then there's some that are selected through the schools themselves. If you see something in the
- schools I always tell them visit your counselor and find out what the criteria is for that. All right
- today was an exciting day because my board met at noon time and
- They are approving our second grant cycle. So that just finished up. We changed it around a little bit
- this time. So it closed in January. The committee met last Tuesday. And I really want to thank our building
- reps. They do an incredible job of helping us with this, trying to make sure that faculty in the buildings
- know about the program, help them be successful in their grant, kind of how to structure it, what the
- committee is looking for. So I really appreciate that.
- We had a request of funding for $35,917. We were able to award a good portion of that. We had 15 grants
- that were awarded, and the total on those grants is $27,201. So I feel like they did a really, really,
- really good job of doing that. And I just want to thank each one of them for putting their heart and
- soul into making those decisions.
- We also had a little bit of funding in a specific budget category. Donor says can only be used certain
- ways. So we definitely honor that. And that was in our science space. So I got an email over the weekend
- that some of you saw. And I got corrected today. There are eight Science Olympiad teams moving on to
- the state level.
- So I had our board approved to take the rest of that funding that would have gone if someone had written
- a grant for it. So it totals seventeen hundred dollars and we're going to push that into those ECA counts
- to help them make it to state. So I was told by Dr. Milks today that they're going to spread it apart.
- Now each team's registration is paid.
- So they don't have to worry about that side of it. I think they just got to worry about getting themselves
- there. So anyway, we're happy to do that. And that gives us our total grant funding for the year at
- $71,582 this year. So we're really proud of that. That's a little bit higher. That is higher than what
- we have been doing. And we've had a very generous donor in the background on some of that. And they're
- very excited about the work that's happening with those grants as well.
- gems is coming up girls in engineering math and science this is a partnership between the foundation
- and the corporation so i give that committee all the accolades because they're doing the heavy listing
- i'm just finding the money um so i want to thank our sponsors that is cimtra boston scientific and tristar
- those are our sponsors on that and we really appreciate them coming in so that the students who participate
- get quite a bit of swag and it also helps
- with some materials that are needed that day for the breakout room. So we really appreciate that. It's
- March 28th, so registration is open if any of you on the school board want to come take a look at that.
- It's a pretty exciting day actually. It's very exciting. It brings in a lot of women in science throughout
- the community. It brings them in and the kids have a great day working with those to try to enrich getting
- more students into careers in the STEM field.
- Fundraisers we're kind of moving into that space. So I want to just give you a couple of them that are
- that are coming in and these are some of the ones that make it possible for us to do what we're doing.
- The duck race we launched last year. It's back and it's probably not going anywhere for a while because
- it's really fun. May 2nd, mark your calendar. It'll be at Woolery mill from 11 AM to 4 PM.
- The reading challenge for this begins April 1, so we'll be getting the forms out to the elementary schools
- and we also push them into middle school for any middle schoolers that want to participate in the reading
- challenge as well. There's entertainment that's being lined up. We get a lot of student performances
- that come in that day. A lot of the student performances are at the elementary level, so it's really
- kind of fun to see that. It's not usually a highly visible thing in the corporation. You usually think
- of that more of going to
- the high school performances, but they're all at ISMA that day. So we're finding the talent at younger
- ages, and it's working incredibly well. There'll be games, activities, the Jeep show, food,
- and Duck Eats. And the big way that we make the money out of this, there are sponsorships that we're
- selling, and I want to thank Old National Bank. They're our first sponsor in, so I want to thank them
- for their commitment to it again this year. But the Duck adoptions, you'll see that.
- Basically, the way this works, Jim Meyer is back with us this year, and he will bring in a group of
- STEM students. We load in ducks into the fountain. If you weren't there to watch the drop last year,
- just imagine over 3,000 ducks dropping into the Woolery Mill Fountain. It shows you how incredibly large
- it is when you start putting in a 2 by 2 duck. So gaming commission allows us this year to sell them
- online. Yeah.
- Yay, gonna simplify it a lot. So I'm working with a company now. We will be getting those forms up and
- available online. So you can buy your duck adoptions online this year. And you can also forward it to
- a friend to buy their duck adoptions online. There are two criteria to that though. They have to be
- in the state of Indiana, gaming rules, not mine, gaming commissions rules, and they have to be over 18.
- So just keep those in mind when you see that coming out. And the software does screen for that. So that's
- why we have to use an outside company. So look forward to that. Golf will be back June 4th. Eagle Point
- this year. That's going to be a change for us this year. Normally we are at the Bloomington Country
- Club under construction. So we're going to take this out to Eagle Point and have a great time. A lot
- of information coming forth for that. But keep that on your calendar for June 4th. Thank you. And that's
- my report.
- On behalf of the board, thank you, Mrs. Helm. I really enjoyed the duck race last year, so I'm looking
- forward to it again this year. Now is our time for public comment. Did we get a no? OK, just kidding.
- There is no public comment. So now for our consideration is the consent agenda that includes the following.
- Minutes from the board meeting held on January 27, 2026.
- Memorandum for the executive sessions on January 31st and February 10th, 2026. Overnight out of state
- field trips, financial report, January 2026. Appropriation balance report, January 2026. Register of
- claims, February 24th, 2026. Payroll register and payroll claims, January 2026. Request to declare as
- surplus an authorized disposal of out of date items.
- Do I have a motion regarding the approval of the consent agenda? So moved. Do I have a second? Second.
- It's been moved by Ross and seconded by Asia that we approve the consent agenda as presented. All those
- in favor of approving the consent agenda signify by saying aye. Aye. All those against say nay. Any
- abstentions? The motion passes.
- Next for our considerations are the donations. We have received donations of over $2,000. Thank you
- to all our donors. Your generosity is appreciated. Do I have a motion to accept the donations? So moved.
- Second. Thanks, Ross. I think it's been moved by Ashley and seconded by Ross that we accept the donations
- as presented. All those in favor of approving the donations, signify by saying aye. Aye.
- All those against say no. Any abstentions? Motion carries. Now we'll move on to old business. We will
- now hear from Dr. Jeff Henderson on the community input on the former Herald-Times building. Dr. Henderson?
- Good evening, President Cooperman, Dr. Winston, and members of the Board of School Trustees. Thank you
- for the opportunity to share summary data this evening.
- from public input on the former Herald-Times building. Just as a reminder, the Herald-Times building
- was purchased in 2022 for potential future use. It consists of an eight-acre site with six usable acres, 77,000-plus
- square feet of space centrally located within the MCCSC, approximately 170-plus
- parking spaces and a variety of design that includes office space, storage, loading docks and large
- span areas. And as a reminder, when this administrative team began its tenure, there was no formal written
- plan in place for the use of the property. At the November 2025 MCCSC school board meeting, the board
- directed Superintendent Winston to gather public input regarding the former Herald Times property for
- the board to consider.
- Two methods for gathering that public input were designed and implemented, the first of which being
- a online public survey which ran from January 8th to January 30th and received a total of 404 responses.
- In addition to that, a public forum was held on January 29th in the Bloomington High School South Auditorium.
- There were approximately 12 community members in attendance with four public commenters.
- During the public forum, a transcript was created and incorporated into the summary data that I'll be
- reviewing with you this evening. Again, 404 online responses and four in-person responses for a total
- of 408 represented in the data. Prior to the public input opportunity, we provided information to the
- public about the building and that
- Same information was linked with the online public survey for respondents to be able to reference prior
- to submitting their responses. Both the survey and the forum consisted of two open-ended questions.
- They were intentionally designed to be open-ended to allow natural themes from respondents to occur.
- The first question or prompt that was asked
- was what do you think would be the best use or uses for this building? And then the second one was,
- is there anything else you'd like the board to consider as they evaluate options for this property?
- Again, 408 responses combined between those two. On the slide before you now is the affiliations that
- were marked by the 408 respondents.
- And it's important to point out that a respondent could select more than one affiliation. 54% of the
- respondents indicated that they were a parent or guardian of a current MCCSE student. 13% identified
- as an in-district community member. 8% identified as a parent or guardian of alumni. 8% identified themselves
- as MCCSE staff members.
- 8% identified themselves specifically as MCCSC teachers, 4% alumni, 2% students, and 2% identified in
- the other category. There was 1% of individuals identified themselves as out of district community members.
- Summary of the responses to question number one, the best uses for the building.
- 40% indicated that the best use was to sell the property. 18% indicated educational programs and services
- should be built into the facility. 14% indicated sports facilities. 10% indicated community or social
- services. And 7% listed administrative or operational usage, and 6%
- indicated career and technical education. And the other responses totaled 5%, but they were unable to
- be tightly categorized into a single theme and therefore listed as other. In the next set of slides,
- each word cloud will utilize a linear scale with a floor of 12 point font and a ceiling of 42 point font.
- where font size is directly proportional to the number of times each verbatim word or phrase appeared
- in that theme's survey response, ensuring that visual differences between words accurately reflect real
- differences in how they were mentioned, how often they were mentioned. This method was chosen for its
- unbiased way to represent community input. So as we look at theme number one, again, reminding you that
- 40% of respondents
- indicated that selling the property was the best use of the property. You'll notice that the word cloud
- is dominated by teachers, money, funding, salaries with the overwhelming number of respondents wanting
- the proceeds directed to staff compensation and to achieve financial balance. Reminding the community
- and the board
- Previously presented information about the sale of the property. There are several considerations that
- would need to be made. First and most importantly is the state code and procedure for property sale,
- which appears on the right hand side in the in the box there. Public hearing with notice provided in
- accordance with Indiana code. Following that hearing, the board must approve the sale of the property.
- Property then needs to be appraised by two appraisers.
- And then the board can proceed to sell the property either at a public auction or retain a licensed
- real estate broker to handle the sale of the property. The money for the sale must be deposited in the
- operations fund and cannot be used for teacher-related wages and benefits per Indiana code. This one-time
- payment or one-time source of income would be able to assist in managing cash balances for the corporation.
- Theme number two, centered around educational programs and services. And you'll find that the majority
- of responses mention something along the lines of a STEM center concept with tutoring, alternative school
- options, and maker spaces also prominent responses with regard to this particular theme. The third theme
- that evolved from public input
- was athletic and sports facilities, largely driven by the fieldhouse concept with indoor track and gym
- space as the core suggestions contained in the public feedback. Theme number four revolved around community
- or social services. And again, 10% of respondents indicated that this was their preferred use of the property.
- It splits between a community center, a homeless shelter, and affordable housing for the community as
- potential uses. The fifth theme that emerged from the responses revolved around the idea of administrative
- or district operational usage, focusing on practical needs like storage, a health clinic, and consolidated
- office and meeting space for various departments.
- sixth theme that evolved centered around career and technical education with six percent of respondents
- indicating this as a preference. The responses really center on the idea of expanding the Hoosier Hills
- Career Center and vocational and technical education opportunities for students, possibly a south side
- location to help minimize transportation.
- That moves us on to question number two, and that was anything else you'd like the board to consider.
- Of the original 408 responses, only 261 respondents representing 64% of respondents answered question
- number two. Given the limited number of respondents to question number two, rather than creating a word
- cloud around each one of these topics, the word cloud that I'll show you follows the same pattern,
- but looks at the things that are mentioned within these six major considerations that emerged from the
- public input. The number in parentheses next to each one of those indicates the number of times a specific
- consideration was mentioned. So in this word cloud, again, it utilizes the same design, a 12-point floor
- and a 42-point ceiling for the font size.
- You'll see that it centers around the concept of money, students, teachers, community, pay,
- selling it, staff, renting, and referendum are words that tend to jump out in this theme. Again, I'd
- like to thank you for the opportunity to gather public input
- and provide it for your consideration here at this evening's board meeting. Our administrative team
- stands ready to take whatever next steps the board directs us to take. Thank you, Dr. Henderson. Do
- I have any questions or comments for Dr. Henderson from the board? I don't for Dr. Henderson directly,
- but I do for Mr. Erwin. One other concern. Excuse me.
- One of the concerns the community mentioned there were costs of renovation, et cetera, if we were to
- choose to do something creative with that building. Would doing that limit our ability through the bonding
- that we approved last fall? Would it limit our ability in the future to do the needed improvements,
- maintenance, repairs, et cetera, on our existing student-centered building?
- I believe it would. And I say that with this context, our debt service fund has a finite ability to
- fund projects as we stay within the constraints and as we manage the ask of the community to fund the
- debt service fund. If we were to do $35 million worth of renovations to a building like that, that would
- delay the timing of which we'd be able to bond for in the future, future improvements of other buildings.
- Thank you. Absolutely. I was just for the folks that are listening at home. I just said thank you to
- Dr. Henderson because it was really enlightening to see some of the findings displayed in that manner.
- So I appreciate that.
- Certainly a joint effort. I'd not do this on my own. Dr. Henderson, you said, if I recall correctly,
- you said about 40% of the respondents suggested selling the property and maybe another 10% suggested
- that it be used for some kind of community or social services purpose. Would it be fair to say that
- that 10% of community and social services are not things that the school corporation would do?
- So in my mind, I'm thinking I would sort of lump those together, that 40% and that 10% into sort of
- suggestions that the building be used for something not related to the schools. I would agree with the
- fact that many of the items that were mentioned under community or social services are not the direct
- responsibility of a public school corporation to provide. Thank you. We're not typically building homeless
- shelters and
- Providing housing services to the community as a part of what we do as an organization Thank you So
- effectively that puts us about fifty fifty split then yeah, it seems like that to me. Yeah, okay So
- if okay fifty fifty split and fifty percent said sell it and
- and they want the money to go towards teacher wages, but the money can't be used for teacher wages.
- Where would the money be used for? So the money would be deposited into the operations fund of the school
- corporation, and it would be utilized typically one. You've heard you've heard Mr Irwin speak about
- not committing one time funds to ongoing costs or recurring costs. And so
- The suggestion would be that those would those funds would be utilized to help manage the cash balance
- and the various funds in any operation fund Given obviously the implications of SEA one that we've heard
- discussed in previous board meetings I Have a kind of follow-on question. Dr. Irwin could that are mr.
- Irwin. Sorry. I mean you can be a doctor's honorary degree. That's fine. Great do Could that money be
- moved from the operations fund?
- into like our rainy day fund? It could, yes. I mean one of the things that we talked about with one-time
- funds, Dr. Henderson alluded to this, it has the doctorate right, I don't have it yet, but would be
- to put the appropriate safety nets in place to continue to do the cash balances to a place that we want
- them to be as a school corporation, whether that be in our operations fund or rainy day fund,
- or any of our other funds, right? One of the things that we've talked about that we want to accomplish
- is have the appropriate safety nets in place in order to be able to respond to the changing dynamics
- of which we operate within as a public school corporation. This was, I think, implied in Ross's question,
- but I just want to make sure that we clarify. Again, I think implied in Ross's question was that
- The building can't be used for most of these purposes as it is. And so we would need to use money from
- our debt services fund to improve it before we could use it in any other way than it's currently being
- used. Would that be correct? That's correct. And am I correct that even if we were to basically keep
- it for its current use,
- storage, parking, spare buses, et cetera. You require some investment just to sound. Sound, if you will.
- I know there's some roof. That is correct. There are some concerns over the condition of the roof. Okay.
- So, Dr. Henderson, you showed a slide
- that had some steps that I take to mean there are some steps that need to be taken before the board
- could make a final decision on what to do with the property. Yes. Would you like me to go back to that
- slide? If you don't mind. Sure. Thank you. Yes. Located on the right side of this slide, the first step
- is that there must be a public hearing and notice provided in accordance with Indiana code five dash
- three dash one. And then following that hearing, the board has to approve the sale of the property.
- The property would then need to be appraised by two appraisers. And then the board would have two options
- with regard to the sale of the property, public auction or engage the services of a licensed real estate
- broker to handle the sale. So this question is probably for our attorney, Ms. DeWees and Superintendent
- Winston. Have the public forum that we held, does that meet the criteria for under step one for the statute?
- It is not. OK. So in order for us to kind of have all the options on the table, we would have to post
- notice that meets the statutory requirements and then hold a hearing? Correct. May I request that we
- post that notice and hold a hearing so that we have all the options on the table? Absolutely. I'll certainly
- work with Attorney DeWees on that. Thank you. Are there any other questions from the board on this issue?
- Would our appraisal that we had done in the fall before this discussion even came up be valid as one
- of the required appraisals under the statute? Yes, we do believe so. Thank you, Dr. Anderson. Absolutely.
- Thank you, Mr. Irwin and everyone who helped answer our questions. Thank you. Next for our consideration
- is the personnel report.
- Do I have a motion to approve the personnel report as presented? So moved. Second. It's been moved by
- Ashley and seconded by April that we approve the personnel report as presented. Dr. Henderson.
- Thank you, President Cooperman, Dr. Winston, and members of the Board of School Trustees. This evening
- I would like to call to your attention the following retirements. Julie Ann Olson,
- Miss Olson has been with MCCSC for the last 29 and a half years, most recently serving as a grade six
- teacher at Highland Park Elementary School. Wendy Tamburino. Miss Tamburino has been with MCCSC for
- the last 30 years, most recently serving as a grade six teacher at Benford Elementary School. And last
- but not least, Mary Wicker. Miss Wicker has been with MCCSC for the last
- 40 years, most recently serving as a hearing impaired teacher at Fairview Elementary School. Altogether,
- the retirees presented this evening represent a combined total of 99 and one half years of service to
- our school community. On behalf of MCCSC, I would like to extend a special thank you to all of these
- individuals for their many years of dedicated service and wish them well in their next adventures.
- At this time, I request that you please approve the recommendations as presented in your board packet
- in the personnel report. Thank you, Dr. Henderson. Do I have any comments from the board? I just want
- to wish Ms. Olson well. Both my kids have had her in one capacity or another, and she's a wonderful
- person. And we will really miss her dearly over there. She's done a lot of really great things for our students.
- I'll just echo Dr. Henderson's thank you to those retirees for their service, and congratulations. Best
- of luck on their next adventures. All those in favor of approving the personnel report, signify by saying
- aye. Aye. Against, say no. Any abstentions? The motion carries. We'll move on to the contracts. Do I
- have a motion to approve the contracts and quote as presented?
- second. It's been moved by Ron seconded by Aaron Wyatt that we approve the contracts and quote as presented.
- Mr. Erwin. Thank you. All the contracts have been reviewed through our process and they're set for your
- approval. There are two that I feel like are more noteworthy tonight that I wanted to call attention
- to. One is an MOU between MCCSC and ID Tech to collaborate to provide dual enrollment courses.
- The MOU allows direct billing to MCCSE for any fees approved for dual enrollment courses taken through
- Ivy Tech and all costs are paid for through the 2023 referendum fund. So again, just a continued thank
- you for that partnership with our community to provide that resource to our students. The second is
- the agreement with Apple. This is for device replacement for teachers. This is a planned expense to
- the 2025 lease rental bond.
- as noted in the board packet. So with that, I recommend all contracts and quotes as presented.
- Thank you, Mr. Irwin. Are there any comments from the board? All those in favor of approving the contracts
- and quotes signify by saying aye. Aye. Against, say no. Any abstentions? The motion carries.
- Next for our consideration is the early childhood initiatives, resolution 2026-05 and the provider agreement.
- Do I have a motion to adopt resolution 2026-05 and approve the provider agreement as presented? So moved.
- Do I have a second? Second. It's been moved by Ashley and seconded by Tiana that we adopt resolution
- 2026-05 and approve the provider agreement as presented.
- Ms. Harmon. Thank you. It is recommended that the board adopt Resolution 2026-05, the Early Child Initiative
- and the Provider Agreement as presented in your board packet. I so recommend. Any comments from the
- board? All those in favor of adopting Resolution 2026-05 and approving the Provider Agreement signify
- by saying aye.
- Aye. Against, say no. Any abstentions? The motion carries. Next, we will consider approval to renew
- the Advanced Placement Course African-American Studies. Do I have a motion for approval to renew the
- Advanced Placement Course as presented? Second.
- It's been moved by Erin Wyatt and seconded by April that we renew the advanced placement course
- African-American studies as presented. Ms. Harmon. Thank you again. Background, the Indiana Department
- of Education allows schools to offer courses that are not included on the state approved course list
- by applying for a non-standard course waiver. The Board of School Trustees approved Bloomington High
- School North's request for a pilot program for offering AP African-American studies in October of 2023.
- Bloomington North applied and received a non-standard course waiver to offer this AP course. The course
- is now up for renewal. Tonight, Bloomington High School North seeks to renew AP African-American studies
- with the Indiana Department of Education as part of its elective social studies curriculum. This course
- is well received by students and provides meaningful opportunities to deepen their knowledge, understanding,
- and perspective. It is recommended that the board approve Bloomington High School North's request to
- renew and submit the required non-standard course waiver to the Indiana Department of Education
- for the continued offering of AP African-American studies at Bloomington High School North for the 27-28
- school year, the 28-29, and the 29-30 school years. I so recommend. Are there any comments from the
- board? Do we have any indication of whether this will be accepted or denied? We do not have any indication.
- But we anticipate approval. We're hopeful for approval. OK, great. I understand this is a popular course,
- and I'm glad that we can continue to offer it. Thank you, Ms. Harmon. All those in favor of approving
- the renewal of the Advanced Placement Course African-American Studies signify by saying aye. Aye.
- Any against, say no. Abstentions. The motion carries.
- Tonight's first presentation is a human resources update. Dr. Henderson. Good evening again. Thank you,
- President Cooperman, Dr. Winston, members of the Board of School Trustees. This evening, I would like
- to take the opportunity to talk a little bit about how we sustain academic excellence in the MCCSC.
- Specifically, we're going to discuss staffing principles, which are student-centered principles that support
- our continual staffing evaluation, as well as speak to you a little bit about class size ratios as evidence
- of sustaining academic excellence during our two year strategy to achieve financial balance and sustain
- excellence, which you'll hear a little bit more about this evening from Dr Winston and Mr Erwin. I want
- to emphasize that we are confident in implementing our strategy while upholding high quality education
- across MCC SC schools.
- What I'll present here this evening are two things, evidence of how we are and how we will continue
- to uphold that high quality education. First, I'll share an overview of our corporation staffing principles
- that we use in our continual evaluation of staffing levels. We apply these principles consistently to
- every staffing decision that we make to prioritize classroom instruction and sustain academic excellence
- across the school corporation.
- Then I'll share evidence of how we have maintained and will continue to maintain academic excellence
- by maintaining class size ratios that are at or below board approved levels. First of all, our staffing
- principles. Just a little introduction to this. As we continually evaluate enrollment funding and expenses,
- the principles I'll share with you here this evening help us ensure that staffing decisions are made
- within a clear and consistent framework
- are thoughtfully considered and aligned to our instructional and operational priorities and minimize
- classroom impacts wherever possible. Grounding our decisions in these principles strengthens our ability
- to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars while maintaining excellence throughout the corporation. We
- consistently apply five staffing principles.
- They are student-centered, enrollment aligned, position-based, corporation-wide perspective, and fiscal
- sustainability. We're going to discuss each one in more detail on the following slides. Student-centered.
- Staffing decisions are based on the potential impact on students and families as they regulate both
- through academic outcomes
- student experience, as well as access to essential supports. This principle matters because it keeps
- staffing focused on why the work exists, student learning, and well-being, rather than any existing
- internal preferences, legacy programs, or organizational convenience. When we look at the principle
- of enrollment aligned, staffing levels and positions are aligned to current
- and projected enrollment, measurable student and operational needs, and fair, consistent metrics that
- account for contextual complexity. This matters because aligning staffing to enrollment and clearly
- defined needs ensures equity, transparency, and compliance while strengthening trust in how decisions
- are made. Position-based. Our positions are designed and allocated
- based on the work that must be accomplished to meet both instructional and operational goals. This enables
- the district to adapt to changing needs, avoid staffing inertia, where organizational structures remain
- in place because they've existed historically rather than because they are aligned to current needs,
- and build roles that deliver value where the work occurs. Corporation-wide perspective.
- Staffing decisions consider impacts across the entire corporation and prioritize solutions that address
- needs to promote both organizational health and sustainability. This approach promotes fairness, consistency,
- efficiency, and helps ensure that staffing decisions do not solve one problem while creating another
- elsewhere in the corporation. And fiscal sustainability.
- Staffing commitments must be fiscally sustainable over time. They must align with instructional and
- operational priorities, and they must serve the needs of our community as well as demonstrate added
- value. This ensures that staffing decisions can be maintained beyond a single budget cycle, do not rely
- on one-time funding, and support the long-term stability and effectiveness of our organization. So those
- Five principles are constantly referenced every time we make a decision about a position in the organization,
- regardless of department. And we consistently apply those across all of those conversations. Next, I
- want to take a little time to look more specifically at class sizes. I'll start with a recap of some
- of the previously presented data, provide some comparative statistics,
- and then look specifically at elementary and secondary class sizes. You'll recall at the October 28th,
- 2025 board meeting, this statistic was shared and it's utilized by the Department of Education across
- the state. And as in the past, I want to point out that this statistic is showing the number of students
- who certificated staff, and that includes all certified staff, counselors, social workers, administrators.
- The statistic is not intended to depict class sizes. It's merely a measure of the number of certificated
- staff to the number of students that we serve. In comparison, when you look across the surrounding area,
- as well as school corporations that are similar in size to MCCSE, we happen to be the lowest in that ratio.
- Fiscally, that's not good. The lower it is, the lower that number is, the more money we are spending
- per student. So in the previous slide, you saw a number of 13.4. That is this year's self-calculated
- statistic after position control. You'll notice that that 13.4
- is still lower than the surrounding schools and similar sized schools. So in this slide we're providing
- you with comparative data from the DOE from the 2024-2025 school year, which is the most recent data
- that's available on the DOE website. At that time, prior to our
- two-year strategy being initiated to bring fiscal balance to the organization, we were at 12.6. So that
- number was trending in the wrong direction for fiscal sustainability. So I've mentioned before that
- the Human Resources Department monitors enrollment counts on a regular basis, especially during the
- first few weeks of each school year and at the start of new semesters,
- when transitions are most likely for families. Members of the human resources team, curriculum, instruction
- and assessment team conducted physical counts in a variety of schools to verify class sizes. And we
- also hold weekly meetings with our directors of special education, which include reviews of caseloads,
- class sizes, current evaluations and pending enrollments. So on this slide, I want to focus
- your attention by the use of some pop-up boxes that will appear on the screen as I speak to specific
- items. This slide contains a lot of data, and there are three distinct points at which this data was
- gathered. Those correspond at the top there. You'll see the red box that just popped up. The October
- 1st, 2024 ADM date, the October 1st, 2025 ADM date, and the February 2nd, 2026 ADM date.
- Inside this red box you will notice the average size of our pre-k classrooms by building across our
- elementary schools. I only brought the red box up on the left hand chart but the column is the same
- on all three charts just at the different dates I mentioned just a moment ago.
- The next red box that you see shows the average, or the range, sorry, the range of class sizes at the
- K-2 grade band. And the reason why K-2 was chosen was specifically because of the configuration
- of Rogers-Benford. Rogers is a K-2 building, Benford is a three through six building, so we wanted to
- be able to compare across all buildings like data.
- We would typically refer to primary grades as K to three and upper elementary is four to six. But given
- the configuration that we have at Rogers Benford, it was divided in this way. So you're comparing apples
- to apples. So as you look down that column, you will see the ranges of class sizes that exist in that
- particular grade band in each school. And that is consistent.
- Again, across all three of those tables there, depending upon the dates. The next column will show you
- the range of grades three through six in those buildings. And the next column will show you the average
- class size, K to six. Pre-K has been taken out of that. And that average across class sizes
- or across K-6 is looking at every class in that building and creating the average. And so you'll notice
- next to the school name in parentheses a number. That number represents the number of K-6 regular classrooms
- that were in that building at the time of this calculation. So you'll notice
- If you look at the October 1st, 2024 ADM date, that chart there on the left, Arlington had 14 K-6 classrooms
- at that time. If you look at the next table over staying on the Arlington line, on the October 1st,
- 2025 ADM date, they had 12 K-6 classrooms. And then if you look at the February 2nd, 2026 ADM date,
- you'll see that they still have 12 K-6
- regular classrooms. So that will show you the number of classrooms that factor into the average calculation.
- The last thing I'd like to draw your attention to is the corporation average for elementary classes
- K-6 found at the bottom of that average K-6 column. It's important to point out that that is not an
- average of the averages. That is taking every K-6 classroom
- and calculating the average based on class size. So it's not diluted by taking the average of averages.
- So the next thing I would like to do is look at this data in a slightly different way. This is, again,
- looking at those same ADM count dates. And you'll notice that the ADM
- K-6, the number is included there below those dates. So on October 1st, 2024, K-6 ADM count was 5,056
- students. On October 1st, 2025, it was 4,942 students. And on February 2nd, it was 4,932 students. Located
- in this column, you'll find the board approved
- class size average ratio for a particular grade band. In the next three columns, again, I'm only highlighting
- the first column, but the data is the same in the next two columns, you will see the range, the class
- size range for that particular grade band, and you will then see in parentheses the average size.
- that particular grade band across the district. Again that is not averages of averages that's looking
- at every pre-k class, every kindergarten class, every first grade class to get that average. Next down
- at the bottom you will see that 96% of all classrooms on October 1st 2024 were at or below
- board approved average ratios. We know that we have outliers. We have a lot of buildings, we have a
- lot of varying enrollment, and sometimes you will have a large grade of kids matriculate through a building
- where there aren't a lot of classrooms in a building. The larger the building and the more classrooms
- that you have that serve a specific grade, the easier it is to spread students out and the less likely
- you are to have
- a split grade classroom. So you can see that October 1st of 2025, 82% of our classrooms were at or below
- board approved averages. Again, there are some outliers. And then in February of 2026, 84% were at or
- below board approved averages when you look at individual classrooms. If you notice, looking at the
- average across the corporation,
- We are below the average board approved class size ratio at every grade level when you look
- at the corporation as a whole. Again, we recognize there are outliers, there are unique situations in
- buildings that create those situations where a large class might be matriculating through a small building.
- Good question. When were those ratios
- believe they date back to 2000 and 2015 slice this data a different way let's do some comparison between
- straight grade classrooms at the elementary and multi-grade classrooms at the elementary and look where
- we stand across the top you will see there were 21
- Pre-K classrooms across the corporation. 31 kindergarten classrooms across the corporation,
- straight grade. And by straight grade, I mean the only grade level of student in that classroom would
- it be a kindergarten student. So the next row down, you'll see the board approved average ratio for
- that particular grade. You will then see
- the current average by that grade level across the corporation as a whole. And then you can see the
- percentage of classrooms that are at or below the board approved class size ratio. And finally, you
- will see the range of varying class sizes across the corporation at those particular grade bands.
- I'll point out to you that if you look at the first grade column you will notice the corporation average
- matches the board approved average ratio but we have some outliers. We have a class as small as 15 and
- a class as high as 25. So that's just a little bit of
- insight into how you look at this particular data and how it compares to the board approved average
- class size ratios. So when you look across the corporation as a whole 84 percent of all pre-k to 6 classrooms
- are at or below board approved ratios. Next let's take a little look at split grade classrooms. It's
- important to note that we don't have nearly as many
- split grade classrooms as we do straight grade classrooms across the corporation. And again split grade
- classrooms occur likely when you have a small class size in a particular grade level or an odd break
- in class sizes at a particular grade level where a grade band is then combined to create a classroom
- that is closer to the average. So
- Again, when we look at the class size board approved average ratio, I am looking at the lowest grade
- in that band. So when you look at kindergarten through one split classroom, I'm citing the kindergarten
- board approved ratio, not the first grade board approved ratio. Again, you'll notice, as I said before,
- there are very few of these.
- If you have any of them that are above the board approved ratio, average ratio, it has a dramatic impact
- on that percentage number that you'll see below. There's one K-1 multigrade classroom in the corporation
- that has 24 students in it. So 0% of our K-1 splits
- are at or below the board approved ratio because it has three more students than a regular kindergarten
- class. And you can see the percent at or below across the board there. Down at the bottom, you can see
- the range in those multi-grade classrooms.
- and 83% of all multi-grade classrooms are at or below board approved ratios. Let's move on to secondary
- and focus specifically on middle school at the moment. As you all are well aware, middle schools and
- high schools are not structured the same way that elementary schools are. And so we look at averages
- by department, class size averages,
- by department. So I didn't have any pop-out boxes on this particular slide because there's much less
- data there, and it's a whole lot easier to digest. This is looking at current data, the February data
- at secondary schools. So you'll notice that fine and performing arts, again, middle school board approved
- ratios are 1 to 30.
- Fine and Performing Arts, you'll see across the three middle schools. Bachelor is sitting at 30, Jackson
- Creek at 29, and Tri-North is sitting at 22, with the all middle school average at 27. You'll notice
- that all of these are at or below the board approved average ratio except for
- a few at Jackson Creek that are at 33. It's also important to point out that just like we have in the
- middle school or in elementary schools, we have at the middle schools and high school outliers, things
- that impact the average in different ways. For example, if you think about
- band, choir, orchestra, and PE classes, they typically contain more than 30 students in them. And that
- is appropriate for those class sizes. Based on getting a full ensemble of students together in a band
- to be able to practice and rehearse together, you typically have more than 30 students in a band.
- So again, we know there are outliers, but we look at the averages across departments.
- as the way in which we we judge that. Let's move on to the high schools and again broken down in the
- same way by departments. All four of our high schools are represented there. Bloomington Graduation
- School, the Academy, Bloomington High School North and Bloomington High School South as well as
- calculations for all four of the high schools, what the averages factor out to be if you combine all
- of them. And then if you separate out Bloomington High School North and Bloomington High School South
- as the comprehensive large high schools, we have a one to 30 ratio at those large comprehensive high
- schools. At the Academy we have a 25 to one ratio and at BGS we have a 15 to one ratio.
- 75% of all classrooms at the secondary level are at or below board approved average ratios in the 25-26
- school year in our February data. Again, those same comments about outliers for large class sizes in
- band, choir, orchestra, some of those large ensembles, PE classes, those kinds of things. Large group
- study halls.
- might impact that if they're coded as other in skyward in that other category down at the bottom. If
- you take another look at this data and just look at the averages across secondary combining both high
- school and middle school averages, um, you can see that comparative data there in
- this case you'll notice that those averages are at or below the board approved ratios for the secondary
- level across the board when you look at at all departments. Next let's take a look at our special education
- caseloads and as I mentioned before there are weekly meetings that are conducted between the human resources
- department and the directors of special education where we monitor this data
- in an ongoing manner because as you all are aware, students are tested, identified, and enter into service
- in special education throughout the year. And so we constantly monitor this. 93% of our caseloads are
- at or below departmental guidelines. We divided this out by mild intervention and intense intervention.
- And if you look on the slide inside the red box that just popped up,
- When we look at pre K to six elementary, our guidelines are our departmental guidelines that were established
- through discussion with our teachers association. Um, those guidelines are 20 to 25 pre K to six is
- what we try to stay within. There are 33 teachers who operate within the pre K to six mild intervention
- range across the corporation.
- serving those students and their average caseload is 20 and 88 percent of all pre-k to 6 caseloads are
- at or below guidelines and the largest pre-k to 6 caseload is 28 just for your information. When you
- look at secondary mild intervention
- There are 33 teachers serving students in grades 7 through 12 plus. The guidelines are established at
- 25 to 30, with an average caseload of 22, with 94% of those caseloads being at or below guidelines.
- And the largest caseload is 32, so two above. And again, just a reminder that students are added to
- special education services throughout the school year.
- at various times, depending upon their evaluation cycle. If we move over into intense intervention at
- pre-K through 6, there are 12 teachers that serve the needs of students in this category. And our guidelines
- have been established at 8 to 12 for the caseload. The average caseload is 10, with 92% of caseloads
- being at or below guidelines. And the largest PK to 6 intense intervention caseload
- is 13. Finally, if we look at secondary intense intervention classrooms, there are eight teachers that
- serve the needs of this program. Guidelines are established at 10 to 14. The average caseload is 11.
- And 100% of those caseloads are at or below guidelines, with the largest caseload also being 13.
- So in summary here this evening, the information that I shared with you are just a few measures of how
- we are prioritizing educational quality in our schools as we work our way through our two-year strategy
- to bring fiscal balance and sustain academic excellence here in the MCCSC. As you've seen, the majority
- of class sizes throughout our corporation, K to 12, are at or below board approved student to teacher
- average ratios.
- Again, 84% of pre-K to 6 classrooms, 83% of multi-grade classrooms, 75% of secondary classrooms are
- adderable or board approved ratios. And again, just a reminder that we do recognize there are outliers
- and those particularly large classrooms and band, choir, orchestra, physical education. Since 2019,
- the average student to certificated staff ratio in grades K through 12 is increased by less than one student.
- Again, that's certificated staff to student. Our team continually examines this data and will continue
- to be vigilant about class size if MCCSC moves forward in its two-year strategy to achieve financial
- balance. Also, elementary average class size has increased by only one student from the fall of 2024
- to the spring of 2026. As the school corporation continuously evaluates staffing at all times throughout
- the year, our staffing principles that I covered at the beginning of this presentation provide a clear
- and consistent framework that ensures all of our decisions are principle aligned and sustain academic
- excellence in our school. This is just one measure of how we sustain that academic excellence. And you'll
- hear more from Dr. Winston in her two year strategy update.
- Thank you for the opportunity to present this data to you this evening. Thank you, Dr. Henderson. Are
- there any comments from the board? Yeah. So in some of the buildings, as we look at elementary school
- numbers, some of them have some huge deltas, like from 17 to 32.
- Some of them, the top number was significantly smaller than other buildings where that top number was
- much larger. Is that something that is being discussed through the redistricting study as well to balance
- that population per building? Well, I certainly don't want to speak for Dr. Dowling and Dr. Garman-McLean
- with regard to
- a report that you will be receiving in the not too distant future with regard to the redistricting study
- commission. But I will say that part of what drove us in that direction and the board to ask for us
- to conduct that study had to do with the efficiency of use of buildings in the corporation. And so we
- are a very large geographic size as a school corporation with a large number of
- schools with a large variation in the population of enrollment in those schools. And as I mentioned
- earlier, the larger the building, the more efficient you can be. You gain economy of scale, so to speak.
- And so you experience less range and less impact
- when there are fluctuations in a particular grade level in terms of the number of kids that are enrolled
- in a building at a particular time. Sure. And we also can account for population density shifts in catchment
- zones based on property development. Correct. Yeah. OK. Not without changing the catchment zone. Exactly.
- Yeah. Discussed.
- Dr. Henderson, for our classrooms where many students are attending from out of the catchment zone,
- like the ELPS program at Fairview or the multi-age classroom at Templeton, were those classrooms included
- in the numbers that we saw? Yes, they are. OK, thank you. And when class sizes get larger, there are
- aids added to those classrooms, correct, at certain levels? At times.
- Yes. Last call for comments from the board. When there is a classroom that's identified that is potentially
- on the larger side, is that remediated or how is that handled?
- It depends on the particular building and the circumstances surrounding the needs in that classroom.
- As you know, there are oftentimes push-in aids from special education department that are in classrooms
- to provide additional supports, as well as pull-outs that occur in those classrooms for individual
- remediation needs of students. So many times,
- you will find when you walk into a classroom, as we did when we conducted our checks around the district,
- the teacher would be quick to say, not all of my students are in here. Some of them are out in a reading
- group or some of them are getting math intervention. So that class size that exists there doesn't necessarily
- mean that that number of students are in that room all day.
- there are pullout programs that provide additional supports to students academically that occur as well.
- Thank you. President Kuperman, I just want to take a moment to give kudos to Dr. Henderson and the HR
- team for the due diligence, quite frankly, that they've taken in monitoring this data. They've done
- so very deliberately, very intentionally, and hopefully it is recognized that this is a priority for us
- to make sure that we are managing class sizes appropriately. We recognize that with the changes that
- are happening economically throughout the state and within our community, it certainly is having an
- impact on us, which is why we're monitoring it as closely. So I just want to say thank you very much
- to Dr. Henderson and our entire executive team for their very, very difficult and painstaking work to
- provide you with the level of detailed analysis that you received this evening.
- Rest assured that he has gone over all of those numbers with a fine-tooth comb multiple times.
- So thank you. Very well done. I would agree with that. I wanted to ask a question to show I was paying
- attention, but every time I thought of one, you answered it on the next slide. So it was very thorough.
- Thank you so much for that. You're welcome. Any last-minute questions? Thank you, Dr. Henderson.
- Next is the quarterly two-year strategy to sustaining excellence and financial transparency. Dr. Winston.
- Thank you, President Cooperman. So exactly 12 months ago, the Board of School Trustees and I announced
- our two-year strategy to achieve fiscal balance. Part of that strategy included our public commitment
- to provide quarterly updates and financial transparency regarding our efforts.
- The two board priorities as a reminder to our audience are one, to achieve financial balance, and two,
- to sustain academic excellence. Our goals for tonight's presentation are to provide our fiscal update
- and also to announce the kickoff of our two new bond-funded projects. Mr. Irwin and I have a lot of
- very valuable information to share with you, and I want you to know that the key word is a lot, but
- I want you to know that it's really, really important that you
- capture this information and that you begin to connect the dots as we are as well. As a friendly reminder
- on our timeline here, I would like just to take a few minutes to remind everyone of our journey toward
- achieving balance. When I took over as interim superintendent in July 2024, although it feels like 10
- years ago, just a year, 18 months ago, the board of school trustees tasked me with taking a comprehensive look
- at corporation finances for the purposes of making informed decisions that would ultimately guide our
- fiscal sustainability. My first action was to hire an external firm, Policy Analytics, to assist our
- team. The results of our financial forecast review indicated that we needed to reduce our operational
- expenses and to live within our means amidst declining student enrollment and declining revenue.
- As a result, we embarked on our two-year strategy in February of 2025.
- and we unveiled that during our state of the schools address that year. A few short months later, the
- Indiana legislature, as you can see here with the yellow arrow, passed Senate Enrolled Act 1, which
- was designed to provide property tax relief to homeowners. What we know now is that SEA 1 significantly
- reduces needed property tax revenue for numerous government entities, including public libraries, schools,
- and local government. Last fall, I believe it was in October of 2025, you heard a very detailed analysis
- of exactly how this piece of legislation is going to impact and is impacting our corporation. Consistent
- with our promise to the community, we have continued to provide quarterly updates on our finances, and
- we are eager to do so this evening. The next three slides are included to assist everyone that is listening
- to connect the dots at the state level and locally. SEA 1, the 2025 property tax relief legislation
- is impacting local governments and schools statewide. As we look across the state, we are beginning
- to see and hear about numerous examples of budget cuts and reductions across all forms of government.
- On this slide, you'll see a few recent announcements that came out from Elkhart Community Schools,
- They've been talking about making budgetary cuts, specifically as a result of SEA 1. Two weeks ago,
- Noblesville Schools communicated that they are going to have to make staffing reductions due to the
- multi-million dollar deficit caused by SEA 1. Crown Point Schools is cutting job positions and they
- are making reductions to their birth to school program.
- North Allen County Schools is also making reductions. So I think it's important to note I only pulled
- out four examples, but there are many more than four examples across the state of Indiana where school
- corporations are having to make some very difficult choices. The fact of the matter is that SCA 1 is
- impacting everyone. In many ways, MCCSC has been ahead of the curve because we've been discussing these
- potential impacts for several months now.
- In spite of these headwinds, our team continues to keep our efforts focused on making sure that our
- decisions are good for children, fiscally responsible, and ultimately sustainable. We will all have
- to make very tough choices in today's financial climate. What is true, however, is our ongoing commitment
- to maintain the excellence in our schools that our children deserve. What you see here locally
- is that there are several examples of local government decisions regarding SCA-1 and the very real fiscal
- impacts. You probably are familiar with the fact that our local libraries have had to make changes directly
- as a result of the reduction in revenue for them as a result of SCA-1, and so they've had to reduce
- in many ways, but one of the ways that they've reduced is to reduce their hours of availability.
- their operating hours. You probably know that we have nearby towns and townships. Ellisville and Richland
- township are having conversations about consolidation. That's directly in response to SCA 1. And then
- our local city of Bloomington city council is looking at the kinds of budgetary changes that they're
- going to have to make. So I think it's just important to connect these dots in a very explicit manner.
- The fiscal climate that we are in requires that we change our practices and that we also tighten our
- belts, which we have been very responsible in doing. The impacts of SEA 1 are real, and we cannot escape
- the types of changes that are now required. In many ways, property tax relief means changing what we
- are accustomed to and how services are provided throughout our communities. Recently, the Indiana Business Review
- from the Kelly School of Business published their annual forecast for 2026. Their findings revealed
- significant economic stress for our community. Specifically, this report noted comparatively weak growth
- in economic activity in Bloomington since before the pandemic. This is evidenced by a number of key
- indicators. On the left-hand side, you'll see a 4.4% GDP growth in Bloomington,
- compared to 11.2% growth statewide during the same time period. In the middle, you'll notice that local
- wages here in Bloomington have gone down by 6.5%, while the statewide wages have increased by 5.1%.
- And not surprisingly, housing affordability. A home in Bloomington is approximately 18.1% higher than
- the state average. Those numbers are real.
- And those numbers certainly impact what happens within our community and within our schools. Weak economic
- performance made Bloomington a negative outlier in a state that has recently beat the nation in wage
- and real GDP growth. Despite the challenging economic environment for higher education, Bloomington
- unemployment fell from 3.9% to 3.4% between August 2024 and August 2025. And we all know
- the hits that have been experienced by Indiana University by more than $100 million reduction, as well
- as Purdue. And if you look at the economic realities of those two communities, you'll see some stark
- similarities. It's important to note that, and you may be asking, why does this matter and what does
- this mean for our schools? Well, we just looked at Bloomington's economic
- picture in comparison to the state on a couple of key lagging indicators. Here's why it matters. Because
- when families struggle with low wages and high housing costs, some of them leave. And in Indiana, when
- students leave, funding follows them out the door. That's why financial discipline is not an option
- right now. It is essential. We have to be honest about the reality that we're facing.
- Fewer students, less state funding, and more uncertainty from the state and federal government. Every
- dollar has to be managed wisely, and our staffing and our spending have to align with the number of
- students that we actually serve today. But here's what's just as important, and I don't want anyone
- to miss this part. We will not cut our way to a brighter future. The very things that make families
- choose MCCSC
- our rich arts programs our numerous career pathways our early learning and pre-k programs our AP and
- accelerated course offerings our extracurriculars and our very talented teachers and our dedicated support
- staff. Those are the things that we must protect. Our schools are not just responding to this economy.
- We can help strengthen it. Strong communities build strong schools. Great schools attract families. Families.
- grow communities. Our schools are a vital part of the economic engine of our community. That's the role
- we play. That's the role we want to play. And that's exactly what our two year strategy is designed
- to do. To balance our finances so that we can sustain excellent schools for the future. We
- will be responsible with what we have and keep investing in what makes MCCSC worth choosing. We're not
- just balancing a budget.
- we're building a future. And now I'm happy to turn it over to Matt Irwin, our chief financial officer,
- to show you exactly how we are progressing on our two year strategy before I talk to you a little bit
- more about our future. Thank you, Dr. Winston. I think you'll be able to click through for me as we
- go through this. This is the third time that I've been able to give this financial transparency report.
- Um, and again, I'm excited to see her before you and continue to update you in the public on where we're at.
- This first slide builds off some of the things that Dr. Henderson and Dr. Winston are talking about
- as it relates to our local demographics and our changes in enrollment and paying attention to how schools
- are funded. And our number one source of funding is based on student enrollment. So what this graph
- is showing you is the difference in funding because of enrollment loss.
- So what it looks back to is a starting point of our October count in 2019, which was at a high watermark
- of about 10,897 students. And over the course of time, our student enrollment has declined as we talk
- about some of the various demographic factors and things going on around the state that ultimately obviously
- affect the schools as well. And so if all else stayed the same,
- and enrollment had not dropped, we would have collected almost $31 million more in basic tuition support.
- But as Dr. Winston described, the funding follows the student. And so again, student enrollment is our
- number one source of funding as a public school corporation. And so as student enrollment shifts, we
- have to shift as well. And so when you think about some of the changes
- that we've been making, the adaptations that we've been making to the way that we operate and the way
- that we staff our buildings. We obviously are keeping those principles at the forefront. But when our
- number one source of funding continues to change, we need to change and adapt with it. So again, that's
- what this slide points to. And again, it kind of leads in as you go to the next slide. This is the slide
- that you've seen many times.
- And the way that I've set this up is that we've continued to talk about where we started from when we
- were talking about the implementation of the two year strategy to achieve balance, right? As we didn't
- make shifts in staffing and as we're making shifts now, if we didn't make adjustments, here's what we
- were looking at. It wasn't an option. And so as we get out to 2028,
- What you see at the top or the bottom of those individual bar graphs are the cumulative totals, positive
- or negative, what was projected to happen as we move forward if we did not make any changes. And that
- simply was not an option. And so at the bottom there at 2028, it's over a $30 million deficit in our
- three largest funds. So with that, we move forward. Again, like I said, I like to remind us that's where
- we started.
- The next piece that I've continued to try to remind you of, this is an ever-changing picture. We are
- continuing to keep our finger on the pulse of how things are ebbing and flowing, whether that's locally,
- demographically, what it is that we expect future things to happen or the implications of legislation,
- projections of enrollment, all of those things. And so when I show the next chart that shows our progress
- in balance,
- It reflects some of these things that I think are important to keep at the forefront. One, actual revenue
- and expenses through January 31st of 2026. Certification of our February 2026 student count. Again,
- our basic grant, our student enrollment is measured twice a year by the state. The second time for the
- school year was this February, and so we've certified that count, which was down approximately 108 students.
- We add an update to our special education grant. Within our tuition support, there are several grants,
- different pieces that are a part that make up our tuition support. One of those is our special education
- grant where we receive funding based on the pupils that we have as with special needs and the funding
- category of which those needs fall into. So our special education student count went up from this past
- December, from the December in 2024.
- the funding in that specific part of our tuition support will go up. But what we recognize with our
- February count of overall student count going down, that they will then reconcile that back as well.
- So that's folded into these next projections. And again, knowing the demographics and what it is that's
- projected for our local area and the expectations for student enrollment going forward. One of the other
- things that we got notice of within the last couple of weeks is that we got notified by the Indiana State
- pension retirement system was that our employer contributions towards the teacher retirement fund were
- going up another one percent starting in twenty twenty seven. So in twenty twenty six we were notified
- that it was going to go up zero point six percent and then now we've been notified in twenty twenty
- seven it's going to go up another one percent. So in terms of just giving you a feel for what that means
- for us another one percent is approximately six hundred thousand dollars of extra expense
- just because they had raised that up next to continue to fund the teacher retirement fund. So that's
- something that we've been notified of and we've layered into projections going forward. We continue
- to talk about one-time funds because it's important that we don't let those confuse us about the path
- that we're on and whether or not we are finding balance. And so we have shown the planned input of the
- taxable GO and
- to support fund balances in the operations fund. We've included that in there because we know it's a
- one-time fund that we've actually received. And we'll talk a little bit more about one-time funds again
- later on in my present part of the presentation. We continue to show and blend into this what we expect
- to be the effects of SCA-1 based on the policy analytics report that you guys saw that broader update
- on back in October. And then again, we are continuing
- uh to assess progress towards financial balance simply by we are flatlining expenses past 2026 simply
- because if if they're flatlined and we aren't showing balance obviously if i show increasing expenses
- we're not going to show balance so we we're working towards that that point but i continue to make that
- point as it provides context to the numbers that you see in the next graph so it could go forward what
- i put with this graph
- And this is laid out just like the other one. You have the individual respective fund balances inside
- of the bar. You have the cumulative total of those three specific funds at the top of the bar is significant
- progress. This is a much different picture as then what relates to the first graph that you saw. It's
- significant progress 12 months into a 24 month strategy. And balance is not yet achieved, but we are
- headed in the right direction.
- We're making the right decisions. We're asking the right questions as we continue to keep at the forefront
- the priorities that we continue to talk about here tonight. The next takeaway as you look at this is
- that our operations fund is moving in the right direction long term. In the short term, we still project
- to eat into cash this year as we're currently set up. But as you look in the long term, if we have the
- ability to continue
- with the MLGQ growth that they typically give us, and we look at how we are using the runway of one-time
- funds, we are moving in the right direction. And let me talk about that a little bit more specifically,
- because that part can be confusing when you look at this graph. The yellow and the red together make
- the operations fund. But I separated out into the red one-time funds, because it's important to understand
- what that fund would look like without those one-time funds.
- And as you move forward into the upcoming years, the red in the previous bar is built into the yellow.
- So I think it's important to make note of that, but what's encouraging is that you see that yellow portion
- of the operations fund continuing to grow, which again is why I said we're moving in the right direction
- long-term. The gray at the top is our referendum. We know that as SCA-1 continues
- to fold in over the coming years of its effects that if our spend level and trajectory stays the same,
- we will start to eat into larger and larger amounts of cash in the referendum fund simply because it
- will produce less dollars. That same voter approved rate produces less dollars when net assessed value
- is lowered. And then the education fund there at the bottom is fairly stagnant. It's moving.
- a little bit in the right direction, but it's fairly stagnant in this picture. Again, this is a much
- better picture than what we saw there at the beginning. We are making significant progress and we're
- one year in to a two-year strategy to achieve balance. We're making great strides. Wanted to talk a
- little bit more about some important impacts as it relates to SCA-1 and then some of that strategic
- management as we continue to talk about one-time funds.
- We know through that policy analytics report that we are expecting to see funding reductions in totality
- across the implementation of SAI-1 of approximately $30 million. When we look at just 2026, one of the
- primary drivers of what it is that we feel this year is the unfunded credit losses. That's the supplemental
- deduction that property taxpayers will receive. And right now, the way that it's current legislatively
- written, it would be spread across the debt service and operations fund. We know that right now the
- estimate to be about $2 million loss off of our levy. Right now, currently in legislation, they are
- proposing that they would move all of that loss to the operations fund, which would protect our debt
- service fund so that we would, uh, it doesn't impair school corporations future ability to pay debt
- obligations, which means they would move $2 million loss to our operations fund.
- And with that happening, we would receive less property tax dollars in our operations fund in 2026 than
- what we received in 2025. One-time funds. Effective uses, we talked about this. What they're allowing
- us to do, and I showed this in the previous graph, it's allowing us that longer runway to make changes
- to the way that we operate, to do it in a balanced,
- and concerted effort over time. And once we achieve balance, what one-time funds can help us do is put
- the appropriate long-term safety net as far as fund balances in place so that when the next legislative
- change as enrollment changes, as some of these things go on, we have the necessary cash balance on hand
- to not only handle the ebbs and flows of our revenue and expenses in any given fund,
- but the various changes that we experience. And that's important. We and the way that we operate, we
- are a huge driver in what makes this community successful. And it's important that we are operating
- in a healthy place because we take care of a lot of students and we employ a lot of staff. And so we
- need to make sure that we're positioned in a place of strength. And so that's another way that we could
- use one time funds is to put our balances in a healthy place
- so that once it's achieved and as we move forward, that takes care of one of the other pieces that we
- know is essential to financial strength. And then again, account for one-time expenses. And the ineffective
- use that I listed, that's pretty self-explanatory, right? The example that I used before, I guess it's
- probably timely now when you talk about tax return time, as I said, hey, I get a tax check,
- one-time funds, I really want this vehicle,
- I know that with this one-time funds, it's going to help me get the vehicle out the door. I'm a little
- unsure if I'm going to be able to continue to make the payments. And that's not necessarily how we want
- to do business. And so we are being cognizant of making sure that we're maximizing the impact of one-time
- funds without putting us at risk of putting ourselves in a position that we're navigating out of now.
- And then I provided those same examples that I put in different board meetings. Some of those. And again,
- we're not we're not counting on the one time funds or we're not showing them in projections until we
- receive them. Because if we if we think that we're going to receive them and we make plans off of it
- and we go and spend dollars. And then turn around and don't receive those that would be problematic.
- So for example, the solar rebates, we know that we've taken all the necessary steps to receive those
- solar rebates as it relates to some energy efficiency projects that we've undertaken that would make
- us eligible for those rebates through the IRS. They've not come through yet. And so we're continuing
- to wait on that. So we, again, don't count on those things until we know that we've received them so
- that we're continuing to operate from a place of consistency and strength. So with that,
- I believe that is my last slide there, and I will turn that back over to Dr. Winston. She talks about
- how we're continuing to sustain excellence amidst the challenges that we're facing. Thank you, Mr. Irwin.
- The second board priority that I spoke about earlier was sustaining excellence, sustaining academic
- excellence. That's what we focus on every day. Our corporation has numerous examples of student excellence
- outcomes. You saw many of those students earlier this evening
- Assistant Superintendent Harmon introduced several of our students. Sustaining academic excellence means
- we will continue to strengthen our operational efficiencies, continuing to coordinate our purchases
- corporation-wide, ensuring that we are getting our best deals possible, taking a close look at the tools
- and services, and paying very close to the subscriptions that we have, particularly in the areas of software.
- as just one example. If you think about your own household, Matt and I kind of like to use real examples.
- Think about your own household when your money gets tight. Your children still get what they need, right?
- But you get smarter about how you spend. Maybe you start buying in bulk. Maybe you sit down and take
- a hard look at all those monthly subscriptions and ask, do we really need Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV,
- and Prime? Which ones do we keep?
- I don't know, some of us probably need to rethink that, myself included. That's exactly what we're doing
- though here at MCCSE. When funding gets tighter, we protect what matters most. And what matters most
- is taking care of our children in our classrooms. Earlier this evening, Dr. Henderson talked about several
- key principles that guide our decision making. We are living those principles every single day.
- So as leaders, we're looking at how we operate behind the scenes
- We're continuing to coordinate purchases across the corporation to make sure we get the best deals.
- And just like you might audit your family's spending we're making sure every one of our dollars is being
- used as efficiently as possible. Every leader in our organization every leader has been tasked with
- being more efficient and more disciplined with how they spend taxpayer dollars. We're doing this to
- protect your children's experiences in our schools.
- These are the kinds of smart behind the scenes decisions that allow us to keep investing where it counts
- in our students, in our teachers, and in our classrooms. Sustaining academic excellence. We believe
- that it is very doable to achieve fiscal balance while also sustaining academic excellence. The two
- do not have to be mutually exclusive. It may mean that we begin to reimagine how we do our work and
- how we sustain excellence. It may look different.
- Achieving financial balance does not mean scaling back what makes MCCSC exceptional. We will continue
- to offer strong STEAM programs, musical, visual, performing arts, extracurriculars, early learning,
- global learning, college and career pathways, and a wide variety of academic programs and experiences
- that draw families to choose MCCSC. A few minutes ago, you did hear Superintendent Harmon celebrate
- many of our students. I didn't mean to repeat that twice. But it was that important. I mean, how excited
- were you to see all those children here, right? That's what it's about. So it was worth saying twice.
- I meant to say that twice. In addition to the amazing students that we saw this evening, just this past
- weekend, Bloomington North placed second and Bloomington South placed third in the Science Olympiad
- competition regionals and they're going to state. You heard about that from Ms. Helms. Two of our middle
- schools placed high enough to go to state competition as well Jackson Creek and Try North. That kind
- of success that we are experiencing is not by chance. It is the result of hard work by awesome teachers
- and committed students and we are committed to protecting this type of investment in our students.
- We will continue to innovate and offer the kind of school experiences that do attract our families.
- When resources are tight, innovation is what will carry us forward. Our team will continue to find new
- ways to deliver excellent academic opportunities for our students today and for years to come. Just
- a few examples of excellence in action were seen at our recent Student Excellence Awards three weeks ago.
- And what you see on this slide here you see three really clear examples. Seeing the success of our students
- is the best way to know if we are sustaining diverse student opportunities. On the left you'll see Blake
- under music and musical and performing arts. Blake is a talented and creative force at bachelor middle
- school. He earned a place in the prestigious junior all state jazz band. I mean really the junior all
- state jazz band and he's in middle school.
- showcasing exceptional musical ability. Blake also shines as a member of the Bachelor Television BTV,
- where he produced a one-minute reel for the Indiana Association of School Principals Real Impact Series
- competition. Now, how many of you have presented something for the Indiana Association of School Principals?
- And Eric Gilpin may not raise his hand, because he probably has.
- But he captured the energy and excitement of bachelor school-wide through a walk-a-thon and a lock-in
- fundraiser. So that's Blake on the left. In the middle, we have Peter for extracurriculars, makerspaces.
- Peter is a leader in every sense of the word at Tri-North Middle School. He balances rigorous academics,
- athletics, Science Olympiad, I'm sure he was there this past weekend, National Junior Honor Society,
- and his role as an armor ambassador
- with remarkable maturity and poise. As a makerspace teaching assistant, Peter strengthens the learning
- environment daily, whether troubleshooting a 3D printer, and how many of you know what a 3D printer
- is or what it does? You don't have to raise your hand. Demonstrating techniques, organizing equipment,
- or helping classmates one-on-one. And on the right, for STEAM, Nimora.
- She is a brilliant student at Templeton Elementary whose talent, humility, and kindness makes her an
- exceptional student and leader. She excels across all academic areas with ease and beyond the classroom.
- She is active in Girl Scouts. She's in her second year in the MCCSE Strings program. And she is leading
- the way as a founding member of Templeton's first ever Robotics Club. These are just three of the many,
- many students, almost 100 students who were celebrated,
- at our awards ceremony a couple of weeks ago. And we have hundreds more that are just as deserving.
- We are also sustaining excellence by the promises that we've made to the community as a result of our
- referendum. An important thing you should know is that we are, in fact, following through on all of
- those promises.
- We have a 2022 referendum that helps pay for teachers, staff, and learning. We also have a 2023 referendum
- that expands families access to early learning. As two quick examples that you see on here, more than
- 500 families are benefiting from high quality preschool and pre-K. That's more than double what we provided
- prior to the referendum. We wouldn't have been able to do that prior to the referendum. And school supplies.
- Families don't need to buy them. The referendum provides them.
- We just opened enrollment for our preschool and our pre-K program, was it last week? And we still have
- spaces available so more families can join our preschool and our pre-K programs. 100% of our enrolled
- students attend pre-K for free or half price or less for the 25-26 school year. Our three-year-old preschool
- program, the majority of our enrolled students, approximately 75%, attend for free this year.
- referendum funds will continue to be used in this manner. In spite of the economic challenges that I
- highlighted a few minutes ago, it's important for you to note that MCCSE is ahead of the class when
- it comes to teacher salaries. The average teaching salary for MCCSE is $69,770,
- which is 12% higher than the statewide average. And our minimum starting teacher salary for those coming
- right out of college is $57,750, nearly 28% higher. In looking at some of the informal data that we
- can put our hands on, it appears as if we are in the top 15% of salaries for all Indiana school corporations
- in terms of our starting teacher salaries.
- And that's something to be proud of. That's something that we can certainly leverage in the economic
- climate and economic reality within our community. When we see that economically, salaries and wages
- are going down in Bloomington, then we are certainly at the forefront in terms of our ability to pay
- our employees, our teachers, and our support staff better than most.
- We are one year into our two year strategy and the results are clear. As you heard from Mr. Irwin a
- few moments ago, the future is brighter because of the disciplined approach that we have taken up to
- this point in time. We cannot slow down. We need to continue to be disciplined in our approach. In spite
- of those successes, our work is not complete. There's a lot more work to be done.
- in order for us to achieve the fiscal balance, which is this board's number one priority. There are
- numerous headwinds that we must face every day. We do not know what course or direction will be taken
- in the area of federal dollars. Those federal dollars are essential for us because they supplement the
- types of programs that we provide for our students. But we will continue to monitor state and federal
- impacts. We will also continue to identify operational efficiencies that will allow us to work smarter.
- And we will continue the practice of aligning our staffing to the moving target of student enrollment,
- as Dr. Henderson showed us this evening. We must and we will operate within the dollars that we have.
- Last month, we were excited to be able to share with you our new financial portal, Every Dollar, Every
- Student. I encourage you to stay updated on our two-year strategy in our financial portal on our corporation website.
- This is a place for both information, but we also see this as educational as well, so that everyone
- in our community can see how we're spending every dollar on behalf of every student. The second part
- of what we wanted to share with you this evening has to do with our bond projects. Tonight marks an
- important milestone for our corporation. We are launching our designing and building to sustain excellence projects.
- Bond projects investments that protect learning environments steward community resources and position
- our corporation for the next generation of students. Transparency is truly not an optional consideration.
- It is an expectation and it is a norm for how this board of school trustees and this administrative
- team does our work. This evening we will share our first projects. We will explain how bond dollars work.
- And we will outline how the board and the public will be kept informed every step of the way. So there
- are three goals for what I'm going to share with you over the next few moments to officially launch
- our latest bond program to explain how dollars work the bond dollars work and to commit to
- ongoing transparency. The bond dollars the purpose of our bond programs is really to make sure that
- we are continuing to invest in our schools so that we have the kinds of facilities
- 21st century classrooms, accessible spaces that make students and families want to attend our schools.
- Our bond dollars are restricted by law to only address capital improvements to school facilities and
- they are dedicated to the systems and spaces that make teaching and learning possible. This slide is
- important because we wanted to make sure that everyone would understand how bond dollars can be used
- and how they cannot be used. On the left, you'll see several examples of how bond dollars can be used.
- I'm not going to read all of those for you, but you can see that we can utilize them for safety and
- security. We can use them for buses, roof repair, HVAC system, that's our heating and cooling systems,
- technology enhancements, and so on and so forth. But I think it's equally as important for folks to
- know that you may not use bond dollars
- for teacher or staff salaries. You may not use them for classrooms, textbooks, educational programs
- or daily operating costs. I think it might be helpful for you to understand also how do we select the
- projects that are funded by bonds. We select these projects
- in a manner that allows us to be responsible stewards of the dollars, that we prioritize safety and
- health, and we're looking at long-term sustainability. So those are probably the three biggest areas
- that we think about as we try to prioritize what projects are going to happen first, what are the next
- projects, so on and so forth. At the end of the day, our goal is to preserve community assets while
- also controlling future costs.
- Some of the categories I've already mentioned to you deal with transportation, facilities, equipment,
- safety and insecurity enhancements, mechanical aspects of our buildings, so on and so forth. Recently,
- we've completed a few projects. We recently completed our Bloomington South soccer field back in the
- fall. Very excited about that. We also completed the Bloomington South gymnasium seating.
- the completion of the Templeton playground with the basketball court and the outdoor learning area.
- And we also completed our Clear Creek and Highland Park interior wall covering. So those are just a
- few examples of recent projects that were funded by bonds and were important contributions for our school
- corporation. It's exciting to be able to share with you some of our newest projects, which will include
- a bus canopy and retention pond. And that's going to allow us to
- provide appropriate charging areas for our final remaining EV buses. And even more exciting than buses
- would be the Bloomington North parking lot, soccer field, football stadium, and restrooms. I know there
- are some folks here who are particularly excited about the restrooms at the football field. Concession
- stands and lockers. And so we're very, very thrilled to be able to do that.
- It's long overdue. It's necessary. And we do think it's going to be of benefit to our students. So a
- question you should be asking is, how will you as the community stay informed? And the board should
- be asking me, how are you going to keep us informed? Well, there are four ways that we are currently
- planning on doing that. Providing quarterly updates at public board meetings so that everyone is in
- the loop. Providing monthly and bimonthly dashboard updates on our website.
- There will be school-specific communications that will go out to the faculty members and the employees
- and the families of our schools where we, for example, the North Project, I know Mr. Stark is already
- beginning to communicate with members of that community. And then there will be 24-hour access on our
- website on information so that you know exactly what we're spending, what we're spending it on, and
- then the status of those projects. So we're very, very excited to be able to continue to keep everyone
- involved and aware.
- Here are just a few frequently asked questions that I think are important for folks to know.
- Most importantly, will referendum funds be used to pay for facilities projects? Thought brevity would
- help here. No. Can education funds be used to pay for facilities projects? No. Will operations funds
- be used to pay for these facilities projects? No.
- And will these projects take money away from our teachers? Absolutely not. There may well be other questions
- that folks have. And as those additional questions come forward, we will be sure to add those to our
- website as well. So to learn more about our designing and building to sustain excellence and our school
- finances, please go to this website. You're going to see more information about our bond-funded building
- and renovation projects, what's been completed, what's in the queue, what's coming up next, and all
- of our current projects.
- Thank you very much for this opportunity. Every dollar, every student, it shows how we spend every dollar
- to care for every one of our students. Thank you. Our next update will be May 2026. That concludes my
- update. Thank you, Dr. Winston. Are there any comments from the board?
- not one thank you it is a lot of information i'm just teasing you i definitely i appreciate this level
- of transparency and um i know we've talked about this before but um i would extend that not only to
- this presentation but i think the
- Um, new portal for understanding school finances is, um, I am, I continue to be really thankful to,
- uh, Sarah DeWeese and to you, Dr. Winston, um, Erwin, everyone who contributed to that. I think that's
- a really important part of our, um, strategy to be transparent. I'm also glad that you mentioned the,
- um, where we are in teacher salaries that were in the top 15% of the state.
- I know every time we ask the community for feedback, there is a focus on making sure that we are providing
- for our teachers. And I'm actually really grateful to the community for keeping the focus on teachers,
- because I think everyone here knows how important that is. So I'm glad you highlighted that as well.
- Thank you. Thank you for saying that. And one thing that I think is equally as important for everyone
- to be aware of, our teachers are still not paid enough. I think it's important to know that while we are,
- One of the best employers in the state and we pay better than most. I don't believe it's enough given
- the work that we're asking our teachers to do each and every day. And I am eager to get to the point
- where our salaries can continue to increase on behalf of our teachers and all of our employees. That's
- a priority for all of us. And I think with the fiscal discipline that we're showing now, in the future
- we will be better positioned to be able to do that.
- Thank you for saying that. I think that's right. Thank you. Other comments from the board? Thank you,
- Dr. Winston, again. Tonight, we will provide our community with a short yet important update on the
- current Indiana legislative session. This report is going to be provided by Board Secretary Pirani.
- Would you like to begin? Yes. Thank you, and good evening. The target completion date for the
- Indiana General Assembly is this Friday, February 27th. We are monitoring numerous bills that impact
- public education. I have three that I will highlight to you all this evening. The first one is Senate
- Bill 78. This is Bell to Bell cell phone ban. This bill will prohibit the use of cell phones during
- the school day and will require school corporations to do one of two things.
- One, prohibit students from having a cell phone in their possession during the day, or two, establish
- a storage policy to eliminate student access to their phones. There is also a provision that could allow
- school corporations to charge a $25 storage fee for the purchase of storage of devices. The second one
- is House Bill 1360.
- The amended bill allows a public agency to create an electronic portal for receiving public records
- requests, but permits an agency to deny any public records requests, whether received electronically
- or otherwise. Sorry, lost my spot. There we go. That agency suspects to be data scraping or phishing
- activity. Additionally, the bill allows a public agency to deny a request for public records
- if the request is made by a person who is party to a pending or ongoing litigation and is duplicative
- of a discovery request made by the person in the pending or ongoing litigation. This bill moves to the
- floor of the Senate for a second reading. And then last but not least is House Bill 1242, Education Reports.
- This bill calls for the Department of Education to conduct efficiency studies on public schools in three
- areas, operation efficiency, decreasing costs, and improving student outcomes. In addition, a second
- study is requested that will examine per student operational costs in public schools. As always, you
- can go to our website under the Board of School Trustees tab.
- And there's a link that you can see our legislators that you can contact on any of these bills or others,
- as well as our monthly updates. Thank you. Are there any comments from the board? I just want to highlight,
- we talked about Indiana statistics, and I just want to point out the abysmal voter turnout rates for Indiana.
- I'm going to echo that and say that if you are going to be 18 by the time of the 2026 elections, so
- that might be for any students,
- You can register to vote any time prior to then, so please do just keep that in mind and do that so
- that you can take part in your civic duty. But yeah, we need everybody out there voting. Thank you,
- Secretary Prani, and thank you for the encouragement to vote, Erin and April.
- Are there any reports from other committees or final comments from the board? I can just say that I
- did attend the MCCRB Foundations board meeting today. There's no need for details. She was here today
- and gave an overview. Thank you, Asia. I appreciate that.
- And finally, Dr. Winston, do you have any additional information to share with us tonight? Just a couple
- of items. Black History Month. As you know, this month, our country celebrated Black History Month.
- And throughout this month, many of our schools have engaged our students in a number of meaningful and
- relevant learning experiences that uplift black history, culture, and voices. Student athletes. We're
- winding down the winter athletic season with so many of our teams and student athletes achieving great
- things. Girls wrestling.
- Bloomington South placed fourth in the regionals with five student athletes competing at state. Bloomington
- South girls basketball won sectionals. Bloomington South girls swimming competed at state. With Hadley
- Laughlin placing fifth in the girls one meter diving competition. Boys swimming and diving. Swimming
- and diving state preliminary prelims begin this Friday. And state swimming and diving will conclude
- on Saturday. Both north and south will be represented at the state.
- Boys Wrestling, Bloomington South's wrestling team was sectional and regional champions, and had one
- wrestler advance to state, and boys basketball. Sectionals begin next Tuesday, March 3rd, with South
- playing Martinsville, starting at seven, and then on Saturday, March 6th, North will play Terre Haute at 6 p.m.
- The games will be played in Martinsville. Muffins with Markay. This semester's Muffins with Markay listening
- event will be held on Wednesday, March 4th,
- It will be held at Grandview Elementary and I hope that those who are able can join me at 9.30 a.m.
- for a conversation and as always a delicious muffin. And last but certainly not least, spring break.
- In case you weren't aware, spring break is right around the corner, March 16th through the 20th. Classes
- will resume on March 23rd. Everyone enjoy your time off. That concludes my report.
- Thank you, Dr. Winston. That did remind me that over the weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the
- poster, the Black History Month poster competition sponsored by the city. And shout out to Fairview
- Elementary for having the most elementary entries for the poster competition. And Bloomington High School
- North had the most high school entries for the competition. I learned a lot about black leaders at the
- competition.
- All the posters were amazing and those two schools in particular really showed up. Any other last-minute
- comments from the board? All right. Thank you again Dr. Winston for your remarks. The next regularly
- scheduled board meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 24th. We are adjourned.