Matthew joins MCCSE with 24 years of teaching experience and holds a master's degree in education from
Eastern Illinois University. He will serve as assistant athletic director, physical education teacher,
and head men's basketball coach. Tyler Kelp, administrator assistant principal, Summit Elementary School.
Tyler joins MCCSE after serving as a special education resource teacher and department chair at Clark
Pleasant Community Schools. He holds a master's degree in urban educational leadership,
and policy from Indiana University. Kimberly Osborne, assistant principal, Fairview Elementary School.
Kimberly joins MCCSC after serving as an assistant principal for eight years at the Metropolitan School
District of Lawrence Township. She holds a master's degree in administration from Ball State University.
Sally Spice, assistant principal, Benford Elementary School. Sally continues with MCCSC after serving
in corporation as an English as a new language teacher.
She also served as a general education elementary teacher prior to that. Sally holds a master's degree
in curriculum and instruction from Purdue University. We have a few administrator changes of status
to announce to you this evening to draw your attention to in the personnel report. Tyler Abel will be
moving from principal at Summit Elementary School to assistant principal at Tri-North Middle School.
Dr. Tim Dowling, our director of early learning and enrollment
is also going to be serving as the interim principal at Marlin Elementary School in addition to his
other responsibilities. Stephen Marshall moves from principal at Childs Elementary School to principal
at Summit Elementary School. Aaron Ritter moves from principal at Marlin Elementary School to principal
at Childs Elementary School. In addition to that, I'd like to draw the board's attention to two certified
staff retirements.
Mr. James Callahan. Mr. Callahan retires after 29 years of dedicated service to MCCSE, having served
as a fine arts teacher at Bloomington High School North. In addition to that, Harold Green. Mr. Green
retires after nearly 26 years of dedicated service to MCCSE, having served as a social studies teacher
at Bloomington High School North most recently.
Altogether, our retirees presented this evening represent a combined total of 55 years of service to
our school community. And on behalf of MCCSC, I would like to extend a special thank you to these individuals
for their many years of dedicated service and wish them well in their next adventures. At this time,
I would request that you please approve the recommendations as presented in your board packet in the
personnel report. Thank you, Dr. Henderson. Are there any comments from the board?
want to congratulate those who retired and I would also say thank you to everyone who has shifted around
taken on new responsibilities and service of the corporation especially dr. Dowling thank you for jumping
in to serve in this regard any other comments from the board all those in favor of approving the personnel
report signify by saying aye aye any against
abstentions. Motion carries. Dr Henderson. Do you want to invite anyone to the podium tonight? Yes.
Thank you, President Cooperman. At this time, uh, before we move on to the next agenda item, I'd like
to invite three individuals up to the podium this evening to address the board. We'll start this evening
with Matthew Britain, assistant athletic director, P. E. Teacher and new head basketball coach at Bloomington
High School North. Mr Britain.
Thank you, Dr. Henderson. It's an honor to be here. I'm excited to be joining the North Cougar family
and serving our students when they arrive on August the 5th. I would like to thank our Board of Education,
Dr. Winston, Dr. Henderson, Ms. Harmon, North Principal Matt Stark, and Athletic Director Andy Hodson.
Everyone has been great and made our family feel very welcome. Looking forward to get started. This
will be my 25th year in education, 23rd year coaching,
And I can truly say I'm just as excited about the start of this school year as I was year one. So ready
to serve our students the best of my ability and get started. Excited to be a part of the North Cougar
family. So thank you all again very much. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Britton. Next, I'd like to invite
up Stephen Marshall, new principal at Summit Elementary School. Mr. Marshall. Good evening.
Thank you, Dr. Winston and President Cooper and members of the board. I'm extremely excited to have
the opportunity to lead at Summit. I've been lucky enough to have the last couple of days in the building
and everyone's just been extremely welcoming and kind and supportive and I know we're gonna have a great
year. And I'd be remiss to not express my gratitude to the families, the students, the teachers, the
faculty and staff, the childs.
really great 14-year run there. But right now my mindset is just to continue making some at the great
school that it is and we're looking forward to welcoming all of our students on August 5th. So thank
you again for the opportunity. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Marshall. Finally I'd like to invite Aaron Ritter
principal at Childs Elementary School up to the podium. Mr. Ritter. Thank you. Good evening board. Thank you.
Thank you, Dr. Winston, Dr. Henderson. It's just extremely honored to be principal at Childs Elementary,
looking forward to getting started. I'll echo some more thoughts. I appreciate the kindness and welcoming
that I received at Childs and looking forward to welcoming in students and meeting even more of the
staff in person. And I would also like to thank my previous MCCSE homes, Marlin,
where I was principal for the last five years and prior to that Tri-North where I was assistant principal
for three years. So again just can't wait to get started seeing students and families and continuing
forward the great work already taking place at Childs. Thank you. Thank you.
So welcome to new faces and thanks again to those who have taken on new responsibilities and welcome
to those communities. Thank you. Other comments from the board? All right, then we will move on to contracts.
Do I have a motion to approve the contracts and quotes as presented? Do I have a second? It's been moved
by Ross and seconded by Asia that we approve the contracts and quotes as presented.
Mr. Irwin? Yeah, thank you. All contracts have gone through our normal process and they're set for your
approval. I do want to highlight the agreements that continue the expanded arts programming at Fairview
and just the multitude of ways that that referendum funding is supporting student experiences that families
value. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Irwin. Are there comments from the board?
I just want to explain my vote. I'm going to abstain from this vote because there are actually several
of these contracts that benefit my children's school and my family directly. So I'm going to abstain
from this vote. I just wanted to explain that before we take it. So all those in favor of approving
the contracts and quotes signify by saying aye. Aye. Against. Extensions. That's one. That's me. Still
the motion carries.
Next for our consideration are the meal prices for 2026-2027 school year. Do I have a motion to approve
the meal prices for 2026-2027 as presented? So moved. Do I have a second? Second. It's been moved by
Ashley and seconded by April that we approve the meal prices for 2026-2027 as presented. Dr. Henderson?
Thank you, President Kuperman. Dr. Winston, members of the Board of School Trustees, as you're all familiar,
federal regulations govern the pricing of all meals and snacks in the USDA child nutrition programs.
And the paid lunch equity tool that's issued by the Indiana Department of Education is what's utilized
to determine the need for price increases to secondary lunches. The price increases this year impact
middle school lunch and high school lunch with an increase to each of 20 cents per lunch price.
I want to highlight that we're pleased to continue offering free breakfast and lunch to all students
at the following schools through the Community Eligibility Provision Program. That's Arlington Bloomington
Graduation School, Clear Creek, Fairview, Grandview, Highland Park, and Templeton. With that, we'd like
to ask that the board vote to approve the meal price changes as presented. Thank you, Dr. Henderson.
Are there any comments from the board?
I mean, no one ever likes raising lunch prices. We know that it's something that has to happen occasionally.
I do appreciate that we've tried to keep the impact in places where perhaps it might be easier to manage.
But I also want to remind people who are out there listening, all four of you, not including who are
in the room, but a lot of you are here because you have a vested interest in what's happening tonight.
you know, donations to like lunch funds can be made. And so I do just want to continually sort of remind
people that that exists. And if that's something that you feel like you want to do or can do that we
encourage you to do that, especially as we see this like small bump in, in lunch prices. I think that's
a great point, April. There's a lot happening at the national level too, that's going to make lunches
less accessible for a lot of our students. And so I think it's a good time to remind people that we
have that opportunity to provide lunches for our students.
Any other comments from the board? All those in favor of approving the meal prices for 2026-2027 as
presented signify by saying aye. Aye. Against? Any abstentions? Motion carries. Next for our consideration
is the clear title to real estate. Do I have a motion to approve the clear title to real estate as presented?
by the second. Second. It's been moved by Ross and seconded by Ashley that we approve the clear title
to real estate as presented. Attorney Bunker. Yes. Dr. Winston, President Cooper and members of the
board. This involves a parcel, one half acre parcel in Benton Township. This particular parcel was identified
in 1913 as a school property and eventually
adjacent property owners have accepted it out of the chain of title as schoolhouse. In the consolidation
of the Monroe County Community School Corporation, all township properties became properties under the
ownership of the MCCSC. This particular property is identified as schoolhouse, has no ownership to it.
It actually belongs to the MCCSC. In order to clear that title,
We need the authority and what we're asking is the resolution authorizing us to file a lawsuit, setting
out exactly what this property is. It's historically been set aside as a schoolhouse property and we
would believe the consolidation, which says it's property of the MCCSC, which would result in an order
saying we own this one quarter acre property that's on, I'm trying to think, it's on North Tunnel Road.
There's nothing on it. It's just an unimproved half acre of ground.
Thank you Mr. Bunger. Are there questions or comments from the board? What do we need to do next? You
approve the resolution. This authorizes us to file a lawsuit on behalf of the school corporation to
claim the property. Clear the title. So it looks like we need to, we just need to vote.
Well, is there a resolution? I don't see a resolution. Because I actually don't see a resolution attached
to this. A motion, a plain motion authoring us to file suit to clear title of property on North Tunnel
Road will work. Yeah, so the motion was to approve the clear title to real estate as presented, which
will authorize Mr. Bunger to to file the necessary paperwork. Exactly. So we don't need a formal resolution?
No, we don't need a formal resolution. Okay, okay, great.
All those in favor of the motion to approve the clear title to real estate. All those in favor of the
motion to approve the clear title to real estate as presented signify by saying aye. Aye. Against? Any
abstentions? Motion carries. We'll proceed. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Banger.
Our final item for consideration is resolution 2026-07, recognizing the collective bargaining rights
for certain classified operations employees. Do I have a motion to adopt resolution 2026-07? So moved.
Do I have a second? Second. It's been moved by Ross and seconded by Ashley that we adopt resolution
2026-07. Dr. Henderson?
Thank you, President Cooperman, Dr. Winston, and members of the Board of School Trustees. Resolution
2026-07, recognizing collective bargaining rights for certain classified operations employees. I recommend
that the board adopt this resolution, which approves the following. The collective bargaining rights
of classified operations employees shall be coterminous with teachers under Indiana Code Chapter 20-29,
but shall not be subject to the Indiana Education Employment Relations Board jurisdiction
or such related processes. Policy 8910 is replaced with Policy 8910 attached as Exhibit A and incorporated
by reference herein. This resolution and amended Policy 8910, upon adoption following second reading
of the policy, supersedes all prior resolutions or policies regarding or related to bargaining rights
of employees.
This resolution and policy 8910 will be effective upon adoption of the policy following the second reading
by the board. However, with regards to the current collective bargaining agreement with the exclusive
representative of the classified operations employees, this resolution and policy 8910 will be effective
upon expiration of such collective bargaining agreement. I so recommend. Thank you, Dr. Henderson. Are
there comments or questions from the board?
Yes. Okay, so we have a resolution and but then we also have the policy for which we need a first and
second reading. Tonight will be the first reading. But the resolution resolves to do this thing and
so then it would thus be resolved tonight even though we have to have a first and second reading of
the policy.
I think that's a little confusing to me. So as I understand it, the resolution is to put forward the
new language for the policy. It doesn't bind us to vote yes or no for those changes to the policy. Mr.
Bunker, is there anything you can add to that? OK. OK, so this will be effective upon adoption of the
policy following the second reading by the board.
Can I ask why we would have a resolution ahead of a policy reading? I guess I don't think that we typically,
or it's not always done that way. And so I'm curious, like, why the resolution before the policy, why
not just the policy change? If I may, I think that the policy just speaks to the fact that we continue,
although there are no requirements or obligations for us to engage in bargaining,
It just speaks to the fact that we have a continued and ongoing commitment to continue to support our
bargaining groups and ensuring the rights of them are upheld. And so this resolution asserts that. And
it doesn't take a position one way or the other in terms of the importance or the significance of those rights.
It's not without precedent. We've certainly passed resolutions to either write policies or change policies,
and then the language has been brought to us. I think maybe what's a little bit unusual here is that
we're getting them both at the same time. Yeah. I think that's what, for me, it throws me off. Typically,
we don't see them both in the same meeting, like, at the same time. And so that, I think, was just –
it was maybe just a little confusing for me. Sure. I understand that.
I do want to say, and I mean, I may, I don't know, I'm just gonna say something and then we'll proceed
as however we proceed, right? I am pretty staunchly and strongly pro-union. I actually do believe in,
you know, sort of,
empowering people to bargain wherever there is space and room to do so. And I do also know that the
teachers bargaining has been sort of truncated, their rights have been stripped truncated in many ways
as a result of the legislature of the state. And so those things were somewhat out of our control. And
I do understand
the impulse or desire then to kind of in the sort of effort toward, what would we, I guess, fairness
or equitable policies and processes to sort of align what can be bargained for. I will just say that
from my perspective at this moment, I don't know that I fully
agree with the desire or the decision to remove bargaining rights that are available to people as there
are no laws stripping or governing what can or cannot be bargained. I'll also admit that it probably
does make bargaining more complicated. And when you have more to bargain for, the process can take longer.
Maybe resolutions are not reached as sort of efficiency or efficiently or in a timely manner. So I am
not totally sure how I feel about this. I just, you know, I know it's here. I know we have to vote on
the resolution. If the resolution isn't binding until after the second reading, then I'm more inclined
to say yes to the resolution and work through the first and second reading of the policy. But I don't
know, there's a chance that I'm
I may find myself on a kind of opposing side of this particular perspective. I guess I just want to
ask a question. I don't know if you even have an answer, and if not, that's OK. But I wonder, has any
of this in the rewriting or the sort of, has MCEA had any input or perspective on this? This policy,
if I, I mean this,
resolution does not impact MCA in one way or any other way. Mm-hmm. Yes. Okay. So I think the answer
to that is probably no. Yeah. Other questions or comments? So I will just kind of a question to maybe
and maybe give it April, or member Hermosia, a level of comfort. If this resolution passes tonight,
and upon the second reading of the policy next board meeting, that is voted down, the resolution basically
goes away. Is that the correct understanding? I wanted to put that out there for your level of comfort.
That's what I understand at this point, too, having read that language.
I would say that I share some of your concerns and certainly I share your support for unions in general.
I think one of the most important factors to me is that it does align the collective bargaining rights
of our teachers and our other staff. That feels equitable to me. And I think that, as you noted,
without some limit without those two things being aligned. There is there are extra complications and
extra time in bargaining with one union over the other union. And for those reasons, I'm and I'm not
going to commit to voting yes or no for the policy at the next meeting. But I am probably leaning towards
voting in favor of the policy change to bring those two things into alignment myself.
Other comments before I call the vote? All those in favor of adopting resolution 2026-07, recognizing
collective bargaining rights for certain classified operations, employees signify by saying aye. Aye.
Aye. Against? Against? Me. As I know. Yeah. And I may very well be swayed by the end of this process.
Fair enough.
Any abstentions? Okay, so that's one against one abstention and three in favor. Motion carries. Next
is the first reading of the policy mentioned in resolution 2026-07, policy 8910, appropriate bargaining
unions, the units of employees. Dr. Henderson?
Thank you, President Cooper and Dr. Winston, members of the Board of School Trustees.
Policy 8910, appropriate bargaining units of employees. Revisions have been made to incorporate changes
in the law over the past few years and aligning the bargaining rights of all bargaining units within
MCCSE so that classified staff rights are in alignment with teacher rights. The policy will be presented
for second and final reading at the August 25th meeting.
Thank you, Dr. Henderson. Any comments from the board? As this is the first reading, no action is required.
As mentioned, this will be brought back to the board for the second and final reading in August. Next
on our agenda are district updates. Tonight, Dr. Winston will introduce the first presentation
sustaining excellence in MCCSE for the 2026-2027 school year. Thank you, President Cooperman. We are
very excited about opening our new school year in just a few days. And as you know, one of the things
that we continue to build upon is the tradition of academic excellence, artistic excellence, athletic
excellence in MCCSE schools. This evening, we really want to share with you a few highlights of what's
new for 26-27
and how we're going to continue to keep the main thing the main thing, which is academic excellence
as we continue to stay the course. So I'd like to invite Alexis Harmon to provide a brief overview of
some key priorities and key considerations for how we are maintaining academic excellence. Thank you,
President Comperman, Dr. Winston, and members of the board.
As Dr. Winston already said, I want to walk you through our plan for sustaining excellence in the 26-27
school year. This is work we've built together over the last several years and where that work is taking
us next. I want to start with excellence and instruction because everything else we do as a corporation
rests on what happens in the classroom every day. You have seen this slide before. Just want to kind
of, again,
keep a focus on, we're really thinking about we're one team, we're one plan, we're one model, we want
to align the work that we do so that we can align the supports we do as well. To start, I'd like to
introduce our MCCSE instructional model. I want to be clear, this isn't a new initiative. It's a way
of naming and organizing the work that many of you have already seen taking shape in our school over
the past several years.
What this model gives us is clarity, a shared definition of grade instruction, a common language, a
set of expectations that holds true in every MCCSE school. It also gives us a consistent way to monitor
our progress for collecting and reflecting on data so we can honestly assess how we're doing and hold
ourselves accountable to that as well. At its core, the model exists for one reason, to make sure every
student in every classroom in every one of our schools
receives high quality standards aligned instruction from a certified teacher. We believe instructional
quality and protective instructional time are two of the most powerful levels levers we have for improving
outcomes for kids. Within this model is the work the way it is designed to we should see stronger literacy
and numeracy foundations across every subject, growth for every group of students, narrowing of achievement gaps,
and schools where kids feel a genuine sense of connection and belonging. This slide lays out our theory
of action. So how we believe the pieces of this work connect each role in our corporation and the conditions
we create, the practices we expect to see, and the outcomes we're working toward for students. The model
rests on five core components.
what we should expect to see and actively foster in every MCCSE classroom, which is guaranteed and viable
core instruction, number two, small group differentiation and individualized instruction, three, database
decision-making, four, strong collaboration among educators, and five, of course, a welcoming and inclusive
learning environment. And they are not prioritized in area. They are equally important, all of them.
Each of these carries two set of expectations, one for our teachers and their data tape work, and we
call those our teaching and learning expectations, and one for corporation and building leaderships
and the instructional leadership they provide. With that foundation in place, I'd like to turn
to programming. While the state and federal government may make changes in funding and support for programs,
MCCSE continues to invest and commit in core areas that reflect the values in our community.
and I'd like to highlight some specific investments that will define this coming school year. Our programming
work this year is organized around our six priority areas, early literacy and numeracy, the arts, academic
alignment to college and career opportunities, student mental and behavioral health, and support for
students with diverse learning needs, as well as Accelerate 7. I'll walk through each, why it matters
and what's new.
Of course, early literacy and numeracy. We know reading well by third grade changes the trajectory of
a child's education. Strong readers succeed across every subject, not just English. The same holds true
in math. Early number sense predicts long-term success. And the gains kids make early tend to stick.
This year, we've adopted a new K through eight English language arts curriculum. We are entering year
two of our K through eight math curriculum. And we've introduced new progress monitoring in reading and math
pay-through rate so teachers can quickly identify where each student needs support and respond in real
time. We're also reducing screen time in favor of more direct teacher-led instruction and we're giving
teachers additional collaboration instructional preparation time particularly at the elementary level.
We'll be increasing our instructional prep time minimum requirement from 200 to 225 and we also are
rolling out an initiative for an increased collaborative time for grade level
teams and special area teams throughout the school year. So they'll have more opportunities to plan,
review student data together, and refine their teaching as a team. The arts. The arts are made a vital
part of a well-rounded MCCSE education. Students with strong arts participation are more likely to graduate
and enroll in college. Schools that intentionally integrate the arts see stronger student engagement
and school climate. And music education in particular has been linked to gains in executive functioning.
We're continuing our rich tradition of arts programming at every level, including band and strings at
our elementary schools and continuing community partnerships like Lotus Blossom, along with field trips,
the IU Musical Arts Center, Eskenazi Museum, our community partnerships with theater programs as well.
For our academic alignment to career and college opportunities, real world experience improves outcomes
for students. It increases engagement and strengthens academic and career readiness,
AP and dual credit coursework build college readiness, and dual enrollment is consistently linked to
higher rates of college enrollment, persistence, and degree completion. This year, we're expanding the
strategic resources we have for students to help them identify internships and work-based learning
opportunities, as well as expanding our community partnerships to support those work-based learning
opportunities and partnerships with our industry. Student mental and behavioral health
We know student well-being isn't separate from academic excellence. It's foundational to it. School-based
mental health services improve access to support, and high-quality social and emotional learning improves
both behavior and achievement. Students in evidence-based SEL programs have shown gains equivalent to
11 percentile points in academic achievement. Belonging itself acts as a protective factor for our kids.
This year, that means we're going to expand Community in Schools, which is a national organization we
partner with to provide meaningful wraparound supports for students and families. And we're adding registered
behavior therapists in our schools and deepening our already existing community health partnerships.
I want to take a moment to talk about acceleration. This is a new system of work this year. It's a system
of support we're calling Accelerate 7, focused intentional commitment
to move the needle where the need is greatest, grounded in our own student achievement data. Accelerate
7 is built around seven commitments for every classroom every day. And those are daily principal
instructional leadership with immediate feedback, evidence-based instructional strategies, accelerating
literacy and numeracy skills, personalized learning plans for every student, innovative, agile scheduling
that protects time for intervention, coaching cycles tied directly to student outcomes, and increased
time for teacher collaboration and planning.
It's guided by three goals, strengthening core reading and math instruction, delivering timely
and data-driven intervention and enrichment, and developing our principles as strong instructional leaders,
and by our core priorities of building literacy and numeracy foundations, closing achievement gaps,
and supporting student mental and behavioral health. Ultimately, this work is rooted in the simple belief
that students with the greatest need deserve our strongest systems, our most consistent support, and
the greatest access to high-quality teaching.
In programming, finally, I'd like to talk about sports for supports, I'm sorry, for students with diverse
leading needs. These are happening across every one of our schools. But in particular this year, we're
focusing at the middle school level with two initiatives, including on-site professional development
and support for co-teaching and collaborative instruction, and an innovative case manager model designed
to strengthen how we coordinate and deliver support to those students.
I'd like to make a moment to talk about engagement and excellence engagement, because excellence instruction
and programming only matters if our community is alongside us in this work. Last spring, we had our
Strong Schools Strong Community process reinforce something we already knew. Our community wants and
deserves real engagement with its public schools. So this year, we're building on that with a few specific
efforts. An ambassador program will bring community members into deeper understanding of how our schools operate
Our MCCSE Voices podcast will give the community direct insight into the work happening across
the corporation and help build broader public understanding of our schools. Our CFO Corner will share
clear, regular information about our finances, reinforcing transparency and fiscal stewardship. And
this year will also begin Facilities Master Planning, which is engaging parents, students, staff, and
community members in shaping the future of our buildings.
So every student has access to 21st century spaces for learning, athletics, and arts. And that's my
brief update. Thank you. There's just so much to share. Thank you, Ms. Harmon. Are there comments from
the board? How are people selected for the ambassador program? So yes, we've been posting information
seeking and kind of doing like an all call. And so we've had a number of individuals reach out and submit
an application. We also know that from our Strong Schools, Strong Community effort back in the spring,
we were only able to accept a certain number of individuals at that particular point in time. So we
wanted to be able to also reach back out to those folks who wanted to be a part of Strong Schools, Strong
Community to invite them to be a part of the ambassador program as well. So we're trying to,
to consider a variety of ways of bringing all of those voices together. The program will kick off in
September. Nice. Love it. Very excited. Other questions or comments from the board? I have one more
question. Sure. Does a podcast have a regular host, or how does that work? Yes, it does.
You're looking at her. Hello, podcast host. That would be me, yes. All right, cool. So we'll have our
first podcast of School Voices that will release next week. Can't wait. And we will have opportunities
for board members to also be invited guests. I can't wait for that. Maybe you should.
I have a question also about community engagement. My question is about the CFO corner. Is that going
to be a part of the podcast or is that a separate thing? I think a little bit of yes of both. I think
there'll be some times we're all going to be a guest on the podcast and then there'll be a regular occurrence
of communication through me as it relates to just education on school finance and timely topics that
relate to things that are going on around the school corporation. But they didn't like put you in a corner.
I will I hopefully will not be in a corner. I have an office that is a cube so it's not a corner. I
feel good about that. Okay well that's good to hear. Great questions. We're so excited about providing
additional avenues for members of our community to learn more about our schools and to learn more about
the people making decisions and teaching our children and supporting our children. That's an exciting
opportunity as well to to really
humanize our educators so that folks get a better understanding of what brings us to the table to take
on this kind of work and the passion that comes with it and an opportunity to showcase all of the amazing
things that happen in every one of our classrooms and every one of our schools each and every day. So
a lot of excitement. We're open to hear some of your thoughts and suggestions and ideas as well. And
I certainly want to give kudos, a well-deserved kudos, to
Sarah Deweese for the work that she's doing in helping us to design all of these avenues to communicate
more effectively and more clearly. I know this was just the beginning, but I think there were a lot
of exciting things that Ms. Harmon presented, including the Accelerate 7, which I'm excited to learn
more about. It feels like we're sort of in a place now where we are feeling more optimistic about our
finances and so have
the flexibility to start focusing on what we're doing with the resources that we do have. And I think
that's really going to be an exciting thing that's coming this year. I would absolutely echo the focus
and the emphasis on our academics and really sticking to the main thing being that main thing
and acknowledging that there are still headwinds out there in the financial front. And I know that
Um, as we move forward, Matt Irwin is going to speak on some of those, but making sure that we are well
prepared to respond, um, from a position of strength. Thank you. And, uh, this isn't the first CFO corner,
but, uh, but we are moving on to our financial update. Uh, so Mr Irwin, would you like to provide that?
Yeah, thank you. All right. We'll start where we normally start, just talking about the education fund.
And I try to always give those a little bit of just some
broad monthly specifics and then talk about some outlooks and some things of that nature so from a from
a monthly perspective the actual revenue was above projections expenses below projections and in the
world projections for me that's pretty ideal tuition support we started the new fiscal year so july
is the start of the new fiscal year 27
And with that, that means the new budget year for the state. So this is the second year of the state's
budget. And so that starts that new funding formula piece. The state puts out what's called an IDOE
form 54. So it's the state's aid's projections of revenue to be received. Mine projection that I had
in our cash flows was within a couple hundred dollars of the projection that they put out.
definitely very comforting in that world to make sure that those things are aligning and backing one
another up. So that was something that I wanted to make note of. The other piece that I have in there
in the outlook is that the NESP programming as far as the expenditures of that programming is getting
pushed back into the education fund. The NESP programming for non-English speaking programming is part
of the tuition support grants. So there's specialized grants within tuition support and NESP is one of those.
And so it makes sense to bring that back out of a special fund and track it within the fund of which
the revenue is coming from the state on that anyway. So we push that back into the projections that
you've seen. That was something that dates back to when it wasn't in the tuition support formula. So
we're pulling that back in together. The outlook of the year end is pretty similar to what you've seen
in the past month.
like I told you before we're making great strides in progress and where we're at in the education fund
and getting back to a position of health and a position of strength so that we can weather
those uncertainties as they come. So we'll move to the 22 referendum. That one we talked last month
about the expectation for property tax revenue received from the county that matched up to exactly what
we expected it to be for the month of June as you would expect
Our expenses were below projections, but across line items, again, very accurate, which means that the
projection looks a little bit better than what you saw last month. And from the standpoint of the long-term
outlook, it still looks the same as far as the expectations of the impacts of SEA 1, but I have that
third bullet point down there because right now, as we continue to monitor what net assessed value is
going to do, you guys know that we continue to partner with Policy Analytics to get regular updates.
as it relates to the expectations of what's going to occur with legislation and how that impacts our
tax base. And so right now, there's some belief that the net assessed value won't drop as much as what
they're projecting, which that again, obviously has a huge impact on our referendums and the revenue
that they provide to support those initiatives. So that's something that we're continuing to monitor
as we get closer to budget time, which we're about to start that process in the upcoming months,
we'll be honing in on what it is that that will actually be as those net assessed values get certified
so that we're planning off of those through the budgeting process. But those are things that we're monitoring
and watching. For the referendum 2023, again, revenue matched the expectations for June. June expenses
below projections, again, accurate. That's what we want to see. The fund balance does project to be
up for the year right now.
And again, I've got those same pieces on there with bullet point two as it relates to continuing to
monitors net assessed values and their impact on the revenue that the referendums generates. The third
one is one that I want to continue to highlight because I don't want it to get lost in the shuffle.
But you see a larger projection for partner providers in the upcoming school year.
And that's because we're continuing to navigate a time where during the last budget cycle, the state
reduced CCDF vouchers and On My Way Pre-K funding, which was critical funding that allowed families
to get reduced costs for early childhood to make it more accessible for families. When that funding
is reduced, that means more people need access to the referendum funds in order to be able to have affordable
early childhood.
not to mention as you look around the state there's a lot of centers that have closed there's a lot
of schools that have cut their programming to early childhood and because of the referendum we're not
in that situation they kind of put some more numbers and specifics to this as i thought this was interesting
data for you guys to to hear as we talk about and for people to understand just how important this has
been to our parents in our to our community is that during the 24 25 school year we collected
just under $342,000 in CCDF funding. During last school year, it was less than 22,000. And on my way
pre-K funding, during the 24-25 school year, that funding from the state, we received just over 452,000.
Last year, we got less than 12,000. So that's just MCCSC. That's not what our partner providers have
experienced in all the families in our community.
So I say all that to say this is very critical and important to our family. So it's just that continue
to express that gratitude for that support because we're in a position that other communities quite
frankly aren't in as it relates to our childhood programming. So that's something that I wanted to make
note of. In the operations fund, revenue was above projections. We did make that planned taxable general
obligation fund transfer.
That's that reimbursement of past capital expenditures that we've been talking about month after month
after month. It finally occurred. And so you saw that in the register of claims for this board meeting
as well. And then also in debt service, we made that transfer from debt service to operations, which
is a part of that approved transfer in last month's board meeting. We made the first half of that transfer.
We'll do the second half in December when that second half of property tax disbursement comes in.
And that lines up with what you see in your cash flows. The payroll and benefits and miscellaneous expenses
are very accurate. Our June services and supplies were below projections. And that had to do, again,
a lot to do with the timing of invoices. I think that's one of the hardest part to nail down on projections
is that invoices don't always fall in the same month, depending on the timing of when they're received.
And so that's part of the process is continuing evaluating what's the difference between this year and
last year. And what does that go back to? As well as one of the things that we needed to do was to make
our Child Nutrition Fund whole, which is a federally funded programming that that fund 0800. We had
to pull that back into the positive. That was a requirement from the DOE that ended up being less than
what we had originally expected. And that has a lot to do with the work of our Child Nutrition staff
and our director and Child Nutrition.
with Gretchen Hunter, she's doing a great job. And so I've appreciated her partnership and working through
that as well. And the outlook piece for the operations fund, the fund balance is projecting up right
now. I do have in there the 21st century grant closeout. Our 21st century grant is federally funded
programming. I'm gonna talk about this in a little bit in a couple of slides, but that grant has run
out. And until recently, we didn't know whether that
funding opportunity would even come back because that's a competitive grant. But the home of the programming
that's supported through 21st century is extended day. It's adventure camp that helps with the cost
of those programming. The home of it is the operations fund. And so with that grant expiring, I've moved
that back into the projections of the operations fund. And it's something that we'll continue to have
to look at as we move forward into making sure that
It's able to sustain those program. We're not saying we're not taking away extended day and we're continue
with adventure camps. I don't I don't want to cause any fear of worries there. But that 21st century
grant right now is going away and I'll talk about that here a little bit. The debt service fund revenue
matched expectations again that form 22 is just the
local term for what you would expect from the county as it relates to the document that we get that
says how much revenue to expect and where to deposit it. All of our debt payments were made on time.
The outlook of the fund is almost identical to what you saw last month and again I talked about the
second half of that approved transfer is set for December when the second disbursement comes. The last
piece I'll talk about is some federal grants updates. I know just talking about headwinds that
That graphic probably looks familiar to you from past presentations. And I thought it was spitting because
it's kind of it comes back into some of those things of the continually changing dynamics from which
we work on and work through. But our title one grant we were notified that we were reduced by a little
over three hundred and sixty two thousand dollars for this upcoming school year. We are using rollover
dollars from previous year's grants to help fill that gap for this year.
and that sure is up our staffing levels for this year. But that's something that we're going to continue
to have to monitor and that we're at the whim of understanding what that's going to do. I can't predict
what that's going to do in future years right now. But that's close to a 15% reduction in the grant
allocation that we received from the previous year. That grant supports intervention staffing at our
seven title one schools. Um, but again, I wanted to make note of that.
We're using those rollover dollars to keep staffing levels at a place where we know that we can continue
to serve needs for this coming school year, but that's the short term. And so we'll continue to work
through that as that comes forward. And then the second point is the 21st century grant. Again, that's
federally funded grant that's passed through the IDOE. That's $300 or $300,000 annually that we receive that is,
right now going away, we did just recently get notified from the DOE that they have opened up another
cohort application. But again, that's a competitive grant that we're not guaranteed to that funding.
So that is something that we will apply for, but it's not guaranteed. So we'll continue to keep you
updated on where we're at with that. And again, that's why that programming costs and those things have
to come back into the operations fund right now because it's not guaranteed and we don't know whether
or not we'll continue to get it or even if we do,
get accepted, whether or not we continue to get the same level of funding. And then the last piece on
there is just clarifying that that helps with expenses related to extended day and adventure camp as
well. So just an update on some of those pieces that range from our five major funds, but again, talking
about some of our federal grants and some of those headwinds that we talked about in the past, but those
things come to fruition and then we work through those as they come.
Sometimes not always do you get the notice as quickly as what you want, but we're continuing to work
through them nonetheless. So with that, that's the end of my report. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Erwin.
Are there questions or comments from the board? I throw a lot at you every time, so I apologize.
It's good. It's very comprehensive. I think as a result, we have no questions. So thank you, Mr. Irwin.
That means you made a good presentation. That's right. Left no room for a question. So next, we have
committee reports. We don't have a specific committee report this month. But are there any board members
that have reports that you would like to share?
I would just like to say that the newly formed policy committee has not yet met, but we do have an official
date to meet. People have just been, it's summer, traveling, busy, whatever. So we will meet ahead of
the August meeting. So we'll likely have at least something to report as having come of that meeting.
Great. Other reports? All right. Thank you, April.
Next we have superintendent comments. Dr. Winston, do you have any additional information you'd like
to share with us tonight? Just a couple of items. The start of the 26-27 school year is quickly approaching.
I don't think there's anyone more excited in this community than our parents to be able to send their
babies back to us. And I think we're probably a little bit more excited than they are because we are
so happy to have our children back in our schools and in our classrooms. Everyone will return on Wednesday.
August the 5th in terms of our students our teachers are back in many ways they often never leave but
they're officially back on Monday August the 3rd. So we're really excited to have our teachers back
in our classrooms our support staff. Everyone is getting ready and there's a lot of enthusiasm and excitement
and we talk a lot about everybody getting their new hairstyles done their new school outfits for back
to school including folks in this room.
To help our families prepare, we have our enrollment and resource information available on our website,
and it's located under the families tab, so I just want to provide a friendly reminder to our families.
The information page provides details on educational programs for our learners of all ages, from six
weeks old, yes I said six weeks old, all the way through adult education. You'll also find valuable
information on extended day programs, transportation,
MyPayments Plus to pay for meals, free and reduced lunch applications, and many other additional helpful
resources. Our team has been working diligently to ensure a smooth and welcoming start to the new school
year. At MCCSC, as you know, we are committed to our promise to sustain excellence in all that we do.
We are grateful to our families for the trust that they place in us to educate and care for their babies.
We look forward to seeing our students back in our classrooms learning growing and thriving. So mark
your calendars on Tuesday August 4th from 3 to 4 p.m. Elementary schools will have meet the teacher
all MCCSE elementary schools will host a special time for students and families to visit the school
and meet their teacher for the new school year. Additional information about school open houses is available
on our website and we've been communicating that over the last several weeks.
On Saturday August 29th from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. our parent university title preparing for high school
and beyond is one of our most popular annual events. Registration for the event will open in early August.
So please join us for our very first parent university mini conference of the new school year. I'm excited
to begin the new school year with our students with our staff and with our families. And here's to an
excellent school year ahead. That concludes my report.
Thank you, Dr. Winston. Any comments from the board? You can definitely count me amongst the parents,
who is very excited to send my babies back to you. I also find this a really exciting time of year.
So I'm looking forward to a new teacher orientation and the first days of school. It's my favorite time
of the year. It really is. For lots of reasons.
Any final comments from the board? All right, the next regularly scheduled board meeting will be held
on Tuesday, August 25th, 2026. With that we are adjourned.