I'd like to call the order the charter school review committee meeting for Thursday, March 26th at 5 p.m.

And I'll start with the roll call with myself as chair.

Bill Christensen.

Here.

Oh, Dr.

Chair Terry Brookshire.

Yeah.

Okay.

Tracy Sparrow.

And Tyana Davis.

Hopefully we'll join us later.

Okay.

Second item on the agenda.

Review and approval of the minutes from November 3rd, 2025.

Have you had a chance to review the minutes?

And if so, I will entertain a motion to accept the minutes from November 3rd, 2025.

This is a bill, I'll make that motion.

Is there a second?

Um any questions or comments on the minutes.

Seeing none, I'll move for approval.

All in favor say aye.

Aye.

All right.

Okay, the minutes have been accepted.

Next item on the agenda is communication related to the administrative matters of the Charter School Review Committee for 2025-2027 school year.

Sponsored by the chair.

And those items for discussion will include will be limited to the following.

A vote may be taken either on either of these items.

The first item we're going to discuss is the Institute for the Transformation of Learning, one-year contract renewal.

Gail.

Okay, thank you.

I'm gonna pass it along to the director of the Institute of the Transformation of Learning, and she's just going to um briefly share with you ITL and the services that we offer and what we've been doing lately.

Thank you.

Thank you, Judith.

Hey everybody.

Um Judith Romless here for those I have had not had the opportunity to meet.

Um hi, hello.

Um enjoying this wonderful Thursday.

Um enjoying your background of the nice wonderful be setting.

Um just wanted to kind of just send my greetings to you guys.

But um again, Judith Romulus with the Institute for the Transformation of Learning, and um I'm the director.

And the institute for the past, I don't know, 20 something plus years have been providing the administrative oversight uh for the uh CRSC.

Um pretty much we do a lot of the stuff from administration to serving as a liaison to the financial pieces in terms of matching the budget and just overall really anything that you can think of that would require for us to be a functioning uh organization.

So we do all the administrative pieces.

One of the things that we try to do every year is we try to um almost uh not almost, we actually try to find a way in which we can complement the work that RuPas and Dr.

Baylor is kind of already doing.

Uh this year, last year, for example, we did something with uh providing the schools with some stakeholder engagement training where we work with our student uh schools to learn how to work with their parents, learn how to work with local business leaders, engage their aldermanic automatic people.

The whole idea is that it takes more than just the people inside your school to make your school successful.

You really need the whole community working with you to advance your missions of your school.

So we provide a lot of focus work on that.

This year we did a um did more training on working with teachers and how to work with their students and supporting and strengthening school culture, as you know, we serve a lot of students of color, and a lot of our staff members don't necessarily come from their communities.

This was a training that allowed our staff members to get more foundational sense about the needs of our students and how to best support them.

In the next coming month, uh we're going to be doing something with the board members.

Um we're asking all the school leaders to have their board members come to a workshop where we're talking about how can board members support their schools.

It's more than just sitting in around a room and voting on things.

There are things outside the school building, inside the school building that the board members can support.

We want to make sure that the board members not only know how to support the school, but understand their role in making the school stronger, uh, not only in terms of you know uh legislation, but also just in terms of even the community.

Um I'm not quite sure what else it is.

I'm pretty sure you receive the memo that um Gail has written up as a director of um policy.

Uh we have also on staff, uh uh Cheryl Oak, who was the director of operations and myself.

And we work as a three-tier prong where we all work together to support all the things listed on the memo in terms of the work.

Um that's it, I guess.

Again, thank you so much for um giving us the opportunity to work with the schools.

I can honestly say that it's been a very rewarding work.

Um we have learned a lot.

We're still learning, we're still growing in terms of understanding how the nuances have changed, especially with the political climate that we're in.

Um, because we do have some schools, we have larger Latino community students, and so that's an issue that we have to figure out how to support that as well.

But um, that said, um, I will turn off the mic unless anyone has any questions uh about the work that we're gonna we'd like to continue on doing for the next year.

Any questions for Judith or Gail?

Any questions for Judith or Gail from any of our brand new committee meeting members who are new to this process?

I like to say this for our new committee members.

I love coffee.

If you ever want to meet up for coffee, so I can give you a little more deeply about the days and day outs of our work.

I would love that.

My treat.

So um please feel free to reach out to me.

I knew you can get in contact with me via um uh Gail, but would love to have an opportunity to get to know each of you individually.

Okay, with that I'll entertain a motion to approve the one-year contract extension for the city of Milwaukee.

Um with ITL for the school term of 2026-2027 academic year.

I'll make that motion.

Is that you, Katina?

It is okay.

Move back, Katina.

Um, there's second.

I second.

Um, thanks, Terry.

Dr.

Bookshare.

Um, all the favor say.

Motion carries to approve the one-year contract extension for ITL for the 26 2026-2027 school term.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, next on our agenda is just remove this one right quick.

Mr.

Chair.

Yes.

I got my microphone working now.

Okay.

Hello, everybody.

I'm sorry.

No problem, no problem at all.

Second item for discussion is evidence change one-year contract renewal.

And I will turn it over to Dr.

Baylor.

Hello, good afternoon to everyone.

Um, so I am Dr.

Azia Baylor from Evident Change.

Um, we are a research organization.

We use data to inform decision making uh in the community, and um Evident Change has been doing this work for over 20 years as well.

Um, and just to uh I know you have the memo and you read all of the specific things that that uh are coming up for the new year, and how we are already kind of gearing up for uh the things to come, as you saw with the the uh second memo that I sent over to you as well.

Um, but I just wanted to add for some of the folks who are new to the committee that an additional piece that we won't be doing next year, but we're currently working on is the culture and climate survey with all schools.

Uh so we're right in the middle of surveying the parents, the students, the upper uh level student, sixth grade and up, uh, all of the staff members at all of the schools and also the senior leadership and board members.

So everyone in the community has an opportunity to give feedback on the feel of the school, how they feel about the uh success of the school, and that will be something that you'll see on the uh upcoming uh annual report um come this this August.

Um, but yeah, in terms of all the work that we're doing, um, we have a pretty uh streamlined process uh that we follow each school year.

There may be some things we're also keeping our heads and our our awareness to things that are happening at DPI.

If there are any new um things coming down the pipe, for example, a couple years ago, the early literacy uh assessment mandate uh changed, and that's something that myself and my team we work with to determine how we would like to report that, how the schools need that reported out based on the requirements from this from the state.

Uh, we're also keeping ourselves abreast to teach your licensure issues with all schools, making sure that all teachers have licenses.

If they do not, we reach out, we work with this the um the staff to make sure uh that they're working with their teachers to make sure they're getting things in with DPI.

Um and so uh I'm not gonna read through this list because it's quite lengthy of all the work that we do throughout the school year.

Uh, but if there are specific questions regarding the way we are engaging uh school leaders as thought partners, uh we're supporting them and creating goals at the beginning of each school year, which feed into that annual report that we complete at the end of the year.

Uh, we do walkthroughs of the school, testing and understanding engaging the climate, taking a look at teacher um and teaching and learning.

Uh additionally, we do special education audits, making sure that those files are kept up to date and students are getting the services that are required by law.

Uh, and so the list goes on and on.

If you take a look at uh all the things that we are uh in the middle of doing and also uh looking forward to continuing doing uh into next year with this extension.

So uh if there are questions, I'll take your questions at this time.

Questions for Dr.

Baylor.

Okay, seeing then that I accept a motion to um for the contract number B18948, second annual renewal of the City of Milwaukee contract with evidence change for this 2026-2007 academic school year.

This is Bill, I'll make that motion.

Uh just like to say keep up the great work.

Thank you.

I'll second it, same thing.

Just wanted to say we appreciate the work they're doing, and it really helps us understand what's happening in our schools.

Okay, thank you, Bill and Tina.

Bill for the motion and Katina for second it.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

All right.

I keep forgetting to say anybody opposed, any nose?

Any objections?

Okay, the motion carries for the motion carries for the contract with evidence change for the 2026, 2027 academic school year.

Um, staying with Dr.

Baylor.

Um, we're going to talk now, move to the um recommendation for revising the annual school performance report format.

Okay.

Um, so um I sent you all a memo describing uh what we're currently doing and suggesting a new template.

Um, and I also sent you with that memo an example of what that might look like if we were to move to that um that process.

So currently each school has their addition, their um their specific report.

Uh we're reporting the same information based on grade level for all schools.

Uh sometimes those reports can be upwards around 20 pages long, uh, depending on the appendix or um the surveys.

Um, and so we we understand that you know people really love these reports because they're really rich in data, and we're not suggesting to remove that.

What we are suggesting to remove is a lot of the narrative that is uh throughout the report.

It uh oftentimes it ends up being redundant uh information as you get through the report with certain with different grade levels having the same uh goals or the same assessment that they're taking.

Um so because of we uh because of that, uh we thought, and plus we're we're we're also printing all of those out.

You received your copies of those at the beginning of the school year.

And so you see how lengthy those reports can be.

Um, and so what we're recommending is a report that would be a unified city of Milwaukee charter school profile report.

And so what you see in that um PDF of the the example that I sent to you is that the report starts off by giving some credit to the people who are uh putting work in.

Also, your names are listed, and if we uh go with that, I'll talk to you about how you want your names to be represented in that report.

Um, because I think it's important for people to know who the charter school review committee is.

You know, we have these reports uh that come out every year, and people don't really um know you know who are the people in the background.

So I thought that was important would be important to share.

Um additionally, uh it goes on to describe all of the uh importance of the the data that's in the report and why we're asking for the data.

And so if you have that report uh pulled up or if it's available to you right now, you'll see that there is a piece uh where it says the CSRC requirements, and there we describe all of the monitoring practices and policies that are in place, um, the rules around the assessment reporting, what we require in regard to data integrity from the schools.

Uh, and then it gets into the actual data that we're actually pulling, describing uh the attendance enrollment and uh retention monitoring that we're doing and what that means.

Uh it describes the local primary uh measures of academic growth and what that looks like in terms of what the expectations are for students with IEPs and overall students who uh in schools that are taking these exams in the growth that is expected.

Uh, it goes on to describe the expectations from DPI around standardized testing requirements.

Uh, and it also then reflects the requirement from the charter school review committee around multiple year progress reporting.

Uh it goes on to talk a little bit then about um the charter school um continuous improvement planning and accountability, and then it goes into scorecard requirement.

And so you'll see in the report uh this year there are five schools in the portfolio and they are listed next.

And then you'll see each school having a report where all of that narrative that you would normally see with each school is now at the top, and then you see all visuals of all of those different components in relationship to enrollment, all the different testing uh requirements are there, uh, whether or not the schools met their goals are represented there.

Um, and then it goes on to demonstrate whether or not schools met their contract compliances.

Um, and then also the scorecards are there as well.

And then each school has a uh recommendation piece where we talk about with the school leaders things they want to improve on, things that came out via the data, and we come up with some recommendations for improvement, and those are there uh at the end of each school's profile, and then it moves on to the next school.

Exact same thing in those in terms of the charts and the visuals that are there.

Um so I feel like I'm talking really fast, and I want to give way for feedback here and questions about the um the template that I am suggesting.

Dr.

Baylor, yes.

Do you have your hands on a current last year's report?

Just I mean, just one that we can kind of prove kind of just show the new committee members what it looked like compared to what we've you want to move us to.

Yes.

Um, I don't have access to share my screen though.

You'd can you give her access to share a screen?

Sure, give me just a minute.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you.

And while we're waiting for that, uh did any questions come up for anyone when you took a look at this new template.

I have one question.

When it comes I'm sorry, access granted.

Okay, when it comes to the survey data that you're going to be doing for this year, will how will that be displayed under the new new format?

Oh add it, add it, put it that way.

Okay.

And as I'm looking for um, so if you recall the last the last time we reported the um the survey data, there was a chart there that showed uh what all the schools scored, how they scored.

Um, so I can show you that as well because we would do that same table.

All right.

Um let's see.

So you just want to take a look at the old one then.

You have the new one ready to be okay.

Okay, can you see my screen?

Yes.

Okay.

And so the first thing to notice is that um I believe that the the new report for each school is around 15 pages, and this is one report, and it is 74 pages, and is the same data that you see in the um the new suggested format.

Uh so that is the first part that stands out the most.

Is there a specific piece that you want to look at?

No, I just know I just want you to kind of kind of just scroll through it so they can see where um this information that's going to be from the combined into one section for all of the schools versus this information is in each individual report repeating itself over and over and over again.

Right.

So here, you know, there are a lot of things here that um just describing the school.

And I I know that these reports were the format were created several years ago before I would say most schools um utilize their web pages in the way that they do today.

So uh a lot of this information can be found on the school's web page in terms of their school instruct, you know, instructional design and all of those things.

Um for example, uh in the new report, like here's the teacher retention and return information.

And in the report, the new format we're suggesting.

Um this is you know, a pie chart, I believe.

So much smaller, taking up much uh less space there.

And the biggest piece is all of the all of all of the narrative is pushed up top.

Um there are some places in the report where we will uh utilize footnotes to add, for example, uh if there are issues in regard to teacher uh certification, we would use that as a footnote instead of writing out a narrative around that.

So this is uh what we did last year, and we've been doing many years.

Um a lot of you know, a lot of things, for example, this is something that you can find on their web page, their discipline policies.

All the schools have these things posted.

And some of this, like some of this stuff was taken and made as a graph.

Uh, for example, um, the amount of scholarship money is just you know a large font font on the new template.

Are there other things you wanted to see from this?

Um no, that's that's not really.

I just wanted to make sure our new committee members had an opportunity to see an example of the old, and we can always give let's send the new committee members uh the old reports just so they'll see what what it was physically.

If we move over to the new, and Dr.

Bailey, you had also mentioned a lot of stuff is on their webpage.

Is it possible to add like links to this new report?

So if people want to link to, so we can refer them to if you want further information on this, you can click on the link and the link will take you to that specific report.

Absolutely.

Okay.

Questions from other committee members for Dr.

Baylor.

Or any more feedback that you think may be missing.

And you can always once you um as a matter of fact, too, once you compare the old and you're looking at the new, if you have um a comments or feedback, um shoot them to Gail and Gail can shoot them to Dr.

Baylor.

Go ahead.

I was just gonna say no feedback, but I appreciate the um recommended changes.

I love the colour calls.

It always helped me kind of process information easier.

The graphics and charts that's the same thing, like have the next less narrative allows me to get into the data quicker and kind of do some analysis.

So really appreciate the new format and ultimately it's convinced.

Well, thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you too.

And I would always say, I'm gonna say this too, because even at DPI now, a lot of we're a lot of the forms, word docs are being converted to um accessibility docs for people who have um to make it more accessible for um other readers who may need um who have um I can't think of the name, can't think of it right now, but we're in this process of making sure all of our documents are accessible for other people who have other reading related issues who need to see who are reading documents that are visual, but also documents making sure that when the headings are accessible to a reader who is who needs those other reading components or have assisted um reading um computer related or technology related issues, making the making sure that our documents are accessible for all types of readers who are doing this.

So this kind of falls in line with that as well.

Any other additional questions or comments?

Yes, I have a question.

Go right ahead.

This Brookshire, Dr.

Brookshire, the scorecard, is it possible that the scorecard could go into graphs?

The information that's on the scorecard, that information is already in the report in a graph.

It's just kind of put together on the scorecard for the scoring purposes.

Okay, thank you.

I do like the the changes, I do like them the more of the graphs.

I'm looking at the draft now.

Thank you.

And Mr.

Chair, this is this is Bill.

Um, and I apologize, I don't have this in front of me, but um, if it's not already in the report, if there could be an appendix that sort of side by side compares the report card for each uh school, I I think I would find that beneficial.

I apologize if it's in there already, but um I just don't have a copy in front of me.

So if it's not there, um if that could be added, I think that would be great.

You're suggesting a uh visual that shows every school scorecard on one page.

Am I following you?

Correct, yes.

Okay, thank you for that feedback.

And to add to that, because I had the same thought bill, so I quickly ran it through AI, and that's exactly what I created.

A quick chart that allowed me to see across all five schools.

So, yeah, back to add jolly.

I'm glad you mentioned it.

I did have a uh comment and a bullet, hold on to see if I can find that.

Um see if I got it in here because I think when I open this up, let me see if I okay.

Yeah, here it is.

It says, um, how can we use AI assistance to read a summary of a long document?

Because when I open up the document that came up, this appears to be a long document.

It's in blue and it's highlighted under view summary, and it says for those of us who are not as technology savvy as Katina, just demonstrated how savvy she is, because I'm not as savvy as that, but I had on I didn't say I was savvy.

Okay, but I had the quote, but no, you led me to the you reminded me that I had uh um uh sticky note in here that says, Oh, when it says this appears to be a long document, save time by reading a summary using AI assistant.

And so I put the question is how can we use AI assistance to read a summary of a long document I may need some um Judith, that's where we probably could use some training at too because it is I I I mean AI technology everywhere, and so normally when I open up word documents from other people, this so you so you talk about we see training for AI the for the community, the committee or for okay.

I'm just thinking um maybe one of the trainings could be some information on how to use AI because AI is everywhere now, and since what's funny is that when I opened up the draft and I and it and right above the draft, and it's highlighted in blue, this document appears to be a long document, and you can save time reading the summary using AI for those who um you know are using summaries, but at the same time, even though we have the all this information with us, but at the same time, if somebody wants to do a quick summary on how to read it, um, and I guess if I were to click in the um view summary, I think on the side it kind of has a it's processing the document now.

And you can save time reading a summary using AI for those who um you know are using summaries, but at the same though we have the all this information with us, but at the same time, if somebody wants to do a quick summary on how to read it, um, and I guess if I were to click in the um view summary, I think on the side, it kind of has a is processing the document now.

It might come up with um like outlines or something like that to help you read through the document.

But uh whatever um training that the committee seems that they need to be more efficient in being on the committee, we are more than happy to support that.

So um, if there is a training that um you would like for us to do, please um email me and we will try to schedule something for the entire committee to participate in.

Okay, because I do see when I when I clicked on the summary, the box that says summary, it opens up another section, so you can kind of um it's kind of like an outline of what's contained in the document.

So I see that over on the side as well, too.

You know, so thank you, Judith, and thank you, um, Katina and Bill for that.

And you, Dr.

Baylor.

Um, any additional questions or comments or suggestions at this particular time as well for Dr.

Baylor?

Okay.

Um hold on a second here.

Get back to my spot.

With that said, I will entertain a motion for the recommendations for revising the annual school performance report format.

This is Bill, I'll make the motion.

Second.

Okay, second it.

All those in favor of the recommendations for revising the annual school performance report format.

Say aye.

Aye.

The objections.

Any abstentions.

Seeing none, um, the motion carries for the recommendation for revising the annual school performance report format.

Um, thank you very much, Dr.

Baylor.

Thank you.

For these suggestions.

It has been a long time since I guess since 1990 something.

We've been using the format and technology has improved immensely um between 1994 and 2026.

So we're rolling right along with the technology changes and the ability to um get information in the hands of people quickly so they can read it and digest it.

Thank you again.

Next on our agenda is we did that.

Boom, boom.

Annual financial scorecard report from ML Tharp.

And your pest, I will turn it over to you and your team.

All right, thank you.

Um, Mr.

Ingram.

Uh, this is Rupesh Gupta on MLTARP Center Associates.

I'll be presenting the annual charter review committee report.

Um, we look at all the audit reports from all the charter schools and prepare this report generally, highlighting all the findings that we have their financial reserves and give them a financial scorecard.

Uh so jumping right into the first school, the downtown Montesori Academy that completed the 27th year of operation as the city charter.

Um, they had a deficit of 38,000 after a slight gain in the prior year.

Uh the school showed uh approximate revenue of 3.39 million uh or a 47,000 dollar increase in revenue.

The increase in revenue was primarily because of daycare revenue when went up by 48,000 and some program fees that went up by 56,000, but the charter revenue went down by about 43,000.

Uh the expenses increased by approximately 101,000 or about 3%, primarily due to salaries and benefits increasing by 151,000.

Uh however, the classroom supplies decreased by 27,000 and occupancy expenses decreased by 21,000 dollars.

The average cost per pupil uh for 2025 was about 16,732 compared to last year of 15,487.

The enrollment counts for September and January of 2025 were 219 and 217 compared to 2024.

September and January enrollment of 229 students and 226 students.

So there's a slight decrease in the enrollment, about nine students.

And the fund unrestricted fundraising expenses were $13,500 in current year and about $14,000 in prior year.

Since they have a deficit, the deficit is about 1% of the yearly revenue.

Looking at their current year financial position at the year end, uh school has uh excellent uh cash position, maintaining approximately $826,000 in cash.

And current ratio is remains excellent at $2.4, although showing a slight decrease from prior year, and unrestricted net assets increased and are 83% of the yearly revenues.

Accounts receivables are down slightly from prior year, and total liabilities and current liabilities are consistent with prior year.

According to the review of annual audit, you know, it was completed on time, and per the review of report there were no significant financial statement internal control or compliance findings noted by the auditor, and the auditor expressed no concern over the going concern.

The school has complied with the city of Milwaukee's reporting requirements, which are usually monthly and quarterly reporting requirements, and they have complied with all of those.

So to conclude, based on the review, it appears the school has solid financial management system as and is in excellent financial condition with solid cash flow, and schools appear to be in compliance with the provisions of contract with the city of Milwaukee.

And you know, keep an eye out on their budget to avoid any further deficits.

Looking at their scorecard, their scorecard remains excellent.

So we deducted a point there, but they still have an excellent scorecard.

With uh respect to the deficit, is it mainly due to enrollment?

And if so, what discussions did um the school you in a time with the school in terms of next year under for 2026?

Right.

So the enrollment is down a little bit.

The overall revenue was actually you know up.

You know, they had about 47,000 increase in revenue.

Uh, you know, the expenses like cost of doing business is just going up for everybody.

Uh, you know, so salaries and benefits, that was their main increase in cost.

So any additional questions for regarding downtime Mannes.

Okay, then we can move on to Central City Cyber School, uh, which completed its 26th year of operations in 2025.

Uh school had a surplus of 223,000 uh compared to 1.8 million in the prior year.

Revenues decreased by approximately 1.56 million, primarily due to DPI other revenues decrease of 1.3 million dollars and charter revenue decrease of 300,000, which was primarily due to enrollment decrease of 39 pupils.

School operating expenses remained consistent with the prior year, decreasing slightly by 26,000.

Their cost per pupil in current year was 15,111 compared to 13,685 in the prior year.

The membership counts for September and January were 346 and 334 students compared to prior year of 383 and 373, respectively for September and January.

But the unrestricted fundraising expenses were $848 and 1200, respectively.

Surpluses at 4.3% of the yearly revenue.

Looking at their current financial position, the school maintained a year and cash balance of approximately $3.6 million.

The ratio of cash and receivable to current liability is $88.3 to 1, which is up dramatically from 7.8 to 1.

Unrestricted net assets increased, and our 97% of the yearly revenues.

Accounts and grant receivable is down by 1.6 million, which is primarily due to receipt of 1.6 million dollars.

That was a receivable for ESSER grant in prior year.

And you will see this all across the board.

You know, there were some COVID-related grants that ended in 2024, so there might be huge receivables in prior year.

We noted that this has been happening pretty much every school, that there is a decline in accounts receivable because of that.

Just wanted to point out.

But you alluded to the expiration of ESSER funds.

And I was wondering if through your analysis you were able to determine the extent to which ESSER funds had been used to cover ongoing operating costs.

So you know, things like salaries or utilities, things like that, or uh whether they were uh primarily used for kind of one-time more capital type expenses, uh, you know, because I could see the expiration of ESSER funds that were relied on to fill operating budget gaps as uh you know a potential concern moving forward.

So was that was that part of your analysis?

And uh if so, um, was there any any cause for concern uh as a result of expiration of the the ESSER funds?

Right.

Thank you, Bill, for the question.

Uh very interesting question.

But uh, I don't think we actually did any analysis per se for this, but our experience working with the charter schools and lots of choice schools that we work with who had received ASSER funding, there were very few schools who actually used it for capital purposes.

I think the money was used more for operating, you know, to help the schools that were struggling quite a bit, but you know, uh, at the time, but now since that funding is gone, the schools will have to realize that and they will have to adjust their budgets accordingly.

That is that is the key that they have to follow their budget.

Um, but but we did not do any kind of analysis as to how they use the ASER funding.

We we can go talk to these schools and see if we can figure that out, if there's uh where they kept track, I'm sure they kept track of the cost, how they spent the money.

Sure, and and I suppose it's you know it's all fungible, so whether there was you know specifically allocated to to operating or capital is sort of um you know beside the point.

But uh I I'm just wondering, you know, in your professional assessment, whether there is potentially cause for concern um as a result of the the ESSER funds.

I know it's it's easy to say just kind of tighten your belts and reduce your budgets, but as we know, costs are increasing.

And um I'm just wondering if you're able to um get into a little more depth on that.

Sure, we can we can definitely talk to some of these schools and attend the board meetings and go through their budgets more closely to see you know if they are if they are following their budget, and if not, maybe we need to bring it to your attention, maybe on a quarterly or uh you know every six months or something like that before the end of the school year, so that we are not caught at the end.

Sure.

And I guess in addition to just adherence to to budget, uh, maybe something a little bit more even forward looking than that, um, maybe looking at the the structural financial picture, um you know, moving forward over over the next few years, given the you know the expiration of what was uh a pretty substantial uh source of revenue.

Right.

Okay.

Definitely.

And Rupesh, I do also want to say thank you for um including that breakdown of revenues uh for each school as as was requested.

I I find that valuable and I really appreciate you including it.

And and if we need to talk about that during this presentation, we can, but I thought it was kind of you know, if you guys have it access to it, you know, you guys can look at it.

And then uh I don't know if like we now we have sufficient data, like I don't know if we should be preparing a table for like full-time, you know, we have these costs, FTE costs for four or five years now.

Should we be including that as a table as well?

We are just putting for current year and last year, or even like fundraising revenues and expenses.

Um would you like would you guys like to see a table going forward?

And we can we can do that, if that would be helpful.

What you can do is probably you can put a sample together, we can take a look at it to see if we think there's something we could include in the report because as we were um because since I was also thinking given the um I don't know if there's anything in your report that's similar to the school problematic report um in terms of summarizing data that is kind of consistent of if you think there's some revisions you may want to make to the report, but we can take a look at some additional information to see because I see in other for other schools, for example, uh some schools were uh didn't report they must report sometime.

Uh some schools were uh didn't report they must report some time.

And so I was thinking that what might be good if a school has not reported to you.

Um is now did they must report to you if you will let Gail know.

And then the question is then Gail and I can have a good discussion, and I can then determine if should I reach out to the school to say, hey, you miss your monthly report, even though we found out on the end of the year, it may be nice to know during the beginning of the year.

Is there something is there a concern that we need to address with them in terms of um why the report is late, or is there is there is that a concern at all with the monthly or quotability for being late?

Right.

And to that point, just to uh, you know, if if they are late, let's say the monthly reports are consecutively late for two months.

We do let Gail know, but it hasn't happened uh in the last couple of years where uh school is late consecutively for two months.

Uh yeah, because oh, and I like to add um there's a report that I um pulled together for DPI.

It's the annual report that's due usually around the second week of December, and all of that is uh part of that report.

So if they are late at that point, that really gives us the indication of like who are the schools that are more than a month late or two months late.

As well, uh I have a conversation with a financial person at DPI, and then she shares all the the you know, the red flags or the anything it's called a management report.

Um typically, as we put said, um, the schools are pretty good about being on time with their monthly reports.

Right.

Any more questions of Central City Cyber School or anyone?

Yes, if not, then we can move on to the next one.

Darrell Hines uh College Preparatory Academy, uh, which was established in 2002 and completed its 23rd year of operations.

Uh the DLH Academy had a deficit of 324,000 in 2025.

The revenues decreased by 415,000, uh, substantially due to SER funding decreasing by 447,000, and other grants increasing by only 13,000.

The pupil count decreased by 14 students from prior year.

Uh the expenses decreased approximately by 57,000 due to decrease in purchase services of 83,000 and special education services of 62,000.

Uh supplies of 25,000, but the increase in salaries and benefits of 64,000 and technology of 53,000.

The average cost per FTE for 2025 was 16,920 compared to 16,809 in 2024, and the membership counts for September and January of 25 were 180 and 175, compared to prior year of 172 and 189.

The school did not have any restricted fundraising revenue or expenses in current or prior year.

The unrestricted fundraising revenues were 10,363 in 2025 and 2024, and the unrestricted fundraising expenses were 56,000 and about 36,000, respectively.121.

And Title 1 decrease of about 12,000.

The current liabilities are consistent with prior year.

The decrease in total liabilities of 250,000 is due to decrease of 250,000 in long-term operating lease liabilities.

So the school continues to have solid procedures in place to ensure a sufficient financial management system, and the school appears to be in compliance with the provisions of its contract with City of Milwaukee.

Looking at their scorecard, it remains excellent.

Couple of points lower compared to prior year due to huge deficit in fiscal year.

So we deducted a point there, and there was a there's not an internal control finding, but they did the auditors did make a management letter note that three teachers had a licenses that were expired.

So the school needs to keep an eye out or have a system in place where they need to keep track of whose licenses are expiring and have them renewed on time.

Any questions on Darrell Hines.

Um to um go to a previously scheduled engagement.

So uh thank you, Rapesh, and thank you, uh Mr.

Chair.

Thank you.

Thanks, Bill.

All right, then we will move on to Milwaukee Academy of Science.

Uh that was established as a charter school in 2000 under uh UWM charter, but in 2008 they switched their chartering to City of Milwaukee, and so MAS has completed its 25th year of operations in 2025.

Um AS showed a deficit of approximately 1.9 million dollars compared to a surplus of 6.5 million dollars in prior year.

Revenues decreased by almost 3 million dollars, primarily due to COVID-19 related educational stabilization funding that decreased by 5.3 million dollars, and the insurance proceeds decreased by 3.4 million dollars.

Uh, however, they did have a significant increase in enrollment.

Their enrollment went up by 289 students, so the charter aid increased by 3.8 million dollars, and other federal grants increased by about 1.5 million dollars, and there was a contributed non-financial asset of about half a million dollars.

Is primarily due to salaries and benefit, which increased by 4.2 million dollars, and the purchase services increased by about a million dollars, and the computer supplies increased by 450,000 dollars.

So those increase in expenses are sort of consistent with increase in the enrollment.

Compared to 17,680 in the prior year, and the membership counts were up in 2025.

They were they are 1710 in September and 1637 in January of 2025 compared to 1397 and 1348 in 2024.

The school did not have any restricted fundraising revenues or expenses in 2025 or 2024, uh, and but the unrestricted fundraising revenues were 74,000 and 1.5 million dollars in 2025 and 2024, and the unrestricted expenses were about 83,000 and 286,000 in 2025 and 2024.

The deficit is at 7.1% of the yearly revenue.

Currently, the school has unrestricted net assets of 12.94 million dollars.

And the current ratio is down slightly to 2.5 compared to 4.3 in prior year.

The unrestricted net assets are 47% of the yearly revenue.

The year end operating cash balances totaled approximately approximately 6.3 million dollars and the receivable of 1 million dollars.

The decrease in receivable of 2.8 million dollars is primarily due to 1.2 million in SER receivable in prior year and 1.6 million in other grants.

Current liabilities, other than current debt service totaled 2.98 million dollars, an increase of 543,000 from prior year because of accrued payroll and payroll tax increase of about 600,000 dollars.

The balance of this loan is about 12 million dollars.

The loan covenant requires school to maintain cash and investments and debt service reserve and repair and replacement fund.

Total cash in these restricted accounts totaled 2.96 million at the year end.

This balance is in addition to the operating cash of 6.3 million dollars noted above.

It was completed on January 30th, 2026.

But there were no significant financial statement or compliance findings noted.

And the auditor expressed no concern over MAS's ability to continue as a going concern.

However, there was a material weakness in internal control noted.

It was the same finding.

Reconciliations for certain accounts that were completed at year end did not tie to the general ledger account balances.

The auditors recommended implementing effective internal controls that ensure that all assets, liability, and net assets accounts are reconciled, reviewed, and the reconciled balances tie to the general ledger on a timely basis.

Management agrees with the findings and has committed to a corrective action plan.

And we will be we will be keeping an eye out on it during this year to see if they are working towards that goal.

Based on our review, it appears that uh organization has adequate procedures in place to ensure sufficient management system.

It has an excellent financial position with excellent ratio of cash and receivables as well as excellent unrestricted net asset balance.

The school appears to be materially in compliance with the provision of its contract with the city of Milwaukee Charter Committee.

Looking at their financial scorecards, so uh their overall it's uh decent score, but we lower we had to lower two points for a larger deficit.

Uh and also a continued finding from the prior year related to the account reconciliation and timely posting to general ledger.

Any questions on MAS?

Yeah, I have a question for you.

Yes.

Will you meet with them next when you their first meeting in the month?

I mean, when you meet with them for this coming school year, can you let us know how uh will they do it towards their corrective action plan?

Okay, I can definitely make that note.

And the second question is Milwaukee Academy of Science is one of our is one of the one and only school that the largest school, they have over what they were two thousand students, Gail.

Uh, about 1700 students last year.

I don't know about this year.

Okay, so with respect to up under management response, you said the small staff size contribute to the late audit submission with comparison to our other schools, which are small.

What is the relationship to their size?

I mean, if their staff compared to the other schools, because I consider them to be a large school, and therefore they should have a larger staff with respect to financial and internal financial procedures.

That is that is correct.

That would be a good assumption to have, but you know, there's they doesn't look like they have sufficient staff or at least good accounting staff to help out with all this.

Um that that seems to be the problem, or that it might be uh comment from you guys that could be you know that could be made.

Okay that I think that's something Gail and I can have a discussion with them about because I just they are a larger school, so when you I can I understand the comment in the in this section, and I understand the comment in the scorecard section, you know, where most schools can't get the point that they deserve to have because they are small in size, and they may not be able to afford to uh hire uh CPA or financial manager um internally, but in the case of math academy of science, I would expect that they should be able to do that given the size of the school and the numbers and they constantly have and they don't recruit students, they don't have to recruit because their their reputation is such that they always have a massive waiting list, right?

So that's something I think Gail and I can address.

Yeah, I mean I can say this.

Um every year, Dr.

Baylor and I make our rounds to um speak to the board members of each of the schools to present any policy updates or to present the annual report.

So that is something that um when we meet, and usually that happens around October, November, maybe December.

Um, that is something that we could bring up to the board and any charter school review committee members, of course, could come to the meeting.

Um, maybe we can invite Rupesh to uh the meeting, and that could be another way to um look at it.

That would be honorable.

Sure.

Okay.

And when is that meeting you said, Gail?

Um, usually it's um in October, November.

It's just whenever the school has their um, usually it's their first or second board meeting of the year, and they usually just put us on the agenda.

Um yeah, but the the only problem is with the October meeting that will be after the year end.

So we may want to do something before the year end to see how they are progressing and you know, making the changes.

So I don't know if there is a way we could reach out to them between now and June 30th and see how they are progressing.

Yes, okay.

Then if no further questions, we can move on to the next school, the Howard Fuller Collegiate Academy.

Uh which completed its 14th year as a city of Milwaukee charter school, and the school showed a significant gain of 7.6 million dollars in the year for the fiscal year, and the school posted revenues of 18.75 million up from 11.67 million in a prior year.

The revenue increase was due to increase in donations of 4.4 million dollars and a charter revenue increase of four 3.4 million dollars.

Um the increase in charter revenue was primarily due to expanded campus, and the the enrollment went up by about 279 students.

Also the current year expenses increased by $3.9 million dollars.

The expense increase was mostly due to increase in salaries and benefits as expected of about $1.86 million dollars.

The depreciation went up by about $748000 and professional fees of $222,000 and some other expenses that went up by $200,000 each average cost per FTE was $1,781 compared to $23,610 in the prior year.

So that has come down quite a bit the membership counts are up substantially.

Compared to prior year of $314 and $294.

The school did not have any restricted fundraising revenues or expenses in current year or prior year.

The unrestricted fundraising revenues were $5.7 million dollars and $1.3 million dollars in 2025 and 2024 and unrestricted fundraising expenses were $362,000 and $164 in 2025 and 2024 surplus as a percentage of revenue is at about 41% the current ratio of school has improved to $17.5 compared to three in prior year due to approximately 10 million dollar decrease in accounts payable caused by the ongoing construction in the prior year.

The year and cash balances increased to $7.26 million dollars from $44,000 in prior year and the pledge is receivable decreased by a million dollars the audit was completed on time and there were no financial statement internal control or compliance findings by the auditors and the the school did comply with all of the city of Milwaukee reporting requirements in timely manner.

So based on our review it appears that organization has sufficient financial management system and appears to be in compliance with the provisions of its contract with the city of Milwaukee.

Subsequent event as you guys have noted the school's five year contract with the city of Milwaukee charter committee ended on June 30 2025 and the school decided not to renew their contract with the city of Milwaukee looking at their financial scorecard was they had excellent financial year and that helped improve their scorecard as well there's very strong financial condition and they have a perfect score for sustainability the internal score score needs to improve but couple of matter although not qualified as finding there were the auditors made a comment that you know the journal entries should be prepared and then reviewed by a different individual and the other issue noted was in regards to the donations database reconciliation that was not done on a timely manner.

Any questions on howard Fuller okay if not then we can move on to Milwaukee Math and Science Academy okay MMSA completed their 14th year as the City of Milwaukee charter school the school showed a 4400 deficit from approximately 3.57 million dollars of revenue and expenses of 3.61 million dollars revenues remain consistent while expenses increased by approximately 2000 dollars due to the increase in salaries and payroll taxes of 1500 food costs went up by about $3000 and depreciation expense of $29,000 the enrollment did increase by about 11 pupils but enrollment should be watched closely by the school the average FTE cost per student is $15,920

Food costs went up by about $30,000 and depreciation expense of $29,000.

The enrollment did increase by about $11 pupils, but enrollment should be watched closely by the school.

The average FTE cost per student is $15,923 compared to 2024 cost of $15,363.

Compared to prior year of $243 and $22.

The school did not have any unrestricted or restricted fundraising revenues or expenses in current year or prior year.

And the deficit is at $1.2% of the total revenue in the current year.

The school has accumulated an unrestricted net asset balance of about $750,000 or 21% of the revenue.

The current ratio decreased to 3.4, which is still excellent compared to 5.3 in prior year.

Accounts receivable went down by 178,000, primarily because of TESSA receivable of $195,000 in prior year.

Current and total liabilities are consistent with prior year material changes.

So the school continues to be in solid financial position as a charter school, and they are in compliance with the financial management provisions of its contract with the city of Milwaukee.

And looking at their scorecard, the scorecard is consistent with prior year.

Any questions on MMSA?

Okay, I take that as a no then, and then we can move to our last school on the report.

Escuela Verde, which completed its 13th year of operation as a city of Milwaukee charter school.

Escuela Verde is an arm of our uh larger organization, Transcenter for Youth Inc., which comprises of three other entities, Shalom High School, Nova, and Al Puente High School.

Once again, was able to achieve very good financial reserves even with a relatively low enrollment level.

The school showed a surplus of $64,000 with a revenue of about $2 million and expenses of $1.94 million.

Revenue revenue decrease of about $341,000 is primarily due to grant income decrease of $366,000.

But the expenses are consistent with the prior year.

Compared to $16,317 in prior year.

Compared to prior year of $120 and $121.

So pretty consistent with last year.

And they did not have any unrestricted fundraising revenues or expenses either.

Surpluses at 3% of the revenues.

As the school is part of the transcentral for you, thank it is important to look at the financial position of the organization as a whole.

The transcentral for youth's year and cash and receivable balance totaled approximately 2.89 million dollars.

Current like liabilities increased by 213,000 due to accounts payable increase of 220,000.

This resulted in current ratio of 5.5 compared to 8.5 in prior year.

The accounts receivable decreased by 660,000, of which 530,000 was due to decrease in assert funding receivable, and rest is because of general grants and the timing of the receipts.

And per the report, there were no financial statement internal control or compliance findings, and the auditor expressed no issues over school's ability to continue and was uh going concern.

Uh the school did comply with all the reporting requirements for the CSRC.

So based on our review, the organization does have adequate procedures to ensure sufficient financial management system and school appear school and organization as a whole appear to be in a good financial position, and the school appears to be in compliance with the provisions of its contract with city of Milwaukee.

Their financial scorecard does reflect their excellent financial position.

They continue to have an excellent score.

So that's something that they need to keep an eye out on.

So any questions on a school of day or transcentral for youth.

I just have one.

Yes.

That is would you mind doing doing us a favor?

And um for you begin every school with when they were established, you just didn't have when escover they were established, and I think they were established in the 2013-2014 school term.

Okay, I can add that to the report for next year, unless we had okay.

Well and Gail, let's um since we it that is a pet peeve of mine with the uh teachers with no license, so let's just address that with the schools that had this financial audit because it's not only a financial audit that's mentioned, it's also something we mentioned to them at each of the board meetings as well.

Too I mean without meeting, so maybe Mike instead of our annual meeting, kind of maybe midterm check in with them to see how they're doing because they know that I've asked them all to make sure that all their teachers have at least they have a license with stipulations.

Now they just have to make sure that no one is sitting around with an expired license, even though teachers do get um if they're currently working, DPI sends out a reminder that their license is about to expire, their lifetime license, and their provisional license, or if they are on a special education program, like they have a system in place where they send out a reminder, let them know it's time to renew their license.

So okay.

Um, and Dr.

Baylor is currently um gathering the data for um that would be this school year, so I can check in with her to see kind of where they are.

All right, sounds good.

Also, this is Dana's um uh equilibrium that came into is it 2012, 2013, so one year before.

Okay, thank you.

Yeah, I just did a quick subtraction, that's why I said 13.

Thank you, Zayna for that.

Good memory, good memory.

Any other questions or comments for Chris?

Seeing uh entertain a motion to accept the ML Thought financial report.

Second, Dr.

Dana.

I need a motion first, Dana.

Oh, sorry, sorry.

I'm motion.

Okay.

It's a motion by Zayna.

Can you get a second?

A second.

Who seconded it?

Dr.

Davis.

Thank you, Dr.

Davis.

Been uh moved and second.

All in favor of accepting the annual financial scorecard for the report from ML Thoughts.

Say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any no's any um abstentions.

Motion carries.

Thank you, everyone.

But before we go, I want to take this opportunity to welcome to the committee.

Dr.

Davis.

Dr.

Davis, how do I pronounce your first name?

Ayani.

Okay.

Um, like to welcome Dr.

Iani Davis to her first charter school meeting.

And we will welcome um hold it, hold it, hold it, hold it.

At the next at our next meeting when we do our training, we will um also well um Tracy Sparrow.

And um since we're here, um Dr.

Tyana.

I mean, Dr.

Davis, if you would like to comment or have anything to say before we close out our meeting, we'll give you an opportunity to do so.

No, thank you for welcoming me.

Um, and I'm excited to work with you all, and it's great.

This is a great meeting, actually, to come into just to hear about a lot of the things that are already going on.

So um again, thank you all, and I look forward to working with you.

Well, Gail and I are very welcome to have you.

Caller number one, was about to say something.

The one is title caller one.

All right, okay.

Um, with that said, then um, seeing that there are no further business before us, our entertainer motion to dismiss.

Let's close out our meeting.

Motion to dismiss.

We move to dismiss.

Got a second.

Second, this is Dr.

Davis.

Okay, we're moving and second.

We are adjourned.

Thank you, everyone, and see you at our next meeting.

I think it's gonna be training, right, Gail.