So, Mr.

Mayor, members of the city council, the first presentation provided by Crystal Pay of our school board.

Crystal will give City Council overview of their budget proposals of their budget resolutions and the request for additional funding coming through from the state.

So next question you'll hear will be Crystal Pay, the Chief Financial Office of Board of Schools.

Welcome.

Thank you.

Um, good afternoon, Mayor Dyer, Vice Mayor Wilson, members of City Council and Mr.

Jahaney.

Thank you for this opportunity to present the school division's proposed fiscal year 2026-27 amended budget.

This afternoon, I'll provide an overview of the additional state revenue received following the final approval of the state budget, and then outline how we recommend using those resources to address several of our highest priorities.

This slide provides an overview of the school division's revenue sources and shows how we arrive at the proposed fiscal year 2026-27 budget.

The final three columns show the adopted fiscal year 2026-27 budget, the proposed fiscal year 2026-27 amended budget, and the resulting variants.

Overall, the proposed amendment provides approximately $13.9 million in additional revenue.

Of that amount, approximately $12.8 million comes from the state with an additional approximate $1.1 million from state sales tax.

The major changes include approximately $3.5 million in special education add-on funding, a reduction of approximately $654,000 in basic school aid, approximately $6.3 million in compensation supplement funding to support providing an average 4% salary increase for SOQ funded instructional and support positions, approximately $3.3 million through the infrastructure and operations per pupil allocation, a reduction of approximately $2.3 million in at-risk lottery funding, approximately $2.7 million in at-risk standards of quality program funding, and then approximately $1.1 million in state sales tax revenue.

These additional resources provide the school division with an opportunity to address several important priorities.

As we develop the recommendations, the focus was on balancing immediate operational needs with strategic investments to directly benefit students, staff, and schools.

The recommendations before you are the result of collaboration across division leadership.

They are designed to maximize the impact of these additional resources while strengthening ongoing operations.

In particular, the recommendations focus on student safety, special education, employee support, instructional quality, and responsible fiscal stewardship.

Beginning with the approximately $13.9 million, the school division is recommending the following investments.

First, we recommend moving 15 security assistant positions from the operating budget to the school resource officer, school security officer incentive grant.

These positions were originally included in the operating budget because at the time we had not yet received notification that a grant would be awarded for a second year.

We received notification of the grant in May, and moving these positions to the grant results in an operating budget savings of approximately $536,000.

We also recommend providing approximately $51,000 for the local match associated with the school safety personnel programming grant, which was also awarded in May.

This grant funds an emergency preparedness planner position and represents the first year of funding for this initiative.

Next, we recommend increasing our paygo funding by $3 billion.

This investment allows the division to continue addressing critical capital needs without additional borrowing.

Those grant funds expire June 30th, and replacing this funding will allow these important instructional supports to continue.

To further support employment recruitment, retention, and professional growth.

We'd recommend an additional funding of $214,000 for employee professional development reimbursement, commonly referred to as tuition reimbursement.

This investment would increase the annual reimbursement maximum from $1,000 to $2,000 and supports tuition, license renewal, advanced certifications, and other professional learning opportunities.

We also recommend adjusting the unified pay scale by increasing salary steps for employees with one to 14 years of experience from 1% to 1.25% effective February 1st at a cost of 4.8 million dollars.

This recommendation reinforces our commitment to attracting and retaining high-quality employees in an increasingly competitive workforce.

This next set of recommendations focuses primarily on sustaining essential positions and strengthening services for students with disabilities and other students with significant needs.

First, we recommend transferring positions previously supported through the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or the Title VI grant to the operating budget.

The most recent Title VI grant funding can no longer support 9.5 positions, including 5.5 school social workers, three behavior intervention specialists, and one teacher assistant.

Of those positions, 4.1 were moved to the Title IV grant, and the remaining 5.4 positions now require local operating funds at a cost of approximately 563,000.

The remainder of these recommendations focused on strengthening special education services and supporting students with greatest needs.

First, we recommend providing approximately 500,000 to address the increasing cost of private day school placements.

Recent changes to the state rate cap passed more cost onto the school division, and the Children's Services Act funding cannot cover costs above those rate caps.

Next, we recommend approximately 561,000 to revitalize the behavior and social emotional program, also known as base through additional staffing and instructional resources.

In addition, we recommend establishing an additional STEP classroom, including both personnel and instructional resources at a cost of approximately $560,000 to meet the growing student needs.

STEP stands for supportive therapeutic education program.

We also recommend converting 20 temporary special education teacher assistant positions to full-time positions at a cost of approximately $931,000.

This change will provide greater consistency for students and schools and strengthen continuity of support provided to students.

And finally, we recommend providing an additional $291,000 for the special education teacher assistant substitute budget.

This funding will help ensure adequate substitute coverage and main continuity of services throughout the school year.

Taken together, these recommendations reflect a focused approach to the additional state revenue.

They prioritize student safety, employee support, instructional quality, and expanded services for students with disabilities while maintaining our commitment to responsible fiscal management.

Our goal is to make strategic investments that address immediate needs while also strengthening the school division for the future.

This concludes the presentation.

Thank you for consideration of these recommendations and from your continued commitment to our students, employees, and community.

We appreciate City Council's continued partnership and guidance throughout the budget development process, and I'll be glad to answer any questions.

Okay, I don't see any, but thank you so much.

Thank you so much.

Dr.

Robertson, thank you so much for being here too.

You were very much a partner with us.

All right, so Mr.