The meeting began with the normal Call to Order, Agenda Review, and Flag Salute. The first Community Comments portion of the meeting included no comments.
The Consent Agenda included the approval of a warrant, contracts, various Facilities, Regular, Special Administrative Negotiations, and Special (Evaluation) meetings.
The Reports to the Board portion of the meeting included:
– Superintendents Report included information on upcoming student assessments that are ongoing and upcoming and the preparation that goes into preparing for them. Also addressed were several reports issued relating to education in Vermont, three by the VT Agency of Education and one by the VT Commission on the Future of Public Education and concerns with who produced the reports. Concerns were also noted regarding the Governor’s January 3rd letter and plans for educating the General Assembly on education in Vermont. An outline of a January 13 meeting the Champlain Valley Superintendent Association (CVSA) had with local legislators was provided in the report provided in the packet. Provided information on the Three Components of Public Education which are Education Finance, Education Governance, and Education Delivery System. Of note, noted concerns that initial plans didn’t address ongoing facilities costs and needed upgrade/replacement. Indicated that she and the other CVSA met today with Interim Education Secretary Saunders and Deputy Secretary Briggs-Cambell on their initial high-level plan and would be meeting soon with the CVSA group to debrief from this meeting.
– Operations Report included information on the Herrick School stormwater project that is projected to be completed in 2025 with 90% to be covered by a state stormwater program and MTSD’s projected portion expected to be about $40,000. Also discussed Herrick signage and safety upgrades that were completed over Christmas break which included the room numbering system at Herrick. Will also be onboarding the new safety app with the School Resource Officer by integrating maps into the app so staff can report their status from individual rooms and uploading emergency plan documents so staff can access on their phones. Also, will be testing the alert systems before training Administrators and Staff this spring.
– Finance Report a summary of Operating Expenses from July 1, 2024 to October 31, 2024 was provided in the packet.
– Committee Reports included no reports because none of the committees met since the previous board meeting.
The Presentations portion of the meeting included the FY26 draft budget and whether and how to allocate the $978,029 that was carried forward from the audited FY24 Fund Balance. Discussion was on whether to further reduce the FY26 draft budget and cover what was apparently initially budgeted for faculty salaries and what was put into the recently signed contract, put $150,000 into the Education Reserve Fund, and/or put whatever remains into the Capital Reserve Fund. In taking option 1 from the presentation and providing additional funding towards the FY26 budget from the FY24 Fund Balance and putting $150,000 towards the education reserve fund with the remaining going to the capital reserve fund, IF ALL APPROVED BY THE VOTERS, it makes the tax rate be -5.85% (YES, THAT’S A NEGATIVE) which is further negative than the prior expected negative tax rate of -5.12%. As always, the latest budget information from MTSD can be found here: https://www.mtsd-vt.org/apps/pages/fy26.
The Discussion portion of the meeting included:
– FY26 Proposed Budget and Language including the: 1) Budget, 2) Fund Balance, and 3) Herrick Facility Bond. Discussion on finalizing the language and who should/must sign based on board chair absence.
– FY26 Announced Tuition Rate were provided in the packet for disclosure to the board and was listed at $15,250 for Elementary and $17,750 for Secondary. This is for students coming to Milton for school from outside districts and is paid to MTSD by those outside towns for those students to attend MTSD.
– Regular Meeting – February 27 discussing whether to cancel the meeting due to a limited agenda planned with only a need to sign a warrant. Plan to cancel this meeting and have a special meeting on town meeting day to sign the warrant on March 3rd at 5:45. Next regularly scheduled meeting planned to be March 13th after the March 4th vote aside for a school board organizing meeting.
– Budget / Bond Promotions including events and materials.
The second Community Comments portion of the meeting included no comments.
The Action Items portion of the meeting included approving the International Field Trip Request (MHS Rome and Paris trip), various approvals related to the FY26 Proposed Budget language including the approval of option 1, as discussed above, for bringing to the Milton voters to approve allocating the FY24 Fund Balance as also described above. This will require an additional two ballot items for allocating funds to: 1) $150,000 to Education Reserve Fund, and 2) $582,726 to the Capital Reserve and Maintenance Fund, with the remaining $245,303 being set aside to be applied to the FY26 Revenue to cover expected increased Faculty salaries from initial budgeting and further reduce the amount Milton taxpayers will pay this year from -5.12 to -5.85 (YES, THOSE ARE NEGATIVES) on the school side of the tax rate.
The Board Comments portion of the meeting included some general comments.
An intended Executive Session was cancelled.