Note: These proposed minutes should be considered preliminary until they are approved by the
board at a future meeting.
WINDHAM SOUTHEAST SCHOOL DISTRICT (WSESD) FINANCE COMMITTEE
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2023
REGULAR MEETING – 5:00PM
HYBRID MEETING: GUILFORD CENTRAL SCHOOL & ZOOM
DRAFT MINUTES
WSESD Finance Committee Members Present: Chairperson Shaun Murphy (SM), Anne Beekman
(AB), Deborah Stanford (DS), Kimberley Price (KP)
WSESD Finance Committee Members Absent: none
WSESU/SD Staff Present: Business Administrator Frank Rucker, Superintendent Mark Speno
Others present: Jaci Reynolds, Kristina Naylor, Maggie Foley, Representative Emilie Kornheiser
(Windham-7)
Please note: Because of technological limitations, this attendance record may be incomplete.
CALL TO ORDER:
*This was not captured on the Zoom recording.
I. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
*This was not captured on the Zoom recording.
II. FY25 PRELIMINARY BUDGET DEVELOPMENT PLANNING DISCUSSION; FOCUS OF DISCUSSION ON REVENUES AND PRELIMINARY CAPITAL PLAN
WSESU Business Administrator Frank Rucker shared a document: a spreadsheet, “All WSESU Students Except Students Tuitioned Out BW Prime Source.”
Mr. Rucker shared and reviewed a document: a spreadsheet, “WSESU Budget FY25 Prime.”
Highlights included:
• This document shows the preliminary enrollment source data the administration sends to the state, which is part of the process of setting the tax rate.
• A reminder that this enrollment source data cannot be sent to the state until the administration gets the weighted statistics on December 15.
• A review of the document’s details, including information on all of the WSESU schools, including Early Education Services and Vernon. This data set does not include tuition students outside of the WSESU system.
• This information will appear in the Annual Report.
• This document can be used to track enrollment trends.
• Enrollment is down by 1%, or 19 students.
• An explanation of how data is organized on this spreadsheet, including cohorts and average grade size.
• Enrollment is an important component of setting the tax rate.
• A review of tuition information for BAMS and BUHS.
• The projected number of tuition students is 144 at $18,000 each, which equals $2.5 million in tuition income for FY25.
• How tuition is billed for tuitioned students who attend WRCC.
• Vernon students’ enrollment at BUHS is down for a number of reasons, including changes at the Pioneer Valley Regional School in Northfield, Massachusetts. Vernon has “school choice,” so their high school students can attend schools other than BUHS.
• This District’s tuition per pupil is below the average tuition throughout the state.
• A review of the WSESD FY25 proposed budget’s projected preliminary revenues.
• A reminder that the budget is informed by the administration learning where students need the most support and forming goals and plans to serve them. Staff presentations at recent Board meetings have detailed these findings and plans.
• An explanation of educational spending and how it relates to the cost-per-student, including how things like tuitions and the loss of ESSER funding (neither of which comes from taxpayers) affect the net figure, which is the educational spending figure. This figure gets divided by the number of students.
• The proposed FY25 budget shows a very small increase over the FY24 (current) budget: 1.4%. But, because of less grant-funding, the District is asking the state for a 9.6% increase ($5 million) in state educational support grant-funding. This number may change if the budget does not get passed as-is.
• An explanation of the “hold-harmless” provision and how it affects tax bills.
• A review of some of the District’s revenue losses, which explains why the educational funding request to the state is so large.
III. LEGISLATIVE UPDATES; DISCUSSION WITH REPRESENTATIVE EMILIE KORNHEISER
Mr. Rucker welcomed Representative Emilie Kornheiser (Windham-7) for a discussion on Legislative updates and how they may affect school operations and budget development. Highlights included:
• An explanation of how statewide collective decisions regarding school spending affect each school’s tax rates, and what the Legislature can and cannot do about it.
• A discussion on the Common Levels of Appraisal (CLA) and how it affects the tax rate, and a reminder that most Vermont towns are behind on appraising their property values.
• A review of revenues, their sources, the proposed FY25 budget, and how it differs from the FY24 budget. Mr. Rucker noted that when the District loses grant money, the options are to cut spending or try to recoup it from the state educational fund.
• The end of ESSER III represents an approximately $2.7 million reduction in revenue, which is part of what the District is requesting from the state.
• Why the tax letter that was released on December 1 does not fully predict or explain the tax rate, and what could change before the tax rate is set.
• Ms. Kornheiser reminded the Finance Committee that the WSESD School Board heavily lobbied the Legislature to implement weighted student calculations with the knowledge that it may raise taxes.
• A discussion on Universal School Meals, and the poverty levels in each town of the District versus the poverty level for the District as a whole.
• How students receiving special education are weighted in the weighted student calculations.
• A discussion on whether the District’s block grant for special education funding is sufficient, and that this information is still being assessed and measured.
• A discussion on the challenges of comparing the yield year-to-year.
• A reminder of the large increase, statewide, in educational spending is to support students’ increased mental health needs.
• A discussion on funding Career Technical Education (CTE). Ms. Kornheiser announced a Legislative bill about it will be considered soon, which could direct the state to issue block grants to fund CTE. The Agency of Education recently issued a report on CTE funding. Mr. Rucker agreed the funding system for CTE must change.
• Mr. Rucker asked Ms. Kornheiser if the Legislature can do anything to separate out the properties of second-homeowners from a town’s Grand List, as it distorts the housing market, housing values, and school funding. Ms. Kornheiser responded: It is very complicated to separate this on the Grand List.
IV. OTHER BUSINESS
There was none.
MOTION BY AB TO ADJOURN. MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY.
The meeting adjourned at 6:23pm.
***
DOCUMENTS SHARED AT THIS MEETING:
• A spreadsheet: “All WSESU Students Except Students Tuitioned Out BW Prime Source.”
• A spreadsheet: “WSESU Budget FY25 Prime.”
Respectfully submitted by Wendy M. Levy from minutes taken by Wendy M. Levy.
This represents my understanding of the above dated meeting. If you have any changes, please submit
them at the next Finance Committee meeting.
