Agenda - 11-07-2024; 8-a - Minutes

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16 1 Commissioner McKee said he does not know where to start but would start by asking 2 about the reduction in fund balance that dropped off but then came back. He asked if he was 3 reading this correctly, he wondered what their cash position is. He said there is a reduction of 4 several million over the last four years and it would place them in a tenuous financial position. He 5 said that he does not know if they have discussed a fix and that while he sees reductions, he does 6 not see those making a substantial enough impact to change their financial position. He said he 7 would like to know about the cash position of CHCCS and where they are regarding being able 8 to pay their bills. 9 Jonathan Scott said that they are in the same place that they were last year, and the 10 county continues to forward the district tax funds until they collect the district tax, so that the district 11 can continue to pay bills. He said that without that support, they would be in a very dire financial 12 position at the beginning of the school year. 13 Commissioner McKee said that he has always advocated for the county to act as a 14 backstop for the district, but he saw this as for emergencies such as schools being destroyed or 15 property being destroyed, something along that nature. 16 Commissioner Portie-Ascott asked how the district had such a large fund balance in FY21. 17 Jonathan Scott said that federal funds during COVID allowed the district to accumulate a 18 higher fund balance, but that they have always carried higher than the requirement. He said that 19 2019/2020 they ran around revenue neutral. 20 Commissioner Hamilton said she was glad to see that the district had a plan to build fund 21 balance back up. She asked if any positions that they are eliminating affect students and how. 22 She also asked what fund balance changes were spent on. She said that usually those are for 23 onetime expenditures rather than to support a re-occurring cost. 24 Nyah Hamlett said one of their priorities was to preserve student facing positions to the 25 maximum extent possible. She said that is why they started with central office positions. She said 26 that those positions do affect students indirectly. She said that some were professional learning 27 to staff and two mental health positions. She said they have made shifts and adjustments. She 28 said they have tried to move existing positions around to cover eliminated positions. 29 Jonathan Scott said that CHCCS appropriated $5 million and that was used in fund 30 balance in FY22 for recruitment and retention. He said that they did not generate much in lapsed 31 salary due to the high fill rate of positions. He said they experienced a 98% fill rates due to these 32 efforts and with the combination of higher salaries and fewer lapse salaries, it took more out of 33 the fund balance than they were expecting. 34 Vice-Chair Greene asked if the district has a plan to get back to using fund balance for 35 one-time expenses rather than continuing costs. 36 Jonathan Scott said yes and that goes back to the three-tiered approach, and they 37 anticipate it being breakeven this year and then next year the fund balance will start to rebuild. 38 Commissioner Portie-Ascott asked about the notification process for employees in Tier 2 39 that were eliminated. She also asked if employees in Tier 3 are aware that their positions may 40 be eliminated. 41 Nyah Hamlett said the tier 3 staff employee groups have been notified but individuals have 42 not been notified yet because they are trying to work through that with attrition. She said as 43 positions turn over throughout the year, the vacant positions will be frozen. She said they will 44 know specific positions in the spring. She said that they tried their best with timing of notifications, 45 but they had to wait for school board approval. 46 Commissioner Portie-Ascott asked if the office staff all come in to work or work remotely. 47 Nyah Hamlett said all central office employees work in-person. 48 Commissioner Richards said there are 18,197 positions on the FTE estimate. 49 Jonathan Scott said that number is the starting point prior to the reductions. 50 Commissioner Richards asked what that number was in 2022. 51 Jonathan Scott said that they should be similar.