Agenda amended to add the following:

*School year 2026-2027 calendar-vote

*Preschool 3 and 4 pay policy-vote

*Reduce staff spending threshold without board approval

No Public Comments

Presented by J. Strickland from Copper Advisers

-Federal funds have not been disbursed at this time, majority of Federal Grants have been approved

Expenses remain about 50% 

With unrestricted cash -Days Cash on Hand 17 and a half which is about 4 days lower than last month

IDEA Grant 1-2-4 Approved so far

Expense Breakdown-2.7 million 

Construction Expense YTD 1.45 million

Ratio to Revenue 60% - district likes to see that at 51% or higher

-Watch List

Revenue with Federal Funds coming in

Claiming funds that are already spent

USDA Loan Repayments

M. Thompson asked about projection that was previously asked about by the 30th

J. Strickland currently working on, should have ready

M. Thompson presenting:

Federal Funds will be coming in and will be swinging us the other way

Budget created with slightly false pretenses from student count--PreK 3 and 4 do not count towards funds coming in. Looking at tightening down the budget.

Ideas to help bring in funds

-Alumni Association to Fundraise

-Boost Sponsorship Opportunities for next year-has reached out to 303 associates

-Possibly naming Maker Space after someone

-Possible feeder program with the hospital

Have a budget for next year that is representative of the numbers we have and need. Still looking for projection numbers from Copper.

Would like to discuss moving staff spending threshold from 10k to 5k to rein in spending. 

Presented by S. Fox- Report Attached

Current student count 400

G. Alexander asked how the cafe is doing?

S. Fox lunches, breakfast, and Athletics all go to Square-last month was 10k in sales.

There is no waste between Culinary and the Cafe working together. 

Simplifying menu to appeal to kids, meeting with Julia and Candance about that. 

Not a lot of lunch sales, breakfast bringing in most of cafe sales. 

-RevTrac takes a high percentage of sales, in a contract with Powerschool and RevTrac.

M. Thompson asked if payment could be Square

S. Fox we can. 

-To many sales will run into staffing issues. Have presold orders and makes a few extras.

-Jen purchased healthy sodas and chips to add sales.  

-Facility not set for cooking. Any cooking has to be done in Culinary while not in use. 

G. Alexander asked about the concession stand at the Y, do we make any money from that. 

S. Fox we made about $800 the other night, between concessions and entry fees.  

G. Alexander how much do we pay to use the YMCA?

R. Beck and S. Fox 

This year we split the cost to redo the floors as payment, and purchasing the the Volleyball stand. 

G. Alexander asked how the game scheduling works; can we pick more home games. 

S. Fox- yes last year we didn't have a Highschool Basketball team, so we didn't sign up for games. The Highschool boys said that they had enough players and we scrambled to schedule games. 

Presented by A. Wright

Fundraising meeting tomorrow at 3:30 pm

-Made $900 on the mini sessions, that will be split between fundraising and the high school.

-Made $491.50 at the Holiday Shop

-Have sold 47 Cookbooks, still need to sell more to make it profitable. 

Upcoming Events:

-Talent Show 3-13

-High Tea 3-21

-Fundraising taking over Spring Fling that will be 5-2 from 10-2

T. Bronsnan asked if Cookbooks can be sold at the concession stand at games

-Yes

M. Thompson asked if we can sell them at International night?

-That is in the works

Presented by S. Fox 

Preschool started out private for 3s and 4s, had issues getting payment, so it was not as successful as anticipated. The Board voted a few years back to make it a free program. Free program from 8-12. If you take any money for Preschool, you cannot receive State Funding, which is variable throughout the years, last year was 17k for 7 months, this year is 14k for 7 months. If we do not charge, we get some money for PreK 4.  Part of the challenge is having families invested enough in the school to pay something, not having families just sending as free from 8-

12. 

The vote would be should we make the PreK 3 and 4 private or keep it free?

Would like to keep it affordable but thinks that charging would be the route to go. We have gotten better at getting payment.

G. Alexander asked what we charge for extended care?

S. Fox $245 per month if you qualify for free or reduced lunch, $345 per month if you don't 

Other programs are charging that a week for that half day. 

G. Alexander asked what times the extended day program is? 

S. Fox noon to 3:15pm, if they stay for after care or early care they pay extra. Right now we have 22 students that we get no money for. 

G. Alexander asked how much S. Fox is proposing the fees to be?

S. Fox proposes a range off $200 to $400. Could be doubled. Want it to be equitable, if students qualify for free and reduced, they could qualify for ABC Vouchers 

G. Alexander asked if there is a number for how many students qualify for free and reduced?

R. Beck PreK 3 10 reduced and 1 full price students. 

              PreK 4 9 reduced and 12 full

S. Fox 19 students who pay the free and reduced pricing and 13 students who pay the full price. 

M. Thompson asked if we have gotten the numbers on how many students stay on for kindergarten from the free program? Feels like the proposed numbers should be doubled, that would still stay equitable and would help with all the upcoming things. 

G. Alexander asked M. Thompson what he thinks the charge should be. 

M. Thompson is still waiting to see the projection before numbers are actually discussed. He would like to vote the program private but hold off on the number at this time. 

T. Bronsnan asked if other charter schools are free or private. 

S. Fox the school that are district told her to look at is private. Most schools start at PreK 4, so she looked at daycares in the area. 

A. Chavarria asked how are we going to vote on the making it private or public without numbers, is there a timeline?

G. Alexander asked when the lottery is?

S. Fox 10th of February and it is automated. 

M. Thompson stated that after the projections are in there will be more solid numbers to be given, and we can just have another quick meeting to vote for charged amount. 

K. Goodwin stated that they would also like to have the information, so that it can be passed on to the parents, along with the knowledge that if they have College saving accounts that can be used for the PreK program. 

M. Thompson asked S. Fox about the DSS program?

S. Fox Ms. April started all of the DSS process, we are still in the application phase.

M. Thompson asked about a timeline to get that going. 

S. Fox have to attend a webinar in February, and then we will be in that process. 

Table vote until 2-5-26 meeting 

J. Poole asked did we figure out how to add the winter break back to February?

S. Fox in order to do the February break we would have to start in July or end in June to make the necessary number of days. Did ask staff and only had one staff member ask about the February break, but after talking about it, everything was good. 

A. Wright asked about the break, but if staff is good, she is good. 

J. Poole liked the way the calendar flowed, thought it was very beneficial for the kids. 

M. Thompson we have two weeks in December. 

L. Lyles there are still the two days and a half day so counting the weekend they are getting a little break there. 

M. Thompson would like to drop the Board Approval Threshold from 10k to 5k