Sonya Pratt, Executive Director, began the meeting by giving a brief overview of City on a Hill’s finances for the month of October 2022. She confirmed that CoaH is currently on track to remain within the school year 2022-2023 budget, pointing to several expenses that continued to be under budget, including personnel costs due to open positions. She confirmed, however, that the majority of roles have since been filled in the months of November and December. She noted that the completion of union negotiations had also lowered legal costs for the school year. Pratt also shared that there were seven new students that joined City on a Hill this month, and given that, she noted that the School expected related transportation costs to increase.

Looking forward, Pratt also shared her continued goal of budgeting conservatively given ongoing enrollment challenges. Although CoaH will continue to receive ESSR funds for this school year, which have provided additional federal funds for the past two school years, there is a plan to scale back expenses to continue to ensure financial stability by stepping away and/or consolidating from some of the softwares and partnerships that were introduced during the COVID-19 State of Emergency and from CoaH’s time as a network of schools, and are no longer needed. 

Next, the Committee inquired about the status of the School's current enrollment numbers and what the progress has been since the start of the school year. Pratt explained that initially, the School projected an enrollment figure of 229 students, but due to attrition, CoaH has maintained an average enrollment number of about 190 students. CoaH will be having one more lottery on December 19th, which will be the last lottery for the 2022-2023, and the School expects to accept several more students. Pratt affirmed that despite this lower enrollment, the School does not anticipate needing to make any staffing or programming cuts. Committee members followed up by inquiring about the long term planning related to enrollment. Pratt responded that answering this questions is part of the work CoaH is doing throughout the strategic planning process, and that the School has continued to discuss the topic directly with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). 

Next, Ted Gildea, Treasurer, shared that he recently joined a call with School Leadership and the School’s project manager, NV5. He explained that following the Committee’s last update, NV5 provided the School an updated quote that was again much higher than expected given the current scope of the project, which includes installing movable partitions already owned by the School and adding administrative offices. He shared that based on his experience in construction, he believes the work should be no more than about $50,000, which accounts for emergency funds as well. Gildea and Pratt shared that the School has had difficulties working with current partners, and is currently seeking additional information about potential current and future costs to discuss with the Board given the unexpected costs.