The Executive Director framed the meeting-- we have many things to vote on, including our draft budget. She reviewed the agenda, which was shared in advance. 

The team shared a celebration around BA enrollment for the class of 2024-- 79% of students are enrolled in BA programs. A member of the Board asked for comparative data for LPS and the state, and we are significantly ahead of both averages. 

Another member of the Board asked if KIPP Foundation tracked percent graduating 8th graders that then ended up graduating college-- is this still tracked? A member of the KIPP Team explained that the Foundation does not, but KIPP MA does-- we track 6th grade graduation rates. This is something we have on hand and can share. 

Space was made to discuss all consent agenda items. All items were also sent in advance for review. 

- Annual Reports for Boston and Lynn

- Student handbook updates

- Voting in Nurses in accordance with Student Opportunity Act

The Board did not have any questions, and voted to approve.

The Board and KIPP MA Team engaged in a conversation about our FY25 budget.

KIPP MA did not meet its debt service coverage in Lynn, but did in Boston. We've dug a lot into health insurance and participation in EdHealth consortium. We've been working with the EdHealth Team to better understand the health trends across the state and country, and similar to others we faced extremely high costs, particularly in Q3, which brought us below debt service ratio.

We looked at exiting partnership, but decided it was too costly to do so.

A member of the KIPP MA Team and the Board Chair shared updates from their recent meeting with Citizens Bank. They were disappointed in the covenant, but they will waive it and there is a fee. In FY23, it was going to be $25,000 and they waived the fee. We estimate it will be between $25,000 and $100,000. The Board Chair and Treasurer are heavily involved in the process, and Citizens is appreciative of the cuts we have already made to the FY25 budget. 

The treasurer shared this is the second time we've missed it in two years, but thinks the outcome is good given this. We made significant budget changes for FY25, which helped us to rebound. 

We did also have many unexpected health issues- this was experienced across other schools, partially because of how we cover health care. He discussed our over hire policy, which we'll need to make some decisions around for next year given we aren't seeing as high attrition as we have in the past. 

A member of the Board asked for the Q3 end date and asked where we anticipate landing in Q4. We're not expecting Q4 to be significantly off normal pace. We're going to finish this year, show Citizens where we land, and recover by end of FY26. 

A member of the Board asked us what gives us confidence that in Q1 and Q2 of FY25 we won't be in the same place. A member of the KIPP MA Team explained that in next year's budget, we're budgeting at 125%. This will make sure that the worst case scenario is budgeted for and everything below will be savings. Everything about 125% is covered. This increase in coverage is a big hit to the budget, but the KIPP MA Team believes this is the prudent thing to do.

A member of the Board asked if we've reconsidered our decision to remain self-insured. We did have consultants do the analysis. This is still less expensive.

We had more utilization of healthcare benefits than expected, but this trend has been shared across the Board. Members of the Board shared similar impacts to their organization, and the Board Chair noted Citizens has seen this with other organizations in their portfolio. She plans for the Finance and Facilities Committee to be more involved in the budget next year so we can stay on top of it. The KIPP MA Team recently found that staff members were paying less of their claims that had been outlined, which also had an impact. 

A member of the Board shared that it's a very strange time in the education job market. We need to consider if we expect that to continue. 

The Executive Director reviewed the SY26 budget. We have made the decision to budget at 125% healthcare, have reconsidered our over hire strategy, and have been working alongside a financial consultant who let us know we had to cut $2 million total from our budget. We needed to make changes before the next fiscal year.

We've determined what portions of the budget and what parts of the staffing model we can restructure or eliminate without impacting the student and family experience. 

The Board reviewed the impact of the increase in health insurance to 125%, and where we found the cuts to cover the changes. The KIPP MA Team used the framework of mission critical, mission important, mission enhancing, and mission supplemental. We sought the guidance of the Finance and Facilities Committee, who recommended we cut more than we expect.

We have identified a set of roles that will be restructured or eliminated-- half of these will be offered another role in a school, and all who are not (and those who do not accept the new role) will be offered severance.

A Board member asked about the impact of staff changes. We are reducing by 15 staff members, but this does not account for the over hire strategy. Next year, we will only have 3 over hires. 

A member of the Board noted we'll have to be very careful about the communication plan, given the cultural impact can be magnified. He said he would be helpful to be a resource, given his organization has been through this before more than once. 

The Executive Director discussed changes we'll be making to healthcare, including PFML. This will be executed in January. 

A member of the Board asked how our coverage compares to BPS and LPS. The Executive Director noted ours is much better. A member of the KIPP MA Team shared that we're still competitive in many ways. 

A member of the Board asked if our plan assumes a level of fundraising. The Executive Director noted this does not include a plan, but we are hoping to increase Board giving. A member of the Board shared that we need to leverage our successes to help support these shifts. 

The Board Chair shared gratitude for the work the Chief Finance Offer has done, especially as he prepares to transition. She shared about the impact of our financial consultant, and the work the Finance and Facilities Committee is doing to help us leverage our liquidity and reduce our debt, among other strategies. 

A member of the Board asked for clarity on the timeline for a new Chief Finance Officer. It will be posted in July, and our goal is for the new hire to be able to do come in and do an analysis of the budget to determine the ideal structure of the Finance Team. 

The Executive Director reviewed some shifts in internal controls, including tighter processes for high cost items, monthly meetings to discuss budgets and overall discretionary spending, policy changes in HR Knowledge, reductions in door to door transportation, the elimination of the over hire strategy, and creating a wildly important goal specific to our financial model and sustainability. We currently spend about $200,000 in transportation in Boston and over $700,000 in Lynn. The special education team is establishing better criteria for students receiving this.

The Executive Director shared high-level takeaways from her 360 review this year, which was shared with all regional leaders (Chiefs, Principals, Managing Directors), grade-level and department chairs, and members of the ED Consigliere. Strengths included remaining people-centered and her vision and leadership. Many staff members noting wanting more of her presence, and needing to raise the bar for her leaders, which she is actively working to do. 

The review also recently discussed by the Governance and Compensation Committee. They noted the feedback is very consistent. 

One thing that stood out was multiple people noting they can't imagine KIPP MA without the ED's leadership, which makes clear the need to continue to build out the ED succession plan and determine and develop clear successors.The Governance and Compensation Committee also noted these plans need to be developed by all the Chiefs. 

A member of the KIPP MA Team shared updates from the Student Opportunity Act, including a request from DESE to clarify how we track engagement with families of students with disabilities, and from our mid-cycle visit with DESE for KIPP Academy Boston's charter. The visit went well, and KIPP received a rating of meeting in all but one criterion around access and equity. The KIPP MA Team is working with DESE and the Boston Charter Alliance to ensure all our materials are able to be translated into the most prevalent languages of our sending district. 

The Board did not have any questions.

The Executive Director provided an overview of the KIPP 2030 Plan and the impact it will have on our strategic plan, which is up in 2026. The 2030 plan will establish priorities for all KIPP regions through 2030, and then beyond.

She shared the KIPP Foundation Anchor Metrics around K-12 academics, postsecondary success, student engagement and experience, talent, and regional sustainability. This is data that will need to be shared out on a monthly basis next year.

She shared where KIPP MA would currently be in progress of these anchor metrics-- we're on track in early literacy, ECC and attendance. We don't have data for state ELA and state Math yet, and we are not yet making sufficient progress on GPA (grade 9), ACT/SAT, and student retention. We don't have enough information on goals for enrollment, principal retention and enrollment. 

The Executive Director meets monthly with her regional superintendent to share this data.

The KIPP MA Chief of Staff shared an overview of the plan for KIPP MA's strategic plan-- we will be working on an addendum to our current plan, and then developing a shorter-term strategic plan for 2030 with the goal of being on the same timeline as the KIPP Foundation by 2030. The Board will be very involved in this process. 

A member of the KIPP MA Team shared progress on chronic absenteeism-- we are currently exceeding our chronic absenteeism goals.

A member of the Board asked how we made this possible. It was shared that we had a chronic absenteeism task force, did empathy interviews with families, met with the students to figure out what motivates them to come to school, a lot of raising awareness with families and working group meetings. School Operations Teams in partnership with Leadership Teams met bi-weekly to review data and develop intervention plans for students and families. We sent automatic messages to families of absent students every day, and participated in a pilot with the high school to make daily phone calls to absent students.

A member of the KIPP MA Team shared comparative data for LPS, BPS and the state.

The KIPP MA Team has developed a new attendance policy for next year. 

Chronic absenteeism will continue to be a goal in SY26 and will be fully owned by the Operations Teams. 

A member of the KIPP MA Team shared an overview of our academic progress for 24-25.

She shared results for the practice math MCAS and projection ranges for MCAS data based on practice MCAS tests and MAP projections. There are significant bright spots to celebrate in 6th grade and 8th grade in Boston. 

A member of the Board noted there are some meaningful declines in 4th, 5th and 7th grades. The KIPP MA Team is zooming in on these grades and cohorts.

She shared similar data for Lynn, and is pleased with the projected increases expected in 6th, 7th and 8th grade given some of the struggles of our middle school in Lynn. 

The discussion shifted to early literacy successes from our DIBELs assessment across the year. This is a nationally normed assessment in grades K-8. 72% of K-2 students are at or above benchmark and 14% of students are well below the benchmark. These shifts were significant, and members of the Board shared we should be proud of these wins. 

She shared beginning of year to end of year DIBELs achievement in Boston and Lynn. 

A member of the Board asked about the difference between DIBELs and MCAS and what is tested. It was explained the DIBELs is a foundational literacy assessment.

She shared strategic shifts for FY25-26, including lift scores, the adoption of iReady in Math and ELA in place of MAP, a plan for unpacking and analyzing regional assessment data, and stronger rubrics for classroom observations. 

The Executive Director shared celebrations for the class of 2025. 100% received their high school diploma, and 74% of students plan to attend a 4-year college, which is down 8 points from 2024, but 6% plan to pursue direct employment, which is up 5 points from 2024. We think this reduction might be a result of the current climate in the country. We think this is connected to FAFSA completion (96% completion).

Data was shared for KIPP Academy Boston high school matriculation. More students are selecting charters or exam schools. 

A member of the KIPP MA Team shared updates for fundraising. We've met our internal fundraising goal, and on our track for our external goal. The Executive Director is focused on meeting with high-level donors as we head into next year. 

An update on Board giving was shared. We're currently at 90% Board giving. The Development Committee is meeting on Monday to share more about the strategy for next year.