N. Driver says the redline document attached does not include redlines and asks for that to be updated.

E. Quiroz points out there is a typo in the agenda for the year. He says it should be 2024 starting January and not 2023. He says staff will need to revise it to the correct year.

N. Driver says that other boards are moving to having every other month board meetings instead of every month. He suggests to see if Amethod Public Schools can move to this new schedule. He says we should consider moving from 11 board meetings in a year to a lesser number.

Mrs. Villa says it's a good idea to have that discussion. She says she does not feel comfortable with six schools and having a board meeting every other month because things can come up. She says someone has suggested to move board meetings earlier to 5pm but she is not sure with the board members' schedules. She says Amethod Public Schools needs to open up the other school sites for teleconference locations every time. She says it is a cumbersome process for the team that needs to stay behind. 

A. Emmanuelli says we do have six schools and asks if we can rotate hosting meetings at other locations.

Mrs. Villa says a senate bill passed 5 years ago and we cannot rotate locations for board meetings. We need to host board meetings in the area where Amethod Public Schools have the most students.

N. Driver says we should bring back committees and committee meetings to reduce the amount of regular board meetings. He says this is something we should consider for the next academic year. He says it will be more work for board members but this will reduce the number of times for hosting regular board meetings.

G. Lopez Jr. asks N. Driver how many other boards have reduced their board meetings.

N. Driver says that 2 schools have reduced from 11 to 7 board meetings. One charter is Education for Change and another is a single site charter in San Francisco.

E. Gallegos says since we are trying to increase the number of board members, less meetings means that there will be less time to get to know other board members.

N. Driver asks for clarification of the difference between item B and C.

Marie Arce, Director of Finance says that item B is the LCAP and item C is the budget portion of the LCAP. The budget needs to be approved after the LCAP has been approved.

Mrs. Villa says that all the site leaders are online to answer any questions.

N. Driver asks if the goals are aligned at all schools. 

Mrs. Villa says no they are separate.

Mrs. Arce shares the overview budget for 2023-2024. Marie shares that the COLA budget increased from 8.13% to 8.22%. She says the bigger changes that happened this year was lost in funding due to the governors' short fall. She shares the funds that will need to be given back or have been given back was never spent. Some one time funds will be dropped this year and the finance department is prepared for the cut backs of funds from the governor. Marie says that the finance department has reserved some of the one time funds for the 2023-2024 school year. ESSERS funds are set to expire this year as well. 

N. Driver asks if Amethod Public Schools increased the salary bands.

Mrs. Arce says that Amethod Public Schools did a compensation analysis and compared it to other charters in the area to stay competitive. There is currently 6 salary bands for teachers. Amethod Public Schools will be bringing back master teachers and this new salary band will allow teachers to move up and grow. She shares that 1450 and 1402 will be managed in house beginning 7/1/23 to save on costs. Special education expenditures have increased.

A. Emmanuelli says moving facility management to in house is a great move. 

Mrs. Arce shares partial sublease of former home office to Plazitas Schools, increased insurance renewal, investments in Chief Operations Officer and Chief Academic Officer job positions, and California Community School Partnership Program. She also shares Amethod Public Schools is expecting increases in enrollment for 2023-2024 based on the current enrollment applications.

N. Driver asks when was the highest year of enrollment.

Mrs. Villa says highest enrollment was 2 years ago.

N. Driver says with low enrollment, this will be the largest budget yet. He asks if the budget will be lower the following year in fall with the drop in one time funding.

Mrs. Arce says yes, this budget has increased about 3 million dollars compared to the prior year. She says the the California Community School Partnership Program grant will help supplement the cut backs in one time funding next academic year.