Maria Arechiga, Senior Director of Operations and Compliance, says there were findings for credentials and small internal controls. They have written corrective actions, and she is confident now that Charter Impact is on board, those findings will not be present at the next financial audit report. The final audit report has been submitted to the authorizers.

Sylvia Flores says the 2023-2024 audit has been started and should be completed by December 15th.

Ms. Flores presents Scoot Education for board approval. Amethod Public Schools have been using Scoot Education for the past 4 years. They are a vendor that helps with filling vacancies, such as by providing paraprofessionals or substitutes until a teacher vacancy has been filled. In the previous years, the team has relied heavily on substitutes from vendors to fill a classroom until a teacher is hired. These individuals have a bachelor’s degree and a substitute permit. Scoot Education also offers services such as Teach Start Fellows where they help substitutes enroll in a teacher program. She is unsure of how the spending will look because it is dependent on the number of vacancies at the start of the new year. Scoot Education has provided a day rate per substitute in the agreement.

Board Chair Gilbert asks what the numbers looked like for the past three years.

Ms. Flores says she is unsure of the full amount of service, but last year, about $170,000 was spent on substitute services.

Board Member Elisa asks if substitute services are used due to teachers calling in sick.

Ms. Flores says it is due to long term vacancies in classrooms that do not have a teacher.

Board Member Andres asks who is actively managing the substitute services and if there is a way to decrease the use of substitute services.

Ms. Flores says the school site directors and deans manage the substitute services and they meet weekly for professional development. She says Amethod Public Schools is offering retention bonuses to retain teachers and that will lessen the amount of substitute services being used.

Board Member Elisa asks if there are other services being offered to staff as a form of retention other than offering bonuses.

Ms. Flores says YouthTruth surveys are sent to staff for feedback and there is a grant fund allocated for culture building for staff. She says the retention is higher than last year and there is more support from home office staff. 

Ms. Arechiga says we will see a high attrition rate due to non compliance because of credentials.

Ms. Flores says Cecilia from HR has been providing tools and resources for teachers to enroll in teaching programs.

Dr. Walker, Site Director from Benito Juarez Elementary shares her spending plan that would best foster growth, learning, and high engagement. She met with her team and Mr. Clark, Director of Technology to best utilize the funds through digital and virtual engagements. 

Mr. Clark shares the fund spending plan, such as 3D Learning Lab.

Robotic kits for 3rd-4th grade to jump start STEM, outside signage for drone use, PA system for emergencies, AV equipment and sound systems. His proposes for the board approval to spend $540,000 of the $800,000 available from Expanded Learning Opportunities Program funds. 

Board Chair asks what the deadline is to spend the funds.

Ms. Arechiga says by September 15 but AMPS must be in contract, or obligation, to spend all funds by end of June. There is a large fund due to the roll over of unspent funds from previous years.

Andres asks what about the rest of the money. He asks if teachers have been asked for input on traditional equipments such as microscopes.

Mr. Clarks says the rest of the spending will be on furniture which does not fall under technology.

Dr. Walker says teachers have been asked for feedback and certain items are being ordered by Ms. Castillo that do not fall under the technology department. 

Board Member Elisa asks if there is a plan for wellness prevention and support for teachers while bringing in all the technology.

Dr. Walker says TomoClub helps with social and physical components of engagement. The program also gets the students to stand and walk around in the mode of virtual reality. As for the teachers, she is planning to bring in a consultant that will support them.

Ms. Flores presents to the board for approval of an increase of 3.2% cost of living adjustment. Matt Percin from Charter Impact put together a preliminary budget and the numbers came out to a 3.2% increase for cost of living that will still leave enough for healthy reserves. She says the governor did not provide much of a change in his May revise. Another reason this increase is able to happen is due to the projected increase in enrollment and ADA for the new school year. This cost of living adjustment will be for all employees who were hired before March 1st and her contract does not go into the adjustment and will have no impact.

Board Chair Gilbert asks if Charter Impact reviewed all of the grants to make this happen.

Ms. Flores says the finance team and Maria provided a list of grants to Charter Impact and they were able to allocate money for salary increases.