No new vendor approvals.

CFO, B. Chan, went over financial committee report. 

Current cash position as of yesterday:

Current Cash Position:

Checking: $ 296,766 

Food Service: $ 61,465 

Reserve: $ 286,127 

Total: $ 644,358 

• We have receivables. We have asked for the 4th quarter sped funding from the bridgeport school district, Commissioners Network, Title 1,2,3,4, State Bilingual and SIG which is a total is $860,000 that is in the process of coming to us. We should receive that in the bank in the next few days. 

• SAGE Intacct is our new accounting and financial support system for for Quickbooks and SAGE will need to show the same results and we will have confidence to officially move over in July. 

• The Operations Team has been able to control the electric use throughout the building. The electric rate is going down about 5% instead of just a constant increase. 

• We are planning for the audit work coming up including prelim. prep. 
• D. Zieff will be running the bank and Credit Card reconciliation efforts in the next cycle.
• B. Chan began going over the dashboard with the board of directors.

At the end of May we are at 1,047,417 and an additional 866,610 from receivables.

The updated 11 month actual vs. budget:

State funding had an increase which is about $1,000 per student. This is an added 496,388 new per pupil adjustment. 

• Next year stays at 66%

L. Hubbard reports that the form we give out is an internal form. It is confidential and protected by FERPA and this document allows us to get more information. 

• Salaries are a little higher mostly because of the stipends we are spending for after school programs. 
• Payroll taxes are lower because a bigger amount of teachers are getting certified.
• Key sources of income are about 11,020,7999 vs. 10.5 in the expense side. 

B. Carlson, Board Chair, states that the fiscal responsibility of Great Oaks we have broken even on $13,000 per student vs. $19,000 per student in the city of Bridgeport schools who have 30M dollar deficit which is remarkable. This is a testimony for everyone at great oaks with how things are being run. 

B. Carlson states that our goal of trying to bank $300,000 a year going forward to build up some sort of reserve is still an important goal.

COO, L. Hubbard, went over COO Report and presented to the board. 

Enrollment Highlights-

We are over enrolled in every grade except 6th and 7th grade. 

6th grade- we have 30 more seats open

7th grade- we have 24 more seats open

• 405 Applications received YTD 
• Over 50% Increase from last school year 
• Over enrolled in all grades except 6th and 7th 

Continued Recruitment Efforts-

• Social Media
• Community Partners 
• Direct Outreach 
• Family & Friends Campaign

Staff Retention-

• 85% of retention 
• Growth +9 employees (+11%)
• 5 positions open for hiring:
  • School Nurse
  • HS History Teacher
  • MS Art Teacher
  • MS Math Teacher
  • MS English Teacher

CEO, J. Scalice, shared CEO report to the board of directors.

Budget Objectives:

• Create more opportunities for potential surplus of $800,000 over the next      3 years of operation
• Keep consistency to instructional program quality inclusive of High-Dosage Tutorial and Teacher Pipeline programs
• Keep consistency to student supports

Budget Realities: 

• Loss of SIG Grant, Reduction of CN Grant, Completion of HDT Grant equating ($600 over 2 years) to an annual starting loss of $650,000 (annual allowance)
• Flat per-pupil funding from CT State Budget
• No adjustment to Equity Funding from CT State Budget

Budget Overview:

First- Necessary Teaching and Counseling positions secured

Second- Tutoring Program revised but able to meet all school needs

Third- Grant reallocation to meet needs and off-set Per-Pupil Expenditures

Fourth- Slight reduction to culture staff (2 positions) with shift to Assistant Principals

Fifth- Slight reduction to “Specials” teachers compensated through schedule change

Last- Overall Reduction

Roll-Over Spend = 5.5 mil

New Spend = 5.3 mil

Remaining = 3.59

Creating Opportunities:

Potential AmeriCorps Funding Loss

Tuesday, June 10, 2025-

We received notification from the Great Oaks Foundation that there is a “real” potential that AmeriCorps funding for the Fellows Program may be cut within the current proposed Federal Budget. 

As a result…

We have created The Great Oaks Bridgeport Fellowship of Urban Education Equity and are discussing with our lawyer. 

Program Goals:

The Goals of the Program align to the current goals of our AmeriCorps Fellows. 

• Service
• Embedded Instruction
• High Dosage Tutoring
• Mentoring
• Training

Cost Comparison is below:

Original Program-

2nd Yr - $15,500

Housing Cost - $7,900

Grant Award - $7,000

TOTAL COST $23,400

Without AmeriCorps funding- 

Year- $39,000

Housing Cost - $7,900
No Grant award

TOTAL COST $46,900

GO-BPT Program-

Year- $16,100

Housing Cost- $7,900

Grant Award - $3,000

TOTAL COST $27,000
 

B. Carlson, board chair, asks if after it is reviewed by our attorney and is officially approved. Will this require us to keep a separate track of the financials? J. Scalice reports that this will be tracked separately. This is not a W2 position so this will most likely be paid via Bill and we will not be able to pay through ADP. 

D. Zieff asks if we are meeting the government statutory requirements? J. Scalice states based on the language written by into the guidelines and into Americorp Program he states yes, but that is why the school's attorney is looking through everything.

If this is going well and everyone is happy, we can go into some schools near our campus. One of the roadblocks has been the Americorp Program primarily because it is a federal program. If this is an internally run program, there are more opportunities and ability to work with local organizations. 

D. Zief asked how much the fellows/ tutors would get at the end of the year? J. Scalice reports that the amount they get at the end of the year depends on if they work after school. This year what we did this year under 21st century after school their hours stopped at 2:35pm and worked two hours after school at $25/hour. If they decide to enter the program, the cash value for the fellow is $20,690. This number is because a portion of fellows that come in, enroll in husky for medical and receive other benefits and that is maxed out at $21,547. We need to ensure that the hours they work is under that number so that they can get state benefits should they choose to. 

L. Hubbard also reports that a lot of fellows are out of school at a reasonable time and some of them are taking classes, they have part time jobs, etc. D. Zieff asked how many fellows become teachers with our school? J. Scalice reports 25% of current staff was an Americorp Fellow. 

Board Retreat-

Week of July 14th (Date TBD). Executive Assistant, F. Martin, will email all board members to finalize a date. This will be a half a day retreat and will be at the school.

Agenda- Items sent and received will be distributed to Board Members for finalization of Agenda.