Urban Montessori Charter School
Minutes
Finance Committee Regular Meeting
Date and Time
Wednesday March 15, 2023 at 1:00 PM
Location
[this meeting was originally scheduled for 3/16/23.]
4551 Steele Street, Oakland, CA 94619. Signage on campus will direct you to the correct room, generally the Sun Room.
The public may comment and participate via Zoom if they prefer. The public may also email comments to greg@urbanmontessori.org to be shared by the during the meeting. Please make that intention clear in your email.
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Meeting ID: 825 9285 5160
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Members: Greg Klein (Chair), Ann Rhodes
Urban Montessori Charter School welcomes your participation at Board meetings. The purpose of a public meeting of the Board of Directors (“Board”) is to conduct the affairs of the organization in public. Your participation assures us of continuing community interest in our school and assists the Board in making the best decisions for our school. To assist you in the ease of speaking/participating in our meetings, guidelines are provided at the bottom of this agenda. All materials for all board and committee meetings, including audio recordings of Regular Board Meetings, are available on our BoardOnTrack public portal and also through the UMCS School Calendar.
Committee Members Present
A. Rhodes, G. Klein
Committee Members Absent
None
Guests Present
K. Feeney
I. Opening Items
A.
Call the Meeting to Order
B.
Record Attendance
C.
Vote on Minutes from prior Finance Committee Meeting
No questions or public comments on this item.
D.
Vote on Minutes from November Finance Committee Meeting
No questions or public comments on this item.
E.
Review of Action/Discussion Items
F.
Presentations from the Floor
No public comment on items not on the agenda.
II. Finance
A.
Discussion Item: Monthly Fiscal Report
Josh shared the financials through end of February 2023.
The forecasted operating income increased to about $80,000, mostly driven by increased funding for special education via our SELPA (El Dorado). Our SELPA updated their policy such that we were able to report the highest of our last three year's ADA. The large increase in forecasted revenue is due to school meals reimbursement, and is off set with a corresponding increase in expenses (Books & Supplies(, which includes the expenses related to school meals. Ending fund balance is forecasted at 28.5% of expenses. Cash flow remains strong through the end of the fiscal year. Attendance improved so far in early 2023 compared to late 2022.
Material Revision was unanimously approved last night for 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 enrollment.
Josh shared about continuing to engage with CLA for our audits, but that it's best practice switch audit partners every five years, and it may be time for that for this coming audit. The committee discussed that Josh can submit our selection to the County Office of Education, and work to identity a new lead partner, per best practice.
Josh shared about the LAO's analysis of the Governor's January Proposal, which is lower. Josh shared a few example possibilities of how the budget might develop in Sacramento, including applying a negative COLA on top of the required COLA. Another idea was to cut the Expanded Learning Opportunity Program, because attendance in the programs might not be as high as it was expected to be. A third idea was to cut Arts & Music grant block grant because of the new funding from the recent proposition. Greg asked about using the LAO's to inform multiyear planning and Josh responded that we generally stick with the Governor's proposal for now.
No other questions or public comments on this item.
B.
Contracts, invoices, and payments above $15,000
Krishna recommended a contract to upgrade our internet infrastructure. Some of the expense would be reimbursable through eRate. Both Mr. Buck and eRate reviewed together multiple internet infrastructure upgrade quotes, and this was their clear finalist recommendation for which company to go with. If approved by the Board, Krishna will seek to create a payment plan that covers multiple school year budgets to spread out costs.
The committee discussed the proposal and recommended that the Board approve it at the next meeting.
No other questions or public comments on this item.
C.
Local Control and Accountability Plan for 2023-2024
Greg shared the latest version of the draft LCAP, which is available here for the public to comment on at anytime https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Uhtsgz1yG5_Pu03P_1QIcF1iV1lD201q/edit#. Greg reminded the committee and Krishna that completing the annual Local Indicators is also part of the annual LCAP development and adoption. There were no public comments on the LCAP at this meeting.
D.
Measure G1 Review and discussion
Krishna shared an overview of Measure G1. Our Measure G1 application is due March 17th and we recently received the application that supports the process. Measure G1 supports 6-8th grade to increase arts, music, and world languages; improving student retention 5th to 6th grade; and supporting safe and positive learning environments. All the funding is audited. Proposing to support culture and climate of middle school students with the Director of Student Services position, and also to help with attendance. The committee discussed the proposal and supports the draft planned proposal.
No public comments or questions on this item.
III. Finance Committee's Support of Long Term Goals
A.
Overview
Krishna shared about offering spots for new students by grade-level and being very careful to not over enroll. Seats were made available in every grade:
- 45, TK
- 15, K
- 10, 1
- 10, 2
- 15, 3
- 2, 4
- 7, 5
- 17, 6
- 5, 7
- 5, 8
Every family in our upper grades got a phone call if they did not submit their Intent to Return form.
The committee expects to review student and staff demographic data at the April committee meeting.
There were no public comments on this item.
IV. Closed Session
A.
Closed Session Items
At 2:02pm, Greg announced that the committee would go into closed session on Public Employee Performance Evaluation - Head of School.
There was no public comment on this item.
B.
Report out of Closed Session
At 2:17pm, the committee returned to open session. Greg shared that no action was taken.
V. Closing Items
A.
New Business
B.
Adjourn Meeting
- URBAN MONTESSORI CHARTER SCHOOL-GigaKOM- IC-BM agreement CONTRACT 2023.pdf
No changes needed.