All attendees shared highlights and positive moments from this past school year.  

Note:  For some odd reason the minutes window in Board on Track is not showing the right IIIA. It should be April 25 Budget Summary (Action). I contacted BOT and they said such an oddity was not possible since the agenda can not be adjusted in the minutes window.  I still can't find the proper IIIA so I am going to combine the Budget Summary item with the Draft Budget Review item here.

IIIA.  April 2025 Budget Summary (Action):  

Annie Edwards from Bluum reviewed the April 2025 Summary Balance Sheet--All Funds.  She said that it was an active month but there were no surprises.  She reported that Anser appears to be on track to meet their budget projections for the 2024-2025 school year. 

Brian Whitney moved to approve the April 2025 Budget Summary.  Suzanne Gregg seconded the motion.  The board voted unanimously to approve.  

IIIB. Draft Budget Review

The draft 2025-2026 budget was reviewed.  Annie Edwards from Bluum and Heather Dennis provided detailed information about the budget and how it compares to last year's.  Heather provided in the board meeting materials a very helpful Budget Summary Narrative with additional information.  The budget includes funds for one additional middle school teacher plus other needed adjustments based on projected enrollments and needs of the school.  Annie explained what "Moving" means in the right margin of the Draft Budget sheet. They are notes telling how categories of funds have been moved to different categories so that Anser's accounting system better aligns with the state electronic reporting system.   Erik Moncada asked Annie about the capacity to derive statistics that illustrate the impacts of attendance on the budget for the purpose of the Attendance Works initiative at Anser.  Attendance Works is an important and highly successful initiative that focuses on optimizing student attendance. Erik was  interested in receiving statistics such as the following:  How much does one half a percentage point increase in attendance impact the amount of money received by Anser?  This is just an example of the sort of information that would be useful. Annie said that she thinks she can provide some information like this.  Although this was not an action item, the Board agreed that the draft budget as presented was excellent and reflects the improving financial situation at Anser.   

Brian Whitney reported that he has received board members' responses to the interest survey. The survey was sent to all board members and explored what committees, roles, and offices board members are interested in for next year and the future.  Brian had not had time to compile all of the responses since he had just received the last of the responses in the past day or so.  Brian also reported that he will put a board member inventory on Board on Track with member terms, offices, etc.   

Brian Whitney discussed the subcommittee essential question templates that were distributed to chairs prior to the board meeting.  Subcommittees are asked to adjust them to better align with the scope of work they do and the timelines under which they operate each year.  Brian asked that this work be completed prior to the June, 2025 board meeting since the goal is to have them completed by August of this year for use during the 2025-2026 school year. Jessica Budzianowski suggested that the board needs a better system to announce upcoming events that may be important for board members to attend, etc. Hannah Read-Newbill recommended that these announcements become a regular part of the board agendas, appearing on the agendas in the same location and format each month so members become accustomed to using the agendas as a reminder of events.  Roger Stewart, board secretary, will work with Renee Bade, the new executive director, to add this to agendas.  

Heather Dennis explained her rationale for bringing this item to the board's attention.  Anser's student profile has changed since the weighted lottery was instituted.  Low socio-economic status students increased to 31% of the student population during the 2024-2025 school year. She anticipates that it will continue to increase for the 2025-2026 school year since the weighted lottery was in force during the most recent lottery. The goal when the weighted lottery was started was to have Anser better reflect the demographics of the Boise School District. Heather posed the question to the board whether or not they wanted to adjust the lottery weights. She said the decision needs to be made by October so that the lottery software company can have the necessary time to adjust Anser's lottery to reflect the changes to the weights.  Nicole Pape asked who was going to take a closer look at this issue. Perhaps a committee?  Discussion ensued concerning the ramifications of no change to the weights, changes to the weights, etc.  Destin Tonkin suggested that the Education Committee would be a good place for the more in-depth look into this matter to occur.  She said she would take the matter up with the Education Committee and provide additional data that will help shed light on the decision to be made.    

Heather Dennis presented a summary of important legislative changes impacting Anser.  She provided a slide deck that presents additional details.  In aggregate, there were many policy changes this past legislative session that will require policy changes at Anser.  The governance committee will need to begin work on these as soon as possible since the changes will go into effect for the upcoming school year.