APPROVED 01-08-2024

Board of Education Finance Committee Meeting (Tuesday, November 28, 2023)

Generated by Nikkol Sipes on Wednesday, November 29, 2023

1. Board Finance Committee

A. Call to Order

Mr. Kelly called the meeting to order at 1:01 p.m.

B. Roll Call

Members Present: Mr. Kelly (virtually attended), Ms. Cizek, Mr. Tauriainen, Ms. Morgan (virtually attended)
Board Members Present: Ms. MacRae, Mr. Daugharty (virtually attended)

C. Approval of Agenda

The agenda was approved as presented.

D. Approval of Notes 08-07-2023

The August 7, 2023 Finance Committee meeting notes were approved as printed.

2. Finance New Business

A. Budget Deep Dive

Mr. Kelly began the discussion regarding the budget deep dive, and emphasized that this is a discussion. Ms. Hayes spoke to the Extra Curricular General Fund Expenditures as well as travel funds for Extra Curricular activities. Ms. Cizek posed a question regarding the costs for travel. Mr. Tauriainen spoke to this. Ms. Hayes spoke to the safety costs. Mr. Tauriainen posed a question regarding helmet costs. Ms. Morgan also posed a question regarding the rotation of the helmets between schools. Mr. Kelly posed a question regarding the difference of those costs. Ms. Cizek posed a question regarding other safety equipment. Mr. Kelly posed a question regarding any unspent funds for Safety. Ms. Hayes spoke to the hockey ice expenditures. Ms. Cizek posed a question regarding the locations that the hockey teams practice. Ms. Hayes spoke to this. Ms. Hayes spoke regarding the Stipends and the break down of those stipends in the attachment on the agenda. Ms. Cizek posed a question regarding the details of these stipends and who receives them. Ms. Hayes spoke to this. Mr. Holland posed a question regarding the benefit portion of the stipend. Ms. Hayes spoke to this. Mr. Kelly posed a question regarding the intramural stipends. Ms. Hayes spoke to this. Ms. Morgan posed a question regarding other stipends listed in the attachment on the agenda. Ms. Hayes spoke to this and club stipends vs academic stipends. Ms. Cizek posed a question regarding the stipend expenditures over time. Ms. Hayes spoke to this. Mr. Holland invited Mr. Graham to speak to the stipend expenditures and the process overall. Mr. Graham spoke to the stipends and that it is highly dependent on the number of student participants in each sport at each school. Mr. Tauriainen posed a question in regards to clubs and intramural in particular in junior high/middle schools. Mr. Graham spoke to this. Mr. Tauriainen posed a question regarding stipends at the elementary level. Ms. Hayes spoke to this. Ms. Hayes spoke to the Athletic Directors expenditures. Mr. Graham spoke to the duties and responsibilities of the Athletic Directors. Ms. Cizek posed a question regarding the number of Athletic Directors. Ms. Hayes spoke to this. Mr. Kelly posed a question in regards to certification requirements of the position. Ms. Hayes spoke to this.
Ms. Morgan also spoke to this, including some of the differences between certificated employees and support staff. Ms. Hayes spoke in regards to Pool Expenditures on the attachment and spoke to the details including the utilities. Ms. Cizek posed questions in regards to pool managers and staffing. Ms. Hayes and Mr. Graham spoke to this. Ms. Cizek posed a question regarding other entities in the community besides the District that could assist with costs of pool maintenance. Mr. Tauriainen spoke to this. Mr. Holland also spoke to this. Ms. Morgan posed a question regarding other communities where the costs of the pools are covered by other entities other than the school district and questioned how the expenditures were decided for the Kenai Borough. Mr. Holland spoke to this and would need to gather further information on the topic. Mr. Tauriainen spoke to this as well. Mr. Kelly spoke in regards to Ninilchik and Skyview pools and that they are not located in municipalities and would be maintained differently. Ms. Cizek posed further questions regarding pool staffing and whether it is year round. She posed questions regarding the vacant pool in Susan B. English. Ms. Hayes and Mr. Holland spoke to this. Ms. Morgan posed a question regarding discussions surrounding transferring maintenance to cities and if city councils had had any discussions in relation. Mr. Kelly spoke to this in the Homer area, and that there is support for exploring different options to keep the pools open. Ms. Morgan posed a question about the logistics and next steps moving forward if there is agreement. Mr. Kelly spoke to this. Mr. Holland also spoke to this. Ms. Cizek posed a question regarding any input from the Borough or other entities for sharing the cost of pool operations and maintenance. Mr. Tauriainen spoke to this. Mr. Holland also spoke to this. Ms. Morgan posed further questions regarding other cities and boroughs within the state and the management of those pools. Mr. Graham spoke in regards to having firm costs to offer for cost sharing.
Ms. Morgan posed that staffing could potentially be offered as a firm number for expenditures at the least. Mr. Daugharty was invited to speak, and spoke to being proactive about this decision making process regarding pool maintenance and expenditures. Mr. Kelly spoke to Borough funding and the BSA. Ms. Morgan posed a question in regards to funding to the cap, and if the pool maintenance would be separate funding. Mr. Kelly spoke to this. Ms. Cizek posed a question regarding the Borough funding to the cap. Mr. Tauriainen spoke to this. Mr. Kelly spoke to this as well. Ms. Hayes moved on to speak in regards to the Theater Expenditures and further details also included on the attachment on the agenda. Ms. Cizek posed a further question regarding pool management and staffing. Ms. Hayes spoke to this. Mr. Kelly invited Ms. Cizek to visit Homer and the pool there.
Ms. MacRae posed a question in regards to the costs of the theater lights, and equipment. Ms. Hayes spoke to this. Mr. Tauriainen spoke to this as well. Ms. Cizek posed a question regarding the difference between the Theater Manager and Theater Technicians duties. Mr. Tauriainen spoke to some of these differences. Ms. Hayes spoke to the number of Theater Managers and Technicians currently employed the district.

3. Information Requests to Administration

A. Information Requests to Administration

Mr. Kelly would like to pursue the topic of a deep dive of pupil transportation and student nutrition. Mr. Tauriainen would like to discuss in more detail PTR. Ms. Morgan would like to request a budget reduction detailed document for each of the past years. Mr. Tauriainen would like to take a closer look at district costs outside of payroll, salaries and benefits, as well as, what the fixed costs are, and the amount of costs that are potentially able to be reduced. Ms. Cizek requested more information on costs and savings for consolidating schools in particular for the Seward Area.

4. Adjourn

Mr. Kelly adjourned the meeting at 2:41 p.m.