April 15, 2025 at 4:00 PM - Board of Education Regular Meeting/Budget Work Session

Discussion:  In attendance:  Dr. Trey Duke, Daniel Owens, Sheri Arnette, Angela Fairchild, Lisa Trail, Maria Johnson, Don Bartch, Ken Rocha, Chris George, Dr. Maryam Hill, Beth Prater, April Zavisa, Andy Taylor, Kim Fischer, and Jaci Saunders,

David Settles 6:11

Assistant City Attorney Lauren Bush and City Liaison Bill Shacklett

Discussion:  The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Board Member Barbara Long.

Discussion:  Before the Federal budget review began, Mr. Jimmy Richardson thanked Ms. Amanda Moore for her leadership and comments that she made on the Immigration Resolution.  He said that he appreciates her stand on the matter as well as her hard work.

Dr. Duke presented the Federal Funds PowerPoint to the Board.  He explained that there are still a lot of unknowns with our federal budget.
He said that he is expecting that the main sources of federal funds will continue at the level funds even if they are shifted to the states.

He said that funds should stay consistent for next year as funds will come to the state as a block grant.  He also explained that federal funds are tied to regulations.
He told the Board that Dr. Hill was on a webinar today and she was given our preliminary funds for next year.

Dr. Duke shared with the Board a chart showing what federal funds cover in our budget.

There was discussion regarding how Title funds are distributed to each school.  Dr. Hill explained that we send principals the preliminary allocation, and the principal decides where the money could be best used at their schools.

Dr. Duke explained that we won't receive our final allocation until the federal government passes their budget.  Dr. Maryam Hill said that she does have money that has been carried over in case there are unexpected cuts. 

Dr. Duke explained the 21st Century grant that we receive in the amount of $571, 557. He said that this is the 2nd year of the 3 year cycle. He added that this grant pays for all of the tutoring services and transportation for ESP students.

Dr. Duke also discussed ESSER Liquidation with the Board.  He explained that we have received over 20 million dollars over a period of four years. The deadline to obligate these funds was September 30, 2024 and the deadline to pay out was December 15, 2024.  The governor granted an extension.  We had two big projects (HVAC at Hobgood and Reeves Rogers.  The completion of these projects was done by the deadline, but we had minor adjustments that needed to be made before paying the final bill. That money was set aside until the project was totally finished.  With the extension given by the governor, we allowed the minor adjustments. In January we received word of additional available funds. Recently we received information from the government that all ESSER reimbursements would be cancelled.  We have $223,000 in finished projects that will have to be paid out of our current budget.   We are now in the process of submitting an approval to have these funds reimbursed but Dr. Duke explained that we have no timeline as to when we will receive information on this. 


 

Discussion:  Dr. Duke reviewed the proposed 2025-2026 General Purpose budget with modifications from discussions at the April 8th Board Budget meeting.  He explained that he presented the budget at a recent City Council meeting. He thanked Mr. Shackett for his support of Murfreesboro City Schools. Dr. Duke reviewed the PowerPoint of the changes to the General Purpose budget. 

Amanda Moore thanked Dr. Duke and his team for being forward looking in years past knowing that ESSER funds would end.  Dr. Duke credited the State Department for warning that districts would have to have a plan so that they didn't hit a cliff when funds were depleted. 

Dr. Duke covered our expenditures and changes from last week's meeting explaining that we can make this budget work this year but it will be nearly impossible for years to come. 

There were discussions regarding modifications to the BEST program as well as MDA and attendance secretaries pay changes, science benchmark assessments, revised bus driver bonus structure, and variable changes in the salary schedule.  The Board was happy with the adjustments. 

Dr. Duke also reviewed the Fund balance impact on the budget. 

Chairman Campbell asked if Dr. Duke had information regarding a meeting with the county commissioners that represent the Murfreesboro community as was discussed at the April 8th meeting.  Dr. Duke said that we have two possible meeting dates, May 7th at 6:00 or May 12th at 4:30.  He said that the mayor has requested some information and Mr. Owens is working on getting that. Dr. Duke said that the next steps will be that we will reach out to the County Commissioners as well as the city council regarding this requested meeting.  Mr. Shacklett felt that the State Delegation needs to be invited to the meeting as well.

April Zavisa reviewed past purchases of technology devices over the past few years.  She explained that we have been replacing devices on a regular basis but mostly using ESSER funds to do so and this year we don't have those supplemental funds. She said that in 2019-2020 the City of Murfreesboro made a very large purchase on our behalf of chromebooks and teacher devices. She said that from that point going forward, we began using ESSER dollars and got chromebooks to a one to one ratio.  We made multiple purchases in 2020-2021 as well as 2021-2022.  We are now on the first rotation of replacing these devices and we have maintained purchases for growth and repairs.  There was discussion regarding leases in the future.  She informed the Board that leases last four years for a teacher device and three years for student chromebooks. 

Dr. Duke said that there will be one change with this budget at the April 29th meeting and that will be the $2000 teacher bonus that follows the new legislation.  He said that the State wants us to budget for it now, since it applies to this year's teachers. They won't receive the funds until after July. 

In closing, Dr. Duke explained that he had covered the big picture items of the budget, but would be happy to go line by line to explain the changes; however, that information was included in their budget notebooks. 

Karen Dodd asked the Board if there were other areas of revenue that we could investigate.  Dr. Duke explained that our revenue sources are consistent with other systems.  He said that it would take legislative action to get more revenue on a scale like that. He added that Andy Taylor and Don Bartch are meeting with a company with an out of the box system that could generate some revenue that will generate thousands of dollars but not millions. 

Barbara Long asked the Senior Leadership team if they could operate on this budget.  Each member agreed that we could operate with this budget.  Maria Johnson said that the cuts in the HR department were minimal.  Sheri Arnette said that the Instruction Department is grounded in curriculum and professional learning and she feels that the budget is grounded in that as well.  She said that she has high expectations and her team would not miss a beat.  She is very convicted that we owe professional development to the teachers and we have the right team providing that. 

Amanda Moore thanked Dr. Duke for the budget presentation. She said that she, Mr. Settles, and Chairman Campbell have been through a lot of years of budget presentations and every year she feels that she has a better understanding of the budget and this one was no different.  It was very helpful.  Chairman Campbell agreed.

Dr. Duke said that Beth Prater and Daniel Owens have been remarkable in this budget process. 







 

Discussion:  The meeting adjourned at 6:50 p.m.