Berkeley Unified School District School Board - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Thank you for coming to the May 27 school board meeting. Our student director today, after we start up, Armana Ardum, will be chairing our meeting. She's a Berkeley High School senior and we're really looking forward to her chairing the meeting and so excited for her as well with her exciting college adventure coming around the corner soon. So firstly, I want to call the meeting to order. And Ms. Chávez, shall we take a attendance?

Director Ana Vasudev.

Present.

Director Kenesha Brown. Here. Director Jennifer Schanosky.

Here.

Student Director Armana Aratam.

Present.

Vice President Jennifer Corn. Present. President Mike Chang.

Present. And so before I turn this over to our student director, per usual, just as a reminder, no person shall disturb the order of the meeting. Disruptive behavior includes booing, hissing, or physical disturbances, speaking out of turn, interrupting speakers, blocking access or observation, entering restricted areas, or approaching the dais without permission. This is in line with our bylaws on meeting conduct. And I am going to from here turn over to our student director.

We will now approve the agenda for today's meeting. Is there any requested changes to tonight's agenda?

Item 13.2 to be pulled.

Yeah, I'd like to pull item 13.2 for discussion at a later meeting.

All in favor, say aye. Aye. All right. Is there anything else, or is that it? We will now move to the public comment compo- oh. Now we move to our superintendent for a report out on the closed session.

Vice President. Actually, yeah. All right. Report out on closed session. Closed session was called to order at 5.50 this evening. All board directors were in attendance at closed session. Item 3.1 was passed unanimously after a motion by Director Brown, seconded by Director Vasudev. Excuse me, that was item 3.1.1. Item 3.1.2 was also approved unanimously after a motion by Vice President Korn, seconded by Director Vasudev. And the items three, sorry. Under 3.2 have been were discussed and will be discussion will continue at next week's meeting. Thank you.

Thank you so much. And we will now move on to our superintendent comments.

3.2.7 is not being delayed for the next meeting.

Thank you for the correction.

Thank you. Thank you. And now we will move to superintendent comments.

Good evening, BUSD family. Well, I'm almost ready. Y'all ready? Not yet. OK. I'm going to be brief because I have some friends who have some important things to share with us. but I wanted to make a couple of announcements. Tonight in closed session, the board approved the appointment and it will be formalized on the consent agenda of Shona Dickinson as the part-time principal sharing the job as the principal of Ruth Acty with Principal Mary Caston beginning next school year. Ms. Dickinson has been the RTI TSA at Ruth Acty since 2015 and we are so excited for the opportunity for her to serve in this new role. Ms. Dickinson, you heard me say, good evening, BUSD family. If we could just ask you to stand up so the BUSD family can give you the appropriate welcome. You have been a part of the BUSD family for some time now, and we are, again, so excited for you to serve our babies and our community in this new role. This evening, in open session, we're going to continue our work to provide information as Berkeley Unified works towards presenting a final budget for board approval next month. It is our intent that this multi-meeting focus on the budget and budgeting process In advance of the presentation of our final budget expands transparency and creates additional opportunities for our community to engage with and better understand resource allocation in BUSD. Now, those of you all who are here or who tuned in, you know that last week staff engaged the board in a budget update. We reviewed Berkeley Unified's budget balancing target of $10.4 million and our progress towards that target, particularly focused on our unrestricted general funds. At that meeting, we gave a brief highlight of the Governor's May Revise. Tonight's meeting will focus now on a more detailed presentation on the Governor's May Revise providing information that is new to some but definitely with more details and implications on BUSD's budget and budget target. Bless you. It is important for our community to know, as you listen to the governor's May revise update, that this is still a proposal. While it provides some very important insight into the state's current fiscal outlook and education priorities, the May revise is not the final state budget. The governor and legislature will continue negotiations over the coming weeks, and a final budget is expected from the governor in June as well. Although the May revise does present a stronger outlook for TK through 12 education than what was projected earlier this year, we still continue to say that public education is woefully underfunded and continue to ask you all to advocate for full funding of public schools. Yes, good, go ahead. I also want to be clear that even as we present tonight, there's still some important unknowns tied to the implementation details of the governor's may revise proposals, as well as ongoing fiscal obligations and the final structure and restrictions associated with some proposed funding streams. So tonight is another update. We hope that you stay and tune in. Finally, I want to take a moment to honor someone whose name carries deep meaning in Berkeley Unified and across this community, Ms. Flora Russ. Although I do not personally have the privilege of knowing Ms. Flora, it is very clear from the stories, reflections, and lives she touched that her presence in Berkeley Unified was extraordinary. And so I am honored to say some words in recognition of her life and her service as a member of the BUSD family. We are blessed here in Berkeley to not just have teachers who teach classes, but educators who change the trajectory of lives. Flora Russ, from what I understand, was a powerful example of both. For more than 50 years in BUSD, she taught math, science, computer arts, credit recovery, work experience, and so much more. What people remember most is not just what she taught. They remember how she made people feel. Students felt seen. Teachers felt supported. Families felt hope. And young people, who the system may have counted out, found someone who never stopped believing in them. Ms. Flora believed that every child deserved possibility. Her philosophy was simple, yet powerful. Everyone graduates. She led with love, patience, persistence, and unwavering belief in human potential. Ms. Flora embodied academic excellence, positioning every baby she taught to make positive contributions to our world. She helped thousands of students cross graduation stage, many becoming the first in their families to attend college. And those students went on to become teachers, doctors, artists, counselors, board members, organizers, entrepreneurs, public servants, and leaders who continue to pour back into the community. She founded what became AMPS at Berkeley High, creating pathways and opportunities long before terms like career pathways and equity-centered design became common language. She championed students with disabilities through workability and transition supports. She mentored new teachers quietly but consistently. She solved problems with the spirit of yes we can when so many others only saw barriers in what we couldn't do. And perhaps more importantly, perhaps even most importantly, she reminded us what public education can look like when it is rooted in humanity. There are people in our district whose impact cannot be measured by a spreadsheet, a dashboard, or a data point. Flora Rust is one of those people. Her legacy lives in generations of students, families, educators, and community members whose lives are better because she chose to serve in Berkeley Unified. Tonight, we honor not only her years of service, but the spirit in which she served, with hope, with grace, and with a radical belief that every child matters. At this time, I would like to ask that we join together in a moment of silence in honor of Ms. Flora Rust, her extraordinary legacy, and the countless lives she touched throughout her love, service, and unwavering belief in children. Thank you for that pause. And thank you, Ms. Russ, for helping Berkeley Unified become more unified, more compassionate, more courageous because of your presence. Your legacy for sure will continue to live on in this community, in this BUSD family for generations to come. That was almost the end of my comments. But speaking about impact and generations, speaking of Ms. Flores' motto that every student graduates, we have a person on this dais who is also graduating. our student delegate who is leading tonight's meeting. This is maybe the last meeting. Oh, wow, is her last, she was like, yes, it is. It is her last meeting. And so I wanted to present to you on behalf of the Board of Education and our staff here in BUSD, these flowers, Armana, to say thank you for the contribution that you've made to us as a board. We're gonna stand up for Armana to say thank you, Armana. Listen, I was a senior in high school not too long ago, actually. And I don't know that I would have ever decided that I would spend my Wednesday nights sitting at a dais making decisions about budget and staffing and engaged and hard and important, but sometimes probably boring conversations. So we recognize you, we applaud you because you're not only just amazing, but you're doing amazing work and you have done amazing work on behalf of the babies of Berkeley Unified. So thank you for your leadership. And these are for you.

Thank you so much, everyone. I'm truly honored. I'll speak more about this in my board member comment. But I want to keep us moving along to public comment. So we will now move on to the public comment component of our agenda. There are two opportunities for public comments at each meeting, now and at the end of the meeting. If you do not get to speak at the beginning of the meeting, we encourage you to stay and speak at the very end. You may also email us your comments at boardofed at berkeley.net if you have any complaints against specific district employees. We can encourage you to use the district compliant process via compliance at Berkeley.net, as opposed to public comment to address these matters. The board does not respond directly to comments or questions made during public comment. Board members, the superintendent and staff do take notes during public comment and may follow up with the speaker after the meeting. This is a hybrid meeting, so we have public commenters in the boardroom and online. We have designated 15 minutes to our in-person speakers to be followed by 15 minutes. No, that's not true. We have 30 minutes for everyone in person. Each public commenter will have up to one minute to speak, with groups having up to five minutes. Please note that the microphone will shut off at the end of each speaker's allotted time, so time your comments accordingly. Before I begin, I would like to remind you of our decorum expectations during this and all parts of tonight's meeting. No person shall disturb the order of this meeting. Such behavior includes, but is not limited to, booing, hissing, creating or participating in a physical disturbance, speaking out of turn in violation of applicable rules, preventing or attempting to prevent others who have the floor from speaking, preventing others from observing the meeting, entering into or remaining in the area of the meeting room that is not open to the public, or approaching the dais without permission. If you wish to participate in public comment, please raise your hand online. If you are a BUSD student, please be sure to indicate so by writing student by your name. That way, we may prioritize you accordingly. To keep things moving, I will call two names at a time so that the speaker who is next can wait in line. I apologize in advance if I mispronounce anyone's name. And let's get started with our students. our climate literacy group up front.

Hello, good evening. I am Ifa from Ms. Amania and Ms. Carson's zero waste classroom at Oxford School. I am here with my classmates, Mir and Kira. At Oxford Elementary, our class has been happy and hopeful to see the shift in BUSD of replacing plastic items with reusable ones. In our cafeteria, there are now metal plates, utensils, and cups instead of plastic ones. After doing a waste survey with Ellen Mickler, the teacher on special assignment for climate literacy, we saw how much less waste our school is making now that our cafeteria has reusables. For breakfast, we have also been very happy to see that the muffins and scones now come in compostable wrapping. Having all breakfast foods in compostable wrapping would greatly reduce the amount of plastic our school is discarding. Finally, our class has seen that there is now mandatory education about the plastic problem for all fifth graders in BUSD through the ELA fish tank learning unit on plastic pollution. This will help spread the word and help other young people speak out about the plastic problem.

When I first came to Oxford in second grade, all that I saw was that we were using plastic. I thought it was normal, not bad. But when I got into fourth grade and saw that the foodware in the cafeteria was metal, I knew that plastic was wrong and reusable items were right. When I got into fifth grade and started to learn more about the plastic problem in our literacy unit, I realized what an impact all the plastic had on me, specifically that all seabirds and 26% of fish have consumed plastic waste, and 10,000 people die yearly from pollution caused by plastic waste incineration. Because of this, our class has helped with the ongoing focus of last year's class's project, eliminating plastic bowls and other plastic items in school breakfast. Every year, BUSD creates almost 30,000 plastic bowls of waste. Our class, however, have been trying out something different. We've been running a pilot for the cereal. We've been using metal bowls and one big bag of cereal. We hope that these reusable bowls and bulk cereal will be expanded to all schools in BUSD. We have also been collecting the plastic from school breakfast. Aside from the plastic cereal bowls, we notice that the majority of other plastic comes from the strawberry fruit bars and cream cheese containers. However, it does not need to stay that way. For the strawberry bars, BUSD could find an alternative bar that uses compostable packaging. Cream cheese can be bought in foil-wrapped bars, like for classes.

Another main producer of plastic at our school is the after school snack wrapping. Ever since kindergarten, we've been eating the after school snacks that our school provides. That's six years of single-use plastic getting carelessly thrown out. And every snack bag is single-use plastic that is piling up in our landfills. We are here today to ask, are all the single-use plastic bags from after school really necessary? 145 bags of chips are used for after school each day. That means Oxford uses about 2,900 chip bags a month, which means about 26,000 chip bags in one year. And remember, we are the smallest school in BUSD. Recently, we collected plastic snack bags from after school and made a huge mosaic. It is five feet tall and 13 feet long and is on display upstairs in Oxford School. We hope you will visit it. Our mosaic has about 500 plastic chip bags in it. It depicts a wandering albatross. We chose this bird for two reasons. one that has been harmed and badly hurt by plastic for many years. In 2005, a dead albatross was found with plastic in its belly from World War II Clinton. Secondly, the albatross is a remarkable bird with the largest wingspan of all birds, ranging from 3.2 meters to over 10 feet. Our mosaic symbolizes the horrible power of plastic and how it can take down such a strong bird, but it also symbolizes that we can stop this madness one step at a time. Each change we make in our system of supplying food to students saves animals' lives and helps the health of the planet and ourselves. Our Albatross Mosaic recently won first prize in the Stop Waste Art and Storytelling Contest for Olive Bay Area. If a major organization like Stop Waste believe in us, we hope you, the BOSD School Board, will too.

Thank you so much. We're moving to our next group on.

Excuse me, Madam Chair. I can cede some of my time during my public comment time so that you may be able to end, OK? You're welcome.

Our class met twice this year with Rich, the Director of Nutrition Services to discuss solutions for reducing plastic waste during breakfast and after school. One proposal we have for reducing after school waste is to have five responsible fourth and fifth graders measure out and serve out granola and other bulk after school snacks. during their classroom job time, instead of taking the library bin down, or taking out the compost, or passing out papers, these five students would go to the cafeteria and package 145 bulk snacks. They would put them in small bags the day before. They would be needed so that they would be ready to serve the following day. Our suggestion is not time consuming. It does not involve hiring more people, and it teaches fourth and fifth graders responsibility while not using single-use plastic wrapping. We hope you will join us in this chance to think about what's more important, convenience or the world, plastic or the planet. Thank you for listening.

Thank you so much. We are next moving to our next group on climate literacy. They keep climate literacy TSA. This has Adina Stern, Alex Grossman, Paloma Shabgupta, Mars Fierce, Olive McNally, Connor, Rory Roro, Malou Akia, and that is all. And you will all have five minutes to speak as a group.

Oh, they haven't shown us. They haven't shown us.

My name is Adina, and I think we should keep the Climate Change TSA because it'll help educate teachers about climate change, and those teachers may have not learned about climate change when they were younger. For example, my mom never learned about climate change when she was a kid, but I learned about climate change, and that's only because of the Climate Change TSA. Because that Climate Change TSA taught a bunch of the people who taught me, like the teachers at my school. And the teachers at my school will teach me and everybody else. And then I'll be able to teach other people. And that'll help create more people learning about climate change and helping people stop climate change or slow it down. One, two, three.

Good evening. My name is Mars. My name is Alice. And my name is Paloma. We are from Ruth Act Elementary.

And we are here to talk to you today about potentially cutting the position of TSA for climate literacy.

We do not agree with this because we think that climate education is very important. We believe that learning about climate change will enable future generations to be able to help continue to stop climate change. If we don't encourage climate education, humankind could cause its own peril. And that would be very, very bad. Yeah, that wouldn't be too good. Thank you. Bye.

My name is Olivia McNally, and I go to Martin Luther King Junior Middle School. It's important to learn about climate change in school because it's something that will actually affect us in the future. My family and I moved here a couple of years ago from Fresno, and one of the biggest things I noticed is that we didn't really learn at all about climate change in school there, and most of the adults there didn't really know about it or talk about it openly either. Here, though, people actually discuss it and learn about it in school, including adults. Teaching kids about climate change will make adults who care about climate change. Adults who will help to stop it.

My name is Laura, and I go to Ruth Acty Elementary School. And like my sister said, at my old school, they didn't teach us at all about climate change. And so as a result, nobody cared. And if nobody cares, then nothing will ever happen. So we need someone to teach us about climate change. And here, we are being taught about it, which means that people are actually working to stop it. And if you cut the funding to something like that, then we that well that won't be very good because because children are the future so and we have to live our whole lives on this planet so if we kind of destroy it won't be very fun my name is connor malley and i go to roostak the elementary if we don't teach children about climate change bad things will happen

like fish are dying because of it, people will die because of it, and if we don't stop it, if we don't teach people about it, then we won't stop it, and then all of that will happen even more, which basically leads to world destruction.

My name is Bethany Laurie. I'm a science teacher at Ruth Acty. I teach grades one to five and I'm so proud of these children that just spoke with such passion. I'm asking you to please reinstate the TSA for climate literacy because BUC has been a leader as one of the first districts to commit to this work and not just with words but with funding that is needed to support teachers building our practice to incorporate this urgent topic in our classrooms. Climate change is an emergency. We all experienced the alarming heat wave this spring, which prematurely melted Sierra Nevada snowcaps, devastated crops, and exacerbated conditions that lead to devastating wildfires across the state. Climate change is a social justice issue and intersects with ethnic studies, as not all people suffer the consequences of climate catastrophe equally. Students need and want to learn about these problems and their solutions. For a 0.6 FTE investment, our district gets monthly newsletters to all staff packed with resources and inspirations. We get monthly PLCs bringing together teachers from across the district in K-8 and Berkeley High. as well. We get Fix It Fest where children can learn about how to fix their clothing, fix electronics, and just learn a culture of repair. We get the Climate Fair and even a Bay Area-wide climate education summit that was started by RTSA and has caused this issue to grow throughout Bay Area districts. So please don't stop the momentum. Please fund this position.

Thank you. We now go to Camila Nube and Valeria Alfonso Franco to speak on Puente and the ninth grade.

Hi, my name is Camila Nube. I'm a junior at Berkeley High, a member of the Puente program and one of the upcoming co-presidents of the Puente Club for next year. And we want to talk to you guys about why the Puente program is so important and why it should be extended into the ninth grade. So first of all, the Puente program is very important to us academically because it offers one-on-one weekly tutoring sessions as well as better connections and communications with teachers and the Puente counselor. It's also very important for college knowledge because Puente hosts college knowledge workshops and help with writing PIQs and college essays. And we believe that the Puente program should be extended into the ninth grade because when freshmen come to Berkeley High, they often feel very overwhelmed and don't usually know a lot of people. So if they are able to join the Puente program, then they can get this support and this community that will last for the rest of their time at Berkeley High. Thank you.

Hi, my name is and I'm also a member of the Puente program at Berkeley High. And wait, do we have two minutes? And I wanted to speak on bringing Puente into ninth grade because the Puente program was newly founded in Longfellow in middle school and I feel like for those students it would be an easier transition into high school if there were a Puente program in ninth grade and also to have that community in high school where you build that trust and connection with students and teachers and counselors throughout three years of high school is very important because you can rely on them for any of your problems or any. And I just feel like it is, yeah, it's like a smoother transition from middle school to high school. And yeah, yeah.

Thank you. Next, we have Julius Curtis.

Well, what are we here to talk about?

The changing of The changing of the Euclid Regal bus stop to Grizzly Peak.

Yes, we were here. When were we here last? We were at the first meeting last year of the school council. And have we heard anything, any updates since the December meeting with the superintendent? no we haven't heard anything about this and we are hoping to get a status update on the bus stop at grizzly peak and stevenson it's been a full school year there are 36 families that want to take the bus from that stop there are 20 new students who will be joining from our neighborhood that want to take that stop can any of the little kids including your little brother and sister walk to the stop from our neighborhood

Yes.

Can your brother and sister make it from Euclid and Regal all the way home?

No.

Do you think any of the other TK Kindergartner kids that take the bus in the morning could walk that far?

No.

The Marin Hill is just impossible for kids to go up and down. You know, it's just like, it's not a reasonable thing. So we're hoping to get an update and we hope that in earnest, you guys will work on this because it's been a little radio silent.

Okay, thank you. Next we have Carrie Cabot.

hi thank you my name is Carrie Cabot I have two children who attend BAM this is not my first time at the school board meeting to talk also about the Grizzly Peak bus stop issue I've also attended the community meeting that we had in December and met with Director Shinnoski separately. I've engaged my city councilor on this issue. We have been very vocal by email and other means about wanting a bus stop back on Grizzly Peak this year. I don't understand why there's been no movement on this issue. We have been very this huge group of parents that we've organized has been very willing to engage with folks help problem solve the issue. We have had no response from transportation on trying to get this bus stop back. There was tons of people from city from AC Transit and the city at the engagement session that we had in the fall. You know, I'm on the school site council. I'm on a district committee. I know BUSD can solve hard problems. This doesn't seem like a hard problem to solve and I have a kid in elementary school for another six years, so I'll be back.

Thank you. Next we call it Marina Cruz.

Hola, mi nombre es Marina Cruz y estoy hablando a nombre de Latinos Unidos de Berkeley. Los estudiantes latinos representan un poco más del 22% del distrito y continúan teniendo rendimiento académico más bajo en comparación a otros grupos de estudiantes. Pedimos que la posición de estudios étnicos siga siendo financiado al 100%. El distrito debería fortalecer su compromiso con una educación culturalmente relevante. Bridge, Rise y Puente siguen siendo fundamentales para el éxito estudiantil porque ayudan a abrir caminos hacia la universidad. Puente es uno de los pocos programas que ofrecen consideración adicional a los estudiantes dentro del proceso de administración de la UC. We want to thank the district for continuing to found Puente y pedimos Compo, que pedimos un compromiso firme para asegurar la posición bilingüe en español de .5 de OFI. And that... Si, la mando a hablar. Sigo yo.

My name is Ana Perez and I am speaking in the name of the United Latin America of Berkeley. Tonight, we ask the district to continue to demonstrate its commitment to Latin students. We are advocating for two important bilingual positions. First, we ask that the position of the program of After School Learns in Silvia Mendez Primary School explicitly requires a bilingual staff qualified in Spanish, since the school was intentionally designed to serve a large population of Latino families and English-learning students. Second, we are asking for a firm commitment to ensure the bilingual position in Spanish of the 50-office district, Thank you, I'll be translating.

My name is Ana Perez and I am speaking on behalf of Latinos Unidos de Berkeley. Tonight we are asking the district to continue demonstrating its commitment to Latino students by ensuring budget priorities reflect the importance of supporting bilingual students and families. We are advocating for two important bilingual positions. First, we ask that the after school position at Celia Mendez Elementary explicitly require Spanish bilingual qualifications since the school was intentionally designed to serve a large population of Spanish-speaking and ELD families. Second, asking for a firm commitment to secure the .5 FTE O-3 Spanish bilingual district position and protect long-term support for bilingual families. We make up over 22% of the district population. Bilingual staff do far more than translate words. They build trust, help families navigate systems, and strengthen connections between families, schools, and the district. My name is Marina Cruz. And I am here advocating. I'm also speaking on behalf of Latinos Unidos. Latino students make up a little over 22% of the district. We are asking for the ethnic studies position to remain fully funded. Reducing this position would send the wrong message to historically underserved students at a time when the district should be strengthening its commitment to culturally responsive education. Programs like Bridge, Rice, and Puente continue to play an important role in student success by helping create pathways to higher education. Finally, we are asking for a firm commitment to secure the .50 fee Spanish bilingual district position. Thank you.

Thank you to our public commenters and Liz for the translation. I next call up former school board president Beatrice Leva Cutler.

Thank you. Hello, and thank you, school board members, for your service as you navigate budget projections, recommendations, and possible cuts as you heed the community's voice. I urge you to fully fund the TSA Ethnic Studies position because without central dedicated leadership, curriculum development, and teachers training will suffer. The following priority items I have come to know as important to the district through my participation in the commemorative period, Latinos Unidos and a TESBAC member and a long time advocate for bilingual preschool and after school programming. Secure the 0.5 OFI Spanish bilingual district position. Advocate for Spanish bilingual qualifications to be required for key positions to Sylvia Mendez. Including the after-school world in the Franklin bilingual preschool classroom ensuring this child development program always has a bilingual teacher and Instructional assistants that we have an intentional pathway to bilingual literacy in our district beginning in preschool protect prioritize and continue to fund programs like when they bridge and rise that have proven success with underrepresented students reinforcing your dedication to equitable outcomes and support the TSA long-term English language learners particularly for our high schoolers to help them finalize finally be successful reclassified protect and support after-school programming and staff and listen to the voices that every afternoon are with our students in our parents thank you thank you I next call up Evie Colossi

Hi, my name is Evie Colassi. I know a lot of you guys here. I'm the parent of an 11th grader at Berkeley High, a second grader at Rosa Parks, and a graduate who is now at UC Berkeley. I'm here today to talk about the math curriculum adoption process. California state math framework was deeply controversial and left major decisions, including advanced math pathways, to local districts. BUSD is separating the elementary curriculum adoption from broader K to 12 math planning. From a student learning perspective, that makes little sense. Elementary math decisions directly shape whether students are prepared for pathways like algebra in middle school. The meeting of the math minds process lacked transparency. Committee membership was never publicly disclosed, including outside educational organizations involved in the work known to have been controversial in the broader state math adoption. Meetings and materials were posted after the year-long discussions had already concluded with no opportunity for families to see monthly agendas, participate, or provide public input in any shape. At the same time, math, engineering, computer science faculty from UC Berkeley were not allowed to speak. I'm out of time. I'll be back.

Thank you for coming. You can always email the rest of your comment to the board. I next call up Kathleen Vu.

One, two, three, go? Okay, I'm here to talk about phones. Research clearly indicates that providing children with smart devices is detrimental to their development and wellbeing. Critics often argue and simply do not give your child a smartphone. However, this ignores the reality of peer influence and what happens when a child with a device exposes another to pornography or violence. Recently, a friend recounted how her nine-year-old son and their friends searched for terms like poop, butt, and fart, only to be met with explicit content. One can only imagine how much more accessible such material has become since then. And just to add, as a kid of the 90s, I remember when the internet first popped up. Computer screens had to be facing outward at all times. This was a time when the internet was actually somewhat factual, so I can only imagine what kind of brain rot our kids are being exposed to. My kids are asking me to protect them and I need your help. Thank you.

Thank you. We next have the group on technology and technologies in schools. And you all have exactly five minutes.

So we do.

Let's just do one.

OK. OK. Superintendent. Oh, sorry. Superintendent and board members, good evening. We are representing Berkeley Unplugged. We are a grassroots alliance of local parents and educators promoting research-based healthy habits surrounding digital media and screen time within our schools and at home. Tonight, we are reading a summary of the petition for safe and intentional technology BUSD schools, which has rapidly collected over 650 signatures. Regarding personal device use in schools, TK-8 bell-to-bell policy implementation by the start of next school year. We urge the district to define specific student personal device expectations covering device types, storage, status definitions, times, and enforcement by fall of 26. Collaborating with parents, students, and staff. in regards to high school personal device policy review. We urge the district to review current practices during instructional time and establish clear, consistent guidelines to ensure equitable expectations and enforcement. We urge the district to assess the role of personal technology and social platforms in coordinating school related activities.

regarding school-sanctioned device use in TK to 12. Eliminate non-instructional and passive screen use during the school day. This includes free browsing, gaming, or screen-based filler or recreational activities in and out of the classroom. For example, at lunchtime when there's extra time left in class, when there's a substitute teacher on buses at field trips, et cetera. End the reliance on Chromebooks for classwork and homework, and implement strong content controls. Require that screen use be justified by a clear instructional need. Restrict school-issued devices to approved educational content only. And ensure all apps, tools, and district practices are fully compliant with state and federal laws. Ensure delivery of media literacy education at each grade level. Provide age appropriate media literacy education at each grade level, including opportunities for parent education.

And lastly, we're asking that the district wide technology for a district wide technology audit and plan, adopting a comprehensive research informed approach to technology use across TK through 12. We're asking for the district to conduct a technology audit audit all district internet access filtering devices, apps and AI to assess their purpose. and impact on student learning and development. Establish a technology advisory committee, establishing a committee made up of staff, parents, and teachers to evaluate educational technology products, best practices, and compliance. And lastly, to develop a tiered TK through 12 technology plan. specify the educational purpose and methods for grade level technology and AI use to protect student health, skill development, providing clear usage guidance for all stakeholders. We look forward to partnering with the district to move this forward. Thank you.

Thank you. Next is Allison Bond.

Hello, my name is Alison Vaughn. I'm a mother of two kids at Washington Elementary and part of the group that just spoke, Berkeley Unplugged. And as a scientist, a lot of my life's work has really been related to following the evidence in terms of helping the people around me. Certainly we should be spending a lot of our effort trying to minimize harms of technology in school. And also I just want to bring up the fact that we know from over a decade of data that non-technology based learning in a lot of cases is actually superior to technology based like pen and paper, textbooks, better for building age appropriate attention spans. better for reading comprehension, better for deep synthesis of what students are learning. And so really want to emphasize the importance of the tech audit so that we can make sure that the people who are benefiting from tech in schools are our students and not the people providing the technology like the tech companies.

Thank you. Next is Eric Havel. Eric Havel.

Hi, superintendent and board members. My name is Eric Havel with Community Resources for Science. And I'm here also, like many of my colleagues, to strongly oppose the recent decision to eliminate funding for climate literacy work in Berkeley Unified. For the past 35 years, I've led climate literacy programs across the Bay Area. I currently support seven districts of the 18 in Alameda County. And I can say confidently and with really strong pride that Berkeley is in the lead. You are in the vanguard of this work. And it would be a true travesty to cut this position. Ellen McClure has been driving this work. And she does amazing. And you can see from the students' testimonials how powerful this is. All this progress is at risk because of this decision. And I recognize that you have a $10 million deficit budget gap to meet. But this is not the thing to cut right now. This is not a nice to have thing. This is a mission critical. situation for our students and we need to invest in their future. So I really hope you strongly will consider this.

Thank you. And our last in-person public commenter is Martha Kane.

Good evening, superintendent, school board members and administrators. Thank you for your hard work. I'm Martha Cain, retired teacher, member of the BUSD Climate Literacy Working Group since the 2021 passage of the resolution. And for five years, I've supported lessons focused on sustainability and climate literacy in a number of BUSD classrooms, most recently with Ms. Amania's students who spoke earlier. These fifth graders are critical thinkers, they're problem solvers, and they're community contributors. In addition to auditing and collecting schoolyard waste, making the magnificent albatross mosaic, researching and writing persuasive essays about a real world problem, tonight the students exercised their public speaking skills to offer solutions for reducing BUSD's carbon footprint. High quality climate literacy curriculum helps create engaged citizens and builds skills applicable to future careers. Isn't this the kind of curriculum we want? Thanks.

Thank you. We will now move to our online public comment section. Ms. Traz, can you please take the lead? Thank you.

We have a total of six speakers. We'll start with student Jennifer Enshio-Mata promoting you now. You have one minute.

JENNIFER ENSHIO- OK. Hi, my name is Xiomara and I've been in the Bridge program for the past four years. I have always reminded myself of my goals and I knew that I had to put in the hard work to achieve them. Being in the Bridge program gave me access to support throughout my high school experience. I was able to receive tutoring when I felt confused and that I needed extra support. During my sophomore year, I was able to work with a tutor that Bridge provided that supported me through math class, and I've worked with CalTutors after school ever since, especially for college prep classes like calculus that not many Latinos take. Additionally, Bridge helped me feel prepared for college applications. I received support on my college essays, and I was glad to have access to this opportunity. I was confused and I didn't know how to navigate the process, but thanks to Bridge, I received guidance and support. I'm grateful for the program because of all the opportunities offered, including college application through enrollment and scholarships. Bridge is a place I could go for any question I had, and I felt supported by my Bridge counselor. She has provided a lot of advice and has supported me throughout high school.

Thank you. Moving on to Lindsey Nofelt. You have one minute.

Ms. Charez, is there another student, Miguel Isidro Lopez, that wanted to speak?

Yes, thank you. Do you want me to wait? Yes, I'm going to have student Miguel Isidro go first, and then I'll keep you on the queue to go right after. Sure thing, thanks. Student Miguel Isidro promoting you now. You have one minute.

Hey. Hi, my name's Miguel. I'm a senior at Berkeley High. I'm here tonight to talk about the amazing Bridge Program. I've been grateful for the support the Bridge Program has given me since sophomore year. That year was one of the roughest times in my life, both academically and outside of school. I definitely wouldn't have made it without the support of Bridge. When I didn't believe in myself, the people at Bridge did. My Bridge teacher and counselor, Ms. Hammond, believes in all her students, and she works her hardest to give us resources and opportunities, like after-school tutors, internship job opportunities, and even leadership within Bridge. That year, I was able to lock in, go from being a C student to getting straight A's because of the support with Bridge. I was awarded the Bridge Award for Most Improved because of my work ethic. Bridge has also helped me tremendously with the college application process. We got a head start over the summer, visited campuses, worked with essay writers, got access to colleges, and more. I just recently won the high-health scholarship for $16,000 over the next four years with mentoring. I would have never gotten that opportunity if it wasn't for Sam. And I'll be studying electrical engineering next year at UC Merced next fall, and I wouldn't have made it without the support of Bridge. Thank you for listening.

Lindsay?

good evening board members and superintendent my name is lindsay nofeld i'm here to urge you to pause the k-5 math adoption a great curriculum must balance great math content with the practical how fitting our teachers actual time and resources neither current option fits berkeley's amplify desmos uses a problem first model Kids must solve complex puzzles before being taught the math rule. If the short lesson window runs out before the teacher can tie it all together, struggling students and English learners leave confused with fragmented ideas instead of real skills. Bridges demands an unrealistic 90 minutes a day and requires endless cutting, laminating, and sorting of physical game pieces. Because it delays traditional math rules, teachers must hunt online for extra worksheets to teach basic facts, breaking the systemic consistency and creating inequities. Please pause this adoption. Let's focus on teaching routines rooted in cognitive science and find a curriculum that actually respects our teacher's time. Thank you.

Up next, we have Joel Newenstein. Sorry if I mispronounced that. You're up next and you have one minute. You can begin.

Joel? We cannot hear you.

Should we go on to the next speaker and wait for Jessie Luxford? Yeah, one minute, Jessie.

There we go. Can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you.

Right. Sorry for that delay. Good evening. My name is Jessie Luxford. I'm a teacher on special assignment and I coordinate the bridge program. At the last meeting, the board was shown to deal with oversight and management. That language does not reflect the reality of our program. The positions being discussed are all teachers, and counselors on campus providing direct daily support to students and families. What is being labeled management is actually attendance interventions, crisis response, family communication, tutoring coordination, wraparound college counseling, and social emotional support. If staffing is reduced, services will be reduced. Touch to the program means serving fewer students and weakening the support model responsible for its success. These services are difficult to capture in a brief walkthrough or a budget slide. Bridge has spent 16 years delivering results the district says it values. Our extensive data and longstanding wait lists demonstrate the effectiveness and the overwhelming need. We ask the board to protect and preserve the direct services that make those outcomes possible. Thank you.

Joe, you may begin if you are still along with us. Joe? You have one minute.

Hi there, sorry for the AB troubles. I'm a parent at Oxford and I'm also speaking on behalf of families at the Spruce and Vine stop. We really appreciate the complexity of making bus routes, but like many of the speakers before us, we've waited six months for an answer on some pretty simple things and we've been met with a lot of silence. We're really frustrated. We've been trying to stay solution oriented and we think there's a way to give everyone what they need. The district has stated that minimizing the time on the bus is a priority, but the actual routes that have been given don't reflect that. Our bus stop was changed to 710. The bus then drives in a big circle, comes right back to the same stop at 740, but the transportation department won't allow students to board at 740, which is half an hour that our kids sit on the bus for no reason, half an hour to wake up earlier. So we humbly request that next year, as you're setting routes, you try and match the district's priorities, which are to keep kids on the bus for as little time as possible. If that isn't possible, we'd love for families to be able to request waivers so that they can go to closer stops, accepting the risk there. We're happy to sign waivers and go to a more convenient stop for our families. Thank you.

Lastly, we have Richie Lee. You're up next and you have one minute. You can unmute yourself.

OK, here we go. All right, Armanda, I just want to say congratulations on your graduation. My name is Rache and I'm a parent in BUSD. My 7th grader loves playing basketball with his friends at recess and at lunch a few months ago, I asked him why he didn't seem to hang out with 2 of his closest buddies anymore. And he told me they used to play basketball together every day. But now those boys spent their entire lunch period in a classroom, playing online games on school issue devices made available to students. I just don't really get to hang out with them anymore," he said. Recently, he came home from a field trip to the San Francisco tide pools, which is during the instructional day. He said kids were allowed to use phones on the buses, which he doesn't have one. And when they got there, they were busy taking pictures and on their phones instead of actually experiencing the environment. Ironically, he said only he and one other friend without a phone were the ones holding the starfish. And I don't need to explain to you the irony there. Tech is a tool, not a replacement. We owe our children something better than the current norm. We urge you to take the sensible actions outlined in our petition. Thank you.

Thank you. That wraps up the segment of our online public comment. Apologies, Chair.

We have a student. We have student Xiomara, who will be our last speaker. Promoting you now, Xiomara. You have one minute.

Hi, I'm Jennifer and I'm a student at Berkeley High and I'm in the Bridge Program. I've been in the Bridge Program since I was a freshman and looking back, it has helped me so much with support and guidance. I've always been dedicated and motivated to do my best in school to pursue a college education. But with the help of Bridge, not only did I receive academic support with tutors and guidance throughout the college application process, but Bridge was there and the place where I could go away if I ever had a question. It was a space where I could go if I felt confused, not just with school, but with life in general. I'm very grateful for the support the Bridge program has given me because with them, I was able to thrive these four years of high school. Also through Bridge, there is many resources such as scholarships that were available. and I was able to win a $5,000 scholarship, which is very meaningful to me because paying for college was a main concern for my family. Throughout their opportunities and thoughtful support, I'm now going to be attending UC Davis this fall. Thank you for listening.

That concludes public comment.

OK, we will now move to committee comments. Each committee will have five minutes to address the board. Are there any committees here to speak? I don't believe we have any in person. Are there any online? OK, we will then move to union comments. I believe BCC is here, if they would like to come up.

Good evening, board members, superintendent, and the BUSD community. Tonight, we want to pick up from where we left off earlier before closed session regarding Maker's Camp and Super Science Saturday. In the single ask that BCC is making tonight, please pull the consent item regarding these programs. Things that are simple are being made unnecessarily hard. BCC has had conversations regarding these positions, but we have not had the opportunity to finalize those conversations. Review the job descriptions and reach clarity on positions that directly impact BCC classified work. And that matters. So when discussions begin moving forward, non-merit classifications, before those conversations are finalized, we are immediately concerned. The questions being asked right now is, why the rush? These programs are not starting tomorrow. There is still time to slow the process down and do this in a union transparently and correctly. again we are asking the board to pause pull the item and allow bcce the opportunity to finalize these conversations before decisions are made that impact classified bargaining unit work because once decisions are made publicly, it becomes much harder to have the authentic conversations afterwards. BCCE is simply asking the board tonight to slow down long enough to get this right. Remember, BCCE always states the foundation you lay at the beginning shapes the outcome at the end. Thank you.

Now we're moving on to board member comment. It is our practice to let the student director speak first, and that is me, so I'm gonna start speaking. I wanted to open in gratitude, not only for our board members here for being so supportive throughout my entire time, but towards the Berkeley High School community for getting me elected in this position. It is something that I take very seriously, and I'm very grateful to have the power to come here and speak my mind to all of you in our Berkeley community. So I wanted to thank our students. I also wanted to take my, to thank my two mentors, the first being Winta Clark, the former school board director from last year. She really worked to make sure that the transition was smooth for me coming into this position and spent a lot of time in her second semester of her senior year, which me being in this current position is a lot of time. So I really am very thankful towards her and her leadership and her kindness. I also want to share my excitement for Hannah Slidery-Reisberg, who will be coming into this position next year. She's amazing, and I'm so excited to work with her and see her come onto the board. I also want to thank my second advisor, Spencer Pritchard, or my second mentor, Spencer Pritchard, who helped me prepare for almost every single meeting this year and spent so much of his time going through the agendas with me and helping me plan out what I wanted to say. So, so much thanks to him and the work that he not only did with me, but all the students that he works with in and outside of the AFAM studies department which he chairs, which is such amazing work. I am very Berkeley proud in the words of our superintendent of all the work that has been accomplished on the school board this year and I can't wait to see the decisions that are made in the future as I move on and attend Columbia University next year. I really hope to continue doing work like this in my future and I'm just so grateful for all of you for your kindness and support. And yeah, just thank you so much. I'm back. We have other board members to speak, so if anyone would like to go first. OK, Jennifer Schnelsky.

I will be brief. Just a couple of comments. Our Grizzly Peak parents have left, but I would like to follow up just to ensure that they follow up with us because an email was sent in February regarding the Grizzly Peak and Stevenson bus stop outlining CHP concerns about the proposals. and also offering a potential waiver. So please send us an email so that we can be sure that we have your contact information and you get that. I would like to point out that Tuesday is election day and to just encourage everyone to exercise their right to vote and get those ballots in early. And finally, speaking of Prop 98, we have a May revise tonight. And I would like to just once again encourage folks to pick up the phone and call your state representative, state senator, and others in the legislature to encourage them to fully fund Prop 98 so that we don't have to make some of the hard decisions that people are advocating against at meetings like tonight's. That's it. Thanks. Except congratulations to our student board member. And we hope you come back and visit us. And when I'm in New York, I'll look you up. I can't wait. Thank you.

Who would like to go next?

Vice President Genkorn? No? I don't really have any comments this evening, except I'll echo the congratulations. I'm so excited for you. And I also hope maybe I'll make it to New York next year. And I'll take you out for lunch. Can't wait. Thank you. Anyone else?

Sure. I'm happy to go. I just wanted to say congratulations to all our graduates, including our amazing student director. I also echo my appreciations to her and the many times I looked over and I said, we could take a break. You could go home. And she said, no, no, I'm fine. And so thanks for sticking it out and roughing it out. Some of those meetings were great. Very long, so I really appreciate you and your stamina staying so late with us. I also want to give a shout out to our teachers and our administrators and all of the Berkeley High staff that are putting together a lot of these smaller graduations. Had the privilege of going to the to the celebration for our MLP program, which not only included our graduates, but all of our students at the high school were getting recognized, students that had graduated. And what was really beautiful is that they brought back a student speaker, a former MLP student who came and shared her story about how impactful our MLP staff is on multilingual program staff is at the high school and how she's fulfilling a lifelong dream she was from Afghanistan she is from Afghanistan and how she's pursuing her lifelong dream of pursuing higher education and it was really beautiful to be with her former classmates and with her teachers just cheering her on and watching her come back and inspire the new MLP students so that was really moving for me same with a child that came from El Salvador who had us all crying about just how long it took him to come and study in the United States and how happy and supported he is in our MLP program. So it's a good reminder that our teachers are transforming lives right now when we hear so much anti-immigrant rhetoric. It's pretty impressive the work that happens every day and the transformational work that they're doing in the classroom. I also had the privilege of stopping by today at the Latinos Unidos graduation at Oxford. I just want to give a shout out to the staff for a beautiful celebration and very, very grateful to have heard Principal Regoza's speech. And I also want to congratulate everyone who's transitioning, our little fifth graders going into middle school, our eighth graders going into high school. This is one of my favorite times in the school district, just on the graduation front. Not necessarily on the budgeting front, making those decisions, but on the graduation front. It is really beautiful. to spend time with our family celebrating the accomplishments of our students. I just want to thank everyone who came out to give public comment tonight for all the various programs and initiatives that they're passionate about. It's wonderful to hear from our students about the direct impact that our college and career readiness programs have in their lives. So thank you. Thank you for sharing those stories with us, because sometimes when we're making these decisions, we don't get that level of detail. We're looking at a lot of line items, but not hearing how those decisions impact student lives. So thank you for coming out and sharing that. And I wish our students good luck as they're getting into finals. Thanks.

Thank you. Do we have any more board members that would like to give comment?

I'll go quickly. I just want to make sure to thank of course our amazing student director for doing a great job today and also each time she came and I'm really excited for her future and she's clearly a strong leader and I really appreciate her presence here on the board. I want to say thank you to folks for bringing their hearts and minds here and Just reiterate that, yes, we're going through a challenging time with the budget conversations. And again, the board here is working really hard to ensure that we think through the process with the equity and inclusion frameworks and also the governance frameworks that the superintendent has laid out. with our team and engagement with the school board. And so we are hearing you and we are also looking at all the numbers very carefully in terms of our programs and services and ensuring that we focus on our mission, which is to serve our students. And thanks again and good luck on finals too. Thank you.

Good evening, BUSD community. I first like to thank the superintendent for beginning our meeting with comments and a moment of silence for our beloved Ms. Russ. Ms. Russ made a huge impact on many students in the district, including me. I first came to know Ms. Russ as a student at Berkeley High and immediately fell in love with her, felt safe with her, and felt supported by her. I'd like to say that Ms. Russ is short but mighty, because although she was short in stature, the love that she gave to students was so mighty that it echoed through the hallways and into the hearts of so many. She will definitely, definitely, definitely be missed. But I, along with many other students, are happy to say that we were blessed that she passed our way. Thank you to those who spoke tonight regarding your work around sustainability, support for the climate literacy position, those who spoke regarding our programs, Bridge, Rise, Puente, and those who continue to speak out supporting College Bound. Those who spoke tonight regarding our bus stop updates and the need for them, and thank you, Director Chmielnowski, for that follow-up. Thank you to those who spoke tonight regarding the OFI bilingual positions and the need for bilingual after-school leaders, those who spoke about TSA ethnic studies coordinators and TSA long-term English language learner positions. Thank you to those who gave information and really called on us to pause and think about our math curriculum adoption process and the need for transparency and community input. And then thank you to those who spoke tonight regarding safety around technology and technology systems. I look forward to tonight's board conversation around the Governor's May Revise and the impacts that it has on our district and our district's budget. I, along with my board colleagues, have already attended and plan to attend so many wonderful and moving celebrations that help us to remind us just how much we have to be proud of in this district. Last week, I actually had the honor of seeing a few of our Berkeley community members walk across the stage during the Berkeley City College graduation ceremony where I served as the keynote speaker. The graduation theme was around Dr. Seuss's book, Oh, the Places You'll Go, and I'm carrying that theme with me and thinking about our students and the many places that they'll go, as well as the people, the knowledge, and the Berkeley values that they'll take with them along their way. This weekend, I am excited to attend the African American Studies Department's Black Graduation, as well as AREA's 22nd Annual Student Achievement and Excellence Awards Ceremony. This year, 75 students from Berkeley Unified School District are being honored. That is the most students who have ever been honored on behalf or who have ever been honored from Berkeley Unified School District during the area awards and so I'm excited to see all our students and cheer them on along with their family members. Next week, I'm excited to participate in a few of our middle school graduations and then move on to our high school, our graduation of all graduations, our high school graduations as students say their final goodbye to Berkeley Unified School District, closing this chapter and opening the next chapter as movers and shakers in society. To our fabulous student director, I am wishing you all the best, declaring success for you at Columbia, and I can't wait to see all the places that you will also go. Congratulations. The best is yet to come for you.

Thank you so much. It is now the time in our agenda to approve our consent calendar. Are there any questions or comments on the consent calendar with our item?

Yes, I'd like to pull items 12.9 to 12.14.

Is there a motion and a second to approve the consent calendar?

I'll second the motion to pull those and then approve it for the rest of the items.

Can I get the roll call?

Director Aratam? Yes. Vice President Corn? Yes. President Chang? Yes. Motion passes unanimously.

We will now move on to our discussion item, 13.1, May Revised Update.

So, good evening.

Good evening, board members, superintendent. We're presenting the May revise. Last week, we gave you an idea of what we're gonna talk about. Tonight, we're gonna have the details. Next slide. So the objectives, we're going to hopefully explain the governor's main revise and the key implications for BUSD. And we're going to look at the risks, unknowns, and next steps for budget development.

Next slide.

The overview of the governor's budget is good news overall. There's a stronger outlook for TK education than in January. We do have increases in Prop 98 over three years, but the minimum guarantee is under-appropriated still. They statutorically increased since the January budget, and we also have an additional LCFF investment. And along with the increased funding, we have increased costs for the pregnancy disability leave, or the PDL as it's known. We also have historical SPED funding. We have to wait to get information from the CELPA. And we have other increases in restricted programs. So that's the highlight of the governor's budget. Next slide. We talked about the Prop 98 guarantee. So we are looking at an increase over the three-year period. It's increased by $6.4 million compared to the governor's January budget. And as you can see, they do a look back year, 24-25. The current year we're in 25-26. and 26, 27. So that's the total of the 6.4 billion that they're looking at over the three year period. Next slide. And then we come to the settle up. Even though we're getting more in Prop 98, we're still under appropriated for the minimum guarantee. However, in January, it was $5.6 billion under appropriated. It's reduced to 3.9. at the May revise. But if the May revise exceeds expectations, these funds may be distributed in the 27-28 budget or across multiple budget years. Next slide. Let's see. So we talked about the settle up. So this is a summary. We are getting more in the May revise. The unknown has reduced. However, there still is a lot of unknown as to how we're going to get this funding. There's no way to predict how it will flow to the districts. It's not an ideal situation, but we're trending in the right direction. Next slide. Next, we're looking at the statutory COLO. In 25-26, it was 3.02%. The governor proposed in January for it to be 2.41%, and at the May revision, he's looking at 2.87. So we are getting this 2.87 across specialized or restricted programs, including child nutrition, special education, foster youth mandated block grant. However, there is a slight, the lower COLA for one of the programs I'll talk about on another slide. And this is looking at what the governor's proposing in his new revise for the COLA. We're looking at a statutory COLA of 2.87% and only for the LCFF program, there's an additional 1.44% investment. So we're looking at a total of 4.31 for the total LCFF increase. However, there is a lower COLA applied to the state's preschool program, and that's 2.01. So right now we're looking at three COLAs, 2.87, 4.31, and 2.01. Next slide. I mentioned earlier about the pregnancy disability leave. This is going to be starting in 26-27. And the governor is proposing that public school employees, employers provide pregnancy disability leave for 14 weeks for both the certificated and classified employees. It will apply to employees experiencing pregnancy, miscarriage, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, or recovery from these positions. And there are no eligibility requirements, such as minimum hours worked or length of service. So if an employee starts with us June or July 1st, and July 2nd, they determine that they qualify, they're going to get this 14 weeks of leave. We don't know the cost at this time, but you'll see it on a later slide. We also have the SPUDBUG, or the Student Support and Professional Discretionary Block Grant. It's still very discretionary, but the rate has been increased to $936 per ADA, which is a significant increase since the January budget. However, some of this increase has been negotiated to go towards our unions. So we're gonna get about 30% of the increase, which we'll see that in the fiscal impact. A word of caution, there's a lot of discussion about this funding and a lot of indecision as to how this funding is gonna be distributed. So at this point, the county is advising us to be very careful about including this in our budget. Next slide. And then this is historical funding for special education. You can see that we're looking at, and I can't see it on that slide, hold on. We're looking at... It's an investment of $1640 per ADA, which is a significant increase over the prior years. And as I mentioned, this amount is distributed by the SELPA. We're not sure of the total amount we will get, but we know it's going to be a significant increase for this very special program and one that has been woefully underfunded for some time. Next slide. We're also getting increased funding for the Learning Recovery Emergency Block Grant. The information is there. This is one of our restricted programs. It's going to provide about $2.28 per ADA based on 21, 22 ADA and UPP. Next slide, we're flying through these slides. And then we're also gonna get additional funding for our expanded learning opportunities program. So not only does the May revise benefit the unrestricted general fund, these are some of the restricted programs that's gonna be benefiting. from this. There are also other investments, educator investments, including increases to extend literacy coaches, reading specialist grant. That's going to be extended through 2031. We have additional funds for teacher residential technical assistance and then we also have expanded professional learning opportunities and the universal meals and kitchen infrastructure infrastructure program the governor is committed to ensuring that we have fully funded universal meals as well as an additional funding for the kitchen infrastructure and training grants to support expanded meal offerings And as a word of that grant, we actually benefit from that grant. We're able to get dishwashers which help us provide sustainable products for the nutrition services. So let's take a quick look at the fiscal impact of the governor. may revise. With the COLA and the additional LCFF investments, we're going to get an additional $2.1 million and some of that will benefit our supplemental program and some will be for our base. We're also getting additional SPUDBUG. Our share of the increase, we're estimating that to be $1.3 million and at this time we're not sure of the cost of the PDL but we know it will be the cost of subs because we'll be paying these teachers anyway on their regular salaries. In our restricted programs, we think SPED is going to get about $2 million at least. The Learning Recovery Block Grant and the ELOP is going to give us about $0.9 million between both programs. Next slide. So I mentioned spud bug and I also mentioned the increase in COLA. On this slide, both of those increase and the COLA is captured in phase four. So both of those investments in phase four, one is ongoing, one is one time. It's helping us actually exceed the target. But again, we have to be careful of the one time investments because We have to revisit that down the road. Next slide. So as we're looking at next steps, we have to be careful of the new revenue proposals in the May revise. Some of that comes with risk because we won't know the final budget until the governor passes the final budget in June. But this slide is interesting and I thought I would share it because it looks at the risk of the various programs that the governor's proposing. So you can see for the COLA and the additional COLA, there's usually, they're assigning a nearly zero risk factor. So I'm very confident putting that in the budget at this time as revenue. The last two, the Learning Recovery Block Grant, And the ELOP, the special education, those are low. So whatever estimate we come up with, those will be in the budget. The big question is the discretionary block grant. We're getting 4.6%. from the original amount an additional 1.3 that's a significant amount of revenue um the the the advice from acoe is that we put this in the budget but designated so it's not counting towards expenses We're taking the approach that last year they told us not to count it until it was so much later. They're now tying it somewhat to the Prop 98 Settle Up. So I feel confident including it in the budget, but we're going to be including it based on discussions with ACOE because they review our budgets and they actually pass the budgets.

Next slide.

So we are, like I mentioned, we're gonna incorporate all the revenue from the proposals in the district's budget. And we talked about the spud bug being somewhat of a medium risk, but any significant changes in these assumptions in the governor's enacted budget, remember he passes a budget in June, which is after the board has to approve our budget, we'll be bringing back a 45-day revision to reflect what's in the governor's final budget. So with that, I'm ready to take questions. And also, with the Prop 98 Settlement, again, stressing the fact that we do want continuing support and asking the state for continuing support for Prop 98. So any questions at this point? Board member Schnauskamp.

Just one, what sort of a question, but I know the answer. That Prop 98, the decrease in that settle up amount, the approximately 1.6 billion, it's actually not going to us. It is actually going to the Rainy Day Fund. So the amount that is actually coming to us was not increased. So it's a little bit of a misleading statement in some of the may revise documents that the settle up amount decreased by that because we are not gonna see that. So I would just like to say once more, you guys are all getting so tired of me saying, pick up the phone and call our state legislators because that is the way we can really influence. It is now really in their hands to shape this may revise into the final budget. And we can make a difference through that kind of advocacy. And thank you, Pauline. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any more board members with questions?

Sorry. Yeah. Can you just go back to the slide about moving our target? Yeah. I think my question is just, I may have missed it, but I wanted to just make sure that I understand what specifically the target is now.

Yeah. So we presented this, I think, at the last board meeting. So the target has not changed. It's still the 10.4 million. And we've listed the various steps that we've taken to meet the target. At the last meeting, we listed each one of these in detail and we'll actually bring bringing this back to the board for voting um but as you can see we are exceeding the target by 845 or 843 000 accounts here but with that um we have to remember that a lot of the investments are one time so we really want this to be all ongoing

but um we are have exceeded the target but we still have a lot of work to do in terms of finding a home for one-time investments yeah i remember that conversation from last year i was just hopeful that today that we were um moving from a place where maybe our planned uh reductions would no longer be necessary and we could um maybe help the think about these new um revenues how we can materialize them and actually change our target, but it doesn't seem like we are there.

Not yet, sorry.

Thank you.

If I just a follow up, I think that's it. So basically, just so that we're all on the same page. We don't know yet from the May revise, the actual dollars and dollar amounts that will allow us to change that target. But we're hoping to have that next week.

Well, actually, the target is the money that we need to kind of keep the district solvent. And what we're doing are having budget balancing solutions to meet the target. So it's going to reduce them. I don't know. You want to explain to me here? No. Okay, so what we're doing is actually trying to meet the target. So the target is the amount that we need to either make reductions or find revenue for. And when we're looking at the May revise, we're finding revenue to meet the $10.4 million gap.

right and so my comment that's a follow-up that i think is related to what director brown is asking is that that 10.4 million the may revise adjustments are not reflected in that slide um the the the revenues are it's in phase four ah okay that's what phase four is can we show that can i ask a follow-up

Well, just so that in phase four, so this shows with the May revise adjustments that we would have excess revenue in the amount of $843,000. So does that mean, I mean, we've talked earlier about having a list of reductions that we would restore if we end up with additional revenue. So is that $843,000 moving us toward being able to do that?

No. Possibly. It can be, or it should be used. Because this is a lot of one-time investments, we're not out of the woods. So the dollar amount is exceeding the target. But because we have so many one-time investments, We're still in the danger zone.

Yeah, well, yeah, I said no, because one as Pauline said that 843,000 is not inclusive of expenses that we know we're going to have that we're just at this moment not clearly aware of. So we shouldn't get excited and bank that a 43 because we anticipate there's going to be additional expenses and other proposals that we share with you all over these last weeks. And again, reiterated at the last meeting, there are some two that I can think of that may not actually materialize, one of which is the charging of transportation, one of which is perhaps furloughs. And so we also don't want to take for granted that that entire $11.2 million that we're showing here is actually real. But the bigger reason is what Pauline said. Matt Meyer and others like to say kicking the can down the road because when we set budget targets in previous years they were always supposed to be ongoing and we've never hit our budget target in an ongoing fashion. We typically do what we're doing now which is get one-time funding that kind of saves us if you will for the year and then we kind of push it down to the next year and though that feels good in some ways it also causes lot of upset because then we're revisiting things over and over when we should just accept the fact or be really transparent about trade-offs or what we need to stop doing etc and then continue to build on looking for additional places to either reduce or make some changes or restructure and that quite honestly is feedback not only from SBAC but our labor partners because they're like we knew we were going to be in this situation and so until we're ready to accept the situation that we're in and that we never really hit our target I think we'll always be here we want to try to avoid being here by being really honest about where we are with the revenue

I have a couple of other questions, some about SPED, some about pregnancy disability, and then some about enrollment. So I'll just start with pregnancy disability leave. First of all, this is great to hear for our employees. Some of us should have had a baby this year and not last year. But anywho, I digress. But I do want to ask, so we have to think about our cost increasing to provide that leave. However, we also have to think about our cost increasing to provide substitutes as well. That's it, yeah. And so we're just getting this information. But I'm sure that we need to think about and have a conversation around, I'm sorry? I'm sure we need to think about and have a conversation around what our projections will be, our fiscal projections will be, and if our costs exceed those projections, where would we absorb those expenses?

That's a good question. And at this time, in terms of increased expenses, we know that we're not funded for all our expenses is why we're deficit spending. And it's a constant balancing act. So we know we're getting additional revenue, so I think we can continue to apply our policy that we have in terms of looking for savings, looking at where there are duplicates spending, and applying all core values of resource allocation as we look at all our programs. This is an opportunity for us to improve processes and realize savings in operations. So I think it's an ongoing task actually. So we are deficit spending. We don't get enough to cover all our expenses. We're either using fund balance or we're not breaking even at this point.

Okay, thank you. Can I ask my question about enrollment thank you enrollment and then maybe you want to go to another board member yes and then I'll come back and ask about special education so in terms of enrollment I'm really excited about ADA and the amount that will hopefully potentially come to our district I am interested to know if we have thought about the impact of declining enrollment throughout the state of California and then also how it impact how it potentially will impact us and have we thought about that in our projections and

yeah so maybe we'll start there now okay so actually we're one of the few districts that were not actually declining a lot of districts in the state they are declining but we're seeing a very slight uptick in enrollment in Berkeley and this has been going on for like what two years you remember during the pandemic we didn't feel the impact of the declining enrollment because we had a three-year averaging and we had a hold harmless clause. So now we're actually being funded on a real ADA. So I present the enrollment and ADA chart at every budget meeting. So if you look at that chart there actually is an uptick in enrollment and so we are fortunate, it's not huge, but we're fortunate we're trending in the right direction. And for the rest of the state, it's impacting the state revenue overall for programs.

And how do, just to, because I don't know, but how do we make that determination for next academic year? What data or what information do we gather to know what our enrollment will be versus just a projection of what has happened last year and the year before?

You want to answer, Jada?

it's a number of factors most most significantly looking at current enrollment and moving it forward we're also paying really careful attention to the tk enrollment over the course of the rounds we have actually list just was it this week completed round one maybe it was last week we're actually adding a a 20th TK class because of the enrollment numbers. So those are tracked over time. We're also paying attention to the number of inner district transfers. We have a number of inner district transfers that we have not moved forward with because we're waiting to see how that space settles out. We're also looking at students and families who have applied for transfers to other schools and they need to complete that process so that we can see where we have space but we're running some pretty tight classrooms across the district and we are going to be looking at see where you know how all of that shakes out to determine if we can take some more inter-district transfers but the numbers look pretty strong thank you

I can add a little bit more to that just in terms of how we actually use those numbers. So we work with Francisco. He projects these numbers. We use that number to do the teacher template and staffing. So usually we just do it once. We've been doing it like three or four times this year because the numbers keep changing. And as they change, we're looking at the assumptions for staffing as well as the impact on ADA. Thank you.

Vice President Gorn has a question.

Thank you. I'm curious about the additional funding for ELAP and if we know what the consequences will be for our LEARNS program, whether that will mean we can add additional ITs and open more sections to serve more students.

I'll turn it over to Associate Superintendent.

Yeah, I'm not going to have the exact numbers at the top of my head, but I'm happy to get those to you. Just in case we do currently have a waiting list and are going to anticipate a waiting list. What we are looking at is using those additional funds to add space. So remember, we have... case load restrictions for our TK, our younger grades. There are higher ratios for the upper grades. We really are working to prioritize, well, we're required to prioritize our unduplicated students and then our primary grades most significantly. So Director Bock and her team are working with those numbers and that allocation. And I'm looking over at Sam because I know we were gonna be opening up some positions. But the hope is that we will be able to reduce the number of students on the waiting list, because we're hiring the IT positions.

Just to follow up on that, we have already, you've already approved six new IT positions for the fall that we are going to figure out exactly where we want them to be so that we can have those spots open for the beginning of the school year. And we are going to be posting those positions and trying to hire them during the summer. so that we're ready to start in August with a larger quantity of ITs as well as maintaining the ITs that we currently have and not having to bring back contractors.

Are there any further board member comments? I wanted to ask one other quick question, if that's all right. On slide 14, the educator investments to expand professional learning opportunities, I am wondering if this helps with our teacher induction program challenges, or is this a different?

I would have to get more information on that and see how it flows. So we're not sure at this time.

If that's all, we can move to... No more questions? OK. If that's all, we can move to extended public comment. It looks as though there are no more in-person public commenters. But Ms. Charles, are there any on that? No. Does any board member have anything to say? Yes.

I just want to wish my son, who's not listening, a very happy birthday tomorrow. Hey. Happy birthday, today.

Yes. 17. Ooh.

OK. And on that note, that is the end of tonight's meeting at 9.13 PM. Thank you all. Thank you, student director.