Welcome to the backstory on one of the lowest profile but highest stakes needs in Longmont and every other community in the United States. My name is Tim Waters and I've been invited by the Longmont Observer and Longmont Public Media to moderate conversations of leaders, advocates, experts, and policy makers on topics of interest and relevance to Longmont Area residents. This month we're focusing on young families and our youngest residents, concerned that we're failing too many of both because of insufficient childcare and early childhood learning opportunities in Longmont. Every story that each of us reads about in newspapers or on the Longmont Observer website has a backstory and the backstory is frequently more interesting than the story we read about and reported as news. So this month we're telling the story that's understood all too well by moms and dads and grandparents of children and grandchildren under the age of six. It's a story that's less well understood by business owners, although we'll learn from one of our panelists that that's changing. Our business community is coming to this issue and this need in a far more enlightened way than maybe in past years. The implications for municipalities, for school boards, and for county commissioners are significant because for every goal that a school board or a city council or a county commissioner would set, if we don't get it right for the youngest of our residents, if we don't do more and better for our youngest residents, our children zero to five, then virtually everything else is more difficult to achieve. So this is a backstory on a challenge that's so complex and so pervasive and of such consequence and significance that we're telling it in a series of at least three podcasts. These will be produced and posted in sequence on the Longmont Observer and the Longmont Public Media websites. They'll stream off a YouTube channel in hopes that Longmont and Boulder County residents will understand what's at stake for all of us if we don't get it right for the youngest of us. So for this podcast I'm joined by a pretty remarkable panel, people who are deeply involved with this and bring their own expertise and talent and I'd like to start by introducing Marta Lochelin, a former teacher in the St. Rain Valley School District, a small business owner, a mom who has first hand experience with the accessibility and cost of child care and happens to be a candidate for Boulder County commissioners. Thanks for the invite. Lorena Garcia, executive director of the Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition, she happens to be also running for, I don't know if she's a candidate for the United States Senate. And she has a powerful story to tell about her work and what's been happening for the last couple of decades actually to build capacity in this state to respond to the needs of young families, both informal and informal child care settings. Melanie Piazza is a co-founder and executive director of the Family Village, which is located in Longmont. It's a child care co-op, shared workspace and an opportunity for young moms to stay engaged professionally and also see that their kids are well cared for. So an interesting, I don't know if it's unique, but a very unusual model exists right here in Longmont. And Gloria Higgins, who is a co-founder of executive partnering to invest in children. Epic. Epic is a coalition of business interests. She'll tell the story. It starts following the Denver preschool initiative in which she was the initial chair. Gloria now works with and through Epic as a consultant. She works with communities throughout Colorado to bring the business community to this issue and to bring the issue to the business community. So welcome to all four of you. Thanks for doing this. I know you could be doing other things with your time, but this is a gift to this community. And I appreciate, I know others will. Before we get into content, there's way more of your stories to tell than what I just did. So why don't you do your own self-introduction, what brings you to this, and then we'll get into the content of this conversation. Who was to start? We'll just go right to left. All right. So again, I'm Melanie Piazza, and I founded Family Village, which is a cooperative, co-working community and childcare center here in Longmont. About a year and a half ago, I was a mom of two young kids and had kept telling myself, my gosh, I just need some space to do something for myself. Start thinking about what I want to do in terms of building a business. And also I was really missing community and connection with other moms. But the cost of childcare was so prohibitive that I couldn't find space for myself. And I just kept imagining, wouldn't it be great if there's a place I could go? And I could do things for myself. I could meet with other parents. And I could know my kids were taken care of in the same location, but I'm not the one taking care of them. And I got angry enough that it didn't exist, that I just decided I'm gonna put it out there. And a bunch of moms on Facebook agreed that they could use it as well. Lots of dads as well. So we were founded in June of 2018 and are currently located at 1303 South Bross Lane. And we're just a place for childcare to be a little bit different. So it's cooperative in that we are all as members, owners of the business. We have a full-time childcare provider, our childcare director is there all the time. And then we support her in taking care of our kids as it ebbs and flows. We're a drop-in center, so we have no idea how many kids are coming at what time. And we have lots of volunteers, a lot of elder volunteers who are interested in engaging with young kids because they don't have theirs anymore. And so it's really a community based center. And part of the reason it works is because there are a lot of parents who are working remotely. Boulder County is now the number one county in the country for remote working population. And so there are a lot of parents who say this is great. I'm gonna get to work at home and I can have my kids and it's the perfect situation. And we always joke that you start to get tired of taking phone calls from the closet because your kids inevitably make noise the moment that you need to have an important phone call. So we sort of become the opportunity for parents to take the time that they need in small chunks. We can offer three hours of care per day. We can go into more of that later why it's only three hours a day. But it gives parents the chance to do those things that they need to do to run their business, run their lives, get their sanity back, especially really new moms who feel, oh my gosh, we thought parenting was gonna be so easy and it's really not. And it helps to hear other parents who have been in it to say it is hard. You're not wrong. This is not just you. So yeah, we're the first of our kind in the country. There have been co-working spaces with childcare attached that have been some successful, some unsuccessful. But I think what makes this different is that we're a cooperative. And so parents are much more engaged in the whole, not just the childcare, but the operation of a business. So it's making parents who are feeling lost in terms of their identity have a purpose again. And there are a lot of people are finding a career that they didn't know existed before they started coming to the village. So yeah, that's my story and that's what family village is. Glad to be here. Wonderful. Yeah. And I had the delight to go over and meet Melanie and see what she's been doing. And it's when you talk about unique and opportunities, it really speaks to the entrepreneur thread of Boulder County, but certainly in in our city of Longmont. So my name is Martha Low-Trimming. And as you shared, I am a candidate for Boulder County Commissioner. And Gloria and I were speaking earlier that we have multiple hats. And a lot of that is our story, our stories as women. So as a single parent, I've navigated the system of, you know, the same thought of like, Oh, maybe this will get easier as my kids get older. And the reality is that the childcare needs change certainly from being initially employed by a corporation where I had maternity leave and I had benefits and I had time off with my my oldest son. And then when I went to self employment in 2001, and a lot of our community deals with that is when you don't have benefits and you don't have childcare options, I had to go back to work a week later because I was self employed. And I was the only person working for my household. And so those are that's an experience and perspective that I bring as well as as you mentioned that I am also a teacher. And so from a family perspective and doing a family engagement and consulting around the community now doing work is really talking about one of the things that I know we're gonna talk about later is how do we involve parents in this conversation to a higher degree? How do we know one of the requests initially for why I was invited was from the business community perspective. And so how do we bridge all of our voices together to address what you talked about already this very important need and more pressing intertwining issue of all of our big issues. How do we focus that into the early childhood? So thanks for having me here. Thanks for being here, Gloria. And my name is Gloria Higgins. And I'm personally a CPA by training. So I grew up in the business community, understand the perspective of the business community. And through that was asked to become the board chair for the Denver preschool program, which was one of the first public taxing initiatives that was passed in Colorado. And I think maybe across the nation, the challenge that we had and I think the reason I was asked to participate was the fact that we were starting from scratch. We had millions of dollars coming in on day one January one, and we had no methodology of getting that money back out to the community in a real way. So it was that entrepreneurial spirit and the very strong board that was handed to me with the expertise in early childhood expertise and education expertise and some of the community issues that we were able to create a sliding scale methodology for transferring sales tax dollars in the city of Denver to parents for the benefit of their four year old in a preschool or an early education setting. So that sold me. I gave up being a CPA and decided that my third career was going to be as an advocate for early childhood. And my background was with community. So that's why I've landed. Well, there's lots to learn from that experience across the state and we're trying to learn it here. So thank you. I'm really excited to be part of this panel of a lot of expertise. Thank you, Tim, for inviting me. Again, my name is Lorena Garcia and I am the executive director of the Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition. And CSPC was founded 40 years ago by a group of parents that felt like the education system wasn't meeting their needs. So they self organized started to train each other on how to be advocates for their children in schools. And through that the organization grew to reach parents statewide. In 2001, the organization was finally able to bring on staff. And in 2005, what was the organization went from being 100% parent serving organization into expanding to serve school districts, schools as well as childcare providers because there was conversation with parents that yes, I'm going to do everything that I can, but my kid is not always with me. My child is in a childcare provider, provider setting, whether it's licensed or if it's informal. And so there's only so much I can do. So through a grant, the Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition was unable to do some research here in Boulder County to identify where are those kids going? And it was discovered that a large percentage were going to informal childcare providers, the providers that we consider babysitters. Now, they're the grandparents or the neighbor down the street or the family friend. And there was a desire within that population to improve their skillsets that they could also support the educational and school readiness development of these young children. So from that CSPC developed a very rigorous, intensive training for what we call FFN providers, which are friend, family and neighbor care providers. And right now this training where what are we 14 years later, we've trained over 1300 FFN providers across across the state, around 160 of them here in Longmont. And it's a it's a program that has proven success in the sense that we also have an external evaluation that shows that the children in the care of positive providers have a 17 point increase in their school readiness scores. I mean that one of the things that we often say is our efforts of closing the achievement gap is to close it before it starts. And we do that by empowering parents and powering FFN providers and making sure that that there is support in the community and there's the constant growing of skill sets because I think someone mentioned you you you don't become a parent and suddenly know how to parent. You don't become a childcare provider and suddenly know how to provide childcare. We all need support. We all need encouragement. We all need skills development. We'll see where the conversation goes. I've got some questions I'm going to ask, but I would delight if we come back at some point to the to the effects of closing the kinds of gaps that we know children arrive at the kindergarten door with in terms of vocabulary, planning skills, problem with all skills, delayed gratification, the kinds of things that get developed in in quality early learning experiences and what that means to them for the rest of their lives in school and in as adults and all the costs associated with it. So we get there. That's part of why we should be in this conversation. I just want to remind anybody who is a listener to this or or tunes in their city of Longmont, the city council and listeners know that I do this as a volunteer. I also serve in the city council. So sometimes it's hard to know which hat you're wearing. Just to remind listeners that the the Longmont City Council has adopted a couple of vision statements and seven goal statements. And among the goal statements are a goal about housing and there's a goal about economic development and goals about the environment and the kinds of community in which we want to live. We also have a goal that we are going to provide more and better early learning experiences for all of our children. The premise for this series and the work that's going on right now in Longmont as a coalition comes together around this topic. The premise is that if we don't get it right for our youngest residents, every other goal that we want to achieve becomes more difficult to achieve. Or conversely, if we do get it right, attaining or achieving the other goals in terms of housing and economic development and quality of life are all enhanced or strengthened. Our chances of success are are much improved. So the first of these podcasts focused kind of on big picture. The second of these podcasts really focused on kind of formal and informal early learning opportunities for four and five-year-olds. So we can go wherever we want to, but I really would like to drill down on that zero to three age group. Child care because there's so much learning and development that occurs there, but in less formal settings, but no less important in terms of life preparation. So we'll see, I'm going to ask some questions, we'll see where we go with these questions and how much you want to bite off. Just generally, you've already begun, Melinda, you touched on some of the experience of families in Longmont. Marty, you did as well. Is there any more we would want to kind of lay out for listeners? Just generally, the experience of families in Boulder County in need of high quality, reliable child care, formal or informal? I got a couple of comments. Keep in mind everyone should recognize that I bring the business mindset to the situation. So I've done some research on Longmont and I've been able through studies that were prepared by the Center for American Progress to identify what's called child care deserts. And when I look at the child care deserts, I've five or six popped up and I was very amazed and interested to see the income levels of those families in that child care desert and the degree that the area is a desert. And what it spoke to how it spoke to me was as you address the problem in the situation in the crisis in Longmont, I think it would make sense. I always go back to location, location, location and really begin to focus attention to those deserts and create kind of a solution based process that would help you earmark. And I think what you're going to find out is that many of those areas are working families. You know, they're not the the below poverty level families, but it really spoke to me on so I'm working hard and I think this goes to Melanie's concept. I'm working hard. I'm trying to do the best for my children. I'm stressing out. I'm not a good employee. I feel like I'm not a good parent. And yet there's no real pathway for supporting those families. The data you're suggesting or you've looked at suggest that we are a desert, a child. There are there are some deserts. Yes, I can. I can tell you the area is they're done by census track. So in Longmont, we have childcare deserts. Well, that's an important frame to take with it. Yeah, I think that it's also important. I don't I haven't looked at the data you're talking about. So when you're when you're considering a child care desert, is that a desert of licensed care providers? It is a desert of licensed care providers. So the information speaks to me in one particular area. There has to be a huge element of FNN family, friend and neighbor because these parents are working. Yeah. And I and I never want to presume what the quality is going to be. But I know there are loving arrangements and thank goodness for organization. It could have some very high quality. But we should learn from that. Talk about what might not show up in the data that reflects the work that you've done. Yeah, so when we know when we look at data around childcare, even kids count that happens here in Colorado, it focuses on licensed because it's easier to track. We can we have the registry of licensed care providers. We have the quala star ratings or the Colorado Shines rating, excuse me. But what we don't have, because it's almost virtually impossible to track is who are the FFN care providers? And the reason why it's so challenging to incorporate FFN care when we're doing when we're looking at data with childcare is because there is no registry. There's no licensure. People are operating out of the goodness of their heart because they have the space because they have the time.  But there's always opportunity for growth in all areas. And I think that when we when we're talking about childcare deserts, it's it's absolutely important to recognize those childcare deserts as those are also the flourishing opportunities for FFN care. Sure. You know, I think here in Longmont, there's several areas where the majority of the providers that we work with are the providers in that area because there aren't any more licensed spots available at all or there isn't even a center that's close enough for the families to take advantage of. I'm going to I'm going to we're going to come back to that. What assumptions can we make about total numbers and need and capacity because those are huge both the numbers and the and the options are huge both in this community and the rest of Boulder County. Any other perspectives here from just in terms of what our options and experience is like in in Longmont? Marty, you've you've you've experienced it trying to find your way along both as a mom and as a business person. Right. And I think of the coalition that we've been working on over the last year, this tends to be the conversation. Right. And and I know in my own personal experience that finance was an issue finding a care, even finding a facility, but for in the community that because I work about 90 percent of my clients are not a monolingual Spanish speakers and or bilingual families. So there's a whole another avenue that we haven't touched on. We might not even get to based on a lot of questions and great conversation. But there is a sector of our community in a multicultural and a multilingual need. And there's an underlying thread there of trust and all parents and make it speak for myself. I want to be able to leave my child in a place where I trust they're going to be cared for. I hope that they're going to be academically you know, challenged in some way. But I also you know, those referral partners we talk about in our community is so important. And you know, how we line this up with, you know, we look at it just from a data standpoint, we look at just from a number standpoint, we look for at a facility standpoint. But there is a bigger topic here about how do we ensure that families can really trust where they're going to whether it's in our family for a neighbor or if it's in our facilities, whether it's licensed or unlicensed. And again, I think that's why the family village is so unique. And when you have families together that are creating these opportunities, how do we use that pilot and do something more with it that's going to include all sectors of our community. Yeah, yeah. From the moment they're born, right? They are learning immediately and constantly. And that learning and the curiosity occurs when they're safe, when they're supported, right? And when parents are comfortable with the settings in which their children are being cared for. Well, and I think Mellie touched on it a little bit. And the other aspect of this is a mental health conversation, too, for a parent who, and we look at, you know, when I'm looking at the data of where our, you know, Boulder County, but it could be, you know, statewide conversation is where our parents working. What does that commute look like? What does that create then from a pressure and this conversation of kind of failure as a parent? There's all these different pieces that are all attached and why this topic is so important. Yeah. Well, and also, let's not forget now, long months considered a boom town. So we have people moving here rapidly. And as a mom and as a business owner in this sort of childcare providing world, I see posts every day, multiple times a day from people who are planning to move here or do live here, but haven't yet found a connection and they don't have, they, they don't have friends, they don't have family. So that network of where do I go to get care becomes really reliant on a bunch of it's beautiful in a way as strangers on a social media site saying, here's someone I recommend or here's an in-home childcare provider that you can't find on a database. I mean, I know care.com. Some parents use that. But it becomes even more of a I have to jump into this new living experience. And the places that I would normally say I was were trustworthy in terms of being licensed. I have to now go on the advice of strangers really to, to decide where I'm going to take my kids. So I think some of this is about how do we build that community for these new families that move here. And that's what I hope Family Village can be and anything else that sort of evolves from it. Because once you have that trust in people, because you know them, then it's much easier to say, Hey, I've got my, my aunt is now looking to provide care in her home and she'd be an excellent you can meet her. And I think it just, there's a lot of gray area that we don't really know. And how many parents do want full-time care? How many just want part time or as needed? And there's really not a lot of opportunities in all of Boulder County. But I think probably in the state for I need care today. I didn't know that I needed care yesterday. So I think there's, there's a lot of creativity, I think that has to come to the table and solving this problem because it's not just building more childcare facilities in the traditional way. It's finding ways that we can build the community networks and, you know, the more babysitting co-ops where it's parents that come together and they take turns taking each other's children so that there isn't a financial burden at all. But it just means that means a day that you need to actually watch seven or eight kids. So anyways, it's I think it's a very nuanced question like about we know what's in, in licensed care, we can maybe have some idea through your organization of what's happening in terms of friends and family network. But I think there's a lot of people that are not even showing up in any statistics because they don't even know where to turn. They don't know how to even start looking for care. So I want to drill down just a little bit on that part of the question. There's a lot that what part of what I've learned is that getting your arms around what the actual data are is, is a challenge because the data sets are so disparate. There's no one place that we can go to answer questions about total number of kids in the community who are, who are, are in or not in any kind of care facility and the nature of that. So last spring, there was a mayor's summit that several of you were involved with. That was followed in September with a data collection activity that was part of the follow on to a Senate bill that was passed in the last legislative session. What was interesting, the data in both of those suggested that we have a pretty significant challenge in Longmont and these are just gross approximations. So don't anybody at this table or might be listening, hold me to the fine points of here. Yeah. But here's the at least the impression I was left with is that we probably have 5,000 kids at least in the the geography of the same Rain Valley School District, 5,000 children between ages zero and five and of those five year olds among that five those and there are those who are not yet in kindergarten. So these are kids who would be in childcare or early childhood formal or informal learning opportunities. And that about we can account for probably 60% of that 5,000 to be part of an FFN network or in a formal setting licensed or unlicensed. Now, how accurate is that number? But it would not be inconsistent with the idea of deserts to some degree. That does leave, if you think about the numbers, 2,000 kids today and every day in settings where we're not certain what they're experiencing. And I'm certain many of them are experiencing the kind of care you'd like to have where parents can be confident. I do fear that there are too many who aren't. And whatever that number is, are those to whom we owe something, right? So could we just talk about what are the consequences? What does it mean to a community, to a society both short term and long term? If whatever that number is, whether it's 2,000 or some smaller number, what are the implications for the children, for their families and for society? If we don't do more and better to ensure that whatever that number is, they're either with a prepared friend or family care provider or in a co-op or in a formal licensed setting. What are the consequences if we don't do that? The consequences are enormous. I mean, there's consequences to the family. There's consequences to the parent. There's consequences to the city council's goal for economic development. There's consequences to the ability for the child to develop in their social and emotional learning in their academics. And I think one of the things that strikes me most is what is the need? Why do we even have the need for childcare? Because we are still operating in an archaic system that does not support two working parents in a household or does not support a single parent working. And because of that, even though we have, when children even get to kindergarten, for example, there is still a need for childcare when the school day is over because parents are still supposed to be at work until five. But then how do they pick up their kids at 3.30? So then they're still figuring out how do I get my child cared for in this hour and a half that I can't leave work? Yeah, add that to the number. I shared a few minutes ago. Yes. And I think that when we are what I do want to acknowledge is Longmont is doing a lot to address this more than more than most any other community in Colorado right now. Longmont is really focused because of the commitment of the city council to ensuring that there is attention brought to this. I mean, the fact that there's this type of podcast happening is enormous. And if we don't take advantage right now when we have the opportunity to use the dollars that the Longmont City Council has put forward to use the expertise that's even just sitting at this table right here to make sure that we are engaging businesses that Epic is doing fantastic job with to say we have to in order to address this problem it's going to take about 10 different prongs. There's not a single solution to making sure that these 2,000 kids are safe or in an environment that's going to be stimulating their minds. You know, we need to rely on FFM. We need to expand licensure. We need to make sure that that businesses start understanding that investing in childcare is ultimately better for their own bottom line. We need to make sure that that the city and the other I'm going to I'm going to stop. I'm going to allow everyone. I keep going. And I want to add on to what you said, Lorena, because there's I mean, we have this this this 2,000 number, right? But the other reality that we have in Boulder County and in our state because we're, you know, the amazing part of the country is that on a national average, if you look at the cost to have a childcare provider, national average is around 25,000. In Boulder County, that same position is about 30,000. And so we have this. We know we have a need right now. And the reality is that those childcare providers are also being pulled into other areas of employment. And I hear that all the time from different nonprofits that are also facing the same thing. And so if we are not careful and we've talked about this in our coalition meetings, we are also going to see more closures of childcare facilities that we have right now. So we have to be and I'm in love with what you're saying because we have to be very vigilant because that 2,000 number is more likely to grow versus lower if we don't get very active with all of community members to find some solutions that are going to help. I think that's why from my perspective and keep in mind, I'm totally biased about the business community, but now is the time to have those very difficult conversations. And my experience has been is what was a difficult conversation five years ago is now a five minute conversation. So they're beginning to understand all the brain science, all the economic reasons. What they're the gap is, is what is the most logical place for them to to be active? And I think that's the question if through the city council, we can develop kind of a pathway. I don't believe there's going to be that the challenges that we saw several years ago. I want to reinforce, Lorraine, you touched on what's different today. A generation ago, we didn't have the absolute need for two workers in every household, right? The economics of life today have drawn moms and dads into the workplace. The number of single parents, right? Who obviously are going to be in the workplace. Add to that what we've learned about brain science. Why do kids need to be places today when they didn't need to be a generation ago? Well, they needed to be there a generation ago. We just didn't understand how the brain works and why it's so critical today to address what become deficits, right? Not in terms of abilities, but in terms of vocabulary or the kind of brain development that occurs to get them ready by the time they get to kindergarten. So just imagine what would it be like if all of our five-year-olds showed up to the Savory Valley School District school ready and we weren't having to overcome deficits in vocabulary or planning skills and those kinds of things. Think of the number of special ed referrals that decline and use those resources differently. Think of how you'd used compensatory Title I dollars differently for enrichment and what life options are presented to those kids. The storyline goes on for decades and decades and decades. Adults who make better decisions. They live longer, healthier lives, more productive. The returns on these investments are pretty profound. But we've got to make some progress here and let's talk about, several of you have referred to what's going on in Longmont. This isn't going to get solved by the City Council. The City Council teed it up. It's going to get to the degree that it's a solution. We're going to make progress on a very complex problem because of everybody who comes to this. You are all involved in a coalition that has come together in Longmont. And part of the story is about that coalition. Lorena, you mentioned that what's going on in Longmont is unusual. I think it comes along very seldom that the variety of interests that come together to address this particular issue doesn't happen very often. But it is now. So talk a bit about how you've come to that coalition, what you think of the work that's being done, and what would you say to others in terms of how they get involved from the business perspective, from the business community, from a parental perspective, from a provider perspective, from a business, your business perspective, and from your work as a consultant and as an advocate and from policy. Talk about your experiences and why should anybody should care about this. So I will just speak very briefly on this. There is, so there is this wonderful coalition of community activists here in Longmont and teachers and policymakers here in Longmont that are convening in order to come up with the multitude of solutions that are necessary to address this issue here in Longmont. And this coalition is growing every single meeting. And I think one of the reasons why CSPC is part of it is because this is what we do. This is when we are able to actually engage with people who are directly impacted by this issue, whether it's the business community or the parents or the schools, then we know that we're able to come up with robust equitable solutions that have the perspective of everyone who's going to be impacted involved. And that's really important for me personally and it's also very extremely important for the organization CSPC to maintain with its essence of why we exist. Yeah, I think, so I joined this coalition after speaking to Tim and introducing him to Family Village. And we immediately recognized there are not a lot of parents at this coalition and there are a lot of reasons for that and it's all the reasons we've been talking about parents are stressed. Parents don't have childcare to show up at a meeting. I mean, one of the first meetings we brought, I think it was five or six parents from Family Village and we brought our children with us and it was disruptive of course because that's what you would expect when children show up but that's the statement that we knew we needed to make. We aren't at the table to the degree that we need to be. And the needs for childcare have changed in ways we haven't touched on it immensely today. And that is that a lot of parents are able to work from home. A lot of parents are working more flexible schedules. Parents are working overnight shifts. That's not something new but what is happening in terms of childcare in these kind of less, it used to be exceptions but now it's becoming a more larger population of people who are not meeting the same things that were needed 10, 15 years. Even five years ago. So that's a challenge. We've moved a lot of these meetings to Family Village for this reason so that we have childcare on site available to parents that want to show up. But I think it demonstrates the degree to which this is a problem and that we can't even as parents of young children be at the table to provide the solutions, help provide the solutions to make this not be a problem for the next generation. So we're definitely changing it but I think that's one thing I would say parents listening, anybody that's a parent and a business provider we need your voice at the table. I mean, I can bring my perspective some of our villagers can come but we have very specific needs that other parents don't have and how can we as a community provide the forum to have these conversations in ways that parents are able to show up and be at the table to feel empowered because the other thing I believe deep down is that becoming a parent brings a new wisdom to life and it's not just about raising our own children but it's about what do we need as a community to feel safe and to feel secure and I think many times in my experience parents feel like those ideas, those thoughts this business came because I got pissed and I just decided I have to build it but so many parents don't feel empowered to do that they don't have the resources to be able to take the time off of work to build a new business to be the solution for the problem but I believe many of us as moms have amazing ideas that will solve this problem that will solve many other problems in our society but unless we do what we can as a culture to start making it possible for those parents to be at the table then these conversations will just keep going and going and going we might provide a solution or two but we're not actually addressing the bottom line which is that you're right this is an unnatural way to be taking care of our children to require that two parents work and not have that really comfortable safe network of the old fashioned village where I could work because my aunt or my grandparent or my cousins or all of the above are available to help raise my kid with me that's not the world we live in anymore and we talk about all the time that because two parents are working you don't know your neighbors because you don't have the time to be networking with your neighbors all you have time to do is get home get food in the table, get the kids to bed and so what that does is it provides this distrust of the community around you so if you don't know who your neighbors are then you don't feel comfortable with your child walking down the street and there's this, we talk about mental health there is this constant fear in parents of if I'm not with my child something terrible is gonna happen not just in a childcare providing a situation but just in life in general and I think that's where the answer isn't just both parents work full time and we put our children into childcare facilities it's we have to build community so that we feel generally safe raising our children where we do and that's where I think Longmont having these conversations we have the opportunity to be the forefront of what it looks like to be taking care of our children you know some of it is about education but some of it is just about a general sense of safety in life though zero to three we don't need to worry about teaching them necessarily but we need to make sure they feel safe and loved and parents that are stressed have a hard time providing that safety and love even if they try so I think it's from an economic standpoint from a cost of living standpoint there's so much about this conversation that glosses over the underlying problem which is that we are not we're not taking care of one another as parents we feel isolated and even though we have social media we can talk to someone 24 hours a day on social media about our challenges as parents that the closeness of a community and the knowingness that we're safe here and we know our neighbors and we're in this together I think is part of the conversation that we need to be having I think more parents at the table brings, we'll bring that to light because I think we all feel that I would say what you just described is neither a problem nor a solution it is a much deeper set of social conditions and building on that I mean that's a huge aspiration that's spot on we also have to address some issues like the decline in providers and why and the cost and the benefits of valuing the work in this space like we do other industry sectors anybody want to take that one on? from a teacher perspective I could take that one all day long it's the same issue that we've seen in Colorado from a statewide issue of we are not valuing the people that we are asking to dedicate their lives to care for our kids and it's really at all ages that's a bigger issue and that's a statewide issue but certainly one of the pieces so I was invited to join the coalition I think initially for a couple of reasons one from a business standpoint because the question then was was this group gonna tackle some of this new legislation and really look for a special district tax and the other reason I was brought on was to look at it from a consulting standpoint which you touched on a little bit because I've been facilitating humans in a design project a national cohort for community foundation in Boulder County so it goes back to that same piece and we heard it in September at that last meeting the opening remarks started with feedback we'd gotten from community members who said this is not an accessible time I'm a childcare provider I would like to be in the room and the three o'clock meeting or 3.30 meeting doesn't work and that to me is a bigger issue of when we ask and we want people to be in the room to be able to participate we have to move into a new system that allows people to do that and that's gonna take some creative solutions and the second piece is the business standpoint of how do we encourage business owners and big employers and small employers to really talk with their families to figure out what are the needs here locally because some parents may not want the same old the same old rewards for working for example and I've seen it and heard it from a lot of young folks who are saying hey instead of giving me a bonus check at the end of the year that's kind of an old school why don't you give me add more to PTO or give me some or let me go and get trained so that I can add some more income to whatever it might be but that some of those creative solutions are in all sectors right but I agree that we just need to have more people and at the table and so that invitation obviously is there for people to free go we're gonna get to that invitation before we finish here just a minute I'd like to add and kind of pile on to what you were saying earlier is that we do need to elevate the profession our professional or childhood individuals and I think it's too prompt and I can just I just tell everything in my life is a story because I experienced it somewhere but professionals don't value themselves because we don't value them and I look at it from the regulatory perspective and the reason that probably some of the and many of the childcare providers are not licensed is because of the regulatory issues but when we start telling them we have to regulate everything that they do pretty soon they say but that's not relevant to what I want to be as an early childhood provider and leave the environment so that's an issue that needs to be addressed and I think that the business community we can get them properly educated can be very strong advocates because they don't like regulations either they're kindred spirits so to speak to say what can we do differently and so then I go to the other side where I've had a lot of background in policy and legislative issues and it was just the other day where an individual came up to me and said childcare providers aren't, they don't have a business license so we want to run a bill that says they don't need to have a business license and I said time out we're trying to professionalize that profession and we say, you know everybody else has to have a business license so if we give them an exemption are we really doing them a favor if we're trying to create this higher level of perspective that the community has of them I said there's a way you can get to that point without providing exemptions just embed a business license into the licensing process so I think when some people are trying to help they're not helping but they don't realize that they're business people just like everybody else and we want to treat them the same and we want them to have the same respect and ultimately compensation so I think we have to be careful in how we try to make changes to make sure that we aren't kind of stepping on our own tiptoes If I may jump in really quick I think the fact that childcare is a business is a problem I mean the fact that we look at childcare and early childhood education as a for-profit model is why we are in a place we are right now if we were to actually consider childcare as early childhood education and wrap it into our overall education system you know then we would have more validity towards what is ECE you know it wouldn't be something where we have to rely on all these like this hodgepodge of options for childcare but it could actually be a model that is couched under department even I mean where does childcare fit some people say it's education some people say it's human services I don't know so maybe we'll take it this year maybe you'll take it next year I think that we need to systematize where early childhood education should fall and expand early childhood education beyond kindergarten beyond preschool to start at age zero and I think that as long as we continue to allow child care and allow our children to be another model of profit building then we're never gonna get to a place where really what is the purpose of early childhood education and childcare it's to actually support the development of these children and we're not gonna get there I'm gonna use that as a segue into closing here and I wanna invite you all we've made reference to this consortium I want you all to extend whatever invitation you want to whether it's this consortium or any other aspect of the work you're doing if people if this motivates anybody to wanna enlist in this cause what would you encourage them to do who would you encourage them to contact and then they can follow up and we're all easy to reach but I will say that the consortium conversation is addressing both of these what is it from the business side or what are the options that you think about this as a system or an institution not unlike our K-12 system just an extension to birth right what does that look like and what are the options and indeed there are some options to take it on that way whether or not we have the political will and the fortitude and the political savvy to move that forward we'll have to see but that's on the table in this coalition so we're gonna close it how would you like to invite people to join you in this cause well from the Colorado Stewart parent coalition perspective you can join CSPC by if you wanna be a trained provider jump on board you can become a member of CSPC but the other thing is also just if you're in this area and you can make it if you can make it to these meetings do because your perspective is vital to making sure that we do come away with equitable broad based solutions that do take into consideration all the different perspectives I imagine you're gonna be putting some information about how to like reach out to someone so email we'll have to see what the long line public media is willing to do with that I will say that this that I'm not certain when these is this is gonna get posted and you know when people view but right now the second Monday of each month at three o'clock in the afternoon at 13 what's the address 13 is where the consortia everybody who's involved or the coalition meets and there are working groups that meet on different schedules but if anybody wanted to come just to get a taste of it find out where and how to plug in that would be a time and understand fact on the next time this group meets we'll talk about meeting times because three o'clock in the afternoon doesn't meet for a lot of working families so but that's a topic for that agenda but just know that there are these opportunities who would like to add to what Lorena just mine is just kind of a general thing that we right now are working to create a no-cost ability for businesses and especially small businesses to say oh I understand the problem and I'm there to support you I may not be able to pay for my family or for my employees childcare or things like that but I'm there to create a business voice and try to help the business community come through so we're doing that through letters of support or quotes because I say the quotes are great because they're kind of a gift that keeps on giving but if we can get enough businesses and particularly small businesses to basically just stand up and say I get it, I don't have a solution I don't know what your solution is gonna be but I wanna be, I wanna go on notice as being part of the concerned community One of the working groups by the way is focused just on these questions and working with the business community so Yeah, you took mine Oh sorry, no he didn't, not you, but so and I think that's important for viewers and listeners to know because this group was a huge umbrella and we've broken it down into three different groups so my particular request because I'm working on the business side is really that we need to have some more business perspectives and not just necessarily business owners but also people who've been in that space and certainly our entrepreneurial world because again I think that the way employment is working is right now we're focusing on something that we know and really our jobs are gonna look completely different two to five years and certainly 10 to 15 years in Longmont and in the county and so folks who are on the edge of that who have some perspectives could be really helpful to guide that conversation and the data is also the piece so if there's folks out there who have some of this data who have some ideas about how to collect because we don't have the numbers we don't even know what the ask is we don't have a specific number yet of not only all the kids specifically that are being serviced by these different programs but also who's not being serviced and what the cost would be again what it might look like today is gonna be different going forward so all those requests would be could be really helpful to join in yeah and like I mentioned I think we do need parents at the table and if you can't make it to the meetings you can always show up at the village from nine to three Monday through Friday because we have these conversations all the time and I think it's important that we have as many varying experiences of childcare at the table as well as what are the solutions that you've come up with because a lot of these parents are very creative but if we can kind of put some bang behind these ideas and do something with them by having those ideas at the table at these meetings I can represent whoever I can't be there but I think we just need to have these conversations which is why this is so important because I think it just feels like we're just treading water and we just have to keep surviving until our kids get to an age where we don't have to worry anymore about this I think the answer is not wait I think the answer is solutions now so we do need all of those perspectives that are gonna be different than probably some of the things we talked about today So anybody who watches this video or listens to this podcast the second Monday of each month three o'clock at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church 1303 South Bronx is where this coalition is meeting who knows where it goes after that I'm certain we'll find meeting times that work for a broader cross-section there are ideas that are currently they're working groups that are coming together around both problems and solutions any idea, it's not just those three every idea that somebody would bring well that coalition will be interested in and there'll be others I'm certain with whom new volunteers would find common cause to help work towards solutions and if you do that you get a chance to work with the kind of talent that's at this table and that's a rare and unique opportunity and it has been a unique opportunity for me this morning so thanks to each of you for sharing your time and your expertise like we said it's a story that needs to be told and I'm so pleased and honored that you were here to tell it Thank you That's your backstory and the third of these podcasts on early childhood education and childcare in the long run


You know, it is an honor to hear the writing of Wanda Stewart, who asked, Can Navy Beans Fear a Takeover by the Black Eyed Pea? It's beautiful, ma'am. Beautiful. And this collection has so much grace and so much beauty, and I'm just really honored and thankful to be a part of it. Barbecue and cornbread and greens made by black hands. Adobo and rice eaten with thick brown fingers. A handwritten love note with a number two pencil. A street sax blowing colors across the sky. Tortillas and rice and beans and abuelitas voices rising through rooftops. Murals on our skin. Wet with our stories, our lives, our revolution. Paleteros pushing cool, cool, cool flavors that paint the tongue, a picture of community, finger-painted portraits of our dreams. Grandpa with a wrinkled racing form. Transistor radio broadcasting voices of spirits dancing, splashing like flowers in the throats of babies. Wrinkled photos and longhand notes written illegibly legible on the palm lines of leaves.   Familiar faces on Frisco streets. Brother Terry out on the corner of Seventh selling slow jam CDs. Delphonics. Isley Brothers. The Dramatics. I wanna go outside. In the... May sound crazy, but I wanna go outside. Sister Nella planting collard greens and kale and everything that is good. Her brown Filipino hands offering her gifts from the soil in the tenderloin. Stories written in Russian rye bread. Rice noodles whipping around block after block of the tenderloin. Dreams fermenting on the corner of Turk and Larkin. Black voices that never die. Samoan church food passed from hand to hand, elder to child, heart to heart. Sacks filled with Chinese vegetables. Fish eyes looking through tanks as rivers flow down the Chinatown streets. My grandmother's cane that kept our unstable world stable as she walked to and from St. Patrick's church on Mission Street. Mission Street palm trees that tell us home isn't too far and can be heard in the conga drum that dreams of freedom from the pawn shop. And fog horns that moan, moan, moan wetness as the sun breaks through for the first time over and over again in my city, in our city.


Hello, my name is Claire Wool, I'm the board chairperson of the Burlington School Board and I also represent Ward 6. I'm here tonight with fellow colleague Senator Martine Gulick, who also, I'll let you introduce yourself. Hi everyone, I am Senator Martine LaRoc Gulick and I'm also a school commissioner who I represent Ward 4 and of course the entire district. And I'm happy to be here today to talk about school, our school, and our school budget and yeah. Yes, thank you. I wanted to remind viewers that we, as a school board, really cherish this opportunity to speak to the public. Every month we are fortunate to appear in the North Avenue News, a newspaper that gets delivered for free to every Burlington citizen. And our column, we follow up our column with this CCTV opportunity to again reiterate that theme of what we've discussed. And our December column, Commissioner Gulick, Senator Gulick and Commissioner Kendra Sowers spoke about the budget, the finance and facility committee of the Burlington School District and this year's FY25 budget. So tonight we're going to talk about a number of things that relate specifically to the Burlington School District and also statewide and the impacts that we'll have on our FY25 budget. We'll begin tonight with the process. As chair for the last seven years I've been involved in seven budgets. What happens is our responsibility is to the oversight of the superintendent and most importantly the fiscal responsibility and the welfare of our city and our public schools, our 11 public schools. We take this job incredibly seriously. We are taxpayers ourselves. We are volunteers. And we spend not only the year doing work in this development, but we work specifically from October to January with our school communities, our administrators and community members that make up an advisory at each of the schools. So tonight in giving you an overview of how we develop our budget, the budget development, I wanted to talk first about that process at the school level and reflecting on our past spending. And then talk about the state and the impacts and the overall ED fund, how we are funded throughout the state. Everyone contributes to one ED fund at the state level and therefore our taxes are based on the incomes or excuse me, taxpayers' contribution to that ED fund, sorry. So tonight, Martine, if you could talk a few minutes about the things that you know at the state level and having been on the board now for seven years as well. And more importantly, most importantly, not more, most importantly the impacts that we should see taxpayers should know about in its simplistic forms to a certain degree that are going to impact this year's FY25 budget. We'll do. Thank you so much for that great introduction. And thank you to you, Claire. You are such an incredible advocate for our kids in our community and in Burlington. And for seven years you have led us and done such an amazing job in your role as school board chair. So thank you. It's not easy as we know. We read in the newspapers and magazines. It's a hard job. So I am, I sit on Vice, I'm the Vice Chair of Senate Education. So I'm wearing, you know, multiple hats at one time, but I am getting a little bit of insight into the greater state landscape that we have for education. And it's been really interesting in eye-opening. But I am a strident, strong supporter of public education. I speak to it all the time. I think it is one of our, if not our most important institution here in Vermont, but also in our country. I think having an educated population of people is just critical to everything from workforce to healthcare, childcare, not to mention just a healthy democracy. We need to have folks who can question things in an intelligent way, vote and get involved. You know, democracy is a team sport. People need to get involved. And the best way to do that is to have a solid education. So I'm a huge advocate. And I love our Burlington schools. My kids went through the district and as well as my neighbors' kids. And it was just, we had a great experience. And I know it's hard. It's hard work, but it's, as I say, I can't stress how important it is. So just generally, I would say when I'm in Montpelier doing this work on the Education Committee, some of the things that I've seen in terms of education, and by the way, there are thousands of incredible stories that we could tell every day about the wonderful and incredible things that happen in our schools. And I just want to highlight that because we don't always hear that when we're sitting in committee. But some of the challenges just generally that I've seen, one, just being that the agency of education over the last maybe 10 to 15 years, they've really lost a lot of positions and they've lost resources. So generally I see that they can't perhaps do the best job possible just because of the lack of resources and staffing. That said, there are incredible people in the agency of education and they do wonderful work. So I want to highlight that. I sometimes feel as though the administration is not as supportive of education as it could be. I know that the Board of Education sent a recommendation for a new Secretary of Ed a few months ago. We haven't heard anything. So we still have an interim Secretary of Education. Heather Boucher is doing a good job, but it must be frustrating not knowing if she's going to be the Secretary of Education or not. Because again, we really just haven't heard. So that is hard. Do you want to jump in at all or do you want me to keep going? No. Okay. Great. So some of the stresses on the Ed fund this particular year, I know a lot of folks are talking about the CLA, the common level of appraisal. And I think you're going to get into that a little bit more. That obviously is one of the biggest drivers that we're seeing. And by the way, this is not just in Burlington. It is across the state and Chittenden County in particular is really feeling it.  So everybody's feeling it to some degree. So CLA aside, we've all talked about declining enrollment. That's just something that's real. It's happening across the state. It's happening across the region. Families are smaller than they used to be. So even as we're building more housing, we're seeing fewer kids. Now again, Chittenden County doesn't see it as strongly as the rest of the state. It's not as acute here in Chittenden County. But it is something that we need to be thinking about. We've talked about the end of the COVID relief funds. The federal government was really helpful when we went into the pandemic into this crisis. They gave us money to support us and those Essar and ARPA funds were really helpful. We were able to hire folks and create new positions to support children, whether it be mental health or connections at home. And ARPA funds that were more specifically targeted to infrastructure, so like fixing HVAC systems. This was huge. And losing that money means that we have to adjust. And it's really hard on a lot of districts. I can tell you that much. I know you're going to go into medical costs a little bit, but we're seeing a 17% increase in health care costs. Folks, we have a for-profit medical system and we have numbers like pharmaceutical numbers that are just through the roof. Until we can get a handle on it, I think we're going to keep seeing these increases and it's staggering and frustrating, but that's the reality of our system. I believe it needs to change. We'll see what happens down the line. And if I could interject, you and I attended the annual conference for superintendent, for school boards. And Viha, we did go, I mean school boards voted for a statewide bargaining for health care. We felt that instead of every individual school district jockeying for the best health care and shopping around, if we went to a statewide bargaining, we would have reduced more cost-effective rates. To have double digits, the explanation that was given to us, you know, a 16.4% increase in health care in one year, 16.4%, that impacts our wages and benefits, which is in most districts 80% of your budget. So specifically speaking to Burlington, that's a $4 million increase to our budget. We are proud to serve and vote on bargaining units, our unions, and give good salaries and obviously give good benefits. But to your point, a for-profit system without any pushback from the state or the citizens of Burlington or throughout the entire state, how can we justify those increases? And what was said to us at that meeting was that it was based on people didn't go to the doctors during COVID, and so an increase in use and then costs for health care professionals went up that were on demand. So understandably, those two factors but can't comprehend how every school district is going to fold into almost a 70% increase in health care. Exactly, and that is beyond our local control. We do not control that. Another thing I wanted to bring up is the statewide PCB program, and I want to preface it by saying that I really believe as a state our North Star needs to be toxin-free schools. Absolutely, that is where we need to go. But folks do need to realize that there are millions of dollars being spent on the testing program right now with results that are varied, frankly, with the mitigation and the remediation. So it is a program that I think started with the best of intentions, but it's a very complex and complicated issue and it wasn't given the time, it wasn't given the vetting and the resources to create a really strong structure. So it's been really hard on a lot of school districts and it's harmful to kids if they can't go to school or if they can go to school but they can't run their heating or they lose their gym space, they're not able to exercise. Some folks say that we've got problems with kids not having enough free time to exercise and be kids. So be concerned about that. So yeah, so this is something that I think folks need to keep an eye on and I think they need to be vocal. First of all, they should do some research, but they should be vocal in their either opposition or support of this program because it's important that legislators and the governor hear from people. But it is a cost, it is something that is driving up costs. Universal school meals, which a lot of folks think is an absolutely great program and it does a lot of good but it is also adding a stress on the Ed fund to the tune of probably about $26 million this year. So that's something to keep in mind. School construction, we were so fortunate to have the voters of Burlington support our new high school which was long overdue and very, very much needed and I honestly, the day the school opens is just going to be such a joyous day for all of us. But the bottom line is that those construction costs, they do affect the Ed fund and it's a problem around the whole state. We have had deferred maintenance across the state ever since 2007 when there was a moratorium put on school construction. Municipalities and districts were no longer getting any help from the state. It used to be about 30% and that went away. So it's really hard to pass a budget where a large portion of it is deferred maintenance when what you really need is a teacher or a school bus or so. Anyway, the school construction issue is a big one. I served on a school construction task force this summer and we just, there is right now a big assessment that came out which is in the billions of dollars. So that's something that we're going to have to do something about it and it is putting another stress on the Ed fund. You talked about Act 127 which is the student waiting formula which was again something that was long overdue. But that 5% property tax cap for some districts is also putting a stress on the Ed fund. I'd be happy to speak with folks about this at another time since we don't have a lot of time tonight. And then just generally there's a lot coming out of the Ed fund that didn't used to necessarily come out of it. Retirement and other post-employment benefits, they weren't historically in that fund and they are now. So these are all things that put a stress and I also just have to say, I've said it before, I'll say it again. You know, public education right now is under threat across our country. Many, many states are going to a voucher system or some kind of system that really takes public dollars and really funnels those dollars into private schools. And it's scary. Here in our state it's important for folks to know that we have sort of this bifurcated system that's been around for a while. Some people say as long as 200 years, I have not researched that. But they should know that somewhere between 50 and 100 million dollars a year goes out of our Ed fund and into private schools. That's a significant amount of money. Some of those schools are in Vermont but some are out of the state and frankly some of them are out of the country. So this is problematic in something I believe we should change. But that's just a broad overview of the Ed fund. Great. Well that is exactly what we were looking for to give viewers an opportunity to hear from you because that is timely. I mean it's an overview but these items that you've talked about have been only in the last two to three years. So it's not historical problems, it's current problems. So the here and now is discussing how it impacts this year's F-25 budget because as you said the good news is we are out of the COVID pandemics. And those one-time funds that every school district knew they had from the federal government are going away. But through that transition I know it is challenging because some of the behaviors or the issues that we face in our schools which are very real, you know, are still, we're still facing them. So to have to work with our educators and our administrators. Can I just say, Claire, that when it comes to the Esther and Arpa funds and the federal dollars that came in during COVID, they were very helpful. What I find, what I think is a little bit sad is that although the pandemic might be over, the effects of the pandemic are not. And they will probably be around for another 10 years. We were in a system to begin with that was fairly fragile and the pandemic just threw us, you know, just threw us for a loop and really changed the stability that we had. And we were seeing the effects of it. And so it's too bad that the funding couldn't have even, you know, maybe like weaned us off the funding over time or given us a few more years because again, it just to have it end like that when it was so useful to so many schools in so many ways is just hard. Absolutely. What I want to go over again as I spoke to are talking now specifically about Burlington. So our budgetary assumptions each year we start with wages and benefits. And we have seven bargaining units here in the city of Burlington. And over the fortunately in the last seven years, we had been working on a yearly contract, which was I felt unhealthy constantly and bargaining was not cost effective with our legal teams for the BEA, which is the educators fund and our para educators and our ASME. But during that time period over the last three years, we as a district supported our faculty staff at the Burlington School District with competitive wages. We wanted to make sure that we retain and also attract in a very competitive market in Chittenden County our educators. And by doing so, we were giving over the three year raises six between 6% and 4.5 this year raises to our educators to stay and work in Burlington and choose Burlington. Again, we talked about that health care that 16.4. So all in all our wages and benefit on this year's FY 25 budget is a $4 million increase. We also I brought our signage here tonight to remind you that it wasn't a want. It's a need. So we still need a high school. You voted yes. And your vote yes was a vote to borrow $165 million. The vote was just to borrow. Now in this FY 25 budget, we are borrowing $130 million. We are already almost complete with our demolition. And as we begin spending this $130 million to build our new high school and our regional technical center, that has a major impact on our budget. That is a $9 million impact on this year's budget. No other school district is absorbing $9 million like Burlington. No other school in the state has been shut down like Burlington. And so we recognize as citizens of Burlington this incredible cost, but we have to communicate that to the state level. How like Martin spoke about that moratorium on construction aid is absolutely hurting Burlington taxpayers. That being said, without a high school, our home values are the health of our city. We are spending money now on rent at Macy's and all of our other ancillary school sites for displacement. That is coming out of our ed fund. There is no other school district that is spending rent outside of our budget, academic budget funds. So that's a big increase. So when we just talk about those two impacts alone, that brings us to our budget. The ESSER funds we talked about going away, but as we look at this year's budget, when I add those two items together, our wages and benefits and our increase on our bond, bond authority, that brings us to a $15 million increase in this year's budget. We have done some investing in our schools and have certainly done some reductions. The school board has been specific with Superintendent Flanagan that things that are not working, we don't want to keep spending money on. If our enrollment is going down, there may be some reduction in teaching staff or support staff. Those are real discussions. Those are happening with our district and they're happening within this year's budget. But there is also good news. Your Burlington School District and your Burlington School Board, led by Commissioner Sowers and former Commissioner Fisher, Commissioner Goulick, Commissioner Allwell, we were instrumental in following the State Act 127 for equalized pupil. I'm trying to think of the word. The weights. Excuse me, waiting. And it's a longer conversation and we're happy to explain it to you, but basically it's defining the cost of what it takes to educate every student, every pupil. And certain students are, there might be more funding needed to educate certain students and then there might be more in the general population that are all meet a certain criteria that are a certain weight. But for years, there was no empirical data on our Vermont weighted pupil system and we received support throughout the entire state. Many people on many school districts, rural and rural communities as well throughout the state that helped us in this task force to bring to legislation and to pass it and make it into law. And we understand the impact from those heavily weighted districts that received more funding than us in the past that are now going to have to manage their budgets more stringently based on how that law impacts their budgeting. But without that, our budget would have been incredibly more challenging this year. So I'm so appreciative of all the work of all the school boards that participated throughout the state to pass Act 127. And the cap, the 5% cap as a bridge to help those heavily funded or districts that received more funds that are now will receive less funds, if that makes sense. I think that is a nice idea. I think potentially five years is too long because it could just ultimately hurt taxpayers in the long run by not addressing the true costs of things. But that is what we're working with now at this time. So, R, go ahead. I was just going to say, just to follow up with what you said about Act 127, I do, having now spoken to a lot of folks across the state, I think there's general acceptance and just feelings of really understanding it. And they're glad that Act 127 passed. I think folks understand that it was time to write those weights, and either lower or raise taxing capacity for certain communities. I also think we do have a complicated ed formula here in Vermont, but one of the outcomes of having that complexity is that we have a pretty great equity landscape. So we are much more equitable in our ed funding than many, many states, and that is wonderful. And this Act 127 just brought us even further. We know high school kids, for example, cost more to educate than elementary school kids, so they are weighted differently. And that's a really important piece of the conversation and the equation. Thanks for bringing that to our attention. So we have, in closing, we talk about our next steps of communication. The school board and the superintendent present our budgetary assumptions to the city council this month, this week. Then we go as a full school board this week. We vote on the budget that would appear on the ballot. Burlingtonians will receive their ballot in the mail by February 14th. We ask for your vote of support, your vote of yes. We will be out as we are every year at our neighborhood planning associations, NPAs, our superintendent plan. Again, our superintendent is robust in his communication to community through the front porch forums. We will have another column in the North Avenue News. We are open all the time on email, accepting your comments and input and your support. Every year we put out a budget one sheet that gives an overview of what is involved in our budgeting and how the tax increases will impact you based on your income, if you're income sensitive or depending on your income or your home value, what your taxes will be on the price of your home. And we ask for your support. We have a strong district. We have a five-year plan. We unveiled a strategic five-year plan here in Burlington under the leadership of Superintendent Flanagan. We have stuck to this plan and its priorities and its strategic areas. There's clear vision from our board and good governance. There's clear vision from Burlington School District Central Office. I hope at each of our schools families feel informed and through our leadership at our schools and mostly our faculty and staff that are in the classroom teaching our public school children here. We have only over 3,600 public school children that they feel informed and empowered by our leadership and our budget each year. And we also do an annual report where we have budget comparisons for everyone throughout the city and state to look at our budgets throughout the year and the impact that they've had and what we've spent our money on. So thank you very much for spending time with us, learning more about our school budget here in FY25. Thank you, Martine, for your service on the boarding and partnership in this. And we look forward to seeing you either at the polls on March 5th or when you vote through the mail, please consider your continued support in building our one and only high school, Burlington High School and our one and only regional tech center, Burlington Tech Center. I brought our hard hat when we originally started the construction, but please drive by and see the progress that we're making and the Vermonters that we're employing to build our one and only high school. Thank you for your support. I just want to echo everything you said, Claire. Chair Will and just say thank you to our teachers. Thank you to our administrators. Thank you to the voters in our community and our families. I am so proud of our district and when I go to the state house, I go to Montpelier. I cannot stop praising the work that is done in our district. It's hard work and we do such a great job. And again, it's just thanks to our community. So I can't say thank you enough. I really appreciate your support. Great. Thank you. And please vote yes on this year's school budget.