February 14, 2014 at 10:00 AM - Regular Meeting and Possible Executive Session
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1. CALL TO ORDER
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1.A. Moment of Silent Meditation
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1.B. Approval of the Agenda – Action Item
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1.C. Special Presentations:
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1.C.1) Mr. Matt Yost- Grand Canyon High School CTE Administrator
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1.C.2) Ms. Kathy Nesbit- Coconino Community College - CAVIAT tuition rate overview
Description:
Christina has solicited information from CCC regarding the $159 per credit tuition rate since before the winter break and has received a general explanation for the difference in street rate tuition of $94 dollars and our rate. Kathy has offered to attend our meeting and address the Board with regard to this issue. While no other community college charges nearly as much for JTED sponsored offerings, most if not all of them have raised tuition rates due to cuts in State revenue.
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2. CALL TO THE PUBLIC - Any person wishing to address the Board on a non-agenda item will be granted time to make a presentation at the discretion of the presiding chairperson. Action taken as a result of public input will be limited to directing staff to study the matter for consideration or decision at a later time. Individual remarks may be limited to three minutes.
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3. CONSENT AGENDA
Note: All or individual items may be pulled from the consent agenda and discussed individually. |
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3.A. Approval of Minutes: January 10, 2014 Regular Meeting
January 14, 2014 Special Meeting January 24, 2014 Special Meeting |
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3.B. Approval of expense and payroll vouchers
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4. REPORTS
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4.A. Governing Board
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4.A.1) Report on attendance at ASBA/ASBA Annual Conference in Phoenix Dec 2013- Lee Treece
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4.B. Superintendent
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4.B.1) Legislative Report
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4.B.2) Classroom Site Fund/Proposition 301 Plan Update
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4.B.3) Possible Funding for Post High School Students
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4.B.4) Satellite/Central Program Hybrid
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4.B.5) Status of The Trust's Pre-paid Legal Services (usage to date for fiscal year)
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5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
None for this meeting. |
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6. EXECUTIVE SESSION
Description:
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6.A. Vote to convene in Executive Session for:
Pursuant to A.R.S. 38-431.03 A(1) Personnel matters regarding consideration of employment of Mr. Brent Neilson for Superintendent position, including conditions of employment and/or job description details. (All persons present at an Executive Session are hereby reminded that A.R.S. §38-431.03 imposes strict confidentiality requirements on discussions that occur in Executive Session. Generally, such discussions cannot be revealed to non-board members, unless necessary to carry out the purpose of the statutory provision that specifically permits an Executive Session. The Open Meeting Law provides for a fine of up to $500 for violating this confidentialityrequirement, and requires that this admonition be given.)
Description:
Christina's comments: The interview/search committee is pleased to recommend Mr. Brent Neilson for the position of Superintendent. He will be present at this meeting for all to meet.
Four finalists were interviewed for the position (on Saturday, February 8) and Mr. Neilson really impressed us with his enthusiasm, experience and vast knowledge of CTE and JTEDs. He has been the Central Programs Director at PIma County JTED for the past six years and will receive his Superintendent certificate this May. I have attached his letter of interest, his Administrative/Professional Experience and a letter of recommendation by his current superintendent for your review. Prior to inviting Mr. Neilson to the Executive Session, all Board members will have an opportunity to answer questions from the Interview Committee. Attached also is a list of his benefits. |
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6.B. Reconvene Regular Meeting
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7. NEW BUSINESS
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7.A. Approval of employee contract for Mr. Brent Neilson for Superintendent position for 2014-2015- Action Item
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7.B. Consideration to approve CAVIAT's contribution rate to central programs- Discussion and Possible Action Item
Description:
Some background on our Central Programs at CCC may be helpful with respect to this topic. When we first started these programs at CCC the tuition rate was less than $70 per credit and even after purchasing books, paying fees and any other related expenses, CAVIAT was able to retain money that could be applied towards administration costs. Over time, the College raised the tuition charges until they reached the level we experience today. For several years, CAVIAT contributed virtually 100% of the revenues generated by Central Program students and this was still thousands of dollars shy of what the programs cost. Not wanting to lose these opportunities for their students, FUSD agreed to pick up the difference. In some years, this was nearly $90,000. This deficit had much to do with the fact that students had to take a minimum of 8 credits to generate a .25 ADM or approximately $1,100. At $159 per credit, the cost for tuition alone for 8 credits was $1,272.
Recently, with the help of Dr. Monica Baker from CCC and other JTED and community college officials, (Christina had a lot to do with this as well) we were able to get the Dept. of Education to drop the 8 credits for a .25 ADM to 6 credits. This brought the costs down to $954 dollars. Coupled with books and other costs, this still exceeded the amount these programs generated. However, last session the legislature reinstated our full funding from 91% back to 100%. In other words, instead of receiving $1147 per .25 ADM, we now receive roughly $1200. As a result, for the first time since early on in the creation of Central Programs, we have been able to keep some revenue to be applied towards admin costs and to build a source of funding to pay for home schoolers who do not receive "back fill" revenue from FUSD. The amount we have retained is approximately 6% of the total or about $10,000 per year. There has been some concern expressed that the fact that we have not claimed the traditional 20% for Central Programs, the costs associated with administering these programs may be at the expense of the outlying districts. Because FUSD generates about 60% of our total budget, there has always been enough money to cover admin expenses out of their total allocation and not impose any costs on the smaller districts. Nonetheless, establishing an 80%/20% split on Central Programs would in fact provide CAVIAT with additional funding. At that retention level, we would move from roughly $10,000 per year to slightly over $52,000. To keep the Central Programs operational under this arrangement either CCC would need to reduce the current tuition rates or FUSD would have to make up the difference. My guess is the latter is more likely to occur. One complicating factor has to do with students who may come to us from charter or accommodation schools. We would have to ask them to contribute at least the same amount of money to cover costs as we do FUSD. Since this is untested water, I've asked for a legal opinion as to whether or not we can impose tuition charges on these other entities and the preliminary answer is yes. At this point, the best course of direction I can recommend to the Board is to allow things to take their natural course. With the advent of Central Program options that are not on community college campuses, CAVIAT will be able to utilize 100% of the funding at the discretion of the Board. Preliminary enrollment numbers at CCC suggest that several of the programs will not meet minimum thresholds and disappear as offerings. Some, such as health services will continue to experience enrollments that exceed capacity and even with the option to provide this program ourselves, the most practical location may be at the college. Other developments that are relevant to the discussion have to do with the prospect that colleges will no longer be able to maintain monopolies in their regions. In other words, there is growing support to allow JTED's to choose which college they would like to partner with. Given that K-12 and Universities have to compete with everybody, there is apparently a movement to deny community colleges to remain autocratic. In addition, the possibility exists for JTED's to independently have their classes accredited for both high school and college credit purposes. Pima JTED is working on that very arrangement. Lastly, as you will hear in my supt. report, there is still some optimism that we will see some movement in 9th grade funding restoration. It's a roller coaster with legislators bailing out on their support due to pressure from super PACs, mostly not located in AZ. These special interest groups support privatization of education over any increase in publicly operated and accountable educational institutions. This applies to both parties but the Az Business Community continues to help us tip the scale in our favor in Phoenix. They know absolutely that CTE is good for the economy and good for kids so I think we have a fighting chance of climbing out of the hole we're in now. In sum, I see little advantage in trying to recoup $52,000 in admin costs which could severely damage relations with our current partners and make it more difficult to expand programs moving forward. After further discussion, there may be compelling reasons that I've not considered to make adjustments and if that's the case, the Board may want to notify all parties involved that incrementally we want to get a 20% withholding rate, which might look like moving from 6% to 10% next year, 15% then 20% the following years. That would give everyone a chance to adjust and ensure that some of the best options for our students remain available. |
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7.C. Consideration to Adopt Teacher Pay Scale for Central Programs- Action Item
Description:
With the prospect of establishing our own Central Programs such as Cosmetology, CAVIAT will be hiring teachers. I've done some research and found out that other JTED's are paying instructors well above the rates paid by the member districts. In general, a first year teacher with a 4 year degree will start at $30,000 but the JTED's use a $50,000 starting salary for those with or without degrees. Much of this has to do with trying to woo industry people away from private sector jobs that pay even more than this amount. Unlike CAVIAT, these programs are located on properties "owned and operated" by the JTED, which is a bit different than our situation where we will be on member district campuses for the foreseeable future.
In addition, we will likely hire teachers that will sometimes work for the member districts for say a half day and for us the remainder. Disparate pay scales can be problematic for all involved. To make this work as seamlessly as possible, I suggest we adopt the practice of using the pay scale or pay system already set in place by the member district. If the starting salary in FUSD is $30K, we would use that for programs implemented in that district and adjust accordingly each year. In Page the salary might be $35 K. These salaries may not be enough to attract industry people but we have the latitude to calculate what they equate daily/weekly on a district calendar and augment them based on our requirements. In other words, a Cosmetology instructor might be paid $38K when you factor in Saturdays and summer school. Other adjustments can be made to account for duties that our instructors may have not assigned to regular teachers. In the case of Cosmo, we will ask the teacher to order supplies, set class schedules, and assume a lot more responsibility for the day to day operation. Ultimately, I don't know if this approach will work and we may find ourselves establishing a higher pay scale for our teachers independent and uniform throughout CAVIAT. But I know as a K-12 superintendent, I would favor using member district pay scales as it will not likely create undue turmoil for member district administrators who are already under enormous stress to raise salaries with diminishing resources. |
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7.D. Consideration to approve new Cosmetology program for 2014-2015- Action Item
Description:
At present, we do not have all of the cost structure relating to Cosmetology at FUSD. However, we do plan to have those documents available to you on or before next Friday.
Just to get us to this stage, we have engaged the time of FUSD and CAVIAT admin staff, design/build contractors, architects, attorneys and others. All involved are under contract with the respective districts or on retainer so there has been no significant cash outlay to this point by either CAVIAT or FUSD. After hosting two parent nights, we have only registered 5 students in Cosmo. Numerous others have indicated interest on surveys and personal inquiries and we still have one more parent night to go. In addition, there may be some late “walk ons,” but the entire project could be in jeopardy for fall 2014. This is disappointing but as Yogi Berra once said, "if the fans don’t want to come to the ball park, you can’t stop them." I will have a hard time recommending that we proceed with anything unless we have at least 20 enrollees. In addition, there is still the nagging issue of getting this IGA's approved by the Capital Review Committee which only meets on occasion. They have to approve our leasing agreement with FUSD and may not meet in time for FUSD and us to consider a full press effort to remodel the facility, purchase the supplies, find an instructor, etc.. Nonetheless, we have gained a tremendous amount of experience as to what it takes to make these agreements work so as possibilities unfold, we are well positioned to expand central program offerings in the future. FUSD superintendent, Barbara Hickman noted that very consideration at a recent Board meeting. Under the Superintendent’s Report, I’ll provide you with some information that could help ensure Cosmetology is at least a break even proposition. The current model that gets all students the requisite 1600 hours does not generate enough revenue to cover cost in ANY JTED in the State. Some scale back to 1200 hours to make it cost effective while most rely on other central programs that generate revenue in excess of cost to cover the expense. Despite limited career prospects, these programs are widely popular in other communities around the State so those that offer Cosmo work hard to keep that option in place. |
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7.E. Consideration to approve intergovernmental agreement with Flagstaff Unified School District for FY15 Cosmetology program-related expenses - Action Item
Description:
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7.F. Consideration to approve a different board member (to replace David Beckerleg) to review monthly payroll reports- Action Item
Description:
David has asked if another Board member would take over the duties of reviewing monthly payroll reports.
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7.G. First Reading of Policies (Non-Action Item):
JKE- Expulsion of Students JLF- Reporting Child Abuse/Child Protection |
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8. CALENDAR OF EVENTS
The next Regular Board Meeting is scheduled for Friday, March 14, 2014 at 9 a.m. in Page, Arizona. This meeting will be held via teleconference. |
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9. ADJOURNMENT - Action Item
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