Meeting Notes: September 22, 2025

No AI used.

Members absent: Matt Hilton (emergency absence)

Public Comment

Neil Hasley thanked board members for their service. He then asked the board to fix their audio system, stating that he has a hard time hearing the meeting.

Revisions

Brooks: removed board student representative report, and superintendent’s report as Hilton was not in attendance (Davis clarified this as an emergency absence).

Budget Report

Trustee Simpson (treasurer): Met on the 15th, talked about state budget and cash flow. Doug Newcomb is expecting the state to not pass the budget until November, and notes 10 day delay before payments are made after passing the budget. Enrollment looks like it’s up, but does not translate to FTEs.

Kelli Glenn (director of business services):

cash on hand: $4,174,838.58

payable for Aug: $832,133.72

projected revenue (displayed on screen, public cannot view online).

No recognized state revenue for August. $53k in local property tax, $26k from LISD. total current revenue is $79k. Revenue for Jul/Aug $2,569,944, leaving us $2.4m in the hole with a projected fund balance of $157k.

No official state budget at this time. Budget was due on July 1. Mentioned potential shutdown. We have a cash flow issue. Normally we get $2.4m at the first of the month. We will have $1.5m cash flow deficit. If passed by Oct 10, we should still get our payment on time. To fix this, we plan to borrow $1.5m. Our state aid payments would pay this back once a state budget is passed. If we ask for the loan and don’t need it, we can back out with no penalty.

Davis: Are we going to get all our money at once or is it staggered?

Glenn: I’ve heard of two possibilities, either way the $1.5m will cover us.

Lewis: What fees will we face?

Glenn: None

Simpson: What do lawyers charge to draft up the loan?

Glenn: $2k - $5k.

Accepting Donation

TLC Community Credit Union Donates to athletic department, mentioned as a generous gift for “the barn”. Lewis mentions that our football team doesn’t have locker rooms, and when he was the athletic director here, it embarrassed him. He tells a story of his friend getting hit by a car running from a thunderstorm due to poor infrastructure. McGee asks the value of the donation, Way says $25k.

Memorial Pool - Josh Mattison

Approved next phases of demolition and testing of pool. Davis asks when we will get our sinking fund payment. Glenn says money is trickling in, and our tax anticipation note gives us $950k.

Board Norms

The board president is the official voice of the board, and actions by board members should be respectful specifically to one another and to the community (reminder of prior discussion and changes).

Action Items

State aid resolution: $26m expected, none received, borrow $1.5 (not to exceed) for operating expenditures. All trustees vote aye.

Accepts $25k from TLC. McGee asks to record the amount of this donation given the confusion in the community surrounding the amount donated. All trustees vote aye.

Memorial Pool Funds: All trustees vote aye. Brooks asks why she has to vote on it.

BOE norms: All trustees vote aye.

Board Member Comment

Davis: We need to vote on every bit of sinking fund. Congratulates football players at recent game for raising their hands in support of mental health awareness.

McGee: We were under budget for the SKI and SeaWay Scaffold, came in at only $66k. Brooks says we approved this last week. McGee and Martinez remind Brooks that this was not approved last week, it was only discussed. Davis thanks McGee for the clarification.

Lewis: Thanks Kim Foley for her service.

Final Thoughts

Audio Issues

I hear you, Neil Hasley, and that’s impressive given the fact neither of us can hear very well. As a veteran, I’ve asked this administration to do something with the audio a few times over the last year, both during meetings and in the live recordings. We’re told it’s an issue they’ve tried to fix, but can’t. I’m tired of the excuses. I’ve offered to fix their audio. I’ve offered to purchase any equipment needed as a donation. A year ago, Tim Simpson insisted that recording meetings was impossible, yet here we are. Nothing will change until the gatekeepers of this administration feel the pressure.

*** Update ***

Josh Mattison (Director of Operations) reached out to me this evening to say that new equipment has been ordered, and that he welcomed any input we had on fixing the problem. My impression from the public comment response was that improving the sound was a lost cause, but it seems TPS is actively working on it!

Borrowed Funds

I hear the frustration concerning the gridlock in our state legislature preventing us from receiving the funds we need to operate the district. It’s an unfortunate situation, and it’s probably time we put some pressure on our legislators to do their jobs. While borrowing money may not result in penalty fees, Trustee Simpson raised an excellent point that we still pay lawyer fees every time we need a loan. $2k-$5k is a hefty price to obtain money we were already owed.

And yet, it’s worth mentioning that this sort of thing is why we have a fund balance. Ten years ago, before the 2018 recall, our fund balance would have covered this cost with ease. Even four years ago, when we had an influx of COVID money, we could have kept the lights on using our own funds. Excluding the COVID cash years, our fund balance has dwindled slowly away every year since the recall to the point we now have to take out costly loans.

I mention this because I can already hear the excuses for the upcoming election. “It’s the politician’s fault!” they will say. “We inherited this!” was an excuse I heard in the last election. Tecumseh inherited a declining fund balance when we recalled a fiscally responsible school board, plain and simple. Thankfully, new leaders are making responsible efforts to right the ship, even as two of the members responsible for the recall remain on the board.

Budget Trend Analysis

My long-awaited yearly budget trend analysis will have to wait until November. I get my data from Munitrix, which gets their data from financial audits submitted to the state. I’ve learned that this information will not be available until November. Last year, Mrs. Glenn was kind enough to send me some of the financial information ahead of time, but that doesn’t seem to be the case this year.

Transparency

I appreciate Trustee McGee’s efforts in voting to approve sinking funds used for the latest memorial pool projects. As she mentioned, the public puts trust in the board to spend funds wisely, so it is worth being as transparent as possible, even if it seems like a formality. I appreciate Mrs. Davis for agreeing, and making sure it went to a vote.

Thanks for reading!