BOD Meeting Minutes-May 9, 2023

The Arts Based School Board of Directors Meeting - Held at North Campus-7th St Building

May 9, 2023

Meeting was called to order at 5:53.

In attendance: 

Board members: Elizabeth Repetti, Asher Ellis, David Ford, Ellen Heck, Endia Beal, Jay Kumar, Michelle Lawrence

Non-board members: Robin Hollis, Paige Raper

No quorum

Review of March and April financial results: Presented by Finance Chair Asher Ellis. State, local, and federal funding are almost fully collected. Coming in close for this budget year. We are not yet able to secure year-end teacher bonuses. If the state does not reimburse all the grant funding we’re allotted, we will not have sufficient funds for bonuses.

Finance Committee Updates: The finance committee met with Robin Hollis and Paige Raper on Friday, May 5, to review the draft FY24 budget. The budget will be increasing due to South Campus but COVID funding coming to an end. Robin Hollis and the committee recommend a 7% increase for teachers and staff for FY24. Benefit costs will also increase: 25.5% of a salary is contributed to state pension funds. Salary accounts for 55% of the ABS budget; benefits account for 25%. 80% of the entire budget goes to people. Robin Hollis has not had a salary increase for eight years. She declines a FY24 increase for now, noting that we need to see final numbers for public education from the state legislature in October. Asher suggests revisiting the topic of Robin’s compensation in October 2023, when the board reviews the budget.

Charter Director’s Report: Presented by Robin Hollis. We are going into testing season. Last 10 days of testing. Measures of academic progress. ABS is making progress against the national norms. This season we also do “how happy are you” tests. Only ½ of kids reported in so far.

Summer programs are starting in July. If students are not proficient, they are automatically invited to participate. The Happy Hill Neighborhood Association will use the South Campus for their summer programming June 19-July 22. ABS is providing the space rent-free. 

Marketing Committee Updates: Presented by Ellen Heck. We determined to postpone hosting a Spring Fundraiser this year for a number of reasons. Ultimately, the work vs. reward was not compelling enough to host an event on this timeline; we don’t want to rush. January Jam is on again and coming up soon (May Jam). We will have a DJ. Graduation will be at noon.

The next meeting will be June 13.