Trustees acknowledge five certifications required to submit modernization and new construction funding applications

TEMPLETON — The Templeton Unified School District (TUSD) met for its regularly scheduled open-session trustee meeting on Thursday, Feb. 9, at 6:15 p.m. The meeting came after the 5:30 p.m. closed session.

The Order of Business was approved unanimously.

Jessica Lloyd, the principal of Templeton High School, then gave a presentation to the trustee board on the high school in the 2022-23 year, from the first day of school this year through what the school is looking forward to, including graduation.

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“It’s really important to me that there’s some consistency at this school and there’s people who genuinely care about these kids and the staff, and just want to bring this accepted camaraderie, but raise the bar and excellence, and do all these things here,” added Lloyd at the end of her presentation.

The board was presented with a Public Hearing on the Disclosure of Collective Bargaining Agreement with Templeton Teachers Association (TTA) and asked to approve it. The motion passed in a 4-1 vote.

During Public Comment, Templeton residents in the school district commented on why teachers are leaving the district, with the reasons including overcrowding classrooms and the pay.

In his Superintendent Report, Superintendent Aaron Asplund and Assistant Superintendent Ian Trejo gave the 2022-23 TUSD District Goals. You can find a list of the goals on the Templeton Unified School District website at tusd-ca.schoolloop.com.

The Consent Agenda passed unanimously.

Randy Botts, Director of MOTF&G, gave the board a presentation on Adopting Resolution #R23-10, Acknowledging Five Certifications Required to Submit Modernization and New Construction Funding Applications to the Office of Public-School Construction.

“The state, several years ago, back in 2012, added that [for] all new modernization projects as well as school construction projects that boards would have to acknowledge these five items for districts to be added to the list. This list has a pretty clever name: It’s Applications Received Beyond Bond Authority List,” stated Botts. “So, the state’s run out of bond authority, and they want us to acknowledge these five items before we’re added to this list. For anybody who’s not familiar with how it works, when you do a construction project, you spend a certain amount of money and then apply to the state for reimbursement and get, on the average, about a 50/50 match. So, each dollar we spend, they’ll give us 50 cents back once the allocations are approved.”

The five certifications were:

  1. The remaining School Facility Program bond authority is currently exhausted for the funds being requested on this (these) application(s).
  2. The board acknowledges that the State of California is not expected nor obligated to provide funding for the project(s), and the acceptance of the application(s) does not provide a guarantee of future state funding.
  3. The board acknowledges that any potential future state bond measures for the School Facility Program may not provide funds for the application being submitted.
  4. The board acknowledges that criteria (including, but not limited to, funding, qualifications, and eligibility) under a future state school facilities program may be substantially different than the current School Facility Program. The district’s Approved Application(s) may be returned.
  5. The board acknowledges that they are electing to commence any pre-construction or construction activities at the district’s discretion and that the state is not responsible for any pre-construction or construction activities.

The motion passed unanimously.

Trejo gave a Mid-Year Review on the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP). He reviewed student achievement, employee resources, and technology scores.

Trejo also gave a presentation on the Climate and Culture Survey Results and reviewed the results of the 2022-23 Climate and Culture surveys with the board of trustees.

Due to time, the board moved for a time extension to end the meeting by 11:20 p.m. and also agreed to continue all Board Policy items to the next meeting.

Asplund then gave the Annual Budget Advisory Committee (BAC) Report.

Asplund also gave a continued report on Planning/Approval of Potential Uses for Learning Recovery Emergency Block Grant, Art, Music & Instructional Materials Block Grant, and Unallocated Unrestricted General Fund Revenues. 

The next regular trustee meeting will be held on Feb. 23 at 6:15 p.m.