The first Fillmore Unified School District (FUSD) meeting of 2015 was attended by two new Board Members, Sean Morris and Scott Beylik, and contained Governor Brown's Budget Proposal, FUSD's Audit Report for FY 2014, the new School Site Plan requirements and the Class of 2014 Analysis.

The meeting began with recognition of the students who participated in the Content Filter Testing at the Ventura County Office of Education. Fillmore High School (FHS) students Gray MacMahon, Billy Tran-Wyche, Luke Myers and Fillmore Middle School students Sam Guzman, Liam Howard, Brandon Antonson and Victor Jimenez received certificates for their part. The goal of the testing is to gain a safer digital environment for students.

Assistant Superintendent Martha Hernandez gave a presentation on the Class of 2014. She reported that 192 students graduated FHS along with 50 from Sierra High School; which was that school's largest class ever. The demographics given on race were 224 Hispanic, 26 White, 1 Asian, 2 Black, 1 Multiple. FHS also lost 28 students that transferred out of the district, leaving before or during their senior or junior year. Sierra High School lost 12 that transferred to another school with 6 more transferring to FHS. There were 34 students that met UC/CSU requirements, but unfortunately 141 students did not.

More bad news was a total of 65 students dropped out: 27 FHS, 18 Heritage Valley Independent Study, 13 Sierra High School and 7 No shows (scheduled to attend FHS but never showed and never enrolled in another school).

FHS had 60 students take the SAT, but the mean scores in all categories were well below the state average. Superintendent Dr. Adrian Palazuelos told the Board that FHS students have not been exposed to SAT testing and that much of being successful is having a familiarity with it, "We have to work on it...we have to find a way to bring the SAT's to our students."

On a positive note, $134,000 in local scholarships were offered to FHS students, there were 8 Valedictorians, 22 students earned Golden State Merit Diplomas, 29 students qualified for CSF Life Members and 14 students earned a Seal of Bi-literacy. Sierra High School had approximately 50% of its students completed either a Career Technical Education Program or Environmental Science Student Training Program.

Once again FUSD is preparing for the 2015-16 School Site Council. The Council consisting of (1) the principal (2) teachers selected by the school's teachers (half of the council are teachers) (3) other school personnel chosen by the school's other personnel (4) parents/guardians of students attending the school chosen by other such parents/guardians or community members chosen by the parents/guardians as representatives (the remaining half of the council) (5) In secondary schools, students attending the school chosen by other such students.

School site council approved annual review and updated a single plan for students achievement. They are aligned with school goals for improving student achievement based on analysis of verifiable state data, including the Academic Performance Index and the California English Language Development Test and any other data voluntarily developed by the district to measure student achievement. The single plan must also address the legal requirements for each individual categorical program in which the school participates.

Another agenda item was the Audit Report presented by Jeff Nigro, CPA with Nigro & Nigro. The report had some good news and some bad. The good news was the average daily attendance in grades K-12 increased by 1.1%. The district also anticipated expenditures (money out) to exceed revenues (money in) by $2.6 million, but the actual results for the year show that expenditures exceeded revenues by much less, roughly $126,000. Actual revenues were about $0.7 million more than anticipated and expenditures were $1.7 million less than budgeted. That amount consists primarily of restricted categorical programs dollars not spent as of June 30, 2014 and carried over into the 2014-2015 budget. Total revenue $36,870,184; expenditures $37,908,298 leaving a deficit of ($1,038,114).

Salaries and benefits costs increased nearly $1.6 million due to budget step and column increases as well as salary increases and hiring of additional staff.

The total cost of basic programs was $38.3 million. Because a portion of these costs was paid for with charges, fees, and intergovernmental aid, the net cost that required taxpayer funding was just $29.2 million.

Revenues increased by nearly $2.5 million primarily to reflect federal and state budget actions. Other costs, increased by nearly $2.7 million due to program carryover and new restriction funding including Common Core and California Clean Energy Jobs funds.

By the end of 2013-14 the District had invested more than $1.3 million in new capital assets, related to the District's ongoing modernization program and outstanding long term debt decreased 4.0% from the previous year.

A major expenditure was replacing the roof at Fillmore Middle School. To finance the project FUSD entered into a site lease agreement in June of 2013 with the California School Board Association Finance Corp. Interest payments are paid semi-annually which began December 2013 and principal payments will be made annually beginning on June 15, 2017 with the final payment (possibly) on June 2028. The interest rate is 2.45% thorough June 15, 2016 then increases to 4.90% to the end of the lease.

The District has the option to prepay the obligation by paying 100% of the principal if paid by June 2016 or 104% of the remaining principal paid later. The original beginning years' interest is $42,018, but doubles to $84,035 in 2016-17 and balloons to $676,528 (total interest) in 2028. According to Financial Director Gary Hobelman, the District is planning to pay the principal off early, before the higher interest rate of 4.90%; if the funds become available.

The audit also found some deficiencies. The school-wide plans for Fillmore Middle School and Fillmore High School lacked the required element (information not recorded) regarding instruction by highly qualified staff. This condition was observed in two of the three school-wide plans selected for review; Mountain Vista Elementary School, Fillmore Middle School and Fillmore High School. Cause: The District has had a lot of turnover, and the responsibility of this requirement was not communicated to the different employees that have taken over different positions. The recommendation was the District should closely monitor the reporting of the school-wide plans and include instruction by highly qualified staff in its school-wide plans to ensure that all required elements are being addressed.

According to Assistant Superintendent Educational Services Martha Hernandez said there had been a plan, but it had not been updated for the last three years and in the future both Fillmore High School and Fillmore Middle School will revise their school-wide plan to include the required element of instruction by highly qualified staff. The Assistant Superintendent of Education Services will follow a protocol to review plans prior to approval by the School Board.

Another problem found was that the After School Education and Safety Program (ASES) which serves K-9 students recorded two students as present but were absent at San Cayetano Elementary and Fillmore Middle School along with some schools having inaccuracies in the minutes of instruction.

During review of the attendance monthly summaries and through inquiry, it was determined that no attendance for after school instruction had been taken on numerous days throughout the school year and attendance credit was given to all students because the sites use a negative attendance system (who was not there, instead of who was).

It was found that the condition occurred at: Mountain Vista, Piru, Rio Vista, San Cayetano and Fillmore Middle School.

The District responsed saying at times students are absent from school, but attend the ASES program and that they will review its policies and procedures for attendance in the ASES program and will adjust as necessary.

This could potentially create the loss of district funding for inconsistencies in attendance reporting. It was recommendation each site should reconcile the attendance information with the daily attendance sigh-out sheet to ensure accuracy.

The problem of School instruction minutes resulted from no one being specifically responsible for monitoring the bell schedules and calendars and verifying compliance with instructional minutes required for all sites. Schools are required to monitor the instructional minutes offered at each school. Discrepancies were noted at all three schools selected for attendance testing.

The possible consequence of this problem is that a school could fall out of compliance for altering the bell schedules without the District's approval or awareness of the change. It was recommends someone be delegated to set clear guidelines in place and responsible for insuring bell schedules and calendars.

The District has since delegated the monitoring of instructional minutes to Business Services who will be responsible for monitoring the instructional minutes.

The Associated Student Body Fund was also found to have a number of problems. Banking was not done in a timely manor, cash receipts lacked sufficient supporting documentation and deposits were not done in a timely manor and/or could not be verified. Another problem was that ASB funds had also been used for District expenses. ASB funds are considered public funds because they are raised through the District's tax identification number and receive the benefit of nontaxable status. Anything that is purchased using ASB funds must be goods and services that promote the students; general welfare, morale, and educational experiences; not District expenses. Also the ASB bookkeeper had complete control is a signer on the bank account when there should be more than one person verifying and overseeing. Financial statements had not been submitted to the District on a periodic basis creating a problem of checks and balances.

There was also a problem with FHS students' store inventory counts that were not being preformed regularly, only annually. It was recommended they should be done monthly by two people and compared to the inventory balance.

Of the sample ten cash receipts, two could not be traced to the bank deposit slip or bank statements. During testing of disbursements several lacked evidence of receipt of goods and services.

Student Representative Erma Torres announced the Pep Squad will host the Winter Formal Dance at the Veterans Memorial Building on January 31st. A new club, the Country Club, has been formed on FHS campus to promote American patriotism with Mr. Murphy as advisor. Baseball and Track season has begun along with signups for the swim team. Girls and boys baseball teams both stands 2-3 in the league. The girls played the Thacher Toads at home on Tuesday. Boys' basketball will play next Wednesday, January 28th. The wrestling team met at New Community Jewish High School where senior Dominick Gonzales won 1st place in the 132 pound division. The team will meet Valencia on January 28th and the Sierra High School Bio Club River Restoration Research in association with UCSB will be interviewed by ABC News (date was not given).