Collegium Charter School Board Meeting 09-10-2026

Meeting context & governance

• Date/Time
  • September 10, 2026
  • Public Work Session: 6:01 p.m.
  • Public Meeting: 6:13 p.m.
• Compliance
  • Meeting held in accordance with Pennsylvania law and Board bylaws
  • Notice published in Daily Local News, and posted on:
    • Collegium website
    • Calendar
• Public comment
  • None submitted online
  • No public comment raised in-person during either public section

Financial performance (as of August 2026)

• Net surplus: $442,000
  • Compared to a budgeted deficit of $683,000
  • Net impact: ~$1.1M ahead of plan
• Favorable variance drivers (income vs. expenses)

Expenses

• ~$1.0M below budget (primary driver)
  • Summer deficit originally budgeted due to unused PTO stipend paid in July
  • Payroll savings showing as lower than planned:
    • salaries
    • taxes
    • retirement contributions
  • Grant timing
    • Title grant expenses being closed out in 2026
    • $90,000 expensed for 2026 Title
    • Grant period ends September
  • Timing items
    • Contracted services / student placement $508 below budget
    • Expected to catch up September–October via quarterly CCIU billing

Income

• ~$78,000 behind budget
  • Primarily Title I / Title II funding delays and seasonal timing (Arabic school year summer months)
  • ADM funding is strong and fully on budget (assuming “anchor revenues” deliver)
  • Employee benefits contributions: ~$7,000 above plan, offsetting benefit cost overages
  • Interest income: ~$12,000 under budget, driven by summer cash balance patterns
  • Student activity fees: expected to begin posting in September to improve alignment

Operating categories / overall operating result

• Operating result: $97,000 favorable
  • Compared to a budget loss of $113,000
  • Variance attributed to expense/revenue growth and expense tracking

Cash & reserve metrics

• As of Aug 31
  • 45 days + 18 days in reserve
  • 27 days operating
• As of current day
  • 33 days
  • 27 days in reserve
  • 16 days operating
• Board materials reflect ongoing monitoring of cash and grant activity for the school year.

Program-specific financial notes

Childcare

• Revenue: +$15,000 vs. budget
• Expenses: +$24,000 over budget
• Overall: slightly behind plan

Food services

• Revenue: -$29,000 vs. budget
• Expenses: essentially on target
• Expected to break even, likely to continue through the year

Student/academic operations approvals

Doctoral research proposals (curriculum instruction/assessment items)

• Total: 3 proposals
  1. Amanda Shumate (Assistant Principal, “150 building”)
     • Requested conditional approval to conduct research here, pending full IRB approval
     • Plan: resubmit for full board approval after IRB is complete
  2. Irina Gaskell (former employee)
     • Already has IRB approval
     • Previously received conditional approval (referenced as approved in August for Merrold)
     • Now requesting final approval based on IRB clearance
  3. Third proposal
     • Not clearly attributed in the transcript beyond the statement that there are three doctoral proposals
     • The board approved two final and one conditional

Board discussion point

• Members asked whether prior doctoral candidacies are progressing successfully.
• Response: current employees in the proposals are engaged and are near completion, with dissertation completion required.

Personnel operations

• Monthly personnel summary (August)
  • New hires, building changes, separations, and leaves of absence
• Staffing / openings
  • 49 open positions today
    • Note: focus includes both support staff and key faculty positions
  • Projection through school year: total positions projected to 566
  • Board discussion: the percentage of openings is higher than in recent years, though the district had “good luck” filling harder-to-fill roles recently.

Policy update (employee benefit administration)

Employee tuition reimbursement policy — minor revision

• Change: tighten the submission window so requests align with the appropriate school/fiscal year
• Key clarification
  • If requests are received after July 15, the period may fall outside eligible school-year accounting, and none is carried over
  • Language questioned: “requests will not be processed during the summer”
    • Clarification: processing effectively starts/evaluates once the new fiscal year begins
    • July 15 is the cutoff for reimbursement tied to the year the course was taken

Key approval actions taken (business items)

• Financial reports: approved as presented
• Curriculum/Instruction/Assessment items: approved for 3 doctoral proposals (2 final, 1 conditional)
• Personnel report: approved
• Policy items: tuition reimbursement policy update approved
• Minutes: August 20 public meeting minutes approved
• Executive session update: met Aug 2 to discuss legal, real estate, and personnel matters

Frameworks / processes / playbooks mentioned

• IRB approval workflow
  • Conditional approval → conduct research only after IRB → resubmit for final board approval
• Budget-to-actual variance management
  • Explicit comparison of budget vs. actual
  • Identification of timing gaps (e.g., grant delays, quarterly billing catch-up)

Concrete actionable recommendations / operational directives

• Grant and billing timing monitoring
  • Expect contracted services/student placement and CCIU quarterly billing to catch up in September–October
  • Continue close monitoring of cash and grant activity
• HR administrative compliance
  • Ensure tuition reimbursement requests meet the July 15 cutoff so they align with the correct fiscal/school year

Presenters / sources (as named in the subtitles)

• Echo
  • Presenter of the August 2026 financials (referred to as “I will be presenting the financials…” and later “Thanks, Echo.”)
• Amanda Shumate
  • Doctoral research proposal requester (Assistant Principal)
• Irina Gaskell
  • Doctoral research proposal requester (former employee)
• Jay
  • Referenced positively by a board member (“Well done, Jay”); role not explicitly stated in the transcript
• Other board/presenter roles not fully named
  • Several attendees listed by last name only during roll call:
    • Lawson Beard, Brown, Baxter, Mallory, Stewart Miller, Reese, Neely
  • Robert also present per roll call