Northumberland boards approve MOU to place school finance under county oversight with probationary staffing terms

The Northumberland County Board of Supervisors and the Northumberland County School Board on June 17 approved a memorandum of understanding that assigns a county finance director to oversee school financial operations and moves two current school finance positions to county employment on a probationary basis.

The agreement, which the two boards amended during the joint meeting, makes the county responsible for hiring a finance director who will supervise up to two finance staff transferred from the school division; those staff will be retained at the county for a minimum 90‑day trial period and, if not kept, would receive two months' severance to be paid from the FY26 school budget unless otherwise agreed by the county administrator.

County Attorney Eric Gregory, who helped draft the text, said the version before the boards “states that…