Board of Education budget amendment approved; county proposes one-time school capital transfers

Commissioners approved Board of Education budget amendment No. 4, which reflects new grant revenue and reimbursements that the school system reported to the county.

The amendment summary included a summer learning camp grant of $859,000 and a learning transportation grant of $155,000; additional pages of the amendment allocate those revenues into child nutrition and school-age-care program accounts and record refunds and reclassifications.

Separately, county finance staff proposed a one-time transfer from debt service to a school capital projects fund. Staff listed school capital requests that would be funded from that transfer if approved: student computers ($2,000,002.74), roofing projects (roughly $356,000), parking lot repairs ($300,000), intercom replacements ($60,000), cooling towers and boilers ($480,000), HVAC units ($100,000), carpet replacement ($150,000), door replacements ($90,000), bleacher replacements ($50,000) and concrete replacement ($25,000). Staff described the transfer as a onetime allocation that would not affect the district’s operating budget.

Why it matters: the BOE amendment recognizes new grant revenue and program reimbursements now available to schools; the proposed capital transfer would move one-time funds into a capital account to support facility improvements without increasing the operating levy.

Action taken - Motion to send the Board of Education budget amendment to the commission for approval passed by voice vote.

Ending Staff said the capital transfer details will appear in the budget book for commissioners and that the schools’ capital project list will be available for the next meeting.