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Sumner County committee approves state-funded Summer Scholars budget amendments, including transportation
Summary
The Sumner County Education Committee on May 19 approved two budget amendments to allocate state funds for the Summer Scholars program and its transportation after the district received the money late in the legislative cycle, Director of Schools Dr. Langford said.
The Sumner County Education Committee on May 19 approved two budget amendments to allocate newly received state funds for the county’s Summer Scholars program and for Summer Scholars transportation, Sumner County Director of Schools Dr. Langford told the committee.
The funding is state money and arrived May 2, forcing the district to move quickly to allocate the new dollars so staff could be paid in June, Dr. Langford said. "So this year the funds dropped to us on May 2 which causes a mad scramble for us to get..." she said, describing the compressed timeline.
The program is required by state law for prekindergarten through eighth grade, Dr. Langford said; the district also offers some high school summer school paid from general-purpose funds rather than the state summer-program allocation. Dr. Langford said the Summer Scholars effort serves roughly 2,100 students, about 230 staff and operates at nine locations across the county.
Committee members discussed the source of the funding. Dr. Langford said the state allocation is not solely general state revenue and that the district uses a mix of funding sources, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and other state-designated funds, to cover program costs. "They use a mixture of funding. They use some TANF funds and some other stuff. It's not all, like, general state dollars," she told the committee.
The two items—listed as Summer Scholars funding and Summer Scholars transportation—were added to new business and approved together. A committee member moved and another seconded; the committee approved both items by voice vote. The committee did not record individual roll-call votes in the transcript.
Committee members and staff said no local funds were being requested for these amendments. Dr. Langford also said the district had held a special called meeting the prior Tuesday to begin the approval process so payroll and vendor payments could proceed on schedule.
The committee discussed scheduling for broader budget work: members referenced upcoming budget and audit meetings in June and possible final budget hearings in mid-June. No further formal actions on the Summer Scholars program were taken at the May 19 meeting.
The committee then moved on to other items on the agenda.
