School board reviews broad changes to finance policies including grant language, investment caps and reserve rules

The Clay County School Board reviewed a set of proposed changes to its 6,000-series finance policies at an April 2025 workshop, examining language on federal grant use, investment portfolio composition, internal accounts and reserves for the district’s self-insurance program.

Board members discussed restoring language that barred federal funds from being used for certain activities, keeping the line that “no federal funds received by the district shall be used to” for enumerated purposes. Board members and staff said much of the removed text duplicates state law or other district policies, but several trustees asked that prohibitory language be retained to make the district’s position explicit.

The board questioned policy language that sets percentage limits for how much of district funds may be placed in investments (members referenced a 50% ceiling and a 20% FDIC-insured-deposit reference). Staff explained the percentages are intended as operational guardrails so the district keeps a liquidity buffer while investing conservatively; the board directed staff to move procedural detail into a procedures manual and to justify any numeric caps with comparative data from other Florida districts.

Members asked whether internal and fundraising accounts must be deposited in “qualified public depositories.” Staff said the state maintains a list of qualified public depositories and the district’s internal-account procedures specify which district-approved bank accounts may receive school-level deposits; principals and school bookkeepers may not open outside bank accounts for school funds.

On the district’s self-insurance fund, the board asked how large the dedicated fund balance should be. Staff reiterated that the goal for the general fund balance is about 3–5% (with a target of roughly 5%), and that the self-insurance (medical) fund must be supported by an annual actuary analysis and maintain reserves equal to about 60 days of prior-year claims; staff said they would supply the current reserve amount and the most recent actuarial finding.

Procurement and contracting language also drew attention. Trustees discussed tie-bid procedures and a proposed preference for local vendors when bids are equal; staff and counsel noted that if procurement is truly a sealed low-bid contract, criteria such as experience belong in a request-for-proposal rubric rather than a low-bid policy. The board asked staff to clarify when tied bids come to the board and to consider adding objective experience criteria where procurement uses scored evaluation methods.

The board clarified the district’s practice for construction change orders: the superintendent may execute emergency change orders when immediate action is required, with staff continuing to present change orders to the board afterwards for information. The redline policy used a $100,000 threshold for superintendent authority; board members said that practice is intended to afford operational flexibility but emphasized that material increases are still brought to the board.

Other procedural changes the board asked to keep or to move to procedural detail included switching mileage calculations from odometer readings to GPS-mile calculations for travel reimbursement and returning explicit examples in policy about allowable expenditures from internally raised funds (graduation, orientation, hospitality) so principals and PTA groups have clearer guidance.

Staff were directed to produce supporting procedure text and factual follow-ups (current self-insurance reserve amount; comparative investment-practice data; draft internal-accounts monthly reporting format) for review at a future workshop or the June policy session.

Ending: Board members agreed to keep the finance chapter under review, retain several prohibitory statements that mirror state law, and asked staff to redraft numeric limits as procedure with appended justification and to return specified clarifications ahead of final adoption.