Volusia board agrees to advertise policies on facility naming, procurement and travel reimbursement; public-participation change set aside

The Volusia County School Board on Wednesday authorized advertising of proposed amendments to three district policies — naming of school facilities (policy 6.10), procurement (policy 7.02) and travel expense reimbursement (policy 7.17). Trustees declined to advance the recommended change to the public-participation policy (8.01).

Chief Operating Officer Patty Korr presented updates to policy 6.10, explaining a technical wording change that replaces a reference to “school board” with “superintendent” in one procurement step because the item is operational rather than a naming decision that must come to trustees for a vote. Korr said the edited language will be advertised for the required 28-day comment period before returning to the board.

Procurement director Enid Kuntz explained proposed changes in policy 7.02 to raise certain spending thresholds and to rename the policy from “Purchasing” to “Procurement.” The recommended amendments would increase dollar thresholds at which competitive solicitation is required and add delegated contracting authorities for some coordinator-level positions. The board approved advertising the changes after removing a single pronoun to simplify text that described the superintendent or the superintendent’s designee.

Board members and procurement staff discussed practical effects: Enid Kuntz said the district uses the state contract for most vehicle purchases, and the state contract cited in the materials remains active through May 16, 2025. Kuntz told the board the district buys roughly 95% of its vehicles through the state contract for price efficiency.

Budget staff proposed a narrower change to the travel expense policy 7.17. The original draft required reimbursement claims to be submitted within 60 days of return; trustees amended that to 45 days before voting to advertise the policy. Board members said the change responds to problems with late reimbursement claims that can complicate grant accounting and the district’s ability to charge expenses to time-limited grant funds.

Trustees debated but did not advance proposed changes to policy 8.01, which would have altered who presides over public participation. Community members and at least one trustee urged keeping the board chair in charge of the public-comment period. After discussion, a motion to advertise an alternate version was withdrawn and the board did not move forward with advertising 8.01 at Wednesday’s meeting.

The board also approved the consent agenda — including an amendment to a contract for advanced-placement and other exam fees (an additional $500,000 added to an original $300,000 contract to cover AP exam costs, bringing the total to $800,000), vehicle purchases piggybacked to a state contract, a furniture and equipment piggyback, and more — by unanimous vote during the meeting’s consent vote.

All policy advertisements will proceed according to the district’s notice requirements and return to a future meeting for final board action.