GRPS finance committee forwards purchasing agenda; staff warns of year-end timing, program and federal-funding updates

The Grand Rapids Public Schools (GRPS) Finance Committee on Monday, July 28, 2025, voted to forward the district's purchasing agenda to the full school board and heard staff updates about year-end invoice timing, a special-education digital assessment library, after-school grant billing and the status of federal Title funds.

Committee members approved a motion to move the purchasing agenda to the full board; the committee chair called for the voice vote and the ayes carried. The purchasing agenda included general fund items, special-fund items and bond-related purchases to be considered at the full-board meeting.

The vote came after committee members asked for more description up front about what each purchasing item covers, especially general-fund purchases. A committee member asked staff to provide item-level descriptions when the agendas are circulated so members can get answers before the meeting.

Finance staff described how year-end invoice timing affects which fiscal year expenses are charged to. "June 30 is the magic. If it's before, it's in 2425. If it's after, it's 2526," a finance staff member said, explaining that some invoices and services received close to the fiscal-year cutoff may be recorded in either FY2024-25 or FY2025-26 depending on delivery dates. Staff said they are tagging agenda items to indicate which fiscal year they will affect when possible.

Staff briefed the committee on a digital assessment library used by the district's special-education program. "This was something we implemented about 10 years ago," said Mr. Walsh from special education, who described the district's use of Pearson software to replace paper diagnostics and to make a range of assessments available to psychologists and related-service providers. Walsh said the system is set up for use on a small number of iPads in direct assessment situations and that the suite of assessments helps the district meet legal requirements to offer a variety of measures: "We can't just have 1 or 2 assessments. We need to have a variety. It's right in law," he said.

Committee members also heard that a vendor (referred to in committee discussion as "Trune") has additional invoices from FY2024-25. Finance staff said the total for that vendor for the 2024-25 year is being brought to about $150,000 to cover invoices received through June 30. Staff cautioned that timing and receipt dates determine whether an invoice is recorded in FY24-25 or FY25-26.

Under special funds, staff reported changes to after-school services paid through a 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant: one provider withdrew and the remaining provider increased services and invoices to cover additional work. Staff said the 21st Century grant requires programming that spans June into July and that invoicing timing may lead to adjustments.

Staff described a newcomer program at Union High School run in partnership with the Internationals Network for Public Schools. Erin Rosafer, principal at Union High, was identified as the local lead who has worked with the program, which staff said was launched last year and is transitioning to a new model for 2025-26.

On federal funding, staff said state-held federal Title funds that had been temporarily frozen will be released by the state. A finance staff member characterized the amount as "a few million dollars" but did not provide a precise dollar figure at the meeting.

Auditors conducted preliminary work the week before the meeting, staff said, and will return in September to finish the annual audit. Committee members requested a future training session summarizing multi-year audit findings and any material errors identified.

Regarding a possible budget amendment, staff said they are watching three items that will affect timing: the state allocations for federal funds, labor negotiations and the district's fall student-count. Staff said final fall count figures generally are known in the fall and that the earliest the district would bring a formal amendment would likely be November, with January as a fallback if timing slips.

The committee adjourned after the items and will forward the purchasing agenda and accompanying staff materials to the full board for action.