Finance update: district refunds bonds, reports $1M savings; custodial contract and building cleanliness flagged

Finance staff told the board that a recent refunding of installment-purchase revenue bonds yielded a savings of more than $1 million. The district plans to appropriate those savings to upcoming bond issues over the next five years, and staff said documents to close the refunding would be signed the following week.

Board members asked for clarification on how the refunding produced principal savings; the financial adviser prepared the refunding plan, and staff said they would follow up with more detail for trustees.

Separately, facilities staff reported work-order and maintenance metrics: the district received 25 new work orders in February and completed 346 work orders that month; average age for open requests was described as low for the cycle. The facilities report included a school report-card-style cleanliness score and accompanying comments for each school.

Trustees and staff discussed substantive concerns about custodial services provided under the district’s vendor contract (HES). Several board members called attention to persistent Ds and Fs in cleanliness ratings at specific schools and said turnover, equipment failures and slow parts repairs had contributed to problems. Staff said they are monitoring performance, have discussed concerns with the vendor, and that rebidding the contract would likely occur at the end of the fiscal year; staff cautioned severing the contract mid-summer could disrupt summer deep-cleaning work.

Finance staff also walked trustees through the district cash-flow report: the general fund ending balance for Feb. 28 was reported at approximately $31.4 million with breakdowns for federal and state-restricted funds; technology and construction fund balances were shown separately.