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Forrest City School Board approves corrected June and August expenditures, questions construction progress payments
Summary
The Forrest City School District board approved corrected June 30 and August 2024 expenditures, after members flagged a packet date error and asked for documentation on progress payments and vendor contracts. Administrators said large sums reflect phased construction draw schedules, not full prepayments.
The Forrest City School District board voted to approve expenditures for June 30 and August 2024 after members identified a date error in the board packet and pressed administrators for supporting documentation on large vendor payments.
At the start of the consent discussion a board member pointed out a packet line listing “July 2025.” Speaker 3 said she would not approve anything labeled July 2025 and the board agreed to correct the date to 2024 before moving forward. Speaker 1 then asked for a motion; Speaker 5 moved to approve the corrected June 30 packet and the board later recorded that vote as carrying 4–3.
Several trustees raised questions about the timing and size of vendor payments. Speaker 4 asked why invoices appeared to be paid “before the project is done.” In response, Speaker 7, describing the district’s construction accounting practice, said these are progress payments: “Those are progress payments for work completed or material…They submit invoice, and those invoices are paid based upon work completed,” noting projects use phased draws and that the work sits under an overall $2.5 million project budget.
Board members asked the superintendent’s office to pull individual contracts and supporting documents for several line items cited during discussion, including designer and architect fees, landscaping vendors tied to a student workforce program, and recurring janitorial charges described in the packet as an automatically renewing contract. Administration committed to providing contract language and backup invoices for trustees to review.
Procedurally, the board discussed whether to wait for absent members before taking some motions. After the packet correction and contract review commitment, the board approved the August 2024 expenditures by a 5–2 vote.
Next steps: administration will provide the requested contract language, backup invoices and the corrected records for the board’s review at or before the next meeting.
