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Richland 2 approves personnel ratifications, property transfer and $4.4M in budget transfers
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Summary
Trustees approved multiple executive-session items—including student appeals, employment and professional ratifications, a property transfer of water lines at Westwood High to the City of Columbia—and authorized $3.4M to utilities and $1M to repairs and maintenance to cover higher costs.
At its April 16 meeting, the Richland School District 2 Board of Trustees approved a package of routine and executive-session actions including student appeal rulings, personnel ratifications, a property transaction and budget transfers to cover higher utility and maintenance costs.
Key votes and motions
- Student appeals: Miss Washington moved to deny Student Appeal #1; the board voted 7-0 to deny the appeal.
- Student admission: Mr. Trapp moved to approve a student admission request into the district's Adult Education Program; the motion passed 7-0.
- Property transfer: Miss Porter moved to authorize the superintendent to proceed with the property transaction transferring new water lines at Westwood High School to the City of Columbia; the board approved the motion 7-0 and directed that transaction documents be made public once completed.
- Employment and professional ratifications: The board ratified multiple professional and administrative recommendations for the 2026-27 school year. Several ratification motions passed unanimously; three specific employee-number motions passed with 6 yes and 1 abstain after disclosed conflicts of interest (Miss Washington and Miss Porter recorded abstentions on particular employee-number votes).
- Budget transfers: The board approved administration's request to transfer $3,400,000 from the purchase-services expenditure category to utilities and $1,000,000 from property-contracts to repairs and maintenance to cover higher-than-expected expenditures for the remainder of the fiscal year. The motion to approve the budget transfers passed 7-0.
Financial and budget context
Finance presentations at the meeting noted that utility and repairs-and-maintenance categories were tracking ahead of budget. Superintendent Dr. Matthew Moore and the district's finance lead explained that the transfers are intended to realign budget authority to avoid category overrun. Mr. Dennis and other trustees flagged deferred maintenance and an aging bus fleet as ongoing operational concerns; the board also heard that the district's unaudited fund balance is being monitored and that the district is tracking slightly behind prior years in some revenue categories but maintains a fund balance that trustees later characterized in discussion as roughly $165 million (approximately 40% of the general fund) when describing fiscal resilience.
Other business and next steps
The board approved the 2027-28 calendar and moved to ratify other administrative recommendations and multi-year recommendations discussed earlier in the meeting. Purchase orders exceeding $250,000 issued in February were listed in the finance report and will remain part of routine monthly reports. As usual, administration will publish transaction documents for completed property transfers and will return with implementation details for personnel ratifications where required.
Votes at a glance (selected)
- Approve agenda: 7-0 - Approve consent agenda: 7-0 - Deny Student Appeal #1: 7-0 - Approve Adult Education admission: 7-0 - Authorize Westwood High water-line transfer to City of Columbia: 7-0 - Approve budget transfers ($3,400,000 to utilities; $1,000,000 to repairs): 7-0 - Ratifications: multiple motions, most 7-0; three motions recorded 6 yes, 1 abstain (conflicts noted)
The board did not announce further substantive changes beyond these approvals; administration will post transaction documentation as promised and return with implementation details for programmatic changes.
