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Brockton schools outline Munis requisition steps and warrant safeguards
Summary
School finance staff walked the accounts-review subcommittee through Brockton Public Schools' procurement thresholds, the Munis requisition-to-invoice workflow, and new tracking tools that let committee members log warrant questions and stop-payment requests tied to purchase orders.
Kim, a district finance staffer, told the accounts-review subcommittee that the district follows stepped purchasing practices keyed to the budget book and org-object codes and enforced through the Munis financial system. "Anything from zero up to $10,000 you don't need a quote," Kim said; purchases between $10,000 and $100,000 require three quotes, and purchases above $100,000 generally go to formal bid under Chapter 30B, with exceptions for educational software and other specialized procurement.
She described the routine that turns an approved requisition into a purchase order and, after delivery and invoice upload, a payment processed by the city auditor. Kim emphasized multiple checkpoints: a requisition must route to a direct supervisor in Munis, then to the finance team, and final invoice checks are performed by the city auditor before payment. She also demonstrated that Munis blocks requisitions that exceed available org-object-line funds.
To make the warrant review more auditable, the schools are using weekly "envelopes" delivered by DocuSign after the budget director, superintendent and two committee signatories review packets. Kim said the district created a Microsoft form so committee members can submit questions tied to specific purchase order numbers and indicate whether they want payment stopped or continued; staff will record responses in a shared spreadsheet so questions and answers are preserved as official oversight activity.
Committee members pressed for clarity about who can enter or approve requisitions in Munis. The superintendent said access is being cleaned up so principals and designated administrative assistants have appropriate permissions while most classroom teachers will not have requisition-entry rights. Members also discussed recent invoice errors (mismatched payments and an issued check returned to the auditor and reissued) and were shown how those errors were documented in the warrant packet.
The presentation set the stage for continued oversight: committee members asked staff to provide the line-item (org-object) detail behind year-to-date reports so they can better assess negative line balances and any needed transfers. The district agreed to circulate both the live dashboard and a clarified year-to-date export, and to continue producing the DocuSign warrant packets after Mr. Gomes signs so subcommittee members receive them automatically.
