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Committee centralizes student-activity accounts, approves petty-cash rules with $1,500 cap
Summary
The committee approved consolidating seven school-level student-activity accounts into one district Student Activities account and adopted a petty-cash policy allowing central-office-managed funds with a $1,500 per-fund cap and advisor sign-off for requests.
The Blackstone-Millville Regional School Committee approved administrative proposals to centralize student-activity finances and to establish formal petty-cash controls.
Director of Finance Joseph Spagna explained the student-activity change: the district will consolidate seven separate bank accounts (two at the high school, two at the middle school, and remaining elementary accounts) into a single Student Activities account. Each club or activity will have an internal balance in the district system so advisers can view deposits and expenditures. "Where's our money?" Spagna said; centralization aims to provide fiscal oversight and transactional transparency.
On petty cash, the administration proposed a process with funds kept in the central office safe and managed by the district accountant, with a written sign-out form, receipts on return, and not-to-exceed balances. Committee members discussed flexibility for higher amounts with prior approval from the superintendent or Director of Finance and settled on an upper limit of $1,500 per petty-cash fund for approval purposes. The committee moved and approved both the Student Activities consolidation and the petty-cash policy; it also approved establishment of three petty-cash funds described by administration (Student Activities fund, special-education life-skills fund, and central-office petty cash) with respective not-to-exceed balances.
Why it matters: Centralizing accounts and formalizing petty-cash controls are intended to increase district fiscal oversight and reduce risk from decentralized checkbooks and informal cash handling.
Next step: Administration will implement the consolidation, set up internal club balances in the district financial system, create petty-cash forms and controls, and present any required documentation or requests for individual petty-cash fund amounts to the committee for approval.
