Committee discusses electronic funds and wire-transfer policy; tables item for edits

The policy review committee discussed a draft policy that would set district-level guardrails for electronic funds transfers (ACH) and wire payments. General Counsel Madalena Gupta said the draft largely borrows language from other systems to specify responsibility, staff authorization levels, and allowable circumstances for wires and ACH.

CFO Dr. Bracken told the committee the proposal responds to an internal-audit finding and is being advanced ahead of the district's July Oracle implementation, which will move a larger volume of payments to ACH and wires. "We don't do a ton of ACHs and wires right now... with our new Oracle implementation that's happening and will go into effect in July. The vast majority of our payments will come through ACHs and wire transfers," Dr. Bracken said, and he framed the policy as a best-practices measure to protect the district.

Members asked for clearer terminology (replace "treasury department" with "finance"), for spelled-out definitions (automated clearing house / ACH), and for language clarifying when wires are acceptable outside routine schedules. Executive director of accounting Tanisha Oliver was referenced as the operational contact leading tightening in accounting operations. Because members wanted edits and clearer wording, the committee agreed to have administration return a cleaned-up version of the draft and tabled the policy until the next meeting.

No final vote was taken; the committee requested a revised draft that clarifies the role of finance, defines ACH, spells out timing/scheduling constraints, and clarifies the circumstances when wire transfers may be used.