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Committee recommends removing Atlantic Beach Elementary from ARC grant process over reporting issues
Summary
A PTA volunteer told the Arts, Recreation & Culture Committee she could not produce required line-item reporting because school funds are commingled with Duval County Public Schools; the committee voted to recommend the commission fund the school directly rather than through ARC grants to protect compliance.
Jennifer Cook, a volunteer member of the Atlantic Beach Elementary School PTA, told the Arts, Recreation & Culture Committee on Oct. 8 that volunteers could not provide the level of accounting the city requires for the after‑school enrichment program because those expenses are mixed into Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) budgets.
"We don't have access to the information that's required for being compliant," Cook said, explaining PTA volunteers lacked the forensic accounting access DCPS has and could not separate school‑controlled line items from PTA‑controlled spending.
Committee members and staff said the committee had reviewed the application and reporting problems and concluded the grant application blended activities and budgets in ways that made compliance verification impossible. Staff said the committee will recommend to the city commission that Atlantic Beach Elementary be removed from the ARC grant process and, if commissioners wish to continue supporting the school, that the commission consider funding the school from the general fund outside the ARC grant program.
"For reasons of compliance and integrity to the process, we decided not to fund them at all this year," a committee member said, noting the committee wanted to preserve parity for applicants who follow the guidelines.
Cook said Cultural Arts Day had no reporting problems this year, but because the Cultural Arts Day and After School Enrichment budget lines were combined in prior applications, the PTA could not isolate the ASC expenditures for the final report. She asked whether the PTA could reapply next year if budgets were separated; staff confirmed reapplication would be allowed if the PTA submitted distinct, PTA‑controlled budgets that met reporting requirements.
The committee framed the recommendation as a way to protect the ARC grant rubric and to avoid placing volunteers in the position of trying to produce accounting they cannot access. The recommendation will go to the full city commission for final action; the commission has the authority to allocate general‑fund support if it chooses.
Next steps: the committee will forward language to the commission explaining the compliance concerns and the committee's recommendation; staff said they will notify the PTA and explain how the school can reapply next year with separate, auditable budgets.
