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Rosemary Hills PTA presents outdoor-classroom plan; council approves conditional $20,000 support
Summary
The Rosemary Hills PTA outlined a $52,400 outdoor-classroom plan reduced from $65,000; the council agreed to provide $10,000 now and an additional $10,000 after town-manager verification that the PTA raised a $10,000 nongovernmental match.
Katie Bail, executive vice president of the Rosemary Hills PTA, presented the PTA’s outdoor-classroom plan and updated cost and fundraising figures.
Bail said the project was pared down after discussions with the school district and now costs approximately $52,400 (down from ~$65,000) by replacing shade sails with trees and umbrellas and leveraging a local nursery partnership for free trees. The PTA reported an initial $10,000 commitment from Section 5, a $13,000 commitment from Section 3, and additional fundraising and in-kind support that the PTA says brings it close to the amount needed to proceed with the initial maintenance-focused phase.
Council members sought clarity about whether PTA donations (including funds raised through Stripe online donations) could be counted as eligible nongovernmental matching funds. Town Manager Todd confirmed a PTA is a 501(c)(3) nongovernmental source and therefore eligible as match. The council voted to appropriate $10,000 immediately and to appropriate an additional $10,000 contingent on evidence acceptable to the town manager that the PTA has raised a $10,000 match; the council agreed that PTA donations may count toward that match, and the PTA agreed to provide documentation (Stripe records and other exhibits) for verification.
Council asked for routine accountability documentation: a certification letter from the PTA and a post-project report to satisfy auditors and to document use of funds. Bail said the PTA has tracking in QuickBooks and can produce the necessary transaction records and district approvals as exhibits.
The town manager said staff would work out the precise verification steps and that the finance/audit process would require a post-project report. The PTA intends to complete the maintenance portion of the project in time for school re-opening and to purchase educational elements as fundraising allows.
Quotes from the presentation included Katie Bail’s summary that the district’s suggestions made the project more cost-effective and easier to maintain and that community fundraising and in-kind donations had made the project feasible.
