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Beaufort County finance committee reviews AI-style heat map and monthly finances
Summary
The Beaufort County Board of Education finance committee reviewed the monthly budget and a new color-coded “heat map” designed to highlight variances, heard staff say overall spending is under target, and asked for a sample visual at the full board meeting.
The Beaufort County Board of Education finance committee on March 13 reviewed its monthly budget report and a new color-coded variance chart intended to make budget outliers easier for board members and the public to spot. The committee was told the district is running below budget for the year and that the visualization will be shown to the full board in April.
CFO (presenting the monthly report) said the report covers salaries, benefits and services and noted: "So overall, 44.6%, used, and so we're well under, under budget at this time of year." She described expected audit-related billing in May–June that staff said remains within the available budget.
The CFO also described a $77,000 allotment for technology purchases linked to the Diligent board-management system and said roughly 10% of that line has been spent; committee members asked staff to look for training opportunities that could be scheduled against remaining contract capacity.
On a separate transparency requirement, staff presented a 38-page report for January and a color-coded, variance-based chart or “heat map” intended to highlight items outside predefined tolerances. The chair said the graphic helps the board "manage by exception" and asked that a sample be shown at the April 8 full board meeting so members and the public can see how the chart works.
Committee members asked for follow-up materials: a short narrative page explaining larger variances in common places and a presentation slide for the March 28 budget briefing that breaks out district personnel costs by category. Staff agreed to return with a sample visual and explanatory notes at future meetings.
The committee took no formal vote on budget policy at the meeting; it accepted the monthly and transparency reports and directed staff to bring visuals and a short narrative to upcoming board presentations.
Next steps: staff will prepare a sample heat map and a concise narrative explaining major variances for presentation to the full board on April 8 and include budget-detail slides at the March 28 budget briefing.
