Board approves $1.3 million in school carryforwards and returns escrowed payroll funds

The Amelia County Board of Supervisors voted to carry forward two restricted school funds and to return escrowed payroll money to school operations.

A school division official described how state budget language allows textbook and cafeteria funds to roll forward until they are used for their specified purposes and explained that the requested amounts reflect timing and accounting: $643,776.86 for textbook carryforward and $633,062.19 for cafeteria carryforward. The official said the $22,583 in escrowed payroll funds could be appropriated to offset a local match for a DCJS school safety personnel grant if awarded. “These funds are requested to be carried forward to support the continued development of our textbooks and instructional materials,” the school official said.

Supervisors asked whether local funds were mixed with state textbook dollars; the official said state and local match dollars commingle in textbook accounts and that the state’s budget language permits the carryforward to ensure divisions can complete multi-year adoptions. After questions about the timing and the composition of the balances, Supervisor (speaker 5) moved to carry forward the textbook funds as required by state code and the board approved the motion. Similar motions to carry forward the cafeteria funds and to appropriate the escrowed payroll funds back to school operating revenue were also approved; the third motion passed with one recorded opposed vote.

The board’s action does not create new recurring spending; school staff said these are compliance and timing adjustments tied to textbook adoption cycles and federally generated cafeteria revenues. The school official noted the carryforwards are limited to qualifying uses and that no local match is required for the requested textbook carryforward.