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Following the recommendation of the Fairfield County School District’s last financial audit, the Board is considering adoption of a fund balance policy. (A fund balance can be compared to a savings account.)

Additionally the Board is considering adoption of a policy which would allow Superintendent of Education Dr. Samantha Ingram to hire District support staff (non - certified employees) without the approval of the Board of Trustees.

Both policy changes received first consideration approval and public hearings were scheduled for 6 and 6:30 p.m. April 8 respectively.

The draft of the policy reads in part, “The Government Finance Officers Association recommends a fund balance that is between 8% - 17% of the annual operating budget. This allows for one to two months worth of operating expenses in the fund balance.

“As a part of the annual budget adoption process, the administration shall provide an amount designated to increase the fund blanc whenver the fund balance from the previous year falls below 12.5% of the current year’s estimated operating budget. The amount designated to increase the fund balance shall be separately identified in the operating budget.”

Board member Annie McDaniel expressed concern that the policy would tie the hands of future Boards and run the risk of children not getting the things they need for a good educcation.

“What we are doing here is we are going to take money out of the budget and sit it aside in a quote savings account,” she said. “If we pass this policy, this ties the hands of the Board and the Superintendent.”

At the suggestion of McDaniel, the proposal was amended to say that “in the event that we cannot afford to put this amount of money in the fund balance, that the

Superintendent and future Boards have the opportunity to not follow this policy.”

The proposal on support staff hiring deletes a statement which reads, “The Superintendent employs all support staff with the approval of the board.”

Board member Catherine Kennedy asked, “Is there any particular reason leading to the change?’

Ingram replied that it is aligning District policy would what recommended by the State School Boards Association and one of the District’s attorneys.

“I understand what was recommended by the current attorney that we have, but that has not been the recommendation that we got from previous attorneys,” McDaniel said.