The Gainesville City School Board talked some money matters at their combined work session and meeting Monday night, discussing the legislative priorities for 2019 and a policy regarding the approval of bids and quotations.
The board discussed updates to the priorities list for 2019: QBE Funding Formula, charter system funds, wraparound services and literacy, dual enrollment, workforce development, vouchers, post secondary tuition and calendars. Superintendet Jeremy Williams said the bulk of the list stays the same each year but adjustments are made depending on what is going on with the district. "The biggest change we made was adding the calendar piece and the voucher section that were both in there, but the biggest thing really is just supporitng the legislative body and the legislature for going to bat for us," said Williams. "This is the first time in a number of years we've had full funding and without that full funding we would definitely be in a bind."
Williams went on to add that the school system faces a challenge as one of the initial charter school systems, and they do recieve money from the legislature to function as a charter system. "With a new governor, with a new lieutenant governor, some possible changes in the house of representatives and in the senate, we want our legislators to know we really appreciate the work they've done in the past with the charter funds, but also want to make a case for being able to continue those funds as well."
The letter with the priorities and descriptions that willbe sent to lawmakers is available here.
Also discussed at the meeting was a change to Policy DJED, which handles the bid and quotation process. The change boosted the dollar amount for the Superintendent's approval from $10,000 to $30,000. "Anything higher than $30,000 would have to go to bid. Right now, we would still be getting quotes - two quotes up to $5,000, anything between $5,000 and $30,000 would require three quotes, but anything above that would require us to go out for bid, which would follow the bidding process," said Williams. "When we looked at what Northeast Georgia districts were doing around us, we found out we were quite a bit behind. While we've been $10,000, most of the districts have been between $25,000 and $50,000."
"A dollar 16 years ago was a little different than a dollar today," Williams added. "We hope this will alleviate some of the time that it takes for us to order some things, but we also want to make sure if it gets above that $30,000 or higher, there's a true bidding opportunity and fair process for everybody."
The board held a first reading on the action item, approving it to move forward.
As has been made customary at the board's meetings, they began by celebrating achievements in the district, which included recognizing the School Nutrition staff for receiving the Georgia Department of Education Golden Raddish, Platinum Level award, recognizing the Gainesville Middle School Boys Cross Country team for their state championship, and highlighting a Gainesville High School graduate by a member of the high school's 125th graduating class.
