HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-06-2021 Fairhope Public Schools Commission Meeting MinutesFairhope Public Schools Commission
January 6, 2021
Members present: Ken Cole, Robin Coleman, Amy Foley, Carrie McLemore, Miranda
Schrubbe, Cornelius Woods
Members absent: Robert Brown, Paul Hannon, Da nielle Mashburn-Myrick, Hill
Robinson
Principals present: Jon Cardwell, FHS; Carol Broughton, FEE; Julie Pierce and
Caroline Hollowell, FWE
Guests: John Wilson, Baldwin County Board of Education Chief School Financial
Officer; James Watkins
Ken Cole called the meeting to order and welcomed new commission member Amy
Foley. A motion was made and passed to approve the minutes of the December 2 nd
meeting of the commission.
At this organizational meeting for the new year, the 2021 officers were elected:
Chair -Carrie McLemore
Vice-Chair -Amy Foley
Secretary -Miranda Schrubbe
Chief School Financial Officer for Baldwin County Public Schools John Wilson
presented a year-end financial update, showing ad valorem (3-mill) and probate
(car tag) revenue collected and expenses paid, broken down by FY 20, FY 21, and as
of December 31 st , 2020. He also shared the estimated total revenues and approved
budgeted expenditures for the school year along with actual totals. Budgeted and
actual expenditures for each school are broken down separately as well. See
attached financial update report.
Mr. Wilson noted that personnel expenditures are managed at the county level and
paid over 12 months; non-personnel expenditures are managed at the school level
and paid with funds that have been transferred to the school accounts. Because of
delays in finding and hiring personnel at the beginning of the school year related to
reconfiguration of the elementary schools and adjustments to the pandemic
environment, actual personnel expenditures will be lower than budgeted for the
school year and those unspent funds will carry over. Looking ahead, Mr. Wilson
suggests that the commission adjust the cycle for approval of requests to better
align with the fiscal year on which the system operates (October 1 through
September 30), and agreed to return to a future meeting to lead a work session to
plan for the upcoming cycle. He confirmed that the school system would again
accommodate approved budgeted expenditures for the next school year prior to
collection of revenues in order to have personnel and materials in place when
school starts in August. The process in this first year has gone very smoothly, and
seeing the successes in Fairhope and Spanish Fort, Mr. Wilson said that other
communities are moving ahead with efforts to secure the additional funding for
their schools.
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A change to the time of the commission meetings has not yet been made. The next
meeting of t h e FPSC will be on February 3rd at 4:30 p.m. at the Nix Center.
Respectfully submitted by
Miranda Schrubbe