By JIM BUTLER
Wilton Barrios wants to discuss at today’s School Board Finance Committee meeting options of using cash at events and for fees.
The board in January rescinded its no-cash rule for events but kept it in place for fees and other school expenses.
That came following last November’s move to no cash for any school-related payments.
Board members agreed the populace wasn’t ready for a cash-free approach.
That was implemented as part of a response to continuing cash accounting problems at individual schools.
The board’s most recent audit noted the problems remained. Various steps have been taken since November to bolster cash care at the school level.
Barrios has several items on the agenda of a special board meeting following committee meetings.
A $320,000 change order would increase the Tioga Field House contract to $8.52 million.
The change, an alternate included in the bid package, would add a parking lot and associated components as well as keyless locks at laundry lockers to the Pat Williams Construction contract with a new completion date of next March 28.
A $92,000 change order to Cenla Contracting’s construction of a gym addition at Tioga Elementary would add two restrooms bringing the total to $680,000.
Increases in budgets for two projects are proposed – $1.1 million to total of $1.3 million for a track at Tioga High and $110,000 to total of $285,000 for the school driveway and drainage.
Also preceding the board meeting, District 62 (Wards 1 & 8) will discuss how to divvy up about $6.5 million still available for use from a $100 million bond issue.
When the issue was approved there were three high school feeder systems in the district — ASH, Bolton and Peabody — and funding was apportioned 40-30-30 reflecting student counts.
With Bolton’s conversion to a competitive academy ASH and Peabody are the feeder systems, the former with about 3,400 total students, the latter about 100 fewer.
Two proposed options use a per pupil formula, another a 50-50 split between the feeder networks and the fourth proposes allocating some amount to Bolton and to the three Montessori schools (Brasher, Peabody, Rosenthal) that got none under the initial bonding and splitting the rest evenly among the other District 62 schools.
The Education Committee will discuss and possibly take action to direct the administration to engage with the City of Alexandria and the Police Jury about potential youth programming in the Monroe street area.
Committee meetings begin at 4 p.m.