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School board complies to county’s records request — or most of it
Mediation over budget dispute between two boards continues tonight
By EUGENE L. TINKLEPAUGH, Staff Writer
Betwixt mediation negotiations that may develop into a lawsuit, Beaufort County commissioners have asked for and will receive a stack, four inches thick, of public documents to study a claim by the county’s public school system that it needs more money to operate.
Beaufort County Board of Education’s Chairman Bryant Hardison, in the form of a letter, said OK to the county’s list of demands for public records. Well, to some of them. A few won’t be available by the county-imposed deadline that ends at 9 a.m. today, and one of the requests is for information not handled by the school system.
Hardison’s letter, dated Tuesday — the same day commissioners’ Chairman Jay McRoy sent a letter to school officials for an electronic copy of all things financial — states that it would be “impossible for us to meet your request to provide all of the information” within the 48-hour timeframe.
Much of the information will be available to the county manager by 9 a.m., the letter states, but not in the format McRoy requested.
In his letter to Hardison, McRoy asked the information on salaries, contracts, attorneys’ fees and utility costs, among other things, be prepared in a spreadsheet or database file to allow the data to be easily studied.
Hardison replied, stating school officials “cannot convert the information” as requested but the information would be provided from available reports in existing formats.
The county’s public documents request comes in the middle of a $1 million budget dispute between the school board and its funding source, the county. A spending plan approved by county commissioners in June gives a 3-percent increase to the school system’s local current expense fund. The school board was asking for about 13 percent to maintain services and not cut positions. The difference comes to almost $1 million that the school board would have had to cut from its operating expenses.
Rather than axing a million dollars in the budget, the school board passed a resolution authorizing it to sue the county if a more suitable agreement cannot be reached.
The resolution states, in part, the school’s budget was not crafted based on the system’s needs or the county’s ability to pay. It also alleges three of the seven sitting commissioners sought personal favors in exchange for support of fully funding the school board’s request.
In addition to a wealth of personnel information, McRoy asked to see counts depicting the county’s student-to-teacher ratio; a listing of each system-owned facility and associated costs; and a breakdown of the costs related to a mailing on Board of Education letterhead, which was sent out to garner support for the school system at the July 5 joint meeting of the two public bodies.
Those details will be provided to county commissioners today, Hardison’s letter states.
Separate requests for all travel expenses of every employee whose cumulative costs exceed $300 and for professional or service contracts and charges would be “difficult to compile” in 48 hours and would not likely be available for commissioners’ review today, the letter continues.
Travel expenses, Hardison said, would have to be compiled by hand from a “large variety of different sources.”
McRoy also requested information on the total annual cost of school uniforms, the revenue from the sale of uniforms and copies of sales tax returns from those transactions.
But according to Hardison, school uniform sales are not a function of the school system.
Superintendent Jeff Moss said Wednesday those duties fall on the Beaufort County Education Foundation, a nonprofit organization.
McRoy’s letter follows county action taken after a closed session Monday. Commissioners plan to review the requested material in a special session today at 11 a.m. The reconvened meeting is to study and discuss school system budget information in preparation for tonight’s return to mediation between the county and the school board.
That mediation session is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. and will be held behind closed doors. Negotiating teams from each side and attorneys representing the boards will participate in the search for a compromise. Before a settlement can be reached, both boards must approve in open session any agreement the negotiating teams come to.
If an impasse is declared on or before Aug. 1, then the matter could be brought before Beaufort County Superior Court.
By EUGENE L. TINKLEPAUGH, Staff Writer
Betwixt mediation negotiations that may develop into a lawsuit, Beaufort County commissioners have asked for and will receive a stack, four inches thick, of public documents to study a claim by the county’s public school system that it needs more money to operate.
Beaufort County Board of Education’s Chairman Bryant Hardison, in the form of a letter, said OK to the county’s list of demands for public records. Well, to some of them. A few won’t be available by the county-imposed deadline that ends at 9 a.m. today, and one of the requests is for information not handled by the school system.
Hardison’s letter, dated Tuesday — the same day commissioners’ Chairman Jay McRoy sent a letter to school officials for an electronic copy of all things financial — states that it would be “impossible for us to meet your request to provide all of the information” within the 48-hour timeframe.
Much of the information will be available to the county manager by 9 a.m., the letter states, but not in the format McRoy requested.
In his letter to Hardison, McRoy asked the information on salaries, contracts, attorneys’ fees and utility costs, among other things, be prepared in a spreadsheet or database file to allow the data to be easily studied.
Hardison replied, stating school officials “cannot convert the information” as requested but the information would be provided from available reports in existing formats.
The county’s public documents request comes in the middle of a $1 million budget dispute between the school board and its funding source, the county. A spending plan approved by county commissioners in June gives a 3-percent increase to the school system’s local current expense fund. The school board was asking for about 13 percent to maintain services and not cut positions. The difference comes to almost $1 million that the school board would have had to cut from its operating expenses.
Rather than axing a million dollars in the budget, the school board passed a resolution authorizing it to sue the county if a more suitable agreement cannot be reached.
The resolution states, in part, the school’s budget was not crafted based on the system’s needs or the county’s ability to pay. It also alleges three of the seven sitting commissioners sought personal favors in exchange for support of fully funding the school board’s request.
In addition to a wealth of personnel information, McRoy asked to see counts depicting the county’s student-to-teacher ratio; a listing of each system-owned facility and associated costs; and a breakdown of the costs related to a mailing on Board of Education letterhead, which was sent out to garner support for the school system at the July 5 joint meeting of the two public bodies.
Those details will be provided to county commissioners today, Hardison’s letter states.
Separate requests for all travel expenses of every employee whose cumulative costs exceed $300 and for professional or service contracts and charges would be “difficult to compile” in 48 hours and would not likely be available for commissioners’ review today, the letter continues.
Travel expenses, Hardison said, would have to be compiled by hand from a “large variety of different sources.”
McRoy also requested information on the total annual cost of school uniforms, the revenue from the sale of uniforms and copies of sales tax returns from those transactions.
But according to Hardison, school uniform sales are not a function of the school system.
Superintendent Jeff Moss said Wednesday those duties fall on the Beaufort County Education Foundation, a nonprofit organization.
McRoy’s letter follows county action taken after a closed session Monday. Commissioners plan to review the requested material in a special session today at 11 a.m. The reconvened meeting is to study and discuss school system budget information in preparation for tonight’s return to mediation between the county and the school board.
That mediation session is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. and will be held behind closed doors. Negotiating teams from each side and attorneys representing the boards will participate in the search for a compromise. Before a settlement can be reached, both boards must approve in open session any agreement the negotiating teams come to.
If an impasse is declared on or before Aug. 1, then the matter could be brought before Beaufort County Superior Court.
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