Clay School Board Establishes Budget Committee To Begin Budget Season

The Clay County School Board voted unanimously to create a budget committee.

Chair Benji Bailey brought the idea before the board at its Thursday night meeting. He said that with current projects, funding formula changes, and it being new director Diana Monroe’s first budget season, it would be worth considering.

“My thought is that it gives Ashley and Ms. Monroe both maybe a little more direction in the times ahead that are more uncertain, especially in terms of a funding standpoint,” Bailey said.

Director of Finance Ashley Holmes said that the budget would ideally be finalized by June 9th so that she could bring it before the County Commission at the final meeting of the fiscal year at the end of June.

Bailey said that the creation of a budget committee is something the board has never done before, but that it is allowed in the school board’s policies. The committee is made up of Bailey and five other volunteers from the school board.

“It would be similar in my mind to our collective conferencing, MOU meetings,” Bailey said. “We’ve technically got a committee for that, but we’ve opened it up to everyone because we needed and wanted everyone’s participation. The budget committee would be no different than that.”

Bailey said that any budget work done by the committee would serve as a recommendation to the whole board. He said that the budget would still have to get approval from the board itself.