New football helmets, carts to carry laptop computers around schools and cameras to mount inside school buses are some of the items Washington County Public Schools is buying this fiscal year as part of budget adjustments.
The schedule to replace the helmets and carts was accelerated, and several requests by managers for supplies, rather than equipment, were granted by transferring $751,390 for instructional textbooks and supplies, according to third-quarter budget adjustments the Board of Education unanimously approved Tuesday.
School system officials overestimated the cost to educate incarcerated students, an amount that, due to a 2011 state law, must be reimbursed to the Department of Juvenile Justice, Chief Financial Officer Chris South said Tuesday. As a result, that line item was reduced by $184,392. Some of those savings are being used to replace outdated musical, theater and athletic equipment, according to a presentation document for Tuesday’s board meeting.
The student transportation services budget received $290,837 for the increased cost of diesel fuel, cameras for school buses and getting started on adding a new bus wash system this fiscal year rather than waiting until July, according to the document.
