Incoming high school students for 2007 and beyond will now officially be required to take financial literacy to graduate, after the Board of Education voted to revise its policy.
That decision was one of several involving revamped or revisited items before the school board, which also unanimously voted to approve a school-related fundraising policy and reviewed guidelines for a new audit committee that would help oversee the school system's financial reporting processes and review internal controls.
Board members re-examined these various issues -- discussed or voted on in the past -- during a meeting last week. Some members made clear that time had not changed their views on certain policies.
After Superintendent Charles I. Ecker explained the need to align policy with the board's October decision to require a half-credit financial literacy class, for example, Vice President Cynthia Foley reiterated her opposition and was the only member to vote against the measure.
"I don't support this," Foley said. "I would have preferred that we address financial literacy in a different way where we worked on changing behavior."
Presenting such information as a tiny portion of the high school curriculum is not enough, she said.
Ecker agreed with Foley about the need for financial lessons, and said elementary- and middle-school students are engaging in money-related subjects.
"There are other areas in the curriculum when we do talk about it," he said.
Foley added that it was important to ensure the availability of other half-credit courses to pair with the new requirement.
When the board turned its attention to the fundraising policy, member Barbara Shreeve said no one had received any comments from the public, although they had been solicited after a discussion two months ago.
"That's kind of disappointing," Shreeve said.
She had previously said the banner ads -- which can be 2 feet by 3 or 6 feet, according to the regulations -- should not block spectators' views.
Shreeve had added that she saw athletic boosters as the primary users of such fundraising methods, as other groups tend to hold their activities inside.
Administrative regulations state that the $500 or $1,000 banners would hang on "stadium fences during regularly scheduled home events," and would not be displayed for indoor ones.
Exceptions to that rule include the Carroll County Career and Technology Center and the Gateway School, which do not have stadiums.
Besides the policy votes, the members also examined a set of draft regulations for the creation of an audit committee -- a body Ecker had described in a March draft proposal, in response to recommendations from external and legislative audits.
The new group represents another step the school system has taken after a couple of cases of theft involving financial secretaries who allegedly siphoned funds from school-based accounts.
Among its duties, the committee would oversee all the internal and external audits, said Stephen Guthrie, assistant superintendent of administration.
Ecker would recommend members -- seven in all, including the superintendent and a board representative, as well as five community "members-at-large" -- who would be subject to the school board's approval.
"It's a good oversight," Ecker said of the committee, which is slated to start by Jan. 1, if not sooner.
arin.gencer@baltsun.com