Can you explain how credit cards work in Schools?

Quick Answer - School Districts, like all government agencies, have policies in place for what can and cannot be spent on a credit card. Those expenditures are reviewed, approved, and audited annually. Milton-Union school has a policy, like ALL other Districts, which is followed. Documentation is available for each purchase, which is attached to the credit card, along with a Purchase Order that clearly reflects where the money to fund the purchase is coming from.

It is easy to assume that the School District credit card is like a personal credit card, but that is an incorrect assumption. They are VERY different, due to the number of people who have access to utilize them, and thankfully the District has safe-guards in place to assure that spending is in line with pre-approved purchases via Purchase Order. There are no audit findings or otherwise that show the District is doing anything other than paying for supplies, food, equipment, and other pre-approved expenditures, as you would expect.

The majority of the expenses on the credit cards are made by the District for utilities, by teachers for student rewards, or by sports teams or services groups. From what we found teams and groups fund their payments with their hard earned fundraising efforts. This is their money that they raise for trips and events, and not the schools money. They utilize the school's credit card, because they are tracked, confirmed, and audited, to assure compliance with the school's policies.

Some examples that have been brought up that have NO general fund (i.e. tax dollar) money involved.

Hilton Hotel Stays - FFA State Convention - Paid by FFA

Crumbl - Huber Heights - $139.90 - Senior Picnic - Privately funded (student account)

Anthony Thomas Chocolates - Columbus - $20 - FFA - Paid by FFA

Raising Canes - Hilliard - $87.87- FFA - Paid by FFA

Raising Canes - Huber Heights - $1,610.16 - FFA - Paid by FFA

Buckeye Burger - West Milton - $1,069.50 - Senior Picnic - Privately funded (student account)

Camp Cedar RV Resort - $448.01 - District Tennis Expenditure for travel - Paid by Tennis

Southwest Airline Flight - $169.96 - BPA Trip - Reimbursed by CTC for Advisor

Long Answer - MUA made a public records request for January, 2024 - June, 2024 Credit Card reports along with the vouchers (minus utilities), which explain what the payments were for. We reviewed all of the expenditures and looked at all of the vouchers. As noted above, the majority of the expenditures were for specific events (senior picnic) or groups (FFA, BPA, Tennis, etc.), who utilized the credit cards, but the PO used to pay it off clearly notes NON-GENERAL FUND sources. This mean it is paid for by private funds or student funds, not the school or taxpayers.

There were multiple expenditures for "student rewards" and utility payments that were paid for by the District. When looking at the credit card statements, it can be easily noted that the majority of the expenditures placed on the card are for utilities - AES, CP Energy, Frontier, etc. They are paid off monthly and do not show a balance. The student rewards were usually pizza from Fox's Den, or candy or trinkets from Sam's Club or Kroger.

We reviewed ALL the expenditures over those months and can say that the people who are using these credit cards, look to be following the policies and procedures of the District.

You can certainly look at each expense and not agree that a group should spend money on the kids for FFA, BPA, sports teams, or otherwise, but what is clear is that nothing they are doing is illegal or improper; and the most of the expenditures (other than utility and student rewards) are not funded by the general fund, they were fundraised for by these groups for that exact purpose. And please understand that if the cards were being used improperly, the person or people using the card would be held accountable by the Administration and the Board.

Please note in the policy: "Persons using the District's credit card for personal, non-authorized purposes, or undocumented expenditures shall be held responsible for those expenditures".

We spent hours going through these statements, because that is what it took to try and find anything that wasn't documented correctly, and we were not successful. We can post additional documents, but honestly, these documents are not anything unique or special to the Milton-Union District. The credit card statements and the vouchers reflect purchase dates, PO's utilized, and funding lines. These policies and the enforcement of them has been reviewed annually through a State Audit, and there have not been any findings against the District.

We strongly support our teachers and administrators at the District and their ability to understand these credit card policies and know that they will do what is best for our children and the district as a whole.