YUHSD to look at grants, retirement fund
The Yuma Union High School District will consider a supplemental retirement fund bid and several grants to fund operations among other agenda items Wednesday, according to a district official.
The Strategic Alliance for Volume Expenditures (SAVE) is a collaboration of 50 to 60 school districts that helped identify a number of bidders for employee 403B and 457 retirement plans, Richard Faidley, associate superintendent said.
"We tied on to an evaluation done in Glendale that did a bid for 403B providers and scored proposals utilizing a rubric to interview nine vendors," Faidley said.
The list was narrowed down to five companies district employees may invest a supplemental pension fund with: AIG, ING, The Hartford/Edward Jones, Metropolitan Life and Security Benefit.
"The nice thing about the alliance is it provides a robust, cost effective and comprehensive 403B and 457," Faidley said. "It's not a requirement but an option available to any employee to choose among five companies they want to contribute to a supplemental pension and by adopting the bid YUHSD is in compliance with IRS regulations."
ING, a financial services company serving corporate and institutional clients has been recommended as a third party administrator that will charge no fee to any employee who choose to contribute. Typically third parties charge $50 to $60 per employee, Faidley said.
The district will also consider three grants. Under Title IV's the Safe and Drug Free Schools grant, YUHSD will get $47,534 paired with a Chemical Abuse grant of $5,495. Under Title IV, the U.S. distributes grants for individual states to manage themselves yet is flexible about how expenditures are made but all resources go to strengthen drug prevention, he said.
A $197,499 Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) grant will bolster site specific emergency response plans. It will provide audits and crisis protocol training along with evaluations of site plans and drills and basic emergency supplies. The emergency planning drills have included the Yuma Police department and the Yuma Fire Department in ongoing discussions with experts in the field and a federal grant, Faidley said.
The last grant is an Accept Advanced Placement Incentive Program grant provided by the U.S. Department of Education. Out of $12.4 million available nationwide, Yuma County will get $2.5 million to increase its number of honors students and advanced placement courses. It also supports the development of the Advanced Via Individual Determination (AVID) program that focuses on first generation college bound students.
In addition, the board will consider a revised strategic plan that was initiated last year that set goals. After gathering input from 4,000 people in the community among business leaders, the city council, the board of supervisors, community colleges, and others, a 70-member panel was formed to narrow their priorities and decided to focus on student success, provide opportunity for higher academic growth, and promote and support school-wide participation in extra curricula activities, Faidley said.
The YUHSD meeting is open to the public in the governing board room of 3150 S. Avenue A and will begin at 5 p.m., Wednesday. For further information residents may call 502-4600.
----
William Roller may be reached at wroller@yumasun.com or 539-6858.
