​Calvert County Public Schools Proposes Tightening Credit Card Use For Staff

PRINCE FREDERICK, Md. — Calvert County’s Board of Education (BOE) heard proposed changes to Policy #1700, regarding authorized credit card use, with the goal to provide “clarity” to the policy.

Chief Financial Officer Christine Jewett presented the changes at the April 9 meeting. One of the changes included expanding the definition of “credit card” in the policy to include procurement cards, vendor cards, fuel cards and limited vendor-issued charge accounts.

“The expansion of the term credit cards really ensures that all forms of card-based purchasing are governed under one consistent policy framework,” Jewett said.

The second change to the policy reinforces the permitted and authorized use of the credit card, which, according to Jewett, is not explicitly stated in the current policy. The updated language says that credit cards may only be used for legitimate school system business, and that purchases “must be reasonable, must be necessary, must be budgeted, and cost-effective, and that the credit cards may not be used to bypass our standard purchasing requirements.”

Finally, the last change addresses accountability and clarifies expectations for cardholders, supporting strong internal controls and regular audit requirements. Consequences for those who don’t follow the guidelines or misuse the cards will be outlined in school procedures and are not in this policy.

The updated policy does not increase spending limits, does not weaken purchasing controls and does not allow for exceptions outside of board action, according to Jewett. Policy #1700 will be posted for 30 days, after which the board will vote to accept or deny the changes.