The Cumberland County Board of Education met yesterday for a special session.

Only two items were on the agenda.

The first was a line-item budget amendment for $2.21 million for renovations to South Cumberland Elementary School.

Chris King made a motion to remove the amendment from the agenda. It did not receive support from the school board.

Rebecca Hamby made a motion to approve the amendment. It received a second.

That is about as far as it went.

Prior to the motion, Cumberland County Commissioner John Patterson addressed the board of education during public comments.

“If you approve this, you will drop to only $400,000 in the surplus funding balance for this fiscal year. There are other issues needing to be addressed, including safety matters,” said Patterson.

The board learned the director of schools did not recommend the amendment, which would violate a policy if the board approved it.

Policy 2.201 states that line-item transfers within major categories shall be made upon the recommendation of the Director of Schools and approval by the school board.

Even if the school board approved the amendment, it would have gone to the county budget committee, the county commission, and the state for approval.

School board members tabled the amendment to get more information and for a possible recommendation from the director of schools.

The second topic on the agenda was discussing the renovation at South Cumberland Elementary School. The school board chose to move that issue to a future work session.