COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
P.O. BOX 2120
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 23218-2120
SUPTS. MEMO NO. 131
July 1, 2005
INFORMATIONAL
|
TO: |
Division
Superintendents |
|
FROM: |
Jo Lynne
DeMary Superintendent
of Public Instruction |
|
SUBJECT: |
Transmittal
of “Statement of Administrative Impact and Project Costs of Implementation”
for the Promulgation of the Proposed Regulations Governing Reduction of
State Aid When Length of School Term Below 180 Teaching Days or 990 Teaching
Hours |
As part of its responsibility for promulgating new
regulations or revisions to existing regulations, the Board of Education is
required to develop a statement of the administrative impact and projected cost
to school divisions of implementing and complying with such regulations. The board and the Department of Education
are required to send a copy of the statement to each division superintendent.
The 2004 General Assembly passed three bills that
amended Section 22.1-98 of the Code of Virginia regarding the reduction of
school aid when the length of the school term is below 180 days or 990
hours. The changes made by these bills
became effective upon passage. The
Board of Education promulgated emergency regulations that revised the
regulations that were already in place and incorporated these changes. They became effective on February 25, 2005,
and will expire on February 25, 2006.
In order to continue to effectuate the requirements of § 22.1-98, as
amended, final regulations must be promulgated before February 25, 2006.
The proposed permanent regulations are identical to
the emergency regulations that are now in effect. They include definitions of
“severe weather conditions or other emergency situations” and “declared
state of emergency.” The regulations
also include authorization for school divisions to make up missed teaching days
by providing equivalent teaching hours, specific requirements for the number of
teaching days or teaching hours that must be made up based on the number of
days a school has been closed, and a provision for the Board of Education to
waive the requirement that school divisions provide additional teaching days or
hours to compensate for school closings resulting from a declared state of
emergency. Further, the regulations
authorize the Superintendent of Public Instruction to approve reductions in the
school term without a proportionate reduction in the amount paid by the
commonwealth from the Basic School Aid Fund.
The regulations require school divisions to include
in requests for waivers evidence of efforts that have been made to reschedule
as many days as possible and to certify that every reasonable effort has been
made to make up lost teaching days or hours before requesting a waiver of this
requirement. The full text of the
proposed regulations is attached.
The regulations impose a new certification
requirement on school divisions. (See
paragraph B of 8VAC20-520-60.)
Currently, school divisions provide data to the department related to
financial information, compliance reporting, and state report card
information. These data are transmitted
in a variety of forms, ranging from Web-enabled data base collections to hard
copy submissions.
School divisions will be required to track missed school time and plans for make-up time in a format consistent with the department’s certification requirements. Even though school divisions already track missed instructional time and make-up days, the regulations will impose additional requirements because of issues related to conformity with state certification parameters.
It is expected that the administrative and fiscal
burden of the new reporting requirement could be absorbed within existing state
and local resources; however, it should be noted that additional reporting
requirements put an administrative burden on school divisions, especially those
that are small.
If you have any questions, please contact Michelle
Vucci, director of policy, at (804) 371-0558, or mailto: Michelle.Vucci@doe.virginia.gov.
JLD/MJP/jcj
Attachment
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/suptsmemos/2005/inf131a.pdf