DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
P.O.
SUPTS. MEMO NO. 18
May 12, 2006
ADMINISTRATIVE
|
TO: |
Division
Superintendents |
|
FROM: |
Patricia
I. Wright Acting
Superintendent of Public Instruction |
|
SUBJECT: |
|
The Virginia Public
School Authority (VPSA) has sold the spring 2006 Educational Technology Notes,
Series VI. The proceeds from these notes
provide the next installment of funds in the educational technology grant
program, which provides support for school divisions to develop and implement
the Standards of Learning (SOL) Web-based Technology Initiative. Funding for this program is targeted to
achieve the following four goals:
The VPSA sold the
spring 2006 Educational Technology Notes, Series VI, on May 2, 2006, and is
planning to close the notes deal on May 25, 2006. Proceeds of the Series VI
notes will be made available for reimbursement of qualifying expenditures to
school divisions following the scheduled closing on May 25, 2006.
Due to the limited
number of business days between the notes issuance date and the end of fiscal
year 2006, reimbursements that need to be received by school divisions by June
30, 2006, must be received by the Department of Education electronically and
the original signature page sent to the department, as indicated below, by June
16, 2006, to ensure sufficient time to process the requests for payment. Please note that no requests for
reimbursement may be processed until the note proceeds have officially been
issued.
Attachment A to this
memorandum lists the local grant allocations for the Series VI VPSA note
issue. Grants to school divisions for
the Series VI notes are based on $26,000 per school and $50,000 per school
division. Eligible schools include those
reporting fall membership as of September 30, 2005, as well as division and
regional vocational, special education, and alternative education centers,
regular school year Governors Schools, and the two
Consistent with
previous VPSA notes, payments to school divisions and regional centers will be
on a reimbursement basis only. School
divisions and regional centers must first complete payments for the qualifying
equipment purchased and then file a Series VI reimbursement request with the
Department of Education. School
divisions and regional centers that adopted a reimbursement resolution and made
expenditures prior to the issuance of the Series VI notes are required to
certify that all reimbursements are qualifying reimbursements. School divisions and regional centers may not
be reimbursed for qualifying expenditures incurred more than 60 days prior to
the adoption of a reimbursement resolution.
Please note that reimbursements for the Series VI issue for regional
vocational, regional special education, Governors Schools, and regional
alternative education centers may be made directly to the regional centers. School divisions will not be required to
deposit the regional centers share of the note proceeds in their account and
then pass those proceeds to the regional center.
The Series VI
reimbursement request form is a downloadable Excel template. This file is available on the Department of
Educations website at:
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Technology/soltech/docs/Reimburse
Spr06Series6.xls.
The
Series VI reimbursement form includes certification provisions that incorporate
federal and state requirements regarding capital expenditures that qualify for
reimbursement. School divisions are
primarily responsible for determining whether requests for reimbursement are
permissible under federal and state requirements. School division officials should carefully
read and initial the certification provisions to ensure that none of their
reimbursement requests violate any of the stated provisions.
Because
the reimbursement request form incorporates the certification provisions,
divisions are not required to submit copies of supporting documentation to the
Department of Education; however, copies of all supporting documents (invoices,
work orders, statements, etc.) for which reimbursement is to be made must be
retained by the school division for at least five years in the event an audit
is required. All reimbursement requests
for the VPSA Series VI notes issue must be made using the above-referenced Series
VI form. The Department of Education
will review the reimbursement request and, when approved, file the request on
behalf of the school division with the Virginia State Non-Arbitrage Program
(SNAP), which serves as the investment and account manager for the note
proceeds. Please note that no reimbursement requests for the Series VI notes
will be approved until all of the divisions grant allocations from notes
Series III, IV, and V (Spring 2003, Spring 2004, and Spring 2005) are spent. Please see Attachments B, C, and D to this
memorandum which provide the Series III, IV, and V allocation balances for each
school division and regional program.
To improve
information security, the department changed the reimbursement process for the
VPSA Technology Notes beginning with the spring 2005 issuance. Earlier versions of the VPSA Technology
reimbursement form provided a section for localities to enter their bank
routing number and account number each time they requested a
reimbursement. This section has been
removed and all school divisions and regional programs will need to provide
their bank routing number and account number directly to the State
Non-Arbitrage Program (SNAP) before SNAP executes the actual payment of
proceeds from VPSA to the school division or regional program.
Attachment G to this
memo provides the SNAP VPSA Technology Notes Withdrawal Instructions form. If you have not completed this form or if you
need to make changes to wire instructions previously submitted to SNAP, please
complete and sign Attachment G and return the form to SNAP prior to requesting
any further reimbursements. The completed form should be faxed to Nelson Bush
or Stacy Lutz, SNAP representatives, at 1-800-252-9551. If you have not completed this form, the
Department of Education will hold all requests for reimbursements until SNAP
confirms receipt of your certified bank account information. SNAP will maintain
all bank information and, if needed, will assist divisions who need to amend
such information. If you have any questions regarding Attachment G, please
contact Nelson Bush or Stacy Lutz of SNAP at 1-800-570-SNAP.
Proceeds from the
Series IV, V, and Series VI issues may not be used for middle schools until all
high schools in your division have achieved Stage 2 High School Readiness
Certification. See Administrative
Supts. Memo No. 27, dated May 17, 2002, for additional information on
certification procedures. Also, the proceeds of the Series IV, V, and Series VI
notes may not be used for elementary schools until all middle schools in your
division have achieved Stage 2 Middle School Readiness Certification.
Procedures for achieving all levels of school readiness certification are explained
in the following document:
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Technology/soltech/docs/School_Readiness_
Doc.pdf.
The School Readiness
Certification workbook is a downloadable Excel template. This file is available on the Department of
Educations website at:
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Technology/soltech/docs/School_Readiness_
Cert.xls.
If expenditures for
middle or elementary schools are submitted prior to achieving the appropriate
certifications, those expenditures cannot be reimbursed until after the
readiness certifications have been achieved.
Please submit all
Series VI requests for reimbursement using the Series VI reimbursement request
form referenced above. E-mail your completed request to Richard Schley at ISSUE6@doe.virginia.gov.
In addition, please mail a signed copy of the reimbursement form to the
following address:
Richard Schley
Office of Instructional Technology
No
requests for reimbursement will be processed until the Department of Education
has received both the electronic Series VI form and your signed hardcopy Series
VI form with each certification initialed.
Educational
Technology Notes, Series V (Spring 2005):
As initially
announced in Administrative
Supts. Memo No. 15, dated April 1, 2005, the Series V notes were sold by
the VPSA in May 2005. Proceeds of the Series V notes were available to school
divisions for reimbursement of qualifying expenditures on and after the closing
date of May 25, 2005. For grant allocations of Series V VPSA notes, see Attachment
A to Administrative Supts. Memo No. 15, dated April 1, 2005, (also included
with Attachment B to this memorandum). These proceeds continue to be available
to divisions for reimbursement of qualifying expenditures for 18 months from
the Series V closing date. All reimbursement
forms for the Series V issue must be submitted to the department no later than
September 15, 2006. No reimbursement
requests for the Series V or VI notes will be approved until the divisions
Educational Technology Notes, Series III and IV note proceeds are spent. Attachment B to this memorandum provides a
status of the Series V grant balances.
For
divisions and regional programs that have not completed reimbursement of
expenditures from the Series V VPSA notes, the procedures outlined in Administrative
Supts. Memo No. 15, dated April 1, 2005, should be followed, and the Series
V reimbursement request form should be used.
The Series V reimbursement request form is a downloadable Excel template
available on the Department of Educations website located at:
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Technology/soltech/docs/ReimburseSpr05Serie
s5.xls.
Educational
Technology Notes, Series IV (Spring 2004):
As
initially announced in Administrative
Supts. Memo No. 16, dated May 21, 2004, the Series IV notes were sold by
the VPSA in June 2004. Proceeds of the Series IV notes were available to school
divisions for reimbursement of qualifying expenditures on and after the closing
date of June 24, 2004. Attachment C to
this memorandum provides the status of the Series IV grant balances. No reimbursement requests for the Series IV,
V, or VI notes will be approved until the divisions Educational Technology
Notes, Series III note proceeds are spent and reimbursed.
For
divisions and regional programs that have not completed reimbursement of
expenditures from the Series IV VPSA notes, the procedures outlined in Administrative
Supts. Memo No. 16, dated May 21, 2004, should be followed, and the Series
IV reimbursement request form should be used.
The Series IV reimbursement request form is a downloadable Excel
template available on the Department of Educations website located at:
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Technology/soltech/docs/ReimburseSpr04Serie
s4.xls.
Please note that the
Department of Education has set a deadline of September 15, 2006, to complete
all reimbursements from the Series IV notes.
Series IV note proceeds allocated to school divisions and regional
programs that have not been reimbursed from SNAP by September 15, 2006, will be
used by the Department of Treasury to pay debt service on the notes and will no
longer be available to reimburse the school divisions and regional programs. In
order to accomplish all reimbursements by the September 15, 2006, deadline,
requests for reimbursement from the Series IV proceeds must be received by the
department electronically and the original signature page sent to the
department, as indicated below, by September 8, 2006, to ensure sufficient time
to process the requests.
Division
superintendents and regional program directors with unspent Series 2004
proceeds will be notified in writing by the department and asked to acknowledge
the September 8, 2006, deadline to complete reimbursements from the Series IV
notes as provided on Attachment C or forfeit the remaining balances.
Educational Technology Notes, Series III (Spring 2003):
As initially announced in Administrative Supts. Memo No. 12, dated March 14, 2003, the Series III notes were sold by the VPSA in May 2003. Proceeds of the Series III notes were available to school divisions for reimbursement of qualifying expenditures on and after the closing date of May 28, 2003. Attachment D to this memorandum provides the status of the Series III allocation balance. No reimbursement requests for the Series IV, V, or VI notes will be approved until the divisions Educational Technology Notes, Series III note proceeds are spent and reimbursed.
For regional programs that have not completed reimbursement of expenditures from the Series III notes, the procedures outlined in Administrative Supts. Memo No. 12, dated March 14, 2003, should be followed, and the Series III reimbursement request form should be used. The Series III reimbursement request form is a downloadable Excel template available on the Department of Educations Web site located at:
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Technology/soltech/docs/ReimburseSpr03Serie
s3.xls.
Please note that the
Department of Education has set a deadline of September 15, 2006, to complete
all reimbursements from the Series III notes.
Series III note proceeds allocated to regional programs that have not
been reimbursed from SNAP by September 15, 2006, will be used by the Department
of Treasury to pay debt service on the notes and will no longer be available to
reimburse the regional programs. In order to accomplish all reimbursements by the
September 15, 2006, deadline, requests for reimbursement from the Series III
proceeds must be received by the department electronically and the original
signature page sent to the department, as indicated below, by September 8,
2006, to ensure sufficient time to process the requests.
Regional program
directors with unspent Series 2003 proceeds will be notified in writing by the
department and asked to acknowledge the September 8, 2006, deadline to complete
reimbursements from the Series III notes as provided on Attachment D or forfeit
the remaining balances.
Educational
Technology Notes, Series VII (Spring 2007):
The
Governors Introduced 2006-2008 biennial budget includes funding to continue
the educational technology notes program in fiscal years 2007 and 2008 with
debt service paid through the Literary Fund.
The Governors 2006-2008 budget includes Virginia Public Schools
Authority (VPSA) equipment notes totaling approximately $58.9 million in fiscal
year 2007 and $59.0 million in fiscal year 2008 to be issued in the spring of
2007 and spring of 2008. Please note
that the proposed spring of 2007 and spring of 2008 VPSA equipment notes are
subject to final approval by the General Assembly.
The
2006-2008 introduced biennial budget maintains grant amounts at $26,000 per
school (for K-12 schools reporting fall membership and for various division and
regional programs) and $50,000 per school division. A required local match is maintained at 20
percent of the state grant amount, and 25 percent of the required local match
must be used for teacher training. The
continuation of the VPSA initiative is intended to increase school divisions
capability for Web-based instruction, remediation, and testing of the Standards
of Learning.
The proposed budget
also updates the number of schools eligible for funding under the VPSA
technology grants. Funding to school
divisions for the VPSA technology grant program has been increased by $312,000
in fiscal year 2007 and by $624,000 in fiscal year 2008 based on an anticipated
increase in the number of reported schools. Attachment E to this memorandum
lists the estimated local grant allocations for the Series VII note issue.
School divisions that have spent all of their Series III, IV, V,
and Series VI note proceeds and that have adopted a reimbursement resolution
for the Series VII (Spring 2007) notes issue may make purchases in support of
the Web-based SOL Technology Initiative; however, please be aware that the note
proceeds will not be available for reimbursement until after the closing of the
notes sale, which will likely be in late spring 2007. Please be aware that, prior to incurring any
costs, the local school board must state its intention to use the proceeds of
the equipment notes to reimburse that payment. This must be done through a
reimbursement resolution adopted by the local school board. A sample resolution
is provided as Attachment F to this memorandum. Please note that divisions may
not reimburse themselves for project-related expenditures incurred more than 60
days prior to the adoption of the resolution.
Again, please note that the proposed spring of 2007 and spring of 2008
VPSA equipment notes are subject to final approval by the General Assembly. Any changes in the notes issue as proposed will
be communicated to you in a subsequent superintendents memorandum.
If you have
questions relating to the financing or determination of qualifying
reimbursements, please call the budget staff at (804) 225-2025. If you have questions relating to qualifying
equipment that may be purchased from the VPSA note proceeds (i.e., hardware,
software), please call Richard Schley in the Office of Instructional Technology
at (804) 371-6882.
PIW/bkl/keo
Attachments
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/administrators/superintendents_memos/2006/adm018a.pdf
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/administrators/superintendents_memos/2006/adm018b.pdf
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/administrators/superintendents_memos/2006/adm018c.pdf
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/administrators/superintendents_memos/2006/adm018d.pdf
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/administrators/superintendents_memos/2006/adm018e.pdf
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/administrators/superintendents_memos/2006/adm018f.pdf
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/administrators/superintendents_memos/2006/adm018g.pdf