DEPARTMENT
OF EDUCATION
P.
O.
SUPTS. MEMO NO. 042
September 22, 2006
ADMINISTRATIVE
|
TO: |
Division
Superintendents |
|
FROM: |
Billy K. Cannaday, Jr. Superintendent
of Public Instruction |
|
SUBJECT: |
Education
of Children in Foster Care Fiscal Year 2007 Reimbursement of Fiscal Year
2006 Local Costs Due:
November 3, 2006 |
Chapter 3, 2006 Acts of Assembly, Special Session I
(2006-2008 appropriation act), provides an additional state payment for the cost
of prior year local operations, as determined by the Department of Education,
for certain children placed in foster care.
The
state funding is provided for pupils who are not residents of the school
divisions that are providing their education and:
a) Who have been
placed in foster care or other custodial care within the geographical
boundaries of such school division by a
b) Who have been
placed in an orphanage or childrens home which exercises legal guardianship
rights; or
c) Who are residents
of
This
appropriation also provides funding to support children with disabilities
attending public schools who have been placed in foster care or other custodial
care across jurisdictional lines, as provided by subsection B of Section
22.1-101.1, Code of Virginia.
State
foster care funds are also available to school divisions that provided a
remedial summer school program for foster children in summer 2006 (fiscal year
2007), pursuant to Section 22.1-253.13:1 C., Code of Virginia. This funding is intended to reimburse
divisions for the local share of cost of providing remedial summer school
services to foster children.
For
fiscal year 2007, state payments for remedial summer school are based on the
local share (using the composite index) of $412 per eligible foster care child
enrolled as a remedial summer school pupil, subject to the availability of
state funds. School divisions providing
remedial summer school to foster children are entitled to this full per pupil
amount for remedial summer school based on the number of reported foster care
children who attend remedial summer school; however, this funding is provided
through two different funding streams (i.e., remedial summer school funding and
foster care funding) and must be claimed separately from each stream.
To
obtain the state share of remedial summer school funding, eligible foster care
students should be reported on the remedial summer school data collection for
FY 2007 (Summer 2006 program) as indicated in Administrative
Superintendents Memorandum Number 35, dated August 18, 2006. To obtain the
local share of remedial summer school funding, the same number of eligible
foster care students attending remedial summer school programs during Summer
2006 and that are reported pursuant to Administrative
Superintendents Memorandum Number 35 should be reported on the data
collection template accompanying this memorandum.
Administrative
Superintendents Memorandum Number 35 provides a detailed overview of the remedial
summer school program and reporting requirements as required by Section
22.1-199.2, Code of Virginia, and Board of Education regulation 8 VAC
20-630-20. These same program
requirements also apply for remedial summer school programs attended by foster
care children.
School
divisions that choose to report eligible foster care students for the local
share of remedial summer school funding must denote the foster childs
enrollment in an approved remedial summer school program in the downloadable
Excel data collection file provided by the department. When reporting eligible foster care students
for remedial summer school funding, each eligible student that is served may
only be counted once. Students should be
counted in this manner regardless of whether they are served in one or more
subject areas or single or multiple sessions during the 2005 remedial summer
school program. The funded per pupil
amount is based on the average cost of 30 days of instruction per student. There may be students who receive more
instruction or some who receive less, but each student should be counted only
once for state funding.
Foster Care Students in Fiscal Year 2007 New Reporting
Requirements
Previously,
the department notified school divisions in Informational
Superintendents Memorandum Number 125 of new requirements as enacted by Chapter
343, 2005 Virginia Acts of Assembly, (Senate
Bill 1006), for the enrollment of foster care children in public schools
and for the transfer of such students scholastic records upon enrollment. This legislation became effective on July 1,
2005. Consequently, since foster care
students are reimbursed in the following fiscal year, students who are eligible
to be reimbursed as foster care students pursuant to this provision will be
reimbursed in fiscal year 2007 for the fiscal year 2006 local costs for the
education of such children in foster care.
Beginning
with the fiscal year 2007 foster care reimbursement data collection, reporting
requirements for the 2005-2006 school year reimbursement certification will
incorporate the provisions of Senate Bill 1006, and school divisions are
directed to report on child counts and financial arrangements with sending or
receiving school divisions. Please note
that the fiscal year 2007 data collection template is different from prior
years; most notably, school divisions must report the Division Number of Legal
Residence, the Division Number of Receiving School Division, and the
Division Number of Serving School Division, for each regular education and
special education foster child included in the foster care report.
Attachment
A contains applicable Code of Virginia
sections and Board of Education regulations for your reference. Please review these sections of the Code of Virginia and regulations
carefully to ensure that only qualifying children in foster care are included
in the reimbursement report.
Filing for Reimbursement
As
with previous reimbursement reports, a downloadable Excel file has been created
to facilitate the collection of data used in the reimbursement of local
education costs for children in foster care.
Instructions for accessing the Excel file are provided in Attachment B
to this memorandum. The Excel file is located on the departments website and
can be downloaded from the following address:
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Finance/Budget/cdc/index.html
All of the forms
required for reimbursement, including the division superintendents
certification form and specific instructions for entering data, are included in
the Excel template.
All school divisions must complete the Excel
template and return it to the Department of Education by November 3, 2006, even
if no local education costs for qualifying foster care children were incurred by
the division in fiscal year 2006 and no reimbursement is being requested from
fiscal year 2007 state funds.
For school divisions not requesting
reimbursement, only minimal data entry is required in the Excel template in
order to generate the division superintendents certification form indicating
that no foster care student days are being claimed for reimbursement.
Please
submit the completed Excel file to the department via e-mail at k12budget@doe.virginia.gov. Please return a hard copy of the certification
form, signed by the division superintendent, to:
Attention: Budget
Office
Both
submissions (Excel file and signed certification form) are due no later than November 3, 2006.
The
Department of Education will make all calculations and disburse fiscal year 2007
foster care entitlements to divisions after the data collected from the 2005-2006
Annual School Report Financial Section and this memorandum are received from
all school divisions and verified by the department.
Questions
concerning this data collection should be directed to the budget office at
(804) 225-2025.
BKC/ko
Attachments
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/administrators/superintendents_memos/2006/adm042a.pdf
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/administrators/superintendents_memos/2006/adm042b.pdf