DEPARTMENT
OF EDUCATION
P.O.
SUPTS. MEMO NO. 008
October 6, 2006
REGULATORY
|
TO: |
Division Superintendents |
|
FROM: |
Billy K. Cannaday, Jr. Superintendent of Public Instruction |
|
SUBJECT: |
Certification of Adequate Funds
Budgeted to Meet Required Local Effort for the Standards of Quality and Local
Match Requirements for Certain State Funds in Fiscal Year 2007 Due:
November 1, 2006 |
Please note: This
data collection is based on House Bill (HB) 5032, which was adopted by the
House and by the Senate on September 28, 2006.
HB 5032 amends the existing 2006-2008 budget (Chapter 3) to correct the
sales tax estimates for fiscal year 2007 and fiscal year 2008, and provides a
supplemental state payment to divisions in fiscal year 2007 only. HB 5032 has been sent to Governor Kaine for
action and will not be enacted into law until he signs it.
Section 22.1-94, Code of Virginia, requires local
governing bodies to appropriate funds to school divisions that are sufficient
to maintain an educational program that meets the Standards of Quality
(SOQ). Section 22.1-97, Code of Virginia, sets forth the procedure that the
Department of Education must follow if a county, city, or town fails to
appropriate sufficient local funding to support the SOQ. The Appropriation Act also directs the
department to follow certain procedures for calculating required local effort
as well as procedures to follow if a school division does not spend the
required state and local shares for the SOQ.
In addition to procedures for calculating required local
effort, Item 135 of HB 5032, 2006 Acts of Assembly, Special Session I (General
Assembly adopted amendments to the 2006-2008 Appropriation Act), requires the
Department of Education to ensure that school divisions have appropriated
sufficient local funds to meet required local matches for optional School
Facilities and Incentive programs in which they have elected to
participate. The Appropriation Act
requires local school divisions to certify to the department their intent to
participate in School Facilities and Incentive programs by November 1 in fiscal
year 2007, and October 1 in fiscal year 2008, pursuant to HB 5032; and requires
that the department ensure that sufficient local funds have been appropriated
before releasing state funds for such programs.
Attachment A to this memorandum provides complete language for the
referenced code and Appropriation Act sections.
In
past years, the department collected certification of required local effort for
the SOQ and certifications for participation in School Facilities and Incentive
programs separately. Beginning in fiscal
year 2007, the department has combined these data collections to streamline
these processes and to meet the requirements contained in HB 5032.
Each
school division must complete and return a Budgeted Required Local Effort and
Required Local Match certification file, provided as an Excel template, which
will calculate required local effort for SOQ programs and required local
matches for the School Facilities and Incentive programs. The template 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
Please note that each jointly-operated school division (
The new Excel template contains several spreadsheets that
will calculate required local effort for mandatory SOQ programs (Basic Aid,
Gifted Education, Vocational Education, Special Education, Prevention,
Intervention and Remediation, English as a Second Language, Fringe Benefits,
and Textbooks) and required local matches for optional School Facilities
programs (Lottery, Additional Lottery, and School Construction Grants Program)
and Incentive programs (At-Risk, At-Risk Four-Year-Olds, Compensation
Supplement, Early Reading Intervention, K-3 Primary Class Size Reduction, and
SOL Algebra Readiness) for fiscal year 2007.
Instructions for completing the Excel template are included in Attachment
B to this memorandum. Attachment C to
this memorandum provides the account code structure for the Annual School
Report Financial Section (ASRFIN) that is referenced within the data collection
template. School divisions should
consult the account code structure when completing this data collection.
The Excel template provides a summary of required local effort for the SOQ and the required local match for each program listed in the previous paragraph based on fiscal year 2007 funding levels adopted by the House and by the Senate in HB 5032. Please note that the data contained in this spreadsheet are projections based on HB 5032, the General Assembly adopted amendments to the Chapter 3 budget, and are subject to final action by Governor Kaine. Information contained in this file should not be considered final until HB 5032 amending the 2006-2008 Appropriation Act is signed into law by the Governor.
The Excel template
includes the revised projections for the Sales Tax, Basic Aid, Supplemental
Basic Aid, and Enrollment Loss accounts based on the General Assembly adopted
amendment to the 2006-2008 budget to correct the sales tax estimate for both
years of the biennium.
HB 5032 also proposes that additional funds be appropriated in fiscal year 2007 to supplement the difference between what a school division would have received in state funds if the higher sales tax estimate had been realized and the amount that each school division will receive as a result of the adjustments from lowering the sales tax estimate and increasing Basic Aid and Enrollment Loss. This supplemental state payment is being proposed only for fiscal year 2007 since most, if not all, local budgets for the current fiscal year have already been approved.
Normally, a
reduction in the sales tax estimate would result in an increase in both the
state and local shares of the cost of Basic Aid. Correcting the sales tax estimate provides
the increase in the state share of Basic Aid cost. The supplemental payment
should satisfy the majority of the need to increase the local share of Basic
Aid cost resulting from the reduced sales tax estimate. As provided in HB 5032, this supplemental
payment, as well as increases in Enrollment Loss and Supplemental Basic Aid,
also will be treated as a credit toward each school divisions required local
effort for meeting the SOQ in fiscal year 2007.
The credit toward meeting each school divisions required local effort
for meeting the SOQ in fiscal year 2007 based on the General Assemblys adopted
amendment has been included in this template.
Divisions
are given the option to calculate required local effort and required local
matches for programs where the
funding is based on March 31 average daily membership (ADM) using either the
departments latest ADM projections or locally developed ADM projections. The first step in the data collection will
determine whether sufficient local funds have been appropriated to maintain
required local effort for the SOQ based on division-provided data regarding
planned operating expenditures and specific adjustments for certain state,
federal, and local funds for fiscal year 2007.
Superintendents of school divisions whose local
appropriations for fiscal year 2007 are only slightly in excess of the amount
required to maintain local effort for the SOQ are requested to review their ADM
totals monthly. These superintendents
must request additional local funding from the local governing body whenever
changes in ADM increase the amount of required local effort beyond what has
been provided by the local governing body.
Documentation of all supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 2007
should be furnished to the department.
The template will then calculate the amount of local capital
funds that are available to meet local match requirements for School Facilities
programs, and the remaining amount of local operating funds available to meet
local match requirements for School Facilities and Incentive programs (i.e.,
operating funds available after required local effort for the SOQ has been
met.)
Divisions are allowed to select the School Facilities and
Incentive programs in which they elect to participate and the template will
track the effect of each programs local match requirement on available
funds. Divisions are encouraged to
identify all of the programs in which they want to participate. If there are not enough local funds available
to cover all of the chosen programs, the division will be directed to request
additional local funds from the local governing body, and will be directed to a
certification form to certify the request for additional funds. Please note, however, that the department
will not be able to release state funds for these programs until the division
has obtained additional local appropriation to meet the required local matches.
After the worksheets within the template are complete and
have passed all error checks successfully, the appropriate certification forms
for required local effort for SOQ and required local matches for School
Facilities and Incentive programs will be available for the division
superintendent and program contact to sign.
Please note that some of the certification sheets require information in
addition to the superintendents signature.
Specific instructions for each of the certification forms are provided
in Attachment B to this memorandum.
Attachment B to this memorandum also provides detailed
instructions for accessing the Excel template through the departments Web
site; for completing the template to calculate projected required local effort
and required local matches; and for submitting the signed certification forms
and final Excel file to the department.
Please complete the Excel template and e-mail it to the
department at k12budget@doe.virginia.gov.
A hard copy of each certification form, signed by the division
superintendent, must be mailed to:
Attention: Budget Office
The Excel template and the signed certification forms are
due to the department no later than November 1, 2006.
If you have questions regarding the Excel template or the
accompanying instructions, please contact the budget office at (804) 225-2025.
In the event the Governor proposes changes to HB 5032 that
would affect the requirements of this data submission, you will be notified in
a separate communication.
BKCJr/kmr
Attachments
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/administrators/superintendents_memos/2006/reg008a.pdf
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/administrators/superintendents_memos/2006/reg008b.doc
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/administrators/superintendents_memos/2006/reg008c.doc