DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
P.O.
SUPTS. MEMO NO. 11
April 11, 2008
ADMINISTRATIVE
|
TO: |
Division
Superintendents |
|
FROM: |
Billy K. Cannaday,
Jr. Superintendent
of Public Instruction |
|
SUBJECT: |
|
The Virginia Public School Authority (VPSA) is conducting
the eighth sale of equipment notes, Series
VIII. 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 is planning
to sell the spring 2008 Educational Technology Notes, Series VIII, on April 30,
2008, and to close on the notes deal on May 22, 2008. Proceeds of the Series VIII
notes will be made available for reimbursement of qualifying expenditures to
localities following the scheduled closing on May 22, 2008.
There are a limited
number of business days between the notes issuance date and the end of fiscal
year 2008. Therefore, to ensure
sufficient time to process the requests for payment, reimbursements that need
to be received by school divisions by June 30, 2008, must be received by the
Department of Education electronically and the original signature page sent to
the department by June 13, 2008. 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 VIII VPSA note
issue. Grants to school divisions for
the Series VIII notes are based on $26,000 per eligible school and $50,000 per
school division. Eligible schools
include those reporting fall membership as of September 30, 2007, as well as
division and regional vocational, special education, and alternative education
centers, academic year Governor’s 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 VIII 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 VIII 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 VIII issue for regional
vocational, regional special education, Governor’s Schools, and regional
alternative education centers may be made directly to the regional centers
through separate reimbursement accounts set up specifically for 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 on to the regional center.
The Series VIII
reimbursement request form is a downloadable Excel template. This file is available on the Department of
Education’s Web site at:
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Technology/soltech/docs/ReimburseSpr08Series8.xls.
The
Series VIII 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.
Divisions
are not required to submit copies of supporting reimbursement documentation to
the Department of Education because the reimbursement request form incorporates
the certification provisions. 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 VIII notes issue must be made using the above-referenced Series VIII
form. The Department of Education will
review the reimbursement request and, when approved, file the request on behalf
of the school division (or regional program) 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 VIII notes will be approved until all of the division’s grant
allocations from notes Series V (Spring 2005), Series VI (Spring 2006) and Series
VII (Spring 2007) are spent. Please see Attachments
B, C, and D to this memorandum that provide the Series V, VI and VII allocation
balances, respectively, 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 Notes proceeds to the school division or
regional program.
Attachment G to this
memo provides the SNAP VPSA Technology Notes Withdrawal Instructions form. 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 Brad Lamb, 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 Brad Lamb of
SNAP at 1-800-570-SNAP.
Proceeds from the Series
V, VI, VII and VIII 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 V, VI, VII and VIII
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
Education’s Web site 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 VIII requests for reimbursement using the Series VIII reimbursement
request form referenced above. E-mail your completed request to Richard Schley
at VPSA@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 VIII reimbursement request form and
your signed hardcopy Series VIII form with each certification initialed.
Educational
Technology Notes, Series VII (Spring 2007):
As initially announced in Administrative Supts. Memo No. 14
, dated April 20, 2007, the Series VII notes were sold by the VPSA in May 2007. Proceeds of the Series VII notes were available to school divisions for reimbursement of qualifying expenditures on and after the closing date of May 24, 2007. For grant allocations of Series VII VPSA notes, see Attachment A to Administrative Supts. Memo No. 14, dated April 20, 2007. All reimbursement forms for the Series VII issue must be submitted to the department as soon as possible. No reimbursement requests for the Series VIII notes will be approved until the division’s Educational Technology Notes Series V, VI and VII note proceeds are spent. Attachment D to this memorandum provides a status of the Series VII grant balances.
For
divisions and regional programs that have not completed reimbursement of
expenditures from the Series VII VPSA notes, the procedures outlined in Administrative
Supts. Memo No. 14, dated April 20, 2007, should
be followed, and the Series VII reimbursement request form should be used. The Series VII reimbursement request form is
a downloadable Excel template available on the Department of Education’s Web
site located at:
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Technology/soltech/docs/ReimburseSpr07Series7.xls.
Educational
Technology Notes, Series VI (Spring 2006):
As initially announced in Administrative Supts. Memo No. 18
, dated May 12, 2006, the Series VI notes were sold by the VPSA in May 2006. Proceeds of the Series VI notes were available to school divisions for reimbursement of qualifying expenditures on and after the closing date of May 25, 2006. For grant allocations of Series VI VPSA notes, see Attachment A to Administrative Supts. Memo No. 18, dated May 12, 2006. All reimbursement forms for the Series VI issue must be submitted to the department as soon as possible. Richard Schley will be contacting school divisions with Series VI balances remaining in order to facilitate timely draw down of these funds. No reimbursement requests for the Series VIII notes will be approved until the division’s Educational Technology Notes Series V, Series VI and Series VII note proceeds are spent. Attachment C to this memorandum provides a status of the Series VI grant balances.
For
divisions and regional programs that have not completed reimbursement of
expenditures from the Series VI VPSA notes, the procedures outlined in Administrative
Supts. Memo No. 18, dated May 12, 2006, should be
followed, and the Series VI reimbursement request form should be used. The Series VI reimbursement request form is a
downloadable Excel template available on the Department of Education’s Web site
located at:
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Technology/soltech/docs/ReimburseSpr06Series6.xls.
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. All reimbursement forms for the Series V issue must be submitted to the department as soon as possible. Richard Schley will be contacting school divisions with Series V balances remaining in order to facilitate timely draw down of these funds. No reimbursement requests for the Series VIII notes will be approved until the division’s Educational Technology Notes Series V, Series VI and Series VII 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 Education’s Web site
located at:
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Technology/soltech/docs/ReimburseSpr05Series5.xls.
Educational Technology Notes, Series IX (Spring 2009):
The 2008-2010
biennial budget (House Bill/Senate Bill 30, adopted by
the General Assembly on March 13, 2008, and pending the Governor’s signature)
includes funding to continue the educational technology notes program in fiscal
year 2009 with debt service paid through the Literary Fund. The General Assembly-adopted budget includes
Virginia Public Schools Authority (VPSA) equipment notes totaling approximately
$60.2 million in fiscal year 2009 to be issued in the spring of 2009.
The
fiscal year 2009 budget maintains grant amounts at $26,000 per eligible 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 fiscal year 2009
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 was increased by $312,000 in
fiscal year 2009 based on an anticipated increase in the number of reported
schools in fiscal year 2009. Attachment E to this memorandum lists the
estimated local grant allocations for the Series IX note issue.
School divisions that have spent all of their Series V, Series
VI, Series VII and Series VIII note proceeds and that have adopted a reimbursement
resolution for the Series IX (Spring 2009) notes issue may make purchases in
support of the Web-based SOL Technology Initiative to be reimbursed from Series
IX proceeds; 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 2009. 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 qualifying
expenditures. 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.
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.
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Attachments
a. Series
b. Series V VPSA Notes Issue Local
c. Series
d. Series
e. Series
f. Sample Reimbursement Resolution (PDF)
g. SNAP VPSA Technology Notes Withdrawal Instructions (PDF)