COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

P.O. BOX 2120

RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 23218-2120

 

SUPTS. MEMO NO. 16

May 21, 2004

 

ADMINISTRATIVE


TO:

Division Superintendents

 

FROM:

Jo Lynne DeMary

Superintendent of Public Instruction

 

SUBJECT:

Virginia Public School Authority Educational Technology Notes Series IV, Spring 2004

 

 

The Virginia Public School Authority (VPSA) is conducting the fourth sale of equipment notes, Series IV, in the educational technology grant program providing funding to 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:

 

  1. Provide student access to computers at a ratio of one computer for every five students;
  2. Create Internet-ready local area network capability in every school;
  3. Assure adequate high-speed, high-bandwidth capability for instructional, remedial, and testing needs, and;
  4. Establish a statewide Standards of Learning test delivery system.

 

The VPSA is planning to sell the spring 2004 Educational Technology Notes, Series IV, on June 17, 2004, and to close on the notes deal on June 24, 2004. Proceeds of the Series IV notes will be made available for reimbursement of qualifying expenditures to localities following the scheduled closing on June 24, 2004.

 

Attachment A to this memorandum lists the local grant allocations for the Series IV, VPSA note issue. Grants to school divisions for the Series IV 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, 2003, as well as division and regional vocational, special education, and alternative education centers, regular school year Governors schools, and the two Virginia Schools for the Deaf and the Blind in the cities of Staunton and Hampton. Localities are required to match funds equal to 20 percent of the total grant amounts provided to the school division. At least 25 percent of the local match shall be used for teacher training in the use of this technology. Regional centers and the two schools for the deaf and blind are not required to provide a 20 percent match to their grant amount.

 

Please note that reimbursements for the Series IV issue for regional vocational, regional special education, Governors schools, and regional alternative education centers will 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. Please make sure the correct regional center bank account number is included on page 2 of the Series IV request for reimbursement form.

 

Consistent with previous VPSA notes, payments to school divisions and regional centers will be on a reimbursement basis only. Localities and regional centers must first complete payments for the qualifying equipment purchased and then file a Series IV 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 IV notes are required to certify that all reimbursements are qualifying reimbursements. Please note that 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.

 

The Series IV reimbursement request form is a downloadable Excel template. This file is available on the Department of Educations website at:

 

http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Technology/soltech/docs/ReimburseSpr04Series4.xls

 

The Series IV 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. Public school 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, localities 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 IV notes issue must be made using the above-referenced Series IV 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, which serves as the investment and account manager for the note proceeds. Please note that no reimbursement requests for the Series IV notes will be approved until the divisions Educational Technology Notes, Series III (spring 2003) note proceeds are spent.

 

Due to the limited number of business days between the notes issuance date and the end of fiscal year 2004, reimbursements that need to be received by localities prior to July 1, 2004, must be received by the Department electronically and the original signature page sent to the department, as indicated below, by June 18, 2004, to insure ample time to process the requests. Please note that no requests for reimbursements may be processed until the note proceeds have officially been issued on June 24, 2004.

 

Proceeds from the Series III and Series IV 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 High School Readiness Certification procedures. Also, the proceeds of the Series IV 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.pen.k12.va.us/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.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Technology/soltech/docs/School_Readiness_Cert.xls

If reimbursement requests for middle or elementary school expenditures are submitted prior to achieving the appropriate certifications, those expenditures cannot be reimbursed until after the appropriate certifications have been completed.

 

Please submit all Series IV requests for reimbursement using the Series IV reimbursement request form referenced above. E-mail your completed request to Richard Schley at ISSUE4@mail.vak12ed.edu. In addition, please mail a signed copy of the reimbursement form to the following address:

 

Richard Schley

Office of Instructional Technology

Virginia Department of Education

James Monroe Building 18th Floor

101 North 14th Street

P.O. Box 2120

Richmond, VA 23218 - 2120

 

No requests for reimbursement will be processed until the Department of Education has received both the electronic Series IV form and your signed hardcopy Series IV form with each certification initialed.

 

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 for reimbursement of qualifying expenditures to school divisions on and after the closing date of May 28, 2003. For grant allocations of Series III VPSA notes, see Attachment A to Administrative Supts. Memo No. 12, dated March 14, 2003(also included with Attachment B to this memorandum). These proceeds continue to be available to localities for reimbursement of qualifying expenditures for 18 months from the Series III closing date, or November 30, 2004. All reimbursement forms for the Series III issue must be submitted to the department no later than September 30, 2004. As noted above, no reimbursement requests for the Series IV notes will be approved until the divisions Educational Technology Notes, Series III note proceeds are spent. Attachment B to this memorandum provides a status of the Series III allocation balance.

 

For divisions that have not completed reimbursement of expenditures from the Series III VPSA 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 website located at:

 

http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Technology/soltech/docs/ReimburseSpr03Series3.xls

 

Educational Technology Notes, Series V, (Spring 2005):

 

The General Assemblys adopted 2004-2006 biennial budget as of May 7, 2004, provided funding to continue the educational technology notes program in 2004-2006 with debt service paid through the Literary Fund. Virginia Public School Authority (VPSA) equipment notes totaling approximately $59 million are expected to be issued in the spring of 2005 and 2006. Continuation of this initiative is intended to increase school divisions capability for web-based instruction, remediation, and testing of the Standards of Learning.

Grant amounts are maintained at $26,000 per school (for schools reporting fall membership and for various division and regional programs) and $50,000 per school division. The 2004 General Assembly session also added language to the adopted budget that now excludes facilities that serve only pre-kindergarten students. 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 goals of the program continue to focus on lowering student-to-computer ratios and increasing high speed Internet access in high schools and to establish computer-based instructional, remedial, and testing systems for 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 $468,000 in fiscal year 2005 and by $780,000 in fiscal year 2006 based on an increase in the number of reported schools.

School divisions that have spent all of their Series III and Series IV note proceeds and that have adopted a reimbursement resolution for the Series V (spring 2005) 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 Series V notes are approved by the 2004 General Assembly and after the closing of the notes sale, which will likely be in late spring 2005. 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 C to this memorandum. Please note that localities 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) or revised reimbursement form, please call Richard Schley in the Office of Instructional Technology at (804) 371-6882.

 

JLD/rls

 

Attachments

 

/administrators/superintendents_memos/2004/adm016a.pdf

/administrators/superintendents_memos/2004/adm016b.pdf

/administrators/superintendents_memos/2004/adm016c.pdf