REGULATORY

TO:

Division Superintendents

FROM:

Jo Lynne DeMary

Superintendent of Public Instruction

SUBJECT:

Fiscal Year 2005 Certification of Adequate Funds Budgeted to Meet the Required Local Effort for the Standards of Quality

Due: December 3, 2004

Section 22.1-94, Code of Virginia, requires local governing bodies to appropriate funds for 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 Standards of Quality. Attachment A to this memorandum provides the complete language for the referenced code sections. In addition to the referenced code sections, the appropriation act directs the department to follow certain procedures for calculating required local effort as well as procedures to be followed if a school division does not spend the required state and local shares for the SOQ. Attachment B contains this language.

To ensure that sufficient local funds have been appropriated for fiscal year 2005 to maintain the SOQ, each school division must complete and return a Required Local Effort Certification form to the Department of Education. As in previous fiscal years, this form is provided as an Excel template. Please complete and return the Excel template and the signed certification to the department no later than December 3, 2004. 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

The Excel template combines the Required Local Effort Certification form with a spreadsheet that allows you to calculate your divisions projected required local effort for certain SOQ programs (Basic Aid, Gifted Education, Vocational Education-SOQ, Special Education-SOQ, Prevention, Intervention, and Remediation, English as a Second Language, Fringe Benefits, and Textbooks) for fiscal year 2005. Please note that, for purposes of this memorandum, projected required local effort for fiscal year 2005 will be based on the fiscal year 2005 SOQ per pupil amounts and sales tax distributions contained in Chapter 4, 2004 Acts of Assembly, Special Session I (2004-2006 Appropriation Act).

Please note that each jointly-operated school division (Bedford County-Bedford City, Fairfax County-Fairfax City, Greensville County-Emporia City, and James City County-Williamsburg City) must submit separate budgeted and actual required local effort reports for each participating locality.

The Required Local Effort template consists of two Excel spreadsheets. The State & Local Funds Worksheet" assists you in calculating your divisions projected required local effort for mandatory SOQ programs for fiscal year 2005. School divisions may calculate required local effort based on the departments latest average daily membership (ADM) projections or locally developed ADM projections. The FY 2005 Local Funds worksheet requires you to enter data regarding your divisions planned expenditures for education programs for fiscal year 2005 and is used to determine whether sufficient local funds have been appropriated for fiscal year 2005 to maintain required local effort for the SOQ.

Superintendents of school divisions whose local appropriations for fiscal year 2005 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 unplanned increases in ADM increase the amount of required local effort beyond the actual local funding provided by the local governing body. Documentation of all supplemental appropriations for fiscal year 2005 resulting from these requests should be furnished to the department.

Attachment C to this memorandum provides detailed instructions for accessing the Excel template through the departments Web site, for using the template to calculate your required local expenditure for mandatory SOQ programs, and for submitting the signed certification form and final Excel file to the department. Please complete the Excel template and e-mail it to the department at (mailto: k12budget@mail.vak12ed.edu ). A hard copy of the certification form, signed by the division superintendent, must be sent to: Virginia Department of Education, Attention: Budget Office, P.O. Box 2120, Richmond, Virginia 23218-2120. The Excel template and the signed certification form are due to the department no later than December 3, 2004.

If you have questions regarding the Excel template or the accompanying instructions, please contact the budget office staff at (804) 225-2025.

JLD/bkl

Attachments

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/administrators/superintendents_memos/2004/reg009a.pdf

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/administrators/superintendents_memos/2004/reg009b.pdf

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/administrators/superintendents_memos/2004/reg009c.pdf