COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
P. O. BOX 2120
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 23218-2120
SUPTS. MEMO NO. 50
August 26, 2005
ADMINISTRATIVE
|
TO: |
Division Superintendents |
|
FROM: |
Jo Lynne DeMary Superintendent of Public Instruction |
|
SUBJECT: |
Education of Children in Foster Care Fiscal Year 2006
Reimbursement of Fiscal Year 2005 Local Costs Due Date: October 3, 2005 |
Chapter 951, 2005 Acts of
Assembly, (2004-2006 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 Virginia agency, whether
state or local, which is authorized under the laws of the commonwealth to place
children; (b) who have been placed in an orphanage or childrens home which
exercises legal guardianship rights; or (c) who are residents of Virginia and
have been placed, not solely for school purposes, in a child-caring institution
or group home. 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 provide a remedial summer school program for foster children in
summer 2005 (fiscal year 2006), pursuant to Section 22.1-253.13:1 C., Code
of Virginia. For fiscal year 2006,
state payments for remedial summer school are based on the local share (using
the composite index) of $380 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 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 2006 (Summer 2005 program) as
indicated in Administrative
Superintendents Memorandum Number 44, dated August 5, 2005. The same
number of eligible foster care students attending remedial summer school
programs during Summer 2005 and that are reported pursuant to Administrative
Superintendents Memorandum Number 44 should be reported on this data
collection.
Administrative Superintendents
Memorandum Number 44 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 2006 Next Years
Reimbursements
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.
The current fiscal year 2006 reimbursement of fiscal year 2005 local
costs is not affected by this legislation.
Beginning in fiscal year 2007, reporting requirements for
the fiscal year 2006 reimbursement certification will incorporate the
provisions of Senate Bill 1006, and school divisions should be prepared to
report on child counts and financial arrangements with sending or receiving
school divisions. This memorandum
serves as preliminary notice of these anticipated reporting requirement
revisions in fiscal year 2007 to school division personnel responsible for
issues related to the enrollment and placement of foster care children in
school, as well as school division financial personnel. School divisions should review the
provisions of Senate Bill 1006 to be aware of the new enrollment and placement
issues that will affect fiscal year 2006 reimbursements. School division personnel who are
responsible for enrolling foster care children should work closely with school
division finance personnel regarding implementation of Senate Bill 1006. For
further information about the changes associated with Senate Bill 1006, please
refer to Informational
Superintendents Memorandum Number 125.
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.
Please note that this attachment does not contain the provisions of
Senate Bill 1006 noted above, because state reimbursements related to this memo
are for students in foster care placements in fiscal year 2005 only.
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. Please note that Attachment B
now contains instructions on reporting foster care child enrollment in an
approved remedial summer school program.
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 October 3, 2005, even if no local
education costs for qualifying foster care children were incurred by the
division in fiscal year 2005 and no reimbursement is being requested from
fiscal year 2006 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 (mailto:k12budget@doe.virginia.gov). Please return a hard copy of the
certification form, signed by the division superintendent, to:
Virginia
Department of Education
Attention:
Budget Office
P.O.
Box 2120
Richmond,
Virginia 23218-2120
Both submissions (Excel file and signed certification form)
are due no later than October 3, 2005.
The Department of Education will make all calculations and
disburse fiscal year 2006 foster care entitlements to divisions after the data
collected from the 2004-2005 Annual School Report 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.
JLD/keo
Attachments
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/administrators/superintendents_memos/2005/adm050a.pdf
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/administrators/superintendents_memos/2005/adm050b.pdf