DEPARTMENT
OF EDUCATION
P.
O.
SUPTS. MEMO NO. 43
September 21, 2007
ADMINISTRATIVE
|
TO: |
Division
Superintendents |
|
FROM: |
Billy K. Cannaday, Jr. Superintendent
of Public Instruction |
|
SUBJECT: |
Education
of Children in Foster Care Fiscal Year 2008 Reimbursement of Fiscal Year
2007 Local Costs Due:
November 2, 2007 |
Chapter 847, 2007 Acts of Assembly, 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
b) Who have been
placed in an orphanage or childrens home which exercises legal guardianship
rights; or
c) Who are residents
of
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 provided a
remedial summer school program for foster children in summer 2007 (fiscal year
2008), pursuant to Section 22.1-253.13:1 C., Code of Virginia. This funding is intended to reimburse
divisions for the local share of cost of providing remedial summer school
services to foster children.
For
fiscal year 2008, state payments for remedial summer school are based on the
local share (using the composite index) of $411 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 (i.e., remedial summer school funding and
foster care funding) 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 2008(summer 2007 program) as indicated in Administrative
Superintendents Memorandum Number 37, dated August 24, 2007. To obtain the
local share of remedial summer school funding, the same number of eligible
foster care students attending remedial summer school programs during summer
2007 and that are reported pursuant to Administrative
Superintendents Memorandum Number 37 should be reported on the data
collection template accompanying this memorandum.
Administrative
Superintendents Memorandum Number 37 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 2007 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.
Additional Transportation Funding for Foster Care Students in
Fiscal Year 2008 (Reimbursement of Fiscal Year 2007 Costs)
Chapter 847,
2006-2008 Appropriation Act, provides $150,000 in fiscal year 2008 to reimburse
school divisions for transportation costs incurred in the previous fiscal year
resulting from the provision of transportation that permitted students placed
in foster care or other custodial placement to continue their education at the
same school they attended before the placement. The appropriation act also
includes additional language authorizing the use of any unobligated balances
for Foster Children Education Payments to reimburse school divisions for any
costs associated with such transportation.
State reimbursement under this provision is subject to the availability
of state funding.
School divisions that
transported foster care students to the same school they attended before the
placement in order to continue their education should report this information
in the Excel data collection template to claim reimbursement under this
provision. Please note that foster care students
who were transported back to their home divisions and who qualify for
reimbursement under this transportation provision do not also qualify for other
Foster Care funding since the instruction was provided in the students
division of legal residence.
Filing for State Funds
As with previous data
collection templates, 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. 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 26, 2007, even
if no local education costs for qualifying foster care children were incurred
by the division in fiscal year 2007 and no reimbursement is being requested
from fiscal year 2008 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 state reimbursement.
Please
submit the completed Excel file to the department via e-mail at k12budget@doe.virginia.gov. Please
return a hard copy of the certification form, signed by the division
superintendent, to:
Attention: Budget
Office
Both
submissions (Excel file and signed certification form) are due no later than November 2, 2007.
The
Department of Education will make all calculations and disburse fiscal year 2008
foster care entitlements to divisions after the data collected from the 2006-2007
Annual School Report Financial Section 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.
BKCJr/bkl
Attachments
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/administrators/superintendents_memos/2007/adm043a.pdf
http://www.doe.virginia.gov/administrators/superintendents_memos/2007/adm043b.pdf