| DATE: | June 15, 2018 |
|---|---|
| TO: | Division Superintendents |
| FROM: | James F. Lane, Superintendent of Public Instruction |
| SUBJECT: | Provisions for Reallocating Unused Student Slots in Regional Alternative Education Programs for 2018-2019 |
The 2018-2020 state budget adopted by the 2018 Special Session I General Assembly includes provisions for reallocating unused student slots in regional alternative education programs. These provisions are as follows:
- In the event a school division does not use all of the student slots it is allocated under a regional alternative education program, the unused slots may be reallocated or transferred to another school division.
- A school division must request from the Department of Education the availability and possible use of any unused student slots. If any unused slots are available, and if the requesting school division chooses to utilize any of the unused slots, the requesting school division shall only receive the state's share of tuition for the unused slot that was allocated for the originally designated school division.
- No requesting school division shall receive more tuition funding from the state for any requested unused slot than what would have been the calculated amount for the requesting school division had the unused slot been allocated to the requesting school division in the original budget. The requesting school division shall pay any remaining tuition due for using a previously unused slot.
A data collection survey will be sent electronically to the regional alternative education coordinator in the fiscal agent school division. The coordinator is responsible for contacting the participating divisions in that regional program and completing a combined survey on the number of slots to be used in the regional program for 2018-2019. The data collected will determine the number of unused student slots that will be available for reallocation in fiscal year 2019, and the number of unused student slots being requested by divisions. Once the Department receives the information, a reallocation process will be conducted to distribute unused student slots to requesting divisions. The process can be found in Attachment A.
The data collection survey to determine reallocation of student slots is due to the Department on Friday, July 20, 2018, and it is anticipated that the process to reallocate any unused student slots will be completed by September 2018. Based on the allocation to each regional program:
- State funds will be sent to the fiscal agent division on a semimonthly basis (i.e., the 16th and last day of the month) through Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) payments.
- Payments will begin in January 2019 based on the final number of student slots following the approved reallocations.
- Semimonthly payments for the program will continue through June 30, 2019.
If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact Dr. Lynn Sodat, Director, Office of Program Administration and Accountability, at Lynn.Sodat@doe.virginia.gov or (804) 225-2870.
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