BUSINESS NEWS YOU CAN USE

4/28/08

2006-2007 & 2007-2008 Summary of Finances Updated

            Remember, Final isn’t Final 

The TEA Division of State Funding has once again updated the Summary of Finances for 2006-2007 and for 2007-2008.  This time there is a letter explaining the changes for 2006-2007. 

Of particular interest are three items relating to the calculation of Additional State Aid for Tax Reduction (ASATR) and the charge for the Sale of Weighted ADA. 

None of the calculations involving Chapter 41 are final at this time.  They are expected to be completed in June, 2008.  If a district sold WADA in 2006-2007, the number of WADA sold and thus the charge for the sale may be adjusted later on. 

The gain from the sale of WADA in 2005-2006 is part of the ASATR calculation and this calculation is also not final at this time.  The letter warns that, if the district did not keep all of the gain from the sale, “It is very likely that the final gains in S2 and S3 will be lower than the current numbers.” 

The tax collection calculation used in the S3 ASATR calculation has also been revised to reflect the average tax collection rate for the past three years. 

Payment of any amount owed the district is promised for May and recoveries of overpayments are scheduled for May as well.  Districts that are involved in the Chapter 41 transactions should be particularly aware that a lower final gain in S2 and S3 may result in a recovery of state funds in June.

4/23/08

The Ratings Game

            New York Times discusses how Mortgage Backed Securities were rated AAA 

This is a bit off the subject of school finance, but it is related.  The NYT has previewed an article entitled Triple-A Failure which will be published in the April 27^th New York Times Magazine. 

The reporter was shown the step by step process by which Moody’s determined the rating for a particular security which was backed by a bundle of over two thousand individual sub-prime mortgages.  The bonds were issued by a Special Purpose Vehicle, a particular corporate structure, and that corporation, based on the information about the mortgages and the statistical rate of default and the structure of the corporation was given an AAA rating. 

The interesting question for Texas School Business Officials is how a Texas school bond could ever have a rating less than AAA when the statistical rate of default is zero as there has never been a default?  If a Texas school district were to find itself in default some time in the future, the district would be merged into another district which would have to make the payments. 

The Permanent School Fund’s ability to back all bonds is rapidly being depleted, but should it really make that much difference in the rates and marketability of the bonds? 

4/17/08

Additional State Aid for Tax Reduction

            Potential error spotted in sale of WADA  

In the immortal words of Robby the Robot’s relative B-9, “Danger, Danger!” 

A potential error has been spotted in the Additional State Aid for Tax Reduction S1 and S2 calculations on the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 Summary of Finances.  This only involves the lower wealth partner who received money from a high wealth district.  This is accomplished by the lower wealth district selling Weighted ADA to the higher wealth district in exchange for a smaller reduction in state aid. 

The questionable data involves the gain by a Chapter 42 district from Chapter 41 Partnerships shown on Line 7 in both the S1 calculation for 2005-2006 and S2 for 2006-2007. 

In some cases, the 2006-2007 number is several times larger than 2005-2006 amount.  The 2006-2007 amount is a calculation of what the amount would have been under old law and, for that reason, will not exactly match any actual WADA sale contract, but such a large variation from one year to the next in a stable district is unexpected.   

In other cases, some districts that are shown as partners on the 2005-2006 Chapter 41 Cost of Options report selling large numbers of WADA show no gain in either 2005-2006 or 2006-2007.  

The danger for the Chapter 42 district is, if the ASATR is overstated in both 2006-2007 and 2007-2008, an eventual correction will cause a recovery of funds for 2006-2007 and a reduction in state aid earned in 2007-2008 approximately doubling the impact on 2007-2008 operations.  The potential increase in funds for districts receiving no credit for a WADA sale is not as dangerous but may have resulted in the district not receiving the funds that were expected when the budget was prepared. 

All districts that participated in a WADA sale should check the Summary of Finances carefully and, if something seems unlikely, rely on the district’s own calculations of aid earned.   

We understand that TEA is aware of the situation and working on a solution.

4/14/08

TEA Finance Updates

            SOF and Expenditure Targets 

Expenditure Targets:   

The 2008-2009 Projected Expenditure Reports have been restored to the Expenditure Targets web page.  Enter your proposed 2008-2009 budget data into the spreadsheet on this page to see how well your district will actually do. 

Summary of Finances: 

Both the 2006-2007 and 2007-2008 Summaries of Finance have been updated and both of these changes may impact FSP payments to the district.  Go to the School District State Aid Reports page and take a look at the reports for your district. 

The 2006-2007 SOF is now marked Final.  As of the morning of April 14, 2008, there was no letter explaining the changes but total state aid and some other data has changed from the “Near Final” version.  Usually the change to “Final” indicates that audited tax collections and some summer programs and data corrections have been incorporated. 

It’s important to understand that tax collections are part of the Additional State Aid for Tax Reduction S2 calculation and any change here may either increase or decrease ASATR in 2006-2007 and in 2007-2008 and all future years.  Actual Interest and Sinking tax collections can impact Facilities aid in 2006-2007 and set a ceiling for the Existing Debt allotment in 2007-2008 and 2008-2009. 

Scroll down in the summary document until you reach the section summarizing the payments to the district and follow the link to the Payment Ledger to see the details of the payments or recoveries that you can expect. 

The 2007-2008 SOF has been updated to a new, much easier to read format with links to sub-sections providing detailed explanations on the amounts on the summary page.  The 2007-2008 SOF has also been updated with earlier ASATR information from 2006-2007.  If it isn’t the same as 2006-2007 now, plan on it catching up by the end of the year. 

In the school finance world, “final” doesn’t mean that something will never, ever change again.  It means that there are no more regularly scheduled updates for every district.  If it is ever discovered that something is not correct, it will be corrected and the summary for that district rerun and additional payments or recoveries will be made.  Changes to 2005-2006 or 2006-2007 can trigger a change in the ASATR for all following years. 

 4/10/08

Expenditure Targets

            TEA spread sheet posted 

TEA has posted and then taken down a spread sheet to calculate whether or not a district is meeting the expenditure targets required by the Texas Education Code and the governor’s executive order.  The spread sheet that calculates compliance on the web page has now been restored.  The reports section of the page was still disabled as of the morning of April 10^th.  The page also contains links to the statute, the executive order and other information. 

TEA has adopted a formula for different types of districts (Major Urban, Rural, etc.) setting expenditure targets in various areas.  For all districts, the target for instruction is 65%.  The target proportion varies by the district type.  The spending categories are Instruction, Leadership, Support Services - Student-Based, Support Services -Non-student-based and Administrative 

The spread sheet will be helpful in planning the 2008-2009 budget, but it needs to be approached with a little care as some of the cells contain formulas while data must be entered in the other cells.  In some cases the formulas rely on data that will be entered farther down the page and will not show anything meaningful until the total budget amount is entered in the green box in cell I35.   

As the cells containing formulae are not locked, look at the contents of each cell before you start typing.

3/31/08

Pupil Projection Template Updated

            Now includes 2007-2008 enrollment 

The TASBO Pupil Projection Template provides a variety of methods for projecting ADA and other student counts for the current school year and several years into the future.  It has been updated to automatically supply the 2007-2008 fall enrollments by grade using the PEIMS data from TEA.  The previous version required the user to fill in this information manually. 

The ADA and FTE history is also automatically filled in for you.  The 2006-2007 attendance information, however, is still that shown on the “Near Final” Summary of Finances. 

Right click here and choose the “save target as…” option to save the spread sheet to your computer.  Some users have had difficulty saving the template if it has been opened directly from the web page.  A link is also found near the bottom of the TASBO home page. 

The template uses macros, so select “Enable Macros” if you get a security warning when Excel opens the file.  Fill in your district number on the Data Entry tab and you should see the district name appear when you tab out of the cell.  Click on the “Fill in History” button just below the district name and the enrollment and attendance history for the district should appear in the tables below. 

If you didn’t get a security warning and the template doesn’t work, open the Tools > Macro > Security… menu on the top line and choose the Medium security level.  After doing this, close Excel and then reopen the file.  This time you should get a security warning, choose “Enable Macros” and all should be well. 

3/27/08

2007- 2008 Tax Rates

            Excel version of TEA list 

TEA division of State Funding has posted a list of the 2007-2008 tax rates as reported to them.  It is a text listing, however, which can not be conveniently manipulated.   

TASBO has prepared an Excel version of this list which can be easily sorted and filtered.  Click on the dropdown list button beside the column heading to sort the list, filter it for a particular value or choose (Custom…) to find a particular range of values. 

Click here to open the spreadsheet and choose “Save As” to save a copy on your computer.

3/26/08

Pension funds sought to finance toll roads

            Discussed at Senate Committee on Finance, Senate Committee on State Affairs 

The March 25^th Joint Hearing held by the  Senate Committee on Finance and the Senate Committee on State Affairs, after discussing the schedule for future meetings and sub-committee meetings, heard testimony from representatives with the Legislative Budget Board, the Attorney General’s Office, and the Pension Review Board concerning the investment of state pension funds. 

The archived video of the meeting is available and makes interesting listening.  The archive of all Senate meetings is also available. 

The newspapers were most interested in the suggestion that the funds invest in toll road projects.  The Express News article featured on MySA.Com is a good example.  The possibility of investing in school bonds wasn’t mentioned, however.  

Of greater interest to Texas educators, however, was the much longer discussion and head scratching devoted to the best way to control volatility in the investments that the funds make while also maintaining a reasonable return.   

The Austin American Statesman’s web site, Statesman.com has carried a blog by Robert Elder which has been commenting on these issues for some time.  This one has paid a lot of attention to TRS issues in particular.   

2/26/08

No One Works for Free

            Budget for extra duty pay 

The San Antonio Express News on MySA.com is reporting that a Bexar county judge has upheld a commissioner of education ruling that a San Antonio school district is required to pay a teacher a day’s pay plus substantial penalties for a day of required duty outside of the contract. 

The district has appealed the ruling, so it’s not the absolute last word, but it will be prudent to see that funds are available to pay people for any extra days before they are asked to work.  We have understood this to be the case for hourly workers who simply must be paid for every hour they work, but this ruling extends that to teachers as well. 

This case is reported to be a situation in which teachers were required to work at a graduation ceremony after the 187 contract days on the school calendar had been completed.  How to apply the principle to more subtle situations such as requiring teachers to attend evening meetings on a work day, staying late or even performing a duty during the day that is not mentioned in the contract is not nearly as clear. 

It may depend on the exact wording of the contract and the district HR policies.  This leads us to another “check with the lawyers first” situation and they will expect to be paid as well.

2/22/08

Senate Committee on Education Public Hearing

            Invited and public testimony
            February 27, 2008 - 09:00 AM

Capitol Extension Bldg., Room E1.028, Austin 

From the meeting notice:   

The Committee will hear invited and public testimony on the following charges: 

Senate Interim Charge:
Report on the implementation of education reforms in House Bill 1, 79th Third Called Special Session. The review should include: the implementation of the high school allotment, the development of the best practices clearinghouse and the electronic student records system, the alignment of curriculum to attain college readiness, student improvement/growth models and access to college credit in high school.

Topics:
            *Electronic transcripts leadership
            *High School Allotment
            *College Readiness  

Senate Interim Charge:
Make recommendations for controlling the costs of textbooks from kindergarten through higher education, and monitor the implementation of HB 188, 80th Legislature, relating to instructional materials.

Topics:  
            *Mid-cycle adoption
            *Review of supplemental materials
            *Textbook credit program
            *Cost of future textbooks
            *Budget balancing  

Senate Interim Charge:
Monitor the implementation of legislation addressed by the Education Committee, 80th Legislature, Regular Session, and make recommendations for any legislation needed to improve, enhance and/or complete implementation. Specifically, monitor the implementation of HB 2237, relating to grants and programs for dropout prevention, high school success and college and workforce readiness in public schools.

Topics:
            *Reading Academies
            *Science Labs  

Public testimony will be limited to 3 minutes per person.  

2/20/08

Municipal Bond Rate Concerns

            Auction rate securities paying sharply higher rates 

Making a school budget is as much art as science, but it does need to include an orderly consideration of the things that can not be known for sure at the time the budget is prepared.  Interest rates are another of unknowable factors which impact the actual cost of operating a school district. 

While Texas school districts do not usually use auction rate bonds to finance facilities, turmoil in this specialized market is impacting the whole municipal bond market and may well increase the borrowing costs for many school districts.  

The Austin American-Statesman carried an Associated Press article on February 18^th:  “Many classes of bonds are being punished for the problems of subprime mortgage debt, but at least one segment of the market is expected to perform well this year: long-term, investment-grade municipal bonds….”

According to Wikipedia , “An auction rate security (ARS) typically refers to a debt instrument (corporate or municipal bonds) with a long-term nominal maturity for which the interest rate is reset through a dutch auction.” 

A February 20^th article in The New York Times opines that part of the problem is that, “The failures also indicate that talk of rescuing municipal bond insurance companies, like Ambac and MBIA, has not reassured investors. Auctions continue to fail, even at absurdly high yields, if the principal guarantee of repayment is an insurance policy.”

Bloomberg also discusses the problem, while Seeking Alpha explains the interaction between municipal bonds and hedge funds in greater detail.  Both of these articles contain links to even more information.

The Texas Permanent School Fund bond guarantee program side steps much of the insurance problem, but it is no longer nearly automatic as the capacity of the fund to guarantee all bonds is rapidly being used up.  The TEA website has the application information including the rules for allocating the available guarantee capacity.  Be sure to read the Disclosure Statement for the Bond Guarantee Program to understand the capacity limit.

2/18/08

Utility Costs May Increase

            Another budget consideration 

DallasNews.com is reporting that ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates most of the state’s power grid, is requesting an increase in the rate that it charges.  

The whopping 34% increase mentioned in the article is only for the small part of the total cost of power that goes for the management of the delivery system and does not include the actual cost of either the delivery or the generation of the power, so it’s definitely not a proposed 34% increase in anyone’s electric bill.  It’s also only a request for an increase at this point.  But it is likely to result in an increase of some sort. 

Schools are large consumers of electricity and other fuels and not many people are expecting any energy cost to go down in the next year.  The question is, “How high is up?”  The budgeting problem is even more complex as rate increases can sometimes be mitigated by negotiating for new contracts with suppliers and by reducing consumption by spending money on things like insulation and more efficient climate control and lighting systems. 

Remember also, that House Bill 3693, and Senate Bill 12 require that school districts plan on reducing electricity consumption by 5% a year beginning September 1^st, 2007.  For this reason, budgeting for efficiency measures is a requirement, not an option.  The bills also require reporting among other provisions.   

More information about the reporting requirements and resources for meeting the goal are available from the State Energy Conservation Office. 

2/15/08

2007 Preliminary Value Study Released

            Comptroller’s values to be used during the 2008-2009 school year 

The comptroller has released the preliminary 2007 Value Study. 

The cost of operating the public school system in Texas is shared between the state and the local tax payers.  These property values assigned by the Comptroller of Public Accounts determine the split.  Even though recent legislation has shifted the split toward more of the bill being paid by the state and the hold harmless provisions make the assigned value and the actual tax roll less import to district finances, the value still matters.  

Check out the report for your district.  Remember that lower assigned values mean more state money (or less recapture.)   

If the comptroller has accepted local values as reported by the appraisal district, check to see that the roll that was accepted is actually the correct one. 

If the comptroller has not accepted local values, get The Property Value Study  and the

How to Protest publication from the comptroller’s website and check to see if there is anything that can be done.  It takes a while for using state values instead of local values to make a difference, but ultimately there is a penalty. 

2/14/08

Mileage Reimbursement Rates Increase – Again

            More things to consider for the budget 

From the TEA letter:   

Effective January 1, 2008, the automobile mileage reimbursement rate (in-state and out-of-state) has increased from 48.5 cents per mile to 50.5 cents per mile or local policy, whichever is less. 

If this seems like deja vu all over again (to quote a baseball sage,) the rate changed to $.485 from $.445 on September 1^st, 2007.  The rest of the travel reimbursement rates did not change this time.  These rates are the rates that the state pays for state employee travel and are the maximum that can be reimbursed from funds that have anything to do with TEA.

2/12/08

Title I School- wide Program Guidance

            New accounting and audit requirements  

The U.S. Department of Education has released new Title I fiscal guidance establishing a framework for school-wide programs.   

The new guidance establishes three separate scenarios:

(1) complete consolidation of funds;
(2) consolidation of only federal funds; and
(3) non-consolidation that nonetheless allows for use of Title I Part A funds on a school-wide basis 

This new guidance will be reflected in the annual Single Audit Compliance Supplement due for publication in March, The new guidance document can be found on the Department of Education web site at:  http://www.ed.gov/programs/titleiparta/fiscalguid.doc. 

2/12/08

Postage Increase Announced

            First Class to be $.42 on May 1^st  

Another bit of information for the budget:  The United States Postal Service has announced a price increase effective May1, 2008.

First-Class Mail letter (1 oz.)                               $0.42
First-Class Mail letter (2 oz.)                               $0.59
Postcard                                                           $0.27
First-Class Mail large envelope (2 oz.)                  $1.00
Certified Mail                                                     $2.70

Price increases for other services will be announced in March. 

http://www.usps.com/prices/welcome.htm?from=bannercommunications&page=prices

2/7/08

Facilities Aid Rules Amendments

            TEA proposes rule changes for IFA and EDA 

TEA has posted amendments to the Commissioner’s Rules concerning state aid for facilities.  There are rule changes proposed for both the Instructional Facilities Allotment (IFA) and the Existing Debt Allotment (ED.) 

The new rules address statutory changes which make bonds issued before September 1^st, 2007 eligible for the EDA and implementing Senate Bill 962 which modified the calculation of the wealth per student in districts impacted by base realignment used to determine eligibility for the IFA. 

Common to both programs are rule changes which: 

Required that only the debt service information on file with the state information depository or filed with TEA as appropriate is eligible for consideration.

Required that refunding and restructuring must be reported for the bonds to remain eligible

Define Interest Rate Management Agreements 

There are numerous other changes proposed.  Some of them would change or clarify certain deadlines and reporting requirements while others propose “clean up” changes which may also impact some school districts.   

There are a number of other rule changes proposed.  Information about all rules and proposed changes can be found of the Texas Education Agency – Administrative Rules web page.

2/5/08

2007–08 Revised Summary of Finances

            Updated information posted  

A revised Summary of Finances (SOF) and other related reports for the 2007–2008 school year have been posted to the School Finance website of the Texas Education Agency (TEA) at www.tea.state.tx.us/school.finance/.   Follow this link http://www.tea.state.tx.us/taa/schfin020408.html to read the letter. 

At this point, most of the information on the 2007-2008 Summary is estimated and the left hand column, the Legislative Payment Estimate (LPE) is the basis for advancing funds to the district during the school year.  Most, but not all of the information in this column is set before the year begins and does not change during the year. 

The right hand column, the District Planning Estimate (DPE), is advice to the district about potential earnings for the year.  At this point, this column is nearly the same as TEA and has little new information. 

Payments to the district will ultimately be adjusted to actual earnings after the close of the school year.  It is essential that the district complete the 2007–08 state aid template produced by the Education Service Center in Region XIII as critical information such as actual attendance will not be available to TEA to include in the Summary of Finances until after school is out.  The link to the template on the website's "State Funding Worksheets Page" is http://www.tea.state.tx.us/school.finance/funding/index.html.) 

Updated information highlights include: 

2006 CPTD Value – The property value being used to compute your district's state aid was certified by the Comptroller’s Property Tax Division (CPTD) and has been revised to reflect the implementation of House Bill 5.  The value has been updated in both the LPE and DPE columns.  

2007 Local Values – The TEA will use the local property values reported by the CPTD to calculate tax collections for those districts that did not report collections to the TEA on the Tax Information Survey last fall. 

Tax Rate – Adopted 2007-2008 rates have been incorporated into the state funding calculations.  

Tax Collections – If the district did not submit tax collections, TEA has reestimated collections  

Existing Debt Allotment (EDA) and Instructional Facilities Allotment (IFA) – The preliminary earned allotment appears on the first page of the SOF report under the “Additional Aid” heading.  Settle-up amounts for 2006–07 have been incorporated into these payments 

State Compensatory Education – The information regarding the number of students who were eligible for free or reduced-price breakfast and lunch has been updated on page 3 of the SOF report.  

Amended Calculation of Revenue Target – Several changes have been made in the calculation of the revenue target:

Adjustment to Transportation Allotment  – The revenue target has been adjusted to reflect the difference between the current-year transportation allotment and the amount of the transportation allotment in the target year, based on the maximum of S1, S2, and S3.
 

Adjustment for the New Instructional Facilities Allotment (NIFA) – The revenue target has been adjusted to reflect the difference between the current- year NIFA allotment generated and the NIFA allotment generated in the target year.

1/25/08

CPTD Value Update

To explore the possible impact of the value reduction complete the state aid template for a district, note the total state aid and then reduce the CPTD value leaving the rest of the data unchanged and note the difference.  If there is an increase in state aid, the district may consider contacting the Reporting Section of the Comptroller’s Property Tax Division at 1-800-252-9121 to correct the value.  

1/23/08

Payment of TRS Above Statutory Minimum

On December 21, 2007, Commissioner Robert Scott requested an Attorney General’s Opinion to determine the minimum salary to be used in calculating the required contributions by school districts to the Teacher Retirement System for compensation above the statutory minimum salary.  Click here to review this request

1/23/08

HB 5 Value Adjustments

            Many show no reduction 

House Bill 5 passed in the last regular session of the Texas legislature mandated a reduction in the frozen homestead ceilings proportional to the reduction in the school district operating tax rates set in place by House Bill 1 beginning with the 2007 tax year. 

The bill also directed that the 2006 property value study conducted by the comptroller be adjusted as if the lower homestead taxes had been in place that year.  The 2006 value study is used in the state aid calculations for the 2007-2008 school year. 

The comptroller has made the adjustment and issued the report and the adjusted values have been included in the TEA Summary of Finances, but a large number of districts show no reduction in value.  This is surprising as it would be the rare district that had no homestead exemptions that were granted before 2006.  

Some districts may have not responded to the request for information either through miscommunication or misunderstanding of the need for the adjustment.  While the House Bill 1 changes in school funding greatly reduce the impact of the value study on district finances, it did not eliminate it completely.  The bulk of the reduction in tax collections will be offset by an increase in Additional State Aid for Tax Reduction hold harmless provision. Districts that have tax effort above the compressed tax rate or receive facilities aid will earn more state aid if the assigned property value is reduced.  This is the mechanism that the state uses to make up the rest of the reduction in tax collections and there is no separate payment. 

To explore the possible impact of the value reduction complete the state aid template for a district, note the total state aid and then reduce the CPTD value leaving the rest of the data unchanged and note the difference.  If there is an increase in state aid, the district may consider requesting an audit of the 2006 value study to correct the value.  

The forms for requesting an audit can be found on the comptroller’s website.  An explanation of how the individual homeowner’s tax ceiling is to be adjusted is also available. 

1/14/08

Adjusted 2006 Property Value

            HB 5 Homestead Adjustments 

H.B. No. 5 Extends the benefit of the reduction in school district tax rates by adjusting the frozen homestead taxes downward by proportioning the frozen homestead levy downward by the reduction in the district tax rate.  School districts are held harmless by additional state aid to the extent that the reductions in the value certified by the comptroller does not replace the lost property tax revenue. The comptroller is directed to certify the value before and after the reduction in the homestead freeze in addition to the amount that values would have been decreased in the 2006 tax year to be used in the 2007-2008 state aid calculations. 

The comptroller’s report is available at http://www.window.state.tx.us/taxinfo/proptax/hb5adjusted.pdf most districts can expect to receive an increase in state aid for tax effort beyond the first band of Tier II and Facilities Aid.   

12/19/07           

Final AYP Ratings Published

            Get ready for the questions 

Remember last week’s Campus Report Cards?  This is a different rating. 

Under the accountability provisions in the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, all public school campuses, school districts, and the state are evaluated for Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).  Links to the report and a lot of supporting information are TEA’s AYP webpage.   

 12/17/07

House Select Committee Meetings Posted

            Education and Appropriations

The House Select Committee on Higher and Public Education Finance and the Appropriations subcommittee on Education have posted meetings beginning January 15^th.  The schedules and agendas are on the Texas House of Representatives web site.  Check back on the schedules and topics as they are subject to change.

Topics include invited testimony from TEA regarding public school finance and formula funding, invited testimony on the spreading or "smoothing" of state payments to school districts throughout the year. (House Appropriations Committee Interim Charge #12) and public testimony on public school formula funding and allotment issues. 

12/17/07           

School Health and Related Services (SHARS)

            Cost Report training, due date 

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) has requested and received an extension of the 2007 cost report due date to April 1, 2008.  This report is usually due March 1^st. 

More information is available on the SHARS web site.  The training schedule is also available.

12/13/07

School Report Cards

            2006-2007 report must be distributed to parents 

The 2006-07 School Report Cards (SRC) for campuses are now available from the Texas Education Agency’s website at: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/perfreport/src/2007/campus.srch.html 

The letter  provides additional information and links to sample letters in both English and Spanish. 

From the TEA letter: 

Distribution to Parents. The SRC must be disseminated to parents within six calendar weeks after notification from TEA that it is available. The winter holiday does not count toward the six weeks. The campus administration may provide the SRC in the same manner it normally transmits official communications to parents and guardians, such as including the SRC in a weekly folder sent home with each student, mailing it to the student’s residence, providing it at a teacher-parent conference, or enclosing it with the student report card. While you are required, at a minimum, to provide SRCs to parents, you are not limited to providing just this information.  You may want to supplement the report by including information that highlights other areas of improvement and accomplishments of your schools. 

12/13/07

831 LOW-PERFORMING SCHOOLS

            2008-2009 Public Education Grant (PEG) Program list released 

The Public Education Grant (PEG) Program, authorized under Texas Education Code, Chapter 29, Subchapter G, §§29.201 - 29.205 identifies low-performing campus and a parent of a student enrolled in any of the campuses listed may make application to attend a campus in any other school district for the 2008-09 school year.  

The list of low performing campuses , effective for the 2008-09 school year, identifies campuses at which 50 percent or more of the students did not pass TAKS in any two of the preceding three years or were rated Academically Unacceptable in 2005, 2006, or 2007 under the statewide accountability system.  

The highlights of this program: 

There is nothing in it for the low-performing campus.

This campus rating system is different from the NCLB ratings.

The parents of students on the low-performing campus must be notified by February 1, 2008 that they are eligible to transfer off the campus either to another campus in the district or to another district.

Parents can apply for transfer to another campus, but that campus does not have to accept them. 

Obviously, they can not discriminate between students based on a student’s race, ethnicity, academic achievement, athletic abilities, language proficiency, sex, or socioeconomic status.  The most obvious reasons for not accepting transfers would be space, desegregation orders and district policies prohibiting transfers from another district.

Neither district is obliged to provide transportation to the new campus.

If a transfer is accepted into a campus into another school district, the PEG Grant provides an additional funding weight of .10 

The TEA letter has more detailed information and links to the list and a FAQ.  

 12/6/07

New Foundation School Program

            New TEASE login required

Message from TEA:

Dear FSP Application User:

The new Foundation School Program (FSP) application will be coming online early next year. The most prominent feature of the new FSP application is that you will have specific roles and privileges attached to your Texas Education Agency Secure Environment (TEASE) user name. You must apply for access to the new FSP application, and choose your role(s), through the TEASE online request system to continue submitting FSP data. The existing FSP application will no longer be available after the new application is launched.

Please note these important dates:

      Starting December 5, 2007

You can apply for access to the new FSP application through the TEASE online request system.

      January 7, 2008

The new FSP application demo comes online. You can try out the new system by entering data in the demo's program modules. The existing FSP application will still be available for entry of actual data.

      February 1, 2008

The new FSP application comes online. IMPORTANT NOTE: The existing FSP application will no longer be available.

When you have applied for access to the new FSP application, which includes choosing your role(s) and privileges, your superintendent will review and approve your request and then submit it to the Texas Education Agency (TEA). The TEA application owner for the program module associated with your requested role(s) will review your request. If the application owner approves your request, you will receive an email confirmation that the requested role(s) have been attached to your TEASE user name. (It may take 1 to 10 days from your initial request to receive your email confirmation; if you have not received notification of approval or rejection after 10 days, first contact your superintendent.) After you receive your email confirmation, when you log on to the new FSP application, your requested role(s) will be attached to your user name (however, they will not restrict your access until new program modules come online, which will begin in spring 2008).

Instructions for applying for the new FSP application, as well as more-detailed information about the new application, are available at the Foundation School Payment System Web page and by clicking the following links:

Quick-Reference Card: Request FSP Access Through TEASE Quick-Start Guide: Applying for and Navigating Within the New FSP Application PowerPoint Presentation: Introducing the New FSP System

Important Notes:

Please Confirm Your Email Address Before Applying for Access

Before applying for access to the new FSP application, please confirm your TEASE email address to ensure that you receive notification when your requested role or roles are assigned to your user name:

1.       Enter your user name and password at the TEASE logon page at

            https://seguin.tea.state.tx.us/apps/logon.asp, and click Continue.

2.       On the Application List screen, click the Change Info button. You are directed to a page with your user information.

3.       Verify the email address listed.

       If your email address is correct, click the Cancel button. You are ready to apply

       for access to the new FSP application.

             If your email address is incorrect, enter your correct email address. Then click the

             Continue button. You are ready to apply for access to the new FSP application.

Special Instructions for Users Whose TEASE User Names Have Become Invalid

If you have not logged on to the TEASE system recently, you may receive a message that your TEASE user name has become invalid when you try to log on to add the new FSP application. If you receive this message, you must apply for a new TEASE user account, as if you were a new user. When you apply for a new account, you may receive warning messages. Disregard the messages, and continue with the TEASE application process. You will be able to apply for the new FSP application as part of the TEASE application process. 

If you require further assistance, please send an email to computer.access@tea.state.tx.us or contact the TEA State Funding Division at (512) 463-9238.

If you need assistance in choosing roles for the new FSP application, please first contact your superintendent and then contact the TEA School Finance Unit at sfinance@tea.state.tx.us or (512) 463-9238. 

 12/6/07

School Health and Related Services (SHARS)

            FAQ and billing guidelines updated 

School Health and Related Services (SHARS) is a Medicaid financing program and is a joint program of the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC). SHARS allows local school districts / shared services arrangements (ssa’s) to obtain Medicaid reimbursement for certain health-related services provided to students in special education.  

TEA has posted updated Frequently Asked Questions and Billing Guidelines documents on the SHARS web page.   

The TMPPM - Texas Medicaid Provider Procedures Manual – which is referenced in the FAQ document is on the Texas Medicaid & Healthcare Partnership's (TMHP) web site.   

 12/5/07

TexPool Investments

            No CDOs or SIVs  

TexPool and TexPool Prime are local government investment pools which are used by many school districts.  The State Comptroller of Public Accounts oversees them and Lehman Brothers and Federated Investors manage the daily operations of the pools under a contract with the Comptroller. 

A similar Florida pool recently suspended withdrawals for a while when many depositors began withdrawing their funds over concern about investments in collateralized debt obligations (CDO) and structured investment vehicles (SIV).  This “run on the bank” has left the Florida pool struggling with liquidity problems. 

 TexPool has posted two updates recently assuring investors that, “Neither pool owns collateralized debt obligations or structured investment vehicles. And neither has direct exposure to subprime mortgages.” 

12/3/07

IRS Issues Model 403(b) Plan Language

            Model plan language available 

ASBO International has a 403(b) page on their website which has links to the IRS regulations which will be in the December 17^th Federal Register.  There are also links to several IRS sites on this page.  

The model plan language is available at the bottom of the regulations which are available <here>.  

This is a complicated tax and legal issue.  School districts should seek advice from their own advisors before taking action.