As you prepare for submitting fall PEIMS budget data, here are some things to keep in mind.
Districts are currently preparing any last budget amendments needed prior to submission of fall PEIMS budget data. It is always a good idea to amend the budget as new information becomes available that will enable the board to better fulfill its obligation to provide proper district oversight. But an amendment now will also allow you to provide PEIMS data that is as accurate as possible.
Revenue
The first thing you might want to consider is the importance of any amendments needed to ensure your revenue projection has turned out to be as close as possible to where you think you will actually land. For FIRST purposes, the important measure here will be looking at PEIMS budget to PEIMS actual revenues (object codes 57XX and 58XX) in the general fund (199). If you have gained a better understanding of House Bill 3, or if you notice that a significantly larger or smaller number of students has shown up in the district than you anticipated, then this might be a good time to amend the budget to reflect this new understanding. Remember that to receive full points, you only need to be within 10% of actuals over a three-year period.
Expenditures
If you have not already done so, now might be a good time to set up the new PIC codes that will be used for House Bill 3. You will likely be using journal entries this year to adjust program-related expenditures as the board has more time to reflect on legislative changes and adopts new goals. However, you can go ahead and create those new PICs within your accounting system and begin coding some expenditures. As you select things to code to new programs, consider the overarching goal of the program, the long term cost implications of new expenditures and future shifts the district might want to make, and the impact each program has on what you can spend for other program areas given that you can only code each expenditure to one program.
In addition to creating some new PICs, the legislature made some changes to old PICs. They modified the language around the bilingual education allotment so that you may soon be allowed to code a portion of teacher salaries to this code (note this is only the amount needed to reduce class size). We expect TEA may issue additional guidance about how to calculate that later this year. The legislature also modified the use of compensatory education funds so that you can use the dollars to support low-income as well as at risk students. They also directed the Agency to consider ways of streamlining reporting without eliminating any previously allowed expenditures. The new language is somewhat broader than the old language so more supports and interventions for low-income and at risk students are likely to qualify, and so that it may be easier to account for expenditures in this area as long as they are targeted toward reducing the achievement gap.
Although guidance from TEA has not yet been finalized, we have created a matrix of some of the new codes (and old ones that sometimes overlap) that shows the code, its purpose and required spending amount, and some examples of things you might code there. This list is not meant to be exhaustive. You might well have ideas that would serve students better, and please use those and feel free to share them with us so we can let others know. The chart should also be considered DRAFT as some elements may need to change as TEA issues final guidance.
The important thing here is that you are able to account for the things you are doing for students that meet program goals. Doing so will be important in analyzing the effectiveness of your programs as well as in articulating to your community and to the legislature why program dollars are important to the district.
| PIC | Spending Requirement | Intent | Examples |
| 24 -- Compensatory Education 34 pre-k Compensatory Education 30 -- Title 1 School-wide | 55 percent | Funds must be used to fund supplemental programs and services designed to eliminate disparity in performance on assessment instruments administered under Subchapter B, Chapter 39, or disparity in the rates of high school completion between students who are economically disadvantaged and students who are not and students who are at risk and students who are not. | Extended day or year programs for students who are low income or at risk; Supplies and materials designed to support struggling students (e.g. Read 180) ; Salary supplements for teachers working on campuses / in classrooms serving predominately low income / at risk students AVID or similar programs designed to support first generation to college students; Second half of the day pre-k for at risk or low income students (PIC 34) |
| 32 -- pre-kindergarten | No Specific Requirement | Captures non-supplemental cost of pre-k | First half of the day teacher salaries, instructional materials, etc. for pre-k |
| 36 -- Early Education Allotment | 100 percent | Funds allocated must be used to fund programs and services designed to improve student performance in reading and mathematics in pre-kindergarten through third grade, including programs and services designed to assist the district in achieving the goals set in the district’s early childhood literacy and mathematics proficiency plans adopted under TEC Section 11.185. | Second half of the day for pre-k Reading / math specialists for early grades Furniture / supplies and materials necessary for expansion of pre-k to second half of day Reading / math materials for k - 3 classrooms Reading academy participation for k - 3 teachers and principals Pre-k for non-eligible students |
| 37 -- Dyslexia | 100 percent | Funds should be spent on students identified as having dyslexia or related disorders. No more than 20% may be spent on contracting with a private provider for supplemental services | Instructional materials designed to support students with dyslexia; Assessment materials designed to identify students with dyslexia; Dyslexia service providers (teachers, instructional aides, etc.) Staff development for teachers designed to provide information on serving students with dyslexia; Contracting out for supplemental services (< 20%) |
| 38 -- College, Career and Military Readiness | 55 percent | Must be spent in grades k - 12 to improve college, career and military readiness outcomes | High school teacher salaries for college / career prep classes AVID or similar programs designed to support first generation students College / Career counseling designed to support first generation students; Teacher salaries for courses designed to prepare students for college / workforce |
