Page 1

California SELPA Administrators’ Meeting

Finance Report –March 2017


1.Department of Finance (DOF) Stakeholder Meetings

  • A Big Thank You to everyone who participated and/or had colleagues from their SELPA participate in the Stakeholder Meetings. The response was truly gratifying and sent a strong message to the Administration and the DOF regarding the role of SELPAs and the work we do. A special thank you to Nancy LaCasseand the School Services team who have done so much positive work behind the scenes on our behalf.

2.State News

  • In the Governor’s Budget Proposal, he lowered the State Revenue projections by 1.6 billion due to revenue shortfalls through December. Even after the lowered revenues, the state has continued to fall short of projections. In February, the revenues were below by 4.9% or $256 million dollars. This shortfall saw all three of the major taxes falling below forecast. Inflation was up to 2.5% and the Feds raised short-term interest rates by .25%. Housing prices dropped 3.8% from December 2016. This information reinforces beliefs that the Governor’s May Revise may be even more conservative than usual.
  • The Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) provided an analysis regarding Governor Brown’s 3.8 billion dollar proposal for childcare and preschool. Half would go to childcare programs and half to preschool, including increased Transitional Kindergarten (TK) funding. His proposal also contains several policy modifications including licensing requirements, program length and staffing. The LAO has a concern that this will just make the system even more complicated. The LAO recommends that the Legislature reject most of the alignment proposals, including the proposal to allow part-day State Preschool Programs to serve special needs children whose families exceed the income threshold. They feel this might take spots needed by low income children. The LAO thinks there should be a much more holistic approach to serving preschoolers.
  • After months of discussion, the California Dashboard has been released and is being introduced as “a work in progress”. This release will show LEA performance on four state and four local indicators.
  • Two Special Education Funding Bills have been submitted. The Coalition for Adequate Funding is working closely with the authors on these bills.

AB 312 (O’Donnell – Long Beach) – The bill proposes to equalize funding for SELPAs to the 90th percentile and also establishes a funding stream for preschoolers with disabilities. These provisions would begin once the LCFF reached full funding. The bill is consistent with recommendations from the Task Force, as well as the Legislative Analyst’s Office. It is sponsored by the Coalition for Adequate Funding and the California Association of School Business Officials (CASBO).

AB 1449 (Muratsuchi – Manhattan Beach) would require a grant add on that would be based on the percentage of students with exceptional needs. Work on details of this bill is ongoing.

3.Federal News

  • Continuing Budget Resolution until April 28.
  • Federal Budget Proposal contains a 13% cut for education. Not sure what would be cut. It also contains the following increases:

$1.4 billion for school choice (vouchers)

$250 million for private schools

$168 million for charters (this doubles the amount for charters)

  • Currently there is much uncertainty at the Federal level. Congress has invoked the Congressional Review Act (CRA) for Title II and ESSA Title I Regulations. This allows Congress to go back 60 legislative days to overturn regulations. President Trump is expected to sign and to overturn the regulations.
  • Priorities of the Administration seem to be centered around state autonomy and parental choice.

4.Special Education Fiscal

  • Remainder of funds for preschool grants from 15-16 should have been received.
  • There were many questions about the grant amounts for #3310 and #3320 this year. Two things happened. There was a little more money allocated and there was a recalculation of both grants due to Federal requirements. All 5 year olds were added to #3320. That grant is ages 3-5. The 5 year olds were removed from #3310 and that grant is now ages 6-21. Most SELPAs got more in both grants. #3315 stayed flat funded.
  • Notifications just came out to SELPAs/districts who operate Infant Programs. You must click on the link in the e-mail to get your report. If you have a negative number on item 6(d) you will need to complete the waiver form to avoid losing units. We will also get more information to determine if this applies just to Federal or State Infant programs.
  • Submit grant expenditure reports for 2016-2017. This includes #3310, #3315, #3320 and #3327.
  • All current electronic expenditure report forms were sent out by e-mail this week. Thanks to Karen Mitchell from East Valley SELPA in San Bernardino for always making these available to us.
  • Remember for #3310, you must include Private School Proportionate Share forms for your districts with the first expenditure report. You will need to include the form indicating indirect rates for your districts with the finalexpenditure report.
  • Remind your districts now about the upcoming MOE reporting. We will be sending out the updated SELPA Subsequent Year Tracking form soon. You can also check the CDE website for their updated form.