Beginning- Of-Year: Financial Information, Reimbursements and Reports

Beginning-of-Year: Financial Information, Reimbursements and Reports

September 14, 2017 Transcript

Good afternoon. I am Rachel Blanton with the Virginia Department of Education. I am the Senior Budget and Grants Manager in the Career, Technical, and Adult Education department. Welcome to the VDOE Career, Technical, and Adult Education video streaming session. Today's session will be focusing on the beginning of the school year with a specific emphasis on the financial allocations, expenditures, and the reporting of state and local funds pertaining to the Career and Technical programs. The session will look at all aspects of funding for the 2017-2018 school year with particular emphasis on federal, state, and local funding. We will do a recap of the 2016-17 grant awards, extensive focus on 2017-18, and then we will focus on the various funding allocations associated with state funding of career and technical programs. Regarding the 2016-17 Perkins Funding Close-out, the 2016-17 Perkins allocation was announced in Superintendents Memo 07-916. Reimbursement requests for 2016-17 Perkins funds must be submitted via OMEGA by September 30th. Reimbursement requests must be based on expenditures between July 1st, 2016, and June 30th, 2017. School divisions will forfeit any remaining balance after midnight September 30th, 2017, and may not be eligible for reallocation. If your school division has not submitted all its expenditures for reimbursement claims, you have 16 days to have these claims to the VDOE, therefore we are encouraging you to make haste to complete this task.

[00:02:22] The 2017-18 Title 1 Federal Perkins fundsis $24,430,766 in Grant Awards. That is an overall increase of 1.7percent. The division of Perkins funding is based on 85 percent for local school divisions and post-secondary, 10 percent for state leadership activities, and 5percentfor administration of the Perkins Grant. Within the 85percentthat is allocated to thelocal school divisions and post-secondary, 85percentof the whole amount goes to the hundred and thirty-two local school divisions, and 15percentgoes to the 23 community colleges across the state. The local school division allocations are based on individuals ages 5 through 17 who reside in the school division. The state obtains that data from theNational Center for Educational Statistics Common Core Data,and that's actually based on 2013-14 data. And, also we utilize thepoverty data based on individuals ages 5 through 17.Thirty percentof the funding is based on the number of 5- to 17-year-old students who reside in the school system, and 70percentis based on the poverty index from that same area. The Estimated Allocations for the local divisions for 2017-18 was released on Superintendents Memo 078-17, on June 16th, 2017. Of the 24 million amount that was received, as mentioned in the previous slide, $17,651,288.44 represents the 85percentthat's divided amongst the local school divisions. This also represents a $297,000 increase from 2016-17 school year.

[00:04:56] On July 1 the federal government released 29.6percentof the total allocation to the state, and the remaining 70.4percentwill be released on October 1. The requirements for reimbursement through the Perkins secondary program funding: you must have an approved local plan, must have actual school year 2017-18 expenditures, they must be encumbered by June 30th, 2018, and they must be appropriate use of federal funds to improve CTE programs based on required and permissive local use of funds. We would also like to point out that as a result of the USDE monitoring visit that took place in December of 2014, the regulation governing the use of funds for CTSO events must be used strictly to support students who are eligible members of special populations or enrolled in a non-traditional course, and these funds may only be used for registration, transportation, lodging, and meals to attend CTSOconferences. This includes one teacher or advisor perschool, per organization, per event. Please reference theCTE Director's Memo 081-15 that was released on January 9th, 2015, for exact details on the usage of the funds.

[00:06:49] Federal Perkins funds cannot be spent for capital improvements, upgrades, or improvements to physical structures, buildings, classrooms, or laboratories. It can also not be used to purchase reconditioned or repaired equipment, to make equipment repairs, or to purchase parts for repairs. These expenditures must come out of local funds. Perkins funds also cannot be used for the installation of equipment or shipping, unless costsare included in the original purchase invoice and price; and it cannot be used for material supplies and/or commodities that are consumed or materially altered when used—things such as welding gases, paints, lumber, sheet metal, batteries, for cosmetology (like shampoo). Perkins funds cannot be used. But you can use Perkins funds for any new CTE equipment, instructional and classroom reference sets of textbooks, for computers and computer software upgrades, rechargeable batteries if it's part of the original equipment for things such as digital cameras and portable drills. Equipment is defined as any instrument, machine, apparatus, or set of articles that meets all of the following criteria: retains its original shape, appearance, and character with use; does not lose its identity through fabrication or incorporation into a different or more complex unit or substance; and is not expendable. And for equipment under normal use it, it can be expected to serve its principal purpose for at least a year; and excluding supplies and materials as defined by the Virginia Department of Planning and Budget Expenditure Structure, Part II.A 13-XX, Supplies and Materials, from June 2011.

[00:09:17]Equipment purchased must be listed in the current state edition of the Recommended Equipment Approved for CTE Programs. Requests may be emailed to the appropriate program area specialist for approval to purchase any equipment not listed on the current approved list. And a web link to the list is provided at the bottom. Also, we are currently in the process of updating this list. Federal Perkins funds cannot be carried over to the next school year; therefore, it is critical that you encumber or pay for all items by June 30th, 2018. Reimbursement requests must be submitted by September 30th, 2018. Any unspent 2017-18 funds will result in forfeit of the remaining allocation. Unspent Perkins school year 2017-18 funds will be placed in a reserve account and reallocated for unpaid industry certification reimbursements.

[00:10:33]The Online Management of Education Grants—OMEGA system. In order to be reimbursed, you must have an approved application that includes a local plan and a Career and Technical Education Management System Plan, which is Schedule 17, that creates the administrative budget summary worksheet,which is Schedule 18. Again, your budget was released in Superintendents Memo 178-17. When your allocation is initially loaded, it is loaded to the zero default. Before your division can request reimbursement, you must create a budget transfer to move the funds to the appropriate object code based on the Perkins Plan application. For your school year 2017-18 Initial OMEGA Budget Transfer Request, you can transfer the funds as they are allocated, or you can transfer them all at one time after October 1st. You can do July 1, the 29.6percent—you caneither do equal distributions to budgeted object codes, or you can target certain object codes based on your approved local plan. Or after October the first, you can transfer one hundred percent, again based on your local plan and the budget summary.

[00:12:04]Reimbursement requirements. You must have an approved Perkins local plan in OMEGA; you must have an approved OMEGA budget transfer. We do recommend that you submit your reimbursements monthly on your actual expenditures, and, at a minimum, quarterly. Encumbrance dates are required for object codes 3000, 5000, and 8000. Expenditures must comply with the OMEGA object code and definitions, and I have provided a link for you. Also, expenditures may be split between local state and federal funding sources. You must use 100percentof your total school year allocation for Perkins, so we ask that you do not wait until the end of the school to submit one reimbursement to request the entire allocation. The OMEGA system is located on the Virginia Department of Education's website through the Single Sign-on for Web Systems, SSWS. It is a secure port access to the Virginia Department of Education's data processes, reports, and applications. Each school division has an SSWS account manager that issues authorized access to the system. Your school division must complete an OMEGA users permit for form OP1 in order to be granted access to OMEGA.

[00:13:50]Once you have access to OMEGA, there are several levels of approval for reimbursements and budget transfers. At the local level, there are Levels 0 through 3. Level 0 is a required level. This is the level at which budget transfers and reimbursements are created and submitted for approval within a school division. Level 3 is also required. This is the superintendent's approval level and the actual submission to VDOE's CTE unit. Levels 1 and 2 are optional. Within the CTE unit is levels 5 through 6 and VDOE's fiscal service unit is level 7. This is the last approval before the reimbursements are prepared for payment. Payments are administered weekly. Just a few reminders: The federal Perkins school year 2017-18 funds cannot be carried over to the next school year. Final reimbursement requests for 2017-18 must be submitted by the deadline of September 30th, 2018. Unspent funds will result in forfeit of remaining allocated funds. Unclaimed funds will be reallocated for unpaid industry certification reimbursements.

[00:15:28]Next, we will focus on CTE state funding. We have CTE equipment, we have special equipment for high-demand, high-skill fast-growth industry sector, industry certification exams for students and teachers, Workplace Readiness Skills for Commonwealth examinations, STEM-H for student credentials and teacher professional development, information technology industry certifications, occupational prep and CTE adult education program entitlements, and competitive innovative program grants.

[00:16:14]Let's start with Superintendents Memo 203-17 issuedon July 14th, 2017. It provides 1.8 million in state lottery funds. The funds are distributed on a CTE student-enrollment basis, with a floor allocation of $2,000 for each school division. One hundred percentreimbursement of equipment expenditures not to exceed the approved allocation. State equipment funds must be used at 100percentbefore any Perkins federal fund reimbursements can be used for equipment. State equipment funds must be used to supplement, not supplant, any funds currently provided within the locality. Equipment purchased with state funds cannot be claimed on federal Perkins reimbursement requests. Equipment purchased may be split between local state and federal funding sources. Reimbursement request forms must be submitted to VDOE by Friday, June 1st, 2018. Request forms must have the division superintendent or designee's original signature in blue ink. Completed and signed forms can be scanned and emailed to the mailbox, or faxed to 804-530-4560, or mailed to Virginia Department of Education, Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education, Attention: CTE Senior Budget and Grants Manager, Post Office Box 2120, Richmond, Virginia, 23218-2120. Only one method is required but you must include all appropriate backup documentation.

[00:18:33] Secondly, we have Superintendents Memo 201-17, issued July 14th, 2017. This is a two-million-dollar allocation from lottery funds for special equipment for high-demand, high-skill, and fast-growth sectors. This is also based on enrollment with a $1,500 floor allocation that goes to each school division. The second part of this same superintendents memo is the competitive innovative equipment grant. This is $600,000. The competitive innovative program equipment grant is also for high-demand, fast-growth industry sectors and will be announced under a separate superintendents memo in the fall of school year 2017-18. Next, we have superintendents memo 20 dash 17 issued July 14th, 2017. This is for industry certification exams, license, and occupational competency assessments. This is funded at the same state level as FY 2016 — 1,331,464 — and is based on CTE student enrollment. Funding for student credentialing includes industry certification examinations including Workplace Readiness Skills, state licensure exams, occupational competency assessments, school and center site licenses. All of these must be listed on the Board of Education's approved list of credentials.

[00:20:42]Funding reimbursement for industry certification exams will be available for the following periods: For industry certification exams taken in June, reimbursement request must be submitted by October 31st, 2017. Any exam taken between July 2017 and May 2018, reimbursements must be submitted by June 1st, 2018. Note, 100percentreimbursement of exam cost not to exceed the allocated amount. The reimbursements must be submitted on CTE state industry certification reimbursement forms. The initial CTE state industry reimbursement form request must be for 100percentor less of the allocation amount. Subsequential CTE state industry certification reimbursement requests and any that exceeds the initial allocation amount must be submitted on a separate reimbursement request form. For Workplace Readiness, Superintendents Memo 204-17, issued July 14, 2017. This has a state funding of $308,655, which is the same state funding from last fiscal year. This also is CTE student-based enrollment.

[00:22:27] Funding provides flexibility. Funding allocation must be used for the actual Workplace Readiness assessment or other industry certification preparation and testing. Funding allocation based on school year 2016-17 enrollment data for schools and secondary CTE courses. For the Workplace Readiness, reimbursement is also available for June 2017, and these reimbursement forms should be submitted by October 31st, 2017. For reimbursements for July 2017 through May, these reimbursements must be submitted by June 1, 2018. Please note 100 percent reimbursement exam cost not to exceed the allocation amount. The Workplace Readiness also has a reimbursement form that must be filled out. The initial CTE Workplace Readiness Skills examination reimbursement form must be for 100 percent or less of the allocation amount. Subsequential CTE Workplace Readiness Skills exams request forms and any that exceeds the initial allocation must be submitted on a separate reimbursement request. For industry credentials for STEM-H, this is Superintendents Memo 200-17 issued July 14th, 2017. The state funding for that was $500,000, and that is 0.810440 per CTE student enrollment. Use of funds based on STEM-H board-approved industry credentials.

[00:24:35] CTE information technology industry certifications. The 2017 Virginia Acts of Assembly school year 2017-18 appropriated 1.3 million to support students and teachers pursuing information technology industry certifications. The existing contract with Certiport and Microsoft for information technology industry certifications and related testing preparation resources will expire on November 30th, 2017. Negotiations for a new contract will be finalized prior to that expiration date. Funding provided shall be used to support the following priority objectives: increase percentage of students enrolled in CTE information technology courses; increase number of students achieving industry-recognized IT certifications; increase number of high schools and regional CTE programs implementing IT curricula; increase of instructors receiving IT training for targeted CTE programs; increase number of teachers earning industry-recognized IT certifications.