Education Teachers, Early Childhood Coordinators
FROM: Jamie Nord, Executive Director
RE: Non-Resident Early Childhood Evaluations
DATE: October 2015 / N
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E / Early Childhood Evaluation Only Students
The Minnesota Automated Reporting Student System (MARSS) Manual states, “The resident district is responsible for providing evaluation to children who may be eligible for special education services under FAPE. The resident district can conduct the evaluation itself or purchase the evaluation services from another district. Because the resident district is responsible for assuring that the evaluation is conducted, the resident district must report these enrollments on MARSS using State Aid Category (SAC) 00. If a nonresident district or charter school provides the evaluation services to a pre-kindergarten child, the enrollment record should have a SAC of 21; no state aid is generated and there is no bill back to the resident district. Note that a foster child without an IEP/IFSP/IIIP is a resident of the district in which the foster home is located.”
The purpose of this guideline is to provide staff with a protocol for requesting approval to evaluate a student who is not a resident of their district and the billing procedures needed so that payment is received.
When a district receives a request to evaluate a non-resident child, the following steps need to be taken:
1. The ECSE Case Manager will write up an “Early Childhood Non-Resident Pre-Evaluation Proposal” with an estimate of time they anticipate the evaluation will take. See attached sample. This estimate should only reflect district employee time, not SCRED employee time (e.g., Occupational Therapists, Physical Therapists, Teacher of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing, Teacher of the Blind/Visually Impaired) if the proposal is going to a SCRED district. If the proposal is going to a non-SCRED district, SCRED employee time must be included.
2. The ECSE Case Manager will send the Pre-Evaluation Proposal to their Business Manager. The Business Manager will calculate the costs for the services. The estimate should include:
a. Estimated district employee time to administer assessment, analyze results, complete due process paperwork, and meet with the family pre and post evaluation.
b. For a proposal going to a non-SCRED district, estimated SCRED employee time to administer assessment, analyze results, complete due process paperwork, and meet with the family pre and post evaluation. If SCRED employee costs are needed, the Business Manager should contact the SCRED Finance Manager to obtain this information.
c. Mileage plus drive time
d. FICA, TRA
e. If applicable, administrative representative time to attend IFSP/IEP meeting. For Part B evaluations, an administrative representative is required to attend the meeting. No administrative representative is required for Part C meetings.
3. Once the Business Manager has completed the cost estimate, the completed Pre-Evaluation Proposal will be returned to the Case Manager.
4. The Case Manager will email the request to the Early Childhood Collaborative Planner.
5. The Early Childhood Colalborative Planner will submit the Pre-Evaluation Proposal to the Superintendent and Unique Learners' Manager of the district of residence for approval. If the district of residence is a SCRED district, the Unique Learners' Manager will review the proposal for reasonableness and let the superintendent know their determination.
6. Once the Superintendent has notified the Early Childhood Collaborative Planner of the decision, the Early Childhood Collaborative Planner will contact the Case Manager.
7. Upon completion of all evaluation activities, the case manager will notify the Business Manager of actual time spent on evaluation services.
8. The Business Manager will create a final invoice and send it to the resident district for payment.
9. The Resident District will need to provide the following EDRS information to the Finance Manager at SCRED:
a. The File Folder Number of district employee(s) completing the evaluation;
b. Number of hours and costs for services.
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AP #26 Approved by SOC 11/3/15; approved by GB
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