pennsylvania association of school business officials developing educational leaders in school...

Pennsylvania Association of School Business OfficialsDeveloping educational leaders in school operations.

Tracking Stimulus Funding: Is Your Accounting Train on Track?

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2010 PASBO ConferenceThursday, March 11, 2010, 9:00-10:00 A.M.

Hershey Lodge & Convention Center Empire A-B-C


School District Perspective

Christopher Berdnik

Chief Financial Officer/Chief Operations Officer

School District of Pittsburgh

Roberta Strauss

Associate Director, Budget Development, Management and Operations

School District of Pittsburgh

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ARRA began 2/17/2009

• Creation of a 4-Person Stimulus Team including the Superintendent, Deputy Superintendent, CAO, CFO/COO.

• Priorities were costed out and agreed upon over a series of meetings, and presented to the Board of School Directors in March and April 2009.

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PDE initially told us to expect:

• Basic: $ 5.05 million

• ARRA IDEA: $ 7.85 million

• ARRA Title I: $16.12 million

• SFSF: $13.62 million

• Total $42.64 million

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Spending Plan

• Basic Ed SFSF $5 million was initially budgeted to save 100 low-seniority General Fund teaching positions.

• IDEA – The ARRA IDEA allocation gave us our first opportunity to make use of the IDEA Maintenance of Effort provision.

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Spending Plan - IDEA

• Save 30 Special Ed Teaching Positions - used a higher average salary than for Basic Ed positions

• Hire 5 new Special Ed Curriculum Specialists• Return students to District from Approved

Private Facilities, using both contracts and new staff

• Expand Behavioral Support services• Professional Development for Special Ed and

Partner Teachers• Equitable Participation, Charter Schools

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Spending Plan – Title I

• 2/3 to be spent on the Literacy component of an innovative 2-year summer program for middle grade students, including waived set-asides from SES and School Choice transportation.

• 16 new positions (14 middle grade literacy interventionists and 2 central literacy staff)

• Non-public math instruction• School-based parental involvement

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Spending Plan – SFSF to LEAs

• Full-funding of afternoon activities to complement the summer literacy program, including new staff to manage the program

• IT and Assessment support to track summer program results

• School modernization costs

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Reality Check

• Pittsburgh’s actual SFSF to LEA allocation was zero.• The RFP process for summer activities was redesigned

to include literacy, with private funding requested for service providers with no Title I tie-in.

• Summer managers moved to funds available from IDEA MOE.

• No funds for school modernization.• In February, the Federal portion of the basic subsidy had

to be revised to include the entire $18.6 million, which now supports 202 teacher salaries.

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Guidance Documents

• 12/18/09 Revised Federal Guidance: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/memoranda_2010/m10-08.pdf

• PA Department of Education Section 1512 Reporting Site

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/american_recovery_and_reinvestment_act/17696/section_1512_reporting/613064

• The PDE Site contains the pdf documents, Step-by-Step Guide for eGrants and PDE Quick Guide for 1512 Revised Jobs Reporting, Jan 2010

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http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/memoranda_2010/m10-08.pdf

http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/memoranda_2010/m10-08.pdf




http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_123531_738490_0_0_18/StepbyStepGuide.pdf

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_123531_738791_0_0_18/PDEQuickGuideforRevisedJobsReporting_Jan%202010.pdf

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/gateway/PTARGS_0_123531_738791_0_0_18/PDEQuickGuideforRevisedJobsReporting_Jan%202010.pdf


Initial Calendar for ARRA Section 1512 Reporting

• 9/18/09 One-Time Survey• 10/5/09 Data Collection through 9/30/09• 12/17/09 Data Collection through 12/31/09• 12/23/09 Heads-up from PASBO that USDE

changed the guidance for the 12/31 reports on 12/18/09

• 12/28/09 notice from PDE that changes to the 12/31 reports would be required

• 1/6/10 notice from PDE that revised reports for 12/31/09 would be due 1/13/10

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PDE e-grants menu – top half

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PDE e-grants menu – bottom half

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Expenditure Tracking

• ARRA funds have discrete coding within the District’s system, as all supplemental funds do.

• In July 2009, a team from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Inspector General (OIG) came to Pittsburgh to review our control systems to ensure the proper administration of ARRA funds.

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Tracking job impact

• We maintain a Master Job Impact Excel document containing:– Employee identifier (e.g. IDEA Employee 15)– Employee name– Job title– FTE– Impact date– Hours in a normal workday for each employee– Standard number of workdays for each quarter– Actual number of workdays for each quarter for each

employee, with notes explaining differences from the maximum.

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Master Job Impact Worksheet

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Job Impact Document

• The job impact document allows us the flexibility to calculate answers to whatever questions we are being asked for reporting purposes.

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Vendors, Charter Schools, Non-Public

• We have made telephone contacts to each charter school, vendor, and non-public school representative each quarter, asked the required questions and backed up the answers with e-mail verifications. Impacted staff are included on the master document and reported.

• To comply with reporting for the Food Service Equipment grant, we verified information about each piece of equipment that was purchased via phone contacts with the vendor.

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Summer program vendors

• Since the service provider list for the summer literacy program is substantial and will be generating many new jobs in a short period of time, a job information sheet has been included with the contract package for each vendor.

• The summer program vendors will submit job information on a monthly basis.

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More Federal Review

• In January 2010, a team from the U.S. Government Accountability Office conducted a one-hour conference call to discuss our State ARRA job reporting methodology and the types of contacts and support that we receive from PDE.

• We expressed our strong preference for the revised version of the 12/31/09 reports.

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Example of revised reporting data entered into e-grant

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PAEdTrak System Announced 3/3/10

• E-grants will not be used to collect ARRA reporting for the 3/31/10 quarter.

• User registrations had to be entered by 3/10/10 in the PAEdTrak system.

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Title II/D EETT Award

• On February 12, Pittsburgh was awarded $2,999,994 in ARRA Title II/D funds, which was the entire amount of our application.

• The Classrooms for the Future program, currently in 3 schools, will expand at 2 of those schools, extend to 2 more, plus the PPS/PFT Promise Academy.

• Professional development, whole-school wireless access, and distance learning equipment

• 2 Technology Integration Coaches; 1 Computer Repair Technician; 1 Network Administrator

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Post-Stimulus Plans

• While it is doubtful that all of the new activities can be maintained post-ARRA, the program to bring Emotional Support students back into the District’s classrooms is having a major positive impact in the District’s cost-effective delivery of Special Education services.

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Intermediate Unit Perspective

John E. Brenchley

Director of Management Services

BLaST IU 17

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IDEA

• Tracking Stimulus Funding: Is Your Accounting Train on Track?

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IDEA and IUs

• IUs are identified by PA as the LEAs to the Federal Government

• Distributed based on project applications– Direct IU services– Pass through to districts

• Every IU has differences

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Review of Maintenance of Effort, 50% rule and Budgeting for IDEA

Stimulus Funds

Reporting Issues/concerns

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Maintenance of Effort (MoE)

• A federal requirement that requires grant recipients and/or sub-recipients to maintain a certain level of state/local fiscal effort to be eligible for full participation in federal grant funding.

• Grant recipients or sub-recipients not meeting MoE requirements face loss of a portion of their federal funds.

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§300.203 - Exceptions to MoE for IDEA• The voluntary departure or departure for just cause of special

education personnel.

• Decrease in enrollment of children with disabilities.

• A “high cost” child moves out of the district, ages out, or no longer needs the program.

• The purchase of costly capital expenditures, such as a special education bus, is paid off.

• The assumption of cost by the high cost fund operated by the SEA.

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MoE Quick Reference

• Add together the Total ARRA IDEA Funds plus the 2009-10 Regular IDEA Funds Allocation

• Compare to the 2008-09 Allocation.

• All of the maintenance of fiscal effort relief that comes as a result of ARRA funds will apply to fiscal year 2009-10.

• LEAs may use up to 50% of the increase to reduce the level of state and local expenditures.

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MoE Quick Reference

• LEAs must use the freed-up local or state funds for activities that could be supported under the ESEA.

• If the LEA takes advantage of this provision, the required MoE for future years is reduced consistent with the reduction it took, unless the LEA increases the amount of its state and local expenditures on its own.

• Be prepared to collect and report information on the use of the freed-up funds.

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§300.205 – Adjustments to Local Efforts

• The “50% rule”

• If an LEA receives an increase in its IDEA allocation from one fiscal year to the next, the LEA may reduce its MoE obligations by half of the increase.

– “Freed-up funds” must be used to carry out activities that could be supported with funds under the ESEA.

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Discussion

• I’m going to use my IDEA stimulus money to buy new chemistry books…….– What’s wrong with this??

– Why might someone think this – is it right?

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PA School District IDEA MoE Revenue Calculation

$1,000,000

$1,800,000

Current State/Local and Federal Funding

of Special Ed

Local/State FundsIDEA – Supplemental FundsIDEA – Existing Funds

Total $2,800,000

2008-09

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$1,000,000

$1,800,000


of Special Ed

MoE Revenue Calculation for IDEA

Stimulus Funds


50% ($400,000)

50% ($400,000)Total $2,800,000

Increase in Stimulus Funds

= $800,000

2008-09

The Total ARRA IDEA Allocation (plus the Regular 2009-10 IDEA allocation) is

used to determine the Maximum LEA Maintenance of Effort Reduction Amount

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$1,000,000

$1,800,000


of Special Ed

MoE Revenue Calculation for IDEA

Stimulus Funds

Total Special Ed Costs including Stimulus Funds

$1,400,000

$1,000,000


50% ($400,000)

50% ($400,000) 50% ($400,000)

50% ($400,000)

Total $2,800,000

Increase in Stimulus Funds =

$800,000

Total $3,200,000

2008-09 2009-10

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$1,000,000

$1,800,000


of Special Ed

Total Special Ed Costs including Stimulus Funds

$1,400,000

$1,000,000


LEA MoE Reduction(Freed-up Local Funds)

All IDEA Funds must be used for expenditures allowable under IDEA guidelines.

Local funds “freed up” under the MoE 50% Rule must be used to carry out activities authorized under the ESEA/NCLB.

50% ($400,000)

50% ($400,000)

Total $2,800,000

($400,000)

Total $3,200,000

2008-09 2009-10

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Example of Expenditure of IDEA Stimulus Funds

$1,400,000

$1,000,000

50% ($400,000) $400,000


of Special Ed

LEA MoE Reduction Amount

(Freed-up Local Funds)

District Purchase of a Computer Lab

• 20% of the students that will use the lab have IEPs

• 20% of the cost of the computer lab would be an allowable expenditure of IDEA Stimulus Funds

• 80% of the computer lab can be paid for with Local Funds “freed up” through 50% MoE Rule Under 34 CFR §300.205

Local FundsIDEA – Supplemental FundsIDEA – Existing Funds

100% of IDEA Stimulus Funds must be spent on IDEA allowable expenditures

50% ($400,000)

Total $3,200,000

2009-10

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IU 17 Example - Montgomery

• 08/09 IDEA $137 k

• 09/10 IDEA and Stimulus IDEA $304 k

• Increase $167 k– 50% = $83.5 k

• Special Ed cost historically $972 k

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Montgomery – con’t

• $83.5 new IDEA expenses– Assistive Tech– New special ed hires– Additional IU services– Special ed proportional share (e.g. computer

lab, etc.)

• Submit invoice with “Stimulus IDEA”– Use one of the back up forms for ease of

reporting (spreadsheet breaking out data)43



• $83.5 k – 50% rule– Submit invoice with “Stimulus – 50% rule”– Use part of the $971 k not identified

previously as IDEA or ACCESS expenditures• Put that data on the spreadsheet

– What if it’s not fully paid• Need to report on the amount received

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• Freed up money needs to be accounted for – identify big ticket items for ease (textbook series, regular ed portion of computer lab, etc.)

– Spreadsheet maintained for documentation purposes

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Reporting Requirements/Considerations

• Quarterly reports due on PAEDTrak– Spread sheets will help to organize data

• Schedule of federal awards – separate funding similar to the way you account for IDEA now

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Considerations – cont.

• Employees supported by stimulus need to be coded as “federal”– Social Security – Access billers

• Need to know who is billing

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Questions/Discussion

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pennsylvania association of school business officials developing educational leaders in school...

Documents

school operations

math instruction school

educational leaders

school choice transportation

board of school directors

spending plan idea

new positions

basic ed positions