Question: We have a district that wants its school months to be: August 26 to September 20, September 23 to October 18, October 21 to November 15, November 18 to December 13, December 18 to...

This is where the problem is. Since winter recess is not counted, do we show the month as ending January 10 (and end up with more than 10 months total) or do we show a six week month during January due to the winter recess? We have not had a school in this situation before.

Response: Ed code section 37201 states:

37201. (a) A school month is 20 days or four weeks of five days each, including legal holidays but excluding weekend makeup classes. For the purposes of counting attendance only in providing for a school calendar the winter vacation period, or any portion thereof, may be excluded by the school district in the definition of a school month. (b) The provisions of subdivision (a) of this section are limited to defining a school month for attendance counting purposes only.
According to John Gilroy of the Department of Education, the fifth month would start with December 18 or the first day after the winter break (if that is when winter break started), and continue for 20 days with four weeks of five days.

| Back to index |


Question: Is there any circumstance in which a student may be admitted to kindergarten without meeting the minimum age requirement?

Response: Ed Code section 48000 defines the minimum age requirement for a child to be admitted to kindergarten. Paragraph (b) provides the governing board with a method to admit a child who will be five years old at any time during the school year. Here is the text of E.C. 48000:

48000. (a) A child shall be admitted to a kindergarten at the beginning of a school year, or at any later time in the same year if the child will have his or her fifth birthday on or before December 2 of that school year. A child who will have his or her fifth birthday on or before December 2 may be admitted to the prekindergarten summer program maintained by the school district for pupils who will be enrolling in kindergarten in September. (b) The governing board of any school district maintaining one or more kindergartens may, on a case_by_case basis, admit to a kindergarten a child having attained the age of five years at any time during the school year with the approval of the parent or guardian, subject to the following conditions: (1) The governing board determines that the admittance is in the best interests of the child. (2) The parent or guardian is given information regarding the advantages and disadvantages and any other explanatory information about the effect of this early admittance.

48002. The parent or guardian of a child shall, prior to the admission of the child to the kindergarten or first grade of a school district, present proof to the authorities of the district evidencing that the child is of the minimum age fixed by law for admission thereto. The method of proof of age shall be prescribed by the governing board, and the evidence may be in the form of a certified copy of a birth record or a statement by the local registrar or a county recorder certifying the date of birth, or a baptism certificate duly attested, or a passport, or, when none of the foregoing is obtainable, an affidavit of the parent, guardian, or custodian of the minor, or any other appropriate means of proving the age of the child as prescribed by the governing board of the school district.

| Back to index |

Question: A close member of the Superintendent's family passes away. The Board wants and authorizes sending flowers using district funds. The district has no policy in place to support such expenditures. What is the law?

Response: The use of public funds is strictly defined in both the California State Constitution and the Education Code. Article 16, section 6 of the State Constitution states "the gift of public funds, such as any expenditure which benefits an individual or small class of individuals only, with no benefit to all of the residents of the political entity " is prohibited.

The Governing Board may adopt rules and regulations for an award process as stated in E.C. 44015. This process often includes district purchase of floral items for students or employees. However, this generally relates to special acts, special services, or superior accomplishments by staff or students of the district.

The question reflects a personal expression of sympathy to a co-worker or associate and the expense should not be made with district funds.

| Back to index |


Question: A senior high school class wishes to designate leftover student body funds to be used for the class 10-year reunion. Can this be accomplished? If yes, how should it be done?

Response: The suggested use of student body funds is in conflict with the general principle that funds are to be used to promote the general welfare, morale, and educational experiences of the student body. More directly, funds are to be used for the benefit of those students currently in school.

While these students are seniors at this time, the suggested use of funds would occur ten years later when they are no longer students but alumni.

The governing board of the school district is the entity which ultimately is responsible for student body fund raising and the expenditures of such funds. The district board could take action in public session to add to the rules and regulations a provision that would allow this suggested use of student body funds. This action is strongly discouraged, because it would affect all grade level student body groups and detract from the purpose of using funds for current projects to benefit students.

| Back to index |

Question: Our school district is purchasing one-of-a-kind financial software from a vendor. In addition, there is a need to upgrade the mainframe system hardware. The software vendor is also a supplier of HP hardware. The cost will be in the $70,000-$80,000 range. Our CBO believes this combined package is the best price available. Is there any way to not go out to bid? Also, does the district need to separate the hardware from the software if it does go out to bid?

Response: Certain legal requirements apply when equipment and services are needed by school districts. The intent of the law is that school districts should secure competitive bids for required goods and services and obtain the maximum value for each dollar expended consistent with the quality desired.

Three types of bids are in general use: The Formal Advertised Bid (sealed and written), the Informal (written or oral), and the Negotiated Bid.

The law requires the use of the Formal Advertised Bid on all expenditures of $50,000 or more for materials, equipment and supplies or services and $15,000 or more for work to be done, with bids called for through legal advertising. The local board may establish purchasing policies and procedures to be followed for expenditures below these statutory limits.

On purchases under the legal bid limits, or in emergency situations, the Informal Bid may be used (oral, fax or telephone quotation).

The law permits the use of the Negotiated Bid in the purchase of certain commodities, as outlined in Ed. Code 39873 and Public Contract Code 20660, and in cases of emergency as specified in Public Contract Code 20113 and 20654.

The first question is answered by going through the Formal Advertised Bid process.

In response to the second question, there are two concerns. First, it is a long established rule that the proposals and specifications inviting bids must be free of any restrictions tending to stifle competition. Therefore, the hardware portion should be separated from the software portion.

Second, please take the time now to be sure that any financial package chosen is set up to accommodate the new standardized account code structure. This new structure will be tested by pilot districts and counties during the 1996-97 fiscal year. Depending on the outcome of the pilot LEA's, implementation by all districts could start as soon as 1997-98. Choice of a new system should make compatibility with the new structure a priority.

| Back to index |

Question: Kern County produces a bulletin called "Annual Report of Governing Board" which addresses the J-14. Is there an actual form that the State produces that we should be sending to our Districts, or are counties supposed to produce their own? Is the J-14 an actual requirement?

Response: The J-14, Annual Report of Governing Board used by the Kern County Superintendent of Schools Office, has been around for quite a while. It refers to Education Code 35250 (c). Paragraph c of this code section does say specifically "The governing board of every school district shall: make an annual report, on or before the first day of July, to the county superintendent of schools in the manner and form and on the blanks prescribed by the Superintendent of Public Instruction."

The FCMAT contact in the Department of Education states that the form J-14 does not exist. In addition, other county offices contacted do not ask for this report. However, the code section does say that there shall be an annual report by the governing board to the county superintendent.

| Back to index |

Question: What is the status of the Teleconferencing proposal?

Response: Tom Henry met on May 10, 1996 with the California Department of Education and BASC. The proposal has support from both organizations as of this date. The proposal is part of the total budget package and we are waiting for the details of the May revise.

| Back to index |


Question: What amount should be used to budget for secondary textbooks in 1996-1997?

Response: In 1995-96 secondary textbook entitlements were funded at 17.93 per ADA plus the one time money of 3.42 per ADA. For 1996-97 the conservative approach recommended by the department of education is to budget at 17.00 per ADA. The number is slightly lower than last year because of growth.

| Back to index |



Question: Students at a small high school (with a total of 7 students) sold t-shirts for a "Project Earth" fund raiser. This school does not have an ASB. The money was deposited in the district general fund and a check was issued to the out-of-state vendor for the cost of the shirts. They must pay use tax on the amount paid to the vendor, but what about the profit? They made a profit of $116 which the school will retain. All the information found refers to sales by student body organizations and cafeterias. What about profit from fundraisers not associated with student body organizations?

Response: Even though this small group of students does not have an organized student body organization, the basic rules of fund raising projects should be observed. That is, profit earned shall be used to contribute to the educational program of the students beyond those programs or projects provided by the district. The expenditure should be agreed upon by a majority of the students and approved by the school administrator.

These rules should be followed because the activity of a fund raiser leads the public to believe they are contributing to a project of the students. In addition, since this was for "Project Earth" it would be appropriate for the expenditure to be for an environmentally related use. The school board should approve a policy or pass a resolution defining the guidelines for student fund raisers.

| Back to index |


Question: Normally when an employee receives deferred pay it covers the months the employee will not work at the END of their contract. What regulations exist that would prevent an employee, who works 11 months (August to June), from receiving pay the July which precedes their first day of work (August 1)? Also, what if they are off August instead of July? In this case they work one month, are off one month, and then work the rest of the year. Would they be required to take the month off without pay? Would pay for the month off constitute a gift or loan of public funds if they had not yet provided services which equate to the pay received?

Response: You will receive information here dealing with the timing of deferred pay amounts to employees. However, the Ed. Code section referenced and the note of decision is relative to certificated personnel. You are encouraged to take this information to your legal counsel for further discussion and interpretation of how it relates to a classified employee.

45038. The governing board of any school district may arrange to pay the persons in positions requiring certification qualifications employed by it, or any one or more of such employees or one or more groups or categories of such employees, in either 10 or 11 or 12 equal payments instead of by the school month. In lieu thereof, orders for the payment of salary, and payroll orders for the payment of salary and warrants for the payment of salary of employees employed in positions requiring certification qualifications may be drawn once each two weeks, twice a month, or once each four weeks as determined by the governing board.

From West's Annotated California Codes, in reference to Ed Code section 45038, this note of decision:

Commencement of payments - Fact that a school district is authorized to pay certificated employees in 12 equal monthly payments for the school year commencing on the 1st of July, salary payments to teachers may begin on July 1, prior to actual commencement of services in September. 54 Ops.Atty.Gen. 269, 12-22-71.

| Back to index |


Question: Are school districts required to hire consultants through a process of competitive bidding?

Response: No, the hiring of a consultant falls under government code 53060 provisions of special services:

California Codes
Government Code
Section 53060

The legislative body of any public or municipal corporation or district may contract with and employ any persons for the furnishing to the corporation or district special services and advice in financial, economic, accounting, engineering, legal, or administrative matters if such persons are specially trained and experienced and competent to perform the special services required.

The authority herein given to contract shall include the right of the legislative body of the corporation or district to contract for the issuance and preparation of payroll checks.

The legislative body of the corporation or district may pay from any available funds such compensation to such persons as it deems proper for the services rendered.

| Back to index |



Question: Is there a food service consultant I could contact who could recommend food service software for point of service meal counts?

Response: FCMAT contacted four districts represented on the CASBO Child Nutrition Committee. Here are the results:

Mealtime - elementary
Snap - middle & high school

PCS - Revenue Control Systems, Inc.

PCS -

School House

Contact the CASBO child nutrition R&D chairman in your area or any member of the committee for discussion of system features and capabilities.

| Back to index |

Question: I have had several requests from districts to provide "good" examples of Board Resolutions for financial transactions (i.e. transfer of monies between funds, establishing new funds, closing existing funds). I agree that it would be good to provide to our districts examples of resolutions for their Boards to use.

I have already contacted the California School Board Association for examples of these type of policies, but they were not able to help me - they seem to have every other type but that which I am looking for!

Are you able to provide me some guidance of where I can look for "sample" Board Resolutions for financial matters?

Response: FCMAT has a set of resolutions that has been gathered from the San Diego County Office of Education Business Services Guide. Each year this county office updates its guide which includes legal references, accounting standards, sample forms, timelines, and policies and procedures in 18 areas of school business.

FCMAT Professional Development is working with the San Diego COE to put this guide online. Look for it this year on the FCMAT BBS and website.

I am sending you a set of resolutions that has been gathered from the San Diego County Office of Education Business Services Guide. Each year this county office updates its guide which includes legal references, accounting standards, sample forms, timelines, and policies and procedures in 18 areas of school business.

| Back to index |


Question: What are the required components of a job description that complies with the Americans With Disabilities Act?

Response: The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, (ADA), requires employers of 25 employees or more to reasonably accommodate a disabled but otherwise qualified person as a new hire or return to work employee to perform essential functions of the job if it does not create an undue hardship on the district. ADA also prohibits pre-employment physical exams. A post-offer physical assessment can be required after the offer of the position to the employee. The appointment of the position can be contingent on the passing of the post-offer assessment.

The ADA does not prohibit an employer from establishing job-related qualification standards. It does not interfere with the employer's authority to establish appropriate job qualifications. However, ADA is designed to assure that people with disabilities are not excluded from jobs that they can perform.

ADA does demand that the employer know the "essential functions" of the job. This can be determined by the completion of an essential function job analysis for each job. The analysis should include the following:
Fundamental job duties of the position. Essential functions look at the end product of a job function. If the product can be obtained in a manner that does not create a hardship, there may be several ways to accomplish the task. Other related functions are incidental to the fundamental duties of the position. A potential employee cannot be denied a job because of inability to perform other related functions.

The job analysis should include a description of activity for each half hour of the work day.


For a new position, modify the steps above as necessary.

This information comes from the Self Insured School of Kern publication, Model Job Descriptions pursuant to Title I of the ADA of 1990.

| Back to index |




Question: I have a quick question regarding record retention. In District Services, we receive copies of all our districts' annual audit reports. What is the recommended time for retaining these audits? Is it considered permanent, four years, etc.?

Response: Record retention guidelines show audits as permanent records. The hard copy should be kept for four years or longer if not microfilmed. The situation is slightly different for a county office retention of district audits, as the district requirement should allow access by the county over an extended period of time.

As a result of practical experience, it is suggested that the county retain the audit permanently on microfilm after four years.

| Back to index |