Chief Business Official

Question: Our county office of education has had a long-time practice of providing Home Study (an independent study program) to pupils. Beginning in 1996-97, we have been reporting this ADA on the J-18/19 Supplement under district of residence. Previously we interdistrict transferred these pupils to one school district, who contract with us to provide the IS Program. We then billed for the revenue limit on a reimbursement basis. Now that we are an official community school, we are checking our procedures to be sure they conform to code. If the district of residence approves the enrollment in county community school (see Ed. Code 1981{b}), must we have anything more than the parent signature disenrolling the pupil from their district of residence, along with transfer of cumulative folder and signature of school district registrar? What do other COEs do? Does the district of residence have any rights to hold onto a pupil if the parent wants them enrolled in the county program?

Response: I checked with the Kern County Superintendent of Schools Administrator of Student Services, Dr. Ken Taylor. He has provided this response to your question:

If they want to continue this program under the umbrella of "community schools," then the Education Code reference they made (Section 1981{b}) would be the basis for the enrollment. If handled in the way that is the most common, the students' attendance would be reported on the J18/19C Supplement and broken down by district of residence. This would mean that there would not be a single revenue limit, but several different revenue limits - depending on the district of residence. To enroll a student under EC 1981(b), the student's parent/guardian must request the enrollment and the school district of attendance must approve the enrollment in the community school. I feel the real issue relative to a community school enrollment is parent request and district approval. All other issues have to do with general enrollment practices. The district of residence has the legal right to refuse to approve the enrollment in community school for 1981(b)'s and WIC 601/654's and there is no legal alternative. The only other alternative is for the parent to become assertive and apply political pressure on the district (going over the head of the person who said no or going to the board of education, etc.). The intent of this section is to make sure that the district is involved as a screen to make sure the community school placement is in the best interest of the student ... most of the time it works well, but not always. If the county is still doing interdistrict transfers prior to enrollment in the community school, and if the receiving district has a higher than average revenue limit, this practice might at some point in time draw unwanted attention ... calculated risk.

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Chief Business Official

Question: How does a district apply for the GATE program if they have never had it before?

Response: The Gifted and Talented Education program (GATE) is an application driven program. Please advise the school district special projects coordinator to contact the Department of Education, Program Coordinator Catherine Barkett at (916) 657-5257. It may be possible to secure funding for this year if the process begins very soon.

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Chief Business Official

Question: Regarding attendance reporting for charter schools - should attendance information reported on Form J-18/19CH be repeated on regular From J-18/19? Does the answer change for a partial charter school district from a total charter school district?

Response: John Gilroy of the Department of Education responds that the J18/19 for the district includes ALL ADA. The J19/19 CH is a supplemental report that details the charter school ADA already reported on the J18/19.

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Purchasing

Question: We have some questions regarding the California Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Act. A district is telling us that a $120,000 + roof replacement at a high school gymnasium is a maintenance project. Our feeling is that it should be considered a public project, since it is replacement and so expensive. This brings the second question, the district is stating that as a maintenance project, they would not have any formal bid required. Could you clarify for us-- we feel roof replacement is not maintenance and as such would require formal bid procedures since the amount is over the $75,000 limit.

Response: FCMAT recommends that you check with your legal counsel about your response to the district. In addition, the FCMAT resource in this area provides the following comments:

Public Contract Code Section 22002 (which is part of the Uniform Public Construction Accounting Act) defines "public project" to include the "reconstruction, . . .renovation, improvement, and repair work involving a [public facility]." It excludes maintenance work, which is defined to include the "Routine, recurring, and usual work for the preservation and protection of a [public facility]."

A re-roofing project such as that described would, we believe, be a "public project" and not "maintenance" as those terms are used in Section 22002. In any event, even if it were a maintenance project, a contract for maintenance in the dollar amount specified would have to be bid pursuant to Public Contract Code Section 20111, whether or not the school district had adopted the Uniform Public Construction Accounting Act.

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Chief Business Official

Question: Issues are arising in our county in the area of stale-dated checks. Lately, it seems as though our bank is allowing very old checks to be cashed.

Are other county offices putting stop payments on stale-dated checks? Are more than one stop payment being put on checks (since banks only honor stop payment requests for 6 months)?

Response: Kern County hasn't had any problem with stale-dated warrants. The bank sends a list to the auditors office of warrants older than six months. The auditors place stops, sends the list to the county office and a staff member transfers the money back to the districts. The auditor is then sent a J.V. so that they can apply the money to the correct districts.

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Purchasing/Chief Business Official

Question: A district has called with a question regarding spending of student body funds. The high school principal is going to propose at a board meeting that the student body purchase a van for the district and wants to finance the van and the student body would make payments over several years. Can this be done legally?

Response: There are quite a few considerations involved in the answer to this question. The ASB can purchase a vehicle. Generally, good fiscal policy dictates that ASB profits purchases should benefit the general student activities. If the ASB purchases the vehicle, it must be responsible for all repair, upkeep, and adequate insurance (refer to CDE Accounting Procedures for Student Organizations).

Many school district governing boards have by policy prohibited student body organizations from the ownership of equipment or other fixed assets to avoid problems relating to ownership and insurance. In such districts where fixed assets are purchased by student body organizations, the organization usually donates them to the school district. The district then sets up appropriate accounting records and obtains necessary insurance coverage.

If student body organizations are permitted to acquire ownership of fixed assets, attention should be given to their control through procedures as noted above.

There is concern regarding the ASB entering into a contract to purchase the vehicle. The question of the ASB membership being composed of minors. Also, what is the personal liability of the adult(s) who become involved in the negotiations of the contract? FCMAT recommends that the concept of the ASB purchase is introduced at the board meeting and the board gives direction for further information to be collected and presented. Then, at the next board meeting, information from legal counsel and risk management issues can be discussed prior to any decision.

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Child Nutrition

Question: What is the minimum/maximum amounts that districts can charge employees for breakfast and lunch?

Response: Ed. Code Section 39874 states that the cost of food sold to patrons of the cafeteria is based on the cost of maintaining the cafeteria, exclusive of certain charges designated to the Cafeteria Fund by code or the governing board. Upon recommendation of the superintendent or designee, the board shall review and approve meal prices. Each district should identify the costs of the program and establish prices with the goal of at least breaking even.

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Chief Business Official

Question: I'm a doctoral student at the University of LaVerne. My dissertation includes a study on the California school districts that have received a "qualified" or "negative" certifications from the state. Would you please send me a listing of all districts that apply for the years from 1995- present?

Response: You can obtain the information you need from the Internet by accessing the FCMAT home page. Click on CDE, continue through the Calif. Department of Education topics starting with State and School Finance, then School Business Services Division, then Fiscal Certifications. You will be able to view the certifications from first and second Interim reports from 1994-95 to the present. The specific address that will allow you to select the year(s) to view is: http://www.cde.ca.gov/ftpbranch/sbsdiv/fiscal/certify.html.

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Accounting

Question: This question is in relation to SB727, Actual Attendance Accounting. The bill eliminates funding for excused absences effective 1998/99. Is Independent Study considered an excused absence or is it considered in actual attendance?

Response: According to the latest update on attendance accounting presented by CASBO, here are the guidelines for independent study attendance accounting:

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Chief Business Official

Question: Taking total salaries and benefits as a percent of total expense, is there a certain percentage which can be used as an indicator that a district could be in financial trouble?

If so, what is the percentage? It would help if your answer could be limited to elementary districts, and if the denominator could include transfers and other uses as well as "total expenses." If not, please state your parameters.

Response: Ed. Code Section 41372 requires that an elementary district expend at least 60% of their cost of education for the payment of salaries and benefits for classroom teachers. There is no requirement for a percentage for classified and certificated support salaries.

Based on 1995-96 Actuals, the top 50 elementary districts with ADA over 500 have percentages for total salary and benefit expense from 87.86% down to 84.14%. The districts with an ADA comparable to Alisal Union range from 86.4% to 84.31%. These are the districts with the highest percentage of expenditures to salary and benefits. The total expense includes transfers out and other uses.

Many districts are in the mid 80% range. However, it is not as simple as to just compare the percentage that is paid for salaries. Is the district able to provide all services and materials with the remaining 15 to 20%? Are the facilities in need of repair, do textbooks all need to be updated or replaced, is equipment in need of replacement? Does the district have a comfortable reserve to deal with emergency needs? In addition, the expenditure of one-time money can artificially decrease the percentage for salary and benefits by increasing the denominator for a one or two year period.

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Chief Business Official

Question: I'm a student at a university in Finland, and I'm currently conducting a small-scale study on education in American schools. Can you tell me where to find information, i.e. statistics on school district spending per pupil, white/non-white ratios in different districts, dropout rates, and graduation percentages, etc.? In other words, the same kind of data that's being given by New York School Districts at the URL http://www.nysed.gov under the title "Statistical Profiles of School Districts." I'm looking forward to your quick reply.

Response: Welcome to the FCMAT Help Desk! The FCMAT home page on the Internet (www.kern.org/fcmat) has several on-line resources to access information on California School Districts. For your request, I suggest you click on Ed-Data. If you are not going through the FCMAT home page, the Ed-Data address is www.alameda-coe.k12.ca.us/ed-data. You will find all types of information on California K-12 districts.

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Chief Business Official

Question: What is the federal milage reimbursement rate for 1998? Also, what is the 1998 TSA annual maximum contribution? I read that it was to be increased to $10,000, up from $9,500.

Response: According to my resources, these are the 1998 amounts: The standard mileage rate has been increased to 32.5 cents per mile. The TSA annual maximum contribution has been increased to $10,000.

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Chief Business Official

Question: Has a form or a required format been created or designated for AB 1578 and the reporting of the 50/50 dollars?

Response: The administration will be sending out a form to use for reporting the use of AB 1578 dollars prior to the March 1 due date. Many districts are taking this information to their governing boards for approval prior to receiving the form. This is necessary and recommended. The official form for reporting the use of funds to the Governor is not required at the time of board approval.

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Accounting

Question: Are there school districts that pay traditional teachers (teaching September-June) twelve monthly payments beginning in July and ending in June? If so, how do they handle STRS reporting?

Response: For districts that pay what is referred to as "10 pay 12thly," STRS requires that all retirement contributions be taken out on a 10thly basis, that is, that the STRS is paid in by the end of the fiscal year in June. (When a teacher is paid 12thly in this situation, the July and August payments are from the preceding fiscal years work.)

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Chief Business Official

Question: Do you know where I can find out what the state per diem rates are? I have done an extensive Internet search and cannot find them published by any state agency. I also remember some years ago that CDE used to put out rates for district personnel traveling on CDE business, but have not seen that letter lately.

Response: State reimbursement rates as of 3/98 are:

Lodging with a receipt: up to $79.00
Breakfast - $5.50
Lunch - $9.50
Dinner - $17.00
Incidentals - $5.00

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Chief Business Official

Question: Our county office provides revenue projections for our districts. We are looking for a source which will provide formulas for the various revenue sources available to school districts (revenue limit excluded). We currently call a multitude of state department personnel for their "best guess" for the coming year. We're hoping to reduce the number of phone calls, as well as having a reference source when districts disagree with our projections.

Response: Unfortunately, there is no single source for confirmation of grant and entitlement allocations, COLA's, and deficits. The Division of Administration and Finance for the Kern County Superintendent of Schools Office uses a combination of Ross Valentine at the California Department of Education (CDE) for the CDE's best guess at what federal programs will increase or decrease by in a given budget year. For state categoricals, the Governor's January proposal dictates the proposed COLA. Finally, there is School Services of California's dart board.

 

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