2007 September 30 th Unit Count Report to the Appoquinimink School District Board of Education October 9, 2007

The Process State funding for staff is allocated to school districts and charter schools based on Title 14, Chapter 17 of the Delaware Code. “Funding units” are allocated based on the enrollment of students in special education, “regular” education, and secondary vocational courses on the last school day in September of each year.

The Process Districts and charters are audited within the school year to ensure compliance with State regulations and law. Schools must show that they have, and follow, a process for identifying “no shows” and for accurately reporting enrollment and special education/vocational information.

The Pilot Unit Count This year Appoquinimink is in year two of the Needs-Based Funding Model, a new method for counting funding units. The intent of the new model is to provide financial incentives for districts who serve children in educationally- appropriate special education settings.

The Pilot Unit Count For districts in year two of Needs- Based Funding, any gain or loss compared to the “traditional” method is capped at six units. This year, Appoquinimink benefited by the full amount of the cap, six funding units.

Units Earned, 9/30/06 - 9/30/ Change Regular Special Vocational Pilot Cap36+3 TOTAL We earned 40 more units in If Needs- Based Funding were in full implementation, we would earn , or 4.67 above the cap.

Enrollment, Sep 2003-Sep 2007 Incr/decr from %# AECC %60 CLECC %60 BME %34 CLE %11 OBL %54 SLE %50 TES %116 MMS %45 RMS %46 9th Gr Ac % 129 MHS TOTAL  count  % 10.6%4.9%8.7%4.0%8.0%

Staffing Process: District contracted with Data Service Center Used DSC FTE Reporting system to track our utilization of earned units Met regularly to review enrollment and position allocation MaryAnn Mieczkowski Debbie Panchisin Eileen McAllister Chuck Longfellow Dr. Proffitt Dr. Marchio Maryellen Brown Matt Fallis

The Team Ensuring the accuracy of the September 30 th Unit Count is truly a team effort. We thank all who have had a role in a smooth unit count process: School Secretaries Educational Diagnosticians Special Education/Student Services Principals/Assistant Principals Teachers Appoquinimink and DOE Technology Staff School Choice and HR Staff District Office Unit Count Team