Schoolwide Consolidation

Consolidation Legislation and Guidance Title I Schoolwide Fiscal Guidance issued February, 2008 [Section E] Designing Schoolwide (SW) Programs Guidance

Consolidation Legislation and Guidance (cont.) EDGAR Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A FED. REG (JULY 2, 2004)

What Does Consolidation Mean? Schoolwide school treats the funds it is consolidating as a single “pool” of funds. Funds from the contributing programs lose their identity. The school uses funds from this consolidated schoolwide (SW) pool to support any activity of the SW Plan. [Section E2]

What is the Purpose of Consolidation? The purpose of consolidating funds is to help a SW program school effectively design and implement a comprehensive plan to upgrade the entire educational program in the school based on the school ’ s needs identified through its comprehensive needs assessment [E-1].

State Aid and local tax revenue Title I, Part A Title II, Part A Title III Which Funds can be Consolidated? Title VI Section 31a

Federal funds only Federal funds + Section 31a funds Federal funds + Section 31a + State/Local Federal funds + State/Local Consolidation Options

Why Consolidate?

Time and Effort If State/Local funds are consolidated with Federal funds and personnel are solely funded out of the consolidated funds, then Time and Effort documentation is minimized.

A July 1, 2012 submission date of a quality Consolidated Application in MEGS, and a quality School Improvement Plan in the AdvancED Portal, will ensure a review (and, we hope, approval) of the Consolidated Application prior to the start of school. Due Date

When Section 31a funds are consolidated in a SW program, the requirement for Eligibility Worksheets is optional for that school. Eligibility Worksheets

Schoolwide School Improvement Plan (SIP) The emphasis is on a high-quality Schoolwide SIP rather than the level of description included in the budget.

Consolidation Requirements

Initial Eligibility The school must be eligible to receive Title I, Part A funds according to the Title I School Selection application, have greater than 40% poverty and have engaged in a year of planning to become a schoolwide school with an approved facilitator.

Comprehensive Needs Assessment The school must conduct a comprehensive needs assessment (using all four types of data) to identify gaps in student achievement and identify needs of students, staff and other stakeholders.

Schoolwide SIP A comprehensive Schoolwide SIP that is focused on an identified Schoolwide reform and aligned to the comprehensive needs assessment

Basic Program The historical school-level basic educational program must be identified and continued to be offered. If you are consolidating State/Local funds, additional information will be submitted in the Consolidated Application.

Identification of Consolidated Funds SW school must identify in its SW plan which programs are included in its consolidation and the amount each program contributes to the consolidated SW pool [E-2]. This is done on a template that is uploaded under “Additional Requirements” in the SIP in AdvancEd.

Equitable Services Funds must be shared with private schools as required by legislation.

Supplement not Supplant Each school operating a SW program must receive all the State and local funds it would otherwise receive to operate its basic educational program in the absence of Title I, Part A or other Federal education funds [E-2].

Intent and Purposes The school must be able to demonstrate that its SW program contains sufficient resources and activities to reasonably address the intent and purposes of the included programs, particularly as they relate to the lowest-performing students. [E-14].

Intent and Purposes (cont.) The school may only use consolidated funds to meet the intent and purposes of the funding sources that are pooled. Ex., schools may only use funds to support state/local activities if state/local funds are included in the consolidation.

Other Program Responsibilities Annual Title I, Part A meeting Parent involvement Documentation: agendas, sign-ins, bids, contracts, invoices, ledgers District required set-asides

Other Program Responsibilities Maintenance of Effort Title I Comparability Title I School Selection Health and Safety and Civil Rights

Record Keeping

Programmatic Record Keeping Documentation must be maintain that sufficient resources have been allocated to ensure the intent and purposes of programs were fulfilled particularly as they relate to the lowest- performing students.

Financial Accounting The business office must maintain multiple cost objectives. Reimbursements will occur from each funding source. Final Expenditure Reports must align to budgets and expenditures.

State Aid and local tax revenue must be distributed fairly and equitably to all schools–including SW program schools–without regard to whether those schools are receiving Federal and State supplementary funds. [E-18] Distribution of Funds

Comparability Comparability must be completed. There may be a new way to think about comparability.

Carryover The business office must maintain the ability to determine if Federal funds are unspent at the end of the year.

Monitoring

The Schoolwide SIP is the focus of program monitoring and includes: Review of the SIP and Implementation The Schoolwide SIP MUST be closely aligned to the SW budget detail. Schoolwide SIP

Monitoring findings FER deviations Lack of internal controls Ineligibility Criteria Single audit findings Deficit Lack of school-level decision making Late applications or SIPs that do not adequately address all of the required SW components

Eligible targeted schools with a minimum 40% poverty rate that become schoolwide by Fall, 2012, and meet the specified criteria may participate. Will Targeted Schools be able to participate?

QUESTIONS