1. Coordinating State & Federal Funds: Tennessee’s Journey
AEFFA Conference, October 20, 2016

2. Renee Palakovic Director of Planning Consolidated Planning & Monitoring Renee.Palakovic@tn.gov

3. Introduction

4. OUR VISION
Districts and schools in Tennessee will exemplify excellence and equity such that all students are equipped with the knowledge and skills to successfully embark upon their chosen path in life.
This is our unifying vision – success for all students post graduation from high school. This is how Tennessee Succeeds.

5. Early Foundations & Literacy: building skills in early grades to contribute to future success
High School & Bridget to Postsecondary: Preparing significantly more students for postsecondary completion
All Means All: Providing individualized support and opportunities for all students with a focus on those who are furthest behind
Educator Support: supporting the preparation and development of an exceptional educator workforce
District empowerment: Providing districts with the tools and autonomy they need to make the best decisions for students.
District empowerment is where I will focus today…but first, lets talk about some characteristics of our school districts and the communities they serve.

6. Tennessee’s Landscape
Tennessee is an extremely rural state. The pockets of red and pink are the large urban areas of the state—Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga and Knoxville. The green shades that you see on the map represent the more rural areas of the state. The darker green, the more rural. The lightest green represents less than 100 people per square mile and the darkest green less than 1. Currently, 60% of the state’s counties are rural. Need to add statistics on the numbers of students in these rural areas…
Tennessee is below the national average in median household income and per capita income and higher than the national average of families living below the poverty line. The northeastern portion of the state (Appalachia) has significant poverty (some counties as much as 50%) and little access to resources. However, we also have some extremely affluent counties, many falling in the middle of the state, Middle TN. West TN
42 K square miles

7. School Districts in Tennessee
County school systems
141 LEAs serving nearly 1 million students
1,830 schools (57% avg. poverty)
1,223 Title I schools
Average poverty percentage of Title I schools is 70%
600,000 served in Title I schools
Only 17 of these schools are targeted assistance

8. District Empowerment
Flexibility to make decisions to meet their unique and specific needs
Reduction of barriers to utilizing available resources
Creation of tools and supports for effective resource management

9. Funding Considerations

10. Basic Education Requirement of state to provide basic education
Districts distribute basic education funding differently:
Staffing model
Per-pupil
Weighted student formula
Basic education funds are often budgeted independently of federal funds and the use of funds is not well-coordinated

11. Federal Funds
Federal funds are supplemental to the basic education funds to provide additional resources and supports
Each federal grant has a purpose, and often rules, of how funds can be used and what students can/must benefit from services
Allowable uses
Eligible students

12. Unintended Consequences
Because of all of the rules, LEAs are reluctant to use federal funds in coordination with other funds.
Audit findings
Lawsuits
Repayment of funds
Unfavorable attention
This results in programs being operated in silos.
Operating programs in isolation, often times, results in duplication of efforts as well as failure to provide services at all due to a lack of coordination.

13. Strategy #1: Online Grants Management--ePlan

14. What is ePlan? Comprehensive, online grants management system
Transparent to the public and to all LEA users
Includes
Funding applications
School and LEA plans
Reimbursement requests
Allows for comprehensive and collaborative planning across many funding streams
Allows for the sharing of information across many departments and with the public

15. Funding Sources in ePlan
school year: ESEA and IDEA program applications submitted through ePlan
school year: 11 additional programs added including – CTE, PreK, CSH, Safe and Supportive Schools, 21st Century, LEAPS, School Improvement and all remaining ESEA and IDEA discretionary grants
school year: all remaining federal programs and state basic education funding added

16. School Plans in ePlan
school year: optional use of the planning tool in ePlan for school-wide plans
school year: all Title I schools required to use planning tool in ePlan for school-wide plans
school year: ALL schools required to use planning tool in ePlan for school-wide plans

17. Strategy #2: Coordinated Spending Guide

18. Coordinated Spending Guide
What it is
A guide to help LEA leaders make the most out of the more than $700 million Tennessee receives each year from the U.S. Department of Education
A resource for identifying possible options to support instructional initiatives
What it is not
New requirements, directives or rules that must be followed
Step-by-step list of how to allocate resources

19. Coordinated Spending Guide
We must put aside our turfs and our purse-strings, in order to overcome the challenges that dwindling resources present… It is critical for all leaders at the district level to support this effort, in order to empower all personnel to collaborate in new and effective ways... Managing change is difficult and to be successful, we have to meet the needs of all children, regardless of the ways we choose to fund programs. Far too often, in our silos we have said, "No, we can't do that because…," rather than working together to eliminate the silos. We are [too] comfortable with the inflexibility we have created. Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA, Rethinking District Budgets to Unify and Sustain a Critical Mass of Student and Learning Supports at Schools, available at:
Center for mental health in schools at UCLS—Rethinking budgets to unify and sustain a critical mass of student and learning supports at schools. This process requires imagination, courage, flexibility and collaboration.

20. Permitted by Federal Law
Such coordination is permitted by federal law and encouraged by the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE). The manual provides guidance to LEAs in coordinating funds by:
defining braiding vs. blending funds,
addressing barriers that may discourage LEAs from coordinating funds,
providing overviews of the largest federal grant programs – Title I, Title II, and IDEA – with a focus on how districts can maximize these funds to support district priorities, and
providing examples of how federal grants can be coordinated to support promising initiatives.

21. Utilizing the Guide SECTION I: Coordinated Spending to Maximize Funds
SECTION II: Framework for Coordinated Spending
SECTION III: Comprehensive Initiatives – Funding Quick Guides
SECTION IV: Considerations When Braiding or Blending Funds
APPENDIX:
Supplement Not Supplant
Program Overviews
Section I defines blending and braiding and explains the flexibility that is possible with options and the impact it could have on instructional programs.
Section II provides steps for making good resource decisions

22. Section I: Maximizing Funds
Braiding Funds
Using multiple funding sources in a collaborative manner to support educational initiatives to ensure consistency and eliminate duplication of services while maintaining individual program identity.
Braiding funds is a way for LEAs and schools to use multiple federal grants to support various pieces of an initiative.
Activities are allowable under each applicable grant and the grants continue to maintain their identity and expenditures for each are maintained by the LEA or school.
Funds maintain their original award-specific identity.

23. Section I: Maximizing Funds
Blending Funds
Combining multiple funding sources to support educational initiatives to ensure consistency, eliminate duplication of services, and reduce burden.
Blended funding allows for maximum flexibility.
In Title I school-wide programs, eligible grants and other resources are combined into a single pool under a single set of reporting requirements.
Funds lose their original award-specific identity.

24. Available Funding Sources

25. Braiding Funds

26. Blending of Funds

27. Section II: Framework
Provides a five-step process for making coordinated funding decisions
Needs assessment
Breaking down the initiative
Identifying possible federal funding sources
Reasonable and necessary test
Alignment with plans

28. Section III: Funding Quick Guides
The guides illustrate how state, local, and federal funds can be used to support the sample comprehensive initiatives detailed in this section.
Note that in some cases it may be possible to support a component cost with more than one federal funding source.
It is important to note that both the school and district level examples presume that Title I schools within the district are operating school-wide programs.

29. Section III: Funding Quick Guides

30. Section III: Funding Quick Guides

31. Section IV: Considerations
Permissive use of funds
Eligible students
Supplement not supplant
Time and effort
Financial management/support
Inventory control

32. Appendices Program overviews
What it is
Intent and purpose
What it can fund
Supplement not supplant requirements for each program included in the guide and the legal citation for each

33. Strategy #3: School-wide Consolidation Pilot

34. Blending of Funds
Maximum flexibility for schools to budget and spend federal resources
Permitted by law
Necessary with shrinking resources and varied needs across districts
But how is it actually done? And how can we implement it in TN?

35. Available Funding Sources

36. Braiding Funds

37. Blending of Funds

38. Consolidation Options
Consolidate only school level federal funds
Funds lose their identity
School level program-specific requirements no longer applicable
Must meet the intent and purpose of programs included
Funds can be used to address the educational needs identified in the school-wide plan

39. Consolidation Options
Consolidate school level state, local and federal funds
Funds lose their identity
School level program-specific requirements no longer applicable
Must meet the intent and purpose of programs included
No distinction between federal and non-federal funds
Funds can be used to address any needs identified in the school-wide plan (may be non-educational)

40. Federal Funds Eligible for Consolidation
Any federal funds administered by the United States Department of Education (USEd) that can be used to support students in public schools
Formula funds such as
Title I, Part A
Title II, Part A
Title III
IDEA, Part B
Perkins
Discretionary (competitive) funds
Must still complete activities within the funding application
Head Start and National School Lunch CANNOT be included because they are not administered by USEd

41. School-wide Pool of Funds
A comprehensive needs assessment must be completed annually and used as the basis for the school-wide plan
The school-wide plan identifies the programs and amounts to be consolidated
Funds are combined into a single, school-wide pool of funds
Funds from the pool are used to support the activities outlined in the school-wide plan
Expenditures are not “tracked” back to specific programs within the pool

42. School-wide Plan Importance
Because school-wide programs that consolidate funds are not required to meet program-specific requirements, the school-wide plan is of premier importance.
Auditors will hold the school-wide program accountable for ensuring
The plan’s activities meet the intents and purposes of the consolidated federal programs; and
The school-wide program is implementing the activities detailed in the plan.

43. IDEA in the School-wide Pool of Funds
If IDEA, Part B funds are being consolidated
The maximum amount of funds consolidated must be calculated based on the number of students with disabilities in the school
School must comply with all other requirements of IDEA, Part B to the same extent as it would if funds were not included in the consolidation
IDEA funds included in the consolidation must be used to implement the school-wide plan
IDEA funds NOT consolidated in school-wide programs are handled/tracked at the district level and used to ensure FAPE
IDEA Allocation
# of SWDs in LEA
# of SWDs in School
LEA Per Pupil
Maximum School Amount for Consolidation
$500,000
500 50
$1,000
$50,000 (50 X $1,000)

44. School-wide Pool of Funds
School Building
Title I Part A
Title II Part A
IDEA Part B
State/Local Funds
Building Total
School A
$182,535
$25,000
$94,462
$2,048,115
$2,350,112
School B
$115,455
$27,709
$1,380,884
$1,549,048
School C
$181,780
$69,272
$1,940,161
$2,216,213
Total Funds Distributed to Individual Schools
$479,770
$75,000
$191,443
$5,369,160
$6,115,373

45. School-wide Pool of Funds
Reimbursement requests must separate the amount spent from the school-wide pool
Amounts requested from each program are based on
Total expenditure from the pool
Percentage of contribution to the pool
Total pool expenditure: $350,000
School Building
Title I Part A
Title II Part A
IDEA Part B
State/Local Funds
Building Total
School-wide Pool
$479,770
$75,000
$191,443
$5,369,160
$6,115,373
Percent of Total Contribution
7.8%
1.2%
3.1%
87.9%
100%
Percent of Expenditures to be Reimbursed
$27,300
$4.200
$10,850
$307,650
$350,000

46. Intent and Purpose
Schools consolidating funds are not required to meet most statutory or regulatory requirements of the program, but must meet the intents and purposes of the programs included in the consolidation
For example:
Title II, Part A: the intent and purpose of this program is to increase student achievement through strategies such as:
Improving teacher and principal quality
Increasing the number of highly qualified teachers, principals and assistant principals in schools
Holding LEAs and schools accountable for improvements in student academic achievement

47. Intent and Purpose
A school-wide program would meet the intent and purpose of Title II, Part A if:
The school-wide plan contains activities and strategies that promote increased student achievement, such as
On-going and sustained professional development for teachers and administrators
Strategies to recruit and retain highly effective, highly-qualified teachers
Teacher mentoring programs
Induction programs for new teachers

48. Intent and Purpose Title I, Part A (school-wide program)
Programs and services designed to meet the educational needs of all students in a school, particularly those who are not meeting state standards.
Title III, Part A
Programs to help ensure that children with limited English proficiency become proficient in English, develop high academic attainment in English, and meet the same challenging state academic content and achievement standards in core academic subjects that all other children are expected to meet.
Increase the capacity of schools to establish, implement and sustain high-quality language instruction programs, and English language development programs that assist schools in effectively teaching students with limited English proficiency.

49. Intent and Purpose IDEA, Part B Perkins
To ensure that all children with disabilities have available to them a free appropriate public education designed to meet their individual needs.
Perkins
Programs and services to more fully develop the academic and career and technical skills of secondary education students and postsecondary education students who elect to enroll in career and technical education programs.

50. Statutory and Regulatory Requirements
Several federal statutory and regulatory requirements are eased through school-wide consolidation at the school level
Time and effort
Pool of funds is a single cost objective
Procurement & equipment inventory
If consolidating state, local and federal
Can use state and local procurement rules
Federal equipment tracking rules do not apply
Fiscal accounting of expenditures
Not tracked back to individual grant programs
Tracked only as part of the school-wide pool of funds

51. Statutory and Regulatory Requirements
Several federal statutory and regulatory requirements remain, but are handled differently
Maintenance of effort
Expenditures calculated based on percentage of funds contributed to the pool
Comparability
Percentage of federally paid staff based on percentage of funds contributed to the pool
Carryover limits
Calculated based on LEA total award
Carryover amounts based on total expenditures and percentage of funds contributed to the pool

52. Now, find some volunteers!
Conducted informational sessions at conferences and meetings
Sent out information through communication channels to educate on the option
Solicited volunteers for
One year of planning and training—no commitment up front

53. Engage Partners
Internal stakeholders
State auditors
OESE and OSEP

54. Changes in ePlan to Allow Consolidation
Created mechanisms for the creation of a school-wide pool section within the consolidated funding application
Developed cross-checks within the system to ensure that IDEA maximum amounts were not exceeded
Developed separate budget and functionality to ensure reimbursements are done correctly, using the percentage method

55. Implementation in
Started with eight LEAs; ended with three committed to implementing in four schools
All have completed the fiscal requirements in the funding applications
All are working on school-wide plans that contain required components
No schools opted to consolidate state funds in

56. Summary

57. District Empowerment
The Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) believes maximum flexibility, as permitted by the law, must be made available to LEAs in order to empower them to make the best decisions for students.
The TDOE has acted to make it possible for LEAs to effectively and collaboratively plan the use of funds and to utilize the maximum flexibility permitted.

58. Next Steps Share success stories from 2016-17 with LEAs in Tennessee
Solicit new participants for the school year
Work with state auditors as they begin to review consolidated pilot schools beginning in July 2017
Continue to refine and update planning processes to align and better support collaborative and coordinated planning and resource allocation

59. Contact Information
Renee Palakovic Director of Planning TN Department of Education Division of Consolidated Planning & Monitoring (615) (m) (615) (w)

60. Excellence | Optimism | Judgment | Courage | Teamwork
Districts and schools in Tennessee will exemplify excellence and equity such that all students are equipped with the knowledge and skills to successfully embark on their chosen path in life.
Excellence | Optimism | Judgment | Courage | Teamwork

61. Notifications can also be submitted electronically at:
FRAUD, WASTE, or ABUSE
Citizens and agencies are encouraged to report fraud, waste, or abuse in State and Local government.
NOTICE: This agency is a recipient of taxpayer funding. If you observe an agency director or employee engaging in any activity which you consider to be illegal, improper or wasteful, please call the state Comptroller’s toll-free Hotline:
Notifications can also be submitted electronically at: