February 2021
February 2021 Income Surtax Payments
Message from the Department of Management:
The February 2021 income surtax payment is the second and final income surtax payment for the 2019 income tax year. The payment represents one-quarter of the amount of income surtaxes collected for your district, plus or minus any adjustments made by the Department of Revenue.
This payment is based upon the income surtax rates established for your 2019-2020 budget. If your district did not have a surtax for the Physical Plant and Equipment (PPEL) Fund, the entire payment should be credited to the General Fund. On the other hand, if you had both General Fund and PPEL surtax, then split the income surtax in accordance with the rates. The PPEL Income Surtax rate can be found on line 19.4 of the Aid and Levy Worksheet. The General Fund income surtax rates can be found on lines 10.15 and 11.4. The Department of Management has provided a summary, including the split between funds, which is posted on the State Payment Information FY21 webpage.
Open Enrollment Transportation Assistance
The transportation reimbursement for the 2020-2021 school year for qualifying open enrolled families is $513. Transportation assistance is only available to families who open enroll between contiguous districts. The cost of transportation reimbursement incurred by the resident district should be deducted from the tuition sent to the receiving district. If the application for transportation assistance is filed after the beginning of the school year, the cost of providing the transportation should be pro-rated. If a parent/guardian qualifies for school transportation assistance, the resident district has the authority to determine how the transportation assistance will be provided. The type of transportation assistance is not a parent/guardian choice.
The resident district may meet its statutory obligation in one of three ways:
- Provide transportation for the pupil(s) to a stop on the bus line of the receiving district.
- Allow the receiving district to enter the resident district to pick up the pupil(s) if the receiving district requests this arrangement. If either the sending or receiving district does not approve the arrangement, the resident district is still obligated to provide transportation assistance.
- The resident district may provide a parent/guardian with a cash reimbursement at $513 per child each year for up to four children in a family. The maximum number of children can include only one secondary (9-12) child and up to three elementary (K-8) children (281 IAC 17.9).
Income guidelines can be found in the Open Enrollment Handbook on the Iowa Department of Education website.
If you need additional information on transportation assistance, please contact Max Christensen at max.christensen@iowa.gov or 515-281-4749.
For additional information on open enrollment, please contact Sara Nickel at sara.nickel@iowa.gov or 515-281-3778.
Property Taxes and Utility Excise Replacement Tax
Many districts have miscoded their Utility property taxes to the Utility Excise Replacement tax. There is a difference in the type of taxes – the former is a property tax and the latter is not a property tax. Districts' coding of these revenues affects the federal reporting and the districts' own budget process.
Gas and Electric or Utility Replacement or Excise Tax (IC 437A) - Source 1171
(Current) Utility (not gas and electric) or Delinquent Utility - Source 111x
To assist districts, we have added the FY21 Utility Excise Replacement Taxes to the Iowa Department of Education (Department) website. Go to Certified Annual Reports - see the category "Data Used to File FY21 CAR" and look for the document: 2020-2021 Utility Replacement Tax Payments. Only utility items labeled "Gas and Electric" or "Utility Replacement" or "Excise Tax" should be coded as Utility Excise Replacement Taxes, Source 1171. Items labeled "Utilities" or "Current/Delinquent Utilities" are coded as regular property tax, Source 1110 (1111).
There is also a document on the Uniform Financial Accounting webpage named Property Taxes - Types and Coding that has helpful information on how to code the different types of taxes. In addition, the School Resources webpage on the Department of Management's website has a document named Outstanding Property Tax Levies and Maximum Levy Limits FY2021 which includes the estimates for FY21. FY22 estimates will be posted this summer and the district should check those estimated amounts to assist them in coding for FY22.
If you have any coding questions, please contact Janice Evans at janice.evans@iowa.gov or 515-281-4740, or Denise Ragias at denise.ragias@iowa.gov or 515-281-4741.
Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program Funds
School districts should communicate regularly with community partners to share guidance based on statute and administrative rules regarding use of Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program (SWVPP) funds. If documentation of SWVPP expenditures is not currently included in the district's agreements with its community partners, adding this aspect would be a recommended addition. It is also recommended for agreements to include the frequency of review with the district and community partner(s), and that this occur, at minimum, annually. The local agreement should also clearly indicate the documentation necessary to demonstrate, for auditing purposes, that SWVPP funds have been expended for appropriate uses, the frequency that such documentation must be provided to the district, and potential implications if the terms for providing documentation are not addressed.
By statute, the district must flow SWVPP funds to its community partners; however, if a community partner does not expend the full amount allocated, the remaining unexpended funds for a given fiscal year must be returned to the district at the close of the given fiscal year (281 IAC 98.13(2)(b)-(c)). The district could also require the return of any funds that do not have the documentation necessary to show that the funds were used appropriately.
For more information, see also the currently posted SWVPP Finance FAQ.
January Medicaid Billing
Please wait to pay January Medicaid Billing Remittance.
The initial Medicaid Billing Remittance statements for January 2021 that were posted did not have the correct State Share Due amount. Those statements had a state share due of 38.25 percent based on a Federal Medical Assistance Percentage of 61.75 percent, which is not correct. In fact Iowa’s (COVID) Federal Medical Assistance Percentage is 67.95 and continues through June 2021. So, your January state share should be 32.05 percent. Please wait to pay your January invoice. It is still being resolved how DHS Fiscal will handle this.
If you have further questions or need additional clarification, please contact Jim Donoghue at jim.donoghue@iowa.gov or 515-281-8505.
Behavior Health Procedure to Procedure Edit
Beginning with claims paid October 1, 2020, a new federal Medicaid "Procedure to Procedure" edit is in place that limits more than one behavioral health-related service code to be paid on the same day. If your district bills Behavior Paraprofessional individual and Behavioral Paraprofessional group services on the same day, only charges for one of those procedures will be paid. Or, if on the same day your district bills Behavioral Paraprofessional services and a mental health service such as individual counseling, group counseling or behavior analysis, only one of those procedures will be paid.
A request has been submitted to Iowa Medicaid to request a waiver of this edit for school-based services, but the resolution of that waiver request may not occur soon. If you have further questions or need additional clarification, please contact Jim Donoghue at jim.donoghue@iowa.gov or 515-281-8505.
Medicaid Eligibility Report
Each month, a report is available on Iowaidea.org, the web IEP site, that includes whether a special education student is enrolled in Medicaid. The area education agency (AEA) Special Education Directors recently revised the Eligibility Report, effective February 1. One of the most important changes is that students on your district’s Eligibility Report are only those with Medicaid eligibility that month. Some data fields on the prior version no longer appear. Only the following fields are now in the report: Student First Name; Student Last Name; Date of Birth; Gender; IEP Duration (from/to dates) Resident District; Attending District; Building; Medicaid ID Number; Receives Specialized Transportation y/n; Parent Refusal of LEA Consent (if signed electronically): Parent LEA Consent (if signed electronically); and LEA Support Service Codes and Frequency, including Assistive Technology (AT0), Health Services (HS0), Medical Services (MS0), Nursing Services (NR0), Other LEA Services (OB0) , Paraprofessional (PP0), Social Work (SW0), and Transportation(TR0).
The AEAs are in the process of communicating with district about the changes. If you have further questions or need additional clarification, please contact Jim Donoghue at jim.donoghue@iowa.gov or 515-281-8505.
ISASP Testing Protocols and Administering to Home School Students
As districts are preparing for the upcoming Iowa Statewide Assessment of Student Progress (ISASP) testing window, please be sure that you have discussed the testing protocols and security guidance provided by the publisher. This discussion should include not only building level administrators and staff who will be included in the assessment process, but also staff who may be working with home school families to complete the assessment. Please remember the ISASP is not to be sent home for completion by students outside of the school building, the area education agency (AEA), or other location designated for testing and is to be supervised by district or AEA personnel.
Individuals or districts with questions are welcome to contact Buffy Campbell, the Department of Education's Home Schooling (Private Instruction) contact. Depending on the nature of the inquiry, you will be referred to the best possible resource to assist you.
If you have further questions, please contact Buffy Campbell at buffy.campbell@iowa.gov or 515-954-8651.
State of Iowa Master Agreements
School districts and area education agencies may purchase goods and services through master agreements negotiated by the Iowa Department of Administrative Services (DAS). A wide variety of goods and services are available at rates that are already negotiated. Items range from copy paper to automobiles. Purchases from master agreements do not require a competitive bid process. The link to the DAS procurement website can be found here.
AEA Purchasing
AEA Purchasing is an initiative of the Iowa Association of Area Education Agencies (IAAEA) with the mission of combining the purchasing power of Iowa schools to offer aggressive pricing on materials, goods and services through a competitive bid process. Serving as a local purchasing cooperative for education, for over 20 years, AEA Purchasing has partnered with vendors from across the US – including Iowa and the Midwest – to supply schools with the products needed to operate their programs equitably, efficiently and effectively. From desks to groceries and everything in between, when a school makes a purchase using an AEA Purchasing contract, it is supporting all schools in Iowa by bringing purchase volumes up which, in turn, keeps prices low, enabling a sustainable investment to better serve Iowa students and communities. Over the last 5 years, AEA Purchasing contracts have saved Iowa schools nearly $62 million.
To learn more about the program's offerings and the advantages of cooperative purchasing, please contact Joni Puffett at joni@aeapurchasing.org or visit them on the web at www.aeapurchasing.org.
School Budget Review Committee
The School Budget Review Committee (SBRC) met for a special work session on Friday, January 22, 2021 and met for a special hearing session and special work session on Friday, January 29, 2021.
Late Filed AR/DOP Requests
Effective June 25, 2020 and retroactive to January 1 2020, the legislature established authority for the SBRC to hear late filed requests for modified supplemental amounts (MSA) related to programs for at-risk, alternative schools, and returning dropout and dropout prevention (AR/DOP) program plans.
During the special work session on January 22, 2021, the Committee established the criteria by which late filed requests for MSA relating to AR/DOP programs would be considered. The list can be viewed under the subtitle “Late Filed AR/DOP Requests”.
During the special hearing session on January 29, 2021, the Committee considered requests from four late filing districts (January 15, 2020 deadline for plan year FY21) that had been previously tabled by the Committee at the December 15, 2020 hearing. The MSA request from each of the four districts was denied. After a review of related statute and the submitted exhibits, it was determined the SBRC did not have authority to grant the requests.
Also during the special hearing session, the SBRC requested the Department help ensure districts understand the requirements necessary in order for a district to be eligible to make a request of MSA related to AR/DOP program plans.
- Pursuant to Iowa Code section 257.38(1), the board must pass a resolution to adopt the comprehensive AR/DOP program plan if MSA is requested from the SBRC.
- Pursuant to Iowa Code section 257.40(1), the board must certify through a resolution the program budget complies with the board’s adopted program plan.
- Pursuant to Iowa Code section 257.40(1), the deadline for the AR/DOP MSA request remains January 15. Eligible requests completed prior to the deadline shall be granted by the SBRC at the March hearing and will be considered, per recent practice, through a class action format. Districts with timely filed requests will not be required to appear at the hearing.
- Pursuant to Iowa Code section 257.40(2), requests from districts submitting a completed application after the January 15 deadline but prior to March 1 of the same year may be considered by the SBRC. Districts with late-filed requests may be required to appear. See the above link for more detail on the late filing process and related exhibits.
- The current practice of not submitting the board’s adopted AR/DOP program plan as part of the regular application process will not change. However, late filing districts will be required to provide, in addition to other exhibits, a copy of the board’s adopted program plan as part of the process for the late request to be considered (289 IAC 6.3(3)"a”).
- Regardless if the program plan is required as part of the request process through the SBRC, the plan is still required to be made available to auditors or under any other provision of law pursuant to Iowa Code section 257.40(1).
Requests Related to COVID-19, Additional FY21 Hearing During the special work session held on January 29, 2021, the Committee discussed whether or not a district may request COVID-related MSA prior to expending all of its COVID-related revenue. The Committee determined it is preferred to do so if possible, but a district is not required to expend all COVID-related revenue prior to making a request for COVID-related MSA. If all COVID-related revenue is not expended and the district is requesting COVID-related MSA, the district will be required to submit additional exhibits, including a detailed plan to expend the unexpended COVID-related revenue. The list of required exhibits for COVID-19 related requests are located under the subtitle “Requests Related to COVID-19”.
In order to give districts maximum time to determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to the current fiscal year and expend and/or plan to expend COVID-related revenue, the Committee determined an additional hearing will be held in FY21. The hearing is scheduled to be held on Thursday, June 17, 2021, with related exhibits and requests to appear due on Friday, May 21, 2021. The first step to appearing before the SBRC is to complete an SBRC Hearing Request available on the SBRC site.
For further information, please contact Kassandra Cline at kassandra.cline@iowa.gov or 515-281-4738.
Iowa School Business Management Academy
The Iowa School Business Management Academy will hold its Spring Academy VIRTUAL for Levels I-IV April 28-30, 2021. Due to the limitations of this online delivery, the graduate-level program will not be offered again this year. Online registration for Levels I through IV will begin at 7 a.m. on Tuesday, March 2, 2021. Registration closes April 20.
Data for FY21 Certified Annual Financial Report
The 2020-2021 District AEA Flowthrough Amounts, 2020-2021 Sources for Local Projects and the 2020-2021 Preschool Funding (with Administrative reduction amounts) documents are available under the heading “Data Used to File FY21 CAR” on the Certified Annual Financial Reports (CAR) webpage.
For further information, please contact Denise Ragias at denise.ragias@iowa.gov or 515-281-4741.
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March 31 |
Last date to submit LEA and AEA electronic annual audit of prior year to the Department and Auditor of State’s Office |
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It is the policy of the Iowa Department of Education not to discriminate on the basis of race, creed, color, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, sex, disability, religion, age, political party affiliation, or actual or potential parental, family or marital status in its programs, activities, or employment practices as required by the Iowa Code sections 216.9 and 256.10(2), Titles VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. § 2000d and 2000e), the Equal Pay Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. § 206, et seq.), Title IX (Educational Amendments, 20 U.S.C.§§ 1681 – 1688), Section 504 (Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. § 794), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (42 U.S.C. § 12101, et seq.). If you have questions or complaints related to compliance with this policy by the Iowa Department of Education, please contact the legal counsel for the Iowa Department of Education, Grimes State Office Building, 400 E. 14th Street, Des Moines, IA 50319-0146, telephone number: 515-281-5295, or the Director of the Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education, Citigroup Center, 500 W. Madison Street, Suite 1475, Chicago, IL 60661-4544, telephone number: 312-730-1560, FAX number: 312-730-1576, TDD number: 877-521-2172, email: OCR.Chicago@ed.gov.
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