August 2022
Juvenile Home Advance Payment Schedule
The 2022-2023 Juvenile Home Advance Payment Schedule for area education agencies has been posted to the Department website at Budgets, Area Education Agencies.
If you have further questions, please contact jina.brincks@iowa.gov or 515-313-5942.
Nutrition Fund Coding
As we transition to the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) with the start of the 2022-23 school year, districts should return to the use of the function code 3110. Districts may check the source of funding with each Department payment in the Iowa Education Portal application, “Department Warrants.” If a Portal user does not have this application, a request can be made through “My Profile” in the top right corner of the Portal.
Coding Payments to a Student/Adult Nutrition Account
Deposits made into student/adult meal accounts (Fund 61) are an unearned revenue and must be recorded in balance sheet account 483 - Unearned revenues. These monies are to be accounted for as a liability in the event there are refunds when a student/adult leaves the district. When students/adults make purchases from their meal account, the purchase becomes a sale with source code 16XX. Districts may record student/adult sales monthly using reports or data from the POS system. As districts are aware, school meals were free through the Seamless Summer Option to all students in school year 2021-22; there is a CAR edit prohibiting any revenue recorded in 161X for FY2022.
Example:
Deposit into individual/family food service account:
Debit cash 61-XXX-XXXX-101
Credit unearned revenue 61-XXX-XXXX-483
Monthly as sales occur:
Credit appropriate revenue accounts 61-XXXX-XXX-XXXX-16XX
Debit unearned revenue 61-XXX-XXXX-483
If you have further questions, please contact jina.brincks@iowa.gov or 515-313-5942, or song.luong1@iowa.gov or 515-205-0259.
Indirect Cost Rate Plan
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) approved the Iowa Department of Education's Indirect Cost Rate proposal for computing Iowa LEA and AEA restricted and unrestricted indirect cost rates. The approved plan is effective from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2025.
The change approved with the largest impact, as requested by districts, is to treat equipment repair and maintenance, function 2640, as a direct cost rather than an indirect cost. Effective with FY21 reporting, nutrition equipment repairs were accounted for in the School Nutrition Fund rather than the General Fund. Further, function 2600 became a header record only and detail will be required, effective with FY21 reporting. The plan also establishes a maximum restricted rate indirect cost rate of seven percent and a maximum unrestricted indirect cost rate of 17 percent, even if the rate calculated is higher.
If you have further questions, please contact jina.brincks@iowa.gov or 515-313-5942, or song.luong1@iowa.gov or 515-205-0259.
Nutrition Programs and Indirect Costs
Districts have continued to ask questions about capturing indirect costs for the Nutrition Fund. Districts are not required to capture indirect costs. Indirect cost recovery is a federal concept and does not apply to any non-federal source.
Direct costs include salaries and benefits of food service workers, cost of purchased food (not commodities), equipment repair, and supplies and materials (not federal equipment grant) for the nutrition program. Indirect costs include business office, payroll, human resources, utilities, custodial services, trash, etc. When applying the indirect cost rate, the district must first identify allowable costs across all federal programs in a consistent manner. Criteria for this determination include the following: are necessary, reasonable, allocable, legal under state and local law, conform with federal law, regulation and grant terms, consistently treated as direct or indirect, determined in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), not included as a cost or matching contribution of any other grant (except where allowed by federal regulations), net of applicable credits, and adequately documented. Allowable direct costs plus any indirect costs captured cannot exceed the amount of federal reimbursement the district has received.
The restricted indirect cost rate is the maximum rate an area education agency (AEA) or local education agency (LEA) may apply to a federal grant program that allows indirect cost recovery and requires funds to be used to supplement, not supplant, non-federal funds. The unrestricted indirect cost rate is the maximum rate an LEA or AEA may apply to federal grant programs that allow indirect cost recovery and do not have the supplement, not supplant provision.
The LEA may use up to the unrestricted indirect cost rate found on the Department’s Indirect Cost Rates spreadsheet for nutrition programs. Applying the maximum unrestricted rate against the direct costs of the award will generate the maximum indirect costs that may be recovered from the award. Indirect cost recoveries are that portion of the grant funding used to support the indirect costs of the program. The maximum unrestricted rate calculated for a program year will be applied to expenditures from the award in that year. If the grant award contains costs that are excluded from the direct or indirect cost base, the direct costs of the award will be modified to reflect the elimination of these costs from inclusion in the indirect cost reimbursement calculation. The indirect cost recovery is calculated by multiplying direct cost base by the indirect cost rate.
Federal expenditures (not to exceed federal reimbursement) / (1 + unrestricted rate) = direct cost base
Direct cost base x indirect cost rate = indirect cost recovery
Example:
District revenue for project 4552, School Breakfast Program
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$14,000
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District revenue for project 4553, National School Lunch Program
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$128,000
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Total federal revenues
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$142,000
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District expenditures for salary and benefits
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$241,000
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Supplies
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$12,000
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Total Expenditures
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$253,000
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District’s unrestricted indirect cost rate 11.34 percent
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Federal expenditures (not to exceed federal reimbursement)
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$253,000 > maximum $142,000
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Federal expenditures (not to exceed federal reimbursement) /
(1 + unrestricted rate) = direct cost base for project 4552
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Direct cost base x indirect cost rate =
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$14,000/ (1 + .1134) = $12,574.10
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Maximum indirect cost recovery for project 4552
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$12,574.10 x .1134 = $1,425.90
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Federal expenditures (not to exceed federal reimbursement) /
(1 + unrestricted rate) = direct cost base for project 4553
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Direct cost base x indirect cost rate =
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$128,000/ (1 + .1134) = $114,963.18
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Maximum indirect cost recovery for project 4553
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$114,963.18 x .1134 =$13,036.82
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Since functions 25XX are used to compute the unrestricted indirect cost rates, these cannot be recorded as direct costs for any federal program, including the Nutrition Fund programs. If the district has been reporting these as direct costs in the Nutrition Fund, they need to be coded as expenditures in the General Fund and then recorded in the Nutrition Fund as indirect costs, not exceeding the maximum allowable amount.
Since indirect costs are related to expenditures in another fund, the district will record this through interfund transfers rather than intrafund transfers. Following are entries to record the indirect costs captured for the school nutrition programs.
School Nutrition Fund
Debit function 6210, object 910, project 4552 or 4553
Credit cash (interfund accounts payable account 402 is transferred after 6-30)
General Fund
Debit cash (interfund accounts receivable account 132 if cash transferred after 6-30)
Credit source 5261 in the General Fund (do not include project 4552 or 4553)
If you have further questions, please contact jina.brincks@iowa.gov or 515-313-5942, or song.luong1@iowa.gov or 515-205-0259.
GASB 87 Leases
GASB 87 journal entry examples have been added under the “GASB 87 Leases” tab on the UFA Journal Entries Spreadsheet. GASB 87 establishes a single model for lease accounting based on a principle that leases are a financing of the right to use an underlying asset.
GASB 87 defines a lease as a contract that conveys control of the right to use another entity’s nonfinancial asset as specified in the contract for a period of time in an exchange/exchange-like transaction. GASB 87 applies to all contracts meeting this definition of a lease, unless specifically excluded.
Excluded from GASB 87
- Lease with option to purchase asset
- Short term leases (including any options to extend, of 12 months or less)
- Lease with cancelable option
GASB 87 is effective June 30 of FY22. For districts that did not implement GASB 87 in FY22, please do so for FY23.
If you have further questions, please contact jina.brincks@iowa.gov or 515-313-5942, or song.luong1@iowa.gov or 515-205-0259.
Certified Annual Report (CAR) - Due on or before September 15
Although the CAR - 2022 COA Test Records application remains available for use for individual records, the CAR – 2022 Upload and Reports application must be used for a full file upload once the application is open on August 15. Multiple uploads can take place in the Upload and Reports, just as they can in the Test Records. Please read the home page for any important messages. Districts must comment on any warnings remaining on the CAR, giving a brief explanation as to why each situation is not applicable to their district. If the situation is applicable, corrections need to be made in the FY22 district financials and the district must reupload the CAR file.
A “Certify” button will not appear until the file is edit free and comments have been made for each remaining warning.
By rule, extensions are available only for good cause such as illness or death of the staff member responsible for the filing, acts of God, or unforeseeable unusual or unique circumstances (281 IAC 99.3). Please refer to the CAR instructions for more information about extension requests. Extension requests can be emailed to kassandra.cline@iowa.gov, but no sooner than two weeks prior to the due date and no later than two days prior to the due date.
Also, as a reminder, if the district has expenditures paid from the flexibility fund account, the board-approved resolution required by Iowa Code subsection 298A.2(2) is statutorily required to be filed with the Department. Please send to kassandra.cline@iowa.gov or with one of the Finance Consultants in the Bureau of School Business Operations, if you haven't done so already.
If you have further questions or need assistance with uploads, reports, extensions, account codes and journal entries, please contact jina.brincks@iowa.gov or 515-313-5942, or song.luong1@iowa.gov or 515-205-0259.
Certifying the CAR
Make sure to plan sufficient time to thoroughly review what is about to be certified before clicking the “Certify” button. The Special Education Supplement (SES), the Transportation Annual Report (ATR), and the CAR itself are not the only reports that should be reviewed prior to certification. The LEP Allowable Costs application will also pull data from the CAR.
Completing the CAR is a significant culmination to more than a year’s worth of work, and viewing the reports created by the CAR is an important step needed before certifying to help ensure accuracy of the submission.
- Balance Sheet
- Review the balances of each account and compare it to the prior year.
- Think through any large variances to determine a reasonable explanation. Perhaps a second look for accuracy is in order.
- Are all payables and receivables booked?
- Do the Fund Balances make sense? Is the Committed Fund Balance that upon which the board acted by June 30? If there were expenditures against this balance during the year, has the balance been adjusted accordingly? If there is an Assigned Fund Balance, is it accurate? Are they the amount expected? Take a quick look at the expenditures for each categorical—do they appear appropriate?
- In the Proprietary and Fiduciary funds (60 – 89), does Account 76x, Investments in Capital Assets, Net of Related Debt, equal the balance of the capital assets less depreciation?
- Treasurer Report by Fund
- This report is a quick summary of beginning balance, revenues, expenditures, and ending balance. Compare the beginning balance to the beginning balance on the district’s software. The Adjustments to Beginning Balance row is a forced adjustment if the report doesn’t add up—this should be zero. Compare balances, revenues, and expenditures to the previous year for consistency. Research any large variance if an explanation does not come to mind.
- Revenues and Expenditures
- Same as above. Compare values to the prior year and research large unusual variances.
- Miscellaneous Income and Expenditure Report
- Same as above. Compare values to the prior year and research large unusual variances.
- Does the maximum Cash Reserve Levy amount seem correct in comparison to expected, or last year? If not, are all payables/expenditures coded? Are Fund Balances coded correctly, as Unassigned and Assigned Fund Balances flow into this formula?
- Balance Sheet by Long-Term Governmental Account Group
- For funds 8 and 9, start with the audit report. Be sure the district starts with the same balances reported in the previous year’s audit. Increases and decreases should be journalized and reported as the ending balance in the current CAR.
The CAR is used extensively to provide the data required for federal reporting purposes. The state files reports with the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), and provides a smaller data collection to the National Education Association (NEA).
If you have further questions, please contact jina.brincks@iowa.gov or 515-313-5942, or song.luong1@iowa.gov or 515-205-0259.
Special Education Supplement - Due on or before September 15
The Special Education Supplement (SES) is now available through the Iowa Education Portal. On the initial screen of the application, there is a link to obtain the “District Resident Tuitioned Out Report,” which contains information needed for Screen 1 of the SES. The SES is due September 15 and must be certified on or before that date. Districts must receive board approval for the “Request for Modified Allowable Growth and Supplemental Aid” for their special education deficit. However, districts can include this request on their September or October school board meeting agenda. Please upload your board minutes on the Certification Screen of the SES or email your minutes to Bill Roederer.
If you have further questions related to the SES, please contact bill.roederer@iowa.gov or 515-281-7972.
Transportation Annual Report - Due on or before September 15
The Annual Transportation Report has many features and capabilities to make it easy to complete and to assist in ensuring accuracy. Many items will be pre-populated from the district's CAR and Vehicle Information System (VIS) data; however, there are four things the district must provide manually:
- The number of miles traveled.
- The number of days buses operated.
- The number of students transported.
- The aggregate number of weeks students were transported.
The number entered into the “aggregate weeks” column by the district should be the sum total of weeks for the individual riders – not the total number of weeks for the riders as a group. For example, if buses ran for 36 weeks and 10 students rode the buses every week, the total aggregate weeks would be 360 (10 students x 36 weeks) rather than 36.
The aggregate weeks information is used to calculate the average number of students transported, which is shown in Line 1 of the "Miscellaneous" form of the application (total aggregate weeks/number of weeks = average number of students). This is a good item to spot check to make sure the number seems reasonable. Keep in mind a student need only ride a bus one time per week to be counted for one aggregate week.
Please refer to the full instructions posted on the Transportation Guidance page of the Department's website. For further assistance, please contact max.christensen@iowa.gov or 515-336-3965.
District Contact Verification
All school business officials and other district and AEA staff responsible for completing the Special Education Supplement, Special Education Billings, Claim Forms, and Medicaid Claiming are reminded to check whether the contact person(s) listed for each of these applications is correct. Please verify that the individuals, telephone numbers, and email addresses are up to date. You may complete this process on the main page of the Tuition In Billing program.
If you have further questions, please contact bill.roederer@iowa.gov or 515-281-7972.
Fall BEDS Staff and Operational Function Sharing
The intent is to have the Fall BEDS Staff application open by late September. At this time, the Operational Sharing application is planned to be open on October 1, with a certification deadline of October 30.
While districts do not need to have their Fall BEDS Staff certified before completing the Operational Sharing application, both the district holding the contract and the district purchasing a portion of a person’s contract must report the shared individual in Fall BEDS Staff in order for the sharing to appear in the Operational Sharing application.
- The contract-holding district reports the individual’s entire salary, benefits, and FTE according to the employee’s contract.
- The district purchasing a portion of the contract reports the combined amounts of salary and benefits in the “purchased amount” field. This field is located on the Edit Assignment screen where the district selects the shared status. The district purchasing the service also reports the individual’s FTE according to the portion being purchased. The FTE field is located on the Edit Position screen.
Due to recently enacted legislation (House File (HF) 2589 and HF 2080), there are changes to the positions eligible for operational function sharing supplementary weighting, as well as changes to the weighting that will be generated by most positions. The maximum FTEs a district can generate remains at 21.
Sharing arrangements that qualify for shared operational function supplementary weighting are limited to the following position codes in Fall BEDS Staff:
- Superintendent (9 FTEs)
- Business Management (each district can generate supplementary weighting for only one of the following) (4 FTEs)
- 612 - School Business Official (each district can only have one SBO)
- 133 - Other Business Official
- 112 - Board Secretary
- HR Manager (4 FTEs)
- Transportation Director (4 FTEs)
- 167 - Transportation Director
- Operation & Maintenance Director (4 FTEs)
- 168 - Operations Director
- Curriculum Director (2 FTEs)
- 633 - Director/Coordinator/Department Head
- Counselor (2 FTEs)
- Social Worker (2 FTEs)
- 624 – Social Worker
- 198 - Social Worker (Non-BoEE licensed)
- Special Education Director (2 FTEs)
- 515 - Special Education Director
- Workplace Learning Coordinator (2 FTEs)
- 633 - Director/Coordinator/Department Head, assignment 50040
- Mental Health Professional with Statement of Professional Recognition (SPR) from BoEE (2 FTEs)
- 621 - Mental Health Professional
- School Resource Officer (2 FTEs)
- College and Career Counselor or Coordinator (2 FTEs)
Each district that enters into an eligible sharing agreement with eligible sharing partner(s) will generate supplementary weighting as designated above. A district can only generate supplementary weighting for sharing one individual per position. If an individual holds two eligible operational sharing assignments and is shared with another district for both assignments, only one of the two positions will generate supplementary weighting, assuming the minimum 20 percent time requirement is met.
Social Workers must be licensed by the Iowa Department of Public Health and hold either a master social worker or independent social worker license. To verify a social worker’s license type, go to the Iowa Department of Public Health’s online license search.
For new sharing arrangements involving other governmental entities that are not another Iowa public school district or AEA, please submit a copy of the sharing contract and job description to scott.dryer@iowa.gov. This information is used to verify the sharing arrangement as eligible for generating supplementary weighting.
New sharing arrangements should begin at the beginning of the normal contract period. For example, a 12-month position begins July 1. A new sharing arrangement involving five districts, each purchasing 20 percent of the contract for a position that does not begin until November 1, would be ineligible for operational sharing during the first year of the arrangement. One-third of the year would have transpired. Each district would then have contracted for only two-thirds of 20 percent, or 13.3 percent (0.133 FTE) of the full-time equivalent. However, if a sharing arrangement is contracted to begin October 1 and involves only three partners, each purchasing a minimum of 27 percent of the full-time contract, each partner would then meet the 20 percent minimum (three-fourths of 0.27 = 0.203 FTE).
If you have further questions regarding Fall BEDS or Fall BEDS Staff, please contact Shelly Wolterman at shelly.neese@iowa.gov or 515-336-3859. Additional information regarding reporting of shared positions in Fall BEDS Staff can be found on the Fall BEDS Staff Documentation section of the Fall BEDS webpage.
If you have further questions regarding Operational Sharing, contact Scott Dryer at scott.dryer@iowa.gov or 515-402-8700.
Medicaid Reimbursement Documentation Related to Open Enrolled Students
Iowa Code section 282.18(8)”c” relates to the Medicaid-eligible health services provided by a receiving district to open-enrolled students receiving special education services. Receiving districts are required to provide to the resident districts the documentation necessary to seek Medicaid reimbursement for the eligible IEP-ordered health services. Either the receiving or resident district may bill Medicaid for these eligible services. Thus, it is recommended the districts have an agreement in place at the beginning of the year defining which district will submit the Medicaid billing. A guidance document containing a list of the required documentation is available on the Department’s website.
If you have questions regarding this requirement, please contact jim.donoghue@iowa.gov or 515-281-8505.
Medicaid Reminder: Change of District Medicaid Lead
If your district will have a new lead for School-Based Medicaid in 2022-2023, please have them contact Jim Donoghue to arrange an orientation as well as a question and answer call.
If you have further questions please contact Jim Donoghue at jim.donoghue@iowa.gov or 515-281-8505.
Please Continue to Perform Exclusion List Verification Checks
All participating LEA and AEA Medicaid providers are expected to complete checks each month to see if any of their participating staff are on the Health and Human Services-Office of the Inspector General Exclusion List or the Iowa Medicaid Sanctioned Provider List. Please continue to use the School-Based Provider Search Template posted on the School-Based Medicaid page of the Department’s website. Most Iowa LEAs and AEAs have been performing their checks and submitting quarterly reports to the DE. If your district is having challenges in completing this requirement, please watch the Medicaid Exclusions and Suspensions Check for School-Based Providers webinar posted on the Department's website. It is important that you do not bill for services provided by an excluded individual.
For any questions or assistance with checking the Exclusions databases, please contact Jim Donoghue at jim.donoghue@iowa.gov or 515-281-8505.
School Bus Driver Authorization
All school bus driver authorizations expire on August 15. Beginning July 1, school districts were given a window of opportunity to update all authorizations in the “Driver Authorization” application accessed through the Iowa Education Portal. Authorizations for your school district’s bus drivers must be updated between July 1 and August 15. Please verify that this action was completed.
- If a driver is no longer on your staff, please delete the individual from the system by selecting “Delete.”
- When reviewing the driver list, make note of any missing or expired information, which will be shown in orange or yellow. If licensing, physicals, and/or training is not up to date, fix as needed in order to obtain the new authorization.
To update an authorization from the driver page of the Portal, select the “Authorization” button in each driver’s row. If all licensing, physicals, and training information is up to date, you will be able to update the authorization by selecting the type of authorization and then clicking “Submit.” To finish, click either the button labeled “View” or “PDF” and print the driver’s authorization document. Repeat this process for each individual. Once completed, be sure to provide the new authorizations to your drivers to carry with them – they are required to carry it whenever driving a school bus.
Failure to possess an accurately reported, current authorization can result in a citation from law enforcement. If you have further questions, please contact max.christensen@iowa.gov or 515-336-3965.
Determining Student Residency
Determination of a student’s resident district must be ascertained by the local school district. A district’s criteria must be applied consistently from one student to another and from one year to the next. It may be helpful to apply a “reasonable person” test to determine if a student should be considered a resident of your district. A good “reasonable person” test would be to ask yourself, given the situation and facts presented about a particular student, and if a neighboring district were to enroll the student as their resident student, would I agree with their decision?
Following are several references to assist in determining whether a student is or is not a resident of your district.
If you have questions, please contact: Scott Dryer at scott.dryer@iowa.gov or 515-402-8700, or Sara Nickel at sara.nickel@iowa.gov or 515-281-3778.
Open Enrollment
Open Enrollment is the process by which a parent or guardian residing in an Iowa district may enroll their child(ren) into another Iowa school district under the terms and conditions of Iowa Code 282.18 and Iowa Administrative Code 281-17.
HF 2589 eliminates the March 1 deadline for open enrollment. This change allows parents/guardians to apply for open enrollment at any time without the need for good cause. The receiving district may deny an open enrollment request if one of the following applies:
- The application violates the district’s insufficient classroom space policy,
- The district does not have the appropriate special education program,
- The application would adversely affect the district’s implementation of a court-ordered desegregation plan, or
- The student has been expelled or suspended.
If a parent/guardian moves and wishes for their student to continue at the original resident district under open enrollment (often known as the “continuation rule”), requests cannot be denied due to insufficient classroom space policies.
There have been no changes to the October 1 count date. Unless a student was under open enrollment to another school district, tuition is not paid to the receiving district. The resident district is not obligated to pay tuition or additional costs such as special education weighting and transportation assistance if an application is approved after October 1 (count date).
If you have questions relating to open enrollment, please contact Sara Nickel at sara.nickel@iowa.gov or 515-281-3778 or Marietta Rives at marietta.rives@iowa.gov or 515-281-6038.
Kudos
Iowa was recently recognized with two awards from the National Center for Education Statistics of the United States Department of Education. The two awards were for recognition of outstanding performance in timely and complete reporting of the Common Core of Data National Public Education Finance Survey (NPEFS) and for the Common Core of Data Survey (F-33) for FY20, which were submitted by the Bureau of School Business Operations. Iowa has received these awards each reporting year since 2009. In addition, this year Iowa also received recognition for its reporting of the Common Core of Data School Level Finance Survey (SLFS). These awards would not be possible without the timely submission of quality data by each of the state's districts and AEAs. Congratulations to all!
Due Date
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What's Due
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September 1
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New Regional Academy Applications Due
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September 15
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CAR, SES, and ATR Due
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September 16
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Request/Exhibit Deadline for October SBRC Hearing
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September 30
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Facilities, Elections, and Sales Tax Data Collection Due
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Bureau of School Business Operations
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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