January 2024

Inside this issue:

• Happy New Year from the Bureau of School Business Operations
• New Iowa Department of Education Website Launched January 9
• Question: May we retain funds in student lunch accounts that no longer attend our school?
• Question: If a district recovers indirect costs in the nutrition program, must the district recover indirect costs from all eligible federal programs?
• Explanation of January 2024 Juvenile Home and Other Deductions from State Payments to School Districts
• Reminder: Preschool Registration and Other Fees
• Iowa Chart of Account Coding Updates
• Special Education Billing Application | Due February 15
• Educational Savings Accounts
• Billing for Open Enrollment, Homeless, and Foster Care
• 2024 Legislative Session Began January 8
• School Budget Review Committee Hearing | December 12, 2023
• Reminder: ESSER II & GEER II Liquidation Period Deadline | Due January 28
• Quarterly Exclusion/Suspension Verification Report | Due January 31
• Meet the Bureau of School Business Operations

Department of Education Resources

• Iowa Department of Education Departmental Directory
• Iowa Department of Education Alphabetical Directory
• Iowa Department of Education Customer Service Guide
• Previous Editions of the School Business Alert Newsletter

Upcoming Deadlines

Staff Contact Information

Featured

Happy New Year from the Bureau of School Business Operations

The year 2023 brought many changes for the Bureau of School Business Operations at the Department of Education (Department). Most notably, after adding six new members in 2022, the bureau welcomed three more new contributors to our team! It is very exciting to build and be a part of such an amazing team that is driven by the commitment to be a true resource for the field. From our team to yours, we wish you health, productivity, happiness, simple reconciliations, clean audits, and account codes that all work. Happy New Year!

A special section at the end of the newsletter highlights the specific areas of contribution for all members.

New Iowa Department of Education Website Launched January 9

The Department recently launched its newly redesigned website on January 9 as part of a state-wide effort to unify the look and feel of all State agency websites to provide a more consistent overall experience for end users. Although the look of the Department’s website has changed, the functionality largely remains the same as the previous website. The new website URL is www.educate.iowa.gov. 

A few notable items are included below.

• Easier linking: Landing pages for linked documents have been removed. 
• PDFs will open directly in the browser upon being clicked on. Right-clicking on the PDF link will offer other options, such as opening the document in a new tab.
• Other file formats will be downloaded to the user’s computer which can then be opened.
• Department contact(s) are listed at the bottom of each webpage.
• Navigation Notes:
• A-Z Index has been discontinued. 
• Locate Bureau of School Business Operations webpages: hover over the PK-12 dropdown menu at the top of the homepage and click on School Operations & Support Services. The School Operations & Support Services webpage contains links for School Business & Finance, School Facilities, Nutrition Programs, and Transportation.

Please contact a member of the Bureau of School Business Operations team with any website questions or issues, or to request assistance locating specific topics on the website. This month’s newsletter includes a special section at the bottom containing detailed information about each member and their specific area(s) of field support. A table with contact information is also located at the beginning of each School Business Alert.

Recent Question

Question: May we retain funds in student lunch accounts that no longer attend our school?

Answer:

• The school may not keep any part of the money. If a student has graduated or will otherwise not be returning, the school must refund the money to the student’s parent or guardian.The parent/guardian paid the money in return for certain goods - the meals. 

Once a school is reasonably certain that a student will not be returning, the school needs to take reasonable steps to ascertain a forwarding address. If another school makes contact to ask for the student’s records, work with that school. If, after making reasonable attempts and documenting these attempts, the school cannot locate the family, the school should follow Iowa Code Chapter 556 Disposition of Unclaimed Property. Additional information may be found at the Great Iowa Treasure Hunt website.

Question: If a district recovers indirect costs in the nutrition program, must the district recover indirect costs from all eligible federal programs?

Answer:

• Districts are required to apply indirect costs consistently meaning if a cost is considered a direct cost to one program, it must be considered a direct cost to all programs. However, the actual recovery of indirect costs is subject to the availability of funds and statutory or administrative restrictions (34 CFR 75.564(a)).

Districts are not required to recover indirect costs on all eligible federal programs. Districts may use all of the federal funds for program purposes and therefore not recover indirect costs or districts may recover indirect costs using their calculated indirect cost rate.

Financial

Explanation of January 2024 Juvenile Home and Other Deductions from State Payments to School Districts

A deduction is being made for the cost of certain programs that are paid "off the top of state aid." This deduction, which occurs every year, is for the cost of educational programs for children in the state training school, mental health institutes, other licensed juvenile and foster care facilities, or special education costs for foster care children with no resident district and district court placed children. As required by Iowa Code, the cost of these programs is distributed to all school districts based on each district's budget enrollment (line 1.1 of the Aid and Levy Worksheet). The deduction starts in January and will continue through the rest of the year. These deductions reduce cash flow but have no impact on a district’s spending authority. Visit the State Payment Information FY24 screen for an updated breakdown of categorical funding.

If you have future questions regarding this deduction, please contact John Parker, Department of Management, at john.parker@iowa.gov or 515-281-8485.

Reminder: Preschool Registration and Other Fees

As districts plan for 2024-2025 Statewide Voluntary Preschool Program (SWVPP) programming, please remember that districts have no authority to charge fees for SWVPP registration. In addition, fees may not be charged for items which are part of the SWVPP instructional program. It is highly recommended to clearly communicate the details of any fees to families at the time of registration, including hours of programming offered for which there are allowable associated fees, such as non-SWVPP programming and/or child care. For more details, see SWVPP Frequently Asked Finance Questions.

If you have program questions, please contact Mary Breyfogle at mary.breyfogle@iowa.gov or 515-326-1030. If you have questions regarding the allowable uses of SWVPP funds, please contact Song Luong at song.luong1@iowa.gov or 515-205-0259.

Coding

Iowa Chart of Account Coding Updates

The Iowa Chart of Account Coding, found on the Uniform Financial Accounting page of the Department website, is regularly updated to reflect changes necessary to meet fiscal reporting needs.

Applications

Special Education Billing Application | Due February 15

The legacy “Tuition In Billing” (TIB) application is retired. The new application to bill for special education costs is named “Special Education Billing”. TIB is available for historical reference only.

The Special Education Billing application is used to bill districts for costs incurred to serve special education students. The application is open and districts are required to bill by February 15 for first semester billing. For first semester billing, districts may choose actual cost per day or estimated cost per day billing.

Special Education Billing - Days Only

Districts will enter student information by the number of days the student was enrolled and served pursuant to an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) for FY24.

Special Education Estimated Billing

The Department will continue to use the predetermined daily rate feature as implemented in the Special Education Billing application, which allows an additional option in determining the amount billed for the first semester. A Certified Annual Report (CAR) upload is not required if this option is selected. The goal is to simplify the process and assure that every district is sending/receiving first semester bills. This option includes a basic daily rate for special education costs and general purpose percentages. Refer to the examples below.

Basic Daily Rate for a Level I Student

Special Education Cost:

District Cost Per Pupil (DCPP) X Special Ed Weighting / 180 X 1st Semester Billing Days = Special Ed Expenditures

[($7,635 X .72) / 180] X 90 days = $2,748.60

General Purpose Percentage

DCPP X Level I GPP Per Pupil % (each district is different) / 180 X 1st Semester Billing Days = GPP

[($7,635 X .82) / 180] X 90 days = $3,130.35

Basic Daily Rate for a Level II Student

Special Education Costs:

DCPP X Special Ed Weighting / 180 X 1st Semester Billing Days = Special Ed Expenditures

[($7,635 X 1.21) / 180] X 90 days = $4,619.17

General Purpose Percentage

DCPP X Level II GPP Per Pupil % (all districts are the same) / 180 X 1st Semester Billing Days = GPP

[($7,635 X .32) / 180] X 90 days = $1,221.60

Basic Daily Rate for a Level III Student

Special Education Costs:

DCPP X Special Ed Weighting / 180 X 1st Semester Billing Days = Special Ed Expenditures

[($7,635 X 2.74) / 180] X 90 days = $10,459.95

General Purpose Percentage

DCPP X Level III GPP Per Pupil % (all districts are the same) / 180 X 1st Semester Billing Days = GPP

[($7,635 X .27) / 180] X 90 days = $1,030.73

Days Enrolled and Served - Full or Partial Semester

“First semester billing days” means the number of days the student was enrolled and served pursuant to the student’s IEP. The examples above assume the student was present for the full semester or 90 days. However, for students enrolled and served less than a full semester, the district will enter the actual days enrolled and served rather than 90 (i.e., ($7,635 X 1.21)/ 180 X 25 days = $1,283.10). If a student was Level II for part of the semester and then became Level III, the student will be included as Level II for the number of days served pursuant to the IEP at Level II, and again included as Level III for the number of days served pursuant to the IEP at Level III.

Completing the Application

Upon entering the application, select the billing option that will be used for semester one billing.

• Per Day Estimated Rate is the option described above. 
• Per Day Actual Costs from Screen 1 is similar to what districts use for final billing. 

Please ensure the accuracy of the data pre-populated in the application as listed below.

• Student name
• State Student ID
• Special education weighting
• Resident district

The district is responsible for entering the information below.

• Days enrolled and served
• Individualized costs

If you have further questions regarding Special Education Billing, please contact Luke Markway at luke.markway@iowa.gov or 515-393-8349.

General Information

Educational Savings Accounts

All current information regarding the Students First Education Savings Account (ESA) program can be found here.

Billing for Open Enrollment, Homeless, and Foster Care

The majority of students who utilize open enrollment attend the serving district on the first day of school, remain enrolled through the last day of school, and never move during the course of the year. For these students, the serving district bills the resident district twice a year. This is relatively simple. All other situations - involving open enrollment and moving - are not as simple. The following information provides a brief review of how billing is to be handled when changes occur during the year (281 IAC 17).

1. A student is not utilizing open enrollment on count day, moves after count day, and utilizes open enrollment to remain enrolled in the former district of residence, known as Iowa’s “continuation rule.”
   • No district is billed for days served under open enrollment for the remainder of the school year. A district cannot bill for the 1.0 funds (last year’s state cost per pupil) or special education costs. If a student utilizes open enrollment to remain enrolled in the same district, that district would have already counted the student in the fall’s certified enrollment count. Billing to the new resident district will begin the following year.
2. A student is under open enrollment on count day, moves after count day, and continues to utilize open enrollment to remain enrolled in the same serving district.
   • The serving district will bill the district that generated the count on count day. The serving district can bill for 1.0 funds (last year’s state cost per pupil) and, if applicable, actual special education costs incurred.
3. A student is identified as homeless and is temporarily living in a different district.
   • A homeless student can attend school in the district where the student is currently living or in the district of origin (281 IAC 33.2), which is the Iowa public school district in which the student was last enrolled or in which the child last attended when permanently housed. 
   • If the district elects to place the student in an educational placement other than the district where they are currently living or the district of origin, the district must provide written justification for this decision (281 IAC 33.7(1)). 
   • If the parent chooses to enroll the student in a different district other than the district where the student is living or the district of origin, the parent or guardian must apply for open enrollment, and cannot be denied open enrollment on the basis of their homelessness alone. 
     • If the application for open enrollment is approved after the student is determined to be homeless, the parent assumes responsibility for transportation (281 IAC 33.8(4), 281 IAC 17.9(1)).
     • Transportation services to the school of origin (pursuant to open enrollment agreement in place prior to homelessness occurring) is required to be provided pursuant to 42 U.S. Code § 11432 (e)(3)(E)(i)(III). If the school of origin is not the same as the district in which the student is physically located, the district in which the student is physically located and the district in which the student is attending are required to work together to determine a method to apportion responsibility and costs for providing transportation to the school or origin. If a method cannot be agreed upon, costs shall be shared equally between the two districts [42 U.S. Code § 11432 (g)(1)(J)(iii)(II)].
4. A student is placed into foster care. When a foster care placement occurs, a “best interest determination” decision will be made in consultation with HHS regarding the school of attendance, resulting in either remaining in the school of origin or, if that is found to not be in the student’s best interest, another educational placement that will best serve the student’s needs, including the district where the student resides in foster care. Additional information for each service arrangement is provided below.
   • The student remains enrolled in the school of origin.
     • Whether the student’s foster care placement is within the same district or not, the student’s resident district does not change in the student information system. The student continues to be identified as having the same resident district. The student does not utilize open enrollment to remain enrolled in the school of origin unless the student was already under open enrollment. The attending district will maintain the same enrollment information, but add the foster care indicator on the new enrollment period record (Iowa Code § 282.31(1)(b)).
   • The student does not remain enrolled in the school of origin and enrolls in the district where the student resides while in foster care, or another suitable placement.
     • If the student does not have an Individualized Education Program (IEP), the student is a resident in the district where he or she is attending while in foster care. There is no billing. The student will be included in the district’s general education foster care claim, as long as the district identifies the student as being in foster care (Iowa Code § 282.19(3); Iowa Code § 282.31(1)(b)).
     • If the student utilizes open enrollment while in foster care to attend a district that is not the district of origin or the district where the student is currently living while in foster care, the serving district will include the student on the regular education foster care claim.
     • If the student has an IEP, regardless of where the student attends school, the resident district remains the resident district where a parent lives, if the parent lives in Iowa. The resident district is billed through the Special Education Billing application (Iowa Code § 282.31(2)(a)). 
     • If the student has an IEP and parents do not live or cannot be found living in Iowa, regardless of where the student attends school, the serving district will use the Look Back feature in Special Education Billing to determine if a district counted the student in the October special education count. If a district counted the student, the district that counted the student will be billed for the student’s educational costs. If no district counted the student on the October special education count, the serving district will bill the state under the foster care claim in the Special Education Billing application at the end of the year (Iowa Code § 282.31(3); 281 IAC 41.907(5)(c)).
     • If the student has an IEP and parental rights have been terminated, the serving district will bill the state under Termination of Parental Rights in the Speci Billing application for days served from the date parental rights were terminated. Billing to the state is completed at the end of the year. A copy of the court action is to be shared with the area education agency (AEA) so the Information Management System (IMS) can be updated accordingly (281 IAC 41.907(6)).

If applicable, open enrollment billing components include:

• Prior year state cost per pupil, 
• Per Pupil Teacher Leadership and Compensation (TLC) supplementary weighting,
• English Learner (EL) supplementary weighting (if applicable), and
• Concurrent enrollment/Project Lead the Way supplementary weighting (if applicable).

For updated billing guidance, including prorated billing amounts, please refer to the 2023-2024 Open Enrollment Billing Chart.

For questions relating to serving homeless students, contact Tyler Navin at tyler.navin@iowa.gov or 515-669-8622. 

For questions relating to open enrollment, contact Stacie Stokes at stacie.stokes@iowa.gov or 515-210-5288. 

For questions relating to billing, contact Song Luong at song.luong1@iowa.gov or 515-205-0259.

For questions relating to foster care, contact Elisa Koler at elisa.koler@iowa.gov or 515-669-4052.

2024 Legislative Session Began January 8

The 2024 legislative session began on Monday, January 8. There are various resources available to access information related to any action taken or progress made by the Legislature:

Department of Education’s Legislative Update Newsletter

Iowa Legislature Web Site

For further information on legislative issues, contact Eric St Clair, Legislative Liaison, at eric.stclair@iowa.gov or 515-326-0274.

School Budget Review Committee Hearing | December 12, 2023

The School Budget Review Committee (SBRC) met in regular session to hold hearings on December 12, 2023. In this session, the Committee discussed the list of districts that preliminarily incurred a negative unspent balance; reviewed lists of late filers for Certified Enrollment, School Association Report (SAR), and the Facilities, Elections, and Sales Tax (FEST) Report; reviewed state decile rankings for unspent authorized budget (UAB) and regular program amounts on a per pupil basis; reviewed the historical list of districts and AEAs that late-filed their Certified Annual Report (CAR), Special Education Supplement (SES), or Annual Transportation Report (ATR); and set the fiscal year 2024-2025 hearing schedule. The Committee certified to the Department of Management (DOM) the list of supplementary weightings for FY25 and approved modified supplemental amounts (MSA) for eligible and requesting districts related to excess costs of providing a limited English proficiency (EP) program in the prior fiscal year, increased enrollment applications, open enrollment out students not included in the prior year headcount, and EL programs offered beyond five years. The Committee reviewed AEA and district special education balances and approved MSA for eligible and requesting districts with deficit balances. The Committee also voted to maintain the current special education weightings and requested the School Finance Review Committee review the funding of special education programs.

The Committee granted a certificate of need for one district to allow use of SAVE dollars to pay off an anticipated bank loan for program expansion involving new construction. The Committee approved requests from three districts for hazard abatement and one request for modified supplemental amount for initial staffing. The Committee also accepted corrective action plans from three districts that preliminarily incurred a negative unspent balance, received a fiscal update from a district that was required to appear based on fiscal triggers, and accepted four corrective action plans related to late filing of the CAR, SES, and/or ATR.

Approved requests for MSA can be found on the SBRC Hearing Information website under the December 12, 2023 Summary of Action.

If you have further questions, please contact Stephanie Edler, SBRC Liaison, at stephanie.edler@iowa.gov or 515-689-2258.

Federal Programs

Reminder: ESSER II & GEER II Liquidation Period Deadline | Due January 28

The ESSER II and GEER II liquidation period ends on January 28, 2024. Any school districts without an approved liquidation extension will need to submit final claims for these obligated funds prior to January 28th.

Medicaid

If you have questions relating to Medicaid or other topics in this section, please contact Jim Donoghue at jim.donoghue@iowa.gov or 515-281-8505.

Quarterly Exclusion/Suspension Verification Report | Due January 31

Iowa Medicaid school-based providers are required to check two sources each month to capture employee exclusions and reinstatements: the federal list provided on the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) website and the state’s list, which is found on the Iowa Health and Human Services (Iowa HHS) website on the Medicaid Provider Services page. A search of these sources is to occur monthly to confirm individuals whose services are billed to Medicaid are not excluded from participation. The checks are required to be documented and the provider must report to the Iowa Medicaid Enterprise (IME) any exclusion information discovered through such searches.

Iowa HHS has revised its Suspensions and Violations web page. That change is incorporated in the updated “School-Based Provider Search Template" and "Tip Sheet or Provider Search" links posted on the School-Based Medicaid page of the Department's website under the "Guiding Practices" section. Please include the names of individuals who oversee services such as the mental health professional, school nurse or special education teacher. The documentation checks are expected for school district individuals providing services to your students attending a non-resident district.

It is important that districts do not bill for services provided by an excluded or suspended individual. At the end of each quarter, please send the completed three months spreadsheets to Jim Donoghue.

Meet the 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.