Federal Funding To Do List for Business Managers

May 20, 2009

  1. Decide which staff will be included in the regular 2009-10 IDEA and Preschool budgets.
  1. Put together the salary and insurance information for regular budgets.
  1. Send information for regular 2009-10 IDEA and Preschools budgets to Liz Pruitt before June 5 (if possible).
  1. Work with Special Education Director to decide how to spend the ARRA money. Bear in mind that using ARRA funds on Response to Intervention (RtI) projects related to early reading and/or math intervention or schoolwide positive behavior support could help the district to lower percentage of student in special education, which could help to lower special education costs in the long-term.(Our local data shows that schools who have adopted RtI have already lowed special education referral and identification rates.)
  1. Complete “mock” SE-4096 Special Education Cost Reports for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 school years using your best estimates of costs for this and next year.
  1. Using the MDE template, calculate your estimated Maintenance of Effort (MOE) for 2007-08 to 2008-09 to make sure your district will be in compliance.
  1. Decide if you want to use ARRA money for 2008-09 expenses. This can be done to the extent that MOE is met for 2007-08 to 2008-09 and you have unreimbursed allowable special education costs.
  1. If you decided to fund staff with ARRA money, select the staff you want to use. Keep in mind it would be easier to select staff not included in the regular IDEA. To maximize Medicaid reimbursement, we recommend paying for staff who bill Medicaid at no more than 49% with federal funds.
  1. When you have a draft plan for spending 2009-10 ARRA money, calculate your estimated MOE for 2008-09 to 2009-10 to make sure your district will be in compliance.
  1. If you can’t meet MOE (even with the 50% rule), revise your ARRA plan to meet MOE. Also check to make sure that your plan won’t have a negative impact on your level of Act 18 reimbursement.
  1. Set up new account numbers for ARRA, including those for salaries and benefits.
  1. Work with Special Education Director to complete program design.
  1. Send budgets for ARRA money, with year clearly marked. You will need to submit a budget for at least 50% of your ARRA allocation for the 09-10 school year.If you choose to use some of the money in 2008-09, keep that budget separate from 2009-10.
  1. All districts must complete MOE worksheets comparing 2007-08 to 2008-09 and 2008-09 to 2009. All budgets, program designs, and MOE worksheets must be returned to Liz Pruitt by June 5, 2009.

Call the one of these Kent ISD staff for assistance with these items:

Liz Pruitt (365-2322) – #’s 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14

Lucy Hough-Waite (365-2303) – #’s 4, 7, 8, 10, 12