TEA UPDATES

		SPECIAL EDUCATION COUNT, through your PEIMS submission, is due into TEA on Friday, October 27, 2000. Please have all of your documentation in place by this date. Please call the Special Education director at your local Region Service Center for information.
		EDUCATION THAT WORKS CONFERENCE will be held on November 13-16, 2000 at the Omni Bayfront Hotel in Corpus Christi. Sessions of particular interest will be special education, community relations, career awareness and development, juvenile justice, mentoring and homeless youth. Information about the conference can be found at www.educationthatworks.org or call James Cogdell at 512-936-9279.
		TEA DIVISION OF STATE FUNDING Helpful hints and reminders concerning attendance reports is attached.

LITERARY FESTIVAL Entries for the Katherine Anne Porter Literary Festival, hosted by the Katherine Anne Porter Charter School, are being accepted. Writers of fiction, non-fiction, or poetry may enter the contest. Please send your manuscript, with your name, address, telephone number and age group to KAPS Literary Festival, P.O. Box 2053, Wimberley, TX 78676 no later than December 14, 2000. Winners will be awarded on Saturday, February 10, 2001 at a literary soiree at the school. For more information call 512-847-6867.

TRUANCY OR COMPULSORY ATTENDANCE If you are having problems with truancy or enforcing compulsory attendance, the Harris County Juvenile Justice Charter has a successful approach. For information call Margaret Rohde at 713-755-4766.

PAST DUE REPORTS Please check your calendars. Attendance reports are due 10 days after the end of the attendance reporting period. If you anticipate that your reports will be past due, please forward a letter signed by the superintendent indicating the reason for the delay and a date when the report may be expected. Reports or letters may be faxed to Nora Rainey at (512) 463-9233.

PLEASE CHECK REPORTS Before you submit your attendance reports please make sure that the beginning and ending date of the reporting period and the number of days taught match the calendar we have on file. If needed, please submit revised calendar(s). Also, please make sure that all of the elements described in the Student Attendance Accounting Handbook, Section II - District Summary Reports are on your reports. We are still receiving software generated reports without vocational contact hours by vocational code and special education contact hours by instructional arrangement. Incomplete reports will not be accepted. Before submitting, please make sure that the report has been reviewed for accuracy and has been signed by the Superintendent. Reports may be faxed to Nora Rainey at (512) 463-9233.

CHARTER SCHOOLS WITH MULTIPLE TRACKS Charter schools with multiple tracks must submit a District Summary Attendance report for each attendance reporting period in each track. Reports are due within 10 days after the end of the reporting period. If a charter has 2 tracks, state funding will have received a total of 12 reports by the end of the year (six attendance reporting periods x two tracks).

RESIDENT DISTRICTS Please make sure that the resident district you are using for students is the district where that student lives this year and not the resident district where he attended school last year.

NEW DISTRICT SUMMARY REPORT TEMPLATES 2000-01 Please note that new templates for the District Summary Attendance Report have been posted to the website. These reports are available for districts with a manual attendance accounting system. Utilizing these templates requires that the charter school be proficient in student attendance accounting and PEIMS procedures and policies. If you are operating a manual attendance accounting system, please make sure to submit your attendance reports on these templates.

NEW 2000-01 ESTIMATED STATE AID ENTITLEMENT TEMPLATES ARE AVAILABLE ON THE WEBSITE: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/school.finance/charter/

NEW FSP VARIABLES HAVE BEEN POSTED TO THE WEB SITE Although the weighted adjustment factor, Method 1, and Method 2 variables are based on the most current data available, please keep in mind that these variables and state funding are still estimated. For the 1999-00 school year, these FSP variables will not be actual OR "final" until March 2001.