Volume 3, Number 48, December 15, 2000
A Publication of the Resource Center for Charter Schools
Phone 210-348-7890 Fax 210-348-7899

                      

TEA UPDATES

The Federal Title 10 Start-Up Grant application for Generations 3-6 will be available mid-December while most charter schools will be on Christmas break. Please check your mail during the holidays because the due date for applications is Thursday, February 1, 2001. Please contact Esther Murguia at TEA at 512-463-9575 if you have any questions.

Division of State Funding memo concerning past due Second Reporting Period Attendance Reports, December payment dates, bad weather days and calendar revisions is attached.

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION meeting dates have been changed from January 11th and 12th to Thursday and Friday, February 1st and 2nd, 2001.

1. PAST DUE 2ND REPORTING PERIOD ATTENDANCE REPORTS
Please check your calendar(s) to see if you have a past due 2nd reporting period attendance report. There will be no time in January to get these reports processed in time for the January payment, so this report must be in before 5 :00 p.m. December 20, 2000. If you have a 3rd reporting period report that will be due during the holiday break, you may send it in after you get back from holiday break. Before you send in your attendance report, please check the following:

The District attendance report indicates the attendance reporting period (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6)

The District attendance report indicates the beginning and ending dates of the attendance reporting period and the dates on the report match the dates on the calendar on file with the Division of State Funding.

The number of days taught are indicated on the District attendance report and the number matches the number on the calendar on file with the Division of State Funding.

The instructional calendar track is indicated on the District attendance report.

The District report has been reviewed and compared to Campus attendance reports and to prior District attendance report for irregularities.

The calculations and formulas used to calculate attendance data are correct.

The report should include an affidavit signed by the record keeper and Superintendent.
IF ANY OF THE ABOVE ITEMS ARE MISSING OR INCORRECT YOUR REPORT WILL NOT BE PROCESSED AND YOU WILL RECEIVE A DEFICIENCY FAX.

2. DECEMBER PAYMENT DATE
If the 25th of the month falls on a weekend or a holiday, the payment should be in your bank account by the next banking day. Therefore, the December payment should be in your account by Tuesday, December the 26th.

3. BAD WEATHER DAY AND CALENDAR REVISIONS
If you have taken a bad weather day, please revise your calendars and fax a signed, revised copy to Nora Rainey at (512) 463-9233. Don't forget that you must also change your PEIMS software calendar to indicate that day as a non-instruction day. You should also change a previously designated bad weather day to a day of instruction. Charter's are still responsible for having 180 days of instruction. Please make sure that this is reflected in both the paper copy that you send to this division and on your PEIMS attendance accounting software.

4. HOW TO DETERMINE A STUDENT'S RESIDENT DISTRICT
Please be advised that a student's district of residence is the Independent School District where that student currently lives. It is not necessarily where the student attended school last year. If a student attended a school in Houston ISD last year, but is now living in Dallas ISD, then Dallas ISD is that student's district of residence. Coding a student's district of residence incorrectly may incorrectly indicate that the charter school is serving students outside of the board approved boundaries and may cause a loss of state funding.