ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION ACCOUNTABILITY On August 15th a letter was mailed to all administrators explaining the process for the 2002-2003 registration for alternative education accountability. If you have any questions, please email or call the Office of Alternative Education Accountability at oaca@tea.state.tx.us or 512-463-9642. See attached.

CHARTER AMENDMENTS Please remember that charter amendment requests (form available at www.tea.state.tx.us/charter/forms/csforms.htm) must be accompanied by a board resolution signed by all charter holder governing body members who voted for the amendment. There is no form for the resolution. Forms and resolutions should be faxed to Kirsten Christophersen at 512-463-9732. If you have amendment questions, please call Kirsten at 512-463-9575.

AUDITS REQUIRED All charter schools and school districts are required to submit two supplementary annual audits (three total) to TEA this winter (for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2002, or August 31, 2002). Due to provisions in House Bill (HB) 1144 and Senate Bill (SB) 702, schools must submit agreed-upon procedures audits of their leaver code data and their State Compensatory Education (SCE) programs. These audits are to be submitted in addition to the general annual audit submitted in the past. Letter and information addressing these changes were sent to schools, including charter schools, on September 13, 2001, and in the Legislative Briefing Book (for audits of dropouts). For copies of these documents, go to this site: www.tea.state.tx.us/legal/briefbook.doc. The requirements for dropout audits, which have been published in draft form on the TEA Internet site for several months, will be published in final form under Update 10 of the Financial Accountability System Resource Guide. For questions, contact the School Financial Audits Division at 512-463-9095

GENERAL APPLICATION AND ASSURANCES FOR FEDERAL PROGRAMS letter is attached.

August 15, 2002

TO THE ADMINISTRATOR ADDRESSED:

SUBJECT: Registration for Alternative Education Accountability 2002-2003

Each year an alternative education campus of choice (AEC) must register with the Office of Alternative Education Accountability if the campus wishes to be eligible for the optional alternative education accountability procedures. In 2002-2003, the optional procedures will not be offered due to the absence of accountability ratings under both the Standard Accountability System and the Alternative Education Accountability Procedures. (See letter of July 1, 2002 from Dr. Felipe Alanis, Commissioner of Education, regarding the 2003 Accountability Plan.) However, the Texas Education Agency requests that alternative education campuses continue to register for the following reasons:

• Registered AECs can continue to report campus of accountability information on their Public Education
• Information Management System (PEIMS) data submissions as in the past. No change in data reporting procedures will be required. Alternative education campuses that do not register will encounter fatal errors on their PEIMS data submissions if they continue to report campus of accountability information as in the past.
• Registered AECs can continue to attribute assessment results for students enrolled for fewer than 85 cumulative days to their locally assigned regular campuses as in the past. No change in local test administration procedures for students in alternative education settings will be required. Alternative education campuses that do not register cannot attribute test results to another campus.
• The 2003 AEC registration will determine campus of accountability for 2002-2003 PEIMS leaver data. The dropout/completion rate measure for the 2004 accountability ratings will be the 2002-2003 ratings. Therefore, registration for 2003 is necessary to ensure that leaver data for the 2004 accountability ratings are attributed to the correct campus.
• The accountability development process for 2004 and beyond will rely on analysis of 2003 data. Correct attribution of Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) and dropout/completion rate data will provide more reliable results, especially for alternative education campuses.
• The December 2003 performance evaluations will provide a limited preview of the 2004 accountability ratings and standards. These performance evaluations will be more useful as planning tools if they are based on TAKS and dropout data that are attributed to the correct campus.

The registration will be an on-line process similar in nature to the process used in 2001-2002.
The criteria and procedures used by the Agency to determine the eligibility of alternative education campuses are explained in the Alternative Education Accountability Manual, which is available on the Agency's website at: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/alt.ed/curdatsub.html.

Before a campus may register on-line, a Texas Education Agency Security Environment (TEASE) username and password must be issued to a designated single user for the campus. This designated user is the one person who will enter the information into the on-line registration form for the campus.

NOTE: Districts and charter schools that will register multiple campuses may either assign a single user for each campus or assign a single user for all of the campuses in the district that wish to register. Refer to the request form for instructions on assigning multiple campuses.

Special Notice to Districts that Operate an Alternative Education Campus through a Shared Services Arrangement: Each campus that participates in a shared services arrangement must register separately. However, a designated person may apply for a username and password for all the campuses in the shared services arrangement. In this instance, the superintendent of each virtual campus must submit an e-mail message stating that the designated user has permission to complete the registration process. Please submit the e-mail to oaea@tea.state.tx.us for documentation purposes.

If the designated user had access to Alternative Education Accountability (AEA) last year, but to no other applications, then she/he does not need to request access again this year. The username will not change, but the password will be reset to "password."

If the designated user had access to AEA last year, and also has access to other applications (such as EDIT+, AskTED, Student Transfer, etc.), then she/he does not need to request access again this year. The username and the password will not change.

If the designated user did not have access to AEA last year, but does have access to other TEASE applications, then the user must submit the request for access to AEA. After the request has been received and approved, TEA Information Security will add access to AEA. The TEASE username and password will not change.

If the designated user did not have access to AEA last year, and does not have access to other TEASE applications, then the user must submit the request for access to AEA. After the request has been received and approved, TEA Information Security will add access to AEA and notify the user via email of the username and password within 10 days.

In order to submit a request for access to AEA, the designated user must complete the following steps:

Complete the TEASE Request for Access to Web Application Alternative Education Accountability form, which can be found on the Agency's website: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/alt.ed/curdatsub.html

Print the form. Sign the form and have the supervisor indicate approval of the designated user by also signing the form.

Fax the form to the Office of Alternative Education Accountability at (512) 936-0723 or (512) 475-3665. Please ensure that each page of the form is faxed. TEA Information Security will reject the form if the signatures are not present. The deadline for requesting a TEASE username and password for the Alternative Education Accountability registration is September 16, 2002.

The designated user will be able to access the on-line registration site and register the campus for an alternative education accountability rating between August 15 and October 11. The TEASE logon screen is: https://seguin.tea.state.tx.us/apps/logon.asp

Each user will be immediately prompted to change his/her password and to provide a question and answer that only he/she can answer. This question/answer is used if the password is forgotten. The new password needs to be at least 6 characters long consisting of both numeric and alpha characters. The first character should not be a numeric character. TEASE usernames and passwords are case sensitive.

Each campus that registers will receive written notice confirming or denying eligibility for an alternative education accountability rating. Remember the TEASE application does not complete the registration process for Alternative Education Accountability; the TEASE username and password allow the designated user access to the registration document.

If you have questions regarding your access to TEASE or AEA, please email TEA Information Security at security@tea.state.tx.us after August 15.

Please note the registration period for an alternative education campus to receive a 2003 alternative education accountability rating is August 15, 2002 through October 11, 2002.

If you have any questions regarding the procedure for registration, please email or call the Office of Alternative Education Accountability at oaea@tea.state.tx.us or (512) 463-9642.

Sincerely,

Karen Case, Associate Commissioner
Quality, Compliance, and Accountability Reviews

cc: Ron McMichael, Deputy Commissioner, Finance and Accountability
Criss Cloudt, Associate Commissioner, Accountability Reporting and Research
Rosemary Manges, Director, Office of Alternative Education Accountability

General Application and Assurances for Federal Programs Administered by the U. S. Department of Education
(form DF/GA-001R02)

The following letter along with a copy of the General Application and Assurances for Federal Programs Administered by the U. S. Department of Education certification form DF/GA-001R02 was sent to each charter holder on or about July 22, 2002. It is extremely important this form is signed in the original and returned to the designated address on the form not later than August 30, 2002. We urge charter school administrators to contact their charter holders to ensure a timely submission.

If you have any questions, please call Betty Richardson in the Division of Grants Administration at (512) 463-9269.

(Styled on TEA letterhead from the Division of Grants Administration)